The Last Dragonoid

by Astral Kairos

He is the last of his ancient race, one that reigned supreme and was hailed as the strongest. He lived for long, experiencing all kinds of adventures. After laying low for a while after he lost his power, he now approaches Orario as the light shines on him, spurring to go on a new adventure, meeting an old acquaintance and making new friends. A new myth of Bell starts.

3. A New Story And The Return Of Evilus

Hello! And welcome back, I greet you from the maldives this time. Had a great time relaxing but I wanted to release a chapter. I wasn't sure how far to go into the story with this chapter, but enough to make you get an idea of where in the timeline we are.

From here I'll follow, more or less, the canon story, altering it to fit Bell, the dragonoid.

The following chapter we will be following through with the floor eighteen events which you find in Sword Oratoria.

Now this as you have well realised has many Genshin elements. I decided to turn this more into a crossover, so you will be seeing more mentions of Genshin elements, places and characters, as you will see in this episode and the following episodes.

I'm currently editing the chapters of my very first fanfiction that I wrote, the rabbit brothers. So I might start releasing a few chapters of those. I will be working on the next one maybe two chapters for this as well as one for the prince fanfic before moving onto the second chapter of the request story of Samuel.

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 3 – A New Story And The Return Of Evilus

It was early in the morning when the white haired bunny woke up, not having equipped his artifact his original appearance was revealed. Attached to him and his tail was a blonde haired girl whom with her level five strength, did not seem to be willing to let go of him anytime soon. The dragonoid, whose power was lost, had no choice but to go on and poke the princess' cheeks, in an attempt to wake her up.

"Little Ais, woudst thou mind letting go of me?"

"Ugh … no, five more minutes."

"Ais, work that I must attend to, wouldst say that I have no time."

Ais got up groggily as she rubbed her eyes.

"Mou, fine. But you have to spend the day with me once you're done."

"Alright. You on the other hand hasten to your Familia, as an executive member you shouldn't stray afar for too long."

Begrudgingly, the girl left the dragonoid to return to her own Familia while Bell, having cleaned himself, proceeded to meet with Shakti as per requested the night before. Having knocked on the door, Bell entered as he heard Shakti welcoming him in. Already waiting for him there with Shakti was Ganesha.

"I am Ganesha!"

Shakti then proceeded to slap the God in the back of the head.

"Silence Ganesha-sama, we know that."

"Sorry, good morning Bell."

The dragonoid chuckled at the scene before greeting the God.

"Greeting to you Ganesha."

"Today Shakti will show you around the city as well as register you with the Guild. You will also meet with Ouranos after you register with the Guild."

"I'll also have you accompany me on patrols today, so you get familiarized with the jobs we might spring up on you."

"Alright, then I shall follow the captain."

Shakti nodded and had Bell follow her out of the office. The two left the manor and walked side by side on the busy streets of Orario, garnering the attention of everyone in the city. The news of Ais' brother appearing had spread like a wildfire and there were few who didn't know.

Coupled with the popular Ankusha of the Ganesha Familia, there was no one who was gathering more attention than them right now. Of course, with such famous figures wild rumours also started spreading, such as the rumours of a secret relationship between the two.

Hearing such rumours Bell felt bad for Shakti, but looking at her it seemed like she didn't mind. Perhaps she had gotten used to such baseless rumours spreading. However, under her calm and concentrated demeanour, Shakti was internally fricking out, calling out to the shameless people that started the rumour.

While Shakti might have always appeared as a strong and confident person, deep inside she was still a pure girl, who had never before been in a relationship. Bell who stood at her side was handsome and kind. Despite being nearly 5000 years old, she couldn't help seeing him as a charming man. The blue haired woman stole a glance at his face, the silence was beginning to get awkward so she started a conversation.

"You really surprised us yesterday. Is there anything else I should know?"

"Umm, anything else, huh? That there is a way to recover my power?"

The Ganesha captain froze in place.

"There is a way to recover your strength?!"

The girl was shocked by the news her ears received. The day before he had thoroughly given a clear picture of the extent that was his power, which had been lost during the fight seven years ago. Strength unimaginable to her, power that could shatter continents and wipe out countries. Now he revealed that there was a way to reattain such strength.

"Yes, but with the power I possess now I cannot compare to most adventurers here in Orario and the place I must reach to regain my power is beyond this city's capabilities."

"If you tell that to Loki-sama, Astraea-sama and Ganesha-sama, I'm sure we can help you."

The dragonoid though only shook his head.

"Even if thou were to miraculously band together all of Orario, you won't be able to reach that place, for my power is sealed within the deepest lair of the dungeon. A place beyond thou imagination, a place thou could only fathom of reaching with such meagre might."

Shakti looked forward with a thoughtful face.

"But … with that power … it would be possible to kill the black dragon, no?"

"Yes. If I were to unseal my strength, that decrepit lizard that that has been called a dragon would be no match for the power of an ancient dragonoid such as myself, the original progenitors of all dragons.

If I could, I would gladly take care of the being that bears the name of a dragon, disgracing our race. I would gladly amend for my mistakes and bring justice to Albert's life. I would gladly fight the lesser being as it'd be of no consequence, by far inferior to the primordial calamity, Nidhogg, it still is. Alas that is not the case, devoid of my once profound strength I am yet another powerless soul."

Shakti kept walking but the shock had frozen her words from leaving her mouth for a while. To call the Black Dragon a decrepit lizard was certainly a first for the Ganesha Familia captain.

"Anyways, I hope you shan't reveal any news that thou has heard from this one's lips."

"W-what? Why?"

"I have told thee out of the trust I place in the captain of my Familia. However, tis something I'd rather it not be known. None shall know of this other than you and me, for it'd bring nothing short of danger. Ais, in particular is not know of this conversation. The existence of this topic is not to be divulged in front of the little one no matter the reason."

"Wouldn't the Kenki be really happy?"

"Tis exactly the problem. Driven by hate and vengeance towards monsters and the Black Dragon is but a trivial thing. Whether she had or had not the black flame guiding her, what dost thou think of her reaction once she learns that her beloved brother can be saved? Elated, she'll foolishly turn into a reckless lass, desperate at points to reach the deepest floor of the dungeon for the sake of helping me."

The blue haired woman watched the passing clouds with a thoughtful look. She understood very well what the dragonoid meant. She too would have done anything for her sister, never minding the consequences if it meant making her smile, making them stronger, making them proud.

"I have faith in thou wisdom. Unless a tragic cataclysm befalls, none shall know."

"I understand, I swear on my heart that I won't reveal it to anyone."

"Shall we return to the captain's pre-planned routine then?"

"Yes, enough of such gloomy subjects. Let's talk about your duty. As a member of the Ganesha Familia you would normally have to protect the city and act as a police force. However, you're circumstances are very different, so I think you will follow a unique routine. Mostly after meeting Ouranos-sama, I'm sure he will be very interested in you."

"I'm sure he will."

.

Shakti had guided Nuri around the city, visiting the most important places, from the market to Babel. Their final destination being the Guild. Every adventurer watched as the two entered the building, news having spread of the Kenki's brother having arrived in Orario.

Shakti walked at the front, guiding the blonde boy to the counter where a pretty half-elf was busily working at the counter. Seeing the arrival Ganesha Familia captain, the Guild member was quick to straighten and greet the blue haired girl.

"Shakti-san, welcome to the Guild. It's a bit unusual for you to come here though, has something happened?"

"Nothing of serious, Eina. I'm just here to register a new member of our Familia."

She moved aside to present a handsome blonde haired teen who was slightly taller than Shakti.

"Bell, this is Eina Tulle a Guild advisor. Eina, this Bell Wallenstein. He is Ais' rumoured brother."

The ancient dragonoid did a small bow as she greeted the advisor.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Eina-san."

"Eh?! Ais' brother?!"

The dragonoid simply nodded, not trusting himself on his ability to maintain the sudden lie that had been sprung up on him.

"So she really has a brother?!"

"Eina, please don't shout and Bell here has to visit Ouranos-sama, so let's not take too long."

"Meet Ouranos-sama? My apologies, I'll will register immediately."

The girl took out some papers and started compiling them.

"I suppose Wallenstein-san is with the Ganesha-sama Familia?"

"Yes."

"Then birth pl-"

"As you know, Ais has kept most personal information reserved, even from the Guild. Bell will have to do so as well. Don't worry, Ouranos-sama has already approved of all of this."

"Umm, well then everything has been registered."

"Good, I'll see you later Eina. Come on Bell."

