The Last Hero

by Kirisaki Yuu

Bell arrives at Orario with Zeus,as the sole member of the Zeus familia. How will this rather different Bell, uncover his tale. He won't be majorly OP, but he will be the protagonist which seems strong enough already. Also, you guys can choose the pairing once more. Yay! So don't forget to review your character, or characters for a harem. Make the choice, it's yours.

6. Chapter 6: Denatus

Chapter 6: Denatus!

A/N: Yo wys. I have counted the votes, a bit lazily sure, but I've been busy with moving around and stuff. A new Chocolate Love chapter will soon come out, maybe by Sunday or next saturday. Regardless here is the rough count up. Any specific group of harems got one votes, and individual characters got counted up. Depending on what I ultimately decide.

Ais: 20

Riveria: 12

Tiona: 5

Vesta:1

Chloe:1

Loki: 3

(Eina, Riveria, Ryuu, Lefiya, Alicia, Tiona): 1

Eina: 1

Hephaestus: 2

Amid: 4

Ryuu: 4

Freya: 1

(Riveria, Hephaestus, Eina, Ryuu): 1

(Lefiya &Naaza): 1

Aisha: 1

(Aiz, Ryuu, hestia, Haruhime, Riveria): 1

Naaza: 1

Tione: 1

Mikoto: 2

(Ais, Ryuu, Tiona, Amid, Haruhime, Riveria): 1

Haruhime: 2

(Amid, Ais, Riveria, Tione, Tiona, Eina, Shakti): 1

(Riveria, Eina, Ryuu, Ais): 1

Bache: 1

Syr: 1

(haruhime & tiona): 1

So this is count up. Don't worry the harem is still going, I might do it especially since Bell is in the Zeus familia this time round. Who knows. Anyways, enjoy this chapter, I would appreciate it if you could tell me if it was good or not,

Tata~

Bell had finished late. Very very late into the morning. Like 11.59 late.

Not that he could do much, he had wanted to go to the dungeon but Hephaistos ran a couple hours into the night, talking about Tsubaki being his smith was surprising.

Needless to say he had finished up his dungeon run and he decided to return to his familia home for a bit. He hadn't seen Zeus for an entire day and while the deity was probably drunk on a different couch every few hours, it would do good to see his grandfather.

That's how it was meant to be.

So imagine his surprise when he enters the house and the maids and butlers tell him Zeus has left for a bit. Now, Zeus was a free bird type of person, not one to be restricted by what society thinks is normal, he would do whatever the hell he wanted. Now, Bell was used to do this.

But this was Orario you see.

And Zeus left him a note, which seemed odd but foreboding nonetheless. And lo and behold...

'Hey Bell Chan,

Gone 2 Denatus, big up party with the other Gods whoop whoop!

Oh and U'll get an alias 2, I'll see U in 5.

;)

Peace. Zeus.'

Bell felt his blood boil a bit as he felt a weird compulsion to crunch the paper up (which he did) and go over there to stuff his grandpa's face with potatoes. Zeus going to a denatus was the worst thing that could've happened, since and especially because it was Bell getting an alias. The old coot was probably going to come back after naming him 'burning fighting fighter' or something.

Bell took a deep breath in and let it out.

'It's gonna be fine. He knows what name you went by. He'll be mature enough to do so.' He tried to convince himself.

But who was he kidding, the only reason the last generation of Zeus familia had proper aliases was because Maxim, or rather the olympian would threaten the old bat took take things seriously. Now however...

Bell let out a sigh of exasperation much to the wonder of the servants in the house. Although some did guess what was up and felt pity.

'May as well take a nap.' He shrugged.

Today was a special day for Orario on a 4 month basis.

Every 4 months, the deities of Orario would get together and discuss the happenings of the city, as well as bestow aliases upon newly levelled up adventurers. It was a privilege only those who put a lot of effort could enjoy.

Little did they know, it was always a war during these meetings. After having descended from Tenkai to the Gekai, many deities lost their...brain cells. A tad bit. And so instead of it becoming something to honour, the damn millennia old dusty beings made it into a game.

The familias that were on the smaller side would often get bullied with bad names. Those who were at the top, got to choose what they wanted.

And God, no, Chaos forbid Freya decided to make a suggestion. It was as if her even breathing united the male and a few female deities, and they all barked in agreement with her.

Bunch of simps.

Zeus remembered the events in the past used to be really enjoyable, save for the extreme number of people trying to kiss his ass every few minutes. Oh how different it would be now, he does have only one adventurer in his familia now after all.

But that didn't bother him. He was here to meet a few of his old friends, tell Freya to go fuck herself for umpteenth time and drink the hell out of Soma's shit that he gave. See as most deities were required to come but Soma was never bothered enough to show up, he would pay for his excuse by giving them wine he made.

So it was a win-win.

As Zeus entered the hall, making sure he was the last because that's when the heroes make their entrance, he felt everyone's eyes wander towards him.

There were plenty of reactions. Shock. Indifference. Hell even giddyness.

"What up suckers! I'm back," Zeus cheered throwing his arms up. Hermes smiled and Ouranos had a ghost of a smile but suppressed it.

"Oi Zeus, shut yer damn trap! And sit yer ass down, we've been waiting 10 mins cuz of ya," Loki shouted with a vein popping on her forehead. She evidently did not want to see him for a second more than she had to. Zeus decided to give her some peace...for now.

Though her behaviour seemed more rough than usual, wonder what could've spurred that on?

*Flashback to Last Night*

As Loki patiently waited by the her footsteps continued as she went in circles. Bete had come to her to tell her that a bunch of her children were poisoned by peludas and he had come to get potions. But for some weird reason he couldn't find a single potion anywhere. Every. Single. Place, was out of stock.

When they asked who had bought it, she had refused to tell her. Hell she even went to Miach's dump and even they were sold. Probably couldn't afford the ingredients but still.

Although as of right now, she knew her children were not in danger. Initially she did feel her link to a few of them weaken, and at the time her horror was amplified when one of the weak links was Ais.

Now however, they had been restored so at least that was a good thing. The question was how?

At the edge of the road she spotted her captain, the pallum Finn Diemne walk towards the manor. With all her children following close by. Even though her link told her that they were safe, seeing them alive and well in the flesh was a different kind of relief.

