Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts of Danmachi. Both belong to their respective owners.

Hey everyone, back at it again with another chapter. Thank you for all your feedback and support for my previous chapter.

Now then, before we get started, I need to address something real quick.

I'm getting a lot of messages and reviews from a lot of you telling me to play Memoria Freese.

I said it before and I'll say it again for the final time: I'M NOT GOING TO PLAY MEMORIA FREESE

Why?

Because my real life is busy enough as it is. I don't have time to play Memoria Freese.

And besides, I already have my hands full with one gacha game already: FATE GRAND ORDER.

And don't tell me to just quit FGO. Oh no, I've been with the game since its release. There's no way in hell am I going to give up on something I've invested so much time and effort into. I've too far invested in this game to give up now (in terms of time, not money thankfully [GSSR Only]).

I've made my decision, and it is final. Please don't ask me to play Memoria Freese any more, as those pleas will fall on deaf ears.

HOWEVER, I do have knowledge on some of the events that goes on in Memoria Freese: Astraea Record & Grand Day (Roughly). So I'm not ignorant of the game's canon event backstory and pseudo-canon event. I'm aware of Aedes Vesta and roughly the synopsis, but there's just way too much to watch.

And on another note (FOR GUEST REVIEWERS, PLEASE READ THIS):

I really don't want to do this, but there's been a trend that I've been noticing lately in my Reviews. Namely for Guest Reviews.

I'm not going to name any names, so allow me to be transparent for all Guest Reviews (or anyone else): Any reviews only explaining or theory-crafting ONLY Danmachi rules, lore, and mechanics (why Gods came to Gekai, how their arcanum works, the origins of the Dungeons, etc.) is not approved. I've let it slide for the first few reviews, but then I noticed that there's been a flood of them lately. This also applies to Kingdom Hearts as well.

If you're theory crafting about, say, the mysterious boy from the 50th floor and the source of the Heartless, then you're more than welcome to type away what you're thinking of.

If you have any theory-crafting or explanation of Danmachi rules, lore, and mechanics, take that somewhere else. My Reviews are not to be used as a forum for you to post your knowledge on. In fact, Fanfiction has a Forum section, specifically designed to show what you know there.

Also, do not treat the reviews as a chat room. PM is there for a reason. It's not that hard to set up an account on Fanfiction and directly PM others. I know you can't PM Guest Reviews, but I certainly have the power to moderate Guest Reviews and stop Guests from messaging other Guests & Guests talking to Reviewers.

Again, I REALLY didn't want to do call out to my reviewers. I appreciate every single one of you for loving and criticizing my fanfic. However, it's rather annoying how I keep getting notifications on Reviews that do not have to do anything with my fanfic and you're just using my reviews as a platform on wanting to show how big your Danmachi/Kingdom Hearts knowledge is.

With that out of the way, let's get started!


Chapter 5: Supporter

Bell is currently on the run as he hastily made his way through the abandoned district that he and his Familia lived in. He jumped and maneuvered his way through the rubble, latching onto broken leaning pillars to get across areas. Bell frantically looked around his surroundings to keep an eye out for anything to come.

'An attack can come from anywhere...!' Bell thought to himself, eyes moving side to side in alarm and caution.

It was then a ball of water was coming straight at him. Bell pushed off a stone to immediately avoid the incoming blast of water and made himself climb up to the the roof of an abandoned house. As he ran across the roof, he immediately side stepped to avoid the blast, and jumped off the roof to reach for a the rope hanging before him.

'Almost there...!' Bell thought as he reached out for the rope.

He was then immediately blasted by water on his side and onto the street.

Bell spluttered as he spat out the water in his mouth, and groaned as he picked himself up. When he looked up, he saw Sora off in the distance, standing on top of a building while waving at him.

Bell could only sigh as he picked himself up while wringing off the water.

This a very strange and unorthodox training method if Bell ever saw one.

During their time in the Dungeon, he witnessed Sora performing Flowmotion to maneuver around the environment and deal with the Heartless.

Seeing such a magical ability to freely move around your surroundings was an ability that Bell could practically dream of having, considering his fighting style involved speed and agility. Alas, he didn't have the Keyblade to grant him that ability. But with Flowmotion not being Keyblade-exclusive ability, Sora had other ideas.

Considering that no one lived in the abandoned district except for them, Sora found no problem on using the abandoned district as a training course for Bell to run around in.

Of course, Bell wouldn't have to just run around the obstacles and rubble of the abandoned district, but Sora would use his water magic to blast Bell with, seeing how it's a non-lethal magic Sora can use to hit Bell with. Sora explained that agility and being able to dodge is integral for Bell's fighting style, and blocking should be on Bell's last priority.

It was...easier said than done.

Bell honestly lost count on how many times he's been hit by Sora's water magic while trying to move around his surroundings.

It was a good thing Sora could use his fire and wind magic to dry out Bell's clothes. Otherwise Bell would have to trudge through the training with wet and soggy clothes.

And this was only considered Bell's warmup for the morning.


~ Break ~


Bell gave out a grunt of pain as he was sent flying back. He immediately rolled himself back up and went back into a fighting stance. He heavily panted when examining Sora, who didn't look the slight bit winded through their spar.

"C'mon Bell! I know you're better than that!" Sora said with an encouraging tone as he hefted a pole over his shoulders.

Sora was currently using the Wheel of Fate's Formchange, the Storm Flag, a literal flagpole. Bell was a bit skeptical on having to fight Sora wielding a flag pole. But he was soon proven that any weapon that is within Sora's grasp turns deadly in its own right. He lost count how many times he's been knocked around and back by the flagpole.

This was practically the only weapon that was safe to hit Bell with, considering that it's a blunt object rather than a sharp object. Of course, there is also Favorite Deputy, but that will easily break bones if it were to ever hit Bell. There's also the pointy end of the flag, but Sora was using the blunt end of the flagpole.

It's just one thing after another with Sora's Keyblades. It was surprising to see Sora use a Second Form to utilize a new set of spells. Sora's other Keyblades can just straight out transform into other weapons. Once again, the power of the Keyblade was something that anyone cannot underestimate. Something that Bell is getting firsthand experience of dealing with.

Sora wished he had a Formchange to use knives like Bell, but he doesn't have the Keychain to give him that form. Bell has told Sora that sparring with him is more than enough to help him train to get stronger.

Their sparring allowed Bell to learn a lot from Sora: learning how to adjust his stances, the way he attacks Sora, and how to deal with various types of weapons that Sora has in his disposal. It made Bell feel glad that he is able to spar with an incredible hero and learn a lot from this experience.

