In Greek mythology, Arachne was a woman known for her exceptional weaving skills. She was a mortal woman like everyone else; however, the sin of hubris consumed her and drove her to reach higher than she could, much like Icarus. She challenged Athena to a weaving contest; she was haughty and boasted of her superiority in tapestry and wove a tapestry depicting the pantheon's profligate behaviours. She failed to understand the difference between mortals and immortals, her work was destroyed, and she took her own life. Athena did not think the lesson was potent enough, and she cursed her into a spider known as 'the weaver' who weaves forever. She continues the act that led her to her gravest sin and most shameful act forever.

  The high pontiff of Rea had also sinned against his superiors that day in the cathedral; however, his curse was still being woven.

  Madarame fires his keratin legs at speeds so fast they were invisible; the amalgamation of flesh covering them made recognition of what they once were impossible. He turns to the other 2 hybrids. He grabs the bat-like creature by the leg and slams it to the floor. He stabs one leg through the torso and pulls the creature down. It splits from the torso to the forehead like the letter V. The dog is chewing on Madarame's leg. He can hardly feel it, the pain of 6 sharp claws tearing through his back, where each subtle movement causes a searing pain like rubbing a wound, made him almost insane whenever he entered this form. He seldom used this with comrades, unless necessary, to avoid collateral damage. Madarame stabs all six legs into the dog-creature and tears it from 6 directions.

  The King watches; it only took three to force him into such a form. Not too bad.

  The King falls into a brief reverie.

  He sits on his throne. A man comes in. He falls to his knees, head down. "Dearest King, we have succeeded in our experiment. A hybrid can indeed fuse with a pact beast."

  "Who. And what?"

  "Former first general, Levi, we had fused him with an ape originally; we had also made a pact on his behalf with the Bahamut, it cost-"

  "Doesn't matter. Well done."

  The man got up, closed the door behind him, and walked on with his head still down.

  -

  The King brushes his Ashen hair, and he presses a button at his desk.

  Madarame hears a large door smash against the wall as it swings open. An ape-like creature, its eyes are human and far too rounded from the stretched skin, its pronounced, protruding Jaw made the creature look like it was muzzled with its own face. It screamed like a man, not of excitement but in pain. It swung from the lights to Madarame, its foot is a hand, not from its own body, as the skin colours do not align. It tries to grab Madarame, but Madarame pierces the 4 hands with the palms, holding the Beast up. Making quick work of the creature, he plucks out the heart like pulling a pin out of a voodoo doll.

  The ape goes limp.

  In a flash, a beam of light fires out of the hole, and Madarame moves his head out of the way. He reacted to Sura's light speed before in his regular form, this was nothing.

  The light fires back into the wound as if drawn in by some gravitational pull. A black hole is forming from the wound. It goes dark as the light is sucked in.

  Madarame is reduced to a single leg.

  In the Greek myth, the weaver could weave reality itself; death was merely a pattern in its web. The leg twitches slowly, in the blackness of the void. Swirling above is a tapestry woven; it moves like a stop-motion film. It depicts a woman with the body of a spider and the torso of a woman. She is weaving a scene, a man with raven hair, milk-like skin, two sharp black eyes, a nose which was large but bore no dorsal hump. Each feature was intricate and accurate. A large white dragon with 4 wings fires a wave of light at the tapestry being woven in real time; the light passes through it like shining a torch on a hand-woven blanket. The woman continues to weave; she weaves on an eyepatch, she weaves on a scar at the earlobe, an uneven section of hair. The monster lifts its head. Its roar creates another black hole within the one it is already inside. A string shoots from the black hole and enters the tapestry while the woman unwinds it like black yarn, using it to put the final touches on the piece.

  The woman lifts the piece and drops it out of the tapestry. Madarame lies there like a doll. The string scene retracts into Madarame's body. He breathes a breath of life. The Bahamut places its claw on the body, trying to crush it. The claw is defiled with strings, cutting it to pieces. Madarame's six legs are out once again. He pounces into the air. The legs begin to weave themselves into a cocoon while the Bahamut's rays of light bounce off of it. A hole in the fabric of space appears as the Bahamut is dragged into it.

  They are back in the panopticon prison.

  The usual brutality ensues. Madarame is disappearing with each step as he crawls up the side of the beast. Each leg stabs into the skin; he is swatted off like a spider and crashes through multiple cells. The legs weave again. The Bahamut fires three separate rays of light, striking from the front, below, and behind. They hit Madarame, and 2 of his spider legs remain. He stops weaving and rushes towards the beast, and he lands on its face, stabbing the two legs through its eyes. His jaw turns into a spider mandible, and the fangs pierce the beast's forehead, turning the flesh into sludge. The hole is so deep that he can see the Bahamut's brain pulsating. Light fires through the hole, burning away the remaining legs and melting his flesh together. The beast conjured another black hole in which it solely absorbed itself.

  The king watches wide-eyed. Had the weaver made the legendary Bahamut retreat?

