Another hour passed by in the illusion as Ran healed himself endlessly.
He was starting to lose steam and over half of his energy was depleted. But now, what was anticipated had happened!
Yes, he had begun his counter-attack! The spiders slowly started becoming more and more useless as the damage they could incur was decreasing at a constant rate. Not only that, his body (his mind) seemed to be getting stronger, making the spiders relentless efforts even more futile!
Yet, there are still too many of them. Once again, it has become a waiting game; one which Ran seemed to be coming out on top of!
In this case, the phrase "time heals all wounds" has merit as only half an hour passed and the spiders could pretty much be neglected for an extended period of time. Basically, they cant do s**t to my man Ran!
But again, like last time, the final push should be making its appearance any time now.
Meanwhile, Ran just played with a single spider, grabbing hold of its tiny legs and swinging it along; as if he was dancing with the damn thing! All of the spiders in his body were more for show than anything else now as even some of them crawled out of his ears and eye sockets.
Well, his shenanigans only lasted for a short while before a change occurred. The final push was here!
One. The spiders grew from half an inch to a full inch, causing his skin to rip apart and show his torn, partially, eaten muscle.
Two. The hairs on their bodies grew in length and hardness; essentially turning them into spikes. That also happened to be barbed. So… yeah.
And third. Obviously, their huge teeth wouldn't be ignored as they grew not only larger, but the muscles controlling them also grew tremendously in strength. They easily tore away and carved small chunks of flesh off his body before consuming it right in front of his eyes.
But all of this didn't bother him.
In fact, he didn't even notice these changes as he was too busy with his new and friendly spider friend.
Not only because of that, maybe it also has something to do with the fact that the change only lasted a minute before the illusion all but fizzled out; making noises akin to a whoopie cushion.
During that time of renewed power, the spiders never expected the very thing they were eating would be poisonous to them!
Ha, suckers! The adaptation had gotten all the information it needed, all of your attempts are only futile in the face of my two fingers!
Truly, they never knew blood had a consciousness after all!
During their hasty feast, the blood, which they drank in festivity and flowed in gouts of crimson fury across his entire person, suddenly lashed out in a tidal wave of grisly warfare; taking over enemy lines and retaking the fortress!
The blood cleanly swept away all the spiders, destroying them angrily and without mercy.
While this did happen in the illusion, it is more of a visual representation of his mind and soul adapting to all the tricks of the illusion (also indicating the support of his bloodline through the use of blood) and even adding a bit more power wouldn't change the eventual destruction it would suffer at the hands of Ran.
In fact, adding more power only caused an even rougher beating as it was supposed to die quickly and without pain; yet, its revolt only caused it to suffer more before eventually disappearing.
In the end, the spiders couldn't even whimper as the entire illusion fizzled and collapsed on itself.
***
Outside:
Ran, who was hauled off to the side and leaning against a box, opened his eyes to a strange scene.
Max: "..."
Ann: "..."
Fluffy: "..."
Ran: "..."
Wait, why is even Ran quiet? Say something you idiot!
Ran: "Uh, why are guys staring at me like that? It's kind of creepy!"
Much better. He was astounded by their deep gazes and tried to step back in fear, only for the box to stop from his tactical retreat.
Max: "Creepy?" Max approached him even with Rans physical protest and shook his shoulders vigorously. "Take a look at yourself man! That was simultaneously the weirdest and coolest s**t I've ever seen!"
Max looked at him with shining eyes, as if looking at a very nice specimen for research.
"Thanks?" Ran scratched his head over his hood as he was puzzled by such a reaction. It couldn't have been that strange, right? Right!?
"How'd you even do that?" Max asked him dubiously. She had never seen something like this before and was extremely curious, with a little mindless fear added on of course.
Ran put his hands in the air and said, "don't look at me. I don't even know how I did that." Ran spoke doubtfully as even he was confused about how he did what he did. He was a little scared even. I mean, no normal person would stand something like that right? Even if they could hold on by sheer will, ignoring it completely is just… preposterous!
After that, Ran stood up, patted his pristinely white clothes and sighed resolutely. Just another thing to be confused about.
At that moment, the scene in front of him changed.
"Your Tiny Holiness… are y-you okay?"
Ann's soft voice rang out and pounded against Rans ear as he saw her kneeling in front of him. Her hands were balled into tight fists and her eyes were clouded.
He sighed. This time was much more grief-stricken.