That admiration, however, doesn't detract how much he's been smacked around all over the place. He knew that any injury that does come from sparring will be healed by Sora, but the pain is still there.

Bell charged forward as he reverse gripped his knives and attempted to slash Sora with his left arm, only for Sora to to block the incoming slash with the pole, before he spun around and thrusted his pole towards Bell. This made Bell jump to the side to avoid to narrowly avoid the thrust, only for him to be met with a swift smack to the head and sent him rolling on the ground. However, Bell made himself roll back up and held up his knives once more.

This time, he flipped the grip on his knives and held them in standard grip rather than reverse grip. He charged towards Sora and immediately tried to hit Sora with every slash that he could give.

As he was attempting to hit Sora with his knives, Sora was easily blocking any attack Bell was throwing with little effort.

"Remember Bell, when dual wielding with that particular stance, it's all about offense! Do not give your opponent the time to go into the offensive. And if they go into offensive, then you dodge or block, and then immediately counter! That's how Roxas fought with his two Keyblades!" Sora told Bell as he kept on blocking any incoming slashes and stabs.

"Got it!" Bell responded as he forced himself to pick up the pace.

That's right.

Roxas.

Bell found another individual he wished to learn from when going through Sora's Gummiphone.

Particularly Roxas, Sora's Nobody.

Roxas used two Keyblades as his fighting style. As someone who also uses two weapons in hand, Bell finds it immensely helpful on learning from a powerful dual wield user.

Sure, Larxene uses both of her arms when fighting, but the way she grips her weapons is way different compared to how he uses his knives. At least with Roxas, Bell has some semblance of imitating Roxas.

The only difference is the length of their weapons, but the aggressive style Roxas is using can teach Bell a lot on how to fight with his two knives.

The two sparred for a while during the morning, before Sora decided to end it after seeing how exhausted Bell is after their sparring.

Bell is panting as he sat on the steps to the entrance of the abandoned church, having a towel to wipe away the sweat. He soon saw Sora holding a canteen of water to Bell, to which Bell gratefully accepted.

"So, you learn anything from our sparring?" Sora curiously asked as he sat alongside Bell.

"A lot, actually. A lot of footwork, precision, and reaction time is needed in order to pull off what Roxas and Larxene can do." Bell admitted as he took a sip from his canteen. "I feel like I'm making some progress, but it's still far from what you and the other can do."

"Yeah, I get ya. When I first got my Keyblade, I swung it like club rather than properly like a sword. I took me a while to finally get a good grasp and mastery on how to properly wielder a Keyblade." Sora admitted with a chuckle.

"You really swung it around like a club?" Bell asked in surprise, as he couldn't picture Sora swinging around his Keyblade clumsily like a sword.

"Yeah really. But like I said, it takes time to master the weapon you're wielding. It took me a couple years to get good with my Keyblade, as well as a lot of experiencing fighting so many Heartless and people. And trust me when I say that with the rate that you're growing, I'm sure you'll master what Roxas and Larxene are capable of in no time. I'm sure of it!" Sora told Bell with a confident grin.

Hearing this from his hero made Bell feel giddy inside, seeing how much faith Sora has in him.

"R-Right! I need to continue to work hard!" Bell said while vigorously nodding.

For the sake of catching up to his hero.


~ Break ~


After finishing their early morning training, Bell and Sora are ready to dive into the Dungeon once more and liberate the Dungeon floors from the Heartless. The two of them stood before the base of Babel.

"Gotta say, the armor looks good on you Bell!" Sora complimented with a grin as he examined Bell's newly purchased armor.

Bell was wearing white light-weight armor that covered his chest, shoulders, arms, legs, and side of his thighs. On his right thigh is a leg holster holding about 6 throwing daggers.

"You think so? I'm glad to hear that." Bell said as he adjusted his armor a bit. "It's also very light, and does little to weigh me down. But it will do well in protecting my body."

"That's good to hear." Sora said while nodding. "Well then, shall we get going?"

Bell nodded, prepared to face the Heartless once more alongside Sora.

As the two of them made their way towards the entrance, Sora took notice of something particular as adventurers were also entering the Dungeon as well."

"Umm...Hey Bell?"

"Yes?"

"I know that we've gone through here multiple times, but I'm beginning to notice a lot of people with overly large backpacks. Is that some kind of trend?" Sora asked with a raised eyebrow.

This made Bell look around and see multiple adventurers carrying large backpacks while following adventurers from the back. If he remembered correctly...

"Ah, I believe they're Supporters." Bell recalled.

"Supporters?" Sora repeated with a confused look.

"They're adventurers who play a supporting role to other adventurers. They generally help with extraction and carrying of magic stones. Not to mention, they provide some form of assistance to make it easier dealing with the Dungeon monsters." Bell explained.

"I see. Well that seems like a helpful role." Sora remarked.

"Indeed. It would be nice to have a Supporter with us..." Bell commented with a thoughtful look.

"Excuse me, white hair adventurer! Spiky hair adventurer!" a voice called out to them.

Both Bell and Sora blinked at the voice and description calling out to them, and they turned around to see a small girl who was carrying a backpack just as large as the other Supporters they see in the area. Underneath the hood appeared to be some kind of dog-like ears, indicating that she's a Chienthrope.

"Lili can't help but hear that you're in need of a Supporter!" the small girl, who introduced herself as Lili, told them with an eager smile.

When Bell saw her, he could only blink in confusion.

"Erm...did I not see you just yesterday...?" Bell asked in confusion, which caused Lili to tilt her head in confusion.

"What do you mean? Lili doesn't remember meeting you before." Lili said with a confused expression.

"What do you mean by yesterday Bell?" Sora asked with confusion.

"Ah, yesterday, after shopping with Miss Eina for armor and throwing knives, I ran into a small girl like her who was in trouble of being mugged by someone, at least that's what I thought was happening. Thankfully, one of the waitresses from the pub we go to helped diffuse the situation. The girl in question disappeared before I could make sure she's alright. I guess I mixed her up with someone else." Bell explained to Sora.

"Ah, I get it now." Sora said while nodding, before he turned to Lili with a curious look. "So you said that you're offering to become a Supporter?"

"That's right! This poor Supporter who simply want the leftovers of Adventurers is advertising herself!" Lili cheerfully explained.

"I-I see. Um, let's discuss this somewhere else..." Bell said as he gestured to a nearby fountain.

When the three sat on the edge of the fountain, Bell turned to Lili with an inquisitive look.

"So Lili, aren't you currently with another Familia? Wouldn't you rather go with them rather than us?" Bell curiously asked.

Lili gave a shallow chuckle when she was asked that question and gave a slightly gloomy look.