  Among the pact beasts, there were a dozen or so which were in a tier of their own. Bahamut and the weaver were in this dozen, and yet it seemed that Bahamut had no way of putting the creature down.

  Madarame calmly walked down the corridors past more locked cells; the beasts jumped at him, yet he hardly even realised. He slowly makes his way to the castle's main floor and walks past the guards who are frozen, looking at the sight.

  Seraphiel is still standing at the gate, waiting for Madarame's return. As he hears nervous shouts, he turns to see Madarame walking out, covered in wounds.

  ”..so..” Seraphiel says with trepidation, “Did you find anything?”

  Madarame lets out a laugh, followed by a grin.

  His eyes were bloodshot red, presumably from the excruciating pain he felt whenever he entered that form.

  He looked blank at Seraphiel for a few moments, just breathing deeply.

  "Come," he walks away, gesturing for Seraphiel to follow.

  They sit atop a roof overlooking the square. Seraphiel stares at the moon and catches snowflakes while Madarame takes a puff of his cigarette. "I discovered some important... information." He takes a puff again.

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  "What is it?" Seraphiel asks after a few seconds, expecting a follow-up. Madarame puts out a cigarette on the snow. "Some sort of chimera lab hybrids, humans changed into wild animals. They are strong; you probably would be killed by a few of them. More concerningly, they had managed to force a pact upon one of these hybrids. 'The light sworn' Bahamut among the 15 iridescent beasts. I wonder how many they have.

  Seraphiel stops to think, processing all the information.

  Genetically engineered hybrids are eligible for a pact? Can an appellation have a pact too?

  "Where are they doing all this, in the castle?"

  "No, I doubt it." Madarame takes off his shoe, pouring water out. "They probably are using a proxy kingdom and exporting the beasts here, if they did it in the capital, a mistake would be fatal, no?"

  Werry Madarame thinks. The ball marking the future war, Yumi also said Werry is integral to the King's chance at success. Madarame strokes his lip with his thumb.

  "Who would you rather win the war, Zod or Cairnreach?"

  Seraphiel stutters. "Erm, Zod, they're only one kingdom in the war and are probably more diplomatic".

  "Right answer"

  Madarame commands Seraphiel to fly him to the land of Zod. Seraphiel is forced to oblige him. Madarame holds onto Seraphiel's back as they tear through the sound barrier, taking off.

  They land at the port. "What are we doing here?" Seraphiel inquires.

  "Meeting with Khael."

  "What?"

  Madarame waves a carriage over; he hops in and orders the man to take them to the ruler's home. "Sir, I cannot take you to-"

  "I am the high pontiff of Rea Mada-"

  "Okay, okay, that's enough".

  Seraphiel leans back against the seat as he looks at the scenery. The sun is starting to set the sky is a gradient of a deep orange turning purple. It was far more beautiful than Seriol or Verez, though he still preferred the moon in Cairnreach and the boreal climate. Children frolicked, kicking a ball about in an open field in the distance. The heat hitting the glass of the carriage window made it too hot to lean on as he dropped forward, falling asleep.

  Click click.

  He jumps up. It's only Madarame. The Tengu has been silent since landing in Zod. Madarame is clicking his finger in Seraphiel's face, trying to wake him up. "Hello, please wake up already". Seraphiel, without saying a word, pushes the door open and tumbles out of the carriage. He falls and looks up at a pair of legs; it's an old woman with crow's feet and smile lines. She had a label "3".

  "Khael is expecting you. Follow me to the waiting room".

  "Yes, ma'am", Madarame replies politely, picking Seraphiel up. He rubs his knuckle on his head like a big brother as they both walk through the courtyard. It was filled with all sorts of exotic plants, with no caretakers in sight. Khael preferred to watch over them himself. As they approached the door, Khael opened it. "Thank you", he bowed to "3" as she walked back down the courtyard. He puts out his hand, shaking Madarame's. He turns to Seraphiel, and he grabs his hand so hard that he breaks it before reconstructing it in an instant. He looks deep into Seraphiel's eye without smiling, not breaking eye contact. "Please take off your shoes"

  Madarame and Seraphiel walk into the dining room, 3 plates have been prepared, and they are steaming hot. "Please sit down."

  The table was filled with various meats. Duck, Rabbit, Chicken, Cow, Lamb. Only meat was present, and nothing else. "So, Werry", Khael pauses as he chews.

  "Yes, we wanted to tell you about what we think is going on, Werry, in case it went under your radar". Madarame says bluntly.

  "Yes, I am well aware, and you're right about that being the centre for their experimentation".

  Due to the abnormal appearance of these creatures, Khael struggled to create an accurate mental image by simply reading the brains of those viewing it. He wanted to see them for himself to visualise as accurately as possible.

  "May I make a request of your services?" Khael says in a low voice.

  "What is it?"

  "I have business to attend to tonight in Cairnreach. I won't be able to join you, but could you two go on my behalf? There is something I would like to see, and I'd like to see it through your eyes."

