Angel Monarch

Another drunk Einherjer stumbled to the boar and cut a sizeable chunk of meat off its corpse. He didn't even notice that, unlike before, the missing piece didn't regenerate.

Melinda sighed in relief... The boar was dead... Its suffering finally over...

However, her relief didn't last long as more warriors and killers cut off pieces from the boar. Each was too drunk to notice that the meat on its bones didn't replenish. But eventually, nothing but bloody bones remained, which caused a disturbance.

"Hey! Saehrimnir isn't regenerating! What the fuck is going on!" shouted a tattooed female Einherjer after noticing the dead boar.

A few Valkyries and Einherjer walked closer upon hearing her angry shout. They leaned in and inspected the corpse, then gasped collectively as their faces went pale.

"It's dead..." whispered a terrified Valkyrie, her golden wings dropping towards the dirty floor.

Another one fell to her knees, while holding the sides of her head... "This can't be... No... He can't be dead!" She repeated in utter denial.

The gathered Einherjer weren't fearful or desperate like the Valkyries. Instead, they all stared at the tattooed woman with frenzied expressions. One person grabbed each of her limbs, while a fifth pulled a knife and pressed it to her face, drawing a line of blood.

"Why did you kill him?!" asked the knife holder through clenched teeth, his eyes red with rage.

The tattooed woman didn't flinch or look particularly scared. She just chuckled and leaned closer to the blade.

"I didn't kill him, you dumbass! I noticed he was dead and called out! Now put me the fuck down! We need to find the murderer before Thor notices!"

Her words sent a shiver down everyone's spine, and after a moment of hesitation, they released the woman. She jumped to her feet and glanced around, looking for anyone suspicious.

Melinda had already left the crime scene. She walked with slow steps, meticulously, so she wouldn't draw attention to herself. They could never accuse her of being a potential suspect, yet something unexpected happened, which Melinda wasn't prepared for.

As she took a calm step, her foot struck a protruding nail in the floor. Somehow, all her Transcended senses didn't notice the nail, causing her to stumble.

However, she quickly stabilized herself, or at least tried to... That's when she felt her other foot get stuck on someone's outstretched leg.

She couldn't do anything, as her body fell right onto a table. All these tables looked sturdy, yet when Melinda's light build hit the table, it broke, causing dozens of plates, tankards, etc. to clatter on the floor, right on top of her.

The Valkyries and Einherjer seated at the table jumped to their feet in outrage.

Melinda even felt a few kicks to her ribs and thighs, but she didn't care about them. Her blue-green eyes were solely focused on the tall, lanky man grinning at her with scarred lips. He was the person who tripped Melinda, and it was obviously on purpose.

He looked strikingly handsome with long blonde hair. However, his eyes suggested a devious, mischievous personality.

The man giggled as more kicks landed on Melinda's face. He waved once and, a moment later, like a mirage, he disappeared.

"Who the fuck was that guy?" whispered Melinda, but before any meaningful answer could've appeared in her mind, another large boot stepped on her.

"Okay, that's enough..." she said, then jumped to her feet and sent a wave of disease over everybody surrounding her.

They all passed out a few seconds later, which Melinda quickly regretted, since now she stood alone above a hundred unconscious people.

"It was her! She killed the boar!"

Melinda turned towards the voice's owner. It was the Valkyrie who plucked out the boar's eyes. The tattooed woman and hundreds of other warriors walked with her, each holding a drawn weapon.

She didn't even try to deny their claim. The burning, senseless hatred in their eyes wouldn't disappear from mere words. They didn't care about finding the actual culprit; they just wanted a scapegoat they could beat up and kill... They needed a reason for violence!

As Melinda watched the crowd closing in, she couldn't help but feel her own blood boil. They're so quick to jump to violence, it made her think if monsters were better than these fools. Those creatures at least don't pretend to be anything but mere beasts.

"It doesn't matter..." she said with an exhausted sigh, loud enough for the approaching crowd to hear.

They all stopped dead in their tracks and stared at Melinda with curiosity. Their muscles twitched and shook as they barely held themselves back from attacking.

"You know, I really wanted to help Sera, since she's my best friend. However, I can't bear spending another fucking moment in this shithole! I don't care what happens anymore, so come on!"

Melinda spread her arms wide, her blue-green eyes glinting with unbound anger. Through clenched teeth, her voice became dangerously low as she said, "Attack me, you weaklings!"

