IMPERIUM INSECTUM

*BANG BANG BANG*

I Shot out of bed. “WHAT THE HELL?”

*BANG BANG BANG* “SISTER PLEASE WAKE UP HELP!”

What in th- I shot out of my bunk bed and headed to the door. Several of the other sisters were already awake and wondering what the commotion was.

“HELP PLEASE. The monster is nearly here!”

I pulled the door open to get immediately tackled.

“Sister Friede!” The boy yelled. As he let out a tearful cry.

“It's okay, I'm here. What's going on? Where is Clarissa?”

The boy just shook his head and cried even more. Just what the hell-

*KABOOM*

What semblence of peace and sanity was shattered as something large flew into the room. The room was filled with the sounds of Panic and screams as my fellow sisters tried to figure out what was going on and look after the injured. Lord Eupharn, please help us.

“Friede!” A voice yelled. I snapped my head to see one of the other nuns calling me. “I need help.”

I nodded and shot right up. I need to focus here and-

I stopped dead in my tracks. A cold tingle went up and down my spine, And my heart began to race. Lord Eupharn, what is this?

“Here you are” A cold, shrill voice let out, causing all the chaos to pause for a moment. I looked at the other nuns. Some let out quiet prayers whilst most were like me, frozen solid in their tracks.

“NOOOOOO!” The boy screamed. His scream managed to bring me back to my senses. I turned around and went back to the boy.

“It's gonna be fine…” I said, grabbing him and trying to calm him. “Everything will be-“

*CRACK*

On instinct, my eyes shut tight. What was that?! Suddenly, a weird warmth and wetness was all over my face. “Graham?”My heart raced as my eyes slowly crept open. “Graham, are you AUGHAAAAAAAAA!” I screamed as his head was sheared clean off, leaving only a stump.

“GRAHAMMMMMM!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about him yet?”

I turned to the side, and there it was, the monster. It wore a snide, uncaring smile. The monster was covered head to toe in blood like it had just crawled its way out of the deepest pit in hell. It walked closer to us whilst it played with what looked like a stone in its hand.

“That was surprisingly effective.”

“GET BACK”

I instantly raised my hand, and a blast of ice shot out and towards the monster. 

“GO BACK TO WHERE THE HELL YOU CAME FROM” I poured all my mana into the beam. I wasn’t the best image, but this Had to do something. I looked back to my other sisters, who were still still reeling from the death of Graham.

“Everyone! I Don’t think this will stop it! You all need to escape now!”

“Oh hohoho, None of you are going ANYWHERE”, The monsters bellowed. Suddenly, there was a large burst of inky black smoke as the monster started to move forward.

“Some time ago, that would have been a problem,”

In an instant, the monster lunged forward and grabbed my neck.

“R..UN EVERYONE”

“You Have Ice powers and aren’t to bad looking. I think I'll keep you.” I reached over to fight but before I could do anything my vision went black.

 

--------

“PLEASE STO-”

Blood gushed from the last nun's throat as my claw finished them off.

<Mother, I think that all of them?>

I looked around at the now-destroyed dormitory. Corpses and blood stained the walls, truly my best piece of work

<Mother?!>

<Sorry. Continue.>

<Yes, mother. We've found where the rest of them are hiding.>

<Good lead the way>

I turned around and followed the fly. Stepping over corpses and puddles of blood as I made my way out of the basement dormitory. In total, there were 8 nuns, including Theresa and the ice one, Speaking of the ice one. I picked up her unconscious body as I made my way out of the room.

<We need to stop by the main door. To drop her off.>

The fly nodded as we diverted directions. Whilst we were making our way there, I opened the system.’

Challenge: They weren't wanted anyway… COMPLETED Awarded 30 points

 

New skill added: Rock throwing. You can now throw rocks with increased precision and accuracy

 

I chuckled, reading the last one. It's such a simple act, and yet it gave me a skill for it. However, it is nice to have a ranged option in my arsenal now. We continued walking until finally we arrived at the main entrance where Theresa was tied to a wall next to her dead friend.

