Three Months After the Tyrant Left

Juliet impaled a Plain Stalker with an inhumane scream.

The long and sinuous creature died among black flames.

Pure anger rose from Juliet’s thighs up to her heart, her arteries strained with the effort needed to contain her blood. Screams were coming from her back, but she was deep into the horde, taking care of the strongest monsters – or anything that came her way, really.

A hideous monster that looked like a stegosaur tried to impale her with his massive, spiked tail.

Juliet punched.

She got slammed into the ground, so hard a rib cracked.

Having lost most of her self-healing capabilities, she couldn’t do anything about that. However, the huge monster, as big as a house, was now tailless.

Trade-offs are called as such because even if you lose something, you gain something else. And what happens when you trade the biggest healing power to ever exist, the Sacred Phoenix, with your personal brand of pure destruction?

The black flames started eating the monster alive, making it shriek like a Banshee.

She had never felt so good.

Her muscles were in overdrive, as springy as they had ever been. She could nudge her legs and shoot wherever. There was so much strength in her body she was exhilarated. And even more than that, there was freedom.

Spells and Martial Techniques were flying left and right on the battlefield; however, everyone gave a huge berth to Juliet’s own death-zone covered in Black Flames.

She still had the Sacred Queen Phoenix Constitution. That hadn’t changed. But her Flames were now much different compared to before. They were the reflection of what she saw when looking deep into her soul.

After Jacob had abandoned her, she had found the courage to finally cross the black door in her heart, to give in to what she was. And she had found power like never she had wielded before.

The Sacred Phoenix Body Transcension Technique was now at the 9th Belt. There were 21 Belts and Jacob had explained that every three Belts, her body would undergo a massive change. Right now, she was uncapable of crossing the threshold to the 10th Belt, but it was more than enough to massacre Hound Realm monsters.

The 3rd Belt of the Sacred Phoenix Body Transcension Technique had changed her muscles, making them stronger and more durable than steel. The 6th Belt had made her bones nigh indestructible. Even after she cracked a rib, she could only feel the faintest damage. And that had been a monster at the Peak of the Hound Realm.

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The 9th Belt had changed much more.

Her own Meridians had become much, much stronger.

She could now pump Qi and Mana with at an insane rate. She could activate the weakest Forbidden Techniques Jacob had taught her without even damaging her body. Only repeated usage would get to her, but she had to try to damage herself.

They had been fighting for the past four hours and the end of the conflict was close. They had finally thinned down the horde to get to the strongest monsters among them. Juliet had personally slain more than a Peak Hound Realm Demonic Beast.

A figure emerged almost from thin air, an almost invisible mist that hid the Demonic Beast inside it.

The Cold-Blooded Mist Wolf.

Wait, not wolf.

Wolves.

Juliet put her hands forward, with the base of her palms touching. She had discovered this made the backlash of the Spell bigger, but also made it deadlier for enemies.

Black Phoenix Nova

Six Cold-Blooded Mist Wolves ate one of Juliet’s deadliest Spells right in the face, removing themselves from existence.

They were a breed capable of disappearing into the mist thanks to some natural illusion capabilities. They were hard to spot and they could erase their presence completely. She had many Black Flames spread around, though, even in form of sparks. And she had caught the presence of such monsters thanks to this technique.

“AHHHHH!” Juliet screamed like she had just lost her mind.

That was one of the last trick Jacob taught her before departing.

Almost no one turned to look at her. And that was only partially because of the presence of other monsters: most people were used to these scenes.

Juliet looked around like a feral beast.

What they didn’t understand about her current state was how clear her mind was. The Black Flames were not in the berserker-category. Not at all. They had given her a cold anger that made her sharp and allowed her to overcome anything.

“Juliet! Fall back! We are organizing a push!” she heard Angelo’s voice call her.

Huffing, she went back.

Her anger was bottled, ready to be released whenever she needed it. However, she was not a mindless drone. She was just free. And that also meant to follow orders when she knew those were right.

Angelo had a huge bow in his hands and was using it to strike with extreme precision wherever he felt people where struggling. They had dug out this bow out of some Ancient Ruins.

“If we don’t hurry up, my wife will beat me to death, Juliet. I’m not in the mood to hear how late for supper I am because I lazed off on the battlefield,” the man cracked a joke to which the ‘Black Phoenix’ – as most soldiers called her behind her back – laughed heartily.

“Where is that bitch? Are we waiting for her again?” Juliet spat out.

“She said she was coming. She was securing the tail of the army and arranging for food. She should be there any moment—”

Speak of the Devil.

A golden comet came flying from the sky at insane speed.

“Fucking show-off,” Juliet cursed, but still got ready for their most successful tactic when dealing with so many monsters.

“Start immediately, they might flee if we don’t hurry,” Angelo reminded her.

“I know, I fucking know,” Juliet growled.

The comet was approaching the ground faster and faster.

Juliet exhaled and focused almost all her remaining Mana into a semicircle back in the distance, at the shoulders of this horde. It would take several minutes to summon a massive wall of Black Fire that would kill almost any Demonic Beast pushed into it, but they also needed time for their army to fall into formation.

The comet—Helena, slammed to the ground.

The shockwave was so strong that even Angelo almost fell to the ground.

“Still can’t get used to it,” he complained.

Juliet didn’t even flinch, focused on her own task.

“Come on, lads!” Angelo shouted, “start forming the pincher!”

All Demonic Beasts were instantly drawn to Helena, almost magically. No, not almost.

It was indeed Magic.

Gravitational Magic.