The Dungeon.
The giant opening in the surface below Babel. In the far past, people had united against the monsters and drove them back, established a bridgehead and ultimately built Babel and Orario. Times had changed when the gods descended and adventurers now explored the dungeon. Many died, many had adventures, many made a good coin from the dropp items in the dungeon. There was a point when no person that had led to Orario being build lived anymore, or their children or grandchildren. It became normal to go into the dungeon, over a time so long that people started to forget how Orario came to be.
There were legends and Myths about the Age of Heroes. About the one boy that started the Age, he would never be known as a Hero, he saw himself as a ship that helped other heroes to come forth, others saw him as a clown.
The adventurers that went to the dungeon learned the hard way about the weapons that the dungeon had. The further they went down, the stronger and more cunning the monsters got. Beneath a certain point, monsters started to use range attacks. After another point, things like breath attacks and even something similar to magic appeared from some monsters.
But it weren´t only the monsters that showed new tricks. The dungeon itself was a semi living being. If it got hurt too much, it would take action, it would unleash it´s most deadly monster, the apostle of murder. When adventurers got weak and struggled, the dungeon bared it´s fangs, spawning monsters faster and faster to overwhelm them.
There were two facts that only a very few people knew. The adventurers had to go to the dungeon, if they wouldn´t do it, the monsters would reach a certain number and crawl up again. Nothing prevented them from going up a few floors, Bell Cranel had experienced this firsthand and was nearly killed, if his future wife had not saved him.
A few gods and mortals knew about the clearing of the dungeon, that it was necessary. That´s why Finn Deimne had pushed his Familia further and further into the dungeon, after the Zeus and Hera Familias vanished, monsters started to build up their numbers in the upper hell, how the floors were called beneath the deep levels.
What helped them, was the fact that the monsters in the upper, middle and lower hell fought against each other, since they had no mortals to slaughter.
And there was another fact that even Finn Deimne and the current gods on the surface didn´t knew about, maybe with the exception of Ouranos.
The dungeon´s deadliest weapon wasn´t the Juggernaut, even when the Apostle of Murder was incredibly strong depending on the level that he spawned.
No.
The dungeon´s deadliest weapon appeared when adventurers reached the upper hell levels.
Patience.
If they had notes about these levels, the Loki Familia would have become suspicious. They had explored this Floor for six days now, had discovered dungeon gifts and many kinds of monsters, even gathered many dropp items. They had studied the monsters, their behaviour and the way they fought, even what counted for them as tactics.
The fights weren´t easy, especially after the Al´Miraj "Argonaut" subspecies, which would later receive the name Vorpal Rabbits, Bell was really grumpy with Tiona for that name, had swarmed them. But for the first Floor of the upper hell, it was way too easy for now. Of course they didn´t went into the most dangerous part of the Floor, the middle beneath the giant tree so far, but was it really the most dangerous part?
For the whole time that the Familia had explored the Floor, the dungeon had watched them. Like they had with the monsters, the dungeon had studied the adventurers, their behaviour, the way they fought and their tactics.
From the Floor onwards, the dungeon acted like a giant irregular monster sometimes.
The true Monster Rex of this Floor in a way wasn´t the leader of the Al´Miraj subspecies, this was the Floor Boss, no, the Monster Rex was the whole Floor in total, led by the giant tree.
The dungeon waited for the perfect moment to strike, when certain adventurers of the group of invaders would not stand next to each other. All the monsters that swarmed the party died for a single purpose, so force the party to spread it´s strongest members.
.
.
The time had come.
.
.
The Floor unleashed it´s true form. Now chaos would reign.
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"More Argon-Kya!"
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"Watch out!"
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"Take cover!"
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"What is this!?"
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"Bell!"
"Ais!"
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"Captain!"
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Similar to the moment when they had walked into the pollen trap, it looked like the floor exploded. And it did. Roots, vines, and trunks suddenly shot up from the ground, all between the party members and monsters. Vines with thorns on it shot upward first, they were the fastest plants. Their goal wasn´t to get the adventurers, even when some got hurt, but to separate them.
Some Vorpal Rabbits got pierced by the plants and died screeching, showing their many teeth and their true nature as killer rabbits. Dryads, small and big ones as well as tree lords rushed towards the party, but threw themself into the growing plants and increased the growth further. It didn´t ended between or around the party members.