“Im Baaaaaaack”

Theresa looked up at me with a defeated expression.

“It took me a while, but they are all dead. All of the little vermin and your best friends.”

I took the head of one of the nuns and rolled it towards her.

“Vicky….Nooooo”

“bah bah bah. Don’t cry. I may have exaggerated a little bit about them all being dead.”

I dropped the body of the ice nun next to Theresa and tied her up.

“Frieda…..Why?”

“She has something I want.”

“What.”

“You don’t need to know. Now I have to go deal with more pests ill be back shortly. However, just before I leave.” I stomped on both of Friede's knees, causing a loud snapping sound. Whilst I do have one of my children watching at all times, I can't run the risk of her running away. I pulled on both of her arms, causing a satisfying *pop* as I dislocated both of them.

“Ta’ta now. See you soon.”

I nodded to my child as I took off away from the two.

< Let's pick up the pace, shall we>

We sprinted towards the rear of the building and out into some sort of garden filled with fruits and vegetables.

We continued down the loose stone path towards some sort of barn in the distance filled with lights. I slowed down, coming to a full stop inside some bushes. I `peeked through, and I could see several less-than-holy men loading stuff into several wagons.

<That’s them>

<You sure?>

<Yes we found no other humans around in this area.>

<Good. Do you remember how we took out that bandit camp?>

He nodded. <Yes. I have all your memories.>

<Wait, you have…… We'll, discuss that later. We need to focus on this. I want you to take out the horses first so nothing can leave. Doing this will get a lot of attention, so when they all come out, I want you to land and take out the stronger-looking one with poison. I'll take out the remaining weaker ones from here.>

<How?>

I picked up a nearby rock from the path and showed it to him. < Let's put that new skill to work, shall we.>

He nodded, and a small clutch of 10 insects followed him. Whilst they were doing that, I quickly opened the menu and went to the [ROCK THROWING] ability

Would you like to upgrade this ability from level 1 to 4 Cost 16 points

 

Yes, yes, YES! Hurry up.

Skill upgraded The speed and accuracy of rocks you go throw is increased 4x Bonus: rocks you throw are now able to weakly home in on targets.

 

I readied my rock and looked for a target. My vision got sharper as I focused on his head. My arm muscles tensed and were poised and ready to send this rock flying into his cranium.

I watched and waited until, finally, there was a loud neighing noise as one of the horses collapsed to the ground. Followed by another and another.

I listened closely as the commotion of different people could be heard as they tried to figure out what was happening. I closed my eyes and used [hive link] to see out of one of my children's eyes.

<Mother?>

<Focus. How many are there here?>

<Around 35>

<A lot more than expected. Alright, proceed as planned. Take 'em out.>

He flew down and landed on one of the men.

< On my mark GO!>

He bit deeply into his pink flesh and delivered as much venom as quickly as he could. The man reached around to swat him away, But he was gone instantly.

I cut the hive link and waited. Soon, several of the men started to vomit as their faces and bodies swelled Like balloons. Joy washed through me as I watched as they fell to the floor, writhing in agony. Hahaha! Perfect. Just as planned, Panic sprung amongst the group. I aimed at one of the distracted men and flung the rock. It flew like a bullet and collided with his head, sending blood and brain matter onto the nearby men. I flung 2 more rocks in quick succession, one hitting a man in the leg and shattering the bones and the other hitting a man's stomach and going clean through. I flung more and more, taking out and killing as many as I could. Some ran back into the barn and out of sight. I think in total, we killed and immobilised 20 men.

I climbed out from my bush and sprinted to the barn. Grinning and cackling like a mad woman

I bolted straight into the barn and lept onto the first man I saw, plunging my claws into his back.

“W…WHAT THE HELL WAS  THAT.”

