To GuenZhenXuan2020: Thanks! Pedro's actually the only Acolyte in the story. For now Sabrina has the Butterfly Miraculous, and I don't have any plans for that to change. I just watched the special, and it was fun! Good world-building. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, so I'll leave it at that. But I may have some ideas for the "Mind Games"-verse from it. "America" did mention that there were U.S.-based superheroes, after all…
To Anon: Thanks! I was going for a bit of Lovecraft with the Maw. The Maw's history doesn't really show up beyond that it is basically a force of nature that happens to eat Kwamis. As far as the connection between the Maw and the Dark Acolytes of the Mundane, this battle is 3 chapters…
To Butterfly: The Maw is similar to the Kwamis in being distinctly other, though it isn't a Kwami itself. It's essentially a force of nature, almost acting like a balance to the Kwamis: the Kwamis balance each other to preserve balance in the universe; the Maw balances the concept of the Kwamis.
To Miraculous Reader: Any similarities between my original miraculous and new ones in the show (i.e. the New York special) are purely coincidental. But the idea of other miracle boxes in canon was at least hinted at in "Feast."
Adrien had been examining the interior of the barn, the only building still partially standing, when he heard Marinette's cry of alarm. The moment he heard it, his heart leapt into his throat and his own transformation phrase was on his lips. His staff was in his hand the instant it materialized, and he pressed the control, extending it to propel himself up through the collapsed roof. He balanced carefully atop the staff and looked over the barn walls to take in the scene before him. Ladybug in her fighting stance crouched on the edge of a gaping hole in the ground, her yo-yo spinning in a shield between her and the chasm. In front of her and over her loomed an enormous black thing, several times taller than a human and at least five times as wide, and still only partly out of the hole. Two massive arms spread out from the middle of the torso, tipped with meter-long razor-sharp talons. The thing appeared to be made of pure blackness, to absorb the light surrounding them. Already the mid-afternoon sunlight – partially-blocked as it was by the taller mountains surrounding the temple plateau – seemed to have dimmed, as though they were entering into a solar eclipse, with all the light being sucked into the Maw. As the thing turned to face him, Cat Noir became acutely aware that the majority of the body consisted of an enormous gaping mouth lined with rows of ink-black teeth. Despite the blackness of its entire body, the mouth itself appeared, if possible, to be an even darker black than the rest of its body. No part of its body could truly be called a "head," but a pair of beady black openings above the mouth fixed on him and seemed to stare into his very soul.
"Now that is definitely the Maw," he observed with a low whistle, balancing precariously on the top of his staff. The Maw's eye-slits narrowed at him, and Cat Noir shuddered involuntarily, a chill running down his spine.
The Maw let out a bellow of rage as it locked onto Cat Noir's position. One of its arms shot out at his staff, just above the top of the barn, only for Ladybug to catch her yo-yo around the arm and pull it off-course to deflect down and into the side of the building. The Maw pulled out a chunk of the wall as it drew back its arm. The moment the arm was free, the Maw roared and tugged against the yo-yo string, dragging Ladybug off her feet and into the air. She contorted her body to avoid a swing from its other arm, recalled her yo-yo, and caught it around the branch of a tree, pulling herself in that direction and away from the Maw's grasping talons. Its body turned to follow her, arms spread wide, and she shifted in midair twice to avoid the Maw's attempts to rake its talons across her back. One talon caught her calf, slicing through the miraculous fabric and leaving behind a thin trail of blood.
Cat Noir's eyes widened on seeing the scratch and hearing Ladybug's pained hiss in response, the quiet sound carrying to his ears despite the much louder roars of the enraged Maw as it drew its tree-trunk-legs out of the abyss and planted its monstrous feet on the solid ground of the temple mosaic. "Milady!"
With a roar Cat Noir leaned forward in the Maw's direction, picking up momentum as he swung around on the staff. He had only swung a few degrees when the staff hit the edge of the barn wall, tipping him over around it as a fulcrum. Cat Noir pulled the staff off the ground, grabbed it with both hands, and swung with all his might as he dropped straight to the ground halfway between the barn and the Maw. His staff bent with the force and cracked like a whip as it lashed across the back of the beast, the recoil nearly vibrating it out of Cat Noir's hands. The monster straightened up, arched its back against the blow, and bellowed even as Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo string around its body, pinning one arm to its side. With its free arm it swung wildly behind itself at Cat Noir, who contracted his staff, slid across the floor beneath the arm, leapt to his feet closer to the Maw's position, and struck it in the side again with his staff. "No one lays a claw on my Lady!"
