Orchid was on her feet, with her weapon in her claws watching intently at her opponent. She was slightly nervous about the battle that was coming. After several days of training she felt that she had finally honed her battle prowess, had regained the agility she had lost after so much rest in the palace, and had learned to trust her ear as much as in her sight. She was ready for the final challenge, defeating Moon.
"Take it easy, Orchid," Ren shouted out of the makeshift battlefield. "You're doing great".
"Today is the day I will beat her, I'm not here to take things easy."
"It's not good to be smug." The beetle gave her a disapproving look. "Remember that you fight against Moon, the guardian of the Crystal Peak, beating her is not easy even for the best knights.
"Well, now she faces Orchid..."
"The pervert from Fungal Wastes," Ren completed.
"I am going to kill you!"
"Perfect, use those murderous cravings to fight Moon, you can do it Orchid!"
"......!" Along with the insect Hollow also encouraged her.
The mantis sighed, with time after getting to know Ren she had come to feel sympathy for the bug, at least enough to not wish him death, but she had to admit that sometimes it was heavy to tolerate him, he had a good heart but his way of doing things could be rough and unsubtle. But she chose to shake off those thoughts and focus on Moon, who was already holding her club high waiting to start.
The Lord did not want to make her wait any longer, both were face to face and after a respectful bow they began the combat.
As usual, Orchid began the offensive, and following the usual path, Moon stirred her mass and hit it on the ground causing numerous crystals to fall from the ceiling. This interrupted the mantis attack, which she had to focus on dodging, but this now seemed like a natural task for her, she didn't even have to bother to see where the rocks and projectiles fell.
She tossed one of her cutting wind swirls opting for a ranged attack, but Moon had no trouble blocking it. Most of Orchid's offensives were blocked, since the weight of Moon's weapon prevented her from dodging.
Orchid continued to approach until her opponent was within range of her weapon, then she began to attack with great speed performing a series of quick thrusts, like an endless pecking rain. Moon raised her weapon and used it to block each blow with quick but precise movements, as each action was short and did not require much effort, she could keep up with the mantis, but keeping the mace up high constantly began to numb her arms. She was using a lot of force to lift the mace, she knew she couldn't hold on much longer.
The guardian stepped back a couple of steps, Orchid immediately advanced her spear forward trying to press more, but she didn't expect Moon to lift her mace and push her away. Until now she had always limited herself to blocking and attacking her with the cave rocks, but apparently she was finally putting her in the point that she had become more aggressive.
Orchid was light, Moon's push was enough to send her flying far away. Hollow and Ren thought that this would be the end of the battle, but to their surprise the Lord spun in the air leaving her feet in position to land, managing to fall to her feet with the grace of a cat. She had no time to brag about her feat, the guardian had run towards her and had jumped to an impressive height and was now falling towards her using the weight of the dough to increase the damage.
The mantis jumped slightly to the side avoiding damage, but the shaking of the earth left her somewhat stunned, some rocks fell from the sky after that blow and she was barely able to avoid them, however she was not intimidated by this and as soon as she was in a position, she jumped towards Moon, but she waved her mace again, hitting her in the air and throwing her aside.
The damage received this time was more noticeable, she did not manage to land properly, so he fell gracelessly crawling on the floor and receiving some scratches on her shell. It was not enough to defeat the mantis, Moon knew it, so without giving up, she ran towards her ready to attack once more.
The Lord was in a bad position to respond to such an attack, so she resorted to desperate measures. She took up her spear and made a swirl of cutting wind from the ground, throwing it at such a low altitude was not convenient since any rock could destroy it, but somehow the wind attack managed to reach Moon. She was strong, but she had no protection on her body, so it was not convenient for her to receive the damage, the whirlpool pointed at her feet, so she dropped her mace to block it.
Her maneuver was successful and her feet were safe, but she didn't count on the mantis popping up out of nowhere behind her and, hitting Moon's head atrociously.
