Well folks, this one's another Motoyasu chapter… or, Spear Party chapter. Anyway, if you haven't figured out by now, Hollow's very existence is setting into motion so many things that we are in fact deviating from canon.

May you continue to join me on this wild ride. ONWARDS~

Meanwhile…

Malty really did know how to pick them. Melromarc's first princess began to daydream of her youth… butlers and maids at her every whim and fancy, precious jewels and prized mounts, money, fame, and power. She enjoyed life to its fullest! At least… she did so until she was born. Her parents had gone and had another child behind her back, all while her mother sent her away to Faubley so as to learn abroad.

She definitely learned something. She learned to be underhanded in her ways. She learned to utilize her femininity to sway those stronger than her under her banner. She learned that wiles alone did not get a woman where she needed, and a different blood would need to be shed along with whatever outdated principles of dignity and honor her witch of a mother sought to instill in her.

Her father however never reprimanded her for her choice in dangerous and lascivious lifestyle. Though, there had been times that maybe. Just maybe… had her father been a little more firm with her… maybe she wouldn't have made those mistakes and ill choices in life. Even now, she sought to use herself in order to use a man to further her goals.

Like most men in her life, Kitamura Motoyasu had no brain in his thick skull, the gray matter having settled somewhere lower. At least his name matched his pretty face, not like the last mountain of muscle she played with. She racked her brains for a name… Eunic? Festus? It didn't matter, he fought, he lost, he died. All so she could gain just that much more influence within Faubley's borders.

Now though… Now she was following the dimwit Spear Hero down into a dark, damp, insect infested cavern. The fool smiling as he struck and parried the variously sized monstrosities that sought to kill their party.

Their constantly diminishing party… what had started off as a group of fifteen women and six men not counting the Spear Idiot had quickly dropped once Motoyasu gained his second Spear. Now? Now that immense group had shrunk to a paltry five women and one man. The only reason this man had yet to leave was that he had originally wished to become an entomologist of all things!

Between bug for brains and the Spear Fool… well, Malty had had enough.

"Hey, you hear that?" Motoyasu asked the party as a soft echo of a thousand pins echoed within the massive stone cave they found themselves in.

"Sorry, I haven't actually been paying attention," One 'Elena Haven' said in bored reply.

The insect freak, Bronson Flyn quickly perked up however, "Myriapoda! A greater classification of Diplopoda!"

"Uh… greater?" A random girl asked in fear.

"Wait… a what now?" Motoyasu asked in confusion as he stopped in the middle of what was shaped to be an arena. The sounds of trickling pin pricks returned with a vengeance as the ground at their feet began to rumble.

"Scientific name, Diplopoda!" Bronson replied eagerly as he fixed his glasses, "More commonly referred to as-" The earth had finally ruptured as a gray carapaced monstrosity tore through the ground and began to walk along the air itself.

"EEEEK!" Three of the group's women had shouted in fright at the massive flying insect as they immediately ran away, falling boulders closing the path behind them once they had left.

Sighing, Elena shook her head and readied her saber, "So annoying…"

"I don't ever think I've seen a millipede fly before!" Bronson cheered, his surprisingly toned muscles bulged slightly as he took a fighting position. Malty… Malty hung back and hoped that whatever damage the fight caused it destroyed the boulders blocking her from her freedom.

"Elena! Focus fire on its forehead! Flyn, aim for its head every three fireballs!" Motoyasu shouted before looking to the flinching Malty as she desperately did her best to look weak and frightened. His smile was all she needed as she sighed in relief, watching as he returned his attention to the spiraling insect, "I'm going to keep its attention!" He declared as he flew into the air himself.

Elena charged her magic, Bronson brought out a steel war hammer, and Motoyasu utilized his spears to flit about the cave as if he were a spider weaving an intricate web. Keeping to the strategy, Bronson slammed his hammer into the beast after every third gout of fire from Elena's hands bathed its face all while Motoyasu danced across the air with such grace and precision it was a wonder he decided to be a Hero at all…

It was a waste to leave such beauty for someone else to snatch away, but it was a sacrifice Malty was more than willing to make if it meant her continued survival.

The mindless insect had let loose a threatening roar once cracks began to form upon its head. The earth threatened to cave in once more as boulders fell upon the arena floor and sizable silver bodied centipedes tore through the floor, their powerful mandibles tearing through earth and stone.