All over the Floor exploded the ground and new plants shot upwards, the trees that grew here naturally were used and absorbed by the plants, adding them to their form.
"Stay close together!"
Finn Deimne roared at the top of his lungs.
But there wasn´t much that the Loki Familia could do. The whole party got split into smaller groups that stayed close together while the Floor continued to change it´s form. Bell and Ais jerked up when they heard two screams of familiar elves.
"Lefiya!"
"Mom!"
Lefiya was unlucky enough to get a a deep scratch at her left thigh, while Riveria´s right foot got pierced by a thorn and another slashed her left hip. Both elves were in separated groups now, who did their best to provide first aid.
Tiona and Tione got separated, as well as Gareth and Bete.
Further and further grew the plants, formed thick walls between the groups and pushed them further away from each other. A huge array of razor-sharp thorns crowned each wall, stretching so far that the paths between the walls were also shadowed. Climbing over the resulting walls would mean direct death. Faces of Dryads, as well as their arms appeared from the walls.
The whole Floor rumbled, shook, groaned and trembled.
What was a whole forest before formed into something entirely else.
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A Labyrrinth.
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The true name of this Floor was "The tree Labyrinth".
This Floor changed it´s appearance at intervals. At first it looked like a forest, watching the adventurers and noted which adventurers to separate from each other. The dungeon had learned that adventurers were the strongest when they fought in a close party, watching each others back.
So it had to separate them.
But even the dungeon could get frustrated.
In the past, during the last time that adventurers were here, they were so strong that they just destroyed the Labyrinth. Be it the nasty male adventurers, that had one that could summon endless amounts of flames. Or the female ones, that had this cheating mage with them, who blasted apart the Labyrinth with blocks of sounds.
But these adventurers were weaker. The flame summoners were not heavily armored level seven adventurers, but mages, so the Floor hurt them on purpose.
One of the two stronger adventurers had used this nasty magic as well, but on a far weaker level than the mage in the past. Still...the Floor held a grudge against this magic.
After a few minutes, the dungeon was finished to change it´s form. The forest had made room for a labyrinth made out of living plants, with plant monsters inside the walls, that would attack every adventurers that came too close to it.
More Al´Miraj, as well as their leader, charged through the Labyrinth, thirsty for fresh blood and warm flesh to dig their fangs in.
Finn yelled again. "Report! Who is hurt? Everyone alive? How many are in your groups!?"
It was hard to tell the directions from which the answers came, but at least they could communicate a bit.
"Captain, we are five here, Lefiya is badly wounded!"
"Can you stabilize her?!"
"We do our best, but we hear monsters somewhere!"
"Gareth!"
"I hear you! I try to chopp through these stupid walls, but they regenerate faster than I can damage them!"
Tsubaki´s voice came from somewhere and Finn heard a strange sound like roaring flames.
"Braver! My magic weapon also does zero damage to the walls, they just get scorched!"
"Save your weapons then. Raul!"
"I hear you, Captain!"
"Fire up one of your signal lights!"
"Understood!"
A few moments later, Finn heard a whistle and looked up, it took him a while until he saw the light bulb.
"Raul, hold your position! Everyone who is able to see the bulb, try to move into that direction!"
That wasn´t an easy to follow order in a labyrinth.
"Captain!"
"Alicia!?"
"Lady Riveria is heavily wounded! We have problems to stop the bleeding!"
"Is anyone close to the exit or sees a way that leads to it? We need someone to look from above!"
No answers came.
"Alicia, do you best to help Riveria! Shoot your magic upwards, everyone who is able to see it, move into that direction. We will gather at Raul´s and Alicia´s position."
The walls around Finn were at least three and a half meters high. He himself was alone. Finn was the only adventurer that was alone, for now.
"Bell! Ais! Can you hear me!?"
No answers.
"BELL! AIS!"
No answers.
"Can someone hear them!?"
Instead of an answer from his party...
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"Chrrrrr..."
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Finn turned slowly around. An Al´Miraj that was taller than the others stood at the end of the passage, holding two dungeon weapons in it´s paws. The face didn´t looked cute at all, it bared it´s fangs and saliva dripped down from it.