The dragonoid bid his farewell to the half-elf and followed Shakti down the corridor that led to the Room of Prayers. Seeing this, annoyed a elf that scoffed at the sight of two adventurers going to meet the head of the Guild.

.

"Greetings Ouranos-sama."

"Ankusha, it good to see you as well."

The God then turned to Bell.

"It's been a while my old friend."

"Tis been a truly longeth time Ouranos."

The Ganesha Familia captain looked at Bell confused, not being aware that the two were acquainted.

"Tell me Shakti Varma. How do you think this room was built? How do you think the tower was built?"

Hearing the primordial God address her, she turned her head to him. She scanned the room in order to come up with an answer but only shook her head after a while.

"I thought the tower was built by Daedalus."

"Yes, Daedalus came up with the idea. But neither this room nor the tower's creation would have been possible without the powers or knowledge of a dragonoid. It was Bell who truly invented the tower, using his ancient powers and even older knowledge. As a matter of fact Orario is a nearly perfect reconstruction of Oratoria, originally built by Bell. The only traces of Oratoria are the ruined and abandoned areas. Lands of Oratoria that weren't rebuilt as part of the new Orario."

The girl slowly turned to look at Bell. The more time she spent around him, the more things she began learning.

"After Oratoria was destroyed and the Gods descended, Bell helped me reconstruct the tower and this room, before suddenly disappearing for the next nine hundred years."

"My apologies for suddenly taking my leave Ouranos, but there were matters that required my attention."

"Don't fret it."

"If I may, I will take my leave and wait elsewhere. It seems like you two have lots to talk about."

"Ah yes, we might take a while … and there are things that should remain between me and him. You may wait outside."

The captain owed and left the room.

"You too Fels."

Bell felt the presence hiding hidden behind Ouranos' throne vanish.

"I … suppose you heard what happened to Zeus?"

"Yes, I heard from Erebus. Tis truly a most unfortunate event."

"Zeus has always been a little too fast to act. You did warn him, even offering to join him in the endeavour. It was a great chance to end that catastrophe, it was but his mistake to not wait for you."

"That it was. However, this one too should have known. Just like with Al, I should have never left."

"What happened, happened. We cannot change the past, so let bygones be bygones, Bell. Zeus wouldn't want you to feel guilty about it."

"The fool shouldst have thought about that ante his actions. But alas, I shall follow thee advice and let this go."

"That is for the best. How are you doing now Bell?"

"I have lost my origin."

"Vessel?"

"Ay, tis sealed at the bottom of the abyss we stand upon."

"That will be difficult to take back and I don't suppose you want others to know, so my lips are sealed. What about your current situation, besides your weakening."

"I've been met with fortune."

"Ais?"

"Ay, the little one has grown a lot. Other than that, I've found Ganesha a most pleasant and righteous God."

"I believe you'll get along really well with him and Astraea. They both uphold order in the city after all. I don't suppose you're going to act like a regular member."

"Ganesha granted me the ability to soar about freely. He simply wishes me to patrol when necessary."

"I see. Well, I would like you to help me with some matters. Ganesha will be informed as well of your cooperation with me."

"Carry out missions for you? Very well. Acting as a shadow for others has always been of great interest to me. Hadn't had the chance to do that much since I raised to Archon of Khaenri'ah."

"Good, for now you should try to raise your status and get as strong as possible. Maybe start getting used to this new life, make some friends and catch up with Ais. I'm sure she has a lot to talk about. Also get used to modern times."

"I'll do that, but for now I shall head back to Shakti and attend to my duties as a member of the Familia."

"It's good to see you around again."

"You too Ouranos."

.

Shakti was looking at the ground as she waited at the counters. She raised her head just in time and saw Bell coming out.

"Are you done speaking to Ouranos-sama?"

"Yes."

"Alright, you are now a member of the Ganesha Familia, but obviously you won't be given as many duties. I believe that you will also work with Ouranos-sama."

"Yes. Other than that I will spend the time training or looking into the city."

"The city? What about?"

"Don't worry about that for now Shakti."

Shakti didn't know whether to worry or not, but she knew that asking him wouldn't yield any answers, so she instead followed through with her plan. The two headed north and there, she explained how the patrols worked.

"You got that?"

"Yes, hardly different from standard routine."

"Pretty much, also take this."

The blue haired girl handed him an orange sash that had a golden Ganesha Familia symbol sewn on it.

"You'll need this for now, since you neither have a standard uniform nor are you well known."

"I understand."

The two then proceeded on their patrol mission, walking down the broad roads of the dungeon city. They checked the major road before heading through the smaller streets and alleyways. It seemed like it was all calm until it was not.

A scream alerted the two of them, who immediately headed towards the source of the sound. The two turned the corner and found a couple of men surrounding a pair of children who looked no older than fifteen. One was a blonde renard boy while the other one was a pink haired renard girl.

The two children cowered, cornered in an alley that finished with a dead end, blocking the path for the little renards. The boy shielded the girl, hiding her behind him as he growled at the five men that had them surrounded.

"Let us go!"

"Don't worry, we'll let you go, after you give us your money and you let us play with your sister."

"You think that is acceptable, how could you ask for such things?"

"Don't blame us, the two of you look wealthy and I mean, your sister has those nice curves. We can't help it so just let us have a feel, how about it? Those thighs and b-"

"How about you just go to jail?"

Hearing the voice of a woman they turned around and were met with Bell and Shakti standing behind them. As famous as she was, the immediately recognized the level five captain and their faces paled out of fear.

"Oh no, boss, it's the captain of the Ganesha Familia."

"Whatever, there are five of us and only two of them. Other than me that I'm a low level two, we're all high level ones."

Shakti though was ignoring them, instead turning to the dragonoid by her side.

"I'd say this is a great way to test your current strength. I'll handle the level two while you deal with the other two."

"I'd like my test of strength to rely on the leading figure as well."

"You sure?"

The blonde haired adventurer nodded.

"Superior strength comes short of skill. This one shall demonstrate, a balance of both is absolute."

The renards watched as Shakti didn't move while Bell approached the ruffians.

"I suppose they shouldn't prove too much trouble for you."

Seeing this the level two ruffian smirked.

"Hah, it's just a brat. Come on guys, let's get him."

Two of the level ones adventurers charged in first, with their weapons pointed at the blonde teen. Bell deflected the strike from the first man, who ended up running past him, and blocked the second one, by grabbing his arm.

Bell then turned around and tossed the man overhead, slamming him down onto the ground with all his might. The stone cracked under the strength of the man landing on it and shattered as Bell made sure to finish him off with a stomp on the chest knocking him out cold. The other one that had ran past turned around and swung wide with his right arm, which made it easy to block for Bell as he simply raised his arm.

The boy raise his other fist and punched him in the stomach before landing a devastating backhand into the man's face, which sent him spinning in the air then onto the ground face first. The remaining three were startled by the fast elimination of their companions, meanwhile Shakti observed with great interest as the two renards watched in amazement.

The remaining level ones charged as well. The first one slashed downwards with his sword but missed as Bell moved right and just as he turned to his head to track his movements, he saw a foot a celch away from his face. He only had time to see the foot before the roundhouse kick hit him into a wall with enough force to render him unable to fight.

Seeing the other man charge in again with his sword, Bell turned to him. The man lunged forward with his sword in his right hand. Bell side stepped to the left, out of the attack and grabbed his arm. He brought his knee up and his hands down, slamming the arm on his knee, breaking it. The assaulting man screamed in pain but didn't get to express his emotion as his face was grabbed by the blonde haired adventurer's hand and lifted up, only to be brought down and slammed into the road.

The dragonoid turned to the last man but decided to act more carefully this time. He opted to be more passive and resorted to dodge the first dozen attacks and analyse them. The strength and speed were much greater and he recognized that even without the sword, with his current form, he probably couldn't take more than ten of those hits directly.

Bell kept watching the man who slashed at him without stopping. A scowl formed on his face looking at the attacks that looked amateurish, inefficient and linear. Bell felt insulted to let such a incompetent person wield a sword.

'No elegance, no skill, no technique. How unsightly.'

Whenever this happened, Bell transformed into a different person. He was spartan strict when it came to training and weapon handling, and seeing this really irritated the five millennia old boy.

"You best drop the sword."

"Huh, make me brat."

Bell frowned at the remark before jumping back and lowering into an 'L' shaped stance as his left foot pointed outwards perpendicular in a line to the direction of the man, while his right foot pointed straight towards the man. He bent his left leg as he shifted most of his weight on it and leaned his right leg forward. His hands were clenched into fists, his left at his hip, his right extended, pointing at the man.

