King of Stars Volume 1 (An interstellar ATEEZ Hongjoong fanfiction)

Part Twelve: In Which 10-24's Victory is Short Lived

                             ~Hongjoong's POV~

"Wait!"

At the warning I reflexively dropped into a fighting stance, sword at the ready to kill whatever new nightmare had reared its ugly head. My eyes darted frantically around the room but was only met with the confused looks of my crew.

What am I looking for? I wondered and turned to Ten with the question ready on my lips when there came a low rumble from beneath our feet.

I dashed forward as the floor shifted like a living, breathing thing, until it gave way with a deafening blast. In a squeal of metal it opened like the giant maw of a beast ready to devour us whole. A barrage of debris pelted my body as I held my ground, clouds of dust obstructing my view as I searched for everyone else. I couldn't tell if they were still alive or had fallen to their death into the depths of the ship.

My eyes finally spotted a figure on the ground not too far from where I stood. Once the dust settled I realized it was Ten, clutching at her chest as blood seeped through her fingers and pooled onto the ground around her. She was deathly pale, her chest rising and falling in shallow gasps.

The massive legs of the Matriarch erupted from the opening followed by her millions of eyes, like pools of blood rolling around in her head. She tore from the floor with a bone shaking battlecry like a demon from the pits of hell.

Stars she is even bigger than before...

The Matriarch fixed her crazed eyes on Ten and aggressively clacked her fangs together. She rose a leg in the air, riddled with lethal spines, preparing to obliterate the defenseless girl with one strike. I sprinted forward with my weapon lighting up the air around me in a desperate attempt to save her.

But somebody else reached her first.

Brandishing a long whip, San ran out from nowhere and snapped the cord forward, wrapping around it's leg. The sound was like a crack of lightning as the Matriarch wobbled unsteadily then crashed forward into the floor with the momentum she had built.

With the Matriarch now immobilized, in a whirlwind of fur and gnashing teeth, Cerber bounded forward and launched herself onto the spider's back. Then Cerber fought, bleeding profusely from her reopened wounds, with more ferocity than anything I'd ever seen. All three heads bit down on top of the Matriarch's hairy one, teeth grinding against her skull, and shook her violently from side to side. The spider bucked back attempting to throw her off her assailant but Cerber dug deep and latched on.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted San dragging Ten out of the way, who was crying out in pain and leaving a bloody trail across the floor.

Finally out of the chaos that had broken loose I spotted my men. Yeosang was rapidly flinging throwing knives, one after the other in quick succession, into her abdomen. Each one lodged into its target with a wet thump. The Matriarch flailed angrily but was unable to land a blow as Yeosang nimbly dodged each attack.

Yunho ducked under a leg that had been thrusted in his direction, narrowly missing decapitation. With a shout he withdrew his plasma rifle and fired a shot, blowing the tip of the claw clean off.

I sprinted in their direction, sword buzzing with electricity as I swung wildly through the air. I managed to hack a leg off in my race to the other side of the hangar. Blood, like red mist in the air, being sucked into my lungs. The discarded limb writhed like something unholy on the ground. It had a wicked natural blade to it that kicked up, nearly cutting me in half.

A still wounded Wooyoung clung to Mingi's back as they dodged the Matriarch's swinging limbs. Seongwha drew his sword, the edge of it slicing the air, as he parried her attacks and prevented the Matriarch from even coming close. His face was a picture of intense concentration.