“DON’T ASK STUPID QUESTIONS AND JUST KILL  THE DAMN THING”

The men looked at each other before all coming at me. 14 vs 1. I like these odds. I sent null mana down to my hands and got ready to fight.

“WAAAGGGHHHHHH! DIE YOU MONSTER,” a voice came from behind. I quickly turned around just in time to see a blade come towards my head. Instantly, my hands reached up and wrapped around the blade.

“What the. That’s impossible!”

“You have no idea what's possible.”

Suddenly the black null mana wrapped my hand and lept up and along the blade, dissolving it into nothing. The man stared in shock giving me the opportunity to deliver a blow on his jaw with my other hand. The blow sent him flying across the floor.  

Hehehe, I guess all that training was worth it. It's not a new spell or anything but more of an adaptation of my Null shroud. Whilst the full-body null shroud essentially makes me impervious to any attack, it eats a lot of mana, I Mean a lot. The longest I've managed to keep it up for was around 30 seconds. So, during my training, I figured out that I could use null shrouds in specific areas of my body, such as my arms, turning them from a defensive tool into an offensive one. Look at me. Arent I clever, unlike this idiot who doesn’t know to stay down? I looked back towards The man And smiled. He let out a pained gargle as blood gushed from where his bottom jaw was. The null mana in my punch had completely taken it with that punch. He let out a deep, shrill scream and dropped to his knees. Seeing the opportunity, I leapt forward with my pincers extended and skewered him, finishing him of.

“That’s one now for the rest of you..”

They all looked at me, frightened and hesitant to move.

“Oh, look at your hearts tremble. Come on! Who's gonna swing at me first!” I yelled! My battle cry only seemed to be the opposite.

“Are you seriously gonna let this creature scare you that easily?” A deep booming voice yelled amongst the crowd. Soon, the group parted, exposing a bald-headed man with an eye patch and an expensive-looking uniform.

“Remember, there are 14 of us And 1 of whatever this creature is. You are all some of the roughest, toughest SOB’s I've ever met. Are you really gonna let this girl scare you?.”

I looked around the room as suddenly, the demeanour amongst them changed from fear to confidence.

“that’s what I like to see! Now I'll let you misreable lot into something. Whoever beats her gets do whatever they want with her.”

I rolled my eyes. Whatever maintains morale I suppose. I extended out my pincers as I got ready to fight.

 “We all attack at the same time. On 3. 3!”

They all screamed and charged at me.

I ran forward to meet them head-on. I delivered several quick punches with null mana. Turning him into Swiss cheese on the spot. 1 down.

I extended my pincers out around me, Impaling several men around me with ease. 4  down. I killed the null mana in my hands and switched to my claws, which I used to slice across the stomach of one of the men, causing his guts to spill onto the ground. 5 down, 9 to go.

Suddenly, a group of insects flew out of my body and started harassing several of the Men. I sprinted towards One of the men and put my hand on his back.

“[NULL RELEASE]!” I yelled, releasing my mana into his body. The wave of null mana rolled across his body, Erasing him out of existence.

“W…..WHAT THE FUCK!” I snapped my head towards the voice just in time to see his face start to balloon as the poison from my children got to work. He collapsed to the ground, followed by another. As the venom finally claimed their life

<Good work. I'll reward you all later.>

8 down 6 to go. I'll have to- Instinctively, I jumped to the left as I watched as an arrow flew from behind me. I looked behind me to see 3 people holding bows with fear on their faces. “You’ll pay for that.”

I sprinted towards them. I activated my [enhanced reactions] and easily dodged my way through the volley of arrows.

“FUCK WE CANT HIT IT WE NEED TO AGHHHHHHHAAAAAAAA!”

The woman screamed as I lunged at her plunging my thumbs into her eyes, causing her to fall flat on her ass. Instantly, I pulled the last arrow out of her quiver And ran into the man next to her plunging it deep into his heart. Killing him instantly. The third tried to run away, but i managed to catch her in a hug.

