A/N: Sorry for not updating yesterday. Life occasionally gets in the way. Tags updated to mature for gore and violence.

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Day 33

Damien's red heart pulsed with a hard, jarring light. As the immediate panic subsided, he formed his minions into ranks. Twenty thousand maggots formed the front line, all across the wall from which his terrible foe would emerge. Five thousand flies lay at the ready near the center of the room, prepared to launch at a moments notice. His beetles were scattered amongst the maggots, prepared to strike to break up the enemy formations. His mighty maggots were his reserve, their bulging bodies lay behind the main formations, and they were bolstered by his newest additions. The carrion beetles first eggs had finally hatched and grubs now bolstered his maggot army. He had never wanted to risk losing them as he had precious few beetles at his disposal, but this was far from normal circumstances.

Then there were his spiders and his ants. He sent both up the walls. The only ants he kept in reserve were his queens, of which he now had four. Hundreds of his ants scaled the wall, all poised to rush down and ambush their intruders from behind. Fifty soldiers had grown amongst his newest generation of ants, however they were not yet fully mature and were barely larger than their older brothers. His champion spiders lay in wait in the roof.

Next he dug trenches, small inch deep ditches to allow his horde the higher ground. He was prepared. Whatever this sapphire foe would throw at him, he was ready. But he was wrong, oh so very wrong.

The tunnel he had tried so hard to close burst wide open, now expanded to a full three feet. From the darkness the armies of his foe emerged. Damien had expected spiders, roaches, rhinoceros beetles, wasps or lizards. But what came out were mice, rats and rabbits. Nearly one hundred brown field mice rushed out at the front of the enemy wave followed by ten gray rats and two very angry brown rabbits. He was not prepared for this.

The rodents wasted no time, charging head on into the sea of seething alabaster flesh. With every step, hundreds of maggots were trampled and squished beneath the mammalian force. The maggots surged, and pressed in against the mice, but their mouths grasped only hairs and the outermost layers of skin. Then the giant rats charged past, through the maggot holocaust unfolding around them. The rats leapt and targeted his beetles. The massive animals grabbed onto the mighty beetles with their paws, ruthlessly tearing them from their footing. The rats then slammed them over on their backs and tore into their soft underbellies with their wickedly sharp teeth. His beetles were being slaughtered. His maggots hopelessly annihilated. He ordered his ants to charge.

They swarmed down the walls, they would surprise the unsuspecting mammals from behind. These ants were his best hope against these mighty foes, but they were far too few. He possessed four ants for every enemy, and there was only so much they could do. Still they surged onwards, silently creeping along the moss strewn floor of the cave. As they reached the rabbits standing watch in the rear, they slowly climbed up their backs starting with their fluffy tails. They didn't make it more than an inch up their spine before the two great beasts felt their movement across their fur.

The hares leapt into action, whirling around to see an army of ants. As they saw this large army suddenly appearing behind them, they hopped forwards into the foe. Their long legs heaved them up into the air before they landed atop the ant armies. Their wide bodies crushed dozens of ants with each impact, but still some managed to grasp their fluffy hairs and climb on. Those already on their backs continued their aggressive climb, and the rabbits reared, kicked and flailed trying to drive them loose. Even in the throws of panic they still crushed countless minions of Damien's glorious army. As they were distracted, Sheila and Ajax dropped down from the ceiling.

Sheila had landed gracefully in front of her target. This rabbit was the larger of the two, although only slightly. As soon as it saw her land it charged forwards and she quickly skittered aside. As the rabbit passed she lunged out at it's rear. Before she could close the distance the hare whirled around and squeaked fiercely, barring it's teeth. He hopped up and pounced down on where she was sitting, and she barely managed to scramble out of the way. She wasn't ready for his rapid turn and the beast buried it's teeth in her abdomen. She screeched and flailed desperately to get away but the monstrous beast held her tight in it's maw. It strained for just a moment before it bit clean through, tearing into her soft flesh. She threw herself away as soon as she was free, but the damage was done.

Ajax aimed right for the other rabbit's body as it flailed to escape the ants. He landed right on it's back. The fierce rabbit screeched in rage as it felt the spider's weight and started to buck. Ajax clung tight to the beast as it kicked and spun and reared back and forth. As it failed to dislodge the brave spider, the rodent rolled. Ajax scrambled to stay on top, but soon the rabbit's entire weight crushed him down into the floor. Two of his legs snapped under the pressure, but still he held on. As the rabbit leapt up, he gripped as tightly as he could with his remaining legs and sunk his fangs deep into it's back. He poured every last drop of his potent venom into the fearsome beast. The rabbit shrieked in agony as the corrosive venom soaked through it's veins, before falling to the ground as it writhed under the excruciating onslaught.

Sheila hemorrhaged precious ichor from the terrible wound. Her opponent's body was stained with the blue of her blood. She could stand and she could fight, but it wouldn't last for long. Then the battlefield shook with the dying shriek of the other rabbit, and the battlefield descended into chaos.