"W-Well, Lili is rather weak, you see? Lili's Familia prefers not to deal with a klutz." Lili simply explained.

"Well that's just wrong. Why would they do that to you, even if you're in the same Familia?" Sora asked with a frown, already disliking what he's hearing about Lili's Familia. Familia are supposed to help each other, and yet they're just tossing aside Lili like she's useless.

"It's just as Lili said, she's weak, so they'd rather not put their efforts in trying to support someone like Lili. So please, take Lili as your Supporter! Lili promises she'll do her best to support the both of you!" Lili said while clapping her hands together in a gesture of begging.

This made Sora feel sorry for what the girl is going through, while Bell's mind was running through other things.

"U-Urm, we don't mind taking you with us! It's just...!" Bell frantically said, his mind already scrambling on what to do with her and remembering the Heartless in the Dungeon.

He gave a quick glance at Sora, and then back at Lili.

"C-Could you excuse us for a moment? Sora and I need to privately talk about something first." Bell said as he gestured Sora to come with him, making Sora blink at the gesture. But he followed Bell to a good enough distance where they could talk with each other privately.

"Sora, should we let her come with us? The Heartless are in the Dungeon, and we don't want others to find out..." Bell worriedly asked while making a gaze towards Lili.

"True, we want to limit as much knowledge about the Heartless as well. Hestia keeps telling us that. Bringing her with us is already a risk." Sora noted, before he gave a slight frown. "But let's not forget about the monsters from the Dungeon. Taking care of the corpses and extracting the magic stones does take some time. If we have her, we could speed up the process taking care of the monsters and move onto finding the Heartless."

"You have a point..." Bell muttered when Sora pointed that out.

When it comes to eliminating the Heartless, it's a rather easy process as they leave no body behind when defeated, save for a few Synthesis materials. The Dungeon monsters, on the other hand, remain intact until you extract the magic stone from their bodies.

Honestly, they could just ignore the monsters and go for the Heartless. But they need valis in order to put bread on the table. Sora could contribute in taking out the monsters as well, but that would hinder Bell's own growth, which is needed to stand a chance against the Heartless.

"...How should we go about this? I want to help Lili, yet not spread this knowledge..." Sora muttered while trying to rack his brain on some solution.

Bell gave a pensive look as well, before he suddenly blinked as his head thought of an idea.

"...Well, if we're hiring her...then maybe we should add a condition and compensation?" Bell pointed out.

"Condition and compensation?" Sora asked in surprise.

"Yeah. We should add a condition to where Lili cannot share this information, and we give her extra payment to help keep things under wraps." Bell explained.

"Oh, that's a great idea Bell!" Sora said while nodding in agreement.

"I-It is? I was just honestly winging it with whatever came in my head to be honest..." Bell admitted with a bashful look.

"Well, it's better than nothing. C'mon, we shouldn't keep Lili waiting any longer." Sora said as he gestured towards Lili, who was waiting for the two while fidgeting.

Bell nodded as he and Sora made their way towards Lili.

"S-So have you two come to a decision?" Lili asked with a bit of an anxious tone.

"Well, after some discussion with Sora, we'd like to hire you Lili." Bell told the Chienthrope.

"R-Really!? Thank you very much!" Lili said as she stood up and bowed in thanks.

"However, there's a condition if you are to come with us." Bell pointed out, making Lili blink when hearing this.

"And what condition would that be?" Lili asked while tilting her head.

"The condition is that we want you to be confidential on what we're about to encounter in the Dungeon. We don't want the information to spread to others." Bell told her, making Lili blink upon hearing this.

"Confidential? Why would you want to keep what you encounters in the Dungeon private?" Lili asked with a confused look.

"Well..." Sora started as he scratched the back of his head. "Lately, let's just say the Dungeon has been going through some...changes. And these changes have been producing some new monsters that you've never seen before." Sora told her.

"New monsters...!" Lili whispered in surprise. "And you've already encountered them?"

"Yes. However, we prefer to keep this kind of information to ourselves for...um...personal reasons." Bell carefully explained.

Lili gave off a confused expression at first, before she slowly nodded.

"...Lili guesses that it's an easy task to pull off." Lili said, agreeing to the condition.

"Great! We'll properly compensate you for keeping this secret between us." Bell said with a relieved smile.

"C-Compensate?" Lili sputtered in surprise.

"Yes. This information is rather sensitive. We'll give you an extra payment to help compensate for your compliance." Bell told her.

"Y-You are...!?" Lili exclaimed in shock, being offered so much valis just to keep a secret.

However, Bell misunderstood Lili's shock and gave a soft frown.

"I-I'm sorry, do you need more extra payment? We don't mind giving you some monster materials that you can exchange on your own." Bell offered with a concerned look.

"N-No, that's not what Lili meant!" Lili hastily spoke up. "Lili can be fine with even a small fraction of what we gain from the Dungeon! That's generous enough!"

"Well that doesn't seem like a fair. Everyone is supposed to split the reward equally. And we don't mind giving you extra payment if you hold your end of the deal." Sora said while folding his arms while frowning.

Lili stared at Sora in shock as well, stunned into silence upon hearing this.

"...You're really serious on keeping this a secret..." Lili muttered, before she cleared her throat a bit. "V-Very well, Lili will take the offer then."

Both Bell and Sora gave relieved smiles.

"If that's the case, glad to have you on board Lili!" Sora welcomed with a grin.


~ Break ~


With a newly added Supporter to the party, the trio took off for the Dungeon. Their time through the first 7 floors was rather brisk and casual as Bell was ahead of the two and cutting down whatever came their way, and Lili was able to do her role as a Supporter and extract the magic stones, making their trek through the Dungeon faster.

Lili quietly observed Bell effortlessly cutting down the Killer Ants that came their way. Each strike was critical to kill them in one blow, all the while Bell was constantly moving to avoid attacks or being surrounded by the swarm. The weapons were able to cut through their tough shells easily.

'...That knife. It's quite quite strong.' Lili thought as she observed Bell take care of the Dungeon monsters. They must be top-tier weapons if they can cut through Killer Ant's shells like they were butter. Top tier weapons meant that their worth is quite high on the market. It would be a good steal, but...

She then made a sideward glance to Sora, who was simply standing beside her while watching the fight as well.

She hasn't really seen Sora fight just yet, but the weapon he's holding is the strangest weapon she has ever seen. She's honestly wondering why Sora is holding this oversized silver key. It looked like it could do some blunt damage, but she can never understand why it's in the form of a giant key.

She highly doubts that the oversized key is worth much in the market. Plus it's pretty hard to sneak off with such a weapon. So she will have to settle with the knife, considering how small it is sneak off with. But having Sora nearby makes it hard to take the weapon, so she'll have to put that off for now.

