Angel Monarch

It turns out Dwight had lied to them about his actual powers. They had nothing to do with space... It was much scarier than that...

She only took one singular step before she lost her connection with her essence. Her wings, armor, and glaive dissipated into specks of light. Her whole body felt weaker, and she stumbled a bit.

Dwight chuckled in front of her. In his hand, a mean looking serrated blade appeared.

There were no more words exchanged. He attacked with precision and anger, while Sera dodged.

The blade passed her by, and she closed in the distance to deliver a powerful punch to his face. Just before it connected, a full body armor appeared on him, preventing Sera from doing any serious damage.

It hit the metal helmet with a crunch. The punch was strong enough to send Dwight back a few steps, but Sera was worse off.

She took a sharp intake of breath as pain assaulted her. Severe pain shot through her right hand; several scrapes bled, and two of her fingers were dislocated.

With little care, Sera grabbed the fingers and popped them back into place. Her facial expression stayed emotionless. Behind his helmet, Dwight laughed...

"You are a crazy bitch!" He whispered before attacking again.

Around them, the fifteen soldiers stayed close to each other, while Legion and Hector watched the fight with obvious glee. Kim remained on the ground because her blocked essence prevented regeneration.

She had a terrified expression on her face, and each time Sera made a close evasion, her heart skipped a beat. It was strange to feel scared for the Phoenix's life, but currently their lives were tied together.

Dwight swung his sword, aiming for Sera's midsection. She leaned away just enough, so the blade cut through her clothing, but didn't reach her skin. Her lean gave her leverage, which she used by kicking out Dwight's dominant leg.

He toppled over and hit the ground hard, his armor clanking loudly.

Sera wasted no time. She ran to the sword, which had fallen in Kim's fight.

She spent a moment examining it, then twirled it once before nodding to herself. Although made of an ordinary alloy and quite blunt, she could use the sword to block or parry Dwight's weapon.

Behind her, Dwight stood up. His previous jovial attitude changed, and judging by his serious posture, he had enough of playing.

"I think we should fight on a bit more... equal footing... Don't you agree?" He said, as his body changed.

His limbs elongated as well as his neck, but the rest of his body stayed the same. Behind his back two large bat-like wings grew out, they were hollow and incapable of flight, but also terrifying.

The sword also changed, and grew to the size of a great sword.

He was about 1.9 meters before, but now he stood well over 2, maybe even reaching 3 meters. The arms were abnormally long and skinny. They reached down to just below his knees.

The sword was about two meters as well, which made the large serrations look even scarier.

For a moment Sera was unsure what to do, but when Dwight moved she was out of choices.

The great sword cut towards her in a vertical line. The power behind the move was severe, and Sera knew that there was no stopping or even deflecting it.

She rolled to the right as the sword cut the air and hit the ground with a loud bang. Dirt and parts of the road rained down as the weapon imbedded itself deep in the concrete.

With one clean pull, Dwight got the sword out and swung it at Sera again. She moved below it and tried to stab at Dwight's leg, but she had to dodge his fist that was aimed straight at her head.

The dodge wasn't perfect, but instead of her dying on the spot, she was just sent flying for a few meters. In the air, she turned, so she landed on her legs, giving her the chance to evade another of Dwight's attacks.

Her body hurt like hell and she felt a trickle of blood running from her nose, which was broken.

That butcher's sword came at her again. Her muscles burnt from all the movement, but there was no time to even take a breath.

Each dodge was deadly, each mistake would've cost her life. There was no opportunity to attack at this point. Dwight was too fast and strong for her to do anything about him... Luckily, she didn't have to. Time was passing, and that's all that mattered!

As the fight went on, Dwight got an uneasy feeling. Something wasn't right. He just couldn't place his finger on it.

It happened only three minutes after they began fighting. The air gradually turned hotter, and a screeching sound shook everyone's bones.

He hit the ground like a meteorite, landing on the fifteen undead soldiers, evaporating them in a giant blast of heat.

As the dust settled, they all turned towards the new arrival.

The being was enormous. His head and front feet were like a hawk, while his back leg and most of his body were like a horse. The length of his body was around five or six meters, with a wingspan of seven or eight meters.

The monstrous figure glowed gently, and in his eye sockets, two golden flames danced.

The ends of his feathers and hair were on fire, which gave him a truly majestic look.

He turned towards Dwight, then spread his wings and screeched again, causing him to back away a few steps.

The hippogryph stood even taller than him, which caused the fear factor to increase.

He was about to charge at him in a rage, but a woman's voice stopped her.

"NO! We are leaving!" Sera shouted, while running towards Kastral. He grunted in annoyance, then moved towards Kim.

She shivered as the monster's claw extended towards her, and then she was shocked.

