Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.


"That is an eyeball," Mibojin observed when Aranea returned and showed off her catch.

"I hadn't noticed," the princess deadpanned in reply.

Nefer recoiled and stuck out her tongue in disgust. "Ew, gross! What's something like that doing floating around the library?!"

Ogdoad paled. "And not just that one, either… Miss Ariel, you said there were dozens of these?!"

Ariel nodded grimly. "All over the library, yes."

The baboon groaned. "The gods know how long they've been here, right under our noses… Who knows how much they've managed to learn without us noticing?!"

"Well, the good news is at least we know there aren't dozens of tiny spies running around, just one spy that presumably has a lot of eyeballs to spare," Goro commented.

"The bad news is, if he has this many eyeballs to spare, who's to say the library is the only place he's been spying on?" Antares pointed out.

Cleopatra gasped. "He might have been spying on the palace. The markets. The temples and centers of government! He could have literal eyes all over the city! He may have even know we were coming!"

"'One they'll never see coming! But he'll see them… He sees everything…' So that's what he meant," the Centurion murmured.

"Which also means that now that he knows we know he exists, he may already be on his way out of the city," Gozim said in dismay.

"We cannot allow that to happen!" The Silver Centurion cried. "For all we know, he has already discovered the location of the tomb of Alexander! As well as other secrets Caesar must never be allowed to know!"

"Like how your secret identity is actually Mark-" Nefer started.

"I am not Mark Antony!" The Silver Centurion yelled. "And don't say things like that with a spy right here!"

"Wait, how would that even work?" Akilah asked in confusion. "That's an eyeball, not an ear. How would it even be able to hear things?"

They contemplated that for a moment. "Maybe it can read lips?" Thotep suggested.

"That seems plausible," Antares agreed.

"Good thing I'm wearing a full helmet and mask, so I have no lips to read," the Centurion said relief.

"That is irrelevant," Cleopatra pointed out. "We have to find the creature to whom this eye and all the others belong to before it is too late!"

"I can handle that," Aranea promised, weaving spells around the twitching eye. "This eye, and all the others, must be linked to their master. All I need to do is make that link visible, and…"

Suddenly, a thread of light shot out of the eyeball, curving through the air, slipping through the door, and out to the city beyond.

"There. If we follow that thread, we will be able to find the spy," Aranea told them.

Nushi nodded. "Right, let's go! Mr. Ogdoad, can you get us back outside?"

Ogdoad nodded. "Certainly. Queen Cleopatra, shall I maintain the lockdown?"

Cleopatra shook her head. "There is no point, especially if the true spy isn't even in here. If we can take him out, then the remaining eyes should cease to be a problem."

"Assuming the monster follows standard procedure, anyway," Shin agreed.

"I shall recalibrate the wards to target the eyes just to be safe," Ogdoad promised, touching his amulet and murmuring a prayer under his breath. The doors flashed briefly, and then ground open, revealing the Plaza outside, the thread of light from Aranea's captive arcing out into Alexandria proper. "Go, quickly! Before it is too late!"

"Can I pull the platform again?" Antares asked hopefully.

"We don't have time for that, we'll have to go on foot, it'll be much quicker," Gozim told him.

"I can be fast," Antares protested.

"Antares, you can pull the platform later," Aranea promised, much to his disappointment.

"Oh, very well."

"Dual transformation time!" Ariel said excitedly as everyone readied their transformation devices.

"Yeah, but we don't have time for a full transformation sequence or roll call, we're on the clock here," Nushi reminded her.

Ariel sighed in disappointment. "Yeah, I know…"

"Coccinella!"

"Formic!"

"Manti!"

"Caelifer!"

"Lepidoptera!"

"Arachne!"

"Scorpio!"

"Horus!"

"Sobek!"

"Thoth!"

"Bast!"

"Anubis!"

"BUZZ/WEB ON!"

"HENSHIN!"

In flashes of colorful light, the Bugrangers, Arachrangers, and Egyptrangers were assembled.

"… I am here as well!" The Silver Centurion added.

"Everyone, move out!" Nushi and Cleopatra said the same time.

Startled, they glanced at each other. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to-" Nushi stammered.

"No, it's fine, honest," Cleopatra assured her.

"This is your city, do you want to take the lead-"

"You're our guests, I don't want you to feel marginalized-"

"Can we GO already?!" Goro and Akilah shouted at the same time.

The two leaders blushed. "Right. Move out!"