One she tried to embrace. Quite literally.

"You guys!" She said as she ran and leapt to hug them. One by one each of children dodged except for Lefiya who was at the back and distracted, and ultimately got tackled to the ground.

"I'm so glad you're all alright. When Bete came over to tell me how he couldn't find any potions I was so worried." Loki sniffed as she shoved her face further into Lefiya's cleavage.

As she did so however, she was thoroughly bonked on the head by Lefiya's wand and now saw three Finns chuckling at her.

"Yeah, we really got saved by Bell Cranel." Finn admitted.

Instantly she snapped out of her glorious wonder and looked at him in shock.

"Zeus' boy?" Loki asked surprised.

"Yup. We saw him twice in this one expedition, once at the start and at the end." Riveria added. While Loki would normally be mesmerised by the sight of the high elf smiling she had to pay attention.

"In the end when he had heard that Ais was stabbed by a peluda, he disappeared." Finn began.

"What I would expect of a person in Zeus familia. Turning tail and running," Loki barked even if she knew that it wasn't true.

"Well not really. See, the boyo went up to the surface and brought back 74 high potions, I don't understand how he managed to do that but the main the lass Ais is alive is cuz of him." Gareth chimed in.

What?

How did he get here before Bete? Not even considering who could be faster or stronger, the brat was a level 4 while Bete as level 6. Bete left before him as well. How the hell was this possible?

It seems Bete wondered the same thing because he went silent trying to think.

"After getting potions for everyone, he even made food and I think that was some of the most delicious stuff I've had." Tiona jumped, "I wanna meet him again. You think that we should take up his offer to go to his place to eat?" She asked her sister.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT," Loki shouted, making a few recoil in surprise. "Last thing we want is to get in debt to Zeus. Which we already are. But to go even further in debt? Hell no."

Tiona seemed like her bubble had been burst as her shoulders slumped, "But we became friends..." She pouted.

"Loki about that matter," Finn brought her attention to her, "I don't think he is going to do anything against us. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for him to bring potions for everyone. I think we need to curb this fear of Zeus familia doing something and build honest to good relations with them this time."

* End of flashback*

"Now then let us get this denatus underway. Is there anything that any of you want to bring up?" Ouranos asked commencing the meet.

Immediately, Ganesha stood up, "First I would like to announce that, I AM GANESHA! Second, I would like to ask, Zeus my friend it's great to see you're back, but what caused this sudden change? Did your banishment get changed?"

Zeus snorted having missed Ganesha's antics, " I was never permanently banished. I just decided that I would indulge the two clowns over there for a bit. Now I came back with my grandson, so I can watch yet another hero rise."

The statement had left many to murmur amongst them. His words held power in the sense that he was bringing up yet another hero. Loki's eyes opened for a bit, she had this tense feeling in her gut.

And it didn't please her in the slightest.

"Say Zeus," Hermes began, "how's Bell been?" He asked.

Zeus looked at Hermes for a second before replying, "Oh he's been fine really, I mean he did disappear for the whole of yesterday but you should go visit him."

Hermes chuckled awkwardly, "Uh yeah, I think I might need to do that...he kind of...scared one of my children. Like to the point that they were crying...Knowing Bell, he probably intentionally put on his intimidating face but well.." Hermes didn't finish the sentence.

"Lords, he still can't control himself huh.." Ouranos added much to the surprise of everyone.

"Oh my, Ouranos have you met with him before?" Freya asked with a little bit of surprise of her own.

Ouranos nodded, "I gave him quests to do outside the city borders. He is a high second class adventurer after all, he's handled things in a variety of different locations."

Seeing Ouranos of all people praising someone, really made people wonder who this boy was? Many knew him, but not to the extent before Orario, it seemed Hermes and Ouranos were acquaintances with him. Hermes made sense since he was always travelling out but for Ouranos of all people to see him?

It meant one thing.

Ouranos could never leave Orario. Ever. Due to him constantly offering prayers to the dungeon, he had to be within a certain proximity of it so there was no way for him to go see Bell...meaning Bell came to meet him. In Orario.

Unofficially.

Of course no-one raised any sort of protests about it, but that simply showed how much trust Ouranos put in him and how Bell's very existence was supported by him. It was something that no adventurer in the city had.

Zeus began laughing madly drawing everyone's attention to him, "remember the first you and him met? He refused to talk so you had to wait an entire hour just for him to say anything."

Hermes seemed to join in to chuckle. They all had looks of shock on their faces once more.

Everyone referred to Ouranos as 'lord' except for a select few, whose friendlyness wasn't unwelcome. But for Bell to make Ouranos wait for him to speak?

Ouranos cleared his throat, "Regardless, this isn't a leisurely discussion, let's focus on the matters on hand. Ganesha I want you to keep security for this years monsterphilia even more uptight. We don't need any monster breaks, so be careful with it." Ouranos told him but didn't wait for a response, "Zeus, I got another job for your boy, tell him to swing by at some point in this week."

"How long is it gonna take?" Zeus asked.

"Depends on how fast he can take care of it. At least a few days." Ouranos replied which seemed to satisfy Zeus for now.

"Now then, we shall get on with the naming."

As soon as those words left Ouranos' mouth, everyone tensed a bit. It was finally here, the most enjoyable moment and everyone had either a burning spirit to try their damn hardest to get the best name for their children or they had a giddy vibe like a child given a new toy to play with.

As they passed the names however, they were getting progressively worst.

They had gone from Vidgar, to Eternal shadow and finally by the end of the 7th name, they landed on Pink Player.

Like what the hell! A coloured name? The heck was that meant to be?

Finally the 8th and final name was of one, Bell Cranel.

Bell Cranel.

Age: 15.

Level: 4.

Familia: Zeus Familia.

Everyone paused for a bit. On one hand none of them were courageous enough to say a silly name. On the other hand, they all felt like really messing with this one.

"Cute rabbit." Freya murmured.

"He'll shove his sword up your ass." Zeus warned, but rather it had the opposite effect as her face became slightly red and she had a glaze over her eyes. "I mean his blade, the one he cuts with, not the one he uses to split women."

"Oh my..."

Zeus clicked his tongue before grabbing Bell's sheet.