The claws gently wrapped around her body, and by the time Sera was climbing onto his back, they were already in the air.

Down on the ground, the three surviving members watched all this with terror and awe.

As Kastral flew away, they heard a scream of rage echoing down below.

Kastral kept his speed to the minimum, which was still extremely fast. They reached the mansion in only seconds.

He landed in the courtyard, where people were already standing and pointing towards them. After placing Kim on the ground, he leaped back into the sky, disappearing from the people's view.

Sera stood above the Empress... the girl. That's how she saw Kim, at least.

Instead of a feared warrior and assassin, she only saw a scared and confused girl, not too different from the one she met in Marseille.

Their eyes focused on each other. Hers emerald green, Sera's pure gold. They both felt tired out of their minds, but as Sera heard the shouts of rage and scream coming their way, she smiled sadly.

Kim stared at Sera in pure confusion. They survived the fight, but Sera looked sadder than ever.

A crowd of soldiers and maids stood around them, but soon they cleared away. From the dissipating crowd, a purple-haired woman burst forth.

She grabbed onto Kim's throat with one hand and lifted her small body with ease.

"HOW DO WE SAVE HER?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!!!" she screamed in her face.

Kim's heart raced like never and she was sure that her life was over, but in that moment, a calm voice called out.

"She can't save her... Petrification once started can't be stopped..." Said Sera with melancholy.

"No... No, you are lying!... How can I save her?" Cass still held Kim's throat, but she wasn't screaming anymore. Her body shook as tears ran down her face.

She dropped Kim to the ground, and wept while Kim coughed.

It was sadly true. Kim knew it better than anyone how deadly her petrification was. The only person who survived it was Sera, but that was only because of her cleansing flames... Those wouldn't work on others, though.

Sera watched as Cass cried with faked sadness. She knew how much pain she was in, but she was second guessing herself...

This decision, if she went through with it, could ruin everything. Their timetable would turn to shit, and worst of all, she would suffer...

Sera asked herself a very important question... Would she trade her life for someone who was unimportant?

A good person would say yes without hesitation and a bad person would say no... Which one was she again?

As Sera thought about it, she realized it didn't matter. Good and bad were judgments she never cared about. For a long time now, there was only one principle she followed...

'No matter how bad things get, always stay true to yourself. If others think you are wrong, change their minds by being better, by showing the way. Be the light that guides them! The one who brings them out of the darkness and into the light...'

This was something Bran had said to her more than a year ago. By then, she should have realized his love for her, but her broken state kept her focused elsewhere.

In this second, which seemed to last forever, she only wanted to be with him one more time.

A tear ran down her face as she typed on her watch. When she was done, she turned to the sky.

"Go back to your nest... Will see each other some other time..." She sent the mental message to Kastral. She then ignored all of his worried questions and walked towards Cass.

She was kneeling on the ground, hands covering her face. Her body shook with each breath.

Sera knelt down in front of her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulders. Cass looked up, her face red, her eyes puffy.

"It's okay... She will be fine..." Said Sera choking on the words.

Cass looked at her in confusion, not understanding what she was saying. Another tear ran down Sera's face as she leaned in and gave Cass a tight hug.

"I want all of you to prepare for the future... I don't know how long I will be away, but I need you to be especially brave..." Sera whispered. Her body trembled in fear.

"What's wrong Sera? What do you mean, she will be fine? What did you do?" Asked Cass, her voice full of confusion and a bit of terror.

Sera ignored the question and just jumped to the next topic.

"Don't punish her... She's just a confused and terrified girl, who didn't know any better... I want you to escort her to Bran and Melinda. They will take care of her..."

Cass's eyes turned towards the girl, who had passed out after the choking. She looked so frail and tiny, but she nearly killed the most beloved person in Cass's life... Her mother...

"I can't..." Before she could've said anything else, Sera broke the hug.

She placed both of her hands on the sides of Cass's face. Her eyes contained immense sadness and terror, something that Cass didn't understand.

"Promise me... Do what I told you... Please..." she said in a meek voice, one that Cass had never heard before, at least not from Sera.

It left no room for argument, and with a deep sigh, Cass nodded.

"Thank you..." Sera whispered, while putting on a fake smile.

Around them, the wind changed, and Sera looked upon the person of her nightmares.

The person she feared wasn't a monstrous figure, like most people would think. He wasn't even as tall as her, but just his outfit locked down Sera's body.

Her nightmares contained no monsters or soldiers... There was only one person she feared...

It was a frail looking old man with a pair of welding glasses, gray and thinning hairline, and his most signature characteristic... A white lab coat...

"Hello my little angel. Did you ask for help?" Said Harold with a terrifying grin.