Chapter 5: Shiroi Kishi
A/N: Yo wys. Right yes, before I begin, everytime I kept saying Nexus, I was meant to say 'Nyx', I for some reason kept calling her a nexus, (that main gem thingy from LoL) so yh. Chocolate Love will probably get 1 more chapter after this, just so I can catch it up to Ghosts of the Future.
Also ppl, we are well on our way to 200,000 views. Currently, as I'm writing this I'm sitting on 172,912 views. Let's get to it by sunday, I believe we can do that. Also on another note, we are currently sitting on 106,542 views for Walking the Wrong Path so whoop whoop!
Anyways, I won't say anymore, just wanted to share this achievement. Technically we went over 200k since on Wattpad I got my Walking the Wrong Path and MHA series but that is a separate website so I REFUSE!
Also uh, thank you mermizlefor sharing that story of your cousin being obsessed with their poop. It was um...a piece of information that I didn't need to know but you can safely assume that I'll forget about that by a couple days, so uh yeah?
Tata~
'What. The. Hell.'
Those were Loki's first thoughts as she stared at her white rabbit child's back. It was glowing the bright white as it always did, and she got to look into his experiences.
Now there were mainly 2 things that shocked her. The first being the obvious,
"Haa...you can level up brat. Do you want to?" Loki told him.
"Neat. Yes."
"...that's it?" Loki asked surprised, " You levelled UP Bell. Level 1 to level 2, in less than a month. You knocked my Ais' record out the park and the only thing you can say is 'neat'? "
The feat seemed colossal and yet so tiny when compared to his reaction. Of course, Loki had gotten to understand Bell a bit more by now and knew not to expect grand reactions from him, but hey more than one word wouldn't be minded.
Alas it is the fate of those who wish, to face disappointment. She may as well give in to it.
Bell Cranel
Level: 1 - 2
Title: The Sacrificer
Str: 754 - 903 - 0
Vit: 704 - 895 - 0
Dex: 702 - 932- 0
Agi: 999- 999 -0
Mag: 547 - 824 - 0
Magic:
Lightning Mastery
Skills:
Chromatic Destiny
Death's Knight- Death prefers those that challenge its grasp. Mortal limitations have been removed. New status limit set to 1600, as well as reduction in pain felt and increase in damage dealt. Each kill adds a miniscule boost to the stats as fighting continues, stack limit is unlimited.
"What developmental ability do ya want? Ya got luck, strong body, which is rare for a level 1 and escape."
"Luck."
"Eh? You sure?" Loki asked to which Bell nodded. She shrugged momentarily, it's just a Bell thing anyways.
Developmental Abilities: Luck: I.
"Alright yer done, ya got a new skill too, and...oh my whiskey...what is up with this skill?" Loki sighed significantly tired. If deities could feel the concept of life, she would've aged by a few decades.
'Death's Knight? I know I can sense lies but this just confirms it...he...really died.' Loki realised.
For Loki this was an especially new sensation. Not that it was the first time one of her children died, but it was the first that one came back. And boy was she tearing up about it.
Every time. Every Goddamn time that she felt that painful 'SNAP' she felt a sense of dread wash over her. One more snap and another of her own died. She may be hypocritical for what she did to Zeus and Hera, but it didn't mean that she didn't feel the guilt from losing them.
She could've done better. Maybe gotten them better equipment. Had them wait longer than going further down. Regret after regret always built up in her heart, and every time she drank her sorrows away. It was on days like those, when one of her kin died, she would drink more and more and more.
Yet she remained sober throughout.
She was physically forced to deal with the pain, sorrow and sadness as she beat herself over it, crying when no-one saw, apologising when no-one heard, begging when no-one responded... the true Loki cared so deeply for family she couldn't help it.
But this time? She felt the same pain. The same guilt began welling up inside her as it had done for hundreds of years before,
but she never had to drink away her pain.
Because this time, they made it back. One crazy bastard for sure, embracing death and all but he came back. The same cold, ruthless and adorable as shit rabbit, that she had fondly taken in. The mystery of the Zeus and Hera familia. The boy that she knew would grow to be a hero, and she had thought she wouldn't be able to watch him walk towards it.
But now she could. He was alive and well after all.
"God damn these tears ain't stoppin'" Loki spoke as she got off of Bell's back. Her breath hitched as she held in her hiccups and composed herself. She couldn't allow herself to appear weak.
Not in front of her own child. Not when he came back to them, to her. The baby boy that had grown from a wee little baby into this cute snow ball.
