Monarch of Webs

The night bled orange. The remnants of mana and flame lit under a fair moonlight. Corpses littered the streets; some lucky enough to have been burnt whole, others, lay in scattered pieces.

Every heartbeat echoed like a drum through Kai’s ribs as he steadied himself, his breath ragged, eyes locked on the creature before him.

The Queen loomed, its massive body outlined by the flicker of distant fires. A shriek echoed through the burning street. Smoke from a nearby shop carried through the air, mixing with the dust in the wind.

Kai glanced at Rose—her skin pale from overexertion.

“You good?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the spider.

She nodded once, though the tremor in her voice betrayed her. “Enough to burn a hole through that thing.”

The Queen screeched, its body rising high, casting them both in shadow. Then it descended.

Kai flexed his fists, mana pulsing through his veins like wildfire. Without a second thought, he dashed forward.

His movement was almost reckless, the dusted cobblestone cracking under his steps. The first leg came down on him, he parried it with both arms, sliding back from the impact. 

The hit was heavy.

Another leg came down at an angle. He ducked the swipe, repositioning himself with an enhanced leap to meet the creature's thorax. The punch connected, but its shell held. He landed, leaping back.

“Too thick,” he muttered through gritted teeth.

Rose raised her arm, she had to be more careful with which spell she casted. Once again, she conjured a half-arc of flame shards midair. Each piece flickered, as if the wind itself tried to snuff them out, but she forced them steady. “I’m running out of mana,” she whispered under her breath.

Kai noticed Rose’s magic forming behind him. He needed to create an opening—needed to hold it down. He lunged again, grabbing one of the spider’s front limbs. His muscles screamed as he twisted, but the leg stayed firm. The creature shrieked, flinging him hard into a nearby building.

“Kai!”

Rose fired. The bullets struck its leg, coating it in roaring flame—but even as it burned, the spider reacted fast. It bit off the burning limb; the severed piece crashed to the street with a heavy thud.  

The Queen hopped backward, turning its abdomen toward Rose.

“She’s… learning,” Rose muttered, eyes sharp despite her fatigue. “She’s switching to long range.”

The Queen spat a jet of silk, thick as a rope.

Rose dodged, just barely.

Kai stirred in the rubble, slowly lifting himself. Dust, old webbing, and splintered wood clung to his clothes as he brushed them off with a cough.

Ahead, Rose struggled to evade the barrage of webbed projectiles. Sweat beamed down her face as a strand caught her leg, pinning her down. She quickly formed a weakened fire shard above her hand and launched it at the webbing—but she was too late.

The Queen was already taking advantage of her immobility, firing another stream of silk that cocooned her lower half.

“Rose!”

Before he could react, the Queen lunged forward. One of its front legs raised—ready to impale.

Kai moved. His arms and legs flared with mana as his vision narrowed. Every sound drowned out except the thunder of his own heartbeat.

Too slow.

He did a final leap, arm reached out—too far, he knew—but his mana pulsed violently, as if something inside him had snapped free. The energy around his arm thickened, solidified, and then extended—a massive orange limb of pure mana bursting outward.

The phantom hand caught the spider’s leg inches before it struck Rose.

The momentum he pulled forced him and the leg to pass Rose, whose eyes had widened.

"Kai...?"

He didn't answer. His scars and veins pulsed orange as he gripped the Queen's leg tighter above. Then, the spectral limb bent the spider's leg sideways, twisting it until a sickening snap rang through the street.

The Queen staggered, its body jerking backward, stumbling under its own weight. 

Kai took a moment to digest what he was seeing. The mana arm shimmered in front of him. It radiated a warm gold, as it followed the motion of his real arm instinctively. It was as if every nerve was in sync with the ethereal one.

 He yanked the broken leg.

The spider's massive frame flew sideways, crashing into another set of ruined buildings.

Kai looked at his mana hand again, his face grimacing in disgust.

"Looks like she doesn't want this."

He flung the separated leg to the side.

