Late update sos. Also to the guy requesting Destiny stuff, I like your enthusiasm but have no idea what u talking bout boi.

"Did he get it?" Freya asked the shadow that had swooped down below behind her in the alley.

"Yes," The masked man replied, "Though I'm afraid he fell unconscious after he gained the spell."

He had gotten quite a sense of satisfaction from the boy falling down, he hoped he could one day have the boy fall down forever.

"Not to worry Allen, he'll be awake when his test begins." The cloaked goddess told the masked adventurer.

"...I just don't understand what's so special about him that you're going to such lengths for him." The Level 6 Adventurer told his deity bitterly, the boy had completely enamoured her attention.

"I don't suppose you would, I'm the goddess of beauty after all."

"But..." The cat person began only to be interrupted by the rising impatience of Freya.

"Alright Allen, you can leave now, it's about to begin."

"...Very well, best of luck my Goddess."

As the shadow disappeared into the darkness, Freya let out a sigh, she knew Allen meant well but he was very annoying when it came to matters of other men.

Shaking away the thought, she began making her way to the back entrance of the Colosseum.

A roar of applause swept through the crowd.

One of Ganesha Familia's tamers had just issued a command and a once-uncontrollable monster took a seat on the arena floor.

The Colosseum, located in eastern Orario, stood high above the surrounding buildings. Energy swirled within its walls, threatening to bubble out over the top.

"Gotta hand it to Ganesha's guys, that was amazing! That one made taming look simple. I could never pull that off."

"Very much so. The chances of successfully taming a monster are extremely slim, and yet he pulled it off in front of a large audience…"

"It's all part of the show. Not only did he tame the monster, but he also pulled off all those flashy moves at the same time to up the entertainment value. I'd pay to see something like this any day."

Tiona, Lefiya, and Tione had come to the Colosseum to see the main event of the Monsterphilia. Arriving early after leaving Ais to her search for Bell, the three girls had claimed very good seats in the stands. Thoroughly impressed by the best that Ganesha Familia had to offer, they talked among themselves and the crowd.

The very colourfully dressed tamer took a bow and was received by another round of enthusiastic applause. The tiger monster looked like nothing more than a well-trained house cat as the man guided it out of the arena. Once they were clear, the arena's eastern gate flung open to reveal a very masculine tamer and a dragon standing over seven meters tall.

"They caught something that big in the Dungeon and dragged it all the way up here?"

"Of course they didn't. They tracked one down outside the city. Most monsters born outside the Dungeon are much weaker, but dragons are always powerful."

The three girls had a great view of the arena from their seats, a couple of rows back from the front.

All of the applause was suddenly replaced by thousands of gasps in unison. "Uaahhh!" Tiona tilted her head to the side, squeezing one eye closed. Lefiya covered her ears and took in a deep breath.

"Wait, don't you think this is a little strange? Look at that creature. Wouldn't it make more sense for it to be the grand finale?"

Somehow the elf's voice was loud enough to be heard by her friends. Tiona straightened her head and blinked a few times before taking a closer look at the monster.

It was by far the most powerful and intimidating monster they'd seen today. The festival was scheduled to continue for a few more hours, so there was no reason for it to take the place of other monsters. The more Tiona thought about it, the stranger this timing seemed to her.

In that case, there was a reason for the organizers to change the order—as in the next monsters couldn't make it to the arena.

"Also…don't the Ganesha Familia adventurers look a bit anxious?"

"Ah, you noticed that, too?"

The Amazonian twins scanned the crowd. Sure enough, many people wearing Ganesha Familia's emblem were running in and out of a private box on the top lip of the Coliseum. Most likely, their god, Ganesha, was inside. Other members of the familia were working their way through the crowd, talking with anyone who looked strong. Their body language told the girls that they were asking for something.

Tiona and the others couldn't help but feel that something bad was going on. The anxiety on the Ganesha Familia members' faces was impossible to miss.

"What shall we do?"

"…We could go and ask?"

Tione answered Lefiya's question as she stood up from her seat.

The three girls squeezed their way past other people seated in their row and ran up the aisle to the exit.

"Where did he go?" Ais slightly muttered to herself in worry, the boy was new to the city and since she had never gotten the chance to properly show him around, he was going to be lost or worse.

