Angel Monarch

Near the housing part of the military compound, a woman and a man were walking together. After careful consideration Melinda and Bran decided upon the twenty evolved who will accompany Sera on the mission.

They had sent messages about an hour ago, now they were going the brief them personally.

Melinda was really excited since it was rare that she got to go on missions with Sera. She changed a lot since they attended the academy in Newber. They were best friends back then, but the Destruction was very thorough.

Through many hardships and suffering she had managed to escape and survive for a while. Sadly eventually her luck ran out and the goblins captured her. She still held a deep hatred towards them, every time they had gotten close to New Athens, she would personally ask for Sera's permission to exterminate every single one!

Those days of suffering lasted for months, until her best friend from a previous life saved her from the torment.

Strangely enough Sera didn't seem to remember her and after a long time she figured out why. That monster named Harold took her memories, but also something else. Her every action felt soulless, like she was pretending.

Melinda figured it out soon before anyone else, or before Sera told her story to them. When she came back from Flensburg to ask them about wanting to join her army, Melinda was one of the first to raise her hand.

That was two years ago. Since then a lot had changed, not just with her and Sera, but the whole world. The war that still had no end in sight was raging across the continent.

Melinda born in 6 ATA (After The Apocalypse), which meant she never knew the Old World, like a few of the older folk. Some of them even travelled in space or were born on another planet within their Solar System.

But even in the apocalypse she had never expected a war of this scale to happen. In her eyes it was pure idiocy, but since her only remaining friend from her life in Newber was one of leaders in this war, she had no choice but to join.

Two years ago on that plain grassland she had made this decision and she had never regretted it. Since then she had killed hundreds of monsters, tens of thousand of regular soldiers, nearly a thousand evolved and dozens of ascended.

The watch gave her the title Bringer of Disease which fit her perfectly, since that's what her main power was... plague.

She can passively kill every non evolved and bring the evolved to near death. It can even severely weaken ascended, if they aren't from the stronger kind.

Her vast power can be thanked to Sera as well. She was the one who told them the secret of becoming stronger than most evolved. It gave both her and Bran the ability to defeat most of their enemies.

At first Melinda thought that her power would actually come close to Sera's, but when she heard about the horror she had killed... That thought went out of her head real fast.

Slowly she and Bran arrived at the designated gathering area. Unlike the other three captains the two of them payed more attention to soldier upkeep, moral, skill etc. They had expectations from them as well. This wasn't an army run on hopes and dreams, but on experience and discipline.

The twenty soldiers were in small groups talking, but when Melinda and Bran arrived every single one went to attention. Melinda hid her satisfied smile, it felt great being appreciated as a leader. It made her ego grew by a lot every time someone saluted to her. She didn't let it get to her head, but it felt nice.

One of the twenty stepped forward. He was the cohort leader for this mission.

"At ease soldiers." Said Bran in a calm tone, while typing away on his watch. He spent every waking hour on the damn thing. Always compiling some report or making preparations to some event. Long ago Melinda tried to out do him, but she quickly discovered how tall of a task that was.

"Is everyone prepared? This will be at least a weeklong mission, but most likely more. There will also be quite a bit of fighting." Said Melinda out of respect, but she already knew what the cohort leader would say.

"We are ready to march whenever you decide, ma'am!"

"That's great. Then lets brief you real quick. Bran did you send the mission briefings?" He looked up from his watch's interface and stared at Melinda blankly. "Do you even have to ask?"

Of course she didn't but it was funny every time he made that face. The group of soldiers opened the files Bran had previously sent them and read through the few pages quickly. Melinda didn't wait for them to finish and began talking while they read.

"As you can see the target is 328 kilometers to the north. It is away from any large or small United Front settlement, that is the reason for the attack. We have no idea why they are there or what they are doing. Even their number estimates could be wrong. That is why this mission will be led by Lady Seraphine herself."

This piece of information was omitted from the mission file. Bran told her that it was because of safety reason, but in her opinion he just wanted to see the soldiers' faces when they found out.

Watching all the surprised, amazed, excited and terrified faces, she could understand why he had done it. It took all of Melinda's willpower not to burst out laughing. The cohort leader recovered a lot quicker than the rest, and made a stomp that sent a small seismic wave towards the soldiers.

Everyone quickly reverted back to their previous composed selves, which made Melinda really proud. Their ability to stay composed even with unexpected circumstances was truly magnificent.

