I don't own anything about Danmachi or any series show up in here
The story have been Beta thank to RedRat8
'Just who is he?' Ais thought to herself as she looked upon the fight that was happening before her. Her Familia had been exploring the Lower Floors until they had encountered a group of Minotaurs and had fought them, until one of the managed to escape and she had chased after the one monster as it reached into the Upper Floors, which would be a disaster for many reasons. Now she was seeing an albino boy, with looks similar to that of a rabbit fighting the Minotaur.
Ais want to step in and help the boy but she noticed that there was a group of girls behind the boy. And correctly assumed that they must be all together with him and could sense the strength of the girl with the unique butterfly like coat was strong. With that said and done, she decided to simply watch the fight.
The boy was trained and skilled, that much she could tell form the way he weaved and danced around the Minotaur. However, his skills were not refined, they were awkward, and he sometimes overestimate himself, or undercut the damage a bit that he expected to do. Which seems most prominent when he tried to take a deep breath and unleash an attack that only managed to cut off one arm off the Minotaur, and then made a deep cut into the Minotaur's guts, and killing it. And during that moment, she could have sworn she saw water droplets when he made that slash as his team praised him.
Then he smiled, and that for some reason made her cheeks turn a bit red, though she didn't know why she did so. "Hey Ais you there?" Someone called out to her, causing her to stop her internal thoughts as she turned back to see who called for her.
"Bete." Ais nodded to Werewolf with gray colored hair, amber eyes, sleek tail, and a tattoo on his face.
"Yeah, did you managed to get that monster?" He asked.
Ais shook her head. "No, someone else took care of it." She answered.
"Okay then." Bete shrugged. "Then let's go back, the others are waiting for us." He said as Ais nodded and walked back with him, but not before taking one last look at the boy, and form some reason a cloaked figured overlapped with his image before she turned back and left.
Loki as ever was very happy to see all of her children return after their expedition. But after what happened down in the Dungeon, with new Monsters appearing and casualties of many Adventurers, she was simply glad to have them back in person. She hadn't lost anyone yet, not since the dark days of the city, which still brings a tear to her eyes.
"You look happy for some reason, did something happen?" Her Captain spoke up as she turned to face her Pallum who had blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and had the body of a small child but was also the eldest among her Children.
"What makes you say that Finn?" Loki responded.
"You hugged all of us even though you only do that for the girls." Finn deadpanned.
"Bete freaked out a bit when you did that." A Dwarf with brown eyes, and hair and beard of the same color noted in amusement.
"Really now Gareth? Must not have noticed it since he looked kind of happy." Loki hummed.
"Which means something happened to make you do that, something that we have not heard of yet." A female High Elf with jade colored hair and eyes replied getting to the root of the matter.
Loki let out a sigh at her intuition. "You right Riveria, when you guys returned to the surface have any of you noticed something off from Twelfth to Tenth Floor?" She questioned.
"Tione and Tiona, killed some new monsters that we have never seen before." Finn said as he thought about it. " I guess you already knew this."
"Yeah, a few days ago those monsters been spawning in large numbers. And as a result of their sudden growth and unknown nature, a lot of Adventurers ended up being killed." Loki explained as she pulled out the paperwork for it with the top three Executives of the Loki Familia reading the papers and getting surprised by it.
"Three new Monster Types plus a Floor Boss type Monster for each one." Gareth muttered in shock.
"This has never happened before." Riveria said worryingly as she continued looking over the paperwork detailing the incident.
"How many Adventurers died?" Finn asked grimly, already not expecting to like the answer.
" Sixty Adventurers." Loki said as Finn, Riveria, and Gareth all had their eyes widened in shock and sorrow.
"How could that many Adventurers be killed?!" Gareth demanded. "From what I've read in here mid-tier to high-tier level 1 Adventurers could handle most of these Monsters with ease, save for perhaps the Floor Boss Versions."
"That fool Kibaou was involved." Loki said darkly as her three Executives also darkened at the mention of him, there was a time in which he tried to harass Ais for her progression out of petty hate and jealousy, and they told him off.
"What did that fool do this time?" Riveria questioned with a sigh, feeling a headache involving that idiot.
"He wanted payback against the Izanami Familia, and called for many Adventurers from other Familia to get payback against them, using their anger and jealousy to his advantage."
"Lady Izanami now has members?" Finn asked in surprise.
"Yep" Loki nodded. "She's got nine members so far." She said as everyone whistled
"Which does bring up the question of why Kibaou wants to attack a new Familia." Riveria pointed out.
"Because the Izanami Familia, since their creation has been setting new records exceeding many of the old ones by miles." Loki explained.
"What did they do then?" Gareth asked as surely there wasn't that many things, they could have done that made them targeted that badly.
"Going to the Twelfth Floor on their first day, killing a Floor Boss, while all at Level 1, and just recently, one of them became Level 2, in just one month." Loki explained as she then laughed a bit at the expression her Children were making now. Which to be fair, was not their fault, since she had the same expression when she heard about it too.
"That's..." Finn tried to say something, anything really, but couldn't form any words.
"I know that it sounds crazy, but all of that's real." Loki assured.
"Just what kind of members did Lady Izanami found?" Riveria murmured to herself in shock.
"Trust me, you don't know the half of it." Loki said cheekily.
