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Chapter Fifty
Talasa breathed water at one of the seraphim flying around the ceiling. The flaming angel screamed as the water snuffed out her flames. She hit the ground hard, drowning in the water. Steam hissed before she died.
Talasa spun around, searching for any enemies.
A gray-brown blur slammed into the back of the Death Dragon. Gemekubnamus hissed as she landed on her belly and tits, a griffin standing on her back, talons digging into black scales. Talasa blasted water into the Wind monster girl, throwing her back.
Gemekubnamus pushed herself up and breathed black flames that engulfed the griffin.
Nice! thought Talasa.
A stone javelin, thrown by Dijamanta, blurred past Talasa's face and killed a kappa. Talasa turned and found an ogress rushing at her. So she breathed out her blast of water. The nixie's stream sent the ogress reeling, off-balance.
Pogisa's two-handed shadow sword cut the disoriented ogress's head off.
“Woot!” shouted Talasa. “Pogisa, that was— Wait, wait, behind you!”
Pogisa started to turn, but it was too late. The giant's metal club slammed down and crushed the fomorian's head. Glittering lights danced around the club as it drove all the way to the stony floor. Rocks burst from the impact.
“No!” shouted Talasa. “You bitch!”
Mirisi's stringer struck the giant in the neck.
The grin on the giant's lips vanished. She clawed at her throat as froth bubbled out of her mouth. She staggered and collapsed with a booming thud. Talasa grinned viciously, glad that the manticore had avenged Pogisa.
A jotunn burst into sparks, a stone javelin falling through the motes. Dijamanta bent down to fashion another weapon from the stone floor. The troglodyte's hand opened wide. A griffin dived down at her.
Black flames engulfed the griffin. Gemekubnamus wore a vicious smile for killing another of the speedy monster girls.
Kappas fired water at Dijamanta and Mirisi while two seraphim fired blasts of flames at the dragon. The fire struck the dragon, but she was a strong monster girl. With fire rippling around her tits, she breathed death and killed the two seraphim.
Talasa had another ogress surging at her. She fired blasts of water, deflecting the club, screaming for her head. Heart pounding, the gray-skinned nixie jumped back. She breathed again, hitting the ogress in the right shoulder, twisting her around.
Things were chaotic as Talasa's next blast took the ogress in the mouth. That threw her back, and she hit the ground hard. The nixie leaped forward, landing on the stone breastplate of the ogress. She breathed water, slamming into the ogress's open mouth.
Take that, bitch!
The ogress spasmed and burst into motes.
Talasa fell a foot to the ground, glitter swirling around her. She spun around and gasped to see a jotunn's ice hammer crush Dijamanta. The troglodyte vanished into rainbow hues spinning around the frozen weapon.
Before the jotunn could recover, Mirisi's stinger found her neck.
Jaje's roots held a kappa and a jotunn immobilized. The dryad grinned as the Death dragon breathed her rotting flames. The kappa and the jotunn screamed as they both withered and became glitter.
We're winning, thought Talasa, even with Dijamanta's death. We can do this!”
“Incoming Enemy Group C!” Munjan shouted, making Talasa jump.
“Gemekubnamus, get on the doorway!” shouted Talasa, the selkie's heart racing. “We have more coming in!”
Talasa darted across the room to breathe her water on them. Her gray breasts bounced and heaved. As she did, Gemekubnamus jumped and spread her leathery wings wide. The black-scaled dragoness soared toward the entrance. Hoofs drummed on stone.
Hoofs? Talasa's mind struggled to process why that was bad.
Gemekubnamus breathed.
Black death engulfed the entrance. Any living monster girl would be slain in the instant they charged into the cloud, but it was dullahans that burst through the door. Death monster girls who threw their heads. Talasa slid to a halt in horror.
One of the heads, streaming red hair, hurtled at her.
She breathed water, but it was too late. She hit it, but knocked it to the ground. It struck a few feet from her feet. The dullahan's head detonated. The deathly explosion engulfed Talasa. She screamed in pain before the void engulfed her.
\ / *
“We have lost,” Gemekubnamus sent to Munjan.
The Death dragon dove to dodge a blast of lightning from a flight of cherubim. They soared into the room, the air still ringing with the dullahan's explosions. Mirisi crawled on the ground, one of her wings blown off by the explosion.
A lightning blast took the manticore in the back. She became motes.
Anger surged through the Death dragon. She pushed herself up and breathed at the incoming monster girls. Two houri flew right into the deathly cloud and became glitter. The dragoness hissed in delight.