The 13 heroes bounded away, leaving behind Ogdoad, his eyes sparkling with awe. "If only I were young enough still to go with them," he lamented. "Truly, this may be a moment worthy of legend… At least young Thotep will still be able to record it for posterity. This is an adventure that must be remembered!"

He frowned as several eyeballs suddenly streamed through the doors past him, scattering across Alexandria. "That can't be good…"


The magic thread from the eyeball led the heroes over rooftops, through alleys, and past numerous stores and residents before finally terminating before a ruined Greco-Roman Temple covered in hieroglyphic graffiti, a large statue of a woman toppled in front of it, broken in several pieces with the face deformed beyond recognition.

"What is this place?" Nushi asked.

"Wherever it is, it must not have been very popular," Mibojin observed.

"Well yeah, the Roman gods aren't exactly welcome here anymore," Nefer reminded them.

Cleopatra nodded. "This Temple has been scheduled for demolition, but we haven't gotten around to it yet."

"This used to be the temple of Juno," Thotep explained. "Queen of the Roman gods, wife of Jupiter."

"Juno… You mean classical mythology's biggest cuckquean?" Shin recalled.

"The very same," the scribe confirmed.

"Mythology's biggest what now?" Goro asked.

"The female version of a cuckold," Nushi explained. "Which, given her husband, may be an apt title, if even half the myths I've heard about him are true."

"Oh, they are," the Centurion assured her, somewhat embarrassed. "Which is rather ironic, given that Juno is supposed to be the goddess of marriage and childbirth."

"Ouch," Goro said with a wince.

"If this Jupiter is truly such an unfaithful husband, why has Juno not killed him?" Aranea inquired, examining the thread from the eyeball, which wove past the fallen statue and through broken pillars into the temple.

"He is far too powerful," the Silver Centurion said with a hint of pride. "He is the mightiest deity in our pantheon."

"Is he immune to poison?" Antares asked.

The Silver Centurion paused. "I don't know, actually."

"Poison is usually a good way to kill those considered unbeatable," Antares said sagely, Aranea nodding in agreement.

"If I remember my myths right, Juno usually took out her anger at her husband's infidelity on the women he slept with, inflicting all sorts of horrible fates on them," Ariel recalled.

"She punished more or less innocent women instead of her husband?" Goro asked in disgust.

"Many gods are cruel and petty beings," Gozim said grimly.

Antares nodded in agreement. "Yes, which is why my people slaughtered ours when we entered the service of the Arachide royal family and embraced the Fates as our new deities."

"You killed your own gods?" Nefer asked, startled.

Antares shrugged. "They had it coming."

"To be fair, it's not like goddesses are the only women who take their anger at infidelity out on whom their spouse is cheating on them with rather than their partner," Shin pointed out.

"Another reason I'm glad not I don't have to bother with all that," Mibojin sniffed.

"Our spy has power over eyes and uses the temple of Juno as a lair… I think I might have an idea as to who we are up against," the Silver Centurion mused. He glanced at Ariel and Aranea. "By chance, do either of you sorceresses know spells of invisibility?"

"We do," Ariel confirmed.

"Then I suggest you cast them. We are going to need every advantage we can get…"


The interior of the temple was in even worse shape than the outside. There were holes in the ceiling, debris and detritus was everywhere, more graffiti defaced the mosaics and friezes, some of the statues looked as if they had been horribly defiled, and at least one couple had carved the ancient Egyptian equivalent of a heart with their initials in it into the walls. The remains of several bonfires and bottles of liquor were also strewn about the floor.

Standing before the altar at the back of the room, back turned to the entrance, was a slender bipedal figure wearing the armor of a Roman centurion covered in round metal studs with small metal wings growing from the back, the face of a shrieking bird carved into its chest plate over a chain metal shirt, and a buckler with an eagle and a bull wearing laurel wreathes surrounded by lightning mounted on its left arm. It looked like an oversized humanoid peacock, with lean legs ending in talons, a magnificent blue and green plumed tail covered in eye spots sprouting from its rear, and a beaked face growing out of a helmet with a smaller plume made of peacock feathers on top. The figure seemed lumpy somehow, and its eyes were closed.

A smirk decreased its beak. "Eye see you."

A dozen eyeballs suddenly flew out of nooks and crannies all over the room and fired laser beams at seemingly empty patches of air. With cries of pain and alarm, the three teams of heroes appeared in flashes of light, staggering back with surprised looks on their faces. Aranea, who had been crawling on the ceiling, fell down, though quickly managed to arrest her descent with a web line.

