Agnes immediately ran to Jass to tell him what was happening, but Jass just laughed her off. He thought it was another one of their pranks.
"Sorry, Agnes, but not today!" Jass just shrugged.
"What should we do, Agnes?" Esabell asked nervously.
Agnes looked around. Everyone was so busy with the party that they didn't even notice the roar of monsters outside. She snatched the mic from the stand, leapt onto the table, and shouted: "Everyone! Shut up!"
Agnes nodded at Esabell, who immediately understood and used her power to stop the music.
"Look outside! Shadow monsters have invaded Nevermore! Someone's already been killed. And more will be if we don't do something!"
But instead of panicking, everyone booed her.
"Come on, Agnes! This is a celebration for your brother and everyone else, don't ruin it!" someone shouted.
"That's right!"
"Just do your prank another day!"
Agnes glanced at the door; it was shaking, rattling, and she could hear the roars behind it. She shouted back at them, furious:
"So be it! If you all want to die that badly, then die!"
She turned and ran. Everyone was confused by her sudden reaction. The DJ was about to restart the music, and then suddenly the door burst open.
Shadow monsters poured into the hall, roaring so loud the sound echoed through the building. More smashed through the windows, showering the floor with glass.
"What the heck is that?!"
At first, the students thought it was just another prank. But then came the scream, a monster stabbed a student through the stomach. Another dragged a screaming classmate out through the broken window.
Fear hit the room like a wave.
Students panicked and ran, shoving past each other. A few brave ones tried to fight back, but they were quickly overwhelmed. When more monsters appeared, morale shattered completely. Those who could still fight followed the others in fleeing.
---
"Principal Weems! Danger!" A teacher barged into the office.
But Principal Weems was already on the phone, her face grim.
"I know," Weems said briskly. "I've already contacted the authorities, but they're facing the same crisis. Our priority is the students; move them to the basement at once."
Weems stood, grabbed a crossbow from her desk, and followed the teacher.
"Sound the alarm and alert every faculty member. Every student goes to the basement. Now." She ordered.
This night would go down in history for generations to come.
As principal, Weems always prioritized her students' safety and the academy's reputation. She avoided making enemies and ran the school with care, but tonight, all that effort seemed to mean nothing. A horde of shadow monsters had breached Nevermore.
She didn't know how it had happened. But she knew her priority: keep the students alive.
Weems fired her crossbow at a monster chasing a group of students. The bolt struck its head, making it shriek, but it kept running. Then a vampire teacher appeared, sword in hand, and charged forward, helping the students escape while slashing at the monster.
Weems turned around, helping more students find their way to Nevermore's basement. Once they were safe, she rushed back to her office, grabbed her binoculars, and peered out the window.
More monsters were spilling out of the forest, but then her gaze stopped.
A black-robed figure stood silently at the tree line. The monsters moved around it, ignoring it completely.
"It seems the shadow creatures aren't our true enemy," Weems murmured, her eyes narrowing. "Someone is orchestrating this. The academy is encircled… and if we are to break free, our students may be forced to stand and fight."
She closed her eyes, took a long, steady breath, then sat at her desk and opened the communicator. If the police couldn't help, she would have to call the students' parents and every Outcast group she knew.
After making the calls, she leaned back in her chair and sighed.
"In all my years as headmistress, I never imagined I would be called to wager my own life." Her gaze drifted to the window. "But if that is the price of protecting this academy… I will pay it, without hesitation."
---
Soon enough, with the teachers' help, most of the students were gathered in the basement. Fear and shock hung heavy in the air; no one understood why this was happening.
Agnes pulled out her phone and called her brother, but he didn't answer. Her hands trembled as she typed: "Big brother, don't come here. Nevermore isn't safe anymore."
She looked at her friends, who were crying and shaking, and tried to calm them down.
All around the basement, students were doing the same, calling parents, calling the police, praying for help. Some cried quietly, others just stared into space, too shocked to move.
