Chapter 25 : Morning
Mica and the dark elves all stood in stunned silence as the purple sheet slipped away from Mokai and revealed him for what he truly was, a very large tsuchigumo.
With a humanoids upper body mounted atop the cephalothorax of a gigantic spider, a full grown tsuchigumo was, without question, an impressive sight. And even for those who were familiar with the species, to see one in the flesh was still striking.
Although he possessed what seemed to be the upper torso of a human, Mokai was still distinctly inhuman in appearance. His flesh in this portion of his body, wherever it could be seen around the thin bathrobe that he was wearing, or his chitinous carapace, was an ashen white in color and was hairless, save for what was found atop his head. Which, although this was technically hair, it was not human-like in the slightest, but was more akin to sharpened quills or very thin, tightly packed spines which, as they were all pointed backwards, gave his head an almost elongated appearance.
His face was human-like at first glance, and with sharp features, high cheek bones and a strong jaw, he could easily be considered handsome. A second look however would quickly reveal his arachnid qualities, such as the pair of chelicerae that were each kept folded up along his jawline. Like his head, these chelicera were covered in black-colored hair, and tucked away as they were, they could easily be mistaken for some form of stylized facial hair. Though subtle, these appendages were actually quite dangerous, as each was connected to a venom producing gland located deep in Mokai's chest, and was armed with a long venomous fang. A fang which was generally kept folded away from sight, but could be deployed at a moments notice to deliver a toxic, paralyzing bite.
In contrast to his chelicerae, Mokai's eyes were not quite so easily missed, and this was mostly due to the fact that there were so many of them. Similar in design and placement to a humans, his first set of eyes were complete with lids and eyebrows, though unlike a humans, they were deep black, opal-like orbs that were broken by a single thin, white ring that existed at the point where the pupils would be on a normal human eye. His second pair of eyes existed above the first at his temples. These eyes were much the same as the first set but had no eyelids, instead they were protected by a thin clear shell that kept them from drying out. A third and forth pair of eyes, identical to this second set, existed on the sides of his head just above his human-like ears, and at the back of his head, down near the nape of his neck. Working together, these four pairs of eyes allowed him to see in all directions at once.
Thick plates of black-colored chitin ran up his back and across his shoulders before encasing his arms and hands in living armor and leaving his fingers to end in sharpened, claw-like points. Thin creases existed between these plates, and this allowed his digits and joints to move as well as the large muscles beneath the plates to flex and bulge.
From here the similarities to a humanoid ended, as from the waist downwards, Mokai's body took on the shape of a massive, tarantula-like spider.
The large mass which had originally appeared to be a giant cushion that had been propped up behind him, was actually a part of his body. This somewhat bulbous form was his abdomen, and was where the majority of his body's organs were housed. Here could be found his digestive system, the large tube shaped heart that powered his circulatory system, his silk producing spinnerets and the large accordion-like book lungs that pulled air in from vents along his underside and kept his massive body oxygenated.
The surface of this abdomen was covered in a coat of long, soft hairs that were mainly colored a grayish black, and this was off set by a series of dull yellow-colored patterns that ran across the top of the abdomen, and were faintly reminiscent of a tigers stripes.
Though these portions of Mokai's body were certainly large, it was the eight long legs branching out from the base of his cephalothorax, which truly emphasized how big he really was.
When stretched to their max, and held straight below his body, Mokai's stilted legs could easily lift him a full twelve feet into the air. This was an uncomfortable stance for him to maintain though, so as such, he instead carried himself by bending his long legs at about the midway point and letting his body hang suspended in the air as he moved around. Though technically shorter when standing in this way, he still stood at a looming eight feet tall at this stance.
Due to his large size, it was generally necessary for him to keep at least four of his feet touching the ground at any given time so as to remain balanced upright. This didn't impede his speed in any way though, which was something that Mica was about to discover first hand.
"That's enough stretching..." rumbled Mokai as he eased himself down amongst his bent legs and focused several of his eyes on Mica "Alright then... Let's start by getting a better look at you."
Mesmerized by the sight of the massive spider-man that had suddenly appeared before her, Mica had no time to react and could only blink in surprise as with what seemed like a single motion, Mokai took a striding step forward and swung two of his outer most legs down to swing low beneath the edge of the porch and scoop her up off the ground.
"Wha! Hey!" cried the kiochi as she was lifted into the air and quickly passed from one set of legs to another. Despite her efforts to fight back, there was little Mica could do as Mokai snagged her attacking tail out of the air and fed it along from foot to foot behind her.
With a nonchalant expression on his face, Mokai expertly handled the squirming kiochi and maneuvered her in such a way that he could use his first two pair of legs to hold her spread eagle out in front of himself.
Balancing himself on his four back legs now, and apparently satisfied with the position he had her in as he held the struggling kiochi up in the air, Mokai used his left hand to take hold of the end of her tail, just before her barbs, and quickly looped a length of it around her neck before lifting his arm upwards and pulling it taunt.
Mica gasped and went stiff as her own tail was tightened around her neck to a point that she could just barely breathe around it.
"Hey! Don't choke her!" cried Kianna as she and Fiona both pointed their ears straight back in anger.
Before the two dark elves could do more than move to take a step forward, Anton raised a hand as a signal for them to stop.
"Girls! It's okay. This is just a test." he said as he kept his narrowed eyes on Mokai "...He's not going to hurt her."
"No, I'm not... I just want her to stay still for a moment, so I can get a good look at her..." mumbled Mokai as he focused his human-like eyes at the kiochi, and in particular the collar that she wore.
Their eyes aglow with a red, angry light, both Fiona and Kianna eased back but remained clearly ready to act at a seconds notice.
Seething with rage, Mica made an effort to remain still herself as Mokai leaned forward and gazed at the collar that hung around her neck.
Tapping at the collar with the tip of a single mana infused finger, Mokai slowly nodded and made a low mumbling sound in his throat as he found it to be both legitimate and fully functioning. Easing back a bit, he gave Mica a long look over before lightly letting up his grip on her limbs.
Feeling his hold on her loosen a bit, Mica immediately began to struggle anew and anticipating this, Mokai used her efforts to pull herself free of his limbs as a method to gauge her strength.
"...Let me go! You motherfucker!" growled Mica through her clenched teeth as she struggled to twist herself free of the tsuchigumo's ironclad grip.
Seemingly satisfied with his examination, Mokai silently lowered Mica to the ground before carefully letting her go.
Jumping back the moment she was free, Mica curled her tail back over her head and pointed her spade up at Mokai as she threateningly flexed out her barbs.
Though she couldn't see them come up behind her as she was keeping her eyes on the tsuchigumo, both Fiona and Kianna flanked the kiochi as they too joined her in glaring angrily up at the giant spider-man.