As Ais wandered aimlessly, a shout was issued her way, signifying the presence of a red-haired goddess.

"Aizu!"

"Loki..."

"Aizu. wait up, been looking everywhere for you guys. Are the rest at the Colosseum?"

"Yes, they left some time before the event began to get good seats."

"Alright, by the way, watcha lookin' for anyway?"

A slight smile formed on Ais's lips and her voice softened.

"...A lost rabbit."

Loki took a deep breath at the girl's affectionate manner of addressing the boy. She would settle the score with Bell later, first, she needed to find him.

"Speaking of, where is Bell?"

At this, Ais's smile faltered and Loki could tell she was upset.

"Lefiya scared him off by nearly hitting him with a spell."

"...Alright."

As they talked amongst themselves for a minute or two more, a shout was issued their way.

"Ais!"

Tiona rushed forward towards the two while Tione and Lefiya were walking relatively quickly behind her.

"Heya girls..." Loki addressed the newcomers while Lefiya shrank back further at the intense gaze of Ais.

"Something's wrong." Tione voiced her concerns and told Loki and Ais about the happenings at The Colosseum.

"Loki Familia!" An elegant yet loud voice called out.

The group looked at the direction to see Eina hurrying towards them.

"Bell's advisor..."

"T-the monsters captured for the festivals, some of them escaped from the east gate, we don't have enough forces to contain the monsters. I beg of you, help us…"

Ais had no reason to refuse and neither did the rest of the group.

Ais took hold of the hilt of her sword and dashed toward the east gate in hopes of saving the lives of any citizen who got caught up in this mess.

Tiona and Tione didn't have any weapons but went with her, sticking to using their hands and legs for the matter.

Lefiya followed as fast as she could behind them.

Bell awoke to a scream.

"MONSTERRRRRRRRR!"

Shaking himself out of his drowsiness, he went to towards East Main to see what all the commotion was about.

The once peaceful street had erupted into an explosion of panic at that one word.

He saw a monster at the end of the street...rushing straight towards him.

The monster, the silverback, was enraged.

A storm within, muscles firing off at full strength, it breathed with enough force to blow everything out of its way. It wanted her, and it wanted her now.

It was looking for a goddess.

The last it saw of her silver hair was outside the stadium, disappearing into a crowd. The completely charmed monster rushed after her with more strength and power than it had ever had before, almost as though it was being pulled by an invisible chain.

Her love!

The goddess's affection!

The monster's purest, most basic instincts had taken over its body and driven it forward.

A monster's instincts didn't waver. Its quest for a goddess's love consumed it.

"Gaaaaahhhhhh!"

"Heeee!

The silverback advanced down the street, swatting carts and boxes out of its way.

A crying horse managed to get out of the way. The driver of its cart wasn't so lucky. He was launched skyward and tumbled to the ground. The horse wheeled the empty cart back around to its master as the silverback charged by.

It was losing the scent of the goddess. Her sweet aroma was gone. Had it made a wrong turn?

The silverback stopped for a moment and tried to find her scent again. It looked in every direction, taking in big huffs of air.

Many people filled the streets once again—people running, people in shock, people screaming at the top of their lungs. The silverback was enclosed in a circle of humanity.

The silverback's eyes skimmed the crowd before suddenly coming to a stop.

Its eyes had locked onto a point, a certain someone.

It saw "him" with bloodshot eyes.

A small boy with white hair and blank eyes staring right back at him.

A being who had the faint smell of the goddess he pursued, the goddess he loved.

A voice climbed into its ears:

"—Could you chase the small one?"

Those words whispering in its ear were hers.

One could almost hear the silverback saying "Found you!" by its facial expression.

The silverback took one big step toward the wide-eyed boy.

"—"

"A-ah..."

Bell didn't lose sight of the beast as he took two steps back.

Every hair on his body was standing up. He hadn't felt like this since he had faced the man-bull abomination.

A white body, silver hair running down its back. Its presence was overwhelming.

It had the eyes of a beast, no rhyme or reason. And it was looking right at him.

He couldn't breathe.

Why was there a monster here? What was happening?

'I've asked those questions before…'

He was facing something that shouldn't be there. It was the Minotaur all over again. He was sweating and shaking just as hard as the last time.

"—Do your best."

Where had that voice come from…? His ears were ringing from all the commotion.

