Angel Monarch

Out of every city that survived the Last War and the Apocalypse, Rome was possibly the oldest. Perhaps New Athens existed longer, but before the Apocalypse, people mostly abandoned it.

In comparison, Rome's population always remained high. From the period of its founding, throughout the height of its republic and empire, into the future as the center of the world's largest religion, and at the end, as a tourist destination.

Rome's reputation and history remained intact, as far as everyone knew. Its population was between 25-30 million, its walls stretched high, and its people were loyal to the bitter end.

After seizing the area, the Federal Alliance disregarded the people's input in decision-making. This caused a serious discord in the populace, and Adam's propaganda only widened it.

Right now, about ninety percent of the population was loyal to the Angelic Order. Another nine percent stayed on the fence. After the recent changes, though, and the coming siege, they were sure most will change their minds.
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Especially after Sera's arrival and show of force, the attendance within the Angelic Order's churches increased by quite a lot.

Adam, Lilith and Faith also spent their time hunting spies and insurgents. In the past week since their arrival, there had been a few attempts at terrorism, but the enemies did not know what they faced.

Lilith's ability to go into people's dreams gave her a chance to figure out their motives before they acted. Faith was a bit different. She spent most of her time in her shadow form, exploring.

It was an invasion of the citizen's privacy, but she alone found dozens of spy circles. None were Evolved, but even a regular human could cause a disturbance if sufficiently devoted.

The problem wasn't only the enemies within the walls. By now, the Federal Alliance army was only a few days away, but not long after Sera's arrival, the news came…

The larger army headed for them from the north, while a smaller army came from the south.

There was a city far below Rome called Catania. Its population was half of Rome's, but they still had military strength.

Each army had more troops than Rome, and together, they could cause a lot of trouble. They all hoped the Aegis System would hold. Mary and James had made adjustments to it, which in theory should make it more versatile.

Throughout the week, every defensive plan had been determined, so now they could only wait for their enemies to arrive.

They spoke about raiding the enemy, but overall, it seemed like a rubbish idea. The real damage would've been killing the Transcended within their armies, but that was simply unachievable with a raid.

Because of the sudden free time, Sera and Vicky spent the days exploring Rome. Bea came along a few times too, but Sera still wasn't feeling comfortable around her.

Their strange connection only caused her distrust to increase, but for Vicky, she made sacrifices.

Together, they explored the most famous places around Rome. About a year ago, during the last siege of Rome, the fighting mostly destroyed the Colosseum, but they still visited the ruin.

Since Rome's famous religious past beliefs, dozens of old churches survived the Apocalypse. The Angelic Order had repurposed most, but the citizens made sure they kept their original looks.

They also checked out a few extremely old ruins. Many people judged them to be over three thousand years old, which was kind of unbelievable for Vicky.

For an eleven-year-old who only remembered her past three years of life, three thousand years was simply too large a number to imagine.

While exploring the city, Sera used her Color Changing Earring, so people wouldn't recognize her. Sadly, it didn't work as great as in New Athens.

It was most likely because of Vicky, since they had nothing to alter her appearance with. Luckily, most people left them alone. They only stared, which was annoying, but at least they didn't engage in conversation.

Her people seemed both anxious and relieved. They feared their future, but placed their lives happily in Sera's and the Angelic Order's hand. This duality kept everyone's sanity intact, and done wonders for future recruitment.

The footage from her arrival had large effects on people, too. Within the Angelic Order's territories, their loyalty and love increased by wide margins. But that was only a small part of the plan.

The actual changes went down much farther away. In most cities, both in the Federal Alliance and the United Front, censors redacted the footage from mainstream media.

It was a desperate attempt to control the narrative, but it quickly backfired, and funnily, because of their interference, more people saw it.

Many people just ignored the live feed, but upon hearing about the censorship, they grew curious and watched it on some illegal site.

Now, more and more cracks started to show in how people govern and control the normal citizens' lives. The searches about Sera and the Angelic Order grew exponentially.

In only one week, the spies within the major cities of both sides reported civil unrest. The people began to act on their doubts. Each year, they watched as their leaders did nothing for them except using their hard labor.

They also reported dozens of Angelic Order clones popping up in secret. Their numbers grew each day, and the spies actually had to take control of them, since they hadn't got a clue how to be secretive.

Using these, they began to sow the seeds of chaos in the major cities. They wouldn't taste the fruit of their labor for a long time, but they were patient, and each new follower meant a potential soldier in future wars.

This was a very materialistic view of human lives, but Sera appreciated rationality over people's feelings. Rational thinking would lead to victory, while emotions would keep peace.

With this in mind, Sera let people who can actually feel make decisions relating to the normal people. Sera might be a great military leader and religious idol, but she wasn't a compassionate governor.

As the day approached its end, Sera and Vicky headed for the city wall facing the sea to the west.

They sat on the wall's edge and watched as the sun sat on the horizon. Vicky snuggled close to her mother, who brushed her white hair with gentle strokes.

She hummed some song she heard playing on New Year's eve. Sera never listened to music. It was too emotional and gave her a constant reminder of what she was missing in life.

But she had to admit, listening to it with friends and family gave her a strange sense a gratitude. It didn't exactly cause her to be happy, but made her cold heart feel warmer.

She definitely understood why people loved to listening and dancing to music. It was a pure form of expression, like having sex, but less intimate.

In the past three weeks, she and Vicky had no heart-to-heart talk, but even Sera with her social stupidity could sense how anxious Vicky was.

She was on the edge of asking something, but just couldn't bring herself over it. They silently watched the horizon darken, and eventually, Sera had enough.

"So Vicky… When will you tell me what's bothering you?"

True emotionless fashion, Sera made no leading small talk, and instead jumped straight to the problem. A moment of shock gave way to Vicky, considering a lie, but after a few seconds she just dejectedly sighed.

"Can't hide my tenseness from you, it seems… It's nothing really, not a real problem, but more of a curious question… You spent the past few weeks with us, and you know most of your past…"

The lead up to the eventual question was very annoying to Sera. She had already guessed what her daughter was going to ask, but felt it would be rude to interrupt her, so she just suffered in silence.

"I know a lot had changed, and the future is uncertain at best, but have you considered what happens after this war?"

Vicky's voice sounded meek, like she feared Sera's answer. Her mother stopped brushing her hair and stared into her white eyes with a small, comforting smile.

"You want to know about me and Bea, don't you?" she asked, and her daughter gently nodded.

Sera sighed and pulled her daughter into a tight hug. She stayed silent for a few minutes, then whispered into her ear.

"My future is uncertain. I will reclaim my soul's other half, which will change me. I don't know how extensive or destructive the change will be, so I can't make promises…"

She pulled away from the hug and stared into her daughter's teary eyes.

"But I and Bea will always love and take care of you. No matter what, you will never have to worry about that!"

Vicky nodded with much more understanding, but the answer didn't seem to satisfy her.

"We can revisit the relationship status when all this craziness had ended. I can't even feel love right now, so making big decisions is out of the question!"

Hearing this brought a small reserved smile to Vicky's face, and they cuddled a bit more before the night fully set.