Chapter 18
A cloaked figure raised his palm, aiming at an empty wall in the Dungeon. A brownish-orange glyph appeared on the wall before a hole started to form on the same spot, going deeper and deeper until only the darkness of the void ahead could be seen.
"Ok people!" Lett walked forward after the person responsible for making the hole stepped away. "Walk in a single line and remember to have your crystals of light with you!" he started to make a motion with his hands, directing the large group of Xenos inside the newly-created hole. "Do not run, nor fly ahead; I don't want to deal with complaints about getting lost alone in the dark." He narrowed his eyes, looking straight at the red-haired harpy. "Looking at you, Fear!"
Had the harpy in question not been carrying something with her talons, she would have flipped him off.
"And be careful with that screen, Gross. I don't want to see a single scratch on it!"
Adam and Ratatosk could only stare at the Goblin commanding the others as if he was a sergeant.
"At least he's not developing Goblin tendencies." The Great Spirit muttered in a low tone as various Xenos groaned in complaint, each carrying something of value inside the hole with them.
"My lord." Both turned around to see a golden-haired siren approaching them. "If I may ask, why not put everything in the Shadows as you have done in the past?"
Tenebrae materialized out of Adam's shadow, taking the chance to answer instead of his lord. "With the appearance of Drake Aurion in this world, I am afraid I no longer have any power over the domain of Darkness as I used to. And even if I could, he would know if I was using the Shadows to store our stuff."
The corner of Ray's lips moved upward. "You mean his stuff."
Ratatosk gave a sardonic smile from under his cloak. "Would you prefer if I returned all of your sources of entertainment to him?"
The Siren raised one of her wings, her eyes became empty as she did. "Now, now. There's no need to do something so drastic."
Adam couldn't help but roll his eyes behind his shaders. 'Women and their novels.'
"Also, what are we gonna do about that? I mean, we can't exactly move something that big." Ray asked, both Great Spirit and Faunus knew exactly what she was talking about.
"No need to worry about it," Adam stated. "It's very well hidden. And in case anyone or anything does find it, its security system will take care of them."
"You praising the Atlas Military?" Ratatosk said amused. "How the times have changed."
The Faunus just release a salty groan.
"On another note." Ratatosk clapped his fingers, making a glyph materialize in thin air before a small brownish-orange mole-like creature landed on the Spirit's palm; this was Solum, the Centurion of Earth "Take him with you and go on ahead. Solum already knows what he has to do after he has left the Dungeon's territory."
Ray nodded as she gently took the small creature with great gentle care before walking into the hole, leaving both Adam and Ratatosk alone.
Both sighed tiredly before looking at all the stuff that remained behind. "I think it's gonna take at least five whole trips back and forth before everything is taken care of."
Adam rubbed the bridge between his eyes. "Why the hell did Aurion have to be a damn item hoarder?"
"Can't really blame him when he can pretty much store everything as if it was a game inventory." He said, narrowing his eyes before looking back up. In the past, Ratatosk had made a similar expression after they had arrived in this world. The only difference was that he wasn't looking down this time, as if trying to stare at the bottom of the Dungeon with his divine eyes; instead, he was now looking up almost out of instinct.
"Is something the matter?"
Ratatosk shook his head after a while. "I am just being paranoid."
'Hopefully.' He thought to himself, staring down at the twin blades in his left arm. Both of them trembled a little for a mere moment, making his worry increase; something Tenebrae took notice of before looking at Adam.
"By the way, mind keeping an eye on Ganesha's Captain?" The cat-like Centurion asked, making his Lord snap back to reality.
"Shakti? What for?"
"I could feel a sensation of 'stubbornness' coming off of her regarding the subject of leaving Drake unsupervised. However, the most concerning thing were the sensation of assurance she was giving near the end."
Adam narrowed his eyes. "Do you think she has crossed paths with him?" he started to ponder on it.
"That would be troublesome. I mean, we expected Ouranos and Ganesha trying to figure out who he was, but to actually have a lead on him… that's just troublesome for us." Ratatosk sighed. "I can picture Shakti coming forth with the idea, rather than Ganesha putting some actual thought about it." he gave Adam a look, which he understood completely before sighing.
"I will make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." He stated, leaving both taking watch for any Dungeon activity while they guarded the entrance of the hole.
'Hopefully, whatever lead she has is not a trusty one.'
He was wrong.
Shakti Varma walked through the city of Orario as thunder rumbled in the distance.
'It looks like Orario's having a heavy rain tonight.' she thought, as everyone that crossed her stepped aside the moment they noticed the intensity and determination noticeable on her face as she entered the Hephaestus Familia residential area, a single objective on her mind.
Flashback
"Are you absolutely sure about this, Shakti?" Ganesha asked, sitting behind the desk in his office with an attitude of seriousness he would only show to a selected few behind closed doors.
"I am. Adam made a slip out in the last meeting regarding the incident of the Goliath a month ago. That happened no less than twenty-four hours difference regarding the shift of power in the Dungeon."
"That still doesn't explain how you know who our VDP is?" he asked, referring to the person of interest as a 'Very Dangerous Person.'"