"Ruguguu…!"

The sun was shining through all the flags on East Main. They looked so out of place in this chaos.

Bell felt like an island in the torrent of panicked screams.

Now that he had gotten a better look at the howling monster, he saw that it didn't have a tail. It was just a thick stripe of long silver hair on its back. Chains were still shackled to its wrists, but they looked like they were torn apart. Metal being dragged across stone—he hated that sound.

'Silverback…'

Eina has told him about many types of monsters. This is one of them for sure.

She also told him it's born far below the lower fifth—way out of his league.

It really was the same incident as the first floor all over again. He wouldn't be able to lay a finger on the thing.

Warning bells were going off in his head. It was time to go.

"Gyaa…!"

It was moving again.

It bent its knees, turning its body right toward Bell.

It was coming.

Realizing the close proximity of a giant fist to his face, Bell felt that now was a good time to move.

"!"

"Uwaaaa!"

He dove to the side, narrowingly missing the fist and causing his shoulder to crash into the stone road.

He had rolled to the side and the momentum of the monster's attack had caused it to fly by him.

"Urrrrnnnn…!"

It was instantly back up and coming his way.

Its eyes were fixed on him as he prepared another change.

Why?!

It hadn't even hesitated, just found him again and charged.

Jerking to the right, the beast instantly changed direction in mid-charge.

"He's locked onto me..."

It was now airborne.

"Oh shit."

Seeing the monster making a grab for him, Bell sidestepped as fast as he could.

Unfortunately, it sent an arm towards him.

"—Gwahhhh?!"

"Gugooooooo!"

The wrecking ball of an arm hit Bell square in the ribs.

Not wearing armour, the crushing blow coursed through his body as the punch sent him flying.

He couldn't breathe.

… Ah!

He flew through a food stall, shattering a hole in it on impact causing splinters of wood to spread all over the place.

The pain hit his body like an arrow piercing every part of his body.

Hurrying to get out, Bell slowly put his legs outside the stall and used his elbow to get up. He winced as his ribs ached.

"Ekkkkkkkk!"

East Main has fallen into pandemonium.

He could hear screaming and see people running away like blurs.

It reminded him of when he had once seen a spider egg sac hatch and he had so many spiders come out, all scurrying away. The fairgoers were all disappearing into buildings and down side roads.

There was a little girl, standing terrified at the sight of the monster with a small stuffed bear in hand, shaking uncontrollably while others paid her no mind as they ran for their lives.

"W-w-why isn't a-anyone h-helping her?"

"…!"

"Fhaa… haaa…!"

There she was, frozen in terror as the Silverback went to get rid of the nuisance before following its goddess's request.

She was cornered.

"Gh…! NOOOOO!"

A voice called for him inside his head, it was the Bell from the book.

"Fight Bell."

His arm shot up on its own, as though it was being guided by something. Ignoring the pain pulsing through his body and tears pouring out of his eyes, he yelled the word that had been engraved to his mind.

"Firebolt!"

A small blast of fire shot out of his hand and straight at the beast.

The flame recoiled and dissipated at the beast's metal suit but it did confuse it for a minute.

Ignoring his wonder at what had just happened, he ran for the chains dragging on the ground.

"Gahh!"

The metal pulls stretched as he grabbed the end, stopping the beast in its tracks.

The monster looked back with its sharp eyes and pulled its arm forward.

He couldn't hold it back any longer, his arms were numb and his fingers felt like they were on fire.

"Ugh…!"

"Gigyaaa!"

It wasn't even a contest, Bell might have not been pulling but he needed to try, with every ounce of his strength.

"Gyaaahhh!"

Its arm shot backwards, the chain flying over its head. Taking advantage of the situation with the Silverback's back to the girl, he ran and grabbed her hand, handing her to the woman who was looking worriedly at the scene from a distance instead of running.

Bell realized the beast was mostly after him but would go after others in his way so he needed to get out of Main Street where there were still people.

He dashed into the back roads as the Silverback reorientated itself.

Seeing the boy running away, the monster let out a loud howl and ran after him.

"Not another chase...why is it after me!? I have never seen it before, ever! I haven't done anything!"

Bell felt the presence of the monstrosity behind him, it was not giving up.

