Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

When the Creator breathed the stars of Atlaris into existence, he created a mortal devil as its warden. Luseferious was his name, the keeper of light in the absence of other gods and angels. During his time as a warden, both Nerva and the Creator gave form to the rest of Atlaris, its citizens, and the divine order with which it shall run.

At the end of their spree of creation, the devil was cast into the final hell as its keeper. The other six layers were given their own primordial devil created by the creator himself, and the deep ocean and the upper hellish ocean were designated the eighth and ninth layers of the hells. And then, once the devil’s ground was full, the creator chose champions from a far-off world with no memories of their past and created the archangels.

The creations continued further, and life began on Atlaris with humans as its first inhabitants. But as time went on and Nerva created the gods of the world, the mortals were used as a baseline for further experimentation. Some gods created dragons, others giants, and numerous other creatures of grand mythos. Some even brought life in the world outside human influence, and those creatures became the monsters that shall balance the population of the more pacifist races.

Alas, their forceful ways and mating with human subjects created monsters of higher intellect and ability, eventually giving birth to a cycle of progress between the pacifist and the aggressor until both sides had mixed tendencies. Life began to form a natural cycle of continuity, and the gods flourished for a while until the first disagreement was made, and the divine hands turned on each other.

Nerva’s eventual death only added more fuel to the fire, leading to the hells flooding over and the heavens turning into a garden of souls for the gods to choose from and exploit if they so desired. Some gods even tried to reach into the hells and snatch the souls of the sinners and use them for their advantage, but Luseferious’s burning flames scorched all hands that reached down there.

Being a devil, he may have had to abide by the rules of the gods and aid them when needed, but as a primordial created by the Creator himself, he had the privilege to say ’No’–something the angels could not, as they were far too loyal servants. But today, upon seeing Evangeline breaking the rules of the heavens by directly going against a god–Kleismeth, Luseferious had grown interested in the situation, and thus when he heard the hero’s deal, he wasted no time snatching that offer before anyone else did.

Investing his own self into the hero’s body as per the impromptu contract, the devil smiled as a shadow of red and radiant with his hands carefully wrapped around Raven’s soul. He could feel the essence of a god, the gravitas of a hero, but most importantly, the hatred manifested and tumoring Raven’s soul. All of it nested within a mortal body of a fae making.

Never in his near eternal life has he seen such a complex creation. For even those who were close to Raven in composition, like Flitza and a handful of others, including Aurora, the many different parentages clashed with each other instead of complementing them.

“Allow me to rid you of this parasite.” His words cut through the moment like a hot knife through butter. His word was sweet as honeyed ham and just as delicious to the ears, if not more. A chuckle followed as the devil continued to scoop out the darkness surrounding Raven’s soul. “But mother would not be happy about this little hero~ I hope you’re ready for a corrective spanking by your upset mother, ahaha~!”

His speech and visage were both masculine and were the perfect reflection of a handsome devil with chiseled square features. And yet his manner of speaking was more feminine despite his voice being masculine and attractive. Only present in spirit, however, the hero’s companions were only seeing a glimpse of what he was. Not even Helga had met the man before, and the same went for Kleismeth, a god.

“The strongest primordial…” Swallowing while trying to mask her nervous expression, Asmodia stared at the vision split from Erika’s body. “Luseferious–the watcher. Never thought I would see you in the mortal realm.”

Through pressed lips, the devil chuckled, his attention still on Raven’s soul as he spoke in response.

“Asmodia, the bat–you do good service to keep the third layer in order, girl. Tariyaan was a fool to stand in your way. I wouldn’t have dared. I was a fool to defile the laws of our great lord, The Creator.”

As his hands retreated from Raven’s chest, the hero’s mind stilled once more. The devil had his fist closed around the darkness in his soul, keeping it caged within his fingers.

“I will go and burn this in hellfire, but remember your part of the deal, Raven ’Phordite, or you shall be my servant eternal in this life and forever.” Barely could Raven hear what he was being told as his mind was suddenly being flooded with information about new skills and abilities being instilled within him. Some of his dark powers had weakened, but with them having a lesser hold on him, his fae form was beginning to shine brighter.

At least that’s what he gathered initially, not realizing that the fae mothers–expecting their freedom–had blessed him with their essence despite Nerva’s hold on them. The affinity of all elements was the first thing he noticed as he struggled to bring himself back on his feet. Then came the many skills and abilities, along with a peculiar skill.