"It was said that the whole incident had been resolved by Tsubaki Collbrande."
She could feel her God's eyes narrowing behind his mask, and for a good reason.
Ganesha remembered the incident, especially the part about a second Goliath, an Abnormal, appearing in the Dungeon. Ratatosk had revealed their VPD was a deity, even though not fully; but that was enough of a reason for the Dungeon to behave like that. But, even so-
"Shakti, whatever it is you are about to say, think about it very carefully; that kind of accusation towards Hephaestus's Captain will not be taken lightly by them if you are wrong." Ganesha already knew where his child's train of thought was heading. "You are gonna need more evidence if you want me to approve of your risky investigation."
"There is." She answered in a heartbeat. "I may or may not have crossed paths with this VDP by pure coincidence during the incident regarding the earthquakes in the Dungeon." She stated, explaining to her God how they met with Tsubaki and company on the morning of that day. Shakti also explained how the blacksmith had claimed the unknown blonde wasn't part of Hephaestus Familia, but had a work contract with them and even stated the blonde's deity wasn't in the city.
The Elephant God rubbed his chin, pondering on his child's words and seeing them more or less fit taking into consideration that they understood he wasn't from this world; therefore, the excuse of his deity supposedly being outside of the city worked as a cover-up for the truth. Although, if he had to be honest, it was the statement about his clothes being similar to Adam's that got his attention.
"Fine. You may go and question Tsubaki Collbrande about him. However," his eyes narrowed, as his voice gained a certain edge at the same time. "Do try to be subtle about it, and not raise any suspicion. We don't want our relationship with Hephaestus to deteriorate because of this… what?" he asked, losing a little of seriousness in the process seeing Shakti was giving him a blank stare.
"… Can I be blunt?"
He internally sighed, already knowing how blunt she could be. Even so, he told her to 'go ahead.'
"You are telling me of all people to be subtle when Lord Ganesha can't even be serious in public for one damn minute? Really?" he flinched; his child could be a complete savage when she wanted to be. "It's for this very reason neither Lord Ouranos nor Lord Ratatosk trusts us with any of their items. You would probably go on shouting about it to the four winds while screaming 'I am Ganesha.'"
The fact that she was saying all of this with a cold stare and bland voice just made it worse.
"Thank you, Shakti. You may go now." He said, making his Captain turn around as she continued verbally assaulting them.
'Ardi… your sister is a bully!' he thought, silently praying to a former child now in heaven.
And so, here she was now; currently being guided by one of Tsubaki's maids inside the blacksmith's mansion. The person in front of her opened the door and gave a low bow, standing aside to let her enter Tsubaki's office.
Shakti raised an eyebrow for a moment, seeing that the blacksmith was not on the front table but sitting at a side table next to a wall instead, showing her back to the Ganesha Familia Captain.
She gave a couple of steps forward, but stopped the moment Tsubaki raised a finger; pretty much ordering her to stop with that action alone.
"Anything I can help you with?" she asked, her usual cheerful demeanor gone. It wasn't unusual to see her like that; although it usually only happened when she was either forging or dealing with Familia's business.
Why was it weird right now? Because it looked like she was studying something, seeing as she had a yellow book on the side while she wrote something on a single piece of paper.
What was she studying? She couldn't tell, all she could see from afar were some kind of weird symbols, along with a very organized mountain of papers with the same symbols on them neatly stacked to the side. But the thing that got her attention the most was the object resting on a small table next to her; her eyepatch.
Shakti couldn't help but narrow her eyes. When asked about it, Tsubaki had always replied that she wore it out of respect for Hephaestus; but that didn't mean she wasn't hiding something under that eyepatch.
Right now, the simple act of not wearing it meant this was serious, even though she didn't understand what the blacksmith was studying exactly.
"Are you gonna answer? I can feel your stare on me; it's quite annoying, by the way."
Shakti twitched, having a similar feeling to Tsubaki's seeing the latter was being pretty blunt in her statements.
"I wanted to ask you something regarding-"
"Nope."
The twitch in her eye continued. If anything it looked like it was accompanied by a popping vein on her forehead. "Nope? What the hell do you mean by Nope?" she raised her voice a little. This, in return, made Tsubaki sigh.
"Shakti… do you remember that one time years ago when I tried to invite you to a drink?"
The blunette raised an eyebrow. She did recall the event, but even so-
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Just humor me a little." Tsubaki said as her focus remained on the task at hand, not even looking back at the other Adventurer in the room.
"… Yes, I do."
"Good. Now, do you remember what your reply was?"
Shakti scowled, not really remembering her words. But it was something among the lines of-
"I am busy. I can't waste my time with you."
Shakti almost flinched, especially since Tsubaki said it as if it was nothing. In her defense, they didn't know each other as well back then as they do today; they were barely acquaintances at the time.
"Well! Guess what? I am busy. I can't waste my time with you."
Again, her tone was completely normal. And again, the twitch and popping vein on Shakti's face returned as she clenched her fist. However, she quickly took a deep breath and sighed.
