Angel Monarch

Thea felt sweat trickle down her face as she watched Viola angrily flying at her. A frightening contrast existed between her wide smile and the viciousness in her eyes.

She watched as the small pale fist closed in towards her face. Everything felt like it happened in slow motion.

The girls who stood around Thea jumped to the sides, while Lydia desperately tried to catch Viola.

But unlike most of these girls, Thea wasn't a regular human.

Even surprised, Viola's attack seemed predictable. It might've been faster than Thea anticipated, but since this was the exact result she hoped for, in mind, she had prepared for the attack already.

This bullying was only a farce to rile Viola into attacking. Every school treated every student fight seriously, and most times only the perpetrator got suspended.

As Viola's fist approached her face, she couldn't help but smirk. The fist connected with Thea's left cheek, and she leaned into the punch perfectly, so she wouldn't get hurt seriously.

Her eyes widened for a moment as she felt the unexpected strength behind Viola's fist.

Thea reeled back a few steps until her back hit the lockers so hard it bent the metal. She coughed and spat some blood on the ground, which also surprised her.

Before she could've done anything, Thea heard Viola's rage-filled grunt as she continued running towards her.

The small girl bent her knee and jumped into the air. She turned and executed a perfect roundhouse kick.

The power within her feet was enough to seriously hurt a regular human, maybe even killing them.

Thea's eyes widened again, and she bent down, pushing herself away from the wall of lockers.

Viola flew above her, hitting the lockers with her devastating kick. The sound of metal screeching echoed in the small room, and everyone watched in awe as Viola's kick broke the lockers.

Still facing the lockers, Viola took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, when a sudden powerful force grabbed her from behind.

"Are you out of your fucking mind, you freak! You could've killed someone with that kick!"

Thea shouted in Viola's ear, then grabbed her small body and sprinted out of the locker room.

Viola barely recognized what was happening as the force grabbing her disappeared and she felt her limp body fly through the air.

Heavily, she hit the dueling mat, rolling for a few meters before coming to a stop. Viola wasted no time. She immediately jumped to her feet and defended against Thea's onslaught.

The tall girl sprinted towards Viola. Her expression stayed calm as she moved back her arm and tried punching Viola in the face.

The small, pale girl evaded the punch with ease, then, using her momentum, she turned from the waist and crouched. She swept her right leg, trying to put Thea on her back, but the much stronger girl already read her move.

She flipped into the air, evading Viola's leg, and landing behind her.

Viola's eyes widened at the unexpected move, and she felt Thea's shin hit her side. The tall girl, though trying to restrain herself, still held the strength of an Ascended.

The small girl flew about five meters, then landed on another dueling mat. The air got knocked out of Viola, and she felt the heavy footsteps approaching her weak body.

Viola coughed up blood, then tried pushing herself up from the mat.

Suddenly, she felt a strong palm grasp her light brown hair. She glanced into Thea's calm silver eyes before she slammed her face into the mat below.

Thea repeated the move a few times until a satisfying crunch marked the breaking of Viola's nose. Her small smirk became a wide grin as she lifted the small girl by her hair and tossed her onto another mat.

The only issue was… She missed…

In her riled up state, Thea's aim was a bit off, and instead of landing on a firm but otherwise harmless mat, Viola flew straight into a concrete pillar.

The stone cracked, and fragments rained down upon Viola's crumpled body.

The small girl made a whimpering noise as she tried to move, but since most of her limbs broke, she couldn't do much.

Thea's wide grin turned into a face of pure horror. One of Viola's bones stuck out of her arm while a scratched up face leaked blood on the ground.

"MY LADY!" Came the scream from behind Thea. She saw a blur run past her, and within less than a second, Lydia knelt beside Viola's broken body.

She tried touching her face while whispering, but before her fingers could've landed on Viola, the pale girl grabbed Lydia's arm, stopping her.

The two girls' whisper screamed at each other, and no matter how hard she struggled, Thea couldn't make out their words.

Seconds later, Thea heard a commotion behind her. She glanced back only to see a few other students running towards Viola.

Thea recognized all of them, but her eyes only focused on Hayden.