"I guess this is why, Kibaou wanted to attack them." Gareth muttered.
"Indeed, he planned to ambush their Familia at the Twelfth Floor, but the new monster showed up and attacked both his group and the Izanami Familia, but the reason why they were able to get the drop on them to begin with. Is due to the fact that Kibaou focused too much on getting revenge on them, that he neglected his settings and still focused on them even while being attacked, as a result, only the Izanami Familia made it out, and one of them ended up Level 2 after that attack." Loki explained as her Children nodded.
"Despite his rep though, I can understand why he would attack them on some level, as what the Izanami Familia achieved, is practically unreal." Finn noted which then turned to shame when Loki gave him a look for agreeing with Kibaou, and it did make him feel disgusted to say that.
"I know." Loki said. "But Izanami is no liar, and she's less than happy about the attention her Familia received and what they had to deal with."
"I guess she'd tried to take actions to protect her Familia after Kibaou's stunt." Riveria said.
"Well the thing is, unless they have clear proof about Izanami's false report then the Familia who had members involved are currently in trouble with Guild, last I heard." Loki replied.
"Can't blame the Guild for being angry at what Kibaou did." Finn noted, losing sixty Adventurers because of one idiot was a disaster. Losing that many Adventurers could turn away prospective Adventurers, cause more trouble for the Guild, disrupt the economy that relies on materials from the Dungeon, and cause Familias to look at each other with suspicion and weariness, which could escalate tensions into possible war in the worst-case scenario.
"Indeed, but I do have to say that Izanami's Children are quite impressive." Loki hummed out as her Children gave her curious looks. "Don't worry, you'll know when you meet some of them." She assured.
"This is the report you asked for, my Lady." Ottar spoke as he returned with the information from the Guild about the Izanami's Children. With special focus on the child that had gained her interest.
"Bell Cranel." Freya hummed out his name. "He's also a level 2 Adventurer now." So, her new interest was the new level 2 Adventurer everyone's been talking about, the one who leveled up in one month and done plenty of other amazing stunts with his Familia. The more she read about him, the hotter her body felt.
Freya then stood up from her chair and walked toward the window and looked down upon the city. She quickly searched for the boy who had caught her interest and found him walking down the street along with his Familia. His soul still shined brightly still since the first time she saw him, maybe even more so now.
She then looked towards the pink haired girl and orange brownish haired girl walking besides him and noticed that their souls were glowing a bit when in proximity to him. Interestingly enough, those girls might be developing feelings for the boy, but it was unimportant since he will belong to her. Then she turned eyes to the one she thought was the boy's older brother or father and saw that his soul was still an interesting case of black, but now had some blue color in it for some reason.
"I wonder what it is he carries." Freya hummed as she went back to read more on the info about the Izanami Familia. She had to know since Ottar had acknowledged a few of them to be very strong, and that would be troublesome if she wanted to get Bell. But it ultimately didn't matter since she always got what she wanted in the end.
The entire Izanami Familia all stopped to look at the location in front of them with a mixture of surprise, astonishment, and confusion.
"You sure this is the right place?" Ragna couldn't help but ask.
"It's the address in this invitation, so it has to be the right place…I think." Izanami said as she held out said invitation while looking a bit unsure.
"Well there are other Gods and Goddesses here, so it has to be the right place." Shinobu noted as she looked at the various Deities that came with their own escorts, many of whom took a look at the place and asked the same question as Ragna did.
"They look really confused, really can't blame them." Velvet commented as she found the location to be horrifically gaudy.
"It's still an interesting design." Asuna said trying to defend the shape of the location.
"To one's own taste I suppose?" Emma noted.
"…I'm at a loss for words." Nine muttered as she stared at the location in shock.
"It's utterly ridiculous and weird." Akame deadpanned as she took in the sight of the building. Which was a massive, thirty-meter, human-shaped statue with an elephant's head sitting cross-legged in the middle of the city block…with the entrance being a pair of double doors located directly at the statue's crotch. Which also happened to be home to the Ganesha Familia, who were hosting the party. And they were here with Izanami since she received the invitation this morning.
"W…well…I suppose I should be going in now." Izanami said with a nervous smile on her face.
"Well enjoy yourself Izanami." Nine waved along with her fellow members, goodbye as Izanami walked in.
"So…what should we do now?" Bell asked as they watched Izanami disappear into the crotch doors.
"Dinner?" Ragna offered.
"That will work." Nine nodded.
"Maybe we can eat outside while we can?" Velvet offered up.
"How about the Hostess of Fertility?" Emma chimed in.
"That'll work for me." Asuna said as her stomach grumbled a bit.
"Yeah, feeling famished myself, but you know…" Bell spoke up then trailed off still looking at the building. "That looks really weird." He muttered as everyone from his Familia nodded in agreement with him.
A few feet away from them, a patrol guard wearing the Ganesha Familia emblem across his chest let out a tired and depressed sigh at hearing the same thing again, and felt really embarrassed by his God's flamboyant nature.
Izanami wondered into the Banquet Hall, not exactly paying attention to Ganesha's speech before she noticed a Goddess that she's familiar with by one of the large buffet tables. "Hello Hestia." Izanami called out cheerfully.
"Hi Izanami." Hestia said as she finished the food on her plate. "Maybe I should take some of this food back for my Familia." She hummed thoughtfully.