"Okay! New plan!" Motoyasu shouted, "Elena, kill the smaller ones!"

"Augh, this is such a paaain…" The noble girl groaned as she readied her blade, stabbing the ground as quickly as she could while still flinging fireballs against the larger boss monster.

Bronson happily jumped about as he aided in the bedlam, even going so far as to slam the smaller insects onto the massive flying beast. Malty still refused to fight, even more so now that the fight had gained a new complication.

"Flyn! ONE MORE WHACK!" Motoyasu shouted as the bug enthusiast gave a mighty roar, the spiked end of his war hammer falling down upon the super heated and cracked shell of the boss monster.

With a pained cry, the massive centipede began to fall down to the cave floor, eyes lifeless as fluid escaped its pierced head. The trio celebrated their victory while Malty was left stabbing the increasingly difficult to kill and heavily armored insects.

Even as the party heated, cracked, and shattered the downed monstrosity, Malty was growling. Forced to keep her distance, Malty circled around the arena as she blast back the armored bugs with bursts of wind. Thankfully, bug brain finally got around to smashing the encroaching creatures.

"Sorry about that your highness," Bronson apologised, "That millipede was harder to crack than we thought."

"Oh… oh it's fine," Malty lied as she looked at the muck covered bug maniac with utter disgust and contempt, "Are we ready to leave this… cave?"

"Just about!" Motoyasu cheered as he hefted a sword made entirely out of jagged crystal fragments… covered in the centipede's innards.

There had been several more pieces covered in an equal amount of filth despite the obvious craftsmanship and quality. Six silken scarves, two silken cloaks, a pair of fine boots adorned with an unrefined silver metal, a massive studded club seemingly made by slapping gold and iron on top of each other while filling the gaps with stone.

If she didn't know any better, Malty would be forced to say that this creature had forged these items itself.

"Would there be anything… not bathed in… whatever everything is covered in?" Malty asked as she backed away, holding a hand to her mouth as she felt herself about to lose her meal.

"There was an egg," Elena replied with her usual bored tone, "Hey, how are we even getting out of here?"

"I've got it!" Bronson cheered as he took up the great club, "I wanna stress test the equipment!"

"Be careful with that you dunce!" Malty shouted, "It still needs to get appra-" Her protests were silenced by the club impacting the boulders sealing them in. In an incredible turn of events, the oversized baton had not broken into a thousand little pieces, but had actually caused the boulders to reverberate as fractures and fissures quickly formed along the stone.

To think that even mindless horrors could create something so powerful...

The group had left the cave without a hitch, Motoyasu hugging the disgusting bug's egg. It drove Malty mad with how much care he was showing to this one egg. If it were up to her, the egg would have been destroyed in much the same way its parent was. Though, for her, now was not the time to harbor such rage, now was the time to act!

"Oh, Dearest Spear Hero?~" Malty called out sweetly.

"Hm? What's up, Mein?" He asked with a stupid smile on his face, "Oh hey! Actually, would it be alright if we went back to the capitol real quick?" This played into her plans far better than she thought.

Motoyasu started prattling on about cleaning the equipment, getting it appraised, and binding the bug to his service. She didn't care for any of it, of course. All she cared about was leaving his now three member party. Once Motoyasu had returned the group back to Melromarc, she had pulled Elena aside under the pretense of 'Girl Talk', and the Spear Idiot in his infinite wisdom actually believed her.

"Come, Haven. Let's leave this dumb twig!" Malty insisted as Elena shook her head, much to Malty's growing frustration.

"Listening to you is such a pain, at least Motoyasu lets me sleep whenever I want to…" The noblewoman replied tiredly as she left Malty to her boiling anger. This anger faded however when one of her shadows had approached her.

Their message was simple, yet absolutely world shattering, "Your father, the King, has been kidnapped. You have been crowned Queen of Melromarc."

It didn't matter what hatred and frustrations she harbored for the foolish Heroes, for she was given the greatest news she could receive. She wasted no time in rushing after Motoyasu, the Spear Idiot having gone to visit Earhart.

She had arrived just in time for the blacksmith to shout, "This did not come from a bug!"

"No, we pulled it from a giant bug," Motoyasu confirmed Earhart shaking his head.

"I can't call this a weapon," He whispered, "But damn it if it isn't stronger than anything I'm selling. Anyway you'd be willing to part with it?"