Time passed. Slowly, the sounds outside seemed to die down. No roars. No screams, all disappeared as if nothing had happened.
They started to breathe a little easier, thinking maybe the monsters had left, when every single phone in the basement rang at the same time.
"Gotcha!"
The single word on their screens sent a chill down everyone's spine.
Then the walls began to shake.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the floor, the ceiling, the walls, until they collapsed inward, and the monsters poured through. They roared in unison and charged.
The students had no choice but to fight.
"Students! If you want to survive, we fight back!" a teacher shouted.
"Hold the line!" another teacher roared. He used his power to control the broken debris, forcing it into a makeshift wall. Blood spilled from his mouth as he strained to keep it up.
Seeing him struggle, other psychic students joined in, reinforcing the wall with everything they had. But it wasn't enough. More monsters came, breaking through from every direction, and soon more students decided to help.
On the left flank, Bianca nodded to her friends. They take out their amulets from their necks, and the sirens shriek together, their voices slicing through the air like blades. The sound staggered the shadows, forcing them back just long enough for the Fangs to leap forward and slash with claws. It wasn't a full moon yet, so they couldn't transform, but they fought fiercely with raw strength.
On the right flank, the gorgons removed their beanies and let their snakes writhe and hiss, but the monsters didn't turn to stone. The gorgons fought anyway, striking with the weapon they could find, while several vampires rushed to their side, cutting down the creatures one by one.
At the center, three swarmer students unleashed a tide of insects, commanding them to attack the monsters and buy time for the others.
The basement had become a battlefield.
Even students like Agnes, those with no fighting power, decided to help however they could.
The clash painted the ruined school in strobing flashes of power and shadow. For every creature that fell, more clawed their way through the collapsing walls. Students' breaths came ragged, their bodies battered and bloodied, yet none dared retreat.
Because in that moment, it was more than a fight.
It was war, Outcasts against the darkness that sought to swallow them whole.
---
In the menagerie, Professor Malachi Crow lay on the ground, bloodied after being caught off guard by the shadow monsters. He had barely escaped alive, blood pouring from his wounds.
At first, he thought about running to help the students, but he knew he would only get in their way.
"Damn monsters," he growled through gritted teeth. "I don't know what's happening, but this… this is bad."
At the far end of the menagerie stood a massive cage, shrouded in a black cloth. Malachi dragged himself across the floor, tore the cover away, and revealed the creature sleeping inside.
A beast that should never have been released. But Malachi knew this was the end.
He pressed the release button. The cage door groaned as it slowly opened.
Then he crawled to the other cages, unlocking every one, releasing all the beasts that had been hidden away.
"Wednesday was right…" Malachi rasped, his voice trembling with both pain and resolve. "There's a much larger world out there, but if you want freedom, you'll have to fight for it!"
His roar echoed through the menagerie, just as a massive black dog with glowing red eyes lunged at him, sinking its fangs into his neck. Malachi didn't fight back.
He only smirked as his body went still.
From the largest cage, the creature finally emerged. A towering, two-headed dog, so fearsome that even the black hound whimpered and backed away.
Orthus, the brother of Cerberus.
Its terrifying presence silenced every beast around it. Then it lunged forward, tearing into the shadow monsters with unstoppable fury.
The beast had been unleashed.
---
Back on the battlefield, the Outcasts were beginning to falter.
Even with their vast array of abilities, they were exhausted, wounded, and vastly outnumbered. Not even the experienced teachers could keep morale from sinking.
Despair was beginning to win.
And suddenly another beastly roar shook the night, a beast tore into the shadow monsters from outside, scattering them like leaves.
The monsters shrieked in rage at this new enemy.
"Are we safe?" someone gasped.
For a brief moment, hope returned. The shadow monsters were focused on fighting Orthus and the other released beasts, but the hope was short-lived.
The monsters turned back toward the students, more enraged than ever.
Everyone took a step back, their faces darkening. There was no light at the end of the tunnel, only endless shadow.