Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Danmachi. All belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 3: Monsterphilia
"So this is the War Shadow..." Sora noted with intrigue as he and Bell watched the War Shadow crawling its way out of the wall.
"Seeing the War Shadow in person reminds me of the Heartless we fought. Just a taller humanoid version of a Shadow Heartless." Bell commented.
"Oh, we call those Neo Shadow Heartless. They're a lot more tougher than Shadow Heartless." Sora told Bell, making Bell grimace.
"A stronger Shadow Heartless? Just dealing with the Shadows is already a handful." Bell said, recalling how many times the fights tend to drag out when Shadow Heartless melted into the ground to avoid Bell's attacks. He's more or less getting used to their patterns, but it doesn't shorten his battles with them.
"Speaking of Shadows, it's heading right towards us Sora!" Bell exclaimed while pointing ahead to the War Shadow running towards them while prepping himself for the monster.
"Oh, right. Since this isn't a Heartless, I want to test out something." Sora said as he dismissed his Keyblade and walked towards the approaching War Shadow.
"Sora?"
Since he has the Guardian of Light Skill, he wanted to test how this Skill would apply to a non-Heartless Darkness-type monster, especially without the Keyblade.
The War Shadow lunged at Sora with its appendage, but Sora simply side stepped and immediately closed the distance between them. He then proceeded to throw a punch to the War Shadow's body
His punch immediately went straight clean through the War Shadow's body. Immediately, it screeched in agony and pain as it exploded violently into dark ashes, leaving behind a magic stone.
"...I didn't even put that much strength into that punch..." Sora noted while looking at his fist.
"I've never seen a monster explode violently just by being punched!" Bell exclaimed in shock.
"And all it took was just one punch...man, Skills really are something..." Sora remarked with a bit of awe.
"Your Skills truly are tailored to fighting the forces of Darkness." Bell said as he knelt down and picked up the magic stone. "Although, from my knowledge, War Shadows are the only "darkness-based" monster that you'll encounter in the Dungeon. I don't think you'll find any other darkness-based monster within the Dungeon."
If Sora was born and limited to this world, then this skill would've been very niche and practically useless beyond the 6th floor. Such a Skill would've been considered garbage amongst the Gods.
At the very least, it still works quite well against the Heartless, the main type of enemy that Sora fights. And from what he remembers, darkness based opponents. So anybody who uses the power of Darkness, Sora's strength increases.
"Huh, I was kind of hoping to find more darkness-based monsters in the Dungeon. I guess the Heartless will have to do." Sora said with a shrug.
As soon as he said that, multiple Large Body Heartless began to manifest and surround Sora and Bell.
Bell grimaced at the sight of Large Body Heartless while Sora could only gave a sheepish laugh, seeing how he just tempted fate with those words.
~ Break ~
Hestia's eyebrow couldn't help but twitch at the sight of Bell's growth once more. It was another day of Bell and Sora going to the Dungeon. Just one day. And yet...
Bell Cranel
Level 1
Strength: G282 - F386
Defense: H153 - G269
Dexterity: H195 - G299
Agility: F307 - E420
Magic: I0
Skills:
Liaris Freese - Rapid Growth. Continued desire results in continued growth. Stronger desire leads to stronger growth.
Magic:
'This growth is just absurd..!' Hestia thought.
She honestly thought it was just a lucky growth spurt from Bell's first encounter with the Heartless. She expected the next update will be within the overall 50 growth range for each parameter thanks to his Skill, but it she's proven wrong, as Sora's Skill and excelia gain from the Heartless are huge factors as well.
Sora, when he discovered the Heartless are crawling around in the Dungeon, took it upon himself to eliminate the Heartless from the Dungeon so he could prevent adventurers from being victims to the Heartless. Bell, surprisingly, insisted on coming alongside Sora and help him fight the Heartless as well.
At first, she was apprehensive about it. The Heartless were Sora's problem to deal with, and she didn't want to let Bell be exposed to that kind of danger...moreso than he already is in the Dungeon. However, she felt that even if she had Bell and Sora did go into the dungeon separately, what are the chances that the Heartless will attack Bell, especially when he's alone?
Ironically, having Bell be with Sora is actually the safest option to take. The majority of Heartless focus on Sora, while Bell has to deal with stragglers of Heartless coming to Sora's 'exposed' side when fighting the Heartless in front of him. Sora is more than capable of fighting off the Heartless while helping Bell.
It doesn't help that Sora is fine with this arrangement. He had countless people fight alongside him in the past, and some of them weren't even trained for combat.
Honestly, letting Rapunzel, a Princess of Heart that Sora recalled during his retelling of his journey, fought alongside Sora was honestly just a huge risk in her opinion. A girl (who was later revealed to be a long lost princess to the Kingdom of Corona) was locked up in a tower for all her life and her only form of combat is using a frying pan and her ridiculously long hair to swing Sora around.
And Sora just lets her fight the Heartless!
It's thanks to their efforts that they've managed to liberate the 5th floor from the Heartless, and moved onto the 6th floor, where they found more Heartless crawling around the darkness of the Dungeon. So far, they've made decent progress through the 6th floor.
Sora thought it was strange, seeing how after he eliminates a certain amount of Heartless from a Dungeon floor is when they stop showing up entirely, save for one or two Heartless left over. He honestly thought Heartless would move up from the lower floors, but they instead choose to be in their designated floors.
Heartless are creatures of instinct. They don't follow logic or thought. So for them to follow some kind of organization points to someone or something keeping control of the Heartless.
'...Even without the Heartless, Sora truly is essential to Bell's growth.' Hestia thought.
Ever since Bell's encounter with Sora and learning about Sora being a chosen wielder of a legendary weapon who is tasked to protect worlds from Darkness and evil threats, Bell was practically inspired to become just as heroic and strong as Sora. Those feelings alone just gives Bell the great boost to his growth. And with Sora already forming a bond with Bell means that there is another additional factor of growth to Bell. And the Heartless that Bell will face alongside Sora means greater excelia gain.
Sum it all up and you'll find Bell's growth to blow practically everyone out of the water. She has no doubt that Bell will reach Level 2 soon. Faster than anyone else in Orario.
'I should be happy to see Bell is growing so fast in such in such a short amount of time, but to see all of his feelings of admiration directed towards Sora, and not me!?' Hestia thought while distraught upon thinking about this.
Hestia gave a comically depressed sigh as she finished updating Bell's Falna.
"Bell...I want to talk to you and Sora about your stats." Hestia told the two.
"Oh, um, sure..." Bell responded as he puts back on his shirt.
"What's this about?" Sora asked while tilting his head.
Hestia sighed as she crossed her arms in thought.
"To be quite frank with you, your growth is fast in terms of status. Your growth is higher than any other adventurer. Just take a look at this." Hestia said as she held the paper to Bell and Sora. The two of them looked at the Falna sheet, and Bell's eyes widened at the jump.
"Whoa...I went over 400 total points!?" Bell exclaimed in shock.
"Way to go Bell! See, you're progressing just fine!" Sora encouragingly told Bell.
"Y-You think so...?" Bell said, feeling happy that Sora is acknowledging his growth.
"Sora, you're the last person that Bell should hear from!" Hestia exclaimed with an annoyed tone.
""Bwuh!?"" Both Sora and Bell made noises of surprise.
"You heard me! Honestly, you Keyblade wielders are just absurd! You're able to gain strength akin to a God's blessing, and have access to so many types of magic, without any chants might I add! No mortal without a Falna should grow as strong as you!" Hestia pointed out.
"W-Well, to be fair, I'm not exactly from this world..." Sora defended.
"Exactly! Your definition of growth doesn't match with ours!" Hestia told him, before she sighed while rubbing her forehead.
"Listen Bell. I believe you have talent. But..." Hestia paused, thinking on how to best push for Bell's growth alongside Sora. "I think you'll grow even better if you fight alongside Sora. You'll learn many things from Sora, seeing how he's a veteran in dealing with a variety of monsters. Sora, I want you to keep an eye on Bell to make sure he doesn't get in over his head."
"That was the plan from the start." Sora said with a grin while crossing his head.
"I'm learning a lot from fighting alongside Sora! Fighting the Heartless make fights with Dungeon monsters easier to deal with..." Bell noted.
Having to adapt and fight so many various and strong heartless made fighting the actual Dungeon monsters to be an actual cakewalk. He's certainly not being cocky, but he feels that he can take on an individual 8th floor Dungeon monster without too much trouble. He's not sure about numbers though.
Hestia grimaced. Sora is already influencing Bell's standards of what is dangerous.
'Speaking of influence...' Hestia thought while looking towards Sora. Considering all the ridiculous things Sora can pull off, it doesn't hurt to ask him in private this one particular question to help her prepare for tonight's event.
~ Break ~
It should be well known that Gods are beings who, more often than not, driven by their own whims and seek entertainment. As such, it's only to be expected that Celebrations are a product of a God's whim. A Celebration of the Gods was basically a large party put on by a God for other Gods living on Gekai. Any God can host the party, and any God can attend it.
This current Celebration is currently held by the God Ganesha, God of the Masses.
Hestia honestly wasn't interested in attending this party. But after meeting Sora and wanting to improve Bell's strengths to help him survive the Dungeon and Heartless, she knew this event will help her meetup with a certain Goddess.
Hestia just ignored all the jeers and ribbings made between the Gods and towards her and the speech that Ganesha was making to everyone. Instead, she was just killing time by enjoying the banquet offered to her.
'Hopefully, I can save enough food to share with Bell and Sora. Though I'm surprised that Sora can cook. Perhaps he can improve what we compared to our usual dinner...' Hestia thought while digging into her food.
"Just what do you think you're doing…?" an exasperated voice asked her.
Her head perked up. Just the person she wanted to see.
She turned around and saw a Goddess with flaming red hair and wearing a dark crimson dress. The Goddess has an eyepatch over her right eye
"Hephastois!" Hestia cheerfully greeted.
"I'm happy to see you, too, Hestia. I'm glad you are well...I'd be happier if you wore something a little more appropriate." Hephastois remarked while looking at Hestia's state of dress.
"I'm glad I found you! I was right to come to this event!"
"What? I'm only going to say this once: I'm not lending you one val." Hephastois bluntly stated.
"How rude!" Hestia pouted. "Do I look like a goddess who would do that?! Sure, I needed your help in the past, but thanks to you, I'm doing fine on my own! I don't need to eat from anyone else's plate anymore!"
"Weren't you doing that just a second ago?"
"T-This food will just be left over...If it's just going to be thrown away, I should at least put it to good use, yes?" Hestia weakly responded.
"That's a great way to put it. I'm so happy you've changed, my tears of happiness just won't stop." Hephastois sarcastically returned.
"Gyuuuu…" Hestia made a pained face.
Their ears soon picked up the sounds of high-heeled shoes, indicating that another Goddess is approaching them. They both saw a certain Goddess wearing a gold-trimmed, full-length gown was open in the front. As the Goddess was approaching them, there were many stares from a majority of the male Gods.
"*Giggle*... Still the best of friends, I see." Freya, the Goddess of Love, commented with a smile.
"I guess you could say that..." Hestia hesitantly replied.
"Am I disturbing you, Hestia?" Freya asked with a curious look.
"It's not that…" Hestia responded. "I just don't know how to deal with you."
This simply caused Freya to giggle upon hearing this.
"So honest. That's what I like about you." Freya responded, not the least bit offended by the response.
"Hey! Freya~! Itty Bitty!
Hearing that voice immediately made Hestia scowl with annoyance.
