Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 265: A Father’s Love - Part 1

"You've been looking for Mother's soul?" Squinting her eyes at her father's reasoning for wandering through the stars, Athenia felt her mouth growing a little sour. Rolling her eyes as she fanned her hand carelessly to the side, she leaned forward on the table and glanced into her father's burning eyes. "Why are you so worried about that whore? She's the damned reason everyone hates me!"

"That's not true, Athenia."

"She abandoned me, Father," slamming her fist against the table, the goddess jolted herself out of her rude behavior. Shutting her eyes for a moment, she took a deep breath before talking to Murdok again. "She never abandoned a child, never, except for me.

The others treated me as an outcast, they still do and that's the only reason you trapped me in that prison because you knew that my own siblings hate me, that they wanna kill me the first chance they can get, and trust me they've tried!"

Unable to hold her anger, Athenia squeezed her fist quivering for revenge. But alas, with her father present, she decided to calm herself a little.

"Why did you even choose her to bore you heir?" She asked, leaning her head to the side.

Curious as to what he saw in that wretched goddess, she stared into his eyes searching for an honest answer. For a while, Murdok sat in silence, his hands moving across the table to take Athenia's hand in his own.

"Because I knew that she'd give birth to you, the greatest joy of my life. That is why I chose her," easing her fists while Athenia stared at him frozen by his words, he uncurled her fingers and rubbed them gently for warmth. "Athenia, my daughter…You have no idea how much I love you, and sure she may not have shared the same passion, but she's the mother who bore you."

Slipping her fingers away from his grapes, her eyes fluttered behind the crescent moon. No longer sure what to think, she kept staring at her father before eventually deciding to speak up.

"I still hate her," to her words, he cackled before settling back into his chair.

"You don't have to love her back, that was supposed to be earned not expected without responsibility," smiling, the lord of death lowered his gaze for a moment. Letting himself a moment of thought, he sighed and turned his attention back to his daughter.

"Athenia, I believe you have questions, but all I can offer are warnings," already knowing what would follow after they'd caught up, Murdok wasn't too happy about what he had to say.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, noticing the obvious hints of worry on his bony face.

"No…Everything is as it should be, even so, I worry for you, for what you have to go through and what you will go through as well," though he knew her future, he couldn't hand it to her on a silver platter, and even if he did she wouldn't understand anything at all. "You're young, far too much so.

I wish I could've helped you grow into the fine lady that you were meant to be, but my death has parted us forever."

Shifting forward in her chair, Athenia anxiously squeezed her father's hand.

"You're worried about something, don't hide it! Tell me, I'll do anything to help I'll–"

Placing a finger on her lips, Murdok sealed her lips again. Smiling at her, he gave her time to calm down before finally letting out what he had in mind.

"Tell me Athenia, what should the current gods of the world be most worried about?" Although a bit confused by the shift in conversation, Athenia gave it a moment of thought.

"Each other?"

"No, obsolescence…and," taking a brief pause, Murdok added. "Humans, above every other race."

"Humans?" Her eyes squinted in doubt, Athenia was almost disappointed that the serious matter that her father was worrying over was such a feeble race. "What do you mean?"

Having no clue how to even process his fear, she nervously chuckled hoping that he would join in to conclude his joke. Instead, however, he kept staring at her blankly, and the next words that left his mouth had her growing doubt.

"Razor, Helga, and Markus, you've met them all haven't you?" He asked, his voice far grumblier than before.

"Helga and Markus, yes, but who is Razor?" She asked, having never been allowed to eardrop on any conversation with the immortal human.

"He's amongst the many humans who fought with me, you probably know him as the mortal immortal or the man who freed that devil fae," finally the name meant something to Athenia, but even so she wasn't sure where Murdok was taking this conversation. That is until he spoke once more, confirming the claims once made by the undying human. "He once killed a god, took his powers, and fought alongside me.

Chronos was a rival god who was a bit too arrogant, far too much for that human's liking."

Still struggling to believe that a human could kill a god, Athenia's mind was racing for an alternative explanation. But since those claims were coming from a dead god, that too her father, she couldn't simply brush them off as she'd done when Razor had barged into her prison.

"He was a foot soldier, a mere one of many. Not particularly strong but like a cockroach he simply refused to die, he was so stubborn," pulling her by her hand, Murdok made Athenia look right into his eyes. "Do you wanna know why I looked over every dying human as they took their last breaths?"

With a gulp, Athenia nodded.

"Because I wanted to make sure that they were dead." For the first time in her life, the goddess of death felt the fear of an inferior race. She felt crippled by it and her body responded with a cold rush of dread. "At the end of Atlairs lies the kingdom of humans, no god can move an inch in that direction so not even I have a clue what happens there.

And I'm sorry to say daughter of mine, but this hunt of your chosen for the demon lord will surely lead you to this godless land."

'Obsolescence…' It finally made sense to her as the godless were the ones she had to fear the most, even more than the root of corruption–the demon lord.