Angel Monarch

The festering darkness wasn't like the previous Seeds. Instead of a humanoid shape, it remained ever-changing and disturbing. She felt hatred and malice oozing from the creature's depths.

Sera grinned widely as the hundreds of long tendrils danced around the Seed. Their mesmerizing movements tried to draw away the Angel's attention, yet she wasn't fooled so easily.

Just when dark roots shot out of the ground, she jumped away, her wings propelling her towards the dark mass above. Bea remained attached to her shoulders, but she made herself smaller to make herself less of a target.

A silver dagger appeared in Sera's hand, with deep grooves making the design unstable for normal fighting. However, within the grooves, golden flames began burning brightly, further destabilizing the blade.

Moments later, she tossed the blade into the darkness. She controlled the dagger's molecular structure, letting her purifying golden flames crawl between the bonds between molecules.

The dagger began dissolving midair, falling apart into tiny glowing fragments of Angelic Metal.

Sera didn't stop there, though. Around each fragment, she created a dense cloud of ionized silver metal, and when they arrived near the darkness, she split a single Angelic Metal atom.

The destabilized inner structure, extremely high temperatures and her golden flames set off a powerful chain reaction. The broken atom hit other Angelic Metal atoms, which released a wave of pure kinetic energy in the form of a giant explosion.

A blinding light grew around the darkness and a wave of flames approached Sera and Bea's position fast. Qinrir already run a safe distance away, near the edges of the memory, but the women couldn't escape the explosion.

"Bea! Keeps us alive!" Shouted Sera while glancing at the magnificent woman on her back.

Bea didn't answer. She just closed her eyes and flooded both herself and Sera with bright green life energy.

The wave of golden flames reached their bodies. A deep, scorching pain made both women scream in agony, yet they didn't perish. Their bodies regenerated faster than the flames could burn them away, creating an eternal loop of suffering.

They weren't certain how long their torment lasted, but after an unknown amount of time, both women took deep breaths and glanced at each other. Their eyes met, and soon they burst into laughter.

"You could've at least warned me! I didn't expect you to blow us up with the Seed!"

Sera chuckled even harder, but moments later her golden-green eyes went wide.

The explosion pushed them back to the ground, and Sera felt something moving below. To her knowledge, that was impossible, since this ground was nothing but an illusion. Below the ground, nothing existed, since that wasn't part of any memory.

She jumped away just when more dark tendrils pierced the spot where she stood.

"I see. That wasn't the actual Seed... But then where is it?"

Her words didn't receive an answer, as she began dodging the tendrils by flying higher. However, she soon reached the upper border of her memory, and, surprisingly, more tendrils pierced the ceiling, aiming to impale the Angel.

The dark tendrils growing from below and above connected, creating pillars, which severely obstructed Sera's movement. Her amazing maneuverability served her well though, as she flew through the smallest gaps.

Along the way, she summoned marble-sized glowing silver balls, and tossed them everywhere. They didn't carry as much explosive potential, but many pillars fell under the heavy barrage.

Sera also tossed a few silver knives, with golden flames dancing along the blades. They pierced the darkness and set them on fire, destroying even more pillars.

Fire rained down inside the memory, yet the tendrils continued growing. No matter how many Sera destroyed, their core wasn't inside the memory.

When all the current dark tendrils were burning or dissolving, Sera stopped moving. She floated in the middle of the memory, her golden-green eyes searching for the Seed's core desperately.

Qinrir was still alive, albeit he also needed to evade many tendrils. He couldn't do much against them, but as an Arachnid his agility was exceptional.

"Bea. Do you've any idea where the Seed is located? Can't you feel its life energy?"

The magnificent woman shook her head with a slight sigh.

"I don't think it has life energy. It's closer to a mind parasite than an actual living organism. Either way, it seems the Seed is located outside of the memory's borders. Can't we enter there?"

Sera also sighed as more dark tendrils began growing. She shook her head once, then flew towards the approaching threat, while answering Bea's question.

"We can't pass the border! We're in my memories; there's no outside to speak of! That's what confuses me! The border marks the memory's end. There's nothing beyond it!"

"That's strange," Said Bea, while Sera exploded more tendrils. "Then where's the core. You can't fight against the Seed forever, since you're still using Essence. Each explosion you summon makes you weaker, and eventually we'll lose against the Seed!"

