“Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!” John urged. Something about the smug smile on the demon’s face (he still could not accept that the sexy succubus standing before them was Professor Rogers) made him believe that the longer they waited, the harder it would be to stop her.
The gun trembled violently in Melissa’s hands, despite years of hunting with her father. “I don’t know that I can,” she said weakly.
“Perhaps I should stand closer? I would hate for you to miss,” Mark said in a kindly tone. Hannah giggled maniacally.
“She’s insane,” John muttered. Meanwhile, Kevin sat on the stony ground, her arms wrapped around her knees which were pressed against her chin. She fervently prayed that this whole situation would just go away, but she was beginning to suspect that there was only one being that could hear and grant her prayers now.
“I’m beyond sanity,” Mark remarked thoughtfully. “If insanity is an inability to function in the real world, I can simply reshape reality until it conforms to my desires. If I am insane, then you are trapped in my insanity. But I prefer the term ‘mad,’ for I am indeed mad. Mad at an academic culture that had me scrapping for tenure for thirty years and exiled me to a third rate university. Mad at a system that rewards athletes and tech bros while the most brilliant minds must struggle to afford payments on their 1990 Volvo. Mad at students who watch Tiktok on their phones while I try to teach them about the wonders of ancient civilizations. And mad at my ex-wife. For reasons.”
“Well, I accept you’re Professor Rogers,” muttered Melissa.
“And you still hesitate to shoot your academic advisor and live out every student’s fantasy?” Mark said with a chuckle. “But there are much better reasons to shoot me, as well. I’m going to end the world as you knew it. I’m going to bring the corrupt and mighty low and take their place as the Goddess Queen. There will be order and justice as I define it. I will save the world from humanity and make it a place of peace and beauty. I shall grant each human a new form that is pleasing to me, as I did to Kevin here. Imagine a world where all humanity is united behind a single goal: pleasing their divine Empress. No was, no disease, no death. Just love and sex everlasting. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? You should probably shoot me now before I get started.”
Doubt crossed Melissa’s face. John leaned in and practically yelled in her ear. “Don’t be fooled! She wants to take away free will. She wants to turn us all into her sex slaves. Shoot now!”
Mark gazed directly at Melissa and nodded, daring her to pull the trigger.
She fired.
Time froze for Mark. Until that moment, the true meaning of the endless possibilities available to her hadn’t really sunk in. But she counted her options as the shotgun spewed fire and lead at her.
She could turn the pellets into butterflies, or have them veer off at an impossible angle to strike a different target. She could teleport John into the path of the shot to punish him for his negativity. She could literally step out of the path of the blast or pluck each pellet out of the air one by one. She could render her form immaterial, allowing the pellets to pass through. In the end, she decided on the simplest alternative: to let the shot hit her directly in the face. It would make the most obvious statement, she decided.
She didn’t even feel it beyond a simple puff of air. The students had expected the demon to be knocked over, at the very least. But instead she was not even marked by the powder burns from the short range shot. She struck a seductive pose and teased “I think you need a bigger gun. Perhaps an anti-tank rocket?”
“My turn!” Hannah yelled, and with superhuman speed the blue-skinned demoness was instantly behind the stunned Melissa.
Hannah looked so excited, it pained Mark to wave her away. “There will be time to play with guns later,” she said. “But there is something more important to take care of first. I have given my students the gift of free will. Let us see how they use it. I have told them my plans clearly and honestly. And John is not incorrect. Most of humanity will have their minds overwritten to make them better subjects of my eternal empire. But I also crave intelligent conversation, and the four of you have proven yourselves capable of entertaining me on occasion. So I offer you a choice: fight me in a futile effort to stop my conquest, and perish, surrender to the inevitable and lose yourself in the eternal bliss of my reign, or bow to me as your one true goddess. As a reward for becoming my first converts, I will leave your old personalities intact in your glorious new bodies. I will even grant you dominion over some of my subjects. And if you please me, over time I may grant you powers such as Hannah now possesses.”
Mark’s gaze moved from student to student. For a long time, all were silent.