Contrary to what she may have thought at that time, she suddenly felt arms swirl around her and bring her in for a tight hold. She froze in shock as she looked up to see the rabbit's deep yet hollow blue eyes stare back at her.
"B-brat?" She stuttered out, clearly holding herself back.
"I-" Bell began but hesitated, it didn't seem like he was worried over his words more so that he didn't know what to say. What was he meant to convey? Emotions? He didn't have much of those right now.
But it just...felt right, to say something to his deity. And so he did.
"I can't promise that I'll always come back." Bell restarted, not really on a good note, "I can't assure you that I understand your pain or any other emotion you are feeling. But I want to let you know, I'll try my darn best to come back. I'll try my hardest not to make you feel the flames of life extinguish from my body. And for some reason I do croak, I want you to know that... it will be for a cause that would make you proud." He finished.
The dam burst open. As Loki hugged him back. Her tears flowing slowly from her seemingly closed her. His warmth, his beating heart.
It assured her that one of her children was still alive. He hadn't gone to the after life due to some dumb mistake of hers. He was still there, and while he may not be brightest of the bunch when it came to expressing himself. He was part of her familia and he would continue to do so,
and that's all that she needed.
After Bell's status update, he took his status update sheet, minus the skills and went to Riveria.
"Oh, did you need something Bell?" Riveria asked looking up at him from her book. Bell simply handed her his status update. She looked at it confused, "Do you want me to look at it?" She asked but then Bell shook his head. After staring at each other for a second Riveria sighed, " Bell I'm going to have to ask you to convey whatever you're trying to say in words."
"Come to the guild with me." Bell told her.
"Why?"
"I'm afraid of Eina." Bell replied.
Riveria raised an eyebrow, looking at him as to judge if he was serious or not. Clearly...she couldn't tell. His expression remained the same.
Riveria looked down at the piece of paper and then back up to him, then it clicked, She stood up so fast the chair she was sitting on slid backwards and toppled over, "Don't tell me you levelled up! Already?!"
Bell simply nodded. Yet she couldn't believe so she opened the sheet in her hand.
And there it was.
Level 1 to level 2 promotion, each of his stats all in A or S. Hell, his agility was maxed out!
Riveria could momentarily become a news reporter as she could already predict a headache was well on its way but alas she chose to go with him.
And a headache came along.
Long story short, Eina almost flipped out at Bell for levelling in under a month, and sat him down to lecture about 'how adventurers shouldn't adventure' and Riveria questioned how Bell sat through the entire thing with a straight face.
As the two left the guild, Riveria remembered how Bell's armor was broken and he had abandon it. She could help him find something decent in Babel...ooooooorrrrrrr, she could back to reading her book?
Her shoulders sagged knowing that there was no way she would do that so she accepted her fate.
"Bell, you armor was destroyed wasn't it?" Riveria asked. Bell nodded in response. "Well, do you want me to show you some good shops in Babel?"
"Riveria san, I'm not made of gold."
"Neither am I." Riveria snapped back making Bell raise an eyebrow.
"Touché."
Riveria felt some sort of pride well up inside her chest finally having gotten one over Bell. Then it came crumbling back down just as soon as it had gotten up as she realised that she was reigning victory over a child 14 year old.
So the two walked towards the tower and Bell was introduced to the 4 glorious floors owned by Hephaistos familia. As they entered the armor shop, they happened to walk in to an argument between a man with red hair, moderate build and a greatsword on his back with a crate on the counter. The slightly balding cashier, shook his head in rejection to the previous statement that the two didn't hear.
"Like I'm saying Old man, you put up my stuff in the shop, it'll go flying by!" The red haired man argued.
The cashier sighed tiredly, "Look brat, it's the same shit with all you smiths. Y'all say it'll be sold in minutes, and by the next week, your shit rots at the back of my shop. Why the hell would I put this up? I got customers behind ya, move along now!"
It seemed that the two were arguing about putting the armor the young man was trying to sell up in the shop. But the cashier clearly didn't believe in the boy's craft.
"Well Be-" Riveria tried to speak as she turned to face Bell, but he was gone.
'...what?' She wondered confused where the hell he had disappeared off to. Her head snapped back to see Bell had seemingly teleported there and was eyeing the a vambrace from the armor set with a critical eye.
He knocked on it a couple of times before nodding, he turned to the red haired man who was simply staring at him in surprise and began talking,
"Name?"
"W-Welf." He replied a bit out of it because of the odd way he was acting.
"Hm."
And Bell tried to leave it off at that. Welf had never seen anyone act like this. Touching other people's stuff, asking for a name and then just replying with a 'hm'.