As the human rogue roared and took his first step forwards, Bell also took moved forward maintaining the same stance. Shifting his weight on the right leg and his raising his left fist. He moved forwards with a stomp and as his foot crashed down it cracked the stone road. As he was about to take a second stomp forward, the offender sensed a feeling of danger as an attack was about to come and raised his sword diagonally, using the flat part to try block the attack.

Bell's right foot came down with earth shattering strength, cracking the ground, except this time he twisted his waist left and his right fist struck the enemy. Everyone was surprised when the fist completely smashed through the sword without even meeting an ounce of resistance and immediately landed a solid hit into the man's solar plexus.

His ribs cracked and broke, an awfully loud crunching noise was heard as blood gurgled out of his mouth from the lung that was punctured and tore at certain points from the impact. The man flew back crashing into a wall, bringing it down with him. A noticeable dent had formed on his chest.

The renards and Shakti were completely shocked beyond belief at the blood curling scene. Bell straightened and stood up, shaking off the dust on his clothes. The blonde renard kept looking at the dragonoid with shining eyes. As if regaining control of his body after being controlled, Bell immediately turned around with a worried look.

"Apologies captain. Might I have gone too far?"

"Umm. What was that?"

"A battle technique."

"Well, don't mind it, as long as he isn't dead or his wounds untreatable then it's fine. What got into you anyways?"

"Sorry. His horrendous blade technique was nothing short of a disgrace, it was but an irritating sight."

Shakti stared at the boy deadpanned, not knowing what to say to him. She only made a mental note to not show Bell any unexperienced adventurer wielding a weapon. That is unless she wants to see him beat another person to the door steps of death.

"R-right."

Shakti decided to forget how Bell completely crippled a level two and turned her attention to the two renards. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. Renards were a very rare race and only few of them existed. Most of which, if not all, lived in the Far East, often being of royal or noble lineage.

"Are you two alright?"

"Y-yes. Thank you for your rescue."

"What are two renards like you doing here? Mostly alone and at this late hour?"

"Umm, we're s-sorry. W-we were lost. Me and my sister h-have come here from the F-Far East, we w-wanted to j-join a Familia and become s-stronger. So we travelled here a-alone. A-a-anyways, could you be the level five captain of the Ganesha Familia?!"

"Yes?"

Shakti observed the boy with a raised eyebrow, who stared at her with unhidden excitement in his eyes.

"And your moves mister blonde hair, they were amazing!"

Bell tilted his head in confusion but kept listening as the boy sang praises, but that was short lived as he was promptly smacked on the head into silence by the pink haired renard. Unlike the shy yet energetic and excited boy, she seemed quite the contrary.

She bowed slightly, her hands one over another just below her chest, with a kind smile on her face. She was much more calm and collected, acting elegantly with grace. Unlike the male counterpart her speech was slower and more refined, her voice soft and gentle. She thanked them for their help before turning to the blonde saviour.

"May I ask for your name?"

"Bell C-Wallenstein."

The girl covered her mouth in surprise.

"You're the Kenki's brother?"

"Yes, this one has just arrived in this prosperous city."

"Ara, I see. Again I thank you for saving us and if it's not too much, I'd like to ask you a favour."

"What might it be?"

"If possible, I'd like to join your Familia."

Bell blinked before turning to look at his captain.

"What do you think?"

Bell raised an eyebrow at the question posed by the blue haired girl and shrugged, shaking his head.

"That would be the reason I referred to you. Thou are captain of the group."

"I meant your personal opinion of the two."

"Oh. In my eyes, they seem like good people. Haven't seen them in action, as such I speak not of their potential or talent. Though the blonde might require assistance in his behaviour."

Hearing that the nominated person pouted while the sister giggled.

"Well that's good enough for me. I will accept the two of you in. But unlike Bell here who has special conditions, you will have to make your way up and your job will be hard and tiring."

The two nodded resolutely.

"Good, now I don't know your names."

"Right, I'm Yae Akio."

"My name is Yae Miko."

Bell observed the two attentively. Akio had short spikey blonde hair and amber eyes, a pair of golden fox years sprouting from his hair as they pointed up in the sky. He sported a smile that suited well with his shy but lively demeanour.

Miko on the other hand was unlike either of the two had seen. Her hair was uncharacteristically bright peach pink in colour as were her eyes. Even more unique about her were her ears. Unlike the usual perked up ears, her fox years flopped down, extending outwards. A small yet kind smile accompanied her calm and elegant personality.

"Now follow us. We were heading back home from a patrol when we happened to hear your scream. We'll deliver these five before guiding you back to our home, Ganesha-sama will give you a falna then."

The renards nodded and helped the two Ganesha members tie up the thugs, quickly healing the man that had been obliterated by Bell, before tying him up as well. The Yae siblings followed Bell and Shakti, who delivered the ruffians to a guard post before making their way to the I Am Ganesha manor … or statue.

.

The group of four entered the building that was their Familia home, weirding out the Yae siblings as they entered through the crotch of the statue. Inside they were met with a weird situation. Loki, Astraea, Hephaestus and Goibniu were all in the courtyard along the executive members and some ordinary members, except for Goibniu who had instead come alone.

"Ah Shakti, welcome back."

Ganesha approached them having seen them come in.

"Ganesha-sama? What's going on?"

"Oh this? Don't worry. Loki came here because Ais wanted to. Astraea and Hephaestus heard of Bell and since Loki was coming, they decided to tag along. Goibniu just decided to come along to see if Bell needed a weapon made for him, though him and Hephaestus have been arguing on who will make it."

"Too bad he won't need one."

"Actually I am in need."

"Eh? Didn't we go to Narka to retrieve your old weapons?"

"Yes, old weapons. Old tis the keyword. Weapons of grade that I wielded when I owned my original power."

"I see."

"I will keep them here, but until I can restore myself I won't be able to use them properly. Plus the sword is broken."

"If your sword is broken then allow me to repair it."

Bell and Shakti turned to see the rest of the people who were present had joined in. It seems like they only heard that his sword was broken as Hephaestus offered to repair it.

'Oh so that's Ais-chan's brother?"

"Ain't he kinda hot?"

"Agreed."

"Lyra, Kaguya, how shameless!"

"Oh the boy certainly looks like the little lass. Hope he doesn't break as many swords."

"My, that would be troublesome. It seems like my girls are already smitten with him."

Bell could hear the people and Gods whispering to each other as they observed him.

"Apologies Megami-sama, but I do not believe that other than me anyone will be able to."

Everyone looked at Bell weirdly, while Hephaestus seemed intrigued at the challenge.

"Do not misunderstand. The sword is very special and was forged before the Age of the Heroes."

The news surprised everyone present.

"That's quite an old sword."

"Yes, and the blade has been shattered into a thousand pieces."

"A th- what?! A thousand pieces? Is it really worth repairing?"

The Goddess of the forge questioned the blonde haired adventurer.

"Yes tis worth. As I mentioned it is a special and unique sword. It was forged with a method exclusive to my lineage as it requires the blood of myself. However, the blood that allows this ability doesn't always show up as such Ais cannot do it either. Moreover, it uses a special smithing technique lost to time."

"Hah, I understand."

"Good, then if shall excuse this one, I will be taking my leave for matters that require my attention are calling to me."

Bell started to leave when he noticed Hephaestus, Goibniu and a tanned girl following him.

"Apologies but due to circumstances it wouldst be better for none to witness. Other than Finn, Loki, Riveria, Gareth, Ganesha, Ais and Shakti I wilt not allow any eyes to spy."

"What? As a Goddess of the forge this is an opportunity I cannot pass."

"Phae-Phae respect the boy's privacy."

"Easy for you to say."

The red haired Goddess pouted before conceding and allowing Bell to go on, followed by the people mentioned before. The rest decided to wait around and started talking to each other. Forgotten by the dragonoid and Shakti, the Yae siblings stood in the middle of the courtyard, not knowing what to do. Too scared and shy to talk to any of the high levelled adventurers they waited patiently and awkwardly in the middle.

.

Ganesha, Shakti, Loki, Ais and the three leading members of the Loki Familia followed Bell to his room. Bell picked up a large box and opened it. Inside it was a black and blue armour set, ornated beautifully with golden. At the centre of the chest piece was engraved in blue the symbol of Khaenri'ah, the land of the Dragonoids. The symbol was the face of a dragon with wings extending out on each side.