He knew instantly that this was the leader of these type of monsters, since his thumb twitched like crazy.
Both were alone in this passage.
"So you came directly for me, I wonder why."
Finn took his spear and got into fighting stance.
He had no time to think about Bell, Ais and the party at the moment. The only emotion in the monster´s eyes were the thirst for murder.
A brave, wild grin appeared on Finn Deimne´s face...he knew no fear.
"Do you know who I am? What I am?"
The monster tilted it´s head slightly.
"My name is Finn Deimne! I am the captain of the Loki Familia! I am a prum and proud of it! I fear you not vile creature! My people have fought your kind even before we received a Falna! I am a descended of the bravest race on the surface! And you will not be the one to strike me down!"
Something had changed inside of Finn, all thanks to Bell. His heart sung in joy and pumped sheer bravery through his veins. He feared nothing, Finn would do everything to achieve his goal and spread the message to all the prums of the world.
"Hear my oath! Hear my warcry! FIANNA EXISTS!"
He had always believed it, always thought it couldn´t just be a story. Finn had knelt and prayed in front of the picture of Fianna. Loki had told him that there was no goddess named Fianna, that there never was one. That was what had broken the prums.
And then...Bell Cranel happened. He had heard Finn mumble the name Fianna during the Expidion and asked him curious.
"Are you talking about the saint?"
"Saint?"
"Fianna, the great saint, you said her name."
Finn had looked confused.
"What are you talking about, Bell? Fianna is our lost goddess."
"Huh? I don´t want to correct you, but Fianna wasn´t a goddess."
It was a delicate topic for Finn, his expression darkened, he didn´t allowed anyone to make fun of his believes.
"Watch your tongue, Bell Cranel."
"Eh? I-I´m sorry when I offended you, but I mean you said her name. I read the story about the great saint, the shining light of the prums."
Finn didn´t knew if he should be confused, perplexed or angry.
"Explain."
Bell looked like he was in thoughts for a while.
"My grandpa gave me a book once, the story about the "Great Saint Fianna", the leader of the knights of Fianna, the shining light and hope of the prums and the whole world. They appeared during the age of Heroes and probably saved the world."
Finn got more interested. "Continue."
"You are familiar with the story about Argonaut?"
"Yes, continue."
"About ten years after the death of Argonaut, the people of the world started to stand up against the monsters. They fought wherever they could, big names arose. Some were on the paths to become future heroes, some led massive armies. And there was one group of knights that wandered around the lands and helped those in need. Whenever a place got attacked by monsters, they shot red smoke upwards to ask for help and the Knights of Fianna came.
It was their oath to help those who sent out red smoke and fight the monsters. All of the knights were prums."
Finn got goosebumps, hung fascinated on Bell's lips. "Continue, please."
"The story that I read was more a poem, written by one of the three great poets, Wishe."
"The founder of Lefiya´s homeforest?"
"Exactly. She seemed to be present during the events and wrote the story. The people of the world formed alliances, but they needed someone to lead them, their goal was what we call the dungeon today. The gods didn´t had come down at this point, everyone wanted peace, but no one wanted to throw away their lives.
It was the knights of Fianna who took the leading role. It was truly heroic to read, they charged into the monsters and cleared a path for the ones behind them. Due to their sacrifice, the free people could build the first bridghehead, which led later to Orario being built."
Bell had taken a deep breath to continue. "Without the Knights of Fianna...without the Saint Fianna...Orario would probably never come to existence and the world may have been ovewhelmed by monsters."
He told Finn the whole story that he knew.
"You said your grandfather gave you a book?"
"Yeah, he said to be very careful, since it was hundreds and hundreds of years old."
"Why do you know these things but the prums of the world don´t?!"
"I thought it was common knowledge."
Finn had staggered back as if he got hit. "Bell Cr-...Bell...do you still have this book?"
"Yes, it is in a sealed box, so it won´t get damaged. If it means so much to you, you can have it when we get back to the surface."
Finn didn´t knew what to say, his heart raced. He surprised Bell when he stepped to him and pulled him into a tight, manly hug. Tione who saw that had gotten a nosebleed.
.
Ever since then, Finn´s heart jumped in joy and even this situation with the boss monster here didn´t let him falter.
