Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 750: Disarmed

At last, face-to-face with the killer. The party stood before him with great caution, for he was a man, albeit twisted by the forces of evil, capable of much, much more than they were. An otherworlder, though they were unaware of the fact that Nightsilver and he were alike in that aspect, they could feel something strange about him–something peculiar and not of this world.

Lashed by the many horrors that he’d slaughtered–a whole legion of them–he stood undefeated and unaddled. His eyes gleamed with a faint glow of his humanity, yet the invisible gremlin that rode on his shoulder was drawing that away little by little. A man turned into a monster after the murder of his own daughter–a victim of circumstances, both he and she were perhaps lost forever.

No heaven nor hell would accept his soul, for the lost often found themselves in the purgatory of silent torture. It was a prison of their own making from which there was no escape until the flaws of one’s mind were dismantled and forgiven, and forgotten. But the killer of saints no longer cared for salvation, for he’d been consumed by the same insanity that had earned him that peculiar title. And so, raising his weapon yet again, he aimed it at Raven and his companions.

"Another step and–"

Before another word left his mouth, the entirety of Raven’s party had dispersed themselves throughout the surrounding trees. The only ones left were Frazer’s group and Flitza, still standing where they were, but the man’s attention had already subsided for him to the disappearing public.

Looking closely around as Frazer and the others closed the distance between them and him with their weapons drawn, Morgan eyes a tree bark to his right, and sure enough, he saw it bob as if a weight was lifted from it the moment his head had turned to it.

"GET THAT THING OFF OF YOUR HANDS!" Frazer screamed at the top of his lungs while swinging a blade made of ice against Morgan’s hand. However, right as he was about to make contact, Morgan’s eyes swiftly turned to him, and before he knew it, a shot was fired and sent him flying.

Hitting Flitza, Kumi, Gina and also passing through Josare’s slimy body, the hero took out a huge chunk of his own party, temporarily. Standing with her hands covering her face, Josare was the only one who’d been hit but survived the crash against multiple trees, all thanks to her slimy body.

As for Muena, being a healer, she chased after her group to heal them. In the meantime, Morgan kept looking around to find the disappearing party. His eyes were always one step behind and only ever caught a glimpse of the priestess, as for some reason, Asmodia’s mist form body wasn’t working at the moment, forcing Erika to rely solely on her own abilities.

In spite of it all, Morgan took aim in the general direction of the sound. But right as he was about to pull the trigger, a pair of vines erupted through the ground and grabbed his hands. Pulling him down with the help of undead hands holding his feet still, the vines brought the killer to his knees. Then, in a flash, all members of Raven’s party charged at the man. Their weapons drawn, their hearts steeled, the party was ready to knock him out, as killing the man was out of the question from Athenia’s request.

However, to their surprise, the man disappeared in front of their eyes. The vines and the arms remained where they were, but much like the one who’d given him his blessing, Morgan disappeared temporarily into an interplanar dimension.

"Where is he?!" Raven asked, looking around, only to be met with the revolver being right up in his face.

But instead of getting scared, the fae let loose of his frustration and yelled.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" And that very scream garnered just enough surprise for him to smack his head against Morgan’s hand–knocking the gun out of his hands.

Stretching a hand forward, Raven grabbed him and quickly turned to look at Amedith.

"THE SWORD, NOW!" In that same second, the magus drew the sword of judgment and aimed it at the killer’s back.

Trying to escape, Morgan was just about to use the same ability from before; however, right as he began disappearing, Amedith asked a question.

"Who the hell are you?!" To the question, the killer’s abilities gave way.

No longer could he disappear without answering that question, and at the time, the skill used by Amedith made perfect sense to him without it ever being explained to him.

Slowly turning to the magus, the killer stared at him blankly. His mind was hollow of rational thought, almost like a puppet being manoeuvred by instincts alone.

"I’m here to stop you so that I can return to my world," lifting his hand and putting his fingers in a gesture akin to pulling a trigger, Morgan brought the fallen revolver back into his hands without having to pick it up. "Now you answer me, do you have a better deal or are you and folks gonna kill me, after all?"

He may have been confident in his ability, but even the killer in him knew when he was utterly outmatched.

"No, we don’t, do we?" Suffixing his answer with a question, Amedith looked at Raven for consult. "We don’t have anything better to offer him, or is there something that Athenia can do?"

"Can’t say, she’s nowhere near this place, so can’t ask either."

"That won’t work for me then," and with that, the killer shot another round, all six of the bullets spread in a spiral to hit everything and everyone. Locking in on them individually, the magic bullets struck each of the party members, and while some blocked it head-on with only minor skidding of the feet, the others weren’t as firm on their feet.

Even so, with just enough time to retaliate, one strike to the back of his head, along with vines and undead hands grabbing him, the killer was disarmed of both his weapon and his consciousness.