The armour set was a full plated armour that covered all the body and limbs, with two gaps on the back and one over the waist. The others could only guess it was made for the wings and tail. Finn knocked on the chest piece and realised that the armour plates were extremely thick and heavy, even having a helmet.

Bell put the armour on and turned to look at the people who had accompanied them. Ais looked at him excitedly with a big smile, while the others gulped. The black armour that softly glowed with a blue light made Bell look incredibly imposing and intimidating.

"Ah unfortunate but expected."

Bell suddenly started taking the armour off.

"What's the matter?"

"I can't use the armour."

"Why not? Isn't that the armour that you used as a dragonoid, I doubt you'll find anything better."

"Yes, tis my old protection, one which I used to battle many ferocious monstrosities. Alas the keyword is old. Armour that I wore with my original power. As of now it is heavy and hard to use. Impractical for my current state."

Ais' shoulders slumped down at the disappointing news as did the others.

"For now I'll keep it here. However, I will require a new armour for now."

"Alright, that can be arranged easily. Besides, you should be able to make the money for it easily."

Loki then turned to Shakti who just spoke.

"But Shakti-chan, he lost his power and never bore a falna. Wouldn't that put him at level one?"

"Yes, but you haven't heard about what happened on the patrol. Speaking of which, that reminds me of Akio and Miko."

"Who are they?"

"A pair of siblings that were attacked and we rescued. They wanted to join the Familia so we brought them here. We'll go get them after we're done here."

"Alright. So, what happened on the patrol?"

"Bell completely crippled a level two adventurer."

Everyone turned to Bell.

"You see before leaving, we got him diagnosed. The injuries go as follow: five broken ribs, one fractured, the solar plexus tore apart, his muscles strained and bruised, many of the internal organs suffered massive damage from the impact and some ruptured and finally, concussion and a cut on the back of the head as he was sent flying into a wall."

Everyone looked at Bell expressionlessly just as Shakti had done before.

"How did that happen?"

"A single strike to the chest, that by the way, shattered through the sword that the man was using to block the attack effortlessly."

Bell felt a tinge of embarrassment at the accusatory stares.

"Tis not my fault, his swordsmanship, if one may even call it such, was a disgrace."

Everyone raised an eyebrow, while Ais was startled and started taking steps back. Loki saw this and turned to the blonde girl.

"What's the matter with that Ais?"

"Onii-chan is very strict when it comes to training and using a sword."

Everyone watched as Ais paled and trembled in fear, slowly sitting down and hugging her knees hiding her face in her legs.

'What kind of spartan method does he use to be able to terrify even Ais?'

Riveria and Finn thought alike as they recalled how Ais acted so far.

"If so curious, why not experience it for thyself?"

Everyone turned to Bell who now had a whip in his right hand, holding the thong in his left. As he pulled his hands apart a loud cracking sound was made from the whip which terrified the group.

'Where the hell did he get the whip from?!'

Finn waved his hands as sweat dropped.

"W-wait Bell. Let's not forget your sword."

"Oh right. There is that to be done."

Everyone sighed in relief, particularly happy about it was Ais who immediately jumped up to her feet.

Bell grabbed another box from under his bed and started leaving the room.

"Follow me. This entails a large open space."

Everyone followed Bell to the roof of the building, or head of the statue in this case. From the top of Ganesha's statue head, they could see the whole of the city that extended around them.

"Hah, I beat you Ganesh, from my towers you can see from an even greater height!"

Loki was then bonked on the head by Riveria.

"You useless Goddess, shut up. Apologies Ganesha-sama."

"Hahaha, it's fine, it's how Loki has always been."

Their attention was grabbed by the dragonoid who then opened the box and revealed the thousand metal shards inside the container. Everyone looked at the shattered weapon and wondered if it could truly be reforged and how that would work.

"The Ryū Negai."

"?"

"Tis the name of the ancient blade, it means dragon wish."

"Quick question kid, how do you intend to fix da blade without your powers?"

"Actually, one foresaw that the day would shine when I'd need my power but have no access to it. To face this problem this one created a solution."

Bell pulled out a crystal that glowed with a myriad of different colours.

"This crystal is originated by my power. It shall allow myself to make a one time use of this power."

"Is it wise to use it now?"

"I have three. Two once I expend this brilliant stone."

"Then fire away."

Bell sat down in front of the thousand shards, with the crystal in his hand. His hand clenched hard and the crystal started cracking, until it exploded. As soon as it did a massive pillar of magic shot into the sky as if a God was returning to heaven.

Riveria who understood magic better than anyone was shocked by the magic pillar as it was unbelievably powerful and large in scale. What truly shocked her, however, was the purity of the magic. To a level that she believed impossible.

.

All around the city, everyone turned to watch the rainbow pillar of light that shot up into the sky. Everyone that was in the courtyard of the Ganesha Familia home was startled and afraid that something might have happened started rushing inside, only to be blocked by Hashana, Ilta and the other nine level fives of the Familia.

"Ilta move, we need to get up there."

However, the level five vice-captain refused to heed a flat chested amazon's order.

"I'm afraid that won't do. Ganesha-sama has ordered to not allow anyone in."

"Are you kidding me Ilta? Can't you feel the magic from here. They could be in danger. We don't even know what that is."

"Except we do."

Everyone turned to Hashana, who spoke with a grin.

"You do?"

The Goddess of justice asked the level four adventurer.

"Ganesha-sama said that any miraculous phenomenon will be expected and are probably caused by "Bell."

"Ais-san's brother is doing this?"

An orange haired elf asked incredulous.

"That's right, besides what danger is there with three level six, two level fives and Bell up there."

Everyone calmed down at that and watched from down below at the magic pillar.

"Hmm."

A red haired girl with green eyes turned to the Goddess of justice hearing her thinking.

"What is it Astraea-sama?"

"I was just thinking about this magic. But … based on the scale and power of this, I'd say that not even a spirit could manage this."

"What?!"

Everyone shouted not believing what Astraea just told them.

.

Back on top of the statue everyone watched in astonishment as a massive watery bubble of magic formed high above the box that contained the shards of the weapon. Hundreds of complex magic circles formed all around. One in front of Bell, one behind him, a small one on each hand. Then a gigantic magic circle formed on the ground, with the centre being the box.

The magic bubble was also surrounded by magic circles encasing it in a dodecahedron shaped form. Five more magic circles appeared high in the sky, that were pierced at the centre by the magic pillar, each one bigger than the previous as they went up higher into the sky. Big enough that probably the entirety of the city could see them.

Each magic circle glowed with the same rainbow colour as the pillar as they slowly spun in clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. Then the shards in the box started floating, before being drawn into the bubble that was suspended above them.

From their positions behind Bell, the adventurers and Gods could the shadowy figures of the shards getting closer to each other and forming the shape of a sword. Nevertheless, the surprises were far from over and the magic pillar, bubble along with all the magic circles turned into a brilliant yet dark crimson red. An unbearable heat started being emitted, which was felt by everyone at the base of the statue and even Riveria, Gareth and Finn were having trouble resisting, causing them to retreat further back.

The shards joined back together and after a flash of red fire fused the pieces back together, it all vanished as if never happened. The magic circles disappeared, the pillar exhausted and the bubble absorbed into the sword.

Ais, Finn, Riveria, Gareth, Loki, Shakti and Ganesha looked astonished at the beauty of the sword. The handle was black, with golden metal ornaments and bright blue lines carved into the hilt, a blue crystal laid on the golden pommel. The blade resembled that of a Far Eastern blade but had its striking differences.

The scabbard was jet black and was just as glamorously ornated with gold. Covering the scabbard, was the drawing of a mythical looking place engraved on it. A never seen before castle, majestically standing atop a mountain, it was surrounded by dragons, clouds and rivers.

The blade was bright blue, with golden ornaments and dark blue patterns over the blade. The blade was at least one hundred celches long, with a twenty celch long hilt. The light blue blade had a jet black edge, separated by the cloudy pattern of the light blue hamon. Between the hilt and the blade, the sword had a particular shape, with claw like extensions jutting outwards and backwards.

In the middle of the two extensions, at the centre of the blade, just below the hilt was a hole where the symbol of Khaenri'ah had been forged, leaving empty spaces where the symbol didn't cover within the circumference of the hole.

(A/N: For reference look at the 2nd ascension of Genshin's mistsplitter reforged. Instead of the electro symbol found in the middle of the blade, you have the before mentioned symbol of the dragonoid Khaneri'ah.)

