Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 738: The Angel And The Favored Lady

The lurker in the dark, a creature of purgatory, trapped within the timelessness of the abyss, is and has been an ancestor of the fox-girl, Choux. She’d never willed any harm to fall on her granddaughter, but upon sensing her weapon being fired, upon sensing her magic being used without her permission and by something who didn’t carry her blood? She shrieked so loud the mother fairies had to pluck their ears, and the corpse of Nerva twitched a little, making waves upon waves of chaos upon the seas.

The very first to notice these disturbances was the radiant angel who had been turned into an idol on Lantherian soil. To protect the land and the people of her goddess’ faith, she had been lying in wait for when the heroes were busy, and it came to the angels to perform some miracles. And so, as her statued body turned back into flesh, the angel pointed her sword forward and carved a slit through reality. Peering into the abyss through the tear, she felt the lurker in the dark peering right back into her.

Sparing just a moment to look around at the blooming flowers, she cast her gaze to the field workers, each too stunned by her radiance to continue to work. Bowing her head, she flicked her golden lashes and unfurled her wings. The very dust that fell through her feathers greened their field long before the crops were due.

”I shall soon return, but fret not, followers of life for my companions shall remain even in my absence...” As the angel lifted her head, the people staring at her were already down on their knees with their hands bound in adoration. ”I am but her sword, mortals. You have no reason to bow to me. For it is your service that grants you this reward that is my duty to her people.”

And with that, the angel turned around and walked through the tear in the realms. Passing through the fabric, she heard many praises being chanted for her goddess, but with a heavy burden on her shoulders, the radiant angel couldn’t spare a moment to relish in such favored zeal.

Instead, peering down in the dark, she found herself face-to-face with the withering monster of a soul, a woman who used to be one of the late hero’s closest aides. But now, betrayal of her service by the people of today and those who’ve written history without her name, she’d grown more and more bitter by each passing day.

”You felt that, didn’t you?!” She screeched, her pin-like teeth lunging at the angel.

Barely missing the beast peaking out from the darkness of the abyss, the angel pulled out her sword from her sheath and directed it at her.

”Defy the natural order of things and you shall pay with annihilation, my favored lady...”

”FAVORED?! FAVORED?!” Gritting her teeth, the lurker began grinding them together until about a thousand of them broke off from her gums. Stuck between her other teeth, the broken pieces fused themselves back to her jaws just as the abyss had fused itself with the woman. ”HOW IN THE WORLD DOES BEING BOUND IN A PRISON OF ETERNITY IMPLIES THAT I’M FAVORED BY ANYONE!?”

”You are a prisoner of your own making, my lady,” lowering her sword, the angel stared into the shocked eyes of the lady, ”Your actions are partially responsible for the late hero’s demise and though you hold guilt since that rainy day, the passing of his soul deems all paths to forgiveness, null and void.”

Recoiling into the darkness like a tortoise recoiling into its shell, the lurker’s eyes gleamed with regret and fear, but what followed next was the same arrogance as always.

”The elder gods lied to us! YOU KNOW THAT!”

”Indeed, I do,” taking a brief pause, the angel sheathed her weapon, ”But it is not their orders that I follow, but the Creator’s. And his will dictates in plain words–for the primordial devils and the arch angels–that we must maintain the order no matter what deity gains authority over us.”

”The Creator this, the Creator that, WHO THE HELL IS HE–”

”SILENCE!” Cutting off the lurker with a stern voice for once, the angel drew her sword once more and swung it in front of her body. ”I, ARCHANGEL EVANGELINE, THE WINGED SERAPH OF LIFE! I SHALL NOT TOLERATE ANOTHER WORD OF HERESY AGAINST OUR MASTER!!”

For once, there was contempt in her eyes. Evangeline was, in the crudest of ways, pissed by the lurker in the dark. Seeing such a radiant example of grace yelling at the top of her lungs with her fists clenched on the handle of her blade, the lurker simply watched, unable to comprehend just what kind of master could garner such loyalty.

”Your master, he never saved our people–”

”Lady, do not say another word...” Interjecting once again, Evangeline scrunched her nose and stared at the monster with bloodshot eyes. ”You have no idea what they have done for you, what they have done for us all. If only you knew–”

Placing a hand on her chest, the angel closed her eyes with a hic. Shaking her head ever so little, she took a deep breath and sighed.

”I beg of you, my lady, please don’t make me do this,” returning to her roots by conquering her rage, Evangeline opened her eyes and begged, ”Slumber in silence, do not stir the world beyond this plane.”

Sheathing her sword, she added.

”I know your regrets, I know why you did what you did, and so it would be a shame if I had to come back and drive my blade through what little remains of your already twisted soul.”

Silence returned to the abyss of purgatory. The lurker may have become a monster from a long time spent in this prison, but deep within, she still remained a human and being a woman at that, she felt something strange, something common between her and the angel. Even so, with a hollow voice that rivals the gnarliest of beasts, she asked with a hint of mockery.

”If you know my regrets, then why don’t you tell your goddess the truth about the demon lord?” But to her question, the angel didn’t respond. Instead, keeping her eyes glued to the lurker, she remained until the rage within her settled and the monster of a woman returned to the dark. Defeated not by some angel, but by her own humanity that still lurked in the dark.

’I’ll pray you find acceptance within yourself and move on from this prison of your own making, my favored lady.’ And despite being insulted again and again, the angel prayed for the mortal before returning to Lantherem and taking back her statued form.

Her visit that day remained a secret from Athenia, and since the people who saw Evangeline weren’t that important at all, the goddess would never know about the conversation that she and the lurker had. Perhaps that was for the better, at least for now...