"FIANNA EXISTS!"
It became his warcry, he roared it while he charged at the equally roaring killer rabbit.
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Everywhere in the labyrinth, the Loki Familia tried to hold their groups together. Their natural tactic was to form a big party, but that wasn´t possible now. Even when they knew the direction from which the voices came, there was no way that the passages of labyrinth led there so easily.
But there were two adventurers that didn´t reacted to Finn´s shout, because they didn´t heard him.
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"Ais!"
"Bell, help me!"
The Labryinth had tried to separate Bell and Ais, but they were too fast and stayed close together. Now the walls around them fought with everything they had to achieve their goal. Tentacle like vines had shot out and tried to grab them. Bell and Ais had hacked them apart and evaded, but their number knew no end.
Eventually one vine got Ais´ ankle, that was all the dungeon needed. Countless vines had attacked Ais and wrapped themself around her in all places possible, ripped apart her battle dress and tried to disarm her. She couldn´t move and Bell attacked the vines with his sword and knife, but he had to be carefull. Like Gareth had learned, during the labyrinth form, the floor regenerated the plants more than just fast.
New vines and thorns shot up from below and tried to form a new wall, but Bell couldn´t be stopped when his beloved was in danger.
He looked very similar to the bloodthirsty killer rabbit floor boss while he hacked and ripped apart the vines that wanted to separate him from his one true love. Since the tactic of the Floor didn´t worked, it changed it´s tactic. The vines started to move Ais´ body to the side, passed her from one tendril to the next. Like that she was moved along the wall faster and faster away from Bell.
"Ais!"
"Bell!"
The Floor tried to stop Bell but it could only slow him down, while Ais was moved further away. He used his magic, slashed with Vesta and Olympus, hacking apart vines and Vorpal rabbits that charged at him. And with Argo Verion, he gave the floor a reason to hate him as much as it had hated his aunt.
Aunt Alfia, give me strength!
If there was one thing that was a really bad idea, it was to try to steal Bell´s beloved from him. Bell didn´t noticed in which direction he moved, all he cared about was following Ais. That was a cold decision, to abandon the party, but all he knew was that Ais was dragged away from the party and he was the only one to follow her.
So far nearly everything went how the dungeon had planned to, with the exception of a black bull that hacked his way through the nest of the Vorpal Rabbits.
"Aiiiiiiiiiis!"
The black bull heard the shout of his fated rival and moved faster.
The vines pulled Ais further and further towards the great tree, the center of the labyrinth...right where the Minotaur was.
.
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"Lady Riveria, please forgive me!"
The party members around the two elves had formed a circle, protecting Alicia and the wounded Riveria from the monsters. Riveria was pale, she had lost quite a bit blood, but if Alicia would be able to stop the bleeding, she would make it. So far she had used a potion and special bandage around Riveria´s foot.
But now she had to rip apart Riveria´s robe a bit, where she had received the slash wound. Alicia felt really bad to see Riveria wounded like this, she heard her groan from pain. And since she couldn´t escape being an elf, Alicia felt even more bad for baring a part of Riveria´s body and skin, at least no one was watching them.
Alicia pulled out an antidote and splashed it on Riveria´s wound, before using a healing potion. The new potions that worked on contact instead of getting swallowed were really a blessing. Riveria hissed again and threw her head back.
"I´m sorry! I´m sorry, lady Riveria!"
The bleeding stopped thankfully fast enough, Alicia hoped that Riveria wouldn´t keep a scar, she would never forgive herself if a high elf, especially her princess would be scarred under her watch!
"Lady Riveria, please forgive me for touching your body!"
Alicia leaned down and put her left hand inside of Riveria´s ripped robe. She wrapped a bandage around Riveria´s waist, not pulling it too tight, but enough to cover the healing wound. These bandages were infused with a healing potion, an idea of Amid.
After taking care of Riveria, Alicia joined the others to defend their fallen princess, she felt bad about having Riveria´s blood on her hands.
.
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"OUT OF MY WAAAAAAY!"
Tione followed Finn´s order to move. She wished she could just move to the man that owned her heart, but Tione wouldn´t abandon her fellow Familia members. Yet she ripped and hacked the rabbit and plant type monsters apart. Tione also was wounded, her berserker skill already kicked in.