"How did you do that?!" She exclaimed in disbelief. "My spell was not one of mere invisibility, but of warping space and perception! You should not have even been able to hear our approach, or notice any dust or air we would've displaced in our movement!"

The monster chuckled as he turned to face them, eyes still closed. "Eye can see everything, Princess Aranea. No obstacles can impair my sight, be they walls, clothes, or enchantments."

"Wait, you can see through our outfits?!" Ariel cried in horror, more alarmed by this than the revelation that their concealment spells had been ineffectual.

"Eye can."

"Then… Then you can see-"

The monster grinned. "Everything."

Quite a few members of the group reflexively covered their chests or genitals.

The grin widened. "That doesn't do anything."

"Pervert!" Nefer shrieked.

"Wait, if you can see through what we're wearing, then-" the Silver Centurion realized.

The monster nodded. "That's right, Eye know your true identity… Mark Anthony!"

Mark wailed in despair and fell to his knees. "Nooooooooooooo! Cleopatra, my friends, I didn't want you to find out like this!"

"We… Kind of already knew," Thotep pointed out awkwardly.

"Yeah, it was pretty obvious," Nefer agreed.

"But I was so careful!" Mark protested.

"You really weren't," Gozim said bluntly.

"Oh. And… And you don't care? Even though I am related to your greatest enemy?" Mark asked in disbelief.

"Of course we don't," Cleopatra assured him. "You've proven yourself to be a true and loyal friend to us time and time again, Mark. We know we can count on you."

"Also, your uncle isn't anywhere near our greatest enemy, that would be Set, even if he is laying low at the moment," Akilah pointed out.

The peacock monster laughed. "They may not care about your secret identity, Mark Anthony, but Caesar certainly will. And you remember what the penalty for treason in the Roman legion is, don't you? Not even being Caesar's favorite nephew will spare you from a truly brutal execution!"

"No…" Mark whispered, trembling in fear.

"Don't worry, Mark," Nushi told the distraught Centurion. "All we have to do is kill him before he can report the truth to his master!"

The monster laughed again. "Oh, Eye'm afraid it's far, far too late for that!"

"What do you mean?" Cleopatra demanded.

"You were right, back in the library! My eyes have been canvassing the entire city for quite some time now! Eye knew when you got back! Which means Eye knew the Centurion's identity as soon as he entered Alexandria!" The monster crowed. "Eye sent an eyeball containing that information, as well as everything else Eye've discovered during my time in this city, to the Emperor over an hour ago!"

Everyone gasped in horror, and Mark howled in despair.

"Well… At least he hasn't figured out the location of the tomb-" Nefer started, desperate to find an upside.

"Oh no, Eye figured that out a few days ago," the monster said smugly, to their disbelief.

"No…" Cleopatra gasped.

"No way! Then why haven't you left Alexandria already?!" Goro demanded.

"Eye'm a bit of a voyeur, so Eye wasn't really ready to leave just yet," the spy admitted. "Also there was just so much fascinating material in the library! Do you know how many comics they have?! We don't have nearly this many back home!"

Everyone sweatdropped.

"Huh, and here I thought a creep like you would've been more interested in the porn," Ariel commented.

"Ariel, there's no way a library as grand as Alexandria's would possibly have oh you have got to be kidding me," an exasperated Nushi groaned as the Egyptrangers fidgeted in embarrassment.

"… Can I see some of it later-" Ariel started.

"NOT NOW," Nushi shouted.

"We still have a chance," Shin said, grasping at straws. "If we can defeat him before Caesar gets that eyeball, we might be able to prevent him from learning what's on it and finding the Eyes of Alexander and Mark's identity."

"You really think so?" Mark asked hopefully.

"Oh no, absolutely not, despite our best efforts Caesar will absolutely get the location of the Eyes and your identity before we kill the monster, setting us up for a dramatic race to the tomb, only for him to get there before us and claim the power of the Eyes for himself, forcing us to defeat him in a climactic final battle before we can finally return to our own time," Shin said bluntly.

"… That is an awfully specific prediction," a disturbed Cleopatra pointed out as Mark whimpered.

"Yeah, but that's more or less how this kind of thing always goes," Shin insisted.

"He has a point," Ariel admitted.

"Oh, Eye suppose you might still have a chance if you defeat me," the monster said with a sneer, implying he didn't really believe they had one. "One question, though: do you know where the rest of your party are right now? Because Eye certainly do!"

It took them a moment to fully comprehend the implications of what he was saying. "No," Goro whispered.

"Our family and friends… You have eyes on them! Literally!" Ariel cried.

