I Became an Ant Lord, So I Built a Hive Full of Beauties

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Akayoroi moved last. She stood over the Frog-Prince’s flattened body, watching the blood pool. "This is for all of us," she said. "For the last fifty. For the hundreds before us. For the broken colony and the mother who was stolen from my life."

The dagger descended one last time, this time across his neck. It was slow. Jagged. She wasn’t trying to be clean.

By the time the frog’s body fell still, the swamp had fallen silent. The air hung thick with death and ash.

One of the assassin ants gently retrieved a shattered carapace from the mud—a fragment of a fallen sister—and placed it atop the frog Prince’s cooling chest.

Azhara walked up beside Kai, licking her bloody claw absentmindedly. "You know," she said, "I thought I’d be the wild one, but I’ve never seen vengeance so thorough."

Kai didn’t smile. "She earned it."

Akayoroi turned to him. Her voice was ragged, but clear. "You saved us. You didn’t just fight for me. You let us have the closure we never thought we’d get. Me and my sister now know who killed our people. One day... one day I will destroy the ones who can’t be named."

Sha stepped forward with a limp. "You came like a knight. From the sky, no less. At our darkest moment. Thank you."

Vel bowed low. "You restored more than our Queen’s safety. You restored our dignity."

Naaro snorted softly. "So... who are you, really?"