As if coming back to life, the blue blade started glowing with renewed vigour. The light blue lines carved into the hilt also started glowing, with the dark blue patterns over the blade shining brighter than the rest. The drawing on the scabbard also glowed blue as it was reborn. Bell then grabbed the sword that waited for its master, floating in the place where it was reforged.

"Let us head back down."

Everyone watched Bell who had a gentle smile on his face as he looked at the sheathed blade in his hand.

"That place drawn on the scabbard … is that Khaenri'ah?"

Loki couldn't help asking seeing the magical land depicted on the scabbard as Ais latched onto Bell's arm.

"Yes. Tis the ancient lands of us dragonoids."

.

"What was that?!"

As the group of eight came down the statue and entered the courtyard of the manor, they were instantly swarmed by the rest of the people who demanded answers. Tiona and Lefiya jumped on Ais while Bete grabbed Finn and shook him.

"Don't worry, that was Bell's doing. It happened when he repaired the sword."

Lefiya was shocked at the news.

"All that to repair a sword? There's no way! Even Riveria-sama can't produce such magic power."

"It's true Lefiya."

The girl turned to her mentor incredulous before staying silent.

"Can we at least see this legendary sword that we can't repair? A sword that used a unique method and required such blazing heat. Such an amazing sword just a glimpse."

Everyone could hear the desperate and persistent attempts of Hephaestus and Goibniu, their own curiosity leading them to peak at Bell. The boy nodded and showed everyone the sheathed weapon. Everyone gasped at the sight of the lit up sword. Bell pulled on the handle and let the blade out to be seen.

"Ooh!"

Goibniu and Hephaestus approached the blade and looked at it really closely, their hands hovering over the blade that sizzled with energy arcs travelling over its surface as Bell held it up. Everyone else was surprised by the appearance of the sword and watched amazed.

"To think such a blade exists."

The captain of the Hephaestus Familia approached the Goddess as she breathed out a couple of words.

"Hephaestus-sama. What do you think of the sword?"

"It is a wonderful masterpiece. I've never seen something such as this."

"Hephaestus is right. This weapon is incredible. The best I've seen I dare say. I don't believe neither me nor Hephaestus can make something like this. Whoever did it was a real master."

Everyone was shocked by the words of Goibniu as he examined the sword, while Loki looked at Bell with a smug smile, but Bell only looked elsewhere to avoid feeling embarrassed. He then retracted the blade and sheathed it. Much to the displeasure of the two Gods who were admiring the long tachi.

Then someone who no one knew who he was and that he was there launched forwards and landed before Bell in a dogeza. The person who bowed before Bell was a red haired male, he wore black clothes and a scarf.

"Please teach me how to make a weapon like that."

Bell tilted his head to the side before Hephaestus grabbed him by the ear and pulled him up. Seeing his face surprised Bell as he recognized him.

"Crozzo?"

The teen and the Goddess of the forge turned to Bell not expecting him to know who he was.

"Apologies. You resembled to an old acquaintance."

"Ah well. My name is Welf Crozzo."

'Ha, finding him was easy. He came to me.'

"I see. Tis unfortunate as said before, I cannot teach this."

Welf's shoulders slumped down in defeat.

"How could you even make such a request?!"

Hephaestus then started pulling on his ear and scolding him.

"How about testing that sword then?"

The tanned girl that shouted had a silver weapon in her hand and looked ready to fight.

"Tsubaki you're not allowed to fight him."

The girl pouted at the Goddess who still held the teen by his ear.

"Then let's send a level one against him. I'll let him borrow this weapon. It's my masterpiece of the Roland series, a series of durandal class weapons."

At the sound of that, Finn seemed mildly interested before remembering what Shakti had told him before.

"Wait, not a level one."

"Why not captain?"

Finn turned to the owner of the voice that questioned him. It was a pretty amazon with a large chest, black hair and dark green eyes.

"Cause I heard from Shakti that during their patrol, Bell crushed a level two with one hit. After he got annoyed by the, apparently terrible, swordsmanship of the unfortunate fellow. Though personally I believe that Bell's standards are just really high."

"Okay. Then a high level two or starting level three?"

"Agreed."

Shakti turned to the Yae siblings, seeing them awkwardly standing in the middle she felt bad for leaving them there and went to fetch them.

"Sorry, I had forgot to tell Ganesha."

"Please don't mind it."

"Say, you wanna try to spar with Bell?"

Their eyes widened in shock before turning to Bell who smiled brightly.

"After what he did to those guys, absolutely not!"

Shakti laughed turning to the pouting Bell, as he clearly heard the conversation. Then someone spoke up.

"Captain, please allow me."

Everyone turned to a chienthrope, who demanded to be allowed to spar.

"Orba? You're a supporter. Don't get me wrong I don't mean that because you're a supporter, normally I wouldn't mind, but you have little battle experience because of that and against Bell that could be a problem."

"Captain, I'm a low-level three it will be fine."

'I will show everyone that I'm good enough for the Loki Familia and that I can become an adventurer, instead of being stuck as just a useless supporter. Who knows if I beat her brother then Ais might start noticing me, no she'll fall head over heels for me. Hehehe. Besides does he think he's some big shot just because he's the Kenki's brother, I'll show him that he's nothing of special.'

All kind of wild ideas flew in the chienthrope's mind, which Finn knew all too well. Perhaps this would teach him a lesson, so the blonde pallum looked at Bell who nodded.

"Fine."

Miko and Akio looked at Bell's opponent from Shakti's side and frowned.

"We don't like that guy."

The blue haired captain nodded slowly at the remark.

"I can see why."

Finn then gave him a warning.

"But don't hold back or you'll regret it."

Orba scoffed in his mind and walked out on the grass field that was found inside the manor of the Ganesha Familia and took the weapon from Tsubaki. He looked at the weapon with admiration. A supporter like him would never get a chance to hold a durandal weapon again.

Bell walked up to the field before turning to face him. He unsheathed the sword, looking at it weirdly for a moment as he felt an unnatural sensation. That's when he realized that he recovered two old abilities from the link that had existed between the blade and his original self.

He smiled slightly at the blade before facing the chienthrope who had a grin as if thinking he had already won. The chienthrope rushed in, sword already reared back over his head. Went without saying that he had to be the worst swordsman Bell had seen in more than several millennia.

Even so, the dragonoid didn't try to block it, Bell didn't know the capacity of his strength nor his own. Instead he effortlessly deflected it to the right with a gentle strike to the tip of the sword with his own tachi. The blade sailed harmlessly to the right of Bell's head.

This surprised not only the chienthrope but the others who were watching as well, as he didn't even flinch at the sword shooting past his eye. Orba pulled back and slashed vertically, to which Bell responded by raising his sword horizontally, as the two blades struck, the ancient race slanted the tip of the sword slightly down, causing the blade to slide down. It swung in the direction assisted by the Ryū Negai before burying straight into the ground.

Bell didn't move as Orba took a couple of seconds to retrieve the sword back. Then, the before cocky adventurer tried again, again and again. But Bell wouldn't move from his place, always deflecting the blade without trouble.

As Orba tried going for another vertical strike, straight down the middle. Having gotten a general understanding of his strength Bell decided to block it this time. The edge of the chienthrope's sword came down just as Bell raised his sword with blade pointed down.

This confused the audience, making some worry, but were all blown away when Bell masterfully blocked it with the pommel of the sword. It was his secret technique which required incredible strength, precision and balance, needing to know the sword as an extension of your arm, in order to perform.

Orba tried to push down with all his might but he was met with equal resistance. The blade of Bell's tachi then started glowing brightly. Followed by the sound of Bell speaking … no, not speaking but chanting. He was preparing a spell.

"I grasp use of the calefaction of the thousand stars."

Orba didn't have time to react as Bell tilted his sword right so that it was horizontal before pushing outwards. The push sent his sword flying to the left, but the chienthrope didn't let go of the sword and lost his balance as he tried to make sure that the sword wasn't swatted out of his hand.

Then he noticed the single bladed sword reared back. Held by one hand, Orba was surprised that such a long and heavy sword could be wielded with only one hand by the blonde boy. It glowed brightly as the dragonoid finished the chant and prepared to strike.

"The celestial bodies that are thwarted by none. Star blade."

Orba dodged just in time as Bell slashed down, sending an arc of blue plasma flying in his direction. Everything in its path was burnt away and it stopped only as it crashed into a tree, incinerating it as the arc came to a stop. The ground had been cut into and burnt to ash just as any rock or tree had been as well.

