Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 805: Time To Go

The evening was quiet. Calm with the chirping of returning birds and a gentle hue of the coming night. Dealer watched as the sun sank into the horizon, looking out through the window in his room that faced the rest of the world. Sand and dust, what lies beyond it? Such days often made him wonder and wonder, he did.

He was aware of there being an ocean nearby, then a city of ruin, cursed by the one who’s sworn to protect it. Now it lies in shambles, with that very man ruling over his throne of rubble. A wild story or the truth, how could a man who’d never left the city know for certain? He could not, for he had crippled himself, his surroundings had crippled him, and so had the decisions of his ancestors.

Trapped within walls that they could not see, oathbound to remain inside and protect the secrets of the tower, its mechanism and whatever secrets were left by those who once lived. Alas, as a man of the cloth, he did his due, but with the angel of death standing by his door, he couldn’t help but imagine a life beyond this room and this city.

"Do you regret it, old man? The sheltered life that you’ve lived?" The reaper asked.

Scoffing at the very notion of regret, Dealer kept staring into the distance and laughed.

"In matters of faith, regret must be cast aside..." Slowly turning to the angel, Dealer gestured to the angel to take a seat on the other side of his desk. "I have done my duty, pale angel. There were times that I questioned myself, but it was clear to me from the very start."

Taking a seat at the time as the cloaked angel, Dealer took a deep breath and sighed.

"My life had purpose, and that was good enough." Waving his hand near his chest, he looked around his abode. "A vulture and a hyena feast on the same corpse, but it is the lion that hunts their feast."

"They would’ve cannibalized each other, is that what you mean to say?" Asked the pale angel.

Exhausted to the very soul, Dealer’s body sank into the chair. Staring at the many paintings hanging on his walls, he was reminded of just how much time had truly passed.

"I can’t claim to see a present that never happened, but if their actions today are any indication, then yes. They would’ve slaughtered each other by now." As his eyes returned to the angel once more, the skin on his flesh as well as the flesh itself had all but withered away. Leaving behind a cloaked skeleton with a scythe, however, his life wasn’t the angel’s to claim. "What happens now?"

"The cloverleaf dagger comes for you," placing his scythe on the table, the angel leaned forward. "You shall die in that chair; the others will find you. The chase continues, and the rest is not for you to know."

"And where would I go after that?"

"Fortuna will see to that matter; my task is only to guide your soul to its final ruling in a court."

"Such tiring business, court."

"It is indeed..." And that marked the end of their conversation; an hour would pass, and a dagger would strike. Content with his fate for all that he could have done had already been done, Justice dealer would pass as the second tragedy amongst the elects.

At the same time, Raven had been looking for the alpha of horrors captured by Ditsy. All the while, the vampiress herself had gotten wind of something strange going on. Nobody was allowed to enter the underground floors but her at the moment, but from the current logs, it seemed as though someone had used the elevator quite a few times.

Not to mention, the hint of acrid blood in the air. Unfamiliar with a crackling of strong magic–arcane even, too similar to that of a fairy or half blooded fae. Chasing after that scent, she eventually reached her lab, yet by the time she got there–both the corruption within the horrors and that fae scent were both gone.

Not entirely sure of her yet, Raven’s trip to her lab had been brief. And while still asleep, the horrors as well as the alpha were dried off their corruption and left as regular people. However, as he was making his escape, Raven could still feel the presence of the alpha’s mind clawing at the inside of his skull.

A sudden rattling sound buzzed inside his head, but the longer he tried to subdue it, the more it settled. Only a matter of time before that conscious monster was nothing but yet another tool in the hero’s arsenal. Even so, just the fact that it could fight him so much somewhat unsettled the hero more than the demon general.

One amongst countless many, who knows what fate awaits this city if nothing was done about the matter. And as if answering that very question, one of the voice ducts made a sudden announcement–an announcement that stopped Raven in his tracks, but what made things worse was what he saw right after hearing it.

"Judge Dealer wants to hold an emergency meeting! All elects, gather in the meeting hall!"

There he was, the beastman judge. Walking like a zombie in the corridor with a cloverleaf dagger sticking in his head. Blood had painted his coat crimson, and the glassy look in his eyes confirmed that he was gone. And yet his body moved, and as it passed Raven, he could’ve sworn that he saw him smile.

’Should I?’ Despite his better judgment, the hero decided to follow the dead man. Keeping to his shadow, he followed him and did well to mask his hint as he now knew that a vampire was on his tail.

Soldiers parted ways and allowed the judge to pass, their eyes held horror and an apprehension to approach the dead judge. But to stop and check on him seemed like an even worse idea. To everyone’s surprise, the judge climbed up the ladder and eventually made it to the meeting hall. Being the first to arrive, however, there was plenty of shock and confusion to go around.

’Why do these things always happen around me?’ Cursing like luck, Raven waited alongside the dead man. Hoping deep within that this wasn’t yet another situation like the saints of killer or Aran–the demi-god king.