Out of her deathly breath, two shadowy lashes swept out. They wrapped around the dragon's legs and yanked. She gasped, falling onto her back. They hauled her into the hallway. She drew in her breath to breathe.
A metallic club from a giant smashed into Gemekubnamus's head.
\ / *
Munjan felt his Death dragon die.
She was not nearly as powerful as she was in her full form, but she was too big to move in his dungeon. Of course, if he unleashed her, he would lose his Level 3 monster girls and his Expert magic. He didn't have the mana veins to burn like Leo did.
Munjan's heart pounded. All his companions were dead.
“Melin,” Munjan said, his heart pounding, “we need Lucas's monster girls. Now.”
The mage swallowed and nodded.
“But just his companions,” Munjan added. “He's not being attacked, but let's not leave him fully defenseless.”
Melin nodded and stepped onto the magic circle. It led to Lucas's dungeon. The man was well protected since Fort Death, the fortress Munjan had erected around the entrance to Lucas's dungeon, protected him. The enemy didn't even seem to know he existed. Probably because he was so far from Leo's power base. Lucas had appeared far to the northeast on the outskirts of the halfling city of Ahavoire, where the Blessed Blade of Death once resided.
“Asud Gu!”
Melin vanished in light and a whirl of wind.
“Lucas, I need your companions,” Munjan sent. “If I die, they'll find you eventually. And if Leo dies, we're all dead.”
\ / *
Lucas swallowed. Fear gripped him since the attacks had started, and they had not relented. So far, no one had come for him. He had his companions. He didn't want to unleash them, but... If the others died, what chance did he have?
Still...
Lucas glanced at his wife, Bella.
She nodded.
“They're coming,” he said.
Melin appeared out of the light on the magic circle. Leo had provided that. Sent his halfling mage Kassie to carve it. The mage, in his black robes, motioned for his monster girls. They all stared at Lucas, though.
“Go!” Lucas shouted, his heart racing.
Bella Lucina, Maya, Alizee, Morana, Nina Naughty, Kitty Delight, Hagane, Garnet, Crystal, and Sweet Sasha all darted for the magic circle. They shuffled to stand on it before Melin said the magic word, and they were whisked away.
“Do you want me to come?” asked Lucas, aware of how alone he was in his throne room.
“No!” Munjan's response was firm. “I want you to go to your Vault so you can revive your companions as soon as she dies. Then send her to my dungeon. You're the only one who can revive your monster girls.”
“I will,” Lucas said, his heart hammering.
He was the only one who could do that? It seemed awful, but he rose and hurried from his throne room to his Vault. He reached it and grabbed the Void Crystal. He shifted the teleport circle into the room. Here, the monster girls would be appearing.
He didn't want any of them to die. It felt wrong to use them this way, but...
This was a fight for life and death.
Chapter Fifty-One
Skrige stood beside Lei, her fellow cyclops.
Skrige was glad to serve Siwang. He had claimed her from Torden Stormlord, a man who didn't have vision. Not like Leo, whose vision had engulfed Siwang and Munjan. And even Skrige herself. She believed in their mission.
She would fight for it.
She gripped her silver hammer, clad in her silver armor, and waited for the next wave of enemies. Caihong sang, her sweet voice flowing through the room. It inspired Skrige. There was no room for fear amid the beauty of her aria.
“Here they come again!” Siwang shouted. “Lightning arcs and sizzles, let the fury of Lord Enlil spread!”
Arcing Lightning shot past Skrige and struck the lead monster girl, a fiery shesha slithering on her red-scaled tail. As she burst into motes, it arced into a redcap and last into a succubus. The enemy monster girls charged through the glittering remnants of their allies.
Skrige slammed her hammer into a devil with a thunderclap. The devil screamed, her flaming pitchfork snuffing out. She vanished before the blow drove her to the ground. Out of the glitter, a razor whip slashed.
It struck across Skrige's armor, scratching the burnished surface. The erinyes who wielded it hissed and yanked her whip back, her wings flapping. Then she screamed as Lei's thunderous hammer slammed down, crushing the Metal monster girl.
Skrige smiled.
From the floor before her, a bluish woman appeared. A shade, translucent and deadly.
“Fuck!” gasped Skrige as she jumped back.
The ethereal hand reached through Skrige's armor and touched her breast. A chill swept through the cyclops. Death gripped her. She tried to scream, but the sound died in her voice as she collapsed into the darkness of the Void.
\ / *
Shandian flapped her golden wings, her lightning hair crackling behind her. Skrige vanished into motes. Anger swept through the schoolgirl. She thrust her hands into the air as she summoned her electricity.
She smote the shade.