The monster cackled. "That's right! And while Eye will admit there's not much my eyes can do against them on their own… My legionnaires certainly can!"

"Impossible! There's no way you could smuggle legionnaires into the city without anyone noticing!" Gozim protested.

The monster grinned. "Normally, you'd be right… Unless someone somehow managed to get their eyes on the patrol schedules, a map of the city's wards, and an original copy of the schematics of the underground waterways, including a number of old tunnels the Royal Engineering Corps has long forgotten about!"

"… Oh shit," Nefer swore.

"Your Majesty-" Nushi immediately projected through the Buzzing.

"We are on guard and heading for shelter," Apista immediately replied. "But if there really are (literal) eyes on us, then this creature no doubt already knows where we are going and might have an ambush planned."

"We are on our way," Goro and Mibojin immediately said.

"No. We need you here," Nushi insisted. "We'll need Goro's sharpshooting to deal with the eyes and Mibojin's speed and stealth. Don't worry though, we're not leaving them unprotected."

Out loud, she said, "Aranea, Antares-"

"On it," Aranea said, nodding at Antares, the two of them quickly turning and running from the temple.

"I will go as well, I have been foolish and risked everyone's lives, I must make amends!" Mark declared, running after them.

"Mark, wait, it's not your fault and he's gone," Cleopatra groaned, rolling her eyes. "So dramatic, that one."

"No matter, the 10 of us should be more than enough to fight this beast," Gozim declared.

The monster laughed. "You think so, do you? Allow me to introduce myself, and then perhaps you will realize just how out of your depths you are: Eye am Centurion Argus of the Legio XXXI in the service of Emperor Julius Caesar, a gift from none other than Queen Juno herself!"

Ariel gasped. "Wait… You're Argus?! Then that means-"

"That's right!" Argus cried, the studs on his armor, lumps on his body, and eye spots on his tailfeathers suddenly opening to reveal that every last one of them was an eye! He then opened his eyelids to reveal that he had no actual eyes in his head. "Eye am Queen Juno's most loyal servant, the hundred eyed Guardian who slew Echidna and kept Jupiter from fornicating with that cow Io until Eye was slain by Mercury himself!"

"… Wait, Jupiter wanted to sleep with a cow?" The confused Goro asked.

"No, she was a nymph turned into a cow," Argus elaborated. "Though given Jupiter's proclivities, he probably would've wanted her even if she were a real cow," he admitted.

"So your claim to fame is killing an echidna and getting murdered by some cow thief? Not impressed," Shin said skeptically.

"He's not talking about one of those small spiny things from Australia, he's talking about the mythical Echidna, the legendary Mother of all Monsters," Ariel explained. "And Mercury is a God, and he was only able to kill Argus through trickery, so he's claiming a bunch of regular folk can't possibly beat him in a straight up fight."

"Then it is a good thing none of us are, as you put it, 'regular folk,'" Cleopatra pointed out. "We are all gods, possess the power of Gods, or have the potential to become gods!"

Nushi nodded. "That's right. And at the end of the day, no matter his lineage, a monster is a monster, and what do heroes do?"

"We kill monsters!" Everyone exulted.

"So long as they are evil and a clear threat to society," Shin quickly added.

Argus grinned. "You really think you can kill me? Very well then, heroes. Eye have been watching you ever since you got here, and Eye already know a great deal about your fighting techniques from past combat data collected with the Egyptrangers and information provided by your friend Masaru Aso! You don't stand a chance against me!"

"He's not our friend!" Shin was quick to assert. "Also, combat data isn't everything!"

"We will see about that," Argus sneered as he folded his hands behind his back, several of the eyes on his body abruptly detaching themselves from their sockets and spreading out all over the room, joined by dozens of other eyes which swarmed into the temple from all over the city. The eyes began to glow ominously, and then opened fire on the heroes.


"How much further?" Kagami asked, eyes on the rooftops, her face impassive but the way she fingered her Shuriken making it clear how anxious she actually was.

"We're almost there, just another couple of blocks and we'll be at the palace," one of the servants Cleopatra had lent them to give them a tour of Alexandria assured them as the party was hurried through the city streets to safety. "There's no way the Romans would be able to get to us in there."

"Are you sure about that? From what the champions communicated to us, this Argus guy may know a lot about your city's defenses and weaknesses therein," Scarabella pointed out, rolling her bugball in her hands, ready to throw it at a moment's provocation.