"Really? You are holding a grudge right now?"
"Uh-huh. If it gives me an argument to be focusing on my work at hand, then yes." Tsubaki replied. "So, the way I see it: you can either take your nicely-shaped ass out of her or take a chair to sit and wait for me to be done."
"…" Shakti narrowed her gaze, pretty much drilling a hole on the back of Tsubaki's head at this point as she took a chair and sat with crossed arms and legs.
Tsubaki on the other hand mentally sighed after hearing the chair being moved. She quickly discarded the thought however as she focused on her rune exercises with enthusiasm. After all, Drake should be forging her new tools by now.
The Goddess Hephaestus stood in front of the main entrance with a serious gaze in her eyes.
She had made the mistake of stating that letting Drake use her personal forge was a 'date'. The Goddess then proceeded to slam her head against her desk for a good while. But now, now she was determined to be as professional as she has ever been before.
So, after releasing a deep sigh, the Goddess opened the door and stared straight at the blonde… who seemed to be rather focused, and not on her for that matter. Hephaestus couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in confusion seeing as she could see the blonde looking with a narrowed gaze at the direction of the Dungeon with his eyes glowing ever so slightly. The curious thing about it was that it seemed as if he was staring down, almost like he was actually staring inside the Dungeon.
She was about to get his attention, but someone else decided to do that for her… by slapping the back of his head, hard.
"Hey, Lady Hephaestus is already here."
The Goddess looked perplexed at the woman next to Drake. It was one of Mia's staff members, the short brown-haired one.
"You know… a normal person would have pretty much died from that." He asked, seemingly pretty much unfazed by what Hephaestus guessed was at least the normal strength of a level 4.
"Good thing you are anything but normal, then." Lunor Faust sighed. "You have been staring in that direction an awful lot today."
Hephaestus narrowed her eye at the statement, thinking it was perhaps related to Ratatosk; the side glance Drake gave her before addressing Lunor confirmed it.
"You can go now, I will return to the Hostess and tell Mia I-"
"Nope." Lunor placed her hand on her hips. "Mama would kill me if I left our golden goose alone."
Drake raised an eyebrow. "So what? You want to stay and watch me hitting metal with a hammer?"
Hephaestus gave him a blank look seeing as he pretty much made a jab at her profession like it was so simple. Lunor on the other hand seemed to have a faint blush on her face, a sly smile in place. "Well… it would already be quite the sight." The waitress said, remembering that Ryuu would either freeze, blush or even rush out of sight when asked about details regarding the results of her peeping tom activities. However, the glare Hephaestus was now giving her made her reconsider things.
"Or…" she started to rub the fingers in one hand together. "I could just go somewhere else in the meantime."
'Shameless! This girl is so shameless!' Hephaestus thought as Drake pulled a moderately-sized bag of Valis out of his jacket and gave it to Lunor; the waitress not questioning once how such a big bag could fit in there, but it seemed that it was so normal for her that she just didn't bother asking.
"I will be back later, then," she gave Hephaestus a small bow and tapped Drake's shoulder before heading her way. "Enjoy your date."
To her credit, Hephaestus didn't blush nor broke out of her stoic and professional character from those words. It still didn't stop her from mentally cursing the girl as she retreated, skipping away with joy.
"Pay her no mind." Drake stated, bringing her back to reality as he walked past her and into her Familia home. The Goddess sighed as she entered, closing the door behind her and gesturing to Drake to follow her.
"Should I be worried you were looking at the Dungeon with such intensity?"
"Not really… just keeping watch on something from time to time."
She trusted his words and didn't ask more about it; for now.
He followed the Goddess through various halls, ignoring the views many of her Children were giving them before finally reaching a room that seemed to be separated from most of the whole Hephaestus Familia HQ.
"Here we are." She said, opening the door to reveal her personal forge.
The blonde eyed the room and mentally nodded, he could even hear Lloyd's thoughts of approval regarding the place.
"Thank you… I can take it from here." He said, taking off his jacket and scarf before putting them in the shadows. He was about to remove his shirt but stopped the moment he heard Hephaestus walking around the room after closing the door. The blonde couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the Goddess.
"What? You don't seriously expect me to leave you alone in my forge and don't see what you will be doing, are you?" she snorted, sitting on a chair on the edge of the room.
"Suit yourself, then." He replied, taking off his shirt before tossing it in the shadows, not noticing the Goddess's shift of expression at the sight of his scars. His eyes scanned all of the tools that Hephaestus had prepared for him, his gaze then went to the furnace; which already had a fire ready to work with.
"Yeah, I shouldn't have any problems with this-" his words died down the moment he felt a pair of fingers touching one of the scars on his back. He calmly looked over his shoulder to see the Goddess tracing the colored wounds on his back. The blonde would have called her a pervert on the spot; however, the intensity visible on her face made him realize she was inspecting his wound with a thoughtful eye, no pun intended.
"…These wounds… are of divine attribute." She concluded, to which he simply hummed in confirmation as he could feel her fingers touching the blue one. "That one was done by a Sword that held the essence of Celsius, the Spirit of Ice." He stated, deciding it was better to just explain knowing she would eventually ask about them.
