Infinity in the Void – Freedom in the Abyss

Interlude: Fire



Silla crossed her arms, and with a look of boredom, she observed the Congress going through their usual antics.

She wanted to go back to Las Vegas to have fun with Charlotte. She has a friend now!

But in the middle of the drama and shouting, a man busted the door open to enter. He has a serious look on his face, wearing the General attire Silla is very familiar with. General of the Army, Henry Capone.

"General Sillarco.", he looked right at Silla, saluting, "We have an emergency that requires your specialty."

Silla stood up from her seat, saluting back, "What is the situation?"

"The Coast Guard found an anomaly, a stream of steam coming for the East Coast. We suspected something form of leviathan."

Silla nodded, "I will go check, thank you for your good work.", she saluted, "Prepare the Type-R."

She quickly rushed out of the Congress hall, ignoring everything. Henry followed her suit, running just behind her.

"General Sillarco, what will you use to deal with the threat?", he asked while still keeping up the professional look.

"A leviathan, I don't have much to deal with underwater creatures. Moby Dick should be enough, hopefully.", Silla wore a grim expression on her face. Normally, she would just blast a beam and be done with it, but seawater, in particular, is resistant to her Satanic Authority, "Where would the target hit?"

"Most likely North Carolina as it had not changed its path.", Henry replied, "With the current speed, it will most likely hit land in 3 hours."

They ran out of the Congress building, where a helicopter was already waiting for them.

"You go make the calls.", her bone wings popped out of her back before being covered in a layer of blue draconic wings, "I can get there much faster."

"Yes sir!", Henry saluted.

Silla blasts off into the sky, leaving a trail of astral dust in her path. In the time of war, the West Coast saw this as a normal occurrence, the sign of the third Six Star General, Abigail Sillarco.

"I am Seria Sarco, Owner of Lucifer the Morningstar."

She pierced the clouds, her body erupted in blue flame.

"Devil of Hell, He who embodied Freedom."

The blue flame morphed and changed Silla, her military uniform burned away, wrapping herself in an enchanting dress exposing her skin.

"No law, no world shall hold me...", her tone became graceful, nothing like her intimidating presence as Abigail, nor the rude nature of Silla.

She was... Seria.

"I am Freedom. I am the Morningstar...", she smiled lightly as she dived down to the earth. Her draconic wings became feathered wings, giving her a graceful entrance down to the shore of Hatteras.

"Anima Pactum..."

A collar with a broken chain link on it appeared on her neck, her smile was kind as her eyes were hazy, lost in the euphoria of her own power.

"Freedom."

She clapped her hands, creating an astral ritual staff as she slowly opened them. Seria swung her staff around, giving a feel for the weight, the weight of freedom.

"Beast of Envy, show yourself.", she stabbed her staff down, showing the symbol of a serpent.

Behind her, a towering figure of a Loong, a Chinese Dragon, flew out of the ground and into the water. The astral creature at first seemed to be a Loong, but with a closer look, the monster has more muscle, longer limbs, webbed fingers and toes, and a sail running down its back.

It was a Leviathan— no, THE Leviathan. The most dangerous monster of the three first creations of God. If the Behemoth brings an earthquake with every step it takes if the Zix creates a typhoon with every flap of its wings. Then the Leviathan causes a tsunami whenever it moves.

As Seria, not Silla, not Abigail, she can conjure biblical creatures ranging from a rat in a story, up to the Seventy Two Demons of Ars Goetia. Seria was strong, as she held the power of Freedom itself.

And in the Land of Freedom, she is the very definition of America and all it stands for.

Crossing her arms, Seria waited for something to happen. Tides of tsunami go out to the ocean, crashing against whatever is hiding at the bottom of the ocean.

After a few minutes, Seria frowned. The water went quiet, signifying the defeat of the Leviathan.

"Seems like this is not enough.", she clapped her hands again, "Come, Zadkiel."

Replacing her staff is an astral sword, bearing the color of Heaven with its glow. The sword contains the power of Freedom, to sever bonds and destiny, existing outside of the law of reality. The blade was once wielded by Lucifer himself, leading the rebellion against God. All of that power is in her hands.

"In the name of Freedom, for order and chaos, for evil and justice.", she raised her blade up high into the sky.

"Judgement!", she swung the sword of Heavenly Authority down, shooting a beam of divine light, splitting the ocean all the way to the horizon.

CLANK!!!

Yet, with all of that power, the ability to break laws, it was stopped by something. They clash with another sword, one equally as strong as Zadkiel. The only way to stop an Authority is with another Authority...

Seria doubled down, pushing the weight of Zadkiel even more. The sword shifted, sliding down to her left, making the sword touch the ocean floor.

"A God?", Seria whispered under her breath

At the bottom of the ocean, a voice came, loud and full of hostility, "Cease this foolish endeavor, human."

Seria summoned thousands of demons, standing behind her, eagerly waiting to tear whoever it is apart.

At the bottom of the ocean, standing with a sword made of obsidian glass is a woman wearing flame. No, that woman is the embodiment of fire itself. Her hair is like a stream of lava, running down her back. She wore Viking armor made of flame, even to the last details like animal fur, with a quick glance it is indistinguishable from her armor in the museum.

