The hail of curses assaulted the student. She remained strangely steady.

"Louder," Zolgon urged, caught a little off guard. Some of the demons struck their shields.

While Thomas was hidden from the demons, he was in full view of the mages. They all stared at him as he placed another sack of black powder. He gave an awkward smile and his gaze drifted to the girl, who gave a shy smile back. 'She looks good,' he thought. 'Really good.' He licked his lips.

"Focus!" Frey bellowed to Thomas. In the eyes of others however, he appeared to be facing Thomas's definite future wife. The newest Elemental successfully joined the last line of defense, and Thomas heard a curse from the other side of the tables.

"Sire, the Grand Shaman is taking too long, and this tactic doesn't seem to be reliable," a demon whispered.

Zolgon leaned on the table, staring down the mages with narrowed eyes. Thomas held his breath, or he would have if he needed to breathe. "It's odd," Zolgon responded. "This tactic is perfect for beating down newbies. Are there any surprises I should know about?"

"I don't know," the voice replied. "Our scouts are taking longer than usual to report back. I'm thinking of sending a small search party after them but I fear spreading out our forces."

Zolgon clicked his tongue and drummed his fingers along the top of the tables.

Thomas pressed his entire body against the tables. He winced at the very thought of that crown looming over him and those red, slitted eyes. He shook his head. 'I can't control that, but it couldn't hurt to stay here for a bit longer, could it?'

Zolgon continued. "We won't advance anytime soon. I want to break the wind mage and the trust he's built up with his students. He's dangerous but also vulnerable. Just one more push and he'll crumble. As for those incompetent scouts, send three captains to confirm our surroundings."

"Yes sir." Thomas heard the source of the voice take a step away.

"Wait," Zolgon said.

"Yes sir?"

Zolgon waved a hand at the demon. "I wasn't talking to you." he pointed to the trail of blood leading to Thomas's previous position. "Where was the body?"

"Now!" Thomas roared as he bolted away from the line of explosives.

"Fire!" Lance yelled. Dozens of magic circles painted the room in a mess of color. The Elementals, Watchmen, Thomas, and Elero hit the deck. Deadly spells of all shapes and sizes soared over their heads.

"Brace!" Zolgon yelled out too late.

The black powder detonated with a reverberating bang, the opening act in a three-part play of merciless obliteration. The explosive force punched through Thomas's body and sent him skidding across the ground like shrapnel. His world went white. His hands and feet slapped against the ground in desperate attempts to find hold of something. 'Move!' was the only thought in his head.

Blood dripped from his ears, which rang from the explosion. When the white faded, he glanced back to see the results of the detonation. The line of shield-bearing demons were gone. Magic resistance meant nothing against the sheer force. Splintered wood rained down around the single surviving figure.

'You've got to be kidding me,' Thomas thought as one figure stood immune to the damage.

Zolgon had withstood everything without batting an eye. A dark aura shimmered in front of the mighty king but it was neither magic nor life essence. Spells slammed into it only to bounce off. He looked at the remains of his troop, shook his head, looked at Thomas, smiled, and said: "My turn." He calmly reached into his spatial ring and withdrew a smooth, white stone the size of his palm. "Grand Shaman Brannath, you may fire."

Night became day as, for the second time since the demon's arrival, an enormous magic circle shone down on the magic academy. The barrage of spells ceased. All heads went up in unison as a beam of destruction descended.

Thomas braced himself. Barriers sprouted just in time to absorb the impact. The instructors held strong using the mana from stalling but there was no telling how long the spell would last.

Zolgon pointed at the center group of mages and the wall of black aura in front of him condensed to a single point. "Predictable." He jabbed his finger out and the condensed energy shot out like a bullet, piercing the magic barriers as if they were paper. It continued to beeline towards the distracted Head Mage. Two Elementals lept in its path but they poofed out of existence as soon as it touched them. "Check mate."

Ten feet from its target, Frey dashed in to intercept it. White, flaming aura covered his skin. He presented his shield and slapped the black bullet away. He raised his poleaxe into the air and bellowed: "The goddess protects us! Stand strong!" The students burst into a round of cheering.