"You don't have to do that Hestia." Izanami chided lightly. "you should just enjoy yourself for now."
"It that you, Izanami, Hestia?" A familiar voice called out, as both Goddesses turned around and saw a Goddess with flaming red hair, wearing a dark crimson dress standing behind them. On her thin face was a black eye patch covering her right eye, and her Familia symbol on her dress made her recognizable on sight.
"Hephaistos!" Hestia said cheerfully. "It's been a while!" She called out.
"Yeah." Hephaistos replied casually. "I heard that you got three members now."
"Yeah, and that was thanks to Izanami's help." Hestia chirped.
"I just suggested what most Deities do when they can't go out recruiting." Izanami humbly said.
"So, I've heard, also heard that two of my Children decide to make a contract with your Familia as well." Hephaistos said in interest.
"Indeed, two of them plus another child from Goibniu Familia." Izanami nodded.
"He was kind of surprised to hear that actually." Hephaistos nodded back. "Since Goibniu said Marco's not usually approached unless it's for her specialty."
Izanami nodded, "Your Captain suggested that her works as a Contract Blacksmith since one of my Children loves her work."
"Thanks for that." Hephaistos said with a grin as she sighed happily. "People don't go for Lisbeth's work due to being a new one, but hearing she's got someone she can contract with is good for my heart."
"I have heard about that." Izanami noted.
"It's a shame, she is very talented but many Adventurers are too focused on my brand name Children." Hephaistos lamented. "At least this will give her a chance to get some fame and improve her abilities."
"I see." Izanami nodded.
"I also heard that you paid off the house that Goibniu gave to you." Hephaistos said before giving Izanami a unreadable look. "Despite the fact that he said that he gifted it to you."
"I didn't want to trouble him for giving me a good place." Izanami replied in defense of herself. "I also asked him to make some renovations to it as well."
"My, are you finished talking business?" Another voice cut in and the three Goddesses turned to see another Goddess walk out from the crowd toward them. Her silver hair matched her gold-trimmed dress that was open in the front which drew the gaze of all the males in the area.
"Oh, it's Freya…" Hestia said with a sigh.
"Oh dear, am I that much of a bother to you, Hestia?" Freya asked, looking slightly troubled and saddened.
"Not really." Hestia replied. "I just really don't know how to deal with you is all." She admitted.
"My…that's what I like about you though." Freya said with a giggle. "You are perhaps the only one who would speak to me so honestly like that."
"Well, if you want me to continue being honest." Hestia continued, as her eyes narrowed as she peered around Freya. "I do prefer you over some other people…"
"FREYA! HEY FREI-FREI!" A loud cry came from up top on a white staircase located in the middle of the room as Loki came running down. "Freya!" Loki called out cheerfully, wearing a long low-cut black dress that exposed her shoulders. She stopped right before Freya before turning to see Hestia as she grinned a bit. "Hey Chibi." She greeted Hestia casually.
"What do you want, Loki?" Hestia sighed out.
"Wat's the matter? Can't I just drop by to say hi?" Loki pouted a bit.
"You never just drop by to just say hi ever." Hestia pointed out to her.
"So, Izanami." Freya said as she turned to her and ignoring their usual bickering. "I heard that you finally start your own Familia now."
"Yes, I have." Izanami said happily.
"I also heard that one of them just become a level 2 Adventurer after one month as well." Freya noted. "Even beat the record that Loki's Child held."
"You don't have to mention it!" Loki cried out dramatically.
"I get far too much attention for that." Izanami sighed out as she pointed to the many Gods and Goddesses staring at her while whispering to each other.
"Don't worry about that." Freya said reassuringly. "Unless they have actual proof that you falsified your Child's level, they won't be able to move against you."
"With how fast my Child leveled up. I don't think that's going to stop some people from trying, regardless of the consequences." Izanami said sadly.
"Putting that aside." Loki said, returning to the conversation. "So, what were you and Hephaistos talking about before Freya come in?" She asked curiously.
"Oh, it about my Familia's home renovations." Izanami explained, "I wanted to make some room for my future Children."
"I see, so you asked for Goibniu to help out with that." Loki nodded in understanding.
"He plans to begin after Monsterphilia." Izanami said to her. "He did mention it will take about a month to completely renovate it." As some of her fellows widened their eyes at that.
"That's kind of long though." Hestia pointed out.
"My Captain wanted to add in a few more additions to our home which ended up delaying the renovation completion a bit." Izanami explained.
"That doesn't sound cheap either." Loki added in.
"The Guild decide to give my Familia a lot of money as thanks for the information about the new Monsters along with their Monster Stones." Izanami explained. "Now I just need to find a place for my Children to stay during the renovations is all."
"How about you and your Familia stay at my place?" Loki offered up as everyone looked at her in surprise.
"You sure your Familia can do that for her?" Hephaistos asked, as she had planned to offer Izanami a place to stay since her Familia own many buildings in the city.
"It's fine." Loki said casually. "Izanami got like what? Nine members or so? My house has enough space for them."
"What are you scheming Loki?" Hestia asked suspiciously.
"I take offense to that, it's not like I'm interested in her Children or anything like that" Loki protested as she got a flat look from everyone. "Okay it is kind of like that, but I got good intentions though." Loki soon admitted.
"…Let me discuss this matter with my Children before I agree to this." Izanami said after some thoughts.
