A/N: IT. IS. HERE. (Abit earlier than I promised, so yay.) I'm not abandoning this story yet.
P.S. PLEASE READ THE A/N AT THE BOTTOM.
Chapter 15: The Expedition (Part 3)
Her palm was sweaty, her fingers still trembling, but Loki's clasp on his hand was unbreakable as they sat on the ground next to each other, her head leaning against his shoulder.
Godou was well aware that everyone was watching them, even if they were trying very hard to pretend that they weren't. Tsubaki, in the middle of tuning up everyone's weapons, would look up every now and then; Finn, Riveria, and Gareth, going through notes and maps, shot furtive looks as they shuffled through their papers; most of the others were lying down or leaning against large rocks, resting in preparation for the upcoming dive into the 59th Floor, but Godou's enhanced senses were more than enough to catch the moments when they'd crack open an eyelid to peek.
And of course, there was Lefiya, who was sitting on the floor, blatantly staring at him with an intense look on her face.
It had taken him an instant to defeat that massive three-headed dragon, and while none of them truly understood how he had done it, they had seen enough to instinctively know that they shouldn't ask. They kept a respectful distance away, pretending to mind their own business, but the gratefulness in their eyes was something Godou did appreciate.
However, there was one person who did understand what he had done, and she hadn't spoken a word since hugging him. Some of Loki's red hair had come loose from her ponytail and was brushing against his cheek, tickling him, but Godou let it be.
The first time he had tried to brush them away, Loki had flinched, and her face was filled with unspeakable guilt once she realized he had seen the fear in her eyes. So Godou sat still, bearing through the discomfort, letting Loki lean against him, waiting for her breathing to return to normal and her shoulders to relax.
They were sitting down in front of the cave which led to the 59th floor—the entrance to the unknown—and Godou, for once, found himself completely calm.
Ascalon was not a weapon he used lightly or regularly. The number of times he'd invoked it over the course of his long life could be counted on one hand. Calling it an Authority was not entirely correct. Authorities were the powers of Gods, manifestations of Divinity. Ascalon transcended that. It was an Anomaly, capable of rewriting the rules of the universe in ways not even Gods could, and it was the spear's beyond-Divinity trait that had allowed Saint George, an ordinary mortal man by all accounts, to transcend his mortality and accomplish his impossible feats.
When Loki had gazed upon it, she would have seen something that even her Divine senses could not begin to comprehend. She would have seen something that existed in a higher plane of existence than she did.
For a God like her, the ramifications would be profoundly terrifying.
Godou smiled when Loki gave his hand a small squeeze. He was oddly at peace with all this. It had been worth it.
Had his indecision lasted even a moment later, the entire cavern would currently be empty save him.
She let out a deep breath, loosening her grip; instead of clasping her hand tightly against his, she was now gently resting it, her fingers stroking his in small, soft movements. She nuzzled her head deeper into his shoulder and exhaled once more.
The moment was far from perfect. The floor was rough and littered with small rocks that made sitting slightly painful. All the running and fighting from before meant that the stench of sweat, both his and Loki's, wafted into his nose. And then there was the cave in front of them, an ominous and all-encompassing darkness that seemed to never end.
But even with all that, things were better than Godou could have ever hoped for.
Finally breaking the silence, he said, "you must have questions."
"I do," Loki said.
Godou waited, but Loki said nothing else.
"If you want to pretend that you saw nothing, I can do that."
"It's okay. That won't be necessary."
"Then…" his words got stuck in his throat when Loki tilted her head up to meet his eyes.
There wasn't a single sliver of fear. Instead, all he saw was a soft, gentle smile that accompanied warm shining eyes.
"I'll wait," Loki said. "When you're ready, you can tell me. I made a promise to you that I'll never leave you alone, that I'll be here for you. I intend to keep it, no matter how long it takes."
"You're not scared anymore?" he asked.
"I'm scared. Terrified, to be honest," Loki said. But then her smile grew a little wider and her fingers slid into the gaps between his own. "But not of you, Godou. I was never scared of you."
There was a little glint in her eye when Loki said that last part and it made Godou chuckle. "Liar."
Loki peeled herself off him and sat straight. Then she shook her head and looked him in the eyes. "I'm not lying, Godou. I was never scared of you. You never gave me a reason to be and I'm sorry if I ever made you think otherwise."