"Then again, you're not so bad compared to a few others I know…" Hestia quietly commented.
The three looked to see a red haired Goddess wearing a sleek black dress approaching them rapidly.
"Loki." Hephaistos neutrally greeted.
"What do you want Loki?" Hestia asked with an unamused look.
"Am I not allowed to greet ya without a reason? It's a Celebration, no? It'd be rude not to say hi. Get with the program, Itty Bitty." Loki replied while snickering at Hestia.
Instantly, the scowl on Hestia's face grew even more.
"It really has been a long time, Loki. Didn't think I'd see Freya or Hestia today, either. The Celebration has been full of surprises." Hephaistos remarked.
"Yeah, it's been forever. Been forever for most everyone here tonight, though." Loki commented.
"Have you really not met up anywhere?" Freya asked curiously.
"We did see each other the other day. Wasn't much of a chat, though." Hephastois simply answered.
"You're one to talk. I made myself open to conversation, not my fault." Loki retorted.
"Hmm. Oh, Loki, I hear about your Familia all the time. Things must be going well?" Freya asked curiously.
"Waaa! To hear someone with a Familia as good as yours say that...I must be moving up in the world. But yeah, my children are my pride and joy. Mind if I brag?"
Hestia's eyebrow heavily twitched. Hestia wanted to brag to Loki that she found Sora, someone who is far more better than anyone in Loki's Familia. Though, she held her tongue. She was supposed to limit as much attention towards Sora in order to hide his status, not flaunt it.
She shook off those thoughts, and decided to change the subject.
"I know this is a little late, but it feels strange to see you in a dress, Loki. Don't you usually wear men's clothes?" Hestia snarked.
"Hee-hee, about that. A little bird told me a certain Itty Bitty was gettin' ready to go to a party…" Loki snickered as she bent over to Hestia.
"Heard she was too poor to wear a dress, thought I'd laugh at her."
"Ha! Nice one! To make me laugh by making fun of your complex in front of everyone! Loki, you're a comedic genius!"
"What to you mean?"
"Oh, sorry. Not comedic, you're a genius at digging holes. Like the grave you are standing in!" Hestia mocked.
It was then things clicked in Loki's head to understand what Hestia was talking about, and immediately, she scowled while her face was getting red.
"So it begins…," Hephastois muttered while looking at the two Goddesses before her, while Freya simply smiled while playing around with her glass of fruit wine.
"How many men have fallen off the cliff of despair that is your flat chest? Ha-ha! See what I did there?"
"Not funny at all, you hagggggg!"
"Kiyaaaaaaa!"
Thus erupted the catfight between the two Goddesses.
~ Break ~
"Hmph...Don't be looking so pathetic next time, loser. Tuck your tail and run!" Hestia told off her hated enemy, all the while rubbing her sore cheeks.
"I'll do you in next time, you hear me? Next time!" Loki exclaimed as she was bolting for the door with frustrated tears running down her face.
And with that, the Gods and Goddesses who were watching the catfight drifted off elsewhere, seeing how there's nothing else to watch. Hephastois simply sighed while brushing back her hair.
"Well that was certainly an event." Hephastois said while sighing. She glanced at Freya next to her. "So what do you plan to do now? Going to enjoy the party?"
"No, I believe I got what I wanted. I just wanted to meet up with all of you and personally catch up with Hestia for a bit. That's all." Freya simply answered with a smile. "Well then, have a pleasant night."
And with that, the Goddess of Love departed from the two. Hephastois sighed while turning back to Hestia, who was rubbing her cheeks after Loki told hold of them during their catfight.
"Anyway, what are you going to do now? I'm going to walk around, talk to a few more people. Are you going home?" Hephastois asked with a raised eyebrow.
Hearing this caused Hestia to finally remember what she was supposed to do when she came here.
"Urm, about that. I was hoping to ask a favor from you since I found you here..." Hestia said as she turned to Hephastois. Hephastois narrowed her left eye.
"And what exactly is it that you're asking?" Hephastois asked while giving an unamused look towards Hestia, thinking that Hestia is going to ask her for more money. Seeing the look on Hephastois face made Hestia shudder, but she braved on.
"I would like you to make a weapon for Bell...a member of my Familia." Hestia requested.
Hephastois's eyebrow twitched, and opened her mouth to immediately deny the request and leave her behind.
"Before you say anything, I have a few things to compensate for you helping me!" Hestia immediately spoke up while holding her hand out to Hephastois.
"Compensate...?" Hephastois repeated with a confused & skeptical look.
Hestia immediately dug into her purse and took out an item for Hephastiois to see. When Hephastois saw the item, her eyes widened in shock upon what she saw.
"This is...!" Hephastois whispered in shock. She immediately grabbed onto Hestia's wrist and made her lower it to keep out of view.
"Put them back in your bag for now. We'll discuss more about this later." Hephastois sternly told Hestia as she began to drag Hestia away from the party.
~ Break ~
"Seriously Hestia, how did you manage to get your hands on such a large amount of pure Adamantite?" Hephastois asked with disbelief.
The two were at Hephastois's office, with Hephastois and Hestia standing at opposite ends of the desk. And as Hephastois stated, a large chunk of Adamantite was before the Goddess of the Forge.
Adamantite is the 2nd most precious resource in Orario, falling behind Orichalcum. Adamantite can actually be found all over the Dungeon, but the deeper the floor, the more pure it is. And before Hephastois is pure Adamantite. Not a single speck of impurity can be spotted on it.
"It's a gift from my newest child." Hestia proudly answered while putting her hands on her hips.
"Your newest child? Someone other than your first child joined?" Hephastois asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Indeed, he just joined a few days ago. His name is Sora, and he was the one who had it." Hestia explained.
"Sora, hm? Tell me Hestia, how in the world did Sora manage to get such a large amount of pure Adamantite? You can only find this quality in the Deeper Floors of the Dungeon. And as far as I can tell, you're just a new and upcoming Familia. I highly doubt that both of your children can make it to the lower floors on their own, let alone getting past the middle floors with just the two of them." Hephastois questioned.
Hestia's eyebrow twitched, as she didn't want to be questioned by this sort of thing.
"...That's a very long and complicated story. Honestly, even I find myself in disbelief on how Sora managed to get his hands on this." Hestia admitted with her eyes dulling at the memory of Sora giving this to her.
~ Break ~
Before the Celebration
"So what did you want to talk about Hestia?" Sora asked, as he was brought over to the Church's chapel for a private talk.
"Sora...you've managed to make more Keyblades along your journey, right...?" Hestia carefully asked.
Sora blinked upon hearing this question.
"Well, kind of." Sora answered.
"What do you mean kind of?"
"Well, the Keyblades I've gained from my journey is the result of me finding a keychain given to me by my friends or I happened to find it by some chance." Sora explained.
"Keychain?"
Sora nodded as he materialized his Kingdom Key.
"The Kingdom Key is the true form of my Keyblade. It's the first Keyblade that I've started with on my journey. It's been consistently been with me, even when I lost my strength a few times along the way." Sora explained, before he changed the Kingdom Key to the Hero's Origin and showed the Keychain to Hestia.
"This particular Keychain, the Hero's Origin, was given to me by Zeus as thanks for helping him against Hades and the Titans." Sora explained.
Hestia blanched at the mention of Zeus, and already, her head hurts at how Zeus was having trouble against these monsters called Titans despite being able to use his Arcanum. The Titans must be terrifying monsters if they could give a God trouble.
What troubled her even more is that Hades, of all people, is seeking to usurp Zeus and gain total power over the Gods and Olympus.
That honestly didn't make any sense with the Hades she knew at all.
The Hades she knew was very introverted and reclusive person, and barely went out of his way to interact with the other Gods on Olympus. He never once displayed any evil behavior or any power-hungry intent, or even had any antagonistic relationship with Zeus. If anything, he took his job very seriously when managing the souls of the dead, considering the fact that he is the God of the Dead. He's more of a workaholic than a supposed evil God.
She's not sure if Hades is back in Tenkai or descended to Gekai last time she saw him.
"I see." Hestia said while sighing. "And here I was hoping that you were some kind of blacksmith to forge a special weapon for Bell."
"Bell needs a new weapon?" Sora asked in surprise.
"Yes. Considering that he's fighting alongside you to fight against the Heartless, he needs all the strength he can get in order to survive against the Heartless. That knife he's using can only take him so far compared to your Keyblade. Thus, he needs a strong weapon comparable to yours." Hestia explained.
"I see. Well, I don't know anything about forging, but I do know something about synthesizing and upgrading weapons." Sora said.
"Y-You do? You can upgrade Bell's plain knife?" Hestia asked in shock and hope.
"Well, not directly." Sora immediately replied.
"What do you mean by not directly!?" Hestia responded with indignation.
Sora began to dig into his pockets, searching for something important.
"I've discovered that I'm able to use synthesis materials to upgrade the power of my Keyblades. Those upgrades have helped me fight against the Heartless and Organization 13. The usage of the synthesis materials is actually done by a Moogle. Those guys really do know their craft and knowledge on how to work with Keyblades. Even magic staffs and shields." Sora remarked.
She had no idea what a Moogle is, but she understood what Sora is implying.
"So you're saying that upgrading the weapon with these synthesis materials can be done with a blacksmith?"
"Yeah. Since Orario has blacksmiths, I think your best chance at giving Bell a strong weapon is asking them to use these." Sora said as he brought out a rather large chunk of Adamantite from his pocket. Hestia blinked at the ore before her, and we even more confused at the sheer size that he brought out of his pocket.
"...Sora, what is this?" Hestia was afraid to ask that question.
"Oh, this is Adamantite. I got this extra chunk during my travels through the Ocean Between. Shot down an asteroid along the way and bam, I managed to get one." Sora simply answered with a smile, saying it like he just found it from the grocery store.
...One day. Can she go one day without suffering a headache from Sora?
~ Break ~
Present
It was after getting over her headache that Hestia felt joy and relief upon receiving such a rare metal from Sora. Hestia didn't share those details, of course. She could only share so much about Sora.
"A long story?" Hephastois responded with a raised eyebrow. Hestia puffed her cheeks.
"Yes, it is! I already get headaches just thinking about it! The only thing I can tell you without having you ask too many questions regarding the details is that Sora got it from a source far away from here! And Sora managed to get this material through completely legal means and nobody got hurt in the process. That I can assure you!" Hestia told Hephastois.
Hephastois narrowed her eyes.
Hestia was clearly hiding something if she doesn't want to explain about it. The fact that Sora managed to get it just brought up a whole bunch of questions regarding him. She should be, in all her rights, suspicious.
Then again, Hestia isn't really the one to delve into a black market, nor is she willing to associate herself with people with the black market anyway. Not that she could afford it.
'Even so...' Hephastois thought while looking at the Adamantite before her. 'I suppose everyone has their own secrets. This Sora could've received this from a top-tier Familia for something he's done. I'll drop this for now, considering that Hestia is giving this to me. I won't look for a gift in the horse's mouth.'
After all, 100% pure Adamantite is practically a treasure trove for smiths like her.
Hephastois exhaled through her nose.
"...Very well, I'll drop the subject for now. The fact that you're giving me this precious resource is quite the boon to me and my Familia." Hephastois relented, making Hestia sigh with relief.
"Just one more question. If Sora is in possession of this and gave it to you, why are you only asking me to make a new weapon for your first child? Why doesn't he want to use this material to make a weapon of his own?" Hephastois asked with a raised eyebrow. Once again, Hephastois saw a dull look appear on Hestia's face.
"It's because...Sora has no use for it." Hestia answered.
