Disclaimer:
DanMachi was created by Fujino Omori. Shin Megami Tensei was created by Atlus. This story uses reference material from them.
Demons of the Dungeon
By: RB3
Law in Orario 6: Monsterphilia Riots
At Kaz's apartment, he had two plates of bacon and eggs on the table for him and Morgana to eat as breakfast. The meal sizzled with oil and filled the air with a savoury scent. The two consumed this meal with a glass of milk, then ate various fruit such as the honey cloud as their dessert. It was a tasty meal which would sustain them until they could get unique food from vendors at Monsterphilia. After the meal, they met the other members of the Familia at the Hestia Hall.
"Yeah, everyone's here. Let's go!" cried Bell, into the Hestia Hall's door to inform the others.
Hestia, Haruhime, Welf, and Lili formed a group with Kaz and Morgana and travelled down the street. As they walked down the street, they saw several banners which advertised Monsterphilia. "Guys, I just got some news from my friends. You know that summoner we caught a few days ago? Well, it turns out that this guy was quite dirty," said Kaz.
"What did you find?" asked Bell.
"Lots of money laundering, contracts to employ demons as assassins to kill VIPs," replied Kaz.
"Was Father Paul one of them?" asked Bell.
"We haven't confirmed that yet, but we've confirmed that some of the victims were Messians," replied Kaz. "Also, there was an incident with our friends on F65."
"The Xe..." began Bell, before catching himself. "What happened?"
"Some unidentified men tried to sneak into the Rainfall restricted zone in a small boat. Our friends caught them and handed them over to the Babelites. They're being questioned," replied Kaz.
"Friends? What do you mean?" asked Morgana.
"Let's talk telepathically," replied Kaz.
"Okay," said Morgana, continuing their conversation in telepathy. "What were you talking about?"
"The Xenos," replied Kaz telepathically. "They are monsters who can talk like you or I. Our first meeting was with our friend Wiene in the Dungeon. It was before you joined, during our demon seminar with the Hecate, Take Mikazuchi, and Miach Familia."
"Oh, I see. Why all the secrecy and how did they end up in F65?" asked Morgana.
"After we rescued Wiene, we were contacted by Ouranos to help them. He wants coexistence between the Xenos and the mortal world, but that wasn't ready to happen yet. Adventurers were getting too close to one of their villages in the middle floors. If they found it, they'd massacre the Xenos. We had to lead them to a safer area where they wouldn't be bothered," replied Kaz.
"Ah, so you led them to F65," said Morgana.
"Yes," replied Kaz.
"If Ouranos knows about them, who else does?" asked Morgana.
"The Babelites, the Take Mikazuchi Familia, Hecate Familia, Hermes, and Ganesha," replied Kaz.
"Ganesha? Oh! So does that mean Monsterphilia is a way of getting people ready to meet the Xenos?" asked Morgana.
"Yeah," replied Kaz. "Please don't let anyone else know this information, for the Xenos' protection."
"Of course, your secret will be safe with me," said Morgana. "If those men were exploring the restricted area, that's not good."
"No, that's why we've detained them," said Kaz. "Let's not worry about this for now. Let's just enjoy Monsterphilia."
The Hestia Familia reached the main area of the celebration, the Colosseum at the east end of Orario. Although the major events had not yet started, many people had arrived to take in the sights. Several concession stands had been set up around the Colosseum. Some sold food and snacks. Others were carnival games for the people to play such as tossing balls to hit a target for points. On a nearby stage, a band played music to entertain guests.
The Hestia Familia split up to enjoy the attractions before the main show started. Hestia and Lili took Bell to a nearby vendor to order crepes. To fill their order, one of the chefs smeared batter in a circle over the hot iron. Once it was solid enough, he placed vanilla ice cream, bananas, strawberries, and chocolate syrup on top. He folded it into a cone-like shape and presented it to Bell on a paper plate. After he paid for it, the three of them shared this sweet dessert on the grass nearby.
Welf and Haru approached one of the vendors who ran a carnival game. The game's goal was to hit a small bull's eye with a set of balls. Prizes were determined by how often one could hit the target. Welf paid the fee of ten valis, which allowed him three throws. Welf made the first throw, but went too high and to the right. His second was a direct hit on a target, knocking it back in its holder. The last undershot and went under the target.
