Azalea PoV 

Dozens of ear piercing shrieks echoed across the small canyon as I rushed back to the fortifications that the expedition members had set up across the small gap in Demon’s Pass. I was trying to out pace the surprisingly fast Wyrms, or specifically, Bone Wyrm. Which, I’m not too proud to admit, that I giggled at when I first heard their proper name. 

I fired every spell I had at the closest giant worm look-alike with only minor effect, until I hit it with [Psychic Cut] causing the slim, but incredibly long creature to flinch and shriek at me. The Bone Wyrm looked like a giant worm, if a giant worm looked like it was a human spine, but with spikes on its back and sides with a massive jaw full of razor sharp teeth, reminiscent of a piranha. Its head had the distinct shape of a hammerhead shark without eyes. 

Juvenile Bone Wyrm (Champion)

Power Level: 999

Wyrms are Dragonkin who have chosen to isolate themselves in the wild lands uninhabited by the mortal races. Bone Wyrms are merely resurrected Wryms, but are no less dangerous for the fact. 

I watched as the Wyrm coiled up then launched itself at me. I barely had time to curse, let alone dodge its giant pointy teeth. 

“Ha! How do you like them apples!” I yelled at the creature as it glared at me. It had no eyes, but I knew it was glaring as it snapped its jaws several times, before falling back to the ground with an earth shaking boom. I spluttered and wiped away at the dust and debris that kicked up from the wyrm’s landing. 

I continued firing the [Psychic Cut]s until I ran out of mana, and because I’m an equal opportunity kinda gal, I shared the love between all six wyrms equally. To say that these things were furious at me was an understatement. 

> Azalea! What did you do? <

I flinched as Kelcie’s voice appeared in my ears suddenly. 

> What makes you think I pissed off the wyrms? < I asked as innocently as I possibly could. 

I heard her swear and sigh loud and clear over the party-speak function. I must’ve just come into range. 

> So that’s not you? Not antagonising the Bone Wyrms then? <

I snickered. Bone Wyrms. 

> Azalea… <

Oops. 

> I just implied a few things about their faces, you know, gave them some desperately needed tips on makeup usage, and the poor things are so happy with my advice, they’re trying to hug me! Can you believe it? <

> Azalea… <

I winced as her tone brooked no argument. 

> Okay… fine! Yes, I’m keeping the wyrms focused on me. Delaying them before they get to your location so you have more chance to destroy the Death Knights and not get overwhelmed. <

> Just… look after yourself, please! It’d be a shame to see you die and our familiar bond be broken before I get some sweet, sweet fairy magic from it. < Kelcie said, a tinge of humour leaking into her voice. 

I giggled. > And here I was thinking I’d given you fairy magic last night. <

> Eww, gross! < Ryel giggled. 

> Azalea! < Kelcie yelled, embarrassed. 

> I’m with Ryel on this one, > Callie chimed in all of a sudden. She had been even more quiet than usual lately. 

> What? I just gave her a shoulder massage! You lot are gross! <

I rolled my eyes, spotting the asteroid belt ringing the planet through the clouds as several snorts and giggles across the party chat let me know just how much they believed that, but before I could reply, two wyrms suddenly launched themselves at me at once. Twirling and backflipping midair, I dodged just as their jaws slammed shut near me. With a loud crack, they crashed into each other and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. 

“Ha! If you want to hug each other, do it on the ground, dolts!” I shouted as I swooped down and fired [Mystic Lightning] into their stunned forms. Loud agonising shrieks let me know that it was effective against them. Checking their health caused me to gasp in dismay, as I had barely taken off 20% of their health for the entire fight. 

It was the morning after we had cleared the dungeon and had heard about the vanguard approaching. We had rushed to make it to the ancient wall that had been erected to hold back the demons in the past. It was in desperate need of significant repairs, which the few engineering type classes had been hard at work fixing. Ancient stone fortifications stretched across the narrowest section of Demon’s Pass, crumbling in dozens of sections. We had managed to destroy the first advancing wave of the vanguard, only to find out that two more waves were approaching. 

