Angel Monarch

—2 years ago. 28 ATA, May 19th. Somewhere near the eastern shore of North-America—

Sera's head felt like exploding. She couldn't even open her eyes, and even the darkness in her vision felt too bright. Her entire body felt awful, too, exhaustion evident in her barely moveable limbs.

After spending an eternity in pain, it eventually became bearable. She couldn't move her body yet, but for now, she accepted the peace of not being in constant agony.

Gradually, her senses began returning one-by-one. First, her sense of smell, which picked up an abundance of different pleasant and horrid aromas.

The breezy air was full of the smell of pine, while she also perceived the smell of fire mixed with freshly cooked meat. However, from further away, her nose picked up the smell of blood and excrement.

The putrid, disgusting smell couldn't have belonged to any human… It was definitely some dead monster!

Next came her sense of hearing, which picked up the sound of faraway fighting. A bit of worry rose in Sera's heart. She couldn't possibly fight in her current weakened state!

Her concern, though, soon lessened. The fighting stopped after a few minutes, and soon the sound of confident footsteps arrived next to her.

"Damn, she's still asleep… Wonder how long she'll need to sleep to recover…"

The female voice mumbled to herself. Sera recognized it immediately. It was Faith, her loyal Shadow!

With a bit of struggle, Sera managed to force her mouth open, then she tried to speak…

"I'm already awake, fool!" She said with her weak throat, then instantly began coughing. Her mouth felt drier than a desert.

Whatever Faith was holding, it fell to the ground, as the dark-eyed woman glanced at the Angel, frozen in shock. Tears welled in her eyes as she collapsed next to her Goddess!

"My Lady! I was so worried about you! You haven't shown any signs of consciousness… I thought you would never wake up… I was so worried…"

Faith's voice slowly devolved into relieved sobs. Her shaking hands gently held Sera's own.

The angelic woman concentrated all her willpower and gave a small, reassuring squeeze to Faith's trembling hands.

The Shadow, realizing what she's doing, blushed heavily, and slowly placed Sera's hand back on the ground, like it was some holy object.

"Wa-ter… Water… Please…"

Sera barely managed to push out the words before she broke into another coughing fit. When she could breathe again, Faith moved quickly and soon she felt a metal flask near her mouth.

Water gently trickled from the opening and down the angelic woman's throat. It felt like the best drink for Sera's parched lips. Her body slowly reinvigorated, and soon she began gulping down every droplet within the flask!

Afterward, she took a deep satisfied breath, and tried opening her eyes. Her eyelids flickered open, but her vision hadn't gotten any better. Everywhere she looked, darkness surrounded her!

"Fuck me, don't tell me I became blind! I can't see shit!"

Somewhere nearby, Faith coughed awkwardly. She then giggled to herself, clearly embarrassed about something…

"Sorry, that's actually me. You've been lying here for a long time, so I raised a barrier of shadows surrounding us for a few kilometers in every direction. If anything enters, I immediately notice and can attack or take you away swiftly!"

Slowly, the surrounding darkness brightened as Faith carved out the barrier's core. The shadows stayed further away, letting a few dozen meters brighten by the campfire.

Sera's golden-green eyes glanced around, still lying on her back. Her vision stayed mostly blurry, but everything cleared gradually.

Their campsite looked miserable. Faith had skinned some monster and used its fur as a makeshift bed. The only light source was a single small campfire, which slowly drowned under the falling grease from the meat cooking above it.

Nearby the trunks of trees stretched widely. Each trunk stretched close to ten meters in diameter, which meant their actual height must've been gigantic.

The sound of insect buzzing echoed around the campsite, and Sera spotted a few large moths flying around the campfire.

"Well, this place looks like shit… Also, where's this disgusting smell coming from?"

Faith looked a bit surprised by her Lady's question. She shadowy woman glanced around, her senses moving through the darkness nearby.

There were corpses all around the campsite. However, Faith's confusion stemmed from Sera's inability to see them.

"Uh, my Lady? Can't you see through the darkness? There are monster corpses all around us, hundreds of them!"

Sera looked confused for a moment, then she reached out her hand and tried summoning light. However, immediately after consuming essence, the strong headache reappeared.