He could try fighting but his magic stat was that of a new adventurer and the Silverback was wearing a metal suit so his 'Firebolt' could not do anything as seen a minute ago and in physical combat, he had not gotten a status update in a while so hitting it was a lost cause.

He had never seen a monster act like this, it was as though it was being manipulated by something smarter. Bell couldn't understand what the hell was happening.

He sprinted through the back roads with all these thoughts running through his head.

The narrow, dark backstreets were doing nothing to calm his nerves. He could see the sky among the tall buildings around him, but there was no light down there.

He ran south from East Main where the Silverback attacked. He was running in circles in the side streets of East Main and Southeast Main and he couldn't remember the routes because of the situation.

He glanced behind himself but could not see the monster in the maze of dark streets, but he could definitely feel it. It was following him.

Bell ran as fast as he could through the streets turning in random directions to lose the Silverback only to be brought back to the moment by a problem.

He just rounded a big corner.

"—"

The narrow roads had ended, but a total mess stood before him.

The roads twisted, overlapping and intersecting who knows how many times. Pieces of buildings randomly stuck out into the street, stairwells snaked through the entire block. It looked like a mass of rooms got mixed together and dumped onto this spot.

It was a dungeon, built by human hands above the ground. A labyrinth town.

"Daidaros Street…!"

It was a dirt-poor residential part of town where nothing makes sense.

Bell had heard that the streets were so complicated that once you get lost in there, you'll never find your way out. Daidaros Street was named after the architect who designed this jungle. In terms of losing your way, it was very much a dungeon.

The artificial labyrinth spread out below him, all the way to the city wall. He stopped at the top of the road that leads down to the entrance.

Bell realized that if he went into the street, he would be fighting monster and dungeon.

"GAAAAHHHHHH!"

"!"

As the monster neared him, he decided that he had no choice and went down.

The street became a wide stairwell. A dark brick jungle loomed ahead.

He rushed in and the thick, humid air weighed him down almost immediately.

Several shabby stone shacks litter the main entrance of the residential...labyrinth town. Many magic stone lamps dot the sides of houses, weakly spitting light onto the street. There were people out walking around above and below him. They look like they know their way around these impossible pathways.

Seeing the Silverback chasing the boy, the residents open their eyes wide in fear and begin running away.

"Guugaahhh!"

"…!"

It was catching up. How long could he keep this up?

Innocent people were getting caught up in the rampage because of him, he needed to get out of there into someplace secluded.

He took a quick turn off the main road, in a completely different direction. It went up at a steep angle, but it also had branches. He went into the closest turn, and again and again till he eventually lost count.

"Did I lose it?"

He kept changing direction. Maybe it took a wrong turn and got lost?

He took a look behind his shoulder and saw that it wasn't there, perhaps he could finally catch his breath.

"—"

Something didn't feel right.

Small vibrations were travelling through the walls. He could hear bricks cracking.

They were still a long way off but then a shadow suddenly caught Bell's eye.

"Son of a..."

He could see a blotch of white on top of a building in front of the sliver of blue sky. It was not a cloud.

It had climbed to the top. It had ignored the roads altogether and jumped from rooftop to rooftop like a wild animal swinging through trees, it was coming for him through the sky.

It dived straight down like a bullet.

"Gyaaaaahhhhh!"

"!"

"Ah!"

It was a sneak attack from above in hopes of crushing him.

It hit the ground with a bang, debris flying in its wake. Bell got out of the way but not before he got struck by a stray chain.

It was facing him now and Bell readied his nerves.

"Uhhhaaaooooooorrrrrrrr!"

The monster roared at Bell with the wind and spit hitting him square on the face.

"—Hyaiiii!"

It was an attempt to intimidate him, it had worked.

He couldn't move a muscle. Everything was clamped down. The beast's feral roar had done what it was supposed to:

Scare the absolute shit out of Bell.

"Ragyaaa!"

It wasn't fooling around, to him it felt like...the lower fifth, below another beast, roaring in his face. The Minotaur… standing over him, drooling.

He could still hear that mad cow's howl… He just wanted to curl up, make it all go away.

"—Uuhhmm… aaaahhh!"

He was standing at a fork in the road.

An enemy was in front of me. An enemy he not strong enough to cut. In the shadow of despair, the Minotaur. He wanted to run away.