Who the hell does that?!
...Bell does.
Riveria watched the interaction and sighed once more, "Bell, do you like the armor?"
"Mhm."
"Ok so how about you tell the man that?" She asked.
"He knows I want it."
"Huh?! You do?!" Welf asked.
Point proven.
Riveria shook her head and just gave up on Bell. Bell gave a light smirk that only Welf seemed to notice before it disappeared.
"I like your armor, I want to buy it. Will you sell it to me?" Bell asked Welf, getting straight to the point.
"Yes!" Welf replied a bit ecstatically and grinned as he looked at the flabbergasted shop owner, "It's about 9,800 valis but because you just helped me prove my point, I'll lower it to 9,000 valis."
Bell looked at him and shrugged as he handed Welf 9,000 valis on the spot. And so Welf and the other two left the shop having achieved something.
Riveria was soon going to be free from Bell's...harassment. If you could call it that. Bell got new armor. Welf got his first customer and managed to show up the cashier who was the one with a hand stuck far up their ass.
"Well, if you ever need maintenance on it or need something else just come to this address, I'll welcome you." Welf told him as he grinned. Bell shook his hand and the two parted ways, as Bell headed back to the Twilight Manor with Riveria.
"Bell, are you sure you want this armour? It's 1/5 of your original armour's price." Riveria told him. Bell shrugged.
"Got this feeling. So I bought it." Bell told her.
Riveria seemed to be a bit...worried if anything of how he just chose to get the armour because he felt like it. But then another question popped up in her mind. One that she should've asked before.
"By the way...where did you get your previous armour from?" Riveria asked.
Bell looked at her for a second, "Lightning enchant," he said as electricity suddenly flowed through his boots, the sudden use of magic shocking her a bit but not enough that she couldn't register his next words, "I got them from Babel bye."
Blink.
Blink.
'Did he just...' Realisation dawned upon Riveria. How could she have done that? Where else but Babel would you get even a decent quality armour? She. Was. Fuming.
She felt like smashing her head into a brick wall, but she turned that desire into another one instead.
Smashing Bell's head into a brick wall.
So she gave chase, but Bell was nowhere to be found.
'Dumb rabbit and his lightning..' She grumbled internally as she turned every rock upside down trying to find him. He did not just waste Riveria Llos Alf's time and get away with it. As she more or less aimlessly wandered around she spotted Bell on one of the rooftops and immediately a vein bulged on her forehead,
'I...I...I could've been reading right now!'
That was the primary thought that was going through Riveria's mind at that moment.
"STOP RIGHT NOW, BELL CRANEL!" Riveria shouted from below his position, garnering stares from other people. She did not care if it was un-elf like, she wanted to get away from her father's dumb, supremacy addicted rules anyways.
Bell spared a glance back, as he saw Riveria chase after him. Alas even with lightning at his feet, the speed of a level 2 wasn't very comparable to Riveria. So he had to use something she couldn't.
Mobility.
Bell's "Predator" was a mage. She's not used to running around, doing vaults and other things like any other front liner, who would have to dodge oncoming attacks from monsters.
Bell, although not a front liner (yet) had a fair amount of manoeuvrability and so he utilised it to the best of his ability, jumping into alleyways, turning sudden corners, leaping up walls.
Riveria wasn't bad at following either, she had the base strength and speed of any level 6. However, when more complex moves were thrown in, her figure slowly became smaller and smaller in the distance as her voice now didn't even reach his ears.
'Now...where do I hide?' Bell started thinking. He had to give Riveria enough time to cool down. He had his swords but that's it. In the end he shrugged and went off into the dungeon, leaving a very frustrated and possible worried Riveria wandering the city of Orario trying to find him.
A slice to the right instantly decapitating the orc that normally would've required at least a couple hits before.
A single kick with enough force to send an imp flying to the other side of the wall.
Bell's status update led him into a high. Sure he had been on lower floors than floor 10, but he too had realised how imbalanced his strength and other stats were with the level up, he would need to get used to them first.
As it stood, he was annihilating the entire floor. He couldn't afford to go any lower, especially since floor 11 and 12 had a heavy fog over them constantly, one that was thicker than the one he was running through right now.
Bell made the slightly poor choice of sheathing his weapons and instead chose to massacre the monsters by beating the crap out of them.
Meanwhile, a new day had began. Riveria had given up and went back to the manor, having realised he probably went to the dungeon. She couldn't be asked to go search down there too since God knows how long that would take.
