Angel Monarch

As the silvery gauntlet met with the abstract void, the darkness reeled back from the light.

Sick pleasure consumed Sera's face as her talons cut off pieces of the void, slowly destroying it. While it moved backward, the heavenly woman just laughed insanely and continued taking it apart.

A while later, when nearly nothing left of the void, it screamed loudly with anger or maybe despair. It began growing in size, and moving towards Sera.

It tried to consume her, but just as the void closed in, Sera also jumped forward. Her six wings closed around her, creating a cacoon of protection.

The darkness closed around her, just as her laughter echoed through the colorful space.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, then suddenly a bright light appeared inside the void.

Suddenly, Sera jumped out, while laughing maniacally. She held a strange, dark orb, oozing with black energy, in her silvery gauntlet.

The Angel grinned at the orb madly, then without waiting, she squeezed. The dark orb exploded into oozing energy, then it slowly dissipated into nothingness.

With the orb's destruction, Sera's insane laughter stopped. Her grin slowly disappeared and a serene, sad expression took its place.

She sighed deeply, while letting her gauntlets dissolved into specks of light.

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that… Whatever that was!"

Sera's head snapped in the familiar voice's direction. However, her eyes immediately widened in surprise upon glancing at its owner.

Bea stood a dozen meters away, looking at her with a mix of emotions, the strongest of which was clearly concern.

They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment. Bea's beautiful bright green, with a hint of heavenly gold at its middle. Sera's a divine gold with a hint of alluring bright green at its middle.

Neither could force themselves to speak, especially not Sera, who just continued staring at Bea, like she was a ghost.

The abstract shapes and colors continued dancing around the place, while Bea stood awkwardly, both hands covering her privates.

Sera also noticed her weird stance. She tilted her head in confusion, and unlike what Bea expected, she didn't seem to care about her nakedness.

"Why are you standing like that?"

Her question surprised and confused Bea. The greenish skin of her face turned bright red as she blushed and glanced away from the angelic woman.

"To cover my body, of course! It wouldn't be appropriate to meet for the first time in two years, without at least covering my privates!"

The redness of Bea's face deepened as Sera's laughter echoed around the place. It was nothing like the previous mad chuckle. It held pure joy and even a bit of amusement!

"Bea, this is my subconscious. I see you how I perceive you in my mind! I would never imagine you naked! You only see yourself as such!"

"Well, that makes one of us!… Uh, I mean… Thank you for not imagining me such way, that would be quite inappropriate indeed!"

Sera continued to laugh, while Bea desperately sought a change to the subject.

"Anyway, so this is you subconscious?… It's very… How should I describe it?… It's very everything and nothing at the same time. Extremely confusing!"

Slowly, the Angel's laughter died down, and she looked around the surreal place with saddened eyes.

"Yeah, the subconscious is always abstract. At least that's what Lilith thinks… Mine looks especially confusing because of Madness's constant attacks. It warps reality, pushing everything to its limits!"

Sera bent and reached down, grabbing the non-existent ground beneath her feet. She lifted a handful of strange dust, which somehow glowed brightly and showed immense darkness at the same time.

It reflected every color imaginable, while also looked see through. Just holding it felt like grasping the hottest flame and feeling absolute zero.

The dust confused every sense. It smelled like a field of fragrant wildflowers and excrement combined with vomit. As the small particles hit each other, they played a beautiful melody, while also seemed to scream in pain.

"Don't look at it for too long. It can drive you Mad!" Said Sera, before placing the dust back into the empty ground.

Bea stared at the angelic woman with wide eyes, the meaning behind Sera's words slowly reaching her mind. After a few seconds, she nodded thoughtfully, with a serious expression.

"Okay, I understand why everything is so fucked up here. Wait!… Didn't you say… What do you mean by 'Madness's constant attacks'?"

Sera tilted her head again, remembering her own words. Suddenly, she began chuckling self-deprecatingly while shaking her head.

"I said Madness huh… That was supposed to be a secret. I haven't even told this to Vicky when she came to visit a few months ago… I didn't want to worry her. She already has so much on her shoulder because of my inadequacy!"

The Angel's eyes turned reminiscent, as she remembered her daughter's latest visit. Both Vicky and Henry grew much in the past two years, slowly growing into little adults, however, Sera wasn't able to witness it…

She felt incompetent. A worthless leader, and an even worse mother. Her own nation and religion barely held on before, and now another continent sought to destroy them!

