Angel Monarch

Henry trembled as he watched Bea prepare to fight. Next to him, Vicky still sat cross-legged, barely paying attention to her surroundings.

He was certain Vicky would teleport them away, if the threat was truly unbeatable, and he also knew she wasn't blind to what was happening. It was all a ruse to keep the Husks guessing, while she continued working on the faraway portals.

While knowing that their situation wasn't hopeless, Henry still felt conflicted about Bea fighting alone against a horde of these creatures. Henry wasn't a great fighter by any means, but he certainly believed Bea couldn't hold on until reinforcements arrived… Oh, how wrong he was…

As the first two Husks moved closer, raising their weapons to attack, Bea didn't stay still either.

She expertly evaded the first one's sword, then before the second came even close, she chopped off the Husk's arms. While maintaining momentum, she spun around, beheading both with a single strike.

In less than a second, both Husks fell to the ground, headless and dead.

But Bea didn't stop there. She took a few steps back, centered her mind, and awaited her next opponent.

Back below the Tree of Life's roots, Henry just stared at Bea in awe. His mouth hung open in shock. The fight ended so quickly his regular human eyes couldn't even process what had happened.

The small crystal ball glowed in Bea's hands as it absorbed the souls of the Husks. Her wooden sword slowly consumed the blood on the blade. The blood flowed through the wood's veins, into the armor, giving it a red tint.

A few moments later, a small blood-red flower with seven petals grew out of Bea's right pauldron. She didn't seem to notice, but Henry grew curious about what the flower meant.

He, of course, kept his curiosity in check, since everything was turning from bad to worse. Instead of watching the incomprehensible fight, he tried ignoring everything, and continued delivering new information to Vicky.

The white-haired girl, sitting comfortably, continued to concentrate, fully believing in her mother's ability to protect both her and Henry.

Bea looked upon the destruction for a spilt second. Each second, more turrets fuzzed out under the return barrage, and still dozens of Husks were moving towards her. A few Husks even rose again because the remaining turrets couldn't completely destroyed their bodies.

Another three Husks approached her position fast, so she took a deep breath again, and prepared for their arrival.

They moved towards her, in near perfect coordination. One wielding a spear, while the other two held axes in their hands.

Bea assessed the situation, and in a spilt second she was already moving. Her speed and strength enhanced by the proximity of the Tree of Life, bridge the advantage the Husks held over her.

Every Husk was close to the same physical strength as a weak Transcended. But with the Tree's buff, she wasn't far behind either.

As the three Husks ran, roots and vines grew out of the metal floor. The growths entangled one of the axe wielders' legs, then with a second delay, they held back the one with the spear, too.

By the time the third one noticed them missing, it was already too late. Bea crouched as she cut with her sword, sending the first Husk to the ground in a shower of blood.

His legs fell away, and soon the vines from the ground killed him gruesomely. They went through his skin, growing in his organs, moving up his throat and entering even his brain. From his eyes, mouth and all over his body, the exact same blood-red flowers grew.

Bea ignored the dying Husk, as her focus went elsewhere. The other two Husks managed to free themselves faster than Bea expected, but since she could eliminate the first one without interference, the other two caused little trouble.

The spear-wielder stabbed towards her chest, which she parried with relative ease. The axe was much harder to predict and evade, but she managed.

In a vertical strike, the axe fell towards her head. The blow's force was overwhelming; unable to deflect, parry, or block the weapon, she rolled aside, closing the distance to her other attacker.

Bea ended her roll right below the woman's crotch. She carried the dodge's momentum and stabbed her sword into the Husk's midsection, disemboweling her with a single strike.

Amidst screams of pain, the Husk fell to her side, and vines grew over the newly made corpse.

Ignoring the corpse again, Bea rolled away, dodging the axe. Upon regaining her feet, she sprinted straight at the Husk.

The axe-wielder swung horizontally, trying to decapitate Bea in one fell blow.

While running, she fell backwards, leaning back so far that her back nearly touched the ground.

Her legs momentarily turned into roots. They made sure she didn't lose speed from the maneuver, and they even stopped her from going past her opponent.

The roots caused an abrupt stop to her forward movement, just as she went behind the Husk. She leaped up, plunging a blade into the Husk's back, piercing his heart. The man toppled over dead, heavy armor clanking on the metal floor.

The fight lasted longer than before—a few seconds at least—but thankfully, the other Husks hadn't advanced significantly yet.

Bea stepped back again, staying near Vicky and Henry. Few turrets remained, yet their devastation was astonishing. Burnt corpses smoke all over the battleground, ashes blew in the wind caused by the running Husks.

