As the sky burned behind them, Cassandra and Sera floated towards the battlefield. The fighting had stopped with the explosion, and the defenders of New Constantinople quickly put down their weapons.


    Sera barely registered any of this. Her mind was in constant pain and she felt exhausted. She also felt cold and her skin was really pale. The only thing keeping her up straight was Cassandra''s firm hold on her waist.


    They moved towards the ground where people began to cheer. Sera winced at the loud sound, which caused the migraine to greatly increase. Cassandra saw this as well, and she quickly made the sound illusionary for Sera.


    She closed her eyes and breathed in relief. But Cassandra didn''t stop with making the sound disappear.


    Unknowingly to Sera, she made a copy of her, and made the real Sera invisible. A few meters in front of Cassandra she floated. The copy was quite accurate. Cassandra was sure most people would be fooled by her.


    The fake Sera looked at the crowd fiercely. Her wings were still huge. Her golden armor glistened and she held her signature glaive in her right hand. The cheers slowly died down as the soldiers prepared to hear her speech.


    A few hours later, when Sera will regain consciousness, she will be mortified to learn about this. Cassandra really shouldn''t have used her illusion to speak to the soldiers, but Cassandra was too caught up in the glory of victory and she was really grateful to Sera. In her mind this speech was supposed to be a gift.


    "Soldiers! Evolved! Ascended! Today is a great day! We have won a great victory yet again, causing the United Front to back down further! But this isn''t enough! We won''t stop until every city is liberated from their oppression!" She shouted and the crowd cheered.


    "We killed three transcended today, and we will kill as many as needed to achieve final victory!" The crowd roared their response.


    "With this battle we now control all the south of Europe, and there is nothing stopping us from marching north and take the rest of their cities!" She took a quick breath and before anybody could cheer she continued.


    "Next we take Buda-Pest, who hid in its mountain bunker all this time, but we won''t stop there! We will take Wien, then march on to Pragua and Stuttgart! We will fight and conquer until the gates of New Paris are broken!" This time she left time for the cheers.


    In the crowd David looked towards Sera with concern. This behavior was very unlike her. The cohort stood around him, including Percy and Kathy. They each survived the battle, not entirely unscathed, but better then the enemy.


    "My soldiers! My evolved! My ascended! MY ARMY! Tonight we celebrate, tonight we mourn, tonight we pay respect to our fallen brothers and sisters! But tomorrow we move on! Their deaths weren''t in vain and until you follow my lead, I guarantee you never be alone or lost!" The crowd roared with anticipation.


    "I''m Seraphine! The Angel Monarch! The Deathless Phoenix! I hereby declare MERCY to the enemy soldiers and if anyone''s got an issue they can take it up with me!" With this last declaration she raised her glaive into the air, but before she could shout her warcry, the crowd began to chant.


    They weren''t shouting in unison. Some shouted "From The Ashes We Will Rise!", others said "Deathless Phoenix!", while a few who were followers of the Angelic Order, went down to one knee and bowed their heads.


    Strangely enough this action by a few people caused a landslide to happen in the crowd. The chanting slowly died down, while everyone went down on one knee. Even the enemy soldiers and evolved done the same. The only people left standing was David and his cohort, but eventually they bowed down as well.


    Cassandra used this opportunity, while everyone was looking away, to disappear. The illusionary copy of Sera broke into pieces, and she quickly carried the real Sera back to the artilleries and other support vehicles.


    Frank was there too and he quickly took her away. Cassandra trusted him enough to leave Sera in his and his group''s care.


    After that she flew back towards the soldiers. There was a lot of work to be done. The walls had to be patched, the gates fixed, patrols set up, citizens taken care of... It felt overwhelming and liberating at the same time.


    The battle was horrible and she nearly died, but somehow she felt more alive than ever. She even felt excited about getting the city back in working order!


    ...


    "Give me more, I need her brain. An old lady needs sustenance to see who shall be slain!"


    She didn''t exactly say it to him, but at the last word the hag clearly looked at him. He didn''t really think it to be true, but he should''ve known better... When you learn about the future, you lose the ability to escape it!


    The two other sisters screamed in anger, but the Empress gave no time for them to process what happened.


    She pulled her sword out of the man and moved towards the woman with the longsword.


    The Empress swung one sword, which the female defended against, but she wasn''t fast enough to stop the other from cutting her on the leg. She grunted in pain and backed away a few steps, just as another arrow sailed past the Empress.


    The woman didn''t understand why, but the Empress turned away and ran at the archer. She wanted to help and was about to pursue, when her legs suddenly gave out. She fell on her face, while her mind was absorbed in pain.


    With the help of her sword she managed to climb on one knee. She looked up just in time to see the Empress decapitate her Sister.


    Her strength and power was failing her, and she had no idea why. Between gasps of pain she looked down at the festering wound, but her armor was in the way, so she didn''t see much.


    Slowly she looked up again. The Empress stood above her with a bright smile. The woman didn''t understand how could someone look so happy after killing two people.


    "Come now, stop playing with your food! We have places to be!" After the Empress said that, the woman felt something moving in her body.


    It caused an extreme amount of pain and she felt herself trying to scream, but couldn''t since something was blocking her throat. From her mouth a snake slithered out. It looked at the woman''s terrified expression, then attacked her right eye.


    It bit down on it and swallowed the whole eye. The woman trembled in terror, pain and everything in-between, as the snake slowly moved and entered her skull.


    She felt relief when her brain got pierced and her suffering finally ended.


    The Acid Empress stood above the corpse for a moment, when slow claps sounded from one of the alleys. Her body stayed unmoving, full of potential energy, like a strung up arrow ready to move if needed. Read new chapters at empire


    The alley was dark, darker than it was supposed to be. The clapping sounds came closer as a man exited the mouth of alley. He was of average height, he had dark blue hair, with similar colored eyes. His once handsome face was mostly burnt up, which made him very ugly.


    "So you are the famous Acid Empress. The one who fought the Deathless Phoenix to a stalemate. It''s an honor to finally meet you!" He said while bowing deeply, but also mockingly.


    She was about to speak, but the burned man spoke before she could.


    "I think we have a common enemy. I heard you felt really angry how your last duel with the Phoenix turned out... Would you like to try again, this time on a much more ''fair'' battleground?" He asked with a cunning grin, which looked almost menacing because of his wounds.


    The Empress quickly put two and two together. The burn marks made it obvious why he wanted revenge on Sera, and after thinking for a bit she realized there was no reason for her to refuse.


    With any even scarier grin the Acid Empress said... "I''m listening!"


    [End of Part 1 – Flames of War]