"Queen is taken over by a monster... It’s going to kill the King."

Were the words that set Alys into action. The thunder clapped deafeningly loud outside as she ran up the stairs and through the dimly lit corridors higher and higher up till she reached the floor on which the royal balcony was supposed to be.

She hadn’t run that much in a while so her legs ached and her lungs burned in protest. She huffed with her hands on her knees as sweat dripped down the sides of her face. She knew Ernie must have brought the lady to Silas by now and he must have gotten the message as well so, he would be here any moment. Till then, she had to protect the King.

The royal balcony was on this floor so, the security was tight and she could see the guards and mages lining the walls. They all looked startled as she came up the stairs.

"M-Miss you’re not allowed here." One of the guards said but she wasn’t listening.

"Did someone- the Queen come here?" She demanded instead.

The guard looked a little unsure as to why she was asking that but he could see she wasn’t a low-level mage, her purple robes were enough to tell that she was a Scholar level mage of the Mages Tower. The Mages who did recognize her also approached her.

"Scholar Alys, what are you doing here?" One of them asked.

"Just tell me if the Queen came here or not damn it!" She shouted making the Mages flinch while the guards frowned.

"Miss, I think you should leave. Her Majesty is not here."

One of the Mages who stood behind them all only listening happened to spot something behind Alys.

"Scholar Alys, Her Majesty is right behind you."

Alys’s eyes widened as she heard that and she whipped around facing the Queen’s figure that slowly staggered towards them.

"Wh-Why is she walking like that? Where’s Princess?" One of the guards said and another stepped towards Katherine.

"Your Majesty, are you feeling all right?" He asked in a softer voice.

"Get back here!" Alys hissed at him but the guard ignored her as he walked closer to Katherine whose figure was still concealed by the darkness.

Alys watched the Queen carefully and took her steps back cautiously.

"Everyone step back," she spoke, "that’s not your Queen."

The guards around her frowned, confused, "What? But she’s-"

Alys grimaced at the annoying guards, "Listen for once, you idiots! That’s not your Queen! It’s a-"

Before Alys could finish, there was a sharp sound of something slicing through wet rag and just as Alys turned she felt the warm splashes of something wet landing on her face and a dull sound of something soft landing on the ground echoed throughout the corridor.

The guard who had approached the Queen now lay near her feet while his head lay near Alys’s feet and his blood splashed over half her face.

The Mages who saw what happened gasped in shock going pale in an instant while the guards quickly unsheathed their swords pointing them at the Queen. She had slashed the guard’s throat so swiftly and brutally that it had been severed from his body and flew to them.

Alys felt the chill run down her spine as she saw the glowing red pupils of the creature which were fixed on the living people.

The Mages who recovered slowly inches back along with Alys while the guards stood in their places with their swords pointing at the creature that crouched near the dead headless body before grabbing the arm and ripping it off with such ease that made it feel as if it was ripped from a doll.

The guards and mages watched in horror as the once beautiful face of the Queen nearly split in two with the rows of demonic sharp teeth poking out. She brought the arm up to her mouth before she ate it.

The guards left behind weren’t experienced in battle so, what they saw was beyond anything they had ever imagined. The Mages, on the other hand, who were only associated with research and innovation so, this gruesome sight only turned their stomachs.

Some of them who couldn’t handle it anymore retched against the walls while one of them fainted.

Alys heard the sounds of the bones being crunched and wet squelches of the blood sucking before she saw the creature move. It was done feeding and was probably looking at the horde of food that now stood before it.

Blood dripped from its chin as its maw extended from ear to ear resembling a demonic grin.

"Everyone, listen-"

Just as Alys was about to tell the guards and Mages to step back and away from the creature, the guards ended up making a decision of their own.

"D-Don’t let it get near His Majesty!" One of the guards shouted before rushing ahead with his sword out.

The other harried guards who were shell-shocked seemed to have broken out and the first word of stimulus threw them into action. Alas, it was into the jaws of death.

The Mages were barely able to hold their heads together as they cried and prayed.

"S-Scholar Alys! Please save us!"

"Do something, you must have one of your explosives, right?!"

"Throw it! Destroy that thing or it’ll eat us!"

Alys was so scared that her limbs were trembling and all she could do was pray that Silas would come and help them.

The Mages urged her to do something while she just stood there until she heard the sound of the thunder clap again.

She hadn’t realised that it was raining until now, but it wasn’t the thunder that cracked through her thoughts, it was the words she had recalled.

"There will be a time when neither I, nor Uncle Silas or anyone would be there for you...when that time comes, you will have to rely on the Alys who had protected you for all those years when you were on the run."

Reina’s words echoed clearly in her head and she felt her heart now pounding.

"Fight to survive. That’s what you have done most of your life and that’s what you ought to do when you face that danger again."

Alys’s trembling slowly subsided as her eyes darted left and right. The royal balcony was at some distance and because of the crowd outside, the King must have not noticed the commotion that was going on over here.

Alys kept her eyes trained on the creature as she spoke to the Mage closest to her.

"Hurry, go and warn His Majesty and take him to safety. Now." She ordered.

The Mage closest to her, that was staring at the creature with trembling body slowly regained his senses and looked at Alys.

