WARNING: The chapters of this story have been rearranged, the comments below may not properly reflect the content of this chapter. The order has been changed due to accurate constructive criticism, and these changes will reduce the jarring back and forth between perspectives. Thank you to all of my readers whose feedback allowed me to make these changes, please enjoy the chapter.

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Damien had only just begun to whittle down the invading mice, he had cut down a mere dozen between Ajax's assault and two rounds of devious guerrilla warfare with the ants. But then the other beasts had emerged from their poorly chosen paths practically unharmed. The rabbits bounded across the open room, covering the twenty feet in a matter of seconds as they fled from the persistent flies. They neared the fiercely flowing battle and Damien expected them to wreak havoc on his carefully planned layered defense. Bringing down the four great beasts could cost him dearly, but he would gladly sacrifice his finest ants if it meant victory would be assured.

But the rabbits didn't join the battle. They ran to the top of the hill just in front of the battle lines, and proceeded to leapt clear over the battle below. They landed on the empty hill behind the battle, and the next layer of ants waited down the hill ahead of them. But once again, they leapt clear over the prepared insectoid formations and raced down the tunnel. There were no ants left in their way. There was nothing to stop their charge.

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The rats followed behind the rabbits as they raced through the second room of Damien's lair. They scurried along as the rabbits bounded ahead, but as the rabbits rounded the turn into the hill covered tunnel a new army of ants blocked their path. The ambusher ants from the second bulwark had arrived too late to stop the rabbits, but they would battle the charging rats. The ambushers were the smallest of Damien's ants, they had been specially chosen for that trait. Those two queens bore the smallest offspring, and that was not a bad thing in this case.

They fought with stealth: Waiting for enemies to fall into their trap, menacing their foes from the top of a cliff, or sneaking up behind. They would crawl into every nook and cranny they could find and tear the enemy apart from the inside. Every orifice and every wound was fair game to these ants. However their weakness lay in open combat. It was one thing to sneak up on embattled foes to stealthily climb onto their backs, it was another thing entirely to stare down creatures thousands of times larger and beat them into submission. Three hundred tiny ants stood against a pack of over forty rats covered by the various wounds they had suffered at the mouths of the flies. Most had suffered minor bites, although large patches of fur were missing, but the rest had large chunks bitten out of their bodies where the flies had successfully held on long enough to do real damage.

The ants stood their ground as the rats closed, and then the enraged rodents were upon them. The great beasts trampled through the ants, charging through as if they weren't even there. Dozens upon dozens of ants were cruelly crushed under the weight of the rats, but as the rats crashed through the ant army, the survivors latched on. Even as their fellows were pathetically squished into the earthen floor, the other ants leapt and scrambled to get a grip on the stomping feet or dangling hairs. The ant casualties were absolutely horrendous, but the survivors set about their gruesome work.

Using the methods Damien had refined in his past battles, they aimed for the ears. It was the easiest orifice to crawl into, and the safest to hide in. As soon as the ant crossed the threshold into the ear, that beast's fate was decided. No amount of shaking or flailing could dislodge the insect, and it was only a mater of time until irreparable damage was wrought.

If the ants were struggling to reach the head, there were countless other options available. A large fly bite was all an ant needed to start digging down into the flesh, and if there was a large chunk missing then the end would come even sooner. The screams of dying rodents had become almost routine in Damien's lair by now, but their mortal throws were a testament to their ferocity. A few of the rodents attacked their brothers in blind rage as their ear canal was torn apart by unseen foes. Despite all of this beautiful violence, a handful of the rats successfully slipped through.

With the closest reinforcements nearly annihilated Damien urged the gate guardians on, however their paths were blocked. A lucky few mice had survived their heroic journey across the second bastion, and they had blindly charged forwards to engage the desperately needed ants. These two ant colonies combined numbered over six hundred, however it was not a matter of who would win the engagement. The mice would halt their advance, and that was just as dangerous for Damien now as their deaths could be. Damien searched elsewhere for his salvation.

The swarm of flies that had pursued the larger rodents across the lair were about to reach the battle line in the hilled corridor, they would speed the intruding mice and surviving rats to their doom. But they were not fast enough to catch the rabbits. They would never make it in time.

Damien abandoned the hope of outside help, and in the seconds before the arrival he assessed his elite troops guarding the entrance to the throne room. Rex stood at the front in all his glory, his neck flushed a dark shade of black as he readied himself for battle. Behind him stood the mighty maggots, the largest grubs, and their parents, the carrion beetles. The larvae and the beetles would be tragically useless despite their size if the rabbits launched over top as they had before, but behind them buzzed the flies. The greatest common flies, and the behemoth horseflies were kept in reserve. If the rabbits could be held off long enough, they would bring them down. And so his hopes rested on Rex and the flies. Their foe had arrived.

The rabbits hopped out of the tunnel just as quickly as they raced through it. It was an impossible speed for his insects to match, but Rex was quick to action. He leapt at the beasts in a heroic, yet graceless maneuver. The great lizard threw himself forwards and bit down on the side of the lead rabbit's face as it tried to rear away from the menacing reptile. Tiny teeth bit down into the rodent's soft flesh, but rather than biting through the great dragon simply refused to let go. The rabbit screeched and flailed, but it was anchored by it's face to the immovable lizard.