In the end Riveria had circulated the entire city twice in 1 and a half hours and was yet to find him.
Riveria Llos Alf 0. Bell Cranel 1.
Nonetheless, with a new day came a new event and todays one was something that Bell was very lucky about. His level up had been posted yesterday and today was the denatus.
The day when the Gods looked at the newly levelled up adventurers and assign aliases to them, as well as discuss other matters.
Loki was going for her own level ups, namely Bell. Though she remembered the threat he had given her,
"Loki. If my alias isn't something good I'll douse your room in your alcohol and set it alight."
Needless to say, Bell had managed to perfectly threaten Loki's very existence with one line.
So she would be damned if anyone gave a shitty name to her rabbit.
"Alright then, let us get this Denatus underway," Ouranos spoke as he started the meeting. "Anyone want to bring any specific matter to start with?"
No-one stood up. It had been a relatively calm month for all, no-one having any major issues with what was going on and no-one really did anything weird.
Well except for one deity...
"It's rare for you to show up Freya. What's the occasion?" Loki asked leaning towards the edge of her seat. Her usual dumb grin plastered across her face.
"Oh nothing really, my dear. Just decided to get and take a bit of a walk." Freya replied with a light giggle. It sounded like music even to Loki, and it rung out to every man who embraced the sound with a blush.
They had that look of satisfaction that people have when they breathe in fresh air, except people were trying to sniff the aroma of her sweat.
"Very well then I have a few things to say," Ouranos spoke up, taking in everyone's attention, "As this year's monsterphilia approaches I expect you to keep up with the security. We cannot let anything go amiss like last year."
"Of course, I won't fail this time, because I AM GANESHA!"
Ignoring the roaring elephant, everyone decided to return their attention to Ouranos.
" Next, Loki you're heading off into an expedition soon, what floor are you aiming for?"
"This time it's floor 59. Finn and the others got something planned out so they'll be heading over there."
"Okay, I would like to ask that every familia keep their guards up. There has been recent activity from Evilus and the darker side of Orario, we must not let history repeat itself. Is that clear?" Ouranos asked with a commanding voice.
"YES SIR!" Everyone replied.
Ouranos was respected. That much was obvious. But he was recognised and every deity, no matter for what reason they existed, would bow their heads to him. The Father of Orario, the protector. After all, none of the familias could handle the dungeon even if they decided to join hands with the strongest. No doubt its the prayers that the deity offers by sacrificing his life down here that they are still alive.
"Now let us move on to the naming part of this Denatus." Ouranos spoke but somehow he seemed more dead than he usually sounded.
Either way, the change in the mood of the room was visible. You could bring a 5 year old into the room, and they would be able to tell which God has a child that levelled up and which God was looking to mess things up.
It was just that simple. It was either bully or get bullied. And boy were they in for a session.
"Hm? What's that? A level 3 you say?"
"Please! Please be kind with his name. He is still young, he's got a future ahead of him!" The parent God begged. But then a mischievous grin spread across their faces like nutella on toast.
"Young? Future? Very well, from hereon forth, He shall be dubbed ' Bright Toddler!'" The God roared as the look of horror etched itself on the parent God's face and the others voiced their agreement, "Trade marked by Ouranos sama!" The deity added.
"I have no interest in owning such a name." The man himself rejected.
"Very well, I shall own it!" Loki joined into the fun. As she stepped onto the table with one foot.
"And the jester strikes again!"
The parent God fell to their knees most likely drowning in their own incompetence to protect the innocence of their child.
"Oya what's this? Would you look at this, Ganesha ya got a child of yer own." Loki grinned.
Ganesha began proudly laughing, "I trust that you will give a good name, otherwise who knows, maybe Shakti will capture a monster from the deep floors and 'accidentally' release it onto the streets." He said as he continued laughing.
Needless to say they got the message and decided to name that child 'Galand' a significance of honesty. Definently nothing to do with the fact that Ganesha so casually threatened to release a being that most familias couldn't handle. Nope. Nothing at all.
After a few more runnings such as: 'Burning Fighting Fighter the IV' and 'Pink Tsukuyomi' they finally stumbled across a white haired human. They studied his features for a second. White hair. Red eyes.
"White rabbit, end of conversation."
"Look at the familia name ya punk." Loki growled hellbent on keeping her alcohol supply safe. The deity did so and paled a bit.
"W-well, I think this one needs careful consideration right?" he quickly changed his mind.
"Loki, when did you get such a cutie?" Freya asked with usual sultry voice. Of course she knew who Bell was, but she couldn't really go out of her way to steal the boy from her rival, as much as she wanted to.
