Angel Monarch-Chapter 494: Colors of Depression

Life left the memories, leaving a meek black and white world behind. The island looked like a battlefield, with corpses of monsters lying motionless and silvery spikes piercing the ground.

Qinrir glanced around in awe and shock. He ventured into dozens of memories before, yet nobody remembered their life in such depressing colors.

The Arachnid turned in place when his six eyes landed on a strange sight. An Angel stood covered in blood with her back towards Qinrir. Her laughter echoed over the island as her hands moved with sadistic precision. Fresh blood dripped between her fingers, with pieces of flesh stuck to her palm.

His eight legs took a step to the side, attempting to see what Sera’s memory self was doing. However, a moment later, the real Sera appeared before him.

A deep frown split her face, while her golden-green eyes glowed with deep hatred. There was none of the usual humor and kindness in her gaze as she raised one hand, prompting Qinrir to stop.

"I warn you and give you a chance to turn away. This isn’t my best moment, but when we travel further back through my memories, you’ll understand why I did this... Just don’t judge me by this moment alone..."

Qinrir stayed motionless. He didn’t plan on turning away, since he wanted to glimpse into the Last Angel’s core personality, which meant seeing all the good and bad memories.

When Sera saw the determination in his eyes, she sighed and stepped away, finally revealing the horrifying scene behind her.

Angelic Metal spikes pierced a piece of flesh, which might’ve resembled a human at one point. Sera’s memory self giggled as she tore into the corpse, taking pieces of flesh off their bones...

The Arachnid felt confused. While the scene was weird, it wasn’t as bad as Sera made it sound. However, when the corpse coughed up blood, he immediately reconsidered...

"That person... They’re alive?... You’re torturing them?!"

Qinrir couldn’t even tell the gender of the corpse-like body, since most of their lower body, including their genitalia, didn’t exist anymore.

"P-please... just... k-kill me..." Said the corpse.

Past Sera chuckled and pushed her fingers deep into the corpse’s chest. They squirmed and groaned, while Sera’s laughter turned into a deep scowl. She leaned in close and whispered sensually into the holes on the corpse’s head, where their ears once were.

"Oh, your throat regenerated! I’m glad at least I can hear your screams again! Don’t worry, Harold, I’m not in a hurry! We’ll take our time, like you did with me!"

The man named Harold opened his mouth to say something, but in that moment Sera reached into his throat and pulled out his tongue in one move.

Instead of words, miserable whimpers echoed from his throat. It mixed with past Sera’s joyful laughter, creating an even more horrific scene.

Behind Qinrir, golden flames brightened the world as the real Sera burned away the Seed of Madness. She appeared by his side moments later and stared at her past self torturing her most hated enemy.

"We can leave whenever you’ve had your fill of sadism. But don’t worry, you’ll see plenty of suffering throughout my memories!"

Qinrir glanced up at Sera, terror glinting in his six black eyes. His entire body trembled as he asked, "Just how many people did you torture?"

Sera smiled without any humor and pointed at Harold’s dying body.

"Just this one, since nobody else deserved it yet!"

The Arachnid mixed feelings about her words, but he felt there was more to this horrible memory than a simple sadistic person torture scene.

Qinrir prided himself on being an excellent judge of character, and from their interaction, Sera didn’t look insane or sadistic at all. The black and white surroundings of the memory also suggested that something so terrible happened in the past that it warped Sera’s capability to remember colors.

Colors were an inherent part of memories. They gave life to boring, empty pictures... If someone couldn’t recall colors, that meant their depression was so overwhelming, they lost the will to live.

Since Sera seemed like a strong woman with incredible willpower, judging by how long she survived with the Seed of Madness growing in her mind, Qinrir feared what suffering pushed her into such a malicious state.

The air became silent as Qinrir watched the torture for a few more seconds. However, eventually the crystal in his head began glowing, and they traveled further back in Sera’s memories.

The next few memories weren’t anything too horrible. Scenes of war and destruction combined with strange visions, which Qinrir didn’t fully comprehend.

He saw two Seras fighting once, one of them covered in scars, the other devoid of emotion. The memories stayed black and white, which didn’t fill Qinrir with confidence.