"Sure, also got to tell my Familia about that possibility as well." She added in as everyone continued to enjoy themselves at the Banquet for now.
"So, what do you think of this offer?" Izanami asked her children, all of whom were sitting at the table and explained the offer that Loki made to them.
"I'm fine with that offer." Nine said casually.
"You're not worried about Loki planning something?" Ragna asked with raised eyebrows.
"I believe that she will use this chance to find out about how Bell leveled up quickly." Shinobu pointed out in worry.
"As long as we're cautious, she won't find out about that." Nine replied to them. "Also, this can be a good chance to see what the Loki Familia is like, to see if they're worth allying with or not." She then explained. "And if they are, we can ally with them, while will help us out in the long term against other Familias who are against us." Nine added in.
"I suppose I can see your point." Shinobu nodded.
"I will tell her at Monsterphilia then." Izanami said as everyone seemed to be okay with it. "Also, how's our current finances as of now?" She asked.
"After paying Goibniu to complete buy this house along with renovation costs." Nine muttered as she quickly calculated their liquid assets and frowned at their number. "…Let's just say, we'll be in the red for a bit." She said to her.
"How much do we have?" Velvet asked before Nine give her the note on their current finances and blanched a bit. "We got that little?" She couldn't help but ask in shock.
"I admit the renovation costs was more than I thought." Nine said somewhat sheepishly.
"Maybe you shouldn't have added in those extra buildings." Ragna pointed out to her.
"I need that for my workshop and for the kids to practice Ars Magus." Nine defended herself. "So, we needed the space."
"But did it really have to be that big?" Shinobu couldn't help but ask.
"You didn't see me complaining when you wanted that Greenhouse of yours." Nine shot back as Shinobu only smiled and looked a different direction whistling far too casually.
"I like the designs Nine made." Izanami said to quell any arguing. "Besides it gives us more room for future members of our Familia."
"Thank you, Izanami." Nine nodded. "Now due to our current financial straits, we'll have to make up for it." She declared.
"So, more Monster hunting and farming then?" Akame asked.
"I think it's time for our Drifters go pass Rivira actually." Nine said to the surprise of a few.
"You want to go deeper." Izanami stated.
"I do believe we can safely go to the Middle Floors now." Nine said.
"I'm okay with it, the current Floor monsters are getting boring, so I guess we begin tomorrow then?" She asked as Nine was about to speak but got interrupted by Izanami.
"I actually prefer everyone to begin after Monsterphilia, as I want all of you to enjoy it." Izanami said.
"Now that you mentioned it, what is Monsterphilia?" Shinobu asked.
"It's a large festival held every year by the Ganesha Familia, they rent out the entire coliseum for a day and bring in Monsters to be tamed from the Dungeon." Izanami explained.
"Taming Monsters? Is that even possible?" Bell asked curiously.
"Indeed, but it's very difficult and you need Tamer Skills for it, and their Familia has lots of Tamers as a result and use plenty of Monsters not just for Dungeon matters, but also elsewhere too." Izanami explained.
"That sounds amazing." Emma said in awe.
"And the coliseum is where they do it in front of an audience?" Asuna asked.
"Indeed, they love putting up a show for it, so I'm quite excited." Izanami said.
"I kind of want to see it too." Bell said excitedly.
"So, when does it begin?" Nine asked.
"In two days." Izanami replied.
"I see, we'll stick with the current Floor for now…two days huh?" Nine muttered as suddenly everyone felt worried upon seeing the devilish look form upon her face and some got even more worried when she stared at some of them.
"So, you two are the Contact Blacksmiths I've heard about." Nine noted.
"Yes, and you must be the Captain of Izanami Familia." Welf said excitedly as he nodded.
"Larger group than usual today." Lisbeth noted seeing their group.
"Save for Honda, everyone decided to go into the Dungeon today." Nine explained. "So, don't you worry about your safety." Nine said as they nodded knowing their rep. "Also heard that you two need to get to Level 2 in order to advanced your Blacksmithing capabilities." She noted.
"Yeah, I'm almost Level 2 now." Welf said.
"I'm lower ranked because I could only go with my Familia when I have the time." Lisbeth replied.
"I see, don't worry with us, that'll change fast." Nine declared as she continued into the Dungeon.
"She seems nice." Lisbeth noted.
"The best." Asuna said with a smile but didn't reach her eyes.
"Are you okay Asuna." Naaza asked seeing her eyes.
"What, nah I'm fine, why do you ask?" Asuna replied.
"Because your eyes look dead." Naaza said in concern.
"You're just imaging things, Bell and Emma are happy." Asuna said as Naaza looked to the two but Emma had a forced smile and Bell had an awkward one.
"Is something wrong with them?" Naaza asked Shinobu for help.
"They're just happy with Nine deciding to aid the members from Hephaistos Familia." Shinobu explained, not really wanting to expand much more. But did the trick as Naaza believed Shinobu and figured Nine to be the strict tough love kind of mentor, trying to push them past their limits.
Eina looked on with a passive face as she saw the smiling face of Nine, with most of the Izanami Familia looking fine as usual with the exceptions of their three rookies and their new companions. With Welf looking exhausted and collapsed in a chair, while Bell was sitting on a couch but completely red faced. Which may something to do with the fact that Asuna and Emma were leaning on his shoulder and lap, which would have been cute had they not looked so exhausted. Meanwhile Lisbeth was knocked out completely and being carried by an exasperated Ragna.