Though, she was wondering about something.

"Are you not going to assist Master Bell, Master Sora?" Lili asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sora looked rather uncomfortable being addressed with Master. He wasn't even considered a Keyblade Master by Yen Sid. So being called that felt like it was unearned. If Riku was here, he'd probably tease Sora on being addressed a Master despite not being a Keyblade Master.

'That's one thing I should get done as soon as I return home.' Sora thought to himself, wanting to retake the Mark of Mastery exam. And this time, he'll ace it and outperform his best friend/rival. He quickly shook his head before he focused back on reality.

"Erm, Lili, just call me Sora please. No need for the whole Master formality thing. As for Bell, he needs the excelia far more than me. I'll only step in when I need to." Sora told her.

"It's merely just formality to address you and Master Bell as such, Master Sora. After all, Lili is just a mere Supporter, and nothing more." Lili simply responded, though she was having doubts about Sora's fighting abilities if the strange weapon says anything. It felt like he was just leaving all the work to Bell.

She turned back to the fight, and found Bell finishing off the last Killer Ant. Bell gave a light exhale as he lowered his arms. Seeing this, Lili began to make her way towards the dead Killer Ants and began working on them.

"A lot less troublesome than having to deal with a swarm of Shadows..." Bell commented to himself, making Lili blink at what she heard. Why was Bell saying that War Shadows are far more troublesome than Killer Ants?

Before she could ponder any further, Sora walked forward.

"Good going Bell. And it looks like we've arrived at the entrance to the 8th floor." Sora told Bell.

Indeed, the three were already at the entrance to the 8th floor.

"So we are..." Bell said while nodding, and Sora turned to Lili.

"Alright Lili, this is where we'll start encountering these new monsters. Just stay behind us while we take care of them, alright?" Sora instructed.

"Lili understands." Lili said while nodding, though she was inwardly thinking that these two were probably going to encounter the 8th floor monsters for the first time, but she'll just play along for now.

With that, both Sora and Bell shared a nod as the two walked ahead of Lili and went down the stairs to the 8th floor. The change from the 7th to 8th floor is quite clear, as the the ceiling changes height from three to four meters from the floors above to nearly ten meters above. Moss covers the brown colored walls. The strong light from the phosphorescence above is similar to light from the sun.

It was silence as the trio walked through the hallways and rooms. Lili noticed that is was rather quiet and haven't encountered any monsters just yet.

'Perhaps the adventurers ahead of us took care of it...?' Lili thought.

Before she could ponder any further, darkness began to form around the trio. Lili's eyes widened in shock upon seeing the Heartless materializing from the darkness.

Red Nocturne, High Soldier, Air Soldier, Flutterwings, Large Bodies, and Water Core Heartless showed up and began surrounding the trio.

"W-What are these monsters!?" Lili exclaimed in shock, having never seen them before.

"About time they show up." Sora remarked as he prepped his Keyblade. Bell wordlessly nodded as he raised his knives.

"These are the monsters we're talking about!" Bell warned Lili. "Lili, just stay behind us! We'll take care of these monsters from here!" Bell told Lili.

Sora and Bell went off to fight the heartless coming from both sides.

Lili wordlessly watch the two go off to fight the Heartless. As they did, Lili frantically began to look around her surroundings and one thing came to mind.

'T-They weren't kidding when they said that there are new types of monsters...!' Lili thought in realization, before something else came to mind.

'W-Wait, this number is too abnormal!' Lili thought in alarm. This number of monsters is way too large for a normal group that you normally run into, especially on the upper floors.

'D-Don't tell me these monsters come in Monster Parties...!?' Lili thought in shock and alarm. If that was truly the case, then there's no way she's going to involve herself in a death trap while these two were recklessly taking them head on.

Lili frantically began to search for an opening to escape, but she found no openings with the surrounding monsters. She found herself having no choice but to bring out the magic sword that she keeps hidden within her clothes to create an opening for her escape.

However, she was soon caught off guard when the Heartless she was facing soon disappeared from her eyes. Instead, she was greeted with the sight of Sora's back.

The disguised Pallum soon witnessed Sora move in speeds that she couldn't even keep track off as he absolutely decimated any Heartless that came in front of him. At one moment, he decimated a group of High Soldier Heartless with a single stroke, and the next moment, he was in the air delivering this myriad of slashes all around him, cutting down the Flutterwings and Red Nocturnes.

'So fast...!' Lili thought in astonishment as Sora took down the Heartless in one strike, and was even more surprised to see how effective the Keyblade is against the Heartless. How did the blunt weapon cut through the dark monsters like butter?

It was then what Sora did that left Lili speechless.

The airbone enemies attempted to keep their distance from Sora, but Sora simply threw his Keyblade towards them. The strange key sword flew through the air, before it began to ricochet off the multiple Heartless, with each impact killing them. In a short moment, all of the airborne Heartless were eliminated, and the Keyblade soon flew back to Sora's hand.

As it did, the Heartless on the ground began to attack as one and came at Sora at all of his sides.

"Look out-!" Lili tried to warn Sora, but was soon cut off as Sora proceeded to perform a Circle Raid, having the Keyblade circle around him and protect him from the surrounding Heartless, cutting them down in an instance.

As soon as he finished performing that technique, the Keyblade flew back to Sora's hand. Sora once again took off to fight the Heartless ahead of him. As he did, there was only a single thought that came to Sora.

'Hestia told me I can't use magic in front of others, which is rather inconvenient. If that's the case, then I'll have to be creative with how I use the Keyblade!' Sora thought.

Hestia said not to use magic in front of others. She never said anything about being creative with his Keyblade techniques.

It was during his time of creativity and a little experimentation that he discovered that he can remotely control his Keyblade during a Strike Raid while also allowing the Keyblade to bounce off the targets and hit whatever it came into its pathway. He decided to call this new technique Judgement.

Though for some reason, and he doesn't know why, but he felt he performed this technique before. It felt like he forgot it for some reason, and his body just remembered to pull it off like it was a muscle memory.

Whatever the case, having a setback isn't going to that much of an issue for Sora. If anything, it'll just make Sora be more creative with what he's got. That's how he always grows and improves over the course of his journey.

Lili could only look at Sora with a shocked look.

'The way he just controls the sword's trajectory...a Skill!?' Lili thought in shock, seeing how absurd the trajectory of Sora's throws are.

No wonder Sora said he didn't need to intervene till the 7th floor. He's taking out the large number of Heartless on his own with little to no sweat! She completely underestimated him.

'If Sora is able to perform at this level...then could Bell also be-!?" Lili thought in shock, assuming Bell to be performing similarly to Sora.