"Scandinavian huh.", Seria nodded. She was not taking this fight seriously at all.

"Human.", the flame woman spoke again, "I seek no war. I am here to find my Father."

While the effects of Zadkiel were still up, Seria walked down the split ocean with her horde of demons, now turned into an army of astral knights.

Her grin widened, "I didn't see any flaming man hot enough to boil the ocean the last time I checked.", Seria was sweating from the sheer heat of coming off of the woman.

"Human, move.", she sent Seria a glare with her sun-like eyes.

"No, you invaded the national water of America without clearance.", Seria crossed her arms, giving the flame woman no leniency.

"Human, do you think you can stop me?", she questions, raising her obsidian sword, "First Seal - Niflheim: Release."

With a skilled horizontal swing, the flame woman cleaved through Seria's army with a wave of burning light. Seria was hit too, but as the busted character she is, she was completely fine.

Rather, Seria was deducing the identity of the flame woman. And with a snap of her finger, she figured it out.

A flame woman, Seria at first thought she was a Fire Elemental, a type of monster often found in Africa and are high priority suppression target. But Elementals cannot speak, so that eliminated the option. Then a god, certainly she possessed the strength of a god, but the divine aura was nowhere to be found.

However, she mentioned the Norse Realm of ice, Niflheim, that was enough to give Seria enough information. Oh, and the sword too. There is only one mythical being in Norse Mythology wielding a giant broadsword.

"I know your name now.", Seria let out a small giggle, "Heheh... The sword is said to have nine seals, representing nine Realms of Yggdrasil, wielded by the Primordial Fire Giant, Surtr."

The flame woman showed visible signs of tensing up, ready for another strike.

Seria pointed her finger at the flame woman, "You are Elderstahl, the Sword of Surtr, the weapon said to burn down eight out of nine Realms."

Elderstahl lowered her sword, smirking, "Correct, I am Elderstahl. So what? What does it have to do?"

"Oh, because it matters a lot.", Seria crackled, laughing like a maniac, "Hehehehe... you see, giving your True Name to the Devil himself..."

The blue fire around Seria turned crimson, burning the color of Hell.

"Satanic Crown - True Name Judgement.", she lazily pointed her index at Elderstahl, "Elderstahl, Sword of Surtr."

Sensing something is amidst, Elderstahl raised her obsidian sword, igniting the blade into a burning golden light.

"Second Seal - Helheim: Release!", the Primordial Destroyer swung her sword down, bringing a pillar as hot as the sun itself down upon Seria.

 A Satanic Formation appeared on Seria's right palm, lifting it slightly as the ritual activates, "Court of Judgement: May His Curse Strike You Down."

Swords in the form of crosses formed to stop the pillar of light. All the while the effect of Zadkiel slowly fades as the canyon in the ocean slowly wavered.

"Shit.", Seria clicked her tongue, and her right hand formed a fist, crushing the ritual... no, it fully manifest the ritual.

Millions, maybe trillions of cross-shaped swords crashed down onto Elderstahl, almost all broke apart from the sheer might of the Fire Giant's masterpiece. But not all broke, mixing in with the swords of pure light are blue blades impaling her in place.

Seria smiled, flapping her wings to take off to the sky.

"Farewell, Sword of Surtr.", she gave Elderstahl one final smile.

Then a rain of missiles, the Type-R weaponry, crashed into the Sword. Multiple distortions in time and space tore the flame woman apart, bit by bit. Type-R, or Type Reality, is the most advanced weapon system of the U.S.A., tapping into quantum physics to bend reality. And most of the damage comes from the universe trying to fix the distortion, sometimes doing minor things, sometimes erasing someone from existence.

But even facing erasure, Elderstahl kept her burning golden eyes on Seria. Never once blinking, never once showed any emotion.

She was a sword, a blade's goal is to end someone. Seria knew that look, Elderstahl saw her only as an obstacle to get past. The Sword of Surtr was looking down upon her, which made her grin widely.

"Until we meet again, Satan.", Elderstahl nodded, before her very last piece disappeared from reality, and the ocean closed again.

With nothing more to do, Seria undo her Anima Pactum. Her dress of flame turned back into her military uniform. Silla landed next to General Henry, who saluted her.

"Great job, General Sillarco! Is the threat fully neutralized?", Henry asked while still saluting.

"Yes Sir! The subject, identified itself as Elderstahl, the Sword of Surtr, is neutralized for now.", Silla saluted back, "And the Type-R worked wonderfully, tell the people at the Science Department good job."

Henry nodded, "Yes, General!"

"Now, I will go back to Las Vegas.", a ritual circle appeared under her, "I'll send you the full report tonight."

And she disappeared, leaving Henry to deal with the aftermath. To which he smiled, taking a deep breath to calm his heart down.

Abigail Sillarco was his role model since he was a child, the way she confidently stood against the forces of the Pacific, against Japan and Mu, protecting her homeland, was an inspiration for Henry. Someone who can do anything, but still has the heart of gold to defend her home.

Now as the General of the entire U.S. army, Henry thought he could stand beside the person he idolized, but reality was crushing. No one can be better than Abigail, yet he was still content to stand in her shadow.

Because Silla Arco, Abigail Sillarco, Seria Sarco... is the embodiment of America itself.


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