Chapter 8: Departure.

"Human Talking"

"Human Thinking "

"Human Chanting "

"Monster/Fels Sound/Talking"

"Monster/Fels Thinking "

"Monster/Fels Chanting "

Loki Familia's Camp.

Normal POV.

TONK!

"Everyone! I have an announcement!" The blonde tactician slammed the tip of his spear on the ground to grab everyone's attention.

"Today! We will leave as just 1 big group along with the Hephaestus Familia to go back to the surface, something came up and we can't just openly talk about it right here at the dungeon because we don't know if someone is spying on us, that's what Loki said to the letter I received from Bete! Since we are living in a very huge group... I'm sorry Hestia-sama, Hermes-sama I can't fulfill my promise" He bowed down to the two deity.

"Don't mind it Braver-kun, we can handle this ourselves and besides, Bell-kun have already recovered and we have some strong allies with us"

"Hestia is right, Finn. I understand your situation perfectly so don't mind it, with the loss of Astrea Familia, we don't have anyone to lean on on this kinds of situations other than the Loki Familia that's why, I'm counting on you guys" The handsome god said to every Loki Familia member present.

"Yes!" They answered in unison.

"We're going to leave in an hour so please prepare everything that we've used but don't take Hestia-sama's, the rescue team and Bell Cranel's tent, let them take it as a gift, I have a hunch that they'll need it in the future" He smiled to the rabbit looking boy before dismissing everyone.

Bell was about to head towards their tent to also pack their belongings when someone called his name.

"Bell! Wait!" The person with black hair and cat ears said while giving him a hand signal to stop.

"What is it Aki-san?"

"It looks like we won't be able to spend some time together before we go to our trip to Melen... Sorry..."

"Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault to begin with"

"I know but I promised you and now I couldn't fulfill it..." She said as her shoulders dropped.

"It's okay Aki-san, we still have plenty of time after your trip to Melen... It's not like you'll never comeback... I'll just wait for your return so we can hang out again with everyone okay?" He said as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Aki noticed that something is different on him, he has this aura of someone who've lost something important in their life and moved forward. He feels so mature.

"Did something happen?" Aki asked him while grabbing his hand that's placed on her shoulder.

"It's nothing really... Someone just made me realize something I completely misunderstood..." The boy looked away with a solemn look on his face.

"Okay, I won't pry right now but please do tell me when we return here in Orario alright?"

"I promise!"

They smiled at each other and this lasted a few good seconds until they noticed two deadly aura's coming from the loli goddess and the pallum in disguise.

"Bell-kun...?? What do you think are you doing...?" the goddess turned on her yandere switch as she gave Bell and Aki a death glare.

"You've got some nerve being flirty around a Loki Familia member don't you Bell-sama...?" The fake chienthrope coppied the short goddess.

"What's wrong? Am I not allowed to have friends?" Bell just simply said while looking at them normally.

Hesta, Lily and even Aki's jaws dropped as soon as they heard him say that, like they didn't know that he has this side that if you irritate him so much, he might say something that would make you stop what you are doing.

"N-No! I'm just joking Bell-kun please don't get angry! We're good right? Aki-kun???" She looked at the cat girl nervously but the girl just showed her a smug look.

"Wait, you just said yesterday that I shouldn't talk to him and now we're good? I don't think so Loli Oppai" She said in a very playful manner.

"UKYA!!! ONORE!!! STOP STEALING MY BELL-KUN OR I'LL BLAST YOU AWAY WITH MY ARCANUM!!!" The childish goddess said while stomping around like a kid.

"Go ahead, so you'll get sent back to the Tenkai and I'll take YOUR Bell-kun and recruit him to our familia so we can be TOGETHER FOREVER"

Their banter continued for a while. Bell noticed that Aki is just playing around so he didn't stop her but then Riveria came to order her to pack her things as well because her friend, Line already finished packing hers and they also need to do the same to their tent.

"Bell, See you soon"

"See you soon, Aki-san"

They bid farewell to each other and as soon as Riveria and Aki was both out of sight, he released a very long sigh and went back to gather all of their belongings and prepare for their return to the surface an hour after the Loki Familia.

An hour have passed and the Loki Familia went up to return back.

"That Bell-kun, I didn't know he could be both cool and scary at the same time... He's like a different person earlier..." The loli goddess whispered as she fixed her things.

Suddenly, something unknown and can't be seem by the naked eyes grabbed her and took her to the woods, tying her up to a tree and when the person revealed himself, it was the scary looking man who bumped into Bell yesterday when they went to Rivira.

5 Minutes later.

Bell's POV.

I don't know what to do anymore, I don't have any motivation to continue to pursue the girl that I thought I like since it was all just a misunderstanding on my point.

I felt like I've risked my life everyday just to realize how flawed my heart and mind is to not realize that.

"What Am I fighting for?"I asked myself as I walk towards Kami-sama's tent.

"Kami-sama? She's not here... Wait, this is..."

I found a letter at the ground, it looks like it was written by someone and I read it.

"' Little Rookie

Come to the cliff behind the Rivira if you still want to see your goddess alive. '"

I panicked as I stormed outside and went inside my tent to find my armor and my other knife.

I ran as fast as I could towards the location but as soon as I got there, I noticed how many rogue adventurers are there, there is too many of them for me yo fight all alone.

"Don't worry, I'm the only one you're fighting"

A voice of an old man rang out.

I looked behind me and it was the man who picked a fight on us and tried to hit on Ryu-san at Mia-san's pub.

"Where's Kami-sama!? Please don't hurt her!"

"Of course I won't if you beat me on a duel, but if you lose, I'll send both of you back to heaven!"

The fight starts, the other adventurers blocked the path leading to us which means, no one can interfere.