The blast of lightning struck the deathly monster girl. Before she could retreat into the floor, the energy swept through the monster girl. She burst into motes, slain by the blast. Shandian smiled. She had been chosen from the women in Siwang's life. The movie stars. The hot teachers. She was one of the prettiest girls in his class.
He picked her, and she would repay him with her passion.
From the shadows to Shandian's right, a baku emerged. The goat-like Darkness monster girl flew hoofs-first at the deva. She flapped her wings and jumped back. It flew past her as lightning crackled across her body.
She struck the baku before the monster girl could flee back into the shadows. The baku spun and crashed, spasming on the ground. A second blast of lightning finished off the monster girl. Shandian smiled, her gaze scanning for new threats.
“Metal missiles fly, let the spikes of Lord Nabu pierce!” shouted Siwang nearby.
The metal spikes soared through the air and ripped through a hysminai, a four-armed monster girl with a braid of black hair. She screamed defiance. Neither the curved blades she raised to block the attack nor her steel armor protected her from the spell. The spikes tore her body apart, leaving her as bloody ruins that became sparkles.
She vanished into the Void.
A fairy flourished her wand, firing a beam of light at Siwang. It burst across his static aura. Anger swelled in Shandian. Her lightning crackled across her body before discharging. The gossamer wings of the fairy fluttered, but the electricity found her.
Blasted her out of the sky.
Shandian only had a momentary flash of ruby before she was dead. As she fell into the void, she understood. A carbuncle had claimed her life. She melted into the Void, her anger at being killed fading into the peace of a deathly sleep.
\ / *
Girinamusak had surrounded to one man in her life.
Siwang.
The ancient Lightning dragon had ripped free of the controls the Lord Enlil had placed on her. After her oath had kept her from saving the people of Mizan from the attack by Xaah the Blacktide, she had hated the gods. She could have saved the city from the dungeon builder's rampage, but he never threatened the sword.
Never knew it existed.
He had depopulated Mizan while she huddled in the antechamber with the sword. When she emerged, no one lived. Every building had been torn down. Her city transformed into her ruins and her charges dead, her rage had swept through her.
She had hunted down every trace of evil in her domain. She turned the once prosperous fields of Mizan into the Dragonhaunt, blasted by her lightning. So when whispers through the ether revealed that a builder was collecting swords and liberating their prisoners, she had leaped at the chance to aid him.
She had gone to Siwang and surrendered herself to him.
She submitted to him, and he used her to save the world.
So she fought.
Lightning exploded from Girinamusak's mouth, slamming into three monster girls: a gorgon, a sylph, and a lightning sprite. The latter was immune to the damage. Laughing, the sprite darted away. Anger boiled through Girinamusak's veins.
Xiongbu burst from the floor and ripped into the lightning sprite's golden body. She died screaming, bursting into motes. Girinamusak hissed in delight and searched for another threat to face her wrath.
“The sharpness of ice cuts, let the razors of Lord Anshar slash!”
Siwang's ice flashed across the battlefield, drawing Girinamusak to the ancient Fire dragon rushing at her. Flames exploded from the bitch's mouth and engulfed the lightning dragon. Her wings burned as she unleashed her lightning.
Her electricity shot into the roiling flames. The Fire dragon screamed. The flames cut off. Girinamusak staggered, her right wing melted. Her breasts scorched. Pain wreathed her body. Before her, the bitch spasmed on the ground from the lightning.
Ignoring the pain with the help from Caihong's beautiful aria, Girinamusak lunged forward and gripped the fire dragon by her black hair. With a slash of her claws, she tore out the bitch's throat. Izisigkugsagar laughed as she fell to the ground, blood spilling out of her mouth.
“Long time,” Girinamusak hissed at her foe. Yes, yes, Izisigkugsagar was the Fire dragon's name. They had been young together before the gods came and enslaved them.
Izisigkugsagar remained a slave.
She vanished into motes.
Girinamusak staggered. She needed healing. She had to get to Siwang before the enemy noticed her. A hooting, “hyoo, hyoo,” filled Girinamusak's ears. The terrible sound slammed into her mind, driving her to her knees.
“Hyoo, hyoo, hyoo,” hooted the nue, the bird-like Thunder monster girl, landing beside the dragon. “Hyoo, hyoo, hyoo!”
The maddening hooting of the monster girl dropped the wounded dragon to her side. She spasmed, the awful noise boring through her ears into her mind. It tore through her thoughts. Pain exploded in her skull.
“Hyoo, hyoo, hyoo!”
The nue smiled as she hooted, taking delight in killing Girinamusak.
