Angel Monarch

Bea watched in total dismay, as Seraphine grinned at her own daughter like a prey waiting to be slaughtered. At that point she felt the change, there was no saving her lover anymore...

With a sad expression she summoned her own sword and engulfed it in her nature aura. On top of the phoenix carcass a woman laughed. She looked at each of them as they summoned their weapons, armors and trinkets.

*Insane Laughter* "Good! Good! It wouldn't have done justice to murder you all without weapons!" *Chuckling* "Let's get this over with!" Her face turned deathly serious, then faster than anybody expected she jumped down and attacked.

Her sword headed straight for her own daughters head, but was stopped by Bea's own, or more like pushed off course. Since Sera was an ascended she had became vastly more powerful, especially because her strength was already significant beforehand.

While her sword was still in motion she turned from her waist and nearly disemboweled Bea. Her quick reflexes saved her, but Sera wasn't slowing down... she was just get warmed-up.

She fainted a downward slash which Bea didn't fall for, but with her ascended speed the direction changed and began heading for Vicky again. Bea's eyes went wide and in a desperate maneuver, she pushed the sword away while letting it cut of her left hand.

It hurt like hell, but the wound was already regenerating. Sera just laughed, but before she could do more the others finally came to her help. With a quick move Faith grabbed Vicky, who looked basically hollow. The six of them on the other hand moved and encircled Sera.

Her posture was calm and even a bit excited, theirs on the other hand was grim, especially Bea's. From that small exchange she had judged Sera's natural strength an speed. She was vastly stronger than any of them. The only reason Bea wasn't dead is because of her sword fighting expertise, but that wouldn't be enough to win.

*Mad Laughter* "Six against one? Doesn't seem too fair... I like it!"

In the next second she was already moving again. Her sword made of white flames cut through the air and slashed at James. He was the weakest and least experienced when it came to close quarters fighting, but he was also an ascended.

Using an energy sword he quickly parried the blow, which Sera used to gain momentum and turn around. Behind her Sarah was making a stabbing motion with her trident, but Sera just used her own weapon and deflected it.

The next attack came from Will, who with his new spear tried to stab Sera in the side. She back stepped and changed targets again. Hellfire was the slowest of them, but he also had the best defense.

Sadly he trusted his armor a bit too much. When Sera's sword came in contact with it, the armor melted before its holy fire. With a small chuckle she dodged to the side and evaded an angry Hellfire's halberd. The cut on his arm wasn't bad, more annoying than anything serious.

Bea and Lucy attacked from two sides at them same time, but with a fraction of a difference. Without paying too much attention, Sera moved to the side evading Bea's slash. Then just held her sword with two arms stopping the scythe dead in its tracks.

Seeing the signature weapon of the reapers her smile grew a bit, then with a quick and strong push Lucy went off balance. But when Sera was about to impale her suddenly a shadowy rapier brought it off tracks.

With an annoyed sound Sera moved back just in time for both a halberd and a spear to go astray. She seemed to be getting angrier, which meant her efforts doubled.

Slowly the group started to accumulate small cuts from her sword and bruises from Sera's fists. It didn't matter what they had done, or how well coordinated their attacks were, she stopped or dodged all of them with relative ease.

Her mad laughter was haunting each of them, and as the minutes passed, their desperation grew. It took a while, but eventually all their pain and sweat payed off.

It was nothing at first, just one action that was a fraction of a second slower, or a slash that carried less strength with it. But gradually and ever so slowly, Sera's movements became weaker.

After another round of attacks and blocks her head suddenly snapped to the side. A bit farther away Vicky was watching the fight while crying. It pained her small heart to hurt her mother, but she had no desire of letting her kill everyone.

"You little Whore! Trying to kill me from afar?! What a coward you are!" This time she had no smile on her face, only pure rage. With quick steps and a few meaningless slashes, she cut a way towards Vicky.