“NO PLEASE, IM SORRY, DON- AGHHHHHHAAAA NOOOOOOOO.” *SNAP*  Her body went limp as her spine was cracked into two pieces.

“And then there were 3….” I dropped her body and turned around to see 3 remain. The commander, A woman holding what looked like a sceptre and a huge, hulking man wearing rudimentary iron armour.

I walked towards them. With my body covered in blood.

“Hahaha, you took out the fodder well.” He said without an ounce of care. “ Maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Why don’t you join us? We could always use someone like you.” The commander said.

“No interested. Frankly, I’m getting tired of all this human drama. In the end, you're issues are pointless; you will all die by my hands at some point.”

“Really?.... What a shame. I guess we’ll have to kill you. Get em R'yngou.”

The big guy roared as he charged me.

“Lord Eupharn bless Thy strength and might!”

The girl smashed her staff into the ground, and the bodies of all 3 of them started to glow with a golden hue.

“If you think that will help, you’re sadly mistaken.” I charged towards the big guy. First things first, I need to take out that girl. The last thing I need is for her to start putting more buffs on everyone.

I charged towards the big guy, getting as close as I felt comfortable and then, in one smooth action, I sidestepped to the right, causing him to sail past me. Their eyes bulged as I barreled towards them

“Shit, Kayla!” The commander

“Blessing of speed!”

A green hue appeared around the man. As he sprinted forward.

<SHIT>

I raised my hands in a cross as the man delivered a blow into my arms, stopping me dead in my tracks.

“you’re gonna need to be fast if you're gonna beat me”

I chuckled as black null mana leaked from my hands. The man’s eyes bulged as he backed away just in time for the null mana to take the leather off his gloves

“I don’t know what that is. But it won’t save you! R’yngo NOW!”

Suddenly a large pair of hands wrapped me in a bear hug.

<Crap I forgot about you!>

“WAAAAGHAAAA”

<Get your Hands off me, you retarded creature>

I fully activated my null shroud, covering my whole body in the vile mana. In no time, the mana instantly ate his iron armour, exposing his bear flesh.

The big dumb brute started screaming as his flesh slowly got eaten away.

“R’yngo, NO!”

He dropped me to the ground, And I cartwheeled backwards. A smile crept onto my face as I watched the fool roll around as blood gushed onto the floor where his arms were. Seeing an opportunity, I leapt into the air and onto his back.

I sent all the mana I could into my arm and slammed it onto the armour on his back.

[NULL RELEASE!] I screamed. The mana pooled at the base of my arm, and in one violent shunt, it moved forward in one unstoppable wave, Shooting out a big black circular jet through the man and out through the roof of the building.

New spell added: NULL-Driver A focused, concentrated jet of null mana that will carve through anything in its path.

 

R’yngo fell like a tree to the ground as all his remaining guts spilt out of the circular hole onto the dirt floor. I held my fist, still shrouded in black, vile mana, towards the remaining two.

“If you thought it's gonna be an easy fight. Guess again.”

Suddenly, the black man started to splutter and fade away.

“Looks like you're running on fumes,” the commander said. “Either way, if you think I will fall like that humongous oaf,” he suddenly disappeared.  

I quickly raised my hands to block just in time for a short blade to collide with my armour.

“You’ve got another thing coming…”

“Ha! A man who needs strength from others won't last 5 minutes against me.”
My pincers came down, but just like before, he disappeared. Dammit. I need to slow him down.

I glanced towards the girl. She stood completely still with her eyes closed. So that’s how it works. She has to focus to keep the buffs active. Meaning..

I bolted in her distraction. If I deal with her, this fight can be easily won. Haha, this is too easy.

“Kayla!”

The man landed right in front of me, stopping me from advancing.

“You won't lay a single hand on her.” I guess killing her is easier said than done. Unless- I instantly bolted out of the barn towards the bodies I left outside.

“Oh no, you don’t”.

