Angel Monarch

Chapter 164: What the Future Entails

Sera and Bran were standing in the middle of a corpse field again. There were fewer dead creatures than the last few times, which meant the area was starting to run dry of prey.

This made them decide to turn back, but first they would have some breakfast. They sat in silence for a long time, but eventually Bran had to ask some questions and make a few reports about their future plans.

"Got a message from Mary..." Sera's head immediately perked up hearing that and her eyes even hid some hopeful desire. "...She says that they finally found the place and even received some kind of signal from the other side. By her judgement they will be able to open it before the new year!"

On Sera's face a small smile appeared and she made a nod of thanks, but Bran wasn't done yet.

"Also the other plan has had some progress. There is nothing concrete yet, but Mary seems to be hellbent on this idea..." The small smile disappeared from Sera's face and deathly seriousness took its place.

"Did she found out what Harold is using all that energy for?" Bran looked a bit awkward, as he raised his hand and scratched the back of his head.

"Not exactly... They started researching what that much energy could be used for, but they only managed to make some small assumptions. The first working theory is that he is trying to open a realm gate, but the energy he's using is too much for just one gate..."

He turned silent for a moment, then while taking a deep breath he continued.

"The second and much worse is that he is creating something, either an item or a living being, they have no idea. This is the two theories, but there could be another reason that even Mary and her team has no idea about."

Sera looked away with a thoughtful expression, her magnificent mind was trying to connect the dots, but there was just too much missing from the tapestry to make sense. Eventually she sighed and asked another question.

"Did her team find out the strange energy activity on Earth?" Before answering Bran brought up his notes in his watch and quickly went through them, after a few minutes he found the exact answer Mary gave him.

"She didn't manage to learn a lot, only where they originate from. As you know there is a large activity on this very peninsula, then there is one further up north on the broken Scandinavian Peninsula, also there is a lot of energy fluctuation on the Italian Peninsula's middle part, then..."

He read a bit further, since there were so many places and Mary's writing was all over the place. She was an amazing scientist, but awful at writing reports.

"...Then, there is one at the Middle-Eastern Desert, also the northeastern part of the African Continent which wasn't destroyed in the Last War, also there are two more spots on the Asian Continent. She couldn't find their exact location since the wasteland-like terrain caused interference with her instruments."

Sera nodded along thoughtfully. "Is that every place where it originates from?" She asked after thinking for a while.

"For now at least, but there are still a lot of questions, the biggest one being, why? Why is this happening? Why now?" Bran didn't expect an answer, but what Sera said next sent a shiver down his spine.

"What if it's Harold? Could he do something like this with my energy?" Sera was looking towards the sky, as she spoke in her usual empty voice.

"Well... I have to ask Mary, but it's a possibility... That doesn't answer our questions though, and we don't know what the energy fluctuations actually do. Mary said that they are either mass gate openings, or something else we don't know anything about."

Both stayed silent after that and when the meat was ready they began to eat. Eventually when they both ate their fill, Sera lifted Bran and they made their way home.

...

After a few hours all six of them were sitting inside the conference room. Sera was still bloody and smelt of death, but nobody said anything, Hector even seemed to be turned on by it.

Melinda made a quick report, which held nothing of real interest to her.

"...So, that's about it. Other than the few arrests made by the Angelic Order, nothing happened... Oh, also I nearly forgot, but we got a Standby directive from Central Command." Sera nodded her thanks, then thought a bit about the directive.

A Standby directive meant that Sera and her team shouldn't leave the close proximity of the city in case a new order comes in. This news brought a small smile to Sera's face, she had a pretty good idea what the next order will be. It's what she had been waiting for a while now.

Everyone waited in anticipation what her next order will be. After a few minutes Sera looked at Hector and Kathy.

"Hector, Kathy you two will take a large force and collect all those monster corpses. Take as many vehicles as necessary and if you need anything contact Bran, he will help with the logistics since both of you suck at planning." While speaking Sera rose from her seat and began walking towards the door.

"Melinda, come with me!" She said as she left the room. Quickly Melinda scrambled after her, leaving the others in a bit of a shock. They still had no idea why Sera was always in a hurry somewhere.

After a few seconds Melinda finally caught up with Sera. Without a word she walked a half step behind her per decorum. It showed her inferior rank towards Sera.

They walked in silence for a while and only when they walked through the streets did Sera actually began speaking.

"You will have one job from now on. Wait for the next command from CC and immediately report it to me! Understood?" Melinda went into attention, while answering.

"Yes my Lady!"

Sera turned towards her and made a small nod. "Okay, then you are dismissed!" Find adventures on M V L

She was about to start walking again, when Melinda asked a question behind her.

"Uh... where are you going?... I mean where is the Lady heading, since it would be much easier to stay with her... The-then I could bring the message to you without the need to wait... I just thought..." Before she could make excuses or mumble more, Sera spared her from the embarrassment and answered her first question.

"I'm going to my personal dojo, I need to train a lot more. This next operation will definitely be really hard, which means I can't slack off." While she spoke, she began walking again leaving Melinda confused if she should follow her or not. Sera seemed to notice her mistake too, so she said over her shoulder, "You can wait in my house."

With that Melinda quickly went after her, and they walked on in silence towards Sera's mansion.

Soon they reached the house and Sera opened the front door, it wasn't even locked since no one would be stupid enough to break in. While walking through the corridors, Sera looked at the empty rooms of the hollow house.

First she lead Melinda to one of the giant living rooms with a huge Holo-screen television. She left her there with the order to come to her when the news arrive.

After that Sera went to her own room. She approached her second wardrobe, which contained loads of training clothes. They were in a vast range of colors, but she only used the black ones.

She took of her usual street clothes and changed into the more comfortable leggings and sports bra, she also wore a shirt that stuck close to her body. Her military boots also had to go, so instead she put on a pair of running shoes.

Next she sat down in front of her bathroom mirror and braided her hair so it wouldn't get in the way. When she was finally satisfied with her looks, Sera left her room and went outside into a separate building.

The building was huge, nearly the size of the actual house, with the one difference being its looks. The building was a large concrete block, with no special ornamentation. It didn't need to look good to fulfill its intended purpose... Sera's personal gym.

The inside wasn't any less lethargic, then the outside. There was a corner with a large amount of weights and training machines. Another corner held a few training dummies, most of them had at least one scorch mark or melted spot, but they were still in usable condition.

The height of the building was giant too and there were many small circles hanged from the ceiling. She trained her air maneuvering there, trying to increase her speed as much as possible while going through the hoops and avoiding crashing into the walls. There were also loads of cracks on said walls, marking her every failed attempt.

There was also a climbing wall and a large obstacle course, which helped increase her reflexes. The middle of the building was made up of a large mat for duels. These all were nice, but Sera didn't approach any of them.

She went into a specific corner, which held a small room. Inside was nothing else just a humanoid looking strange machine. Sera circled around it and stepped inside the human-sized opening.

All around her the machine began to whir and the opening encased her inside of it. There was a screen right before her eyes and slowly a light came on shining straight into her retina. Instinctively she closed her eyes.

It took her a moment to open them again, but when she did she wasn't in the machine anymore. Around her there was only a giant field of grass. She looked around for a few moments, then a woman's monotone voice resounded right in her head.

"Welcome back Angel Monarch! What training do you wish to do today?"