Elinor’s mind reflected on how loud the environment became when attempting to erase one’s presence from the world. Every second the toad didn’t enter the back door, the more concerned she became.

  Butter remained near the ceiling, keeping an eye on the hallway and waiting to dive bomb their opponent, yet it seemed this orange creature was being more cautious than the first, drawing her thoughts to other possibilities.

  Were we spotted when killing the last one?

  “Not that I was able to see,” Butter responded. “It would be quite disastrous if he decided to scope out the outside windows, spotting you in the process.”

  Reasoning the likely scenarios, Elinor’s fingers tightened around the dagger in her hand—more of a short sword, given its size. It was bizarre, feeling oddly comfortable to hold. The sounds of croaking toads lit up the night in the distance, communicating to one another with screams from the captured or killed humans.

  Things weren’t looking good for them in this invasion, and she was only one person—well, two.

  Butter is more like a quarter, and that’s if I’m being generous, Elinor corrected herself. They would not win this war, even with their numbers since few of the citizens were armed, and they had no warning.

  The shattering of glass made Elinor’s head jerk up, yet her emerald irises went to the front door window; it was just out of view from her position behind the small enclave of the living room. A jar had been thrown through, splattering the wall with gore or something nasty by the putrid scent, and something wiggled within it.

  Great… Something new?

  “Gross,” Butter groaned, spotting what appeared to be wiggling vines that drank up the liquid, and the soft whistle of a flute caught their ears. “Ugh. Is this some kind of fear tactic? It’s not frightening… just disgusting.”

  Connecting the previous attack to this one, things started to click in Elinor’s mind. He’s a scout… These plants are connected to their eyes, providing a replacement like drones.

  “Eh, excuse me… drones?” Butter questioned, crawling across the ceiling. She hung over the branching-out pod as it rose into the air, its many legs growing to the length of a human body. “If it is connected, then we can attack it like before; its weakness is that whatever dark magic is in use, the two are linked.”

  True. This could be a trap, but we don’t have much of an option; you take the seed, and I’ll find the host!

  “Bombs away!”

  Fatty, Elinor chuckled.

  Darting out of the hall and drawing the seed’s attention, yet its feelers froze when Butter, cloaked in emerald flames, blindsided it. The lich mythickin threw open the door, following the instrument; it cut off shortly after Butter’s assault, but, luckily, the toad was crouching nearby—its tongue shot out, making Elinor trip in surprise.

  It knew!

  Eye already gouged out, showing a shriveling flower at its feet, it held a sharp grin—if she could call it that. She dodged—no doubt only just— correcting herself due to its lost accuracy and pain. Thinking quickly, Elinor’s hand birthed with flames, using one of her four and a half remaining orbs to create a butterfly behind her back—she could only create two.

  Shooting forward, she subconsciously ordered it to stay low to the ground and attack it from behind; unfortunately, the alien had the same idea, and the world spun as its far heavier, bulkier frame completely changed her momentum. If she’d required air to survive, she’d be seeing stars, yet, instead, she was met with swirling vertigo as it ripped part of her shirt while using it to send her flinging back into the hallway.

  Left wrist and leg breaking or dislocating in the process, Elinor wanted to roll her eyes; she didn’t experience pain anymore, it seemed, but that didn’t stop this weak body from becoming immobile as she struggled to push herself away.

  “Priss, he’s not going to let you get close. Roll!” Butter screamed, making Elinor grunt while spikes the size of a finger buried into her belly; no blood exited, only revealing a bright jade glow within.

  I’ll need to reform this body anyway at this point, she snarled. It was this alien’s mistake giving her a place to hide as it lingered outside, possibly waiting for her to bleed out, and she was going to make sure it regretted it. Hold off on attacking him—Butter…

  Her radiant twin spun out of the air, dodging more barbs—it was onto them—and landed on her, transferring the single Death Orb she’d gained from the plant to fuel her recovery.

  “No time for thank yous,” she giggled. “Hurry and repair yourself, Priss—I’m tracking him with the other butterfly—he’s going to the window to finish the job.”

  A grin lit Elinor’s mouth as the room brightened from the flames encasing her frame, renewing her body; even if extremely fragile, it did have its advantages, and using a sphere to recover rather than fully reform made it so she didn’t have to dress again.

  “Priss? Priss?! Priss!” Butter cried as Elinor scrambled to her feet, ethereal veil flowing back with her hair as the window came closer and closer; barreling through, glass and wood marring her thin skin, and the shocked toad’s single eye went wide when meeting her illuminated grin.

  “Got you!”