"Sigh, You know I'm not the Guardian anymore right? The Holy City State is gone (forever) and their… savior… doesn't exist. Even if it did exist and I was the "savior", it seems I'm twenty-eight years too late."
Ran spoke solemnly, for a change, and he picked up Ann off the floor. She didn't refute him and they both looked at each other; even though she couldnt see through his hood, Ann was sure his eyes contained the same kind of sadness that hers currently portrayed.
The Guardian was a title given to the representative of the Holy City State and, subsequently, their children would also inherit this title. Torian, his father, was the Guardian of the state and his father before him was also the Guardian; all the way back to the great founder of the state himself.
While some people say representative, or king, or whatever, the Guardian is the most sacred and the only true title his Holiness' can have.
And Ran, while being a new Guardian, was also hailed as the savior because the relations between the state and the Kesh Empire were reduced to ashes and they needed someone to "save" the nation from a bloodshed it had never experienced before. Yet, after a decade of repeated miscarriages (one every year), Ran was born and thus the nation was saved… right? Wrong. Instead, it only got worse after he was born and sure enough, it all collapsed on that one day.
The one person the people thought would lead their state to the future unharmed was also the person who hadn't even awakened yet before everything went to s**t.
But Max… she just stood there and listened idly. Holy City State? She would be sure to check up on that in the future.
Yet, why did it sound so familiar? She wracked her brain, but maybe it was too low in her priorities to properly remember.
And then she remembered that she had seen something on Rans clothing.
Most people would have portrayals or an insignia sewn onto their clothing that represented their home; mostly as a look of pride, proud to have their heritage and also not afraid to show it.
She looked at Rans sweater, and there it was on the right side of his upper chest, near his shoulder. It was actually particularly hard to find and it was not because it was small. No, but because it was white! Everything was white!
The way she had seen it was because of the light hitting the thread at certain angles. Otherwise, if she didn't start paying close attention, she and pretty much everyone would have easily overlooked it.
But as she looked closely, it became as clear as day.
There, near his right shoulder, an all white lion roared to the skies above, the fierceness in its eyes was still present despite being made of some thread. Its mane was luscious and prideful, as if saying that no creature can compare to it in either beauty or strength. Its right paw was righteously striking at the sky, signalling the doom of whomever had the unlucky fate to chance upon it.
It was very delicately sewn and all the proportions and gaps were as perfect as perfect can be. It was definitely the most beautiful work of art she had seen on a piece of clothing and the more she looked at it, the more the lion popped out at her.
She almost teared up a bit just by looking at it! It was so immaculate and its beauty was beyond comparison. Not even because she was a feline, just that as an Enchantress, the exposure she gets to exquisitely built equipment and the like is higher than most people. Yet, this single piece of attire had suddenly become one of the most beautiful things she had ever laid her eyes upon.
***
Soon, they left the Emporium, leaving Max to her ever-increasing pile of rank-5 cores.
As it turns out, it was still pretty early in the morning, closing in on noon.
As they walked by, they noticed a lot more hunters than previously. It seems everyone is going to join in on the beast horde and not just a bunch of scrawny students.
They reached a food market and decided to buy some food (namely for Fluffy, somehow she ate her entire supply already) only for Ran to cause a scene when he tried to give a fisherman a rank-5 core. Dangit, somebody get this guy some change!
After they bought everything they needed, they decided to head back for a nice lunch, except that seems to have to wait.
After all, with the sight in front of them, how could they ignore it.
On the main street just in front of them, a possy of ten exquisitely armored grey men and women walked completely in sync.
The reason their grey was because, oh I don't know, the grey fur that covered them from head to toe!
Their slightly elongated faces and icy blue eyes were reminiscent of a dog, or in this case… a wolf. And the dog nose ain't doing them any favors either.
Ther tails wagged in unison as the leader was in the front and the rest were seemingly escorting him in a delta formation. They were also coincidentally heading outside of the city.
The leader was technically the emissary and he wore the same armor, only it was even more elaborately made and was clearly only for the purpose of showing off; as was the rest of them.
As the possy walked past them, Ran almost wished he had an encounter with them. Who knows, maybe they could even be friends.
Well either way, he was going to meet at least some of them soon enough.
Ran and Ann both looked at each other, as people normally do, and decided to some Intel on the latest happenings with the beast horde.
After all, they have their local king to slip them some tea, right?
Thus, they took off in the opposite direction the emissary and his goons were heading, they went straight to the king's palace!