"What are ya doing?" Loki asked curious.

"The boy wants a specific name, and I will give it to him. It's already been decided." Zeus replied as he tried to pocket the sheet but Hermes' hand stopped him. Zeus looked at Hermes with an eyebrow raised.

"Now now, Zeus my friend. Let's not be in a rush, maybe we can come up with a better name than 'that' for him."

Zeus looked at him for a second with a calculating gaze before speaking, "You realise if you mess with it, he'll drag you into the dungeon and tie you upside down next to Udaeus."

Hermes' fingers seemed to hesitate before letting go of the sheet.

Loki slammed her hands down on the table, "THIS. This is why I never liked ya! You always break any sort of rules there are, doin' whatever the hell ya want whenever ya want! If we gotta follow shit ya gotta do it too damn it."

Zeus narrowed his eyes before speaking, "says who?" but before Loki could retort Zeus added more, "I don't remember you following the rules 15 years ago."

As soon as he said that, Loki's words died in her throat. She remembered how Finn had expressed that he wanted to build friendly relations with Zeus familia this time. She wanted to say something. Anything.

But she controlled herself.

"Look. I know what I did was shit, hell I regret it." Loki admitted but Zeus flippantly snorted at her words, but she ignored it and pressed on, "But I changed. I ain't gonna do that shit no more, even if it makes me want to throw up by looking at yer smug, ugly mug, I'll deal with it this time. So do yer half too."

Zeus looked at her in silence. The room had been quiet, as the other deities seemingly became audiences to the two Gods, finally. After 15 short but long years, the two were talking about it.

The abuser and the abused.

"Now now Zeus." Freya stood up, "Let's not focus on the past so much. We can always try to pat-" Freya tried to say but Zeus cut her off.

"If..."He began, "If Bell came up and for whatever reason decided to kill even a single one of your children, for whatever cause, would you two forget about the past? Would you try to fix things? Would you be able to ignore the snapping pain on your backs?"

They both didn't reply but it seemed Zeus had more to say. Having bottled things up for the last decade and a half.

"It hurt so much." He restarted, "I felt more pain watching Bell become older, day by day, without a father or a mother than I had felt when that damn dragon tore my children apart one by one. I watched him from when he was a baby, held in his dead mother's hands, to the man he is now. You want me to forget the past? Sure, I'll forget. But do you think he can? We Gods have a stretched perception of time, 15 years is nothing to us, for a human boy, it's a long period. And it sure is a long period to grow up with no-one to care for him at his weakest."

Most of the deities looked down in shame. Not that they could've done much then or even now, but they weren't heartless. Each and every one of them, loved their children in one way or another, as such they could share the sentiment.

Zeus sighed as he turned around and began to walk towards the door, "Ouranos you know what name to give right?" He asked to which Ouranos nodded, and without anyone's approval or disapproval. Zeus made his exit and left.

Silence ensued for a few moments before Hephaistos asked, unable to contain her curiosity, "Ouranos what is the boy's alias?"

Ouranos looked forward and with a deep breath replied,"...Spades."

Zeus had left the meet, well not the best return to the city. He even went ahead and showed his pain to Loki and Freya of all people. He knew that those two didn't have hearts, yet he still went ahead and tried to put into words things he couldn't imagine of his grandson.

At the very least he hadn't told them of what Bell had become, or what he was.

Regardless, he entered his manor and could tell Bell was back. Bell probably insisted on cooking for once in a while, and there was no way in hell Zeus would mistake the fragrance his grandson's cooking would have.

"I'm back!" Zeus shouted to announce his return. Within a moment, he spotted Bell's head peak out of the kitchen, smile at him.

"Welcome back gramps, how was denatus?" Bell asked in a loud voice as to overshoot the loud sizzling.

"Eh? Aren't you going to ask what your alias is?" Zeus asked a bit surprise in his voice.

"I like to think I've intimidated you enough for you to have learnt a lesson." Bell replied casually. While out of context, it would certainly make people raise an eyebrow in confusion, all it did to Zeus was make him shiver in fear.

"...but are you sure you wanted that name? I know how much it means to you b-" Zeus tried to say but Bell cut him off as he exited the kitchen with food.

"It's fine," Bell interrupted, "It's the only thing I have left from back then, it's something I need to embrace. I'm marked by it, it's who I am now." Zeus could tell by the downtrodden expression on his grandson's face that he had gone to a zone he shouldn't of but it was something he wanted to make sure.

'Spades...' It was once a blessing for his grandson, yet now it acted more neutral. Sometimes Zeus thought of it to be a curse, he wouldn't lie. But he always chose to avoid the topic of that name as much as possible.

It wouldn't be fair after all.

Zeus sighed sensing the conversation was taking an awry tone, he remembered something Hermes had mentioned, "By the way...what did you do to Hermes' child?"

Bell seemed to perk up at that as he looked up from his food, " Why? Did he say something?"

"Just that his child had become extremely afraid of you and you intimidated them. Is it true?" Zeus asked.

Bell rubbed the back of his head awkwardly in response, " Well, this links to how I was missing all of yesterday, but here's the run down. I went down to fight the goliath yesterday, and when I did I met Braver again. Turns out they were coming back to kill the goliath but I beat them to it. Then the High Novice came up behind saying that there was 74 people inflicted by peluda poisoning and Ais was one of them, so I came up top to get enough potions. There wasn't enough, and Hermes' pup tried to scam me, so I scammed them back and basically robbed him of 70 ish high potions."

By the end Zeus stared at Bell with wide eyes before he began to howl in laughter, " That has to be the best thing you've done to him. Oh man, and I thought you kicking him in the nuts was bad, you traumatised his child, and you saved a bunch of people." Zeus laughed. While it was comical indeed, it did make Zeus very happy in another sense.

'See? The heart of a hero is inside him, and he says he's going to end it as a villain.' Zeus thought with a fond smile.

" You know what, it's been about a week since we've been here, let's do an status update for you. Come upstairs," Zeus said as he got up. Bell followed behind.

He was a relatively high level 4...well for his standards anyways. Bell lifted his shirt up and sat down in a slouch on the ground while Zeus on the bed behind him. He gently poked his index finger with the knife by his bedside drawing blood.