Silence was made in the office as soon as she said that.
"...What?" were the only words that came out of Hephastois's mouth.
Hestia's newest child...is saying that he has no use for it!? No use for the most 2nd most precious material in Orario!? What kind of fool, let alone a new adventurer, dismisses such a precious material!?
Seeing the look on Hephastois face, Hestia simply sighed as she needed to explain more.
"Sora told me that he has no use for it. He already used enough Adamantite to help strengthen his weapon, and even said that this chunk was just sitting in his pocket. He even stated that he's more than happy to see this material used to help out his friend." Hestia explained.
Hephastois blinked upon hearing this, hear mind honing in on a few things from Hestia's explanation.
He has no use for it because he used enough Adamantite to help strengthen his weapon. That meant he's already used Adamantite to forge his weapon. So that answers one question on why he has no need for it.
Still, for Sora to treat Adamantite as nothing more than mere pocket change and give it away so frivolously is just mind boggling. It's as if Sora doesn't understand the importance of such a metal.
And the last part that caught her attention was the fact that he's using it to help Bell rather than save it for himself. An adventurer selflessly giving away a precious metal for the benefit of others? She's never heard of such an individual before, considering her time and experience amongst the mortals.
"...Honestly, of all the things to hear. Your child really must be something to give away such precious resource just to help out his Familia member. It's not someone you find nowadays." Hephastois remarked.
"Sora truly is one of a kind..." Hestia said while nodding. As headache-inducing Sora is, he truly is an admirable character in his own right.
"...Very well. I'll forge your child a new weapon, considering the fact that you've given me quite the treasure to work with." Hephastois said as she stood up from her chair.
"R-Really? W-Wait, you said you're going to forge it!?" Hestia asked in surprise.
"Of course. My smiths are very busy with a lot of things, and I can't exactly just spring a sudden important order on them. Besides, this quality of ore you gave me is enough to have me personally step in." Hephastois told her as she walked over to the shelves which held some hammers.
Hestia's expression brightened upon hearing this.
"So, what type of weapon does your child use?" Hephastois asked while looking over the tools.
"Um...he uses a knife." Hestia recalled.
"Is that so...? I could use Adamantite, but I have something else in mind..." Hephastois muttered.
As she was selecting the tools to forge Bell's new weapon, Hestia's eyes widened when she remembered something.
"Oh, right! Sora has also requested that you use this material along with whatever you're forging." Hestia said as she fished out another synthesis material that Sora has given to her.
Hephastois blinked when she heard this, and turned her head to see Hestia holding out 2 items she has never seen before.
The first is a star shaped crystal with a shining light softly pulsating from it. The second is a sun-shaped gold-colored jewel. Its upper half is lined by eleven triangular beams and the lower half sprouts lotus-like leaves. The center of the jewel is a shining pearl. But the most surprising aspect is that this material was radiating a golden light.
"...What are these...?" Hephastois muttered as she walked to Hestia and took it from her hand as she examined it. Her eyes narrowed when analyzing the synthesis material before her.
"...It's emitting some kind of energy, but it doesn't match up with a magic stone. If anything, it feels like it's some kind of element..." Hephastois muttered, before looking at Hestia.
"Just what in the world are these?" Hephastois questioned.
"Sora called them the Twilight Crystal and Electrum." Hestia answered.
"Twilight Crystal? Electrum? I've never heard of these types of material before."
"These materials are...rare. So rare that I don't think you can find them in Orario. You can only find them far from here." Hestia explained. Hephastois narrowed her eyes.
"Once again, your child is finding rare materials. Where in the world is he getting all of this?" Hephastois said while looking at the Synthesis material before her.
"That's...a long and complicated story" Hestia repeated once more. causing the Goddess of the Forge to sigh.
"It feels like I'm going to hear a lot of that phrase..." Hephastois muttered with exasperation. "I certainly haven't expected to be given this to forge the weapon. And you're telling me that this material can be forged with a weapon?" Hephastois questioned.
"Yes. He already had people use those materials to help strengthen his weapons. So it's not far fetched that you can do it." Hestia told her.
"Is that so? Well now, I've been given two rare materials, and you're asking me add this to your child's knife? There's a limit to such ridiculousness Hestia. But..." Hephastois said as she looked at the Synthesis materials in her hand.
"...I certainly won't say no to something like this. I've been forging for a long time, and something like this comes along the way. I can't deny that this is going to be an interesting project for me to partake in." Hephastois remarked, causing Hestia's eyes to brighten with excitement.
"So you'll do it?" Hestia wanted to confirm.
"Yes. But let me say this: despite the fact that you've given me a precious resource to pay off the weapon, my own services aren't for free. You'll be charged for having me personally forge this weapon of yours, and I'll have you repay every single val to me, understood?" Hephastois sternly told her.
"I understand! Anything to help my child grow stronger!" Hestia answered with conviction.
"Very well then. Let's get-" Hephastois said as she began to walk towards her forge.
"B-Before we actually get to that..." Hestia spoke up once more, making Hephastois sigh with annoyance.
"What now? I've already dealt with enough ridiculous things that have been revealed tonight." Hephastois told her.
"Unfortunately, this topic also revolves around Sora...again." Hestia told her, making Hephastois eyebrow twitch.
"Don't tell me he's got another rare resource?" Hephastois asked, as she started to feel a headache form.
"No, it's nothing like that! I'm just want to confirm something. Are you capable of making special vehicles?" Hestia asked, her mind falling back on the Gummiship.
"Vehicles? Are you asking me to make a wagon of all things? I'm pretty sure any mortal can build that up, not a Goddess's work." Hephastois pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"No no, it's not like that. You see, my child Sora is seeking to build this special...wagon. A wagon so special it's capable of flight." Hestia explained.
"A wagon capable of flight?" Hephaestus repeated, before she gave an amused scoff. "Honestly, the ridiculous ideas these mortals create. It's certainly an interesting idea, but that honestly sounds like it belongs to a fairytale. Are you sure your child isn't just a young boy having a very creative imagination with no plan whatsoever?"
"I know it sounds ridiculous, but my child has these schematics to make it possible. All he needs to do is extract material from the Dungeon."
"Schematics, huh? Are you sure they're not doodles?" Hephastois asked with a sarcastic tone.
"I'm not joking here Hephastois! Sora is dead serious on making this!" Hestia exclaimed.
"Serious, hm? There's a fine line between determination and delusion, but...," Hephastois paused in thought, "You're not the type of person to entertain a child with such frivolous thoughts and tell me this, the Goddess of the Forge. And your child Sora has certainly found some very precious resources and just gave it away to help another rather than himself." Hephastois noted, before she sighed.
"Honestly, I specialize in weapons and armors. Building wagons is the last thing on my mind. But considering that this is Sora we're talking about, I'm actually interested in what he has to offer. Very well. Just bring me these so called blueprints. I'm quite curious to see on how you can achieve making a vehicle capable of flight." Hephastois said, before she focused back on the forge.
"In the meantime, you will be lending me a hand. I'm not going to let you just sit around."
"You can count on me!"
~ Break ~
Bell grunted as he was sent flying back against the wall once more, with his clothes heavily covered in burnt marks. The Flame Core Heartless attempted to tackle him with its body, but he quickly moved his body to roll away from being hit. Bell immediately stabbed the knife into the Heartless's eye. The Heartless attempted to shake the knife off, but Bell pushed forward, pressing the knife deep into the body. With enough force, he managed to cut through the Flame Core Heartless.
Bell panted as he turned to face the last two Flame Core Heartless.
There are numerous Flame Core Heartless when they've arrived at the 7th floor. And there were numerous of them during their trek through the floor.
He honestly hasn't expected to fight monsters with magic and range so soon. Sure, he fought the Frog Shooter with its long tongue and the Purple Moth's poison powder, but they didn't show up in such larger numbers. He had to constantly move himself in order to avoid getting blasted by their fire. It was even more tougher considering the fact that the fireballs tend to hone in on him.
Speaking of numbers, Sora was already doing his work by cutting down through the numerous Flame Core Heartless with ease and agility that Bell could only dream off in the future. And their ratio was rather skewed, considering how most of them were focused on Sora. Leaving Bell to deal with the stragglers. But honestly, even the stragglers were proving to be a challenge.
It made Bell realize that he was at a disadvantage against ranged opponents. Only thing he can do is rely on his speed to close the distance. But the numerous Heartless made it difficult to get close.
The Flame Core Heartless's top began to light up and fired off a Fireball heading straight for him. Bell made himself roll to the side before sprinting towards the Heartless. He had to jump to the side to avoid a blast of fire, and immediately closed the gap between him and the Flame Core Heartless. He plunged his knife between the Flame Core's eyes, and moved his body to use the Flame Core's body as a shield from the the homing fireball heading towards him. The Flame Core Heartless shrieked in pain, and with a stronger push, he caused it to disappear into darkness. Bell then proceeded to use the opportunity to deliver multiple slashes to the last Heartless in front of him, leading to it disappearing in a puff of darkness.
Bell panted as he frantically looked around to see if there were anymore Heartless around. He didn't want to be caught off guard like last time where he thought he finished the last of them. Heartless just show up out of nowhere when he least expects it.
Thankfully, he saw Sora finish off the last Core Heartless Sora looked like he didn't break a sweat throughout the entire thing.
"That seems like the last of them." Sora commented while looking around to see if there was any Heartless around.
"T-Thank goodness..." Bell sighed with relief. Looking at his state, he's not in worse shape as he thought.
He could only be thankful with the items given to him from Sora.
Turns out Sora's clothes have been magically enhanced by 3 fairies. He has some VERY deep pockets to pull out a bunch of useful equipment, and some of the items looked like that would make Sora's clothes very baggy, but Sora's clothes have the magic to fit whatever they can fit in there.
Despite the lack of armor, Sora had some very impressive magic items & equipment.
A Royal Ribbon, Cosmic Belt, and Cosmic Chain that granted Sora a huge defense & resistance towards many elements.
Mickey's Brooch, Crystal Regalia, and a Cosmic Ring are a huge boost to Sora's Magic Casting & Mind Regeneration.
And there were still plenty of items for Sora to spare, and he gave them to Bell to help him fight against the Heartless.
For Bell, he was given the Fencer's Earring, which increases his defense when he is in critical health. Bell looked a bit unsure about putting on such a fancy looking earring, but Sora simply told him that he didn't really need to put it on his ear, just wearing it as a necklace is fine.
Sora also gave him the the Hero's Glove, which increases Fire, Blizzard, and Darkness resistance, as well as increasing healing effects from healing items. It made low-grade potions more effective whenever he needed to use one.
The third and final item given to Bell is the Forest Clasp, an item Sora found in Rapunzel's world. According to Sora, wearing this accessory will actually heal Bell whenever Bell starts moving. So long as Bell keeps moving, his health will passively restore. This item was practically a godsend to Bell, considering the fact that his fighting style is constantly being agile.
Bell would've liked to equip more, but Sora told him that wasn't possible. Sora has also tried to equip as much as many items as possible, but it turns out that there's a certain limit to the equipment & charms depending on the person. For one, having too many accessories or armor will end up having the accessories override each other's effects, which creates inconsistent boosts. Only having a certain amount of items will they work together. Also, wearing too many items will cause unnecessary baggage on your body, no matter how light it may seem.
For Bell, he can only equip up to 3 items for now.
Still, these three items have helped Bell immensely when it came to fighting enemies with magic.
"Wow, they sure did a number on you." Sora commented, looking at Bell's state. "Here, hold still. Heal!"
