The world fell silent, and the sky turned red as the fake sun flickered on and off, failing to sustain itself. Now that the abomination had no host left, its true form was about to dawn upon the world.

Zephyr looked around and frowned. She and the other queens had been out for several minutes. They’ve wasted so much energy and mana, so fighting this horror would even more arduous than it should’ve been.

Maybe this was the horror’s plan all along. To either kill or exhaust them, and either way, it’ll gain the advantage. It wasn’t only smart and active, but it could even plan ahead and take risks.

The situation was bad, and it’ll only get worse. Undine is slowly regaining her power thanks to the white dragons’ presence, and Zephyr herself can now recover her mana even in this accursed world thanks to her mother’s blood, but everyone else was as good as dead.

Nar, Gaia, Salamander, and Rilyeh, all of them had spent so much mana in their fight with Undine that they had become useless. Not to mention Zephyr skinning them alive to pull them out of the abomination’s control. That had put too much stress on them.

Zephyr herself is old enough to be fine through so much pain and torture, but they aren’t. Even the strongest of spirits would weaken after experiencing such a thing.

She can still fight, but that would only leave her alone with Undine, Isdis, Kory, and the white drakainas. The spirit army can’t possibly help in the fight against what was coming. She could also sense Claug getting closer, but she shouldn’t be able to help in such a fight.

The question now was if Zephyr could kill the abomination without letting anyone else die, or if she couldn’t. Should she just call her father for help? Focalor can be a bit of an asshole, but he never failed to come to her aid if she called.

She doesn’t even need him to fight, just to make sure everyone stays alive. For a Djinn sultan, that should be as easy as keeping a bunch of kittens locked inside the house.

But there was no time to think anymore. It was starting.

Blood started seeping out of the ground, boiling and foaming like a raging flood. Soon, the fake sun in the sky burned off, and the world plunged into pure darkness.

In the pitch darkness, two golden brown eyes flashed with a disturbing flame. At their mere sight, everyone could feel worms crawling beneath their skin and their knees wanting to give up.

Those who could see in pure darkness immediately frowned. That abomination had the same innocent-looking face as all of the clones they had faced so far. She was a thin, gentle, and normal-looking woman, walking toward them, naked.

With each step, her feet rested on the surface of the expanding sea of eldritch blood, drowning the world in a deathly, gut-tearing stench.

The spirits who saw her flew back. To them, that thing was neither a she nor a he; it wasn’t even registered as a human in their brains, only as a thing, akin to looking at a painting of a horrid monster. In fact, they couldn’t even look directly at her, because their eyes burned each time they tried.

It seems that their first theory was both right and wrong. This abomination isn’t so much a disease as the disease being a part of its power. It infects living beings and turns them into lesser, weaker versions of itself. That divides the abomination’s power and consciousness among its clones, allowing it to effectively spread and take control of a whole world.

But just with one look, Zephyr could clean another detail. This abomination grows stronger by absorbing the power from those it infects, which makes it an extremely dangerous foe.

Through the whole war, Zephyr watched closely, and now, she could glean a sliver of power in this abomination that belonged to the fairies who were lost in the war. It seems that they weren’t lost after all, just turned into clones and sent back to fight.

"Haaaa." The abomination sighed, looking down at her naked body with burning eyes. She then stretched, scratched her groin and butt, then cracked her neck and back, only to take a deep breath and burp.

After moving a bit, she stopped and looked at Zephyr and the rest.

"One...two...three... so many ugly women." She counted them with a sore and disappointed face. "Not a single handsome man in sight, how depressing, how sad."

She then sighed, extended her had down and shoved her fingers inside. "Maybe it’ll work with new faces. Got bored with my own." Without a care in the world, she started masturbating in front of everyone.

One of the fairies frowned, and if Zephyr didn’t save her, she would’ve been torn in half by that abomination. "Everyone! Retreat!" Hearing Zephyr’s shout, the fairies understood that they were facing an insane, mad, and horrid nightmare of a monster. They shouldn’t look or try to make sense of what that alien mind is thinking; all they must do is run away.

As the fairies started retreating, Zephyr and the Queens could finally focus on this horror.

Something about her felt off to Zephyr. The way she spoke, the way she moved, the way she breathed, and how her blood and magic flowed. The fact that she started doing such a thing before anything else must mean something was utterly wrong, and when Zephyr realized where the problem was, even she paled like ash.

At this moment, only Zephyr had realized the truth of the horror they are facing, and she didn’t know if it made the situation worse or better. But this thing, it isn’t an abomination at all. It’s a human! A human witch that somehow took control of the abomination’s power.

