Never Attribute To Malice What Can Be Attributed To Stupidity

Not a lot of Groose but hey, he's in this chapter.

A senior member of the Yiga Clan returned from his quick scouting trip to the ranch where whispers were filling the air. They should have been jubilant ones even if it was a breach of standard ambush procedures to be shooting the breeze while on duty.

Byrne grabbed a ponytail and asked what gave. "Soooo... Report. Now."

"OH, Byrne! Ravio's challenging Veran for leadership."

"What?"

Byrne had the henchman repeat that sentence and gave the same reaction. He released the grip on the man's hair. "Explain. Why didn't you slit Ravio's throat immediately?!"

"Wellllll..." Two footsoldiers explained rapidly.

"So, Ravio drained the Deku Tree of magic and stole the Triforce of Wisdom from the old slimeball King fellow. He's gonna go fight Veran."

"If he wins, we're gonna conquer this place where they have multiple types of banana! If he loses, Veran gets to eviscerate him herself you see. Win-win."

"...And?" Byrne asked even as his face twitched. He wondered if discouraging independent thought to the degree which the clan did was not a good idea after all. Mindless obedience was, well, mindless.

"He killed the Hero and spilled her blood on the Master Sword to keep her from being revived! Linkle won't be a problem ever again! Plus we don't wanna get on his bad side, he killed Kishgal and took the fake sword. He even got it to glow and stuff." Byrne facepalmed.

They needed to catch up. Skulltulas and webbing everywhere tripped everyone up. The eerie red light of the Blood Moon made everything look about 35% more sinister than the usual nighttime lighting.

Now, Strich liked bugs a lot. We established that many chapters ago. Mostly he was a fan of insects; Arachnids he sort of regarded in the same manner a violin fanatic might regard a drum solo. He appreciated that they were bugs, however, given that spiders tended to eat precious insects... This opinion was being rapidly adjusted in Strich's worldview as he helped fight the spider menace. His knowledge of the way bugs moved helped him fare better than many others. He knew just how to get the spear under the body to flip over the monster for a swift victory. He demonstrated his technique to other fighters throughout the halls as Groose, Zeldana, and Aryll burned, shocked, and crushed the creatures. Strich could easily fly off on his own; the others had no such recourse.

The spiders climbing all over walls and ceilings did not help matters, especially when combined with the webbing. Ana saved the fire rod and fire arrows for clearing blocked passages and wished she had asked to borrow Hazel's flame sword. She needed to get to her sister right away. With the Divine Beasts under siege, there was no telling when or if they'd be able to get assistance from the machines.

Strich's opinion of spiders had gone past a 3 out of 10 and was dropping still.

When they finally reached the front gates they all looked at the mass battalion of spiders at the gates and realized getting through was going to be a royal pain. Aryll took a breather before using a thunderbolt to break up the group. It had the added bonus of setting a large web on fire which, in turn, set some of the spiders on fire. They waved at fellow enemies of darkness that thanked them. More fun was to be had in Castletown where the townsfolk and knights mostly had cleared the way. It was easier when there hadn't been as much Yiga to detain.

Strich's arms were too tired for proper takeoff by the time they reached Hyrule field. He flopped onto the grass to wait for Ana point which way the battle was. They knew it was near the ranch at least, but if it moved they could not waste time. Ana closed her eyes and turned in place a bit to try and sense her sister's location before pointing. After a few minutes of jogging the telltale sound of stealthy ninjas appearing in a not-at-all-inconspicuous-poof caused them to adopt battle stances.

"HALT, allies of the Great Betrayers. We will carve our grievances into, into... Oh my Ganon! Is that-Is that HER?"

"I'm gonna take you down, evildoers!" Linkle said ferociously as she aimed a crossbow. Groose decided to go with the usual strategy of taking out the archers first so Strich could fly more freely.

He and the other heroes present were a little shocked at the Yiga screaming, "She's back from the grave?! Guys, what do we do, how do we kill it?!"

"I don't know, um..." The second footsoldier present bowed to the ground, "Forgive us! Please! Ravio's the one you want revenge on, right? I mean, he's the one that killed you!" Linkle froze with her finger on the trigger and a mouth half-open. Groose had a claymore stopped mid-swing. "I mean, we're just simple rank and file!"

"Huh? What are you even talking about, buddy?" Groose asked, "Did your brains get addled by the Malice or something?"

"Forget it! Ravio can deal with the ghosts himself." The two Yiga present fled in a puff of smoke and Groose scratched his head. He turned to Ana for help and her only explanation was a shrug.

They continued forward in the direction of the ranch.

The fight with Veran was going about as expected. Ravio kept using the ice and thunder rods when Veran was appearing at a long distance. When she was close enough, he would use the Master Sword to try and get her. Magenta fireballs were thrown his way and sent back with a swing of the sacred sword. Trying to get close enough to stab her was scary and tricky. Skulltulas kept showing up. The spiders were Hazel's main focus; She kept using the remote bombs to do crowd control in between arrows.

Ravio's focus on the battle was not helped by Veran one bit. She kept saying predictable things like "You were born of the shadows boy, what makes you think you could ever stand against them, against me?" It was all stuff which Ravio had expected. It was the sort of doubts his brain whispered in his nightmares a lot. He had moved past a lot of it with the Deku Tree and the Koroks help.

It still hurt, it was still distracting, and he still could not help but feel it struck home sometimes with alarming efficiency. Ravio kept fighting regardless.

