Angel Monarch

"What?!", was all they managed and with serious expression Otto explained further.

"We want your help in killing our father. There is multiple reasons for it, but for you there is only one. He doesn\'t want competition. He kills everyone who has even a chance of opposing his rule over this city. And sadly you two are the biggest threat for him currently."

Seraphine\'s and Bea\'s face unlike how Otto thought didn\'t became fearful, only angry. There hands were holding onto the cutlery, bending the metal with relative ease.

"How many?" Was all Seraphine asked. It didn\'t take a genius to figure out what she is referring to. Sarah answered this time, "2756 Evolved. All dead. All of them powerful. Most of them good people."

"And why are we so powerful to be killed? We are just at the beginning of evolution after all." Bea kept her anger under tighter leash than Seraphine. Otto looked at her sister and begin revealing more secrets.

"You probably already know that titles have more meaning than just names given to you by the system. What very few people know is that they are directly correlate with your potential. For example if you reach Stellar without a title you can\'t advance to the next rank. It is just simply impossible, that is why our father left our older brother alive even though he is at the rank of Stellar."

Serpahine and Bea looked at each other again, there was a question in their eyes. One that bothered them for a long time.

"What are the three other ranks? I presume your father is at least of the fifth whatever that is."

"Yes, he is. The rest of the ranks are Ethereal, Celestial and Empyrean. He is an Ethereal." As Sarah\'s explanation set in the atmosphere became thoughtful in the room, Seraphine was connecting many dots in her head it seemed like and soon she spoke. But what she said shocked the siblings.

"So people with authority in their title are destined to achieve the rank of Empyrean am I correct?" The silence was very uncomfortable for Otto, he heard reports about her being very smart, but to find connection between this two was just too much.

\'Maybe she already knew and just pretended to be in the dark? Unlikely, she seems to honest to be able to lie so good. It doesn\'t matter, at least I don\'t have to explain that.\'

"You are correct. And for example people who has soul in their title have the potential to become Celestial. Our father on the other hand acquired his title when he became a Transcended, he has no more potential this is the highest he will ever get. But he is stubborn and greedy for more power. He constantly tries to find ways to increase his rank."

After Otto finished, Sarah looked at them and said, "This is also the reason you three are still alive. He isn\'t here currently, but in another Realm."

They stayed silent for quite a while, until to the utter surprise of Otto, Victoria spoke, "Why do you two want him dead?"

It sounded weird, an 8 year old talking about death. But Otto knew, she wasn\'t a regular 8 year old. She had to kill to become an Evolved, and to even gain a title she had to kill something strong. Since her sister wasn\'t in the mood to talk about the past, Otto recounted it.

"Our mother was an Evolved as well. She was a lot stronger than most and after becoming an Ascended she acquired a title, Crystal Saint. A title containing religious aspect also has the potential to become a Celestial, which of course our father didn\'t like."

He took a deep breath before continuing, "He convinced our older brother, who was also getting stronger that our mother, Isabel wanted to control everyone in the city. And he was stupid to believe him. They were all at the level of Stellar at that point. Out father and mother went away to some scouting or what not, but only our father came back.

He told us that they got attacked and Isabel sacrificed herself, but we knew it was a lie.

"Since than we were slowly increasing our power, but didn\'t know how to take him on without getting killed."

Otto became silent, but before anyone could speak Sarah spoke, "She was the one who built the wall around Castleburg. That\'s why it is so strong, it took her years after she achieved the rank of Stellar. When she was finally done, that is when our father killed her. He waited until she finished it, to make ruling easier for him."

The disgust in her voice was quite obvious. The silence returned in earnest. Seraphine and Bea looked sad, but also angry.

"Fine, we will help you. But I don\'t really know how, as I said we are only Evolved."

"That is a problem for another day. Our father probably won\'t be back for a year or so, he is currently visiting a Celestial from another Realm to ask for advice. The first order of business is getting rid of Victor, our brother."

He was about to explain more, but Seraphine cut in. "Before we talk about actual plans, you should explain why you keep the ranks above Stellar a secret. And also what are the classes above Horror?"

\'Well I should have know they will ask more about that. This will be a long night.\'

"We keep it a secret because of their power. A city like Castleburg can only be kept safe if it\'s ruled by at least an Ethereal, if not a strong Realm Gate would destroy it. That is why both Copen and Newber got destroyed, there were no Etheral to lead it. The Celestial is the same thing, but for whole continents and Empyrean\'s are the ones who can rule Realms.

"Earth is special in this way, we don\'t have any Celestials or Empyreans, all of them left to rule other Realm. And yes there are other Realms with intelligent life, not with monsters we are fighting with. The last three classes of monsters are: Abomination, Calamity and Apocalypse.

They refer to the opposite of our ranks, an Abomination could destroy cities with ease, a Calamity could destroy continents and an Apocalypse, well we are currently fighting one or at least its servants."

The information dump was shocking for the trio, but just as Otto expected Seraphine absorbed it all like a sponge. And even started to make connections again with the clues he left.

"So, you are telling me that Madness is a being at the level of Apocalypse and we are currently fighting every being it afflicted? Just how many Realms did Madness destroy?"

Otto smiled, her deduction abilities are truly amazing. Instead of him Sarah answered this time.

"We don\'t know exactly, there is at least 173 by our last count from different item and ability descriptions. Also we currently know that there are at least a thousand different Realms, but most of the Realm Gates are opened by Madness. That is why we haven\'t really come in contact with other intelligent life here on Earth."

The silence returned yet again Seraphine looked very thoughtful, but in the end she just nodded and began eating again. It confused Otto enough to ask her, "You don\'t have any more questions?" She looked up from her food and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"Not really, soon when our group unlocked their Heritages we will leave to evolve. Until we get stronger and learn more about our powers there is nothing really to talk about."

Sarah and Otto looked at each other with confusion, it made sense for them to prepare, but unlocking all their Heritage seemed a bit of an extreme.

"Why do you want to unlock all your Heritages before becoming an Ascended?" Asked Sarah, unlike Otto who was already a Transcended, she only recently became an Evolved. She was currently in the process of deciding what monster to hunt and kill for evolution.

"You... You don\'t know? How did you never figure it out? Well, there are probably very small amount of people who try to unlock all their Heritages before becoming an Ascended." She stayed silent for a bit, then shrugged and explained.

"Since you told us a lot of secrets it\'s only fair if we tell you some as well. The reason is pretty simple, you become more powerful if you unlock all your Heritages before evolving. I already unlocked them all, but the others still need some time."

Sarah looked very excited, well at least what could be considered excited with an emotionless face. It was only a small smile, but Otto knew that it was a very rare sight.

"So you are telling me if I want to be more powerful, I need to unlock all my Heritages before evolution? But why? What does it do?"

Bea smiled and with a bit of chuckle said, "Changes your race of course!"