A shriek from the depths of the spider nearly split Noble's eardrums. She took off with the Zenith, leaving a trail of crimson in her wake.
Blood gushed from the black hole of the mask's eyes. Its mouth, the real one on its back, which had crushed Noble's foot, turned down into a gruesome frown.
'Where's your eye now, hm? Not so happy, I see!'
Noble didn't have time to revel in her victory. She heard the rope around the spinnerettes tear, and she dismissed it before it gave out entirely. The two fangs came crashing down, sending a shockwave through the air.
It was as Noble suspected. They were like the jaws of one of the ancient animals she had read about. They had a lot of force coming down, but their lateral muscles were comparatively weak.
The two revelations were nice, phenomenal even, but the real problem still lay ahead of her.
Piercing all four of the black, dastardly eyes would blind the devil, but then what? Could she just hack and stab until she got lucky? That was certainly an option.
'Except it's a devil, and it's learning.' Noble shook her head. Each move she made told the spider something about her, and now that she knew the truth, it would be even more determined to destroy her.
Was that even possible?
Judging by its emotions, yes. Its will was even more focused. The floating Master frowned.
'Back up. Protect the soldiers,' she ordered her echo silently.
Helios grunted, dissatisfied with the command. He reluctantly complied, leaving Noble room to work. The Others nearby had either been obliterated or had given the demon a wide berth.
Noble noticed something strange about the interaction between the spider and the otherworldly reflections, but she stored it away for later.
For now, she needed a way to vanquish the devil that plagued her.
'What other secrets are you hiding?'
Noble was slowly peeling away the lies of the powerful being, but it was not fast enough. Her cohort needed her, and she couldn't waste any more time.
The shrieking spider hissed, its real mouth forming some ancient curse that Noble couldn't understand.
That was just as well. It was possible that understanding it would corrupt her soul, and she liked her opalescent sea just the way it was. Child of Promise clicked her tongue.
'So angry! One little eye stab and it's ready to unravel.'
Noble furrowed her brow. No, really, the stitching above the eye was snagged, marring the intricate pattern of the mask on its torso.
The disrupted thread ran all the way toward the rear left leg before disappearing around the joint.
'A Thread, the Woven...' Noble ran through the names of the lesser creatures as an idea formed in her head.
The Zenith dripped with poison as Noble felt more power surge through her. She held onto the feeling, refusing to let it overwhelm her.
If only she could use the cloak instead of using it to trap the mirror, she could have faded into the night! Instead, she went for the direct approach. The creature was a liar, and the last thing it was ready for was an honest strike from the determined Master.
Legs waved at the warrior as the spider's body contorted to intercept her, but it never fully committed. It anticipated a feint or a dodge. That is what any sane fighter would do.
But Noble wasn't sane… She was Queen Bee.
And she wouldn't back down. The Zenith ripped into the hairy chitin by the leg. Noble slashed sideways, toward the spinnerets. The ripping sound made her skin crawl, but she did not disengage until a gash longer than her body was cut between the two halves.
Hissing filled the air as the back leg spun like a whip at Noble's body. She moved out of the way, avoiding the backlash of the spinnerets with a combination of her intuition and her second sight.
Mystical silk shot everywhere, falling like rain. Yet not a single strand touched Noble as she went about her work.
The second cut on the other side of the spider's posterior was easier than the first. It ran long along the edge of the two spiders, causing hairy strands to fly in all directions.
It was almost too easy.
Sometimes being straightforward was the way to go!
Of course, now that the spider knew her intention, it fought her more bitterly than ever before. The hissing continued as the back began to deform.
Black thread was shot in every direction, coating the ruins around them and erasing more than one stone from its place.
'One more reason not to let this creature get to the soldiers.'
She envisioned the people confused by the welcoming arms of the spider, only to be obliterated by its black silk.
It was only too bad the silk didn't work on the spider itself. The hair seemed to absorb the thread, healing the spots that were touched.
That was why Noble had struck spots closer to the back first. They would be harder for the Devil to fix.
Now came the harder task.
Helios jumped from the wall, ripping at the right leg of the monster with his terrible fangs.
She had not wanted her echo's interference, but it seemed the Symncus would not be denied.
So, Noble used it to her advantage.
While her wild echo dug deep into the spider's chitin, Child of Promise assaulted the opposite side. She wove in and out from between the devil's spindly legs, cutting along a line that only she could see.
The sides of the spider split, spilling enough blood to wash the ruins with crimson. Yet the Spider seemed no weaker for the wounds. It wobbled unsteadily, but continued to try to take out the floating Master and her pet.
The Zenith's poison seeped into the wounds, doing its dastardly work of disorienting the host. Enraged, the Spider stabbed at the ground, narrowly missing Noble as it found a hole in the rubble below.
Many were forming from the catastrophic shaking of the dragon near the summit, and now cracks were reaching all the way to the shore.
The spider sank into the rocks, giving both Helios and Noble a chance to pounce. The Symncus ripped at the seams on the creature's right while Noble went directly for the clacking jaws.
She dug the Zenith deep into the creature's mouth, ripping it to one side before the spider could finish clamping down.
That was the final straw. The stitches finished popping like firecrackers set off by the explosive fuse of Noble's sword.
With nothing left to support it, the sagging underbelly of the creature gave way. It deflated, the two halves separating from the legs as the entire creature came apart at the seams.
'I knew it!'
The reason the creature looked like two separate creatures was that it was…or had been once. Or perhaps the being that created it simply had a flair for the dramatic. Either way, it was another lie.
The skin rippled as something crawled within the hollowed body.
The real being in control of the horror was searching for a way to escape. The creature behind the mask would soon make its grand reveal.
Noble dove to stab the ripple, but the chitin suddenly ballooned.
"Whoa!" She pulled back narrowly avoiding the hairy chitin as the discarded husk vomited out its host.
Her eyes opened wide.
'That's not good…'