Arifureta: The Devourer

(Queen Ant POV)

The Ant Queen stood still, her entire being paralyzed by the unfolding horror. Her two remaining children, the last remnants of her once thriving brood, where transformed into lifeless statues that plummeted to the ground, shattering like fragile stone upon impact. She felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness, gaving her power rendered impotent, as she bore witness to her offspring being mercilessly slaughtered, pitted against this thing in a grotesque display, and devoured by this monstrous creature. Now, with her royal guard lying lifeless, it was inevitable that she, too, would face the same cruel fate.

Her eyes remained fixed, unyielding in their bright red intensity, as she stared unwaveringly at Aio. Yet, if she possessed human eyes, the depths of her current unstable mindset would be unveiled. Her gaze would reveal the precipice upon which her sanity teetered, a torrent of raw emotion threatening to consume her entirely. She was not merely angry—she was seething with an all-encompassing fury. The creature before her had to pay for the annihilation of her beloved offspring. She harbored an unyielding determination to exterminate it, to exact vengeance for the lives taken.

Escape was a viable option, as the escape tunnel beckoned from further down the labyrinthine cave. It offered the promise of respite, a chance to ascend to higher floors where safety might be found. Yet, conflicting with her natural instincts, she disregarded the voice of reason. Emotion eclipsed logic, and she found herself incapable of fleeing. Engulfed in an overwhelming wave of wrath and grief, she rejected the path of self-preservation. Instead, she yearned for a direct confrontation, a battle to the death. She needed to face this creature, to witness its demise with her own eyes. The thought of allowing it to escape, to continue wreaking havoc elsewhere without having paid the price for the slaughter it caused here, was inconceivable.

But how? How could she, a Queen Ant, bring about the end of this formidable adversary? The answer was simple, evolution. It was a widely acknowledged truth that monsters evolved by amassing mana within their cores, their bodies compelled to adapt under the strain of excessive energy. Similar to animals reaching a critical threshold of mana, they would develop monster cores and undergo a monstrous transformation.

Yet, what remained largely unknown was that intelligent monsters, like their humanoid counterparts, possessed the ability to sacrifice their skills in exchange for even greater power and some level of control over there evolution. And now, the Queen Ant made a resolute decision. She would forsake almost every single one of her skills, relinquishing them willingly, if it meant securing the demise of this abomination before her. No sacrifice was too great, for the lives of her fallen offspring demanded retribution.

And she would do it the only way she thought possible with the example given to her by the prevoius duo before this creature entered her domain gave her. By Becoming more Human.

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(Aio POV)

As Aio swallowed the last bit of flesh from the half stone ant guard, His attention swiftly shifted from the stone corpses to the immense surge of mana immerging from the ant queens location. And so in a quick and instinctual movement Aio jumped to a new positi

on avoiding the ant queens attack on his previous location.

Aio observed with curiosity the ant queens new metamorphosis, her once non-combat-oriented form now radiating with newfound power and ferocity. Her towering height of 12 meters had diminished, but she now stood at a still impressive 2.5 meters. Most striking was her shift to standing on two legs, much like her royal guard, which added another half meter to her height. Her coloration had changed as well, her once light red body taking on a darker hue, while her arms and legs turned jet black, adorned with dangerous spike-like protrusions that sprouted from her exoskeleton.

This transformation allowed her more versatility in combat, as she could now employ not only her claws and mandibles but also utilize the lethal spikes as weapons. From these spikes, small amounts of poison would seep out, further adding to her deadly arsenal. Moreover, her exoskeleton appeared to function more like actual armor, providing enhanced protection while also exposing her grayish-white skin at specific points throughout her body then were the giant closed insect wings on her back. Her eyes glowed red with an unyielding glare, and her humanoid face, bearing a resemblance to Hajime, only intensified her enigmatic aura.

As Aio processed this startling evolution, he was suddenly caught off guard when the Ant Queen unleashed a torrent of acid at him. The acidic stream hit him head-on, and the entire cavern filled with smoke as Aio and the ground around him .