Rex did not waste his lucky grab, and began to slice and gouge with his claws. As the helpless rodent struggled, it's face was shredded over and over by the flurry of deep scratches. The rabbit screeched once again, and with pure desperation pulled hard enough to get away, but Rex had not released his grip. The deep cuts from the claws had weakened the flesh of the rabbits face. It's right cheek and most of the nearby skin tore clean off, dangling from Rex's maw. It reeled, stunned by the terrible pain that shook it to it's core, and Rex lunged forwards once again.

This time he caught hold of the mammal's side, exposing the rabbit to another inescapable flurry of cuts, this time directed at it's soft belly. The tortured rabbit was finally able to fight back. It threw itself onto Rex and tore into his back with it's sturdy front teeth. The two beasts tumbled and rolled on the ground as they tore each-other apart, yet the rabbit's existing wounds did not leave enough blood for it to win this battle of attrition. The rabbit's onslaught slowed, and Rex tore into it time and time again, but the other rabbits had long since charged past.

The great flies tore into the charging trio, desperately biting at their eyes. Another rabbit succumbed to it's wounds, falling to the ground blind and half-eaten. Still two rabbits charged on.

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The delay in the entrance room had turned into a complete mess. Just under fifty of the original mice, those who were obviously meant as a distraction, had survived the first bulwark. They rushed out into the room and attacked the already engaged gate guards in the rear. Damien should have seen them coming, but trying to run four different battles all at once was pushing his limits. Individually all of his minions knew what to do, but none of them had the mind for large scale tactics of any kind. No one could help him in this task. They were all simplistic creatures: they fought, they ate, they mated, and they slept. But still they served admirably. Despite the surprise attack, his gate guardians successfully whittled down their attackers while the first ambushers rushed from their hunting grounds to catch those who had escaped their traps.

Further in, the red ants were dominating their battlefield. The flies swarmed overhead, tearing into any rodent that tried to focus on the dangerous red foes ahead of them. Blind mice stumbled through the battlefield and they bit anything they came into contact with, unable to tell if it was friend or foe. The mice continued to be ground down as the red ants slowly retreated. They ants had only given up half of the tunnel in their strategic retreat, and suffered minor losses compared to the dozens and dozens of mouse corpses. Ajax continued to stalk this battlefield as Damien had realized it was an impossible task for him to catch up to the leporid assault. All he could do was guarantee this skirmish was contained, and that no more surprises would pass through the hallway.

He dropped down into the fray, first targeting the surviving rats and then slaughtering all the mice in his path. Damien had finally given his permission for Ajax to throw himself properly into battle, and he dove into it with reckless abandon. The last war he had been forced to fight as a coward, hobbling on his mangled legs as he darted in and out, using his allies to shield himself from danger. Then in this war Damien had held him in check up until now, to increase his effect and chances of survival. But now he was free. The massive spider released all his rage, all his pain at the loss of his mate onto the unfortunate foes. These mammals had left him crippled, and taken from him the only being in this world he cared for. When he caught a mouse, he didn't simply inject a normal dose of his corrosive venom. He released just enough to cause terrible pain, but not enough to kill. At least not quickly. Dozens of mice lay writhing in agony as their flesh and organs slowly dissolved into a murky red soup. This theater of battle was safely contained. All that remained were the rabbits.

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The flies weren't enough. They couldn't stop the rampaging rabbits despite their terrible wounds. Damien would once again be forced to endure the pain of his soul being torn apart. He would die. But then salvation rained down from above. In a tragic reenactment of the first war, all two hundred spiders rained down from the ceiling.

"NO!" Damien cried out, but it was too late. He had ordered them to hide there. They would be safe there. The beasts couldn't climb walls or walk on ceilings. But just as their parents before them, in his time of need they threw themselves into the fray. But they were young, far too young. Many legs shattered and some spiders died as they hit the ground below, they lacked the coordination to absorb the impact. Those that survived the landing were not safe either as the rabbits blindly trampled any in their path. His precious baby spiders were pulverized by the weight of the hopping fiends.

Through dumb luck, or more likely through sheer numbers, a few had hit their mark. They landed atop the loping rabbits and they burrowed down through fur or found the best patch of exposed skin to attack. Then they bit down as hard as they could. They barely punctured through the thick skin but as soon as they broke through they emptied every last drop of venom their tiny bodies held. The berserk rabbits screeched with rage, and forgot their goal of crushing Damien's heart. Instead they stomped around, crushing as many spiderlings as they could find. The baby spiders fearlessly charged forwards leaping at their foe, and for every two that were crushed one got through and deposited their venom into the stumbling brutes.

Soon the concentrated onslaught of spiderlings and flies brought down the final beasts. Damien had survived another day, but he was filled with a renewed rage as he surveyed his throne room, now littered with far too many tiny bodies. The day was fast approaching when he would have his revenge. Revenge for his pride, for his minions, for Sheila, and for these treasured gifts that gave their lives to protect him. All of it would be repaid tenfold.