Welf received a small teddy bear as his prize, which he gave to Haruhime as a gift. "Thank you!" said Haruhime.
Kaz and Morgana found the area where the monsters were being kept. It was a zoo-like area with rows of cages. They went from cage to cage, looking at each monster. On one row, the display included a baby dragon, a silverback gorilla, and a bugbear. On another row, there was a lizardman, a vouivre, and even a lygerfang, which was a white, tiger-like smilodon. After touring the displays, Morgana went to get some fish and chips, taking Kaz along for the ride.
When the Hestia Familia met back at entrance to the Colosseum, the Survivors had also arrived to watch the show. "Hey guys!" said Yuzu.
"Oh hi!" said Haruhime.
"Nice of you to come by!" said Welf.
"The show's about to start. Midori is taking part. Let's go," said Atsuro, joining the flood of people filing into the Colosseum.
At the arena, a toned Indian man in a red elephant mask stood at the head of the Colosseum. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this year's Monsterphilia. I am Ganesha, your host for this event. We've got lots in store for you! You'll see my Familia tame the terrible beasts which lurk beneath the ground! This year, for the first time ever, you'll see a demon versus demon battle, live, between a pair of Hecatonchires! Please sit back and enjoy this year's Monsterphilia."
The show opened with a performance by musicians and dancers. The band played a joyous tune while the female dancers showed grace and skill in performing their twirls and leaps. The second act was bucking baby dragon. A man in cowboy garb held onto his saddle with one hand while the baby dragon bucked furiously to toss him off. Despite the best attempts of the baby dragon, the cowboy succeeded in staying mounted.
The next act was performed by a tamer armed with a whip. The Ganesha Familia released a bugbear into the arena. The tamer made the monster somersault through a hoop suspended nearly six feet above the ground. Next, he held up boards forming a simple math equation. He had the bugbear solve to the equation "2+2." The bugbear looked over an array of cards on the floor and grabbed one with the number "4" on it. The crowd clapped cheerfully.
After a few more acts, the last one started with workers clearing the arena and Babelites setting up a protective magic seal. Hector and Harry appeared in the arena for their big match. "Here it is, the main event!" said Bell.
Once the bell rang, Hector and Harry charged at each other. "A-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA!" cried Hector, in time with dozens of strikes being thrown. Harry blocked most of them, but two of them slipped through his guard to reach his chest, while a third got to his chin.
Harry corrected his defence and blocked another dozen blows. He drove a left knee to Hector's gut, breaking the onslaught. He then threw a right to the chin, knocking Hector back further. Hector hurled blasts of violet, almighty energy, which Harry blocked with the palms of his hands. Harry dashed forward and unleashed his own flurry of punches. Hector blocked some and hurled his own counters between blows.
Harry blocked the counter strikes, then moved in with a power-packed punch. Hector sidestepped it, then kicked Harry's legs from beneath him. Harry rolled away from an attempt to stomp him and got up. The two closed and Harry threw dozens of punches. In between, he threw a left side kick, which rattled his foe. Harry scored another dozen punches, then bowled over Hector with a stream of energy. Suddenly, the round ending bell sounded.
A large, regal Asura King separated the two fighters. The judges assigned points, unanimously declaring Harry the winner. "Wow! What a way to end the first day!" said Ganesha. "I, Ganesha, am here to announce the end of shows for today. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the event."
The audience started to file out of the Colosseum. "Wow, that was incredible!" remarked Bell.
"Yeah, that was amazing! Did you see how Harry kneed Hector out of those punches? Amazing!" said Welf.
"Yeah, I loved how Hector dodged the punch, then caught Harry with the leg sweep," said Kaz.
"I wouldn't want to fight any of them myself. They both look tough," said Morgana.
After they exited the Colosseum, Lili noticed that a crowd had gathered around the area where the monsters were kept caged. The people were Messians, some of which were dressed in white garb with the blue shield and white cross emblem. The Ganesha guards had formed a line between them and the monster pens. "Down with monsters! Monsters quit Orario!" they chanted, along with other slogans hostile to monsters.
"Messians," remarked Lili. "They're protesting Monsterphilia."