’Fae Mother’s Due: All magic flows from them, and such is their wish to take their due. The blessed may borrow, steal, or nullify any magic spell or skill from anyone who’s drawing magic from the fae mothers.’ Raven’s eyes narrowed upon reading the skill description, but as there was a lot to do even now, he couldn’t dwell on it, at least not yet.

“We need to–” About to give an order, Raven noticed Kleismeth’s clones appear behind his companions. Their blades, weapons drawn, and a creepy smile on their faces, they were ready to take advantage of everyone’s surprise and get the upper hand. With weapons on their necks and their other hand waiting to grab them the moment they try to escape, the clones were simply waiting for their goddess’ command. “Why?”

As the hero whispered the last, the goddess herself appeared behind him. Her hand drawn for a strike, she whispered to him in a sinister tone.

“Because I now know that you were never going to leave my soul, and this deal with the devil shows just how far you’re willing to go to defeat us, gods.” She swung her hand to strike the tired hero, fully intent on killing him. But the moment her nails pierced his skin, a fairy’s voice echoed in the background.

“Displacement!” Swapping places with Raven as everyone else was grabbed, the clones couldn’t immediately help; the person who saved him was neither a human nor a horned devil or some witch; instead, it was a fairy–the size of the hero’s palm, her body now cut in two…

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Liliyana screamed, her entire body shaking at the sight.

Others gasped and screamed as well, but one amongst the group looked past the gore and did what had to be done.

“GO TO HELL, YOU ROTTEN MONSTER!” Evangeline’s blade came crashing down on Kleismeth like a meteor crashing into the ground. Shattering her golden flesh and cutting her body right in the middle. The flesh of the goddess instantly tried to heal, but slicing her sideways, the angel of life plucked the goddess’s heart and tore it off the rest of her chest. “I swore to serve the gods, but oath be damned if the gods have become fools like you!”

To the further surprise of everyone, instead of stabbing or crushing the heart, Evangeline, the angel of life, bit through its pounding flesh. A screeching cry came out of Kleismeth’s fallen body, and her golden arms and wings began to thrash. Her skin quickly turned pale, and her blood of gold slowly began to rot.

“W-what, why?” She whimpered, looking into the angel’s eyes.

Spitting the chewed heart on her face, Evangeline revealed why the goddess of foresight couldn’t see this end.

“Because fuck you, rotten to the core. You do not deserve my service, foul filth!” And with that, the angel threw the heart on the ground and stomped through Kleismeth’s flesh as well as her soul.

A beam of golden light erupted from the destruction of a divine deity, rippling through the city as far as the docks. Its vibrations fell the rest of the mansion as well as the buildings all around, leaving nothing but the crumbled roads of Alliance as the only sign that a city used to flourish on these grounds.

Even with her dead, however, there was scarcely any time to celebrate. Not when Will-O lay dead on the ground, and countless others were still in need of a rescuer.

“Another oath broken,” thankfully, however, stepping forward, Evangeline knelt by the fairy and looked up and around at everyone. “I swore not to disturb the balance of life and death, but forgive me for what I’m about to do.”

Looking down again, she gathered Will-O’s lifeless body together and used a spell, or rather a blessing–a blessing Helga immediately recognized.

“Tsk…Aphrodite’s life curse,” she whispered, watching Evangeline casting the same curse on Will-O.

It would bring her back to life as the death blow was a cowardly backstab–something that would not put Helga down or anyone else who was affected by the same. The only way to die for them? To die proudly in battle, and no surprise attack can put an end to them, not as long as the blessing persists.

“Oh mother of life, grant me strengt–” A great beam of green light circled Will-O’s body right before Evangeline fell unconscious beside her. Quickly moving closer, Erika checked the angel, and thankfully, she was still breathing. The same was true for Will-O. Her body was as one again, and her tiny chest rose and fell.

“She might be unconscious for a while…” Erika said, lifting her up and handing her back to Liliyana.

Taking her off the priestess, her hands wet with wiped tears, Liliyana kept Will-O close to her chest before breaking down and crying for a while longer. One amongst them will die, and they did, but it seems the goddess never expected Evangeline to break all oaths and bring the fairy back to life.

’This…has been a mess.’ Thought Raven, still hearing countless voices in his head as the skills and information kept pouring in in the back of his head. Held back by the darkness, the hero’s light was finally unleashed, especially with the fae mothers now on his side, but before their rescue, there was something else in need of doing.

“We need to move,” he said, and as shaken as they were, everyone except Liliyana gave him a nod and agreed.