Angel Monarch-Chapter 312: Europe Aflame (4)

Jonas stood confidently in his transformed flame demon form. Being Transcended, he feared no Ascended, yet the sight emerging from the darkness gave him a chill down his lengthy back.

He was six meters tall, with a few horns, bright red skin, and a muscular body. On the length of his spine, sharp spikes grew, and they continued into a tail, which eventually ended with a spike the length of a shortsword.

With a few nervous swipes, he created gashes in the stone floor below, while his body's warmth overheated everything nearby.

Over his red skin, flames danced, coalescing into a makeshift armor. The fire covered most of his body, except his head.

He had four eye sockets, each containing a small ball of fire. How he saw anything was a mystery, even to himself, but since it worked, he didn't particularly care.

His demonic face rested in a constant, angry state. From his lipless mouth, sharp uneven teeth grew, ready to bite and devour anything in sight.

As Faith's body changed, the flames of his armor spread down to his enormous hand. Inside, a long flaming sword appeared with no actual shape. The fire kept dancing and changing, not willing to obey and stay in the right form.

Jonas wanted to stop Faith from transforming, but he was also curious what she would become. He was also overly confident in his abilities to destroy whatever her new form was.

The hall darkened until the only light came from his own flames. The metal doors behind him stayed closed, so he felt truly isolated in the shadows. He also had a strange feeling, like the darkness was alive, watching his every move.

Another shiver ran down Jonas's spine, and with an annoyed groan, he stabbed his formless weapon into the ground, creating a colossal explosion of fire.

The darkness receded under the sudden glimpse of light, and Jonas finally laid his eyes upon the dark beast, or at least he tried. Whatever the small woman changed into wasn't comprehensible for Jonas's quick glance.

She seemed to be one with the darkness, but also separate from it. Her form changed at each moment, but Jonas felt as if her state stayed constant.

It wasn't easy to realize where her head stared and where her body ended.

In one second she had one scaled head, with an enormous maw full of razor-sharp teeth, with dozens of white eyes staring at him, like he was just a prey. Her height, overbearing even for his elevated, transformed state.

But in the next moment, her head split into ten smaller heads, each eying him, snapping their jaws his way.

Her long body, with multitudes of legs and arms, gave her unmatchable versatility. Dozens of arms, growing out at random places, each full of sharp claws, or holding two-handed rapiers.

Jonas couldn't even judge where to start. He saw no obvious vulnerability, and he knew not to underestimate his opponent. His cocky nature quickly got humbled by Faith's terrifying appearance.

He still thought, or at least hoped, it was only a bluff, a trick. Jonas knew certainly that Faith was only an Ascended, which meant she should've no chance in an actual fight against him.

But he was clueless about her abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Her most obvious vulnerability was light, yet essence expenditure limited his fire's effectiveness.

A field of fire surrounded Jonas. He couldn't lose focus, or the fire would extinguish. But even if it stayed active, it drained his essence fairly quickly, since his actual power had nothing to do with fire control.

If he wanted to kill the woman and win, he needed to act now!

With an angry huff, he released more flames and ran towards Faith's shadowy form. He moved quickly, much faster than someone so huge should've, but as he swung his sword of bright fire, her form disintegrated.

The sword hit the floor in a ball of explosion, releasing tendrils of heat everywhere, illuminating the middle of the hall.

Shadows receded under the sudden brightness, but soon they crept back, consuming the light.

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Frantically, Jonas turned around, and in that moment a piercing pain assaulted his back. From the corner of his eyes, something moved through the darkness, leaving droplets of blood behind… His blood…

On Jonas's back, five bloody marks stretched, made with Faith's sharp claws. The injury was insignificant, healing near immediately. The attack only annoyed and angered him.

With increased hatred, he burst into movement, rushing through the darkness like a falling star in the night sky. The hall illuminated around him, and he saw the beast again.

Faith moved in to attack again, but this time Jonas wasn't oblivious. As her colossal form closed in, he swung his flame sword, parrying a multitude of attack at once.

Two rapiers and five claws either missed or got deflected by his quick movements. Even Jonas felt a bit surprised by how easily he blocked Faith's every attack.

With the darkness and ambiguous atmosphere partially removed, he could react to her movements. Because he saw when the attacks came, using his Transcended speed to block them was much easier, then predict where the shadows moved.

After a few seconds of defense, he eventually managed to get the upper hand. With three more blows parried, Jonas moved in.

Jonas used his empty hand to grab onto Faith's neck and teared her head off. The beast-like scaly head squirmed and shrieked as it fell apart, turning back into shadows.