"Serryyaaa!!" I launched at full speed towards him and our clash has began.

Loki Familia's side

17th Floor

Aki's POV.

We arrived at the 17th floor and as soon as we got there, the captain issued his orders which everyone gladly obeyed but before they could all move, I proposed to captain for me to fight the Goliath myself with support from Riveria-san, Elfy and Line.

"What's gotten into you all of a sudden? Well since we couldn't fulfill your request the other night, I guess I'll let you this time but be careful" Finn-san said as he taps my back lightly signaling me to go.

"Everyone, please lend me your strength"

I grip my sword tightly as I positioned myself before dashing off.

"This will only take 5 minutes..."

30 minutes later.

"I got too careless out there... I almost... die earlier..." I said while panting heavily, covered in wounds that Riveria-san and Line are currently healing.

"You know what Aki, sometimes we need this kind of thing to light the fire inside our hearts, but I guess it doesn't mean that much to you because the enemy you fought earlier is just in the same level as you, the only thing that got you into that disastrous situation earlier is your carelessness" Captain said to me while wearing a worried look on his face.

"But you know... If you have that kind of magic, you should use it from time to time or give it to me..! That kind of powerful magic will be pretty useful with my boots to contain it"

"That's impossible Bete... Because once I release that magic, it can never be contained again even by mythril... Because if that's possible, I would never release it and just use it to amplify my sword's effectivity" I replied to him as I tried to move a little bit to get a comfortable position but Line stopped me.

"You shouldn't move around just yet, don't worry, we'll be over soon enough so just wait a little okay?" She gave me a reasurring smile but I know deep inside that she's terrified on what happened earlier.

"I'm alright Line so don't worry okay? Also your hands are shaking ehehehe..." I laughed lightly as she tries to stop it but failed at the end.

"So... How do you feel now...? Have you figured it out yet?"

"Not yet Riveria-san but I can think better now, I guess fighting something equally strong is a good thing to clear up someone's mind"

"What exactly are you two talking about?" I forgot to inform her about my other friend(?) Bell, she only saw us but never really went out with us to Rivira so she never knew what kind of person he is.

"Oh, you know what, Aki is in love with Argonout-kun!"

"Tionaaa!!!!""HEH!? I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!" She said as she covers gapping mouth with both of her hands.

"What are you sayint..!!?? First, it's Riveria-san saying I'm going out with Raul and now you saying that I like Bell? What's with y-ouch!" I cried in pain as I felt my right side throbbing.

"Hey, stop that Tiona don't stress her out too much, we haven't finished healing her"

"Oh! Sorry..."

We took a rest there for a few more minutes until they've finished healing me.

When it's over, we went straight up to the surface clearing the whole middle and upper floors.

"We're almost close!" Tiona said excitedly as she starts to jump around.

An earthquake suddenly happened and it's a really strong one, I thought it was just a normal one but when I looked at Riveria-san's face, she looks horrified.

"What's wrong...?" I whispered to her.

"I just thought I've already felt this kind of ground shaking before when the god of darkness Erebus tried to summon the terrible one from the deep floors to destroy Orario back in the Dark Era..."

"Didn't that happen 7 years ago? and Raul and I are still new to the familia back then" I replied to her as we continued walking up.

"Yeah but now that I've think about it, it's impossible because I'm sure Hermes and Hestia would never use their Arcanum especially inside here since they knew the consiquence of doing it down here"

"You're right... We're here!" I shouted as soon as I saw the sun set outside the babel.

Lots of people greeted us when we got back but the only one we knew from the crowd was Amid-san who's also our supplier of potions.

"I'm glad that the antidote I made earlier worked fine" She said as she smiled a little bit. A rare smile.

We talked to her a little bit before going back to the twilight manor, our familia's home.

There we were greeted by our goddess, Loki who's standing in the middle of the garden waiting for us.

"Welcome home! Everyone..!" She said as a gentle smile formed on her face. Another rare smile.

"We're back" was what our captain replied.

As soon as the greetings were over, Loki switched back to her normal mode and jumped straight to us girls.

"I missed you guys!!! let's take a bath together!!!" she launched at us at full force and speed.

all of them managed to dodge them except for me and Lefiya, I didn't know why I couldn't but I just can't right now.

But I managed to grab one of her arms before she touches me, I threw her to Lefiya who looks like she's ready for it.

"Lefiya! Catch!" I shouted to her as I threw Loki towards her.

"OORRYAAAA!!!" She caught her by holding both of her legs and what comes next is something we find both funny and impressive at the same time.

Lefiya spins around while still holding both of Loki's legs, and finally after gathering all the strength she got from her body and from the force that accumulated from the spin. She threw Loki to the wall beside us.

"DOORRRYAAAAAA!!!!"

BOOM

"WOAH! A GIANT SWING!" Tiona said as she looked at Loki who's currently stuck in the wall with only half of her body showing.

We laughed at the scene whole heartedly as we saw Loki's face after getting out of the wall, her face is so flat like someone like the king punched her.

The evening arrives and all of us went to our respective rooms to get some really really good sleep.

"Today was quite fun and a little bit disappointing but I guess I'll just let it be... I still have plenty of times to try and figure this thing out so for now... I guess I'll sleep..."

My body is so tired that in an instant, I fell asleep when I closed my eyes and went to the world of dreams.

A/N: Hi it's me again, thanks for reading this chapter.

As you can see, I made some ref from Tekken. A fighting game I always play everyday and if you know it, you probably know who owns that move.

Anyway,

I don't know how to feel about this because I think it's not good enough especially the last part... Maybe I should change it but for now that's all.

I won't be uploading for a week, I'll think about what would happen to Aki first.

I don't have to think about what will happen to Bell and the others since it's the same in the original story line.

That's all, take care everyone.

Farewell.