I take her leg, greeting her and saying: “Dan. It’s nice to finally meet someone here.”

“Are you participating?”, she asks me.

“Yes. And you?”

“Nah, I’m just here to observe… I will participate in the next one, tho… Who are you fighting?”

“Some guy named Motheas.”, I nonchalantly answer.

“Oh!”, she seemed surprised, “Wow! Good luck!”

I was confused by this so I asked: “What do you mean ‘wow’? Is he, like, a famous guy or?”

“What? You really don’t know who he is??”, she thought I was joking.

“No, I genuinely do not know who he is. Can you tell me?”

“Woah, it’s like you’re not from BeetleField… He made it to the semi-finals last time… One of my brothers defeated him… barely…”, Lucana told me.

“Oh! The semi-finals… he’s quite strong then, isn’t he? Wait… did you say one of your brothers defeated him?”, this caught my attention.

“Yup. He died fighting Ozara… May he forever rest in peace…”

“Oh… I… I’m sorry to hear that, Lucana… My condolences.”

“It’s okay… I wasn’t really close to neither of them anyways… Besides, I should be the one giving condolences to you, Dan… You’ve lost your father there… I have many, many brothers and sisters… but only one father…

And I heard that you were his only child… I can’t even imagine the pain you went through, Dan…”, Lucana said in a solicitous tone.

“T-Thank you, I…”, I did not know how to react to this… Nobody except for King Staggeron has ever spoken to me about this… A few minutes have passed, and, to break the uncomfortable silence, I decided to change the subject: “Wait… you say you have many brothers and sisters… does that mean that… you are… the King’s daughter??”

“Haha, yes, I am!”, Lucana confirmed.

Hearing this, I jokingly bowed and said: “Well, I apologise for my poor manners, your Hightleness…”, as I said that, I took her top right leg and kissed it.

“Oh! Now you’re a gentlebug all of a sudden, huh?”, she smiled.

“Yes, your majesty! Wait… if Staggeron is the father of so many stag beetles…”, the look on my face changes as I realise: “And he’s, like, a thousand seasons old… does it mean that… some of your older sisters… are also… the mothers of… some of you??

Does it mean that Staggeron does it… with his own children?!!?”

“Well, I mean… when you put it like that it does sound weird… But yeah, pretty much…”, Lucana says, then quickly adds: “But, if you think that way, isn’t it a much weirder thing for Anthill or Hornest?? I mean – they all technically do that with their mother, right?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right… While we’re at the topic of ants…”, I looked left and right, then came closer to Lucana and asked: “Is it true? About Staggeron and Antlantia??”, it was a rumour I heard from a few of Staggeron’s guards on one of my many trips to Staggeron’s castle...

“So you do not know about the famous warriors, but you DO know about the affair my father had with that old ant lady?! You’re an interesting fella, Dan.”, Lucana laughed.

“SO IT IS TRUE!!”, I yell and raise four of my legs to overexaggerate my reaction.

This made her laugh even more: “AHAHAHA!! You’re silly!”

“Say… do you think I can defeat him? Motheas, I mean?”, I ask after she stops laughing.

“Hmmmm…”, she thinks for a few seconds before saying: “I don’t know… do you think so?”

“Please, your majesty, as you have noticed I am a dung beetle! I can lift a thousand – no – ten – no – a hundred thousand times my weight!!”, I sarcastically say and flex.

“Woah – careful with those muscles, big guy! If you flex too hard you’ll make the Castanean Tree fall down!!”, she teased me.

“Well, if it falls, I will just lift it up again!”

“Right.”, she nodded her head and we burst out laughing.

“Say, princess… if – no – when I manage to beat that butterfly Motheas… would you be willing to go get a drink with me, ya know, to celebrate!”, I decided to shoot my shot and ask her out.

“Hmmmm…”, she slowly rolled her eyes, then looked back at me, “I’ll think about it…”, she winked at me, turned around and left, but not before adding: “See ya later, Dan!”

I couldn’t help but smile, as I thought about where to take her after my fight…

But what I should’ve been thinking instead was ‘how do I win the fight’…

And so, the fights started…

My fight was third in order, so as soon as the first fight started, I started warming up.

After a few minutes of the loud cheering of the crowd I heard the announcer say: “AND WITH THAT POWERFUL BITE, HERCULIOS ADVANCES TO THE NEXT ROUND!!! THIS, LADIES AND GENTLEBUGS, MARKS THE END OF THE FIRST BATTLE IN THIS ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN!!”

I decided to go and watch the second fight, as I had warmed up enough.

I made my way to a spot from which I could see the fight clearly, but I would also be able to quickly get inside the arena when it is my turn.

“AND NOW – ON MY RIGHT SIDE YOU HAVE THE INCREDIBLE FIGHTER FROM AFAR KNOWN AS NIHIL, THE ASSASSIN!! A VERY YOUNG WASP, WHO SOMEHOW MANAGED TO FIND HIS WAY TO CASTANEA JUST A FEW DAYS AGO!!”, the announcer pointed at the wasp.

Nihil, an assassin wasp – a species that had never before been seen in Castanea – came from afar to Castanea, for the sole purpose of participating in the Showdown…

I later found out that, at the time, he was only a few weeks old, and that he had paid serious Trao to announcer so that he hypes him up as some kind of an incredible fighter, when in reality – the only thing that he had that other bugs did not have – was his deadly poison.

Nobody knows what his goal was at the time, as he was a brand new species that had entered Castanea – something that was a very rare occurrence.

He later became the wasp Queen’s personal assassin, and I heard that he now has ten sons with the current Queen, Hornetta…

I am telling you all of this because Nihil will later play a very important role in this story...

My guess was that his plan for the Showdown was to showcase his deadly poison in action so that somebody would hire him...

Too bad that his very first opponent was none other than

“AND ON MY LEFT WE ALSO HAVE A NEWCOMER!! A DIABOLICAL IRONCLAD BEETLE – DIIIIAAAAABBBLLOO!!”

Diablo and Nihil made their ways into the arena, and the fight began…

Nihil struck immediately – he flew high up in the sky, and then rushed down, attempting to sting Diablo.

But Diablo’s hard shell was too sturdy for Nihil’s stinger to pierce through!

Nihil did not expect such a thing to happen, and, as he was deflected, he fell to the ground.

Diablo was quick to react to this opportunity – he grabbed young Nihil and threw him to the other side of the arena.

Nihil hit his head on one of the arena’s walls and he lost consciousness.

“UHM… LOOKS LIKE THE INCREDIBLE NIHIL IS NOT SO INCREDIBLE AFTER ALL, HUH? AHEM… DIABLO, THE HEAVY IRONCLAD BEETLE, DEFEATS THE ASSASSIN WASP WITH EASE!!!”

This was my first of many times witnessing the impenetrable shell Diablo had.

Ironclad beetles… truly astonishing bugs…

Shortly after that, I made my way to the arena.

Before I entered it I saw her… I saw Lucana…

She was right there, in the first row in the crowd…

She noticed me and waved at me.

I needed to do this…

I had to win!

I had to impress her!!