This time there was no glint, and under her unwavering gaze, Godou found himself speechless. Finally, he managed to find the words and said, "you called me a monster."
Loki looked away and faced the cave. "I shouldn't have done that. I still regret it. You told me the truth and I did not return that trust when you needed it most. I will tell you the truth now, Kusanagi Godou and this time, don't interrupt me."
"I won't," Godou promised.
The fingers wrapping around his hands tensed for a moment. Then they relaxed, and Loki began to speak.
"I love you, Kusanagi Godou. I don't know when, and I certainly don't know how. I'm not good at these kinds of things," upon saying this, her face reddened slightly, "but I will try my best.
"I never experienced love as a God before. It never fell under my domain, and I spent most of my time in Heaven performing my godly duties and getting into fights, so like many other gods, I had no reason nor time to concern myself with emotions.
"But when I descended into the Mortal Realm and took on this form, things began to change. I came to love my Familia. I came to love Orario. I came to love and care for mortals in a way that I never did as a God.
"And then I met you, Kusanagi Godou. At the time, you were just a mysterious stranger that stumbled out of the Dungeon that could lie to the Gods. I was interested in you. You were something I had never seen before.
"I don't know when that curiosity turned into desire, but it was probably because you kept rejecting me in a way no other mortal had before. In a way, what Lancelot said all those weeks ago was right. I wanted you for all the wrong reasons. I liked you back then because you were something that I wanted but couldn't have; just another challenge to be conquered.
"Then you told me the truth. You told me you could kill Gods and showed me Mjolnir, and I was terrified. I have talked to Gods of death, and all of them have told me the same thing: Gods cannot die. But you came from another world and brought with you another set of rules, rules that even Gods like me have to follow.
"I was scared. But not of you, Kusanagi Godou, but what you represented. I was afraid of the Campione in you. Someone who can kill Gods has the potential to reshape the world in ways no one should be able to. And in my fear, I stopped seeing you for who you were and only saw the embodiment of my nightmares.
"Right before you told me the truth about a Campione's nature, I said to you that I didn't care if you were a Campione, and that what I wanted was you, Kusanagi Godou. I'm sorry that I lied then. I will not lie now. I want you, Kusanagi Godou, all of you. You are more than just a Campione. You are Kusanagi Godou, the simple chef at the Hostess of Fertility. You are Kusanagi Godou, the man who saved my Familia. You are Kusanagi Godou, the man that I am love with.
"When I first asked you what a Campione was, you told me it was a title and nothing more. I should have listened to you from the very start. I'm sorry I didn't. The one I love is Kusanagi Godou, not the title given to him by other people.
"I will be honest. I don't know if what I'm feeling now is love. Everything is new to me and I have never been so lost in my life. I'm not asking for a reply now. I'm not even asking for forgiveness. I just want you to know the truth. And I also want you to know, that as long as I am around, you will never need to feel alone again. I love you Kusanagi Godou, and I will be by you for as long as it takes."
Loki pulled her hand away from his and stood up, dusting off the dirt from her clothes. He looked around. The rest of her Familia were geared up and standing behind them, looking at him encouragingly, determinedly, and expectantly.
Loki extended a hand toward him. "Kusanagi Godou, will you walk into the unknown with me?"
She was smiling at him, her eyes pressed into thin lines, and his heart fluttered.
He took her hand and they walked into the cave, hand in hand, ready to take on whatever might be on the other side together.
XxXxXxXxX
The entire Expedition's mood took a more serious turn as they descended through the tunnel into the 59th Floor. The only source of light came from the torches Tsubaki and Raul were carrying. Godou saw it as a sign of just how precarious the expedition was—high-Level Adventurers being relegated into Supporter roles.
"The notes the Zeus Familia left behind said that the 59th Floor was the start of an icy region of the Dungeon. Supposedly, the glacier-like surface made any kind of walking difficult," Finn said. The Pallum was chewing on his thumb. "If that's the case, why hasn't the air gotten any colder? We've descended about 30 meters; we should almost be there."
"The Dungeon is a living, breathing thing," Loki said, walking next to Godou, her hand still interlocked with his. "I wouldn't be surprised if things change."
Finn didn't look convinced. "Whatever the case, everyone be on your guard. Prepare to be attacked the moment we step out."
