"The Eight-Armed Mother Goddess is none other than the great Lady Sehanine! She bears the likeness of a spider, merciful yet majestic! I have always been Her most devoted disciple. I gave everything for Her, and in return, She bestowed Her divine grace upon me!"
"Praise the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess! Holy! Holy!"
"Her first pair of arms are the Hands of the Moon, unleashing moonlight to embrace the earth! Her second pair are the Hands of Night, brewing darkness and bringing slumber! Her third pair are the Hands of the Future, weaving a great web to decide the fates of all living beings! Her fourth pair are the Hands of Chaos..."
The fallen elf remained boastful and wild-eyed, his words dripping with fanatic reverence.
"What on earth?"
"What kind of nonsense is this...?" The surrounding silver moon elves furrowed their brows, murmuring among themselves in sheer bewilderment.
In no era had their Mother Goddess of the Sacred Tree possessed eight arms, nor did She have the power to brew darkness and weave chaos.
"The Lady of Spiders, the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess, the Weaver of Chaos..."
Catherine turned those bizarre titles over in her mind before her eyes snapped wide with realization. She muttered, "It's Lolth, the Spider Queen... How dare that evil goddess impersonate the Mother Goddess of the Sacred Tree! This is blasphemy! Utter blasphemy!"
Her eyes flashed with fury as she glared at the fallen elf and snapped, "Do you still not understand? There is no Eight-Armed Mother Goddess! The one you worship is no goddess of moonlight—she is an evil goddess from the Abyss! The traitor from tens of thousands of years ago—the Spider Queen Lolth!"
The fallen elf shrieked in denial, thrashing wildly. "Lies! You're trying to deceive me! I saw the holy form of the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess upon the Sacred Tree with my own eyes!"
Amid his violent struggles, the fissures running across his skin cracked wider. Dark red poisonous blood welled out, accompanied by the wet, sickening crunch of tearing flesh.
*Rip—!*
The elven skin tore apart like ragged parchment. A half-human, half-spider abomination crawled out from the discarded husk, screeching hoarsely as it lunged straight toward Catherine.
"He's beyond saving!"
"Kill that filthy monster! Protect Her Majesty!"
Rhea stepped forward, the silver sword in his hand cleaving diagonally downward. With clean precision, he severed the spider creature in two. The sword's twilight glimmer caused wisps of black smoke to hiss from the monstrosity's remains.
"Rest in peace, my former kinsman..."
Catherine remained calm and collected, showing no trace of panic. She merely looked down at the spider carcass before her, her expression chilling. "Such audacity... daring to replace faith in the Mother Goddess of the Sacred Tree with an evil fiend, twisting our people's minds and corrupting their bodies..."
"Those elders are far filthier, more shameless, and more repulsive than I ever imagined! They no longer deserve to be called silver moon elves—they are nothing but vicious, irredeemable demons!"
The ancient gold dragon circled several times before beating his wings and landing heavily beside the elven queen. He dipped his massive head slightly. "Queen Catherine, champions of righteousness from across the realm have gathered here. We will give you our full support to reclaim your throne and become the true sovereign of Therenia."
King Zayn of the shield dwarves rode up from a distance atop his bighorn ram, laughing heartily. "Aye! Queen Catherine, those treacherous vipers aren't fit to stand in your shadow!"
"On behalf of the Harpers, I pledge our full support to your uprising!"
"In the name of Mount Celestia—!"
High above, giant eagles circled, their cries ringing sharp and clear across the sky. Upon this battered battlefield, beings of the good factions—humans, dwarves, elves, dragons, and angels—stood shoulder to shoulder, surrounding the elven queen like stars gathered around the moon.
The pure-white unicorn stepped gracefully across a bridge woven of rainbow light, ascending until it hovered in midair.
Mounted upon the unicorn, Catherine raised her royal scepter. Resolution shone from her flawless face. "Everyone—those elders have shamelessly thrown their lot in with the Abyss, replacing our faith with a chaotic evil goddess and turning our kin into half-human, half-spider monstrosities!"
"This is treason! An unforgivable betrayal!"
"Today, on this sacred night of ritual, we shall take back the Sacred Tree and let the silver moonlight shine once more over Therenia!"
Empowered by divine magic, Catherine's voice carried across a hundred li, reaching the ears of nearly half the elves in Therenia with rousing passion.
A breeze stirred, branches swayed, and leaves drifted downward as a storm of unrest erupted among the silver moon elves dwelling in the forest.
