Angel Monarch

Chapter 86: Castleburg

Sera immediately went to her daughter and hugged her. She was perfectly fine Faith didn't even have to fight. Sadly this couldn't be told about most.

A large portion of the Evolved were injured, but a lot of them were dead. 197 that's how many were left, about 40 of them weren't even Evolved. They were either too old or too young to fight. Moe was the one responsible for them.

After losing all of his soldiers he was without purpose, so they decided to give him this job. As always he took it very seriously.

They were about 178 kilometers from Castleburg. At least that's what Clockwork said. In reality it might as well be a thousand, 3 or 4 more fights like this and none of them will make it.

But they didn't give up. After collecting some monster meat, they continued their long journey.

A week has passed and they only had to fight once. In that fight they lost another 15 Evolved.

It was currently night, Sera and the others were sitting around an extinguished campfire. Light in the dark was a beacon for monsters in the wild. They were sharing some stories before going to sleep.

"...then I dodged its attack and stabbed it through the eye!"

"Bea why does all your stories end with someone or something dying?" Asked Sera with a smile.

"Yes, why don't you say some nice story, like mom always does!"

"You people do not appreciate my storytelling abilities!" Said Bea pridefully and everyone began laughing, which annoyed her.

"I can tell a good story about Bea!" Said Lucy very enthusiastically.

"Which one?" Asked Bea skeptically.

Lucy thought for a moment, then grinned at Bea.

"About when we stole your fathers car!"

"Oh yeah lets hear that!" Said Hellfire.

"No, no, definitely not!" Bea looked very embarrassed, she even turned her head away blushing. Sera's mouth, unknowingly to her, crept up into a smile. Noticing it Bea sighed and began telling the story.

"Once before becoming an Evolved me, Lucy, Hellfire and Nightmare went out drinking. But we drank a little too much... especially me. I thought it would be really funny to steal my father's car."

Bea took a deep breath before continuing.

"We drove around a bit, luckily there weren't many people on the streets, but eventually I drove into a building."

She seemed to be finished with the story, but Lucy didn't let her.

"But whos building did you drove into?" Asked Lucy with a grin. Bea looked very annoyed, but continued.

"It was the mayor's house okay!" All of them began laughing except Bea who pretended to be offended.

"Did you get in trouble?" Asked Sera after she finally stopped chuckling.

"My father was one of the only Transcended of course not. But he was very angry after he found out what happened, I got grounded for months!" They chuckled then as well, this time Bea was laughing too.

They stayed silent for a couple minutes, enjoying the night. After a while Vicky asked with a big yawn.

"Mom, can we go to sleep?" Her voice sounded very tired and she was leaning against Sera.

"Of course My Little Angel." With that they stood up and went to their sleeping spot.

Not long after, everyone went either to sleep or watch duty. They will continue their journey in the morning.

The days went by fast and soon enough another weeks passed. They were attacked another time, they lost another 25 people. Their total number counted 157 members.

But they were getting close, in the past two days the scouts didn't even see any monsters. Clockwork said they were about 10 kilometers from Castleburg.

Sera walked next to Bea, they were finally getting close again, but physical touch was still too much for her. She even tried to apologize for Bea and ask her to find someone else, but she just smiled and said "I love you".

Sadly this immediately reminded Sera of the torture she went through and she ran away, only coming back after hours. Bea was the one to apologize then, but Sera just let the whole thing drop.

They walked for another hour before suddenly Lucy appeared before them with a massive grin and tears in her eyes.

"What is it?" Asked Sera.

"It... It's the city... We are nearly there..." She said while sniffing.

"But why are you crying?"

"You will see... you will see..." With that she flew off.

Bea and Sera looked at each other confused. This was very weird behavior from Lucy, just what did she see that made her cry?

But their questions were answered soon enough. Walking up a small hill they finally reached the end of the forest. From here they had a perfect vantage point to see Castleburg or its city wall.