The sudden magic spell, with such ruinous offensive output surprised everyone watching. They hadn't expected Bell to have a spell, particularly Ganesha and Shakti since they had seen his status and no magic spells were present in the magic section. Then just as they thought it was over Bell started chanting again.

"I grasp the use of the source of endless power."

For the first time Bell moved. He dashed forward as he continued chanting revealing his ability to chant concurrently, completely blowing away Lefiya and any other mage that was present, excluding Riveria who pretty much expected that.

"An ancient strength that annihilates all. Atomic breath."

Instead of being shot from his mouth as somewhat suggested by the name, blue strands of energy gathered from his body and the surrounding area into his hand, forming a blue sphere. He thrusted his arm forwards, pointing it towards the chienthrope and shot it in the form of a beam. He immediately moved the beam to the right as he saw that Orba was frozen in fear and hadn't attempted to dodge the killer move.

The beam cut into the wall, slicing down a tree that was in the way before dying down. But it wasn't over, as all the area that the beam had hit went up in flames with many small explosions following trace of the beam, going off one by one until it reached the area where it stopped blowing up with a bigger explosion than the ones before, ending the effects of the spell.

(A/N: For reference look at pokemon XY when garchomp loses control. If you see his hyper beam, you'll understand. Unless you're geniuses and you already understood, because let's face it, descriptions aren't my strong point.)

Everyone watched with their mouths hanging wide open. Not expecting him to shoot off a powerful magic spell, they were even less prepared for the second even more destructive spell, which completely wrecked the wall of the manor that had taken the hit.

There was a long moment of silence as everyone just kept staring at the damage done by the two level 'one' spells. Riveria and Finn calculated that the spells were on par with level three maybe even level four magic spells in terms of offensive power. The short chant for such tremendously powerful effects was just out of this world.

Ganesha, who was the first to recover proceeded to make Bell the victor of the match as Orba just stayed on his knees frozen in place, not moving from his position. Ais on the other hand jumped on Bell and latched onto his arm with a smile.

"Hehe, easy victory for you onii-chan."

"In all honesty, the chienthrope was trained not to fight but for else duties."

"No he wasn't, but he still had the level advantage. On the other hand, we learnt much from you, Bell."

"Your words honour this one, Finn Deimne."

"That was a great display of skill, but I'd say that it's enough for one day. And Orba, I hope you learnt your lesson. I will personally hand out the punishment for you."

"Y-yes … captain."

"Good, let's go everyone."

"What?! I didn't get to talk to him at all!"

"Don't you dare question the captain you dumb sister!"

"Oh come on Finn."

"No Bete, another time."

A blonde haired girl then raised her hand.

"Umm, what about me?"

The executives and Loki turned to her and watched her as she begged with puppy eyes, making it hard for anyone to refuse. Loki loving Ais very much was the first to concede to the little girl's demand.

"Ah whatever. Ais-chan can stay, but the rest are coming back with me to the Twilight Manor!"

"What? We can't leave Ais-san here."

"We can and we will. Now let's go back, before Loki assaults someone."

The Loki Familia left, soon followed by Hephaestus, Goibniu and eventually Astraea, whose Familia wanted to talk to Bell for a bit. Unfortunately as a Familia that shares the duty of the Ganesha Familia but without having quite as many members, they had to get back to work.

"Bell. What happened back there?"

"Umm? Little one, go on before me."

The blonde dragonoid who was looking as everyone left one by one with a female knight attached to his arm, was interrupted by the voice of Ganesha. He seemed to want to have the usage of magic explained to him. Ais pouted knowing something was going behind her back but she followed his order and went to his room. As she disappeared behind the corner Bell turned to the God.

"Must you mean the magic?"

"Yes, it wasn't on your status if I remember correctly."

"Yes, that is most certainly the truth. I do believe I received them when I was using the sword. Albeit old and broken, it once was the tachi used by the old me."

Shakti was the next one to ask a question after hearing him speak.

"Really? Does that mean you could regain all your power through it?"

"Let us not overestimate this chance. It was but a residue of my power left in the shattered blade. T'will not happen again. What I gained today is most probably as much as I will regain through luck and fate. Rest is up to hard work and unsealing my power."

Shakti nodded but the conversation left the God confused. Knowing why, Shakti got Bell's permission before explaining how Bell's power wasn't lost. Ganesha was elated at the news as much as he was terrified but it all ended with a downtrodden elephant God as he was told the impossibility of the task for the current Orario, whose man power lacked far too much.

"I see. That's a shame, but it also give us a reason to become stronger. Now more than ever before. Don't worry, believe in me. Before the end of this generation, we'll help you get your power back."

"My gratitude Ganesha. For now I shall bid you farewell."

"See you later Bell."

They then noticed that a pair of renards who were standing in silence, waiting for a moment to intervene.

"Ah, you two must be the Yae siblings. I am Ganesha! Anyways, follow Shakti she'll take you to your rooms for you to rest today. I'll give you your falnas tomorrow or the day after, we're quite busy as of now. Alright?"

The two nodded.

"Yes thank you!"

The five of them of them parted ways and each headed back to their own room, only seeing each other again for dinner. As night came, he was yet again tackled down on the bed by Ais who used him as a body pillow, luckily it didn't impede him from getting a good rest. The day after would be the start to a rather difficult series of events after all.

.

It was early in the morning when a knocking sound could be heard coming from the door to Bell's room. Within the room Bell woke up with a groggy Ais getting up soon after. Hearing the knocking sound Bell got up and opened the door slightly.

"Ay?"

"Hey Bell, good morning."

"Shakti, has something happened?"

"Yes, you were summoned by Ouranos."

"What a joyous occasion, I shall get going immediately."

"I will inform Ganesha."

"Thank you."

Shakti left as Bell turned to watch Ais rubbing her eyes lazily.

"Little one, join your Familia."

"Eh? That's not fair, yesterday you said you would spend the day with me, instead you went off with Shakti."

"Tis true, I'm sorry, but Ouranos summoned me for nothing but serious work."

"Mouuuu!"

Ais' pout was just adorable but Bell didn't give in and waited until the blonde knight left. He changed into his usual ancient clothes covered by a cloak before heading to the guild. Eina recognized the cloaked figure and guided him to the Room of Prayers.

She left and as soon as she disappeared round the corner, the doors started to open. As usual, the room was pretty much dark, except for the throne area, where Ouranos sat there all day and night long. Bell walked forwards and stopped before the God.

"Ouranos."

"Good morning Bell."

"What mission hast thou ready for this one?"

"Oh? I never said mission, maybe I just want to talk to you."

"Please Ouranos, thou were never one for jokes and doubt I do that it has changed. Too much for you to do and worry about to be relaxing. Besides, if thou did wish so, the black cloaked skeleton there would have met me instead."

"It seems you know me well."

From the shadows, Fels was surprised to hear Bell know of his presence and his hidden appearance. Without any reason to hide, the cloaked figure presented itself.

"It is an honour to meet an ancient dragonoid. I never thought I'd live the day to see one."

"Fels, am I correct?"

The skeleton nodded.

"The foolish sage that created the philosopher's stone through the mystery developmental ability."

This time not only Fels, but Ouranos as well was surprised.

"Ay, I've heard much about your tales."

"Well that was a surprise. But going back to the topic. Bell, I want you to know everything there is to know. The missions I will assign you will be centred around two subjects. Evilus and the Xenos."

Bell tilted his head to the side.

"Xenos? Might you mean the talking monsters?"

The elder God's eyes widened and so did Fels' too, if he had eyes that is.

"Wh- how do you know about that? It should have been a secret known only by me, Hermes and Ganesha."

"T'was not Ganesha who told me. Rather Hermes told Zeus and myself."

The God sighed and shook his head.

"Oh well, as long as its just you and Zeus I suppose its fine."

"Since you know everything that saves me the need to explain about the Xenos. Now then, let me explain what we know about Evilus."

Bell nodded and listened carefully as the God explained the missions that Fels went on, their discoveries and the current state. He also briefly mentioned their current relationship with the Xenos that are in the dungeon.

"So thou means, is that Evilus is regrouping within the dungeon and this time their source of power is related to spirits?"

"Yes. We intend to retrieve one of the main components needed by Evilus. As a matter of fact, a mission to retrieve this object should have already been given to Hashana Dorlia of your Familia by Fels. He will meet with a member of the Hermes Familia on the eighteenth floor and pass it onto them before bringing it back to the surface for us to analyse.