Hephaestus on the other hand subconsciously nodded, seeing as her fingers could pretty much feel the coldness emitting out of the wound. However, her interest soon shifted to the second one. A black wound that seemed to be the oldest wound on his body seeing how it had spread out as time passed.
Her eye narrowed at that moment, remembering his words in their latest meeting with Tsubaki. "And I recall this is the curse Ratatosk had put on you." She stated with certainty traceable in her tone as she recalled this was done to him when he was barely six.
"… There's something ominous about it; I would even dare to say it feels unholy even if I know it's of divine origin."
Drake hummed softly. "Makes sense, yeah."
She knew he wasn't gonna say more about it. It probably had to do with how he got the curse in the first place; it was in all likelihood something traumatic seeing it has been inflicted at a young age.
Hephaestus walked in front of him, wanting to inspect the final wound; the one that got her attention the most. "And this one?" she put a little more pressure on her touch, she could feel the heat coming out of the red wound. The Goddess didn't need to wait for his answer to know it was the Spirit related to the element of Fire, seeing it was an element that was also her domain.
And yet, for some reason, it felt odd. Despite how little divinity there was in it, she could still feel the intensity of the heat, it was even so much that she dared to say it was greater than her own.
She was about to get closer, too bad the simple sound of Drake clearing his throat was enough to realize what she was doing.
"There's something called personal space, you know?" he raised an eyebrow as their eyes met for a brief moment. The Goddess did her best to quickly walk past him to hide her blush.
'So much for keeping it professional.' She mentally facepalmed herself.
"Don't worry about it. I know for a fact that you were curious about what kind of weapons could land wounds like this, and nothing else."
She appreciated he understood that, but it still didn't make it any better. Hephaestus didn't say much from there on and simply decided on watching him work. He had taken an ingot and placed it in the furnace for a while before taking it out to hammer it until it took the form of a cylinder with a pointy end and a hole on the other.
"A molding. You are making a chisel." She stated, to which he simply nodded. It made sense seeing as Tsubaki had been learning about those special runes for a while now. But still, there was something that was confusing her. "What are you gonna fill it with?"
The blonde didn't answer. Instead, he simply narrowed his eyes at his left forearm while putting his right hand in a straight position, as If it was a blade.
"Wait-" Hephaestus said, already realizing what he was about to do. But it was already too late, her single eye widened as she saw him cut his own veins with such each that it looked as if his right hand was an actual blade.
Drake didn't notice her expression, and if he did, he didn't seem to care. The blonde just focused on filling the molding with his blood before placing his own bleeding arm inside the furnace.
Hephaestus had stood up by this point, Tsubaki had mentioned he lacked self-preservation, but purposely mutilating yourself was just plain ridiculous. She was about to stop him, but she had been slightly pushed back; not by Drake, at least not directly. The flames in the furnace had gained such intensity that it had forced her to take a step back and cover her face for a moment.
She slowly lowered her arms, her eye widened as she saw that the flames inside the furnace had turned green and black. But what surprised her the most was the divinity that was coming from them. It was faint. However, so only she could feel it seeing she was close by.
"This… this is your solution?" she asked, understanding now why the tools he was gonna forge for Tsubaki were so important for her forging. Despite everything he said about him refusing his divinity, it didn't change the fact he was part divine. So, it would be normal for his blood to have traces of it, especially since he wasn't bound by their rule regarding the use of the Arcanum in the mortal plain.
So, Hephaestus came to her current conclusion rather quickly.
"You are making divine tools."
The blonde didn't answer, and just kept his eyes on the fire before retreating his arms; it had been slightly burned, second-degree burns no less. It made sense seeing those were now divine flames.
"I am ok." He suddenly voiced. The way he said it was so nonchalantly that it made her feel as if she had heard 'this is nothing', instead.
She couldn't help but frown before watching his burns starting to slowly heal, along with the wound he self-inflicted upon himself.
"You sure you still want to stay?" he didn't care about looking back, watching as his wounds completely healed. He internally sighed, seeing as there was no response coming from the Goddess. "Suit yourself." He held the molding in his right hand, taking a deep breath before making his Aura engulf his whole body.
Hephaestus had never seen Drake fully showing his Aura; she could feel the sheer power of it just by standing close to him. However, something was different; Tsubaki had stated his Aura had been fully black; but now, there was also some green visible to the naked eye.
Just like the flames inside the furnace.
"… I take it this is your Light, isn't it?" she simply saw him nod as he put his hand inside the furnace once more while holding the molding. Just standing near him felt intense, and the fact that he was near a furnace filled with divine fire didn't make things easier for her.
And yet, she couldn't help but feel warm near him. No, it wasn't the heat from the furnace, but Drake's presence entirely.
'So this is his Light… his Hope.'
She took a deep breath before sighing, calming herself down from what she had witnessed and what she was feeling at the moment.
"You do know that that's not how you turn blood into metal, right?" Hephaestus asked. Not judging his choices in how to proceed with his forging, but rather curious about it. "I know. Normally, one would have to stick the blood in the furnace, boil off the water, burn off the protein, fats, and carbohydrates, and that just harvests the iron."
