The manifesting miasmic flames could potentially damage her a great deal, but Arachne was willing to risk it. Right now, Noah had only addressed Fenrir; this was her chance to end it before Noah had to intervene with her side as well.
Arachne’s body launched forward with less of her usual explosive force, the still-beating pulsations disrupting her movements. The skeleton, once too slow to keep up with her, was now able to follow her trajectory. A low, vibrating roar rumbled within it as its shield arm struggled against the webs, the miasmic flames steadily eating away at the restraints.
With a sudden shift, a small layer of webs binding its arm loosened just enough for the skeleton to raise its shield, desperately attempting to cover both its heart and face.
Despite the defensive motion, Arachne’s eyes gleamed with an ethereal glow, maintaining the same trajectory in her attack, as if the shield was incapable of blocking her blow.
The skeleton, fully aware of its situation, locked its gaze on her. It understood that while it might not be able to block all her incoming strikes, its most vulnerable areas; its heart and face, were protected for the moment. All it needed was a sliver of time, just enough to free its other arm for a counterattack.
Trading blows was not a concern for the undead creature. It bore no hesitation; its life was not its own, and as long as it didn’t perish, the wounds it sustained were inconsequential. Injuries would only be fleeting marks upon its form, quickly healed through by the necrotic energy within it.
Just as the skeleton braced itself for Arachne’s attack, fully positioned behind its shield, something inexplicable occurred. Without any conscious thought, the shield dropped, leaving its heart and face exposed mere moments before Arachne was upon it. Its struggle to free the other arm ceased altogether. Confusion flickered within the creature’s hollow gaze, unable to comprehend why it had felt the sudden, uncontrollable urge to lower its defenses.
Soon after, a series of collisions sounded, Arachne performing a quick succession of attacks to the skeleton’s body. Her spider limbs clanked against its bony structure, each hit was unrelenting as she desired to finish off the creature with this one exchange. Her human-like hand shot forward, fingers outstretched in a grasping motion, aiming directly for the skeleton’s heart.
With every strike, an oozing green liquid dripped from her appendages, seeping into the cracks forming along the skeleton’s structure. She was matching the timing of her attack with the timing of when the judgment would take place.
After lowering the skeleton’s constitution by 30% and raising her own by 15% of the difference, she only needed 5% left to go before it triggered.
Arachne’s hand recoiled sharply as her attack against the skeleton’s chest was unexpectedly repelled with a forceful ding. She staggered back slightly, her eyes narrowing in disbelief. The judgment she had so meticulously planned was now delayed, her calculations disrupted. The skeleton, despite the corrosive poison and weakening effects of her webs, was resisting far more than she had anticipated.
"Tsk!" She hissed at another failure, her spider appendages lifted up, prepared to strike its head with all she could instead. Her eyes flickered seeing the skeleton about to free its arm, her human hands flicked out, generating another layer of webs while simultaneously bringing down her spider legs with full force.
By this time, a silver light exploded in the skeletons’ eyes. It was so focused on resisting the webs with its miasma that it held no thoughts of doing anything else with it. But the little girl, who continued to stand off on the sidelines, seemingly inconsequential and not engaged in the battle, had finally made her move; forcing the skeleton to redirect the miasma onto its face, shrouding it in a thick cloud of necrotic energy, engaged to sacrifice its head for Arachne’s legs.
With Arachne’s reflexes, there was still enough time to disengage. There was no reason to bring herself to harm when Noah was there, but it was because he was there that she continued with her harmful efforts.
"Enough Arachne," Noah’s voice sounded on her side. Her body tensed to his command, halting her mid-action. Her limbs froze, inches away from piercing into the miasma, impaling the skeleton’s skull. The stern authority in his tone made her believe that he was unhappy with her performance, and he had now seen enough.
Grinding her teeth, Arachne reluctantly withdrew, her spider appendages retracting as she leaped away from the skeleton to Noah’s side, shamefully lowering her head at their failure, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.
