There was a long moment where the world seemed frozen. Susan hung in the air above the ruined shopping mall, the glowing runic sphere still pulsing between her outstretched arms while Ada hung from her leg in awestruck silence.

The other teens stood on what little roof remained to the mall, staring down at Lupus who met their gaze with incredulous shock. Just outside the broken walls stood the small army of werewolves, now silent and unmoving without the command of their leader.

The breathing of a thousand creatures was the only sound, a continuous rushing of air that made the world around them seem to beat in anticipation.

The moment was broken when Cole launched himself downward with a war cry. Breaking out of his stupor, Lupus lashed out with and met his charge with a swing of one of his enormous arms.

Then he was sent flying backwards, crashing into the rubble behind. He burst free a moment later, and then was leaping back and away from a follow up swing from Cole.

His reprieve was short lived, as he found his escape interrupted when Ruth body slammed him with enough force to send him careening backwards. He caught himself when his long arm caught a piece of jutting steel and brought him to a wrenching halt.

Then he was jumping again to avoid a glowing vial shot at him by Mattie, and the next several seconds were filled with a flurry of motion as the teens launched attack after attack that had the enormous werewolf leaping and dashing around the rubble strewn remains of the strip mall.

Susan watched it happen with a wry smile. Maintaining the rune took a huge amount of her concentration and mana, but every second of security for her friends was worth it.

It had been a true Hail Mary, a desperate attempt to recreate the fourth tier rune she had seen in the Guardians’ base. She hadn’t even known if the rune overcharging array would work the way she wanted it to.

It was a novelty, something that she and the Wizards Congress had discarded as useless the second they had discovered it. Who could have guessed that the technique might not just be an object of curiosity, but the gateway to something much greater.

A deep growl from Lupus caught her attention again, and then the crowd of werewolves was rushing into the ruined building.

Cole and Ruth found themselves swamped with a dozen werewolves each, and where their strikes now sent dozens of the creatures flying at a time it was enough of a distraction. Lupus vanished into the horde without a sound, and a moment later the werewolves were pulling back again.

The group was left in an empty ruin, looking back and forth between each other with worried looks.

“Do you really think this is going to accomplish anything?” Lupus’s voice echoed over the ruins.

Susan turned her head to the side to look at him, as below her the rest of the group rushed back to what remained of the roof to look over the surrounding army. It had pulled away from the strip mall, and now gathered in a solid wall of bodies across the parking lot.

In the center of the group, standing in a wide empty circle of cracked concrete was Lupus. He stalked back and forth, staring up at Susan with two beady eyes. The sneer from earlier had never left his lips, and as the group assembled on the edge he looked over them with narrowed eyes.

“Just give up,” he continued, raising his arms at his sides as if he was presenting them with a reasonable suggestion. “No matter how much you attack me in all your glowing glory, in the final hour you will all serve your one true king…”

Off to the side where he stood on the edge of the roof, Susan could see Cole’s mouth fall open. At his side Mattie’s brow furrowed and her head slowly tilted to the side

“Is he… quoting a video game right now?” She asked slowly.

“He’s, yeah, WoW,” Cole managed to get out. “And not even correctly.”

Lupus appeared to hear them, as both ears flicked back and a deep growl escaped him.

“Fine,” he snarled, “I’ll just kill you then.”

At his words barks and howls began to echo around them once more, and the horde of werewolves charged inward in a tide of tooth and fur.

Uncaring of the danger, Susan turned to Ruth and met her eye. A simple nod was all it took to get her message across, and Ruth’s mouth gained its own toothy grin.

A single bark from her was all it took to catch the attention of the boys. Five identical smiles flashed over each of their faces, and with howls of their own they charged to meet the roiling tide.

The moment the two groups met was cataclysmic, a pluming cloud of dust sent flying into the air by the impact. Then five glowing figures appeared out the other side to continue crashing through the packed ranks of werewolves.

Lupus watched his army dissolve around the assault of hyperactive tweens with disbelieving eyes. The boys seemed to treat the entire thing like one of their playfights, sending the werewolves tumbling like bowling pins with wide punches and wild kicks.