Even behind so many barricades, the flutter of blue hair couldn't escape Zolgon's red, slitted eyes. "You?" He cursed. "You're not supposed to be here." He recovered from the shock rather quickly. The playthings had become a threat. Threats needed to be put down. Zolgon reached a single hand into his spatial ring and pulled out a black and gold broadsword, which he pointed at the opposition. "Charge!"

Two forces collided with deadly repercussions. With the first barricade gone, the demons swept forward like a tidal wave of meat into the barrage of spells. Demons fell left and right without any cover to brace themselves. Limbs and blood showered down yet still they came.

"Thomas get over here," A voice yelled over the chaos. Thomas looked over. Elero gestured for him to retreat to the second defense layer. "Why are you just standing there? Come on! Heel boy, heel!"

Thomas could see the spittle flying out of her face and the desperation with her eyes. He stood there with black eyes and a hole in his chest, staring at this strange being who he only faintly remembered. Drool spilled from his lips. 'No!' He turned away, and ran.

"Thomas, please don't do this!" Her yelling rose up a pitch as it grew fainter and fainter. "Thomas! Get back here! You're so close to being fixed! Just hold on a little longer! We can do it!"

He shambled towards the demons slowly at first. His legs and hair lengthened. As opposed to the soft bunny fur like with his previous transformation, his coat was red and spiky. In between the protrusions were scales, reminiscent of reptilian mutants within the swamp. Two bat-like wings stretched out from his back. His eyes bulged out like crystal balls. His jaw extended. Inside of it were a collection of buck teeth, snake fangs, and molars.

He coiled his long legs and wings until the first demon entered his range. He exploded off the ground, bounced off the ceiling, and ripped the demon's head off its shoulders. He swallowed, a rather ridiculous sight as the demon's head traveled down his expanded esophagus.

Steam rose from Thomas's chest. Long spindles of black energy wove into internal organs, bone, muscle, and finally skin. Thomas's limbs shrunk, seemingly from the energy expenditure. He grabbed the headless body and ripped another chunk out of it. He took another three bites before he realized there was a sword protruding from his chest.

"What is this thing?" were the assaulter's last words as Thomas whipped around and slashed its neck. Blue blood filled his vision, a delicacy. He stumbled forward as another weapon pierced his body, this time through the heart.

"Just keep hitting it!" another bothersome demon called out to his hesitant allies. Thomas grabbed the demon's weapon, pulled it and subsequently the demon, and ate his face. He yanked both weapons out of his body. The wounds closed up within seconds. He looked for his next prey.

"Pin him down!" Strangely Thomas understood what the demons said as a dozen of them surrounded him. He went down the line of options, quickly finding the biggest, juiciest prey.

Thomas leapt and opened his mouth. The large demon stepped back inches away from the snapping jaw, grabbed Thomas by the hair, and drove a knee into his face. Blood poured like a fountain out of the broken nose yet Thomas felt nothing. He grabbed the knee and inverted it with a well-placed elbow jab. The demon screamed and cursed however he did not let go of Thomas.

The other demons converged upon Thomas and wrestled him to the ground. "This is ridiculous," one said as he drove a dagger through Thomas's wrist. Three others did the same to his other wrists and ankles. "We're squad leaders for the god of evil's sake. How is one brainless idiot challenging us?" Thomas didn't stop, flailing and biting with all his strength.

The biggest demon of the bunch pulled out a mace and raised it high into the air. "Zolgon said that you need to crush the head to get rid of these bastards. It's as if he knew this was coming...shit!" He switched his attack to a block as a white stone fist knocked him into the sea of charging demons. The Watchmen of the first wall charged into battle. The squad leaders could win given time but the encirclement was broken.

The Watchmen, statues of famous figures across history, were emotionless constructs with the sole purpose of inflicting pain. Thomas pulled and yanked at the daggers holding him down yet they did not help him. They beat him down like he was a demon. Bruises and other such instances of blunt force trauma healed quickly at first, then slower as the beating continued. His fat melted away until he was skin and bones. He stopped moving and they moved on.

One minute had passed since Zolgon ordered his troops to charge.

Number of demon casualties: 139

Number of mage casualties: 1

Number of watchmen destroyed: 5