"Doesn't matter, the palace has the protection of the gods themselves, if any of the Romans so much as set foot on the grounds without permission they will be immolated instantly," another servant said confidently. He frowned. "We just have to get there first…"

"Why don't we have more guards? I don't feel safe," Jun whimpered nervously, not feeling like the half-dozen or so armed and armored guards escorting them would be nearly enough protection.

"To be fair, it's not like anyone expected us to be attacked in what's supposed to be the safest city in the country," Galacta pointed out.

"We should be meeting with a guard contingent who will take us the rest of the way in the next block or so," the servant promised.

"We had better, getting attacked once this trip was bad enough already," Neycombe sniffed haughtily, wings fluttering nervously. "Veila, dearest, do you still have all my purchases?"

"Yes, Neycombe," the timid Worm said from somewhere within the absolute mountain of bags she was laden with.

"Good, if you lose any I will be most cross! Not with you, of course," she said quickly, hearing Veila starting to whimper. "Never with you, darling. No, with the scoundrels forcing us into flight! I look forward to devouring their souls for their insolence. Do they not know who I am?!"

"They might, actually," Fuuka pointed out. "If they really forced Mr. Aso to spill the beans."

"Then I shall devour his soul as well," Neycombe promised darkly. "It's his fault we're in this mess to begin with!"

"Neycombe, dear, that's not necessary," Kari said firmly. "From the sound of things, Masaru probably didn't have a choice but to tell the Romans everything he knows about us."

"Mom, you can't tell me you're going to overlook everything he's done!" Mira protested.

"Oh, of course not, I fully intend to claw his face off, I'm just saying we don't need to kill him or eat his soul," Kari explained serenely, slowly extending her claws

"Ah, gotcha."

"If we run into trouble, Shitsuki looks forward to using Shitsuki's new axe," Shitsuki said in monotone, raising the adze they had purchased earlier.

"And Kia can put a horrible curse on them!" Mei said confidently, glancing up at the mummified slave girl they'd inadvertently freed from her lengthy imprisonment who had sworn everlasting fealty to them in thanks.

"I can't cast curses," the very confused mummy, still rather groggy from her thousands of years of forced slumber and struggling to understand this strange new world she'd found herself in and the even stranger children she had bound herself to, told her.

"What? But you're a mummy! Mummies are supposed to be able to curse people!" Mei protested.

"I think that's a stereotype," Luna corrected her.

"Meemy could," Fuuka pointed out.

"Meemy was already a sorcerer and a fallen Heavenly Saint, while Kia was an illiterate concubine in her original life. Where would she have learned how to curse people?" Luna pointed out.

"I don't know, a side effect of being mummified? Ugh, whatever, we'll just feed them to Gummy," Mei decided.

"Gummy doesn't have teeth," Jun said as his new, very large, very harmless pet sacred alligator nommed on his tail.

"Then we'll let Rocky smash their faces in!" The exasperated kitten yelled, gesturing at the Ushabti they'd purchased.

"That Ushabti is a labor model, it is forbidden for them to engage in violence-" one of the guides spoke up.

"Seriously?! Why am I the only one who doesn't have a new weapon or man-eating pet or killing machine?" Mei complained.

"I think the same could be said for most of us," Galacta pointed out.

"Don't bring logic into this!"

Apista suddenly stumbled, gasping in pain and clutching her chest.

"MOM!" Philia cried, immediately rushing to her mother's side as everyone stopped and stared at her in alarm. "What's wrong?! Did someone get you?!"

"I do not see any assassins," Kagami reported, scanning the rooftops.

"We're the only ones here," Mira agreed, tightening her grip on her gun.

"Did someone put a hex on her? I thought our wards would have prevented that!" Aki cried in alarm.

"You mean my wards," Luna reminded her.

"Same difference!"

"Why are you into her again?" Neycombe muttered to Luna.

"I have a type, and it appears to be adorable brunette morons," Luna muttered back, gazing fondly at Aki.

"You poor thing," the Fangire said sympathetically.

"I'm… I'm all right," Apista grunted. "Well, I mean, I'm not, but I… I haven't been attacked or anything, it's just…"

She winced and rubbed the scar on her chest. "I'm sorry, all this excitement and hurry and the hot dry air… My old wound is acting up. I haven't been away from Hive City for this long in quite some time."

Philia grimaced. "Dammit! And we left the miracle honey back on the train! Hey, Fuuka, Luna, Aki, help me out with a pain relief spell or two!"

"We don't have time for that now," Apista protested as the four young mages laid hands on her and started generating healing magic. "We have to hurry to safety, you can heal me once we get there-"

A gunshot rang out, and everyone started, the civilians in the street with them screaming and running away. "I saw an eyeball!" Mira yelled.