"This is ridiculous," said Welf, turning away from this display.
The Hestia Familia returned home for the evening and nothing out of the ordinary happened. For the next two days, the Familia simply enjoyed the events. They watched a bullfighting event where a Ganesha toreador provoked a bull-like monster to run through his red cape. The Ganesha even pitted a pair of minotaurs against each other in hand-to-hand combat. One wore a red loincloth while the other wore a blue one. After minute into the fight, after several exchanges, the red minotaur landed a power-packed punch to the jaw of his rival.
The blue minotaur collapsed and had a referee complete a full ten count on him. "The winner is red!" said the announcer.
As the events winded down, the sun started to set and the Hestia Familia returned home. Back at the monster pens, the Messians continued to protest and shout hostile slogans against the Ganesha Familia. One of the boys in the crowd decided to hurl rocks at the Ganesha, who were packing up and moving the wheeled monster cages to shelter. One of rocks came dangerously close to hitting a worker, who glared at the boy, who ran away.
The Ganesha towed the last cage into the tent. The connecting ring suddenly snapped from the stress of the towing. The cage rolled back, towards the gathered crowd of Messians. They scattered, but a Messian man and woman got run over by the cage. "You son of a bitch!" cried one of the Messian men in the crowd.
"Get 'em!" cried another man, grabbing a rock and hurling it at the Ganesha Familia. It was an act the crowd emulated, with them hurling stones, food, and whatever else they could get a hold of. Some of the crowd tried to rush the workers, but the Ganesha security formed a line which kept them at bay.
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Elsewhere in the city was a large lot filled with many members of a Familia training. Some of them lifted barbells as part of a strength training regimen. Another group punched bags to perfect their boxing technique. Yet another group performed squats and push-ups. These people were members of the Kratos Familia. As a god, Kratos represented strength. All of his Familia members had some degree of muscularity and tone befitting their Familia's ideal.
Some of the trainees were stray female demons who had been recruited into the Familia. They were known as Yaksini. They were toned, athletic women with purple skin and black hair. They went topless and only wore jewellery and a short skirt with wavy white and red stripes. Two of them sparred with dual wooden swords. A third lifted a barbell over her head and held it there. Her muscles tensed greatly, as it was more weight than she was used to lifting.
After a five second count, she put the barbell down. "Awesome Pari!" cheered a bald, shirtless muscleman. This man was Kratos himself, god of strength and the head of this Familia.
Another person present was the Familia captain, a man with stubble, a scar across his cheek, and brown hair. That man was Mord Latro. Mord was one of the adventurers caught on F18 when the Black Goliath dropped in and started terrorizing the area. He had been cornered by numerous monsters and was about to be killed until Bell intervened. Everyone joined forces to fight a desperate battle against this menace, who could regenerate from even the most severe wounds.
"Awesome babe! That was more than half a ton," said Mord, pulling Pari in for a kiss.
Pari tightened her embrace around Mord. "I'm glad that you could see me do it," replied Pari, kissing her man.
However, a group of Messians had passed by the area and saw Mord's romantic moment with his Yaksini lover. "Yuck!" cried one of them. "You're letting a demon kiss you?"
"Oh, piss off!" replied Mord. "I landed myself a hot babe. Who cares if she's a demon?"
"Demons must die!" said the Messian.
He started to hurl stones at the couple. Mord shoved Pari out of the way to protect her. Although he blocked most of the rocks, one of them managed to graze his face. "Oh, you'll pay for that!" cried Mord, rushing the Messian.
Seeing the Messian get punched to the ground, his friends surrounded Mord and started punching him. For mundane civilians, they hit surprisingly hard, enough for Mord to feel it. Mord hurled punches randomly into the mob to extricate himself from the melee. A distance away, a barbarian with blond hair named Guile did one repetition with his barbell. His friend, a rogue with brown hair named Scott, had watched the barbarian work out.
Scott noticed the altercation in the corner of his eye and focused his gaze upon it. "Hey, those Messians are ganging up on Mord!" said Scott, pointing at their Familia captain.
Guile put down the barbell. "We can't let them get away with this!" said Guile. "Let's go!"
