Solar Blood Masters

The white crystal embedded in the 'Four-Faced Blood Sapping Cauldron' glowed with an ever-increasing intensity. Kwan Yuu hovered above with her massive abdomen rumbling with anticipation. This bull, she thought, was a truly exquisite meal!

"His essence! The aroma, truly intoxicating, a scent befitting my royal palate!" She chuckled softly, a sound that had the lesser Vampsquitoes outside trembling, and blew another torrent of purple flames onto the 'Flame Crystals' beneath the cauldron. She couldn't wait!

A short while later…

The cauldron began to vibrate wildly. Steam hissed, carrying with it the intoxicating aroma of refined blood and potent Solar Essence.

Kwan Yuu's mandibles clicked. She salivated.

Then…

BOOM!

A deafening explosion rocked the cavern, interrupting her culinary reverie. She turned with her purple eyes narrowed dangerously.

"WHO DARES interrupt me?!"

The entrance to her lair was a scene of chaos. Vampsquitoes were being flung aside like rag dolls.

Limbs scattered, wings were torn, bodies exploded!

"Such a disturbance!" She scowled with unrestrained malice. This transgression, it wouldn't be tolerated!

A golden dragon of pure lightning tore through the swarm. Then a pink energy whip cracked, its swift movements sliced and diced those that survived the electric onslaught like meat in a butcher's shop!

"INTRUDERS!" a swarm leader yelled as its form, riddled with a hundred cuts tumbled onto the ground and exploded before her royal feet which seem to flinch in disgust.

"You…"

Kwan Yuu was about to unleash her wrath when it died with a pop. She casually squashed the remaining insect paste with her foot, disgusted by this show of disrespect and the stench emanating. "How dare it bleed in my lair…"

Her irritation was quickly replaced by predatory curiosity. She lifted her head and focused on the source of all this commotion, those intruders that had the misfortune of disturbing her moment of culinary and personal ascension.

Hovering menacingly within the heart of that carnage were two imposing figures: Bat General Kong and Bat General Melissa, and with them were their dreadful weapons that glinted a crimson so deep that it darkened even her lair.

"Rai Shen Long!" Kong roared, channeling the lightning dragon's essence with his golden spear. The dragon circled him protectively.

Beside him, Melissa's Sun Cycle radiated colors of dawn with potency that matched her pink eyes that stared straight at the colossal queen without a shred of doubt or terror!

"You foul beast! WHAT have you DONE with our Master!?" Kong demanded. His ruby-white gaze scanned the cavern with undisguised fury before finally settling upon that cauldron bubbling and steaming as if it was alive, how disgusting!

"HE'S… He's in that POT?!"

He didn't hesitate. Blinded by rage and loyalty he charged at Kwan Yuu with a deafening roar.

But she simply scoffed.

With a mere blink.

BOOM!

An invisible force slammed into him, throwing him back like a rag doll. He crashed into the wall, his armor cracked. He coughed out blood!

"Kong?!"

Melissa, saw the disparity in their power and winced at how stupid Kong was being. She knew that old bat's resilience but also understood that power beyond certain tiers became untouchable.

She glance back at that steaming pot of stew and then at Kwan Yuu before she whispered.

"Emperor Calamity stage… This Vampsquitoe Queen… she's FAR more powerful than I anticipated. This brute force tactic isn't going to work. We can't defeat her in direct combat! Our only option is to…" She flew over to Kong whose ears now oozing blood. She then hiss in those jaws to explain their true objective.

"Free Master!"

They then heard it, that declaration that had them shuddering as that enormous mosquito, with jaws sharp enough to pierce through steel and an abdomen capable of storing all their blood in a single suck spoke!

"You… DAMN insufficient SHADOWS! How DARE you challenge ME!? I AM the Mighty Vampsquitoe Queen - KWAN YUU! Your death is certain now. For only by your complete annihilation can this grave insult be appeased!"

"KILL THEM!"

The cavern shook from her monstrous bellows as an army materialized from thin air with numbers increasing by the millisecond as they converge on those who dared interrupted their queen's dinner preparations.

BZZZZZZZZZ!

Those walls groaned as dozens of 'Purple Blood Nests' opened up, unleashing a torrent of bloodthirsty Vampsquitoes, eager for fresh meat!

"Yes, My Queen!"

"KILL!"

"FOR THE HIVE!"

"Their essences… I smell shadows, FEAR! Such potent Solar Essences…"

"These bastards…" Kong glared with unrestrained malice and struggled to his feet. This might be the end, but he wouldn't be another corpse decorating that queen's soup ingredients.

