Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

"Regina tua sum! In servitute mea contabesces. Grati estote, vermiculi!" The war of the hells was over, the third layer had fallen to Asmodia's succubus. Some had defected from the Mistress to her command while others now dwindled between serving her or remaining loyal to their master. But for now, their hesitance mattered little, as seated in the shambled mansion of the last lord, Asmodia gave the maggots their speech. "I am your queen! You shall wither in my service! Be grateful, you worms. For I am a merciful queen."

With a smirk riding on her lips, the devil of seduction watched the heads of every soul in hell bowing at her feet. She'd finally done it, she'd become a primordial and that too with unprecedented ease.

"But now, as you all know–I need to return to the overworld, fulfil my duty as another cog in the order of the dead heavens," lifting from the chair, Asmodi left behind a red mirage of herself still sitting in the shade of her body. Glancing across the rising heads, she cackled to herself and announced. "I'll be here whenever I want, so you best behave."

With those words, she closed her eyes, and the next thing she knew, she was back in Erika's subconsciousness. Still asleep, the priestess was struggling through a nightmare, but it was nothing she couldn't handle herself. Thus, letting herself sink inside the priestess, Asmodia finally managed to get a wink after all the fighting and bloodshed that she'd been part of these past few weeks.

As the devil slept even though she had no need to, Maria–the ex-queen finally woke up. Her eyes fluttered to the sight of the ceiling and although she was being helped by the maids to walk straight, her steps remained either rampant or too wobbly to support themselves. Like crutches, the maids helped her to the dining. Maria, complained of course as she wanted to go and check on the jars of souls instead.

But with everyone working together to feed her first and her having no strength to walk by herself, there was little she could do but quietly enjoy a light soup. Unlike Raven, they weren't sure if her stomach could handle anything solid just yet, had she asked perhaps they would've provided but all the queen cared about was getting the meal done with.

Devouring the meal in a matter of a few minutes, Maria rose to her feet and although still struggling, began walking in the direction of the basement. The maids tried to help her, but slapping their hands away, she guided herself down the steps and eventually landed in the room packed with jars of souls.

"This might take a while…" As far as she knew, the moment her hand touched her soul it should reunite with her body. But then again, the fact remained. "I-it's in there, right?"

Although she'd given up on finding her soul long ago, now with the jars lighting up the basement in front of her, Maria hoped that her initial fears weren't true. Undoing the lids of one jar after the other, she carefully handled the souls and made sure to curl each one of them within her fingers. As her fingers would uncurl she hoped not to see the soul anymore, but that would've been too hopeful this early in her search.

Getting comfortable on the ground, she was checked on by the maid every other hour. They brought her something to drink or eat since the basement was far from a comfortable place to be. However, ignoring everything, the ex-queen continued to check the jars. Marking each one with a number with her magic, she set the ones that she'd checked on one side of the room while picking the jars from the other side.

"Hundred and two…hundred and three…" While counting the souls, time seemed to fly right by Maria. She was so engrossed in the repeated action that she never realized when night came and it grew much much deeper.

Only once her eyes grew heavy and her body couldn't keep up did the ex-queen lay on the floor and take a rest. The maid, of course, grew worried about her and although both Amelia and Ophelia tried to convince Maria to head for her room, the queen simply lay on the ground too stubborn to leave the room until each and every soul had been checked by her.

Afraid that someone might steal hers, she remained in that room until the next morning and upon waking up continued with her search. Creating clones of herself with the same magic that she had learned from Asmodia, Maria went through more and more jars and after only a few hours, the colossal mound of them had already grown slimmer.

"Four thou-thousand and six…" Like a zombie, her mind had melted by the process and only the repeated action carried forward.

The centaurians worried once more about her health, but since Raven wasn't in the mansion right now, nobody could stop Maria from continuing with her counting. Minutes had turned to hours and hours to a cycle of day and night, and while the lord of the mansion was visiting Elenaris, Maria clutched in her hands the last jar that had been left.

Tired beyond reason, she lay on the floor with her hand in the jar. Counting one soul after the other, she placed it in another empty container, but to her horror none of the souls melted into her hand, not even the very last. Utterly defeated, she lay on the floor, her eyes gazing at the empty spot where the jars had once been. She'd counted them all and not a single one of them was hers…

Or so she thought, for the moment her hand had touched her soul it had melted into her body before she had the chance to count. But the ex-queen wouldn't know that, not until the next morning when she could listen to her heart and feel it beating like it had gotten a new lease on life.