Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Archangel Death stands sentinel in front of the goddess of death. Its fingers firm on its scythe, he stared at the woman smiling back at death itself. Athenia was not afraid of the creature, for there may come a time when it comes for her, but for now, it answered to her and not the other way around.

"The seed of chaos has taken its root…" A hollow voice grumbled from within the colossal angel. It held a grit only a skeleton of its size could muster. Stretching a hand over the goddess, it placed just a gentle finger on top of her. "Now is your time to answer my call."

Brushing its finger off of her head, Athenia scoffed.

"I answer to no skeleton unless it's my father. Now go on, shush, shoo~ Run back to land between dimensions and harvest those pretty little souls to put through the meat grinder of reincarnation." Driven by instincts and her authority over death, Athenia mocked the angel some more. She wasn't exactly trying to get a rise out of the colossal; instead, it was her own way of showing dominance over the other person.

From the looks of it, with the angel's retreating finger, it appeared to have worked. Even so, standing tall, the skeleton refused to leave just yet.

"Whether you like it or not, you must make a decision!" Its voice firm yet not exactly aggressive or raging, the scythe wielder slammed the staff of its weapon on the ground and declared with its voice echoing a thousand times over. "THE DEMON LORD HAS TAKEN ITS ROOTS YET AGAIN AND NOW YOU MUST HERALD THE APOCALYPSE OR DOOM THIS WORLD TO REPEAT THE CYCLE OF TRAGEDY ONCE MORE!"

Staring up at the angel with her legs crossed and her eyes angrily squinting, the goddess knew what the creature was asking from her, but it wasn't like she really had a choice.

"Why are you even here?"

Lowering its head, the angel leaned forward and cast Athenia's body in its dark and burning shadow. An acrid green mist whiffed out of its coat, something not even the goddess of life could endure without wincing.

"As a reminder. A reminder that all that exists is doomed to fall to my scythe, even you, goddess. Even this world, but for now, as the lord of death, the decision falls on you." Pulling itself back, the creature stood straight again. "Now answer me. Will you purge this world and start anew? Or will the suffering of these poor souls continue?"

"A tempting choice indeed, won't you say, skeleton?" Rolling her eyes, Athenia leaned forward on her knees. "Not like you have anything to lose in the bargain. It's easier for you to see the struggles of mortals as their tragedy, but what you don't realize."

Conjuring the seeing mirror, Athenia watched her city from up above. Struggling her people might be, but even in their darkest hours, there was hope buried deep within their hearts.

"Is that unlike us immortals, tragedy scars them, but it also makes them stronger."

"Any life that festers on a corpse is no different than a maggot." Referring to Nerva as the corpse and the people as the maggots in a neutral tone, the angel spoke in absolution with no opinion of its own. "But, you trapped within the corpse's mind, you can reshape this world into something new–something far greater without Nerva and her nightmares."

"And destroy every living creature with it?" Looking up, Athenia smirked once more. "Maybe father should've imprisoned me in your head instead. Doesn't seem like it's occupied by a brain. More room to stretch my legs, too, I bet."

For once, the archangel grumbled in mild frustration.

"Then your answer is to allow their suffering to continue?"

"Oh, so you do have a brain?" With a chuckle, Athenia tapped a finger on her right temple. "You should use it more often, or those maggots might just eat the rest of your head as well."

"You mock me while the fate of the world hangs in balance?" Slamming its scythe on the ground in anger, the angel lowered its head closer to Athenia again. Bringing it close enough for the goddess to peer into the hollowness that was contained within its eyes, it added. "Their suffering knows no bounds, for as long as the dead goddess Nerva allows that monster called the demon lord to come back again and again, no matter how many times he's defeated."

"I'll find a way, skeleton." Reaching out to the ancient bones of the angel, Athenia pushed it away from her face. "Now remind me again, who answers to whom? Was it me to you? Or you to me? Hmm? Oh wait…that's right. You answer to me, not the other way around!"

A moment of quiet passed between the two as the angel pulled itself away from the goddess. It stared at her, and she stared right back, and to her surprise, the creature, instead of getting mad, cackled to itself. With a twitching eye, Athenia was left confused, but not letting it have the upper hand, she kept her expression masked with confidence.

However, that too she didn't have to do for long, as just before disappearing into the darkness of her prison, the archangel whispered to her.

"Your father was right. You're too stubborn, and now, thanks to you, I owe Nightlord something of value." A strange sense of humor Athenia's father had, but as the angel disappeared, even she couldn't help but laugh at just how much he'd prepared for the future.

"I wish you were still here…" Athenia said to herself as her laughter died down.

Having seen his very soul crumbling into dust, however, she knew that at least in this world and this timeline, that wasn't possible.

'Maybe in another lifetime…' As she sat there alone in the silence, it only now struck her that to destroy the world and herald the apocalypse, she could've freed herself from Nerva's head prison. Despite that, not even for a moment was she tempted to go back on her word, not that the archangel of death would let her anyway.