Rose of Qilashar

"Nothing more than an insignificant mortal speck! Even with all the power that bitch bestowed upon you—it is useless!" Facing the silver arrow shooting straight toward her, Lolth let out a furious roar, spreading her eight grotesque limbs wide. Hundreds of millions of spiders became extensions of Lolth's will, surging together like a tidal wave. Throwing themselves forward in unending droves, they coalesced into a dense wall of spider bodies, blocking the arrow's path. Yet an incomparable silver radiance erupted from the arrow, instantly blasting a hole several meters across through the wall of spiders. Countless spiders were reduced to ashes, and the arachnid wall collapsed with a thunderous crash. Carrying an unstoppable momentum, the silver arrow shrieked onward. "Vile mortal, tremble before the might of a goddess!" Her gaze frigid and sinister, Lolth drew a staff from the warped void. Cobwebs wound around the staff, its crown inlaid with a pitch-black crystal and over a hundred venomous fangs. She thrust out the staff, and a flickering luminescence fringed with black and violet poured from the pitch-black crystal, surging toward the arrow like a turbid torrent. Boom! Light and darkness, order and chaos, life and death... Two entirely opposing divine powers collided, instantly provoking a violent magical reaction. Chaotic silver radiance and pitch-black flames spread hundreds of meters outward from the point of impact, devouring everything around them. The sky trembled, and the earth shook. The wizards watching from the distance stared intently at the midair spectacle, unable to suppress gasps of dread. "Such terrifying energy fluctuations! The sheer shockwaves alone rival a forbidden spell..." "The fate of Therenia—no, perhaps even the fate of the entire southern continent—rests in Her Majesty Catherine's hands." "Goddess of Magic preserve us..." At this moment, even the most rational wizards of the Arcane Hermitage could not help lowering their heads in silent prayer, beseeching that the moonlight-cloaked Elven Queen would emerge victorious. Should Lolth truly descend into the world, not only the Elven Forest, but the surrounding southern continent—and even the entirety of Feanso—would suffer an unprecedented, horrifying catastrophe. "Fret not. Her Majesty Catherine will triumph; of this I have never doubted..." The ancient gold dragon stood proudly among the crowd, holding his head high as he watched the battle in the sky. "I hope so," Rhea said, tightening her grip on her silver sword with a tense expression as she casually cut down several spider monstrosities outside the barrier of light. Before a clash of demigod magnitude, not even legendary figures like them dared approach carelessly. Falling into danger would only distract Catherine. Buzz— With a crisp, piercing shriek, a slender arrow of divine power suddenly breached the ball of light, transforming into a silver afterimage barely perceptible to the naked eye as it shot straight at Lolth's body. Caught completely off guard, Lolth's divine protective barrier was effortlessly pierced by the silver arrow. The arrow buried deep into the abdomen of Lolth's avatar, unleashing a brilliant silver glow of divine energy that continuously incinerated her form. "No!" Black mist billowed from the wound. Lolth unleashed a shrill, infuriated howl, spitting a venomous curse: "Mortal, you have angered a great goddess! You shall regret this! "Once I descend into this world, nothing shall remain of your kingdom save blood, death, and fire! Everything you cherish I will destroy; your kin and your companions shall become nothing more than rotting remnants! "And you—you shall be slain by the hand of the one you trust the most!" Even before her voice faded, an invisible power settled over Catherine's head. Saturated with the aura of darkness and death, it sought to forcibly twist her destiny. Immediately afterward, rings of violet and black light coiled around Catherine's body, slithering like vipers. —Such was the curse of a deity, bearing the power to warp reality and effortlessly alter a mortal's lifelong destiny. Yet the current Catherine was no ordinary "mortal." Facing this malevolent curse from Lolth, her eyes remained aloof and calm as she raised the Moonlight Staff. Water-like moonlight cascaded forth, flowing ceaselessly around Catherine and instantly drowning the power of the curse. Treading upon the ethereal, illusory bridge, Catherine drew the Moonbow once more. Arrows condensed of divine power materialized along the bowstring. She released her fingers, and the arrows streaked across the night sky like a meteor shower, raining densely toward Lolth. Whoosh— This time, however, Lolth was prepared. Her eight limbs whipped through