"Oh, You grew so much. Just a bit more and you can level up." Zeus complimented.

(FInally...after over 40k words, the status of Bell Cranel will be revealed.)

Name: Bell Cranel

Level: 4

Alias: Spades.

Str: 1001- 1399

Vit: 999- 1205

Dex: 1300- 1500

Agi: 1500- 1500

Mag: 865 - 865

"Oh? Your magic stat didn't even grow by one?" Zeus looked confused.

Bell nodded, "That's because I haven't use any magic yet." Bell informed him.

"What? That's such a waste," Zeus told him.

"I have no need for magic only on floor 18. You know that, I'll start using magic soon, but not yet." Bell promised.

Skills:

Survivor- grants a significant status boost when in near death condition, their conscious is forcefully kept until the danger passes or they die.

[?un?r R?na?t : J?e?] Allows for an exponential rate of growth, status limits have been readjusted to 1500 and the owner will grow at an enhanced speed. Extra effect:?

JUPITER'S CAST: All Lightning based attacked are boosted to 200% the normal strength, Resistance to lightning increased by 200%.

Magic:

-Zap.- {Flow freely, my body is the clouds}

-Hellflame-{ Unholy flames of purgatory surge, the war has long finished, cinders rise and ignite once more. Burn the slaves of hell who are sinners, What's dead is brought back from the ashes of life, and incinerated by the hateful flames of vengeance, Hell Flame!}

Developmental skills:

-Luck: A

- Abnormal resistance: C

Brawler: S

"What's it been from the last update?" Bell asked as he looked at the sheet.

Zeus took up a thinking pose before replying, "I reckon a couple weeks? This is a massive boost, more so than usual. I guess the Goliath really helped out huh." Zeus burst into laughter of pride.

"I guess, honing out my martial arts technique really paid off." Bell looked at his brawler development skill which was maxed out at a S rank.

Zeus snorted, "Now get that magic up above 1200 and beat some massive monster, ever try to beat Amphisbaena by yourself?" Zeus asked.

"Gramps, I haven't gone that far down yet."

"Bah, now's the time for you to shine my boy. You're capable of beating a level 5 already since your past level ups have given about 200 points in each stat. Try use your magic more and it'll be perfect." Zeus smiled, he had watched his children grow from level 1 to level 7s, 8s and even 9, but for some odd reason Bell's growth was one he was the proudest of.

Bell by far had been growing the fastest out of everyone past adventurer that he knew of. Even when Argonaut made that contract with Jupiter, he wasn't growing this fast. And Bell reached level 4 without the dungeon! Imagine what he could do with that damn hell hole.

Zeus clasped his hands, "Now. Get out there and fight some big monster, allez allez allez!"

Bell raised an eyebrow quizzically, "what are you saying?"

"You won't understand it's not in Koine, or elvish or Drawgon. It's this language called french from some other universe, people say it rile someone up. Get them to get moving and all," Zeus grinned.

"How the hell do you remember this? You left Heaven more than 1000 years ago?"

Zeus looked at him before laughing, "You don't think I'm some failure by any chance right Bell chan? I'll have you know, I was one of the most hard working, and smartest deity in heaven from gen 1."

Bell rolled his eyes in response, "your beer belly says otherwise," he quipped back.

Zeus' momentum halted for a second, "H-Hey! It's called bulking. I can't be shredded all year round!"

"Sure." Bell waved off before leaving the room.

Zeus had a bead of sweat roll down his cheek before repeated, "I'm just increasing my mass for now. I'm not serious yet, y'hear?!" But not response came. Zeus was left by himself in his room as he looked down to the protruding belly, that he had covered using his mantle and sighed deeply, 'I need to get back in shape.'

A couple days later

Bell was on his way to the guild before he went for the dungeon. His armor and weapons ready to go, he walked in and to his surprise he saw Finn.

"Braver?" He asked as Finn turned around.

"Please Bell san, why did you revert back to my alias? We're just adventurers, call me Finn," Finn smiled at Bell.

Bell looked past to see Lefiya struggling to carry three massive bags of valis, he figured it was from their expedition, "uhh...she's about to drop the money?" He pointed at Lefiya, and immediately she proceeds to drop a bad. Valis after valis comes crawling out.

Finn shrugged and turned his head, "Lefiya! If even a single valis is missing, Riveria's going to scold you!" He warned. Immediately, the elf shot up and began frantically gathering, every valis she could find. "Anyways, how are you doing today?"

Bell looked at Finn with an amused smile, "Oh just the usual. Waiting for the Amphisbaena to respawn. Did you guys kill it on your way down?"

Finn shook his head in response, "When we were going down and coming back up, the monster was already dead. I heard it respawns today, are you about to level?" He asked curious.

"Yup. I've almost hit max stats in all categories, just got magic left to get up by a few points." Bell replied.

"You have magic?" Finn asked. Of course it made sense, Bell never used magic before. Not that Finn has seen him fight many times anyways but still.

"Wanna watch? Not like you have anything better to do."

"That is a bold claim. I am the captain of my familia you know?"

Bell grinned, "It doesn't matter, High Novice seems a bit rusty. Put him through the grinder." Bell told him. Soon Finn shared that grin. He was never the type of person to skip out on work, he prioritised his duties before anything else.

Buuuuuuttt...

Raul was out of practice, maybe doing some good ol' paper work will help him improve. Oh and an even better idea popped into Finn's mind. He could have Riveria check over the work, so she could scold him for making mistakes.

Finn was feeling pretty mean today anyways. He turned back to the still struggling Lefiya, "Lefiya!" he called out, as she barely managed to look at him from the corner of her eye, "Go back to the manor by yourself, tell Raul I have an assigned him to do the paper work left over from the expedition, there shouldn't be much anyways!"

As he finished speaking, Lefiya dropped the other bag of valis and groaned in annoyance. He turned back to face Bell.

"How much work is actually left over?" Bell asked.

"Roughly 80%" Finn told him. They both shared a mischievous grin.

"You cheeky bastard."

Finn and Bell had essentially annihilated everything in sight until floor 27. Minotaurs, hell hounds you name it. If it appeared before floor 27, they killed it. What surprised Finn the most was the amazing luck Bell had.