"Nope!" Bronson declared as he took the now cleaned and polished rod, much to the blacksmith's disappointment… which turned to confused surprise.

"You said it came from a bug?" He asked as the trio of Elena, Bronson, and Motoyasu nodded, "To be honest… I feel like I've seen something like this club before."

This raised a few eyebrows as Motoyasu asked, "Why does it coming from a bug make you think that?" He asked not yet having pieced two and two together. Even Elena seemed to have figured it out…

"Hollow," Malty whispered, causing everyone to jump in shock at not hearing her enter. Rolling her eyes she looked at the 'weapon' with disdain, "Oh come now, even a child could have figured it out."

Everyone shrugged, but it left Motoyasu rather… put out? Who could really tell what went through his empty head, "Anyway," Malty continued as she put on an air of uncertainty and sadness, "Motoyasu… I am afraid I can no longer adventure with you~" She stated dramatically, even going so far as to fall to her knees and hide her eyes with her arm, tears falling down her face, "I… I have just been told that my dear father… has been abducted!"

Abducted, Motoyasu thought to himself as he lay upon his bed within Melromarc castle, his spears by his side and his newly painted egg in his hold, "Abducted…" He repeated to himself aloud. He laughed when he was told who the culprit was. He couldn't help it! Hollow, the Hollow Knight! Kidnapping!

"Hah… ah… that's funny…" He whispered as he hugged his egg, and why wouldn't it be? Hollow was the last person to kidnap anyone let alone the king, or… was that maybe the reason why? "Ahh… Damn it Daddy Issues… you really went and screwed the pooch on this one…"

Motoyasu did not know when sleep had taken him, but when he had awoken, he was in the middle of a rainy city and standing before a statue of the Hollow Knight himself.

The strange part however was who had been waiting there for him.

"You have returned to this place, Spear," Hornet stated as she stared up at Motoyasu, "I had thought your first visit a fluke."

"Hey! I have a name, Horn Head!" Motoyasu shouted, though Hornet paid him no mind… or at least it seemed that way until she giggled.

"Banter, camaraderie~ these things a princess does not have," She said happily, "You are unaware of your surroundings, a fool. Naive…" Motoyasu growled at her words as she continued, "Unafraid, quick to action, reliable. You are of decent quality of character, Spear."

Motoyasu had been at a loss for words at this, unable to find his voice, he looked back to the statue of Hollow.

"You wonder, yes?" She asked as Motoyasu nodded, "Half siblings. His father, my father. Yet siblings we may be, I lack that key emptiness that made my brothers what they are… who they are."

"Emptiness?" Motoyasu asked as he sat on the edge of the statue's pedestal, "What do you mean by that?" Hornet considered him and his question as she sat beside him.

"The Hollow Knight. An empty Vessel," Hornet finally replied, "No Mind to think. No Will to break."

"No Voice to cry suffering…" The two whispered in tandem, "But what does that mean?" Motoyasu pleaded as Hornet placed her, or what was supposed to be, her hand upon his mask.

"You are not strong, Spear," Hornet's words made Motoyasu growl, but she continued as if nothing was remiss, "But you will be. Find me at the edge of this world, fight me and win. Then I shall tell you."

"Oh now you're just-" As the world fell, Motoyasu quickly rose out of bed, "Teasing me…" Sighing, he looked around for his egg, only to quickly flinch and shuffle about. He threw his bedsheets about, his pillows, he jumped of his bed… shouting in excitement as he found the remains of his egg… a newborn centipede monster chewing away at the egg shell.

Reaching for the bug, the monster cried out before hurriedly jumping into his arms. As he hefted the bug happily into the air, the three girls who ran from the fight the day prior had entered the room, "Mister Motoyasu, we're-" As the girls fully entered the room, they took sight of Motoyasu half naked with a giant bug slobbering over him. Their collective shriek had waked the rest of his party in the next room, Bronson and Elena running in as the trio of frightened girls ran out.

"Sir Spear Hero! What's…" Bronson's words had been eaten by his surprise.

"What? What!? Is there something on my face?" He asked as a finger scratched his cheek, Elena pointing over Motoyasu's shoulder, "Okay, okay I'll play aloooOOO- WAAAHAH!"

As the Spear Hero fell upon his backside, he took a long hard look at the arm growing from his back said arm giving him a thumbs up.

His scream had awakened the whole of Melromarc...