Numb to the destruction around him, Lupus’s head slowly turned back to stare up at the group still standing atop the strip mall. A now human Ruth met his gaze and grinned wide.

“Thanks for that,” she shouted down at him, “they really needed to burn off some energy.”

Lupus’s face warped into a furious snarl, before he launched himself upward toward the group. A long arm reached out to swipe at Ruth’s side, but the claws found no purchase on her magical ball gown and simply slid off.

Ruth met his charge with a backhand that sent him flying bodily back into the rubble below Susan. He impacted in a flurry of debris and dust, but was back on his feet in a moment.

Two furious eyes swept over the group, then settled on Susan who still floated in the air with her hands around the glowing sphere of runes. The eyes narrowed, and then Lupus was leaping again. This time at Susan.

Cole launched himself forward to intercept, but a single swipe of Lupus’s arm was all it took to send him careening away.

Susan watched him come, but instead of dodging focused all of her attention on kicking her leg out to the side. Ada shrieked as she found herself dislodged, but flew down to the roof where Ruth leapt to catch her.

Then Susan’s vision was all grey fur and gnashing teeth, and it was all she could do to kick away and send herself flying back down to the rubble below.

Even as she hit the ground she focused her attention on listening for the cry of triumph that came as Ruth desperately managed to catch her sister. Then Susan was forcing herself back to her feet, but found herself pausing when she felt an odd pain in her arm.

Unheeding of the crash of metal and stone that echoed as Lupus impacted the ground a dozen feet away, her eyes drifted down to see her arm. A sliver of skin had been gouged away there, taken by seeking claws.

The glow of her dress flickered and dimmed as the flow of mana going to the rune lessened, and a huff of air resounded from the bulk of Lupus who lay embedded in the rubble.

“Hehehe,” he chuckled, “You should always protect the supporter.”

Susan raised wide eyes to meet his enormous ones, and his smile widened as he got to his feet to loom over her. The bulk of his body almost blotted out the stars, but Susan barely noticed it as the cursed mana took hold of her body and began to warp it.

“You asshole!” She gasped, but Lupus only laughed more.

“Do you have any idea how much of a pain in the ass it is to create a human form?” She shrieked.

This time Lupus’s laugh stopped, now replaced by an echoing chuckle coming from Cole who was getting to his feet over by the edge of the roof.

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Lupus’s eyes squinted at her, then widened as her form began to change, growing in size until her head was level with him. Then they widened further as she continued to grow.

By the time she had grown to dwarf his body he seemed to realize that something was wrong. Wide eyes took in the tank like scales, and he gave an audible gulp as a baleful eye the width of his snout turned down to glare at him.

Susan shot him a toothy smile, taking a moment to relish the look of disbelieving horror that covered his face. Then she twisted, and the sinuous curve of her tail whipped around her body to impact him in the chest with a crack like a gunshot.

Lupus practically flew across the street, impacting the apartments in an explosion of concrete and steel. With a groan of crumbling stone collapsed in a roar of concrete and rebar that sent a cloud of dust rushing through the area around it to paint everything a dusty grey.

A rain of pulverized wood and concrete rained down on the street in front of it, clattering over the army of werewolves that looked on with wide eyes at the cause of their leader’s defeat.

A deep chuckle echoed from Susan, who stepped out from the ruins of the mall to look down over the army.

From the corner of her eye she spotted one of Ruth’s brothers stare at her with wide eyes. She watched as he incredulously mouthed ‘no way,’ and had to hold back a sigh of annoyance. Her plan had been to avoid that particular bag of cats for as long as possible.

Then she noticed something odd, the werewolves seemed to share the same awestruck expression. Each and everyone of them had turned to her with wide eyes, staring toward her with the strange synchronicity that they had followed Lupus’s order with.

A thought belatedly ran through her head. If these really were a warped rendition of the modern werewolf, then they must be compelled to follow the strongest being around.

Which considering Lupus was lying buried in the remains of his old apartment, must be her.

A smile grew.

“Sit,” she said in a voice that boomed out over the crowd.