Thea, like the other girls by the door witnessing the whole fight, found her mouth watering and took deep breaths while gazing at Hayden.

It seemed that Hayden had misplaced his shirt while emerging from the boys' locker room. Every girl blushed heavily just from taking glances at his muscular body.

But while all the girls hungered for him, Hayden only cared about Viola. The small girl placed her arms around his neck, and Hayden lifted her in a princess carry.

When the girls saw him lift Viola, their mood instantly took a turn for the worse. They began grumbling between each other while glaring at Viola's bloodied figure.

Thea still couldn't figure out her next move. She went too far, that was obvious, and since the schools hated violence between students in uncontrolled environments, Thea knew her time was up.

She probably would get suspended indefinitely. She could never pursue higher education, and the Angelic Order's military would never accept her.

As all her fears piled upon one another, she felt fast footsteps approaching. As quickly as she could, Thea looked behind and saw Lydia fly towards her.

The air around her hand condensed and changed form until a metal dagger appeared in the usually timid girl's hand.

Lydia moved so fast Thea couldn't react. She saw the dagger approaching her skull. Her memories flashed before her eyes as she felt death grip her soul.

Right before the dagger could reach her right eye, something strange occurred. A tiny circle appeared before her eye.

The dagger passed through the circle, then immediately it disappeared, taking the blade to somewhere unknown.

Lydia glanced at the remnants of her dagger, then turned towards Viola and walked away without saying a word. She tossed away the handle, but before it could've landed, it turned back to air.

Thea still felt shaken by the encounter. Her breathing was uneven, her heartbeat elevated. Her whole body shook with fear as tears ran down her face.

Despite her experience of killing many monsters, she never felt afraid for her life. Her parents, or other soldiers, always stayed nearby, providing help when necessary.

While terror continued gripping Thea's heart, she couldn't even think about what Lydia did.

She definitely saw her use some Evolved ability, which was strange since every Evolved student needed registering and they were always announced to the entire class.

Despite intense curiosity, Thea faced more pressing matters.

It seemed a few girls ran away and got Miss May to help separate Viola and Thea. But the girls became shocked when Miss May's expression went pale and horrified.

Miss May didn't run towards the training hall, since this event was out of her jurisdiction. As quickly as she could, she wrote a message to the Angelic Order's military, who reacted immediately.

Instead of a single instructor coming to berate two students, a full military squad arrived in the training hall.

The students all watched with awe and terror as five armored soldiers marched through the training hall's door with weapons drawn.

In that moment, Thea fell to her knees and began weeping. She knew something was wrong, since an incident like this wouldn't warrant military attention.

She couldn't figure out why they arrived, but upon seeing Viola's state, four soldiers separated from the unit and ran to Thea.

There was nothing Thea could've done as a soldier punched her head, while another placed handcuffs on her arms and legs.

As blood poured down into her eyes, Thea saw Viola speaking with the unit's leader.

Thea's entire body felt limp and soulless. It felt like her life ended, like she was already dead.

Two soldiers lifted her, while the other two pointed guns in her face. Together, they walked to their unit leader, who seemed extremely annoyed and exhausted.

The unit leader sighed, turning back to Viola.

"You sure about this? She deserves a good whopping, at least! Shouldn't we teach her a lesson?"

Behind Hayden and Viola, Lydia stepped out. Her face held no emotion, only a content smile and hidden cruelty.

"I think you heard my Lady's order, unit leader! I personally would put that dog down, but since that wasn't what my Lady asked for, follow her… Request."

Lydia received a brief glance from the unit leader, followed by a sigh and an exhausted shake of his head.

"Okay, let's take the girl to the principal's office for interrogation. Let's go!"

Thea barely registered anything. She glanced up towards Viola once more before the soldiers turned a corner.

What really surprised Thea was Viola's expression. After fighting and nearly beating her to death, the small girl shown no signs of pain, fear, sadness, or anger.

Instead, Viola looked straight into Thea's eyes while smiling. Even worse, just before they turned the corner, and she lost sight, the pale girl winked at Thea playfully, treating this whole ordeal as some sort of game.