Angel Monarch
Chapter 407 - 407: First Visit

After her second bloodlusted killing spree, Sera spent the next few days lazily. She stayed in bed, sleeping for an entire day. She only left her warm bed to clean herself, eat, and read.

Funnily, since Sera's eyes adjusted to the brightness, she could read any time of day. More than once, Amayeta or Faith found her sitting in the dark reading, when they tried checking up on her.

Nobody really blamed her for taking some time off. Everybody knew about how many monsters she killed, and with the tools and weapons, the Village became perfect.

The hunting parties never lost any members and the only injuries came from accidents. It also helped that previously, Sera made arrowheads from the Angelic Metal, so they could kill monsters from afar.

She also made more of the greenish-gold gemstones and gave a bunch to Amayeta. Her patients healed much more quickly. Sadly, the crystal couldn't do much for anyone with lost limbs, however, it at least eased their pain.

The days passed and soon the end of her first month spent in North-America arrived. With the month's end, someone else arrived too!

A loud, thunder-like bang echoed above the Village. Winds strong enough to bend the great trees marked his arrival!

Above the Village, right at dawn, a monstrous beast flew. Its silvery white wings spread wide, while gentle golden flames danced along his feathered body.

The beast seemed to teleport there, with its incredibly fast movements. However, after reaching the area above the Village, he began gently gliding down, until he eventually landed on a wide empty branch.

The people began panicking, since they never saw any monster land atop their Tree's branch. Luckily, before any of the hunters could've attacked the beast, Sera flew to it while giggling.

Everyone watched in awe as the Angel summoned no weapon. She didn't even attack the monster, instead she walked up and hugged its enormous head.

The beast made some chittering noise with its beak, which caused the angelic woman to burst into laughter… As if she could understand the monster!

While Sera continued conversing with Kastral, Faith went around and explained exactly what was happening. The citizens visibly calmed and continued watching the interaction between the Angel and her mount.

Suddenly, a joyous shriek brought everyone's attention away from Kastral's head and onto his back. A small, beautiful, white-haired girl with the same scar as Sera jumped off the beast and into her mother's arms.

"I'm so glad you're alright! When Faith stopped answering my messages, I got very worried, but Henry calmed me… I wanted to teleport here immediately, but the others talked me down and then Kastral told us about the lost watch…"

A light bulb seemed to go off in Vicky's head, as she suddenly began glancing around frantically. Behind her, Henry jumped off the gigantic beast too.

He was barely taller than Vicky, but Sera could already see the man he'll eventually grow into. The boy nodded respectfully at the Angel, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of silver watches.

"Mary made these, as you requested. They have no connection to that strange dust and only operate with the Angelic Metal. They can't really display status windows yet, but James's working on it!"

Sera smiled and thanked the boy. She immediately tried it on and quickly skimmed through the functions.

While it couldn't display most of her status window, it still showed her name, title and essence count. It also had other functions, like showing time, weather patterns, and, most importantly, a map of the surrounding area.

"This will be extremely useful. Please, thank Mary in my place for her amazing work, as always!"

Behind Sera, Faith approached them after sending the citizens away, leaving only the five of them atop the branch.

"Aunt Faith!" Exclaimed the little girl, then jumped onto the shadowy woman.

The Shadow's face scrunched up in pain, and she quickly placed the girl back on the ground.

"It's good to see you, My Lady, but please refrain from being too harsh on my body. I still hadn't got back my essence, and my injuries aren't entirely healed yet either."

The young girl's already pale face became even more appalled. She apologized and hugged Faith's waist much more gently.

After checking out her new watch, Sera walked back to Kastral and petted him one last time. The hippogryph then rose into the sky and, with a loud thundering noise, he flew back towards Europe.

Since Kastral was Sera's mount, he also Evolved into a Transcended. The white, flaming hippogryph now could travel around Earth in a few seconds, moving so fast a normal human would disintegrate just from the air resistance.

Even Henry could only travel atop him, because Kastral slowed down, while Vicky raised a protective portal before them.

Sera continued staring at the open sky for a few moments, then together they left the branch and began heading down.

Along the way, many curious eyes stared at them, not like they cared. Both Sera and Henry received many such stares throughout their lives, and Vicky was also quickly catching up.

