'Third Step'

Phillip's strongest move. The technique he used to break through Oscar's strongest attack and grant him victory. He held great pride in this technique as the pinnacle of his current self.

However, this pride has been shattered.

He could accept his first and second steps being blocked by this Mother, but not the third.

"This is impossible." Phillip's arm was outstretched and trembling slightly. In his hand was his sword anima, which was still as if frozen. Right in front of him was the Mother Black-Heart Centipede.

His sword anima was entangled with many skittering, clanking legs that held it in place. Phillip reflected on what had occurred.

When he unleashed his third step, he shot out like a bolt to skewer the Mother Black-Heart Centipede. The Mother suddenly curled up into a ball form, then twisted all parts of its body at many different angles to display its hard carapace, entangling and intertwining all of its legs like chainmail around its body.

The result was before Phillip's eyes. His sword was unable to penetrate through the defense of this Mother and was entangled by the legs. His 'Third Step' was nullified.

The black ball that was the Mother began to move and unfurl. Within the shifting movements of all its legs and body, the Mother's head ambushed Phillip with its mandibles opened to pincer him.

The large mandibles with jagged edges appeared like the scythes of the grim reaper coming to claim Phillip's life. He felt a shudder run down his spine from the impending doom.

He strained his legs with all his might and forced himself back.

SLASH

But he wasn't fast enough. Blood splurted out of his chest as a mandible tore through his flesh with serrated tips.

Phillip bounced and retreated a good distance. He clutched the cut on his chest with a heavy expression.

"If I didn't dodge in time, I would have been torn in half."

CRACK

His prismatic sword anima had cracked from deflecting the other mandible.

Phillip felt pain in his core and spat out a mouthful of blood. He was not used to the feeling of his Anima being injured. The only other time was with Oscar during the Grand Gathering, but it wasn't as bad as now.

Sensing its prey weakening, the Mother began a ferocious assault. It twisted and maneuvered, letting its legs stab and slice toward Phillip.

Phillip shouted to rouse himself from the pain and stupor. He swung his sword so many times in what felt like an eternity. He dodged, blocked, deflected, and countered the Mother's deadly blows.

"This insect is just playing around with me." Phillip realized the Mother's intent. Instead of going for a surefire kill, it opted to drag this out and drain Phillip until he could no longer fight back.

Since its sword could not penetrate or slice through its defenses, it had nothing to worry about while attacking. The Mother judged that Phillip was capable enough to defend against its attacks, but eventually, it would come out on top.

Once the moment arrives when Phillip drops to the floor, it would skewer him with its mandibles and return to its master's side.

Clickclickclickclickclick

The wretched clicking of its teeth was akin to laughter.

Phillip was frustrated, irritated, and dissatisfied. All the negative emotions swirled in Phillip's head as the legs bore down heavily onto his sword, as the centipede repeatedly clicked to taunt him.

The glow of his sword was dimming under the onslaught.

"What is it? What am I missing?" He kept thinking.

"What am I doing wrong? Is my sword not enough?"

His mind was unfocused as his swordsmanship dulled. One of the Mother's legs managed to get through and stab him in the shoulder. Phillip snapped out of it and pulled himself back, and retreated.

His rose hair was messy, and his clothes were soaking in blood.

"Why can't I overcome?" Phillip cauterized his shoulder wound with his Ein, groaning in pain from his blood and flesh burning.

He believed that if he went through similar life-threatening battles as Oscar did, he would also be able to get stronger. But against this Mother Black-Heart Centipede, there was no sign of such progress.

"In all my battles, I fought with respect for my enemies. I fought to defeat or kill them." Phillip mumbled. "But never for the sake of survival."

Even during the battle of the Thousand Serpent, he fought for victory, not survival. He realized now that although the feeling of death came close at that time, he still held confidence in the princess being able to pull through.

As the Mother Centipede approached. Phillip remembered. He remembered Oscar defiantly shouting against Phillip, raising his buckler with all his might, not caring about the injuries he suffered or would suffer. He saw Emily deflecting the Thousand Serpent's tendrils with all her might to the point of her Anima shattering and falling lifelessly to the ground.

Phillip drew his sword back in the 'Third Step' stance. His Ein burned at its tip with immense pressure emanating from it.

The Mother stopped and assumed her clumped-up defense that stopped his 'Third Step' earlier.

"Go beyond." Phillip's eyes gleamed with understanding and deadly self-destructive resolve. "How can I say I've fought with my life without fighting until my bones are dust."

The ground caved in under Phillip's feet. This was more Ein than ever before. His nose began to bleed from the overexertion.

'Third Step'

Phillip flashed forward and stabbed his sword toward the Mother.

CLANG

Once again, the sword was unable to pierce through. But Phillip shouted as he flashed away to another spot. Without pause, he charged again with his 'Third Step'.

Phillip moved so fast that he could not be seen clearly. The only thing was blurs that went forward and back all around the Mother, who was still clumped up. The resounding sounds of sword meeting carapace were heard like rapid hammers in a forge.

Repeated 'Third Step'.

Phillip used the 'Third Step' to attack and retreat in a continuous circling manner. He arrived at this answer after remembering Emily's and Oscar's resolve.