"Sehanine above! How could those decrepit wretches do such a thing?! How dare they disguise an evil deity as our Mother Goddess!"
"Mother Goddess..."
"This is sheer sacrilege!"
"Only Queen Catherine can set Therenia back on the right path! We must go help her!"
The elves harboring resentment toward the Council of Elders finally found their rallying cry. They had long lamented Therenia's decay and corruption, viewing the elders as their true enemies.
Moving deftly through the dense forest, the elves slipped past the tight dragnets of the Blades of the Sacred Court to rally around Catherine.
After witnessing the harrowing elven skins and the sickening carcasses of the spider beasts, most of them placed absolute faith in Catherine's words.
How could those possibly be the Blades of the Sacred Court? They were nothing but filthy cultists, monsters infected by the Abyss!
The silver moon elves raised their weapons high, crying out in unison:
"Long live Therenia!"
"Long live Queen Catherine!"
"Purge the vermin of the Council of Elders! Eradicate the corrupt leaders of the kingdom and restore Queen Catherine to rule!"
Some elves knelt on the ground in tears. "Your Majesty, please, you must bring those wretches to justice! My husband was deceived by them and joined that so-called Church of the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess..."
The silver moon elves were naturally gifted with magical power, known as nature's darlings; nearly every one of them could train as a ranger, archer fighter, or druid.
As citizens poured in from all over Therenia, Catherine's army expanded rapidly, soon swelling to over fifteen thousand.
For a long-lived race with low birth rates, fifteen thousand was an enormous host—a testament to how deep their grievance against the Council of Elders truly ran.
Seeing this, a smile touched Rhea's lips. "Your Majesty, do you see? I told you that all the people of Therenia would stand with you."
The ancient gold dragon echoed, "Queen Catherine, it seems this holy crusade already carries the will of the people."
"You flatter me. They have simply suffered under those vile scum for too long and can bear it no more. I take no pride in this; my heart only aches for them. What I must do is overthrow the Council of Elders and put an absolute end to their reign."
Catherine nodded, her voice ringing firm and resolute. "I will never fail my people's expectations. They have endured too much suffering and torment. It is time... to bring an end to this dark age."
She raised her scepter, pointing toward the colossal tree piercing the clouds. "Everyone—march! Follow me, and let us reclaim the Sacred Tree!"
Before her words could fade, battle cries, neighs, and cheers soared into the sky. Formed from an alliance of righteous powers, the Coalition Army of the Holy Alliance plunged into the Soulbell Sea of Trees, marching toward the Sacred Tree in a grand and surging tide.
***
Therenia, Ensel Court.
Perched atop the canopy of the elven Sacred Tree, this had once been the royal palace of the elven queens, the supreme symbol of authority in Therenia.
Yet in the coup a millennium ago, Queen Fariti—the fifteenth queen, branded a tyrant—had been overthrown, and the elven elders had enacted numerous regulations.
Ever since, the elven queen had been reduced to a mere figurehead, while the elders wielded the true authority over Therenia, ruling the Elven Forest to this day.
At this moment, however, the grandly attired elders seated upon chairs woven from the branches of the Sacred Tree wore grim, darkened expressions. The air hung thick with suffocating tension.
At last, Grand Elder Theron, seated at the highest dais of the royal court, broke the silence with a deep, rasping voice.
"Therian is dead. The Blades of the Sacred Court we dispatched have been completely wiped out. Catherine has allied with numerous factions—including the Harpers, the City of Myriad Laws, the Mountain Dwarf Kingdom, and the metallic dragons—forming a powerful coalition that is now marching toward the Sacred Tree..."
At those words, one elder fumed, "I told you before! Catherine was a hidden menace! We should have executed her long ago!"
"Who could have foreseen this? We kept her around only to pacify the common elves. Who knew this caged canary would manage to escape? That gentle, obedient demeanor of hers was merely a disguise!"
"We underestimated her. As expected of Fariti's granddaughter—she's just as mad as that woman was."
"Elder Laiante, overseeing the royal house was your responsibility! She managed to assemble such an army right under your nose! You cannot escape blame!"
"What is done is done! What good is pointing fingers now? You should be thinking about what happens if those lowborn elves disrupt the Great Plan and the Mother Goddess vents Her wrath upon us!"
The elven elders bickered relentlessly, shouting curses and venom back and forth.
"Enough."
Grand Elder Theron spoke in a heavy undertone. The elders snapped their mouths shut, and silence descended over the court.
