Angel Monarch

"I missed you so much, Professor!" Said Vicky while tightly hugging the old man.

In the months spent apart, Vicky now stood half a head taller than the Professor. It was ridiculous seeing a thirteen-year-old tower over the eighty-year-old.

Time wasn't kind to Professor Collins. His already thin, gray hair became basically non-existent. The area around his greenish-brown eyes looked especially wrinkled.

However, even though he looked much too old, his body felt fairly young. He stood and walked with his back straight, and had no problem doing physical tasks… He could even survive Vicky's tight hug!

"It's nice to see you too, Princess. I hear you've been learning how to fight, and you're pretty good! Someday you might even beat me!"

Everyone chuckled at the Professor's sarcastic remark, except Bea. She just snorted with pride while staring at Yvonne's form suspiciously.

After hearing about Yvonne's teaching session, Bea grew curious. She wanted to know more about the tall woman's skill, if she's even worthy to teach the Princess.

Yvonne also noticed Bea's glance, but she quickly averted her eyes. She didn't fear Bea, but prolonged eye contact might cause trouble, like provoke a duel between them. Currently, wasn't the time for such foolishness… Maybe later though…

While Yvonne became distracted, imagining a fight between herself and Bea, David also appeared with his lieutenants, Percy, Morren, Kathy and Conrad.

They all bowed to the Princess with respect, then motioned for everyone to follow. While walking through the open-skyed garden, David briefed Vicky and Henry.

"We've been looking into the clues sent by Lilith, but didn't find their base yet. The best we got is dead monsters that weren't killed by our own patrols, but were definitely killed by humans!"

The regal couple nodded simultaneously as they arrived at their destination.

Down, floating above the grassy ground, an enormous holo-screen stretched, depicting the Antarctican Continent. Blue dots marked all twenty Antarctican cities-states, while green dots marked the dozen outposts.

Then there were the red dots. Each obviously indicating a site where they found a dead monster or some other clue relevant to the hidden invasion. But there were a few fourth colored dots, which confused everybody.

"What are the purple markings?" Asked Henry with a serious expression.

Before David could've answered, Kathy stepped forward… "They are raven sightings I made while patrolling the skies!"

There weren't many purple dots, but even one was troubling news. Normal ravens would never survive Antarctica's harsh weather, so they are all enemy spies!

Henry examined the wide map for a few more seconds before glancing up into the vast, starry night sky.

"From now on, when you see a raven, you kill it! The enemy's knowledge about our plans is much more elaborate, because they were spying on us for at least an entire year! If you come across any ravens, you hunt them down!… Understood?"

The people nodded their affirmation, then continued discussing the findings. Sadly, there was little else, since all the purple and red dots were scattered, with no real pattern.

Even beginning the search wasn't possible, without at least an idea about the enemy's placement.

Antarctica was a gigantic landmass. Nobody could search through everything, without at least knowing the general area of the enemy.

However, it seemed they didn't even have time to try searching…

"As the weather pattern and time suggests, a storm approaches Antarctica. Every year around the end of spring and beginning of summer, a giant storm always forms. It rains for a week or two, all over the continent!"

They listened to Inari's words with deep curiosity. Her knowledge regarding the continent was simply invaluable!

"The storm will bring heavy rain, full of minerals and tiny metal particles. It will restrict communication between city-states and outposts… It seems like the perfect time for the enemy to attack!"

Henry looked at the map once more, pondering on their next steps. Eventually, he just sighed while wiping his eyes.

"This is terrible news… We can't rely on James or Mary to fix the communication issue, since they're still working on the Gates connecting the city-states…"

"We also can't bring our own forces, since splitting them twenty ways would be worthless against a well-prepared frontline attack… How long do we have before the storm arrives?"

Inari didn't answer immediately, as she typed on her watch. She was constantly sending messages about their plans to the city leaders, her bosses.

"If I had to guess, about a week. But the storm will approach from a single direction. I don't know which one, though… We'll only know a few days before it arrives!"

The Prince cursed under his breath. His eyes kept jumping all over the large map, trying to figure out a solution.

"Okay, we need to do wide scale reconnaissance if we plan on finding them. Their attacks might seem random, however there has to be some pattern. We just can't see it!… We also need a better map, which can show Antarctica's geography…"

Henry went on a tirade, thinking up ways to find and eliminate the enemy. He even contradicted himself a few times.

