The first they saw of it was a lone scout punching its fists into the wall as it climbed. A darkened face that peered over the wall for a second before hauling itself up. It busted through a store and hurtled through a stone wall into the corridor beside Jade and Jai.

‘This is it.’ Jade said, the creature was springing towards the net and as it ran its right leg caught the strong rope. The creature faltered slightly and the net tore apart the wall where it was attached sinking the roof beneath Jade’s feet.

But the creature was on its knees.

Jade made a gesture in the air, like two diamonds meeting and the jar of oil exploded across the horde. A fireball was burning in Jai’s hand, he dropped it into the corridor and ducked as a blast of fire lit up the night.

The heat from it singed a few stray hairs on Jade’s head and when she looked up all she could smell was burning flesh.

Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the bright flames coming from the corridor, but when they did she jumped back as the disfigured horde crawled up at her. The creature only had a single stump of an arm which was burnt almost beyond recognition, its head was a rounded stump and its body was devoid of all legs, eyes or even intestines. The demented thing flopped onto the roof with a wheeze of pain that became a growl as it dragged its pitiful remnants of a body towards them. The bottom of its torso scraped against the roofing tiles and little pieces of flesh were rubbed off as it moved. Ironskin rippled up Jade’s arm and she drove her fist straight through its head and through the roof behind it.

The punch left her arm embedded in the creature's head and it let out another watery gurgle as it sucked on her arm.

With ironfist over her skin the blood coming from the creature’s brain made her arm sting and rust. Jade tried to pull her arm out but the horde just sucked harder, pulling itself towards her head. Jade kicked at it, rolling across the roof as its stump arm wrapped around her torso, fastening itself to her.

The rank, burning flesh filled her nose and made her gag as she tried to fight for fresh air. The sucking sound grew louder as the creature’s sucking head slipped from her arm to her shoulder to her neck.

Its trail of burning hot blood met her face and latched on, closing around her airways. Jai was kicking it, slicing its back open with his sword, but the creature just sucked tighter to Jade’s airways.

It’s strangling me. Jade thought. This is how I die.

But something deep within her wouldn’t accept that - I’m a princess - I’m the commander of the largest army in this realm. I am not going to let something so stupid end me.

But her breath was running out. Her heart was beating faster. Bright spots appeared before her. Her arms hung loose by her sides. Her knees kicked uselessly at the remnants of its body. She had no weapons left.

Except my teeth.

She sunk her canines into the tough, dripping flesh of the horde. The taste was like flame-grilled month-old rat. She gagged and used the motion to sink her teeth into another patch of flesh.

Monks with no cultivation abilities can hold their breath for up to six minutes at a time. She wondered how long she had before she’d pass out. She guessed about 20 seconds.

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Bite. Squelch. Blood dripped through her teeth. She gagged again.

Why am I doing this? The creature sucked tighter. I’m not doing it for my people, they’re all screwed anyway. If one horde can do this much damage, how about tens of thousands?

She sunk her teeth deep and shook her head, a big fatty piece of meat lodged in her throat. Made her cough and vomit hot chunks of acidic meat at the same time. No. I’m doing this because I want them to feel pain.

Jade roared with her breath and a frenzy fell over her. Her body jerked and her teeth sliced through the horde’s flesh over and over again as strips dripped down the sides of her mouth and into her throat.

And there was a light there. A burning, blinding light that illuminated the wall of flesh she was decimating. And her fingers started to work again and there were three heads above her peering through the little shaft of light.

The flesh tore around her and the horde fell in two pieces and Princess Jade was reborn into the world.

Jai, who’d been trying to drag the creature off her stood there stupified as he watched the princess wipe smears of clotted blue blood and burnt skin from her cheeks.

‘Give me the sword.’ she said.

Jai looked at his fellow cultivators, ‘Princess, you are clearly a bit concussed, don’t you-’

‘GIVE ME THE SWORD.’

Jai gulped and handed her the sword. The dry blood on Jade’s palms stuck to it. She lifted it above her head and brought the tip down on the two pieces of horde that lay before her. Ching. Ching. Ching. Blood and pieces of meat coated the cultivators as she whipped the sword into a frenzy on the still-moving pieces of horde.

The sword dropped to her side and fire emerged like a tornado from her palms sizzling the horde and the roof beneath it so that everyone else had to step off it. The tiny pieces of the horde struggled to join back together but Jade clenched her teeth and the flame grew hotter as the pieces dried, and then charcoaled and then disappeared into black smoke leaving no trace of its existence apart from the creature’s screams echoing in the cultivators’ ears.

‘Woah.’ Jai said.

One of the other cultivators coughed, ‘Um… someone should probably stop her.’

Horde were tearing over the walls of the middle level and Jade ran to meet them, sword in hand. She sliced into a burly warrior’s neck, but her sword barely made a dent. She noticed runes on the sword handle, chanted them in a quick sequence and then felt the sword start to vibrate in her palms as it chiselled the head off the horde she was facing. Another stabbed at her with its spear which cut a razor strip from the side of her chest. She kicked away an oncoming sword thrust then shoved a blast of fire into another’s crotch.

Arms grabbed her, dragged her away from the horde as she tried to swing and kick and…

‘Ow! Commander,’ someone groaned behind her, ‘please! You must stop fighting.’

It was Dion and Jan, two of her cultivators dragging her backwards as the horde gave chase. Jade fanned her hands out and a wall of flame erupted in front of the beasts.

‘We’re getting you out of here,’ Jai said and Jade let out a moan that was supposed to mean something like, I’m gonna kill them all.

They dragged her up the steps to the final level of the island and her father’s guards locked the giant steel gates behind them.

Her father was there, arms wrapped around her, ‘Jade! You’re bleeding!’

But it wasn’t her blood - at least not most of it.

‘And I’m going to make them bleed some more,’ she said.

Her father looked at the two cultivators who remained with her, ‘what happened?’

‘She… she… ate one of them,’ Jai said, ‘I was trying to get it off her and the thing was screaming and she just ate through its face.’

One of the guards was vomiting. The smell wafting out of Jade’s mouth was like a liquified fish left in the sun for weeks.

A battering came from the gate, then a squelch.

A wooden chest landed on their side of the fence.

****