One moment, Clotho seemed poised to skewer the tentacle-faced monstrosity on her rapier-point.  The next, Xahillion's pressure assailed her mind, attempting to overpower her will.  Furious that a being would think her nothing more than a minion waiting to be subjugated, Clotho fought back, harnessing her own mental fortitude to repel the incursion.  That, however, left her open to her opponent's second line of offense.

When the tumultuous cascade of force slammed into her, Clotho was both distracted enough and slow enough that it swept her up like a leaf in a cyclone.  Her body was sent flying back, shrieking, as Xahillion's voice echoed within her head.  Unable to concentrate on overpowering his double attack on either the physical or the mental front simultaneously, she was snared by the otherworldly being's tentacles of force, and the humming, reverberating constructs of kinetic energy entwined around her limbs, constricting tighter and tighter.  Her carapace began to hive, cracking, splintering, and finally shattering in places beneath the terrible squeeze.  With one final, sickening [i]crack[/i], Clotho's form went limp.

The tentacles receded, and Clotho fell unceremoniously to the cave floor.  Her shell was devastated, most of it lying in shards around her exposed, burgundy skin on the cold, unforgiving stone, and for a moment it looked like Xahillion had taken down the swarm queen in a single hit.  To his credit, it did take her a moment before she began to stir, released reserves of adrenaline starting to flow through her.  A little laugh resounded through the tunnel as Clotho stood to her feet and contracted her muscles, allowing the remains of her broken armor to fall to the floor.  Beneath her carapace, Clotho looked surprisingly human, skin tone and consistency aside.  Her eyes, however, were not human in the least, and her wings began to flutter.  [color=9F8170]”I can respect anyone strong enough to destroy my shell.  But respect will not save you.  You have orchestrated your own destruction, for my armor weighed me down.  You face me now at my full strength....”[/color]  Clotho began to vibrate.  Around her, doubles began to appear.  They were not conjurations, but something far more dire: she was moving between different points in space at such speed that she appeared to be in several places at once.  [color=9F8170]”With my armor off.”[/color]

Doubles filled the tunnel.  It was difficult to say where each one even was; one would appear at one position and be gone in less than a second.  The air was humming, vibrating and hot as the swarm queen displaced it faster than it could part.  This continued for several seconds, and it became plain that this wasn't all some elaborate attack.  Clotho was just showing off how futile the situation really was.  Finally, with infinitesimally little warning, twelve Clothos appeared around Xahillion and lashed out with punches or kicks from every direction simultaneously.