Angel Monarch

The Tree looked fairly similar as before. Their bark-like skin seemed to absorb the sunlight shining through Sera's lone window.

Their dark auburn hair danced upon some nonexistent breeze, while their brownish-green eyes gazed at Sera with both fear and satisfaction.

The dress they wore was the only difference in their appearance. Instead of the previous auburn flowing dress, they wore a dark green sundress, which reached barely below the knee.

The Angel glanced up from her bucket at Sabyr. She tried to smile, but in that moment, the nausea hit her again, and she began puking.

Currently, she was alone in her room, except for the Tree. Faith took care of her on most days, but unlike Sera, she had no essence to lend her energy. After days of sleeplessness, Sera ordered her Shadow to take time off.

Amayeta was supposed to keep watch on her, but an emergency council meeting about called her away.

The doctor promised though to send her children, but they hadn't arrived yet, leaving the Angel alone in her suffering.

Sera didn't care much, though. She just puked and felt awful throughout the day. It was nice to have company, albeit it felt unnecessary. However, it seemed people just didn't want to leave her alone!

"You look like shit. Are you sure you're an actual angel? Those people were the epiphany of Evolution, the perfect beings! They never got sick, and certainly never vomited for a straight week!"

The Angel just chuckled, took a deep breath, and leaned back in her seat.

"Yeah, well, fuck you too. I really don't care what those pigeons were like… Also, I'm not sick, but pregnant. Big difference… Anyway, I'm not in the mood for chatting, so just tell me what do you want, then get out!"

Sabyr took a fearful step back when Sera raised her voice. The Tree seemed stuck in her state of terror, since even in such a weakened state, an angel could kill her with ease.

However, she also didn't lose all her bravado, and she quickly regained her cool.

"That's rude! Your literally living inside of me! This is my branch!… And why do you think there's something I want? Maybe I just felt sorry for your state and came to check up on you!"

Sera just laughed and spat into her bucket. Her eyes held no humor as she stared at Sabyr with obvious annoyance.

"I know your type of people. We haven't talked for nearly an entire month, then you suddenly show up, when I'm at my weakest… How convenient… I ask you again. What the fuck do you want?"

The Tree rolled her greenish-brown eyes and sat down on a chair that literally grew under her.

"Fine! You're no fun!… As I already told you, I'm a Tree of Endless Hunger. As you can guess, my food source is quite unique… I need to devour souls to survive. However, since you killed everything near my Tree, I ran out of food!"

The Angel just stared at the Tree with a raised eyebrow, confused how this was her problem.

"Then I guess you'll starve… What does this have to do with me?"

A cunning grin spread across Sabyr's uniquely beautiful androgynous face.

"Well, since I have no food here, I guess I'll have to leave and find some other place. But of course, that would leave the Village defenseless, since I've been protecting them all this time!"

Sera rolled her eyes with exhaustion. She knew exactly where this conversation was heading, but her patience slowly ran out.

She shifted in her chair, making herself more comfortable. Strangely, even such slight movement caused Sabyr's body to tremble in fear.

"So you're threatening to leave these humans to die? Why don't you just devour some of their souls, then wait until they reproduce and eat some more? That would be an endless food supply."

The Tree raised a confused eyebrow after hearing Sera's words. They definitely didn't expect an angel to have such little regard for other people's lives.

"To be honest, I would if I could. Sadly, I can only devour Evolved souls, so these regular humans are all safe from me… I want you to grab some monsters and kill them near my Tree. If you do that, I'll stay put defending the Village and maybe I'll even cure your nausea!"

A small smile appeared on Sera's face as she finally understood what the Tree wanted. With a small, tired sigh, Sera stood up and reached out her hand.

Sabyr seemed to freeze from fear as their body shook uncontrollably. However, Sera didn't plan on attacking the Tree.

In her palm, small specks of lights coalesced into a crystal orb. In its depths, a small, pure light illuminated the room.