However, that wasn't the case when she turned to look at Bell.

Bell was dealing with his own portion of Heartless, but unlike Sora, he was dealing with them at a much slower pace compared to Sora. Not to mention, Bell was having a bigger challenge when facing them unlike Sora. And while Bell is quite agile in his movements, they pale in comparison to Sora's own speed.

Bell was moving all over the place to not get caught being surrounded while avoiding incoming fire blasts from the Red Nocturnes. Bell gripped the Trancheuse between his fingers and delivered a claw-like slash across the face of a Water Core Heartless, making it stumble from the damage, while using his Hestia Knife to cleanly slash through another Water Core Heartless, immediately killing it upon the slash. He then spun himself to kick away the stumbled Water Core Heartless.

Bell moving to the side to avoid a spinning kick from a High Soldier Heartless, making the High Soldier stumble a bit. Bell took that opening to deliver an X-slash with his knives, destroying the High Soldier Heartless. As he did, he found a Large Body Heartless making its way towards him.

Bell narrowed his eyes as he ran forward and soon jumped into the air while twirling his body to position himself as he landed behind the Large Body Heartless. The Large Body Heartless didn't get to do anything as Bell flipped the grip on the Hestia Knife and held it in standard grip and began to deliver an unrelenting assault of slashes from his knives.

He then delivered the final blow with a deep cut from his Hestia Knife, killing the Large Body Heartless.

Immediately, he made his body move to avoid the incoming scratches from the Air Soldier Heartless. When he gained the distance to avoid them, Bell swung his arm to throw the Trancheuse towards the airborne Heartless.

The knives flew through the air. However, only a couple of knives hit the Air Soldier Heartless while the rest went off trajectory.

Bell slightly cursed to himself, before he wordlessly took out the second dagger he kept in the Green Supporter that Eina has gifted him and prepared himself to fight the airborne Heartless.

'...He's...not bad.' Lili thought. All things considered, Bell is doing quite well despite the numbers against him. But he was still having a challenging time dealing with the Heartless. But with the airborne Heartless, it's just going to drag out the battle.

Lili gave a glance towards the crossbow on her arm, before she decided to take action. She felt that Sora was more than enough to deal with the Heartless, but Bell is a different case. He needed help, for both his and her sake to survive this abnormal Monster Party.

She then began to aim the arrows loaded in her crossbow and began firing the arrows. The airborne Heartless saw the arrows and began to move themselves, being distracted by her arrows. As they were distracted, Bell saw the opening that he needed and began to close in on the distracted Heartless and slash at them.

"Thanks Lili!" Bell thanked as he focused his efforts onto striking the Heartless down.

Lili didn't say anything as she kept on firing. She's going to get out of this mess alive. And these two were her best bet on surviving.


~ Break ~


Soon, the trio have finished their battle with the Heartless. Bell gave a light exhale as he wiped his forehead while Lili was cautiously looking around to see if there are anymore Heartless. Sora didn't look winded at all as he walked up towards the two.

"Looks like we've taken cared of the monsters in this area." Sora said as he hefted his Keyblade over his shoulder. "How are you holding up Bell? Need a Cure?"

"Fortunately, no. I don't have any injuries this time, all thanks to Lili providing covering fire for the airborne Heartless." Bell said while gesturing to Lili.

"Lili was simply doing what Lili had to do as a Supporter." Lili simply answered while waving off her contribution.

"Well, what you did as a Supporter has really, well, supported us." Sora told Lili while grinning. "In any case, let's take a 5 minute breather before we move onto where the other dark monsters are."

Well, a 5 minute breather for Bell to be honest, if his slight exhaustion from the fight says anything.

Lili blinked when she heard this, and looked at Sora with a shocked look.

"W-Wait, you're actively seeking out those strange monsters!?" Lili asked in shock.

"Well, yeah. Part of the purpose of going into the Dungeon is to seek out these dark monsters and take them out." Sora pointed out.

Lili wanted to protest on seeking out the monsters, but she held her tongue, believing that pointing out her concerns about the dark creatures will end up with serious backlash on her part.

"I-If that is what both master Sora and Bell want, then Lili will comply. Lili is just a bit shaken up after the Monster Party we recently dealt with." Lili simply threw out.

Both Bell and Sora blinked when they've heard this from Lili, before Bell gave an "ah" upon realizing something.

"...Oh right. I've been fighting the dark creatures for a while that I've gotten used to it. Other adventurers haven't..." Bell said in realization.

He's been fighting large groups of Heartless alongside Sora for a while. Because of that, he's more or less starting to get used to fighting a large group of monsters, far more than any typical Level 1 adventurer encounters in the upper floors.

"Ah ha ha, I guess that just slipped out minds. Sorry about that Lili, we forgot to warn you about the numbers. Our bad." Sora sheepishly apologized while scratching the back of his head.

"P-Please, don't apologize. Lili is just too weak to keep up with adventurers! It's only natural that she's going to be overwhelmed by the sight." Lili frantically said while waving her arms.

"Still, we should've given you a heads up before we encountered them." Sora said, before he gave her a frown. "Still, you're selling yourself rather short Lili. Even if you aren't strong, you still helped us out. That counts as something we appreciate." Sora told her.

Lili blinked at Sora's words, baffled how such a strong adventurer like him appreciates her help.

"I-If that is what you say..." Lili trailed off, unsure on how to respond to that.

"In any case, after our little break, we'll move onto the other rooms of the 8th floor. Lili, I want you to keep supporting Bell. I can take care of the Heartless fine on my own." Sora told the two.

'That certainly doesn't need saying...' Lili thought, but simply kept up her professional smile. "Of course!"

Though, Lili soon noticed something when she looked around the Dungeon room.

"Urm...Lili just noticed, but...these strange monsters left no magic stones behind. Why is that?" Lili asked with a raised eyebrow.

Both Bell and Sora stiffened a bit when they heard this question, and they gave uneasy looks.

"W-Well..." Sora started.

"I-It's rather complicated to explain, but...um...let's just say, they're not meant to be here in the first place." Bell admitted.

"What do you mean?" Lili asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Remember when I said that the Dungeon is going through some changes? Well, these abnormal monsters are a product of it." Bell explained.

"So the Dungeon really is changing? Lili is surprised to learn about this! You'd think the Guild would inform everyone about this." Lili remarked with surprise.

"Normally, that's the case. But..." Bell said as he scratched the back of his head as he gazed towards Sora to help him out.

"These particular monsters, while they don't drop magic stones, do drop these rare materials that can be used to help forge better weapons. In addition, defeating them gives you a lot of excelia. So it's a fair trade off." Sora explained.

