The sky darkened as clouds turned a deep red, a torrent of blood poured from the sky, the giant worm monster screeched and writhed as it held Blaze above it's enormous mouth.

Charlotte watched, her body frozen in fear. "I-I can't do this... it's just too strong... I promised never to use my powers again, I don't want to return to being who I was!"

"B-but, Mr Blaze was so kind to me... I can't let him down, not when he believed in me... I'll fight... even if I lose who I am, for those who believe in me, who were kind to me, I'll fight!"

Charlotte steadied herself and looked up at the monster. "I-I won't lose or be pushed around anymore, let Mr Blaze go!"

Charlotte rolled up her sleeves and put her forearm up to her mouth, she bit down hard on her arm, her teeth sharpened into spikes and she tore off the flesh of her arm.

She winced in pain and blood poured from the large bite wound.

The blood froze in place as it pooled on the ground, she calmed her breathing and glared at the monster with her fiery orange eyes.

"This is where you die, you've lived for too long!"

Suddenly the blood shot into the air like a bullet, a scarlet stream pierced the monster's tendril, it shrieked and dropped Blaze to the ground.

Blaze landed into a roll and stood up and dusted himself off, he placed a hand on Charlotte's shoulder.

"You did good, I trust you to finish things, I've gotta see if Mei is alright."

Charlotte nodded firmly and Blaze ran over to the rock Mei had been thrown at, he dusted away the rubble and other debris.

Meanwhile Charlotte turned back towards the monster, it screeched and writhed, tendrils shot towards her, spiked grew from each as the Abyssal Energy grew more intense.

More blood dripped from her arm, it formed the shape of a spike with various barbs protruding from it, it solidified and she snapped it off her arm and pointed it at the monster.

"This is one of my three powers! I can solidify blood and change it's shape on command, however in this weakened state it's only blood that's outside my body."

Charlotte sliced clean through the oncoming tendrils with practised precision.

More blood seeped down her arm, it dripped and formed a puddle beneath her on the rocky ground.

She grabbed a lighter from her pocket and flipped the lid up, a small flame burned dimly.

"Another of my powers, I am able to set blood on fire!"

The blood formed a javelin shape, Charlotte sparked it with the lighter. The blood immediately combusted, huge flames engulfed the puddle around Charlotte and the blood javelin.

She stood in the flames, glaring at the monster, somehow the fire didn't burn her, she threw the fiery blood javelin directly at the monster, the impact caused it to screech loudly and writhe around, black liquid spurted from it's charred body.

Behind Charlotte, Blaze checked on Mei.

He helped her to stand, she wobbled a little. "I'm okay... just hurts a little..."

Blaze nodded. "Just take it easy Mei, you're lucky you weren't injured too badly."

Blaze turned to Charlotte. "I'm taking Mei back to the fortress, she needs to rest, I'll return as soon as I can, hold off until then."

Charlotte nodded. "Good luck Mr Blaze, I'll see you soon."

Blaze held Mei to keep her steady as the two walked away.

The monster screeched and grew a scorpion stinger from one of it's tendrils, another gained pincers and spikes.

It thrashed it's tendrils around, Charlotte jumped and ducked to avoid them, her movements were fluid and swift.

She jumped around the monster, cutting off it's tendrils as she went, it kept growing more, absorbing more and more Abyssal Energy, it grew stronger still.

Charlotte doused the creature in her blood as she moved around, each leap and sprint around the creature spaattered more and more blood over it, once fully covered she stopped and turned to face the creature.

"It's over for you now, please don't suffer too much."

She sparked the blood and the creature was immediately engulfed in flames, it thrashed about and screeched.

The monster shot tendril after tendril at Charlotte.

She began to slow down. "Dammit, why now? I'm getting fatigued from blood loss." She solidified the blood seeping from her arm.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The monster swung it's pointed scorpion tendril at Charlotte, it hit her directly and she flew backwards into a rock.

As she impacted the rock, she landed in a sitting position, a small crack formed in the back of the rock.

She choked up blood and tried to sit up. "This isn't good, I wasted all of my energy too early..."

The monster shook the flames away, it turned to her.

The monster towered over Charlotte, it's enormous mouth moved to meet her.

"I fought as best as I could... I guess this is punishment for my past... Mr Blaze and Mei managed to get away... everything is okay..."

Charlotte looked at the monster's gaping mouth.

She laughed breathlessly. "To think, one of The Monarch's Lieutenants will meet her end from a Hive Class monster..."

The monster impaled Charlotte's left arm and both legs with tendrils, she cried out. "I'm sorry Mr Moore... I promised I'd come back alive... I thought I was stronger..."

Charlotte felt an object in her pocket, she pulled it out with a shaky hand, it was the vial of a strange black liquid that Moore had given her, she looked at it and shook it a little, she held it to her heart and sighed.

"I can't use this... I promised I'd never return to that life... But.... I-I'm scared... I don't want to die..." A tear rolled down her cheek.

She popped the lid off the vial and held it up to her lips. "I'm sorry... I can't die here... goodbye everyone... thank you for being kind to me..."

She tilted her head back and swallowed the dark liquid.

As soon as the liquid entered her system she passed out, her body went limp and the monster shot a tendril directly into her heart.