At the word, the thousands of werewolves practically jumped to the ground. Once there, their eyes returned to Susan, as if awaiting further orders.

“Now…” She mused for a moment. “Could you all go down the street and wait for us to finish?”

Under her smug gaze, the thousands of monsters got back to their feet and dashed away in a thunder of pounding feet. Within a matter of seconds the last of them was already down the block and vanishing into the dark.

Susan’s smile dimmed as she belatedly realized that she hadn’t specified how far they should travel. A panicked check of the street signs confirmed that the horde was traveling away from town so she just shrugged the problem off for later.

Her gaze returned to the collapsed building that entombed the former werewolf leader, and a lazy flap of one of her wings sent another cloud of dust billowing up from the ruins. It cleared to reveal Lupus stumbling to his feet, his entire body so caked in dust that he looked like a solid grey blob.

After a vigorous shake of his head, he spotted Susan. His eyes swept the street the moment after, and upon finding it free of werewolves he let out a deep growl.

“Had fun?” He snapped, refocusing his gaze on Susan.

“Not really,” she replied with a casual shrug, “but it will be nice to finally finish up this little farce.”

“I wouldn't say we're done,” Lupus said, a heavy grin paradoxically growing over his face.

“Really,” Susan asked, quickly losing her smile and shifting so that she was in a firmer stance. “Your army is gone, wouldn't it just be easier to let me remove the curse and move on with your life?”

She didn't like this. Abrupt boosts of confidence in her enemies had two ways they could go. They could be delusional, or plain wrong, and nothing would change. Or they could be right. The second option was rare, but the few times it had happened hasn't exactly been pleasant and Susan didn't want a repeat.

“Oh, yes,” Lupus continued, his smile somehow still growing as he eyed Susan. “You’re done, but I’m certainly not. After all, you just gave me exactly what I needed.”

“What?” Susan asked, shifting into a low crouch.

Lupus didn't answer. Instead his body stilled, and a moment later the mana around him began to rush inward. It flowed into him, suffusing his entire body which quickly began to grow. Bones popped as they shifted and expanded, and Lupus collapsed to one knee to let out a growl of pain.

The change didn't stop though. Even as the growl shifted to a whine, and pain and hunger glazed over Lupus’s eyes. The flow of mana quickly began to weaken as the surrounding area became depleted of it, but even then the growth continued.

Susan watched with widening eyes as a void of mana began to form within Lupus’s body.

“RUN,” she roared to the teens behind her.

“What’s going on?” Cole yelled back.

“Mana Eater,” she snapped.

She didn’t spare a glance back to see if they had listened to her, but the thudding of footsteps coming from the strip mall took a weight off her shoulders.

Mana Eaters were… bad. Complete nightmares to deal with in the best of circumstances and downright apocalyptic in the worst, Susan could hardly believe that the Demon King had the guts to create one on a planet he was currently living on.

But even as she thought, she was readying her breath attack. Her neck straightened and the nuclear fire within her chest grew as it was compressed inward by the array of electromagnets that contained it.

By now Lupus stood at almost thirty feet tall, his body now the size of a two story house. The heavy head rose the slightest bit so that two crazed eyes could fix themselves on Susan.

Her mouth began to open, the breath attack ready. And then Lupus was leaping at her. The next moment he was slamming one grotesque arm into her head, snapping her mouth shut with a crack.

She retaliated with a swipe of her claws that sent stinking blood flying from four heavy cuts scored across Lupus’s chest. He barely heeded them, instead lunging forward again to clamp his jaws down over her shoulder.

Supernaturally enhanced fangs scraped over Susan’s scales with an ear rending screech, but failed to penetrate.

Capitalizing on it, she grabbed Lupus by both arms and shoved him away from her. He growled as he failed to pull free from her grasp, and so brought his teeth snapping towards her again.

This time she was ready, and met the attack with a swing of her tail that sent his head rocking to the side with an air splitting crack. Then she swung it back around her body to catch Lupus on the other side of the head with a strike that made his entire torso sway.

She didn't stop, sending his head rocking back and forth with crack after crack of her tail. It was only when her tail began to ache and Lupus’s body had slumped in her arms that she stopped.