They couldn't see what was behind it, the wall was a hundred meters tall minimum. All along the wall were battlements with huge weapons. But what got their attention was the material, the city wall was made from, some kind of dark crystal. It looked indestructible.

Many people fell to their knees around them. Finally reaching this place was a huge relief. Sera on the other hand just held Vicky close to her. Vicky in the meantime was stunned by the beauty of the wall.

Soon they began to walk towards it. Sadly there was no gate anywhere near them, they counted on the Evolved of the city to help them up and over the wall.

They were partially right, because soon a large unit of Evolved flew down. They didn't transform or had wings, they just floated. Some power was keeping them afloat.

All of them wore some kind of armor, that hid their faces. The armor was either an Item or made from monster materials by an armor smith. The also had their weapons out, ready for a battle.

Their leader stepped forward, he was tall and his armor was excellent. He also carried a magnificent sword on his hip.

"I am Lucius, leader of the Southeastern part of the Wall Management. Identify yourselves or you will be killed!"

'Bit harsh, but understandable.'

"I'm Bea and we are the last survivors of Copen!" She said with pride.

On the way Sera and Bea talked and decided who will be the main speaker. Also they decided to hide the fact, that Sera is not from Copen.

The city guard looked really confused, which is understandable the Fall of Copen happened more than six months ago. There were probably many questions popping up in their heads like, 'What took them so long to get here?', or the better question 'How did they even manage it?'.

After a couple of minutes the leader came to his senses and immediately called his supervisor, at least that's what Bea thought. With his helmet on she couldn't make out what he said, but judging his tone, he was very anxious.

After five minutes of heated conversation he dismissed his helmet. Below it was a handsome middle aged man. There was a scar running through his face, probably from a claw or a knife.

Taking a deep breath he spoke.

"I'm not high enough rank to continue this conversation. We will bring you onto the wall, a Transcended is waiting for you there already."

Suddenly Bea, Sera and everyone began to float towards the wall. It took them a couple of minutes, but they finally reached the top. The first thing Bea did was look at the city behind the wall.

Her jaw dropped and she nearly fell over, the city was simply breathtaking. The building style was old, if she had to guess it would be Victorian. Pointed roofs, huge cathedrals, massive mansions, a building complex that could only be a school and the jewel of the city, a castle.

The castle was hundreds of meters tall, way taller than the wall and it was exactly in the middle of the city.

The city itself was so big one couldn't see its other end from the wall she stood on.

'This... this is... this is a city that can house more than a hundred million humans. How did they build it and why in this style?'

"Beautiful isn't it? I lived here all my life, but still can't fathom the sheer volume of it all. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. Prince Otto, from Castleburg's royal family."

Prince Otto could only be described as the prettiest man to ever exist. He wasn't really handsome, his facial features were more feminine than manly, but that only made him more interesting. His clothing was neat, without even a wrinkle. His posture is also well mannered.

'Like he trained to be a prince since his birth. Weirdo.'

Bea looked him up and down a couple of times.

"Your city is breathtaking Prince Otto..."

Before she could finish one of the prince's guards shouted. "You will refer to the Prince as Your Highness!"

Suddenly the prince's attention went to someone else, next to Bea stood Sera with a sword in her hand and a smile on her face.

"I don't think anyone asked for your opinion!" Sera's smile turned a bit scary and the tension on the wall increased. At least until the Prince began to clap and laugh.

"Hear that Captain! We didn't ask for your opinion. You can call me Otto by the way, I don't really care."

He looked away for a second, then turned to his Watch and sighed.

"I would love to chat some more, but then I will be late from a very boring meeting. The guards will take you to a place where we will register you and upgrade your Watches."

He paused and looked at Sera's wrist. "Or give you new ones if they had been destroyed. Anyway, see you around!"

After finishing he just ran off the wall and suddenly a huge dragon flew towards the castle.

When everyone finally got their emotions under control, the guards led them to an elevator and onto the street.