Epic of Caterpillar

Although everyone was doing their best, to the point of even being capable of slaying the mighty Insectoid Kings, the swarm of Insectoid Spirit Beasts never stopped emerging. Skadi was trying her best to clear the large quantity of beasts so only a small quantity were to descend, but a constant battle of attrition like this… was bound to lean to their enemy's favor.

With many more resources, expertise, and knowledge over their own abilities, alongside the ability to create endless beasts as long as she was given energy, which she was, the mastermind behind this attack could simply sit down and relax as her enemies struggled, until their energies and efforts were to exhaust them.

Without Kireina to give them her almighty support, several of the abilities she gifted to them were not working, one of them was the Lesser Devouring Ability, allowing her subjects to gain energy from devouring foes, or even new Skills.

They had to simply rely on their own strength, and although they had done quite well, much more than expected, their energies were running low. Their Spirit Hearts granted them a substantial boost to their strength, and they could even absorb some spiritual energy from their foes.

But things were getting more and more ridiculous as the swarm kept multiplying faster and faster. Uru himself was already at his limits as he battled an Insectoid King alone, his body tattered on wounds, everyone else too busy fighting to come to his aid.

"Dammit…! Are we really going to perish now?! After everything we've been done to survive?!" Skadi glanced at the endless swarm of insectoids coming from the faraway Floating Island, a huge portal brought them over.

Yet, things had yet to become worse…

"Now come out, my newest creation!"

TRUUUMM…!

The giant black portal where the Insectoid Spirit Beasts were coming from suddenly started shaking, as two huge black crystal claws emerged from within, flaring with phantasmal flames!

CRAAASH!

Crack, crack…!

The pressure of the two claws on the Portal made it open even larger, as the beast's amorphous, human-like body continued coming out from, exuding a deadly, monstrous pressure like nobody had ever experienced before.

"OOOOHHHH…!"

It resembled a huge skeleton made of black and purple spirit crystals, with two huge heads. One resembling a sleeping maiden, with long black hair, the second head resembling stoic knight, with his eyes open, flaring with red fire.

Their body was covered in many pieces of metallic-like armor, and many arms and legs stuck out of their back, holding weapons, or simply having sharp claws. Their two main arms, long and skeletal, opened the portal until the entire monstrosity came out of it.

"RAAAAAHHHH!!!"

With countless sharp tails resembling bony spears, the beast attacked what remained of the barrier protecting Niflheim, shattering it all apart and then landing over the snow fields, the entire Realm shaking tremendously.

CRASH! CRASH! CRAAASH!

"Urghh…! W-What is this thing?!"

Skadi who was already a Titan of over a hundred meters was completely dwarfed by the Spirit Chimera, whose size was far over six hundred meters, a true behemoth that could stomp over mountains!

"GRYYYAAAAAAAH!"

The sleeping maiden-like head of the chimera opened her eyes, revealing them to be completely red, tears of blood started coming out of them as she gave out a loud shriek that shook everyone's hearts and souls!

TRUUUUMM…!

"Uurggh…!"

"Aaarghh, S-Skadi!"

Not only they felt like their bodies and energies were weakened, but Skadi felt her connection with Azurite weaken tremendously, their fusion suddenly stopping midway, as both fell from the skies!

Truhan and Celica resisted as much as they could, but they were also forced into their knees, the shriek of utter horror and agony that the beast gave out was something that they couldn't properly understand yet weakened them beyond their expectations.

"W-What is this scream?! My ears…!" Celica screamed.

"C-Celica! S-Stay at my side! URGH…!" Truhan suddenly started vomiting blood. "T-This…?!"

"Aaaarrghh…!" Meiji and his spirits agonized the same way, falling to the floor, the rest of his siblings were not better, most of them incapable of even moving.

"D-Dammit!" Goruden gritted his teeth.

"What with this shriek?!" Kizuato was the only one barely standing, his two swords incrusted in the snow floor.

"My ears are bleeding!" Jinsoku cried.

"Shit…! SHIT!" Yukan was having a panic attack.

"P-Palami!" Raito panicked as he saw Palami fall unconscious, her nose, and ears bleeding.

"T-This is really bad! That monster… it is similar to the one we fought back then! It is some sort of monstrous chimera thing!" Asure resisted the best the scream due to his unique body composition, made of mostly metal and stone, shielding his two friends.

"Uuuaaarrgghh…!" Uru screamed, as he was already being overwhelmed by an Insectoid King, he couldn't take on the Agonizing Shriek, and fell to his knees.

"Hahah… HAHAHAHA!"

At the distance, the malicious laughter of an evil wasp-like Spiritian echoed, hiding behind her Portal as dozens of Insectoid Spirit Beasts kept emerging from within, endlessly!

The abomination stopped screaming in that moment, the Sleeping Maiden's face closed her eyes, as if she had gone back to sleep. And the furious knight opened his eyes now, flaring with red flames.

"RAAAAHHHH!!!"

With a war-like roar, he materialized a huge sword made of phantasmal flames and black crystals, lifting up into the skies. The huge sword was big enough to slice whole mountains in seconds, and it was aimed directly towards Skadi and the realm beneath her.

"Now, my dear child, destroy this pitiful Realm and bring me its Core." The malicious mastermind spoke to her abomination. "As long as I can obtain this Realm Core for myself, I'll attain a small Fragment of the Origin World! That Genesis world is bursting with them everywhere! It was quite obvious why my kin would invade that treasure throve!"

"OOOOOHHH!!!"

With a furious roar, the knight's head immediately replied to his master by swinging the titanic sword downwards, a tremendous explosion of phantasmal flames and spiritual darkness energies converging together impacted the realm's surface!

BOOOOOOOOMMMMM…!

"Hahahah! Now- Huh?"

Yet… something seemed off!

A single, ant-sized being had stopped the sword alone, using two shining spears!

"Oh my, we barely made it…" She giggled.