The air inside the hall thickened… the flickering amber flames of the torchlight suddenly turned a ghostly green as they played over the trembling shadows of the ascendants.
Bren's own golden light dimmed. His essence of light—meant to give hope and purity—suddenly became a mockery.
"T-this… impossible…"
Xel involuntarily stepped back. His instinct was screaming at him to leave and run—to flicker away and escape—but as his gaze shifted toward Bell and Seth, holding onto their leader and waiting for instructions, he couldn't help but brave the abomination in front of him.
"A Monarch… Bren, we need to escape…"
Bren let out an audible gulp that clawed at his parched throat.
Staring at his remaining members who were looking back at him with despair, he knew. The chance of winning—no, even escaping under the watch of a Principality or a Demon Baron, the peak of Ascendants and Corrupted—was impossible against a Hybrid Monarch.
Yet, as an Angel of Light and the leader of the Sky Pierce Squad, he had to maintain his stance.
He had to pierce the despair and darkness with his light.
Steeling his resolve, he took a step forward and lifted the massive hammer over his shoulder, walking with dignity toward the Immortal.
"This is my last order… listen carefully! Xel, go fetch Camille. Seth, Bell… run, and never look back. I'll handle this."
Xel didn't wait for the command to finish… he immediately flickered out of existence to find Camille.
Then, Bren's golden-white light shimmered once more, much stronger than before.
His muscles bulged, ballooning until they were restricted by his golden armor. Veins snaked through his tanned muscles as he brought the massive hammer down, pinning it to the floor.
"Go!"
He sprinted.
His hammer trenched the granite floor with its heaviness, sending dust and debris scattering, but despite the resistance, his speed didn't slow. Instead, he became more powerful with every step he took.
Pouring all his golden essence toward his hands, he swung the hammer with all the strength he could muster, with all the momentum he could find.
Lily watched the desperation with calm amusement. With a smirk, she took a step forward.
Then, she vanished.
With effortless traversal, she stepped behind Seth and faced Bell, whose eyes widened.
There was no sound, no wind, nothing—as if the space between her and Bell had folded.
"Bell!"
Seth swung his blade too late. Even with his innate gift to predict hundreds of possible outcomes, he was too late to anticipate the speed of the Monarch.
The blade was caught between Lily's fingers, while her lips already caught the lips of Bell.
"No!"
Bren sprinted once more, even flapping his wings to increase his speed.
But it was all too late.
Bell's verdant green wings flickered. Her wide, shocked eyes were replaced by affection—so potent it turned to faith, love, or perhaps something much more.
"My… Lady…"
Lily giggled. With a flick of a finger, she sent Seth stumbling toward Bren, who was frantically rushing toward them.
The both of them were sent skidding down the floor, rolling until they hit the base of the throne.
"Amuse me! Show me what love is! Ah, the adversity of conquering something impossible… let it be me!"
Lily trembled as she shook her own shoulders. Her golden wings erected as if in ecstasy, her goat-like horns twisting inward like thorns drinking blood.
Seth coughed up blood that flowed down his mask. The Oni mask he once thought looked cool was now bloody—the face of a Devil, just as it was meant to be.
"Make them suffer…"
With a whisper in Bell's ear, Lily stepped away. She was now sitting on the throne, watching the Mortal and the Angel below her as she gently twirled the skull-cup.
Seth's grip on the blade's handle relaxed. He looked one last time at Bell, who was now summoning hundreds of tree sprouts with the corrupted ability of her staff.
"Sorry, Boss… please bring Bell back, and… escape with everyone."
Tens of veins, jagged with thorns, whipped toward the two of them.
Bren didn't waste another second and stomped the floor, producing a massive wall of light that blocked Bell's attack.
Hundreds of tree sprouts then came rushing, all with only one goal: to make them suffer.
"Win."
Seth took a heavy step, staring at Lily as she watched him with excitement.
He could feel the weight of his blade and the muffled sound of the veins whipping against the cracked wall of light.
His breathing came shallow, driven by a focus that was much sharper than his obsidian blade.
His innate ability of Prediction wasn't a power to see the future—it was his mind calculating the probabilities a person might take based on their actions: the twitch of a muscle, the shift of eye contact, every microscopic detail he could notice.
It was an ability to think ahead, paired with reflexes that struggled to match that mental speed.
But in front of absolute speed? Were his thoughts faster than the Monarch? Could his reflexes keep up with the Abomination?
No.
He knew it was impossible.
He knew this mission was suicide from the start.
Yet, here he was, walking toward his death, even as all of his predictions reached a single conclusion: the end of their squad.
One step, two steps…
Seth's chest burned from within.
His white hair glowed, and his body exuded an aura as hazy as steam.
He was using his own life force to break the limits of his body… every second spent was another minute of his life being withered away.
But a fraction of a second was long enough, as the sacrifice accelerated his thoughts and forced his reflexes to keep pace.
'I saw my end… I did not die here.'
He slashed.
His blade arched like a flash, slicing through the air in total silence.
Then, as the Monarch tried to parry it with her fingernail, Seth twisted the blade mid-slash.
He deviated the angle, the steel flowing as fluidly as water against Lily's soft skin.
A wet, slicing sound followed, then a spurt of blood splashed through the air as a single finger of the Monarch was severed perfectly clean.
Lily smiled—a genuine smile she hadn't shown in the hundreds of years of her existence.
"Bravo!"