"Don't forget you would need a lot more blood to forge something like a chisel."
He nodded in agreement. "True. However, remember that everything in my world has Aura; blood not being an exception. If anything, it could be said that blood is Aura in its closest physical form."
The Goddess just listened, intrigued about the subject.
"Right now I am using it to change my blood's properties while using the fire to solidify it into metal."
"So… so you can change the properties of everything with your Aura?"
He shook his head. "No. Some things need a little push from external help, in this case, it would be the fire." He looked down at his pants, to which the Goddess did the same. Her eyes slightly widened after noticing Drake was wearing sweatpants, which she knew wasn't the case when he arrived.
"Some other things, like clothes, don't need much effort. Although, everything I wear is infused with my blood, so that makes it easier to change its properties."
Hephaestus came to the realization that was what made his clothes so special. And it even explained how he could make his scarf longer according to Tsubaki's statement.
"So it's not just Dust, but also your blood… that's why they are so resistant. But… why haven't I sensed any divine property from them? Also, does Tsubaki know about this little fact?" she asked, seeing as her Child had tried everything to replicate those clothes.
"First, because I put just the minimum amount when making my clothes, so it's normal if you don't feel anything at first glance. Also, I haven't put any of my Aura in my clothes to do something complicated, so there's also that. As for Tsubaki… she doesn't know, no."
She raised an eyebrow.
"The last time someone got his hands on my blood, Ratatosk was able to seal away all of the Spirits on our side; making them unable to help when we actually needed them the most."
She frowned, not liking the idea of deities with no rules to hold them back being submitted just like that, especially since the source of it was in front of her. The Goddess understood why he kept it a secret from Tsubaki, it was very sensitive information.
Although, leaving that aside... She was more worried about how Ratatosk had obtained his blood in the first place, and even more afraid to ask.
"And yet you're still making a chisel made out of your blood just for her."
He snorted, not knowing if the Goddess was scowling or smiling slyly, seeing how there was a hint of amusement in her tone. "She lacks the knowledge or the means to do that. Not even I know how to pull that little stunt Ratatosk pulled. Also," he took his hand out of the furnace, making Hephaestus sigh in relief seeing his Aura protected him from getting burned this time.
"I am fairly limiting my blood by giving it shape." He didn't waste his time using his free hand as a blade to split the molding in two. Hephaestus' single eye couldn't help but shine as she saw a crimson-red chisel; it even looked like it had flowing energy inside of it.
"That's one… two more left." He sighed.
He looked around the room and spotted a foundry on the side.
"I could have melted the metal for you beforehand if you had told me."
He waved his hand, discarding the idea. "Don't worry about it… It's better when it's freshly heated anyway." He placed the foundry over the anvil, he was about to look for the charcoal but Hephaestus beat him to it.
"…What? I think I can at least help you prepare everything." She stated, already unbuttoning her shirt to reveal a sleeveless black sweatshirt under it. "I am gonna get the ingot."
The blonde couldn't help but ponder on either admiring the Goddess's dedication to her craft, or the lack of common sense when it came to it.
'That sweatshirt is a little loose.'
Drake placed the charcoal in the furnace, only to quickly take it off seeing the divine fire would melt it after only a short while.
"Now, for the ingots." Hephaestus approached with several ingots as he placed the charcoal in the foundry.
"Orichalcum?"
She nodded. "It would usually take a while to melt, but I think your fire should do the job fairly quickly."
He hummed in agreement before placing the ingots in the crucible.
"Seeing as advising you to leave would result in you just rejecting the idea, mind taking a seat at least? You're panting."
Her single eye widened, not realizing she was not just panting, but also sweating intensively. The blonde on the other hand seemed to be only doing the latter, seeing as his breathing and demeanor was calm.
"Guess there's only so much a mortal vessel can take against divine energy." She didn't put up much of a fight, opting to go and sit back on the chair near the entrance of the room.
"If it makes you feel any better, I also went through it during the first days of learning to forge with this kind of fire." He cleaned the sweat off his forehead. "Even though I had also suffered from attacks of the same kind."
"Don't worry. Honestly, it feels a little refreshing; being able to feel the intense heat is something new for me, at least in the mortal realm." she released a small chuckle of her own, letting silence take over as she watched him work. Although she internally winced a little when he slashed his own veins again, letting blood fall into the crucible so it could be mixed with the melted metal.
The Goddess stood up again as time passed, giving Drake several moldings in the shapes of ingots despite how hard it was becoming to stand near the divine fire. She opted to help him by placing the liquid in the moldings before sitting back, starting to think that at this rate she would truly pass out.
"Here." The Goddess suddenly focused on him, holding a bottle of water which he most likely took out of the Shadows. "Now go on and sit before I have to carry you out of here."
Hephaestus pouted, seeing as there were no counterarguments she could make.
"Stop trying to act cute, you bitch. That's not gonna work with me."
