Chapter 39

Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

Morana flowed onto the roof, her black mist spilling behind her like a cape. The bright sunlight made her wince as she gazed up at the sky. And spotted a diving threat. Ms. Trueno looked dazed, not paying attention to the threats in the air.

Morana rushed up as she prepared her scream. She didn’t breathe. Not like Ms. Trueno. And the banshee’s screams were different. They weren’t a physical rolling of the air. They were a cry of death. A spirit wail that ripped the soul from the body.

Morana wailed.

The descending hippogriff didn’t have feathers ripped from her body. She didn’t get spun in the air by the banshee’s cry. She just went limp, falling for a few heartbeats, then vanished before she ever hit the ground.

“Morana,” gasped Ms. Trueno. “You saved me.”

“I did,” the banshee said. “When one is returned from death, Ms. Trueno, you have a choice. To give into the rage and anger, to become a monster tearing into the living out of vengeance that they still draw breath. Or you can become a dark savior. An undead hero that strikes from the shadows. A savior of the living so they do not join you in the curse of undeath.”

“Morana, you never died,” the teacher said. “Leo just summoned you to this world. You were alive and well before I was brought here.”

“It’s a choice, Ms. Trueno,” Morana continued. “To be a dark lady who protects or who destroys.” She thrust her arm into the sky. “Only three left!”

Two thunderbirds and a phoenix flew through the sky.

“Only three!” Morana cried, her black mist flowing thicker down her back.

Crystal and her surviving yuki-onna made it onto one of the roofs. She scanned the skies and saw there were only three monster girls still airborne. A smile spread on her lips. They were winning.

We are kicking fucking ass!

“That one!” Crystal shouted, pointing to the nearest thunderbird.

She and her yuki-onna summoned their icy daggers and hurtled their missiles at the three fliers circling above the roof Ms. Trueno and Morana stood upon. Their attacks hit the nearest. The thunderbird. She didn’t have a chance. Didn’t even know that a new group had entered the fight.

The thunderbird vanished.

“Next one!” cried Crystal, forming her weapon.

The two remaining monster girls banked and soared at Crystal’s group. The phoenix’s red wings spread wide, the thunderbird beating her lightning wings. Crystal formed her dagger, her eyes staring at the enemy.

“I have the phoenix!” she cried. “Take down the thunderbird! On my order!”

A ball of fire burst from the phoenix and hurtled at Crystal. Just like she wanted. The fire would melt her icy attack. The phoenix flew forward so when Crystal shouted her order and threw her dagger, her blade flashed over the fireball.

Crystal dove to the right, her two yuki-onna throwing their attacks at the thunderbird. The ice sprite hit the ground and rolled. The flames burst where she had stood. The heat washed over her body, striking her and melting a patch.

She cursed against the pain then heard lightning crackling.

The phoenix and thunderbird both were hit with the attacks, Crystal’s attack missed the phoenix as the monster girl banked to the right and soared to safety. The thunderbird wasn’t so lucky. Two daggers struck her in her crackling belly. She fired off a blast of lightning moments before she died.

And struck Sukkub with it. The yuki-onna flew back in a burst of sparks. She screamed and hit the ground, her belly smoking. Her icy flesh melted then she vanished. Crystal spat her fury as she gained her feet.

“Fucking bitch!” Crystal snarled at the phoenix swooping over another roar.

Then Crystal smiled.

Mrs. Zoe Baldwin gained the roof with her two basilisks.

“Okay, let’s see if we can’t get the fliers,” the motherly dryad cried.

“Behind you!” shouted Piaro.

Mrs. Baldwin turned around and gasped to see a phoenix streaking at their roof, fleeing from the one her daughter Crystal stood upon. Fire burst from the phoenix, hurtling right for the dryad. She dove to the side, big breasts heaving.

She hit the ground and rolled. The flames burst where she had stood, the heat washing over her woody body. She didn’t catch alight. The two basilisks, Piaro and Mastab, both breathed their petrifying breath into the air.

The phoenix flew right into the gas. Her body hardened. She burst out of it, red wings turning into stone. She screamed then hit the roof in a burst of fragments. She tumbled across it then vanished into motes.

Mrs. Baldwin stood up and looked around, joy bursting through her.

“Leo, honey, the skies are clear of the enemy monster girls,” Mom reported in my thoughts. “How goes the halfling evacuation?”

Relief burned through me that we had cleared out the fliers. A lot of my surviving monster girls had died. There were so few left. I glanced at the queue of halflings stepping onto the magic circle, Kassie moving around them.

“Asud Gu!”

White light engulfed the next group. They vanished.