Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 692: Those Who Lurk In The Dark

Never did I think that I would run into another daughter of my companions. I thought them to be extinct, their blood lost to the passage of time and their memories dust–only ever remembered as one of the heroic souls that fought alongside Nightsilver. But what do we have here now? Another tormented soul who doesn’t recognize the curse of her flesh. Oh, how pitiful, if I could, I would reach through the unbeing of purgatory and remind her, what rancid purpose her ancestry served.

But alas, bound to chains as a monster, doomed to witness the passage of eternity, the only thing I can do is watch the girls fight amongst themselves. At least one of them knew about their curse; the other? She remained pitifully unaware of her true self.

’To sleep once more, you wrech–conserve your power, you’ll need it soon enough.’ And so with a flutter of her web-strung eyelids, the lurker in the dark went back to sleep. Yet the very sight that she was meant to witness kept playing in front of her eyelids, a grand disgruntlement that she could barely do anything about.

Gathered in front of the girl being purged of her power in her sleep, the hero of now watched closely as Avarice’s body began to glow from the sheer amount of mana that she was consuming. Her eyes had turned from a crimson red to a silver blue, and they radiated light with such intensity that her eyelids were being constantly frozen before being steamed away by her heating mechanisms.

It was then that it happened, something bright burst through the clone’s chest and sent everyone flying against the walls. Avarice was flung the furthest, and all that mana that she had consumed was sucked right out of her in a matter of half a second. As the mana plunged back into the clone’s body, she woke up with a gasp, and it quickly turned into blood-spitting coughs.

Her voice instantly grew hoarse, and from the wet sound coming out of her throat, it was clear that she was choking on her own blood. Falling off the bed and hitting her head against the hard floor, she burst the flesh right above her eyebrows and cursed.

”AGHH-FUCK!!” Choking on her own blood, she gasped for breath while her body desperately rolled around on the floor.

Getting up from the ground, everyone was confused about what was happening, but just watching the clone struggling to stay alive, Raven knew he had to do something, for if the power were still within her, her death would kill them all.

”Erika, save her now!” He ordered, looking at the priestess.

With a quick nod, Erika rushed right over to the girl and began casting numerous healing spells. In the meantime, Raven motioned for the others to stay in the room before grabbing Mono’s hand and dragging her along to find Avarice, who’d been flung out of the room. Chasing after her, they found part of the railing on the corridor torn up as if her body had shot right through it. Looking down from the torn gap, they saw Avarice lying on the floor under them.

”Jump!” Without waiting even a second, Raven jumped down and brought Mono with him. The queen, caught by surprise, almost fell on her face, but clinging onto the hero’s jacket, she managed to keep herself from hitting the floor.

”Warn me next time, damn it!” Jerking herself away from Raven, the queen rolled her eyes and scoffed. But with Raven standing right in front of her creation and her eyes lingering on him, she couldn’t stay mad for long and instead decided to deactivate Avarice right then and there after all.

As for the heart...

’It’s time for you to rest, girl. I’ll put you back into your body and bury you in the royal cemetery.’ Not having the heart to hand her family a dead body, that too with a decaying heart, Mono had decided to bury the girl and allow her family to live in the castle with whatever job title they’d want. ’I doubt they’re the kind to accept charity, so a job will have to do. Besides, they would’ve been living in a noble’s mansion if the father had gotten that job he was talking about.’

Tapping her chest a few times, Mono let out Aperion, and the machina quickly began dissecting Avarice’s chest. Thankfully, being unconscious, the battle model couldn’t fight back, and it only took as much time for it to take out the heart as it did for Erika to heal the clone in Mono’s bedroom. Once done, Amedith called out for the two from the upper floor. Handing the heart over to Grace, whom she’d called in a while ago, Mono followed Raven upstairs, and finally, as they reached her room, it was time to ask the clone some questions.

Having just escaped the cold grip of death, her body was quivering despite being wrapped in a warm blanket. Her eyes wandered about restlessly, and although her thoughts were somewhat clear, her senses were disorienting with numerous instances of the same stimuli attacking, echoing in her head over and over again.

”Are you finally gonna talk?” Asked Mono, her expression tinged with sourness.

”What?”

”I SAID, WILL YOU TALK NOW?!” Screaming into the clone’s face, she charged right at her and grabbed her by her collar. Shaking her body while the others watched, she really wanted to slap the girl, but looking at her in a body most akin to her true form, it felt like she was staring at her past self. ”Fuck...”

Shoving her onto her back, the queen stepped back and glanced over at the priestess.

”I’m assuming she’s gonna be fine, right?”

”Can’t be sure, her body didn’t like the healing spells that I cast on her.”

”T-that’s because our mana is different...” Picking herself up again, the clone looked between the priestess and the model-us. ”Our bodies are made of different dust, our souls are different, and the same goes for everything we’re made of. Just trying to breathe in this world has been a struggle.”

”Then why the fuck did you come here?” Mono shot back, and to her question, everyone’s gaze turned to the clone.

Feeling the pressure of everyone’s attention–the woman, although hesitant to speak, being even more hesitant to die at this point–decided to speak up.