Hopper's foot came down like a meteor, shattering the stone floor as Ari barely rolled to the side. Even with his sharpened instincts and heightened awareness, Ari couldn't keep up. He was fast—able to predict Hopper's movements, trace the angle of the next slash, feel the shift in muscle before each strike—but none of it mattered. There was simply too much power behind every blow.
Each time Ari tried to parry with his mandibles, he was sent flying, slammed into the jagged stone walls of the grasshopper fortress. Cracks spidered around him on impact. His exoskeleton ached, and his entire body screamed in agony.
"This," Hopper rumbled, his voice like distant thunder, "is what it means to stand before a perfected being."
He loomed over Ari, a grin twisted in cruelty. His four gleaming mandibles twitched with anticipation, and a pulsing aura wrapped his body, swelling his already monstrous muscles to an unnatural size. Veins bulged grotesquely across his carapace.
"You're probably wondering how I've become this strong. I suppose I'll grant you the privilege of knowing before you die."
Ari tried to lift himself, but his limbs trembled under the strain.
"This is a muscle-enhancement technique," Hopper continued, flexing with pride. "It burns away my energy, yes, but in exchange—my strength, speed, and endurance are boosted to their absolute limits. Not forever… but long enough to kill you."
He grabbed Ari by the neck and slammed him into the floor, cracking the stone. Pain lanced through Ari's body like lightning. Then came the barrage—kicks and brutal strikes from Hopper's lower mandibles. Ari twisted, dodging as best he could, refusing to let those deadly mandibles touch anything vital. He couldn't block everything, but he refused to die. Not yet.
I just need… one opening.
His vision blurred with each impact. His legs faltered. Blood dripped from his mouth. He was reaching his limit. Hopper's attacks grew faster, more savage.
"You're persistent," Hopper sneered. "But you're out of ideas. Just look at you—on your knees, broken. To be honest, I have to thank you… you were a worthy adversary. I'll remember your name, Ari."
Ari gasped, blood mixing with the dust beneath him. His limbs trembled, his body unresponsive. "So this… is where it ends…" he whispered. "There's no way I can beat Hopper alone. That much is clear."
His chest heaved in shallow breaths. His muscles begged for rest, for surrender.
"I'm in so much pain… I can't even stand," he muttered, defeated. "There's nothing more I can do. Sorry… Princess Tanya. Sorry, everyone. I failed you."
The world slowed. Everything turned gray.
Then… silence.
When Ari opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the fortress.
A vast white void stretched endlessly in all directions. It was quiet. Peaceful. Empty.
He blinked, and gasped—the hands before him were human. Flesh and bone. Slender fingers, warm skin. He reached up, touching his face. It was the face of the boy he used to be. The weak, scrawny human who once lived in fear.
A glowing screen blinked into existence before him.
Are you giving up?
The words sliced through the stillness. Ari stared, unable to answer.
"No…" he said bitterly. "It's just… I stand no chance against that monster. I tried my best, but I'm just not strong enough."
You're wrong. You possess the ability to defeat him. But you remain in denial of your true power.
"What… what do you mean? Who are you?"
I am the system you accepted upon reincarnation. You completed quests, earned rewards… but refused to accept my full functionality. If you do… all the skills and powers you've earned from completing quests will be visible and unlocked.
Ari's eyes widened. "Wait… that unreadable reward after the termite fight. And again after the fly quest. They weren't just for show…"
You chose to survive through will alone. But power—real power—was always within your grasp. All you must do… is accept it.
He hesitated. Then nodded slowly.
If what that screen says is true… I really was in denial of the power this system possesses. But now… it's the only chance I have left to win. So please... help me defeat my enemy.
The void shattered.
Back in the fortress, Hopper raised his mandibles high.
"It's time to put an end to your resistance. After I'm through with you, I'll slaughter everyone in your colony—Princess Tanya included. So be a good little military ant... and DIE!"
He swung his mandibles.
Suddenly, a gust of wind erupted through the chamber. Ari's eyes snapped open—and he moved.
In a blur, he dodged Hopper's fatal strike.
"What the hell?!" Hopper's voice cracked in disbelief. "I didn't know you had so much energy left!"
"It doesn't matter. You'll still die! So just give up!"
He rushed Ari again, fast as lightning. But Ari dodged effortlessly, fluid and controlled, not even breaking a sweat. The change in him was immediate—like night and day.
Hopper snarled, enraged. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Just DIE ALREADY!"
He swung his four mandibles in a wide arc, point-blank. Any normal ant would've been sliced apart in an instant.
But Ari… calmly raised his own mandibles. He weaved between the slashes, his movements like water. Then, as Hopper's final strike neared, green, acid-like liquid began to secrete from Ari's mandibles.
Before Hopper could realize the danger, Ari slashed.
With a clean, fluid motion, Ari sliced through Hopper's upper arms—the acid melting through flesh and exoskeleton alike. His severed limbs dropped to the floor.
Hopper stumbled back in shock.
"What the hell?! What is this… How was he able to sever my arms… in this state?! So effortlessly?! What's happening?!"
"You'll pay for this! DIE!"
Hopper lunged again, desperate and wild. Ari dodged the lower mandibles with ease and targeted the wound he and Anastasia had opened earlier on Hopper's chest.
