After spending the rest of the day together and enjoying every moment, Emily and Mr. Lordi had decided to spend the evening in the living room, quiet. Outside, an inky night had already fallen, as well as a little cold and biting wind gently caressing the windows. Fortunately, the fire in the fireplace brought warmth and welcome comfort in this harsh winter.

During the day, Emily had been able to talk about the somewhat confusing events that had happened to her in the morning. As far as this masked, black-clad stranger was concerned, Mr. Lordi had been rather taken aback, but thought it was someone who was playing a very bad joke in order to scare Emily. After all, it was quite possible, seeing the number of people expressing their contempt and hatred towards monsters all this time, surely someone had come up with the idea of ​​coming and trying to scare the young human woman who was known to be their ally. Mr. Lordi promised Emily to be careful nonetheless and that if this fellow dared to come back, he would frighten him so much that this one would never dare to do it again.

As for what Kita had said about the abnormal disappearance of animals in the forest in recent days, Mr. Lordi was already aware and had also investigated the matter. Besides, Awa, Ox and Amen had gone into the forest for the same purpose, and he was waiting for their return. He was trusting them to find something.

But despite this rather grim news, the couple really wanted to enjoy being together again. In order to put a little more atmosphere for this reunion evening, Mr. Lordi had put on one of the vinyls of metal bands he had acquired to play on his old record player. Thus, the song Elan by the group Nightwish, a group that Emily also liked very much, resonated in the room.

Emily, still dressed in her black victorian dress, had settled into the lap of Mr. Lordi who was sitting in his chair by the fireplace. For long minutes, the couple hugged and kissed with love and passion, without worrying about the passing of time and enjoying every second. With his clawed hands, Mr. Lordi gently stroked Emily's back and hips, being careful not to scratch her.

After kissing her on the mouth for the umpteenth time, Mr. Lordi became more fiery and teasing, coming to put his lips on Emily's neck and smooch there and nibble a little bit without hurting her. Emily chuckled, letting him do it and even liking it.

_ "Hehe, you think you're a vampire, Mr. Lordi? You would like to hypnotize me and taste my blood?" Emily said teasingly.

_ "Hmmm, why not? ..." replied the Monsterman between two smoochs, in his loving voice and joining the young woman in that teasing tone. "... I really want to devour you whole, very slowly and tenderly ..."

Emily laughed a little more and without mocking, blushing and feeling her heart beat at the warm words of her Monsterman. How happy, she thought, to finally be able to touch him again, which she did, coming to touch his black hair, his towering, cold armor that covered her body, and the warmth of his face, while avoiding to injure her hand on the small horns.

_ "I thought ..." added Mr. Lordi while continuing to kiss her in the neck with more and more ardor. "We could continue this ... In my bedroom ... The night has only just begun after all ..."

Emily moaned with pleasure after a smooch from the Monsterman, and admitted to being very seduced by the proposal.

But suddenly, a loud and sudden sound of opening the main doors of the mansion was heard. Alerted by the noise, Mr. Lordi and Emily gave each other the same surprised look. Who could have burst into the mansion like this and disturb their evening? Mr. Lordi remembered being attacked in his home in the past, so he remained more careful.

Suspicious, Mr. Lordi rose from the chair and made his double ax appear in one of his hands. Emily also acts and through the power of her locket, summoned her steel sword with her ruby pommel, which she had once used to fight demons.

_ "Come with me Emily, but above all don't go away." Mr. Lordi ordered her, more concerned for her than a real order.

The couple, with the utmost caution, left the living room and made their way to the entrance hall, their weapons ready for use in case of need. But immediately their suspicion vanished and gave way to surprise and worry.

Their three friends, Amen, Ox and Awa, were there in the hall, all wounded and weakened. Amen had one knee on the ground, as though drained of its strength, and his body covered in bruises, his golden armor damaged and part of his bandages torn. Awa was panting in exhaustion, appearing to be in pain and was supported by Ox who, despite her resistance and strength, also found it very difficult to stand.

_"Guys!" Mr. Lordi growled worriedly and promptly coming to his allies to help them. Emily followed him, remaining as shocked as he was to see them like that and came to help Ox to raise Awa by supporting her by a shoulder. The countess noticed Emily and being too weak to say a word, thanked her with a very slight nod. At the same time, Mr. Lordi supported Amen by holding him by the shoulder, giving him a few seconds before asking him the first question.

_ "Amen, my friend. What happened? Who did this to you?"

The pharaoh's grave gaze then rested in his.

_ "I ... I could not say ..." Amen growled, who for the very first time showed confusion "... We discovered something, deep in the forest ... A giant artifact ... It was not human, nor demonic ... It was unlike anything known ..."

_ "It's this thing that killed all the animals in the forest, we saw it ... It even brought one of them back to life and transformed it. I had never seen that." Ox added, just as disturbed as his friend.

_ "I clearly felt it ..." Awa sighed in awe, her gaze vague "... Something was watching us through this thing ... This aura of death and chaos, so overwhelming ... Such a power cannot exist, it is impossible ..."

Mr. Lordi and Emily were even more taken aback by their friends' explanations, but believed them. Deep inside, Emily felt an anxiety growing in her heart and mind.

But suddenly, the horror intensified when to everyone's amazement, the main hall window shattered into millions of shards after something violently slipped through it and rolled across the floor, under the dumbfounded gazes of everyone.

_ "Kita!" Mr. Lordi gasped.

It was their alien friend, unconscious, barely breathing, lying face down, his body covered with bleeding wounds and bruises, as if he had been beaten up and maimed.