His words were unnecessary. Everybody's weapons had been drawn ever since they'd entered the tunnel, and they had been tightly held in front of them the whole time.
At the next turn, their world suddenly became engulfed in light. Godou held up a hand to shield himself from the blinding brightness and once his eyes recovered, his jaw dropped at the sight in front of him.
"A jungle?" Riveria said.
They found themselves standing on a ledge overlooking the rest of the Floor below them; the entire 59th Floor was painted green. Trees of all shapes, dense and tall, carpeted the ground. There were mega-trees as well, like the one in the center of Rivira on the 18th Floor, except there were dozens of them here, shaped like giant mushrooms that reached the ceiling of the Floor, the sheer number and size of them making it look as if the entire ceiling was supported by them.
A buzzing sound immediately made Godou swing Lancelot, still in her sword form. A warm liquid splashed on his face as a giant fuzzy insect, bigger than his hand and looking like the grotesque cross of a hornet and a moth, was split into two halves that fell to the ground. The lack of a magic crystal told him that the gigantic insect wasn't even a monster.
As everyone watched the twitching, bifurcated body die, Godou tensed.
"There's something here," he said. He looked to study the jungle before him. The tingling sensation he felt was concerning. That monster tamer he'd met in Rivira hadn't lied—there really was something here waiting for him. It made his fingers itch, and they tightened around Lancelot. When she began to vibrate, Godou immediately understood.
"Divinity. There's Divinity somewhere here."
The Expedition's eyes fell on him. "A God?" Bete asked. "Are you kidding me? We're going to fight a God?"
"No," Godou said. "Not a God. Something much weaker. Do you all remember, back in Rivira, the giant Boar I summoned to fight the Black Goliath?"
They nodded. Loki, on the other hand, frowned. Tell me more, her face seemed to say.
"It's slightly weaker than that," Godou said.
When they paled, he smiled. "Don't worry, it's nowhere as strong as the dragon from earlier. I'll have no problem."
"No."
Godou looked at Finn. The Pallum had his arms folded. Despite his small size, he looked up at Godou, defiance burning in his eyes. "This is our expedition too. Leave it to us. We'll defeat it."
His first response was to look at Loki. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, and Godou wondered if she could sense the Divinity as well.
When she opened her eyes, she scanned through the expedition members. "Do you agree with Finn?"
They nodded as one, all looking determined.
She looked up to Godou and shrugged. "There you go." She smiled at him. "I guess you'll just have to stand and watch from the side-lines with me."
He rolled his eyes, but the corners of his lips still twitched upwards anyway.
The ground rumbled as the sound of falling trees rocked through the Floor. A plume of smoke rose from a newly-made clearing in the distance. Godou could vaguely make out a writhing shape within it.
"Well then," Finn said. "Welcome to the 59th Floor. Let's go."
XxXxXxX
His sweat made Godou's clothes stick to him. The fact that Loki was also sticking him did nothing to alleviate the heat and humidity of the forest. It was dark—the tall trees had wide and dense canopies that blocked out most of the light that came from the light-emitting crystals that made up the ceiling. But still, the Expedition pressed on, led by Finn and Riveria, treading through the darkness with caution, even if they hadn't encountered a monster once.
Loki walked with him at the back of the pack and predictably, once some distance had been made between the two of them and the rest of the Expedition, she had questioned him about Verethragna's Boar.
To his surprise, the words spilled out of his mouth easily. He told Loki how Verethragna was the first God he had killed, explained to her what Divine Beasts were, and recounted how the Boar was one of the first Authorities he had learned to use.
"Doesn't sound very hard," Loki frowned, "all you need to do is point."
Godou was about to mention how he'd destroyed several national landmarks when her features hardened. "These Divine Beasts. You called them servant spirits of the Gods?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"Now that we're getting closer, I can start to feel the Divinity too. You're right, this is too weak to be a God," Loki said, furrowing her brows. "But I think I know what it is. Do you know what spirits are?"
"You mentioned them before," Godou said, trying to remember. "You created them a long time ago to help mortals fight monsters, right?"
"I didn't. Some of the other Gods did. They have small traces of Divinity in them. This feels a little different, though. This Divinity feels…" Loki paused, "I don't know, weird."
"Will it fight us, then?" Godou asked. "I thought they're allies."