Taking a deep breath, she spoke. "What did you do this time?" Eina asked seriously.
"I did nothing." Nine retorted in offense. "I just simply helped those two, they needed to become Level 2 for their skills."
"To get the development abilities." Eina nodded. "But what kind of help did you give them?"
"I just brought them along with my Familia to Rivira." Nine said "They were being helpful when they fought alongside us." She said casually.
"You mean you let them fight Monster out of their league?" Eina questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"They're alive with little injuries." Nine replied helpfully.
"I see." Eina nodded before writing her report.
"I can't believe she did that." Nine complained.
"Hard not to see why she did it." Ragna replied.
"She banned me from going into the Dungeon for one month." She continued to complain.
"You're acting like it's the end of the world." Ragna rolled his eyes. "Besides, you don't go down there that often now."
"Have you ever had to make plan for the Dungeon?" Nine snidely asked. "But then again for a guy who only knows how to attack with his blade, it must be difficult for your mind to know."
Ragna rolled his eyes. "And yet you go with me to Monsterphilia, despite how obvious you feel about my company." He muttered as he and Nine were in the streets of the city with plenty of food stands and people walking around.
"Izanami had to go with Honda to meet up with Loki to tell her about our decision." Nine started off. "Shinobu went off earlier with Naaza and took Akame and Velvet with her." She said casually.
"What about the brats?" Ragna questioned.
"It's rude to interrupt someone's date." Nine said with a smirk.
"So, I was your last option then." Ragna replied seeing the choices she was left with.
"Pretty much, now do be a good boy for you have been gifted with a beauty of mine level." Nine said arrogantly as Ragna sighed but shrugged it off and walked with her. And despite their arguments, they did have a pretty good time together as they enjoyed the festival.
"The food is enjoyable." Shinobu noted happily as she ate her crepes.
"They only sell this type of food during the festival." Naaza chimed in eating her own crepes with Akame and Velvet doing the same.
"The festival seems to attract a lot of people." Shinobu commented.
"It's one of many festivals held in the city." Naaza explained. "But this doesn't compare to the Grand Day, that one attracts people from all over the world, that the city is practically crowded during that time."
"I look forward to see those events." Velvet hummed. "So, you think we should go to the Coliseum to see the Beast Taming Event?"
"Not right now." Naaza said. "The Coliseum's usually filled up by now."
"Too bad." Akame shrugged.
"Don't worry about that." Naaza said consoling. "The events are day long so we can see it any time of the day."
"I see." Shinobu nodded. "Maybe we could find the others and watch it with them."
"Not too sure about that." Velvet said casually. "Honda and Izanami maybe, But Nine and Ragna are on their own date, same with Bell, Asuna and Emma." She said as Naaza remembered something.
"Now that you mention it." Naaza started off. "Are Nine and Ragna a couple?" She asked.
"No." Akame deadpanned.
"Yes." Shinobu said happily.
"Maybe?" Velvet answered with a shrug as Naaza blinked at the radically different answers from them.
"Don't said they're a couple in front of them." Akame warned. "Ragna will deny it and there's a high chance Nine will burn you with her spell."
"But they act a like married couple though." Shinobu explained. "look at how Nine always drags Ragna along."
"I got no experience in romance." Velvet said before she continued on. "I think she either sees him as a meat shield of sorts. Or she does like him, but is rather reluctant to admit it."
"So, in short their relationship is very complicated." Naaza nodded in understand with the others doing the same before she sighed. "I just hope Bell is not like that with Emma and Asuna."
"I'm not sure about their relationships either." Velvet admitted.
"Asuna and Emma are clearly interested in him." Akame said seeing the signs for it.
"He does always go with them into the Dungeon." Shinobu pointed out. "He's also kind of cute like a rabbit." She said excitedly very much an avid shipper.
"He does look like a small defenseless baby bunny now that you mention it." Naaza hummed.
"True, besides Emma and Asuna, I also think that waitress Syr's interested as well." Akame noted.
"What about the Black Cat girl in the pub?" Velvet chimed in. "I noticed she always look at Bell every time he's in there."
"She kind of give me a weird feeling every time she looks at Bell." Shinobu said feeling protective of the boy.
"Guess Bell noticed that then." Naaza said.
"Not really." All three girls said at once as Naaza blinked.
"Really?" Naaza couldn't help but asked.
"He's shockingly dense when it comes to these feelings." Akame said.
"He's kind of a natural flirt as well, without even knowing it." Shinobu added in.
"Surprised he's not a Playboy like his pervert granddad." Velvet noted in surprise.
"This is the first time I've seen this many people since come to this city." Asuna said in awe as she, Emma, and Bell stood near a fountain.
"Me too." Emma said just as awed.
"Too bad that Welf and Lisbeth can't join us." Bell noted as Emma and Asuna gave him a deadpanned look each.
"Those two needed a break after what happened." Emma reminded him.
"We're lucky that we're already use to Nine's demands otherwise we would all be in bed now." Asuna said.
"Sometimes I wonder how Nine thinks." Emma pondered "So where do you want to go?"
"How Ezekiel's to get something to eat first?" Bell suggested.
"Okay, let's go then." Emma said before Bell stopped her from walking.
