The World's Deadliest Unicorns

"It's a unicorn."

Jack felt stupid after blurting it out, but he was previously sure that was what stood before them in the hallway, watching them with murderous eyes, ready to pounce at any moment. But looking at it closer, he concluded it wasn't the eco-friendly, magical creature television portrayed. For starters, the creature definitely resembled a large horse, only without the majestic mane and tail hair. In their places, were what looked like fossilized bone. On its tail, only one sharp point stuck out, waving back and forth, while on its neck, the bones formed an arc leading to the back of its head. Its resemblance to the unicorn was the bony point protruding from its forehead, though unlike the mystical being, it looked a hundred times more dangerous and very threatening. Especially when the creature had lowered its head and was pointing it directly towards Jack's chest.

"It's an Aeternae," Newt corrected from his side. "I haven't heard much about them, but I think-"

Newt shut up as Jack shoved him aside, trying to avoid the incredibly sharp point that the Aeternae launched.

"I think they can shoot their horns like bullets," he finished, groaning and pushing Jack off him.

"Thanks for the heads-up," Jack grunted, getting to his feet, only to see the creature lowering its head again with a fresh horn on its head.

"Scare it away or something," he yelled at Sharina, only to see her facing the direction in which the students ran towards.

"And let everyone see us go up against these monsters?" she replied. "Just keep me alive till I'm sure everyone is gone."

Newt grabbed his shoulder and yanked him to the left, a horn grazing right above his elbow. Barely managing to keep his balance, he summoned the master bolt into his hands.

"Jack no!" Newt held his hand before he could discharge a massive blast. "You'll wreck the school!"

Shaking him off, Jack swung the bolt towards the monster, just as it fired its freshly regenerated horn. Instead of the small, concentrated blast, he fired at the rocks and Steropes forge, this one launched him back into the door at the very far end of the hallway. The blast itself had made an ugly sound, like an exploding transformer, leaving a cloud of smoke obstructing his view from the damage he had caused.

"Oh my," Zeus wondered in his head, most likely admiring the scale of the blast.

Struggling to his feet, Jack staggered forward, bolt-in-hand, while peering through the clearing smoke. Panic rose in his chest as he frantically searched for the other hosts, worried he may have wounded them severely.

"I told you not to do that," Newt groaned from somewhere to his right. Immediately spinning towards his voice, Jack saw his average figure come into view, his trident right in front of him.

"Where's-"

"Idiot," he heard her curse from behind Newt. "At least warn me before you do something like that."

Sighing a breath of relief, he leaned against the bolt now trying to make out the damage he had done.

"You won't see anything," Sharina coughed while giving a small laugh. "You've made sure school stays out for a while now."

As the smoke cleared, Jack saw she was right. The first thing he realized was that he was outside. What was formally a large, green field was now reduced to an ashen, grey spot. When he noticed he couldn't see anything else but a bronze school gate far off, he brought a hand up to his mouth in shock. His one blast had completely annihilated a whole wing of the school.

"No one was inside," Newt reassured him. "Thankfully Sharina frightened them off before you, uhm, turned your school into an Aeternae free zone."

"Yeah no," the girl interjected. "He didn't kill all of them."

Blinking, Jack spun towards her. "What do you mean 'all' and 'them'?"

"Aeternae is the plural form, dumbshit." She brushed past him and squinted at where the first Aeterne stood. "Think before you move next time. We could've gotten them all in that one shot if you were any smarter."

Clenching his teeth, he walked past her, desperately trying to make out where the others were. He had barely taken a step forward when Newt spun his trident in front of them, creating some sort of shield with water out of nowhere. Then three horns crashed into it, and judging from where they bounced off, Jack knew he wouldn't have survived it.

"Nice," Sharina muttered as the trident came to a stop, the water around it evaporating. "I only saw three horns though. But I remember seeing five of those damned beasts."

Gulping, Jack's body tensed. There wasn't as much smoke as before, but seeing through the flowing cloud was still difficult. Jack was barely able to dodge an incoming horn that came from his left. The whistling sound had alarmed him, but he knew it was a close call.

"Oi Jack," Newt called. "You may be able to clear the smoke."

"Yes," Zeus immediately jumped in. "Use the winds, just like when you fly, except much stronger."

"You could just help me, you know," he frowned. "I don't get the point of this whole 'eye' thing."

"This is a waste of my divine powers," the god said. "That and the oath I swore before my demise, to allow our hosts to prove their worthiness."

"I see."

Jack tried to ignore the fact that a horn could shoot out of nowhere and kill him in a second and shut his eyes. Focusing on the smoke around him, he inhaled deeply, trying not to choke, and then exhaled, expelling everything from his system. He then tried to will the air surrounding him to emulate the same action, only blowing at the smoke with a much greater force. The sudden increase and dispel of smoke must have been great because Jack was surprised none of the Aeternae had fired off a horn. He guessed they were lost and confused in the mini smoke cloud he had created in an attempt to clear it away completely. Slowly, Jack felt the strong smell that built up in his nose from the smoke gradually lessen as he dissolved it into the air.

"You're actually pulling it off," Sharina mumbled in amusement, coming up behind him. "Unfortunately, I think we may have just wasted your time."

Opening his eyes to complain, Jack immediately caught sight of the problem ahead of them. With the smoke cleared, he watched as four Aeternae galloped back to their harras which already had up to ten of the bloodthirsty creatures. There was no way the three of them could take them on without someone getting brutally injured or even worse, died.

So Jack did the most sensible thing that came to his mind.

He ran.