"Huh?"

"Go warn His Majesty and get him out of here!" Alys hissed.

The Mage quickly nodded and Alys heard the sounds of the footsteps of all the Mages rushing away. Since security wasn’t their concern, they had not stationed many high-level mages there as guards and that’s why Alys being there made it her responsibility to be the one on the frontline.

Alys clenched her fists hearing the sickening sound of the crunches and the wet slurping sounds and wondered just who the hell unleashed this thing here? And whether that woman was still alive and had more information or not. Either ways, it seemed like until Silas got here, Alys had to take this one on her own. The novice Mages would only get in her way.

As soon as the creature was done eating, Alys was also done with the mental plan she had made to deal with it.

She plucked out a black ball from the satchel that she carried around and watched as the creature that now was done with its feast looked at her with its glowing red eyes.

"Had a good meal? Now let’s see how you taste this." She said as she got into a fighting stance.

The creature’s maw opened wide and it let out a shrill screech that made Alys’s ears ring.

She winced watching as the creature lunged at her and she dived out of the way just in time before she tossed the black ball in her hand at the creature.

The creature skid to a stop, its sharp black claws scratching at the stony ground and its eyes fixed on Alys.

Alys smirked as she watched the black ball near its feet before she covered her ears and head. The creature made a move but it seemed like its movements triggered the ball and the blinding light emanated from the ball.

The creature shrieked loudly and Alys closed her eyes as the ground beneath her feet trembled and she watched as now there was a huge hole near the wall that overlooked straight in the arena.

Alys looked for the creature it was nowhere to be seen.

"Did I get it?" She wondered.

"Alys?!" Her eyes widened as she heard a familiar sound and turned her head to see the King- her uncle running towards her with a worried expression on his face followed by the young Mages.

"Alys, what’s-" he was about to ask when his eyes widened.

"Scholar Alys behind you!" One of the Mages shouted and Alys felt a great force grabbing her from behind and throwing her into the wall. The impact was so brutal that it knocked the air from her lungs and the warm blood oozing from the side of her head.

Her vision swam a little before she saw the figure standing a couple of feet away from her. Head inclined at an odd angle, face lifted while the eyes both focused in the distance, her body stood stiffly and the sounds of sharp inhales came from it. The dress it wore was signed and torn, and its hair was a complete mess with black smudges scattered over its bloodied skin.

Alys staggered to her feet feeling the sharp stabbing pain in her side, she did hear a crack back when she collided with the stone wall.

Katherine or rather, the monster stood before her again, and it looked pissed as it snarled at her.

But just as it was about to lunge at her, Alys saw a huge fireball flying over and hitting the creature.

The creature staggered and fell away, Alys took the chance and stood in between the creature and the living people behind her.

"Stay behind me!" Alys shouted, despite feeling pain all over.

"Alys, you get back. I’ll take care of it!" She heard Roger shout.

"What the hell is it anyway?!"

"He-Her Majesty has turned into a monster!"

Alys ignored the kids as she kept her eyes trained on the creature that again staggered to its feet. Half of its face was burned away but it didn’t seem to register any pain.

Alys saw its eyes roll around in their sockets for a moment before they rolled properly making its pupils fix on something behind Alys.

"Alys!" Alys felt Roger’s hand over her shoulder.

"I don’t what’s going on but step back, I’ll take care of this." Roger said, his fist was already on fire.

"No," Alys said and before Roger could say anything he felt Alys push him away.

It all happened in a quick succession as Alys pushed away Roger just at the moment that the creature lunged at them and Alys ducked under its claws and wrapped her arms around its waist. Alys shot a fire ball on the other side to cause an explosion that threw them out of the hole and into the air.

The creature let out another shrill screech as the rain poured over them and Alys watched it slash at her but she grimaced and in that instant, she felt the familiar hum of mana reverberate around her as she felt her body no longer falling. But the creature was flailing and screeching so, she punched it with her first that was already on fire and it fell right down, slamming into the ground.

The crowd that had just been hearing the sounds of explosions were shocked to see that as something or rather someone was thrown from high up and now, Alys was floating several meters above the ground. She huffed and felt her body slowly getting healed as she soaked in the rain. She then turned her eyes on Silas who was standing near another balcony. It was his mana that was holding her up and he had come right in time or she would most likely had been severely injured by that fall if not gotten mauled by the creature.

She gave him a nod and the people watched in shock as the creature that fell from that height twitched on the ground, then rose to its feet letting out an ear piercing screech.

Caelthir who sat on one of the spires, watching the scenes playing out all around him could only watch the creature with a barely registered amused look.

"Hm... There it is... I was wondering why it wasn’t adding up." He hummed for a moment as if making a mental calculation.

"The undead, shifters, ash rain and now this chimera... Four calamities have been released... about time for them to start the spell."

His eyes then fell on the young Dragon who was busy fighting with the Domina on the Oasis street. He propped his elbow over his knee as he sat leisurely and rested his chin in his palm as he watched Ocean with an almost sympathetic look.

"This is as far as it gets." He muttered, "The hope of heavens is going to get crushed today. The last candidate is bound to fail this one."