After about a minute of listening, Vicky reached out and grabbed his hand. All his thoughts stopped suddenly, as he glanced down at the Princess, smiling up at him.

"We appreciate your worry, but this problem won't fix itself today. I think we should take a break for today! Tomorrow we'll visit the sites and see if there is any clue about the Ravens' whereabouts!"

Everyone standing around the map breathed a small sigh of relief. David already tried everything, Henry suggested, since he went on the exact same tirade two days ago.

While people began leaving, Vicky continued staring up into her lover's deep blue eyes. It wasn't easy for Henry to turn away from the map, but it was even harder not to gaze into the Princess's white eyes.

After a few moments, he leaned down and gave a tender kiss on the top of Vicky's head. She giggled cutely and hugged the tall boy.

"Thank you, Vicky… For keeping me grounded. I always lose myself in the current obstacle, but you somehow manage to wrangle my mind back to reality!"

Henry closed his eyes while deeply breathing in Vicky's scent. Suddenly, he felt a small hand brush his face, prompting his eyes to open.

The dark blue orbs focused on his lover's approaching face as Vicky stood on her tiptoe and kissed Henry.

"You don't need to thank me. Whenever you want, just lose yourself. I'll always be here to bring you back to reality!"

The Prince smiled at the Princess with a wide smile. He gently held her pale hand, tenderly kissing her finger.

"You promise?" He asked, and Vicky leaned in for another kiss as a clear answer.

The beautiful moment stretched between them until suddenly they both felt a strong arm pull them close by the neck. Small snake tongues kissed both their faces as Kim's boisterous laughter echoed through their bones.

"Okay, lovebirds! Since we have nearly half a day until tomorrow, I think we should have a bit of a competition!"

"Competition? What kind of competition?" Asked an excited, deep, feminine voice from behind them.

"The best kind Yvonne! A fighting competition, of course!"

Yvonne's booming laughter soon arrived, and Kim echoed with the same sentiment. Astrid and Yannick just stood a few meters away, awkwardly shaking their heads in disbelief.

Suddenly, Kim let go of Vicky's neck, with a surprised yelp, and Yvonne's even more muscular arms appeared in the half-snake's place.

"So, Princess? What do you say? Want to test out your prowess against other fighters? It'll be a great learning experience!"

Vicky tried to speak, but Yvonne's hug was too tight, obstructing her airway. After a few seconds of trying, she just rolled her eyes and teleported both herself and Henry a few meters away.

With their sudden disappearance, the tall woman nearly fell on her face. While Kim laughed at her annoyed friend, Vicky took a step forward.

"Thank you for the offer. I would love to attend this so-called competition, but…"

She glanced back at Henry with a smile, who mirrored her expression.

"…But I've been neglecting Henry in the past weeks. We barely spent any time together, just the two of us! So if you'll excuse me, we would like to retire for the day!"

The tall woman narrowed her eyes suspiciously and pointed at the young Princess.

"You can spend time together, but I hope you don't plan on doing anything naughty! We talked about this! You can't have sex until you're eighteen!"

Henry had to turn away, his face burning red, while Vicky just snorted and pulled her boyfriend along. As she walked away, she shouted over her shoulder…

"That was literally the contract condition for London to join the Angelic Order… And I'm always true to my word!"

The Prince's face blushed even more, as he recalled that awkward conversation between Vicky and his mother, Queen Elizabeth.

While the regal couple moved away, only Yvonne, Kim, Astrid, and Yannick stayed in the garden. However, suddenly a fifth person's voice appeared…

"I would also like to join this competition! I became a bit rusty in the past year, but I'm also deeply curious about how strong my daughter's teacher is!"

The four Transcended all turned towards the woman wearing a flowing crimson dress made of flower petals. It accentuated her beautiful figure, while also keeping everything perfectly hidden.

As she walked along the grassy floor barefoot, blood-red flowers grew from her every step. On her face, a small, curious smile spread as her greenish-gold eyes stared into Yvonne's metallic gray ones.

This time she didn't avert her gaze, instead she proudly straightened her back, while grinning down at Vicky's mother.

"Sure, but we'll move outside, since we wouldn't want to damage anything here. I hope you have warmer clothes!"