The two rushed in to help Mord and were followed by other members of the Kratos Familia who had noticed the altercation as well. They too dropped what they were doing to help their captain. Even Pari had gotten physically involved, trying to pull members of the mob off Mord. The chaotic brawl continued until a group of assorted angels came over the horizon. The Messians noticed them and fled, leaving the Kratos Familia to them.
The angels rained magical blasts. One of them exploded before Guile, knocking him to the ground harshly. "Crap!" said Guile. "I need a weapon!"
The Kratos Familia scattered to avoid being struck by these magical attacks. One of the Kratos members got struck in the back as he ran for shelter inside a building. Some of the Familia members reached their home and retrieved weapons for their friends. Pari retrieved a pair of scimitars while Mord got his sword. Guile got his spiked mace and shield while Scott got his daggers. Once they returned to the training field, they immediately had to dive to the ground to evade a blast of flame.
Pari sent blasts of ice up at the angels. The angels banked in various directions to evade. One of Pari's blasts successfully struck a standard Angel and froze her, causing her to tumble out of the sky. The Kratos Familia began lobbing arrows into the sky. The most unique of the angels, a Virtue, emerged from the mass of angels. It looked like a turquoise, gelatinous statue of a male angel with a heart-like organ in its stomach.
The Virtue rained ball lightning upon the Kratos Familia. Two members were struck and shocked into unconsciousness. A ball lightning landed near Mord, exploding with tremendous force. He got hurled to the ground, covered in dust and rubble. "Damn that angel!" said Mord.
The Virtue continued to fire ball lightning upon the Kratos Familia. A massive blizzard suddenly started, slapping ice and snow into the angels' faces. A Firebolt struck the Virtue in the back, knocking it out of the sky. As soon as it got up, ice had formed around its feet, keeping it stuck to the ground. Bell made a beeline for it, with Argonaut empowering the Hestia Knife. With a single blow, Bell pierced a hole into the Virtue and destroyed it.
"Bell!" said Mord.
"Mord?" asked Bell. "I didn't know you were here!"
Mord noticed a Power hovering above them. "Get down!" he cried, pulling Bell to the ground.
The Power had hurled a spear, which sailed by over their heads. Bell got up and retaliated with a Firebolt. The spell made direct contact with the chest, knocking the angel out of the sky. As the Power landed on his feet, Mord was already arriving with a fatal slash. The Power collapsed and crumbled into nothingness. "Thanks, I owe you one," said Bell.
"Nah, that makes us even," said Mord. "You saved me from the Goliath. Now, I saved you from that angel."
Pari, Guile, and Scott rejoined Mord. "The Little Rookie is here?" asked Scott.
"Yeah, and look who he brought with him. That's the Ice Cold Sculptor and Ignis over there," said Guile, seeing Kaz shoot down a Power with ice and Welf slice through another.
"Secret Agent Chien," said Scott, watching Lili transform into a green dragon and maul a third Power.
"We can talk later. First, let's take out these punks!" said Mord.
A new angel, a Principality, approached Mord. The angel was dressed in chain mail and wore a crown. He also carried a staff with a cross on its tip. The angel fired a bolt of piercing light. Mord weaved right around it and closed in. The Principality tried to shoot him again, but he sidestepped left to avoid it, and went low for a slash to the belly. Mord had opened a great gash there which leaked blood. The Principality collapsed and vanished.
Guile locked gazes with a Power. The Power charged in to impale him, but Guile sidestepped just in time. Guile swung his mace for the head, but got blocked by the Power's shield. Guile continued to pound the shield until it shattered beneath the relentless onslaught. With a blow to the torso, Guile mangled the Power. Scott evaded a standard Angel's blast of holy energy. She fired another, only to have Scott dive away. During his jump, Scott had tossed a dagger, landing it between the eyes.
With the help of the Hestia Familia, the Kratos Familia had turned the tide against the angels. Members of the angry Messian mob were on the ground, interspersed with unconscious Kratos Familia members. Kratos' mages and healers began efforts to heal the wounded. Mord's entourage along with Bell and Welf propped up wounded Kratos Familia members and moved them to shelter. Lili and Haruhime distributed potions while Morgana healed a man with magic.
