Angelica was finally happy. After so many shocking events had happened in a short period of time her mind had suffered greatly, yet in the previous few weeks, she could finally stabilise and partially recover. Although the Church of creation had been damaged greatly it had stabilised and would prosper underneath her watch.

“Angelica,” a gentle voice sounded and Angelica looked up. There stood a young man in the doorway of her room, perhaps 16 or seventeen.

“What is it, Lord,” Angelica smiled and stood up walking towards her hope. Although his body had grown greatly thanks to Angelica’s nurture, his mind still had to catch up. In order to help and inspire him, Angelica had even learned the language together with him.

“Michael wants to speak with you urgently,” he said with a beaming smile. Though Angelica was a bit angry that the other angel would make the Godseed run around because of something as simple as delivering a message, her mood was far too good to turn sour because of this. In fact, she had been feeling far better ever since she had begun to raise the boy.

“Then let’s head there right away,” Angelica returned that beaming smile and allowed the boy to take her hand. Soon enough she was lead upstairs through the underground palace where the three of them lived. Upon entering Michael’s office room Angelica quickly noticed another aura.

“Even you are here, Anderson,” Angelica smiled as she entered the room. Though her expression changed when she saw how incredibly grim the two men appeared.

“What happened?” she immediately asked.

“The Foundation’s radio silence is over,” Michael said, “A message has just reached us. They are sending an emissary in order to negotiate our future interactions.”

“When,” Angelica asked.

“They will arrive at the city in about 15 minutes,” Anderson said with a frown.

“This is some sort of a trap,” Angelica immediately guessed.

“Not necessarily, because of who that emissary is,” Anderson shook his head, “They are sending a member of their overseer council: Wisdom,” as those words left Anderson’s mouth Angelica slightly shook as her face contorted. She could well remember the name as the mastermind of the operation where one of her kin had been killed. Yet that person would dare step into the holy city. It was sacrilege, unbound hubris. How could such a damnable he…

“Angelica, are you alright?” her rage driven thought process was stopped as the young man shook her hand, looking quite scared of her contorting expression.

“I am sorry. Yes, I am alright,” Angelica calmed her mind and fixed her visage before she spoke to Anderson and Michael again, “They are mocking us. Moreover, is that Wisdom even the real deal?”

“They are definitely plotting something,” Anderson nodded, “However, our hands are tied. We need you to be in one room with this Wisdom until we confirm whether the person is really what they claim to be. I can do the talking since the pontiff is still out of the picture. There is unfortunately not enough time to work out a proper strategy,”

“It will have to do,” Michael nodded, “I will remain here and guard Lord.”

“Will all of you be okay?” the young man asked, still holding Angelica’s hand.

“Don’t worry, nothing will happen to any of us,” Angelica reassured him with confidence. Then a phone rang. As Anderson picked it up he listed for a few moments before he cursed and terminated the call, “They are already here.”

“That was a lot less than 15 minutes,” Michael grimly commented.

“Either way, we have to go,” Anderson sighed, “Hopefully we will bring back good news,” he said and then left together with Angelica right away. The meeting place where their sudden and unwelcome guests were introduced was not far away so they arrived in less than two minutes. Upon opening the door Angelica was instantly struck by a wave of thick mana.

“What are you doing here!” she exclaimed and shook minutely. There, on the other side of the room, Galileo was seated.

“We are here to negotiate, as our memo has said,” instead of Galileo another person spoke. It was a mechanical voice with female connotations. Angelica looked next to Galileo and realised she had not even noticed the completely out of place black-robed figure with a ceramic mask because of how disturbed she had been by Galileo’s presence.

“You are Wisdom?” Angelica stared at the woman as she remembered another saint whom she had accompanied through his last moments. One which could clearly tell apart lies from truth.

“Yes,” the black-robed figure nodded and Angelica immediately lunged forward. In an instant, she appeared right in front of the person and attempted to strike. However, that strike had been completely blocked by a barrier. In fact, the barrier did not only withstand her strike, it even managed to push Angelica back.

“Why are you interfering?!” Angelica yelled at Galileo, once again losing her cool. The murderer of her kin as well as her sheep was right in front of her, yet the mad God once again stood in her way.

“That is my question Angelica,” Galileo merely laughed, “As far as I am concerned you are the one who is interfering.”

“No!” Angelica yelled as she realised where Galileo was going.

“Oh, yes,” Wisdom laughed as she removed her mask, revealing her golden-haired and pretty female visage beneath. Ever her voice was almost melodic without the modulator.

“Wisdom, or Quinn by name, is now part of my plans and under my protection. Hurting or restraining her in any shape or form will be a direct violation of our contract,” Galileo smiled at Angelica with a taunting smirk.

“YOU DAMN WHORE!” Angelica yelled at Quinn, feeling the black ink on her palm begining to burn as it felt her intentions. That contract of not interfering with his plans she had made with the mad God was far from simple and Angelica knew that clearly. Even if she managed to kill Wisdom it would result in her own demise, something she could not afford before the God of creation was reborn. That only served to drive her rage further.

“Angelica, please calm down,” Anderson attempted to quell her with limited success, “Let’s sit down and negotiate,” he said and sat opposite to Galileo and Quinn. Angelica spent a few more second fuming before she eventually sat down, still staring down Quinn and Galileo. The two people she hated the most now sat directly opposite of her and she could do nothing to either of them.

“What did you want to discuss,” Anderson tried to start the conversation.

“You immediate surrender, of course,” Wisdom smiled at him.

“Nonsense,” Angelica scoffed.

“I have to agree with Angelica,” Anderson nodded, “You have seen what she can do. I don’t know how powerful the man next to you is, but apparently not enough to allow you to just directly attack,” Anderson guessed as he had not been exactly provided much accurate information, “And even if you did, you cannot afford the impact it would have on society.”

“The society can be handled by those who specialise in ruling,” Quinn shook her head, “I specialise in pulling strings from the shadows and fighting wars. Had the Archangel not been present among your ranks the church of creation would have been annihilated weeks ago. She is enough to warrant an offer of your surrender.”

“You are being ridiculous,” Anderson insisted, “We cannot start negotiations before we find a bit of common ground.”

“So you don’t like my conditions?” Quinn smiled and took a phone out of her pocket. With rapid movements she dialled a number. As the phone was ringing she spoke again, “You see there is a big misconception here. For you, this is just an event in the middle of a war. A moment where your cards still have an impact on the future. However, for me this is the endgame.”

As those words sounded the phone ceased ringing and Angelica’s heart nearly stopped. She felt something tremendous gather in the distance and her gaze instantly shifted to the left. Immense power was manifesting in that direction, so great even Angelica could not perceive it fully. At that moment she remembered the words Michael had told her some time ago. Of a weapon so powerful humanity itself feared it. Something that he could not stop with all his power. Immediately Angelica left her position and flew through the air, ignoring the destruction caused by her sheer speed and the debris from breaking through multiple walls. Not even a fraction of a second had passed before she already appeared right at the origin of that power. It was a nascent ball of flame. Of power too great to suppress yet already too developed to stop.

However, Angelica had to stop it. Pouring out all of her power she created a spherical barrier around that unbound destruction. As the barrier barely formed the power expanded, instantly striking it. Despite her best effort, the boundary cracked on the moment of impact. Angelica poured more and more into that defensive layer yet she could not fetter that unimaginable power. With a deafening boom and a flash of light, Angelica’s barrier shattered and destruction unlike anything seen before in the world spread in the middle of the holy city.

Barely conscious, Angelica was tossed around by that power as the world was swallowed in white and red.