A green light enveloped Bell, healing him all of his injuries. Bell sighed with a mixture of exhaustion and relief.
"You're a lifesaver Sora..." Bell said with gratitude.
Honestly, Sora's Cure spell is saving them the use of potions to heal from injuries, which means less valis to spend. Though, Sora told him that it's important to keep potions in hand just in case he ran out of magic to cast the spell, despite the fact that Sora's magic reserves are completely enormous to put any top tier mage in Orario to shame. Sora recounted how he relied on the use of potions when Donald wasn't there to heal him, or the time when he didn't have the Cure spell until his time in Tarzan's world.
It's a shame that the Cure spell doesn't restore stamina, otherwise Bell could keep on fighting the Heartless and monsters within the Dungeon.
"I think we should call it a day." Bell said, deciding that now is a time end their time in the Dungeon.
"I agree. We fought in here for quite a while now. Good thing we took care of the Heartless on this floor." Sora said while looking around to make sure there aren't any Heartless showing up. "We should be finished with this floor on the next day and move onto the 8th floor."
"The 8th floor...I never imagined I would reach the 8th floor in just a few days..." Bell said with amazement. It's been only a few days since he moved on from the 4th floor, and now he's already moving through 3 floors. Albeit, with Sora around, it made dealing with Dungeon monsters relatively easier.
"Goes to show that you're getting stronger Bell!" Sora said while clapping his hand onto Bell's shoulder, making Bell weakly chuckle at this.
"I-I guess. But I still have a long way to go." Bell noted. Sure, dealing with the Shadow and Soldier Heartless seems easier to deal with compared to first time, but even now, he's still having a challenge fighting the Heartless the deeper he goes down. He couldn't afford to be lax. The Heartless he fought were considered cannon fodder to Sora. If he struggles with cannon fodder, then what more with the stronger Heartless that Sora faces.
"Fighting ranged opponents is quite difficult if you don't have any range of your own..." Bell remarked. "How did you deal with so many Heartless with range when you started your journey? Your magic?" Bell asked.
"Well, yeah, but I was kind of limited on magic spells and energy, and Donald kept telling me to save my magic for something important. There were situations were my magic was not helpful against a few types of Heartles. So I just resorted to throwing my weapon." Sora simply replied.
"T-Throwing your weapon?! Doesn't that put you at a disadvantage if you're without your weapon?" Bell asked with surprise.
"You would think that. But..." Sora said, as he spotted a lone Kobold in the distance. "Watch this."
Sora held up his arm, and proceeded to perform a Strike Raid, hurling the Keyblade through their air as it was spinning towards the Kobold. The Kobold looked at their direction, but didn't get to do anything as it was cut clean in half, causing the corpse to fall onto the floor. The Keyblade then flashed back to Sora's hand.
"I-It went back to your hand!?" Bell exclaimed in shock. He never saw such a skill or magic be performed like that.
"It does. The Keyblade will always return to the wielder so long as they will it. Pretty neat, huh?" Sora asked with a grin.
"Yeah...the Keyblade is amazing..." Bell said with awe. "I would love to have a Keyblade of my own..."
"I'd like you to have one as well. You have a good heart to be a Keyblade wielder." Sora said with a friendly grin, making Bell feel happy that Sora has acknowledged him to be worthy to wield such a weapon. "Unfortunately, the Keyblade has to choose you, rather than you choosing it. The fact that it hasn't manifested means it didn't choose you."
Bell could only sigh in disappointment, seeing how he's unworthy of the Keyblade. Then again, he came to Orario in hopes of performing a Dungeon rescue for a girl...and hopefully marry the rescued girl and hopefully form a harem with even more rescued girls.
Bell's cheeks reddened at the thought. It was rather immature, shameful, and perverted when looking at it from an outsider's perspective. He only had thoughts about it because of his Grandpa greatly encouraging him to perform a rescue romance and have a bunch of women love him.
A very tiny part of him still hoped for it. But as of now, he wants to be as strong and heroic as Sora. And based on past conversations with Sora, possess a strong heart.
Looking back on it now, Bell took notice that he tended to run away from danger whenever he had the chance. Mainly, it was to survive and make sure he isn't killed. Sure, it helped him stay alive, but there was also the chance that he could've faced the danger head on succeed.
Then again, Eina has always told Bell to not go on adventures. He should always prioritize on surviving and not take any risk.
And him running away from the minotaur is the logical choice, as it's a monster that is beyond his level to fight.
Still, running away like a coward reflects how weak his Heart is.
If he had a weak Heart...then what good would it do him, when his goal is to become a hero worthy of fighting by Sora's side and fight against the Darkness?
"That's a bit disappointing to hear, but I'll have to settle with what I have for now. Hopefully, I can find some form of range to help me fight the monsters and Heartless..." Bell said with thought while clenching his fist in determination.
Sora hummed in thought, trying to think of a way to help out Bell get stronger. He's a sword user, so he really can't help Bell in the knife department. The only knife user he knows is...
"For your fighting style...only using a knife and nothing else...oh!" Sora exclaimed in realization.
"W-What is it?" Bell asked in surprise
"I just remembered another knife user I fought. Her name was Larxene." Sora remembered the lightning user of Organization 13.
"Larxene?" Bell asked with a confused look.
"Yeah, Larxene. She was a member of Organization 13." Sora answered.
"Organization 13...the group of villains that you had to fight to defend Kingdom Hearts." Bell quietly recalled. "And you said she was a knife user?" Bell asked, making Sora nod at him.
"Yeah. I remember her using knives like you. She fought with multiple knives in each hand, and was able to throw them with precision. The knives sting when they land a hit." Sora recalled, having to evade Larxene's knives, and sometimes got a few cuts from them.
"Throwing knives..." Bell muttered in thought. He never thought about using throwing knives before, considering the fact that he had to rely on his knife for combat. Plus, he already had a loan with the knife he has, so he can't exactly afford another knife to simply just throw it. But now that Sora has brought it up, it was certainly an interesting idea.
"It certainly sounds like a good idea to have throwing knives. Though, I can't exactly afford them at the moment..." Bell said with a sheepish look.
"Ah, right. You need valis to get those, right? Larxene can just magically conjure them up in a flash." Sora recalled.
"Magically producing knives? That sounds amazing!" Bell said with amazement.
"Eh..." Sora shrugged, seeing how magically forming/materializing your weapons is the norm back where he came from.
Bell couldn't help but sweatdrop at Sora shrugging off such an amazing and useful magical ability. The standards of Sora's fights must be quite high if magically forming a weapon to fight with is just considered to be the bare basic.
"Hopefully, we earned enough valis today to buy myself a practice set. Learning how to throw knives is something that takes practice." Bell said.
"Yeah, I figured that it'll take some time to practice. For now, why won't you learn how to throw knives by watching Larxene's combat data through my Gummiphone?" Sora suggested while taking out his Gummiphone.
"What's data? Bell asked with a confused look.
Sora sweatdropped upon being asked this.
Is this how Donald, Leon, and Ienzo felt when they had to deal with him and his cluelessness with technology?
"Erm, my Gummiphone is able to show a video of Larxene's combat skills." Sora tried to explain.
"What's a video?" Bell couldn't help but ask with a lost look on his face.
'Oh boy, and I thought I was bad with technology...' Sora thought while sweatdropping.
This is going to take a while to explain.
~ Break ~
It's been a few days since Hestia left, and she hasn't come back yet. All the while, Sora and Bell kept on exploring the Dungeon, encountering Heartless each and every time. They've made progress through the 7th floor and they're starting on the 8th floor already.
It was then Bell began to notice that the Dungeon monsters began to get a bit more difficult to deal with. He remembered Eina's lectures telling him that the 8th floor requires of at least an E to traverse the floors. Certainly, his Agility is at E rank, but his other parameters are behind. But considering Bell's fighting style relies on his speed, he felt that his Agility will help him from there. Still, the Heartless are proving to be a formidable threat compared to the Dungeon monsters.
Exhausted at the end of each day, but still determined to learn more to get stronger, Bell has been using Sora's Gummiphone to learn new techniques or make improvements to his fighting style.
And after long time of explanation and demonstration to Bell, Bell finally understood what Sora meant with the Gummiphone. Sora felt amused seeing Bell act so shocked upon seeing a video for the first time, with him screaming that the picture is moving on the rock tablet.
The technology of this world must be really lacking. Then again, the other worlds that Sora went to had similar levels of technology to this world, while Radiant Garden, San Fransokyo, and Monster's Inc. showed modern levels of technology. So he supposes that modern technology must be shocking to anyone on this world, perhaps even the Gods as well?
After getting Bell up to speed, Bell used the Gummiphone to see the data regarding Larxene and her fighting style. He was utterly amazed and shocked to see how powerful Larxene is with her use of knives and lightning magic. Though, her personality has put him off a bit. To see how utterly cruel and sadistic a person can be has made Bell shudder.
But he put those thoughts aside for now, as he wanted to gain something from Larxene. He cannot replicate her lightning magic, magically produce her knives, or even clone himself, but perhaps her use of martial arts, acrobatics, and knife throwing is the kind of inspiration that Bell could use for his own fighting style.
He couldn't afford throwing knives yet, so Bell settled on working on his footwork to be as nimble as Larxene. It's taking some time and practice to even make progress, though.
Every early morning, Bell would practice outsider their home on how to pull off the basics of Larxene's acrobatics. The results have been rather mixed, but Bell felt that adding those acrobatics will help him in the long run.
"...Mastering acrobatics is a lot harder than I thought..." Bell muttered while rubbing his legs. Just trying to learn one of the maneuvers was taking a toll on his body. He spent a good portion of the morning just trying to pull one off.
"Yeah. Out of all the Organization 13 members, Larxene is definitely the most agile and acrobatic opponents I faced. The lightning doesn't help either." Sora recalled. "But you'll get there eventually! You just need the right training to get to where Larxene is at." Sora said with an encouraging tone towards Bell.
"Right!" Bell nodded with determination.
The two of them were walking through Orario with the destination of being another dive into the Dungeon. Though, Sora did take note that the town is unusually busy with something, as if they were preparing for an event.
"Oi! Wait up nya, white-head kid & spiky hair kid!" a feminine voice called out.
Both Sora and Bell blinked when they turned around to see a catgirl waitress from the Hostess of Fertility, followed by an elf.
"...Urm, you mean us, right?" Bell asked to make sure.
"Good morning, nya! Sorry to call you out like that, nya!" the catgirl sheepishly said.
"Ah, um, morning… Can I help you…?" Bell asked with a confused look. She then bowed to him.
"Got a favor to ask you. Here, nya!" the catgirl said while thrusting a cloth coin purse towards Bell.
Both Bell and Sora blinked in confusion when seeing this.
"Syr is your friend, white-head kid. So I want you to give this to her, nya!" the catgirl told him.
The two Hestia Familia members became even more confused with what she was trying to get at.
"Anya. You are not being clear. Mr. Cranel and Mr. Sora are confused." the elf told her.
"Ryu, you're stupid! Syr forgot her wallet, playing hooky to go to Monsterphilia, nya. She needs it, so I'm asking him to take it to her. You knew that, right, white-head kid?" Anya complained.
"That is how it is. I apologize for her lack of detail." Ryu apologized on Anya's behalf, ignoring the catgirl's pout. "Please pay her no mind. Are you sure it is okay to accept our request? Anya, the other employees, and I are too busy preparing to go after Syr ourselves. I know we are interrupting your plans for today…"
"It's not that big of a deal, but is it true Syr is skipping out on work?" Bell asked with surprise.