These wyrms were the last of the third wave. Tyral had sent me out to scout any more possible waves before the approaching horde arrived, but thankfully I could only see these enemies. I decided I’d see if I could delay them, even for a few minutes, to give my fellow adventurers a much needed break. Unfortunately, the wyrms were just too tough. I was quickly catching up on their power levels but I was still too low. 

Kelcie suddenly spoke up again. 

> Tyral just asked that you bring them right into the middle of our defenders if you can. Right on top of me. < 

> Wilco! < 

Ignoring their questions of what that even meant, I zipped down, letting loose a scathing attack from my bullets and lightning to grab their attention. Once I knew I had it, I shot off in the direction I felt Kelcie standing. With ear splitting roars and thunderous booms as they raced after me, I dashed forwards, staying just far enough ahead that the wyrms kept their attention on me. I spotted the hidden adventurers crouching in wait as I shot past them then up and over the stone wall. 

“Fire!” 

At the call, dozens of lances of various magic types and magically imbued bolts from hastily crafted or repaired catapults flashed forward as the adventurers in hiding sprung up and overwhelmed the wyrms within a few minutes. 

My UI dinged the notification that I had just hit over 600 Power Level when Kelcie grabbed me from behind and held me against her chest. “Crazy girl,” she muttered. “I should put you on a leash and keep you near me always. I saw how much health you took from those wyrms.”

I sighed. “It still wasn’t enough though! These things are tough.”

“You realise that most of these higher level adventurers would have struggled to do half of what you managed right?”

Shrugging, I snuggled into her embrace. “I do now. But it’s still not enough. We can’t let the horde through. We can’t!”

Kelcie rubbed my back and gently stroked my wings, making me squirm from the sensations. “It’s okay. We won’t, I promise.” She sounded confident enough that I even started believing it. 

Suddenly Kelcie yawned, trying to cover it with her hand. I looked up and saw how tired she looked. Her eyes were red and watery, with dark circles under them, her skin pale. She had barely slept last night between being up late fighting the first wave, and constantly tossing and turning, muttering about how she’d had no choice but to destroy the monster that had replaced her also monstrous mother. All I could do was make myself large and hold her for comfort. 

Tyral walked up to me in her battle robes, staff in hand. “How far away is the first wave?”

“If they continue the pace I saw earlier? Lunch time. Midafternoon at the latest.”

The leader sighed. “At least most of that is a lot lower power level than the vanguard of wyrms and death knights. Just far more than I’d like to personally face.” She looked at us both with a sharp eye.” Get some sleep, the pair of you, you were both up late last night and had a big day yesterday. I’m sending most of the expedition to grab a nap.”

Kelcie opened her mouth – most likely to argue, I enlarged myself and pulled her after me. “Come on. Let’s get some rest.” I didn’t feel like sleeping, but I hoped I could get Kelcie to sleep for a while. 

*

The whoosh of displaced air, followed by a loud thud as the Death Knight’s giant sword crashed into the ground was almost missed in the din of the battle raging all around me while I dodged his attacks. Thousands of undead swarmed us on the first day when the first wave finally reached us. It reminded me of scenes from World War Z. The defences that had been built barely held from the first wave, and now, three days later, they buckled after every wave, but we managed to push back every time. 

“Come on ugly, that can’t be all you can do!” I yelled mockingly. 

The injured Death Knight silently raised its sword up high and with a light-blue flash, a sudden chill swept over me as it slashed the sword down. I flung my hands up and summoned my shield in front of the glowing sword, holding it in place for a moment before it shattered. The ice spike it had been about to shoot at me, instead sailed over my head and out into the amassed undead behind. 

Dashing forward, I charged up a [Telekinetic Pulse] for as long as I could before letting loose at point-blank range, directly in its face. A loud boom shook the air as the armoured head crumbled and shattered underneath my blow. My UI flashed a notification as the overly large and armoured body dissolved into swirls of blue light. 

“That’s for my friends!”

Ding!

Congratulations! Your Power Level is now 857

I let out a huff as I looked around at the rest of the adventurers cutting down the remainder of the wave we had just fought off. As I watched, the flickering blue magical shields slowly stabilised and grew brighter once more. The shields were placed to mostly shore up the holes in the wall that had either been made since the fighting started, or the engineering team didn’t have enough time to fix. 

