Mozrael's first instinct was flight, but her feet remained planted firmly.

A sudden laugh rippled through the clearing. It sounded almost like a child's, very disturbing.

The body of the boy twitched, and his skin stretched like rubber, then it came back together, its face turning into that of a girl.

Then its head snapped upward and all the way backward. Bones crunched and crackled as if wrung by invisible hands, and the grin that followed didn't belong to anything human.

"Don't go! Save us…"

The words came in the voice of one of the girls it had consumed earlier, repeated like a mocking chant.

The other students staggered back, trembling. One girl clutched her arm, whispering prayers under her breath.

Mozrael gritted her teeth and raised her sword."Don't look at it. Don't listen."

The girl's skin rippled like water. His face collapsed inward, then another pushed out from beneath it.

This time, it was a woman's, then a man's, then something with too many eyes. Each blinked once, studying them.

And with every failed face, the laughter grew louder.

"Why don't you smile for me?" it asked, now in a voice that sounded similar to Mozrael's."Why don't you scream?"

Disgusting.

She lunged. Her sword blazed blue, cutting clean through the creature's shoulder — but instead of blood, smoke spilled out, carrying faint whispers of people that once lived.

A pungent smell of decay flooded the area, assaulting their nostrils.

The thing didn't fall, but melted.

In seconds, its entire body turned liquid and slithered across the earth, crawling up trees and dripping from branches, reforming into different faces — all upside down, all grinning.

She tried to get to it, but it slipped right past her each time.

That was when she realized it was drawing her away from the students.

"Get back!" Mozrael shouted, but none of them moved, paralyzed by terror.

The liquid gathered in one spot, condensing, rising higher and higher until it towered above her. The shape solidified into a giant ape with limbs too long, its head inverted, the mouth stretched from neck to brow in a grotesque grin.

It howled, and the sound was inverted, like hearing a roar played backward.

The ground split as it charged.

Mozrael barely dodged as its claws raked across the soil where she had stood a second ago. She retaliated with a sweeping arc of fire, cutting into its side. Flames caught along its fur, but instead of burning, they froze in place, absorbed by its skin.

She grunted, leaping back.

The creature tilted its head, grin widening.

"Help me!" It screamed in a boy's voice.

Then, before she could move, it dropped to all fours and slipped past her.

Her eyes widened as she spun around.

"No!"

It reappeared behind her, bursting through dust and barreling straight toward the students. They barely had time to scream before its mouth unhinged wider than its body should allow.

It twisted, spine cracking like thunder, and swallowed them whole.

Mozrael's fire hit too late. It tore through the clearing, scorching everything — but the students were already gone.

Only silence followed.

The creature twisted and stretched, then its body started to reshape and take form.

"Mozrael… save us…"

Her heart stopped.

Standing where the creature had been was one of the girls, with tears running down her face, and her lips quivering.

"Mozrael… save us…"

It used the same tone and inflection.

"Stop it."

The girl took a step closer, still crying.

"Mozrael, save us…"

"Stop it!"

"Mozrael…"

Flames erupted around Mozrael, blue and gold. Her marks pulsed, burning through her sleeves, searing bright against her skin.

"Give them back…" she whispered.

The girl's face twitched, split open, then twisted back into the grinning monkey.

"Mozrael… save us…"

It lunged.

Mozrael met it midair, slamming it into the ground with a burst of fire so intense the trees vaporized into ash. The creature shrieked, its false skins burning away until the truth underneath was all that remained—that horrid, upside-down grin.

The flames rose higher, consuming everything, but Mozrael didn't stop.

Her power raged unchecked, and the forest paid the price of her fury.

When the creature finally fell still, it wasn't out of fear or desperation.It was smiling.

As Aramith approached the location, a new burst of flame guided him.

This time, it was a mixture of gold and blue.

Aramith couldn't help but worry.

What could make her have no choice but to go all out?

As he got closer, the smell of blood and ash filled the place.

Signs of struggle were everywhere, and he didn't need to look twice to know this wasn't Mozrael's doing.

A powerful creature caused that, possibly the same creature that pushed her to go all out.

His eyes locked on the smoke ahead, where Mozrael's flames had burned.

Aramith burst through the smoke, his eyes glowing faintly as he took in the devastation. The ground was littered with blackened ash and half-melted remains of beasts, and the air was thick with the stench of burnt bark.

But underneath it all, there was a decaying stench that flowed.

And at the center of it all was Mozrael.

She stood trembling, her sword lowered, her hair sticking to her face from sweat.

Her marks glowed through the smoke, blue and gold, crawling across her skin like living fire.

"...Mozrael."

Her head jerked toward him, eyes wide and lost—like she wasn't even sure if he was real. Then his expression shifted.

Something moved behind her.

Mozrael didn't smile or seem relieved to see him.

Instead, her face twisted into never-before-seen rage.

"You disgusting little!"

She threw a punch in his direction, summoning a fire dragon that shot at him.

Aramith immediately understood that she was either hallucinating or found it difficult to trust her surroundings.

He raised his hand to form a ball of darkness that absorbed the dragon, but his eyes were focused on the movement behind her.

The black sludge stitched itself together, bone by bone, fur by fur, until the creature's form began to rise once more. It was smaller now, its limbs quivering as it re-formed, but that grin remained, upside-down and stretched.

It was still alive.

"Get down!"

Aramith's voice cut through the roar of the flames as he dashed forward.

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