the air with blistering speed, unleashing arcs of dark luminescence that whipped into a storm of chaos, intercepting every last arrow and annihilating them within the darkness. Yet at her chest, the wound pierced by the previous arrow remained gruesome and hideous, eroded by the silver radiance as foul, turbid blood oozed from it. Seeing this, Catherine sneered coldly, "Evil goddess, under the divine might of Her Majesty Sehanine, how much longer can this profane avatar of yours hold out? "Once this avatar perishes and your Demonweb domain dissipates, you will lose your anchor to the Material Plane and slink back like a rat, curling into the gloomy Abyss, never to rise again! "Such is the punishment the great Seldarine metes out to rebels!" Catherine thrust out the Moonlight Staff. From the silver disc at its apex, a beam of light shot straight into the sky, piercing through the dense storm clouds and venomous fog toward the crescent moon above. And the moon answered her call, raining down countless beams of silver light like divine retribution, bombarding Lolth's avatar in the distance. "Mortal, you are nothing but Sehanine's lackey! You dare lecture me about rebellion?" Lolth let out an irritated hiss. Her eight limbs thrashed and wove relentlessly, fashioning a crimson spiderweb composed of vile divine might and chaotic power above her head. Nearly a thousand meters across, the web blotted out the sky, radiating a horrific aura that sent shivers straight to the soul. "Those self-righteous deities merely wear masks of hypocrisy! Had I triumphed in that war of old, I would now be the true Chief Deity of the Elves!" Boom! With an earth-shattering crash, the two powers clashed once again. Silver brilliance burst forth in an instant, intertwining with the crimson glare cast by the demonic spiderweb. Farther away, Cassius—transformed into the ancient gold dragon—stared at the sky, keeping close watch on the duel between Catherine and Lolth's avatar. "What staggering might... "No, this is by no means an ordinary avatar. Lolth must have employed some secret art to transfer a portion of her divine essence to the Material Plane. "Wait, what is that?" Just then, Cassius's eyelids twitched violently, and the body of this gold dragon avatar began to tremble. He sensed an immensely terrifying aura emerging onto the battlefield. And the source of that aura was none other than the Demon Queen of Spiders, Lolth. "Heh heh..." Lolth let out a cruel sneer. "Catherine, you truly are more capable than I imagined. For a lowly mortal, you have exerted every ounce of your strength. "Pity, though... you picked the wrong opponent." Before her words finished echoing, one of her scythe-like legs reached into the void, plucking something out of the twisted abyssal vortex. It was an eerily unnatural black rose, completely pitch-black, its surface seemingly steeped in congealed blood. This unholy relic bore a notorious name— The Rose of Qilashar. An artifact used to bring ruin to the elves, spread evil, and even weaken the elven pantheon. It was the joint creation of Lolth and the Queen of Air and Darkness. Soulless elves under the Queen of Air and Darkness's thrall had plunged a facet of the Black Diamond into a Sacred Tree, causing its sap to drain away and leaving it wholly defiled. After mixing the Sacred Tree's sap with venom extracted from a thousand black roses, Lolth's avatar manifested, using magic to transmute the venom into the shape of a rose before solidifying it into amber harder than adamantine and mithral. Having passed through the hands of two dark deities who harbored deep hatred for the elves, this rose carried the power of a dread curse, forged into a lethal weapon against good-aligned elves. Should saints or Chosen of the Seldarine make contact with it, the slightest weakness of will would send them spiraling into madness and evil corruption. Even avatars of the gods could be afflicted. Legend had it that an avatar of the elven deity Darahl Firecloak, venerated as the Lord of Green Flame, had fallen under its sway, succumbing to homicidal frenzy and turning into a dreadful abyssal monstrosity. "This is... not good!" The moment the rose appeared, Catherine sensed the perilous aura and her expression changed drastically. She raised her staff, bidding the moonlight to form a shield to guard her body. Yet Lolth had long laid her scheme. Her slender, bladed leg ripped through space in an instant, piercing through the divine protection. And at its tip, the Rose of Qilashar lunged straight at Catherine's body. Though Catherine dodged with all her might, the venomous thorns along the rose's stem still grazed her arm, opening a tiny wound through which venom and black mist eagerly surged. In an instant, Catherine's arm