  "What do you mean?" Madarame replies nervously.

  "Please infiltrate their facility in Werry, I'll have "1" fill you in on the details, but all I would like is for you two to wear this eyepatch, it has a device in there which will broadcast to my team what you see". He hands them the eyepatch. Seraphiel’s was a direct replica, and Madarame's was also a replica of the eyepatch he wore in their fight with Sura.

  Khael was going to be busy in Cairnreach, so he wanted his servants to draw exactly how these beasts looked for him. Before they could reply, he said, "As thanks, you have my word that I will return the favour."

  Seraphiel thought about what favour they could use him for; he cared for his people of Cairnreach still, and so he asked for one thing. "During your war, please make sure an elderly woman who lives in an inn is safe. I don't recall her name or her face, but-."

  "Do you take me for someone who kills the elderly?"

  "No, it's just", Seraphiel stutters.

  Khael smiles and laughs, "I'm teasing, of course I am aware of her favour to you, she will be safe under me".

  Madarame licks the plate clean.

  "Will you stay for dessert?" Khael says lightly.

  Madarame and Seraphiel look at each other.

  After another 20 minutes of eating. Madarame and Seraphiel are brought into a drafting room while Khael exits, wearing a long black overcoat. He heads to Cairnreach. "1" begins by pointing to a board with the image of a hatch in the ground. It was an old steel grate surrounded by a dense forest; it resembled a nuclear bunker. "There isn't really much to it. All this requires is that you get a good look at as many of these creatures as you can, try to hold your vision on them so that we can see. I know this seems like a random request, but you came to get a favour from the ruler of Zod, no? What an invaluable thing it is to have the future leader of the realms indebted to you."

  Madarame has his hands in his pockets and is swirling his foot along the carpet's pattern. Seraphiel is nodding as "1" speaks. They leave soon after heading to Werry.

  In Cairnreach, Khael has arrived and walks through the district of Termin. He is evidently a foreigner, but the nobles of Cairnreach aren't aware of the ruler of Zods appearance, so they assume he is just a random citizen. A traveller from Zod, at a time like this? He looks around, he sees people looking out of their windows at him, Kids pointing and laughing, he reads hatred, envy, every neurotic emotion from them. He stands in the centre as one by one they come walking outwards towards him.

  In Werry, Madarame, and Seraphiel stand atop the hatch with their eyepatches on. Madarame tears out the steel hatch and throws it aside. They step in, walking down a long corridor filled with about 100 thick steps made of concrete. As they hit the bottom, torches turn on themselves, and they find themselves in a room with a one-way mirror, laboratory equipment, a table with a man strapped down to it, hooked up to an IV. The skin on his face and chest is flayed, his nose is missing, and his breathing is laboured. Above him, labelled is the word, "Mule no 28" They were in the process of turning this man into a hybrid. a horse, which is only skeleton and muscle, is on another table, the muscles tense as they are periodically electrocuted.

  Seraphiel looks at this disgusting display, and he feels ill. He recalls the dinner he had earlier. Madarame looks through the one-way mirror and sees someone in a white cloak holding papers, walking back and forth as various creatures are tested for their optimal durability, speed, and strength. Further down, a man, alive and well, is being rolled across the corridor and disappears. Madarame steps back and gazes longer at the skinned man and the skeletal horse so that Khael's team can see. Seraphiel has forgotten the aim and opens the door, treading across and looking into the cells. More and more and more and more. A Komodo dragon hybrid, a crab hybrid with children's arms stitched to the sides of the head with fused adult hands as claws. His breathing speeds up.

  Their eyepatches make a crackling sound, and loud footsteps, as if an army is marching, are heard. Khael's voice crackles. "Kill. Them all. "

  "What", Madarame says, "that wasn't the deal".

  "Kill. Now. Please." The sound is cutting in and out. Khael has communicated with his team and was horrified by what he heard. He wanted them to be dispatched of, for their own dignity.

  Madarame turns to Seraphiel, who has his wing out. He flies down the corridor, crushing the man with the papers' head with his talon. The alarm goes off. People flood the other side of the Hall as they smash a glass cover on the wall. The cell doors fly open just like the prison. The hybrids are not complete. They don't move, except one. The ape looked like one from before. Its black hole had led it here in order to escape the weaver, who has now returned with another.

  "Shit", Madarame shouts, he can't go into his weaver form with Seraphiel here, he didn't want to hurt him accidentally. The ape slams on the floor, making strange sounds. It runs on all fours, and Seraphiel's claw cuts through the air. The ape jumps over it, grabbing his arm with his hand-foot and squeezing his head with his actual hand.

  In Cairnreach, a congregation of the nobles of Termin have arrived at the gates of the castle.

  The king watches from his window.

  Guards are confused, thinking it's some sort of revolt.

  They shout out in unison, "Cairnreach will be purged from within". They all collectively bite out their tongues and fall over on the spot. Over 100 nobles had just committed mass suicide while declaring war.