As soon as the fighting died down, I immediately raced off to the makeshift hospital tents. Callie and Kelcie were both lying in cots after being surrounded by multiple Death Knights, the last of which I had just dispatched. 

Raya jumped as I flashed into the tent that held my party members. “Gah! Azalea, you startled me,” she whisper-yelled.

Ignoring the nekokin, I hovered over Kelcie, sighing in relief as I saw she was napping. Attempting to conserve mana and health consumables, the healers had set up these tents to allow fighters to heal and rest up if they could be spared from the battle. For now, it was working, but everyone was already starting to feel the strain. 

Ryel was holding Kelcie’s hand and Callie had sat up and was moving her arms slowly, testing their range of motion. She had caught a sword from a knight that had been destined for Kelcie with her hands covered in red lightning, but it injured her in the process. 

A loud horn sounded outside, alerting anyone who could hear it that another wave was approaching. I growled a curse as my desire to curl up and hug Kelcie warred with my desire to protect her and my home. 

Fairy was only a few days flight from here, and if I knew for sure that they’d help, I would’ve gone and begged for their aid days ago. As it was, I was almost ready to at least attempt it anyway. 

I looked at Callie and Ryel. “Come on, they’ll probably need us. A few more people got hurt.” I gulped sadly, my voice shaky. “And… we lost several more,” I finished quietly, flinching involuntarily. 

Raya looked sad and mumbled something in another language under her breath, it sounded almost like a prayer, not that I understood what she said. 

After finding out that there weren't any resurrection spells made me even more determined to look after my loved ones. This was a dangerous world, filled with monsters and powerful magic. Now that I knew that, I was more determined than ever to grow strong so I could protect them. 

Callie sighed and nodded, following after Ryel and myself as we left the tent with a quick bye to Raya. I zipped back in and kissed Kelcie’s forehead before rushing after my companions. 

I heard Callie and Ryel gasp and curse in dismay. I was about to reprimand Ryel on Kelcie's behalf, when I saw what they were looking at as I reached them. The entire horizon, from both sides of the small canyon we were in, was squirming and writhing with undead. Mostly zombies but plenty of beasts and other creatures growled or squawked as they marched or flew towards us. In the distance I could see a skeletally thin being in black robes, floating above the horde. With my keen sight, I made out an androgynous figure with long flowing dark hair, bone white skin and eyes glowing an ice blue, watching over the dead below it with a cold smile. 

I couldn’t identify it from this far away, but I instantly knew what it was from the other adventurers' descriptions. A Lich. They were apparently dangerous enough in their own right, and ten times more dangerous when surrounded by a horde of their undead minions. Shouts, gasps and curses went up and down the line as two more Liches joined the first. They looked almost identical to the first, even with my eyesight I was hard pressed to see any differences. 

“Where do they shop for those robes of theirs? Undead apparel dot com?” 

“What even…? Never mind. Just… get ready… I guess?” Callie mumbled nervously, her voice quivering slightly. 

Ryel turned to me. “Azzie?”

“Yeah?” I asked, flying over and plopping myself onto her shoulder. 

“I’m scared,” she whispered. 

I nodded, hugging the side of her head. “Me too, sweetie, me too. If this turns bad, I want you to run. Okay? Go to the forest south east of here until you encounter a magical barrier. Knock on it or something until fairies appear and tell them I sent you.”

The young half-orcs' eyes widened in shock. “I can’t leave you and Kelcie, not again!”

Before I could try and convince her to change her mind, Callie spoke up. “I didn’t realise you lived so close by, Azalea. Will the fairies help if we ask?”

I sighed and shook my head. “I doubt it. There’s a reason I’m the first one you’ve seen around. They’re extreme isolationists and from what Kelcie told me about how the outside world has treated them, on top of what I read from an ability of mine, I honestly don’t blame them.”

Callie frowned, but nodded with a sigh. “Yeah, it’s unfortunate that they’ve had to deal with the outside world like that.” Her frown changed to a thoughtful expression as she tapped her chin with a finger. “But perhaps if they interacted with us rather than isolating themselves in the forest, maybe we can help prevent anything like that happening again?”

