The dust swirled as the creature the size of a small elephant crawled atop the remnants the fallen in roof, above the space Alexander stood.
Elegant swift legs carefully placed themselves on rotted wood in soundless movement, creeping as the spider woman prowled into position for her prey.
"After I rip your fleshy arms off, Dearie, I believe you'll be more complacent with my wishes. My, generosity runs dry with this futile attempt. Just give in and I might accept only this punishment and a quick death as recompense."
Crawling down into the cramped dirt alley way behind the houses her senses began to blur, warning her like a sixth sense of a spider.
'Atraxia, what has gotten into you,' She spoke to herself. 'How far have I fallen to allow a trifling human to bring shivers to my person. The glorious kingdom I once ruled, now dust and cobwebs. But, now,' She thought, looking down at the bundle of lives in her smaller lower arms she adjusted. 'There is hope. I will not let anything or anyone stand in the way of our revenge.'
The spider woman named Atraxia shook the warnings from her mind that were screaming to be cautious and continued to defend.
Reaching the ground She searched for the boy that would lead to her freedom.
Spitting webs from her large fang filled mouth, she sensed him veiled in shadow at the end of the alley.
Alexander stood between the area were he felt the pull of the Dominions entrance. When Atraxia attacked all Alexander could was use the excessive power in defense as exiting with this much power would cause more problems than he needed. When an answer to his problems arrived he didn't hold back.
The earth around Alexander pulsed with a dark emerald glow, veins of darkness crawling across obsidian dirt and wood. A sharp hiss echoed through the chamber as the spider woman stepped forward, lower arms still clutching the bundle, fangs dripping with poison that shimmered faintly in the gloom. Her multiple eyes locked on Alexander, appraising him like prey caught in a spider's web.
But Alexander did not flinch. Cloaked in shadows, nanites coursing through the blackened plates of his combat suit, he raised his hand. The silver ring of the Firstborne flared with an eerie brilliance, and darkness bent to his will as he used the poeer of the Sovereign of Darkness.
"Rise."
The ground cracked open. From the earth clawed five goblins, their twisted forms bound in necrotic energy and reinforced with glinting strands of living nanites. Their hollow eye sockets burned with cold emerald fire, each movement jerking with unnatural precision. Rusted blades and jagged bone spears clattered as they pulled themselves free, their forms grotesque mockeries of their once-living kind.
The spider woman snarled. "Pathetic toys." She lunged, faster than sight, claws flashing in arcs of silver.
Alexander's lips curved into a stoic smirk. With a point of his finger, the goblin vanguard surged forward. Nanite tendrils coiled across their limbs, accelerating their movements like springs. They swarmed like wolves, shrieking with unholy hunger, their coordination not born of instinct but of Alexander's command and Lunaris administrative Intelligence.
'The nanite supported Zombie Goblins can only be used for five more minutes. Their power supply will run out and loose the advantage.'
'Understood,' Alexander watched in awe at the fruits of his and Lunaris's training. Days spent analyzing the teams tactics and movements translated into a sort of efficiency when Lunaris controlled the goblins. Using quick movements and gorilla tactics they were able to make the weak goblins more than just fodder, they were the best kind of distraction for Alexanders long winded darkness spells. translated into a sort of efficiency when Lunaris controlled the goblins. Using quick movements and gorilla tactics they were able to make the weak goblins more than just fodder, they were the best kind of distraction for Alexanders long winded darkness spells.
Claws clashed against bone. Atraxia spun, cutting down one goblin in a spray of shattered ribs, but another leapt upon her back, jaw unhinged wide with jagged broken teeth. She whirled, stabbing through its skull, yet three more pressed in, dragging their broken bodies forward without hesitation.
The side of the house thundered with the clash—undead resilience versus spider-like finesse. Every strike the spider woman made carved through flesh, but the nanites stitched them back together, each goblin reforming, puppets pulled again into motion.
'What are these disgusting filthy things. They keep reviving even after ther head is destroyed. Something is at work here besides just a summoning. There's a smell in the air that leads...There.'
Through it all, Alexander stood still—his black viens pulsing with magic, eyes glowing faintly with mana-dark light. His calm was more terrifying than the goblins themselves as he began to focuse on summoning the mana within.
When Atraxia realized she wasn't fighting five enemies, but one mind directing five corpses, fear began to creep into her perfect form.