Mord found a mid-level officer, a chienthrope with long curly hair, limping to the Familia home. He propped up the man and guided him to a bench where Morgana could heal his leg and the other cuts on his body. "Thanks Mord, and you too, Cait Sith," said the chienthrope man.
Morgana grimaced, but said nothing as he continued the Dia spell on the chienthrope's wounds. When the situation settled down, Mord met with Bell. "Well, Little Rookie, it's been quite a while," said Mord.
"Since F18, yeah," said Bell.
"I want to apologize for that. Here we thought you were some no-good punk trying to show off. After your battle with that Goliath, you've proved to us that you're the real deal," said Mord.
"Thank you, I guess," said Bell.
"Aye, I've seen how much stronger your Familia's gotten since then," said Mord. "You even learned how to make those magic croquettes. It's become something of a tradition for everyone to eat one before heading into the Dungeon."
"It's the same with my Familia," said Bell. "So, how have you been?"
"Quite well, if I do say so myself," replied Mord. "My own Familia is climbing the ranks. After that brawl with the demons, a few of us like myself got to Lv3. Just a month ago, I even got Lv4."
"Oh! Congratulations!" said Bell. "What about the rest of your Familia?"
"Guile and Scott hit Lv4 with me, and our mid-level commanders got there a bit after. The rest of the Familia is Lv3, but many are getting close to cracking Lv4. With the right push, they'll get there. Those croquettes really did the trick. We've also recruited Yaksini into our Familia and one of them even became my girl," replied Mord.
Pari waved at Mord and smiled. Mord smiled and waved in return. "It looks like everything's going your way," said Bell.
"Oh yeah!" said Mord. "I can't believe it myself. Say, I also been hearing that you and those demon taming guys have started running joint expeditions to the lower floors."
"Yeah, we just did one with the Hermes Familia a while back," said Bell.
"Since we're all buddy-buddies, why don't you invite us some day?" asked Mord.
"You mean on a joint expedition with the Kratos Familia?" asked Bell.
"Sure! We'd like to team up with you sometime," said Mord.
"A lot of people have been hounding us about that," said Bell.
"Oh, I understand," said Mord. "When the time comes, don't forget about us."
"Bell!" cried Kaz. "We have to move. A big group of angels is heading north. Abel and the others are already going there to stop them."
"Okay," replied Bell. "It was great to meet you again, Mord. I have to go. I'm in a hurry."
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The angels soared across the sky of Orario, passing over the violence and chaos which gripped the city below. In the Smithy District, numerous Messians hurled Molotov cocktails into the windows of establishments marked with the emblems of Hephaestus and Goibniu. Fires erupted from within them, consuming the stores and reducing them to ash. Nearby, the Messians had surrounded several blacksmiths and repeatedly kicked and stomped them, even though they were prone, bloodied, and bruised.
The angels had reached the Loki Familia home, the Twilight Manor, at the north of Orario. They started raining blasts of light, flame, and other elemental blasts down upon the palace. The Loki Familia retaliated with arrows fired from the windows and parapets of their home. On the ground, the Loki Familia had exited their home to form a line against angels attempting to enter. The Hiryute Sisters were part of this line and came face to face with a pair of Virtues.
Tione threw knives at the Virtue, who simply banked right to avoid them. The Virtue retorted by hurling ball lightning. Tione ducked down and it sailed by overhead. Tiona came from behind and stabbed the angel. The Virtue stumbled forward, wounded, then turned around to blast her with ball lightning as his final move. She collapsed, writhing in pain, followed by the angel dying. The second Virtue hurled ball lightning at Tione's back. She turned in time to evade it, then hurled daggers into the heart-like organ, killing the angel.
Tione reached down and pulled her sister up. "Thanks sis," said Tiona.
Further away, the angels rained blasts of flame which forced Riveria to run to safety. "Our home!" cried Gareth nearby, seeing flames roaring through the windows of the castle. A Power approached him with malice. Garreth parried the angel's spear, then pushed in and hacked the ribs. The angel collapsed and vanished.
"Don't worry. We got Loki out safely. We can always rebuild later," said Finn.
A Principality moved in range of Finn and fired beams of light at him. Finn noticed after the first missed him, then weaved around the rest. He hurled his spear into the face, causing a fatal wound which took the angel out of the sky. "There's so many of them. They just keep coming!" said Riveria.