But there was something at the back of his mind, something that wanted something else. To fight, to regain his pride.

'I'm scared—'

Something that wanted to prove it's worth, prove it's worth to the belittlement of a werewolf.

'I'm scared—'

Something that wanted to be a hero, something that wanted to be strong, something that wanted to reach the object of its desire.

Fear and desire. Cowardice and purpose. Instincts and emotion in opposition, united.

An undeniable impulse reaches out to a sense of obligation.

He was scared but, even in the face of all of this,

"—I'm a man, aren't I?!"

… even the smallest part of a man's resolve will not allow him to retreat.

'Go!'

'Go!'

'GO NOW!'

"YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

He wasn't going anywhere, the fear had been overridden by the adrenaline, he charged at the beast.

"Gyaahhhhh!"

It began moving to counter.

Its tree-trunk-size arm whipped forward, the chain still latched to its wrist like a whip. Bell's body twisted on instinct, dodging the blow. He thrusted his head down. Its sweeping right fist went just over his neck.

He drew his knife, he had gotten his chance.

There was a clear shot at the ribs under its arm. Bell thrust with everything he had.

"Uhaha?!"

But…

The blade wasn't enough, a minimal scratch was made at the area he had hit and it only served to enrage the beast.

The back of his throat began itching, he couldn't hurt it, his attacks were not strong enough.

Before he knew what was happening, Bell was in the air.

"Dahhh!"

The beast had grabbed him with both of its hulking hands and pinned him against the wall.

All the air left his lungs on impact and his eyes opened as wide as they could.

"Guruuuu…!"

The Silverback's malicious face was just inches away from his.

It bared its fangs before he could wrap his head around the situation. Its mouth was big enough to take his head off in one bite. Sheer terror re-entered his system.

Was it going to end like this?

'NO!'

Squirming his right hand free, he aimed it straight into the Beast's eyes.

"Firebolt!"

"GYIIGAAAAAAA!"

The Silverback roars in pain, letting Bell go to clutch its eyes. The monster staggered a few steps backwards before whipping the other way.

A stray chain hit Bell in the face before he fell to the street with a thud.

His entire body was in pain, he couldn't move, it hurt to live.

A pain that he can't describe surged through him.

He was so weak.

Tiny, weak, feeble, delicate, soft, piece of trash, little punk, disgusting, nauseating.

Words of the night at the dinner table came back to haunt him, playing on a loop in his head.

He didn't deserve to stand beside her in the end, did he?

He was too weak then; He's too weak now. It was too painful to take.

"Are you going to let it stay that way?"

"Huh?"

It was the Bell from the book.

"Are you going to fight or are you going to stay miserably on the floor before you die?"

"It's too strong, I can't."

"Then maybe you deserve to die."

"What?"

"Your fear grips you so that you can't fight, you're a pathetic excuse for an adventurer."

The werewolf's words.

"I can't! I'm too weak, the magic you gave me is too weak, I can't!"

"Is this the person who wanted to be with Ais Wallenstein?"

Hearing her name, a spark reignited in his heart. His desire flooded him, the desire to be a hero, the desire to prove Bete wrong and the desire to be with the Level 5 adventurer.

"Help me."

"I'm here. Just fight."

"Uwwwwaaaarrrrrr!"

"!"

The Silverback had regained its composure

It howled in rage and the very walls of Daidaros street shook.

Bell stared it down.

Being the victor was a long shot. Bell himself wondered if he really had a chance.

However, if he didn't believe in himself, he could never be worthy.

He sprang forward with his blade, his other self's words filling him with determination and courage.

"—"

The silverback fell silent.

Bell had never moved this fast.

"Let the beast know the power of your desire."

There was a change in Bell's speed, it was nothing like before. The Silverback knew at that moment it wasn't fast enough to defend against a killing blow.

Eina's teachings rushed into his mind, he needed to get rid of the beast's armour.

Bell saw his target, a point on the monster's chest.

The beast charged forward, feet pounding the street. The silverback's arms lightly shook in the air. Bell used what time was left to line up his strike, his eyes focused on that one spot.

The divine knife blazed purple in his grip. Its newfound strength gathered into the tip of the blade and sent a beam of light into the heavens.

With one fell swoop, the monster's armour shattered as Bell spun around before landing.