The dragon's mind was torn to shreds. Death claimed her.
\ / *
Hynderi's hoofs clopped on the floor as she charged at the Life dragon. The pooka, a Lightning monster girl with a horse's tail streaming behind her, fired blasts of electricity from her mouth. The bolts struck the Life dragon.
The first one spun her around. The green-scaled dragoness fought for balance, her white-banded breasts heaving. The second one took her between the tits. She staggered and drew in a breath to unleash her anger at Hynderi.
The pooka's third blast of lightning struck the Life dragon in the open mouth.
The dragoness's head snapped back. She stumbled and dropped to the floor in a burst of glitter that rolled over the ground. Hynderi smiled. She was glad that Siwang had liberated her from Bilksem. She loved being in this harem.
Her lightning would strike down more of the enemy. She galloped on her hoofed feet, her bronze body reflecting the chaos, her big boobs heaving before her. A mane of white hair and her tail streamed behind her. Caihong's beautiful song sang through the air.
Only to be interrupted by an awful sound.
“Hyoo, hyoo, hyoo!”
The hideous hooting drew her attention to a black-skinned monster girl with a snake's tail swishing behind her. Black-feathered wings rose from her back. At her taloned feet, Girinamusak burst into motes, the Lightning dragon dead.
“Bitch!” snarled Hynderi.
Lightning burst the pooka's mouth and struck the nue.
“Hyo—”
The awful hooting cut off as the monster girl spun through the air and became motes. Hynderi nodded and turned on her hoofs, searching for new targets to find. A pair of ice sprites threw their daggers at Siwang.
“Night devours, let the corrosive shadows of Lord Zuen burn!” he chanted before Hynderi could react.
The two ice sprites vanished in a cloud of shadows. They screamed and burst out of it, the darkness devouring their pale bodies. They collapsed and turned into motes. The pooka nodded and spotted a fairy flying through the air.
She picked off the gossamer monster girl and searched for another target. She spotted a gray-scaled carbuncle. The ruby in her forehead flashed. Hynderi opened her mouth to breathe lightning, but it was too late.
The red beam struck Hynderi between the tits and burned out her heart.
\ / *
Caihong sang.
That was all she felt she could do. The sarimanok felt useless. She put her all into her song, her rainbow wings spread wide. Her matching tail feathers spread wide like a peacock. She was a colorful target lurking near Siwang.
“Lightning arcs and sizzles, let the fury of Lord Enlil spread!” her lover shouted. She had a strange crush on Siwang when he was a dying boy, and now he had picked her. She was his.
She wanted to be more useful.
His magic was useful. He killed a rakshasa, an angel, and an adlet.
They all died as she kept singing. She put her all into it. Inspiring her companions to fight harder. Movement flashed out of the corner of her eyes. The light dragon swooped down and landed near Siwang. She drew in her breath.
Light exploded from her.
Caihong's wings flapped.
She soared into the radiance. It engulfed her as she used her body to shield her lover. She screamed as the brilliance burned out her eyes. Her wings melted in the purity. She became one with the light and vanished into motes.
\ / *
Caihong's motes spilled out of the light before Siwang. Some of the brilliance struck his armor, melting parts of the pauldrons. The dungeon builder glared at the Light dragon. She white-scaled enemy drew in another breast, her yellow-banded tits jiggling.
“The breath of death kills, let the exhale of Lord Nergal slay!” chanted Siwang faster.
A dark, sickly cloud washed over the Life dragon and struck the simurgh lurking behind her. The dragon breathed in the death and stumbled. Her white scales blighted gray. She was weak in her human form.
She dropped to her knees, lasting longer than the simurgh. That monster girl vanished in a burst of motes before the Life dragon slumped onto her side and vanished into the Void. She would be back. They all would be back.
Ruby glittered.
The enemy carbuncle's garnet flared to fire, but Siwang's wraith was there. Xiongbu ripped into the gray-scaled monster girl's chest, tearing her apart. Sparkles danced around Xiongbu's pale body. She stepped through it, black mist spilling around her.
That was it.
The battle was over.
Siwang surveyed his survivors. He had lost another five monster girls, including one of his dragons. He already lost three in the first wave; now, after the second wave, he was down to nineteen monster girls.
He would lose more the third time. The fourth would be desperate.
Would he survive for a fifth?
Leo, we need you, prayed Siwang before he began re-casting his defensive spells. Already, the enemy was in his dungeon. They would keep coming and coming and coming. Please!
Chapter Fifty-Two
The rain drenching Morana did little to dampen the smell of death and rot prevailing in the air.