Melissa adjusted her monocle as her tail coiled and her Sun Cycle fluttered with readiness, and an almost insane thrill. "Time for my Sun Cycle's true awakening, it seems, and it begins with a slaughter!"

They looked at each other, both radiating potent killing intent before rushing toward their adversaries. There was no fear now, just desperation. They knew they would die!

Their odds of survival were non-existent, but their master's soul and freedom it must be secured. It was their duty!

…

Meanwhile, Kwan Yuu ignored the ensuing battle. It was simply pest control. A nuisance, a distraction.

She wasn't bothered. Their power paled in comparison to hers!

She focused her attention upon the cauldron, watching with delight as that rune in its white face shimmered even brighter now.

"Ah yes… Almost… Almost there. And when the refinement process is complete, that tasty essence will amplify my very being… I shall break those barriers… The Second Layer of the Emperor Calamity Stage will be mine! My power, absolute!"

…

"We have to get to Master! NOW!" Kong's voice resounded through Kwan Yuu's lair.

He and Melissa were a whirlwind of shadow and lightning. Crimson slashes tore through the Vampsquitoe swarm. Their bronze armor glinted as it deflected mandibles and acidic spit.

But the swarm was relentless. They buzzed and clicked.

"Their numbers… It's too many!" Melissa hissed as she dodged a proboscis.

She was thinking frantically, for even her 'Sun Cycle', potent and powerful, couldn't hold them off forever. And Kong, as brave and as strong he was, his form had already taken a beating from his confrontation with the Queen! Their essence, those powerful energies from their master… it was fading, which wasn't a good thing if they wanted to get out of here alive.

"We're surrounded!"

It was then she realized, their attacks, powerful and deadly they were. They were meant to slow, to impeded. It was not meant to subdue their enemies, or crush them entirely. She had to formulate a plan. A fast one, and whispered it in Kong's ear.

"We need a distraction…"

"A distraction…? You have something in mind?"

Kong glanced towards their target – that cauldron bubbling menacingly – and with a chilling smile and that eagerness to protect resonating, he finally understood his new partner's intention.

"Leave it to me, little sister. I'll make them pay dearly for messing with my Master!"

With a roar that shook even her bones, and that newly acquired Rai Shen Long swirling protectively, Bat General Kong launched himself toward that cauldron.

He flew with an unmatched speed and ferocity. He was a missile of shadow, and bone! A battering ram!

"Get him! Do not let him touch our queen!"

Hundreds of Vampsquitoes were intercepting him, which diverted their gaze and attention from Melissa.

WHOOSH!

Melissa seized that opportunity.

"Solar Beam!"

With a flash, she sped towards the cauldron. It unleashed a blinding beam of energy, aiming for that edge where her partner's blow hadn't completely pierced when she saw him explode.

BOOM!

"Such an idiot! A sacrifice indeed…" Melissa smirked at Kong's heroic antics. He'd taken hundreds of those insects down in a blazing explosion that left a gruesome collage of minced blood-suckers. It was a truly magnificent send off.

The blast had also caused those sealants holding that cauldron's cover to melt slightly, but she wasn't done yet, for even as she got to her mark and sent forth a powerful swipe…

Kwan Yuu appeared. Her attack came so swiftly that Melissa gasped.

Before her pink eyes that once shone with delight at fulfilling her master's hidden desires. Came a flash of purple. A chilling premonition as something long, thick, pointed, and extremely powerful pierce straight through her midsection, creating a bloody geyser and had her screaming in utter agony.

"No… not like… thisss…"

"You insect! You tried! HAHAHAHAHA! But I am KWAN YUU, Emperor of this domain! How dare you?!" Her proboscis withdrew from Melissa's body with those grotesque mouth movements leaving a horrific slurping sound behind. It was as if this queen was savoring a fine wine, a magnificent delicacy indeed.

Then she threw Melissa's upper half into her swarm and simply turned back to that cauldron. She'd finish this annoying pest control duty first then feast on that bull.

What a thrilling future she envisioned as she wiped off the blood staining that long needle of hers with a massive, leg that could squash even that Golden Prism Citadel to shreds!

It would appear as though she had triumphed again!. After checking to ensure that the seals had remained secure from those minor explosions, she smiled. Her treasure wasn't harmed.

"This bull… his essence and the blood within him will be mine. What a magnificent meal. Perhaps a blood bath later on. Yes."

She didn't realize those cracks radiating from that point of impact from Bat General Melissa's earlier assault had weakened the seal.

Then without warning...