The Queen writhed in pain, it's remaining limbs thrashing wildly.

He noticed his vision beginning to blur as the glowing appendage flickered, its outline thinning.  “Come on… stay with me,” he muttered, forcing the mana to stabilize.

Rose, still half-bound by silk, stared in awe. He… he’s not channeling a spell. Is it mana projection?

Her heart pounded at the realization. Kai was pushing beyond his threshold. He was creating an advanced version of basic enhancement.

She was intrigued—but even more...

She was proud.

The Queen’s hiss tore through her thoughts. It rose again, acid bubbling at the corners of its fangs.

Kai steadied his heavy body. The spectral limb had cracks like glass. He clenched his teeth, digging deeper. “Just... one more...”

The Queen prepared lunge.

Rose wasn't going to be outdone by her stabilizer. She had to try her best until the very end too. Although she couldn't move, although she didn't have mana left, she had to push through.

She raised her hands ahead. Tiny embers flickered and died. She grimaced, trying again. If she couldn't create flames, she would have to borrow them. She pulled the scattered fires from around the battlefield toward her palm. With a collective breath, the town was no longer burned. She concentrated the flame in front of her with precise focus.

Not a barrage. Not a spread.

One point.

The air shimmered as her flames formed into a sphere the size of her head. it pulsed wildly, the glow and head biting against her skin. She ignored it, compressing it tighter, then shaping it into a shard. Her vision began to fade from the strain.

The Queen finally lunged toward Kai, her screeches echoing. Desperate.

But Rose had her locked.

Her eyes glowed faintly from the light of her creation. Her voice trembled, not from fear but resolve.
"Fall."

The flame pulsed forward.

It shot across the street in a blazing trail, a spear of compressed fire cutting the air like molten glass. It tore through the Queen’s abdomen—clean and precise—leaving a burning hole where the shell once was.

The impact halted the spider mid-motion. Its shriek became a strangled gurgle as smoke and embers poured from the wound as it crashed to the floor in front of Kai.

Kai didn't wait.

He rushed into a running leap, his mana fading from his legs as he briefly hung in the air. He fell with his spectral hand rolled into one last fist.

“Die!” he roared.

His projected fist slammed into its head with earth-splitting force. The impact echoed down the street, shaking what few buildings remained standing.

The spider’s skull caved in, its body twitching once before collapsing in a heap.

Then silence.

Kai dropped to one knee, gasping for air. The mana limb fractured completely, scattering like fading sparks before vanishing.

His body ached. His vision blurred from exhaustion.

But they did it.

The Queen's corpse smoked behind him, sizzling in the night. 

Then he remembered.

Rose.

He turned toward her.

There she stood, upright and wrapped halfway in silk. Her head bowed forward. 

Asleep.

Kai exhaled weakly, half a laugh escaping him. “Of course you are…”

He pushed himself to his feet, every movement aching. He stumbled toward her, tearing away the silk still binding her legs. The strands gave way to his stabilizer strength, as he threw them aside. 

When she was finally free, he hesitated only a moment before scooping her into his arms. She was lighter than he expected.

The street was quiet now—only the crackle of the Queen’s burning body and the faint whistle of wind between ruined buildings.

He stepped carefully over debris, his boots crunching against broken glass. He forced himself toward a building unaffected by the damages of time and battle. Luckily, it had a walls. Just enough to cover them from the wind.

He carried her inside and lowered her gently onto a patch of unbroken floor.

For a moment, he just watched her. Her face, even drained and pale, was calm. Her breaths were slow and steady.

He leaned back against the opposite wall, sliding down until he sat on the ground. His head tilted toward the ceiling.

“…Guess I finally caught up a little,” he murmured, smiling faintly.

Outside, the firelight dimmed as ash drifted into the air. The Queen’s massive shadow flickered and vanished in the glow.

For the first time that night, there was peace.

The two of them—burnt, bruised, and alive—had survived the Monarch of Webs.