"Anya did not choose her words well. Syr is not playing hooky. Her situation is different because she doesn't reside at our establishment like we do. She simply went to see the opening events for Monsterphilia." Ryu explained.
""Monsterphilia…?"" both Sora and Bell said at the same time.
"Do you not know? All residents of Orario know about this event." Ryu pointed out.
"Actually, I haven't lived here very long. And Sora is very new to Orario. Could you explained about it a bit more to us?" Bell asked, to which Ryu nodded to, but Anya immediately jumped in to explain things.
Both Sora and Bell learned that Monsterphilia is an event put on once a year by the Ganesha Familia, and they have a stadium to show off their tamed monsters. It's surprising for Bell to learn that you're able to tame monsters, despite them wanting to kill anyone in sight, while Sora hummed in thought about hearing this.
"We wanted to go, too, nya! But Mommy Mia said no no no! Syr said she'd buy us syomething, but she forgot her wallet, nya! She smiled and waved, but no money! Careless girl, nya!" Anya whined.
"Anya, I don't believe you are correct…" Ryu remarked. "I believe that the area around the stadium on East Main will be very crowded. If you head in that direction, you should find the stadium easily."
"Syr just left, nya! You can catch up!" Anya cheered.
Both Sora and Bell shared a look with each other and nodded.
"Sure thing."
"We'll be happy to help out Syr."
With their new goal in mind, both Sora and Bell went off to search for Syr. As they were, Sora hummed while crossing his arms behind his head.
"...Taming monsters, huh?" Sora remarked.
"It sounds pretty out of this world to be honest." Bell commented.
"Well, Organization 13 and a bunch of other people I fought controlled the Heartless, so I guess I've encountered that form of taming. Though, I prefer summoning than taming." Sora said, making Bell tilt his head at Sora.
"Summoning?" Bell asked with confusion.
"Yeah. Rather than subjugating a monster to listen to you, I form a connection with a few certain people I've made friends with and call them to my side to help, no matter how far away they are, even if we are worlds apart." Sora explained.
"So rather than taming monsters, you can call your friends to fight by your side in any given moment? That sounds like an amazing Skill or Magic to have! What kind of friends do you summon for help?" Bell asked with curiosity.
"Well, if I recall correctly, I used to summon Genie, who's this spirit of the lamp who grants you 3 wishes. Then there's Simba, who's a lion who takes on the form of flames when I summon him. Tinker Bell is a fairy who gives you pixie dust to fly..." Sora recounted, causing Bell to look at Sora with shock.
"Y-You mean you can summon Spirits & Fairies to fight by your side!? Spirits and Fairies rarely interact with people, and you can just summon them to your side anytime you want!?" Bell exclaimed with shock.
"Well, yeah. When you travel to all sorts of worlds, you'll eventually encounter and make friends with a whole bunch of amazing people." Sora said while grinning.
"That's amazing...!" Bell said with awe. "Who else can you summon to fight by your side?"
"Well, there's Mushu, who's a small dragon who breathes fire. There's..." Sora trailed off as he begun to recount his summons.
~ Break ~
As the city was bustling about and preparing themselves for the upcoming festival, a pair of silver eyes watched the crowd from the second floor of a cafe. Freya wore a navy blue cloak to hide her face and snowy-white skin, but even that wasn't enough to prevent a lot of eyes in the cafe to stare at her.
She was currently having a little chat with Loki, just for the sole purpose of wanting to have a pleasant chat and catch up with a fellow Goddess. Though, Loki thought otherwise and inwardly groaned seeing how Freya is on another hunting spree for a male that caught her attention. This isn't the first and last time Freya has done this, so it's a spectacle that Loki has the misfortune of witnessing.
"So...who's the lucky guy that caught your eye." Loki asked, while sarcastically stating the lucky adjective. Freya hummed as she glanced out the window while trailing the tip of her finger around the rim of her cup.
"...He's not that strong. Weak if you compare him to the children in our Familias. He gets easily upset, he starts bawling at the simplest of problem." Freya described, but her lips curved more at the thought of him. "But he's beautiful. Pure. I've never seen anything like him. I found him by accident. He just happened to walk across my line of vision."
Just as she said that, it was by chance that she managed to get a glimpse of what she saw once more. But her breath hitched at what she saw. Just as she hoped for, it was the white-haired boy in light adventurer's armor.
And walking alongside the boy was a soul that was just so captivating to look at as well.
His soul was that of a magnificent blue sky. It looked like it could completely encompass all in its surroundings, just as you could see the endless blue sky stretch across the horizon.
She could see that all-encompassing soul reaching out and forming this connection with the white haired boy's soul. And that connection is causing that transparent soul to shine brighter. That brightness didn't change the color or transparency, but the soul is shining like a star you see in the night sky.
When Freya first saw it, she was speechless. She's never seen such a unique soul to be able to do such a thing. No soul should be able to just form connections and just let others shine brightly around it. It's just not possible. All souls stay independent of one another. And yet...the boy's soul is able to do so.
It was just captivating to look at. She was curious and intrigued. Yet at the same time...
The sky seemed a little...dim. It's as if it was missing a precious light to brighten up the sky.
His soul was this close to be so captivating like the transparent soul besides him. Alas, the sky blue soul is not shining to its full potential.
She could only wonder what's causing the soul to be a bit dim. She wanted to clear up the gloominess to finally see that vast blue sky soul.
But how?
It was upon coming to those thoughts that Freya found something interesting to work on, alongside observing the transparent soul that captivated her heart.
It was like working with a puzzle with a prize hidden inside. And the prize is something magnificent to bear witness, and perhaps let the transparent soul shine brighter than it ever was.
Things just became a lot more fun for the Goddess of Love.
~ Break ~
"...We're not going to find Syr at this rate." Sora groaned as he and Bell looked around the area. They were in East Main currently, but there were no signs of Syr anywhere.
"You're right. It's tough to find in in this crowd." Bell said, agreeing with Sora. Looking around, Sora came up with an idea.
"We should split up and see where to find her. Let's meet up back at the stadium if we do find her." Sora told Bell. Bell nodded at the idea.
"Good idea! I'll go this way then!" Bell said as he turned to the direction to their right and went off that way. Sora took off to the left path.
On his own, Bell looked around, trying to spot Syr. Syr shouldn't be too hard to find, considering how unique her own hair color is compared to the rest of everyone else here in Orario. Funnily enough, his own hair made him stand out from other people, which is what caught a certain Goddess's attention.
"Hey, Bell~!" a voice sang out in joy and excitement. This caused Bell to turn around and see Hestia approaching him with an excited look on her face while she was holding some kind of object covered in cloth.
"Goddess?! What are you doing here?" Bell asked in surprise.
"To see you of course! Why else would I want to see you?" Hestia exclaimed while pouting.
"I-I wanted to see you too, but where have you been…?" Bell tried to ask, but Hestia cut him off
"What a wonderful coincidence, don't you think? I wanted to see you, and here you are! We must have some kind of special connection!" Hestia said while giggling, making Bell sweatdrop, seeing how his Goddess has gone off into her own little world.
"G-Goddess, you seem to be in a really good mood. What happened?"
"Hee-hee...You wanna know? The reason why I'm happy…" Hestia trailed off.
"Y-yes?"
"The truth is...Actually, since we're already out here, I'll tell you later!" Hestia said as she grabbed Bell's hand and began dragging him off elsewhere.
"Ehhhhh?" Bell lets out a confused noise.
"Just expect to be given something really special!" Hestia told him. "In the meantime, let's have a date Bell!"
"...A date?!"
~ Break ~
"Geez, how hard is it to find Syr's hair color amongst this crowd?" Sora muttered to himself. Syr's hair color is quite bright compared to the other darker hair colors that inhabit Orario.
He was sorely tempted to just jump up high into the air and perform a Glide to scan the crowd. But Hestia told him to not do that because nobody in this world can fly like him, and doing that will immediately catch the attention of so many Gods, which in turn, will have them hunt him down.
'I didn't have this problem when I did this in other worlds...' Sora groaned. These Gods were totally different to the Gods he knew from Olympus, who were supportive of Hercules and Sora for their endeavors. To see these Gods so greedy for people for their own gains rubbed Sora the wrong way.
It kind of reminded Sora of how Xehanort was always in search for pawns for his own scheme. But the main difference between Xehanort and the Gods of this world is that Xehanort was seeking more extreme methods to control the worlds and eliminate the Darkness. The Gods, on the other hand, aren't seeking to destroy the world and recreate it in their image. If anything, they just want entertainment and raise their Familia with fame and glory.
Give Sora the Gods any day, rather than having to deal with Xehanort.
Sora sighed, seeing how he has to conduct his search the old-fashioned way.
Before he could even continue his search, his ears picked up screams.
Alarmed by this, Sora turned his head towards the source of the noise, and his eyes widened when he saw monsters escaping from the stadium and rampaging towards the nearby stands and people.
People soon noticed this too, and chaos ensued. People began to turn tail and run from the monsters, all the while screaming in panic.
"So much for a festival..." Sora groaned when he saw panic amongst the crowd as they were running away from monsters. He gave a determined look as he stepped forward and materialized his Kingdom Key.
Already, there was an Orc roaring as it charged towards Sora. Sora immediately sprinted forward with impressive speed as he bisected the Orc in half, causing the monster to disappear in black ashes.
He looked around to see if there were any more monsters around, and his ears picked up a roar from the other street. Immediately, he ran towards the source, and proceeded to jump high into the air and land on top of the building. He then proceeded to jump across the buildings and spotted an Infant Dragon rampaging across the market, while all of the civilians in the surrounding area were running away.
Sora narrowed his eyes as he dropped down in front of the Infant Dragon, halting its advance as he blasted Water magic to push it away from the running civilians.
"What the-!?"
"Where did he come from!?"
The were two voices who spoke up, who turns out to be two Ganesha Familia members.
Their questions weren't answered when the Infant Dragon roared as it picked itself up and began charging towards the three.
"Run! You got lucky with that magic sword of yours, but it's a strong monster-!"
Sora ignored the man's warning as he sprinted forth towards the Infant Dragon's charge. As soon as the two got into close distance with one another...
Sora proceeded to swing his Keyblade upward and knocked the Infant Dragon straight into the air.
The two Ganesha Familia looked at the sight with shock. It was even more shocking when Sora seemingly disappeared from their line of sight and appeared above the Infant Dragon. Sora then slammed his Keyblade down on the monster, performing an Aerial Slam as he sent the monster plummeting to the ground and crash into it.
The Infant Dragon was greatly damaged from the impact and fall, and was trying to pick itself back up. But Sora performed a Shock Dive straight onto the Infant Dragon's head, completely smashing into the Dragon's head and ending its life. Sora landed in front of the Infant Dragon while looking like he didn't exert any effort at all.
His whole moment with the Infant Dragon didn't even last for half a minute.
"...You were saying Familia Member A?" the Ganesha Familia member said.
"My name is Modaka!" Ganena Familia Member A, or Modaka, exclaimed in indignation.
"You guys alright?" Sora asked with concern as he walked up to the two Ganesha Familia members.
"We're no worse for wear thanks to you. Thank you for the assistance." Modaka thanked with a nod.
"Yeah. Honestly expected worse outcomes when dealing with the Infant Dragon." the other Familia member remarked.
"Glad to hear that. I better get going to see if there are any more monsters around-" Sora said as he turned around to go off to find more monsters, but stopped in his tracks when darkness began to form in front of Sora.
Multiple Heartless appeared before Sora, consisting of multiple Darkballs, Invisibles, & Neoshadows.
