Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 562: No More A Cosmic Wanderer

In the chaos that ensued from Libya’s tussle with Tariyaan, only Linkle remained by the ruined castle while everyone else was headed through a storm of imps and other monsters gathering to assault them. An army of millions was on their heads, and the witch wasn’t with them but they hadn’t noticed her absence just yet.

The only one accompanying the witch was the devil of seduction. Making her way to the crater from where the head of her body was sticking out, Linkle was met with a knowing smirk by Asmodia. Waving a hand at her, she chuckled before gesturing to the witch to follow her downwards.

A hole had been carved in the cosmic sorceress’s true body. From head to two, it was connected by a spiraling set of staircases, and separated into different floors almost as if her crystalline frame was some sort of castle and not a living breathing organism. Discover hidden tales at NovelBin.Côm

"T-that bastard broke the contract…"

"Of course he did, he’s a devil known for breaking the terms of his deal," Asmodia responded, masking her face with a hand as she chuckled some more.

"What was I even expecting?" Walking down through the marbled floor of her true body, Linkle traced the lines of the wall and in an instant boundless knowledge returned to her. As long as her hand or feet were touching her true self, the witch could reach into the abyss of knowledge–the very core of what had led to her making a deal with Tariyaan in the first place.

’I was so blinded by the pursuit of what’s true and beautiful that I sold my body thinking that at least it wasn’t my soul…’ Regret kept seeping deeper into her heart, and as she walked down into what should’ve been her jaws, she was met with a bar made of crystals mined from her teeth and the jelly-like clear tongue was being used as a serving table for the bar itself.

"He’s wanted to use your body as decor, such a waste don’t you think?" Asmodia murmured, a bit disappointed that Tariyaan’s intentions weren’t something more grand.

"He’s a collector, of course, he did some stupid shit with it." Turning away from the floor, they venture further down through the spiralling staircase that was tightly confined in her throat. Stepping out into the cavity of her chest, Linkle noticed that her torso had been separated into different floors. And the one she currently stood on, had her feminine assets carved until only a fine layer of her breasts was keeping up its shape.

Pipes roamed the section of her body, and it appeared as though Tariyaan had plans to turn her breasts–and more specifically her nipples a fountain. Clicking her tongue to the realization, Linkle wasted no time on the floor and headed for her heart just under the current floor. Upon getting there, she was met with a locked door. Looking to Asmodia, however, she had the devil take care of the lock by creating a key out of illusion and leading them forward.

Once inside, her eyes instantly landed on her pulsing heart. Its beats faint as a whisper, the clear crystalline heart had been dead for years but its last palpations hadn’t ended just yet. Placing a hand against the clear blue flesh, Linkle felt the weight of pure mana that once coursed through her veins instead of blood.

"I’d always heard that cosmic wizards when they die, their bodies hold on for centuries but there’s nothing left in there…" Moving up beside Linkle, even Asmodia was slightly puzzled at how someone’s body could live longer than their consciousness. "First time seeing it be the case up close."

"The Creator didn’t give you a peak when he made us?" Linkle responded, her knowledge more boundless than ever.

Glancing sideways at the witch, Asmodia couldn’t help but smirk.

"And why should I tell you? You will forget about the Creator once we leave this place anyways," in love with the teasing, Asmodia wanted to keep Linkle on the edge.

But to her dismay, the broken sorceress couldn’t care less. She’d lost her body, her only way to the ocean of Stellaris, how could she care for anything? She’d lost everything…

"You have a question, don’t you? That’s why you showed me where my body was," slowly sinking her hand inside the pulsing heart, Linkle grabbed her glimmering soul inside and the moment she pulled it out, the heart finally died. Placing the soul next to her heart, the witch was finally reunited with at least one part of her. "I doubt a devil will do anything without there being something for her to exploit out of the situation."

"Baa~ You cough me ahaha," with a snap of her finger, she conjured two chairs for them to sit down in. Taking her first, Asmodia gestured for Linkle to take a seat as well. "Let’s make this quick shall we, Erika’s probably dying to have her body back and I would prefer to take a break and claim this territory as mine before anyone else."

"You mean the mistress?" Settling in the chair, Linkle crossed her legs and although her attempts to hide her sadness were fierce, it didn’t stop her expressions from contorting every other second.

"Since you’re the all-knowing until we leave and this dead carcass collapses," wearing a smirk on her face, Asmodia lifted her hand between them. Conjuring an illusion of her long-gone lover, Asvaa, she added. "How do you bring back a dead god? They never truly die do they? As long as their souls haven’t been crushed they exist in one way or the other, don’t they?"

Tilting her head sideways, Linkle took a deep dive into her fleeting nearly infinite knowledge.

"Asvaa, the woman who earned you the title of the devil of seduction."

"The goddess, not just any woman…"

"Does it matter anymore?" In a sombre mood, Linkle couldn’t have cared less about Asmodia’s affection towards the goddess of good and evil.

"Just tell me what I wanna know."

"I’m not making any deals with devils anymore."

"This isn’t a deal, witch. I just wanna know where she is or if she’s even alive…"

"If the elder gods killed her, do you even need me to give you an answer?"

The quick conversation came to an abrupt halt. Asmodia knew that it would come to this since the elder gods were more knowledgeable than her in many aspects. And for them to kill a god, or force her to kill herself, they’d snuffed her existence out of the very fabric of being time across many dimensions.

Sitting quietly in the room for a while longer, the two went over their woes and mourned them in silence. But eventually, it was time for them to join with the rest of their companions. While Asmodia stayed behind, Erika was guided by Linkle to the shed. The devil had borrowed some time from her host to contain the third layer of hell, and then perhaps once she had everything under control–it wouldn’t be the imps that lived there, but succubi under the rule of a new primordial.

’Can my body handle having a primordial inside of me if that happens?’ Were the priestess thought, already wondering what kind of new powers she would get from Asmodia’s ascension and whether or not she could handle it at all? But the time for such queries would come later, for while waiting for them, their group was fighting a swarm of a million imps chasing after them.