The dead rushed out of the darkness into Mrs. Lucina's light, their rotting feet splashing in the puddles. Morana wanted to gag, but she kept her composure. She was a goth beauty. She would not vomit. She would be cold.
She would be death herself.
An undead princess liberating the shackled corpses from the necromancer's perverse will.
Morana darted forward at the rushing zombies and reached out with her delicate fingers. She stroked their flesh. When she did, she felt the dark power animating them. She shattered the shackles of undeath and liberated the corpses.
Their souls rose from their prisons, brimming with thanks.
Bodies fell heavy around her. Light flashed as Mrs. Lucina's radiance burned others. They melted like shadows beneath the brilliance. Morana's hands swept out before her, touching every corpse she could, but there were so many of them.
A tide of corpses engulfed her. She was surrounded.
She spun, her arms outstretched to touch as many as she could. To liberate their tortured souls. They fell around her, piling up. An arm tripped her. She gasped as she fell forward. The horde surged and leaped at her.
She screamed as the weight of death pressed down on her.
\ / *
“No!” Mrs. Bella Lucina gasped as Morana vanished beneath the pile.
Light exploded from the motherly woman. Her radiance slammed into the horde. They melted like shadows facing the rising sun. Mrs. Lucina shone with her passion. She had to save Morana. She charged into their midst.
There were so many of them. She melted them, and more were there to absorb the light. They closed in on her like a dark tide. She focused her light before her, melting through the horde that lay on Morana.
The girl scrambled out from beneath the dead bodies. She stumbled toward Mrs. Lucina, her wet clothes torn. Scratches oozed blood on Morana's arms and cheek. She rushed out of the horde for the protection of Mrs. Lucina's brilliance.
“We have to fall back!” shouted Mrs. Lucina, holding out her hand.
Morana took it.
Mrs. Lucina turned to run, but zombies surged around her. Their death was stronger as if the weakest of the zombies had perished. Now the ones who remained were those whom Todlicht had invested more of his power into.
She blasted them with light to clear a path. An opening appeared.
Pain ripped at her throat. She gasped and clutched at the pain. Blood welled around her fingers, warm and so red. She stumbled, her throat slashed open from a zombie's ragged nails. Coppery life choked her mouth. She coughed, spitting it out. The strength left her legs.
She stumbled into Morana, clutching to her.
“No!” Morana shouted.
\ / *
Alizee gasped as she stood beside Lana Fulmine on the porch.
“No, no, no!” the cheerleader gasped as she jumped off the porch into the rain.
Morana struggled to carry Mrs. Lucina. The zombie horde pressed in on them. The cheerleader rushed over them and swept her arms out before her. Wind slammed down on the zombies, blasting them back.
They pushed through her wind, rushing for the girls. Alizee's heart pounded in fear. Thunder crackled in the air. It hummed through the sky. Alizee swept her arms, driving back the horde from poor Morana.
Blood spilled from Mrs. Lucina's throat. Her light flickered, fading fast.
“No, no, no,” whimpered Alizee.
The hairs on her arms rose.
\ / *
Crystal threw the first of her ice daggers. She had never thrown a dagger in this life.
This world.
She had skill, though. Her blade took the zombie in the eye as it scrambled over the backyard fence. The dagger flash froze the zombie's head. The skull burst from the expanding volume. It dropped out of sight.
More scrambled over.
Crystal threw her daggers, killing one then two then three, but already, the first of them were dropping over on this side. The fence itself shuddered beneath the weight. It was made of wood. Old. Rotting in places.
Terra rushed forward and swung her hammer. She brained a zombie. She spun her stone maul and struck another in the temple, ripping its head from its shoulders. Crystal fashioned another dagger out of the falling rain, throwing it at a zombie lumbering at her.
The fence groaned. Wood splintered.
The fence collapsed.
“Shit,” Crystal groaned as the horde surged forward at Terra.
\ / *
Terra scrambled back from the zombies trampling over the crushed fence, and a few of their allies were caught in the collapse. She raised her hammer, daggers of ice whipping past her head and striking the enemy.
They froze and burst, the air filled with their foul stench.
They trampled the wet lawn into mud as they moved forward. Terra reached Crystal and bent down. She gripped the ground and ripped the bedrock up to the surface. It burst out of the earth around her. She flung the rocks at the horde, ripping through them.
She crushed their bodies, bowling over three or four at a time. The rocks stuck the neighbor's house. It shook as the zombie horde poured around it. More kept coming. Terra ripped up more stones as the bodies grew.
“God, they're standing on the dead zombie bodies,” Crystal muttered.