Loki scoffed, "Pretend ya don't know, I don't care. Just know that if ya try to lay yer fangs on him, I'll declare war." Loki threatened. One would evidently think that this boy was special, based on how protective Loki was of a level 2 but the truth was quite a bit different.
It's true that Loki really thinks Bell could be a powerhouse, hell the kid levelled up in a month's time. But it was more than that, but no way was Loki going to share her emotional adventure with these deities. The issue was a secret between her and the brat alone. Not even her momma could know.
Little did she know, Freya was very much the vixen and would undoubtedly try to meddle with the boy. But she took it up as her job to protect him from her loose overused flaps until he could resist it himself.
"Any suggestions then?"
"How about Rabbit King?"
"No."
"King Rabbit?"
"That's no different."
"...Rabbit master?"
"Nothing with rabbit in it."
...
"White hare?"
"Oh my freaking me, just give a good name." Loki shouted as the Gods flinched.
Takemikazuchi raised his hand surprisingly, Loki eyed him suspiciously. The God of war wasn't someone she actively interacted with. A fresh canvas of sorts. No grudges but no favourability either. Question was, how was he going to paint the picture?
"How about Shiroi Kishi?"
"I'm not familiar with that phrasing." Loki replied.
"In the far east, it would roughly translate to 'White Knight' seeing that he has white hair and all..."
And just like that Takemikazuchi has officially landed into the good books for Loki. she beamed happily and gave him a thumbs up.
"Good name, Shiroi Kishi it is!" She praised him. Take laughed a little before they signed it off. Not many people would dare to oppose Loki anyways.
"You sure you don't like the sound of 'White bunny?'"
"Hell nah, I wanna keep my alcohol supply safe for the rest of my year thank you very much, God knows what the brat would do." Loki shuddered finally it was out why she was so defensive.
"Oh my, so he is a bit of trickster himself. Seems like you influenced him a bit Loki," Freya giggled.
Loki snorted, "please the kid is made by himself. Hate to admit it, but he's outplayed me a couple times too."
And thus by the end of that day, whisper of a naughty bunny spread. As innocent as it sounds, the deities were genuinely fearful, for the boy had outplayed the trickster apparently.
Bell had escaped Riveria's grasp by going to the dungeon and here he was now. Tied up with a rope, and made to sit on the ground, he began to wonder just where his life began to turn for the worst.
But his thoughts were interrupted by a voice clearing their throat. "So Bell. Do you know why I have done 'this' to you?" Riveria asked as she sat on a chair looking down at Bell with a threatening gleam about her eyes.
"Sometimes I regret being born." Bell flippantly stated.
"You do that because you make dumb decisions. Besides I doubt you are capable of regret." Riveria snapped back at him. She had gotten used to his usual behaviour enough to know when he was stating these kind of things seriously. Now's not the time evidently.
"Ouch." Bell flinched backwards.
"Enough, you're sidetracking things. Do you have something to say young man?" Riveria asked expectantly. Bear in mind, she wasn't hopeful.
Not with him.
" I'm sorry for being born?"
Exactly. She was never hopeful.
"No. You're sorry for not saying anything about the fact that you had actually been to Babel before." Riveria corrected patiently. She had dealt with Ais after all, change the physical appearance a bit, and gender and what's so different?
'Besides the incessant desire to become stronger, although this one seems to be taking the cake in that department.'
"Why did you not tell me you've been to Babel before?" Riveria asked.
Bell seemed to be in thought for a second before he spoke, "Riveria san, you're always holed in the library. Sometimes you need to get some fresh air, and as a fellow familia member I felt compelled to try to get you out of here, even at the cost of lying."
Riveria rolled her eyes, she's heard this drivel before, "Ok...what's the real reason?"
"I forgot."
"Forgot to tell me or forgot the reason why you didn't tell me?"
"...Yes." Bell replied.
"You're gonna be mopping the toilets for two weeks if you don't reply seriously."
"...I'm scared?"
Riveria sighed, she knew how to threaten him, "I'll take away the coffee service at home."
"I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you." He immediately corrected. Although Riveria didn't show it externally, inside she was wearing the smuggest smile she has ever had in her entire life. Outsmarting the smartass. Who could take that privilege? Her.
"There we go. Now...how's the armor? I presume you tested it yesterday after you...dashed away."
"It's almost perfect. For someone that is a level 1 smith, this armor is extremely light yet durable. It can probably take a few hits from minotaurs too."