Moon fell with a crash, this attack had been brutal and painful, she did not imagine that Orchid would have such strength considering her slim body. She underestimated her, but it wouldn't happen again. She tightened her grip on her mace that she had never releasedand placed it in front of her. A metallic sound and the pressure on her arms indicated that, as she supposed, Orchid had attacked. The mantises were terrible, they had no mercy with anyone, and even if their enemy was on the ground, they would continue attacking until they were certain that it was finished.
She shoved Orchid back again and quickly stood up, only to receive another onslaught from the mantis, which this time rammed her spear into the side of her body, causing her clothing to stain black. This made Moon furious. Was she trying to kill her? The truth if she had known the mantis better, she would know that she was trying to be soft, she was usually much more brutal, she even felt a little bad about hurting her.
The vessel then fluttered her mace and generated a sharp draft that damaged Orchid and knocked her back.
"Oh no... Moon got serious," Ren said with some trepidation. "Hollow..."
"......" The knight nodded and put on a safety helmet.
Moon swung her mace and hit the ground generating an energy wave that again hurt Orchid and forced her to back up further, but at the same time this blow knocked more crystals and rocks from the ceiling. With all the material that was scattered across the battlefield, moving was already beginning to be somewhat complicated. Moon did not have many difficulties, since her battle style consisted more of staying in one place and resisting there, unlike Orchid that fought moving for all her surroundings. Also, she couldn't stay still either, falling crystals and rocks could hurt her.
The mantis stumbled through the place, dodging and deflecting projectiles with her spear, at first everything seemed to be going well, that was until Moon hit the ground again, but this time with more strengh than ever, this generated a wave of energy that cracked the ground in its path, blowing pebbles in all directions.
Orchid barely managed to dodge this attack, at least the main impact, as the flying pebbles did hit her painfully. But in the midst of its flight, a crystal stuck into one of her legs, generating a pain so sharp that moving became difficult, then she saw with horror that Moon was preparing another of her blows with the mace. Desperate, she blew one of her swirls of wind straight at her body. The vessel immediately lowered the weapon to block the attack, but then something unexpected happened. Orchid's spear dug into her hand.
The guardian tore off the spear and threw it aside, quickly and grabbed her limb complaining of pain, now she could no longer take her weapon, she needed both hands to handle it well. She looked up angrily and saw Orchid approaching now with her claws held high, ready for close combat. Moon looked at her with a slight hint of superiority, few knew it but she was also good at boxing.
What followed was the fiercest battle that the Crystal Peak dwellers would see in a long time. The two females hit each other with everything they had, neither wanted to give up, both were too stubborn to give their arm to twist, Moon's punches were painful and powerful, while Orchid's claws hurt like sandpaper. The shells of both were showing more deterioration, Moon's clothes were already a mess and had many breaks, the dust from glass and rock covered them while blood and void stains covered them both. Of course, Orchid from the adrenaline of combat did not notice how rare it was for Moon to bleed black liquid.
Ren and Hollow looked at the scene wondering if they should stop them, this was already escalating beyond what was planned, but they did not know how to intervene, they were actually somewhat scared.
Suddenly Moon hit Orchid so hard that she left her stunned and the mantis ended up falling to the ground. Tha guardian was preparing to break her to end the fight. The mantis fell, wounding her back by the pieces of glass on the floor, then she tighted her claws and picked up two large crystals.
Before Moon's fist hit her face, with a speed that only a mantis could achieve, she reached out and buried the crystal of her right hand in the vessel's arm. She writhed in pain gripping her injured limb, this hurt more than the impact of the spear. And before she could do anything else, she watched in horror as Orchid leaped on top of him and threw her to the ground, pointing the glass of her left hand straight at her neck.
"I won," she said in a serious voice.