"Who knows?" Loki said. "That's what expeditions like this one are for. Some answers are only gained by seeking them out."
XxXxXxXxX
"That's no spirit," Riveria said, as the entire expedition hid behind the thick foliage offered by a fallen tree and studied the thing in front of them.
Godou had seen Divine Beasts take the form of plants before. The thing in front of him vaguely reminded him of one. Godou didn't know if it was a she, but the humanoid figure that protruded out of the flower-like structure was distinctively female. She was clad in green skin, with long ivy-like hair, and easily over three meters tall. The flowery base her torso melted into was as tall as any tree around them. She wore the petals, purple and decorated with colorful patterns, like a dress, and they draped down to the ground where dozens of tentacles were writhing about.
"It's a corrupted spirit," Loki said. "Weaker than a real spirit, but not by much."
"We should act soon," Finn said, pointing. "Before it grows even more powerful."
Surrounding the Demi-spirit was were hundreds of the large, caterpillar-like monsters that Godou recognized from the dragons' den earlier. They were apparently a new species, never-before documented, and it seemed Loki was right in guessing that they really were involved in the oddities going on in the Dungeon.
A tentacle skewered one of the monstrous worms, and from its disintegrating body, yanked out its magic crystal. Lifting it up, the Demi-spirit dropped it into her mouth. Some of the expedition members winced as the crunching sound reached their ears.
Then she sniffed and craned her neck to look in their direction. Gold pupil-less eyes widened delightfully as purple lips spread into an ominous smile.
"Aria," the voice was metallic, and seemed to bounce off the leaves of the forest, "I found you."
From the corner of his eyes, Godou saw Aiz tense, but before he could do anything, Finn hefted his spear and climbed onto the fallen tree.
"Godou," the Captain of the Loki Familia said softly, "take Loki and keep her safe."
Then, to the rest of the expedition, he raised his spear and shouted, "attack!"
XxXxXxXxX
Loki was worried, and it showed in how she refused to sit down on the branch Godou had brought them to watch the ensuing battle from. She stood twenty meters above the ground, one arm hugging her side, the other chewing on her thumbnail nervously.
Her worry wasn't unfounded. The Corrupted Spirit might look to be rooted to the ground, but that meant nothing when her thorn-adorned vines were apparently extendable and could strike anyone within a moment's notice. Godou couldn't count how many of them she had; not only were they too fast and too many, she also had a nasty tendency of keeping a few of them buried underground, launching them as traps or surprise attacks.
The Expedition had to keep moving, constantly dodging one attack after the other, and any attempts to attack were thwarted by a veritable wall of her vines erupting beneath their feet. Finn and the others were still playing the early game: keeping a safe distance while prodding at her defenses to gain an understanding of the Corrupted Spirit's patterns.
Still, it didn't change the fact that a single mistake was all it would take for someone to be impaled.
"Do you believe in them?" Godou asked.
"Yes," Loki said.
"Do you believe in me?" Godou asked.
"Yes," Loki said, a little faster this time.
"Then they will be fine."
He saw Loki frown at Lancelot, who was mixed into the members of the Expedition. True to his word, Godou had asked her not to attack, and only to interfere when someone's life was at stake. The knight had not taken his request well but had obliged when he reminded her that the use of her Divinity might end up summoning a monster even worse than the Black Dragon.
Finally, Loki seemed to relax a little, and her gaze shifted to the new sword attached to his hip. Unlike Lancelot, this one took the form of a katana, a midnight blade hidden under a black sheath; the only color on it was its guard, an ornate gold semicircle with a glistening red orb embedded in its center.
"Ame no Murakamo no Tsurugi," he said, answering her unsaid question.
"I don't recognize the name," Loki said.
"The Divine Sword wielded by Susanoo, God of storms."
Her eyes widened briefly. "Oh," she said. Then she pursed her lips. "This one's a boy sword, right?"
Before he could reply, the sword on his hip chuckled, vibrating in its spot as it did so. The red orb shined as it spoke:
"See how you have traumatized her with Lancelot? Now she questions the gender of every sword she sees. So smitten is she with you that I, the great Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi, am reduced to a romantic competitor instead of the fear-striking and mighty weapon I was forged to be."
Loki's jaw dropped.
"Yes," Godou said, trying hard not to smile. "He is a boy sword."