Theron was revered by the elves as the Voice of Silver Leaves, said to have lived for over a thousand years.
He had once communed with the Sacred Tree, maintaining the balance between nature and magic, and commanded immense prestige within Therenia. Even after falling to darkness, his word remained absolute among the elders.
Theron shook his head and let out a long sigh. "They do not understand our council's good intentions. Lady Sehanine has been slumbering for over a century. If we had not made contact with the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess, Therenia would have been reduced to an ocean of fire a hundred years ago."
"Indeed. We did it all to protect Therenia. The deaths of those common elves were merely necessary sacrifices."
"Grand Elder, we must wipe out those rebels! Pull them up by the roots! Sacrifice all those unruly lowborn elves to the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess!"
"Yet she is the elven queen after all. By our traditions..."
"Even our Council of Elders is hanging by a thread! What traditions are left to speak of?!"
The elders worked themselves into a righteous fury, as though they were the true victims in all of this.
"Things having come to this, it seems... we have no choice but to seek the Mother Goddess's protection. The next divine sacrifice may begin." Theron raised his head, gazing at the hideous half-human, half-spider statue atop the court, a sinister light flickering in his eyes.
"This time... each of your houses must offer a hundred sacrifices."
Hearing Theron's command, the elders shuddered, gasping in collective horror.
Before long, an exceptionally grotesque scene unfolded across the canopy of the elven Sacred Tree.
Silver moon elves were bound and wrapped in spider silk, turned into giant cocoons hanging upside down from the branches. Like insect carcasses blown onto a spider's web, the sight was profoundly chilling.
Then came a rustling sound. Countless black spiders scurried along the silk threads, swarming toward the suspended elves.
In an instant, accompanied by a scalp-numbing crunch, the surging wave of spiders devoured several of the elves entirely, leaving behind nothing but stains of fresh blood and scattered bone fragments.
Meanwhile, the remaining cocoons fell still. The black spiders seemed to have burrowed through their nostrils, ears, and eyes, vanishing deep into the elves' bodies to lie in wait.
For reasons unknown, the branches of the Sacred Tree appeared to twist even further. Their bark grew soft, and red fluid seeped from fresh cuts like blood from humanoid limbs.
Draped in grand robes, Grand Elder Theron stood atop the altar.
He spread his arms, praying with devout fanaticism. "Holy! O merciful Eight-Armed Mother Goddess!"
"I shall let Your children bask in supreme glory, allowing their flesh and blood to return to Your divine form, and their souls to journey to Your heavenly kingdom!"
Theron dropped to his knees, prostrating himself completely. "Yet, Mother Goddess, there are still elves who refuse to embrace You. She is the offspring of a tyrant, the Queen of Therenia, and a disgraceful rebel who has colluded with foreign enemies."
"We beseech You to manifest Your supreme might, to turn those pitiful elves from their astray path so they may return to Your warm embrace and become one of us!"
*Rip—!*
The skin along Theron's back split open violently, as if sliced by sharp blades. Eight glistening, razor-sharp arachnid legs pierced through his flesh, drenched in blood, protruding from behind the Grand Elder's back.
"A blood sacrifice to the Mother Goddess!" the Grand Elder roared.
Behind him, the dozen-odd elven elders knelt on the ground as well, shouting in unison to form a bizarre, discordant symphony.
Venom, compound eyes, coarse bristles—varying degrees of spider traits erupted across all of their bodies.
Amid the eerie prayers, the black spiders grew even more frenzied. Greed burned in their crimson compound eyes, and they swarmed into the remaining cocoons.
A noxious black mist billowed into the air. An overwhelming aura of profound evil descended, spreading outward in an instant, until a grotesque figure manifested against the sky—
One could vaguely discern the form of a female elf, voluptuous and curvy. Her face was veiled in thin silk, yet she wore an inscrutable, chilling smile.
Most striking of all were her eight arms—slender and long, each gripping a wicked dagger like the barbed claws of a spider.
"Praise the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess!"
Theron raised his head, gazing entranced at the apparition. His eyes burned with madness as he held his arms high, as though witnessing a divine miracle.
The suspended cocoons burst apart in unison. Countless colossal, half-human, half-spider monstrosities tore their way out, dripping with slime and hideous to behold. The moment they emerged, they dropped to the ground, bowing in fervent worship toward the towering figure.
"Praise... the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess."
Looking upon those grotesque spider horrors, Theron repeated his chant once more.
Chapter 756