Terra nodded. The enemy horde scrambled over the growing barricade of their own dead, uncaring. They kept coming, and the two girls kept killing them. Crystal fashioned more blades of ice from the rain while Terra hauled up the bedrock. She ripped up the bones of the earth and flung them like catapult shots.
Lightning flashed behind them. Lana Fulmine? Thunder boomed. Through the darkness, illuminated by those strobing bolts, Terra spotted something lumbering toward them. Something larger than the zombies.
“Uh, did you see that?” Terra asked, her heart screaming in her chest.
“Yep,” Crystal said. “Shit.”
\ / *
Garnet bounced with excited energy as she stood in Maya's bedroom, peering out at the backyard. It was dark, which she liked. Shadows played on her fingers as she frowned. Wind gusted through the open window, splattering her body with rain. A chill ran through here.
“They're here!” she cried and flung her shadows out at the horde of zombies stumbling into the backyard.
The shadows spread out like a blanket and fell on the zombies. They stumbled and crashed into each other. They did need to see, and maybe could see through normal darkness, but not the black Garnet threw on them.
“Kweh, heh, heh!” she chortled. “That's right!”
“That's great, but it's time for us to go,” said Maya, grabbing her hand.
“Oh, right,” Garnet said and pulled out her phone. She sent out the warning text.
The pair rushed out of the bedroom. Water shot from the bathroom and rushed at Maya. It gathered around her hand and trailed after her like a tail. Or like that weird water probe from the Abyss movie. A snake of undulating liquid.
They ran down the stairs toward the open front door. Light spluttered out there. Lightning cracked down. Thunder boomed. The stench of death filled Garnet's nose as they darted out into the rain. She gagged at it.
She pinched her nose, looking for threats.
Behind them, wood shattered. Glass broke.
\ / *
Maya spun around. The zombies were in the home of her hosts. She hissed at that, the water leading down the stairs to her hand. She had a lot of it. They stumbled through the house, knocking over the dining room table. It vanished into splinters.
Maya had no idea if her hosts lived or if they were out there in the shambling horde. She channeled her rage and fear.
Water shot from her. It crashed like a firehouse into the zombies. The force tore off limbs. The bodies fell back into each other. She used the water upstairs, unleashing it on them. She could already feel the source dwindling.
She could not keep this up for long.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Garnet stepped up beside Maya, who was using her water like a firehouse.
“I am Lady Big Perv Garnet, Mistress of Horniness, Queen of Depravity, and Empress of Kinkiness!” she shouted and threw more of her darkness into the horde, blinding them. “Kweh, heh, heh!”
The water bowled them over, ripping off arms or even the occasional head. She swept back and forth, wrecking the furniture. More poured in from outside. Garnet giggled and flung more of her shadows. The zombies stumbled into each other.
Attacked each other.
“We have to go!” Maya shouted. “I'm running out of water!”
“We got this!” Garnet shouted and threw more darkness.
The flow of water was ebbing. It wasn't as strong. More of the zombies were stumbling over the wet floor. Puddles soaked into the carpet. Garnet's steps squished beneath her. The zombies reached the couches, tearing over them.
She blinded them.
One fell over the back and landed on the floor, kicking. Others stepped on it, squishing the body. The stench was awful, but she was enjoying herself. She used to fight like this in the other world, wielding the power of Darkness for her Owner.
Yes, yes, he is my Owner even in this world. Leo owns me!
“Garnet!” Maya cried, the stream of water hardly driving them back. “Let's go!”
“I guess,” Garnet said and hit another pair of zombies with darkness. She coated their eyes in black goggles like they were debuffed in a video game. They hit each other, trying to murder the other. “Kweh, heh, heh!”
Something wet grabbed her arm.
She gasped as she was yanked to the side and came face-to-face with a zombie. It opened its mouth wide and bit her on the arm. She screamed at the pain that tore through her flesh. He ripped skin and muscle from her upper arm at her shoulder joint. Tears sprang into her arms.
Water slammed into the zombie and knocked it off.
“He bit me!” she gasped, tears spilling down her cheeks. “He... he...”
Fear crashed down on her. This wasn't the other world. There was no Void Crystal waiting to revive her. She had one life in this world. Her Owner could not save her if a zombie tore out her throat.
They reached for her with rotten fingers. Their skin drew back to expose more of their nail beds, their fingernails sharp. She had to run, but she couldn't move. She would die. That thought screamed through Garnet's mind.
ImgonnadieImgonnadieImgonnadieImgonnadieIm—
Another hand grabbed Garnet.