The enemy finally realized that their greatest fighters were in danger. One was already dying, in the most excruciating way imaginable. The spiders became their biggest priority. All of the rats surged to the rear to help their allies, leaving the mice to their one-sided slaughter.

The ants had waded into the fighting, quietly creeping up the backs of the mice and rats just as their fellows had the rabbits. They crawled up while their victims trampled the maggots into the dirt. All was quiet and peaceful, but as they all gathered on their target's backs, Damien gave the signal. And they all climbed into their ears. If he had allowed them to battle freely, the enemy would have learned the danger. But by allowing the ants to all attack at once, it was far too late before the enemy realized what had happened. The ants burrowed into the soft tissue of their ears, and slowly dug through a torrential flood of blood as they carved their path to the brains.

All at once, mice and rats screamed but they were not alone. The rabbits shared their agony. Ajax's foe was already mortally wounded but had risen to exact his final revenge. Ajax would be trapped between the hare and the charging rats, but then the beast collapsed, shrieking as an even worse fate befell him. With this one and only chance Ajax fled the battle, returning to his roost on the room of the cave. He had done his part. The other rabbit spasmed mid leap as it's ear drums were being torn apart by the fearless ants. Sheila too, used this opportunity to limp away as her blood continued to ooze from her horrible wound.

All around the battlefield, rodents collapsed. And once they began to writhe and scream, they never rose again. Twenty three mice and six of the rats died slowly as their brains were devoured from the inside. But still, far too many remained. He had inflicted terrible damage upon the enemy, yet still they pressed in. He mustered his mighty maggots and they charged forwards into the fray and combined with all his other maggots they only brought down a dozen mice. Thousands and thousands of bites slowly wore away the fur and flesh, but their casualties were impossibly high. The outcome seemed bleak.

There was only one advantage he still held over the rodents, and that was his air corps of flies. They could take to the skies and harass them, but he feared they could do little damage. He wished to save them for breeding but now there was no choice. He released them into the batle, and they swarmed though the air. Thousands of flies blocked the light from reaching this forsaken corner of the cave. And then they dived.

They bit, clawed and slammed themselves into the rodents. Their meager weapons left pitifully little damage, yet thousands and thousands of attacks added up one after the other. The rodents bit at the air, whipped them out of the sky with their tails, and rolled on the ground to brush them off. But for every fly they swatted a dozen more would take their place. The flies bit at their eyes, their genitals, their noses, their lips. Every weak point was found, and every soft place despoiled. The rodents were hardly subdued by this slow death as tiny bite by tiny bite they were devoured. They were enraged. They surged forwards as a wave of hairy fury. They rushed at his core.

The enraged rodents charged at him even as the flies devoured their bodies. They knew their deaths would come, many amongst their number began to succumb under the onslaught. A single bite meant nothing, yet thousands of mouths took piece after piece away from their flesh. The worst were the eyes. The flies bit and clawed and tore into the soft defenseless flesh. Mouse after mouse released horrific wails as their sight was forever taken from them. They flailed around, desperately trying to flee from the now unseen foes. A few of those blinded turned and fled, returning to their master. The rest ran terrified and helpless until the flies brought them down. Slowly, bite by bite. And once they fell the few remaining maggots burrowed into their flesh. Bite by bite they were eaten alive.

His forces were winning, yet Damien saw none of it. All he had eyes for were the mice still charging on through the storm of flies lead by the largest rat he had ever seen. The flies sensed the danger, and swarmed even more furiously than before. So many mice fell, one after the other. Yet still they charged on. When they were two feet away, thirteen rodents remained. When only one twelve inches remained, five still charged. With six inches left, only the monstrous rat and a lone mouse remained.

Their eyes had long since been devoured, the mutilated remains in the sockets wept tears of blood. The skin of their bodies were mottled masses of oozing bites and tears. Most of their hair had been torn off and their skin was pitted with large chunks missing. Still they charged onwards like demons, possessed by their insatiable rage.

Sheila saw the charge, and as the flies furiously swarmed, she raced across the ceiling. Her wounds gushed as she strained to make it in time, raining blue blood over the soaked battlefield below. At the last possible moment she launched herself from her perch, throwing herself between the rat and her master. Before she could gather herself, the rat blindly slammed into her, and they tumbled together across the floor and away from Damien's heart. But the mouse got through, and as it's feet touched his heart, it knew it had reached it's goal.

Teeth slammed down into Damien's core, and the surface of the precious gem gave in. With a single bite, a piece of his soul had been torn off. Damien screamed. It was pain beyond comprehension. His mind, his heart and his soul were shrieking silently, yet every creature in the room felt that pain. Every last minion of his had long since swarmed to him, but his pain became theirs. Only the mouse was immune, instead it drew strength from his pain as his raw life force poured into the creature from the jagged gaps and cracks in his heart. Again and again the mouse tore into him, oblivious to the flies swarming around him. Piece by piece, Damien's soul was torn apart.