Her teary eyes became terrified, but she didn't run. Vicky stared into her mother's eyes, then looked towards the approaching sword and with closed eyes awaited death. There was a loud scream of horror, from someone possibly her other mother... then there was silence.

Ever so slowly her eyes opened and Vicky saw Sera's surprised face. Sera looked very confused, like she didn't understand why her attack stopped. But then she coughed up blood... black blood.

Both Sera and Vicky looked down at her chest. There the point of a very sharp weapon was sticking out of it. Behind Sera, Lucy pulled out her scythe, then with a quick move made all the black blood fly away from it.

With the removal of the weapon Sera fell to her knees. The scythe went straight through her heart, there was no saving her from this... death was unavoidable.

Suddenly someone hugged Vicky... her other mother. Bea was shaking as she cried, but kept on hugging her daughter who needed more support now then ever. They both watched as Sera's breaths became more and more labored, then slowly they stopped all together.

It hurt. It hurt more than anything. The pain of losing a loved one is one thing, but the pain of needing to kill your own loved one... now that's near unbearable.

As Seraphine's final breath left her body, her eyes turned glassy and unfocused... she was dead.

Silence. The only sound remaining in the stony plain was the wind. From the sky one or two snowflake fell, and gently landed on Sera's empty face. They stayed there without melting... her corpse was already cold.

After a few minutes of quiet the snowing started in earnest and gradually, more and more landed on Seraphine's dead body.

The crying slowly disappeared and anger took its place. Bea rose from the ground and looked towards the person who had caused all this tragedy. Unlike what she expected Harold wasn't angry or sad, if anything he seemed excited.

His eyes never left Sera's corpse, for reasons unknown to Bea. For a moment she stopped, then was about to run and kill the old man, when a small hand grabbed Bea's own.

"Bea, look!" Said Vicky while pointing at the dead body. Bea had no idea what she was supposed to look out for. On the ground lay Sera's corpse, which the snow tried to cover, but was failing miserably since every little snowflake melted before even touching her skin.

When this realization hit Bea, her head snapped towards the dead phoenix. It didn't take long to figure out what was about to happen and Harold soon confirmed her thoughts.

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*Mad Laughter* "What? Did you think this would be so easy?... Please, the real fight hasn't even started yet!... It is time for your to witness the Power of The Phoenix!..."

They stared in terror as Sera's previously dead body began to heat up. Slowly they began backing away, but even after twenty or so meters the temperature was nearly unbearable.

After a few seconds Sera's body moved. At first it was only a spasm of her hand, then she turned her head and gradually rose from the red hot stone ground. Her whole body was becoming redder and then whiter as more heat was generated from it.

When the members of the group saw this, they began sprinting in the opposite direction and only stopped when they stopped feeling the scorching heat. From more than a hundred meters away, they still heard Harold's voice... it was right in their head.

"Rise high Seraphine! The darkness needs to be banished from this world, and who's the better choice for such role as the Last Angel herself!... LET THERE BE CARNAGE!"

The eight of them fell to their knees by the shouting inside their minds. Their eyes on the other hand never left Sera, who began to levitate in the air. Around her body a cocoon of white flames slowly appeared, fully hiding her.

For a minute or two they stared at the cocoon with wide eyes. Below it the heat was so strong that the stone melted into lava.

It happened in the fraction of a second. At one point the cocoon grew in size, then shrank and suddenly exploded into a pillar of white flames. The previously dark sky became bright like a new sun was born.

They had to look away to not get blinded and when they turned back in the air flew a woman of pure magnificence. Behind her four heavenly wings spread, their size was at a baffling six meters. Their colors matched her armor and hair, which was magical in its own way.

The person they connected to wasn't the least bit less amazing. Sera's armor hadn't really changed, but her hair seemed to disobey gravity as it flew everywhere. It danced to the same rhythm, as her golden flame wings.

Seraphine, the Angel Monarch was reborn!