Angel Monarch

Bran let his senses reach every part of the castle, going through walls and moving between levels. He felt every single living being within the structure.

He felt the little viruses floating in the air; he felt the birds flying over the carcasses outside; he felt the worms borrowed into the ground. He felt the civilians running from their lives; he felt the Evolved fighting the husks… He felt everyone living, and could differentiate between life sources.

His abilities had clear limits in the area it could affect, but no matter how much essence he consumed previously, he never was able to determine which life source belonged to whom.

But his power reached its current highest peak yet. The range of his power stretched far and wide, while his ability to kill with discrimination became much better. He could target each individual life source with his power.

"This is going to be fun!" whispered Bran to himself, giggling in the process. He then went back to concentrating, since what he planned on doing took all his mental capacity.

…

Dozens of terrified civilians hid inside a dark room. Outside the barricaded door, screams, shouts, gunshots, and much more sounds of mayhem reached their ears, causing more fear.

All of them trembled and huddled together, like their proximity, could've done anything against those lifeless demons massacring everyone within the castle.

They whimpered and jumped at all the noise. However, the moment a shadow shifted behind the door, everyone froze like statues. The shadow and sounds of footsteps approached the door.

The shadow stayed there, standing, waiting. The civilians held their breath, waiting for what happened next. The other person remained still momentarily, then moved away with audible footsteps.

Just as they thought the threat had passed, a sudden bang shook all of them to their core. The barricaded door suddenly exploded inside, breaking into splinters and landing on the horrified civilians.

They all collectively began crying and hugging each other for support. They couldn't survive a fight against these monsters.

They all watched them kill Evolved guard after Evolved guard, and even when they died, it wasn't permanent. Demons—that's all they were—how could a normal civilian fight against such creatures?

The worst part was their lack of emotion as they killed. They didn't seem to enjoy the act. This was like a job to them, something they were ordered and needed to complete, no satisfaction or happiness. They were like husks of humans, something dead in every sense of the word except biologically.

The demon stepped inside the room, walking to the nearest cowering human. He raised his sword, about to kill the civilian in a single cut.

The terrified woman covered her eyes, waiting for death to take her. The killing blow never came, though.

She yelped and jumped in terror when the loud clattering noise filled the small room. Metal armor and weapons hit the ground, while a cloud of dust rose into the air.

Survivors glanced around, bewildered, unsure of the demon's whereabouts. Nobody realized they were all breathing in the assassin's remnants.

When they confirmed no threat was nearby, each person broke down. The few religious members within their ranks immediately pulled out small necklaces with seven-pointed stars at its end. They kissed the star and thanked their goddess for saving them.

Even the less faithful gave a small praise to whomever saved their lives. They were certain whatever happened wasn't some divine intervention, but it sure as hell felt like it.

Similar experiences occurred elsewhere. Elsewhere, a hundred guards battled twenty-five husks. They were clearly losing. Every time a husk died, they resurrected within seconds.

The guards were dying fast, and unlike the demons, they couldn't regenerate. When all seemed hopeless, the guards didn't falter. They gave their lives to provide escape for the less capable and the civilians.

They continued to kill their enemies, while slowly perishing below their unstoppable onslaught. Their lines were close to breaking. Their numbers disappearing rapidly when a miracle happened.

One demon exploded into dust at the front, then another two close behind him. This continued for a few seconds. Following each death, increasing numbers turned to dust. When only a dozen remained alive, they all evaporated at the same time.

The guards had no clue what happened, but when their safety became certain, a wave of relief and joy washed over the surviving crowd.

They spent a few seconds cheering before they went back to work. No healer could relieve the pain or mend the wounds of their many injured comrades. They transported all the seriously injured to the closest civil doctors to help save them.

Ambulances sped towards the castle. The survivors of the attack already made reports and asked for support. The military began sweeping through the castle, but all they found from the attacking force were piles of dust and pieces of armor.

Noises of combat emanated from various locations; however, soldiers consistently discovered only joyous or surprised survivors upon arrival. They each told the same story.

