They writhed in pain. Their bodies shook. Their masks began to form on their faces like cancer or a tumor. They scratched at it in pain, but they'd only draw blood which was easily covered up. They all had no idea what was happening.
Tasha saw their transformation, but had no idea what to think of it. She leapt onto Jack's shoulder, and as she tried to connect to them to figure out what's wrong, she began to sink into the metal. But she felt calm as her entire body just sank into her.
They screamed at first, but then their screams were replaced by devilish shrieks. The space around them began to collapse into nothingness.
The creatures rattled around and cheered.
And Annie watched unnerved, but slowly became excited at what she saw. Yune's chains loosened, but she didn't try to escape. Instead, she watched in bliss.
She muttered, "I see it, now. I see what my creatures see. The greatest pieces of art in the universe. It's so beautiful."
The masks formed around their heads at long last. However, now they looked every more terrifying. All of them had a crown horns that glowed the same color as their eyes- purple for Mary, white for Yune, and red for Jack.
Mary had a mouth wide open with rows of teeth like a lamprey.
Yune's mouth opened up like a diamond across her face with spider fangs. There were eight eyes in total. Four on the left and four on the right.
Jack's jaw line split in two. There were two long tongues coming out from underneath. Her teeth just as sharp as a shark with just as many rows. The mask still resembled a hockey mask, but each hole now contained her eyes.
Their bodies had grown in size and morphed. Their weapons turned pitch black. They no longer looked like girls in armor. They barely resembled being human.
They stared at Annie who started to laugh at what she saw. Not because she mocked them, but because she was thrilled to see this magnificent display of art. It was more beautiful than anything she could make.
To each other, however, once their pain went away, they didn't see each other as any different except for their size and crown of horns. Through their eyes, they just wore their regular mask. But to each of them, they felt stronger. A current of power flowed throughout their bodies. It felt like ecstasy.
Their marks still glowed within the shadows as reality broke apart around them.
Jack grabbed onto Annie's head as she laughed in hysteria and glee.
"Why are you laughing?" Jack asked, but all Annie could do was mutter quietly to herself.
She repeated the words, "Beautiful" over and over again.
Jack noticed the creatures watching them and felt that they wanted to kill Annie themselves. She didn't know how she knew that, but now that she did, she took Annie by the head and tossed her inside. Jack knew that the only thing Annie wanted was to die by Jack's hands. Jack felt that Annie would feel no satisfaction being torn apart by her own captured Night Demons and artwork.
When her body was about to hit the laser bars, they curved around her. They assumed it was because Annie couldn't get hit by her own attack, but it felt like the entire portion of that room curved with it.
When Annie fell to the claws and fangs of her captured Night Demons, all she could do was stare at the three girls. They were hideous monsters, but to her, she saw God. She muttered one more thing in the end, "Dark Stars..."
Her own monsters ripped her apart piece by piece. And with only one eye and nothing else, she was grateful for seeing such magnificent pieces of art.
And then, it was over.
They sighed a breath of relief, but then the lasers began to disperse and the monsters looked at them.
"Great. One more problem after the next," Mary said as they readied themselves for a fight.
But the creatures did no such thing. They didn't see just any man or woman. But something greater than all. Each one bowed and chanted out in unison, "Dark...Star...Emperors..."
The three girls were confused, but then Jack looked at a shard of glass. She saw their monstrous faces. She couldn't believe it and then the others looked in the mirror. They tried to take off the mask, but it wouldn't come off. It was like it was a part of their own skin. And even if they did manage to rip off a piece, it would just grow back in seconds.
"No. no. no. no. This can't be right," Jack exclaimed.
"I'm hideous," Mary said.
"No. This isn't who we are. This can't be," Yune complained.
But then, Yune looked back at the door. Her chains had loosened themselves as she was in pain from this transformation. And she saw Venomion and Cainus standing in fear in front of the door.
They looked at the three in utter fear and disgust. The entire universe began to wrap around the three monsters. The girls could even sense them as something worse than Night Demons. The chill ran deep into their body. All of their bones became brittle at the mere sight of them.
But they knew one of them. Yune. They could still recognize her weapon, but no longer her face or body. They were just monsters, but they couldn't do anything about it.
"They saw what we are. We have to kill them," Jack said as she conjured her machete and was about to kill them.
But Yune held Jack's arm back and said, "No. You can't. We can't."
And then Mary looked at the two girls stunned in fear and yelled in a shrieking voice, "Run!"
They never felt this kind of terror before from any other Night Demon. They didn't stand a chance against these monsters. They ran away afraid, but the three girls gave no chase.
The monster continued to bow and chant far more clearly, "Dark Star Emperors. Dark Star Emperors. Dark Star Emperors."
And they kept repeating it, yet Jack, Mary, and Yune felt no threat from those monsters. However, Jack still found them annoying and roared a devilish screech. The creatures scattered away like roaches leaving the three girls alone.
They began to shake and try to get themselves out of this form. They tried to transform back into human form, but couldn't while they were like that. Then, as they concentrated harder, each one began to change back into their usual guardian form. It felt like they had to twist their own brain from the inside to do it.
Their mouths fused together and returned to normal. Their horns fell off. Tasha even fell out of Jack and onto Jack's leg without realizing what happened.
They didn't know what that was. It scared them. They worried that they would transform into that form, again.
They left the gallery burning everything inside. They destroyed the entire thing. And when they got out to the outside of the toy factory, they burned that as well hoping that Annie's gallery would never be found, and if it was found, it would be nothing but ash and rubble.
The three of them dashed back home. Even Yune followed the others. She didn't want to, but after turning into that monster, she couldn't go back to Venomion and Cainus. And she couldn't be alone, either. Now, that some guardians knew what they were, they assumed all would. But whatever came, Yune felt that she had to stick by them as freaks and monsters, although she didn't want to.
However, the three of them no longer had a choice.