Finally, after so many days, so many beatings, trainings and bad jokes on Ren's part, Orchid was victorious, she had defeated the mighty guardian of Crystal Peak. Unfortunately Moon was not taking it very well.
At first she seemed to hear a slight moan from the vessel, which was a little strange taking in count her lack of voice, but what really alarmed her was when she began to see the expression of grief and the black tears that were peeking from her eyes.
"Moon?" Orchid began to panic, that was not a warrior-worthy attitude, it was awkward and she didn't know how to react to it.
She came out of the guardian. Moon sat on the floor without stopping crying. She projected a really pathetic image, she inspired pity and the desire to comfort her, but the mantises were not good at that type of practice, so Orchid stayed in her place dazed not knowing what to do. Fortunately Ren came to the rescue.
"Moon, don't worry, it's all alright." The pink beetle ran to her and hugged her trying to calm her.
The guardian took him in her arms and hugged him, still crying. Other beetles soon joined in trying to calm the seemingly inconsolable shadeling.
The mantis watched the scene more and more perplexed, that was something that would never see in the tribe. Mantises always tried to hide their feelings and emotions, something like crying in front of everyone would mean the contempt of their peers, especially after losing a battle. But here, everyone was attentive and kind, even trying to cheer her up with words like "next time you will win", "it is not the end of the world", "you will have your revenge", "train harder and soon you can beat her".
The whole situation began to make her feel really bad about what had hapend. Was she crying because she had lost? Or maybe she was very hard on her? Would she have hurt her very much? Would everyone hate her now for making Moon cry?
"I ... I'm sorry ..." She stammered shyly, her eyes downcast.
Then she felt a touch on her back and when she turned to see she found her beloved knight who looked at her sympathetically with a message for her on his whiteboard.
"It is not your fault. She is scared because she feels that she failed in her duty as a guardian"
"Failed?"
"Moon hardly ever loses, and now she fears she doesn't have the strength to protect the place and her friends"
Moon was scared? Were she afraid that she would not be able to protect her friends? That seemed a ridiculous idea to her. Crystal Peak was part of the Kingdom of Hallownest Heart, under the jurisdiction of King Big, a demonically powerful monarch who had under his command some of the strongest knights she had ever known, he also had some who were not as competent but they all compensated each other. Orchid was the one who should be scared, her poor tribe had no such military might, she was the only one who had been training to reach a decent level that would allow her to face an external threat, she was the only one with the necessary strength to defeat to one of the knights of the kingdom... But Moon did not know it.
If she had no idea of the general strength of her possible enemies, it was normal for her to feel overwhelmed by the power of others, if she had to fight against another Orchid she would be defeated and all the people under her protection would be in danger. She could not afford be weak, for the sake of everyone she loved.
Orchid was moved by this thought, she understood her better than anyone, knew what it was to fear for her people, and so she felt the need to reassure her.
"Moon, calm down, you are still very strong, winning was not easy, not everyone would be able to defeat you and you have not faced any mantis, there are not many like me".
"......" She gestured, still crying.
"Moon asks if it's true that not all mantises are as strong as you are."
"Mmmm..." She didn't want to make her tribe look like a bunch of weaklings, but she didn't want to scare the girl either. "Actually... There are two others that could be as strong as me but... It is not common... Still do not worry, in this place there is nothing that interests us, we would never go near this place nor would we harm anyone. And if someone tried... I would stop them myself! Because..." She started to turn red at what she was going to say but there was no going back. "Because you are my friends ... But if anyone finds out that I said this I will beat the crap out of their lives!"
Some of those present laughed at the mantis' words, they already knew her strange contradictory character and found it very funny. But Moon remained serious, she still looked at her with some regret, but at least she calmed down, then she stood up and after a moment of doubt, hugged Orchid.
The mantis turned red, she was not used to these affectionate behaviors and she was very nervous in the face of this situation, especially having half-camp with her amused eyes fixed on her. Then, not knowing what to do, she asked Hollow for help.