\ / *
Maya seized the stunned Garnet and yanked her away from the horde. The girl had gone pale and silent. Her pigtails swung behind her, blood spilling down the awful wound in her arm. Garnet had gone into shock.
Maya had to save her.
“Let's go!” she screamed, dragging Garnet behind her.
The girl's lips moved but made no sound as Maya hauled her out of the house and into the rain. They stumbled out into the downpour. The zombies chased after them, crashing through the house and fighting to get out the front door. A glass shattered to her left. Zombies flopped out of the bay window and fell belly-first onto the lawn.
I grimaced as I yanked Garnet out into the cul-de-sac. Water flowed around my feet, running toward the drains. Soon, this circle would be flooding. A lake would be forming that always annoyed me after a heavy rain, but...
I had water all around me.
I laughed in delight as the rain swirled around me. I pulled it in toward me. A vortex of water swirled about me. I shoved Garnet down the street to get help. She headed for the house. Mrs. Baldwin would heal her.
Maya had zombies to fight.
Water exploded from her. Battering fists slammed into the zombies and threw them back. She didn't have to waste the water like a firehouse. She just had to use the weight of it—the mass—as a battering ram.
She would pulverize all those disgusting things.
\ / *
Mrs. Zoe Baldwin's heart raced. She stood in the living room. Things sounded awful outside. Thunder crackled. The groans of the dead seemed to be coming from every direction. She wanted to get into the fight, but she was part of the reinforcements.
Held back in reserves.
“Morana is screaming for healing!” Lana Fulmine shouted. “Mrs. Lucina is hurt!”
Bella! Fear snapped through Mrs. Baldwin for her friend.
She charged out of the house onto the porch. Lightning crashed down from the sky in the distance, illuminating the storm clouds raging above. On the street, Morana staggered with the weight of Mrs. Lucina. The older woman looked badly hurt. Wind slammed around the pair, Alizee flying above them.
Mrs. Baldwin charged out into the rain and raced across her sopping lawn. She almost slipped on the wet grass. She hit the sidewalk and raced into the wet asphalt. She ignored the cold rain soaking her clothes and plastering her hair to her face.
She had to help them.
“Mrs. Baldwin,” Morana said, hope kindling in her eyes.
The light flickered from Mrs. Lucina. It was almost out.
Mrs. Baldwin touched her friend's face and unleashed Life.
The healing energy flowed into the wounded MILF. She shuddered and gurgled. Blood spilled from her mouth and ran down her chin. The damage she sustained retreated. The wounds mended beneath the healing onslaught.
Mrs. Baldwin sighed in relief. She breathed heavily, the rain crashing down on them. The wounds to Bella's throat healed. The ragged flesh closed. Mrs. Lucina groaned and straightened. The light glowing from her flared brighter.
“That's right,” purred Mrs. Baldwin. “Your healing.”
“Thank you,” Morana said. “I have to go!”
She broke away from Bella, who was able to stand on her own now. The goth girl rushed at the zombie horde, being driven back by the wind. She touched them, killing them. Mrs. Baldwin smiled as she kept the Life flowing into Bella.
“Thanks,” Bella groaned.
Mrs. Baldwin smiled.
“Help!” a quiet voice whimpered.
Mrs. Baldwin turned her head to find Garnet stumbling toward her. The girl was bleeding from the arm and shaking. The girl flung herself at Mrs. Baldwin and hugged her. Pity swelled up in her. The poor thing was hurt.
So Mrs. Baldwin flooded the cute girl with Life.
The wound knitted in her shoulder. Mrs. Lucina straightened and shook her head. The rain washed the blood away on her throat. She flared with light, ready to fight again. Mrs. Baldwin nodded and focused all her healing on Garnet.
Down the street, water whirled, battering at any of the zombies that stepped foot onto the cul-de-sac. There were so many of them. Todlicht had murdered thousands of people. Mrs. Baldwin shivered at the scale of it all. She wanted to sob, but she had to be strong.
Lightning flashed in the sky above.
\ / *
Helplessness squeezed Lana Fulmine's heart.
She stood on the porch, watching Mrs. Baldwin heal Garnet. The zombie horde was massive. They were coming in from both ends of the street. No, not just the ends. Between the houses across the street, they pressed. They flowed from all directions.
How could they face this without Leo?
She didn't know the answer to that question. That was the problem. She stared at the storm of zombies and rain engulfing the street. Lightning flashed down in the distance. Thunder rumbled. She stared at that afterimage.
Lightning...
Idiot, idiot, idiot!
She stepped out in the rain. She wasn't helpless. That was the point of awakening her so she could have power. So she could be a conduit for the storm. For the charge sizzling in the air. She could feel it as she stepped out into the storm.
