Angel Monarch

The fighting hadn't lasted too long. The combination of everyone's exceptional strength and coordination gave them a clear edge during the battle.

The hordes of creatures fell and died in front of the immoveable wall of human determination.

When Sera joined the fray, the battle was already close to its end, and by the time Lilith came to her senses, only a few monsters stayed standing. These, too, died quickly, with a few strikes from Lucy's scythe.

After the battle, Sera walked up to Mary and James, who also finished with their job. He brought up a large holographic map of the floor's energy lines. It was pretty confusing for Sera, but the two scientists explained everything.

"There are multitudes of different energy lines running around in the walls and floor. There are electrical cables, pipes full of some scorching liquid, and even some strange radioactive energy."

James motioned to the different colored lines on the map as he spoke. They all zigzagged around, entering and exiting every room, except for a single line, which ran relatively straight. It was the only one colored golden-white.

Sera pointed to that one after James stopped talking and asked, "What's inside the golden-white one?"

Before James could talk, Mary cut in with excitement.

"That's the one we're looking for! I ran some diagnostics and made a few comparisons. That line is full of your own energy. It comes from one of the upper floors, presumably from the room where you died all those times!"

It took a little effort to ignore the small comment Mary made, but after a few seconds of contemplating, Sera moved past her feelings.

"So, where does my energy go? And what's its purpose?"

James and Mary exchanged puzzled glances, then shrugged simultaneously.

"We are not sure. Some enormous machine or device uses the energy, since by our count, the amount running through those pipes every hour is enough to power the Aegis System for an entire year."

Sera's eyes widened with surprise, but before she could cut in, James continued.

"The energy transference is simply massive and also very unstable, so we should be careful not to puncture the pipes. It could crack this entire island into pieces. Even that Abomination would perish in such magnitude explosion."

Sera's face instantly lost its shocked expression. Her lips tightened in seriousness as she ordered Mary and James.

"Continue communicating with Henry as we move along. We might need a much quicker evacuation plan than the hippogryphs!"

The two scientists nodded, and soon the group moved out. Their destination was the room where her energy line ended. They weren't just here to get revenge, but to finally receive some answers.

The destination of her energy bothered Sera for a long time now. Especially after explaining the situation to Mary a year ago.

She counted out how much energy she put out after each resurrection. The number was enormous and, more importantly, very dangerous.

Should Harold weaponize her energy and exploded a bomb on the surface, a large portion of Europe would be destroyed. If he placed it below the surface, in a tectonically vulnerable area, it had a chance of cracking open the planet.

Sera doubted Harold would do anything destructive using her energy. He was cunning and insane, but he done nothing purely to cause chaos.

Harold was wickedly smart and rational in a fucked up way. His plans would have calculated and long-lasting results.

This didn't mean what he planned was any nicer than destroying the planet, but at least its effect wouldn't be as apparent.

The main consensus between Mary, Sera and James was that he planned on opening Gates. This much energy suffices for opening Gateways, and any other application escaped their minds.

Currently, they worried more about why Harold wanted to open Gates, and where they led.

Everyone else hoped to stop him before he made his move, but Sera knew exactly how late they were. Harold must've already initiated his plan, since he hadn't provided sufficient resistance to stop their approach.

Sera just pretended that this mission was a preemptive strike, when in reality, this was nothing but damage control.

They needed to figure out what Harold had already started, so contain its hazardous effects as much as possible.

Led by James's map, they walked down empty corridors towards the end of the energy line.

The lowest floor was much larger than the rest of the facility, but also strangely empty. They encountered no other resistance after the first gruesome fight. But this only caused their concern to skyrocket.

Confronting a foe felt easier than waiting for the inevitable conflict.

Bran constantly used his power to scan for any life in the surrounding rooms, but every time Sera asked, he just shook his head sadly.

Sera sensed his inner troubles, but lacked the time to properly pry about his thoughts and emotions. Her own feelings were all over the place, as well.

With each step, she felt herself closer towards Scarred Sera. She was here, in this facility, waiting for their reunification.

