Angel Monarch

They didn't exactly know what happened, one day when they tried to call them and get a report, no one answered. After another day Castleburg sent a team to take a look at the outpost...

They found nothing...

It's not that the base was destroyed, by some monster. The outpost disappeared with all the people in it and the scary part... There was a Stellar stationed there. Whatever occurred there, even a Stellar wasn't enough to stop it.

The Gate was also gone, which made people think that there was something on that side which was strong enough to kill everyone or something. The whole thing feels like a horror story.

The Gate was allegedly supposed to open into some world that only had night. They reported multiple moons which were green, red and blue in color. It is still a mystery how can those celestial object shine, when there was no star.

But other Realms were always weird compared to Earth, some weren't even planets and you can literally fall off its edge, others were inverted planets, the laws of physics broke down in other Realms, at least our laws.

The Realm that was previously located in Hannover also had mostly desolate land and undead creatures lurking about. A spooky place.

The wind blew Sera's long hair, it was really annoying and she cursed herself constantly for not bringing a hairband or something. She could've wore her helmet, but that wasn't very comfortable either.

She looked down at the plain, they left the forest a while ago and now there was only endless grasslands in front of them. Here it was easier to spot monsters.

Down there Sera saw a figure flying low, he was hunting a monster that still haven't seen him. The figure's demonic wings were on fire, but it didn't burn him. There was also fire on his weapon, but it didn't melt.

It took only one swing for Hellfire to kill a 3rd Tier Rotten. Sera still remembered when she struggled to defeat such opponents, even currently it wasn't as easy as just one swing. But he as an Ascended was strong, fast and overall powerful enough to bully these creatures.

After evolving he checked out his upgraded powers. Unlike when people normally evolved further, a race changer instead of getting new abilities, his previous ones became stronger.

Hellfire could already make fireballs strong enough to blow up buildings, but now their destructive power increased by a lot. Also his body got a near fire immunity and his wings turned into weapons because of the fire. His tail grew a knifelike protrusion as well, but he wasn't very good with it yet. Also his fire control became more intricate, that is why he can put a fire aura around his halberd.

His overall power at least doubled if not tripled and it made Sera really excited about her own evolution. Sadly she will be the last to become an Ascended from the group. It was just simply the most efficient route plan.

'Holy Phoenix... Wonder how will my powers upgrade killing you. Ahh... I have to wait for so long to find out! Lets just focus on our current hunt, the Death Dealer Mk3. Sounds really fun!'

While Hellfire hunted on the ground and slowly increased his essence and gathered items, the others just sat above the giant butterfly. They were bored out of their mind and were truly thankful, when they finally landed.

Hannover was still about 20 kilometers away, but dusk was already approaching. They quickly made a fire and began cooking some leftover meat. While waiting they were chatting around the campfire, telling interesting and embarrassing stories to Sarah.

"...Then she introduced herself, by stating all the crazy things that happened to her. She began telling how she is the only survivor of Newber or that her first kill was a 3rd Tier Horror. Need less to say, that we were just shocked." At story was told by Lucy and Sarah listened with a focused expression.

"Really Sera? I wouldn't have thought you to be a bragger." She had a very small almost invisible smile on her face, Sera's face on the other hand was burning from shame.

'She just had to pick that story!'

"Yeah, well I just woke up from a week long coma. And I got insulted!" Everyone laughed and even Sera smiled a bit. These were good memories, even though they were embarrassing as well.

"Ha, ha, ha... Who insulted you? Killshot just wanted to fuck you, he wanted to fuck everyone who was close enough to be considered a woman." The laughter was a bit more somber and soon the atmosphere changed, becoming sadder.

"Who is Killshot?" Asked Sarah, since she wasn't there. She probably haven't even killed a human before and the Siege of the Hold wasn't just a battle, it was a massacre.

Like back in the old days, when humanity conquered every species and became the indisputable top of every food chain. Not long after civilization began the first war started. There were nearly no reliable information left from those times, but everyone knew. Humans were always really good at killing anything... especially themselves.

"He was part of the group back in Havel. He died at the Siege off the Hold." Answered Bea since nobody wanted to. Sarah stayed silent for a long time, then when the meat was she raised hers in the air and said, "To Killshot!"

The group was a bit perturbed by this sudden toast of remembrance, but went along with her and raising their pieces all of them toasted. First for Killshot, next for Witchdoctor, then to Sarah's mother Isabel, then to every single people anyone of them lost. Parents, brothers, sisters, friends, everyone... It took them a while to get through the list.

When they finished, they began eating in silence. The atmosphere was still sad, but all of them had a realization. The list of names was very lethargic, but they were still here. They were the ones who carried those people in the form of memories. A long time ago someone said, you only truly die when someone speaks your name for the last time.

It gave the group purpose, until they lived and remembered who they were, their names would never be spoken for the last time. They would be immortalized as echoes of the past. They wouldn't be alive, but not fully dead as well.

In secret Sera even made herself remember the names of everyone they said. This way all of their names would live on until she died, if the others wouldn't make it.

The sober atmosphere quickly passed after they finished, they began talking, laughing and telling stories about their own lives. Everyone was amazed by how easy and nice Sarah's life was as a princess.

They learned about Clockwork's mechanical engineering degree, Will's interesting life as a biologist student, Lucy's asperation to not be and Evolved like all of her family, instead she wanted to be a dancer. She even made a few moves she learned back in the day.

Hellfire and Bea were also from Evolved families, but unlike Lucy they always wanted to follow in their parents footsteps. Faith spoke about her life as a car mechanic, which seemed really astounded Sarah in particular. She thought by the way she fought that her family was Evolved as well.

Faith quickly explained that because of her shadow perception learning to fight was really easy. Sarah just called her a cheater and they all laughed.

To not make Vicky feel alone, Sera didn't share a story from her life before evolution. Nobody questioned her, they were smart and understood what she was doing.

The Sun set a long time ago, they were sitting in the dark talking, but slowly all of them stopped and went to sleep.

Lying down the group's heart burned with resolve and hope. Resolve to carry the legacy of all their loved ones and hope for a better future, where this long list of names didn't increase further.

Tomorrow they would find and scout out the Death Dealer Mk3, then using all their newly acquired items and abilities, they will make a foolproof plan.

Tomorrow a new person in their group would evolve to the next level, and there was nothing that could stop them.

Everyone was asleep, except Bea. She was currently on watch. Her eyes were sometimes scanning the grasslands and sometimes staring at Sera and Vicky. When she was looking at them an unconscious smile appeared on her lips every time. She didn't quite know how did she find not only a person to love, but a daughter as well.

She also didn't care how or why it happened, she was just grateful to have them as her family.