“Maybe,” I shrugged. “But for now, we’ve got to survive this first, we can solve the world's problems tomorrow. Agreed?” I asked with a small smile. 

Ryel giggled. “Agreed!”

The half elf smiled without responding, facing back towards the approaching horde silently. 

The ground, even the air itself seemed to be vibrating from the uncountable number of feet impacting the dirt. 

“This is it everyone, hold your ground!” Tyral shouted over the roar of the marching undead. Her voice somehow reached us all, regardless of how far away she was. 

Kelcie suddenly appeared next to Ryel, with Raya stepping in to hold Callie close. “You didn’t think we’d miss this party did you?” Kelcie asked with a soft smile at me. 

My heart felt ten times bigger in that moment as I stared up at her. “I lov–” I started to say, before a bright light obliterated the first line of undead. The rumbling boom of thunder echoed over our heads, as a massive flying ship, made from steel and what looked like crystal flew into view over the forest behind us. A secondary crack and rumble of lightning and thunder echoed overhead from the direction of the ship. Dust and debris kicked up in rough whirlwinds and the trees swayed from displaced air. Tiny dots of light poured out of the ship, flying directly for our position, and within moments, I could make out dozens of humanoids flying for us using various methods. 

With my ears ringing, I couldn’t make out what everyone around me was shouting at first. 

“–down, I repeat, settle down! This is the backup I promised. Prince Enoc and his Wing Command in the Storm Front.”

A man with wings made of flames landed next to Tyral, followed by half a dozen other soldiers as the Storm Front moved over us and turned on its side, firing at the horde in earnest with some kind of energy weapons. The groups of flying soldiers swarmed around it, battling the undead Rocs and what looked like wyverns in the sky. 

With the booms and rumbles of the cannons firing, I watched as the first man hugged a saluting Tyral. 

“Show off,” Callie muttered behind me.

As I looked at her, I could see a conflicted look on her face as she watched the two leaders talk. Her face paled drastically, almost the same colour as the Liches as Tyral gestured towards our group. 

Trying and failing to hide behind our group, Callie looked anywhere but the approaching half elf– a prince, I noticed, when I used [Inspect]. “No, no, no… I’m sorry, everyone, for not telling you all sooner.”

“Telling us what sooner?” Raya asked, looking worried at her girlfriend’s behaviour. 

“Long time, no see, sister,” Prince Enoc said, stopping a short distance away. He was attempting to school his features, but I could see the excitement and warmth dancing in his eyes, but they were also tinged with sadness and regret. 

Callie winced as everyone gasped in surprise around us. “Hi, Enoc. I’m sorry I haven’t kept in contact. Hard to do when you’re hiding from the royal family.”

Raya tightened her hold on her girlfriend as she looked up at her with a surprised and hurt expression. Clearly she hadn’t said anything to Raya either. I didn’t want to be around for that conversation. 

Prince Enoc looked conflicted as he took a hesitant step forward, raising his arms up – as if for a hug, when a thunderous crack boomed out. I watched as the ship was shoved to one side, shuddering as a tremendous blast of lightning washed over its shields from the three Liches. 

Storm Front had a design reminiscent of the Helicarrier from the Avengers movie, albeit with a steampunk style, and used exhaust from light blue glowing crystals to keep itself afloat. I could see that one of the crystal pylons was smoking and looking a little twisted and black from the lightning strike. 

The Prince cursed. “Reunions will have to wait, I’m afraid. We have an invasion to beat.”

Tyral stepped into view from behind the prince, giving Callie an apologetic grimace. “We need to capitalise on the surprise of your forces, Enoc.”

Enoc gave a curt nod. “Agreed. Those Lich need to die. They pose a danger to Stormie. We can’t let her get too damaged. If we keep their attention on something else, we should be able to take them out with a single shot of Storm Front’s main cannon.”

Just as I opened my mouth to volunteer, Kelcie covered it with her hand. “There’s no way you’re volunteering for that,” she hissed to me. I nodded slowly, my eyes open wide at the dangerous look on her face. 

Another lightning strike cracked across the sky shattering the moment as Storm Front violently rocked again, slowly making its way back over to us, further away from the danger. 