He briefly thought the fight finished; however, this hope vanished just as quickly as it appeared.

The shadowy beast seemed confused as it looked around, headless. No blood or anything similar squirted from the wound. Something moved within the stump, and soon another arm grew out, holding a rapier.

The weapon's sudden approach left him too shocked to react. His eyes widened as the blade partially impaled his face. A swift retreat saved his life, but couldn't prevent the rapier from piercing his right eye.

At the end of the dark blade, a small fire flickered. His eyes weren't a physical object during his transformation, but somehow her shadows plucked it out all the same.

A small giggle echoed around the hall, like the darkness was laughing at him. Only now did he saw, more heads appearing from the darkness, and he realized how badly he misjudged his opponent.

Faith moved back into the comfort of her shadows, taking the burning eye with herself. Its flame got extinguished soon, making Jonas half blind on his right side. Despite still having three eyes, losing even only one impaired his coordination.

Suddenly, Jonas wasn't so sure about this fight. He had no clue how to defeat his opponent and felt that he needed to end it sooner rather than later.

Outside, he heard explosions echo throughout the city. He grumbled under his breath. He would've rather defended his position on his own, yet urgency and uncertainty of triumph compelled him to seek aid.

He saw the darkness move again, but Jonas ignored it, and ran towards the exit. He knew, despite the fight's uncertain outcome, she couldn't possibly prevent his escape.

Even then, Faith tried raising walls of shadows, and attack Jonas, but alas, he pushed through every obstacle and ignored every damage.

In just a few seconds, Jonas burst through the enormous hall's exit. With a few large bounds, he was already outside, running away from the council building.

Inside, Faith watched his form disappear. She desired to pursue him, yet sunlight significantly weakened her combat abilities, which made her hunt uncertain.

Instead of trying to fight him in a disadvantageous position, she turned back to her human form and walked towards the metallic doors separating the two rooms.

She walked to the room and used her shadow perception to check on everyone inside. The lack of movement inside suggested the party's end. Faith sensed the only people still left inside huddled near the far wall.

Seconds later, she knew all the slavers and rapists, like Jonas, were gone. Still, she remained careful as she entered the room. She didn't open the door, and instead went straight into one of the terrified human's shadow.

Faith surveyed her surroundings from the safety of darkness. The room wasn't overly large.

At the center of the room, a raised metallic podium marked the area where the council's speakers would've stood. Facing the metallic double doors, wooden seats and tables formed a tiered semicircle around the raised podium.

Men and women, gripped by fear, found shelter at the highest tier of the semicircle, hidden behind expensive desks and chairs. Around twenty crouched there, partially or fully nude, seeking warmth and solace in each other's closeness.

They all shivered and silently sobbed, awaiting their fate. Their faces showed no fight, however, hope remained present within their eyes; a positive indicator.

Faith seen an awful lot of people lose their will to live after traumatic events. She was glad they still had life in their gazes, and hadn't truly given up.

Faith briefly considered a non-frightening approach, then acknowledged its impossibility and went straight to the point.

A few meters away, she stepped out of the darkness, her armor and crown replaced by a simple mantle weaved of darkness, hiding her face. At her chest, a seven-pointed star reflected the light, making her allegiance obvious.

The women and men scream in terror, and tried running or even crawling away. They all tried escaping except a singular man who noticed the markings on her robe.

He gulped, eyes full of fear and hope. With slow and deliberate moves, he went down on his bruised knees, and while staring at the ground, he awaited the shadowy woman's next words.

The others noticed his strange behavior too, and after a bit of panic, they knelt down before Faith as well. Understanding escape was improbable, they chose compliance.

Behind her veil, Faith frowned. She reached out with her arm, and using the darkened state of the room, she pulled all twenty of them to their feet.

They whimpered, and a few soiled themselves from fear, but Faith's next words felt reassuring amidst all the chaos.

"Don't kneel before me! I'm just Lady Seraphine's Shadow, nothing special! You should only kneel before my Lady!"

Confusion showed on their faces as the shadows lifting them faded. A few fell back down, but quickly gathered their sense and jumped back to their feet.

Faith gave them another passing glance, before turning away, leaving only a few words before disappearing back into the darkness.

"The Angelic Order's agents are already on their way. They will assist you, and help you leave, but beware, Wien won't be the same after this day!"

Just as she finished her sentence and disappeared, the building shook from a nearby explosion. Outside, shouts, screams, gunfire, and other sounds of war echoed.