"Do not worry, Goddess of mischief. I play no tricks. I will be honest, I do not like you; you represent cunning and slyness, and I find that dishonorable. But you care for the boy and have helped him in more ways than one. I appreciate what you have done for him so I will… ah, how do humans put it?... cheer for your team."
"Do all your swords talk?" Loki asked.
"Only the good-looking ones," Tsurugi replied first.
Godou laughed. "Most of the Divine Weapons I have are alive in one way or another but no, most of them don't talk."
"Huh," Loki said, glancing down at Tsurugi. "He's kinda funny. I like him—more than Lancelot at least."
He rolled his eyes. "She saved your Familia."
"I'm sure Ame no Tsurugi could have done the same," Loki said. And then, "Can he turn human too?"
"No," Godou said. "But this sword isn't his Divine Form, either."
"Yes. I look much mightier, and scarier, and far more good-looking in my True Form."
Loki looked amused. "So do I, you know? You've seen me in it before, right Godou? The horns, and the long green cape, and the lightning!" She shuddered, "oh just thinking about it reminds of the passionate kiss we had back then, Godou!"
Then Loki looked up to him expectantly. "When are we going do that again, by the way?"
That… was a question Godou had not expected. Her soft pink lips, pursed together, looked extremely kissable at the moment. But something held him back. Painful memories, which he'd tried to bury, bubbled to the surface of his mind, and he winced.
"Ah," Tsurugi said, "now you've made him remember the ghosts of his past. I would advise caution and patience with this one, Loki. For all his strength and sturdiness, he is hopelessly weak against wounds of the heart."
There was a flash of irritation at Tsurugi's loose tongue, but Godou closed his eyes and suppressed it. He wanted Loki to know the truth now, and it didn't matter whether it came from his mouth or not. Tsurugi knew that he would've never admitted to the fragility of his emotions on his own and grudgingly, he mentally thanked the God for educating Loki.
Loki couldn't hide her disappointment completely. But still, genuine concern and understanding could be seen on her face as she grabbed his hand with her own. "I'll wait, Godou. When you're ready, I'll be here for you."
He squeezed her hand, still recovering from the unwanted flashbacks, and said softly, "thank you, Loki."
The beam on her face made everything worth it.
The sharp spike in magical energy reminded Godou that there was still a fight going on.
A high-pitched chant, either spoken too fast or in a completely different language for Godou to understand poured out of the Corrupted Spirit's lips, still locked in a smug smile. A magic circle formed above her head and Godou heard the air crackle with arcane energy.
A spear sunk into her cheek and detonated.
"That's Finn for you," Loki said, a tinge of pride in her voice.
But the Pallum did not look satisfied, and Godou saw him look at his hand in concern.
When the smoke blocking her face cleared, torn sinews were knitting back together, and a fresh layer of flesh and skin was painted back on and she continued to chant.
Why do they always have regeneration? Godou thought.
A barrage of light from Lefiya came next, but this time the Corrupted Spirit was ready. The petal-dress, previously hanging off her waist, swung upwards, forming a protective cocoon that shielded her from the Elf's spells.
The petals dropped, revealing a manic grin on the Corrupted Spirit's face.
"Meteor Storm!"
From the giant magic circle floating overhead, flaming projectiles, hundreds of them, rained down on the Expedition in screaming yellow streaks. Riveria threw up a glowing dome just in time to block the first of them. In an instant, the entire area was covered in explosions and smoke. Dirt and debris were thrown into the sky in heaps. Trees were vaporized, and the earth shook from the unrelenting assault. Whatever remaining caterpillar-monsters simply ceased to exist.
The branch they were standing on rocked violently, and Godou caught Loki's arm before she could lose her footing. The ensuing shockwave caused her hair to whip around, showing a worried face.
"They're fine. The shield's still up," Godou said.
But still, he found himself frowning. Now that he had sensed the Corrupted Spirit's magic first-hand, he realized there was something wrong with it. There was normal magic, the kind that Riveria and Lefiya specialized in using. And then there was Divine Magic, which Godou had felt pulsating throughout the entire Floor as the Corrupted Spirit was chanting. However, just before the meteors had been fired, Godou had sensed something else, something darker, something that could not have been Divine in nature.