I watched as the flying forces from the ship battled the undead in the sky. I slowly pushed Kelcie’s hand off me. “I’m going to go and help the soldiers in the air.” I pointed at them. “It looks like they need the help.”

Kelcie looked torn between wanting me to be safe, but knowing I wanted to help. She eventually nodded. “Just… keep safe, please? No heroics.”

I smiled impishly. “When have I ever?” I immediately took off before she could reply, though I did hear her mutter a curse at me, or about me. I don’t know, I was too busy flashing away in wisp form. 

My lightning blasted a Roc out of the sky that was about to swallow a human flying with a jetpack. I zipped past him, firing a charged pulse at a wyvern, knocking it sideways and a human shaped bird man dropped on its wing, shredding it and causing the large creature to spin wildly as it dropped from the sky. My bullets shredded several Roc flying in formation, forcing them to break away from their dive. 

A young woman riding a flying steampunk motorbike, of all things, raced up beside me as I twirled around a wyvern, peppering it with my bullets. The biker, whose name was Rad Ollie from my [Inspect], spun a glowing lance around her head and stabbed into the wyvern. The creature bellowed and convulsed like it had been struck by lightning. As my bullets tore into its flank, it shuddered before flashing into the light blue particles that singled its death. 

“I’m assuming since you’re helping us, you’re a friend, not foe!” Rad yelled. 

I saluted her and winked. “As long as you don’t eat my cookies.”

Instead of being confused or angry, Rad laughed. “I like you, little fairy! Let’s go hunting!” She cheered. I copied her and we raced off, side by side. 

Several explosions knocked me sideways as Rad destroyed a Roc and I watched in horror as an undead dragon fired a blue beam of death directly at Storm Front. Where the hell did that dragon come from?

The shields on the ship held, but the front was clearly buckled after the attack ended. As the splotches in my vision cleared, I watched as the dragon turned for the frontlines as they fought to hold off the undead. I gasped as I noticed that every square inch of the ground below me was covered by moving corpses. A small ripple, like a rock thrown into a pond spread out from the undead as I saw three floating figures approaching the adventurers on the ground. 

Desperately, I turned to look to see if the ship was ready to fire, but noticed the glow around the cannon had dimmed, and I gasped in horror. One edge of the weapon was cracked. Clearly from the dragon attack. 

“This isn’t good…” I muttered. 

My new friend cursed as she pulled up beside me. “Do your friends have something they can do? This isn’t good… the Lich are bad news. Worse now that the cannon is out of commission.”

“We’ve got to do something!” I yelled. 

“I know… but what?” 

As I searched the sky for something, anything, I spotted it. A way to win this battle. To destroy everything. If I could make it work. I immediately began racing for the wall. For this to work, I’d need mana. I glanced up at the sky again. Lots of mana. 

I heard Rad yell out behind me, but I ignored her. Moments later, I felt Rad slip up and fly beside me. “What is it? What’s going on?”

“I’ve got a plan! I can destroy the horde… I think.”

“What? How?”

I grinned. “Fairy Magic!”

Changing into my wisp form, I took off at my maximum speed. Timing was at a premium right about now, and I needed every second of it. 

~

Kelcie PoV 

I fought to keep my feet as the ground shuddered and a bone-white undead dragon landed beside me. The sound of its roar was terrible to behold, and even worse to watch as it bared its black coated fangs menacingly. I automatically twirled and beheaded a zombie that rushed at me, firing a [Star Burst] at a group about to swarm one of Enoc’s soldiers, before I resummoned my sword and faced the dragon, fully prepared to die. 

With a thunderous boom, a bolt of lightning flashed out of the clear sky, crashing into the dragon's head with terrible fury. 

“Not today, Dragon. Today… you’re mine,” Tyral promised, slowly walking up to me, her robes billowing as she held her staff up high. Stopping momentarily, the expedition leader smiled at me warmly. “We’ve got this, kid. You go and help stop them from breaking through the wall.”

I nodded slowly as I watched Enoc fly up and slam into the dragon as it picked itself up. Immediately, Tyral lifted up both hands and fired a dozen bolts of lightning instantly, peppering the dragon's face as Enoc flashed a flame sword across its chest. 

