Chapter 446: Play Ball!

Three beady black eyes stared down at Belladonna, filled with the rage and bloodlust that could only come from losing one’s children, or in this case hundreds of thousands of children.

The Plague Lord opened his mouth wide, wide enough to tear this cheeks open before his lower jaw separated into two distinct mandibles with over developed canine teeth as the fangs.

A thick, viscous spittle dripped in heavy globules from its mouth, before it was sprayed all over Belladonna’s face as the Plague Lord let out another ear-piercing screech. That lasted for about half a second before Belladonna rammed her free fist into its mouth, launching a fireball that exploded immediately.

She was thrown backwards, her flaming body ripped from the Plague Lord’s claws as she smashed through a few buildings, leaving flaming holes in her path, before finally flipping over and screeching to a halt.

Belladonna let her infusion die down, her body returning to flesh and blood as just a few wisps of smoke and waves of super-heated air radiated from her body as she stood up and rolled her shoulders.

A few quick, but disorientated screeches let her know the Plague Lord was alive, as she leapt across the buildings she demolished just in time to see it staggering unsteadily to its feet.

"Good, you’re durable. This won’t be a total let down then." Belladonna cackled with a sadistic smile.

The Plague Lord let out a low rumbling growl, narrowing its human eye as it seemingly understood what she was saying, before it hunched over and let out another ear-piercing screech, spewing out a cloud of smoke at the same time along with a little something extra.

Belladonna quickly raised her arm, blocking the thick white globule that the Plague Lord vomited towards her, before frowning at it.

She had been expecting acid or some kind of venom attack. Instead the globule had solidified onto a thick string of silken webs that connected her arm to the Plague Lords drooling maw.

It yanked its head back, dragging her towards it and forcing her to stumble forward a step. But that was it, a single step.

After that one step, Belladonna fixed her footing and planted her feet wide, her smile widening even more as she slowly wrapped the web around her forearm and gripped it tight.

"Bad move bug boy."

One yank ripped the Plague Lord off of its feet, sending it hurtling towards her already swinging fist that sent it flying backwards once again. It didn’t get far though, as the web stopped it from soaring off into the distance, and instead catapulted it back to Belladonna, where it was batted away again.

Over and over, Belladonna smacked the Plague Lord away and dragged his body back, playing with his half rotten, half insect body like he was just a tether-ball for her amusement.

When the Plague Lord’s wings buzzed, and he halted himself in the air to stop himself from being pummelled again, Belladonna simply adjusted her stance and began to swing.

She dragged the Plague Lord behind her, turning her tether ball into a wrecking ball. Around and around they spun, smashing the Plague Lord through building after building, covering him in Iron Wood splinters that were like thousands of tiny nails and slicing him to ribbons from the hundreds of Razor Leaves that brushed past him until he finally went flying again when he figured out that being connected to Belladonna was the worst possible idea in the world.

A few more buildings were smashed to rumble, leaving a path of destruction that led all the way into the ruins of an old Elven Pie shop. The owners of which were no more than desiccated husks that had collapsed where they stood.

Although the Plague Lord could not remember whether they had been alive when he consumed them, or if they had been cut down by the invasion force before hand.

Why, after all, would he care for the plight and misery of worthless insects? That’s what he had thought in the moment, and now he truly knew what it was like to be the feeble insect. How ironic it was.

Belladonna clicked her tongue in disappointment as she manifested in the hole in the wall. The shadows peeling themselves from her body and returning to the floor as she shook her head with a sigh.

"You’re pathetic. Just as I expected. Everyone feared the Devouring Black, the swarm that would consume all in its path.

But that was just it. They feared the swarm, not you. Without the swarm, without the ’Plague’ of locusts or flies or whatever the hells you have, the Plague Lord is just pathetic. An insect to be squished under my boot."

Belladonna sauntered over to the Plague Lord, basking in the fear and horror radiating off of him as he finally came to terms with the hopelessness of his situation. If only he knew this was only her operating at roughly 30% of her power, maybe not even that.

She didn’t even just have to use her buffing spell, or her transformation. Insect really was the perfect word for this so called ’Plague Lord’, but that was the benefit of getting to him before he became truly powerful.

Was it unfair that she came here earlier than was destined to and slaughtered him and his kin far before they had reached their peak of their power?

Yes. But that was life. It was shitty and unfair, and she knew that better than anyone.

Placing her foot on the Plague Lord’s chest, Belladonna began to press down as she heard the cracking and snapping of bones, as his ribcage started to give in from the pressure. However it was also followed by a strange, chittering noise that was coming from the Plague Lord.

He was... laughing?

"Bad move." He chittered, his voice sounding surprisingly deep and like a serious of clicks that strung rapidly together to form a mimicry of the words he once knew.

Before she could understand what was so funny, Belladonna yanked her leg away from his chest as pain erupted through it. Pain that was quickly dulled, along with many other of the sensations in her body.

She stumbled back, collapsing to one knee as she glanced up to see the wasp-like tail that had sprouted from the Plague Lords back, the curved stinger dripping with the foul concoction of venom’s crafted from everything that his swarm consumed or produced.