  A thrill unlike anything Elinor had experienced awakened within her as she took the creature to the ground, Butter and her other flying death insect swooping down to join the feast; its fingernails dug a chunk of flesh out of her side as it tried to throw her away, yet its strength swiftly failed him with each of them taking a Death Orb.

  Her strength began to fail her from the smoky green mist exiting the damage to her body; she knew it wouldn’t last long. Unfortunately, she’d used three spheres in this battle. Her body was so thrashed that she had to repair herself a second time, and she’d summoned a new butterfly; she had also only gained one from the plant, and she’d already promised Butter half the spoils.

  Its bones turning to carbon, Elinor lay on the ground, grimacing upon realizing its skin had been slick with some kind of goo. She’d survived this encounter, but they were learning and becoming more cautious. Of course, so was she.

  Falling to her back, she let the restorative energy flow through her, glad the recovery removed most of the ooze, which seemed to be mixed with its blood. Her eyebrows came together as Butter landed on her nose, transferring all of the energy they’d gained.

  “Hmm-hmm. Perhaps I am not such a glutton, and you aren’t such a priss. We gained four, used three, and we have a new soldier I can command,” she mused, wings fluttering as the second butterfly touched down on Elinor’s forehead. “I think we should abandon this base of operations at this point.”

  Good choice, Elinor sighed, rising to her feet and tearing off what remained of her shirt to toss it to the side; her bra would have to do for now. Five and a half Death Energy… We need another gh—

  Her mouth became a line as Raul interrupted them. “E-Empress, are… you okay?”

  Butter responded for them both. “Obviously, you’re still here. Keep your mouth shut unless it’s something important, and don’t interrupt your Empress,” she chided.

  “Y-Yes… Umm. I think I found your father among these bright green toads. They seem a lot nicer than the other ones; they are treating people… Huh?! Empress, help! Aaaah!”

  Elinor froze halfway up; her connection to Raul vanished as he was pulled into an endless abyss within her. Someone had somehow killed a ghost, or more or less exorcised him back to what lay beyond, which oddly cycled back within her own spirit.

  Dammit.

  It was hard to dismiss the uncomfortable feeling of the chains she used to bind his spirit to this world breaking away, only for Raul to be sucked deeper within her. Although, a dangerous situation certainly helped to redirect her mind and keep herself on track to move along.

  Elinor snatched the orange toad’s bag up. She had the two butterflies follow her to the back, scanning the night for danger as Butter theorized.

  “The fact they could recognize he wasn’t of this world, or that the mist was unnatural shows us these pure green toads have a method of handling the undead—possibly light or life-based magic—perhaps some patron deity they call upon? Priss, we need your body, as well!”

  I know, she grumbled, bending down to raise Eduardo as an intelligent spirit; once again, aggravatingly, he was only Poor-Grade, F-tier, but his [Chill] ability could be useful since they appeared to be jungle creatures. She grimaced, this dropped her pool to three and a half.

  If we’re going to beat the next one, we need something that can attack without them being aware. All we need to do is avoid the pure green ones for now—dammit… I didn’t ask him about my kidnapping details.

  Eduardo’s body became a flame, burning away as his spirit reformed as fog, lingering nearby. Yet, as soon as he spoke, his panicked voice made her wince. “Y-You… What are you?! Please…”

  “Hush!” Butter snapped, silencing the ghost. “Honestly, what is with your raised soldiers being such cowardly fools? At least they do recognize you hold their leash.”

  Elinor hoisted the heavy bag of the toad over her shoulder and glanced back at the house. She wanted to grab the phone—it had its uses still—but she’d be back in the next few hours once gathering a suitable army.

  I want the three of you to enter the jungle—spread out, and… Ugh, my butterfly can’t be more than a few meters from me, she remembered, having it float at the furthest distance, but Butter revealed another interesting addition to their union while entering the dense foliage.

  “It can transfer to my radius, as well, Priss, which is how I tracked our previous meal.”

  Okay. Take it out and keep your eye out for our next prey; eat everything—animal, toad, reptile… Once my pool is filled, you can hunt all you want, Butter. We need to find a place to build our strength for when we start fighting them in groups.

  “Hehe. Operation: War Preparations begins!”

  Being cautious with how she moved, it helped that even in the pitch-black jungle, her vision penetrated the darkness, and being numb to any pain that came from her feet kept her mind on task; the first order of business, complete this next level, which required her mind to return to her jewel home.

  Creeping slowly, Eduardo unwillingly filled her in, trying with all his might to resist the dominating chains that kept him her unwilling puppet. It told her that her undead could break free of their binding if strong enough; she would have to be careful who she selected as her officers within her army.