Her pout was now accompanied by a very visible twitch, which also seemed to have no result. So in the end, the Goddess gave up and decided to sit back and do nothing but watch after taking the bottle of water off his hands.
"The next part is all me anyway." He took one of her forging hammers after heating one of the ingots in the furnace; again, with his bare hands. "So, please don't say a single word from now on."
She mentally nodded, seeing as he took a breath while his Aura embraced him one more; some of it surrounding the hammer. It had been the first time she had seen his Aura's effect on something; and yet she could see its effect on her high-grade forging hammer; its durability was already dropping just by holding it.
'Now I see why Tsubaki complains so much about you.' She silently thought as he suddenly smashed the hammer down on the ingot.
*CLANG*
She froze at that instant.
The impact of the metal had made her stay rigid in her seat.
Maybe it was because his Aura was resonating with the blood mixed in the ingot.
*CLANG*
But she couldn't help but just stare frozen as he kept hammering the ingot with such focus and precision.
*CLANG*
It was at that moment she understood the reason behind her sudden state of disarray.
*CLANG*
'Perfect' she thought, breathing in and out slowly as she kept focusing on his form.
*CLANG*
His concentration, his breathing, the precision he had with every strike of the hammer.
*CRACK*
The hammer he had been using suddenly broke after just a few strikes. It was for this very reason he had asked for several tools to be prepared for him; that's why he didn't waste a single second in grabbing another hammer and continuing.
*CLANG*
At this point, the Goddess started to become a little more agitated with her breathing. Almost as if her heart rate had shifted to match the moment every time he used the hammer.
*CLANG*
No, she wasn't exaggerating.
Because her very own eyes started to close as he continued, completely immersed in his task.
Without a single doubt, despite his insistence of not wanting to be a blacksmith, he was simply too-
'Perfect'
Those were her final thoughts before passing out with a smile on her face, finding that sound the most calming thing in the world.
Her consciousness started to return.
Hephaestus opened her eye, her vision was a little blurry. But it was enough to know she was laying back on her chair, which was a little weird considering she felt a little chilly.
Her eye widened slightly, having remembered what she had been doing in her forge. However, she didn't stand up from her chair harshly. The Goddess stopped in her tracks for a moment, seeing as she noticed Drake's jacket on top of her. The piece of clothing felt a little cold.
"That's why I told you to leave." Her eye stared forward to see Drake resting against the anvil, drinking what seemed to be one of several bottles of water seeing there were a lot of empty ones next to him. "The heat was too much for you."
She twitched.
The Goddess wasn't perplexed by his somewhat harsh statement, but rather by the fact that she couldn't tell him she passed out by being mesmerized by his work, even though the heat in the room did also play a big part in it.
"Anyway, I am done."
She calmly stood up, making sure not to drop his jacket on the floor as she did. "I had been out for that long?" he nodded as she got closer.
"It took me about two hours to finish with the hammering. Having mixed the metal with my blood did a pretty good job, seeing as your forge hammers could barely do much after a short while." His statement made the Goddess realize that only a few of her hammers had been left, meaning the rest had most likely faded into dust due to his Aura.
'I take it that was after that he covered me with this jacket .' She stared at his jacket, still feeling incredibly chilly despite how hot the room was. 'This is also because of his Aura.'
Hephaestus sighed. "Seeing as I missed a little too much, mind telling me-" her words died in her mouth, and all of her focus when into her vision; finally noticing two forging hammers that definitely weren't hers, each with a keychain attached to the pommel with her Familia symbol at its end.
"I proceeded to start carving the runes with the new chisel. It also took some effort with your hammers, but I think it turned out ok." She moved next to him, picking up a red hammer with black outlines that got her attention the most.
Its shape was of a normal forging hammer. However, everything else about it was just abnormal; starting with the abnormal fire-like color that seemed to flow through the whole hammer in the same way the chisel did. There were also several runes around it, even the black leather handle which was carefully prepared had some runes on it.
"The Runes in the handle are merely to fortify it, that way you won't have to worry about using too much strength and breaking it. the rest though, those ones were far more complicated." He looked at the crimson chisel in his hand.
"The chisel won't work without Aura. So, I forged a hammer that would generate little pulses of it when the face hits something."
She subconsciously absorbed her words, because the rest of her attention was solemnly on the hammer. It was just a piece of beauty in her opinion, proof of a master blacksmith without a doubt.
"It also works to inject some Aura into objects. So, you may be able to give metal some Aura; although the chances of ruining the ingot in the process is high, so you really need to measure your strength when hammering."
'… it's not fair… it just isn't fair.' Her worst side was starting to manifest. The part that had become jealous of Tsubaki; the fact that she recalled everything he did just to forge the chisel made it worse.
He harmed himself without a single hint of hesitation. Nothing but Determination had been reflected in his eyes when he cut and burned himself for the sake of Tsubaki. The fact that he had gone so far as to forge something for her Child really bothered her.
'I really am the worst.' She sighed, a soft smile managing to form on her lips.
"… something the matter?" Drake asked, even though he couldn't see a deity's emotions with the Darkness he could tell something was bothering her just by looking at her body language alone. Although, there was also another little factor that ratted the Goddess out.