Both wings stretched to their maximum length, and the vents along her sides opened wide. Then she was shooting into the air with Lupus in tow, flying away from town and into the woods behind the brick.

A sigh of relief escaped her when the brick and concrete of the town transitioned into dark treetops. Then Lupus began to stir in her arms.

Under her disbelieving eyes, he began to struggle again. Twisting his arms so that he could kick at her with his legs.

The miles of air between them and the ground didn't even seem to register to him, the entirety of his mad focus devoted to bringing her down. Susan tried to hold him away, but the design of her body failed her for once and her stubby arms allowed him perfect freedom to continue his attacks.

A flailing kick struck her wing, and a moment later they were both plummeting toward the ground in a mad freefall.

They struck down in a small mushroom cloud of dirt and debris, the shockwave of the impact flattening a small copse of trees around them.

Susan tore herself free of the ground a moment later, and then was forced to duck beneath a swipe of Lupus’s claws. Even as she was blinking dirt free from her eyes Lupus’s mad swings continued.

Swipe after heavy swipe came from the hulking brute, and Susan found herself forced to duck and weave to avoid them. The mad desperation that drove Lupus never waned, his eyes and mouth now flecked with dirt he didn't even have the cognizance to dislodge.

Susan leapt backwards, but he matched her leap and continued the assault. Leaning to the side to avoid a kick, she narrowed her eyes.

Inside of her chest, her Dragonheart began to ready itself once again. Once it was warm, she waited. The mad attacks still came from Lupus but now she dodged with deadly patience.

She never got the chance to fire.

Instead Lupus seemed to vanish, and a moment later Susan was slapped in the face by a wave of heat and noise. Stumbling backwards she shook her head to clear it, she quickly looked around for where he had gone.

She found him easily. A trench had been dug into the ground in front of her, following it with her eyes she found Lupus at the end of it.

He lay on his back panting, but as she watched his head came back up and an arm raised toward her with the claws bared. It was all he could do though, the foot wide hole punched through the side of his chest making sure of that.

His futile gasps began to slow, and with a final spasm of his claws the reaching arm slumped down to the ground. The curse seemed to die with him, as with his final breath his body began to shrink. The hill of flesh receded in on itself until all that was left was a skinny man lying on the ground.

Susan watched it with wide eyes, before jerking her head back the other way to see where the shot had come from. Instead of the artillery battery she was expecting though, the sight made her jaw drop open.

Stalking toward her through the trees was a Kirin. On its head two saberlike horns rose before splitting into a dozen razor sharp points, and it was covered in a coat of metallic scales that shimmered in a rainbow of golden tones.

It must have been fifty feet tall, the bottom of its torso barely scraping the trees below while something within its barrel-like chest thrummed with power.

“They summoned him?” Susan breathed incredulously.

In response, the rumble from within the Kirin’s chest seemed to intensify. Then it opened its mouth, its jaws widening far beyond what a normal horse could do. Susan caught a glimpse of razor sharp teeth and immediately took evasive action.

She leapt to the side, a projectile whizzing by a moment later to tear a channel through the earth in a rain of sod. The boom of cannon fire followed, echoing from the torso of the looming Kirin.

Her wings swung open, and then she was jumping. Air rushed through her torso, kicking up a smokescreen of debris as she quickly accelerated away from the Kirin.

She quickly angled upward, feeling the concussive rush of air as the projectile whizzed by beneath her. Both wings caught air, and then she was rising into the sky and rushing away from the Kirin.

She spared a look back, and watched as the huge jaw slowly closed. The Kirin watched her blast away, and began to trot along afterward. Its pace quickly picked up, and soon it was matching her pace.

Trees and boulders before it were smashed to pieces beneath its hooves, but it didn’t spare the attention to avoid the obstacles. Instead it kept its laserlike focus squarely on the fleeing figure of Susan.

“Well that’s definitely him,” Susan muttered.

A twitch of her wings sent her heading further south, and then the flow of energy from her Dragonheart picked up. The air around her heated up, and the lights of Orienda shrank behind her as she accelerated.

She needed to get to Antarctica.