  The man informed her that he’d been tasked with keeping track of their movements from the States, having been on one of the three buses that were a part of this little caravan; the entire thing was such an elaborate setup, Elinor could hardly believe it.

  From the topic of the humanitarian crisis becoming the buzz at her dad’s office, becoming a topic in the home, to their flights being canceled, and all the seemingly random things that connected to bring her into this place—a place attacked by alien toads—which now appeared to be a part of this little scheme.

  Eduardo had been only a piece in the colossal machine that drove her into this position, and Armando—the terrifying cartel lord, according to the man—had been hired by another mysterious entity or person to get this job done.

  As luck would have it, Armando had been staying in this city to take her into custody himself since this had been such a well-paying job. It didn’t make the least bit of sense, much like the current situation she was in.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Her father was a fairly well-known and successful architectural engineer in California, while her mother had just finished her Ph.D. in biochemistry, developing something for a private organization. If there were anything iffy, that would be the connection, yet this was something out of a movie, not reality.

  She’d get more information once finding the cartel lord and adding him to her ranks to discover the next person she needed to handle. Her life had been turned upside down—her family’s had—and someone would pay for that.

  Elinor couldn’t see herself being accepted back into school, and she also required living sacrifices to even function now, so normal life was out of the question; that was something for the future, though.

  Her inquiries came to a halt when Butter hissed, “Priss! I found a single green toad… It’s guarding a small crystal and it has one of those big monsters with it! Didn’t Raul mention a crystal?”

  Just my luck, Elinor snarled. We ran into a green one.

  “Oh, no, no; this is the splotched ones—the brutes, as Raul mentioned.”

  Eduardo continued to circle around her, unwillingly following orders to remain as sentry. “What… happened to Raul?”

  “He was killed,” Butter absently replied.

  “What?! How do you kill a ghost?!” he snarled. “Ugh… they gutted a jaguar…”

  Elinor’s focus darted in the direction of her slave. Say that again? Butter…

  “Ooh. What’s a jaguar; is it powerful?”

  The radiant butterfly diverted to keep watch as Elinor carefully maneuvered through the jungle, staying at a distance where she wouldn’t be discovered. It was slow progress, but progress nonetheless, and a jaguar could offer the perfect distraction.

  Throughout their journey, Butter had collected Death Energy, capping Elinor’s eight orbs; her fatty twin had already purified five in the past hour from all the creatures she’d drained in the life-rich foliage, sucking dry the ecosystem.

  Arriving at the site, she knelt down, smelling the putrid scent of its ruptured stomach; the toads had split it open to study its insides, more than likely attempting to get a better grasp of their biology since it appeared to be a predator. Obviously, they weren’t impressed since they left it, but their methodical approach showed their intelligence.

  Green fire lighting at her fingertips, she touched the ravaged cat, reanimating it without its spirit; interestingly, despite being unintelligent, it was Poor-Grade, D-tier.

  Hmm, the tier must be based off its strength while alive. These kidnappers were useless… Elinor reasoned, sensing the hateful vibes Eduardo was sending her.

  The animal’s flesh and fur burned away, leaving the flaming skeletal beast in its place; only Common-Grade would begin showing signs of recovering their former figure, and Uncommon was where most of it returned.

  A small smile brightened her lips as she stroked its smooth bones, and it bowed its head, totally subservient to her. We’ll use her to get our next prize.

  “Hehe. She’s not exactly ‘stealthy,’ Priss,” Butter noted. “Although, she does have more strength than this useless ghost of a man.”

  Elinor could feel Eduardo’s glare from within the fog, but he was told to be a doormat unless asked to share his opinion.

  That’s the point. Keep watch.

  “Don’t sleep too long… There’s no telling what might happen with that crystal or when they’ll turn their attention away from the crowds in the town and discover something more sinister in the woods.”

  We’re still in the positive, Elinor noted, reflecting on their previous two encounters.

  Having a moment of space, she allowed her artificial body’s eyes to become vacant of life as her consciousness returned to her gem. She sat on her throne, studying how these new levels functioned; she was now Level 3, and she had acquired something called a ‘Feat Extension.’ What it was, she didn’t know yet, but it was new, and that gave her growth options.

  Her more active Feats had grown since she’d last checked, providing more bonuses that she could identify. [Butterfly] had grown the most with [Phylactery], [Darkness Vision], and [Death Pool], advancing to the D-tier category; nothing had grown a Grade since it was achievement-based.

  Ultimately, it didn’t seem much had changed regarding them, other than minor boosts to her diamond defenses, visual distance, and range at which the butterfly could travel.

