Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

It had been a few days and Athenia had finally calmed down a little. However, burdened with responsibility, she was already on track to getting herself into a headache. The encounter between Linkle and the devil, she'd seen it with her own eyes, and since it wasn't just something she could ignore, her mind was racing for a potential explanation about what was happening.

"Not something we can decipher ourselves, is it?" Spoke the clone on her left.

Looking at the angelic depiction of herself from the edge of her eyes, she clicked her tongue before turning her gaze to the clone on her right. Her dark wings spread wide, and a devious smile forever plastered on her lips, the clone on her right was far more to her liking.

As for herself, she'd taken the form of her regular self–much similar to Aphrodite but not her or the angelic depiction that she was supposed to be either.

Raven and the party had already seen her in that form but had been unable to spy any vastly distinguishing features.

"Asmodia, come…" Shifting her attention to the front, she decided to ask a devil for help.

A moment of silence lingered in the darkness but then emerging through a crimson mist of clouds the devil of seduction appeared before her with a faint smile. Having somewhat recovered from her own grief, Asmodia too was finally in the mood to get some work done.

"What do you need help with, my sweet devilish lady?" Seeing the angel and a devil of her own self standing by Athenia's shoulders, Asmodia already had a good clue as to what was going on within the goddess's mind. She was conflicted more than ever, and not about something external but rather her own pitiful self.

'Any devil can sniff out self-doubt from a mile away, but this screams like a cry for help. Too bad she had nobody else here to help.' Walking up close to Athenia's throne, Asmodia sat down on the steps and glanced up at the goddess waiting for her to say whatever she had in mind.

"I was watching over Linkle and she–"

"You wanna know what devil she struck a deal with?" Knowing the heart's true desire was Asmodia's second nature, even if that heart was that of a god.

Although she wasn't quite fond of a devil seeing through her, Athenia decided not to sour the moment and instead focused on the task at hand.

"Yes, I wanna know everything about her and this devil she has a deal with," she demanded, despite knowing that a contract with a devil wasn't something just anyone could look through.

"A few devils come to mind, especially since most of the others suck their own dicks or rape the sinners all day," looking through her memories of the brief moment after she was awoken and pulled out of the hells, Asmodia remembered but a few of the devils being powerful enough for having consumed a thousand souls. "And amongst them, one stands out the most."

Tilting her head in curiosity, Athenia enquired.

"And who would that be?" With a hum, Asmodia glanced back up and looked around at all three faces that looked exactly like the goddess before speaking up.

"He's a collector, Tariyaan–the devil with the third shadow hand," reminding herself of his tales, Asmodia fell in deep thought for a whole minute. But as she came back to her senses, her eyes fluttered and looked at Athenia and added. "They say any deal he makes, he shakes on it with his shadow hands.

It's invisible most of the time, but when making a deal it acts like a false promise or rather leeway in the contract giving him more than enough room to bend the rules to his liking even after the contract has been signed."

"A fraudster?" Mused the dark-winged clone.

"A crook deserving of non-believer's souls…" Spoke the white-winged clone right after.

"Shut up both of you!" Yelling at them both, Athenia shut them in an instant. The clones reflected her conflicting sides, but given their contrasting nature, it was easier for her to isolate each side, and then discard them equally so she could think for herself without being influenced by either of them.

'I can't believe I'm saying this, but I prefer the teasing clone to these uptight idiots.' Getting back to Asmodia, she pursued the matter further.

"Can he be a threat?" She asked, resting her chin over her thumb.

"Easily, one of the most secretive devils with a network that stretches–" taking a brief pause in the middle of the sentence, Asmodia widened on a pretentious smile. "That even stretches to the gods' inner circles, most of which was set up before any of you were even born yet."

"That's curious…" Leaning back into her throne, Athenia pondered over the thought.

'If he does have spies in the ranks of gods or at least amongst their servants, he can prove to be a great ally.

But at the same time, if he can slip underneath the noses of everyone, then there's no doubt he'll try to do the same to me if I tried.' The risk greatly outweighed the reward, and unlike Asmodia who had nothing to condemn Athenia for, the very fact that Tariyaan had spies around gods, meant that he was actively looking for trouble.

"Wise choice, goddess. I wouldn't trust him to file my nails much less in a rebellion against your fellow gods," Asmodia murmured, quite impressed that Athenia didn't just jump at the opportunity.

Nodding back at Asmodia, Athenia thought the whole conversation over in her head for a moment before heaving a sigh and looking at the devil once again.

"Keep an eye on that witch for me, will you?" She requested, ready to let her go back to Erika's side.

Getting off the stairs, Asmodia shrugged her shoulders and agreed with a head bob. Turning around to get a few steps away from the throne to leave, she was stopped hallways through her disappearing process.

"Oh and!" As she turned around, she found a look of concern in Athenia's eyes–one that to her surprise closely resembled empathy. "I…I'm sorry about what I said about you and your lover. I–Just talked without thinking."

Having felt her own heartache not long ago, Athenia was finally coming to realize how cruel her words could be, even those that she was supposed to be working with. And although even now, her eyes were downcast and unable to look Asmodia in her eyes as she apologized, seeing as how her apology was sincere, Asmodia beamed her a gentle smile and forgave her before leaving.

"Thank you, that truly means the world to me…" Blasphemy it may have been for Aphrodite, but Athenia–at least for now, was far more forgiving about Asmodia's love.