He slashed—acid trailing from his blades—and Hopper's flesh melted beneath it, the wound widening grotesquely.
"No… it can't be… how… HOW are you able to use this ability?!" Hopper backed away, trembling. "That acid—it's not yours. That belongs to a termite!"
Then, as the aura around Ari surged, Hopper froze.
A memory surfaced. A terrifying one.
He remembered… someone else. A monster. One who had that same ability. One who wiped out entire squads with stolen powers.
"You… you're just like him… That monster with the power to absorb other insects' abilities…"
Ari tilted his head, confused. "I don't know who you're talking about. But like I said before… we're putting an end to you. And it won't be by my hand."
He turned toward the collapsed figure on the ground.
"Anastasia!"
His voice cracked, echoing across the ruined chamber.
Her body lay motionless among the rubble— exoskeleton bruised, a long, deep wound carved across her side and dusted with dried blood. For a moment, dread swallowed his heart whole. Then—she twitched.
"Anastasia!" Ari called again, stumbling forward on failing legs.
She heard him.
Faint, like a dream. A voice calling her from the dark, cutting through the ringing in her ears. Her heart stirred first, then her eyes fluttered open.
"Ari…?" she mumbled.
He dropped to his knees beside her, brushing debris off her shoulder.
"You're awake," he exhaled in relief. "Thank goodness…"
Her head throbbed. Pain pulsed through every limb, but she could move. Barely. She tried to rise.
"Can you stand?" he asked gently.
Her arms trembled as she pushed herself up. "I… I think so…"
He watched her in awe. "Honestly… I'm surprised you're still alive after that slash Hopper gave you… let alone standing on your own two feet."
A weak smile tugged at her lips. "I guess I'm tougher than I look."
Ari stood and turned, his voice quiet but firm. "Hopper's weak. He's yours."
She followed his gaze.
There he was—Hopper. The tyrant. The monster. The invader who had stolen everything. He was still breathing, his grotesque form twitching slightly, but he wasn't the towering threat he once was. He bled, his limbs mutilated. He was still dangerous, but he was no longer invincible.
Ari's voice softened. "It's not my place to land the finishing blow on him. Not after everything. I think it's only right that I hand that task to you… because he was the one who caused you pain."
Her eyes widened for a moment. Then narrowed with purpose.
Her hands tightened around her mandibles.
She took a shaky step forward.
And then the memories came.
Not of battle. Not of duty.
Of home.
Of sitting beneath the glowing fungus trees with her father, listening to the rise and fall of his deep, comforting voice as he told her stories of the world beyond the colony.
Of her small hand wrapped around his giant finger as he carried her on his back, laughing whenever she squealed at the height.
Of the warmth of his embrace the night before he left for his final mission, when she had clung to his chest and begged him not to go.
Of the promise he'd made that night.
"I'll come back, little soldier. You'll see. You're going to grow up brave and strong—and I'll be there to see it."
But he never came back.
Tears slipped from her eyes, unbidden.
"I was just a kid…" she whispered, her voice trembling. "I waited for him that day hoping that he would come back… just to hear that he was slain by you…"
Ari said nothing. He just stood there, watching her—knowing this wasn't his moment. It was hers.
She lifted her mandibles. "I've been waiting for this moment for ten years… I dedicated my life to training for the sole purpose of defeating you."
Her knees still trembled. Her vision blurred from pain. But she walked, one step at a time, toward the beast who had taken her father away.
Hopper's dull eyes shifted as he heard her approach. His head jerked weakly, one twitching antenna barely responding. The moment he saw her silhouette—bloodied, limping, burning with fury—his expression twisted. Not in arrogance. Not in disdain.
In fear.
His breathing hitched. He gritted his teeth, trying to scoot backward with what strength remained, dragging himself through the dirt like a dying animal. But his legs failed him. His mandibles spasmed helplessly.
"No… no," he rasped, voice guttural and thick with blood. "You… should've died…"
She didn't stop.
"For everything you stole from us…" she said, louder now. "For every young ant who waited like I did, who yearned for their lost loved ones… for every parent who never came home that day because of you and your army…"
Hopper tried to lift his mangled arm. His vision blurred, one eye already failing, the other watching death advance toward him. Panic clawed at his insides. He had ruled without mercy. Killed without hesitation. But now—he was powerless.
"Stop," he gasped. "I… I was a warlord— I won't die by your hands!"
She began to run.
"For my Queen…!"
"For my colony…!"
The wind howled behind her, like the voices of the fallen crying out as one.
"For my father!"
She leapt.
"This is my—!"
Her voice cracked as she brought her mandibles down with all her strength.
They pierced Hopper's eyes—deep, brutal, unflinching.
The sound that followed was monstrous. A scream without language, raw and animalistic, echoing across the battlefield.
He writhed once.
Then he went still.
Anastasia dropped to her knees beside the corpse, her breathing ragged, tears still falling.Behind her, Ari let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
"…It's over," he whispered, barely believing the words. "It's really over…"
She turned her head slowly, locking eyes with him.
"We did it…" she said, her voice breaking.
He shook his head.
"No. You did it. You landed the final blow"
She tried to smile, but emotion overwhelmed her. She wiped at her face, but her hands wouldn't stop shaking.