"Lili sees..."

So that explains it. Still, this is all very new to her, and yet these two somehow have knowledge on these new monsters before everyone else. Which honestly begs the question as to why they know so much about this.

And Lili could obviously see that they're clearly hiding something. But then again, they're adventurers. They're always hiding something sinister within them, especially when it came to her. They're also attempting to monopolize these strange monsters to themselves for their own benefit. So she shouldn't be surprised.

But even with all of these questions and concerns swirling around in her head, Lili is more concerned with trying to survive, rather than getting too invested on these new monsters. It's rather annoying to her how these new monster types don't even drop a magic stone to help make up for what she's facing.

'...And Lili has to stick with these two until the end of the day...' Lili thought, inwardly grimacing at the thought of facing these new abnormal monsters during her time in the Dungeon.

And she has to rely on these two to survive the onslaught.


~ Break ~


"Well that certainly took a while..." Sora commented as he, Bell, and Lili finally made it back to the surface.

"Yeah. They became a lot more frequent this time." Bell remarked while rolling his shoulders.

Lili stayed silent while looking at the backs of these two.

The entire time, they kept running into monster parties of these strange new monsters. But even with the numbers stacked against them, Lili has witnessed how strong and capable Sora is when tackling these abnormal monsters. A majority of the monsters were focused on Sora, and Sora was taking down these Monster Parties like it's a walk in the park.

The way he fights definitely isn't a Level 1. It felt more akin to a Level 3 or 4 if she is roughly guessing.

Bell was also strange as well. He felt like a Level 1, and yet his own strength felt like it was above average for your typical adventurer.

These two are not your typical adventurers that she has to deal with. And one that she cannot escape easily if they were to discover her stealing from them if she made any attempts to do so.

She stayed silent as the trio made their way to the Guild and exchanged all of their magic stones. She inwardly cursed when Bell volunteered to go and exchange the magic stones while Sora was sticking with her. She was hoping to take the knife when the two separated, but instead she wasn't given the chance.

"Sorry for the wait." Bell said as he hefted a rather large back of valis onto the table.

"No worries. How much did we make today?" Sora curiously asked.

Everyone leaned in as Bell started counting the amount of valis in the bag.

"It's...about 42,000 valis!" Bell revealed while looking surprised at the amount.

"Seriously!?" Sora exclaimed in surprise.

"No way!" Lili exclaimed in surprise.

"It's something I can't believe as well!" Bell told them with a surprised look. "We've managed to earn this much thanks to you Lili!"

"What are you talking about, Master Bell? The two of you have earned more than a typical 5 Level 1 party, so it stands to reason that you and Sora did all the work!" Lili simply said, waving off the compliment.

"Even if that's true, you helped things proceed a lot smoother! Plus, without your help, I would've been riddled with injuries from those dark monsters!" Bell returned with an earnest look.

"Well, even if you were injured, you got me to take care of those injuries." Sora simply told Bell with a grin.

"True, but I don't want you to waste your magic when you can save it for the monsters." Bell said.

Before Sora could return that statement, Lili simply cleared her throat.

"Well then, Master Bell and Master Sora, can Lili get her share?" Lili simply asked.

"Oh, right. Here you go Lili." Bell said as he took out half the amount and handed it over to Lili.

Lili looked at her amount in shock.

"Wha...!?"

She was soon cut off when Bell gave a look of realization as he remembered something. He quickly dug into his bag and took out some valis.

"Oh, right, almost forgot. Here's your extra payment." Bell said as he took out another handful of coins and placed it into her bag.

"W-Wait, hold on a moment! Why are you giving Lili all these valis!? In fact, you're giving Lili more!?" Lili exclaimed in shock.

"W-Well, yeah. Parties are supposed to split the reward evenly, right? There's also the fact that I've promised to give you extra if you can keep what you encountered in the Dungeon a secret between us. We really don't want this type of information to spread to others." Bell pointed out.

'...They were serious. They were serious about paying Lili extra for keeping the information under wraps.' Lili thought in shock.

"...Still, I'm just a Supporter. Don't you want to take more than this?" Lili pointed out, trying to show them the logic of these two weird adventurers.

Both Bell and Sora shared a look with each other, before they looked back to Lili.

"Well...I don't agree with that sentiment." Bell said. His mind was still fresh with the conversation between him and Eina when they talked about Supporters and how they tend to be looked down on by adventurers. That was something he greatly disliked, and wished that Supporters weren't treated like this.

"Yeah, doesn't seem fair." Sora agreed.

"Besides, half of what we made today is around what Sora and I make alone. That fact that you're with us just helps makes dealing with the abnormal monsters easier to focus on." Bell pointed out.

"Plus we got to move around the Dungeon much more quicker. Bell and I are always on the search for those strange monsters." Sora pointed out, and then gave a grin towards Lili.

"We appreciate having your help, and we like to work with you more in the future." Bell offered.

Lili looked shocked upon hearing this offer, and had very complicated feelings about this matter. She was having an internal debate with herself on whether or not to associate with these two any further for her own benefit, or just cut the ties to keep the safety of her well-being.

On one hand, what she received today was far more than what she usually makes. And she's getting a bonus just to keep her mouth shut on what she witnessed, which is more than an easy enough task for her to be honest. She didn't really like sharing information to adventurers, as she wanted to spend as little as time as possible with them. In fact, if the adventurers were caught off guard and lost their lives to these dark monsters, good riddance. That's one less scumbag she has to deal with.

It made it very tempting to keep working with the two, and possibly steal that knife that Bell has in his possession to make even more money if given the opportunity.

On the other hand, sticking with these two is going to expose her to dangers that she has never seen before. She doesn't want to be involved with these new types of monsters that she has no knowledge of, and they don't even drop anything to compensate for it! It was just excelia gain for the two before her. Her whole entire life was about survival and do whatever it takes to scrape whatever she could get to survive. There's no way she's taking great risks that involve her life.

But...she witnessed the strength of these two. These two were able to fend off the Heartless without having the need to use her as bait or a meat shield to save their hides. If anything, they were more focused on protecting her well-being if anything, which is something that utterly boggles her mind.

Having two strong adventurers protecting her from these strange monsters gave her a sense of security. But she reminded herself that these two were adventurers, the worse kind of people to deal with. They'll eventually betray her and leave her to die. There's also the fact that these two are clearly hiding something from her. Well, it's to be expected for adventurers to not have faith or trust on the likes of her.

And yet...she was earning far more with these two. Far more than what she typically makes. Scratch that, far more than what she usually gets paid by in a month. And even with the numbers against them, not once did they threaten to use Lili as a meat shield or bait to make a getaway. And they also seem intent on protecting her from harm.