  [Artificial Body], [Monarch of Death], and [Life Tap] had peeked into E-tier, giving her a tad more endurance, communication distance, and a minor efficiency in corrupting life essence.

  On the other hand, [Minion Pool] and [Raise Undead] were lagging behind significantly, showing a very slow build by the progress indicator, making her conclude they required a lot of minions to be out and summoned to show any changes.

  How high of an army will I have to accumulate to satisfy the Grade II advancement of maxing its Tier and Limit? she thought, slightly distracted. Another thing for another time.

  She fixated on the number of creatures she could command.

  Three Intelligent, and twelve Unintelligent… If I’m going to fight them, I need to use their own people. Psychologically, it will mess with them, and I’ll be able to learn more about their abilities. I have to find a Common-Grade to be my Staff Sergeant… capable of commanding up to ten units and providing minor buffs. I’ll find it among them.

  Swapping screens to her level screen, her mouth drew in, focus drifting between what she’d unlocked; the mysterious Feat Extensions looked to apply to the few that she’d used the most. The drawback? She only was allowed to select one.

  [Phylactery: Death Shield I - Generates a field that rejects a small amount of all damage.]

  [Butterfly: Extra Wing I - Permanently adds one butterfly to the total available to be summoned.]

  [Darkness Vision: Beyond Sight I - Penetrate weak illusions.]

  It didn’t take her long to conclude which was the best one—at least, for the moment—selecting the [Butterfly] Extension. It was such a versatile Link Feat, allowing her to use others in ways typically beyond their scope, and it would also give Butter more storage to bring back to her.

  Finally, her Stats came into focus. She was tempted to place one in Stamina or Strength to further amplify the ridiculously low fortitude of her artificial body, but Constitution was her life-blood, and she couldn’t have enough; her second point was spent, her Death Pool increasing to eleven.

  Swapping to her Feat sheet to study [Raise Undead], Elinor knew what she expected to see: the cost for Rare Unintelligent undead. It had been following a pattern—yet, nothing had changed, making her hiss.

  I guess a Captain in the Empire will cost me a lot more than my pool allows, or I need to reach Grade-II… maybe both.

  Elinor returned to her body, showing a wicked smile that made Eduardo shrink back. Ready to kill an alligator-toad? If we get that, we have our tank. Oh, and here’s a new friend, Butter.

  “Ooh! A new harvester? You shouldn’t have, Priss! It has been shockingly dull while you’ve been plotting inside your bed; I could hear you cackling the entire time.”

  I don’t cackle, Elinor huffed, watching her third butterfly join its golden leader. Let’s make this quick; we need the toad to be the one to attack its weak point, so we can’t drain either of them.

  “Ack,” Butter groaned, stretching out her tiny legs on their journey back to the crystal. “That is going to be challenging… Ah! You fiend,” she laughed, discovering her plot. “You want to use our jaguar as bait for the big guy while we take out the master?”

  Glowing green irises swapping to the disturbing ghost, Elinor asked, Have you ever seen special forces films or… those alien hunter things?

  “…Yes?” he slowly mumbled, scanning for danger ahead of them.

  Well. It’s time for you to shine.

  She and Butter chuckled to one another as the unwilling man squirmed; they carefully got into position, having the jaguar wait further in since she was so visible, given the flames.

  The green-splotched toad was practically invisible if it wasn’t for her incredible vision and ghostly spy; her jaguar caught his attention far sooner than Elinor thought, remaining at a distance, hidden within the dense foliage as Butter guided the beast.

  Her gut tightened when the toad made a few popping noises with his tongue, and his mammoth of a monster jumped at alarming speed after the flaming cat; yet, their target chose to jump over five meters into the air to take a branch route—it was within Elinor’s calculations.

  The rhinoceros-sized creature leaped right by her as the jaguar ran at a full sprint through the jungle. It wouldn’t take long for the giant alligator to destroy her minion, she was sure, but not eight meters to her left, the monster’s master fell out of the trees—just as planned—body totally stiff as fog lingered around him.

  Trap sprung, Elinor darted forward as the guard tried to discover what had suddenly frozen his veins and combat the hyperthermia setting into his bones; mind a total blank, the dagger she’d stolen from her first kill plunged into his quivering, shrunken throat, possibly finding it hard to breathe—cold was their weakness.

  A fountain of green ooze gushed from the quaking and stupefied alien, but Elinor didn’t want to take any chances; throat cut, she went for his belly, splitting as it grasped his neck—it was too easy—but that was what it was like when having the total element of surprise.

