Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

"Won\'t the angels do something? They have just as free roam as the devil after all," prosed her clone leaning forward to look into the seeing screen. Sneaking a cookie off the tea table as well, the clone nibbled on it like a squirrel just to annoy her master.

"Away from my ear!" Slapping her with the back of her hand, Athenia made the screen disappear.

With a chuckle her clone stood upright, still munching on the cookies and even craving some tea herself. But alas, not allowed to join in, she simply watched Athenia pick up her cup with a stern expression. She was obviously in deep thought, after all a lot had happened since the last time she was able to check up on her chosen.

Diving deep into her foresight she wondered how things would move going forward. The relationships between the party members were stronger than ever, but even so, there was a hint of unbalance, a steam of chaos that threw any and all predictions she could make into a jumble of a mix of nothing whatsoever.

Moving past that topic since there was no clear answer, she admired their growth in such a small span of time, but even now someone like Helga alone was easily able to outmatch them all.

\'She says she fought for my father as a Valkyrie, which should be a testament to her skills, but even so, she was one amongst many generals and if I\'m not wrong she could not be the strongest of the bunch.\' Not many humans or demis survived the last holy war as it was quite literally the bane of elder gods, leaving but the most fierce to fend for themselves in a world that was growing weaker as time went on.

"Speaking of your father~" The giggling sound in front of her pulled Athenia out of her mind. Frowning, she noticed a pink-winged fairy fluttering in front of her eyes. Like a pale rose illuminated, her body carried an innocent charm along with the hint of a flower, Athenia couldn\'t quite put her finger on.

"Who are you?" She asked, stretching a finger and pointing at the girl.

"Who? Me? Memememe?" Bursting into a chuckle, the fairy fluttered around some more before eventually coming down on Athenia\'s finger and giving her a gentle bow. "Cassiopeia–The messenger of the most Radiant star in the night, at your service! Tehe~Tehe~"

"I\'ll give you a cookie if you stop laughing so much," even Athenia\'s clone couldn\'t handle the cheery nature of the fairy.

"COOKIES?!" Cassiopeia\'s eyes twinkled with a starry radiance as she flew right to the clone\'s hand and took the cookie in her arms. Flying to the table with it, she sat down on folded knees and began nibbling on it like a squirrel.

Reminded of the clone\'s similar actions, Athenia looked to her side sighing in defeat.

"What?" The clone muttered, snickering at her master\'s annoyance.

"Maybe I should\'ve gone with a fairy too instead of a clone that\'s a perpetual child…"

"Oh…Doesn\'t that make you my mommy then?" The clone kept towing the line.

Now squinting her eyebrows in rage, Athenia gave her one last chance.

"Another word and I\'m gonna–"

"Another word…" But the clone couldn\'t help herself.

What came next was her snickering being cut short by Athenia\'s snap of a finger and the clone\'s body bursting into liquid gold.

"AGHHH! WHAT HAPPENED?!" Jumping up from the table as gold splattered on her, Cassiopeia flew around rampantly but still didn\'t let go of the cookie.

This time, however, the goddess of death and mockery wasn\'t so lenient. Grabbing the fairy mid-air, she pulled her closer to her face and looked right into her eyes, her body shifting into her dark-winged form. Her hair grew dark from white, her eyes a dead gray from a lively blue, and her dress from that of a seductress to a dignified long dress with feathers and nets around the hems.

"State your purpose or leave before I lose my temper…"

"EEEPPPP!" Feeling life slowly being squeezed out of her by Athenia\'s hand, Cassiopeia didn\'t waste another moment to relay Elenaria\'s message. "My lord Elenaria wants to arrange that meeting with your father that she promised since your chosen have fulfilled their part of the deal!"

Her eyes shut with fear, Cassiopeia expected herself to be in immense pain, but once she was done telling Athenia everything, her grip around her body loosened completely in a matter of a few seconds.

"The meeting with Father…?" Athenia mumbled, her eyes staring into thin air.

"Y-yeah? She promised you, remember?" A bit confused as to what was happening, Cassiopeia flew away from Athenia\'s grasp. "My lady sent me to tell you about your meeting with him, but since you can\'t leave this place–"

Halfway through her sentence, her eyes noticed the cookie she\'d dropped. Flying over to it really quickly, she grabbed it from the flower and fluttered her way up. By this time, Athenia was finally looking like she was back in her mind as she kept staring at Cassiopeia.

"She\'ll let you use her body, but! Just once and if you do anything stupid–" Covering her mouth, Cassiopeia stared back at Athenia with her eyes wide with fear. "These are my lady\'s words, by the way, not mine!"

Moving her hand away completely, she took a deep gulp and finished her thoughts.

"Anyways, she will let you in her domain and in her body. It\'s essentially her way of testing you herself. " If Athenia broke her promise and could no longer be trusted, then the goddess Elenaria wanted to know that now rather than being backstabbed later.

"From my knowledge, many gods wish for your death, and beyond this prison for gods, even if you\'re in the body of my lady, you\'ll be vulnerable and a target for everyone after breaking another god\'s trust."

Hugging the cookie tight, Cassiopeia nodded at Athenia and her body crumbled into pinkish dust. Left in silence, the goddess wondered if she was dreaming. For once her plans were all on mark, and not just that she was soon about to meet her father.

"I…I\'ve been waiting for so long." With nobody left to see her cry, the goddess of death mourned her father once more, sobbing and screaming in her prison eternal.