turned bruised and purple, mapped with dense, fissure-like cracks. The cracks writhed and spread like tiny vipers. Her fair skin gradually blackened, while impurities of crimson and dark black welled up in her bright silver pupils. "Your Majesty!!" Rhea, heedless of her own safety, unfurled the wings at her back and surged forward in the form of an Avenging Angel. "Her Majesty Catherine..." Ancient Gold Dragon Titus also beat his wings, taking flight and arriving beside the severely poisoned Catherine. Raising his staff, he cast healing spells. Whoosh— Beams of purifying light descended from the sky, yet they had no effect on toxins carrying the divine power of the Demon Queen of Spiders and the Queen of Air and Darkness. The poison clung to Catherine's body like maggots to bone, corrupting even the gentle moonlight. "Your Majesty, please wake up!" Rhea arrived beside Catherine, casting various spells to purge evil and cleanse venom as she called out anxiously. Yet Catherine remained sunken in the dark mist, seemingly never to wake. In the distance, the corners of Lolth's lips curved upward into a mocking smile on her alluring face. Resting her chin on her hand, she chuckled, "Despair, death, slumber, venom, and blood... What a marvelous spectacle." She paused, a chilling, uncanny light flickering within her crimson pupils: "If we were to add betrayal, slaughter, and fratricide to the performance, it would surely become all the more splendid." "Damn you, evil goddess!" Beside herself with rage, Rhea raised her silver sword, longing to charge at Lolth and fight to the death. But Ancient Gold Dragon Titus held her back, reminding her in a deep voice, "Do not fall for that abyssal deity's provocation. Right now, Her Majesty Catherine's safety is what matters most." Only then did Rhea compose herself, keeping a watchful eye on Lolth in the distance while attending to Catherine. Lolth, however, extended her slender leg. Tied to it were dozens of silk strands, all stretching into the distance and connecting to Catherine's body. "No! Don't you dare harm Her Majesty Catherine!" Seeing those silk threads, a dreadful premonition gripped Rhea's heart. Channeling all her strength, she swung her silver sword, unleashing explosive divine power to sever them. Yet the silver blade swept clean through without touching the strands in the slightest. The spider silk seemed to exist within the Ethereal Plane parallel to the Material Plane—an intangible phantasm that could not be severed. These were the Demon Queen of Spiders' "Poison Strands of Qilashar," capable of attaching to an elf's body via the Rose of Qilashar to exert complete control over them. Lolth tilted her head, watching Rhea from afar with keen amusement and a cruel smile: "Heh heh... Paladin, if the queen you pledged to serve becomes a tyrannical, wicked creature, would you be willing to draw your blade against her?" "You—" Rhea's expression changed violently. Alongside fury and hatred, a flicker of hesitation surfaced in her eyes. Could she truly raise her sword against Her Majesty Catherine? Lolth could not wait. Thrashing her limbs, she shook the strands, unleashing the power of the Rose of Qilashar. Catherine's eyes snapped open. They were no longer the familiar, bright silver, but a mottled, chaotic swirl of crimson and abyssal black. Her gaze was no longer gentle and steadfast, but emanated an endless, bone-chilling frenzy and bloodlust. The Elven Queen's skin had turned entirely gray, and an uncanny smile crept onto her exquisite face. Even the moonlight enveloping her warped into a chaotic halo. —Rather than a noble, pure silver moon elf, she now resembled a drow. "A half-elf..." "Catherine" eyed Rhea before her with ravenous hunger. Licking her lips, she purred with feverish excitement, "Are you my prey?" "No, Your Majesty, wake up!" Rhea shook her head frantically, her voice trembling, even the hand gripping her silver sword shaking uncontrollably. Though she had become a legendary paladin, before this queen who had watched her grow up, Rhea was still that little child clutching a wooden stick. No matter what, Rhea could never bring herself to kill Catherine with her own hands—even when facing death itself. Lolth's seductive, insidious voice drifted from afar: "Come, kill her! Uphold your oath as a Vengeance Paladin and execute your former sovereign! "She has fallen. You shall take her place and become the new monarch of Therenia!" "No, I can't..." Rhea shook her head again, taking despairing steps backward. Yet "Catherine" drew a dagger coated in lethal venom. Her eyes crimson, she lunged at the half-elf in near madness, aiming straight for the throat. Laughing wildly with a twisted, savage grimace, she cried, "Come, half-elf, let me kill you!"