Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 766: To Save The Lives Of Many

He knew he would die, for the bond was forged and his warrant was written in blood. Pulling that trigger was only part of his penance—penance for what he had done and to save the lives of the innocent while sacrificing not one but two monsters, himself included. Through the power invested in him by the nun, Morgan lay in wait for the demon general to come out of his shambling castle. He waited for him to lower his guard, and he waited for the others to be there so he could ensure that they saw him disintegrate before their eyes.

But as his body fell off the treetop, lifeless and forgiven of past sins, he never would’ve known that the army and the hero would also be plunged through the tear between dimensions and torn up to bits. From the forest to the edge of the city of Eclanor, everything has been disintegrated into motel glass. Still bubbling with the sheer intensity from a mere speck of the nun’s power.

And in those very flames, Morgan’s body turned to mist. As for the others, Athenia and every other god could see that blinding assault beaming all the way up to the heavens. Some pulled their people through the tear that was still left open, and Athenia especially broke all rules of the council that she wasn’t part of to not only reach back into time and pull her people out of the blast radius but also land them back in the city of the desert.

However, as soon as her astral arm created from her divinity was pulling out Raven, Amedith, the elves, and her priestess, a trident crashed down from the heavens and shattered the illusionary arm. She tried to get back into the world with the same spell, but there was already another gathering of gods that had claimed the territory as theirs.

Asmareth and his influence were far too suddenly gone. Leaving space for the other gods to swoop in and claim his territory as their own. Left to wonder what had happened, Athenia called out to Raguel, but the angel was no less confused, for as he stood before Asmareth’s throne, what he found was a rotting corpse with its throat split open and an ace card sticking out of its head.

The gods, they loved chaos. It allowed them to betray each other and break the rules without having to worry about forming an excuse. And even now, with their angels all ordered to descend into the demon general’s territory and engage Raven and his group, nobody amongst them had the time to ask questions like why they killed Asmareth. To them, he was a mere distraction at this point, for the death of the most potent chosen was far more important.

Casting their angles from heavens to attack them, the gods watched with great interest as Raven and his party slowly came back to their senses. The ground beneath them was as fierce as magma; however, taking flight and with Erika’s new glasses, they were healed in an instant. Unfortunately, however, everything on their bodies except the mantle of heroes and the special equipment was burned off into ash. Leaving them as bare as one can be with only their bodies to defend themselves.

"What the fuck happened?" Raven asked, his head facing upwards.

The golden gates of heaven were open, and the angels descending from above had already hurled their weapons in their direction. A sea of weapons was heading right their way. Golden and shimmering, the angelic weapons, as they remembered from a while ago, were nothing to scoff at, and even the angels themselves were trouble, for the only way to kill them was through magic since no mortal weapon can affect them.

"Whatever, we will figure that out later! For now focus on the enemy!" Conjuring a bubble shield of darkness, Raven tried to stop the falling weapons. At first a few of them were logged into the shield, but then as it shattered, the hero had to continuously conjure more and more hands until his entire body had turned into a blob of dark with countless arms emerging out of it.

Holding the weapons firm even as they tried to fly back, Raven called onto Amedith to get closer to him and use the dimensional pocket to hold the weapons within so they wouldn’t be a problem. Doing just that while the angels rained upon them, Mel and Erika were left to insulate the two from the oncoming assault. The elf brought forth a cocoon of branches and vines to defend the party; the priestess, on the other hand, used Asmodia’s powers to turn into mist and appear behind the angels to mark them with explosive runes on their bodies.

Every marked angel kept bursting like a water balloon, but since the portal was connected right to the heavens, no matter how many Erika killed, they would rise again in the ever fountain and keep on coming until they’ve accomplished their task.

’MUST BE THOSE FUCKING GODS! THEY MUST HAVE BEEN WATCHING US. JUST WAITING FOR THE FIGHT TO BE OVER AND OUR BODIES TO BE ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE BEFORE OVERWHELMING US WITH NUMBERS!!’ Beyond pissed, Raven was tired of all the politics.

"I was almost disappointed that I didn’t get to fight that bastard!" Looking up once more, Raven smacked his fist against his palm. "But it seems like the gods heard our plea, because I’m going to beat the fucking piss out of these fucking angels!!"

A never-ending fleet of angels was continuously descending over the party. And to their surprise, another pair had already appeared behind them. Holding instruments in their hands, they harmonized together. Their voices started as gentle hymns but soon turned into thunderous war songs.

"Aa huuoo eh’haa~ Etna’yo, yaste na~" The forgotten language of Arcane–they sang in its words, and yet the party somehow understood what it meant.

’A dawn will come when you won’t wake. But that day is far, far-far away.’ And so the heroes began their fight. A fight against an army that would never stop coming for their heads. But what choice did they have? They’d been stripped of their opportunity to kill the demon general, and the gods that had sent these angels needed to be taught a lesson.