"I guess I need a bit more time before using my abilities again… Anyway, is the meat done cooking? I'm famished!"

Faith's eyes still looked concerned, but a small smile appeared upon hearing her Lady's request.

"I thought Transcended can survive without eating." She said, while reaching down and plucking a large piece of monster thigh meat.

The angelic woman slowly sat up cross-legged and reached out as Faith handed her the meat.

"Neither of us have need to eat. However, I'm hungry, so I don't give a fuck!"

With that, Sera turned her glistening, starving eyes to the juicy meat. She opened her mouth and bit away a large piece, barely chewing it.

The meat was scolding hot, but for a hungry Transcended it was perfect temperature. Sera breathed out steam as her saliva boiled.

Her eyes seemed like golden stars, as desire shined in them. Without taking a break, she ate the entire meat, then another one, then the next…

After devouring about fifteen kilograms worth of meat, she finally felt full!

"Faith, that was amazing! You're the best cook ever!"

The shadowy woman just raised a confused eyebrow while munching on her single piece of food.

"I literally just cut it off a monster and placed it atop the flames. I didn't even have salt or spices to use on the meat!"

Sera just leaned back against the tree and shrugged with a content smile.

"Well, the meat still tasted good, so whatever you did, good job!"

Faith just sighed while shaking her head, suppressing her laughter. Slowly, she also ate her meal.

In the meantime, Sera, with the help of the nearby tree, climbed to her wobbly feet. She stood there proudly for a few moments before her legs finally gave out.

The Angel yelped in surprise, but just before she would hit the ground, the shadows nearby caught her wings and body. They gently placed her back on the monster's fur, where the divine woman cursed under her breath.

"Fuck, it seems like walking isn't an option yet… Uh, dammit, the stupid headache came back…"

She rubbed her forehead with an annoyed, pained expression, while taking deep calming breaths.

"A brief word of advice for you, Faith! If you ever feel like Evolving, don't do it while you're dead!… The backlash is fucking awful!"

This time, she couldn't hold in her laughter anymore. The dark-eyed woman burst out suddenly, and Sera's own chuckle soon mixed with hers.

They both laughed for a few minutes, then fell into silence. The only noise surrounding them was the dying fire's last few crackles and the insects' gentle buzzing.

"Faith, how long was I asleep, exactly, and what happened during that time? I remember arriving to North-America through Vicky's portal. Then I just felt really tired and fell asleep… Did anything important happen?"

Faith leaned back against the same tree's trunk a few meters away. Her dark eyes staring above, through the extensive foliage and shadows, at the night sky.

"You were asleep for about a week. I've been defending you all this time, killing every monster I could. However, I also ran across a few strong foes, whom I couldn't defeat easily. I moved you lots of times whenever your safety became precarious."

Sera nodded, while staring at Faith's side profile with thankful eyes. The shadowy woman glanced to the side, into her golden-green eyes, and smiled affectionately, but also full of respect and reverence.

"One week huh?… Then I guess you had some time to look around while rescuing me… What is your initial reconnaissance about North-America?"

The smile disappeared from Faith's face, like it never existed. Her mouth turned into a thin line, while her eyes became firm and serious.

"The state of this continent is much worse than anything we hoped for. For comparison, Europe feels like a paradise to this hell! In just one week, I had to kill close to a thousand monsters, if not more!"

Sera's eyes went wide with surprise. Slowly, she was regaining control over her essence, so her passive Angel Sight activated again! She finally could see through Faith's shadows!

Around their campsite, the gigantic trees stretched far and wide. However, that wasn't too surprising, even though Sera didn't expect to see such enormous trees.

What truly shocked Sera was the amount of dead monster corpses all around them. Because of the trees blocking her vision, Sera couldn't see far, but even then, she counted about two dozen corpses!

"Don't worry. I killed these before setting up the campsite! You were safely tucked away in my shadows the entire time!"

Slowly, a wide grin spread across Sera's face. She took a deep breath of the gore filled air, and chuckled to herself.

Her eyes moved to Faith's curious and a bit worried expression. The Angel just winked at her shadow, and said, "This place might be hell, but it's perfect for its intended purpose. It has lots of monsters that need killing… Just what I need!"