"I could have finished it..." Arachne clenched her fists, her eyes unable to meet his gaze as she stared into the ground. Then she felt something rest on one of her spider appendages. The sudden contact made her eyes snap over, seeing Noah’s own spider leg resting on hers.
"I know," Noah softly said. "But sometimes, it’s not about proving what you can do. It’s about knowing when enough is enough. A Queen should get her hands dirty, but is flaunting your power necessary when you would allow something weaker than you to hurt you?"
Arachne’s fists remained clenched, though her anger was no longer directed at Noah. She wanted to argue, to tell him that she had to prove herself. "I just..." Her voice wavered while her fist slowly unclenched. "I don’t want to keep being weak, I’m your Queen...I need to be the strongest."
Noah’s gaze softened. He knew that her pride as his Queen wasn’t just a title she wore, nor some grand acknowledgment of her feelings for him. It was something that became deeply rooted in her identity the moment they became partners. It became an assurance for her to always have a place by his side. She had already etched the idea into her very existence that being a Queen is what Noah desired of her. He had seen it in her actions, her need to constantly prove herself, and the quiet desperation in her eyes whenever she felt she might fall short.
But what stood out more at that moment was the presence lurking behind them. Countless eyes watched the exchange, glowing softly from the darkness with an unsettling curiosity. Ailetta’s eyes, sharp and all-encompassing, were among them. Despite her possessiveness, her jealousy that often simmered just beneath the surface, there was no explosion of rage, no immediate intervention. Instead, there was a strange calm in how she observed the conversation.
Just because she changed, her appreciation for Arachne and what she’s done for Noah didn’t get influenced by her transformation; if anything, her respect for the spider grew stronger.
"The only one who thinks you’re weak is you, Arachne. Everything we faced; all of the ’strong’ creatures we almost died to, in the end, we are the ones who overcame them. Even now, you are the one who won in this exchange. No one here views you as weak. I never did, and I never will."
Arachne’s eyes flickered with uncertainty, her shoulders tensing. "But I should be able to—"
Before she could continue, the skeletons’ resentful roar raged out. Its heavy footsteps sounded closer and closer towards them.
"If you want to be stronger, then just winning your fights isn’t enough to prove that.." As he spoke, Noah’s eyes flickered once more with an ominous glow. The glow caused both the skeleton and the little girl to become unresponsive. Unlike before, the crimson’s gems grew in size, almost completely overfilling his pupils. During that time, the skeleton’s wounds began to heal at an even faster rate than before, the green poison seeping out of its structure evaporated. Even the little zombie’s poisoned spots began reverting to their usual color, as if the corruption within her was being cleansed.
And then finally, the red gems in his eyes shifted from its crimson visage to an intense whiteness. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, only the zombie girl began to go through a massive change. The girl’s once bloodied blonde hair that clung tightly to her lower back soon turned into a similar blonde strands of fur that dangled from her head just like Noah’s. Parts of her skin from all over took on a dark, smooth gray matte finish, as if her skin was becoming more of a hardened material rather than an exoskeleton.
As the transformation progressed, the material covering her body became more pronounced, encasing her joints in thin, flexible padding that still allowed for seamless movement. The same dark, matte material covered her shins and forearms, while also tracing along her spine and spreading forward to protect her ribs, enveloping her chest in a sleek yet formidable armor. The spiderweb veins submerged on her skin grew in number, more in the places of the areas above her neck, giving the area an illusion that her skin in that area was blackened compared to the rest of her pale skin.
Then, a deep incision began to form on her forehead, more precisely, in the dead center of her upside down cross, as if her skin was splitting of its own accord. The blood slowly traveled down her face, mixing with the blood that also began to travel down her pair of eyes that was now fully closed.
Arachne’s breath caught in her throat as she watched. It wasn’t the first time she’s seen Noah perform a similar feat, but it was surreal to her how the creature she had to put so much effort into to destroy was effortlessly being forced into eternal submission. This was the strength Noah talked about, complete domination. This was the strength that she sought.