"Pay me no mind. Just admiring your work."
He narrowed his eyes. "So, is admiring my work enough reason for you to cry?"
The blonde could see how a shocked expression was reflected on her face as small ears came out of her left eye. Hephaestus slowly moved her hand to her cheek, placing gently to clean the trace of her tears.
"…" he internally sighed; a part of him didn't want to deal with whatever drama was going on in her head. Because he knew it had to be something far more serious than crying over something he forged. But he just couldn't let things stay like this, especially if there was a chance of Tsubaki asking for retaliation for making her Goddess cry… indifferent to how her 'Dragon Slayer' skill could kill him of course.
"Wanna talk about it?" Despite how calmly his tone and posture were, his eyes glanced at her with an analytical view, to see if he could spot the problem.
She snorted, not feeling fine in the slightest seeing as one of the people responsible for her state was in front of her.
"You are the one that can read people? Why not figure it out yourself?" a sardonic tone accompanied by a sardonic smile. She preferred being antagonistic rather than opening herself to him right now. "If you are done, I will be taking my leave then. Feel free to leave things as they are, I will clean them later." She placed the hammer on the anvil before heading towards the door.
"You know, if you had been with that bitch attitude when we met, I would have believed this little number you are trying to pull despite how much Tsubaki put you onto a pedestal." She stopped in her tracks. "Also, that crying is still selling you out."
He saw her cleaning her tears again, her shoulders started to tremble before her hand rested on her eyepatch.
"… I have never been given anything in my life. I have been courted, promised things, and told that everything I have ever wished for would be given to me. All of it was nothing but lies and fantasy once people see what lies behind my eyepatch."
Then again, her chances of luck just seemed to be poor overall, seeing as the one person Hephaestus had committed to a full relationship with betrayed her. Then again, she was expecting a little too much out of a Goddess of Love.
"So, seeing you, someone who has the capabilities of being a great blacksmith forging something so extraordinary and going to so many lengths for it without a hint of hesitation for the sake of someone else…" she sighed. "It made me a little jealous."
He fought the urge to snort. "At least it isn't one of those stories about a scornful Deity taking her discord in the mortal that sought her ire."
"I can see you have become familiar with some of our tales." She smiled, finding a little bit of humor in that statement.
"Yeah, and as expected; most of them are incredibly stupid." He started walking towards her. "So, what you are saying is that if I were to give you a gift you would be happy?"
She looked coolly over her shoulder, not liking one bit how simple she was making her struggle sound from his perspective.
"Or do you also want me to look under your eyepatch and tell you 'you're not ugly'?"
Her distaste from before had been fake, a shell so Drake couldn't see how fragile her self-esteem truly was. But now… now Drake could truly see the hate towards him.
'A part of me would have really liked it if you had like this when we met.' He mentally sighed, seeing as now he was trying to comfort a Goddess of all people. Despite her clear intent in pushing him away.
"Oh, it's just funny to you isn't it." she fully turned around. "Go on ahead then, let's see if you think I am not grotesque when you see-"
"Ok." He replied instantly, not letting the Goddess finish her statement nor hesitating when he suddenly removed her eyepatch with a quick motion of his hand. The simple audacity of this action made her freeze on the spot.
Her left eye widened as he simply stared at her with narrowed eyes. Hephaestus wanted to call him out at that moment; judging his current gaze as if he was indeed looking at something repugnant. However, whatever courage she was gathering to act back faded the moment his fingers started to trace her right side delicately.
Drake Aurion softly touched her face. Looking over every part of the very red-crusted area that even included her right eye.
"…" he sighed, making her fear the worst, not expecting him to give her a bland look in response. "I have seen worst."
All the seriousness in the room seemed to lessen a little, seeing as even Hephaestus couldn't help but give him the same stare as well. "Please take this seriously." Even if she knew he couldn't lie, it was still hard to believe him.
"Jude once received Ratatosk's strongest Arte face to face trying to play the role of the guy saving the damsel in distress."
Inside his soul, he could feel the Guardian flipping him out for bringing him up.
"His eyeballs were not just burned, but all the area around his eyes suffered divine burns as well; there were even cracks around his eyes that had some of Ratatosk energy, which burned him from time to time."
She didn't show it, but she internally winced. Seeing as his brother apparently also suffered after receiving those wounds. But even so, his statement didn't make her feel any better.
"You are beautiful." His sudden statement actually didn't just break her stern face into one of full surprise, but also managed to get a blush out of her. "If you think the meaning of beauty relies solemnly on the outside, you couldn't be any more wrong. Out of every deity I have met, you are one of the few, if not the first that comes to mind that hasn't shown me any kind of reason to dislike you. You care for the members of your Familia and don't exploit them in any way, you even went as far as pretty much hiding me due to Tsubaki's request without asking anything of me when you could have done just that. So yes, I do think you are beautiful."
"So," she couldn't help but softly grab his hand. "You don't find me grotesque?"
"Do I really need to spell it any other way?" she smiled softly, making him sigh in defeat.