"Looks like they found me instead." Sora remarked with a frown.
"W-What the hell are these monsters!? I don't remember any of our Familia capturing them!" Modaka exclaimed in shock.
"This isn't good! Listen, you gotta evacuate the civilians away from this area! These guys are serious bad news!" Sora warned them.
"You mean to take them on alone!?" the Ganesha Familia member questioned with shock.
"Trust me, I'm the only on who can deal with them! And they'll focus on me!" Sora told them, before he pointed his Keyblade forward.
"Wind!" Sora shouted as Aeroga burst forth from the tip of his Keyblade and blasted away the incoming Heartless away from the three. Seeing Sora taking care of the numerous monsters ahead of them, they certainly saw Sora's point.
"M-Maybe we should listen to him. He took on an Infant Dragon with ease." Modaka told his fellow Familia member.
"You have a point there. Alright, don't go dying on us now!" the Ganesha Familia member exclaimed as he and Modaka took off to evacuate the civilians.
With nobody else around to worry about, Sora charged forward at the Heartless.
The Invisibles rushed at Sora with their swords pointed at him. Sora immediately formed a Reflega barrier around him, shielding him from the Invisibles' sword strikes, and a explosions of lights burst forth as sent the Invisibles flying back.
Sora then performed a Spark Raid, throwing his spinning Keyblade towards a Neo Shadow in the crowd of Heartless. The Keyblade then exploded into multiple light-construct copies of it as the copies flew in multiple directions, slaying any Heartless that's in the way.
"Thunder!" Sora called out as he casted Thundaga, causing lightning to fall from the sky and strike the multiple Heartless before him, immediately shocking and killing Darkballs and Invisibles.
The Neo Shadow Heartless dove into the ground with a dark blob forming on the ground, avoiding the incoming lightning strikes, and headed towards Sora. Sora immediately jumped away from the blobs as the Neo Shadows jumped out of the ground and sent out shockwaves of dark energy.
Seeing the remaining Heartless, Sora pointed his Keyblade forward while energy began to build up. Soon, he unleashed Ragnarok on the Heartless as projectiles of light homed in on the remaining Heartless, with each projectile destroying the Neo Shadows in an instant.
When he finished, he looked around to see anymore Heartless. Thankfully, it seemed like he eliminated all of the Heartless that appeared in the area.
"Seems like I've took care of this area." Sora commented while looking around his surroundings to check if there were Heartless.
It was then he spotted something pop out of his periphery. It appeared to be some kind of plant-like monster popping out of the ground and wreaking havoc to its surroundings not too far from his location.
Seeing that trouble is over there, Sora immediately bean to spring towards the location.
~ Break ~
It was supposed to be a nice fun day out for Lefiya Viridis. She, a member of the Loki Familia, was out with Tiona and Tione and were currently waiting for Ais to join up with them. Ais would've joined them earlier, but she was under 'punishment' for diving into the Dungeon on her own. As such, Loki had Ais accompany for the day until they join up with them.
It disappointed Lefiya that she couldn't immediately spend her time with her idol, but was really looking forward when they eventually meet up.
That was the plan. Until monsters started breaking out and attacked the people.
Lefiya and her group went off to fight off the monsters, and began to fight off what they assumed to be a serpent-type monster. That assumption proved to be a deadly mistake, as it turns out to be tendrils that are a part of a Violas. And one of the tendrils ended up piercing her sides, giving her a great injury.
"The hell is this thing!? We fought Violas before, but this monster is different from the rest!" Tione exclaimed.
"Yeah, what the heck is with its color scheme!?" Tiona exclaimed as she and her sister attempted to strike the Violas with their fists, only for the monster to blow off their strength and immediately used its tendrils to slap them away, forcing them to jump back.
As the Hiryute sisters were busy dealing with the Violas, they soon noticed the head of the Violas extending its neck towards Lefiya, who on the ground injured.
"Shit, it's-!" Tione exclaimed in alarm.
"Lefiya!" Tiona called out to her fellow Familia member and tried to head towards her, only for the tendrils to block her way.
Lefiya could only see the gnashing mouth of the Violas heading towards her with horror, and tried to move her body to get away. But the injury proved to be difficult to move with.
Time seemed to slow down for her as she saw the mouth close in on her, ready to devour her. Just as the mouth got close, a figure appeared in front of her, stopping the advance of the monster.
'...Ais?' Lefiya thought through her hazy vision. But when she focused her vision, she soon discovered it wasn't Ais.
In front of Lefiya stood a person she has never seen before, with the most distinct feature being the spiky hair.
Sora stood in front of Lefiya with the Grand Chef's Keyblade in its Formchange, which is a grey shield resembling a skillet. An image of a rat holding a ladle and wearing a toque is emblazoned into the shield, and it is surrounded by a series of flames.
Sora glared at the monster before him as he halted its movements, and he immediately countered it by sending out a flame that sent the violas shrieking in pain as it was set on fire. Given this opening, Sora immediately turned to Lefiya and held his hand out.
"Heal!" Sora casted a Curaga on Lefiya. A green light showered over Lefiya, and the healing spell immediately began to works its magic as it began closing the wounds on Lefiya's side. It only took a short moment to completely heal the injury left on the elf.
Lefiya could only blink upon no longer feeling any pain on her body. In fact, she felt as good as new.
'I-I'm healed? That was such a strong healing spell...and was that no chant...!?' Lefiya thought in surprise, but soon saw a hand extend out to her.
"You alright?" Sora asked with concern.
"I-I am, thank you." Lefiya responded with surprise as she took his hand and was helped up.
"Glad to hear that." Sora responded with a grin, before he shielded the both of them with his shield as a series of tendrils kept coming at them, reminding them that they're not out of the clear just yet.
Sora frowned when he got a look at the monster before him.
Before him were a group of plant-like flower monsters with no eyes and only a mouth. It had tendrils surrounding it to strike its whoever comes into its surroundings. Its stem was completely black with purple veins pulsating around it. The petals had a purple and black pattern to it
But the most striking detail about the monster is that on the center of the monster's stem is the emblem of a Heartless.
'This Heartless is different compared to the Creeper Plant Heartless...' Sora thought as he blocked another incoming strike from the Heartless Violas tendril.
"You better get out of here! It's not safe to deal with this type of monster!" Sora told her, wanting her to leave the area so he doesn't have to focus on shielding her from harm and go into the offensive.
"B-But what about you! You only have a shield to protect yourself!" Lefiya exclaimed in worry.
"Don't worry! I'm pretty good at using a shield offensively as well! Just worry about yourself!" Sora told her as he bashed away another tendril.
Lefiya bit her lip upon hearing this, and clenched her fist.
She's once again being told to get out of the way and let others handle it for her. Like she's couldn't contribute to anything at all.
It's always been like this. Having Ais and the others bail her out of trouble during their times in the Dungeon. Having this unknown teenager from the 50th floor appear out of nowhere and show off abilities that far exceed hers. Having Bete straight up tell her that she's practically deadweight with the way she is.
And now, there's someone who is shielding her from harm, telling her to leave the battle to him.
'...Am I even needed here...?' Lefiya thought with dismay.
Before she could do anything else, something else came into her periphery.
Lefiya's eyes widened when she saw Ais come into the scene, and dropped in towards the monster with a sword. However, as soon as Ais attempted to decapitate the monster with her sword, the sword immediately shattered into pieces upon impact.
Ais's eyes widened when she saw this, and immediately casted her Ariel to cast a defense around her, and even attempted to strike them with her wind. However, they just showed to be very resistant to it.
It was then she was caught off guard when the Heartless Violas fired out an explosive seed from its mouth, the seed detonating in front of her, sending Ais flying back and into one of the stands.
"A-Ais!" Lefiya exclaimed in alarm as she attempted to move in to help, but yelped when Sora moved in front of her and shielded her from a bite from the Violas.
"It's not safe to move out there!" Sora told her as he bashed away another incoming bite from the Heartless Violas.
"B-But I need to help Ais! S-She's-!" Lefiya exclaimed with distraught, before she yelped in surprise when she was nearly struck by an incoming seed if Sora hasn't come to shield her.
"Well these guys aren't exactly making it easy..." Sora said with a frown.
This Heartless Violas is focused on him due to the Keyblade. As such, it's directing all of its attention towards him, while sometimes fending off the strikes coming from the Amazon twins and Ais.
He glanced behind him and saw the distraught look on Lefiya's face looking towards Ais's condition, who was busying trying to shield herself with her wind from the Heartless Violas's attacks. He saw the look of desperate need to help out a friend.
He knew what he needed to do.
"You want to help your friend?" Sora asked, which broke Lefiya out of her despair.
"H-Huh?" Lefiya squeaked in surprise.
"I understand wanting to help out a friend when they're in trouble. If that's the case, I'll try to attract its attention as much as I can! On my signal, you run towards your friend to help her out!" Sora told the elf.
"B-But what about-?" Lefiya stuttered.
"Don't worry about me! I'll keep you covered! Just focus on helping your friends out. I know you can do it!" Sora said with confidence.
Lefiya's eyes widened upon hearing this.
There was so much faith and confidence placed onto her by this complete stranger. She doesn't know why, but there was something about him that makes her feel reassured that she can do it.
His smile of confidence and reassurance reminded her of the times Tione, Tiona, and Ais smiled at her, telling her that even though they're helping her out, they'll await a day when Lefiya comes in and help them out of trouble. Because that's what fellow Familia members do for each other.
And here was this stranger having this much faith in her like her fellow Familia members.
Recognizing all of this made Lefiya clench her fist.
'...What am I doing...having someone act as bait for me is just...!' Lefiya thought as she gained a determined look.
"...I have a spell that can stop its tracks and help everyone out! I need time to cast the spell though! Can you protect me until then?" Lefiya asked him with determination.
Sora blinked upon seeing the change in the girl's demeanor, but he nodded at her question.
"Yeah, I can! If you do have the spell to stop it in its tracks, then I'll leave it to you!" Sora said as he blocked another strike from the Heartless Violas.
Hearing this, Lefiya nodded as she prepped herself while magic flowed through her body.
"I wish upon the name of Wishe. Ancestors of the forest, proud brethren. Answer my call and come to the plains." Lefiya chanted, as a magic circle formed underneath her.
The Heartless Violas 3 heads attempted to come in at the same time, but Sora immediately sent them backing off by raising his shield and summoned a ring of fire around them, making the Heartless Violas screech at the heat.
Lefiya's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing Sora just summon a ring of fire around them with no chant at all, and her eyes quickly looked at the shield.
'A Magic Sword...no, Shield?' was the brief thought of Lefiya, but focused on continuing her chant. "Connecting bonds, the pledge of paradise. Turn the circle and dance around. Come, ring of fairies. Please, give me strength!"
The Heartless Violas screeched as it attempted to head in once more, but was met with even more opposition.
"Oi oi, don't ignore us you damn weeds!" Tione roared as she punched the Heartless Violas in the head.
"Yeah! Don't interrupt our Familia's mage!" Tiona exclaimed as she kicked away a tendril.
Ais didn't say anything as she was already shielding herself with the wind around her, blocking any more attacks coming towards Sora and Lefiya.
"Harbinger of the end, the white snow. Blow with the wind before the twilight." Lefiya chanted, almost finished with her spell as magic circles formed behind her.
The Heartless Violas screeched as they all drew their heads back and opened their mouths together, and dark balls of energy began to build up in front of them.
Sora's eyes widened when he realized what they were about to do, and immediately to decide to go into the offense.
