Angel Monarch

The woman laughed madly as she ran towards Sera. From the gauntlet on her right hand, a two meter long curved silver blade grew.

She moved faster than any Ascended should've, which caused alarm bells to ring in Sera's mind.

In less than a second, her golden armor covered her body, and she summoned her glaive to defend against the incoming blow.

Next to her, Bea's body changed as well. Her brown dress changed shape and became Bea's armor.

From her gauntlet, an ordinary long sword grew. It looked to be made of wood, but Sera quickly recognized it as a deadly weapon.

By the time the woman's attack reached them, they were ready... Or at least they thought so.

The silver blade cut the air in a wide arc. Sera tried to block it with her glaive's handle, but there was too much power in the blow, and she nearly lost balance.

On the right, Bea came to the rescue, and while the silver sword was still carrying momentum, Bea's own sword hit it in the middle.

The two forces hit cancelled each other in a loud bang that echoed through the giant chamber.

The woman's grin widened under her hood, and with a pirouette, she turned and cut low with her blade.

Sera's wings were already out by that point, and just as the sword was about to hit Bea's legs, Sera grabbed her and flew a few meters in the air.

They quickly had to drop back to the ground, though, since Vicky was still passed out not far away.

Sera dropped Bea behind the woman while she continued to fly off, then turn in the air. Her glaive turned into a five meter lance, and she went into a dive aiming at the woman.

Bea tried to take her attention away with a well-timed attack. She swung her longsword in a vertical slash, but just before it reached the woman's head, her empty gauntleted hand caught the blade with ease.

At that point, Sera was close to hitting her, but her lance never reached the woman. She cut the air faster than Sera could perceive movement.

The silver blade hit the lance in the middle. The force of the blow pushed Sera away, and she crashed heavily into the ground.

The woman then lifted Bea by the blade and threw her right next to Sera. She landed much more gracefully, but was still a bit shaken up.

The mad lady laughed hysterically. "Is this really the best you can accomplish? You are truly worthless without me! Pathetic worm!"

Bea stared at her with confusion, anger and worry. While Sera just frowned at her words.

Something was wrong, but she simply couldn't figure it out. This woman was so familiar, like Sera knew her all throughout her life.

She felt a strange, inexplicable connection to her. It brought her curiosity and strangely enough... Longing...

There was something missing though, and no matter how hard she thought, she did not know who this woman was, and why was she so familiar.

"What? You won't even deny it?! You are a useless piece of shit. I don't even understand why people follow you! Can't they see the wretched little girl acting as a leader?... Well, I doubt anybody will see you after I'm done with you!"

The less they reacted to the mad lady's words, the angrier she grew. The grin was persistent on her face, though, which made her all the scarier.

"Damn, you really love to hear you voice, don't you?" said Bea, then she began laughing.

Sera just stayed silent and watched as the woman slowly lost her mind to the rage.

"Big words from a whore such as yourself! How dare you be with this fake one... I can't believe I once loved you... Well, I guess it doesn't matter now... You can hold each other in the grave!"

The words confused both Sera and Bea even more, but they saw the mad lady's stance changed, so they both prepared themselves for the onslaught.

Bea's body began glowing with a bright green energy, and the forest grew back around them.

In the Realm of Boundless Frost, they tested a lot with the Tree of Life and what powers it provided. Most were passive buffs, which increased Bea's speed and strength.

This was the green energy she used. The best part was, it used no essence, only the Tree's energy.

The only downside was that she needed to be near the Tree, but that's why she grew all those roots through the Gate!

Sera's body didn't take on any drastic change, but her glaive's blade ignited with pure golden flames. Her four wings also spread behind her back, and she readied herself for the fight.

The mad lady surprised them at first, but now she gave them time to prepare, making the fight more equal.

The woman brandished her curved blade once before exploding into action.

She was about a dozen meters away, and she closed it in less than a second. Her blade moved in a vertical slash towards Bea, but she didn't fall for her faint.

The blade passed a good half meter in front of her face. The sword moved towards the woman, as her arm muscles contracted, and with a sudden burst, she stabbed right at Sera's chest.

She snapped her wings once and used the created momentum to evade the stab and close the distance.

Sera used the butt of her glaive to hit the woman's stomach, which caused her to bend over coughing.

From behind, Bea's longsword slashed towards the woman's left shoulder, but she moved away just in time. The sword only gave a shallow cut on her arm.

The mad lady just laughed it off, and in the next second, she recovered. Her other gauntlet grew the copy of the silver blade, and she twirled them both once before redoubling her attack.

With her right sword, she slashed towards Sera's waist, and with her left, she stabbed at Bea's shoulder.

The blades moved fast, but not fast enough. Sera took a step back and leaned away, dodging the sword by a few centimeters.

She then raised her glaive and slashed at the woman's right elbow, giving her another much nastier cut. The glaive's blade went so deep that the bone was showing, and a river of blood flowed.

On the other side, Bea raised her empty left hand exactly where the blade was about to hit her. From her armor, a small wooden buckler grew, and the green energy concentrated on it.

The silver blade hit it with full force, but the energy negated most of it. Even then, the small remaining percent was enough to crack the buckler and break Bea's arm below her vambrace.

She groaned in pain, but in less than a second the damage was healed and she was already moving in for her own attack.

Her wooden blade entered and exited the woman's left thigh. It went straight through the clothing, skin and muscles, and exited on the other side.

Bea then grabbed her own blade and with an abrupt move broke it away from her own hand. The whole blade was left inside the thigh, and in Bea's hand a new longsword grew.

The mad lady kept on laughing as she backed away a few steps. Both Sera and Bea wanted to attack, but the woman began swinging wildly, so they had to back away.

Eventually, the mad woman fell to her knees, and she let the blades retreat into her gauntlet.

"I must say. I didn't expect to use anything other than my prowess with the blade, but you two were full of surprises... I mean, it's not like I wasn't prepared, but every girl can have their fantasies!"

With her left gauntleted hand, she felt around a bit until it landed on the wooden blade sticking out of her thigh.

Her grin widened as she grasped the blade and slowly dragged it out. It was like the woman found pleasure in the pain, and purposefully elongated it by drawing out the blade slower.

After a few seconds, the blade was out, fully covered in the woman's blood. She stared at it for a while, then lifted and licked her own blood.

"Uhh... Delicious! I can only imagine how the two of you taste like!"

The woman's leg regenerated quickly and her right arm had returned to normal a long time ago.

"So you two might wonder who am I. Even though I gave you an abundance of hints, your stupid brains probably still wondering..."

The silver gauntlets on the woman's hand turned similar to liquid, and they began climbing up her arm. From there, they spread to her shoulders, chest, back, stomach, waist, and legs.

In a few seconds, most of her body was covered by a shiny silver armor, everywhere except her head, which was still hidden by her hood.

"This will be amazing for both of you, and you probably won't understand shit... Not like I care!"

Slowly the mad lady raised her hands, and with one quick move, pulled the hood off of her head. Finally revealing her identity to Sera and Bea...