Season 4 Chapter 39


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.

"We need more time," Leo answered.

"We'll try," Lana Fulmine answered. "The werewolves along with Sulanga riding on that lightning wolf are here."

"Just hold,"
I told them as more halflings filled the circle. "You all are amazing. Just hold them at bay for a little bit longer. I love you all."

Lana Fulmine soared over the city. The last one in the air. She watched the werewolves charging towards the city, Sulanga riding on the huge wolf made of lightning, the treant behind him. Twelve more monster girls and a dungeon builder to fight.

"Everyone, get down to the gate!" Lana cried. "Hurry, they're rushing for it. I don't think it will hold them off for long!"

Crystal and Snezhinka, the last of the yuki-onna, rushed down the stairs followed by the three salamanders. Engana, Malvada, and Horca would be so useful in the fight. They burst out on the street. In the house across from them, Crystal's mother appeared.

The dryad had Piaro and Mastab with her, the two basilisks' pink hair fluttering behind them as they ran for the gate. From another building, Ms. Trueno and Morana darted out onto the street. The teacher's coppery scales flashed while a cloak of mist billowed from the goth banshee.

With Lana Fulmine in the air, that was all the monster girls they had to fight off the next attack.

Thirteen on eleven. It was not great odds.

"We just have to hold them off," Crystal said. "Mom, let's set up an ambush here at the gate. Try to kill as many of them when they burst through!"

"Right!" Mom said. "Okay, I want..."

Morana stood on the right side of the gate, ready to unleash her deathly wail. Black mist spilled down her back. She could feel the dark power in her. She was the Dark Lord's banshee, here to smite his enemies and destroy them utterly.

Ms. Trueno was on the other side of the gate, ready to shriek. Their cries of vengeance and fury would rip into the enemy. As they did that, the basilisks and salamanders would breathe fire and petrification. Mrs. Baldwin would send out her roots as Crystal and Snezhinka would throw their icy daggers. From the air, Lana Fulmine would fire lightning.

They were ready.

The howl of the werewolves grew louder and louder. Morana stood stock still. She was Dark Lord Leo's vengeance. She was an extension of his will. He fought for the halflings of this city. She would aid him in any way.

She would see that all the halflings were all saved.

"Here they come!" Lana Fulmine cried in Morana's mind.

This will be our finest moment, thought Morana. "For the Dark Lord!"

"LORD LEO!" the others cried.

Sulanga Stormfury grinned as the city gates loomed closer. He had lost many of his monster girls again. Down to twelve. But he was here. He knew this upstart Leo's forces. Understood how they had attacked the city.

Leo had brought his dungeon here. The boy was vulnerable. He was evacuating those halflings. It would take days for him to get them through his dungeon and out to his home base on the other side of the mountain. Until then, he couldn't change his layout. Couldn't re-summon the monster girls he lost.

And though Sulanga had lost many today, so had Leo. The last of the phoenixes had reported numbers. Maybe a dozen left. Some of Leo's strongest, his personal companions, but Sulanga had Peda and Vilkas. They had failed him.

But they could earn a reprieve from the punishment by taking the city back.

If they could get Sulanga into the dungeon, he could crush Leo. Sulanga hungered for that. His foe had had glyphs Sulanga lacked. Death. Thunder. Ice. Light. Water. Metal. Earth. Dark. I will gain so much power. Have all of the twelve glyphs.

Sulanga smiled and cast, "Life energizes and enervates, let the grace of Lady Ianna empower!"

Energy flooded Sulanga's body. Giving him more vitality. More endurance.

"Incarnation of flames, let the passion of Lady Lamashtu embrace!"

His body burst into flames. They burned beneath his robes. He would cast every protective spell he had. He would not die here. This was the hour of his triumph.

Sulanga Stormfury would become a power that could stand against the most powerful dungeon builder there was. Fuegin.

"Lightning crackle and hiss, gird me in the love of Lady Uttu!"

The static charge crackled around him. The city walls hurtled closer. A single monster girl with wings of lightning soared over the town watching his approach. She thought she owned the skies.

"Gentle winds, let the support of Lady Tiamat billow!"

Sulanga Stormfury soared from the back of Vilkas. His robes fluttered as his werewolves reached the wall. He flew over it right for the lightning sprite. The woman spread her wings wide, her silvery body gleaming in the sunlight. Golden hair sparked with electricity.

Lightning exploded from her wings, hurtling right for him.

"Lightning flashes, let the passion of Lady Uttu fly!" he roared.​
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