"Okay, that's about it. If you have any more questions you can ask it on the way. Go to the designated meeting place. I will follow shortly."

"Yes ma'am! Soldiers, move out!"

After they moved away and the area cleared, Melinda stepped close to Bran. She gave him a big hug, which he reciprocated.

"Be careful. And make sure to send a report every day!" Said Bran and in answer she laughed a bit, then they went apart.

"Of course you only care about the reports. How else could you make sure to be prepared when Lady Seraphine comes back!" The implications of her words made Bran blush a bit, but he said nothing.

It was obvious for both of them. Two years ago, when Sera's army just came to be, Melinda tried to get together with Bran, but he only had eyes on one woman. Sadly for him, that woman literally couldn't feel love, but that didn't turn him away.

That was the main reason why he was so focused on getting everything right within New Athens. It gave him a lot more chance to be near Sera.

Melinda made a little wave at an embarrassed Bran, then with a large smile on her face she walked towards the gathering point near the main gate.

Walking through the compound was always weird to her, because of all the weapons uniforms, armor and vehicles the purpose of this place was clear. But the buildings didn't fit the atmosphere at all.

Strangely enough even though Sera had no emotions, her artistic sense was on point. Because of her the houses, office buildings, barracks and military academy all had the same tasteful aesthetic to it.

They were colorful, with loads of ornamentations. The higher ranking people's houses even had lawns and gardens. If you ignored the gunshots and explosions echoing through the area, it made a pretty good neighborhood.

Melinda herself didn't live in the compound though. Actually non of the captains did, except Bran. He decided to stay here since Sera was staying here too. Unlike everyone else she didn't have a choice. Next to her house was a circle with a few hundred meter radius.

When they first arrived there were buildings, houses and families there. Then the first successful assassination happened. Those idiots had no idea who they were trying to kill. Most of them died by Sera's own hands, but in the end she died there.

All those families who were sleeping in their beds, all those houses...

The explosion killed all of them...

Sera didn't blame herself for it. Within the hour of her resurrection she released her statement to the public and the list of casualties... 3859 dead... 1594 men... 1461 women... 804 children...

All burned away within seconds...

The people mourned the loss. She actually made it into a holiday for the whole city. It was illegal to work on that day for anyone who isn't essential for the city's function. Also she gave a lot of money to everyone who lost a family member or even a good friend.

When Melinda heard it for the first time, it melted her heart. It was clear that her old friend would never come back, but even then Sera decided to help. She also knew that Sera didn't feel bad about the destruction, since she couldn't, which made it all the more amazing that she didn't just turn away from her citizens.

A few days later they cleared all the rubbles away and now every time Sera needs to revive within city grounds, that's its designated place. People keep far away from it, since nobody wants another one of those accidents to happen.

Slowly Melinda's footsteps slowed and she finally stopped next to the gate. A dozen or so meters away Percy was saying goodbye to his four wives. It always made her feel weird, but they looked happy enough... At least that's what she told herself.

But she still saw the marks on one of the woman's wrists, and another one's clavicle. Percy seemed to love them and treat them well on the outside, but whatever he does to them in the bedroom was beyond Melinda's imagination.

It wasn't her concern though. She would gladly take Percy out if Sera or one of the wives asked her to, but they looked to be fine with this dynamic.

She walked to the twenty soldiers who were speaking between themselves excitedly. The cohort leader was a bit off to the side from them, constantly scanning the surroundings. He was either waiting for a surprise attack, or wanting to be prepared for her Lady's arrival.

He didn't even seem to notice Melinda, but she knew that wasn't the case.

"What's your name anyway?" She asked from the man in his thirties. He had a reddish-brown hair and similar colored eyes. His height was not even a head above Melinda's own, but at least his build was muscular.

Finally he turned away and looked at Melinda. "Glenn Chase, or Cohort Leader Chase, ma'am!"

A small smile appeared on Melinda's face as she whispered to Glenn. "Well, Cohort Leader Chase here is a small advice. It is useless to try and be prepared for Lady Seraphine. She has a supernatural power to only appear when you least expect it!"

"Is that so?" Asked a bored feminine voice from behind Melinda. She didn't turned around and just made a face to Glenn which roughly translated to 'I told you so!'.

With Sera's arrival the cohort of 23 personal moved out. Their destination, an enemy encampment with five times their numbers.

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