Angel Monarch

On the icy plains a woman walked. Her steps were steady and her armor shining even in the obscured sunlight. She had no destination or sense of direction, there was only one command in her mind... Find the phoenix.

That's what that man told her, he will help regain her memories if she killed the phoenix and became an ascended.

Her golden hair was blowing in the wind, and her fierce eyes scanning the plains for said bird. With no recollections of who she was, there wasn't much choice but following the strange white coated man's orders.

Back then there was a small sound in her mind, it wanted her to run or kill the man, but eventually that went silent too. There were still loads of questions within herself, like 'Who am I?', 'Where am I?' or 'What am I doing here?' but getting answers required her to kill the Holy Phoenix.

Strangely enough she remembered the exact description of said monster, and she knew everything about fighting beasts.

'Just what kind of person learns to fight monsters?... Is this a normalcy in this world?... What world is this anyway?... Is this my home?... It doesn't feel like home...'

On her cheeks the tears she shed froze immediately, this was another question that she had no answer to.

'Why do I feel this inexplicable sadness, like my heart is breaking from despair... Did something bad happen I just forgotten it... *sigh* Let's move on, that is the only way I will learn more!'

The old man named Harold sent her this way, and said just walk straight for a few hours, then kill the monster.

'Like it was that simple to kill a corrupted of the 3rd tier alone... Alone? Why do I feel like I shouldn't be alone... Did I have companions?... *sigh* So frustrating! Just who the hell am I!?'

Her very soul was clouded in terror, but she marched on towards a fight that could very well be her last.

Around her the snowy plains were as empty as ever. From the sky snow began pelting her armor, and to keep out the cold she summoned her helmet too. Now fully covered, she began jogging towards whatever destination life held for her.

On the ground her footprints were slowly filled up by the a new layer of fresh snow.

After walking for about six hours she finally found something. Some stone structure was sticking out of the ground. Slowly and cautiously the woman approached it and with one hand brushed the fresh layer of snow off of it.

The stone had many carvings all over it, and its shape was cylindrical, just like a pillar. Most were already too damaged to make out, but a few were still distinguishable.

One showed a gigantic city built on clouds and everywhere beings with multiple wings flew. Another shown a large building that resembled a temple with many bonfires burning all over it. The last was the most well maintained out of the three, it depicted a large bird-like creature with burning wings right above an altar...

The Holy Phoenix...

The carving brought a strange feeling to her, like she had a passion of researching things similar to this pillar.

'Maybe I liked history or something... It doesn't matter, this is clearly a drawing of the phoenix which means it must be nearby!'

The woman stood up and brushed off the snow from her armor. She then looked around the sky trying to find any indication where to go next. Feeling an instinct within her soul, she closed her eyes and let herself go.

After she stood there for a few minutes, somewhere a bit farther away there was a strange sensation coming in her direction. It felt like some kind of call or an invitation. Without any questions or second-guessing the woman began walking towards that way.

As she walked the weather worsened and soon her visibility decreased to only a few meters. From the sides strong winds blasted her body, but her armor negated most of them.

With every step she felt it closer and closer, her prey. The one thing standing between her and the memories she couldn't recall. Her eyes were grim and calm, there was a hidden danger in her every move.

Walking for a few more kilometers, suddenly she stopped and turned her head a bit. There was no sound, only the heavy winds and snow hitting her armor. She stood there for a few more minutes, then with a quick step rolled to the right.

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The place where the woman stood exploded into white fire. Around the area the snow began evaporating quickly, which created a large cloud of vapor. This further decreased the visibility, but she didn't care about it.

Below the mask a wide grin appeared on her face and she whispered to herself, "I found you!"

In her hand a beautiful longsword coalesced into reality and on her armor an amulet which depicted a dragon, appeared. The sword suddenly burst into black magical flames, that held the fury of something terrible.

In the air she felt the movement of something big, and soon another line of fire cut through the snowy plain, heading right for her. Her timing was a bit off, so the flames nicked her right arm.

She thought the armor would hold against the white flame, but as the agonizing pain spread through her arm, she quickly realized her mistake. The fire of the Holy Phoenix was able to melt her armor with ease, and now her right hand was a burned and bleeding mess.