The husks didn't stay dead, no matter how many times they killed them, then when everything became hopeless, all their foes turned to dust, and didn't resurrect.

The soldiers, initially perplexed, had to believe the events. Numerous accounts corroborated the same story.

They thought at first only a few terrified civilians likely misunderstood what they witnessed. But when guards and guests alike recounted similar tales, they couldn't deny it anymore.

The general leading the operation still needed to figure out the exact events. She also wanted to know if any attacker remained hidden inside the castle.

The soldiers went level by level, clearing every room, only finding dust and broken pieces of ordinary metal. It took them a few minutes to find someone who wasn't oblivious.

The castle's ruined section witnessed ongoing combat; however, the husks encountered something none were prepared for. The soldiers stared in awe as the Deathless Pheonix and a brown-haired woman laid waste to their forces.

A dozen husks battled the two women, but it seemed they weren't long for this world. From the ground, vines incapacitated all, and it only took a few quick strikes, and the Deathless Phoenix's cleansing fire consumed each demon.

They screeched as the metal armor melted, and they all turned to ash. Around the Deathless Phoenix and the beautiful woman, many more piles of ash danced in the slight breeze moving through the broken building. Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire

Sera stared at the piles with contempt. Her fire made sure to keep them dead, but that didn't mean she was less annoyed. She understood the small number capable of confronting these assassins, which meant the many casualties occurred in the past hour.

After killing the last of the husks, Sera glanced at Bea. Her expression mirrored Sera's; bored emotionless.

Bea arrived shortly after her, and they fought against them together the whole time. Their anger towards each other remained unresolved, yet they chose to set aside their differences for the greater good.

The two of them walked towards the soldiers. Sera opened her watch and suddenly stumbled. Without saying a word, wings spread behind her back and she flew straight towards one tower.

Bea didn't question her decision, and even though a bad feeling grew in her stomach, she talked with the soldiers and explained the situation to her understanding.

She was a bit surprised to hear that someone had already killed all the enemies in the castle. Her shock ended quickly when the soldiers explained the state of the corpses.

There was only one person Bea knew who could kill that way, and she was certain his powers would stop the husks' resurrection, just like Sera's flames.

Her assumptions soon proved correct when the report came about Bran. He killed hundreds of demons all over the castle, eliminating every single one, but now an additional problem arose.

His essence became so overloaded that he literally turned into a gigantic bomb, which could level a large portion of London.

Before the soldier could fully explain the situation, Bea turned into vines and moved through walls until she reached the exact level where Bran was located.

Upon entering the elevator hall, she changed back and stared at Bran with pure bewilderment. He floated in the middle of a gigantic bubble of pure black energy.

Cross-legged and with closed eyes, he continued to float, not letting himself lose concentration. Bea was certain only his concentration kept the bubble of energy stable.

Bea lacked expertise in energy release, yet understood instant annihilation would befall Bran from such a surge. She had to free him from this stifling weight before the city's destruction.

A very stupid idea popped into her head. At first she dismissed it, but then the bubble grew a bit larger as Bran lost a bit of focus. She had run out of time. It was time to act!

Everyone, soldiers, civilians, and guests, all watched in horror as Bea stepped forward and placed one hand over the bubble. She thought there would be some resistance, but all she met was excruciating pain.

She watched as her hand turned to dust right before her eyes. Scarred, she pulled out of the bubble, and watched in relief as the tissue regrew itself quickly.

People around her watched in awe and fear. Several fainted seeing her hand regenerate.

Bea took a few deep breaths, then reached inside with her right arm, letting it dissolve. This time, she left it there, allowing the dark energy bubble to perpetually destroy her regenerating arm.

The pain was near unbearable, but the bubble's size near imperceptibly decreased, which meant it was working.

She took a few quick breaths, then pushed her other arm into the bubble. A loud scream escaped her mouth this time, as the pain doubled. She wanted nothing more than to remove it, but upon visibly seeing the shrinkage of the bubble, she decided to weather out the pain.