"Ezekiel's shop is that way." Bell said pointing to the other direction.
"I knew that!" Emma snapped with a red face.
"Honestly! It's been a month and you still don't remember the way?" Asuna huffed out.
"I need to go to a location at least ten times before I can remember it for sure." Emma said defensively as both Asuna and Bell deadpanned at her lack of direction, needing others to go with her when she goes out.
"The more I hear, the more I believe about Velvet's theory about you being cursed." Asuna muttered.
"That's so mean!" Emma pouted.
"It's true! I mean, who even gets lost in a room?!" Asuna snapped as they all arrived at Ezekiel's place soon enough to see the old man standing out behind his own food stand outside his shop with plenty of customers.
"Hey kids!" Ezekiel soon called out to them happily as he saw them.
"Ezekiel, what are you doing out here?" Bell couldn't help but ask.
"To sell my food of course." Ezekiel pointed out to his Stand. "Today's the festival though, so most people stay outside rather than go inside, but we still get customers who do so." He explained as the trio saw people still inside, but not as much. "So, Bell, you going on a date with those two girls?" Ezekiel asked with a smile
"It's not a date!" Bell snapped as his face turned red alongside Asuna and Emma's. "We're just hanging out for the festival is all."
"Really now?" Ezekiel questioned skeptically before he chuckled. "If your grandfather was here, he would have running loudly for everyone to hear when he sees your position." He commented.
"He wouldn't go that far…right?" Bell couldn't help but ask.
"He did exactly that whenever one of his Children hooked up or lost their virginity." Ezekiel said as Bell got embarrassed by how his grandfather used to act.
"So, what are you selling?" Asuna asked quickly to save Bell from further embarrassment.
"I got Choco Bananas, Crepes, and Mochi, but two get one free deal." Ezekiel explained.
"So, what do you girls want?" Bell asked turning to them.
"I want to try each one." Emma said as Asuna nodded in agreement. "How about we get three of two of those orders and get the third ones free?" She offered.
"Good idea." Bell nodded as they made their Order and Ezekiel gave them three of each food item.
"Enjoy your date you three." Ezekiel called out as Bell sputtered in protest as he laughed as the trio decided to head towards the park and enjoy their food.
"I never ate anything like this." Asuna commented as she munched on her Mochi.
"Guess that most be a delicacy from Ezekiel's old world." Bell noted as he ate his Crepe.
"No doubt about it." Emma hummed as she ate her Choco Banana as she noticed Bell looking at her. "What is it?" She asked as Bell brought up his hand to touch her face.
"You got some chocolate on your face." Bell said as he wiped it off.
"Thanks Bell." Emma nodded with a red face before Bell suddenly looked around.
"What's wrong Bell?" Asuna asked seeing his expression.
"Just a feeling someone was watching me." Bell muttered before he sat back down.
"Again? This is the third time this week, wonder who is or are they?" Asuna said.
"Don't know, but Nine and Ragna are looking into it." Bell answered.
"Good thing Akame told us to bring our weapons then." Emma noted.
"She was an assassin, so I guess she wants us to be cautious." Asuna pointed out.
"Let's hope nothing bad will happen." Bell said and as tempting Murphy, someone started screaming "Monster!" As a loud crashing sound was made as several stands and crates were overturned to reveal a Hell Hound snarling at them.
"Hell Hound!" Bell hissed as the beat let out a fire ball from its mouth and aimed at the Izanami Familia trip as they all quickly dodged before Bell drew his blade and quickly rushed up to the Hell Hound before it could cause any more damage and slashed its head off, killing it.
"Bell! Are you okay?" Emma asked in concern as she rushed up to him.
"I'm fine" Bell replied. "thankfully that the Hell Hound was by itself. But why was it here?"
"It had to escape from the Coliseum, that's the only explanation." Asuna answered.
"What we do now?" Emma asked.
"Let's find the others and regroup." Bell suggested as they agreed but suddenly a group of Hell Hounds appeared and following them was a large monster that stood on its feet with two massive arms to support its body.
"A Silverback!" Asuna paled in fear.
"Run now!" Emma shouted as they all turned to run, Hell Hound were one thing, but not one of them were strong enough to take on a Silverback at their current level plus the Hell Hounds safely.
"How the hell did those Monsters show up here?!" Ragna snapped as he tore through an Armadillo like Monster with his blade.
"they must be the Monster that the Ganesha Familia captured for the Festival and broke loose." Nine said before she threw a fire ball at a group of Monsters. Before both of them noticed a cloud of smoke and buildings collapsing in the distance.
Then they saw a pair of dark-skinned women, Amazons, hopping from rooftop to rooftop, punching down strange green Monsters that seemed to be sprouting from the ground. They tried to do some damage but it seems their fists were unsuited for it as they barely left a mark and winced in pain at their punches. But there was also a third girl, standing further back trying to use magic, which the new Monsters noticed and rushed to her.
The girl noticed and tried to jump back but the Monster was faster than she could react too and as it opened its maws to devour her, a large sword came out of nowhere and stabbed itself into the Monster and saved her as the girl tripped and would have fallen had Ragna not caught her.
"You alright girlie?" Ragna asked the girl who simply blinked at her savior.
"Hey! Who are you!?" One of the Amazons shouted at him only for the ground to rumble as the head of another Monster showed up, as it opened its maws to reveal a large flower with plenty of teeth.