The standard rate of drop was approximately 0.5-2% of the times. With Bell, he was getting a drop every five monsters.

"We seriously need to bring you along to an expedition with us." Finn spoke aloud resulting in Bell laughing.

"What can I say? I'm flattered." He replied.

As they entered the 27th floor, they spotted the massive lake in the middle of the floor. It was a teal blue and looked beautiful. With some greenery here and there, you would think this to be one of the 'safe' floors.

Yet in actuality, this was one of the deadliest ones. A place where the second monster rex spawns. The massive lake, was home to the local

amphisbaena.

Bell and Finn walked up to the lake and Finn turned to Bell, "What's the game plan for you? I expect you'll be soloing it?"

"Well duh, I'm trying to level. But I got a couple plans cooking in my head," Bell replied. He took off one of his gloves, the unique design being noticed just now by Finn.

But he thought better than to question it now.

Bell took out a throwing knife and poked a hole in his finger and dipped it into the lake. "This should be more than enough for that thing to come here, do me a solid one and tell me when you hear it."

The two stood in silence, as they strained their ears to listen. At first nothing but within a couple moments, Finn could hear the underwater shriek of the monster, "it's coming."

"Flow freely, my body is the clouds, ZAP!" Bell chanted and instantly blue lightning sparked up from his body. Coursing through his body, as if it were flowing through his very veins. It entered the water just as the shape of the amphisbaena became visible.

A low gurgled roar came out as the amphisbaena cried out under the water. Finn looked impressed. Bell was level 4, and for him to basically incapacitate the monster in one spell spoke volumes of his strength.

The magic itself seemed versatile, it was a short chant with a rather powerful effect. Finn hypothesised one of two things.

Either Bell had always managed to get his magic to a high standard and as he levelled it became stronger.

Or,

he may have a developmental skill that boosted his magic, something like mage?

The paralysed body of the amphisbaena slowly emerged to the surface of the water. The monster seemed more like a fusion between a horse and a fish than any other known aquatic creature.

"You wondering how my spell works?" Bell asked, not taking his eyes off of the monster.

"A little bit. I mean we both know that the magic seems a bit too strong for its own good, especially for a level 4." Finn admitted.

Bell chuckled, "Well it all comes to down to the basis. A magic spell, can be empowered by a lot of things. Items, skills, developmental abilities etc. And we all know, the power of a spell depends on its chant length. The longer the chant, the stronger the spell. But what if I told you that you could shorten them?"

Finn's eyes widened in disbelief. Shorten spells? Assuming he was referring to it as to shortening the chant while retaining the power of the spell, this would be monumental.

Bell seemed to see the amphisbaena twitch from the corner of his eyes, "Let me give you a demonstration, you saw my magic just now correct?" Bell asked to which Finn nodded, "This is the actual spell, "Flow freely, Lightning which embraces the noble. Thunder that tears at the clouds, bring down the seven skies with the scorching lightning. Fuel that which is seeking out power, and become my voice. Scream out my desires, cry out my worries, be the voice of justice, flow through my body as if it is the clouds, ZAP!"

As he finished the decently long chant, the electricity burst forth once more, travelling through the water molecule, entered the body of the amphisbaena and the body that was already paralysed with blue lightning floating around it, had an even stronger pulse thrashing around it.

Finn didn't really care much for the spell so he instead went back to the conversation they were having, " How in the world..."

Bell snorted, the amusement of Braver, one of the smartest adventurers currently being baffled when compared to Bell's ability was endless, " It's actually quite a lot based on physics and chemistry. But a diluted version of it would be better like this, tell me what is a chant?"

Finn thought for a moment replying, " Is it not a sort of instruction? Or like a way of focusing the path of the spell?"

Bell nodded, the understanding seemed a bit shallow but to be fair, the only reason Bell knew so much was because one of the Zeus familia's previous members was an elven scholar, who had investigated into magic in an extensive length and ultimately gained an unknown amount of knowledge on them.

Coincidentally, she had written a couple books, but never sold them and he got to read them. Zeus more or less forced him.

"Well you're not wrong but not really correct either. Here is the breakdown," Bell told him, "No race in the world can truly use magic. We are incapable of it. But the ones that can are the spirits. That's why there are elemental ones. And all any other race really does when using magic is asking a certain elemental spirit to do something. That's also why sometimes your magic is strengthened based on your environment. If you were to be in a foggy area for example, your water spells would tend to have more damage. Why? Because there are more water spirits present in the area of that certain element, so more will heed your call."

Finn digested the information rather quickly before asking a vital question, "Then why do spells work perfectly fine in the dungeon? There hardly seems to be an abundance of them there."

Bell smiled, a very crucial question to ask, "Well from what I know that tends to be due to adventurers." Bell responded as Finn raised an eyebrow, "You have to understand, that all spirits, lesser or greater, tend to be sentient. At least somewhat. Obviously greater spirits would be like Jupiter, or Aria, who intelligent enough to interact with people and have stunning intelligence. While lesser spirits are often not capable of such communication, they can register that we are trying to reach out to them. They decided to either respond or ignore. In the very same manner, spirits can also be attracted to... a type of person."

Finn nodded in understanding, "Like how elves seem to have the greatest aptitude for magic?"

Bell nodded, glad that he was able to piece things together, "Yeah exactly! In terms of a race tree, elves are the closest to spirits, who like them, so they respond more. Not to say that they wouldn't respond to others more as well but that's a discussion for another day. Long story short however, the chants of magic are a sort of instruction you are giving a lesser spirit. It's like you asking 'move here' or 'shoot towards there really fast' but with connected words. So, the way I worked around it was the same way you would give out orders."

"How so?"

"Well Finn, tell me. When you are in the middle of a fight, how do you instruct people?" Bell responded to his question with a question of his own.

"I try to summarise it and go straight to the point."

"Well that's what I do to. I just tell the spirits the important parts, they may be a bit less bright than greater spirits, but that doesn't mean they are retarded." Bell chuckled as Finn joined him.

"Well that explains a lot. Where did you learn all this?" Finn asked.

"It was from a scholar from the Zeus familia, she had written two books. One on how energy works, which was intriguing in its own right and the other was for spells. If you want I can give you the spells book for Riveria to learn." Bell offered.