Now that was impressive. Sure any armor for 2nd class and above can more less tank hits from minotaurs, but most 3rd class armour could barely match hell hounds blasts. For minotaur hits to be tanked, it was truly impressive.
"He really does his ancestor justice." Bell tacked on at the end.
"His ancestor?"
"The Crozzo ancestor, although yes was very skilled in producing magic weapons, he himself was a really respected smith in general. However as generations passed, the family lineage became more and more corrupted, seeking wealth and fame they sacrificed normal smithing and honed exclusively their magic weapons. They focused on producing weapons of mass destruction, selling them to mercenaries and kingdom's alike. All for the sake of power they got innocent people such as the elves involved and got them killed indirectly. That's why they crumbled when the Crozzo blood became too dilute, had they been keeping up with the everyday smithing, I doubt they would've become 'fallen nobility'. It's really refreshing to see one of them has finally realised after generations upon generations of idiocy."
Riveria's mouth was shut and her eyes wide. Bell. Bell Cranel of all people. The person whose day to day reply was 'hm' literally just ranted to her about a families history (very accurately) and it was coherent.
"What?" Bell asked as he looked at her.
Riveria snapped out of her awestruck expression, returning to normalcy, " Nothing. I just didn't know you had such a...rich knowledge on things like this." She also wanted to say 'since when did you have such a sense of justice?' but she withheld herself. She may not be Finn but she had this feeling that his response wouldn't be very effective in answering her concerns.
"...hm." And back to square one we go. Bell paused, "Can I go now?"
"Do you not need me to untie you?" Riveria asked, but she quickly got her response in the form of Bell ripping it apart. "Ok then. See you next time."
"Assuming I annoy you again?"
"There isn't a day go by where you don't somehow give me a headache." Riveria told him.
"That's perfect, it'll train your abnormal resistance even outside the dungeon." Bell snapped back. But left before Riveria could say anything.
"Haaa...this boy is going to kill me before any other monster does..."
The door to the Twilight Manor swung open with a loud bang. "What up People? Miss me?" Loki asked as she stomped her way in.
"No." Bell instantly replied as he was tying the laces of his boots.
"Brat you know, I just tried very hard to get yer a good name, the least ya could do is give me a warm welcome." Loki spoke. She expected him to retort with something snarky yet sound dead at the same time.
What she did not expect however, was him wrapping his arms around her and giving her a hug.
'Huh? Two hugs in two days...I could get used to this.' She mentally thought. Of course she was surprised that Bell was doing this but honestly...she didn't mind very much. For someone who tried to hug one of her girls every day but got rejected getting a hug back wasn't bad.
It wasn't from any of her girls...but it was a close second.
"...Is this warm enough for you?" He asked as he slowly tightened his hold around her.
Loki had a cheeky grin on her face, "You've been real touchy haven't ya?"
Bell avoided eye contact a bit, something he himself didn't know why, "...should I stop?"
Loki seemed to snuggle further into Bell's hold, as if to take in as much warmth as she could. "No...Yer fine this way too..." she replied as she reciprocated the hug.
"By the way...what alias did you get me?"
"Shiroi Kishi, it means-" Loki tried to explained but Bell cut her off.
"White Knight." Bell said with a small smile.
"Ya know it?"
" Far Eastern address. Who came up with the name? It couldn't of been you."
Loki faked being offended for a second, "And why not?"
Bell squinted his eyes at Loki, "You know why."
Loki seemed to grumble in response but Bell maintained his look. She seemed to pout like a little child before replying, "It was Takemikazuchi."
"...hm."
The half hearted response was all it took for Loki to weakly glare at him.
"Anyways brat, where ya headin off to?" Loki asked regaining her previous vigour.
"Dungeon."
Loki looked at him for a second, "What day of the week is it?" She asked with a discerning eye. Something in her gut told her that things were very wrong. But she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Why does it matter? You're gonna drink anyways aren't you?" Bell retorted, which to Loki seemed fair enough. Because to be honest, she was planning on doing just that.
"Well that's right, I guess it doesn't matter. Have fun," Loki waved backwards as she walked to her room and Bell left for the dungeon. Had Loki been a bit more observant, she would've noticed how odd it was that none of her children were there at the front entrance and that Bell...
had never actually answered the question.
'41...42...43...44'
That was a steady train of thought as Bell spent his time killing monsters. Hanging around the 11-13th floor, because he didn't want to face a minotaur for now.
So for now he simply dodges and kills some hell hounds. And any other monster that crosses his path.