A few more enemies sprinted towards her, but as she prepared to fight them, a commotion came from the entrances. The sound of fighting reached her ear from outside the large hall.

A small smile appeared on Bea's face as she saw the glimpse of a golden armor outside… The reinforcements had finally arrived…

The few dozen Husks inside the chamber got taken care of fairly quickly. Bea held her ground, keeping all the attackers at bay, while from the other side of the room, the Angelic Order's Brothers and Sisters pushed in with ferocity, killing everything in sight.

Unlike the guards at Elizabeth's castle, the Angelic Order excelled in non-transformed combat.

Sera knew how often the circumstance makes transformation impossible, so she ordered Lilith and Adam to set up training sessions which purely focused on physical fighting capability with no power usage.

The constant training, combined with their excellent sense of duty and their religious environment, made all the Angelic Order's soldiers a pure elite force, capable of taking down stronger foes with relative ease.

Even though the Husks were stronger and no worse fighters, they lacked the sense of cooperation that each soldier possessed.

The Angelic Order's lines remained unbroken as they marched on their enemy. They cut the Husks to pieces, but made sure only troopers carrying Something—the crystal orbs—made killing blows.

The few dozen Husk got dealt within minutes, leaving the chamber full of gore and corpses.

After making sure nobody survived, the unit's leader stepped forward and greeted Bea.

It wasn't easy to recognize her at first, since her normal wooden armor had a bunch of blood-red flowers growing over it. Upon approaching the center of the room, the unit leader observed a strange sight.

The same flowers covered most corpses, creating a field of red around the Tree of Life's roots. Seven-petaled flowers bloomed, nourished by the spilled blood.

The leader's gaze shifted from the surroundings to Bea's armor, his face full of curiosity. On her pauldrons, breastplate, vambraces, back armor and leggings, a few of the flowers grew, fed by the blade in her hand.

When Bea noticed the unit leader's approach, she quickly changed her armor into a dress, dismissing her sword in the process.

The dress, similar to her armor, had a red tint instead of the usual dark brown. Most flowers disappeared, but a single one remained over her heart.

Bea's green eyes stared at the unit leader with fierce determination, but this was just a facade. In reality, Bea had to actively hold herself from bursting into laughter.

She would've never admitted it, but fighting with purpose was extremely fun for her. She loved defending the vulnerable, especially if they were close to her heart.

Bea also loved fighting in general. A strange sense of calm and beauty always filled her when she fought someone with equal expertise. It had a meditative effect on her mind.

As she continued to hide her actual feelings, Bea began looking around, confused. Her heart continued pounding like crazy, even though the adrenaline had already left her. Her breathing turned uneven, and suddenly she felt weak.

The unit leader noticed her pale expression, and just as she collapsed, he rushed and caught her.

Bea's lips trembled and turned purple for seemingly no reason. The few healers and proper doctors ran to her, thinking she might've suffered some injury that couldn't heal, but even after careful inspection, they found nothing.

Her breathing became weaker with each second, and slowly her heartbeat faded as she passed away.

Angelic Order members exchanged puzzled glances; Bea's death remained a mystery for them… But not for everyone within the room…

Vicky's eyes snapped open. She turned towards Bea's corpse, sighing with worry and sadness. The people turned towards her, their eyes full of curiosity as they awaited her next words.

A brief silence hung over the chamber. Vicky continued staring at her mother's body, absorbed in her own thoughts. Eventually, Henry had to elbow her, so she would notice the other people's stares.

Her eyes widened for a moment, then she blushed from embarrassment, but didn't let her emotions sidetrack her thoughts. Resolute, she addressed the soldiers, her voice strong, firm, commanding.

"Don't worry about Bea, the outcome of the Sera's battle will decide her life… We can't do anything for her now, other than defend this chamber and wait for Sera to win her own battle!"

The people didn't fully comprehend her words, but they still felt inspired. They cheered for a few seconds before they began setting up better defenses around the chamber.

Vicky and Henry went back to the middle, where she soon returned to her concentration. The war continued raging across Europe, so her job remained unfinished.

As she began opening and closing portals again, her small hand trembled from fear. The real battle had only begun now. This was just a mere taste of the future's despair and slaughter.

Luckily, she wasn't alone with her feelings, and soon a much sturdier hand held hers. A small smile played on Vicky's lips as Henry held her hand. The trembling slowly lessened, while all her worries and fear disappeared.

A few seconds later, her face became emotionless once more, and she continued transporting people across battlefields.