Lili was internally struggling whether she should stick with these two while risking her life to greater gain of valis, or just ditch these two and focus on her own self-preservation.

But soon, her eyes fell onto the large sack of valis in her hand. And it was the sight of valis that drove her decision.

"...If that is what you wish, then Lili would comply." Lili said with a skeptical tone.

She just hopes that she won't regret getting involved with these two weird adventurers.


~ Break ~


"What the hell is this...!?" Hephastois growled in frustration while looking at layout of the Gummiship on a large sheet of paper.

All around her are notes and books on vehicle constructions, magic-stone usage machinery, and magic item construction. Papers were laid all over the table, having so many notes and references.

However, all of this was proving to be for naught, as this design for the Gummiship is, in her own words, complete and utter bullshit.

"It would be easier if this was created by the mind of a child and call this a doodle. But everything is highly detailed and realistic, yet I'm struggling with the fundamentals..." Hephastois muttered to herself while giving a hard stare at the layout before her.

Why is it that she can understand that it's possible to make, and yet impossible for her to understand completely on what's going on?

Honestly, this Chip and Dale must be geniuses of the highest caliber if they were able to achieve a flying vehicle of all things. No mere mortal is able to come up with this type of design. The level of knowledge in this world is still behind the knowledge found in Tenkai, and yet these two mortals somehow have knowledge that possibly surpasses Tenkai's knowledge.

"So how...?" Hephastois muttered in confusion and frustration.

If it's about magic item construction, she willing to concede that she can't make it, and leave it to Gods of Magic and Adventurers with the Mystery Developmental Skill to handle such a thing. But this...this is a design that can be forged through physical means. Meaning she can construct it with her own abilities.

"...If only I could use my Arcanum to make sense of this..." Hephastois muttered to herself, before she shook her head. 'Even if I could, that would only mean I'm taking the easy way out and admitting my defeat to someone's design. And I refuse to allow some layout to beat me without having the chance to construct it!'

Before she could delve even further into trying to study the design, a knock was made from the door.

"Lady Hephastois? You mind if I come in?" a familiar voice called out.

Hearing this made Hephastois sigh while rubbing her forehead. Perhaps she needed some time to take her mind off this project may help.

"Come in."

With the click of the door, the door soon opened and revealed to be the Captain of her Familia.

Tsubaki whistled at the sight when she entered the room, seeing all of the papers and layouts of the Gummiship.

"I was wondering what you were doing inside the office all this time. You're really focused on whatever it is you're trying to make." Tsubaki remarked while looking at one of the layouts pinned to the wall.

"Focused is an understatement." Hephastois said while sighing. "Is there something that needs to be addressed, Tsubaki?"

Tsubaki simply shrugged as she held up a mug towards Hephastois.

"Well, considering that you've been cooped up in your office all day and not be out there with the smithing orders, you might need some coffee to help with whatever you're working on." Tsubaki said, making Hephastois blink upon hearing this.

"All day? I've only been in here for a few hours." Hephastois retorted.

"You've been here since crack of morning." Tsubaki pointed out and then gestured to the window of her office.

Hephastois blinked and turned to the window, and soon noticed that the sun was setting outside, signaling the end of the day.

Hephastois sighed as she grabbed the mug and sat down on her chair.

"...I suppose a break should suffice..." Hephastois sighed while looking rather winded on what she went through.

"That's an understatement. So what exactly got you so riled up that it needs all of your attention? Is a customer demanding some kind of absurd weapon that needs your attention?" Tsubaki curiously asked.

"Replace weapon with a vehicle." Hephastois responded.

"Vehicle? You're making a wagon of all things? Must be a high quality and fancy wagon if it demands that much of your time. I'm sure you could collaborate with Gods specializing in arts to help you with the design." Tsubaki remarked.

"Oh, it's more than that. Why don't you take a good look at one of the sheets and tell me what you think?" Hephastois said while gesturing to one of the layouts of the Gummiship.

Tsubaki blinked as she turned towards the layout and leaned in to get a good look.

After a short moment, Tsubaki just turned to her patron Goddess with a dubious expression.

"...Yeah, I don't understand anything at all." Tsubaki admitted.

"Exactly. I can only get the fundamentals down at best." Hephastois said while sighing in frustration.

"And what exactly do these schematics accomplish, anyway? Seems like a very complicated way to build a wagon, when you just build a good one with very good wood and metal material." Tsubaki said while squinting at the details and layouts of the Gummiship.

"It's a vehicle capable of flight." Hephastois simply stated while taking a sip from her mug.

This caused Tsubaki to pause upon hearing this, before she turned to her Goddess with an incredulous expression.

"...You serious?" Tsubaki asked with surprise. Her Goddess simply nodded.

"I'm serious. I know it seems rather outlandish, but it's been made before. And our client is asking us to make one for him." Hephastois told the Captain.

"...Holy crap, to think someone made a wagon capable of flight. And here I thought it was nothing more than a fairy tale..." Tsubaki said as she looked at all the layouts of the Gummiship. "No wonder it's taking you so much time to figure this out. All of these schematics make flight possible..."

"Yes, and it frustrates me that I'm having difficulty trying to understand how all of this works. This is a design so advanced that it baffles me how two mortals were able to create this. They're geniuses of the highest caliber, that I can admit." Hephastois said with a small frown and begrudging respect.

"Huh, coming from you, they must be quite special. So why is it that I've never heard of them? You'd think they're making a name for themselves by showing off their work." Tsubaki remarked.

This made Hephastois blink.

Now that Tsubaki said it, she's surprised that Chip and Dale haven't shown off their works to the entire world. They would've turned the entire world upside down with their invention. But for some reason, they didn't.

So why...?

'...This is just part of a long and complicated story that Sora is involved in, isn't it?' Hephastois thought while her eyebrow heavily twitched.

She's not the nosy type to get into people's personal business. Even so, she can't help but having this small desire of wanting to get the context of everything about Sora and the Gummiship, even if it means having to go through the long and complicated story.

'Perhaps I can ask Hestia when I get the chance. But the two of them seem to be very guarded behind Sora's own circumstances as to why he's here. So getting the story won't be easy...' Hephastois thought, but soon shook her head.

She should keep her personal feelings out of business matters. She can learn about the story if she's given the chance if Hestia is willing to share. But right now, she has a a job to do.

"I'm not sure why either, but our client didn't say a single lie about this vehicle. So I intend on figuring out how it's made." Hephastois said.

"Is that so? Well, why not put this project on hold for now and just focus on other things? I'm sure you don't want to waste all of your time working on this outlandish project." Tsubaki suggested.