"Hollow... Do something please!"
Perhaps she should have been clearer in her wishes and specified that she wanted he to get Moon off her, because instead of what she wanted, she only managed to get the knight to hug her too, raising her levels of stress and embarrassment to stratospheric amounts. Her face It was already so red with a tomato and everyone laughed at this.
"I love this girl," Ren said with a laugh.
The rest of that day and the one that followed, they took advantage of it to rest, anyway both warriors were too sore to do anything else. Even so they took the time to carry out other kinds of softer activities, such as walking and exploring the corners of the mines, where Orchid was amazed with the size of the crystals of the place, in addition to being able to meet other typical creatures of the mines, which according to her eyes would be excellent prey, but at that time she did not feel like hunting (which she never believed possible), so she just watched them from afar.
The mantis also took time to learn about the work of the mines, from chipping the glass to crushing it and packing it for use. At the end of the second day, she was able to say that she was satisfied with her visit to Crystal Peak, and found with wonder that she was so entertained those days that her libido had hardly bothered her, even at times she could be with Hollow without falling into any sexual fantasy, and when that happened, she loved being with him.
Regardless of how attractive the knight was to her, he was pleasant, attentive and friendly, sometimes somewhat awkward, but very funny. She had never felt so comfortable with someone outside her family, much less with a male. When she was with him, she felt calm and safe, as if everything was somehow okay. Orchid did not realize it, but little by little she grew fond of the knight.
On the night of the second day after the battle, the knight was in one of the staff cabins where they were staying teaching the mantis to play cards, both were having a moment of relaxation before setting off back to the castle the next day .
For Orchid the game was something very new. Playing cards were another of the many things that did not exist in the tribe, all fun was focused on some practical use, whether they were crafts that they could use in daily life, or competitions to show off their power and gaining status, the games were for baby mantises that had not yet lost their wings.
Orchid sighed thinking how much it would cost her to return to her normal life, Hallownest's heart had many things that she liked, and they had nothing to do with luxury.
She liked hugs, soft toys, non-tribal music, and now she discovered that she also liked to play. This trip had ended up being a kind of vacation, which was getting closer to the end, half of her heat had already passed.
They were about to start another card game when Ren entered the place.
"Good evening lovebirds, how is your date?"
"......?"
"What?!!"
Hollow cocked her head questioningly, while Orchid stained red and waved her arms nervously denying the beetle's claim in every possible way.
"I really love this girl." Ren seemed in as good a mood as ever. "Well, it was not my intention to interrupt them, but, it turns out, a message came from Resting Grounds".
The insect extracted from a bag that carried with him, a letter that Hollow took in his hands with interest, he took a few moments to read the content which seemed to be somewhat worrying by the expression on his face. The mantis and the miner waited expectantly for him to communicate something to them. Finally the knight put the letter away and picked up his whiteboard where he began to write a message.
"Before we go back to the palace we will have to make a detour towards Resting Grounds. Alone, the guardian of the place seems to have problems"
"I see".
Orchid couldn't tell herself that she was really sad, she could get to know a new area of Hallownest, and if it was as beautiful as the City of Tears or as the Crystal Peak, she would be delighted to visit it. Perhaps she should be concerned that they were not going for pleasure, if not to solve a problem, but she was confident that Hollow could take care of everything, whatever the enemy, he could defeat it. The poor mantis in the midst of her innocence and ignorance, had not yet learned that there were problems that could not be solved by force.
The next day, after a warm farewell from Moon and all her friends, both bugs started down the mountain. Despite the joyful atmosphere they left, there was a certain melancholy in them, especially on the part of Orchid who was particularly silent and thoughtful. Hollow seemed surprised, she was not a calm or thoughtful person, those behaviors were abnormal in her. The worried bug approached his partner.
"Something happens?
"It's nothing".
"Sure? Don't you want to talk about it?"