She could see her, a human soul, brain, and mind, broken by hundreds or thousands of years and drowning in madness.

"Back away, leave her to me." Zephyr first ordered the other queens, Kory, Isdis, and the white drakainas to back away. She then floated forward, her body burning with wind magic.

But then, something heavy fell from the sky, crashing between her and the abominable witch like a bomb. The ground shook and shattered, the seal of blood retreated, and a deep roar rattled the air.

A foot, humanoid, clean and beautiful, but twice the normal size, emerged from the dust and mud, landing with a thud. The long, sharp, and claw-like toenails dug into the ground, spreading a green mist of toxic poison enough to cause the blood to coagulate and rot away.

Claug’s massive body emerged, walking forward with a smile on her face, taking each step with measured control and intent. Her eyes glowed at the abomination. Luckily, her clothes were fine; it was only her high heels that shattered when she landed.

The abominable witch stopped playing with herself and looked forward, seeing Claug approaching her. In her whole life, she had never seen a woman that tall. Was she around three meters tall? She pulled her fingers out, licked them, then looked back at Claug.

"Hoo, I knew it felt weird. You’re a human, aren’t you?" Claug glared down at the abominable witch with a grin and glowing green eyes. Even in her humanoid form, she was towering above her like a giant.

The abominable witch looked up with a smile.

"A green drakaina, ancient, but this massive, and a witch above all. Are we cut from the same cloth or not?" She reached up, touching Claug’s face. She needed to stand on her toes and even them; she barely managed to touch her with the tips of her fingers.

Zephyr was certain the abomination witch was mad, but right now, she looked as sane as everyone else, albeit a bit unhinged.

"Who knows. You’re at least civil enough to talk." Claug patted the witch on the head, then flicked her fingers, summoning a black witch hat. "You’re naked, so this is a gift. Something to wear."

The abominable witch touched the hat Claug gave her, then looked down at herself. "Wearing the hat alone is worse than wearing nothing." She rubbed her chest and smacked her butt. "See? It makes things worse."

Claug looked back at Zephyr and everyone else. "You stay back for a moment. I’ll talk with her. It’s between witches now."

Zephyr would’ve charged in anyway, but she needed time to recover more magic, get the fairies to safety, and prepare a quick plan. So she’ll let Claug buy them as much time as possible.

The abominable witch smiled behind her. "I’m only talking to buy time. I need a bit of time to deal with whatever plague you brought." She wasn’t even going to hide her goal.

Claug smiled back. "Ho? Don’t worry, you’ll never deal with it. We’ll talk as much as I want." She then reached forward and looked closer at her. The witch looked as human as any normal woman could, but something about her still was off.

"I know I said you’re a human, but you reek of abominations to the point it’s sickening, and that disease was the power of an eldritch horror. Not that of mortal beings." Claug sat on the ground, crossing her legs, and the abominable witch did the same.

"That thing? If you came for it, it’s already dead. I killed it a few thousand years ago and took its power. He could rapidly infect people and turn them into himself. We have a sudden monster infection; people started suddenly turning into monsters." She leaned back on her arms, spreading her legs apart.

"Everyone fought for their lives, and so did I. At the time, I was just an apprentice witch making potions and pleasing my mistress’s unruly demands. Life was good for a while, but in the end, it was only me and that abominable monster standing, and he lost to me. I took his power, and with it the powers of everyone he consumed here."

Claug frowned. Something about what the abominable witch said didn’t sound right.

"The gods should’ve swooped in and killed it the moment it showed its head."

The abominable witch frowned for a moment, then burst laughing. "Gods? The gods? You and your superstitions, gods aren’t real, they never existed, and will never be. There was one primal god, and he died eons ago."

"Gods are real, it’s this world that’s rejecting their influence." She looked back at Zephyr, "Come here, you’re older and know better."

Zephyr floated toward them and took a seat.

The abominable witch looked at her. "You’re one of their kind, right. Do you know how much it hurts to get tortured and mutilated billions of times?"

Zephyr looked at her. "What else did you expect? We were fighting based on what powers we saw from you."

The witch growled, then looked away. "Yeah, we’re still fighting. This conversation would only last as long as I need to deal with her disease. Then I’ll make sure every midget like you suffers for the next thousand years."

Zephyr shrugged. "Do what you want. That abomination was blocking the gods’ influence with its eldritch magic. So... if your people thought the gods didn’t exist, it was probably the abomination’s fault."

She scratched her head. "It could’ve come here right after the first overgod disappeared and started infecting people. But, I’m almost certain it didn’t start creating monsters right away; it must’ve stayed hidden and slowly blocked the gods’ influence over several centuries, then showed itself when it was certain the world is safe."