He turned into a blur as he ran after me. Fuck I need to be quick. I made it out of the barn and toward one of the bodies.

<There it is. I just need to->

-100 health. CAUTION CONCUSSION. HP 200/300

 

My head rolled and ached. What the hell was that? Did he punch me? I got up as quickly as I could just to find myself several meters away from the barn on the stone path I was at earlier. Wait stone. I quickly picked up one of the stones and ran back towards the barn. Fuck, whatever, that was fucking hurt. That speed is a problem if that girl doesn’t die, I won't win this fight. I sprinted to the entrance just in time to see the commander talking to the women.

“HEY. I DIDN’T HERE NO BELL!”

“You’ve gotta be shitting me!” He yelled. The green and gold hues were gone. This is my chance.

“LORD EUPHARN-“

Before she could finish, I let the rock rip. I saw the green hue reignite on the man, but it was too late. The stone hit her straight in the arm, shattering it to pieces.

“KAYLAAA”

I sprinted towards the man, closing the distance and putting me within arm's reach. I swung my claw forward, slicing straight through his chest.

“Damien!” she yelled as She readied her staff with her good arm and fired a fireball at me. Instinctively, I lept back as the fireball flew past me and out of the barn, thankfully.

The commander held his stomach as he struggled to keep his blood in. Dammit! I almost had her! Oh well, at least he’s injured. Even with buffs, he’ll be slower.

“Kayla…. You okay?”

“Worry about yourself, okay? We need to-“

“We can't escape. We have too much at stake here. Can you buff me?.”

She nodded and raised her staff with her one good arm. “it will be difficult, but I can try,”

The gold and green halo came back as she closed her eyes and started channelling mana.”

“You're tough. I'll give you that.” I said whilst panting, “But can you fight me whilst defending her? Haha, you humans do the stupidest things sometimes.”

“Shut up, monster!” Without warning, he closed the gap, causing me to block his attack.

“You’ve still got some life left in ya. How long will that last?” There was a loud splashing sound as a bunch of his blood gushed onto the floor.

He panted heavily. “I'll last long enough to kill you.”

“I doubt that”.

I Went for a punch, but he dodged it. We fought back and forth. Delivering and blocking blows. I'll give him credit. He was good. Even with that injury, he still fought well. But he was clearly struggling to keep up.

I dodged to the right, just missing a blow aimed at my head. I swiftly countered with a punch in the gut, which caused him to scream in pain. I followed up with a backhand that toppled him to the ground.

“You’re a lot slower now..”

“And you're still ugly.”

“Ha. It's nice you still have your fighting spirit.”

I sprinted towards him as He tried to get up, but in no time, I was on top of him, pinning him down. Then, without warning, he delivered a savage blow onto his face and another and another. Blood and tears spewed onto the ground as I continued beating into his face.

“STOP, please STOP!”

The hues disappeared from his body as the girl ran towards us.

“We surrender. Please..stop. Just……. don’t hurt him anymore.”

“Is that true?”

She nodded vehemently, tears falling down her face.

“come here.”

She instantly hurried to my side. I grabbed her brunette hair and planted my lips on hers. The taste of her tears and saliva made for a satisfying taste. The taste of victory.

“You can do whatever you want with me. Just promise me you won't kill him.” She begged as I climbed off his beaten body.

“…..Fine. I promise I won't kill him. I Won't even lay a hand on a single hair on him.”

“Kaylah…. Why?” I looked over to the man and gave him a smile.

“Because women know best. Besides, you brought this on yourself, stealing from Titus.”

“We… Had to……”

“Had to? I swear. Criminals never own up to their mistakes.”

“No, we had to!” The girl yelled as She fumbled with her pockets until a sheet of paper came out.

I snapped it out of her fingers and read it over.

 

Due to your refusal to participate in the “Special Event,” Which happened at the Ashdowns home, We have taken something you both love dearly. Produce 10,000 gold to pay for your disobedience, and we May return your son. I’m not playing games anymore.