"Why just the second one? Not that I'm trying to be greedy."

"Because wrapping your head around how energy works is time consuming in its own right. While I don't mean to be arrogant, I'm not exactly average in terms of intelligence, but even then it took me almost 8 months of constantly reading the book and working on its intricacies to understand it. While I'm in no way saying her intelligence is below mine, it would be more beneficial if she focused on what's more important." Bell explained.

It made fair sense to Finn, "Very well, I'll take you up on that offer." Finn then moved his eyes to where the amphisbaena is, "Uh.. Bell? The amphisbaena is beginning to move again."

Bell's head spun around and he looked at the monster, "Flow freely, my body is the clouds, ZAP!" He recasted.

"So...how long are you going to do this for?" Finn asked.

"Oh a long while actually. You can go back up, I just wanted to some company." Bell told him.

Finn wondered the point in doing that but shrugged. From what he has learnt, it was to never question Bell Cranel, so he decided to go back up anyways.

*A couple hours later*

Bell sat on the 27th floor and looked on at his handiwork. The charred but still alive body of the amphisbaena simply floated on the surface of the water. He kept sending so many electrical impulses, that the nerves of the monster got fried and now it couldn't even move.

Too bad that it was still alive.

But what he could do to change that was throw a knife at the monster. As if it were made of paper, the monster's skin, rumoured to have tough caved in with ease. Most likely due to the constantly badgering it received, the poor thing couldn't even regenerate anymore. Bell brought the magic stone up and decided to go down a bit further not having really achieved much, besides causing his magic stats to sky rocket.

He had thought that the amphisbaena would have proved to be a challenge, considering he was a level 4. And for ordinary level 4s, yes it would've been a challenge. But clearly the monster and Bell were not...suitable for each other. So after bullying a monster to the point, even he himself felt bad for it, he decided to go further down for a real challenge, not aware that a certain Goddess was watching over him.

"OH! OH! He's so ROUGH with those monsters!" Freya squealed as she continued to shove her fingers into her you know what. To her it was like a Chad show off what he's got.

Bell just kept torturing that monster over and over and over again. She wondered what he could do to her, if she asked for it.

Sure, she sometimes had a sadistic side, but in actuality being a switch, meant maximum pleasure for both parties. She could ride or be ridden either was fine.

Ottar had quietly excused himself from the room approximately 20 minutes ago, when he spotted her fingers trailing down her body to her 'Special' zone.

He had moved quite a distance away but his damned level 7 hearing didn't help at all, as he heard every. Single. Word. She uttered about Bell.

"I-It seems our Goddess has truly found someone," one of the gulliver brothers coughed into his fist as he sported a pink blush on their faces. Not just him, but most others also had a similar expression. All being at least second class adventurers, a measly door could do nothing to affect their hearing.

And boy did they hear things.

"Just...deal with it for now. We'll worry about that guy from Zeus familia later," Allen told them as they all nodded.

What they hadn't realised was, that the Goddess of war, fertility and love would keep going at it until the very end of Bell's 'Toying session' which lasted about 2 hours.

After Bell had finished his job, which included going down to the empty 37th floor, gathering a crap ton of monsters, he made sure to fight all of them. By the end, he was bleeding from his head and shoulders, probably having a few bruises here and there but for the majority of it, he seemed fine.

He returned back to the manor, his wounds closed as he drank a potion. He showered and knocked into Zeus' room.

Zeus was reading a book on his arm chair, with his oval shaped glasses, his eyes looked up to see Bell. "You got your magic up?"

Bell nodded, "Kept using my lightning spell on the amphisbaena for 2 hours straight."

Zeus began laughing, "That's my boy! Well let's see if you can level up. Lift your shirt." Zeus told him. Bell sat on the ground by the bed and lifted his shirt. As Zeus pricked his finger, a singular drop of blood falling onto his back as a bright white interface came out. Zeus' eyes widened as he watched the magic stats jump up by 200 points! "And it seems you have done a good job, you can level up. What developmental ability do you want?"

"What are my choices?"

"Strong body, Blademaster and huh? That's new, never seen this one before." Zeus commented.

Bell became curious, "What is it?"

"It's called IQ. Your intelligence is directly affected by this, I think. Basically it makes you smarter. Never seen it before, so I can't tell." Zeus shrugged.

Bell seemed to be in thought. On one side, he could really use either strong body and blademaster. He did use dual falcatas, and his vitality is one of his weakest points, despite already being the standard of a level 6, considering his stats go above 999.

But something, call it his gut feeling if you will, called out to him. Telling him to take it.

"I'll take IQ."

Zeus trusted the boy, he decided to do as he said. As soon as Zeus updated the status however, something beyond comprehension began to happen to Bell.

Or rather his body specifically.

It started off very small, just a light scratch at the back of his eyes. Something just felt...different.

But within a moment, that light scratch evolved into full on flames.

"AHHHHHHHHH." Bell screamed out shocking Zeus as he covered his eyes.

"BELL?! What happened my boy!" Zeus asked instantly worried for his grandson. One moment he just updated his status and the next Bell was thrashing about screaming in pain.

"MY EYEEESSSSSS!"

For Bell the feeling was simply strange and awfully painful. It felt like someone had made a flame ignite in the center of his head. He could feel his brain heating up, failing to keep up with the sensation. It felt as if someone had gotten a thousand needles and pricked them into his nogging, and the part that was the most affected after that... was his eyes.

His vision swam as he slowly saw different lines appear. Almost like a grid. A truck load of information overwhelmed him, the colours became stronger, more present in a sense. At long last, although it had only been 5 seconds, Bell passed out. His brain unable to compute what in the world was occurring to him.

*A couple hours later*

Bell groaned as he awoke with a killer headache. He had studied biology enough to know which parts of the brain hurt when. Stress was the back of the head for example while, pressure on the eyes or migraines was the front.

But now it felt like his entire skull was being pounded at the same time.

Not the most pleasant sensation to wake up too.

The next thing he noticed was that his vision was pitch black. As he grazed his hands to where his eyelids would've been, he felt a soft fabric over his eyes instead. Someone had blindfolded him?

"Bell you're awake!" He heard Zeus call out, he turned to the general area he thought it came from. "How are you feeling like?"

