Rune moved with Sol and Luna, himself in the center, a wolf flanking him on each side.They fell into a rhythm almost immediately, as if they had done this thousands of times before.
All three attacked in a repeating pattern, striking low and often, chipping away at the matriarch's legs to limit her movement.
Each blow was placed with intent, never lingering, never overcommitting.
Whenever the queen lifted a leg to crush one of them, they scattered and struck back as one.
Sol was the embodiment of light. Each time a leg came down near him, element swelled outward, forming a dense shell that detonated on impact. The force blasted the limb away, crystal cracking and splintering under the burst.
Luna moved like flowing shadow. She sank into the floor, vanished completely, then emerged in a blur of darkness to sink her teeth into the matriarch's crystal shell before slipping away again.
Rune activated Shadow Reflexes.
Shadow wrapped around him, settling into his limbs, his senses sharpening as the world slowed enough to feel readable.
What he had not expected was the response from his armor.
The crystal filaments woven through the web drank in the surrounding element, drawing the shadow into the weave and amplifying it.
Movement became cleaner. Tighter. Each step landed exactly where he intended, every strike flowing into the next without wasted motion.
He was faster. More precise.
And for the first time since the fight began, Rune felt like everything he wore, everything he wielded, and everything that made up his world was moving in the same direction.
The spider queen pressed harder in her frustration, forcing Rune back toward the corner of the chamber.
A massive leg came down, timed to crush him against the wall.
He prepared to Shadow Step out. Before he could the world shifted.
He reappeared where Luna had been, and she was suddenly in his place, sinking smoothly into the floor as the leg smashed down where he would have stood.
Rune's eyes widened. 'We can switch places.'
"Let's use this."
As if answering the thought, Sol sprinted up the chamber wall and kicked off it, launching himself high above the queen. At the peak of the arc, Rune felt the pull.
They switched. Rune appeared midair.
"This is what I am talking about!"
He charged both axes with light and came down hard onto the queen's back. The impact cracked her crystal carapace, a shallow crater forming where the blades struck.
The matriarch screeched and reared up, violently shaking her body.
Rune was thrown free, landing hard as she thrashed, but the crater he had made remained.
"Sol. Luna. Let's chain this, one after the other. I have a plan."
Sol moved first.
He sprinted up the wall and kicked off hard, launching himself into the air above the queen just like before.
Rune felt the familiar pull, and they swapped places.
While falling, Rune reached into his pouch and pulled free every remaining vial of orange core liquid.
He cracked them open, letting the contents spill across the queen's back. The liquid pooled into the crater he had carved earlier, glowing faintly as it gathered.
Rune Shadow Stepped back to the ground. Readying himself for the next swap.
Right on cue, Luna was already moving.
Unlike Sol, she did not jump. She flowed along the wall like a shadow beneath the surface, then burst free into the air.
The swap came instantly.
Rune appeared above the matriarch once more.
Axes flared with light. He came straight down, aiming directly for the pool of orange liquid.
Rune was caught directly at the center of the explosion.
There was no force to throw him back. Instead, he drove himself downward, forcing his descent through the blast.
A massive hole tore straight through the queen's crystal body. Rune fell through it and landed hard on the stone below, feet planted, knees bending just enough to absorb the impact.
Above him, the matriarch's body split and fractured around the void he had carved.
His armor was in tatters. Large sections had been shredded away entirely, and where the weave was gone, his flesh was burned black and raw. Thin trails of smoke rose from his skin in the cool air of the chamber.
Still, he remained standing.
Between his hardened flesh and what remained of the armor, most of the force had been absorbed.
His healing accessory activated. Burned skin cleaned itself, cuts stitched back together as the damage was forced to close.
At the same time, the armor began to repair itself, crystal threads pulling inward, stitching the torn weave back into place.
The light within the queen was fading, but it had not gone out yet.
Before Rune could move, she leapt backward, creating just enough distance. In the same motion, two of her smaller front legs shot forward, spearing straight toward him.
They slammed into his body with crushing force.
The strikes found gaps where the armor had not yet reformed, pressing directly against his hardened skin, crystal and weight bearing down as if trying to punch through him by sheer mass alone.
Rune grit his teeth.
Pain flared, sharp and immediate, but he did not retreat. Something hot and fierce burned through his chest, not panic, not fear, but a reckless resolve.
He spread his arms wide.
He knew what this was.
A final strike from a dying queen.
"COME ON! Do your worst. Show me what your dying breath looks like."
The queen's legs pressed harder, crystal grinding as she forced them forward. The tips finally broke skin, piercing through hardened flesh, drawing thin droplets of blood.
Luckily for Rune, before she could push any further her light faltered.
It flickered once.
And went out.
The massive body lost all tension and dropped to the stone with a heavy thud, legs collapsing where they stood.
Silence rushed back into the chamber.
Sol and Luna both turned their heads toward Rune, expressions unspoken but clear. He is still just as crazy as he used to be.
Rune sucked in a sharp breath, lungs burning as he realized how close he had come. His arms trembled as the adrenaline drained away, leaving the weight of the moment behind.
He had gambled everything.
Not for strategy.
Not for necessity.
But on the belief that her life would burn out before his.