Without telling anyone, Sora immediately sprinted forward and went past Ais, Tione, and Tiona. The three were caught off guard when they saw Sora sped past them.
"What is he-!?" Tiona exclaimed in surprise.
Before she could finish her sentence, the Heartless Violas fired off beams of dark energy towards Sora, but Sora saw this coming as he has a counter of his own. He's been building up plenty of energy for shielding Lefiya from their attacks.
It's time to counter!
"Take this!" Sora thrust forward his shield, and a barrage of flames erupted from the shield. Flames and darkness clashed against each other, causing shockwaves of wind to erupt from their clash of energy. Tiona and Tione had to raise their arms to shield themselves from the blast, while Ais was safe behind her wind.
Ais was looking at the sight with a surprised look.
'So much power behind it...!' Ais thought in surprise.
Before she could wonder further about it, the barrage of energies ended between Sora and the Heartless Violas. Sora landed on the ground after unleashing the Flame Barrage, and he glanced behind him.
"All yours!" Sora exclaimed as he jumped out of the way.
Ais and the Amazon twins heard what Sora said and turned their heads to see Lefiya, reminding them of what she was doing.
"Closing light, the freezing land. Blizzard, the three severe winters - my name is Alf!" Lefiya finished her chant as cold air began to manifest around her.
"Wynn Fimbulveter!"
The spell was chanted, and a blast of cold ice magic blasted from Lefiya, freezing whatever comes its way. The road became covered in a sheet of ice. The rubble and objects became chunks of ice. The Heartless Violas couldn't do anything as it became frozen solid within the ice.
"Yeah! Way to go Lefiya!" Tiona cheered.
"You gave us a lot of trouble, you shitty flower!" Tione exclaimed.
Both of the sisters jumped into the air and raised their feet into the air, and posed to deliver a devastating axe kick to the Heartless Violas.
Before they could reach the monster, however, cracks began to form on the ice, and one of the heads managed to break out while wildly gnashing around to break free. This caught the two sisters off guard as they were heading towards the monster.
"What the-!?"
"It broke out!?"
"No way...! That was the strongest ice spell I delivered...!" Lefiya uttered in shock.
Before the Heartless Violas could take a bite out of one of them, it was soon knocked backwards as a shield was thrown towards its head, letting the sisters avoid the head.
Everyone turned to see Sora catching the shield back to his hand, and ran up to the Heartless Violas.
"Time to finish this!" Sora exclaimed as he jumped up into the air as he raised his shield, and the shield soon began to transform. It was the transformation that truly surprised everyone.
"I-Is that a frying-!?" Tiona exclaimed.
She was cut off as Sora proceeded to slam down a giant frying pan on top of the monster, crushing it under the impact while fire erupted all around.
Everyone held up their arms from the flash of fire that erupted, and lowered it, only to see Sora standing in front of the crushed monster and the Heartless Violas fading away into darkness.
"Well that's taken cared of. Was it a new type of Heartless in this world...?" Sora muttered to himself while narrowing his eyes.
The Heartless he encountered so far was in the Dungeon. There were Heartless Sora was familiar with he fought earlier. But to encounter this new type on the surface now of all times. It just made Sora more suspicious on what is going on with the Heartless in this world.
Before he could ponder any further, he blinked at what the Heartless Violas left behind. He walked up to it and picked up the item.
It's a black crystal with a faint glowing red center.
'This is strange. Usually, a Heart is released whenever I destroy an Emblem Heartless. Could it be a Pureblood Heartless? But it didn't look like one.' Sora thought with a confused look. 'And this crystal. It doesn't look like any of the Synthesis Materials I have. So what exactly is it?'
"Hey, what the heck was that!? Where did you get that giant frying pan from!?" Tiona suddenly asked behind Sora.
Sora jumped at the sudden question as he pocketed the crystal out of haste. He had to lean back a bit as Tiona leaned in with interest.
"O-Oh, um-!" Sora stuttered as he was caught off guard by the question.
Before Tiona could question him any further, she felt a chop on her head and felt herself being dragged back.
"Please forgive this idiot. She got way too excited after what she has witnessed. Though, I'm quite surprised by your abilities as well." Tione apologized on Tiona's behalf.
"O-Oh, that. W-Well, to answer your question, that was a part of my weapon's ability." Sora answered, hoping they would buy it.
"A shield that transforms into a giant frying pan? That's the strangest weapon ability if I've ever heard of one." Tione said with a raised eyebrow, making Sora inwardly more nervous.
"You gotta admit, it did help us out." Tiona pointed out with a grin.
He failed to realize the extent of his weapon's capabilities are not exactly common in this world. And he had to show off its abilities in front of others. Well, it was to fight off the Heartless, so it wasn't for nothing. Still, now he has to find a way out of this...
"...Where did your shield go?" Ais asked when looking at Sora.
The others noticed this, and Tiona gasped while covering her mouth.
"Oh geez, your magic sword broke from its usage!" Tiona pointed out with surprise.
"It's more of a magic shield to be more accurate." Tione interjected. "It should be expected. That shield was quite powerful with the fire magic built into it. Using it to that extent would obviously lead to being broken swiftly."
Sora opened his mouth on wanting to correct them about his Keyblade, but then stopped himself from doing so. It wouldn't do any good to give them information about the Keyblade, which in turn, exposes his status.
Hearing this also gave Sora an escape route!
"W-Well, my magic shield is quite strong. It had a very...special spell added to it that transforms it into a frying pan and release a burst of fire. Unfortunately, using it will end the shield's form." Sora explained with a nervous smile.
He wasn't lying on that part, as using that finisher will revert his Formchange back to its original Keyblade form. But he dismissed it after the battle was over, giving the others the impression that it broke away like a magic sword.
"That's gotta be a top tier and rare weapon then if it could pull that off! It's a shame that you had to use it on this weird Violas rather than back in the Dungeon." Tiona pointed out.
"Well I don't regret using it. If it was to help you guys and get rid of that monster, then I'm glad it was used for that purpose." Sora responded with a grin. It wasn't a total loss on his part. Unlike magic swords, they break after a certain amount of use. The Keyblades do not follow such a principle.
"We are very grateful for using it to help us." Lefiya spoke up with gratitude. "Without your help, dealing with the Violas would've been more difficult. And your healing spell helped out a lot as well!"
"Healing spell?" Tiona said with confusion, before she examined Lefiya. "Oh yeah, you were injured by that Violas! I don't see a single scratch on you. You must have a pretty good healing spell if it healed Lefiya to this extent!"
"I'm just glad that my Curaga spell was able to help you." Sora simply responded with a friendly smile.
"Indeed. Your spell is quite amazing. My magic, on the other hand wasn't good enough to stop the violas..." Lefiya said while looking a bit downcast when she saw that even her strongest ice spell wasn't enough to freeze the Heartless Violas in its tracks. It made her feel that her efforts weren't enough despite everything into it.
"What are you talking about? Your magic spell was amazing! Without your spell, we would've had a more harder time dealing with the Heart-, I mean monster!"" Sora immediately corrected himself, hoping others wouldn't catch it.
Thankfully, the others turned to Lefiya with smiles on their faces, not catching Sora's slip up.
"E-Eh!?" Lefiya lets out a noise of surprise upon hearing this.
"He's right! Without you, we wouldn't have been able to finish off that annoying Violas!" Tiona told Lefiya while bringing her into a hug.
"That's right. You really helped us out there." Tione said with Lefiya with a grin.
"We're thankful for your help, Lefiya." Ais told her with a soft smile.
"E-Everyone..." Lefiya whispered with awe.
Sora was relieved that everyone took their attention off of him and instead turned their attention towards Lefiya.
"Yo! Seems like I missed the party!" Loki said while greeting everyone. Everyone turned their heads to see her walking up to the group. "I take everything has been taken cared of? I already had someone from the Guild take care of the child I had to look after."
"We have. But we have this guy to thank for helping out out. We would've been in deep trouble if he didn't step in." Tiona said while jabbing her thumb to Sora.
"Is that so?" Loki said while taking a good look at Sora. She took a good look at him, and took note of his strange clothing.
'Huh, just as weird as the clothing with him...' Loki thought to herself, but decided to focus on that later. "Well I appreciate your help if you helped my girls out. And you seem pretty new around these parts as well. What your name and what Familia are you with?"
"The name's Sora. As for Familia, I'd rather not say, considering how my Goddess doesn't like to deal with you..." Sora told her with a nervous grin.
"Goddess who doesn't want to deal with me...?" Loki muttered, instantly picking up the clues. "Wait...are you with itty bitty!?"
Sora's only answer was a nervous chuckle, as he was caught red handed.
"I can't believe it. That shorty managed to get another child?" Loki muttered with disbelief, before she realized something as she turned to Ais and the others.
"W-Wait. Are you saying that he helped you guys out!?" Loki asked everyone.
"He has. Sora managed to shield Lefiya from harm, heal her, and even finished the Violas we were dealing with." Ais summarized.
"You're kidding me! How did itty bitty manage to score someone like him!?" Loki exclaimed with disbelief, making everyone look at Loki with confused expressions while Sora gave a nervous laugh in turn.
'Hestia wasn't kidding when she said that she and Loki don't get along.' Sora thought. He decided that it was best to leave now if Loki is aggravated about him being in Hestia's Familia.
"Well I better get going and find my Familia. They may be in trouble with the monsters running around." Sora told them as he turned around and began to run off. "Later!"
"Ah wait! At least tell me what itty bitty offered to have you join-and he's gone." Loki muttered to herself, already seeing Sora take off in the distance. 'Well so much for tempting him out of itty bitty's Familia.'
"...Can't believe I owe itty bitty of all people for his help." Loki muttered with a bit of annoyance, before she turned to the others.
"Are ya really sure that this Sora helped you girls out?" Loki asked everyone.
"He has. He even managed to heal my wound with his healing spell." Lefiya said while gesturing to her sides at where the wound was formerly at.
"A healing spell, huh? Itty bitty is lucky to score a healer in her Familia." Loki noted, seeing how mages with healing spells are quite indispensable when it comes to exploring the Dungeon's depths. Riveria has proven to be very vital to the Familia with her healing magic. So for Hestia to score a healer this early on is quite the boon for her, and rather unfortunate for Loki to miss such a valuable support member.
Before she could continue with her thoughts, Eina entered the scene with a worried look after she escorted the child back to his family.
"I just saw Sora briefly with you all. Is he alright?" Eina asked the Loki Familia.
"You just missed him. He went off to search for his other Familia." Loki told her.
"I see." Eina said while sighing in relief. "Thank you for looking out for Sora. I'd imagine that he must've gotten himself involved with something that's way out of his league."
"Huh? What are you talking about? If anything, if it weren't for him, we would've been in deeper trouble. Not to mention, the fight would've dragged out longer." Tiona said.
Eina blinked upon hearing this.
"Are we talking about the same person? He's only a Level 1 who hasn't been an adventurer for almost a week." Eina pointed out.
""""Eh?"""" were the collective sounds of everyone who heard this.
Silence reigned upon everyone, before Loki clicked her tongue as she placed her hands on her hip.
"Seriously...How the hell did you manage to find a guy like him, itty bitty?" Loki muttered.
~ Break ~
What was supposed to be a normal day to enjoy the festivities and this impromptu date with his Goddess ended up turning into a disaster real fast.
A Silverback has broke out of its cage, and for some strange reason, seems to target Hestia and him of all people. No matter how many times he tried to escape the monster while trying to keep his Goddess safe, the monster is hot on their trail. As such, the two ended up running through the city for a good amount of time.