"As if I went out on a night to drink with you." Bell retorted as Zeus laughed in response. "Can I?" He asked as he put a thumb under the blindfold's flap.

"Be slow Bell. Don't strain yourself."

"What brought the idea to blind fold me anyways?"

Zeus snorted, "You pass out while screaming 'My Eyeeess' and I just leave them as is?" He spoke sarcastically.

Bell slowly lifted his blindfolds, he slowly opened his eyes. Blinking as his vision returned to him, although everything was a bit blurry but after blinking a few times it's as if he had clear sight.

"Woah..."

"What is it?" Zeus asked curious.

To say the sight was amazing wasn't something Bell couldn't describe.

"It...just seems so different. The walls of my room... I've seen them so many times but...they just look so much clearer." Bell spoke with confusion yet astonishment evident in his voice.

Zeus groaned in response, "Bell your room's walls are white, they can't get any clearer, so either the developmental ability made you disabled or you're messing with me."

"No, you don't understand. It's like I can see through the wall itself. I can see how it's been built, where it's weak points are and all that."

To say Bell was having difficulty expressing himself was an understatement. His world just was so much different than before. To begin with, the colours that he perceived were just so much different. To him the skin tone of Zeus' face was the same yet not at the same time.

It was as if he was able to discern the very small difference in shading here and there. He could see the pores of sweat on his face and each and every orifice through which a single beard hair grew. Leaving aside the colours and detail of what he could see, he could also perceive everything in his vision and isolate them.

He tried to focus on Zeus' left eye and it was as if the rest of the room disappeared as his eyes only saw that one eye.

"This...is gonna take some getting used to...but if I succeed, no-one and I mean no-one will be able to beat my aim." Bell told Zeus.

Although Zeus was very much confused on what the hell was going, he was perfectly fine with it, Bell just had something preposterous happen to him, something not even his previous children have ever had.

A completely new developmental ability.

And its broken as shit.

Zeus began roaring in laughter, pigeons camping on the houses' roof flew away, shaken up by the sudden booming from within.

"What a ridiculous ability, I can't even understand the half of it. Not only that you got a new skill at that!" Zeus laughed. Bell looked surprised so he took the sheet of paper from his hand.

Name: Bell Cranel

Level: 4

Alias: Spades.

Str: 1001- 1399- 1405

Vit: 999- 1205- 1205

Dex: 1300- 1500-1500

Agi: 1500- 1500-1500

Mag: 865 - 865-1240

Skills:

Survivor- grants a significant status boost when in near death condition, their conscious is forcefully kept until the danger passes or they die.

[R?na?t : J?e?] Allows for an exponential rate of growth, status limits have been readjusted to 1500 and the owner will grow at an enhanced speed. Extra effect:?

JUPITER'S CAST: All Lightning based attacked are boosted to 200% the normal strength, Resistance to lightning increased by 200%.

Auto counter: Mental effects/ debuffs/ ailments are completely ignored and ineffective. They can be returned with double effects.

Magic:

-Zap.- {Flow freely, my body is the clouds}

-Hellflame-{ Unholy flames of purgatory surge, the war has long finished, cinders rise and ignite once more. Burn the slaves of hell who are sinners, What's dead is brought back from the ashes of life, and incinerated by the hateful flames of vengeance, Hell Flame!}

Developmental skills:

-Luck: A

- Abnormal resistance: C

Brawler: S

IQ: I

To say Bell had a grin stapled across his face would be an understatement. He looked ecstatic, downright giddish.

"Well I'll be, the timing is perfect too." Bell laughed.

"Timing?" Zeus repeated confused.

"You see, on my way to the dungeon today, I felt...Freya's gaze from atop Babel. Seems like she's after me," Bell realised.

Zeus snorted, "Well what's she gonna do? Declare a war game on a familia with only one person?"

"Exactly, so nothing to worry for right now. But if she does try to charm me, well it won't work anymore."

Bell left with his status update, obviously after covering up the skills and magic section to give it to the guild. He decided to hurry things up, dinner was made and the guild office closes in 1 hour. If he was quick enough, he could get it done and go back to his usual day.

'Pssh...who am I kidding, my life is never so simple.' He laughed pitifully at himself.

The sun was coming down, in Orario the day of the city was going to sleep and the night was waking up. The children retire to their beds, and the scum of the Earth wear their masks and come down to their shady parts of town.

Yet it was just the beginning of the night. Not all have started yet, and it was the time when the adventurers come back from a gruelling day at the dungeon. The hell hole where they risk their lives, take up their spears, axes, swords, bows, wands and murder monsters, so that they can earn money.

Amongst the returning adventurers were a group of high level adventurers from the Loki familia.

"Oh man, I'm starved." Tiona groaned as she walked with her hands behind her head.

"Same, but today was good day though right Ais-san?" Lefiya joined in. The small yet overpowered party consisted of the Hiryute sisters, Lefiya, Riveria and Ais. A group commonly seen around Orario, and one that bears the admiration of many.

Ais bore a small smile on her face, content with the number of monsters she had killed, " Hm. I'm craving some Jagamarukun."

"Of course you are, you love that." Tione giggled.

They had fit into a schedule. Wake in the morning, having breakfast of which Ais ate jagamarukuns. Go to the dungeon and murder as many monsters as they can. Come back and eat dinner which is consisted of Ais eating jagamarukun and the occasional another dish if she was forced.

It truly was weird how she managed to keep her shape, and waist to such a small measure with a lacking diet to say the least. Yet no-one really questioned anything.

Why?

Because its Ais. That's why.

And that's good enough of a reason to shrug it off.

"Ah right, we all want to eat so let's quickly go to the guild and cash these stones in so we can go home." Riveria told them. Out of all of them, she was obviously the most mature, and thus also the one to keep them in line. She earned the title of 'mama' and now she was stuck with it, and she would guide them properly.

Yet as soon as they entered the guild they could see a big patch of white hair walk slightly in front of them. Riveria saw the person wearing the oh so familiar gloves that she instantly recognised them.

"Bell san?"

Hearing his name being called, he turned to see the group of girls. He smiled at seeing some of them.

"Hey, did you guys just come back from the dungeon?" Bell asked them.

