Angel Monarch

Astrid's wings didn't have enough power to lift all three women at once, but with the wind's help, she could glide through the storm.

Her waist directly connected to both Joan and Melinda, while those two were connected to Yvonne. This meant Yvonne floated closest to the ground and strongly vocalized her opinion about their situation by screaming at the top of her lungs.

Yvonne was a strong woman, without any fear in her heart. However, there was something she truly hated...

"Fuck you, Astrid! I told you I hate flying!"

Even through the loud wind, thunder and the riders' screeching, Yvonne's powerful voice reached Astrid's ears. A small smile grew on the Valkyrie's lips as she began reeling in Melinda.

The young woman barely held onto consciousness as the heavy winds battered her unmasked face. Her long, whitish-blonde hair whipped Astrid's face as she tied the chain closer, so it wasn't even a meter long.

Afterward, she reeled in Joan. The voluptuous woman continued shooting hot, electric plasma into the storm, exactly where the screeches echoed from.

When Astrid finished tying her too, it was time to get Yvonne up. Her screams and threats aimed towards Astrid hadn't stopped, but upon feeling the tug on her chain, she began climbing like a monkey.

In less than a second, she was already by Astrid's side. Her arms hugged her waist tight as her entire body trembled with terror.

"Don't you dare drop me! I'll never forgive you if I release that fucking chain!"

Astrid just giggled while tying their chains together. Her girlfriend's fear of heights was quite funny, since as a Transcended wearing Angelic Metal armor, Yvonne could survive a fall from the atmosphere.

However, she wasn't planning on teasing Yvonne's insecurity. Instead, she tied their chains close enough that they felt each other's body heat radiate through their armor.

Joan and Melinda kept dangling below their feet. Their chains were also tied closely together.

The two pairs flew through the strong winds. Sometimes the currents changed, and Astrid's pair fell below Joan's; other times they flew into the ground, only to get grabbed by the wind again.

Yvonne continued hugging Astrid with her eyes closed, while Joan continued shooting the screeches inside the storm.

Each lightning she shot out illuminated the darkness. The silhouettes of dozens of riders appeared all around the flying group. Their dead horses traversed through the air with ease.

Melinda gradually regained her consciousness after Joan covered her face with one of her warm scarves. Only her blue-green eyes remained uncovered, and they began glowing as she sent her afflictions towards the corpse riders.

The riders tried closing the distance, but with the strong air currents and Joan's constant lightning storm, they all succumbed to Melinda's plague.

However, only seconds after the riders fell, the previous trench coat wearing frozen corpse appeared behind them. Its dead horse neighed violently while pushing closer towards the group.

The corpse spun its revolver around its index finger, then pointed it at Astrid's head. The gunshot echoed moments alter, just as the golden shield rose around the Valkyrie.

The first bullet hit the layered shield, and just like before, it didn't reach Astrid's skin. But when the glowing bullet got swept away by the heavy winds, suddenly the corpse shot three more times in quick succession.

Astrid closed her wings, which stopped them gliding through the storm. They got pushed in a random direction, perfectly avoiding all three bullets.

A moment later, she reopened her wings and even beat them a few times to get higher, where the air currents are stronger and less predictable.

The corpse rider flowed close behind. More glowing blue bullets flew towards their group, yet they never came close to hitting anybody.

Joan fired back, but her lightning either missed or the rider shot it, freezing the electricity into a solid block. When these blocks landed on the ground far below, small blue explosions echoed through the storm.

The chase continued for a full minute. Astrid kept maneuvering in random, erratic patterns, while Joan shot lightning after lightning. However, the real danger was Melinda, who hid behind her girlfriend.

The Plague's blue-green eyes glowed brighter as she sent more afflictions towards the corpse rider. Its power was comparable to a Stellar's, so it took more than a minute for the diseases to take effect. However, once something became afflicted, there was no stopping the plague.

The corpse continued shooting during this time. It never noticed that Astrid, while keeping her distance, always stayed within a certain threshold.

After about one and a half minutes, Melinda glanced over Joan's shoulder with a wide grin.

"Got you!" she whispered ecstatically into Joan's ear, while pointing a finger gun at the corpse rider.