Veran was gloating as she appeared and charged an orb. "You always have been and always will be a coward. I am everything you fear-" Ravio stabbed her. She screeched, "AAUGH YOU LITTLE CRETIN!," and vanished. Ravio stuck out his tongue at the plume of haze as he dashed away.

When Veran reappeared, Ravio was right there with the Master Sword. Veran twisted out of the way too late to avoid damage.

Hazel had long since abandoned all pretense of not being herself. Hazel shot Veran at her next appearance before rolling aside. This distraction meant she wasn't getting rid of the next cluster of spiders right away.

A conjured spider latched onto Ravio's leg. He instinctively slammed the other boot onto the creature's face before it could bite through the chainmail. Another fireball singed his feet before he was back up and swinging the ice rod at the spiders which now were surrounding him. He ran for it as Hazel threw a bomb into the frozen spiders.

With the Triforce of Wisdom in Hazel's possession, Veran had a pretty good guess that 'Hilda' was a princess. Since Ravio was tricky to land a solid blow on, she decided to try taunting her instead. "...Little girl, do you think that my son can help you? You may as well give up. Although... I might give you both a sample of my new potion formula. It did wonders for my complexion, wouldn't you agree?"

"NO," Hazel said as she chucked a bomb at Veran. An updraft from a flaming patch of grass changed the direction of the bomb but Ravio was able to come in from behind Veran as she was cackling at Hazel and firing more magenta fireballs. Veran gasped in pain and spun around to try and grab Ravio. She took another stab from the Master Sword but did succeed in striking him hard across the chest. Ravio flew backward and landed hard on some rocks.

"You will not be allowed to die boy!" Hazel hurriedly drew her bow. Veran flung more fireballs backward without looking as she dove towards the guy on the ground. Hazel felt the heat from one flying past and prayed her aim would hit the mark.

The light arrow struck Veran in the back as she clamped a vise-like claw on Ravio's neck. She dissolved into mist with a pained scream. Ravio rubbed his neck as he scrambled to his feet and looked around for his dropped lightning rod. Only the instincts born of Goddesses-only-knew how many past lives had caused him to hold on to the Master Sword as if his life depended on it. It did.

Children. He and Hazel were both freaked out when they heard Veran's voice from everywhere at once. It was a frighteningly quiet voice. One that did not need to yell to scrape against the back of your eardrums. It seems you have destroyed my body. Ravio stumbled shakily towards his ally and held the Master Sword with both hands. A little scared princess and a frightened rabbit cowering in the darkness... The lightning rod lay in two pieces. The ice rod and the Cane of Pacci were still strapped to Ravio's side, at least for now. Caught in my web... Hazel and Ravio held their weapons of light and frantically searched the dark mist around them to see where the attack was going to come from. The building pressure in the air was suffocating. Since you destroyed my body... Maybe I'll take yours. They both sensed it long before they could see or hear Veran coming. Ravio and Hazel yelled warnings to each other

The mass of Malice slammed into Hazel and Ravio like a tsunami of pure hatred. Even with the Master Sword and the Triforce of Courage repelling the sorceress, Ravio felt Veran's assault on his mind. Hazel fared worse. This will be enjoyable. Ravio simply doesn't have it in him to really hurt people. Hazel collapsed and screamed as Ravio wondered what to do. Frankly, stabbing Hylia's proxy with the divine blade did not occur to him while reeling from a mental attack. (If stabbing things occur to people right away for problem-solving, you should worry about their mental health.) You'll get to slaughter your family yourself. Veran said. This was a mistake on her part because this renewed the princess' will to fight back. She'd managed to catch the girl off guard, otherwise, there would have been the kind of fight which led to Zelda stalemating the Calamity for a good century plus some. Now that Hazel had it hammered home what Veran would and could do with Hazel's power, she made Veran's takeover painful in the extreme.

This gave a precious few seconds for Ravio to look at the sword, look at the princess, then slam the hilt of the Master Sword into the back of Hazelda's helmet. Hard. He wasn't sure what else to do and could sense, at the edge of his hearing, a scolding from the divine weapon. He held the flat of the sword to Hazel's face as Veran/Hazel thrashed.

It was this scene which Ana arrived to. "What are you doing to Hazel?!" she drew her bow as Ravio was yelling something about a session? The tension?

She realized what the word was when she saw the darkness pulling away from her sister and lunging. Groose had been keeping up with Ana and shoved her aside to be knocked off his feet by Veran. He had the sensation of being crushed by literal darkness while the literal darkness said, Useless. He felt it leave while Ravio and Hazel were aiming at him nervously. Now that Veran was gone out of his head, Groose had the urgent desire to scrub the inside of his skull with soap.

Veran realized that Ravio wasn't going to let her try that tactic again without trying to use the Master Sword to drive her out of a person. Hazel would fight back again and her guard was up so that was a bust. Ana was being protected by her older sister now. Groose and Strich lacked extra power to make them worth the while. She didn't know about Aryll's thunder yet so assumed the same as she did for Groose and Strich. Veran decided to try a different tactic while everyone was still saying things like, "Sorry!" and "Where's Veran?!"

They all heard a distinct rumble from the ranch pasture. A terrifying sight was tearing away from the ground on eight legs. They were some kind of appendages anyway. If there were pictures of Demise's hatred doing his thing last incarnation, they'd probably have seen the resemblance. Segments akin to Guardian pieces were held together by blackness and glowing purplish veins of Malice. No beard was there this time: all the hair was on top of the head. Veran was pretty unrecognizable except, oddly enough, she seemed to have kept the hat. Large orange eyes glared at the prey below her.

Scourge of Lon-Lon Ranch

Spiderblight Veran

minor edit 9/6/19