Mr. Lordi left Emily with Amen and the others to run to Kita, turn him around and see his very critical condition.

_ "He is still breathing, but very weakly ..." said Mr. Lordi after checking.

_ "Oh god, what's going on? What could have done that to them?!" Emily asked, anxiety turning to real fear.

Mr. Lordi looked her in the eye, but couldn't answer. Like her, he was completely stunned by what was going on. Finding his powerful friends in this state made him feel angry at the culprit, but also a legitimate concern ... What had been powerful enough to leave them like this?

Outside, in the dark night, a mist had risen with abnormal rapidity and had invaded the park. In the distance, frightening echoes were heard, like inhuman shrill cries and monstrous groans. A cold atmosphere had fallen, much higher than what was normally expected for that night.

These macabre sounds and abject to the ears, made everyone shiver. Even monsters had never heard anything like this in their lifetime. While Amen, who had managed to recover some strength was going to take care of Kita, Mr. Lordi left the mansion to come to a stop at the gate. Emily, seized with a bad feeling, did not want to leave him alone and followed him, feeling the polar cold biting her skin savagely. In front of them, the cloak of mist rose about thirty meters from them, and seemed to come from the forest a little further. Emily took Mr. Lordi's hand, squeezing it tight, to stay closer to him.

_ "Mr. Lordi ... Look ..." then said the young woman in a trembling voice and indicating something with her finger.

A vision of the most disturbing and unhealthy appeared to them. About fifty figures stood out little by little in the midst of the mist, standing in a perfect row, straight and motionless like statues. They all looked like humans, all dressed in his long black robes and their faces hidden by those ugly tentacle masks with a spiral on their foreheads. Each held a black dagger in one of their hands. Emily immediately recognized the same outfit as the stranger's this morning.

Mr. Lordi growled, his gaze turning dark, and his ax in hand, took a step forward.

_ "Who are you and what are you doing on my domain? Answer, or I will force you to do it!" he ordered bluntly.

But despite his threatening and powerful voice, he received no response. The group of masked men just stood still, tirelessly continuing to make their voices heard, like a powerful and resonating chorus of dark and macabre chants and incantations, in an improbable language.

"Fg'ha clect'z swug'heo kala zusq'eh viitra daed, Ycnarr'Orveh... Fg'ha clect'z swug'heo kala zusq'eh viitra daed, Ycnarr'Orveh... Fg'ha clect'z swug'heo kala zusq'eh viitra daed, Ycnarr'Orveh..."

Still holding hands, Mr. Lordi and Emily took a step back together as they saw this bunch of people reciting these words meaninglessly, very calmly and in perfect unison. The polar, biting air blew again and seemed to come from behind them, from the forest. Other similar ritual chants even seemed to be heard from the darkness of the forest, absolutely everywhere.

_ "Oh no ... this aura ... it's the same, I can feel it ..." Awa then sighed fearfully, she who had managed to regain some strength and had come to see Mr. Lordi and Emily, and contemplated with them this surrealist vision.

Indeed, Mr. Lordi and Emily were also beginning to feel uncomfortable, as if surrounded by an invisible and evil aura that was crushing them. Mr. Lordi had already been able to sense such auras with demons, but this one was even more powerful, and unknown ...

_ "Emily ... go back to the mansion, right now ..." the Monsterman started to say, softly but darkly, not looking away from the fanatics.

_"But..."

_"Do it, now!" he cut her off at the beginning of her insistence, his voice growing firmer but also concerned for her.

Emily gasped, seeing that Mr. Lordi looked more nervous than usual in the face of danger. Awa gently took Emily by the shoulders and began to lead her towards the entrance. For his part, Mr. Lordi remained alone, but without sudden movements, also began to take a step back, his hand on his ax.

The fifty masked men, while continuing their dark chants, all knelt in unison in the snow, and in a final song louder than the others, and in the same instant, all committed suicide by violently slitting their throats. Large streams of blood gushed out, impregnating the snow, the men drowning in their own hemoglobin and collapsing one after the other in a veritable heap. Mr. Lordi, frowning, was speechless at this.

But a few seconds after their death, the fifty corpses were crossed by more and more violent convulsions, making their bones crack to the point of hearing them dislocate. Shaken in all directions, the corpses gradually began to stand up, like puppets manipulated by invisible threads. The flesh of their arms, bellies or backs tore like seams on clothes, spilling more blood into the snow. From these appalling wounds came physical transformations beyond horror, like long sharp blades on the wrists or coming out of the palms, clawed and inhuman arms coming out of the back or the belly, or even for some of the beginnings of growths like heads. Their masks shattered into pieces, to reveal faces that were nothing more than horrible clusters of sticky tentacles flapping in all directions, with a dozen protruding eyes, and a gaping carnivorous jaw in the center, hinting at indescribable roars and howls.

Barely after they had finished forming, the first creatures turned their attention to Mr. Lordi and the mansion, and rushed towards them in a furious race and in mind-blowing speed.

_ "RUN! ALL INSIDE!" then roared Mr. Lordi turning around and running towards the entrance, where Emily and Awa were waiting for him, the two women gazing in horror at the abominations that had just formed from the human corpses and approached dangerously.

_"They are coming!" Awa yelled at Amen and Ox, telling them to come asap.

_ "Faster, Mr. Lordi, faster!" Emily yelled, worried and feeling the urge to go help her, but knew he wouldn't want her to take such a risk.

One of the creatures wanted to pounce on Mr. Lordi, but he managed to avoid it by leaping and rolling forward. The Monsterman had just enough time to cross the last few meters and leap inside the mansion, Ox and Amen shutting and blocking the doors without further delay.