"Let the flames of desire consume you Bell, use them to show this monster it is you who should be feared."

Instead of going in for the last move with his knife, he sheathed it.

He aimed his right hand at it and to stable his aim, he held it with his left.

Using every last drop of energy, Bell unleashed inferno.

"FIREBOLT!"

A blaze left Bell's hand, many times more powerful than his previous attempts, and lit up the street with fire.

As the fire cleared, there only remained one reminder of a once mighty beast. A magic stone falling to the ground.

Cheers erupted from all around. Apparently, the residents of Daidaros Street had been watching from a safe distance and the battle had moved them. People who had hidden in the shadows and behind windows now came out of the woodwork in droves, clapping and cheering at the top of their lungs. Even the stadium hadn't been as alive with glee as this corner of the labyrinth town.

A smile appeared on Bell's face in the middle of all the applause.

"Impressive." A voice said from the roof of a house overlooking the dead-end road.

Freya was talking to herself. She had been watching Bell from the best "seat" on Daidaros Street.

Her silver eyes locked onto Bell as drowned in cheers.

At first, she was disappointed that things hadn't gone as planned. But she smiled up at the blue sky.

"Congratulations. You still have a long way to go, but… Hee-hee, yes. You were very heroic."

Freya turned to leave, her silver hair sparkling in the sunlight.

"Let's play again, Bell."

"Guoooooooooo!?"

The troll was slain in one decisive blow.

"Nn, the end?"

"Yes…"

Ais withdrew her silver sword from the troll's body, flicked off the blood, and slid it cleanly back into its sheath in one smooth motion. She watched the monster fall to the pavement with a thunderous boom. Townsfolk instantly came out of their hiding places and surrounded Ais with cheers.

Loki stood behind Ais, supporting her head with her hand and looking bored out of her mind. A small "hmmm" escaped her lips.

"I'd say they didn' have their own rhythm. Looks like everybody's all right, no big problems… Feels like they were dancin' to someone else's beat."

Ais nodded to herself, agreeing with Loki's assessment.

They had rushed all over the East Block protecting the citizens. However, the monsters hadn't run away, just wandered around the city as if they were looking for something.

Ais couldn't shake the feeling that something had guided these monsters from above.

And to top it all off, those irregulars who had attacked in the middle of the confusion could definitely not be accidental.

"That all of 'em?"

"Not quite… There is still one left."

Out of the nine monsters that escaped, only the silverback remained unaccounted for.

That was a monster that Ais could slay in an instant. Loki was even less interested but started to run anyway. She wanted this monster hunt to be over already. Ais followed silently behind her.

They headed for East Main after talking with a few citizens who had seen the silverback from their hiding places.

"Ehhhh? What's this, over already?"

Rather than seeing scared faces and a rampaging monster, the townsfolk were celebrating in the street.

Loki went up to the edge of the crowd to get some information.

"Hey, lady! Where's the monster? What's goin' on?"

"Didn't you hear? That boy struck it down! Heard it from a few folks from Daidaros. They ran deep into that maze, and he slew it with one strike!"

"Hold up, lady. 'That' boy? Who's 'that' boy?"

"You mean you didn't see him run through here? A young adventurer with reddish eyes and white hair? Yeah… looked like a rabbit!"

"Huh?"

Both Ais and Loki jumped at the description.

The two of them had the same question, How had Bell defeated a silverback?

Loki, who knew about Bell's skills, still could not believe it. Her last status check on him, despite his rapid growth, left him nowhere near defeating a silverback.

A new wave of noise swept over the crowd. "That" adventurer had returned.

People in the crowd started cheering, pushing to get a better look. Loki ran into the swam, yelling, "Me, too! Me, too!" Ais went with her.

Bell approached the two when he saw them.

"Hey guys, I'm sorry for leaving, I...just..."

A sudden wave of weakness hit Bell, his world began spinning and he fell into Ais's arms as he slipped into unconsciousness.

"Eh? Mind Down? Don' tell me the kid got magic now too?"

Indeed, the last show of Bell of his burning desire had spent up a lot of his energy.

Ignoring Loki's rant, Ais pulled Bell close and gently whispered to him though she knew he could not hear her.

"… Congrats."

Again, sorry. How about I make it up with a late Valentine chapter? Btw, Bell gaining a powerup was his second skill.