Faith just didn't give a shit. She only cared about her Goddess's and her daughter's wellbeing, nothing else.

They went down to the Hospital Branch, where they entered Sera's small room. Vicky immediately looked around, with confused, angry look in her white eyes.

"Why don't they give you a better room? It's way too small for someone with queen-like status and enough power to kill everyone upon this tree."

Henry's remark clear agreement from Faith and Vicky, while the Angel just shrugged and sat down on the room's only chair.

"I don't particularly care for appropriate status. This room is cozy and mine alone! It's perfect for lazing around all day!"

Sera's daughter just sighed and climbed onto her mother's bed. She stretched out while yawning tiredly.

"At least your bed is soft enough… It was kind of exhausting travelling atop Kastral, so I'm taking a nap!"

With that, Vicky turned towards the wall away and pulled the warm, leather cover over her head, hiding from the sunlight. Henry just shook his head, his lips stretching into a small, genuine smile, and walked out of the room. Faith followed close behind.

Only Sera remained inside the room. She climbed into the bed too, and gently hummed a lullaby, while her hand played with her daughter's long white hair.

Vicky's breaths turned calmer, but she didn't fall asleep. After a few minutes, she turned towards her mother and scooted over so her head laid in Sera's lap.

Her white eyes stared into Sera's own golden-green ones. The comfortable silence continued stretching between them.

Sera gently pushed her fingers through Vicky's hair, while her daughter stared at the ceiling with a content smile.

However, soon the serene, joyful atmosphere took a darker turn, as Vicky glanced out the window…

"Mom… How do you handle it so well?… Still, after a month, I either cry myself to sleep or outright give up… Each day I can barely function, when I'm reminded… How can you work and be calm?"

Tears ran down her daughter's face as she spoke. Sera knew exactly what Vicky was referring to, but sadly, she asked the wrong person…

"Handle it well? Little angel, I'm not handling it at all… I never stop. My mind never takes breaks. If even for one second I let myself feel those emotions about losing Bran… I'm not stable enough to feel anything… Not until this bloodlust is gone…"

Sera didn't cry, but deep in her golden-green eyes, immense sadness appeared, but even when the emotions wanted to overwhelm her mind, Sera never gave up. She bottled everything up… That was the only way she could survive…

Vicky climbed up into her mother's arms, and let her tears silently fall onto Sera's leather tunic.

"I miss him so much… Even though we barely spent any time together, I saw how much he cared about you… How much he loved you… I wish he stayed with us and helped with managing the cities…"

They both chuckled at Vicky's words. Bran was always amazing at managing everything, so losing him made everyone's work much harder… Sera's disappearance also didn't help…

The young girl continued crying, while her mother gently hummed the same song she always did since the first time they met. Her hand also continued patting her daughter's white hair.

Eventually, her crying subsided, and she just stared at the ceiling with apathetic eyes. That's when Sera leaned down and kissed her daughter's forehead.

"While I can't solve your grief, I can tell you it's normal. The pain you feel now is what marks the loss of someone you loved. Cherish your memories with Bran and remember him. The pain won't last forever, but those memories will!"

While Vicky continued staring at nothing with teary eyes, Sera gently lifted her. She laid her daughter down on the bed and cuddled her from behind.

"Another suggestion… Don't be alone with your pain, especially not when you're trying to sleep. Ask Lucy, Lilith or Cass. I'm sure they'll happily sleep alongside you!"

Vicky's eyes slowly closed down as exhaustion began overwhelming her small body. However, before falling asleep, she glanced back at her mother.

"Can I ask Henry to sleep with me? He hasn't left my side for the entire month and he always looking after me… Whenever I forget to eat, he brings me food… Whenever the sadness feels overwhelming, he makes me laugh…"

Sera just chuckled at her daughter's words. This wasn't something she expected, but it wasn't an unwelcome development.

"Sure, he can… However, tell him not to do anything inappropriate for your age… Otherwise I might visit him when he's alone and take away his most cherished part!"

The young girl hadn't got the slightest clue what her mother was talking about. She just felt happy about receiving the permission to sleep with Henry!

After Sera's last words, they both stayed silent and gradually fell asleep.