Angel Monarch

Strangely, the dark room didn't have any walls, as if Sera's memory couldn't recall her surroundings to perfection. However, judging by how unimpressed Qinrir looked, this was pretty ordinary.

Sera gazed into the darkness beyond, since the Seed wasn't anywhere inside the room. Her golden-green eyes stared ahead, yet she saw nothing that could resemble the Seed.

"Uh... Sera... I told you that at some point, the Seeds will become stronger and that you'll know when to pay more attention..."

The Angel's head snapped towards Qinrir, who stared above without another word. She followed his gaze, and with a sharp intake of breath, she jumped backward. Dozens of dark tendrils pierced the ground where she stood moments prior.

She kept her eyes focused on the floating humanoid figure above. It had no expression and only barely resembled a human, but Sera felt pure malice oozing from the dark figure. Its hand moved around, the open air, like wriggling worms.

However, surprising both the Arachnid and the floating Seed, Sera didn't look the least bit scarred or concerned. A wide grin split her face as she cracked her neck and knuckles.

"So that's where you've been hiding! I thought we'll need to search through the darkness forever, but I'm glad you offered yourself on a silver platter... Speaking of silver! This is the perfect place to test out my control over Angelic Metal!"

Sera glanced at the Arachnid and said, "You should probably give us space. It's for your own safety!"

Qinrir didn't argue. He simply ran off into the darkness beyond the room, leaving Sera to deal with the Seed.

When she read the exact description of her ability, it ignited her scientific curiosity and willingness to increase her knowledge.

She recalled everything she learned about matter in physics, chemistry and geography classes. They gave her many ideas to test out! And what's better than fighting a powerful opponent in an indestructible environment.

"First test!" She declared while jumping away from more tendrils.

"Let's see if I can change the Angelic Metal's state of matter!"

Sera summoned a small cube of silvery metal while continuously evading the Seed's attacks. She tossed the cube up in the air, and willed its structure to heat and change.

The cube melted into a ball of liquid metal, then as Sera continued increasing the speed with which the atoms moved, it began falling apart. At first, drops of liquid Angelic Metal fell towards the ground, but before they could've reached it, the metal vaporized.

A light chuckle escaped her lips as more dark tendrils shot out towards the Angel. She didn't move this time, and instead summoned a cloud of vaporized Angelic Metal around herself.

The silvery metal cloud glinted as it formed an impenetrable wall before Sera. The dark tendrils dissolved upon touching the Angelic Metal, since they were extremely hot.

She waved her hand and sent the wall of Angelic Metal towards the confused Seed. The cloud surrounded the darkness and moments later destroyed it.

Sera sighed with disappointment.

"Dammit! I wanted to test more before destroying the Seed, but... Fuck, I grew too excited about the discovery... Whatever, I'm sure I'll have plenty more test subjects!"

Qinrir arrived back at Sera's side, and they soon traveled further into the past.

Luckily, no other memory containing Nightmare appeared. Instead, Sera saw her first meeting with her daughter, then the fight in the sewers. She and Qinrir witnessed the strange introduction with Bea, and Sera's journey from Newber to Havel.

The Angel's excitement grew with each passing memory, since she gained more chances to expand her knowledge by sacrificing the test subjects!

The Seeds perished fast, and with each death, Sera's control over Angelic Metal immensely increased. She could change its state with ease, and with the help of her golden flames, she couldn't just vaporize, but fully ionize the metal!

She also learned how to split its atom, which caused an accidental nuclear explosion. Qinrir became mad at her, since the explosion nearly killed them both. However, Sera just laughed it off and continued testing her powers.

Everything was going well until Sera found herself on a familiar, destroyed street. Above in the sky, two gigantic forms fought.

Sera gazed up into the sky where the Archangel was fighting the transformed human Stellar. A light chuckle echoed from her lips as Qinrir's entire body trembled in curiosity and excitement.

"That's impossible!" He said. "T-that... That's one of the Knights of Fate... The Archangel of Despair!... What's he doing here? I thought he died in Aerin like the other Angels!"

"He's here for one reason," Said Sera with a wide grin.

"He's here to help me turn into an Evolved!"

Even Sera herself didn't know how true her statement was, but the Arachnid just felt shocked upon hearing this piece of information.

"What?! You used the Archangel of Despair to Evolve? That's... terrifying!"

"Why are you so shocked? He's powerful, sure, but not stronger than most Stellar! He was only a Horror of the 3rd Tier!"

Qinrir burst into laughter and couldn't stop for a few seconds. Eventually, he pointed at the giant Angel and said, "You think he's just a weak Stellar!?"

"That right there is one of Aerin's most powerful protectors! We've dozens of records of him killing Ethereals and even Celestials, which is ridiculous since he never Evolved further than Stellar!"

Sera's mouth fell open in shock. She gazed up at the Angel with newfound curiosity and confusion.