Three fellow Familia members followed her, covering her back. They didn´t had much options, the other three didn´t had such a high level, so Tione acted as the vanguard on her own. Due to their environment, she couldn´t return from the front to help the others in her back, she had to count on them.
Trust.
That was the strongest weapon now for the Loki familia, trust in their comrades.
While her heart wanted to run to Finn, if Tione was honest she wasn´t worried about him.
"You heard the captian! Onward!"
"""By his command!"""
Tione screamed and charged forward, covered in monster blood and plant juices.
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"Stay behind me!"
"As if we had any other choice!"
Tiona whirled Urga III around, for her the environment was perfect. The passage was wide enough to swing Urga III, but not so wide that the monsters could escape her. She moved forward like a shredder, if they weren´t used to this sight, the party members behind her would vomit by the rabbit monsters that got torn to pieces before they turned to ash.
Just like her twin, Tiona´s berserk skill kicked in. She had received a fair amount of damage, had bite wounds on her arms and legs, her chest band got ripped away by a monster, but she didn´t cared...her whole upper body was covered in monster blood and plant juices anyway.
When a Vorpal Rabbit tried to get past her, Tiona laughed loud, smashed it´s head onto the ground with her bare foot and...
Crack! Splash!
Well it turned to ash quickly.
Even when the situation was dire. Even when her sister and familia members were in danger...Tiona couldn´t help but feel child-like joy.
A labyrinth! How exciting! It´s like we are in Argonaut´s story! Oh, oh, oh! I want to be Orna!
The laughing maniac charged forward and her fellow Familia members didn´t knew for a moment which one was the true monster, especially since Tiona didn´t looked as frightening as her sister...but very happy.
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"Yer maggots!"
Many Vorpal Rabbits hang on Gareth, gnawed on his arms and legs, but couldn´t break his immense defense. He threw himself against the thorny walls to crush and impale them.
"Is that all you got!?"
Blood flowed down on the sturdy dwarf, most of it not his own.
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All the groups of the Loki Familia moved through the labyrinth, with the exception of Raul´s and Alicia´s, who followed Finn´s order. From time to time they fired signal lights upwards to guide the others.
No one knew if the Floor would change back after some time or a certain condition being met. All they could do now was fight and search for the others.
And not one of them would make it without getting wounded, some more badly than others.
The dungeon didn´t aimed for a single killing blow, it had time to bleed them out. And then it would kill them, one after the other.
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Finn and the Floor Boss fought at insane speed. One of them was a master with his weapon, the other as good as a monster could be. While Finn had the longer reach, his opponent had two weapons. They moved back and forth in the passage, while the Floor had been patient, the Vorpal Rabbit Boss was ferocious. Finn was the leader of the invaders in HIS territory, they had stolen HIS food and he even ordered one that looked like a bigger brethren around, that was unforgivable!
The floor boss actually hated Finn. And he had two advantages. The floor boss could move around freely on the walls to attack from various directions. And...it didn´t had to worry about it´s brethren.
At least it should be an advantage.
But Finn Deimne didn´t worried about his Familia members at all.
You can do it! Everyone! I will hold off this beast and give you time!
"Fianna exists!"
He drew strength from his shout. As did his family members, Finn screamed. He wasn't screaming in anger or because of the wounds he sustained, but because he was still alive. They all did. That sound was repeated dozens of times throughout the labyrinth as adventurers were pushed to and beyond their physical limits in fights for their lives, yet were given no respite. He screamed wordlessly against the pain in his muscles, the monster's blows like sledgehammers, the Falna giving him the strength to do things no normal mortal should even dare. Finn fought with all the strength and skill that his status afforded him. Even before Bell and Ais became a couple, his mobility had already reached its maximum value, the other values followed more slowly. Now he was at the top end of a level six adventurer. And fought the fight of his life against a monster that might even be stronger than him. And yet... he wasn't afraid. His heart didn't pump blood but courage and joy through his veins. He wasn't one of those warriors who found the sheer joy of pure combat. But this was what he lived for. He was a prum and faced an enormously powerful monster. And since Bell had told him the story of Fianna, Finn loved his spear even more. It had to be a spear, those prums in the past had all used spears. He would prove himself worthy.