He glanced at Loki. Had she felt it too? It had been brief. The redhead's eyes were locked onto the cloud of smoke. She probably hadn't, too full of concern for her Familia, and Godou didn't want to burden her even more.
A knot of unease formed in his gut. What had that been?
The smoke began to clear. Loki heaved a sigh of relief when she saw the blue dome still glowing, the members of the Expedition inside looking rattled, but otherwise no worse for wear. Bete made an attempt to advance, but Finn's arm blocked him immediately.
The Pallum looked down at his thumb just as Godou felt another spike in magical energy.
Where did Finn's remarkable precognition come from?
Chanting filled the air again, deranged and garbled. The sheer amount of energy behind the Corrupted Spirit's words cleared the smoke. Her wicked smile was still there.
And then Godou felt it. If the previous attack had only contained a small sliver of it then this time Divinity and that dark energy were almost split evenly. His instincts warned him of the scale of the impending attack, and Godou reacted accordingly.
Scooping Loki up, he called on the Camel and poured as much strength as he could into his legs, and then leaped off the branch. The power behind his jump caused the massive branch to snap completely, and as Godou hurtled through the air, the Corrupted Spirit unleashed its attack.
Purple flames spewed out of her mouth in long billowy streams that spread across the surface like a flood of burning, torrential liquid. An entire swath of the jungle vanished in an instant. Trees spontaneously burst into flames from proximity, turning into ash that caught alight as well, consigned into oblivion.
Godou came to a stop in the air, floating briefly, just in time to see one of the giant trees topple. Like a ravenous beast, the Corrupted Spirit's flames devoured its roots and base. It groaned, agonizingly, as it listed to one side and Godou watched the haunting sight of its massive canopy, once touching the roof of the Floor, crash onto the ground with enough force that the entire Floor visibly shook.
"No!" Loki screamed, still caught underneath his arm, and clawed at the air desperately.
Riveria's shield had shattered.
A black blur slammed into the ground in front of her before the flames could touch her and the rest of the Expedition. A massive kite shield, taller than a man and shining silver, buried its tip into the ground as Lancelot, clad in her midnight armor, put herself in between the fiery onslaught and the Expedition.
Like water before a dam, the flames gave way, splitting and diverging as the immovable object placed in front of it refused to budge. The Expedition froze, watching the scorching current bypass them with awe.
Godou's eyes widened as Lancelot's sensations passed on over to him. There was a concerning amount of strain on her, and with horror, Godou realized that the dark energy mixed into the attack was burning through her Divine defenses at an unnaturally high rate.
It… countered Divinity?
The pull of gravity forced Godou to reprioritize; Lancelot would be fine for now, but he and Loki were starting to freefall through the air. The ground was still engulfed in flames and was starting to glisten as earth turned into a hard, glass-like substance under the heat.
"Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi, Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven, unsheathe."
He slid the blade out from its scabbard smoothly. Electricity crackled along its edges as it was drawn to its full length. Despite himself, Godou grinned. "Make it rain, partner."
Where there had been none before, clouds swirled into existence above him. Thunder rumbled as arcs of lightning danced within the now overcast sky of the 59th Floor.
The rain fell instantly, and torrentially, putting out the flames in an angry hiss that created a layer of steamy mist that surrounded Godou once he landed back onto the ground.
Loki, who had remained silent ever since Lancelot had protected her Familia, climbed out of his grip. She raised a hand up to catch droplets as the rain started to abate.
"Full of surprises, aren't you?" she said.
"C'mon," Godou said. "There's still a battle going on."
Loki nodded, her face turning grim. "Lancelot is making it very difficult for me to not like her."
XxXxXxXxX
They won.
It had not been an easy battle, but they had done it. Lancelot had not needed to intervene again, though there were moments that came dangerously close.
When Gareth had been impaled by one of the Corrupted Spirit's vines, Godou had almost commanded Lancelot to save him. Surprisingly, it was Loki that held him back, a determined yet pained look on her face as she told him, "my children won't let a little prick like that stop them."
She had been right, and Gareth had continued to clear the way for the rest, slicing through vines furiously as if the gaping wound in his gut wasn't there.
And at the very end, when Aiz had been delivering the fatal blow, the Corrupted Spirit had launched a giant icicle that would have killed her had Lefiya not destroyed it with a well-timed and well-aimed spell.
