Angel Monarch

Chapter 145: New Athens

The Sun was shining brightly in New Athens. The city was packed with people who enjoyed the Mediterranean Ocean's mild autumn.

There were a few who would've even liked to go down to the beach for a quick swim in the Aegean Sea, but of course that was strictly forbidden.

As people walked up and down the Main Avenue their heads suddenly snapped to a specific person.

She wore nothing special, just civilian clothes. A leather jacket that was zipped up fully, dark pants that stuck close to her alluring legs, and a pair of combat boots. Her waist length golden hair was placed in a neat bun on the back of her head. Her golden eyes beautiful, but empty of light.

The woman walked down the street without much care for the people staring at her. She wore a constantly bored expression, which brought a mystical aura to her. People believed that she could control her emotions that well. They had no idea of the real reason for her hollowness...

She simply didn't have any...

Everyone only looked at her for a few seconds, then quickly turned their heads down. Between a few of them whispering conversations could be heard.

"When did our Lady get back?" Asked a curious girl from her friend.

"Haven't you heard? She has been back since the november 4th!"

"What? Three days ago? And how did the capturing of Sofira went?" Said another of their group.

The news of the capture hadn't spread that wide yet. The city leadership also haven't made any actual statement about the state of the last operation. It wouldn't last long though, within the next couple of days probably all 12 million of the New Athens's citizens will know about it.

"Well, my friend in the military told me that the fight was fairly easy. The Federal Alliance only had to send another two cohorts to help our Lady." The boy leaned in and said in an even smaller whisper. "It is said She had killed about a dozen ascended alone."

The girl who asked the first question said in a proud and haughty voice, "Why do you sound so surprised? Do you think Lady Seraphine couldn't accomplish such feat? I could bet She had killed a lot more!"

It would seem like a crazy idea, but non of her friends laughed. Instead they looked towards the leader of the city, who was already becoming a living legend in most places around the continent.

Some talked about her current achievements, but others had more interest discussing the legend's past campaigns.

"I still can't believe that our Lady is this amazing." Said an older man to presumably his wife.

"Yeah I know. None of the other cities within the Federal Alliance have as good of a leader as we do!"

"Hey, do you guys remember when she first arrived to New Athens? I only transferred here a few weeks ago so I would like to learn more of our Lady!" A younger man of about 25 years asked the married couple. In answer they just laughed between themselves.

"Oh, sure as hell we can! But literally everyone in this city knows of this deed of hers. If you want to see it, they even have a reenactment that is done every Friday in all of the amphitheaters!" Said the older woman. The young man looked really surprised.

"Really? Was it that amazing?"

"It certainly was! I even witnessed it with my own eyes! Back then the Federal Alliance only controlled a few larger city-states all on the west side of Europe. The other cities didn't even found them a big enough of a threat to make the United Front yet." Spoke the older man. He then turned silent for a few moments reminiscing about those times.

Because he didn't seemed to be continuing anytime soon, the older woman took up where he left off. Her face soured as spoke.

"Back then New Athens was ruled by a tyrant!" *Spit* "He was a really horrible person and a transcended. Every time he walked down the streets he would take men and women he liked, and place them into his harem. He also had a large force of ascended and evolved, which meant we could only suffer this treatment..."

Her expression saddened a bit and her husband placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. The young man quickly understood that they had probably lost friends or even family to this tyrant. After a few seconds of silence the husband continued.

"He got what he deserved! At one night a large army of evolved arrived. They stopped in front of the gate and demanded for the tyrant to show himself. He was very proud, arrogant and also stupid. The man who led the army offered the most alluring woman he had in his group, and only asked for about a quarter of the tyrant's army in return."

The married pair looked at each other with a lot of glee, since they knew how the tyrant's story ended. The younger man on the other hand was confused.

"Was he really so stupid to give a large portion of his army away for some woman?" They laughed at his remark a bit before the older woman answered.

"Well, at first he was about to say no, but when he saw the woman's beauty he quickly reconsidered. You see the woman was non other than Lady Seraphine. The tyrant swiftly let a wolf in sheep's clothing inside his fold, just because of his arrogant personality."

The expression of the couple turned a bit more serious.

"But no, he wasn't that stupid. The same night as the army was leaving, he sent out his own to hunt and kill all of them. The only issue was that Lady Seraphine's agents had infiltrated the city weeks ago! Most of the army was already on her side, but the tyrant had no idea."

"So, what happened with the tyrant? Did Lady Seraphine defeat him in a duel?"

"Kind of... As the man walked through his strangely empty mansion, towards his room where he left Lady Seraphine... He only found a burning corpse of her body. But as our cities saying goes – 'From The Ashes We Will Rise!'" Explore more stories with m,v l'e-NovelBin.net

The couple laughed joyfully, but the young man still didn't fully understand what happened. They quickly noticed and spelled it out for him.

"Lady Seraphine has the power of a Phoenix. When She dies, She resurrects in a giant explosion! In the tyrant's bed She killed herself and destroyed the whole, previously emptied out mansion with ease. Since the tyrant was right next to her, he disintegrated from Her holy flames!"

They looked towards a specific direction where a large smokescreen was making its way towards the sky. The young man looked there as well, then he seemed to understand a few things.

"So that's why there is a large bonfire burning there all day long! It is memorial!" The couple nodded with somber, but also thankful expressions.

"Yes... The fire burning there was made by Lady Seraphine herself and the Angelic Order keeps it alive. It is said that if the fire ever goes out, a great calamity is approaches the city..."

The young man had the same expression as the couple and he began walking towards the Everlasting Bonfire.

Many similar conversations went on. They talked about every accomplishment and exploit Sera had made. Some after seeing her went to the Angelic Order's Cathedral, they weren't praying to her like some sort of goddess. It was just a comforting place where they payed their respect to Lady Seraphine.

No one knows where the Angelic Order had come from. After Sera had took over the city's leadership, they just kind of appeared. Their order was made up of the Angelic Sisters and the Phoenix Brothers, representing both sides of their Lady's power.

It might seem strange making a religion to a person who was most definitely not a god. But throughout the years every god humanity had made failed to defend their fold, so it was time to pray to someone who was real!

The religion was lead by a couple called the High Angel and High Phoenix. At first people thought that the religious heads should be married to signify union, but Lady Seraphine herself quickly shut that down. She went straight into the temple and told everyone to only get married for love, not for other people.

This phrase, such as many of her other sayings could be found in their bible. With just that small saying, at least a quarter of the marriages in New Athens divorced. The reason? If they didn't love each other they shouldn't be together.

Other changes happened because of said religion, like increased education, better healthcare, less public disorder, and many others. The whole city was part of the religion at this point, except maybe the leader herself.

She just walked down the street without much care for anything. Her empty expression not even hinting the existence of any emotion within her soul.

Strangely enough She actually makes facial expression at interviews and public speeches, but it all feels weird for everyone. Something is always off about it, a smile that is a bit too wide, an eyebrow raise at a fraction of a second too late. Its like she just pretends to have emotions to make people more comfortable around her.

Sera walked through the city until she finally reached her destination. In front of her was a large, about twenty meter tall wall. She was standing right in front of its gate, which had a large sign written above it – 'Military Encampment'...

Her home...