A new type of angel, a Dominion, moved into attack range. He was a blue-haired man dressed in white robes who carried a set of scales in his right hand and a book in the left. He lobbed ball lightning down upon the Loki officers. The explosion blew them aside, despite them already diving for cover. Before he could target the group with another attack, a blonde woman soared through the sky and cut his wing, forcing him to the ground.
When both landed, the Dominion saw that his attacker was Ais Wallenstein. "So, I meet face to face with the one who murdered Father Paul. Justice has come for you!" cried the Dominion.
"I don't care what you think. I won't let you harm my Familia!" said Ais.
Ais activated Ariel and charged the Dominion, who despite blocking the strike, got knocked to the ground by Ariel's wind. He quickly rose to his feet, then hurled ball lightning after her. Ais bounded around to evade them, but one exploded near her feet and staggered her. The Dominion fired another, hitting her chest and sending her to the ground, writhing from electrical shock. She rose from the ground, in time to roll right to evade a column of light.
She jumped onto a house then bounded across them to reach the angel's right flank. She then pounced, but the Dominion caught her forehead with a quick swing of the book. Ais went to the ground, her head bruised and bleeding from the blow. The Dominion followed with ball lightning. She rolled away, then raced to get to his exposed left flank. She came in and the Dominion tried to block, but her sword sliced off the bottom half of his scale.
The Dominion swung wide with his book, but Ais went under it, into a slash to the angel's belly. The Dominion collapsed to the ground and vanished. After felling the Dominion, ball lightning came down from the sky and blasted her into the ground. "Ais!" cried Tiona from down the street.
As the Virtue who had attacked her closed in with his allies, a mass of vines sprouted from the ground. They lashed at the angels and grabbed all but the one Virtue. The missed Virtue got struck in the back by a Firebolt and blown out of the sky. Though he landed on his feet, Welf was already coming at him from behind and sliced through fatally. "Are you guys okay?" asked Bell.
"Argonaut!" said Tiona. "Yeah, we're good. We're glad you came."
Riveria had pulled Ais to a secluded area away from the fighting and started healing her with magic. The Survivors had arrived on the scene to assist the Loki Familia. The sky filled with explosions and angels tumbling out of it. Abel conjured vines which plucked random angels out of the sky and crushed them to nothingness. In the air, Yog pummelled a Virtue with orbs. The Virtue landed feet first on the ground, only to get blasted from behind by Scarlet's flames.
With the angels' numbers dwindling thanks to timely reinforcements, their attack had been thwarted, but the Loki Familia's home was in flames. They watched as one of the tallest spires collapsed with a boom into the fire. The Twilight Manor was finished. Nearly fifty rank and file Loki members had been seriously wounded. Lying on a blanket was a male Loki Familia warrior who had his belly seared by ball lightning. Scarlet knelt beside him and applied healing magic upon him, causing the bleeding lesion to seal.
Once the commotion had settled down, Bell met the Loki's senior officers to check on their condition. "Is everyone okay here?" asked Bell.
"Other than a few small burns and scrapes, we're okay," replied Finn.
Bell looked Finn over and saw bandages on his left arm. "I'm glad, but your home..." said Bell.
"As long as we live, there is hope," said Gareth.
Abel approached Bell. "You know, maybe now might be a good time to pitch it to Loki," said Abel.
"Hmm? Pitch what?" asked Riveria. Abel told the three senior officers about the special demon training sessions and joint expeditions he hosted between the Hestia Familia and at least one guest Familia.
"Oh yes, we've heard about that," said Finn.
"We'd like to extend an invitation to the Loki Familia for such a session," Abel offered. "We believe it would be a good way to help rebuild and re-energize your Familia after this angel attack."
"We appreciate your offer, but we'll have to ask for a rain check," said Finn. "Our Familia has suffered great damage from the angels. We need time to regroup and recover before we can participate."
"We understand," said Abel. "Take all the time you need. Please understand that we make this offer as our way of helping you get back on your feet."
"Of course, we understand. Thank you very much," replied Finn. "We appreciate the offer and will let the goddess know you made it. Once we've recovered, we'd be happy to take you up on it."
END OF CHAPTER