As he finishes off a hell hound that he jumped, he wiped off a smear of blood on his cheek. As he was about to pick up the magic stone, he heard a growl behind him.
Turning around he came face to face with not just one. Not two. But 3 packs of hell hounds. Understandably, this many monsters, even for hellhounds that were known for their cooperation like actual wolves, all coordinating together was impossible.
The monsters of the dungeon, were by no means advanced and were considered rather primitive. If any guy with a decent knife stood around, knew his way around the typical behavioural pattern amongst a certain species of monsters, they could easily kill a couple of them. Of course, this was assuming that they did not get a minotaur, but rather something like a couple kobolds.
Point was, such high numbers gathering all at once was impossible, any passing adventurer would simply pale at the number, wish Bell a good afterlife and run away from there.
But Bell had intentionally gathered the monsters. See, as Bell was making his way towards the dungeon, he had the bright idea, of instead of wasting time going around the dungeon in search of monsters, he could make the monsters come to him instead.
Therefore, he adopted the use of a monster lure. Though some may have winced at the item, he surprisingly didn't have to search very hard for this rather ominous substance. Why he found it like 5 steps away from the dungeon from some peddler, who thought this was a monster repellant rather than an attractant.
Thinking he had stumbled across some precious artifact, he was asking for some ungodly price and therefore, he was selling a single thing. But after Bell had pointed the nature of the item off, going as far as to drag the man into the dungeon for a quick second to show him the effect, the man willingly gave the item away and promptly ran for his life.
And Bell thought he was a bumpkin sometimes.
The man shrieked like a bitch in heat at the sight of a goblin. The thing hadn't even noticed him until he cried out.
Regardless, Bell was making an optimal usage of the lure, by killing effectively anything near him. he jumped towards the first pack, immediately pivoting himself to the right to dodge a bite attack and promptly cutting its head off.
Like with most living beings, decapitation was the most efficient way of killing monsters. But that simply refined his technique, and perhaps improved his agility.
Depending on how quickly he swings.
So to improve his other stats, Bell decided to take things a step further.
After annihilating the first pack, he sheathed his sword and instead got gloves on. Not just any gloves though. These gloves were made of a super tight material, hugging each crevice of his fingers to size. The top of his arm were covered in studded metal croves, that jutted out capable of blocking as well as dealing more damage.
Certainly an interesting weapon he had picked up in his opinion. While he wasn't much of a brawler, to get his stats up as much as he can, he would do so. Bell jumped into the middle of the packs and began bashing the monsters with just his fists. Using his dexterity and reaction speed to avoid any flame attacks that came towards him as well as letting some of the bites hit to train his vitality. He had enchanted his fists with lightning to deal not just extra damage and stun the monsters, but to mainly get his magic stats up.
This diabolical method of training was something that no-one else could know. Bell was able to do this because he felt no pain as he did so. His stamina was approaching its limits. Even with as quickly Bell was getting stronger, he was by no means an expert with hand-to-hand combat, meaning he had a lot of wasted movement hence, a lot of wasted energy.
Regardless, by the time he bashed the 8th hell hound's head in, he was exactly coming to his limits. Surrounding him were 5 more hell hounds. So in a final display of power, Bell released a torrent of lightning in all directions to get rid of them at once.
"Lightning, Discharge!"
As blue streaks of lightning flew in every direction, the hell hounds stood no chance and either died due to being burnt by the lightning, or became paralysed. The one that were paralysed, Bell finished off with a throwing knife to head.
Finally able to take a breath and his monster lure out of its efficiency, he looked around the vicinity to see massive portions of glinting magic stones covering the ground like some carpet.
"Gotta bring a broom and holder next time." He muttered. Having to pick up all these magic stones just seemed like a pain to deal with but he would rather not have a supporter.
The concept of having to protect someone while you fight may seem alright in the beginning but as time would progress, eventually it would become more of a hassle when the monsters grew in power and numbers as well as intelligence.
Meanwhile in the Twilight Manor,
'What a blunder..' Riveria thought as she walked with haste towards her deity's room. She had forgotten to make fulfill one of her tasks given to her by Finn.
'Track a Bell.'
Yes as stupid as it sounds, they had no choice but to make sure to confirm Bell's plans or locations at least twice a day. Since Bell had a habit of disappearing to the spirit realm every now and then, they had to keep track of him so as to make sure he was safe.
To be fair, some of the executives were questioning Bell's mortality, given his 'Did you think I would die just by dying?' state but frankly, they didn't want to take any risks.
As Riveria approached the door, she had no issue just throwing it open not even bothering to knock. While some may frown upon the act because she was an elven princess and all, she knew that Loki was just drunk and asleep anyways so she didn't care.