"Well that may seem tempting, I'm afraid I can't do that."

"And why is that?"

"Do you remember the new materials that I showed to everyone yesterday?" Hephastois asked.

"You mean the treasure trove we got the other day? Yeah, all of our smiths were having a field day with that." Tsubaki recalled while remembering the chaos that occurred yesterday.

To say all of the smiths in the Hephastois Familia were utterly floored by synthesis materials was an understatement.

The Familia members were rather confused when presented with the synthesis materials, thinking it was just some kind of fancy jewelry. But Hephastois revealed to them all that each and every material is capable of making a Magic Sword or a high quality weapon or armor.

Everyone was shocked by the reveal, but soon recovered from it and they immediately desired to have a go at it with the materials and forge some high quality weapons.

Even Welf, who was rather adverse towards Magic Swords, was utterly gobsmacked that the materials before him is capable of forging magic swords without needing the Developmental Ability or Skill to do so.

'It's a shame that he could've gotten and used those materials if not for his pride...' Tsubaki thought in disappointment. She wanted Welf to let go of that misplaced pride and forge with all of his abilities, but Hephastois kept telling her that Welf has some very personal reasons and baggage for not forging magic swords in the first place. Even with all of that, Tsubaki thought that Welf is wasting his potential.

"Yes. Our client gave those rare materials as payment in advanced, hoping this would fund this project and turn it into a success. That payment is quite generous in my opinion, and I don't intend on ripping off our client." Hephastois said.

"Sheesh, no wonder you can't put this off. We got a lot riding on our shoulders." Tsubaki said, before she gave a curious look. "Though, I'm wondering about something."

"What is it?"

"Just where did our client get all of this material anyway? You would think that you would send some of us to collect the material, or even me for that matter if it's a matter of going deep into the Dungeon." Tsubaki said.

"That's because they're collected from outside of Orario." Hephastois answered, making the half-dwarf blink upon hearing this.

"Really now? If that's the case, shouldn't you send some of the lower levels out to collect it? I'm sure it's worth the time and effort." Tsubaki pointed out.

"That's not possible." Hephastois shot down immediately. "As it turns out, our client has a specific Skill that allows him to get this kind of material in the first place. If anyone else attempted to try, they'll be met with empty results." Hephastois explained.

"Seriously!? A Skill that allows you to get rare materials!? What I would give to have a Skill like that." Tsubaki groaned with a small envious look, before she blinked at a certain detail that Hephastois mentioned.

"Wait, you said Skill. So our client is an Adventurer?" Tsubaki questioned, making Hephastois nod at her.

"Yes, his name is Sora, a recent adventurer who joined the Hestia Familia. A boy full of mysteries and surprises..." Hephastois explained while narrowing her eyes, thinking about Sora.

Honestly, even thinking about Sora is giving her a small headache at how he's able to pull off all these ridiculous ideas and items.

"So he's here in Orario..." Tsubaki mused while gaining a thoughtful look. As she turned to look at the Gummiship layout, she didn't allow her Goddess to see the expression growing on her face.

Tsubaki honestly wanted to work with all of the Synthesis materials before her and have a lot of fun forging with every single piece. But as Captain, she needs to be fair and fairly distribute them amongst the Familia. She can't go around hogging all of it to herself.

Even so, to have all of those rare materials no worked on by her is greatly vexing, and she's sure that it's a sentiment shared with a majority of the smiths in the Familia. It's only natural for any smith to seek out and hoard any rare smithing material and craft the greatest masterpiece that they could make.

Tsubaki is no different. She wanted to see what every single material is capable of making, and she's missing a lot of those opportunities because she has to fair and share them amongst the Familia.

'...That doesn't exactly stop me from finding a way to channel a majority of those synthesis materials to myself...' Tsubaki thought as a small smirk formed on her face, already forming a plan in her head.

The first step is finding Sora.


~ Break ~


A day has passed and once again, the Hestia Familia and their Supporter have finished their dive into the Dungeon once again. The trio were making their way out of Babel, while being greeted with the sight of the sun setting, signaling the end of the day.

"Well that was certainly a busy day..." Sora remarked while rolling his shoulders.

"...There was a lot of Pot Spiders at the beginning of the 9th floor." Bell remarked.

"Lili can't believe that we're already starting on 9th floor already..." Lili muttered in disbelief.

To move on from the 8th floor to the 9th floor in just a day is just plain ridiculous in her opinion. Sora, she can sort of understand, considering his sheer strength and skill.

But Bell was an entirely new case for her. The previous time they were on the 8th floor, he was having a decent time against the dark monsters. But today, he improved by a large margin and he was having a more easier time with the monsters on the 8th floor. Even if those dark monsters gave huge excelia gain in return, Bell's growth shouldn't have improve that much.

'...They're just weird in every sense of the way.' Lili thought to herself, before she heard a growl making itself known. She blinked when she heard that noise, and turned to see Sora standing there while looking at his stomach.

Sora simply gave a good-hearted chuckle.

"Guess all that monster hunting made me hungry." Sora said with sheepish look.

"I guess we could go for dinner right now." Bell said, before he blinked upon remembering something. "Ah, we haven't been to the Hostess in a while. Let's go there."

"Good idea. I'm actually craving some fried fish actually. Still gotta learn how it's cooked!" Sora said, craving some fish. He's been wanting to learn from Mia and her cooking techniques.

It was then Bell turned towards Lili.

"Oh, Lili. Would you like to join us as well? It'll be our treat after all the work that you've done for us." Bell offered.

Lili blinked in surprise, being offered dinner by these two. She was even more baffled that the two are willing to pay for her meal.

"Lili-"

"Excuse me, are you Sora?"

A feminine voice cut off Lili, and gained everyone's attention as they turned to see who was asking that question.

They saw an azure haired woman wearing a dark orange outfit approach them with a neutral expression. They both blinked at the sudden appearance of the woman, before Sora raised his hand.

"Urm, that's me. Can I help you...?" Sora asked with a raised eyebrow.

The woman in question simply cleared her throat before introducing herself.

"My name is Shakti Varma, Captain of the Ganesha Familia. Lord Ganesha wishes to speak with you."


And that's a wrap to this chapter.

Oh Sora, even when you try to keep things under wraps, your presence is already making you a prime target to so many people and Gods. And now you're already in sights of Ganesha.

How will Sora deal with the attention of the God of Masses?

The only thing is to find out...next chapter!


Fun Fact of the Day!

Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded game design was made when Tetsuya Nomura got drunk. Yes, even when drunk, Tetsuya Nomura's mind is able to come up with these ludicrous ideas, and reflects onto the gameplay of KH Re:Coded.