Sera stayed absolutely silent during this time, but he could tell her emotions weren’t as calm as she pretended to be. Especially when a particular young man appeared in her memories.

When the man named Bran appeared in a memory, the real Sera walked away with a pained expression. Qinrir wasn’t a genius with human emotional tells, but even he could guess how Sera felt about him and what his fate was... He didn’t appear in any memories after the island...

They cleared Seeds quickly, and soon they found themselves in a dark bedroom with past Sera kissing Bran deeply... That’s when real Sera couldn’t take it any longer...

She fell to her knees, her limp wings touching as tears fell down her face and sobs shook her body.

Qinrir watched her melancholic state with both curiosity and discomfort. He was curious about human emotions; he also felt disgusted by crying. Arachnids never cried, so he found it a distasteful way to showcase emotional state.

However, after a few minutes passed, and Sera still cried, he realized that staying a bystander wasn’t an option if they wanted to finish this extermination anytime soon.

The Arachnid moved next to Sera’s kneeling form. He moved himself closer to the ground to bring himself to eye level.

An awkward cough escaped him as he tried to find the right words. A few seconds later, he grew frustrated with his inability to show compassion, and he spoke without much thought.

"Who was that guy? You look depressed when he appears in your memory."

Sera sniffled once and turned towards Qinrir. Neither the tears nor the snot in her nose was real, since her state wasn’t physical. However, the sadness in her heart face felt real. She climbed back to her feet and wiped the phantom tears out of her eyes.

"Someone I fell in love with... Nick was his kid, but he never got to see his birth..."

As she spoke, the sadness in her eyes mixed with hatred. A deep scowl distorted her face, and she basically spat out her next words in pure, uncontrolled rage.

"He’s the reason I tortured Harold... He di–... He sacrificed himself to save this entire Realm from the Mad Scientist... The least I could do is make sure that bastard didn’t pass on peacefully!"

With that, Sera walked to the nearby dark Seed and plunged her hand into its depths. The Seed seemed to scream as the purifying golden flames danced along its surface, consuming every piece of darkness.

"Let’s move faster. I want to get this next part over quickly!" Said Sera without turning back.

Qinrir felt uncertain about the Angel’s mental state. It might’ve been time to stop and continue later, yet he didn’t follow this voice of reason. Instead, they traveled to the next memory.

Later, in hindsight, he realized the mistake he made by continuing forward, but he also noticed something weird. It felt as if a strange force pushed him on, guiding them towards something neither he nor Sera were prepared to see.

Minds were inherently unique and powerful objects. They contained many mysteries, from the origin of consciousness to the ability to hold on to memories.

Even stranger were beings that can affect a person’s mind, rewriting, destroying, and adding parts based on their desire. Personality is nothing but millions of experiences shaped into a person, so what abominations one could create by changing parts of a human-sized puzzle.

It could turn a regular person into a murderous freak or turn a proud young man into a horrible creature worse than any monster. It could even turn the brightest angel into the darkest devil... Or at least someone can try, but some people’s core experiences are simply impossible to fully change...

As Qinrir witnessed one horrific scene after another... Deaths... Hundreds of deaths... Each preceded by taking away the individual’s dignity, then tortured until near death... Even the sweet release of death couldn’t be enjoyed if you’re constantly regenerating...

They continued traveling back further and further into the past. Neither said a word as Sera mechanically destroyed every Seed. Sometimes screams disturbed the quiet; other times, the beeping of machines echoed; and more often, the sadistic man’s monotone voice resounded through the white, hospital-like rooms.

The two years of torture went fast. Eventually, they found themselves on an endless snowfield, where they stopped for a moment, each person gathering their thoughts.

After seeing everything Sera experienced, the suffering she went through under Harold’s hands. He understood perfectly why she tortured him. In fact, Qinrir hoped the bastard’s eternal soul suffered forever and never found rest in death.

However, he didn’t just gain hatred towards Harold. Through these experiences, he glimpsed the Last Angel’s actual personality... He felt nothing but pure admiration, since even after suffering so much, this young woman found the power to smile...

Such willpower and kindhearted nature was simply unheard of.

In his mind, a judgment about Sera already formed, but he still awaited seeing the rest of the Angel’s life!