Just before Solomon managed to reach Mia, his right arm outstretched to her neck, Ethan sprang up and sank his sharp fangs into his member several times to nibble on it until the flesh was gone and the bone torn for the Vila to end up with a stump instead of a hand. The warrior groaned in pain and propelled Ethan a few feet away with his functional arm before unfurling his majestic wings and rushing to the same window Impervia had used to flee upon seeing her son rip the warrior's limb off. She quickly understood that the fight was no longer to their advantage and that it was better to fall back. She was an arrogant woman, but not a stupid woman.

Mia rushed to her soul mate's side who struggled to his feet, abandoning his transformation and regaining his human characteristics. He wasn't a pretty sight, with all that blood dripping from his mouth and jaw, but the blonde easily ignored those details. Their enemies weren't dead, but neither were they. They were alive and well.

"Don't think you'll get away with it that easily," came a voice outside that they quickly identified as Solomon's. "Never will this vermin of humans manage to win against an army of magical beings. You will never defeat us. It's only a matter of time before we find your hiding place!"

The Vila flew into the night after his speech to join Impervia and their allies. The breath everyone was holding in their throats finally seemed to release after the two individuals left. Their small victory was greeted with sighs of relief, slack shoulders, and even a few smirks. While Lily was tending to the wounds of Zerkan, Vassili and Andrei, Arry had gotten up and was finally enjoying her reunion with Oz but couldn't help but throw a few sideways glances at the wizard who was still knocked out on the floor.

"You saved my life," Ethan said, gazing into Mia's. "Thank you."

"Not so useless after all, huh?" she joked smiling.

Her mind was in turmoil with the descent of stress. She felt almost euphoric at the prospect that they had won and that she had fought too. She had stood up to fearful and deadly creatures, and she had hurt the woman responsible for thousands of people's deaths. She wasn't the helpless little human that the others thought she was.

No, what other people think doesn't matter, she mentally commented. I was the one who thought I was just a helpless little human.

Ethan chuckled lightly before hugging the young woman, ignoring the blood that covered his jaw and neck. Mia hugged him back, squeezing him with all her might. A feeling of gratitude that they were both alive bathed her mind in a warm glow, dispelling the darkness of the last days.

"We did it!" she exclaimed, burying her face in the Vila's neck.

"Are we all alive?" asked Andrei who had just woken up in a tired voice.

The way Arry's shoulders relaxed when she saw that the wizard was okay didn't escape Mia. She didn't seem to pay him any attention, but it was obvious that she had been worried about the young man and was relieved that he was okay. Still, it was more convenient to blame someone when that person was alive, after all. Andrei wasn't as discreet, as his gaze frantically sought out the redhead immediately after coming to his senses to make sure she wasn't hurt.

"No time to celebrate, we have to go before the other students notice what's going on and manage to get out of their quarters," announced Zerkan, pointing his finger towards the exit to hurry them.

Therefore, the group plunged down the stairs to reach the wizarding district, and the last students evacuated the premises. There was no longer any sign of the three guards in the small entrance hall, but there were a few small drops of blood here and there that suggested that the Sentinels hadn't just tied them up.

A few of Arry's friends rushed to hug the redhead, relieved that she was alive. They had waited for her before leaving the school in their turn. Again, Andrei garnered several dark eyes from the magicians surrounding the young woman, but he ignored them by simply observing the one he loved. The tortured look on his face was not deceiving: he took advantage of every moment to stick the image of the redhead in his retinas before their paths separated again.

"We have to go tell the fairies that they can leave if they haven't yet," he advised, concentrating his attention on the operation again.

"I'll go," Lily volunteered before turning to Mia and hugging her in what sounded like a goodbye. "Thank you for coming to save us, but I must return to my people. I feel like we'll have a lot of work ahead of the war, but I'm sure we'll see each other again!"

The blonde was disappointed that her friend wouldn't be going home with them, but she couldn't blame her. What she was explaining was legitimate and she could not abandon her people like that. Healing others was their raison d'etre before it was even their job, and she had to make sure that each of them could escape and return to their King and Queen.

She nevertheless covered the last meters separating them from the ground floor with the rest of the group, then their paths parted when they arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Lily went left, into the infirmary, while the members of the Resistance and the remaining students rushed through the halls of the school to join the staircase leading to the basement.

"Don't make any noise, we're going to pass the vampire district," Vassili ordered in a low voice before they descended the first steps.