"If one more person shoots at me, I'm going to start fighting back," I said, not needing to shout because I knew full well that the wind would carry my voice to whoever I wanted to hear it. There had been a natural lull in the fighting, and for now all was quiet. I was hovering in the air a short distance above the rooftops, and I could see the damage these guys had inflicted; windows shattered by stray bullets, crushed cars that their tank had run over, cratered tarmac where grenades had fallen. Goodness knows how much worse it would have been had the missiles landed.

A bullet struck me in the back of the head, unable to penetrate, but showing that my warning had been unheeded. I turned and saw the surprised-looking sniper hanging out of the helicopter. "So be it," I muttered, sending a blinding shaft of lightning into it, causing it to explode in a bright fireball, raining shards of glowing metal out over the neighbourhood. It was a different level entirely to the harpy queen I'd fought, and for a brief moment, I could see Maximilian's point.

That seemed to be the signal for all hell to break loose once more, as bullets rained on me from above and below. I downed each chopper in turn, melted the tank, then dived back to ground level, racing along the road and slaughtering the contingent of soldiers. It took mere minutes to reduce the whole attack force to a pile of corpses. This was... a waste. They were no threat to me, and I couldn't feed on them. I was simply angry because they'd invaded my home. It was a pointless slaughter.

I flew high in the sky and looked around. That many helicopters arriving that quickly didn't come from nowhere, and sure enough, I spotted a bunch of tents outside of the city. Some sort of forward base? It was impressive they'd set it up within a couple of days. It would take even less time to tear it back down.

I descended out of the sky, greeted by yet more gunfire. Why did they think two hundred bullets would work when one hundred didn't? I washed the ground with lightning, leaving streams of molten rock in my wake, soldiers, vehicles, structures reduced to nothing. This was all so stupid. Why didn't they just stop? For that matter, why were they using boring, plain old guns? The mayor's disintegrator was much better. It might even be able to sting me a bit.

A voice shouted out across the battlefield, from whatever bits of PA system were still intact. "Cease fire! Cease fire!"

Most of them did, faces twisted with despair. Those who didn't swiftly had the option taken from them, as I reaped yet more lives. Then all fell silent once more. I looked around until I spotted the man with the microphone in his hands, watching him shiver as he looked back at me. It hadn't been the same voice as the one that had declared collateral damage acceptable, or else he'd already be dead, but he still may have given the order. It was time to find out.

"You invaded my home," I stated as I descended, "attacked my father, traumatised my mother, almost blew up my brother. Why? Dad politely opened the door to your men. Yet they didn't even let him finish his sentence before forcing their way in."

"Because a monster was sighted entering the property. It's our job to..."

"Feel free to finish. Your job is what? Kill monsters? Because I thought it would be your job to protect people from monsters. Which you spectacularly failed at."

"That's..."

"Do you even know where monsters come from?"

"Of course not! No-one does!"

"I do," I answered, taking a seat on the burnt-out remains of some sort of armoured car. "Originally, three hundred years ago, from another world. Dunno how they got here, but I do know that once they were here, they couldn't get back. They wiped out most human life within days, then promptly died of starvation because our world didn't have any of what they considered food."

He didn't look surprised at that, so presumably was in on that little secret already. His grunts weren't, judging by their surprise. "Which is exactly why it's so important that we deal with newcomers swiftly, now that they're making a return!" he shouted.

"Except that they aren't. The weapons you just used on me weren't any better than what was available three hundred years ago, and they sure didn't work back then, so what do you think is different now?"

"Nothing! It's just numbers. Back then we were flooded, now it's just one at a time."

"Nope, as I've just proven, everything you can throw at me is completely useless. The fact is that you haven't been hunting monsters all this time. You've been hunting people."

Now his eyes opened wide in surprise. "What's that supposed to mean? I can assure you that what we've been hunting are not people."

"Okay, that was a little inaccurate, I'll admit. Let's go with former people. You see, Maximilian of Ascendant Technologies fame decided that those monsters were so far beyond humanity that they deserved to own this world. Dunno why, but having met the guy, he was definitely a tad cuckoo, so I doubt there was a logical reason. Anyway, point is that he set about splicing monster DNA into humans. Came up with a way of manufacturing hybrids. Then the ex-mayor of this place got in on the action, wanting to build himself a mind-controlled monster army. When I called those humans you just hurt 'family', I wasn't being figurative; I was one of that man's victims. I managed to escape before they lobotomised me and stuck one of their mind control chips in my head."

Actually, now that I think about it, doesn't that mean this guy owes me? "So, in summary, you've been chasing down an unending supply of monsters all this time, while I was left to go and do your real job for you, by taking out those responsible for making them. You're welcome."

"And you have evidence of that?"

"Yes, but I'm sure as hell not giving it to the military. Goodness knows what you would do with a mind-controlled monster army. Believe me or don't, I couldn't care less. You needn't worry about me, anyway. I only returned to Kholakel in such a non-sneaky manner because my brother was poisoned, and I was in a hurry. Normally I'd do my best not to scare people. Now, if you're done here, can I go back home and starve to death in peace?"

"Starve to death?"

"Yes, starve to death. Isn't it obvious from the way you couldn't hurt me? When I evolved from harpy to harpy queen, I lost my spliced human hybrid bits. Upside, I'm now almost invulnerable. Downside, I can no longer eat, and will now meet the same fate as all the other invaders from three hundred years ago. Sorry, but you wasted your time and your men. I was dying anyway."

"Well, you'll have to forgive me for not taking you at your word."

"Like I said, believe me or not, I don't care. I could kill the whole lot of you if I wanted. If any of my family had actually been hurt, I would have. Now get lost." Actually... Maybe I should cash in that favour already... "Or if you do insist on staying, at least go after the masterminds while you're here. I still have a bunch of people on my kill list I intend to take care of, so if you'd prefer them to have a proper trial and whatnot, you might want to get there before I do."

"For a self declared human, you sure resort to killing rather easily."

I stared with incredulity. "Really? First, I'm not human and I don't pretend to be. I may have some lingering familial feelings, but I'm very definitely a monster. Second, you've apparently not met many humans, or at least the subset of them that manage to percolate to the top of society. The sort of scum that floats on the top. The sort of scum that turns children into monsters and releases them into a forest so they can enjoy hunting them."

At this point, my little rant was rather spoilt by the approaching roar of yet another missile, but this one was loud, and I had no idea where it had even come from. "I will not be swayed by the words of an invading monster. I will do my duty, at the cost of my own life if needed." he stated coldly.

I twisted and attempted to zap the incoming missile, but it was moving too quickly, and my lance of lightning harmlessly passed by its side. It wasn't aimed straight at me, but impacted the ground nearby. The entirety of the surviving camp was blown away, and I was pushed up into the air, but even with this much I remained uninjured. Whether the general type guy I'd been ranting at had survived was doubtful, but right now, I didn't care. If they wanted to blow themselves up out of some sort of sense of duty, they were welcome to.

As for me, since I hadn't convinced these guys to finish my clean-up for me, it was time to visit the police.