I want you to accompany Hashana, he should be at the dungeon's entrance right now. There are many matters that need to be taken care of and Fels can't do them all. I can only rely on you Bell to go in place of Fels. While you do this Fels will take care of other tasks. Your help will greatly lighten our burden."

"Very well, it will be done."

"You have my thanks Bell. I will also inform Ganesha that you are aware of the Xenos."

Just as quickly as he had come Bell vanished and rushed to the dungeon.

"Will he be fine, he's level one now."

"He can match up to a high level two, maybe even starting level threes. If need be he can temporarily summon enough power to obliterate a country."

"Then there is no need to worry. I will head on and meet with the Xenos."

"You do that."

Fels retreated into the shadows and disappeared. Like that Ouranos was left alone again as silence returned to the room.

.

Everyone watched in amazement at the level four adventurer that stood in front of the tower of Babel. The high levelled adventurer wore a raven black full plated armour, a large double edged sword on his back.

"Good morning Hashana."

The man turned around and found a cloaked Bell behind him.

"Bell? What brings?"

"You were bestowed a mission from mister black cloak."

"You know about that?"

"A God has spoken, accompany thee in the dungeon I shall."

"Well, if you're tagging along then I'm confident this will all go without a hitch."

"Yes, shouldst be fun. Let us go."

"Yes, let us go."

The two marched into the dungeon together, descending the stairs down to the first floor of the dungeon. They walked down the blue corridors and past the rooms when Bell stopped to watch a green hideous creature.

"Might that little horrendous green thing be a goblin?"

"Ah yes, that's the infamous goblin. Right you don't know much about the dungeon. While I'm sure that with your skills and experience you shouldn't have problems, let me just tell you about the dungeon and its monsters."

The two kept walking side by side further and further down into the dungeon. They fought while Hashana spoke to Bell and offered lessons on the monsters. He told him everything in detail about the dungeon from the first to the twentieth floor. Only stopping as they arrived on the twelfth floor where Hashana wanted to show Bell something.

"Remember what I taught you so far?"

"This one does."

"As for monsters I'd watch out for the minotaurus', wyverns and the infant dragons."

"You have not mentioned those before."

"Yes, I left them for last because they are the most dangerous. Starting with the infant dragons. They are the self-proclaimed monster rexes of the upper floors and spawn on the eleventh to twelfth floors. They are dragons without wings. Their tail has devastating strength and their head is heavily armoured. Besides that, it can breathe out fire with an intense heat."

"A dragon without wings?"

"Hence the name infant."

"I see. That or it's an earth dragon."

"?"

"Never mind this one. Please continue."

"Right, then there are the wyverns. They spawn solely on the twelfth floor. They are dragon type monsters and are easy to notice … they're pink in colour."

Bell paused a moment and turned to the level four veteran.

"Pink? That is a first."

"Yeah, kinda looks ridiculous. But they have sharp claws, a long tail with a blade at the end, thick scales and the reason they are problematic is that they fly around. Luckily they can't spew fire, but they can launch large spikes from the tail."

"Hmm."

"Finally the minotaurus. They are level two monsters that spawn between the fifteenth and seventeenth floors. It's neither fast nor agile. Incredibly strong and considered the strongest amongst the middle floors. Only reason they'd lose to an infant dragon would be due to the fire ability of the dragon monster.

My tip? Just don't be in the way when the bull charges, it's the only time when it is actually fast. It also has a howl ability that can paralyze level ones with fear. However, you should know that due to that they are called the newbie killers, because have the highest number of adventurer kills.

Well, we say newbie killer but in reality many adventurers, experienced or not, high level or not get done in by the monster. The monster's hide is incredibly thick. To the point that the skin of an infant dragon is softer, only the head of the infant is harder than the bull's hide. But that makes the minotaurus generally harder to kill as it has a thicker armour covering its whole body."

"Note taken."

"Then why don't you meet one?"

At the question Bell turned to Hashana only to be interrupted by the loud roar of a green dragon like creature that had no wings.

"An infant dragon I presume."

"That would be correct. Now, all yours."

Hashana backed up followed by the gaze of the dragonoid. When Bell turned back to the monster and was surprised as he noticed it was charging up a fire blast, it's throat glowing orange. Bell barrel rolled forwards into the flames, just dodging as the flames past overhead, incinerating the place in which he stood before.

Without stopping, Bell interrupted the roll and as soon as he was crouched upright, he pushed himself off the ground and darted forwards into the sky, aiming right for the infant dragon. Bell hit the dragon like an arrow in the neck, right below the head. The sword went through and killed the monster, causing it to fall to its side as Bell jumped off and landed on his feet.

"Woo! What a move!"

Bell turned to Hashana who clapped.

"Remember what you do now?"

"Stone?"

"Yep."

Bell proceeded to slice the monster open and retrieve the magic stone. As he did the monster exploded in black ash.

"Good, let's continue shall we?"

They proceeded deeper into the dungeon, meeting a wyvern on the twelfth floor. Hashana decided to let Bell fight it and wasn't surprised when Bell decided to use his magic spell to launch an arc of blue at the monster, lazily cutting in half instead of bothering to fight it without magic.

"The next will be a minotaurus. Be careful cause it can use howl, but standard level one doesn't really apply to you, so who knows."

"Question, what about if it works?"

"Don't worry, I got your back in that case."

"Alright then."

The two continued to travel the dungeon, finally reaching the fifteenth floor, where the first bull monsters spawned. They kept walking when the monster they were searching found them instead. It stared at them with its blood red eyes and growled ferociously.

"Here it comes."

The monster roared and howled as it stomped the ground, making it known that he was ready to charge forwards. Hashana turned to Bell, looking to see if the howl had any effect, but he had to suppress a laugh from escaping his lips when the dragonoid tilted his head in confusion.

"Was that the howl?"

"Yes, it was."

"Ah, okay."

Bell then dashed forwards, surprising the monster. The beast panicked and swung his arm at the blonde boy. Bell dodged by ducking under the arm and before it could make a second move, Bell turned to the arm and with a vertical slash, the arm was cut through in a single swift motion. The dragonoid didn't waste time and slashed horizontally before bringing the blade diagonally down and slashed upwards, straight through the middle of the minotaurus.

The arm fell to the ground along the body that was split in four pieces, blood gushed out and spilt all over the floor of the dungeon. Hashana from behind whistled appreciatively, showing his surprise at the merciless display of skill from Bell.

"Damn. You might want to get cleaned. Bull blood stinks."

Bell who was in front of the minotaurus when the blood spurted was now half clean and half red.

"Once we carry out the mission I shall. Apologies about the magic stone."

"It's fine, monsters on the middle floors aren't too valuable. Just remember to avoid striking the magic stone unless necessary. Like when the monster doesn't die no matter how you cut it and stab it."

"By that you mean when they regenerate."

"Yes."

The monster exploded into black ash but as the two were going to get going, the loud of something heavy hitting the ground got their attention. They turned back to the pile of ash of the monster and sticking out of it was a black horn.

"What is this trinket? … A horn?"

Bell picked up the curved black horn and observed it.

"Oh, I had completely forgot about that. Sometimes when monsters die they leave those materials behind. They are called drop items and are parts of the monster that can be sold or used to make items. They are more valuable than the magic stones but are incredibly rare. Heh, guess you're lucky, no magic stone but you got the horn instead."

"Right, let us move. We must reach the thirtieth floor by the end of today."

"Roger that."

.

The group of three rushed past the floors, passing by the eighteenth floor where they were spotted by members of the Astraea Familia, who were too late to call them and fell out of the hearing range of the two men as they travelled at max speed. Shooting past the floors, it took them only a couple of hours to reach the twenty eighth floor.

Luckily for them the Amphisbaena wasn't there and they manage to circumvent most monsters, which allowed them to save time, energy and strength. So far Bell had been handling himself well and Hashana noticed that he was quick to learn and even quicker to adapt. However that's when they started encountering problems.

"This one has a bad premonition of the battle to come."

"Let's see how bad it gets."

As they set foot on the territory of the twenty eighth floor, they noticed that everything had gone quiet. The closer they had gotten to the target area, the weirder the situation appeared to get. Then on the twenty eighth floor, all sound and movement immediately ceased. Even so, that didn't deter the two adventurers from proceeding on with their mission.

"You're right, something's off Bell. Let's be careful, eyes up and weapons ready."

"I have thou back."

