Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Making their way to the throne room as Raven had ordered them to, Erika and Regalia walked side by side. Mostly focused on their task, there was little room for distraction and yet even so, Erika couldn't help but think back to how Regalia was the only one who didn't attack the keeper directly after its body was pinned. She rushed the steps in her moment of bravery, but something stopped her from completing the act. What could that have been? Erika had a pretty good idea and since they were alone there was no better time than now to ask.

"You froze up against the keeper for a moment, never fought one before?" She asked, glancing sideways at Regalia as the two continued to walk the now empty halls.

"I've heard of them," looking at Erika as well, Regalia pressed her lips shut for a moment before heaving a sigh and adding to her words. "Never fought one before, always a horror or two but a keeper? No never. And seeing how it tricked you guys, I don't ever wanna fight another one of them again."

"They can be trickery to deal with, yes, this was only our second time running into one actually," Erika responded, her hands gesturing about in the air.

As the conversation came to a halt, the sound of their footsteps echoed in their ears. The halls had turned empty after the keeper's death and the skeletons were but dust and bones scattered throughout the floor. Yet something felt off and both the girls could sense it before they were even close to the throne.

Trying to distract herself from the eerie feeling, Regalia turned her gaze to Erika and decided to ask her a question.

"What's with Maria? Why couldn't you heal her?" Having little to no knowledge of the ex-queen's past, the wolf-girl was unaware that she lacked a soul. She had some clue as to what was happening, but the entire picture was far from view. Find your next read on empire

Glancing back at Regalia, her lips curled into a grimace, Erika wondered whether or not she should extend that knowledge for it was not her who would be affected but Maria if more and more people knew.

"You should ask her when she wakes up, I can't tell you," shifting her gaze to the front, the priestess picked the pace and started walking up ahead. "I don't think she would like that. Besides we should be more worried about Elana, she didn't stick around for long after getting hit after all. Who knows, maybe she's already dead?"

Staring at the priestess's back, Regalia could sense the lie in Erika's words. Both of them knew that a djinn couldn't be killed so easily as she was more of a spiritual creature than one made of pure flesh and capable of dying from physical injuries.

"I'm sure she's fine," Regalia responded, and although the wolf-girl couldn't see, Erika smiled weakly–knowing that she was probably right.

"Anyways, let's just check on the keeper and get back to the rest, yeah?" Thinking of the keeper, Erika remembered Raven getting a core of concentrated souls inside the corpse of the last one they'd killed. "Hmm, we might be able to get something out of this trip after all, huh…"

As she took a left turn into the throne room, however, that hope quickly shattered at the sight of what she just witnessed. Winged creatures, a dozen of them were crowding to the throne around the keeper. Grabbing its body, a handful stood under a halo of golden light with their wings spread wide and ready to soar upwards. But then, walking up beside Erika, the wolf-girl got their attention.

"What happened? Why are you–" As her head turned to face the angels Regalia's heart seized its beating. Abominable creatures, as hideous as the horrors were staring right back at them, their minds and bodies just as frozen, but not for long and recognizing just that, in the nick of time, Erika conjured a water shield.

"GAUHHAHAHA!" The screaming sound of an angel downing the appearance of a flower made of flesh with arms and legs was headed towards the two. Dampened by the shield, it blocked the strike but pushed the two back a few inches.

As the scream died, however, the water shield rippled like the waves of the ocean and the moment Erika let it down so that they could run, the angels–every single one of them began to scream and were headed right in their direction.

"RUN!" Screamed the priestess but Regalia didn't have to be told as she was already gone from behind and much up ahead. "SHIT! DON'T LEAVE ME YOU IDIOT!"

Taken over by anxiety, she began running in her gown, but as it hindered her movement, Erika allowed Asmodia's powers to take over. Turning into mist, she quickly caught up to Regalia, all the while the angels kept slamming into walls, pillars, and every single obstacle behind them. Their screeches echoed through the halls as the girls finally reached the infirmary where both Maria and Monty were being kept.

"EVERYONE GET OUT! WE GOT ENEMIES ON OUR TAIL!" Screaming outside the room, Erika turned around to face the coming angels. She didn't want to go inside because there was far too much of a risk of injuring the unconscious and with the teleportation necklace not in Raven's possession, the only thing left for them to do was fight off Batimos' angels.

"What's going on?!" Rushing out to her voice, Raven questioned Erika while the rest gathered behind him, but before she could speak a word, the screeching sounds coming from the angel told the party everything they needed to know.

Moving to the head of the group while cursing under his breath, Raven watched as the angels approached like rabid dogs rushing in their direction. Some walked on four limbs, the others floated in mid-air, but the worst were the blobs of flesh barely having any coherent structure in their bodies. Dragging themselves along or skipping tiles like slimes, those creatures had to go first.

"Get ready!" Raven commanded and without a question, the party leapt into action.