"Not one bit." More tears started to stream out of her left eye as she rubbed the right side of her face with his hand, appreciating the warm touch in a place no one had ever dared to caress before.
"Thank you."
He softly chuckled. "And there you have it; both of your petitions fulfilled."
She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, only to remember that he has stated that to make her feel better he would have to say she didn't find her repugnant and gift her something.
"Really? I still don't see any kind of gift." She followed his game, still holding onto his hand.
"Oh, but I did." His face returned to his usual blank expression. "You even had the audacity to disregard it." he made a gesture with his head, making her move her head to the side to the red hammer resting on the anvil.
Her left eye twitched as she let go of his hand. "Are you trying to give me something you forged for Tsubaki just to fulfill your claims?"
Drake sighed.
He turned back and walked to the anvil. "Fucking redheads, always making a drama about everything."
Hephaestus gave him a blank expression. "Oi." She said, noticing this was what Tsubaki meant by the blonde knowing how to ruin a moment.
"You didn't pay attention to my explanation about the hammer, did you?"
"Of course, I did." She got closer to him as he piqued up the hammer.
"Then you must recall I never mentioned Tsubaki's name while you were holding it," he tossed the hammer, the Goddess was clumsily able to catch it seeing she got struck by his sudden words; he was right, every time he addressed someone he said 'You'.
"…" Hephaestus looked dumbfounded at him, making him sigh again before pointing at the pommel of the hammer. "Look at the back of the keychain."
The Goddess's eye softened after doing so, seeing her name carved in it. "Are you telling me… you planned to forge this for me from the beginning?"
He nodded, deciding to answer seeing the visible confusion in her eye.
"It's my way of thanking you for everything. So, I decided to forge you something on Tsubaki's… recommendation." He said, not being sure if that was the correct term to use in this case.
"… She complained about me, didn't she?" she narrowed her look, making him rub the side of his head before clearing his throat.
"Her exact words were 'Would someone please just forge her something already!?' after some time of the intense study sessions, my guess is she was just using your name out of pure stress."
She took a deep breath and sighed, not knowing whether to thank her Child or scold her later. But even so, even if for him to do this out of a slip of the tongue from Tsubaki… she just didn't know what to think about it.
"Thank you." She said kindly, looking at the keychain with her name engraved on it. "Why the keychain though? You could have engraved my Familia symbol on the hammer."
"Tradition." She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "My brother made keychains for each of the weapons he forged, all of them their owner's respective symbol with a message for each of them engraved in their back."
"Oh~" her voice gained a certain edge. "And you didn't give me one and just carved my name because…"
His eye twitched. "I already went out of my way to forge you something and tell you straight to your face you are beautiful and explain to you why, do you know how corny that is?"
'Very.' She agreed with his reasoning but wasn't gonna admit it out loud.
"You know what," his gaze turned cold as he extended his hand. "Give me that. I am gonna engrave 'For the most annoying Goddess.'"
Hephaestus flinched, grabbing her hammer as if it were a child in need of protection. "You know, my name is more than enough!"
He mentally twitched before placing Tsubaki's hammer and her chisel in the shadows and retrieving his shirt from it before turning around to see Hephaestus extending his jacket at him. "May I ask for one last thing?"
Drake sighed, making a motion of affirmation with his hand in resignation. He was about to ask what she wanted now, perhaps something related to forging?
No. The answer didn't come in words. Instead, it came in the sudden action of the Goddess embracing him, burying the right side of her face in his chest.
"… Why are women so needy?" he said after a small sigh, proceeding to then softly put his arms around her with a ghostly smile on his face.
"Thank you, Drake." She started to sniff a little as the blonde patted her head softly. "Thank you."
"So." Tsubaki suddenly said, sitting cross-legged in front of a traditional easter table with a cup of green tea in front of her. "What was so important that you waited eight whole hours for me to finish my studies for?"
Shakti Varma internally twitched from the other side of the table. The Captain of the Ganesha Familia sat on her knees contrary to the owner of the place, showing a bit of etiquette unlike Tsubaki, who really didn't care.
"I needed to ask you something important. I wasn't expecting you to be so busy with something other than forging, for that, I apologize." She gave a low bow, to which Tsubaki simply waved her worries away with a snort.
"Don't overthink it." Shakti nodded, focusing for a moment on Tsubaki's eyepatch seeing as she didn't have it before. "So, go ahead, shoot! What did you want to ask?" the blacksmith asked as Shakti moved her cup closer to her mouth.
"I wanted to ask you about the incident that happened over a month ago with the abnormal Goliath."
And then, Shakti Varma saw it. It was for a mere moment, almost even less than a second by her estimate; Tsubaki's eye had shifted into such a deathly gaze that she thought the blacksmith was gonna jump her.
"Sure thing." Tsubaki smiled, cursing herself for her recent slip while trying not to tense her whole body. "Go on ahead, then," and now it was her turn to notice how narrowed Shakti's gaze was, tensing her muscles slightly in the process. Tsubaki mentally scowled, raising her guard as well, seeing as things were not going to go smoothly now. "Ask."