 

“Hahaha….. Your son is already dead.”

“No!” She said, crying again. I rolled my eyes. I've dealt with enough of these situations in my previous life. Kidnappers usually like to give their victims a false sense of hope. That maybe if they just give them what they want, they will get what they love back. In actuality, the person they kidnapped is already dead. I wouldn’t be surprised if once they gave that 10k gold, they would have been killed there and then.  However, the big elephant in the room Is the fact that these guys were supposed to help bomb the ashdowns.

“What did they want you to do?”

“They wanted us to deliver something. It was from a mine somewhere in the consecrated forest.”

I see…. I looked over the paper for more clues. In the top-left, there was a faded logo printed in the corner. In fact, the more I looked at the paper, the more it looked off. It was old, like stupidly old. I squinted at the logo to get a better look.

I could make out the word marigold just faintly. Just what is that? Gah, So many questions. I need to-

*CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP*

I Snapped my head around just in time to see Titus and Andre with a whole brigade of men behind them.

“Colour me impressed,” Titus said. “I had my doubts when you volunteered to do this, but my oh my, you did an excellent job. My enforcer.”

He walked over towards us, swiftly dodging pools of blood that were in front of him.

“Enforcer?”

“Andre will explain later. All I'll tell you is that I need more people like you. People with no morals or hangups about what's right and what's wrong. People who Just go in and do a job and sometimes have fun with it, and judging by the carnage, you did have fun. However, I did see you left a few of them alive.”

“You didn’t touch them, did you?”

“Good heavens, no. I know a trophy of conquest when I see one. Just make sure they don’t escape. Now, let's take a look at the guy who stole from me.”

Titus signalled to his men, and several people ran up and brought him to his knees.

“No! LET HIM GO!” The girl yelled. I instantly grabbed hold of her body and held her back.

“It's at times like this that silence is,” I said, wrapping my hand around her mouth.

“Wow, You did a number on Him.” Titus took a step forward towards the man.

“Who were you stealing for.”

“I……don’t… kno-“

*SMACK*

His head recoiled as blood splattered across the floor as Titus slapped the man across the face.

“Stand him up!”

In an instant, the goons had him on his feet.

“You’re pushing my patience, boy. Tell me. WHO PUT YOU UP TO THIS. Was it those fags across the forest, huh? those north town boys? Tell me! I want a name.”

“I do…nt kno..anyfing”

Titus gave him several punches to the gut. He tried to get an answer out of him, but his answer remained the same.

“WHAT ARE YOU HIDING? YOU HAVE TO KNOW. OR I SWEAR TO GOD ILL KILL EVERY-“

“Titus, enough!” Andre yelled. He walked closer to his partner and put a hand on his shoulder. “He doesn’t know. Just finish him off, and then we can get to “Cleaning” This place up.”

Titus glared at Andre for a few seconds before letting out a sigh.

“I guess your right.”

In an instant, Titus snapped around and delivered a backhand that shattered Damien's jaw, killing him on the spot.

{A/N kinda like this https://youtu.be/ka35HFTmi28?si=iVPvbeMoKJiRnDdM&t=117}

“Clean this mess up.”

I let go of the girl, and she instantly ran to his body. Tears crying as she wailed over the loss of her boyfriend. In an odd sense, I can relate to what she's feeling.

“Nooooo! Damien….Why?” She bawled. Her eyes turned to me. “You promised you wouldn’t hurt him?”

I chuckled. “And I didn’t? Like I said. I wasn’t gonna lay a finger on him, and I didn’t.”

I turned around and left her to mourn.

“Do you plan to keep the girl as a “trophy”” Titus asked. Wiping blood away from his hairy knuckles with a handkerchief

“Was It not obvious?”

“Hahaha, I like you as blunt as a nail. You'll get what you asked for; I'll make sure.”

“Why, thank you very-“

CAUTION: 1X Nurse SLAIN

 

<What?>