Through the snowstorm they couldn't see the affliction taking effect, but right after Melinda spoke, a pained, horrible scream reached the group.

Their ears began bleeding again, as the corpse rider and its horse fell into the dark abyss below.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the screeching stopped and only the heavy winds remained as background noise.

Astrid beat the air with her wings and tried pushing closer to the ground. However, she soon realized a new problem.

"Everyone! I can't reach the ground! We'll need to ride out the storm up here!"

Melinda and Joan cursed in annoyance, but didn't care too much. Yvonne though...

"What?! What the fuck do you mean?! Get me to the ground this instant! This storm could last for hours! I'm not staying here for that long!"

The Valkyrie rolled her eyes and, while hugging Yvonne closely, she argued or maybe comforted her. It wasn't easy to tell, since Melinda couldn't hear their words and could barely guess their tone.

Either way, she didn't care too much. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Joan, and her girlfriend did the same. They shared each other's body heat while waiting for the storm to pass.

For about ten minutes nothing happened. They still heard screeches farther away, but no corpse riders came close. This should've made everyone feel more confident, but instead they all became stressed the more time passed.

Another ten minutes later, the screeches got closer, and soon they saw multiple riders flying all around the group.

Each held either a revolver or an Old World rifle. They all had glowing blue bullets loaded into their weapons, the same as the trench coat wearing corpse's.

Their screeches made everyone's ears bleed, but Astrid didn't let them stun anyone. She summoned a tight golden shield around all four women's bodies, which kept out all the useless noise.

Suddenly, everybody was plunged into silence as the shield stopped the airflow. This also meant they weren't suffering from the cold any longer, but they needed to hold their breaths, since their air ran out within moments.

Astrid's wings kept moving, pushing the group further into the storm. The corpse riders continued closing the distance.

Some moved in from above, while others galloped below and behind the group. Astrid needed to change directions multiple times, so now rider came too close.

They also shot at the two pairs, but those went wide from the heavy winds and Astrid's evasive movements.

While they tried escaping their enemy, Melinda continued pushing her afflictions on them, albeit they still needed more than a minute to take effect.

Joan also began shooting lightning at any rider who came too close. She even killed one because it couldn't shoot the electric plasma fast enough.

Yvonne was the most useless of the four. She kept hugging Astrid's body with closed eyes. She trembled and yelped in fear every time Astrid took a sharp turn.

The chase continued through the heavy storm. Ice and snow pelted the golden shields like miniature bullets. Each one sent a small crack arcing through the shield's surface, yet it all regenerated a moment later.

Astrid's wings beat the air, sending them faster through the currents. From afar, she seemed like a dancer, using the wind as her instrument, which dictated the tempo.

More glowing projectiles flew by the group, but soon, Melinda giggled again.

She pointed two fingers at the riders and said, "Bang! Bang! Bang!" every time her afflictions settled on a corpse.

After each 'Bang' Melinda made, a rider stopped moving and fell through the storm. They hit the ground a few seconds later... Well, most hadn't reached the ground as the diseases devoured their dead skin, muscle, bones, and even their clothes and metal weapons.

When all the corpse riders died, Astrid tried reaching the ground again, but it wasn't possible, which made Yvonne curse her out again.

Nothing changed for a few minutes until all four women noticed something strange. The wind changed direction abruptly and its speed increased, so even Astrid's wings couldn't affect their movement.

It felt like they were flying through a funnel. As if someone controlled the storm to pull them in a specific direction.

Shivers ran down their spines as they imagined what creature awaited them at the funnel's end.

"Okay everyone! You had your fun, but it's time to leave!" said a familiar feminine voice from above, which was strange since the golden shields still kept out the air and any sounds.

They all looked up simultaneously, only to find a seductive woman with waist-length purple hair and a pair of horns staring at them with alluring pink eyes. She wore an overly small dress, which emphasized her enormous assets and seductive figure.

Her entire body seemed to disobey the wind as she floated motionless above them. Neither wing on her back moved, while her tail moved excitedly from side-to-side.

She grinned with excitement upon seeing the confusion in everyone's eyes. However, there was no time for fun since the funnel came to its end... It led into the heart of the storm...

However, before anyone could've glimpsed the creature controlling the storm, Cass snapped her fingers and suddenly all five women broke into shards of glass.