Sera and her group were prone on the roof in total silence. As they were relaxing all of them heard a sound, it was a roar. Seconds later Ash came running in, she was on watch duty and she told what was kind of obvious for everyone.
"My Lady, the Corrupted is heading in our direction."
"Thank you Ash. Lets head to the roof."
And here they were, waiting for the Corrupted to show itself. They needed to get as much information as possible and they wanted to scan it. Even the monster's name could provide clues about its powers.
They didn't know anything about the creature, they only knew that it's a Corrupted because that's what Nightmare told Bea back then. They didn't even know its Tier.
They were watching the streets trying to find the monster, but it was nowhere to be seen. And had to wait for nearly an hour before they heard it again.
'Something is off... Where did the sound come from?'
The sound was like it came from everywhere as it echoed between the buildings. Sera was wearing her Clothing Item under her tactical gear so the she had better hearing then most. But still she couldn't pinpoint the noise.
'It's coming from our direction. Maybe below us?'
But then it hit her, the sound didn't come from below. Sera slowly began to raise her head into the sky. Their what she saw is the literal definition of demon.
A huge figure around 5 meters in height with curved horns, dark red skin, a pair of black bat-like wings, was flying right above them. Sera looked at it and only felt pure malice coming from the devil.
She couldn't see the whole creature from this angle, but saw enough to know that it's going to be a hard fight.
"Watch. Scan." She whsipered into her Watch.
The rest of the group looked at her, they didn't notice the creature above them. Sera without saying a word pointed up and they used their optics to analyze every inch of the demon.
"Scanning complete! Classification: Corrupted of the 1st Tier! Name: Night Demon!"
'Night Demon, interesting. So his ability is not related to shadows but to the night. I have no clue if that makes the fight easier or harder to be honest.'
They were watching the demon for over an hour but it still didn't decide to leave. At least Sera saw the monster from multiple angles and realized that it was much more terrifying than her initial judgment.
It had four massive insectoid like arms, with human-like hands that had fingers growing out of it chaotically. It also held two greatswords in each pair of arms. The demon looked like death incarnate.
In the end they had to lay on the roof until dawn. Sera was horribly tired but was too afraid to sleep. The demon was hovering over their roof throughout the night, but when the Sun was about to come up it suddenly hurried away.
'It's like he is scared of the Sun or something. Maybe we can use that.'
They got up from the ground, after they made sure the monster was gone. Then the regulars went to prepare breakfast, while Sera planned the route to Lucy's group.
After eating they went onto the streets heading southeast, away from the entrance.
'One thing I like about this demon is, that it knows how to keep its streets clean. There is not a single monster around.'
Indeed, they arrived to Lucy's hideout in an hour and without any setbacks. While walking into the building, Sera kept a constant glow around her so Lucy didn't accidentally attack them.
There was probably a scout watching the streets but she didn't want to chance it.
Lucy and her group were sitting around a campfire laughing and having breakfast when they arrived. As the regulars saw Sera they immediately stood up and saluted her.
She had gotten used to this from her own group, so she just nodded at them and went to Lucy.
"If you are here, that means the scouting was a success?"
Lucy asked with a smile. Sera smiled back took out her watch and showed the scanned and analyzed demon to everyone.
"As you can see we got pretty close to it. You could say he was right above us if you will."
They both laughed at that, while the regulars were a bit disturbed by their humor.
"This is excellent, then we could head home to make a plan against this ugly bastard."
"Yeah, finish eating then lets go. I haven't slept all night."
"Oh, I bet Bea will help you with that." Said Lucy with a grin.
Sera blushed a bit but didn't look away as she said in a faked outrage.
"So you are the one who's spreading rumors about me and Bea."
"What rumors? I only tell the truth, Bea and you already confirmed it." Said Lucy while chuckling.
"Fine, whatever! Finish eating and then lets go!"
With that Sera went up the roof to keep an eye on things while the others rested.
Soon they finished eating and began the journey back to the station. They had to fight a couple of creatures, but the regulars took care of them. After a few hours they arrived.
They bid farewell to the soldiers and they all saluted them. With that done, Lucy and Sera went straight for the conference room. The others were waiting already and so the long planning began.
It took them hours to work out a way to win, but eventually they decided on a viable plan. Which will be executed in two days. They spoke of other important matters afterward like a potential spy's existence.
"It just seems way too convenient, that Deathbringer knew not just about our plan, but Saint Seraphine's existence as well." Said Clockwork.
"You are probably right, but we weren't too secretive about our plans either. And Nightmare could have an Evolved that has some kind of future sight or something. The only thing we can do is proceed with our plans." Answered Bea.
"But if anyone is suspicious of someone, don't hesitate to isolate and question them." Added Sera.
With that the meeting came to an end. Sera and Bea went into 'their room' as they began to call it. To talk about the future.