The Silverback has ended up chasing Bell and Hestia to Daedalus Street, where the two had to rely on the complex structures and pathways to get away from the monster. However, the monster proved to be far more persistent and clever, as it was able to jump over a lot of structures and keep chase.
It was when they found a hidden passage way were they able to escape the Silverback's pursuit for now. But they both knew sooner or later that it'll catch up soon.
Bell inwardly cursed when his only weapon was destroyed from the Silverback's strength when he tried to fight it off. He had no way of harming the monster.
'If only I had a strong weapon, just like Sora's Keyblade, to fight off the monster...' Bell thought while gritting his teeth. He considered going out to serve as bait in order for his Goddess to escape, but Hestia cut off those thoughts when she spoke up.
"Bell...if you had a better weapon, are you able to kill it?" Hestia asked with a serious look.
Bell blinked at the question, just as he was thinking about needing a new weapon.
"Urm, yes. Why do you ask?" Bell asked with a confused look. Hestia smiled as she opened the cloth covered case and revealed a brand new knife before Bell.
Bell wordlessly took hold of the knife and took it out of its sheath. His eyes widened at what he saw.
It was a black blade that was straight and not curved. The knife's complicated markings began to glow at his touch. But the most shocking part is when the edges of the blade began to radiate this white light around it. And Bell recognized that light anywhere, considering the fact that he saw it many times when fighting alongside Sora.
"...Is this...the power of Light?" Bell asked with surprise, making Hestia nod at him.
"Yes. Sora also knows about the new weapon, and he wanted to contribute in making it." Hestia told him.
"S-Sora..." Bell muttered while looking at the blade before him.
'...Once again...Sora is helping me every step of the way to help me get stronger...' Bell thought. He honestly felt elated on how much faith Sora has on him.
"Take it. It's Sora's and my gift to you. You're going to need a strong weapon if you want to fight the Heartless alongside Sora. Just as how Sora has his Keyblade, you'll have your very own weapon to define you." Hestia told him.
"Goddess..." Bell quietly responded. Hestia smiled as she stood up before him.
"Now then, I believe it's time for an update before you truly fight the Silverback. You'll need all the strength if you truly want to beat the monster." Hestia told him, making Bell nod at her with determination.
Not a single moment was wasted as Bell pulled up his shirt and exposed his back to Hestia. Hestia immediately dropped her blood onto Bell's back and began to update his status.
It's only been a few days since she lasted updated it, and Hestia is already expecting something ridiculous from Bell's status update. As soon as she was finished updating, Hestia took a look at Bell's new status.
Bell Cranel
Level 1
Strength: F386 - D588
Defense: G269 - E449
Dexterity: G299 - E495
Agility: E420 - C669
Magic: I0
'It went over 700 points in just a few days while I was gone!?' Hestia thought in shock, before she gave a tired sigh. 'Then again, I should've expected this kind of nonsense as soon as Sora entered the picture!'
When Hestia finished her update and thoughts, the two heard the Silverback roar as it entered the square they are hiding in.
Bell clenched his knife tightly when he heard the Silverback roar, but steeled himself for what is to come.
It's time to return Sora and his Goddess's faith in him.
"Now, go!" Hestia exclaimed as she gave Bell a big push forward.
With that push, Bell sprinted forward from their hiding place and raced towards the Silverback. His eyes widened at the speed he was running.
'My body...feels faster...!' Bell thought he sprinted towards the Silverback.
With a stronger weapon in hand, his Goddess in a safe distance, and the monster focusing solely on him, he can put all of his efforts into fighting the Silverback.
If it were any other circumstances, Bell would've immediately gone for the magic stone to end this fight. Hitting the monster's magic stone would've immediately ended the fight. But for Bell, who fought Heartless with various forms, abilities, and strengths stronger than the current floor he is on, he had been forced to adapt to fight stronger opponents.
The Silverback is no different. The only difference is the size, but nothing more.
He wanted to repay the faith Sora and his Goddess has placed on him. And to do that...he'll beat the Silverback without taking the easy way out. He'll show Sora just what he can do!
The Silverback roared as it launched its fist towards Bell, intending to crush the boy with its punch. When Bell saw the punch, his mind flashed back to those nights of watching the combat data in Sora's Gummiphone. He watched how Sora fought a Darkside, a Heartless so large it could scale a building. And if he remembered correctly...!
Bell immediately jumped to the side to avoid its large fist. Immediately, Bell swung his knife and left a pretty deep gash on the arm. The monster roared as it felt a deep cut on its arm and withdrew its fist. It attempted to knock Bell away with its injured arm, but Bell immediately jumped back.
Immediately, began to run around the monster while moving side to side. He can't exactly pull off the acrobatics Larxene is capable of, but he can certainly move in confusing patterns to throw off the beast. The Silverback kept trying to aim at Bell, but kept on missing. Every miss was met numerous and deep slashes to the arms, making the arms heavily bleed.
The Silverback roared as he swung its arms around to make use of the chains tied to its wrist. Bell immediately swung his knife and cleanly cuts through the chains like they were butter. The Silverback then jumped to the air and swung down both of its fist towards Bell. Bell immediately jumped back to narrowly avoid the fist, and immediately saw the chance for something else.
Sprinting forth, he immediately delivered a cut to the Silverback's head, the blade immediately cutting through the metal equipment on the Silverback's head. Bell landed behind the Silverback.
The beast roared in pain as its eye was cut. Blood ran down the silverback's head, all the while clutching its cut eye. While the beast was staggering in pain from losing its eye, Bell immediately closed the distance and delivered a diagonal cut across the the large monster's back.
The large monster roared in pain and swung its left arm to knock away Bell. Bell avoided the attack by ducking under the arm. As he did, he found himself close proximity to the front of beast. The beast towered over him, but Bell saw the opening to finally finish this fight.
Before the silverback could do anything else, Bell jumped up and slashed clean across the monster's throat, causing blood to spew from the cut.
The Silverback choked on its own blood, and weakly staggered back from Bell. It was heavily bleeding all over the place: it's back, arms, eye, and throat.
With so much blood loss and the final blow added to it, the Silverback weakly roared one last time, before collapsing backwards of its injuries dealt to it.
It was dead.
Bell looked at the defeated monster before him, only hearing the thumping of his heart. His eyes widened at what just occurred.
'I can't believe I managed to it off. All that training paid off...!' Bell thought in surprise. All those nights of watching Larxene's combat data and practice helped him give an edge to fight against the monster. Sora's fights against the Darkside told him how to fight against such a large monster.
His training has finally showed their results.
Before he could process anything else, the sounds of cheers erupted around him. Bell jumped a bit in surprise, before looking around to see the people who hid themselves who opened up their doors and windows to deliver him cheers, celebrating his accomplishment. So many people gave their applause while some whistled.
"You did it!" Hestia cheered as she jumped from her hiding spot and ran up to Bell and glomped him.
"G-Goddess, I did it!" Bell said with elation.
"Yes, you have!" Hestia responded with joy and pride.
"Bell!" cried out a familiar voice.
Bell's eyes widened when he heard that voice, and frantically looked around to see where it was, only for him to cry out in surprise when Sora landed in front of him and Hestia.
""Sora!"" both Hestia and Bell exclaimed in surprise.
"Where did you come from!?" Bell asked in surprise.
"I was running atop the buildings to spot where you are. I was tempted to use my Glide, but I had to settle with running atop the buildings to find where you are." Sora explained, before he noticed the Silverback corpse nearby.
"Oh wow, never seen that type of monster before. I'm guessing it came from the lower floors?" Sora asked with curiosity.
"It does. It was difficult when I first fought it. But..." Bell said as he held out his knife to Sora. "...It was thanks to you that I was able to defeat the monster and protect our Goddess."
"Oh wow, that's your new weapon?" Sora said with amazement while looking at Bell's brand new weapon, and even noticed the white light along the edges of the blade. "...Seems like the materials I provided were helped out a lot."
"Yeah...it was thanks to you and Goddess that I was able to succeed." Bell said with gratitude. "Thank you so much Sora, for giving me this weapon!"
"Hey, all I did was provide a couple materials to help with the process." Sora replied with a grin. "I'm just glad that I was able to contribute in something to help you out!"
"You have Sora! The results clearly speak for themselves. Honestly, it spelled a world of difference between Bell's previous weapon and the current one we have." Hestia said while gesturing to Bell's knife and the dead Silverback.
"Yeah. But none of this wouldn't be possible without Bell's own efforts. You did great!" Sora said as he held out a fist to Bell, making Bell look at Sora with a confused look, before he slowly bumped his fist with Sora.
"Ba la la la la!" Sora cheered while bringing his fist back while waving his fingers around.
"Ba la la la...la?" Bell returned, unsure about this weird gesture but awkwardly following Sora.
"I have the feeling this gesture is something out of this world..." Hestia sighed with exasperation.
Even though Bell felt awkward on doing the weird gesture, it wasn't enough to erase the feeling of accomplishment. Even though it felt small, Bell felt that he just made a step closer to reaching Sora.
And that's a wrap to this chapter!
Whew, that was certainly a lot to type through. But I felt it was worth it.
(Bell's Hestia Knife Upgrade)
Surprised by the upgrade?
An interesting tidbit I should mention is that during the development of this fanfic (before being published) & before you guys started suggesting this idea, I heavily considered having Bell be able to wield a Keyblade and receive the Starlight Keyblade from Sora, because Sora is at Keyblade Master Level to unknowingly perform the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony. Also, you don't need the Master title to perform the ceremony, as Terra has performed it without the title. It certainly seemed like a very fun idea to go with.
But I soon found that having a Keyblade is just story-breaker power in itself, and Bell having it would make 95% of the conflict for him to be rendered meaningless. Having Sora around is enough already.
So I've decided to go with the alternative of Sora giving Bell's Hestia Knife an upgrade, and give him a taste of Kingdom Hearts bullshit. Just as how certain weapons have the Durandal Attribute to prevent it from breaking and Curse Weapons have curses added to them, Bell's Hestia Knife has the Attribute of Light.
That doesn't really mean Bell is going to be manipulating light to the same extent as Sora. The Light Attribute is ironically more subtle than flashy for Bell's Hestia Knife. Light is a rather versatile attribute, and has 3 Traits to it (because Kingdom Hearts number theme). And just what are they? You'll just have to read and find out later on.
Also, please note that Bell's weapon is forged with the same material in canon: mythril. Adamantite was merely used as payment for the knife. The only addition to the knife is Electrum and Twilight Crystal.
(Bell Learning from Kingdom Hearts Characters)
I've decided to add another factor that Sora can help influence Bell grow stronger. Namely, the Gummiphone. Let's say in my fanfic, the Gummiphone holds the data of all the battles that Sora has been in. Bell can see the records of Sora's battles and the data of the enemies he fought.
Can't be too farfetched. I mean, Cid managed to somehow get data on the Organization 13 members and recreate their fighting styles. Even Xehanort and the X-blade, despite Sora being the only one to directly fight him.
And seeing how Larxene is practically the only knife user in Kingdom Hearts, I figured Bell could learn a thing or two from her.
That doesn't mean Larxene is the only person Bell will learn from. On the contrary, Bell will find a few certain other people that he can learn from as well. Who else? That's for you to figure out. But feel free to make suggestions. I'm all ears.
Fun Fact of the Day
According to Yoko Shimomura, the chorus portion of the iconic "Destati" is believed to be cursed because every time the developers loaded it into the game, something bad would happen. An example of this was the entire building suffering a power outage.
