The King of the Insectars.

(Just a heads up, the next couple of chapters are going to be every 5-6 days. They are going to be from 3-5k and I wanna make sure they are the best they can be. For these past few chaps, I have been doing more work than usual like actually making a draft and then rewriting and making it better so that's why it will be a few more days.

IF you wanna see the draft version of this chap you can see it on discord, should be on the proofread channel. https://discord.gg/scz6XEyQGH

Not that active of a discord and it is mainly for letting everyone know when a new chap is up. Anyways, here is the chap. 2.5k words)

"I want to save everyone."

That was the choice she had made for herself. And it was thanks to her resolution that she had finally awakened her Hero's egg.

Her awakening did not come with a new skill, but instead, it came with the combination of the ones she already owned.

With her mathematician skill, she was able to predict the future. By analyzing her situation and her enemies' movements she would be able to form a clear picture of what they would do next. And with her Usurper skill, she would be able to take the skills and arts of her chosen target.

Upon her awakening as a hero, these two skills had combined and turned into one. Urdr-Loki, Lord of Stolen Fates. A skill that allowed her to alter and take the fates of those around her. A skill that let her see the future of those around her.

Though the stronger her opponent the harder it was to change and see their future.

*Clang*

*Boom*

She had almost been successful in using her new skill to steal the fate of the one in front of her. Something that would lead to almost immediate death. But she had been just a moment too late.

"Are all beetles this strong?"

She couldn't help but ask the one in front of her.

"I am the son of the king. If I were to show weakness I would deserve nothing other than death. Father is busy dealing with my useless brother, so I will be the one who will deal with you."

Hinata readied her sword as her eyes began to glow, looking into the fate and future of her opponent.

…

The king of insectars wanted to see what would happen if he had children. What would they grow to become and how strong they would be. But there was one thing he valued over everything else, his own strength.

This was a problem when it came to having children, since as monsters, both parents would lose a portion of their magicules and strength when making a child. But Zelanus was able to devise a strategy to keep his won strength intact.

The first thing he did was choose the strongest insectar woman among his entire kingdom and mate with her. But instead of giving a portion of himself for the child, he somehow managed to place the entire burden on the mother.

And so as the children began to develop the mother began to lose her strength rapidly and her own body began to decay. She wanted nothing more than to kill the children inside of her so that she would be able to retain some of her strength. But she was being monitored and given a warning. If she were to fail to deliver the children the king would make sure she wished she was dead for as long as she lived. And being monitored and weakened she couldn't even take her own life.

As if it wasn't bad enough for the mother she had been cursed with twins. She had to feed with her own strength and magicules two children instead of one. But she also figured out a way to only feed one of them. She would starve one of the kids inside of her and only feed one. Since it was the only way for her to still deliver a child and have a chance of keeping her life. So while one child grew the other remained stagnant.

But even then her efforts were not good enough. The first child to come to was the small beetle that had almost no trace of magicules and strength. When it came to the insectars he was extremely underdeveloped. And his body was on the verge of failure. Yet he kept on clinging to life. And when the second child came out, it also took along the last of his mother's magicules. Killing her in the process.

Now the two kids had some time to grow as the king was away. The first child remained on the brink of death while the second began to grow in strength. It was during this time that they learned about their father. About how their mother had died. About all the things their father had done to the worlds around them.

They learned that their father had one goal. And that goal was to conquer. Anything that got in his way would be destroyed. And anything that he found to be worthless would be thrown away. He built his kingdom so that the only thing that mattered was strength. And he became king by using his own strength to forcefully take leadership over the insectars.

The day finally came when their father returned. And once he took a look at the first child he said his first and final words to him.

"Useless."

The child was pushed down by the pressure of the king and after the king waved his hands the child disappeared. Thrown into the portal that the king used to get rid of useless things. A portal he had made without any thought that should have led to someplace in the middle of space. But by chance, led to the cardinal world.

…

(A few hours back)

"Big bro, are you ok?" Silk asked while showing a sad expression. She seemed to have noticed her big bro was lost in thought, something he rarely did.

"I am fine, I was just thinking about the past. We have a mission to complete." Zegion answered, stoic as ever.

"Alright! Bug legion plus the Luminaries! Let's kick some insectar ass!"

Silk jumped with excitement as they prepared to go through the gate. Their jobs were going to be extremely important. After all, their team would be the ones to be taking on the insectar's strongest army. And they would be facing the leader of all of the insectars Zelanus. And while a good portion of the knights coming along with them were not that strong the ones leading them should be goon enough to take on a couple of the stronger foes. After all the holy knights of Luminous were being led by the Ten Great Saints, along with the new hero, Hinata.

"Aren't you a bit too carefree?"

Hinata asked the silver-haired girl.

"What is there to worry about? We have big bro Zegion on our side. I have heard a lot about the world we are going to but we should be strong enough to take over by force if we need to."

Silk said with pride and her siblings around her nodded agreeing with her.

Hinata narrowed her eyes as she activated her Ultimate skill, trying to read their fates. But above them, she could only see what appeared to be a muddled-up distorted image. The only exception was Zegion, from which she could see nothing at all. This showed how strong they were.