It soaked her. She threw her arms toward the sky, her fingers spread wide. She became a living lightning rod. A tingle rushed up through her to her fingertips. Streamers of plasma rose from then, reaching skyward toward the same plasma wisps coming down and...
They made contact.
Lightning flashed down into her. Thunder boomed around her as she absorbed the electricity. It did not harm her. Did not fry her body. She was gifted the ability to manipulate electricity. She laughed as she unleashed the power of the storm.
She shot it at the zombies.
She roasted them.
They burst from the inside. She laughed in delight as they died. It was a wonderful thing as she blasted back with her right and left arms, hitting both hordes. She would keep back the foes and protect Leo until he awoke.
Until the other Leo saved the Incarnation. Somehow, these fights were connected. She felt it in her bones as she channeled the lightning. She laughed, her nipples tingling with the current. She needed more power, so she thrust her arms skyward.
She connected with the storm.
Lightning flashed down and engulfed her.
\ / *
Ms. Trueno glanced at the windows. They rattled with another thunderous boom. The sounds echoed through the air. The noise of the zombies reached her ears. They were coming from all directions. She wanted to help.
She waited, though.
Hagane focused on the backyard. She had her head cocked. The girl stood there, so still she almost didn't seem alive. Ms. Trueno's heart raced. Her body shook from the adrenaline surging through her, and this girl was just... fine.
How can she be so calm?
“We are needed, Ms. Trueno,” Hagane said without looking back.
“Right!” the teacher exclaimed as Hagane suddenly darted toward the door.
The girl vanished in the dark. Ms. Trueno, ignoring the terror in her heart, followed her student. Rain slapped the teacher in the face. Through the darkness, she spotted them. Zombies that poured over the bodies of their dead, Crystal and Terra barely holding them back.
Ms. Trueno drew in a deep breath and screamed out her fear.
It came out as a sound wave that focused on the zombies. Their heads exploded. They detonated one after the other, bodies crashing down only to be trampled upon by the next wave of undead monsters looming into view.
It was a horde that would overwhelm them all. Her heart pounded in her chest as she stared at them. So many of them were coming. She drew in another breath, Hagane swinging her swords and Terra hurtling her rocks.
Ms. Trueno screamed.
Crystal's icy blades formed out of the air and struck down the horde. Hagane sliced with her blade, cutting off heads. She moved so swiftly, her black hair flowing behind her. Ms. Trueno was almost transfixed by her skill.
“Something bigger is coming!” Terra shouted.
Out of the darkness, a hulk appeared. It swung hard, striking a shed in the neighbor's yard and hurtling it over the horde at them.
\ / *
Hagane flowed from one attack to another.
Her body seemed to know how to move. It wasn't a skill she had trained, but perhaps it was knowledge from the other her. The animated statue. Hagane did not care. She killed zombies. A carpet of them formed before her. A barrier. Rocks hurtled past. Thunderous screams burst their heads.
Terra shouted her warning.
An object hurtled at Hagane. She jumped to the side. It struck her hip a glancing blow before bursting on the ground. She rolled on the ground and looked up to see the hulk lumbering before her. It was massive and made up of multiple bodies fused together. Faces stretched into painful screams merged into each other. Limbs fused to make thick legs and arms. Bodies melted together to form the torso, and the head...
Three or four humans formed the head, making it impossible to tell where one person began and the next ended.
“Corpse ogre!” Hagane screamed, naming the monster for what it was.
It lumbered forward, crushing the lesser zombies beneath it. The foul stench of it filled her nose. It was on her already, raising its right arm that held a club fashioned from a broken telephone pole. It slammed down at her.
She rolled to the right. It struck the ground, splattering her in mud. She gained her feet, holding her sword before her while fighting the pounding of her heart. The other her didn't have to feel that organ screaming in her chest.
Fear is in her.
Fear she could die.
That thought struck her hard as the corpse ogre loomed over her. She could die. This gibbering panic consumed her. She wanted to weep. Her knees knocked. It looked as if it was about to strike her down, grinning at her with its three mouths.
Ms. Trueno screamed.
The flesh of the corpse ogre rippled from the sound. It stumbled back, the club missing her. Hagane jumped. She would die if she didn't move. Ice daggers slammed into the creature. A boulder stuck it in the shoulder.
It kept coming.
Fire roared and shot through the rain. Steam hissed as the fire crashed into the chest of the corpse ogre. Hagane prayed that it would burn, but the monster just lumbered forward, not caring about the damage it had sustained.
We're dead, screamed through Hagane's mind.