His arm spurted out blood from various places as his bones broke and muscles tore. His legs were shaking and bloodied all over, staining his blue pants red. This reckless suicidal unending attack was harming his body at an alarming rate.

"Don't screw with me!" Phillip shouted, ignoring the breaking down of his legs. "I won't stop until I've killed you!"

His resolve was now on display. It was the raw instinct to survive, to devour this enemy. All the pretenses and calm he exhibited earlier were gone.

This harmful determination was not unanswered.

CRACK

His sword, riddled with cracks, finally pierced through the tough defense of the Mother. Shattered pieces of its carapace and legs fell to the floor as black blood spilled and dripped down Phillip's prismatic sword.

SCREEEEEEECH

The Mother was caught off-guard by the pain and released her defense.

"Finally, you open yourself for me!" Phillip pulled his sword back and continued his bloody onslaught.

Without properly defending herself, the Mother suffered.

Phillip's 'Third Step' stabbed into another part of the Mother's body, inducing more screeches of pain. This continued on and on as if the Mother was being tortured.

SCREECH

The Mother went wild and lashed out everywhere with its legs. But Phillip continued to stab through, severing and piercing them.

"You're finished!"

Phillip's final 'Third Step' flashed through the battlefield. The crumbling sword stabbed straight into the Mother's head, gushing a mix of blood and fluids.

The Mother was blown back several meters and fell to the ground.

"I did it….I DID IT!" Phillip shouted in triumph. His body also limped to the ground.

He saw splatters of red blood around him like a horrid painting. It was his blood.

"It's our win…."

…….

At that moment, Oscar was charging at the centipede swarm with a death wish. There was no retreat, no chance of victory. But he would fight on.

"Huh?" Oscar stopped as he realized the swarm had stopped in its place. The centipedes looked as if they were in agony.

Meanwhile, Emily and George were fighting against the royal guards. Emily was pale and out of breath, while George was sweating bullets.

They were fast approaching their limits when they heard ominous sounds behind them.

"Oscar!" Emily looked back and saw centipedes coming out of the 'V' wall's opening. Her face paled more at the thought that Oscar had lost and was eaten.

"Dammit, all!" George also saw his Sapphire Hedgehog was gone and began to shoot arrows furiously at the royal guard and the incoming centipedes. His eyes were tearing up.

Was this it? Was this their end?

"Fight on!" Emily shouted to George. "Just do our best and fight on."

George nodded. If this was their death, then they won't make it easy.

CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK

SCREECH

However, the royal guards and the others began to behave strangely. They stopped in place and squirmed their bodies erratically.

"What is this?" Emily looked confused at the royal guard she was fighting. One moment, it was trying to kill her; now, it was struggling with something.

Suddenly, the royal guards rushed off. They went in the direction where Phillip and the Mother were.

Emily and George stared blankly at this scene before snapping back to their sense from the noise behind them. They turned with their weapons. The swarm of centipedes was coming toward them.

"No need to fight them!" A voice shouted from behind the swarm. Emily and George were relieved to see it was Oscar, carrying the quill-less Sapphire Hedgehog.

The swarm of centipedes ignored them and passed through.

"Oscar! Are you alright?" Emily saw Oscar's current wretched state. The black hue on certain parts of his skin showed the extent of the poisoning.

"Never mind me. We need to follow them." Oscar limped forward. Emily grabbed him and helped him. They walked forward, as Oscar explained.

"It went according to plan. Phillip succeeded." Oscar chuckled through his weak lungs.

"This is what you mentioned earlier?" George was stunned.

"Indeed. Since the Mother is dead, the swarm would go to devour her body and each other. The one centipede that remains will become the new Mother." Oscar had read about this phenomenon before.

The Mother carried an essence that gave it the powers of a Mother. When the Mother Black-Heart Centipede dies, her children will devour any of her essences, even each other, to make it whole within them. The one surviving centipede will enter an egg stage and re-emerge as the new Mother, starting a new hive.

To kill the Mother was to shut down the current swarm.

This was their one shot. It was impossible to reach the Mother unless they could split and hold off the others. They left the job of killing the Mother to Phillip, the strongest among them.

As Oscar and the others walked forward, they spotted Phillip, who was covered in blood from his arms to his legs.

"Phillip!" They shouted.

Phillip turned to them and smiled, "I didn't let you all down. All of you look like hell."

Oscar and others also fell to the floor with heavy gasps. "You too."

They looked at the swarm of centipedes that were devouring each other without care. Mere insects had no notion of familial ties.

With this, their battle was over.

"Take a short rest. We need to help Celestina." Oscar cut into many black spots on his body, expelling the poison from the fresh cuts.

CRASH

Their moment of respite never came to be as something crashed into the ground near them.

"Cough."

The clouds of dust settled to reveal Celestina.

She knelt on the floor with a line of blood trickling down her lips; there were several unsightly gashes on her arms. Her disguised blue eyes were flickering with exhaustion.

Oscar had never seen her in such a state, even against the Thousand Serpent.

"YOU DARE!"

Doyle stomped onto the ground, shaking it underneath Oscar and the others.