  Butter’s panicked voice entered her mind. “It ate me! Are you kidding me! The stupid brute chewed up the jaguar and stuck me with its ridiculously long tongue next! It’s coming back…”

  Flames encompassing her target, she grinned as she added her second ‘living’ intelligent minion to her roster; sadly, she was only a Poor-Grade, but the interesting part was her Tier-A marker—if she gained enough experience, this alien could be her first Common-Grade, leading her own force of unintelligent undead.

  The skeletal toad’s white bones appeared as she shakily arose, and Elinor discovered a snag in her plan as a croak sounded within her mind.

  No… We can’t communicate?!

  “Are you kidding me!” Eduardo screamed, separating himself to protect her against his will as the colossal monster flew out of the jungle to attack all of them, including its former master.

  “Stop your beast from attacking us!” Butter ordered from within her bunk.

  The crocodile-like huge mouth opened to snap Elinor up, locking into place as two pops came from her newest recruit’s bony hands came together. It seemed even she wasn’t sure if it would work with how panicked her spirit felt, yet it stopped, sitting back and having what Elinor assumed were nervous twitches as the toad tried to calm him down.

  Recalling how she’d clicked her tongue to order the creature, Elinor started to see the problem, and it could attack them at any moment as its agitation grew with each sound the frightened toad woman made with her hands.

  Eduardo, freeze it! New girl, kill it once it’s incapacitat—

  Fog lingering on it, the man cried, “It’s not working; it’s resisting whatever crap you gave me!”

  Her Tier-A minion dodged its next charge as Elinor jumped back, and she collected a hidden ax and shield from within the brush Elinor hadn’t known about, using the polished black wooden barrier to block the scaly tongue the alligator shot out, pushing her into the tree tops.

  She spun back, landing on the side and hoping to another trunk as the monster pursued, continuing to resist Eduardo’s chill curse; the battle quickly drew out of sight, as Butter added additional orders when Elinor used a sphere to provide her a new body.

  “Draw it away from The Empress, and do whatever you can to take it down, but do not draw attention to your former comrades! Goodness; this is a mess, Priss! Ugh, and she’s resisting. Are you okay?”

  Elinor held a hand to her tight chest; the toad woman was attempting to break free of the shackles that bound her, and far more effectively than Eduardo. She was practically gnashing her teeth and screaming to be let go and not be forced to kill this creature, who she cared for like her favorite pet.

  She could understand their orders but not communicate through words, at least yet, which would be an excellent Feat to get down the line—hopefully, soon—and Elinor didn’t like the idea of forcing someone to kill their pet, but they didn’t have the luxury of being nice.

  Elinor could offer a solution as she solidified control over the woman’s will. You have two choices. I will kill it for good, sucking its life energy out, or you kill it, and it remains your pet in death; I suggest the latter.

  It was an entirely new experience for her as Elinor felt the alien’s heart breaking, but she followed orders; the sound of the rampaging alligator ceased, and upon reaching the spot where, they found the woman grieving over her pet, choking on its own blood from the base of its unguarded tongue being severed.

  Breathing out a heavy stream of air to release the tension in her breast, she touched the alligator-toad, emerald light emitting from her hand; they weren’t the ones to start this war, and her corrupted soul sang upon feeling the power this beast held.

  She resurrected her first F-tier, Common-Grade unintelligent undead, feeling the hatred fester within the woman she’d bound to this life; to her, they were the villains, but such was the burden of war, Elinor concluded.

  Cold eyes observing the start of her empire, she felt her former innocence being replaced by a darkness awakening in her within this alien battlefield. She had something she needed to protect and save, and she didn’t care how much suffering these invaders felt in the process.

  Let’s return to the crystal… You’re going to do exactly what your former superiors don’t want. Show me what would make them panic.

  Bone jaw grinding on bone, she led the way back to the place she’d been guarding, mournfully staring at her former pet; sinew could be seen on its bony frame, which would regrow as it grew in tier.

  When back in front of the crystal, Elinor’s eyes widened upon seeing an entirely new and alien jungle within, showing vibrant yellow grass under three moons of different colors—yellow, white, and pink—with dark clouds moving in to obscure them.

  Beyond the vast clearing were huge trees the size of redwoods, yet displaying far thicker and more connected branches that likely formed their own sprawling ecosystems; not one branch came over the yellow grass, leaving the sky far above in the canopy clear.

  Okay…

  Her mind blanked as the trembling toad woman held up a hand and, practically crying, gave her former pet the order. Spinning in a rapid circle, its thick tail shattered the gem, sending a pulse of light into the sky to create a black rupture in the stained glass overhead—they found their way to stop this invasion and cause panic.

  “Haha.” Butter rested on their giant monster. “I suggest we flee, Empress. That is sure to draw attention.”

  Yeah… Let’s go!