Bea could only watch her suffer alone. She had no words of encouragement, since she knew exactly how the angelic woman felt… It was easy to empathize with her, because she felt that exact same uselessness.

"I guess we're both horrible mothers… Thinking back, I wish we could've spent more time together, just the three of us… But other it seems many forces worked to destroy us from the beginning…"

Sera caught a glimpse of the sadness in Bea's eyes. She looked the woman up and down. Something felt different about her demeanor…

Something must've happened between her and Otto, otherwise she wouldn't be here, in her ex-girlfriend's mind…

"How's Otto doing?" She asked as cautiously and warmly as she could muster.

Bea smiled sadly, a depressing chuckle escaping her pursed lips…

"It's that obvious? We broke up to put it lightly…"

Quickly, Bea summarised the past year she spent with Otto. It wasn't easy to speak about these events, however, the sincerity in Sera's eyes constantly prompted her to continue.

By the end, the angelic woman's hands trembled as she squeezed them tightly from anger. Slowly, she hid them behind her back, trying to maintain her calm appearance.

However, nothing could've hidden the dark, pure hatred in those golden-green eyes. Bea shivered under her gaze, from the fierceness in her stare.

"Did he do anything to you? Did he hurt you in any way?"

Suddenly, realization hit Bea like a rock. She understood why Sera seemed to take Otto's treatment so personally… It reminded her of her suffering in Havel…

Bea gently smiled and walked up to Sera's angry form. She took a big leap of faith, reached out and hugged the golden-haired woman.

The Angel froze under her hands. Her brain shut down while warmth filled her body.

"Don't worry Sera, he didn't do anything horrible… Not to me at least… He only treated everyone in Castleburg awfully, while keeping me locked away, in perfect safety… I'm perfectly fine, just very pissed off for wasting so much time with such an asshole!"

She whispered everything into Sera's ear, causing her cheeks to blush. Slowly, Bea moved away and stared at Sera with a gentle smile.

Her breathing and heart rate slowly went back to normal, and after a few seconds, her shock disappeared. She smiled back at her ex, a bit awkwardly.

"Well, that's good to hear. Then I'll only have to kill Otto and don't have to torture him! That's saves me a lot of trouble!"

They both chuckled at that, even though Bea certainly knew Sera wasn't joking. Not like she cared if Otto lived or died.

She already wanted him gone. This just provided an opportunity to deepen her friendly connection with Sera!

"Okay, but only if we do it together! Or do you want to take away my chance at revenge?" Asked Bea sarcastically, while batting her eyelashes like a schoolgirl.

Sera laughed again at the majestic woman's ridiculous expression.

"Not at all… Sure… Fine!… Let's do it together!" She said with an exclamation.

Their laughter slowly silenced, and they continued staring into each other's eyes. After the hug a while ago, Bea 'accidentally' continued holding Sera's right hand.

However, the angelic woman didn't seem eager to let go. Her golden-green eyes glinted in the abstract place's weird lighting.

There was something strange in her gaze, like a deep concern. Something seemed to bother Sera, but when she spoke next, it wasn't what Bea expected.

"How's everyone holding up? Is Vicky doing okay? I had Faith check on her a few times, but not after the attempted kidnapping!"

Sera balled her hands into fists once more, but before the anger could've taken hold, Bea gave a reassuring squeeze. The Angel took a deep breath and smiled at her friend, thankfully.

Bea didn't say anything at first, unsure where to begin. However, soon a specific tall woman with metallic gray hair and eyes popped into her head…

"After the attempted kidnapping, Vicky has been taking lessons in combat! She uses daggers, which she can summon and control! They are really powerful, but she still lacks experience!"

The angelic woman's eyes glinted with pride and wonder. A small, satisfied smile grew on her kissable lips.

"Who's teaching her? Kim, or maybe Astrid? Or you?"

The majestic woman snorted at Bea's question, as a similar proud smile appeared on her face too.

"Neither. She's a new Transcended named Yvonne. She says you've met before, but I doubt you remember her or her family… Anyway, she and Astrid will make a delightful couple!"

The name Yvonne felt familiar to Sera. However, she couldn't recall her face.

Suddenly, the angelic woman's eyes went wide as her mind processed Bea's last sentence.

"WHAT?! Astrid has a girlfriend? That giant, taciturn woman who only speaks with Kim?… Okay, tell me everything you know!"

Bea laughed at her reaction, then began retelling everything she learned in the past few days.