Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 1008: The Perfect Storm

Golden hands clawed away at Raven’s flesh as he soaked the god’s powers. Restored and kept alive by Athenia and the fae mothers, he focused only on his task as his body burned with an immense divine aura. Illumina and Fiera abated the flames caught on his flesh, but even so, the burn–they could feel it themselves as they were bound to the hero by his very soul.

Hamleth’s screeching howls were the only things they could feel more of. Rattling their teeth and nearly peeling the skin off of the mortals present, the god’s death howl was enough to echo to the very edge of Atlaris. All animals around the capital city were the first to perish, birds prime amongst them as their bodies imploded upon themselves.

Keeping the wound from closing, healing her chosen, and retraining the full extent of Hamelth’s powers was taking everything out of the goddess of life and death. Elanaria was no different, as she was focused on countless souls barely avoiding Athenia on their path towards Hamleth’s body. Even so, the very first soldier of her legion speared through Athenia’s ribbon-like arms and Hamleth’s left lung.

As the air was choked out of him, everyone found the opening they needed. Closing into the light where Raven’s very flesh was burning from the transfer of pure divine energy, Helga was the first to react–however, the moment she conjured a spear other than Gungnir, countless golden portals quickly surrounded all of them.

Not kept closed by Athenia’s arms, the hole in Hamleth’s lung was quickly restored before she could’ve gotten to him. Calling upon his angel for support, the god of law swung his arms wildly and finally managed to free himself. Without waiting for another moment, he reached into the cavity of his wound and grabbed Raven’s body. Helga tried to leap forward, but then came Moeria’s words.

”BEHIND YOU!”

”AGHH!!” Turning mid-air, the valkyrie gritted her teeth at the sight of thousands of deformed angels pouring out of the portals. A handful of them were mere feet away from her, their weapons drawn and mid-swing. ”The only thing I hate more than gods is you lot!”

Arm stretched forward, her spears disappeared back into her dimensional pocket, and although she could feel the struggle behind her, Helga bit her lip and screamed at the top of her lungs.

”HEAVEN’S ARSENAL!” Stripped were the weapons of the angels, and for each of them a new portal was opened. Some still swung their empty fists at the Valkyrie; others were more conscious of what was happening. ”DIE!”

The shrieks of angels filled the air as their own weapons went flying through their hearts. But the weapons themselves didn’t stop there, for once their owner was killed, they flew right into the portals from where they’d come. A few shrieks were heard, and the portals, thousands of them, disappeared–getting rid of the angelic threat, which would’ve been a matter never-ending, was quickly put to rest.

Their troubles, however, were not yet over, for the sky was falling and Moeria was a second too late to warn Helga.

”AGAIN! BEHIND YOU!!”

”Wha–” Mid-turn, the lights were knocked out of the Valkyrie’s eyes. One of the stars had struck her right in the head. A chunk of her gray matter was sloshed through Moeria’s spirit body, knocking the sense out of her while Helga’s body and her own were now in complete free fall.

”NOO!!” Her screams were lost in the perfect storm of commotion, dropping lower and lower with Helga’s blood-gurgling body.

”SHUT UP AND FIGHT!” Reaching for Moeria’s soul, Elanaria–the mistress of the dead spirits - snatched her away from Helga’s dying body. Holding her by the arm, she forced the girl to look at the countless stars stabbing through Hamleth and even Raven’s body. ”She’ll be fine; a surprise kill won’t keep her dead. She can only die in an honest battle, or did you forget that part of Aphrodite’s curse?”

”It’s your stupid stars!”

Right at that moment, Hamleth’s body tensed from a strike directly destroying one of his hearts. The light was knocked out of him at last, but even so, as his body went limp, the stars kept falling, and Elanaria made the one decision that was better than continuing this standstill.

”Athenia! Let go of him! And Raven, get out of there; I will crush him to a fine red mist!” In the time it took for her to yell out commands, Hamleth awoke screaming once more. His hand was still gripped tight around Raven’s body, but something was stopping him from pulling him out directly.

”PESKY RAT!” He grunted, drawing his fist out and throwing a punch right into his wound’s cavity.

This time, however, the shattering force of his fist struck right into Raven’s back. Yet despite feeling a portion of his spine crumbling, the hero held firm with arms of darkness as well as all the elements anchoring him to the inside of the god’s body.

”YOU’RE THE FUCKING RAT, YOU COCKY BASTARD! WE COULD’VE MADE A DEAL AND NOBODY HAD TO DIE! BUT YOU COULDN’T HELP YOURSELF, AND YOU LITTLE EGO, COULD YOU?! BUT GUESS WHAT? THIS WORLD IS NOT GONNA HATE YOU; WE’RE JUST GOING TO FORGET YOU, BECAUSE I’D BE DAMNED IF I LET THE MEMORY OF A SORRY BASTARD LIKE YOU STRENGTHEN THE DEMON LORD! AND I’D BE DAMNED IF I ALLOW MONSTERS LIKE YOU TO TREAT US MORTALS LIKE PAWNS IN YOUR HOLY WARS!”

”YOU INSOLEN–HAAA!!!”

”NOW DIE!” In that moment, Hamleth’s heart ceased to beat, for the hero of Athenia had ripped them out of his body–although the freeing of the god’s soul and its capture within his fist, from one of them, had burned his left hand to an impossible degree.

The stars too cascaded over the plateau, and with no time to help him escape, Athenia and Elenaria did what they could to protect Raven, but in the end, all they could do was watch as Hamleth fell and Raven along with him.