Between moans of strong pain swiftly she rolled towards a snowy patch and pushed her blistered arm into it. The woman screamed so loudly that even the wind seemed to turn soundless in its wake.

Her eyes could barely focus from the pain and she was struggling to breath. Slowly her helmet dissipated and she gulped down the freezing air. It elevated her pained mind a bit.

With a large amount of effort she rose from the ground. Around her the armor disappeared, since it wouldn't help against the flames, she might as well enjoy the cold winds.

Her body was hit by said winds, which quickly made her clothing literally freeze to her body. It gave her a large amount of pain, but her eyes had already turned bloodshot from rage.

The left hand which held the still burning sword moved and as another line of fire closed in on her position she didn't try to dodge it. The sword elongated a few meters and widened a bit. With one clean move she cut the flame in half and survived another round of onslaught.

The woman's face held a mad grin, and following her instincts she began running. The phoenix was coming around for another attack, but even when the flames came her direction she didn't slow.

Her sword changed shape again, this time it turned into a lance. When the flames was just about to hit her, she jumped as high as she could and felt the lance hitting something solid.

There was a loud screech right above her, but the bird didn't stop flying and instead climbed higher into the sky. When the lance hit its body, the head changed into a hook. This meant that it was still stuck inside the phoenix and the woman was currently climbing the pole part.

The maneuver she pulled was risky to say the least, and she payed a heavy price for it. Most of her body managed to be above the sea of fire, except her legs. The flesh on it was melted and at a few places the bone was showing.

But unlike one would expect the woman showed no signs of being in pain, instead she was laughing madly.

Her arms moved, even the burned one. At the joints it began bleeding because of the movement, but she didn't care. There was only one goal in her mind... Kill The Beast!

With each pull she came closer and closer to the top. The phoenix seemed to notice it as well, and began making sharp turns to throw the woman off.

*Mad Laughter*

The woman had nothing to say, throughout the whole climb she just laughed. After a few more seconds of very slow climbing, she finally saw the phoenix. Its feathers were a magical blend of yellow, orange and red. Unlike what she expected the phoenix wasn't on fire at all.

It's long neck held a magnificent bird head and as it turned towards her its eyes seemed to be on fire. Then its beak opened and after a loud screech white flame appeared in it.

With an inner curse the woman tried to throw the phoenix a bit off course with a few pendulum movements. It caused a great amount of pain to the monster and its fiery breath went astray.

After breathing a small sigh of relief she continued to climb, and after a few more pulls, she grabbed onto the large feathers of the phoenix. Without much thinking she held onto even more and pulled herself onto the beast.

When she was finally on it, her lance dissipated into specks of light, then reformed in the shape of a dagger.

Using her left hand she pushed it deep inside the bird just in time, as it began doing barrel rolls. The knife's blade was curved and had a great grip, but it was still really hard to hold on.

With very steady and methodical movements she climbed further onto the back of the bird, until she was right near its neck.

She waited for another roll to pass, then with an extremely quick movement pulled out the knife and her hand stabbed towards the creature's neck. Its blade elongated and widened, turning into its usual longsword shape.

Within less than a second the sword went through skin, muscle and bone with ease, snapping the spine into two pieces. While laughing madly she held onto the sword that was stuck inside the beast.

The phoenix's struggling and movements stopped. Gradually it slowed down and began falling towards the ground. With loud and joyful cheers the woman rode the dead phoenix to the ground.

As it hit the icy plain she lost her grip and flew for a good fifteen meters. Every single cell in her body hurt like hell, but she didn't care. The beast was dead, now she only had to use its corpse for the evolution.

With a few moans and gasps of protest, she rose to her feet again. Her eyes slowly cleared from the haziness and focused on the monster's body.

At some point the snowstorm stopped and turned into a light drizzle. She could see the corpse clearly, but something looked strange about it.

Even from fifteen meters away she felt the heat that its body conducted to the surroundings, following by her instinct she started sprinting to the exact opposite direction.

After she was close to fifty meters away the woman finally stopped and looked back.

The body of the phoenix melted all the snow and ice around it. Slowly a few embers appeared, but soon they turned into heavy flames. Its head spasmed a bit, then gradually rose.

The eyes of the monster seemed to only hold the woman in their sight, then suddenly its head looked at the sky and with a loud screech its whole body exploded into white fire.