"Did it just bloom?!" The Amazon dressed in red gasped out.
"It was a flower, not a snake!?" The yellow dressed Amazon shouted. "Hey you! Red guy! Get Lefiya out of there!" She yelled as Ragna shouted and held tightly onto Lefiya as he jumped away from the Plant Monster to land on another roof, only for that roof to explode to reveal another Monster.
"Fuck!" Ragna cursed as two more of its kind sprouted out besides it before he suddenly felt himself being blasted out of the air way from the Flower Monsters as he brought Lefiya closer to his chest as he landed on a different room with another girl landing shortly after he tumbled on the roof and looked up. "Sorry about that." He said to Lefiya before turning to the other girl. "Thanks for the save."
"No, thank you for protecting Lefiya." She said with a soft smile.
"A-Ais…" Lefiya, who Ragna realized was an Elf, managed to croak out.
"Please look after her." Ais pleaded as she jumped back into the fray and brought out her sword intending to strike one of the Plant Monsters…only for her blade to shatter when it made contact with the Monster, causing her eyes to go wide.
"Shit" Ragna cursed as several vines like the ones that repelled Ais's attack started sprouting all around the street surrounding the Adventurers around them before a rain of fire balls fell upon the vines and Flower Monsters as Ais and the Amazons jumped away to avoid being hit.
"Bout time you got here." Ragna said as he looked up to see Nine making more fire balls.
"I had to wait for you to get that girl out before I casted my spell." Nine explained before the Plant Monster from before reappeared from the flames, alive but heavily burned. "I'm impressed, it managed to survive after that." Nine smirked before she made the fire ball in her hands fuse to make it even larger. But before she could throw it, a large shadow appeared, causing everyone to look up to see Honda rushing at the Plant Monster and smashed the Monster into the ground creating a dust cloud before they heard whirling and the death throes of a Monster, and the dust clouds cleared to reveal Honda drilling his spear deep into the Monster's head before pulling out.
"Ahh…and I ran all the way here for nothing." Came a pouty voice besides Ragna as he turned to find the Goddess Loki standing besides him, leaning on a chimney for support with one hand, and the other holding her blade with Izanami besides her.
"Izanami, Loki." Ragna said as he nodded to them.
"Hey there." Loki smiled.
"Ragna, you're okay!" Izanami said in relief.
"I'm fine, so those girls must be from the Loki Familia then." Ragna noted.
"Yep, and thanks for protecting Lefiya by the way." Loki said thankfully as Ragna nodded.
"Hey Loki, check out this guy!" One of the Amazons shouted as she walked around Honda, staring at him in shock and awe.
"I see, you girls finally met the Iron Giant." Loki noted as she walked towards them.
"That's what they call him?" Lefiya questioned as she warily looked at Honda.
"Seems to fit." Ragna shrugged.
"Oh! Um, my name is Lefiya Viridis, thank you for helping me." She said gratefully.
"It's fine, name's Ragna by the way." Ragna said casually.
"My name's Tiona Hiryute" the yellow Amazon spoke. "Is it true that he can really fly?" She asked excitedly.
"He can." Izanami confirmed. "In fact, Loki likes to fly with him from time to time."
"Awesome, I want to fly too!" Tiona squealed.
"Don't bother him like that." the other Amazon sighed out as she restrained her sister. "I'm Tione Hiryute, this idiot's sister."
"Ais Wallenstein." Ais said calmly.
"So, you're the Sword Princess then." Nine hummed out.
"Yep, she's one of my best." Loki said proudly.
"So, I've heard, holding the fastest level record until now." Nine smirked as Loki wilted.
"Don't remind me that." Loki pouted. "By the way, did you girls get them all?"
"No." Ais said, shaking her head. "I couldn't find the Silverback and few remaining Hell Hounds."
"Hmm…that's no good." Loki frowned as she tossed Ais her blade. "Go find it before something else happens." She ordered but before Ais could do hat, Eina rushed to them in worry.
"Eina? What are you doing here?" Nine asked in confusion.
"I followed Lady Loki here." Eina explained as she looked around. "It seems you managed to dealt with this group of Monsters." She said as everyone heard the unspoken words.
"There's another group of Monsters." Izanami stated rather than asked.
"Yes!" Eina said "I heard that they got loose on Daedalus Street!" She said in panic.
"Has anyone gone after them?" Loki questioned seriously.
"Three members from the Izanami Familia went after them." Eina said.
"What?" Izanami gasped out. "Who?" She questioned seriously.
"Akame, Shinobu and Velvet." Eina said before Izanami sighed out in relief.
"They can deal with those Monsters then." Nine said casually.
"Then what about the kids?" Ragna pointed out as she froze and turned to Honda.
"Honda, find Bell and the girls now!" She ordered as Honda let out a noise before flying off.
"Wow! He really can fly!" Tione said in awe.
"Amazing." Lefiya said with wide eyes.
"I really want to fly with him now." Tiona said in excitement.
"You will get the chance." Loki said "Since their Familia will be staying with us for a bit." Loki said as they turned from Loki to Izanami in confusion.
"Our home, is about to be renovated for one month, and Loki offered us a place to stay." Izanami explained.
"Did you tell the Captain?" Tione asked.