"It really is nothing, I was just thinking." Hollow encouraged her to continue. "It's just... After meeting Moon, I've been wondering a few things... Why am I trying to be strong?"
Hollow opened his eyes in surprise at such a question, someone so obsessed with force should have their reasons clear, or so he supposed.
"Moon... She is a good person, she is very noble, she wants to be strong to protect her loved ones but I... I have always been taught that I must be strong. It is what they taught me since I came out of my egg, that the weak are pathetic and despicable, and nobody obviously wants to be like this... I suppose it would be easy to blame my parents or society but... If I'm honest, I had another reason to want to be strong, I wanted to be able... to command, to be a Lord, to be above all others, to equal my sisters, that everyone obeyed me and admired me. If you think about it, my reason was very selfish, I was not interested in protecting anyone, I did everything for myself. Am I a bad person because of that?"
The vessel thought for a moment about what to say, it was rare for Orchid to open like that and he wanted to reciprocate her trust with a good answer. Finally he took his board and started writing.
"Many people want to have power, I think that wanting to be powerful is something almost normal. I cannot say that you are bad just because of that. The important thing is what you do with the power you obtain, not everyone is prepared to bear it, many go crazy or they become cruel. But did you never harm anyone on purpose?"
"Of course not. I loved being obeyed and admired, but beyond that, I had no more pretense. I only worried about keeping fit and being on a par with my siblings, especially Lily and Lavender. I never told you? They are from a brood and a father different from me and my... Brother. They used to say that our father was a sentimental weakling and that we inherited that defect, that's why we set out to reach the top and shut the mouth of all those who underestimated us. Hollow Do you think I'm too emotional?"
The knight was afraid to answer, because the answer would be yes and a thousand times yes. This mantis had terrible and inexplicable emotional outbursts, she enraged and embarrassed with tremendous ease for inexplicable things, but being honest, he liked she in that way. She was so expressive it was easy to know more or less what was going through her head at that moment (although not knew the cause), besides being very funny, he was never bored by her side.
"You are perfect just as you are" He opted for an indirect response.
"Sure, perfect. Emotionally, mentally weak and selfish, I am an horrible person".
"And what are you going to do? Hide yourself in a cave so that no one will ever see you again?"
"The idea doesn't sound bad," she sighed sadly. "But I can't do that. I must return to my tribe... My people need me, I must train them and make them strong, they must know how limited they are, if an overly powerful threat appeared they would be defenseless".
Hollow gave her a friendly smile and showed her his board.
"I can see that you care about your tribe, that shows that you love them and a person capable of feeling sincere love cannot be bad"
Love? Could she feel love? Mantises did not feel love, although lately it was raised that their concept of love was somewhat wrong. Before she thought that loving was acting like an idiot and doing crazy things for another bug with you wanted to have sex, but now she considered that what is commonly called love is something very different, something that little by little she began to understand.
Suddenly she felt Hollow take her claw and warmth flooded her chest.
.................................................. ....
Inside the tribe of Fungal Wastes a group of males had gathered in a secret place, hidden among huge yellow mushrooms where their fluffy hats plunged the site into darkness, distinguishing one mantis from another became a challenge for those who were observing from a distance.
"Then... It's decided..."
"Yes, the lords have weakened a lot, the escape of Orchid is proof of that. That coward preferred to escape to save her life instead of facing an honorable death as it should be for a mantis."
"It is truly regrettable."
"Things can no longer stay the same, only someone powerful can rule, and the Lord's cycle is over. New regents must emerge"
"Ah, but there are still those who support Lily and Lavender, even many males."
"But there are also many females who support our cause." Both sides seem equal, but we will show that we are superior, we will crush the weak and take power. It is already decided! After Lavender lays her eggs we will attack, she will be too weak and worried about her offsprings to resist".
"We will defeat the Lords and take the tribe to a new glory period."
"By the tribe!"
"By the tribe!" They all shouted in unison.