Reika watched as darkness gathered around her and Nozomi, and spiders beyond count skittered along, surrounding them. No ordinary spider should be that big: they almost reached her ankle, and there were so many of them. Something tickled at her shoulder; a web. She looked above, and strands of sticky white were reaching out to them. In the dark, someone was giggling.
"I know that laughter," Nozomi said; her voice made the little critters stir, as if about to strike. Reika kept her blade ready to defend herself.
"Who comes there?" Reika asked, pointing her blade at the dark. There was no point in silence, in hiding, not anymore, no choice but to fight.
"I should be the one asking that," the voice said, distinctly a woman's. "Depending on who you are, I might get a better bonus… It's been a real pain to track you, to set a trap for you flies, so it better be worth it."
"I am Cure Beauty," she said, the tip of her sword aiming at the woman. She could not show fear. She had faced worst. She had faced Dune at Moonlight's side… So why was she so afraid?
"I don't have to introduce myself, Arachnea," Nozomi had no weapons but her own hands, but for most Cures, that was more than enough. "After all the times you lost, you should have learned that you don't stand a chance."
"When you are with your friends," the woman said with a scathing voice, "but not when you are alone."
"I am not alone," she said, but Reika knew that she might as well be. It was not a simple, quick thing, for two Precure to learn to fight together, to understand one another, to join their strengths. Reika had never seen Nozomi fight, but from the way she had seen her act, Reika didn't have much faith in her ally. But still, who else did she have? She gave Nozomi a nod, and they approached their enemy.
A strand lashed against her, a white blur cutting the air like a razor, whipping her face, leaving a thin red line on her cheek. Screaming, Reika lunged against Arachnea, frozen edge pointed at her, but as she passed between the trees, something grasped her ankle, and she fell with her face on the ground, atop the skittering spiders. From there she could see the webs between the trees, traps to bring down rushing enemies. Behind her, she heard Nozomi trip as well, screaming as she fell.
A hundred tiny eyes shone as the spiders closed in on her, fangs about to strike. Beauty jumped up, but they clung to her body. She could feel their countless tiny legs against her bare skin. It was easy enough to toss them away against the ground, but their bites still stang as they pierced her skin. And all around, she heard laughter, but could not tell where it came from.
"Behind!" Nozomi yelled with urgency, still struggling to rise. On instinct, Reika put her sword behind her without looking, and something shattered its ice. Arachnea's hand. No, not her hand, Reika noticed, they looked more like the legs of a spider, but much harder, as tough as steel, coming out of her back.
Reika tossed her broken sword aside, and called forth another one. From her palm sprouted a long shard of ice, misshapen and ugly, but sharp. Quickly she thrust the icicle against Arachnea, but not quickly enough; with one of her legs, she blocked Beauty's strike, cracking her sword.
Taking steps back, Reika jumped from one side to the other to avoid Arachnea's blows, but they were too many, too fast, and they hit harder than rocks, pummeling Reika against thick tree trunks.
Reika could her Nozomi grunting, but could not afford to look at her; her eyes were set on Arachnea, her foot coming down on her face with great force. That proved to be a mistake, however; Reika lifted her hand and grabbed Arachnea's ankle, pulling her down. She fell down awkwardly, spider legs trying to stab Reika as she collapsed, but they missed, and Arachnea just fell on Beauty, her leg pierced by the blade that Reika held. On the wound, droplets of water mixed with the blood. Arachnea shouted in pain, trying to break free, but quickly she was pinned down to the muddy soil as more frozen blades fell on her, piercing through her sleeves.