She felt like drowning while they marched towards the enormous room, their destination. Her feelings became more real, and they slowly overwhelmed her mind.

On the outside, she maintained a straight emotionless face, while inside she screamed at the top of her lungs. Thousands of thoughts zipped around her mind, slowly driving her mad.

Understanding her intense feelings' origin took considerable time. At first, she believed Scarred Sera's mind somehow affected hers, but that wasn't the case… It all came from within…

A two-year accumulation of unexpressed emotions hit her suddenly and powerfully, like a battering ram punching her skull.

There was no fighting against this flood of feelings, since it wasn't a mental attack, but simply the absence of her usual hollowness.

Sera knew only one possible solution. She let go of her mind and felt every emotion running through her body.

An immense pressure pushed down on her shoulder, but she didn't lose herself in the whirlwind of feelings. She felt everything, but kept her rational mind in control, never absolving her mind from the pain.

Behind her helmet, silent tears ran down her cheeks, as all the suffering of the past two years suddenly hit her. She never actually realized how much pain she carried each day.

Sera understood how much of a blessing her emotionless state was. If she would've felt all these emotions during her torture, she would've already killed herself.

But now, her emotions weren't all bad. She finally felt love towards both her daughter and her lover. She also felt love towards her friends, and she realized how much they loved her.

Initially, the tears running down her face were sad, but soon she was sobbing with joy. Even a few silent giggles escaped her trembling lips, and a permanent grin persisted on her face.

The others were so absorbed in their worry that they didn't notice Sera's strange behaviour. They kept looking at intersecting corridors, waiting for an ambush, which never happened. They reached the room's enormous door with no issue.

By that time, Sera's emotional control became much better, and grim determination took over the joyous expression.

They stopped in front of the door, waiting for James to override its controls. But as he tried entering the system, suddenly a loud sigh echoed and the enormous doors gently slid open.

The interior was fairly dark, but Sera saw everything clearly. Hundreds of pipes and cables moved around the floor and walls, heading into different devices.

Large whiteboards full of mad scribblings were haphazardly placed, ignoring any rational usage of space.

The machines and devices hummed, sending vibrations through the metal floor. A constant beeping and the sound of liquid mixed with the gentle hum, creating a monotone background noise.

The main attraction, where every pipe lead, was something Sera couldn't comprehend. It wasn't a Gateway, like they assumed it would be, but a gigantic machine, with cables and pipes attached to it.

Sera curiously entered the room without thinking. Motion activated lights immediately illuminated the dark, so everyone could bask upon the abomination at the room's opposite side.

A few people gasped, while others just stared ahead in confusion. The more ground and less curious, started observing everything for threats, while Mary and James just mumbled to each other.

They proceeded a short distance further into the room, then the doors slammed shut behind them. Luckily, everyone made it inside beforehand, so they hadn't gotten separated.

Sera barely noticed the change as she walked up to James and Mary, who were eager to discuss this horrific machine.

"So, what's that? I expected a Gateway, not this pointless looking monstrosity!"

They regarded her as an idiot for even posing such an obvious question. When they realized she was serious, they both burst out laughing, which further annoyed Sera.

"Oh dear," began Mary, while pointing at the machine. "That's a Gateway albeit a unique one. You see, the energy it receives could open many Gates at once and it can open it anywhere on this planet!"

Silence followed her words, only broken by a familiar laughter. A shiver went down Sera's spine as she slowly turned towards the laughter's origin.

There, in front of the horrific machine, stood Harold, his long white lab coat gently moving from some exhaust wind. His signature goggles covered his Mad eyes. His wrinkled mouth twisted into a wide grin chuckled at Mary's statement.

"Interesting, someone who understands my machination, albeit only on a surface level. Hm… Where has my little angel hid you for all this time? You could've made my job so much easier!"

He stared straight at Mary as he spoke. James stepped ahead, which made Harold smirk, as he noted their affection.

"Ah, no matter! Following this, your assistance will prove valuable; however, I require a conversation with the two Seraphines first!"