Angel Monarch

Rome celebrated. The streets overflowed with people, citizens, soldiers, Evolved. It didn't matter. Everyone attended the party… Well, most people did…

A few had to take care of the prisoners. Melinda, David, Damien, Cass, and a few others went to overlook the situation.

They expected everyone to be more unruly, but the prisoners were just as grateful. Not a single one of them complained, and they even thanked them.

In their minds, Sera had no reason to take them away from the battlefield. She could've left them, and let the flames consume them. But by saving them, they felt indebted to her.

Many soldiers opposed the siege of Rome; however, the Federal Alliance punished desertion hard. People also liked to pretend and be honorable when they wanted to.

They would've rather died in the fields of battle, then leave their posts. This approach had limitations, though. Upon facing seemingly unstoppable forces, like Transcended, they would rather surrender than die useless death.

While some of them took care of their new 'guests', most enjoyed the free drinks and music.

In the middle of Rome, a large square stretched in all directions. A Sera statue sat in its middle. Her noble expression looked towards the east, where the sun was about to rise.

Her glaive was nowhere to be seen, and she spread her arms wide, embracing the world. Behind her back, two pairs of wings stretched wide.

On her body, a nice, elegant dress covered all of her body, not revealing even a glimpse of skin except for her hands and head.

The celebrations were especially strong near the statue. The square echoed with music from large speakers set up by the statue.

People danced all around Sera's statue, and some even placed tables nearby. They also served drinks for everyone. The Evolved drank their Critter Bite, while everyone else consumed their choice of beverage.

Within the first hour, most people were already drunk, but one stood out from the masses. A woman sat alone at a small table. In front of her, many empty bottles sat, and she kept drinking more.

Her long brown hair seemed disheveled, while her beautiful forest green eyes had red rims around them from all the crying.

A few people kept checking on her, but she dodged every attempt at accepting their sympathy. She knew most of them thought she acted like a child, and maybe she was.

Bea never went through a breakup in her life. Her last and only significant other turned into a maniac and got killed. This time, though, she still needed to meet with her past lover, the mother of her child, daily.

It weighed hard on her soul, and she only felt somewhat better when her mind wasn't working properly. It was a sad attempt at escaping reality, but until it worked, she didn't care.

Her heart ached, and the only cure was at the bottom of each bottle.

From the corner of her eye, Bea kept watching her daughter. Faith, Adam, and Lilith stayed close to her as she danced with Lucy and Will.

The little girl's laughter still brought a smile to Bea's face. No matter how much pain she experienced, until her daughter felt happy, she would be content too.

She took another long sip of her bottle, but before she could put it back, someone snatched it out of her hand. The fast movements gave her vertigo, but she clearly heard a wooden chair creaking on the other side of the table.

After a few seconds, Bea's vision cleared, and she finally saw Otto sitting in front of her, drinking deeply from her bottle of booze.

"I never understood why anyone drinks these… They taste horrible and can't even get me drunk!" he said, then tried to take another sip, but Bea quickly snatched it back.

"Well, it works for me… The fuck do you want?" she asked, trying to be as rude as she could, so her sadness would stay hidden behind faked anger.

Her plan failed miserably. Otto's handsome face revealed a stupid smirk, which could've made most people fell to their knees in worship.

Evolved generally gotten more beautiful with each rank. A normal Evolved only became the peak of achievable human beauty, while Ascended reached the levels that regular humans could only imagine.

After becoming Transcended, your outside look doesn't change much, but you gain a kind of charm. People feel obligated to worship you and do what you wish for. This only gets stronger upon reaching Stellar.

Otto wasn't above this rule either, and just his proximity caused a few inappropriate thoughts to surface in Bea's mind. She knew none of these were her fault, but she still felt wrong about it.

While Bea slowly lost herself in her thoughts, Otto looked at the table full of bottles, and spoke with a chuckle.

"Did you become an alcoholic in the past two years, or you only drink on special occasions?… Or maybe your melancholy relates to your missing significant other… Hmm, where is Seraphine? I wonder… Did she meet someone in the past two years and left you?"

Bea tried to hide her face, but Otto could clearly hear her sobs and the shaking of her body. The smirk quickly disappeared from his face, and an embarrassed frown took hold of it.

"Shit, sorry… I was just joking and teasing you… Sarah only told me that your relationship turned complicated. She didn't go into detail, since she didn't find it appropriate… Now I understand why…"

Bea wiped away her tears, then drank most of her liquor. After a few minutes of silence, she finally calmed down enough to change the topic.

"What did you two talk about? And where is she, anyway?" she asked with an empty expression. Otto raised an eyebrow, but didn't pursue the previous matter.

"She talked more than I did, which was a bit strange. She explained everything that had happened in the past two years and went a bit more in-depth about the past few months… She didn't go into too much detail though, if you are worried about information leak."

She didn't care at all about leaking information, since Sarah knew little about the inner workings of the Angelic Order. She just kind of went with the flow, while her partner, Leslie, worked closely with David.

He actually knew quite a lot of secrets, but Bea was certain he would reveal nothing to anyone, even his lover's close family.

"She and that Leslie guy went away to 'check on the prisoners', which is definitely a lie. They are probably having intimacy at some place within the city."

Otto made a disgusted face as he spoke, which brought a small smile to Bea's miserable face. The handsome man grinned at her, which unconsciously made her blush.

"Ah, so you aren't gloomy all the time, good to know! You should definitely smile more. It makes your already beautiful face truly extraordinary!"

Bea turned away to hide the redness in her face, and she ignored Otto's attempts at flirting.

"So… Uh… How is life in Castleburg?" she asked, desperately trying to change the subject. Otto just chuckled, and while continuing to smile, he answered.

"Nothing changed, really. I actually convinced my brother to stop worshipping our father, so now there are two Stellars on your side…"

The man had a wicked grin on his face while speaking. Bea's eyes widened, by the implications of what he was saying, but then they narrowed in suspicion. His wording was very peculiar, and she didn't like how he spoke.
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"Why are you here?"

Otto leaned back in his chair, and his wicked grin turned into a comforting smile. His viper-like dark gray eyes pierced into Bea's own green ones.

"I saw Sera's little show-off and saw my sister flying on one of the hippogryphs. At first, I wanted to come here immediately, but then I thought that would ruin your little plan…"

"Only when I saw Sera's clone approaching did I decide to intervene… Your welcome, by the way!"

They both stayed silent for a few minutes after that. Bea still wasn't sure about Otto's intentions. Everything he said made sense, but it all felt a bit too convenient.

His arrival was way too close. As a Stellar, he could move through the whole of Europe in less than a minute, so he either cut it really close, or purposefully slowed down for dramatic effect.

Bea wasn't sure whether to trust him, but this wasn't a decision she could make on her own. Her expression started turning troubled again, since she needed to talk with Sera about it… Currently, she would've rather done anything, so she could escape that conversation.

Her eyes fell onto the bottle again, and she quickly downed everything left inside. With determination, Bea stood up and immediately tripped.

Before she could faceplant the ground, two firm hands caught and pulled her up. She stared at Otto as he held her. A shiver went down her spine at their closeness.

"Do you perhaps want to dance or something? You definitely shouldn't drink more." Said Otto with a concerned look in his eyes.

Bea didn't know what to say, so she just blurted out something intelligible, then walked towards the dancefloor. She still held onto his hands, pulling him along.