Sera groaned in annoyance as she set more tendrils aflame. As a last-ditch effort, she planned on asking Qinrir for ideas. However, just when Sera reached his side, the Arachnid missed a dodge and a dark tendril pierced his leg.

The darkness immediately began spreading through his blue skinned, body. A few seconds later, all eight of his legs and his bulbous backside darkened. He wouldn't survive long enough for Sera to rescue him.

"QINRIR! LEAVE NOW!"

The Angel's voice echoed through the memory, reaching the Arachnid's ears. He glanced up at Sera with uncertain eyes, but since he was only moments away from death, he didn't have time to argue.

Qinrir's dark blue body dissolved as he left Sera's mind.

Sera exploded a few more tendrils as Bea chuckled behind her back. She continued pumping Sera full of life energy, which gave her a near-inexhaustible pool of Essence.

"Please, Sera, reassure my mind. Don't tell me Qinrir was our only way of escape. We can leave this memory right?"

A small groan escaped Sera's lips as a tendril slashed her legs. Golden flames soon destroyed the dark tendril. However, even after regaining control, she didn't answer Bea's question.

"Right Sera? We can leave right now if you desire. Am I right?"

She stayed silent even under Bea's pestering, which answered all the magnificent woman's questions and left her with a sad smile. A deep hole grew in Bea's stomach as she took a shaky breath.

Sera continued destroying the ever-growing tendrils. With each passing second, they became stronger and faster, causing the Angel to accumulate many minor cuts. The life energy quickly healed every wound, but it also increased her Essence expenditure.

"Well, then I guess this is the end of our journey. How ironic. We'll die in the memory of your birth!"

Bea chuckled, her body shaking as a tear flowed down her face.

"You can't make this shit up! This is so stupid it's actually hilarious!"

The Angel continued her stoic silence. She wasn't prepared to give up yet, not while she still drew breath and her body could move!

As a last-ditch effort, Sera fell to the ground, eliminating every growing tendril with a powerful punch. She then summoned a pair of gauntlets and began hitting the floor of her memory.

Each punch carried enough weight and strength to destroy mountains, yet the floor of her memory appeared unharmed.

For the last punch, she summoned most of her and Bea's Essence into her knuckles. With a single, overly powerful hit, she released all the energy straight into the ground.

Reality seemed to bend as Sera's fist connected with the white floor. The shockwave destabilized the memory's borders, destroying all the tendrils for the thousandth time.

However, despite all her effort, the ground stayed perfect, or at least that's what Sera thought. A moment later though, the tiniest of cracks appeared on the surface, which prompted the Angel to continue with her desperate gambit.

With each punch, the crack widened. Sweat flowed down her face, creating glistening rivers, while around and above Sera, the dark tendrils closed in.

They pierced her kneeling legs, shoulders and lower back, yet Sera just continued punching without care. Bea's life energy kept the darkness at bay, giving Sera ample time to continue widening the crack.

Nearly an entire minute passed, when the hole widened and Sera glimpsed behind the border. She never saw the other side though, because the moment her eyes tried looking in, a giant dark tendril punched through the crack, impaling Sera through her chest.

More dark tendrils pierced her body until she couldn't move a single muscle. Pure agony consumed her body as a final tendril appeared before her eyes, prepared to destroy her brain.

It moved fast. Immobilized, Sera had no chance of evading, and even Bea's life energy supply ran dry under the constant barrage of darkness.

She closed her eyes and awaited death, when a light chuckle shook Sera to her core. While the laughter sounded happy, it caused immense fear in both Sera and Bea's hearts.

"Seed of Madness! You shouldn't cheat by using my gift as a hiding place! Just accept your defeat already!"

The voice sounded masculine and jovial, yet it only grew their despair. Even the dark tendrils froze and trembled upon hearing the man's voice.

A bright light appeared from the crack below, and moments later a familiar figure appeared.

His burning white Angelic Metal sword cut through the tendrils with ease. The yellow eyes on his white wings attacked the few surviving tendrils with a wave of despair, killing them with fear.

After all the tendrils disappeared, the Angelic man floated before Sera. He was only a meter taller than Sera, unlike the gigantic form he had when they first met.

The Angel held the last Seed within his offhand, and with a single squeeze, it exploded.

"Consider yourself cured, Last Angel." Said the familiar Angel with a wide, proud grin.

He spread his wings and arms as he said with a joyous chuckle.

"It's nice to finally meet you! I'm the Archangel of Despair!"