Page 67 of Becoming Monsterous

And unlike the weak, flimsy bonds of obedience the Magistrate has created, these are strengthened by their genuine desire to be allies.

"I'm glad you're here," Lise says, landing on the ground near us as we approach. "I've done what I can, but I can't break through their shields. They keep summoning more monsters, and they all have these grey lines running from them towards the Magistrate."

"We'll figure out a way through the shields," I tell her. "Just point out where Percy is."

"In the middle—behind that big reflective shield. I've only seen him once, but his magic iseverywhere."

On cue, a giant clawed flying monster comes for me. I dodge its front attack and raise my sword. As it comes back for another go, I slice it in two, sending gooey black blood flying everywhere.

Most of it gets on Prince.

I grimace and shrug my shoulders. "Sorry, but it's war."

"About that." He wipes his face off with the long sleeves of his summoner's robes, then pulls a large glowing blue bottle out of his backpack. "I've got something that should help with the shields."

The blue glowing bottle has a magic liquid inside it that, it turns out, turns into little blue throwing knives when poured out.

Little blue throwing knives that slice through shields.

Grabbing them from the air, I thank Prince for them, wait for Angus to move out of the way, and start letting them loose.

My muscles flow with memory from battles long past, and a triumphant smile curls up my lips as the knives slice through every single one of the summoner's shields.

One by one, they fall.

The monsters attack them then. It's gruesome and bloody, but necessary. As the summoners hastily try to throw up more shields and summon more monsters to their side, they find themselves missing certain appendages.

I try not to look too closely at the violence. For the most part, it's subdued—at least compared to Medusa's memories of the last war. Morpheus does what he can to send the summoners to sleep, and the ones he can't, he turns into sand, while Aleron turns them into screaming, fearful piles of goo.

Tearing my eyes away, I let loose another round of Prince's magic knives. Then another. Until I find myself out—and he hands me another bottle.

"I got good at this spell when I was at the academy," he explains, looking a little embarrassed. "I was always terrible at making shields, so the other students used to make fun of me by blocking access to my dorm room with them. It was either learn how to make this spell, or learn shields, and..."

He improvised when faced with bullies. I can appreciate that. No wonder he wound up coming around to our side.

We advance like this wave by wave, breaking shields and tossing summoners around. Morpheus's tattooed creatures take many of the smaller Brute House monsters out, while Magna House destroys the Osseus House undead, and the few summoners on our side banish spirits. One by one, we kill or disarm the summoners and return the monsters to the Shadow World, until only Percy and a few of his lackeys remain.

"This is it," I tell the Magistrate, stepping forward to face him, my snakes hissing in the air around my head. "Come and face me, man to goddess."

I smirk a little at my joke.

Instead of answering, he summons a flock of cryptwings.

They swoop at my head, their giant hand-like feet reaching out to grab at me. My snakes respond to the threat faster than I can. They strike at the cryptwings, injecting venom with their fangs.

A few fall out of the air—but the venom isn't strong enough to take them all out. The remaining monsters swoop around to go for me again, even as Morpheus flings his flock of ravens at them and Aleron launches up into the air.

One cryptwing goes for my shoulder and jerks me up off the ground. Annoyed, I fling it off, and my shield goes flying as I drop to the ground again.

The Magistrate chuckles, and I loose my cool.

All my powers rise up inside of me, vicious and strong. Reaching for the strings of Percy's connection to the flock of cryptwings, I break them all at once, using instinct more than anything.

Then I fold the cryptwings' loyalty back around to me instead.

As soon as I've done that, I grab the remaining magic knives from Prince, ready my throwing arm, and send them soaring straight for Percy's shield—and the shields of his last few allies.

The magic breaks and fizzles. Angus roars, charging at the summoners to the left and sending them both flying. Aleron swoops at the last three, grabbing them up in his darkness and flying them into the air, their screams swallowed by his wings.

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