"If he's so powerful, how did he lose against a mere Seed of Madness? I'm sure such a legendary Angel wouldn't have lost! Even I can fight against its influence!"

The Arachnid stopped chuckling upon hearing Sera's words. His expression became thoughtful for a few moments, then he simply shrugged, which looked weird with eight legs.

"I mean, nobody is truly invincible against Madness, but it's quite odd. However, he still should've retained pieces of his sanity, and he shouldn't lose against a weak Stellar, like that man... It's even stranger that he appeared right here...

"The barrier around Earth only lets through Ascended, but creatures under Madness's influence can bypass this rule to some degree. That's why Horrors and Abominations can enter without issue!"

Sera still hadn't taken her eyes off the Archangel as Qinrir asked a few questions about her Evolution. She told her everything about finding the Archangel half dead, and delivering the final blow with his own weapon.

"I also find this all strange. The Archangel of Despair loses himself to Madness, then enters a random Gateway, which brings him to Earth. Here he fights against a Stellar and conveniently survives long enough for you to deliver the killing blow...

"However, the strangest part is his sword. It should've disappeared, since if he couldn't heal any longer, then he ran out of Essence!"

Qinrir glanced up at the Archangel, his six eyes narrowing in suspicion. Sera couldn't even speak. She felt too shocked by these pieces of information... However, she hadn't heard the most important intel yet!

"You know why they're named Knights of Fate?" He asked, but didn't wait for Sera's obvious answer.

"People believed Fate specifically chose these three Angels to be 'Her' knights. Supposedly, each of their actions are orders given by Fate!... Do you believe these rumors?"

Sera continued smiling, yet her body felt like exploding from curiosity and annoyance. These Conceptual Gods just couldn't let her be!

She chuckled and was about to turn towards Qinrir when something strange happened.

The Archangel of Despair, who was supposed to only exist in Sera's memory... The yellow eyes on his wings all glanced at Sera. Not of her memory form, but the glowing, golden energy being... The real Sera...

A shiver ran across Sera's body, but in the next moment everything turned dark. Something screeched behind Qinrir and Sera, causing them to turn around fast.

They barely saw the dark figure dissolve. A few seconds later, the darkness disappeared, and the duo found themselves in a different memory.

Sera recognized the place as her Academy's classroom, which meant they traveled further back in her timeline.

"What the hell was that, Qinrir! I didn't destroy that Seed, so what killed it?! Also, I thought these memories couldn't interact with us, but the eyes on the Archangels wings clearly glanced at me!"

She was truly freaking out now. This entire ordeal creeped her out, and Qinrir wasn't much help either!

"I-I have no idea... I've never witnessed anything even remotely similar... Maybe... Nope, I don't have any theories. Let's just forget it happened and move on, shall we?"

Sera wasn't certain that ignoring this issue wouldn't cause more problems. But her willingness to forget was much higher than her curiosity.

They continued exploring and eliminating Seeds. Sera stopped testing her control over Angelic Metal and instead opted to quickly destroy every Seed before anything weird could happen.

The memories before Newber's fall weren't too interesting to Sera. She felt a pang of pain and sadness every time her parents or her old friends appeared, but she just smiled as she saw their cheerful faces.

She already let go of the traumas weighing on her heart. Now she could watch all these memories and laugh lightheartedly.

So many things happened after Sera lost everyone she loved. Even worse, she forgot them all for years... It felt nice to remember and relive all her happy memories!

Sera became smaller with each year, which caused all the memories to turn fuzzier. At around the four-year-old mark, Sera could only recall a single blurry room, and a few detailed objects, like her birthday cake.

Through this reminiscent journey, Qinrir looked full of excitement, since he can witness a human growth into adulthood!

"Sera, why are you burning strange miniature wax sculptures on the pastry?"

The Angel chuckled at the Arachnid's word usage, then explained...

"That's a birthday cake! Each candle represents the celebrated person's age. We then blow it out and make a wish... This happens every year to celebrate a person's birthday and aging!"

Qinrir shuddered and laughed ecstatically.

"What a peculiar ritual! Humans are such amazing creatures, with so strange cultures!... Tell me, Sera, when's your birthday? We should celebrate it!"

She chuckled at Qinrir's excitement, but sadly she had to disappoint the curious Arachnid.

"My birthday is sometime in Autumn, but I never really liked to celebrate it. I don't even remember the exact date! I participated only because my parents and friends always threw me a surprise party!"

The Arachnid's six black eyes glinted with confusion as he said, "But if they threw a surprise birthday party every year, then it wouldn't really be surprising after two occasions."

Sera began rolling on the ground from laughter, while Qinrir just continued looking bewildered.

They soon moved on, while continued their lighthearted conversation. However, eventually they reached Sera's first memory, when they found themselves in a delivery room.