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(Ant Queen POV)

The situation appeared dire for the creature—at least that's what the Ant Queen believed. Until the smoke dissipated, revealing the creatures disappearance, leaving the Ant Queen momentarily confused. Her keen senses tried to detect any trace of her opponent amidst the haze, but something else caught her attention – a single, unassuming poppy, one that was not there before. . .

In a sudden tremor, the ground shook violently, and the poppy burst forth from the earth, swiftly increasing in size until it reached the towering height of the Ant Queens former size, standing at 12 meters, and as the crimson petals gracefully unfurled, a gentle cascade of nectar started dripping to the ground from within the poppy. And as the spectacle unfolded, the upper half of Aio's transformed body came into view from within, causing the Ant Queen to tense up at this imposing and unfamiliar appearance.

The Ant Queen's eyes analyzed the changes Aio had acquired in this form. The red colorization from the Twin-Tailed Wolf, she had one yellow eye reminiscent of the basilisk along with a black colored eye reminiscent of the behemoth, she also had white fingers (claw bear pigmentation), green hair (from a troll), and atop her head laid a plant known as the carnivore's jade with its toothy plant mouth wide open releasing a sicking sweet scent which momentarly made the Ant Queens mind go blank.

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(Aio POV)

Aio was observing the Ant Queens new form while also thinking back to her attack on him. 'This could be trouble. . . i would have died if i was still in blitzkrieg. . . and impact would be unable to take that much acid. . . maybe if i went wrath i could survive it but its speed alone would be trouble, so i believe its best to keep things safe and attack from a distince something only the Sham Alraune would be capiable of given the current situation. . .' Aio thought to herself.In this plant-based form, Aio's options were limited, and she knew her physical strength was weaker than before. Still, this new half-assed transformation would be her only option given its long range capabilities.

And so without hesitation, both Aio and the Ant Queen sprang into action. Aio used her plant manipulation to attack the Ant Queen, while the Ant Queen charged at Aio, claws ready to cut through the vines. The Ant Queen readied her acid, but Aio had anticipated this move.

With lightning speed, Aio's entire body was covered in electric sparks, and before the Ant Queen could react, the electric charge surged through her.

The Ant Queen, was unable to respond, as her body sparked leaving her tensed and unable to dodge Aio's next move.Using her vines, Aio swiftly grabbed hold of the Ant Queen and hurled her across the cavern, crashing her into a wall. The impact forced the air out of the Ant Queen's lungs, and she coughed up a mixture of blood and acid.Despite the brutal hit, the Ant Queen wasn't down for the count. She quickly regained her footing and summoned more acid, determined to keep fighting. Her acidic attacks were relentless, but Aio's mastery over plant manipulation allowed her to create barriers made of vines to tank the acid.

As the battle raged on, the cavern echoed with the sounds of breaking stone and sizzling acid. Aio's lightning and vines countered the Ant Queen's acid and claws. Each combatant pushed themselves to the limit, unwilling to back down. The cavern became a battlefield of energy and nature, with the fate of both opponents hanging in the balance.

The transformed Aio and the Ant Queen were two mighty forces engaged in a fierce and unforgiving confrontation. In this high-stakes clash, only one would emerge victorious, while the other would face the consequences of their defeat. The battle was far from over, and the outcome remained uncertain as they continued to unleash their most potent attacks against each other, leaving the entire labyrinth trembling in response.

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(Ant Queen POV)

The Ant Queen gritted her teeth and clicked her mandibles together as the lightning coursed through her body only to then be thrown across to the other end of the cavern they were in by two of the Sham Alraune's Vines causing her to vomit a mixture of her own blood and acid

A moment later both sprung into action AIo using her plant minipulation to attack the ant queen while the ant queen ran at Aio using her claws to cut through Aio's vines while preparing her acid in her throat. Aio watched as the ant queen ripped through her vines like paper and her change in expression signifying she was preparing another acid attack ,and with a thought she spread her arms wide and sparked to life causing her entire body to be covered by lightning in an instant leaving the Ant Queen no time to dodge and so she also sparked causing her body to tense and the ant in her throat to slowly escape from her gritted teeth. Aio then used her vines to grab the Ant Queen before throwing her into a wall across the cavern, the ant queen felt all the air inside her body forced out causing her to cough out a mixture of blood and acid.