"You sneaky pathetic, Curr," Atraxia spat with confusion at the little creatures that crawled out of the ground. "You dare trick your Queen! I will display your flesh to your loved ones as I eat them. Where are you getting thos much power from. When I finish your pathetic toys, I will see about your endless punishment."
Alexander whispered, almost kindly, "Quit your wining you've already lost, there are no more moves to make." Using the excited mana withing himself to a single wide point infront of himself, while his minions distracted his target.
The darkness obeyed his command with eagerness. Shadows leaped and circled into an unstable orb of dark swirling shadow and emerald. The wood from the houses that was touched by this power immediately turned to dust, such was the effects of darkness, completely obliterating anything it came into contact with.
The power granted to him by A'rathèl to be her Guardian was more than a title given to anyone. To be a guardian was to embody that God's will on the mortal plane. For darkness only the void awaited those in its embrace.
'These pesky things keep reviving to annoy me to no end. However it seems they do have a limit to this strange power,' Atraxia thought while a goblin she pierced turned to dust in her clawed hands. 'Now to deal with the rest, and then you my, Dearie. Oh, what screams you shall make for me.'
'Alert! A goblin has been destroyed. Nanites that are still powered are returning. Goblins have nearly depleted all mana reserves.'
The undead goblin ripped in half as two unbelievably strong but delicate hands grabbed both halves. The body dissolved into black particles and the remaining nanites that where inside its two halves and covering Atraxia's hands returned to Alexander like smoke.
"I have had enough of your games human. Now I will show you your folly and adjust that... what is that power? No..no. You, stop that this moment."
Alexanders mana had reached a threshold that his body, even with the nanites and his red core, could not continue to hold back. The black viens spreading through his body nearly covered his entire body as the nanites became overloaded one after another, decreasing his ability to hold back the sheer amount of mana and pain each second.
Chains sprang from every shadow near Atraxia bound her every limb and body as Alexander activated his shadow chain ability. The darksteel was abrasive and left no opening when she struggled against the bindings.
Spells and abilities from Guardians, even weak ones, we're on another level hunters could never reach. The mana around them were not handled or coerced, but willingly bent to the Guardians will.
The condensed mana in Alexander's hand weakened slightly as the chains manifested around the spider queens body. Drawing more with each pull and tugg from the unknown ranked Atraxia. The power withing her was far greater than even Alexander could comprehend at rank-E.
"She's way stronger than we guessed. It feels like im holding back a train from derailing with string." Alexanders nose began to bleed as the black viens visably receded as the massive surge of mana drained from him.
In Alexander's mind a strange voice spoke with an ethereal deep echo, 'That insect dares to stand up and bare its fangs to the Guardian chosen by her eternal Grace. Not even the peace of death shall she have in my presence. Allow me to show this minor inconvenience their place, my lord.'
The air was already quiet, deathly quiet, when a black figure appeared behind Atraxia. Her arms forced against her sides in submission even as she struggled to get free.
The dirt kicked up with her struggled, further concealed the danger behind her. When a metallic hand gripped her heart through her back, finality set in and her thought turned to the unfocused mana bundle in her hands.
Pain of loss and never would be dragged her mind as the dark spell dragged her chained body into its depths.
"My children...I tried..but."
Atraxia the spider queen dissappeard into darkness with her bundle. A queen had fallen and with the last of his new found power Alexander defeated her. Trapping her within the Lantern of Primordial Light and Darkness. An infinite void separated her from her freedom, taken charge of by her immortal prisoner turned jailer.
The world started crumbling around Alexander as both entities that kept this dimension open dissappeard.
What structures where left standing crumbled into dust. Any resemblance of a town gone in seconds. If one where to get lost, there would be no way to find their way again.
Alexanders legs gave out with the last of his strength slipped away from him.
"Got to work on my mana control if I make it out of this damned Dominion. My legs are mush, and my arms are spaghetti noodles. The entrance is behind me, I can feel it now that this place is collapsing. But I can't move."
As Alexander slipped into a blackout, edges pf his vision darkening and breathing slowing, a group of foul smelling hands grabbed him. Throwing him through the nearly invisible shimmering portal as the world collapsed.
All their strength went into saving their master even at the cost of their own short undead lives.
Alexander felt the hard thud of the dust earth and fell into a numb sleep. Unknowingly of any sacrifice.
'Thank you all.' Lunaris thanked.