A Shuriken flew through the air, and another eyeball dropped from the sky. "As did I!"

"Me too! And there's another… And another… And another… Oh no," Jun whimpered as over a dozen eyeballs appeared, hovering over them and glancing down at them from all angles.

"Okay, no big deal, just a dozen or so eyeballs capable of shooting lasers, we can totally take them out with our combined awesome gun skills, ninja tricks, and magic," Philia said nervously, pressing herself against her mother.

One of the guards coughed.

"Oh right, and you guys are here too."

And that's when several dozen legionnaires appeared, smashing through doors, jumping out of windows, and crawling out of a manhole.

"Crud."

One of legionnaires, Anastasius, laughed cruelly. "Remember us?!"

The party exchanged confused glances. "No, should we?" Cutaros asked.

As Anastasius gawked, Valentinian snarled, "We met you a few hours ago! We were part of the century that attempted to apprehend you out in the desert!"

"Ohhhhhhh," they all said.

"Yeah, we don't remember you at all," Scarabella said.

"What?!"

"In our defense, there are a lot of you guys, and you all look kind of the same to us," Mira said.

"What?! We don't… Well, okay, I guess we are all in uniform, and the masks probably don't help…" Valentinian admitted.

"No matter! We will avenge our brethren by taking you in, and Caesar won't mind if we kill some of you in the process!" Anastasius declared.

"How will killing us avenge them? It was the Bugrangers and Egyptrangers who took out most of your century!" Apista protested.

"Yeah, and you took care of the rest!" Valentinian went out.

Anastasius nodded, pointing at Shitsuki and Neycombe. "Those two took out almost a score put together!"

"And Shitsuki will happily do so again," Shitsuki intoned, raising their weapon.

"I suppose I was getting hungry," Neycombe admitted, brandishing her fangs.

"Can we take them all by ourselves?" Mira muttered to Kagami, moving to cover her mother and siblings.

"We can take out a great deal of them, but in time they may overwhelm us," the ninja replied.

"Don't worry, the guards will surely have heard this commotion and be here any minute-" one of the servants stammered.

Anastasius laughed. "Argus gave us the patrol routes! We sent some of our guys to ambush them on the way here! By the time reinforcements show up, we'll be long gone, and most of you will be dead or in chains!"

Valentinian sneered. "Nobody's coming to save you!"

Without warning, web lines shot through the air, grabbed the eyeballs, and pulled them into the hands of Aranea as she flipped over a rooftop and landed between the party and the Romans, squeezing them until they burst, fluids splattering against her suit and the ground. "I beg to differ."

"Big sis!" Philia cheered.

"I AM HERE!" Antares roared as he literally walked through the wall of a nearby building, seeming completely unbothered as it collapsed behind him. He raised his pincers and snapped them together. "WHO WILL BE THE FIRST TO DIE?!"

As the Romans recoiled in alarm, the children cheered. "Oh thank goodness, everything is okay now," Kari sighed in relief.

"Dad couldn't come?" Jun asked in disappointment.

"Your father and the others are fighting a monster," Aranea replied. "But don't worry, Antares and I will be more than enough to protect you."

"I'm here too!" Mark yelled from a rooftop. Nobody paid attention to him.

"Yeah, big sis is the greatest!" Philia gushed.

Apista nodded in agreement, a relieved smile on her face. "Indeed. While I would have been happy to see any of the Bugrangers… The fact that you of all people came to our rescue warms my heart. Thank you for coming, daughter."

Aranea nodded. "Don't worry, mother, little sister. So long as I am here, no harm will come to you-"

Suddenly, the tapestry of Fate opened up before her eyes, and Aranea saw

Argus, now gigantic, raised his foot with a cruel grin on his beak as he loomed over the city. Apista, Philia, and the others were in his shadow, terrified looks on their faces as they tried to run.

The foot came down, slamming to the ground with a quake which rocked the city and leveled the surrounding buildings.

Laughing, Argus raised his foot again, blood dripping from the underside, revealing…

Revealing…

Oh Sisters, NO!

"NO!" Aranea screamed.

"My lady?" Antares asked in alarm, immediately picking up on her distress through the Web.

"Sis? What's wrong?" Philia asked in concern.

Aranea stared at her, shaking, unable to speak.

What was she supposed to tell her?

Tell all of them?

That she had just witnessed all of them dying…

And that she had done nothing, could do nothingto prevent it?