She had discovered that the stronger a being became the less control fate had over them. And what she could see from them became more and more muddled indicating that her skill would become harder to use. And if the target didn't have a fate above it would mean that they are ridiculously strong.

Even in this room, where the strongest forces of the world had gathered, only a few had no fate above them. Rimuru, Diablo, Guy, Velzard, Veldora, Zegion, Dagruel, and Milim. Other than them the rest would have different levels of clarity among their fates.

"I see…"

Hinata didn't say much as she looked onto the gate ahead of them. It would lead them to one of the most dangerous planets. The main planet of the Insectars. And now that it was their turn, she felt excitement swelling up in her heart. This would be her first test as a hero.

…

Unlike the barren wasteland some of them expected, they were greeted by a beautiful landscape. Surrounded by different vegetation and fields of grass it looked like a place taken right out of paradise. Yet there was a heavy aura around the place. The result of the world being bathed by the magicules of the chaotic dragon for as long as one could remember.

From afar they could see a well-developed city with many buildings and in the middle of it a gigantic palace. They didn't have much time to look around before they were all struck and targeted by a gigantic aura. Which felt almost as if a predator was staring down on them.

Glancing back at her knights she couldn't help but panic when she saw that the fate and futures of her knights all showed signs of imminent death. But before she could press the emergency button to send them back to the labyrinth the focus of the aura changed as it all targeted a single one among them, Zegion.

But he didn't flinch, he stood firm in his spot before the pressure disappeared as abruptly as it arrived.

"This place has changed a lot…" Zegion muttered.

"Zelanus, the king of the insectars, knows we are here. I have just been invited to the palace." He continued.

After a moment of quiet Zegion spoke again addressing the knights behind Hinata.

"Return to Tempest. You will all die if you stay here. Only Hinata and my siblings should stay."

One of the ten great saints was going to say something before being glared down by Hinata.

"Listen to what he says, this is a direct order."

And just as suddenly as they had arrived a large portion of the army vanished. Leaving only a small group that began walking to the city.

The trip to the city was eerily calm. And even once they entered the city all of the citizens, which were insectars in different stages of evolution, just stared at them. Every single person around them just stood away giving them space while keeping their eyes firmly planted on them. But they made a direct path to the palace.

Once they reached the palace they were greeted by a pale white woman with mosquito-like features. And despite her gentle appearance she released an aura of pure strength.

"King Zelanus is expecting you."

Being led through the palace was quite interesting. The whole thing just seemed slightly off. It was almost as if it had been built by someone who didn't understand the meaning of too much. By going too extravagant on every corner of every room it just made the whole thing look weird. It looked as if it had been built by people who had just seen pictures of palaces but had never been inside one or looked at floor plans for one.

The mosquito woman seemed to notice their looks around the castle as she smiled with pride.

"The king took a liking to the palaces in some of the worlds we conquered so he ordered for one of them to be built on our homeworld."

Gigantic room after gigantic room, they eventually reached a hallway with many guards standing in front of the gate.

"Only the Beetle Insectar will follow inside. The rest of you are not worthy to be in his presence yet. You will all have a chance to prove yourselves in the future.

Zegion looked back at the ones behind him before nodding and speaking.

"You already know our orders."

To communicate with the king and ask him to surrender. And if things went wrong, to kill him. Once the king fell the rest would follow. The strength-based society he had built would be the thing that would make taking over so easy. All they had to do was defeat him and show they were stronger.

As Zegion and the woman were about to walk through the doors a man left the room. A beetle insectar that froze for a moment when he spotted Zegion. He then glared at him before moving out of the way without saying a word. And once Zegion had entered the throne room the woman closed the door. Leaving only the two beetle insectars in the room.

"I won't lie. I am impressed. But I should have known that any child of mine would grow to be strong."

Looking down on Zegion the king of the insectars spoke with an uncaring tone.

"Even that woman trying to sabotage my experiment ended in me obtaining two strong servants. Not only does he return but he returns with gifts. Maybe I should try to have more children."

Just like Zegion, he was also a beetle insectoid. Reaching the peak of strength he had become a fully spiritual being, becoming immune to almost all forms of physical damage. This was the final evolution for insectars. A form in which they would be considered one of the strongest. He had his beetle shell covering his body yet underneath the shell it looked as if it were made with energy, as a dim light shone through it.

"Not horribly late either. Almost in time to conquer the Cardinal world. But you must have forgotten your manners after being away for so long. You should know to kneel before your king."

"Zelanus. I am here to deliver a message."

Zegion said while standing firm in his spot. Not a trace of fear nor emotion in his voice.

"Oh?" the king answered in amusement.

"This is my message to you from my father:

Feldway will die tonight, surrender or you will follow in his steps."

A short but precise message. Zegion had spoken to Rimuru about Zelanus and he already knew he wouldn't agree to surrender. So there wasn't much point in trying to convince him with a long and convoluted speech.

"Funny, I don't recall telling you anything of the sort." Zelanus said as he stood up from his throne and began walking down the steps that led to it.

"Should I take this as you wanting to follow in his steps?"

"Maybe I was wrong. This one is still a failure. Guess I'll have to do with the other one. I don't want to have to deal with a suicidal idiot."

Zelanus said those words as the magicules around him began to surge.