Finn had a dislocated shoulder. Riveria had severe burns along half of her body. Bete had a fractured leg. Tione and Tiona were possibly concussed from being thrown into a giant stone.
No one had emerged unscathed, but everyone had a grin on their face. Loki's elation at the successful Expedition was just that infectious.
Even Godou couldn't help but smile as he watched Loki throw hugs and praises at her Adventurers. He felt proud of them. To take down something equivalent to a low-class Divine Beast was phenomenal for anyone not a Campione.
And then an ear-piercing shattering and cracking sound was heard, and Godou looked up just in time to see the ceiling split apart and a giant leg, scaly and hooved, smash through the thick crystal layer as if it had been made of paper.
It was black.
He gritted his teeth in frustration. So the use of his Divinity had not gone unnoticed after all.
But before anything else could happen, a dark, miasmic sensation enveloped the entire area. The adventurers fell to their knees—the pressure and power that they were feeling so thick and overwhelming that their weakened bodies could not handle it. Even Godou found himself momentarily short of breath.
Loki's eyes went wide, while Lancelot donned her armor once more and Tsurugi began vibrating with anticipation.
Godou could do nothing but watch—the crevice the unknown Black Monster was descending from suddenly slammed shut as if it were a mouth that had devoured it. A pained roar thundered across the floor as its leg, still twitching as it fell, crashed on the other side of the jungle.
And then, silence.
The pressure let up. The Adventurers starting gulping in fresh air gratefully, unsteadily getting to their feet as the horrible and crushing sensation ebbed away.
Godou gulped. That was the unknown power he had felt from the Corrupted Spirit's attack, only intensified exponentially.
A loud sigh drew his attention to the center of the clearing they were standing in, where a robed and hooded figure stood in a spot that, just moments ago, had been completely empty.
"That's enough fighting for one day, don't you think?"
The newcomer's voice was relaxed and, to some extent, even friendly.
That didn't stop every single weapon in the area from being pointed at him.
"Who the hell are you?" Bete was the first one to ask.
The man raised his arms dramatically. The hood kept Godou from seeing anything above the mouth, and all he could make out was that the man was fair-skinned and had a sharp chin.
"Me?" the man said. "I have many names. Among them, I have once been called Destroyer of Cities."
His lips spread into a wide smile when he saw Loki bring a hand to her face in horror.
"But if that is too long, I suppose you may just call me Enyo."
XxXxXxXxX
A/N: Would just like to let you all know a few things going forward. I've mentioned some of this in Spacebattles, but most of you read this on FF, and so you can't see it. (Get spacebattles too, it's far better for author-reader dialogue imo)
1. As I've said before, I'm in the midst of writing an original project, and I found it kinda ironic that I'm gonna try to complete a work of my own when I haven't even managed to complete a single piece of fanfiction. So, I'm putting my identity as an aspiring author on the line here and declaring that I won't abandon this story for another 8-10 chapters (which is where "Book One" of this fic will end), and then we'll see how things go from there.
2. I also want some of your thoughts so I can plan things accordingly. I intend on drifting far, far away from the Anime's portrayal of Rakia (I'm assuming the LN's is somewhat similar), and making them slightly more powerful, with more malicious and extreme attitudes and methods. The Familia War will be a touch-and-go affair-it's Bell's story and I don't want to take that away from him, but I really plan on expanding and building on Rakia because I see a lot of potential there. Given how some of you are sticklers when it comes to things like this, I'm hoping just to see, roughly, how much of you are agreeable to this deviation of Rakia's portrayal. It'll be exciting and interesting, I promise you, and we'll definitely get to see some crazy stuff if what I've planned is okay with you all.
3. I have another active fic called "Alola, Galar!" that's basically inserting the Protagonist of Pokemon Sun and Moon into Pokemon Sword and Shield. Do check it out if you like Pokemon!
4. As always, do let me know your thoughts in reviews, comments, likes, follows, and favs. You can PM me too! We're on the path to reaching 4k follows on FF (despite this fic not even being 1.5 years old), which I think is pretty cool, and Spacebattles…well, I have one chapter that's going to hit 400 Likes soon, which I guess can be a milestone? Speaking about Spacebattles, I'm really hoping you guys can discuss more and comment more, because I realize there's a lot of Danmachi lore I'm not aware of so the more you discuss about how things can be applied, the more I have to work with!