Then as the Ant Queen's body collopsed to the ground Aio gave no time for recovery his vines shot forward, aiming to ensnare the Ant Queen and restrict her movements. Noticing this the ant queen using her four arms pushed back on the ground sending herself off the ground in an attempt to evade the vines but they swiftly shifted and redirected themselves at her so fast she had no time to ready her acid leaving her insneered.

With the Ant Queen temporarily immobilized, the Sham Alraune ordered her vines to strike at the Ant Queen while also sending blasts of gale claw with each vine attack towards the Ant Queens body. Each and every strike Aio sent the Ant Queens way cut through its exoskeleton some even reaching its skin causing her to bleed green blood. But she persevered infusing her exoskeleton with mana in an effort to reinforce it which began to bear fruit as Aio's strikes began to lose force the deeper they got into the exoskeleton until the point they would only scratch the exoskeleton, Aio was quick to realize this and began to put more force behind her strikes using more and more mana.

The Ant Queen smiled causing Aio to stop and stare unsure of what the ant queen was trying only for her eyes to widen as she realized what was happening to her vines. They were slowly melting not just the ones striking at the ant queen but the ones restraining her 'Her Blood is Acidic" Aio thought to herself before the ant queen burst through the vines.

She dug her legs into the cold stone of the laybrinth and with a burst of speed ran towards Aio leaving her with no time to react or so the ant queen thought using a vine Aio grabbed the ant queens leg and through her back however unlike before the ant queen was prepaired and let her blood fall on the vine causing it to release a hissing sound causing it to weaken its hold letting the ant queens legs sink into the stone floor.

She then quickly began to build up acid in her throat and shot out multiple blasts of acid at Aio forcing her to quickly create more vines to block the acid. This back and forth lasted another two more hours until it became obvious both Aio and the Ant Queen where having trouble, Aio's plant based body went from a vibrant green to a crusty dark green the carnivore's jade plant on her head almost completely wilted and Aio's body overall looking years older, while the Ant Queen was covered in her own blood with various deep and light cuts all around her body she was also missing most of her exoskeleton around her arms, head and most of her neck along with her mandibles .

Both Aio and the Ant Queen were breathing deeply but still stared at the other hatred, the ant queen cut off Aio's limbs multiple and almost succeeded in decapitating her as well this caused most of Aio's mana to go from the usage of skills to healing and creating new limbs to the point the gods stone was having a hard time replenishing Aio's mana. While Aio succeeded in throwing the ant queen around the room along with creating more cuts across her body even managing to cut off her mandibles and some of her left antenna.

Using plant minipulation Aio created two vines to strike the ant queen the ant queen only moved her left arm in response cutting through both vines right through the middle and Aio used this to her advangate controlling the vines and causing them to strangle the ant queen before using her remaining mana to create and order 3 more vines to hold the ant queens limbs to her side preventing her from removing the vines from her neck.

This went on for several minutes until the life began to leave the ant queens eyes in which Aio ordered his vines to constrict further causing the ant queens eyes to widen once more as blood was forced from her throat and the last bit of life left her eyes. Aio was breathing heavily the ant queen didnt go down with in an epic way but something as simple as strangulation as aio simply couldn't do anything else with her remaining strenght.

And so its death was anti-camactic the and the 99th floor went completely silent except for the sounds of breaking and tearing signifying the defeat of the ant queen as Aio began to consume her.

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As the sounds of tearing flesh and the breaking of bone reverbrated across the walls of the labyrinth one lone eye from a pair of heads opened up before the lone eye narrowed at an opening in its prison that severed as a home and a low growl immadeted from it before the lone eye closed and a deep exhale escaped the creature.