Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

The necroflower was gone, two of the necklaces made of Athenia's nails had been used, and the rifle held by Choux was in tatters and bits from being crushed in Aran's dragon hand. Thankfully, Daema, who was also squeezed within his fingers, survived, even though his limbs and wings were left in a terrible condition.

Barely conscious of herself, Choux glanced across the flooded church as the rest of the party gathered inside. Gathering around Raven as he'd crashed on the floor, Erika and the rest were busy healing him, while she was left in Mono's hands. Turning her head to the left, she noticed the iron queen's body unfolding at her like a crab's pincer. Revealing her internals, the valves, the wires, and the pumping blue heart with a soul, she was working on saving her with a pair of delicate iron tools emerging from within.

"Wh-wha…going on?" She asked, staring into the beaming golden gaze of the automaton.

Smiling with a set of ivory teeth and bulging big eyes, Mono chuckled as a faceless creature while slicing through Choux's thighs. Unaware of the pain, the fox-girl had no clue what the queen was doing, but as she slowly glanced down at herself, the sight of blood snatched her breath. Her legs were twisted at an angle they shouldn't and the blood around them muffled her already dreamy vision.

"Log update: Administering more sedative, five milligrams to the nether region and two directly to spinal," keeping a log of everything as she performed surgery on Choux just as she would while taking apart human hearts to turn into automatons, Mono ensured that no information was lost and if any mistakes were performed they could be shortlisted later on. Once done making the log, she moved her hand over Choux's eyes and began injecting the fox-girl with the sedative. "Sleep little girl, you don't want to be awake right now."

Putting her to sleep, Mono continued with the operation, all the while, everyone else was helping Raven get up from the ground after administering him with a dose of healing magic.

"H-head count…did you do a headcount?" As soon as he was up on his feet, the first thing in his mind was to ensure everyone's safety. Leaning into Regalia's arms, he glanced around counting everyone one by one, and that's when he noticed that at least three people were missing. "Where's Amedith and Liliyana?"

Although Arche too was missing, he assumed that even if she was okay, there was no way she could fit inside the ruined church.

"They're still at the beach, we can check on them again in a bit, but first! Sit down!" Mel urged, grabbing him by the shoulders and forcefully making him sit in a chair.

Moments passed, and the mage fell into slumber; sitting upright and leaning into Regalia's chest. With the beat of her heart his lullaby, Raven began dreaming of falling into white light in an instant. Wrapped in the warmth of the furry hands and bosom of the wolf-girl, he was moved to a bed while the others continued to work on clearing up the church and getting it back into working condition.

There was much to do before the inhabitants of Elanavia and Lantherem could be brought back to this island and start a new civilization built not on lies or illusionary deception but under the watchful gaze of a goddess that would look after them as long as they remained devout.

"I'll get the remaining water out, you guys should start bringing the people back," taking charge of the situation while Raven was asleep, Erika began using her water magic to empty the water inside the church.

"I'll go with one of the rings to Aranuvia, you guys can teleport to me and help me get those people in line too…" Volunteering to sail to Aranuvia so that the islanders would be informed of their king's fate, Regalia stepped up for the voyage, expecting a retaliation yet willing to take the risk.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Wait until the girl gets up, she can lead us to the island better," Linkle suggested to the wolf-girl and Regalia agreed.

The rest of the party took the shovel and started working on clearing the ruined houses so that the incoming traffic of people could be housed in them temporarily. Apart from housing, the fields required divine intervention, and recognizing that, Athenia had decided to aid the party with a handful of angels–one of whom happened to be the same winged warrior that had pulled Raven out of purgatory.

As soon as her feet touched the soil–like a heartbeat a wave of golden light rippled throughout the ground. The longer she stood on the ground, the more fertile the lands grew until eventually the water had seeped into the ground and flowers and crops began blooming, brightly. As if that wasn't enough, she commanded her fleet to take root inside trees, plants and even rocks. Just as the false priest had protected this land from falling into the hands of another god, they too will protect it from any adversary that stands against their goddess.

Planting her spear on the now flourishing land, she peered into the skies and surrendered herself as the land's last guardian.

"Do not be afraid of death for the soul is eternal," taking a deep breath, she could feel her toes turning into stones and the transformation further encroaching upwards. "You are the righteous, you are the pawn of the supreme, death is your reward, not the punishment, and dare any deny you in your duty has sinned under the heavens."

Closing her eyes, she allowed the petrification to take hold of her face, but just as her lips were turning to stone, she breathed another sentence.

"For the alpha and the…" Her lips however turned to stone before she could finish her sentence.

'It is done…'

Thought the goddess her eyes staring into the mirror and at the seraph who'd petrified herself in her name. Even so, despite her devotion, her last words…she knew she'd heard them before, by a devil she was close with.

'Asmodia mentioned the creator before with that same line.'

Leaning back into her throne, she couldn't help but wonder. Stay connected through empire

'Who is he? This alpha and the omega?'

None would answer her for it had been deemed necessary for Athenia and the other gods to know.

And when no answer came to her head, the goddess turned her attention back to the untangling of the mess at Lantherem. Still, the people of both islands had to be moved, still, they needed to be pursued to praise her, but most of all, still did the devil Tariyaan needed to be taken care of–something she couldn't wait for, as he'd been a burden far too long for her liking.

Thankfully for her, everyone else in the hero's party felt pretty much the same.