Gianna's laughter rang through the cold, cracked chamber like a death knell. Her mandibles gleamed with venomous anticipation, curved and cruel as she circled Lily like a predator toying with its prey. Lily panted, crouched low, mandibles raised in a tight guard. The earlier fire in her heart now flickered against the storm of reality.
"I trained all my life for this moment..." Lily murmured to herself, eyes narrowed. Her arms trembled—not with fear, but with fatigue. "I endured all that suffering for this."
Gianna lunged with blistering speed, her mandibles cleaving through the air with thunderous weight. Lily barely rolled away, the blow shattering the stone where she had stood a heartbeat before.
"Awfully nimble for a glorified ant," Gianna sneered, her hair swishing behind her. "But that's all you've got, isn't it? Running away."
Lily gritted her teeth, circling back. "I'm not running. I'm waiting."
"For what? Your funeral?" Gianna charged again, swiping in a brutal arc.
Lily blocked—just barely.
CRACK!
The force sent her sailing through the air, crashing spine-first into the wall with a sickening thud. Dust exploded around her, and her mandibles dropped from her grasp as she crumpled to the floor.
"LILY!" Beatrice cried out, her voice hoarse with strain.
Lily groaned, her head swimming. Her limbs screamed in protest. Her body was done. But her will wasn't.
Gianna laughed as she strolled toward the fallen ant, boots echoing with each slow, cruel step. "Imagine… all those years, all that pitiful effort. And this is what you have to show for it? A cracked back and blood in your mouth?"
She knelt beside Lily, mockingly gentle. "You should've known your place, worker. You're not even a soldier. You're just a weak, insignificant child playing war."
Lily's fingers curled, scrabbling for her fallen mandibles.
Gianna raised her weapon. "Say hello to your parents for me in the afterlife."
CLANG!
The blow never landed.
Beatrice had thrown herself in front of Lily, her arm raised, intercepting the impact with her own mandible. She grunted as pain lanced through her shoulder, her broken arm dangling uselessly at her side.
"You're going to have to go through me first," Beatrice snarled.
Gianna rolled her eyes. "You again? You couldn't handle one hit earlier."
"Try me again," Beatrice said, breathing hard. "See how far you get."
She helped Lily up with her injured arm. "Come on, Lily. Stand. We're not done yet."
Lily blinked through the pain, dazed. "B-Beatrice, your arm—"
"I don't care. You're not dying here."
Gianna scoffed and launched another attack. Both ants dodged, barely escaping the arc of death. Gianna vanished in a blur and reappeared behind Beatrice, slamming her foot into her abdomen. Beatrice gasped, eyes wide, and was sent crashing through a stone pillar, rubble burying her halfway.
"BEATRICE!" Lily screamed.
Behind another cracked wall, Isla trembled like a leaf in a storm. Her eyes were wide, chest heaving, legs frozen in place. Her hands clutched her mandibles so tightly the tips dug into her palms.
This can't be real. They're losing. They're… going to die.
"Come on, Isla. Move your legs," she said to herself while trembling. "Move. Move!"
Gianna dusted off her spiky arm with a grin. "Two military ants. Two failures. Pathetic. I've fought young grasshoppers with more spine."
Lily's vision blurred. Her legs threatened to give, but she forced herself upright, stepping over cracked stone and blood. "I'm not done," she said weakly.
Gianna's grin widened. "Oh? Then let's finish this."
Lily lunged again, desperation in every step. But Gianna caught her attack with ease and struck back with a whirlwind of savage blows. Lily dodged, blocked, and ducked, but each clash pushed her further to the edge.
"Don't you see it?" Gianna hissed, eyes gleaming. "You're just delaying the inevitable. No matter how much you struggle, you'll never beat me."
Lily's arm shook as she parried another strike. "Maybe not…"
She gasped, barely catching the next blow, her legs sliding on cracked stone.
"But I won't stop."
Gianna leaned in, eyes cold. "Because of your parents? Pathetic. I killed them because I could. They meant nothing."
Lily screamed and swung wide—but Gianna easily sidestepped and slammed her elbow into Lily's chest. Lily crumpled, coughing blood onto the floor.
Gianna raised her mandibles again. "Enough of this farce. You die now."
She brought her weapon down—and it stopped again.
Beatrice, bloodied and shaking, had returned. She caught the blow with her remaining strength, eyes blazing.
"You talk too much," she growled.
Gianna's gaze twitched. "Why do you insist on delaying your end?"
"Because she's not alone," Beatrice said, pushing forward, eyes locked with Lily's. "You're not alone. Remember that."
Lily wiped blood from her mouth. "I… I remember."
"Then fight."
Gianna snarled and struck at Beatrice's legs, forcing her to jump back on trembling limbs. The distraction gave Lily just enough time to leap forward, slicing across Gianna's arm with a surprise blow.
Gianna hissed, glaring at the blood that now dripped down her bicep.
Lily smirked through the blood on her lips. "You're bleeding. Doesn't feel so invincible now, does it?"
"You'll regret that."
Gianna turned into a blur of movement, attacking both ants with relentless speed and force. Lily and Beatrice were driven back step by step, fending off blow after blow. Every strike was a storm, every dodge a desperate prayer.
Beatrice collapsed to one knee, gasping. "I'm… I'm out of gas."
"I'll cover you," Lily said, breathing heavily.
"You sure about that?"
Lily nodded, eyes resolute. "I've never been more sure."
"You're both idiots," Gianna snarled. "Broken. Weak. Useless."
She slammed her foot into the ground, cracking the floor, then swung both mandibles at once. Lily crossed her blades and caught the blow—but it sent her skidding back.
Still, she didn't fall.
She raised her eyes. "You can call me weak all you want. I don't care about that."
Gianna tilted her head mockingly. "Is that supposed to be bravery? Sounds like surrender to me."
"No," Lily said, stepping forward. "I'm done listening to monsters like you. I fight not because I think I can win—but because I have to. I fight for them. My colony. Beatrice. Isla. And everyone precious to me who died because of you and Hopper."
Gianna laughed. "What a noble speech. Shame it ends with your funeral."
She leapt forward, claws flashing. Lily ducked, sidestepped, blocked. The chamber shook with the force of Gianna's strength, stone raining from the ceiling above.
Behind a shattered pillar, Isla was crying. Her heart pounded in her ears.
"I have to move… I have to help them…"
Gianna landed a blow that sent Lily reeling again, but Lily landed on her feet, panting, lips curled into a defiant snarl.
Gianna frowned. "Why won't you break?"
Lily staggered upright. "Because I've already been broken. And I put myself back together."
Then Isla screamed.
"I WON'T LET YOU HURT THEM ANYMORE!"
She burst from hiding, mandibles drawn, eyes wide with fury and tears. Her legs carried her faster than she thought possible.
Gianna turned—just in time to see the weakest of the trio .
"Well, well," she purred. "Looks like the baby finally found her spine."
Lily smiled faintly. "Took you long enough."
Isla took her place beside Lily, shaking but steady.
"I don't care how scared I am," Isla said. "I won't let you win."
Gianna chuckled. "You'll die just like the rest."
Beatrice, still kneeling, raised her head. "Then we'll die together."
The three ants stood united—fearful, battered, bloodied—but unyielding.