Never

Chapter 29: The Monster of the forest

The three mantis lords were standing in the throne room, all three exhausted and with the marks of a fierce battle they had recently fought, facing them was their opponent, their brother, the fourth Lord. At the edge of this makeshift battlefield lay the corpse of a young mantis, the daughter of the male who had insolently raised his claws against his sisters.

"Fig is enough! You can't beat us at three!" Lavender yelled at him angrily. "Besides, you know the rules. It is forbidden to interact with foreigners! She broke a taboo, she had to face the consequences."

"I'm not going to stop! I want justice! You killed my daughter! Your own niece! She was the only child of my brood that had survived, the only one that I have left, and now I don't even have her!"

"Stop being so sentimental. You should be happy she had an honorable ending! She will never again wallow with that foreigner." As always, Lily was the most ruthless in her assertions. "Also, you can always have more children."

"Enough Lily, each baby is a unique and irreplaceable being, don't say such insensitive things," Lavender scolded her.

"Pfff, whatever."

"Brother, that's enough, rules are rules." Orchid tried to calm the atmosphere with a more conciliatory attitude. "The same rules that have governed us for many generations, you yourself had to assert them against other mantises who dared to break them. Why would it be different with your daughter?"

"I... I... Maybe this is all wrong, maybe if we could think differently, see other points of view, consider more options..."

"Blasphemy!" Lily screeched.

"This is unacceptable, Fig! The pain of your loss is driving you crazy. Abandon those silly sentimentalities and go back to being the proud and strong mantis of always! Look at all the stupid things you're committing, you take up arms against us, you question our way of life. What the hell is wrong with you!"

"I'm already tired! I'm tired of all these stupid rules, of this rigid life, of not being able to cry when I need to, of not being able to tell someone how much I love them, of doing brutal training to the babies! Of not being able to honor my daughter with a dignified grave! I want to destroy the system! And I'm not the only one... Many other mantises in this place think like me, but are silent out of fear." Suddenly, something strange began to appear in Fig's eyes, a faint orange light that no one was able to notice. "That is what I want to defeat you. I want to crush you to rise to power and rule in the way I consider right!"

"A weakling like you could never defeat us!" Lirio challenged him. "You lack more power"

"More power, more power, more power... Yes... I need power... All I can... Because if not... My dream will not come true, I will not... It will not be possible... I need more power... More, more More!"

Fig's determination to gain power at any cost, added to the pain over the loss of his daughter and the resentment against his sisters caused the opening in his mind through which the moth goddess was able to corrupt him, in fact the infection had started to penetrate long ago, but it was at that moment that she was finally able to move forward and take control of him.

The signs of the disease became so evident that it was impossible to ignore it, his eyes took on the characteristic orange glow of the goddess, and his body began to grow, becoming more robust and powerful. His sisters looked at him with a mixture of disgust and horror.

"Brother no..."

"How is it possible..."

"You gave your mind to the goddess! Traitor!"

With the renewed strength bestowed upon him by the goddess, the Lord once again faced his sisters, but just like the previous time, he was defeated, albeit narrowly. But this time there was no mercy for him, surrendering to the moth goddess was too serious a crime to be forgiven, he would have been executed if Orchid had not interceded for him, arguing that exile was a more cruel and appropriate punishment.