Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 291: Enough

The Heart’s pulse thundered in Kaiden’s ears, shaking the floor. Each beat was heavier, wetter, sounding as if something was trying to force its way out. Veins of crimson light spread from the core, crawling up the altar and into the Countess’s body.

She gasped and then moaned as the first tendril touched her, shuddering, savoring a long-awaited meal. Her fingers curled inwardly while her spider-limbs twitched in manic anticipation.

The chamber darkened, with the only light being the vile glow that spilled from the Heart into her. Her silhouette swelled, spine arching unnaturally as bone plates erupted from beneath her skin. Her limbs lengthened again, and her ribcage seemed to open and stretch, each breath becoming a rasping hiss. The veil of a noblewoman’s grace was completely gone now; what remained was a hulking, sinew-laced monstrosity draped in tatters of its former elegance.

Her voice came in a doubled snarl, sharp and wet. ”Yes... Yes, feed me more...!”

It wasn’t a warrior’s roar. It was the sound of a starving animal being force-fed.

Magic began to churn in the air, chaotic, oppressive. Shards of blood-crystal formed around her, all tethered by threads of black sinew. A cyclone of venom-laced webs spun outward from her position, lashing the stone and burning the air. The Heart’s power was no longer just in her muscles; it poured into the space itself, twisting gravity, distorting sound, making the air throb.

Nyx spoke up first. ”This isn’t the same fight anymore.”

”Doesn’t matter. She still didn’t earn it. That’s her weakness.” Luna was quick to respond.

Bastet’s voice was ice. ”She’s just a parasite.”

Kaiden could no longer agree with the girls completely. ”Whether it’s gained or borrowed strength, there will come a point where it’ll be too overwhelming for us to face either way. We have to end this as soon as possible.”

The Countess straightened to her new full height, easily twice what she had been before, reaching 7 meters (22’11”96). She flexed her claws, tested her new bulk, and smiled. ”Listen to your lord, miserable wenches. He seems to at least have some reasoning abilities.”

”Yeah, yeah...” Luna’s unimpressed voice came as she dashed in, intending to slash the foul-mouthed monster apart.

The Countess didn’t just stand there, however.

Before Luna’s [Stormblade] could bite into her side, one of the rear spider limbs lashed out like a striking scythe. It hit the girl square in the ribs with a bone-cracking *thwack!* Luna grunted, spitting a spray of blood as the blow sent her flying across the stone with lightning scattering from her blade in fractured arcs.

The others moved instantly, sensing danger. Kaiden was already sprinting from the front with his blade aimed at the monster’s vitals. Nyx’s daggers rushed through the air from both flanks, closing in from hard-to-defend angles.

However, the Countess didn’t even try to stand her ground. Instead, she bent her elongated legs, then launched into a backwards flip, which saw her flip immensely high as her humanoid torso twisted midair while her spider-limbs clawed at the air for momentum. The daggers sliced only empty space, and Kaiden’s sword pierced through a vanishing afterimage.

While still airborne, her doubled voice hissed out an incantation.

”[Grave Spinner’s Grasp].”

Her jaw unhinged wide enough to split the skin along her cheeks, and a cord of glistening black web, thick with dripping venom, shot toward Luna. It hit the girl with a wet splash, coiling around her chest and arms before she could blink.

Luna’s eyes widened as the Countess yanked the line, dragging her up high into the air with immense speed until the stone floor looked far beneath her.

The Storm Valkyrie hung there for a heartbeat, dazed, chest burning, but her voice soon found its usual strength.

”You think I’ll go down without a fight?! Against a pathetic glutton who can’t be bothered to cultivate a power of her own?! Think again!!!”

Electricity erupted from her armor in a blinding burst as [Static Field] roared to life at her call. Lightning crawled up and down her frame, spitting into the air around her, forming a crackling storm bubble that scorched anything inside it, save for its caster.

But the Countess only laughed. She spat another strand of web, this one fanning into a translucent dome around herself. Each thread was coated in some oily residue that dispersed the arcs harmlessly. Not a single spark reached her.

”Hold still...” Bastet murmured coldly. From her side of the chamber, a blazing Solar Lance ripped forward, its path aimed perfectly to skim past Luna and hit their target.

Aria followed instantly with a sweeping Lunar Arc that traced a silver crescent from the other side, timed so the two attacks would converge on the Countess in the same instant.

But instead of being hit, the monster moved in ways no human ever could. Her spine bent over ninety degrees backward while her shoulder joints rotated in the wrong direction, the rest of her body folded in on itself, looking like a doll that was about to be put away into storage. Both projectiles screamed through the space she had been occupying, missing by a hair.

Luna spat another mouthful of blood, her breathing now coming ragged due to the web’s poison, just as a massive hand closed over her face.

The Countess’s palm pressed down hard enough to block her vision entirely. All around them, web strands began to spew from her spider-limbs and humanoid hands alike, weaving into a suffocating cocoon around Luna’s body. Her doubled voice rose in sadistic laughter, echoing off the walls themselves. ”I’m starting with the most impudent of them all! Haha!” With her free hand, she waved Luna goodbye. ”Enjoy your final moments, rude girl!”

”Nyx!” Kaiden’s shout cut through the chaos.

He was already sprinting toward the Space Valkyrie with a blade in one hand. Kaiden’s body lowered right before he leapt, feet first, at her.

Nyx didn’t need him to explain. Her daggers stopped in the air because the curvaceous beauty stopped controlling them entirely, letting the items harmlessly fall to the ground as she angled her body right before catching Kaiden’s boots with both hands.

The power she used to control the daggers and everything else she had in her reserves became utilized for a single purpose.

For the first time in her life, Nyx managed to grip onto more power than she should have been able to do.