Suddenly her eyes flicked open, they glowed a deep fiery orange, her two horns which protruded from her forehead grew in length and set on fire, they shone brightly.

Blood shot from the pierce wounds on her body, firing the tendrils out of her, it immediately ignited, burning the monster and causing a loud screech.

Charlotte's body started to shake and writhe, long claws sprung from her fingers and her wounds closed as her blood solidified, she sprung to her feet, she giggled and looked at the monster.

"Oh, it's you, silly wormie, it's been how long? Forty years? Wow, That's a long time, well, you attacked me, so I guess you need to be taught a lesson."

She tilted her head to the side. "Time to die!" She laughed.

She extended a hand into the air, her palm open, she sliced open her arm again using her claws, the blood swirled upwards, into her extended palm, it formed a large ball in her hand.

"My third power, this place used to be a battlefield forty years ago, souls of the dead, both abyssal and heroes, come to my aid!"

The ground shook and various beams, both a radiant light and consuming darkness, streamed towards her, flickering gently.

They all concentrated around the bloody orb.

"Armies of the dead, aid me!"

The orb burst, blood spattered in all directions, a feint glow emanating from each puddle as they pooled on the ground, they rose into humanoid shapes and solidified, their joints dripping as they moved towards Charlotte.

"Gather around me." The bloody figures gathered in a circle around Charlotte, they all linked hands and she set one on fire, the fire leaped from one to another, before long she had an army of flaming undead warriors.

"My warriors, kill the monster before you, it has chosen to betray an Abyssal Lieutenant!"

The warriors began to move, encircling the giant worm, every time it took a strike at them with a tendril they turned into liquid blood, only to reshape and solidify again afterwards.

Charlotte turned both hands upwards, the blood rain suddenly froze, it sparked and set on fire, the monster wailed in pain as flaming rain fell down from the sky.

Charlotte giggled. "This is fun, I've missed this so much!"

Blood flowed over her body from the neck down, it solidified and she set it on fire, a shell of fire coated her, almost like flaming armour.

The moon turned bright blood red and eclipsed, etching the darkened sky with a deep red hue.

"Hecate, named after the ancient Greek goddess, that is who I really am, the chosen strongest warrior from my Demon clan, one of the Monarch's Lieutenants."

She ran up to the worm, leaping over the monster and landing atop it, she began to punch and claw at the creature, tearing and burning it's flesh.

She laughed as she tore chunks off it, black blood spurted everywhere and the creature screeched, she bit down on the wound, sucking the black blood from the wound.

She sprung off it and her fiery army knocked the creature over, tearing chunks off it, it shook and writhed while thrashing around.

She charged at the monster, her burning horns pierced it's skin, burning it's insides and setting it's blood on fire. She jumped back and nodded with a smirk.

"You're so strong, that makes things all the more fun, I get to torture you for longer!"

The worm monster screeched and shot a large tendril at her, she smiled and jumped backwards, as the tendril lodged itself in the rocks she sprinted up it like a tightrope, she leaped backwards into a bacflip and landed in the monster's gaping mouth, the creature glowed a faint orange from within, it shook around and suddenly exploded from within, dark liquid scattered everywhere, being absorbed by Charlotte who was standing in the middle of the burnt corpse.

"Mmm, pure Abyssal Energy, I've missed it after so long, running on low power really drained me!"

She sighed and looked around. "Seems The Monarch lost forty years ago, ah well, I'll just have to revive him, now where'd he put that crown of his?"

She began walking away, the fiery rain continued uninterrupted and the eclipse casted a huge shadow over the landscape.

Her fiery army followed behind her in a straight line, marching to wherever she lead.

Monsters burned and writhed all around her, the eclipse grew darker.

Meanwhile elsewhere outside, Claude and Mirage were walking through the forest, the tremors still occurring, rumbling the land.

Claire and Michael followed behind fighting off any monsters they came across.

The group encountered a large, winged reptile, it hissed at the group.

Mirage stepped forward and looked at Claude. "This is your time to shine, if you really are as strong as everyone suggests, then prove it, kill the thing before us, it's a Hybrid Class, a fusion between a Reptilian Class and an Avian Class, end it Claude!"

Claude nodded and extended his hand, he twisted and balled his hand into a fist, the monster's neck exploded and Abyssal Energy spattered everywhere.

Mirage nodded. "So you are as capable as they say, don't get cocky, your power isn't special, you just happen to be given a stronger power than most, don't let it go to your head."

Suddenly Ghost spoke up. "Heya everyone, listen, Blaze called in, he said Mei has been injured, he's back at the fortress at the moment."

The sky went dark and the moon eclipsed, a red hue covered the land and it began to rain fire.

Mirage immediately created a gigantic mirror fragment above the group's heads to shield them from the fire. "What is this?"

Ghost continued. "It seems Charlotte went rogue somehow, we don't know the exact details but she's searching for something, she must be stopped, her Abyssal Energy suddenly spiked and now she's unresponsive, return to the Fortress for a briefing, Ghost out!"

Mirage sighed. "Damn Demon, I knew she'd betray us, should've killed her while we had the chance."

He began walking back towards the fortress, the rest of the group followed close behind.