"He knows along with Riveria and Gareth." Loki said. "So, when will you guys move in?"
"In about a week, maybe sooner." Izanami shrugged. "But we need to find the other Monsters before they could do any harm!" She said as everyone rushed off to do so.
"I should have been more careful about where we ran to." Bell muttered.
"It's not your fault Bell." Asuna replied to him as she held out her sword.
"It's generally hard to find your way around Daedalus Street." Emma added in.
The three of them had their backs against the wall while a Silverback menacingly approached them due to getting lost in Daedalus Street, and somehow lost sight of the Hell Hounds and now had to deal with the stronger monster.
"Just like fighting against the Floor Boss, let's kill it together." Bell said nervously.
The two girls nodded and the three of them rushed towards the Silverback as the monster swung down its arm at Asuna, with the girl jumping back barely in time as Emma used this chance to attack the Silverback. Only for it to block with its other arm, as the Silverback grunted and then swung around and threw Emma to the side as Bell jumped in to take action to stab the back of its head. But the Monster got on its arms and used its legs to kick Bell in the guts and send him crashing back into the wall.
The Silverback turned its attention back to Bell and charged at him with the intent to crush his body, only for Asuna to thrust with her rapier and stabbing it in the leg, causing the Silverback to growl and punched Asuna to the side before she could react. Bell then used this chance to charge at the Silverback but ended up clinging onto it instead as the Silverback tried to shake Bell off as he dropped his sword and took out his emergency knife and stabbed the back of the Silverback's neck and severed its spinal cord and killing it as it slumped over and Bell fell forward.
"Is everyone okay?" Bell called out.
"Bruised but hurt." Asuna winced.
"I might need to rest for a bit." Emma called out as she limped to them.
"Good job you three." A voice called out from up top as Shinobu jumped down as she smiled at them. "Before you say anything, Akame and Velvet dealt with the Hell Hounds already, and I heard the roar so I came to investigate, and I must say you three did a good job." She noted as she looked down and then back to the three. "You all worked together splendidly." She praised.
Then suddenly loud cheering came out of nowhere as people soon left their housing after seeing the monsters were dead and praising the Izanami Familia for their actions. "Whoa." Bell, Emma, and Asuna said at once.
"You three did good work, so enjoy the praise." Shinobu said as the people continued to cheer for them.
"What an eventful day." Izanami sighed out tiredly as everyone from the Familia settled down in the kitchen after they got back home with most of them kind of drained.
"Do we even know how the Monsters were let out?" Akame asked.
"I went down to the Coliseum to investigate the cages from where the Monsters were let loose from. It seems that the guards that were on standby were drugged with something before the Monsters got out." Nine said.
"Sabotage." Akame declared seriously as Nine nodded and continued.
"Though for some reason even after they got released and caused a ruckus, none of them actually hurt anyone." She said in worry. "It seemingly ignored anyone who couldn't pose a risk from what I can tell, including the drugged guards."
"That doesn't make any sense, but also implies high level of power to control the Monsters from doing any harm." Velvet noted.
"So, it does, but for what purpose does that serve?" Ragna questioned.
"Who knows? But I am more interested in those Plant Monsters." Nine commented.
"Why though?" Izanami asked.
"There's no record of this type of Monster anywhere." Nine said as everyone blinked in surprise.
"Maybe it's a new type of Monster." Shinobu offered up.
"So how did it appear outside the Dungeon then? Something's strange about it." Nine frowned.
"Well it's not like we can do anything about it, also I told Loki we accepted her offer." Izanami said.
"Guess we should prepare to move out then." Emma said then.
"Hard to believe we only stayed here for a short time before seeing it changed." Asuna said.
"Time flies, and I've decided since I've been banned from the Dungeon temporarily, I'm going to start teaching Ars Magus now." Nine said as bell, Asuna, and Emma paled, as while they're happy to learn, they worried for the schedule she gave them as Ragna winced in sympathy.
"Can't we do anything to make her change the schedule?" Shinobu asked Ragna.
"You can't." Ragna stated as he made his prayers for the kids to survive.
Ezekiel grunted as he dragged one of the Plant Monster corpses into his basement through the cellar door and soon turned on the lights as he shut the doors behind him and dragged the corpse onto a clear metal table and dumped it on there as he sighed. "Not like any other Monster from the Dungeon." He muttered as he put on some goggles, mask, gloves, and scrubs on and grabbed his tools for what he was about to do next.
Ezekiel dug around the Monster's corpse before he discovered the Magic Stone, however unlike most of the Magic Stones he'd seen in his lifetime and still do, this one was of a different color. "I've never seen any Magic Stone like this before." Ezekiel frowned as he removed it and examined it. "
But there's no way for a Magic Stone to change color." He muttered but not before his mind whispered a thought. 'Unless it could possibly be a Drifter.' he shook his head at that. "Gods I hope that isn't the case." He muttered as he set down the stone and took off his science garbs and opened the incinerator and dumped the corpse into it to burn the body and simply watched as the corpse burned.
The new chapter of this story. hope you guy enjoy it. Next the Izanami go to Loki familiar house in a month with the meeting they member and got themself they own support.
I'm thinking about doing a Damachi/Genshin Impact story but first I need to catch up the game story to see how I can work with it
Feel free to leave a review, comment, suggestions, or idea if you guy had.
Read and review.