The Maw ignored Cat Noir's attack and returned its effort back to Ladybug, clutching wildly for her with its one free arm.
"Come on!" Cat Noir bellowed, running up its side and pushing off. "Not my most biting insult ever, but you could at least react!"
Ladybug ducked and dodged away from the Maw's attacks, not loosening her grip on the yo-yo. "I don't think you're bugging him enough yet, Cat!" Distracted as she was by dodging the Maw's attacks, Ladybug stepped wrong and stumbled over a discarded tile, falling backward over the base of an interior wall. She caught herself and turned the fall into a cartwheel, but her yo-yo's grip around the Maw loosened. It pulled its trapped arm out of the string, unraveling it from around its torso, and grabbed at her with both taloned hands. Ladybug recalled her yo-yo and spun it into a shield an instant before the talons slammed into it, protecting herself from the monster's clutches.
"Hey!" Cat Noir shouted, throwing a brick at the Maw's back. "You're not so maw-inspiring! I was expecting a little more!"
The Maw turned to face Cat Noir, just as Ladybug kicked it in the back. It reached around to grab her, and once more she spun her yo-yo as a shield. The Maw, however, poked a single talon into the yo-yo string, which tangled around the talon. The Maw jerked the yo-yo out of Ladybug's hands and tossed it callously to the other side of the temple complex, eliciting a surprised gasp from her. Cat Noir's jaw dropped. Ladybug backed away as the Maw turned on her, reaching to grab her in its hands.
At that moment Goosilla appeared from the direction of the temple gate, interposing himself between Ladybug and the Maw. An orange mask covered his eyes, above a deep indigo suit and jacket which just exposed part of his bright orange shirt, a lurid purple tie clasped to the shirt with the Goose Miraculous. In his hands he twirled an indigo feather duster with neon orange feathers. The Maw's arm struck Goosilla's spinning feather duster and bounced off it into the pavement at his feet.
Cat Noir let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding even as he leapt over the chasm to land next to Goosilla. "Sorry," he called as he landed, spinning his staff to block the Maw's other arm. A chunk of the half-standing temple wall came off in a spray as the Maw's fist smashed through it. "We kind of threw you in here, feather or not you were really ready for it!" The Maw howled and slammed both fists into their twin shields, pushing Cat Noir back half a pace. He could feel the tension emanating from Ladybug, who had ducked behind the line of stones indicating the outline of the temple's main building and was crawling away to find her yo-yo.
Goosilla grunted at Cat Noir in annoyance and dove to one side as Cat Noir dove in the opposite direction, avoiding the Maw's arms and coming back to their feet on either side of the Maw's thick legs. The Maw lifted its leg to stomp on Cat Noir, who leapt back in a flip moments before the Maw's foot came down where he had been, shattering the paving stones and leaving behind an enormous impression in the ground. Cat Noir smacked the Maw in the back of the leg as its foot landed, but it shrugged the strike off.
Movement attracted Cat Noir's attention near the temple gate, where Fu, Felix, and Pedro were all standing. Fu had transformed – he now wore an orange bodysuit with black legs and a lighter orange chest. The orange cowl over his head bore a short straight silver horn. He raised his weapon, a harpoon, interposing himself between the Maw and the other two, beckoning to Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Goosilla. Pedro dropped to one knee and withdrew something from his pocket. He closed his eyes and concentrated, and Cat Noir saw a symbol glow white in Pedro's hand.
Ladybug's head popped up from behind the line of stones, drawing the Maw's attention. She looked around desperately to find her yo-yo, heedless of the danger from the Maw mere meters away. The Maw bellowed in rage and swung an arm at her. Cat Noir jumped in the way and swung his staff with both hands, knocking the Maw's arm aside at the last minute. "Get out of here!" he shouted to Ladybug, blocking the Maw's other swinging arm and deflecting it down into the ground. The Maw spun around and kicked Cat Noir, who sidestepped and pushed its leg off balance. The Maw stumbled to the side but contorted around, throwing out its opposite arm for balance and planting its foot solidly in the center of what had been the dormitory building. "We need a plan!"
Ladybug nodded in determination and jumped over the remains of the keep wall toward the others, with the Maw clomping behind her in hot pursuit. She dove past Fu and Pedro and rolled to her feet as the Maw raised both taloned fists to strike them. It brought its fists down, but they struck an invisible barrier which glowed white where it was struck.