Things of the Past

In fact, the moment the final line of defense was breached, the outcome was already decided.

The screams and desperate cries echoing from all directions meant that everything had spiraled completely out of control.

“N-No... It's impossible...”

Fighting in the capital's central plaza, Marianne gripped her mace tightly with trembling hands.

The ants she had smashed to death had already piled up into a small mountain beneath her feet.

Yet no matter how many she killed, the ants surging from all directions seemed absolutely endless.

Instead, the companions fighting alongside her were falling one by one.

“I... I...”

The moment she foresaw her own future, Marianne suppressed the anger in her heart, but the ensuing terror forced her to take a step back.

But this time, she could not run.

Marianne knew very well that if she fled, she would be branded a heretic who disobeyed the Goddess's commands. Not only would all her power be stripped away, but she would also suffer a curse far worse than death.

Ultimately, the exhausted Marianne was met with spider silk flying at her from all directions.

She used her burning holy power to sever the silk, but by then, there was no one left by her side. She was entirely alone, surrounded by a sea of ants.

“No! Let me go! You damn bastards...”

Having exhausted the last of her holy power, Marianne staggered.

Countless sticky threads of spider silk bound her tightly, and as the ant colony dragged at her, she fell powerlessly to her knees.

Her beautiful face and her glittering armor had both lost their former luster.

“C-Celia...”

“Marianne, long time no see.”

Just then, Celia appeared before the pathetic, kneeling Marianne.

Underneath her cracked mask, half of Celia's face was exposed. She looked down at Marianne, her eyes completely devoid of emotion.

“P-Please, spare me.”

Somehow interpreting Celia's blank gaze as a glimmer of hope, Marianne wriggled her body desperately, crawling to Celia's feet and begging.

“We used to be so close, we loved each other so much... I-I didn't mean to leave you behind back then! Brandt forced me to do it! I had no choice...”

Marianne was pale as a ghost, clinging to Celia's leg with all her might as she tearfully brought up their past affection, begging only to keep her life.

Seeing her like this, Celia knelt on one knee to look her in the eye. A faint smile played at the corner of her lips. “Do you want to live? Like me?”

“Yes! Please, as long as you let me live, I'll do anything! I'll do whatever you want!”

Marianne wept bitterly, nodding her head frantically.

“Marianne, you really are... thinking of nothing but yourself.”

Celia shook her head with a trace of pity, and then showed Marianne something.

As she watched Celia's body begin to twist and squirm, emitting creaking and cracking sounds, Marianne's eyes filled with absolute horror, and she let out a blood-curdling shriek.

“You should be glad that the Queen no longer has any interest in you. For someone as arrogant as you, dying by my hand and leaving without pain is already the best possible ending.”

Celia placed her hand on the head of Marianne, who was too shocked to speak.

Before Marianne could even utter a defense, a powerful electrical current surged into her brain. Her pupils rolled back, and all life left her body.

【Elise has ordered the recycling of resources.】

Only then did the ant colony close in, moving toward Marianne's corpse, which was still emitting wisps of blue smoke.

Celia closed her eyes and turned away, unable to bear watching her limbs being torn apart to become food for the colony.

In truth, Celia had no authority to decide Marianne's fate.

The Gene Stealer currently parasitizing Celia's body, along with the symbiotic carapace ants covering her, were unique mutated species created at the cost of immense resources, impossible to mass-produce.

Since Elise had already decided to kill Marianne, giving her a quick death with her own hands to spare her from suffering was Celia's final act of kindness toward the person who had once betrayed her.

Having won the war, the ant colony ultimately brought about the destruction of the Holy Kingdom.

They swept through the fallen capital and the entire territory of the Holy Kingdom.

Anyone who dared to resist or carried the Goddess's power within their body was slaughtered, becoming food for the colony.

Just as Celia had hoped, the others managed to survive.

However, on this scorched earth occupied by the ant colony, rebuilding civilization would take a long time.

The ant colony had only promised to spare their lives.

As for rebuilding civilization or gathering strength to rebel against the colony, that was a different matter entirely.

Thus, the forces and territory of the Goddess Hestia suffered a devastating blow from which they could never recover.

In fact, she had been completely eliminated from this competition.

And all of this had happened in less than a year since the ant colony first appeared on this land.

【Elise is highly satisfied with this harvest, but also senses that more food will be needed in the future.】

Yet the entire colony, including Elise, still craved more food.

Merely destroying a tiny Holy Kingdom was nowhere near enough to satisfy their hunger.

【Kerrigan is stimulated by the main nest colony's achievement of destroying a kingdom.】

Seeing the notification of Kerrigan being stimulated, Lin Miao checked the updated map of Terra through Celia.

The map Lin Miao had previously drawn based on limited information was merely the tip of the iceberg.

Aside from the Lucadia Empire and the beastkin, countless other factions and races inhabited this land.

It was said that beyond the plains to the west lay a massive mountain range connecting to another continent, while traveling south through the Lucadia Empire led to vast deserts and jungles.

He wondered how many of these factions were controlled by other deities seeking to conquer this land.

One only had to look at the Terra forum to see that quite a few deities were already active here.

【The servants desire to devour everything.】

They were enemies. At the same time, they were food.

Like Lin Miao, the ant colony—having witnessed the vastness of the world through Celia—ignited with the flames of greed.

Rather than being intimidated by the sheer scale of the world, they felt incredibly thrilled and excited to know that so much prey awaited them.

【Kerrigan has set out, vowing to completely annihilate the beastkin.】