The two unsheathed their weapons and their grips around the hilts tightened. Hashana who had mostly acted solo, rarely going in parties grinned at the sight of collaborating with Bell who now had his back. He had to admit, it wasn't so bad to fight together. Perhaps more of that could be done once Modaka reached a higher level, though that could take a while to happen.

Without slowing down, the pair of adventurers proceeded down the twenty eighth floor and onto the twenty ninth floor. Halfway down the floor, they started feeling the earth trembling. This caused them to stop, but they soon started walking again as nothing seemed to be willing to occur. The only thing that did happen was that the trembling got stronger and stronger as they got closer to the thirtieth floor.

Cautiously they arrived on the thirtieth floor, their target destination. They entered a square room empty with only an entrance to the room at the opposite end of where they stood. The ground stopped shaking as they crossed the room and as they entered the tunnel to continue proceeding they were met with a shriek that caused the two adventurers to come to a stop as they prepared for a fight.

They very slowly stepped forwards and entered a much broader room. Inside it, there were hundreds of green scaled stems circled around the room. They all froze immediately as the adventurers entered. Bell and Hashana stared at the monsters as they creepily turned the head towards them. The heads opened as huge flowers unfurled and ugly mouths at the centre of the flowers with serrated teeth screeched out ferociously.

"Umm, Hashana, I make no recollection of thou telling me of such horrid creatures?"

"No, cause I have never seen these things before either. There are too many, run!"

The two turned around and ran back into the corridor they had used to access the room. Bell was at the lead with Hashana close behind and just a little further back was a massive horde of flowers that was eager to tear them to shreds.

"I grasp the use of the source of endless power. An ancient strength that annihilates all."

Hashana heard the chant and noticed his left hand glowing blue as strands of energy were drawn towards it. Hashana understood now more than ever how skilled Bell was, as he kept chanting despite the dire situation and the fact that they were running at max speed.

"Hashana, tis a great opportunity. I shall blast them all at once."

"I get it. Since it's a corridor with no exits they will have no way to dodge it, right?"

"Ay, I beckon thee to get out of the way the moment we step into the room."

"Got it!"

The entrance to the room came into view rapidly and they soon reached it. Bell wasted no time as he skidded to a stop whilst pivoting around at the same time. Hashana turned to the right and jumped out of the way as Bell unleashed a blue ray into the corridor.

"Atomic breath!"

The monsters screamed and screeched as they were melted or killed by the explosion that followed. The blast sent smoke flying out of the tunnel and into the room at the feet of Bell and Hashana. The two waited with bated breath as two of the green monsters stumbled out, burnt and ripped apart by the rocks that had shot towards them due to the explosion of the magic spell.

"Finish them!"

Hearing that Bell rushed forwards with his sword. He circled around and went in from the side, slamming down the blade with all his might, but to his surprise it stopped halfway through the monster. Hashana too charged and aimed for the head, grabbing a knife from his back before driving it into the monster, but surprisingly the blade snapped off.

Both shocked adventurers acted quickly. Bell pulled out the sword, slicing the rest of the way into the monster through the action, severing the long flower into two parts. Hashana grabbed his great sword on the floor and slammed it down on the monster's head.

"That might have been a third rate knife, but it was still pretty good. To think it'd snap like that. Damn."

Bell crouched down and knocked on the scales of the flower monsters.

"Certainly, the scales on this … thing … are meticulous to say the least."

Hashana then started hacking at the scales and was surprised by the result.

"Holy Ganesha, these things don't pale even when compared to top quality second tier armour."

"That much?"

"Yea. This insane on a different level."

"Hashana, what floor hast thou ranged to?"

"Thirty eight through a joint expedition with the Astraea Familia. Will soon be fifty since we're having a joint expedition with both Astraea and Loki Familia. Might reach fifty or more."

"And thou can rest certain that no such monsters were vanquished before?"

"I think you're asking whether I have seen these monsters before? To which the answer is no."

"Hmm."

"Bell, you said that you were informed by a God when you met with me right?"

"Yes, and thou should have met mister black robe."

"Right, he gave me the quest. Said I'd save a lot of lives with this."

"Haha, no wonder you're a member of the Ganesha Familia."

"Hmm, well jokes apart. Do you know what's going on?"

The dragonoid sighed and nodded.

"Dost thou know what we're retrieving?"

"I was told to look for a green orb?"

"Well, this one knows not what it looks like. However, I do know of the use of the item. Apparently, tis the source of power for Evilus as of now."

"Wait, what? So we're trying to snuff out their secret weapon?"

"Around the right answer, yes."

"Oh man, wish I knew that beforehand."

"A golden chance befell us. Mister black robe knows not the reason as to why the item is here, but it is. Perhaps it was dropped, perhaps it is required to go through a process or ritual to make it active or it could have spawned there, none know the answer."

"What you're saying is that it was purely by chance that we found the orb here?"

"That is what this one is saying. We wilt not get another opportunity for Evilus is smart and learns from its mistakes … most of the times."

"But … that means that these new green monsters are their doing."

"Tis quite likely."

"Then we must immediately report back to the Guild and Ganesha, this is a serious matter. They made new monsters that could possibly be on par with level four adventurers."

"That we must, but our current mission first. Let us pray I haven't accidentally exploded our objective."

"Oh crap. Right, let's go check on that."

.

Bell and Hashana had followed the corridor that was scorched and lit with dead monsters. They continued forwards until they were back in the room from before. It seemed like every single one of the flower monsters had tried to stuff themselves in and got obliterated by the magic ray. They also caught glimpses of some pink shards on the ground but promptly ignored them.

The room was large and circular and it had a huge layered pit at the centre. Layer by layer, the rocky floor sunk down. Looking at it, Bell was reminded of diamond mines that he had seen countless of times as the shape of the pit looked identical. The only difference is that at the bottom centre there was no hole that led under, just a flat floor.

At the bottom of the pit, where the circular flat floor was, a small pedestal had been erected. The two adventurers decided to inspect it and carefully slid down the surface of the pit. Getting a close look at it, they noticed that the pedestal held a pale green orb on top of it.

"Hashana."

"Yes, that must be what we've been looking for."

"Let us grab the orb and leave at once."

Hashana nodded as Bell moved to pick the spherical object. As the dragonoid was about to pick up the object both the black haired man and the blonde boy noticed that the sphere was almost transparent and that something was inside. It was a weird little green creature. Its tiny legs and arms rested on his body and his eyes were closed. Its head had green wavy hair floating around indicating that the inside of the orb wasn't solid.

Bell grabbed the orb and lifted it up. As he did the little creature opened its eyes and stared at Bell creepily. The creature gave Bell an unsettling feeling, which turned into danger as its arms started to wiggle as if wanting to move. His jolt seemingly alarmed Hashana who took the orb away from his hands.

"Are you okay Bell?"

The dragonoid nodded and both watched as the creature stopped its movements and closed its eyes, going back to sleep.

"Did the little bastard do something to you?"

Bell shook his head.

"Nay, t'was a daunting feeling that it gave me."

"That's weird I don't feel anything, actually why does it react with you but not to me?"

"Tis a good thing it doesn't react to thee."

"I guess. I'll carry it then since you seemed to have problems with it."

"Many thanks Hashana."

"We should also report this to Ganesha and the cloaked dude."

"I will once this is over. We must return now, though we won't get to the surface before nightfall."

"That's fine, the cloaked dude said that we need to take it to the eighteenth floor. Someone else will take it from there up to the surface. So no need to hurry."

"Oh hurry we must. I do not believe Evilus had no method to monitor the orb and relay its status. Tis just a matter of time before the truth comes to light."

"You mean that they will send people after us?"

The boy nodded at his question.

"Evilus will pursue us to have the orb returned and it will resort to desperate measures if needed."

"Alright, then let's leave before any more nasty surprises decide to show up. Hopefully we'll be safe on the eighteenth floor."

~To Be Continued

Alright, so I was wondering if Bell was too strong despite the level one status. I tried balancing it, but it ain't easy. For reference look at Revis, she is between level five and six. Completely knocks the teeth out of Ais when she is high level five but loses when she reaches level six. Kind of similar for Bell, he is between level two and three, due to his race advantage as a dragonoid. Able to overcome the level difference of one level thanks to his skill and experience which are five thousand years old. In short, what do you think?

Many want Ais and a potential Harem, so I'm going down that way as of now.

Skyla will be brought back, later in the story.

So far that is everything. As usual questions will be answered and requests reviewed.

Hopefully you enjoyed, see you next time! :)