One thing even Harold didn''t know about her power was, that she could change how fast she resurrected. Most of the time she tried to stay dead as long as possible since that''s when she could take a break, but on the field of battle she does it as fast as possible.
Her eyes closed for only a second, but her body was already starting to heat up.
The transcended scrambled and tried to push Sera away, but her dead hands held onto his arms. They had unnatural strength, very different from an ascended.
He desperately tried to move away, but Sera stayed put. The air started to boil around her and the ground melt. The man screamed as his skin liquified where Sera held on.
He gasped and tried to drink down air, but it was so hot that her lungs blistered. He started to sweat, but it instantly got evaporated.
At this point his brain already stopped working from the pain, he still tried to get away, but that was only a reflex, not a conscious action.
Eventually Sera''s eyes opened. Two golden flames stared into the man''s own eyes. The heat seemed to double, triple, quadruple, there was no real way to tell. The only thing the man knew was that he won''t survive another moment... He wasn''t wrong.
Suddenly the kinetic and heat energy exploded from her body. It destroyed everything in a few hundred meter radius, including the transcended who''s body evaporated. She wasn''t expecting to kill him in one fell swoop, but he was really overconfident.
He didn''t summon his armor, or change forms. He was probably a rookie, and this was his first ––and last–– real battle.
Sera rose into the sky, leaving the ball of fire like a butterfly exiting their cocoon. The fighting stopped below her and both army stared at her glowing form.
On her body her signature golden armor formed, and in her hand her glaive appeared. She felt the air crackling with potential energy, it came from all these soldiers, their attention.
Sera glanced towards the fight in the sky and smiled genuinely. It would be a lie to say she wasn''t proud. Cassandra had survived for so long, and she didn''t even seem to be losing.
After that she sighed turning her attention back towards her troops. At that moment each soldier felt the change in the battle. It haven''t even really start, but it was already reaching its end.
"Let''s make sure they stay loyal when shit will go down..." She whispered to herself, then raised her glaive in the air and shouted her warcry. It was something others began saying long ago and she shamelessly stole, using it a few times over the years.
"FROM THE ASHES!" Down there the soldiers shouted the second part of the cry. "WE WILL RISE!"
The battle continued in earnest on the ground. Sera spotted the Black Crusaders cutting through the army, she also saw David in his large serpent form. A bit further south at the gate, she saw the Angelic Order wreaking havoc.
Death was dealt left and right on the ground, but non of that truly mattered. There was only one fight that counted, but that was fought high in the sky.
Seeing the creature a shiver went through Cassandra''s colorful body. Her eyes then landed on the other transcended. He was a man, and luckily his transformation was much less horrifying than the bear-headed wasp.
His body dissolved in a cloud of smoke. It swirled and grew until it was similar in size to the wasp. It resembled a bird-like creature, but as he moved closer the form changed constantly. Sometimes the wings looked feathered, other times reptilian.
There was no words exchanged between either party. They just simply increased their speed and tried to attack Cassandra.
The smoke bird stayed back and he let the wasp attack. The transcended with the bear head chomped down on Cassandra''s shimmering body, which exploded into crystalline fragments.
They imbedded themselves into the bear''s mouth, causing her to growl in annoyance and start to look around, trying to find Cassandra.
The smoke bird began to fly in circles leaving a dark smog behind him. From the ground it looked like a large dark cloud appeared. He had the ability to feel every small movement in the cloud, but even after that, Cassandra was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly the wasp grunted in anger. Her wings glowed a bit, causing every illusion to break apart. This ability wasn''t too strong and she couldn''t use it often, but it was necessary to fight against an illusionist like Cassandra.
After a few seconds Cassandra appeared a hundred meters away, but the wasp hadn''t realized what her illusions were holding up.
One interesting information about Cassandra''s power is, that her illusions can be semi-real. Not very strong, but if she made a small platform floating in the sky, it could hold a large load, which is exactly what she did.
Invisible to everyone, Cassandra placed a few large bombs atop the cloud of smoke, floating on illusionary platforms. At the moment when the wasp dismissed all her illusions, the ones holding up the bombs disappeared as well.
They rained down on the two transcended and exploded with a large force. The smoke mostly dispersed, but neither transcended took any real damage.
The smoke bird didn''t even look affected by it, and the wasp only had a tiny break in her left wing. She roared in rage and flew at Cassandra again.
Around the two laughter sounded as Cassandra broke into crystal fragments again, then reappeared atop the wasp to stab a meter long crystal in her neck.
The wasp made a barrel-roll causing Cassandra to fall, but she broke into crystal fragments the moment the bear bit down on her.
The smoke bird watched all this with clarity. He was the smarter of the two and he quickly realized that this fight won''t end well.
Suddenly another bomb went off around him, but it was different from the others. Somehow it hurt him more, but at the same time felt unreal. The pain passed a moment later, like it was just a mirage.
He screeched in anger and flew at Cassandra. It surprised her a bit, but she managed to avoid getting killed.
This dangerous dance would go on for long minutes, but eventually Cassandra''s luck would run out...