That last insult sent the crowd over its boiling point. They all screamed and shouted in unison while rushing towards the lone Plague.

The first three Einherjer reached Melinda simultaneously. They held shortswords, with different elements dancing on the blades. There was no hesitation in their attacks, as they raised their sharp blades and attempted to turn Melinda into mincemeat.

She ducked under the first attacker's horizontal slash, then sidestepped the second's vertical one and finally punched the hand of the third. The warrior was an actual weakling, it seemed, since a moment later, large boils appeared all over his skin.

Another soldier tried stabbing through Melinda, but she caught the blade in her hand. Her skin split, and bright red blood flowed along the blade. She easily turned the weapon, then kicked the man between the legs.

He fell over screaming as his pants turned bloody. Melinda transferred a disease that consumed only people's genitalia... It was extremely painful...

As for the last soldier, she just swiped her bloodied hand through the air. Blood particles flew away from her hand and landed on the running woman's face.

She stumbled and hit the ground hard, loud moans echoing from her lips. A puddle appeared below her waist as her body twitched in ecstasy... Melinda sent a disease, which tricks the brain into affecting the genitalia and causing immense euphoria...

After the three Einherjer became immobilized, two Valkyries descended upon Melinda. They tried impaling her with their golden spears, but Melinda jumped away, and tossed the bloody shortsword with all her power.

It hit the Valkyrie, which ate the boar's eyes, but it didn't touch her skin. Instead, a thin golden shield rose around her body, deflecting the weapon.

The shield of the Valkyrie wasn't simple. They couldn't defend only against physical attacks, but against mental and soul attacks too. Melinda wasn't certain what her disease attacks accounted for, but she already tested her ability on Astrid... While the golden shield is active, she couldn't affect Valkyries!

Melinda gave a thoughtful glance at the flying women, then turned back towards the approaching army. Dozens of Einherjer surrounded her, but she dodged any deadly attacks, while letting punches or kicks reach her body.

In less than a second, all dozen fell to the ground afflicted by many different illnesses. However, even after defeating so many, more kept coming without care.

She evaded a greataxe, then grabbed a person by the throat and tossed her at an approaching Valkyrie. The flying woman activated her shield just as Melinda expected.

The Plague jumped after the woman she tossed, who began coughing heavily, as her throat turned bright red. Her body hit the golden shield, stopping her momentum and letting her fall back to the ground.

The Valkyrie attempted to continue flying, but in that moment, Melinda's right arm reached around her leg. She raised the knife she stole from the tossed woman and kept stabbing the shield on the Valkyrie's leg.

It took a few attempts, but soon the golden shield broke. Melinda released the Valkyrie's leg as a cancerous disease began eating away at her limb. She soon crashed to the ground in a bundle of broken limbs and pained screams.

Melinda fell through open air when she noticed a familiar Valkyrie approaching fast. It was the one who ate the boar's eyes.

A light chuckle escaped Melinda's lips as the golden spear of the Valkyrie pierced her stomach. She gasped in pain, but didn't hesitate to grab the weapon's shaft and pull herself closer to the Valkyrie.

Blood climbed up her throat and trickled out the side of her mouth, yet Melinda grinned as her hand touched the Valkyrie's. She couldn't summon the golden shield while holding the spear, and Melinda used this weakness against her.

The Valkyrie's face became consumed with terror as blood began flowing from her golden eyes. She screamed in agony as her vision turned red and, a second later, her eyes exploded into a shower of blood.

Sadly, Melinda missed the beautiful sight as her body met the hard floor. She tried jumping to her feet again, but the spear still stuck out of her stomach.

With clenched teeth and a face consumed in agony, she pulled the golden spear out. It dropped from her weak hands as she climbed to her knees. She began raising to stand, but in that moment a sharp blade cut open her throat.

Melinda's blue-green eyes stared at the tattooed woman. She looked especially insane, but she was also smarter than most Einherjer. Instead of punching or kicking Melinda, she grabbed an unconscious body and tossed it onto the Plague.

She fell back, her throat still bubbling with fresh blood. The tattooed woman climbed atop the body, then raised her knife, aiming to stab it through Melinda's green eye.

Light glinted on the bloody knife blade as it moved towards Melinda's eye. Time slowed from Melinda's perspective. Moments stretched into eternity as her life flashed before her eyes.

Acceptance filled Melinda's heart as the knife came centimeters from her eye... That's when a blurry figure attacked the tattooed woman...