Turning, I bolted towards the largest crumbling gap being swarmed by undead. 

“Kelcie! Glad you could make it,” Callie yelled as she spun her red lightning coated swords and finished killing several undead. 

Raya lifted her staff and smashed it down on a zombie's head, dropping it instantly. I nodded and smiled, cutting down several undead that got close. Behind us, the blue light of the shield shimmered comfortingly. Ryel spared me a smile as she threw several bombs at groups of undead trying to push their way past several adventurers. 

“Hey, girls! Don’t mind me, just borrowing the shield battery, gottagobye!” 

Azalea zipped past us, flying over the shield and grabbing the blue glowing crystal that powered the shield covering the gap in the wall. Without stopping, I saw the little fairy fly up high, struggling to drag the crystal behind her. 

“What in McKenna’s name was that about?” Callie cursed. 

I sighed as I swung my sword and blocked a Wight as it swiped at me with its claws. “I don’t know. I hope it’s not something reckless and stupid,” I said as I stabbed the Wight in the chest, trying to distract myself from worrying about my crazy girlfriend and her insane antics. Ryel snickering and smashing a Shadowcat in the head with a baton didn’t help my worry. 

“What in blazes is going on? What happened to the shield?” An important looking soldier asked as he came up with several men following him. 

Ryel pointed up at Azalea, who had clasped the mana crystal by this time and began glowing a bright purple, rapidly increasing in brightness as they watched. 

Azalea’s aura flashed brighter still as a blast of purple light exploded from her body, rocking everything and everyone in her vicinity. The small smattering of clouds covering the sky ripped apart as if something massive had punched through them. Sparks of purple lightning jumped out of Azalea, impaling the ground and anything dumb enough to stand too close. 

The fairy suddenly exploded into a mini purple star and lifted up higher in the air. Nothing seemed to happen for a long moment, then suddenly there were several dozen flashes of light, and after a long pause, loud rumbles reminiscent of thunder rocked the canyon. Every creature, living or dead paused to watch as the few wisps of cloud left broke apart entirely as dozens of fireballs pierced the sky, rapidly approaching the horde. 

The first fireball smashed into the ground with a tremendous flash of light, followed moments later by a terrible explosion of fire and heat. I saw hundreds of undead vanish in seconds, with even more getting shredded from the shockwave that tore across the ground with mindless fury. 

People gasped and swore as fireball after fireball slammed into the enemy undead. I saw the three Liches raise a shield to defend themselves, instantly vanishing under Azalea’s wrath. 

The air rapidly heated up as blast after thunderous blast rocked the battlefield, seemingly unending in its violence. It was hard to breathe from the smoke and fire that covered the air, as thick as a dust storm. It was long, long minutes before I realised that the shaking and the noise had ended. My ears were still ringing and it took some time before I realised that it was me that was shaking now. Azalea’s light dimmed as she slowly lowered herself to the ground, collapsing to her knees in exhaustion. I ran up to her and picked her up, cradling her to my body. 

As if time suddenly became unstuck, the few undead left fighting near the walls were quickly destroyed by the surviving adventurers and soldiers alike. The undead seemed far less threatening now that the Liches were all dead. 

A loud bellow signalled the final death of the undead dragon, as well as the end to the fighting. 

[World Notification]

The title of [Demon Lord] is awarded to the fairy known as Azalea. 

[World Notification]

From this day forward, any and all class and racial spells and effects can no longer be applied to any Celestial Object. 

[Regional Notification]

The Undead Invasion Event has ended. 40,000xp will be rewarded to any and all who took part. 

I blinked as I read the notifications, shocked into silence by the ramifications, most of which I probably hadn’t even begun to consider, when Azalea coughed and giggled. I had more notifications, but I ignored them in favour of making sure my fairy was alright. 

A young woman landed nearby and hopped off of her Airbike, running over as Azalea limply lay in my arms. 

“The system nerfed me,” the fairy said as she giggled weakly. 

Just as the pair started laughing, Azalea abruptly stopped as she glowed brightly momentarily. “Oh… I was just offered a free evolution!”