She’d seen her family’s guards practice coordinated tactics before in their drills. They were mainly ceremony, however, meant to impress guests. These two made her family guards look like amateur street performers.

Lilianna briefly panicked when she realized her focus on the shield amulet had lessened with the distraction. One creature had gotten its head through a hole it had torn in the dome. Several of its fellows piled on as soon as they noticed the gap in defense. The force of them crowding in behind popped the first creature like a cork through the hole, allowing several more to follow before the hole sealed itself.

Lilianna was stuck maintaining the barrier, the headmaster assisting. There was nothing she could do as she watched four of those awful things eye her classmates and snarl in chorus. She felt shivers down her spine and her hair stand on end. It was the snarl of violent beasts that only desired to rend and kill.

Suddenly, one of the beast’s heads caught fire. Then another as well, joining its twin in a chorus of pained shrieking.

“Carlisle, you take those two!”

Codrin stepped between the rest of the class and the two panicking monsters, already pulling mana for a third spell. In a frenzied rage, one of the still flaming creatures bull rushed Codrin, but it only met the flying corpse of its twin halfway. Both slammed into the inside of the barrier with a disgusting splat, painting the dome with tar-black blood.

Alek had joined the fray, jumping at the last unburned creature and wrestling it to the ground. Alek was a talented enforcer, but these creatures must have been stronger than they looked. It gnashed its horrid teeth and lashed out at him, trying to climb his shoulders and claw at his face. Codrin was still busy dealing with his own opponent, somehow no longer on fire, and it was obvious from his heaving breaths he hadn’t yet recovered from his display during the competition. Lilianna was worried he was going to overdraw his mana pool and kill himself.

Then, out of nowhere, Nadrina was there, a glowing piece of spell paper ready to go. She smacked it to the bulbous head of the creature, retreating just in time to miss its snapping jaws by mere inches. The bite was the only thing the monster had time for, however. Much to its confusion and fury, the creature started floating in midair, uselessly trying to claw at the students. It kept floating until it hit the top of the dome, where it continued to flail and screech angrily.

Alek had finally gotten his opponent pinned on the ground. With a grunt of effort, he pulled hard on both of its arms until they both popped completely free, black blood spraying everywhere. The thing had time for one more agonized screech before Alek planted his fist into its face, silencing it for good.