Finn didn´t had time to think about the others anymore, his opponent demanded everything from him in terms of skill and technique.
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I can´t use my magic!
Ais was whirled and turned around by the vines, she caught glimpses of the giant tree coming closer and closer. At some point she had lost the hold of Zephyr, she really hoped she would get her sword back.
Bell was still following her but in a increasing distance.
Eventually after a sheer endless time, the vines suddenly let go of Ais all together, threw her basically towards the trunk of the big tree. She tried to get a hold of herself and cushion herself with her magic, but something happened.
Ais saw a treelord lying in front of the giant tree, maybe the guardian or something like that. Maybe that was where the vines had dragged her too, to get killed by this thing.
But this thing wouldn´t kill anything anymore, it´s head was split in two.
Wha-
And next to the split head, stood a black Minotaur and looked at Ais, who was thrown over his head.
"You!"
The black minotaur looked up to her while Ais flew past him, taking something out of his belt...and throwing it at Ais.
"Wha-!"
Ais managed to land with her feet against the trunk, but then a dark orb, thrown by Asterios, exploded in front of her. Smoke appeared and from out of it, chains. Chains shot in her direction and bound her wrists, ankles and waist to the trunk.
It was a magic item that he got from Fels. The old sage told him he would knew when the time to use it was right. That was what all sages would say, so he would look wise. In truth he just wanted to test it and ask Asterios later if he had used it and how it worked.
"What are you doing!? Let me free!"
Asterios´ voice was a deep rumble. "No."
"Why are you doing this!"
"It has to be...it must be."
He shook his head, something about this situation felt familiar, that´s why he had done it, shakled Ais to the tree.
"Ais!"
Bell arrived at the place in front of the tree. Many passages let into the labyrinth from here. He instantly saw his shakled beloved. And the monster standing in front of her.
"Asterios!?"
The minotaur turned to him. "Bell."
"Did you do this?!"
"Yes."
"Why?!"
"Fight me."
"What!?"
Asterios raised his enormous axe. "Fight me, Bell. Let us settle this once and for all."
"My friends are in danger!"
The minotaur looked at him. "Can´t you feel it, my rival?"
"What do you mean?"
"Fate. Destiny."
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Badumm...
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Badumm...
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Badumm!
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Bell felt weird, very weird. As if he had seen this all before. The scenery looked somehow very familiar. His friends fought in the labyrinth against the monsters, he came into the center to save his princess.
To fight the Minotaur.
His fated rival.
His eternal rival.
Bell gritted his teeth at first, closed his eyes, then a wild smile that Ais had never seen before krept onto his lips.
When he opened his eyes again...Bell smiled.
Words filled his mind, words that wanted to get out.
"You are right, Asterios! Your wait is over, Minotaur! I am now ready, my rival...my nemesis! I challenge you to a rematch! We will settle this once and for all! I will safe my princess! My friends will survive in the labyrinth, but after seeing her cute face and seeing her lovely voice begging me to free her and bring her home, I can´t turn back!"
Ais got red for some reason. "I didn´t said it with these words!"
"I am in front of my princess! There is nothing I can´t do now!"
Asterios grinned, he grinned in his wild way. "Then come at me, Bell!"
Bell raised his sword and knife. "Then let us start our long awaited duel! It´s between me and you and no one else!"
That was what the Minotaur had waited for, his grin widened.
Ais wondered when Bell spoke again, his voice sounded a bit different from normal, she herself felt strange, this scenery looked somehow familiar.
"Rulers of heaven, open your eyes! Witness our duel unfolding beneath the sky! My lovely spirit grants me the strength!"
Bell got ready to charge forward.
"Now, Asterios! Let our third and final duel begin! May the ground shake and the heavens roar!"
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Both didn´t knew that this wasn´t their third duel, but would actually be the fourth.
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Some gods in heaven felt strange in that moment, as did an old man on an island far away from Orario, running to his mirror.
History repeated itself. Fate didn´t allowed to get ignored.
Those gods who had watched the fight in the past saw it.
Deep inside the dungeon, in the labyrinth forest, charged a white haired young man at a giant Minotaur.
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The battle of the fates begun.