"Naah, we came crawling out your grandad's ass." Tione replied.

Bell chuckled " I don't about the others but you certainly smell like it."

"Oooooooohhhh! SIS! Are you gonna take that?!" Tiona laughed heartily while steam began coming out of Tione's ears.

Bell just sighed in response, "I just don't understand why you try to start things everytime we see each other, but at least this is progress." Bell shrugged.

Riveria raised an eyebrow, "Progress in what regard? This didn't seem like a very good interaction to me."

"The last time we saw each other, we each ended up punching each other. On the 18th." Bell informed her.

"Tione! Did you seriously?" Riveria admonished her.

Tione jolted as if she didn't want anyone to find out, " What? I thought he was trying to poison Ais. He could've told me it was a potion instead punching me so damn hard."

"Well whatever, I got better things to do than to argue with her. It was n-" Bell was about to finish but then a loud grumble from Tiona's stomach interrupted them.

Now under normal circumstances, the guild was loud enough for things like to not be heard. But now the entire guild was silent, mainly due to it being close to the end of the day and because it was something people did when they saw two high level familias confront each other. Although in this case, it wasn't much of a confrontation but still that happened.

And not even Tiona was able to prevent herself from blushing and going quiet. Tione simply face palmed wondering why the hell she even bothered with her sister.

'Huh so even she has things that make her embarrassed...that's kinda cute.' Bell mentally laughed before doing so in real life, just not in a full blown guffaw, "Well someone's a bit hungry, that's completely fine you did just come out of the dungeon, oh how about you guys eat dinner at the Olympian Manor tonight? I did promise you."

"E-eh?" Tiona recoiled surprised that he didn't make fun of her.

"No th-" Tione tried to reject the offer but Tiona cut her off.

"Yes please! Your cooking is the best."

Bell laughed hearing the praise, he would be lying if he said he didn't feel happy about it, " Ah yes, I made one dish. Inside the dungeon no less, and that surprisingly became the best food you've eaten. Sure."

"Well we'll give in our stones, get ready and meet at your place in an hour okay?" Tiona confirmed but left before Bell even responded as she bounced over to cashier with her bag of magic stones.

The others big farewell and went to give in their own magic stones, except...for one.

Lefiya seemed to be put off by the idea. She didn't have any interaction with the man but she felt suspicious of his intentions with Ais. She felt that this guy was just too mysterious. Virtually nothing was known about him, well they knew who he was and all that kind of stuff, but about his past? How he knew Ais? She felt that he was a threat, an unknown that might be trying to use her dear Ais san.

"Hey human!" She called out but Bell didn't respond. "Hey!"

"I have a name. Use it. If not, don't talk to me." Bell didn't even look at her but simply continued walking off. Lefiya tried to get his attention but was called over by Riveria so she had to begrudgingly let him go.

Meanwhile Bell spotted Eina working by the office.

"Hey Eina san." Bell greeted.

Eina looked from her paperwork and gave him a warm smile, "Hello Bell, did you just come back from the dungeon?"

Bell shook his head, "Nah I took a day off today."

For some odd reason Eina seemed pleased with what Bell just said, something he didn't comprehend.

"Very good! It's necessary to take breaks every now and then, I'm glad that you're doing so." She commended with a happy smile. For someone who has been working for nearly the entire day, she seemed to have quite a lot of energy. "Either way, what brings you here then?"

Bell handed her a parchment paper. She recognised the paper as it's commonly used, for just about everything. "It's my level up notice."

Eina looked up at him, "Oh? You levelled up already?" She asked.

"I mean I was a high level 4 before I came to Orario and having access to the dungeon simply boosted that growth I suppose." Bell shrugged. Of course, he knew that it wasn't because of that. Since his skill removed partially the limit of the falna, he had dilute a lot of his stats on the paper, to make it all capped out at 999. Which was arguably weird.

Eina spotted it however, "What? Y-Your abilities...they are all maxed out?!" She asked surprised. Most adventurers usually levelled up when they have a stat at D or above, but all abilities S? That was never heard of.

"Yeah? Why would I waste status point availability?" Bell replied but it seemed Eina was still confused, so he decided to explain things, "Well it's a known fact that levelling up gets harder progressively right? Well right now, I am stronger than any other starting level 5. Why? Because I have maxed out every stat every time I levelled up, this way I had the maximum amount of points, whereas they levelled up at a C in magic, my magic far outranks theirs."

It was a clear and easy to understand explanation really.

Eina was left speechless but she composed herself, "Well regardless, congratulations on your promotion to a first class adventurer. A shame that you didn't do this yesterday, the denatus was today but no matter...do you know what your alias is?"

"Yep, I know it. Although I doubt you do," Bell smirked as Eina nodded, it was obvious that she wanted to know, "And my alias is...I'm not telling you."

"Wha-huh?"

"Not gonna be a surprise to tell you know, besides with what it is you will probably ask me for an explanation, which I'm simply not wanting to give. Either way, see you tomorrow!"

And with that Bell dashed out of the guild hall, leaving a very confused Eina sitting at the desk. He had to go home and make more food, since now he knew that guests would be coming over.

He was also debating whether to lock Zeus up in a room or not but decided that he would do so only if the situation calls for it.

'He better be thankful that I'm in such a good mood.' Bell grinned. Even now as he looked around, he could see the very core of buildings, their weak points, he could see way farther ahead than he used to be able to. His mind is in a calm, he has never thought any clearer than today, it felt like information was being processed in a hundred miles per hour. Though he doesn't know if its because of the level up or his new development skill.

One thing was for sure however.

Whether it was the level up or the new development skill.

His skill set will have been bumped up permanently.

A/N: And that's a wrap. Jesus christ this took time. But yh, Imma just say this now, if you feel like by the last like 400 words, the quality dropped...

it's cuz it did.

I'm not in the best moods, but I don't feel that I should wait for like the last few words, so I just posted this. Either way, hope you guys like the chapter, Bell is understandably overpowered but there are more secrets to him than meets the eye.

I wanna see you're hypothesis, over the course of the last 5 chapters, I have dropped hints here and there. Some pretty obvious, others not so much. If any of you can guess (at least somewhat) what his back story is going to be like, you'll get an honorary mention and a pat on the back.

Bless.