The Tree watched the orb in awe, their previous terror entirely forgotten. Slowly, their hand moved towards the orb, as if even the slightest touch would break it apart.

That's when Sera rolled her eyes and tossed the orb at Sabyr. The Tree scrambled to catch it, their mouth salivating at the smell of the soul contained within the orb.

"There's dinner for you. Now fix my nausea! I seriously had enough of this 'morning' sickness…"

Before she could've said anything else, the nausea returned, and she bent above her bucket. However, just as she prepared to vomit inside, the nausea suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Behind her, chewing noises echoed as Sabyr ate the Horror's soul contained within the orb.

"Mmm… That tasted delicious! Do you have more? I'm still a bit peckish!"

Sera didn't answer immediately. She was too busy feeling joy about the nausea's disappearance.

For a while, she just stretched her body, popping each of her joint. Since she hadn't really moved in the past few days, her body demanded exercise.

Eventually, she turned back towards Sabyr, who curiously examined the crystal orb.

"You're a Tree of Endless Hunger. I don't think you could ever be full… Also, give that orb back so I can trap another soul inside later!"

Sabyr, albeit a bit reluctantly, tossed back the orb. Their greenish-brown eyes continued staring at it hungrily, like another tasty soul would manifest within its depths.

"That's a clever device you got there. It uses the perfectly crystalline structure to trap the soul in an eternal mirror maze. I wouldn't think any human could make something like that… Anyway, thanks for the meal! Be sure to bring some more next time!"

Sera glanced at the crystal orb in her hand with a small smile. Mary, of course, designed the orb, but other artificers adept in Item making had to actually develop 'Nothing'.

It was strange to use this Item to feed souls to a giant tree. However, its initial purpose wasn't too different, but instead of a giant tree, they planned on feeding the souls to the Aegis System.

As Sera remembered the Aegis System, a piercing sadness grew in her heart and with it came the sense of losing control. Her eyes reddened for a moment, but she quickly suppressed her bloodlust.

She quickly changed her thoughts from Bran. Instead, she recalled Henry's news about the Aegis System.

"Mary already developed a way to substitute Bran's ability. However, it's much worse in efficiency, so will need to use more energy from the Tree of Life. This will inevitably lead to the tree's death, but we're hoping Bea will heal it when the time comes!"

Sera couldn't help but laugh to herself at the memory. While Bran's death was an extremely painful subject, Bea's wasn't nice either.

It wasn't something she would openly admit, but whenever Bea's face popped into Sera's head, she couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt in her heart.

After uniting the two halves, they both became part of her personality. The Rational Sera loved and cared for Bran and Vicky, but mostly felt nothing towards Bea. The Emotional Sera however…

Her Emotional side never stopped loving and yearning for that bewitching woman. This love also became part of her after unification.

The guilt came from there, deep within her heart, which still ached for Bea's closeness. There wasn't any easy way to deal with these painful feelings.

It felt like acting on them would be a betrayal of Bran's memory. However, ignoring them only made the loneliness and heartache worse.

Even worse, her Rational self acted like an asshole towards Bea so much that she ended up with a better partner, who actually loved her.

Her thoughts slowly began spiralling into an endless pit of despair and crippling depression. Sera's golden-green eyes slowly took on a red hue as she began turning angry.

Bloodlust took hold of her mind, but as a last remnant of self-control, Sera burst out of her room and flew away from the Village in a random direction.

The people walking on the walkways nearby nearly fell off in surprise. Faith also soon burst out of her room, just in time to see her Goddess fly through the foliage above.

The shadowy woman took a deep, shuddering breath. Her hands squeezed the walkway's railing hard enough for the wood to crack.

Faith was mad at herself. She hated her inability to go with Sera, to help her, to protect her. She felt utterly useless. Even worse, she felt like a burden!

However, she didn't loath in self-pity. Even though she couldn't physically help her Lady, she could ease her workload by helping around the Village.

"I had a few hours of sleep. That's plenty… Let's get back to work."

She whispered to herself, then began walking towards the council building with a serious expression.