Lo' and behold, Loki was lying on the bed hugging a pillow grinning stupidly.
"Loki." Riveria called out to her.
Loki giggled in her sleep but didn't respond.
"Loki."
Still nothing.
"LOKI!"
The sound shout made the deity shriek and jump up, her sleep cycle disturbed and now her blood pumping adrenaline from the sudden shout. Her heart was thumping so fast, she felt it may as well crack her ribs. After all, they were pretty close to it.
"Wha-Who is it? You ain't gonna mess with me, I'll show the moves that strike fear into everyone's hearts." She impusively spoke looking around.
Riveria facepalmed and grabbed onto her forehead already feeling a headache approaching, "Enough. I...don't have the energy to deal with you right now, have you seen Bell?"
Loki sat back down, "the brat? Yeah, I seen him. After I came back he was the only one to greet me back, where were you all?"
"I apologise Loki but all the executives were busy in a meeting until now, so we didn't hear you come in." Riveria apologised, "But more importantly did he say where he was going? He's clearly not here, I haven't found him anywhere."
"Ah yeah, he went to the dungeon." Loki replied.
"...you let him go?" Riveria asked confusing Loki, "Loki, it's sunday. He's not meant to go to the dungeon today."
Suddenly a look of realisation came to her as she made an 'O' face. "So that's why he wouldn't tell me the date."
"I'm going to need a bit of context on that Loki."
"See, the brat came to greet me, well he outright told me he didn't miss me, but after hearing his alias he said he was going to the dungeon. I asked him what day it was and his reply was 'Why does it matter, you're gonna drink anyways.'" Loki explained while imitating Bell.
Riveria had to admit, Loki for all she was worth...did sound pretty much like Bell while imitating him. But that wasn't the issue.
"So he knew that he wasn't allowed to go...well then he's going to be punished. And considering it's a repeat, it should be much worse this time." Riveria thought aloud.
"Oooh, the mama strikes once more." Loki made a pose Riveria could only describe as strange, so she was promptly whacked on the head by a chop.
"Hush you! Now help me come up with a punishment for him."
Loki raised an eyebrow, "why not just give him cleaning duty for a couple weeks?"
It was the standard thing to do. After all, no-one liked cleaning and considering how large the Twilight Manor was, it was suitable punishment.
Riveria shook her head as she sighed deeply, "That was always a prospect...until he asked permission to use his lightning magic to kill all the bacteria with heat."
Oh.
Oh.
That's stupid indeed.
"...yeah, I don't think we should give him cleaning duty." Loki corrected. But then the question arose, what could they give to Bell as punishment? After all, the boy clearly cared not of such menial wonders of 'chores' and simply did as he was asked. If he was told to do the dishes, he did them. If they told him to sweep the floor, he did that.
Not that they told him to do so many times but clearly it was not efficient as a form of punishment.
"hey..." Riveria called out to Loki, as the diety turned from her pensive thoughts to look at her, "tomorrow is monsterphilia right?"
"Yeah, I gotta go out, got a couple things to do. Wanted Ais-tan to accompany me. Or maybe...you can instead~" Loki offered.
"I humbly but adamantly reject your offer and tell you to get some help. Right, his punishment is go with you." Riveria decided and Loki's face contorted into disappointment.
"Whaat? I wanted my. Aisy poo to go on a date with me!" Loki whined having the dream of Ais going out being shredded by Riveria, "Why the hell do I have to be involved in the brat's punishment? What did I do?"
Riveria let loose a smirk. An actual smirk! "Think of it as...punishment for being such a slob. I mean look at this place, it's horrendous." She pointed around the room. And to be fair, it was quite messy. Loki had empty wine bottles lying around and rolling about. A pair of panties just sitting on the corner of the wardrobe, her bedsheets were crumpled but that could be excused as she was sleeping before this.
"Fix this and take him to wherever you're going tomorrow. That's final." Riveria stated with a glare fixed on Loki.
"Hey! I'm the Goddess here."
"Yet all I can see is Soma 2.0 standing in front of me." Riveria snapped back. That had somewhat offended Loki.
No-one, absolutely no-one wanted to be compared to Soma. Not that the deity was particularly bad or anything, it's just that the deities had come down to the lower world seeking entertainment, not...to carry on doing what they did in heaven.
Sure here in Gekai, a lot of Soma's creations were failures, but ultimately he did the same as he did. Just make some good ol' wine. And due to his closed off nature, no-one really approached him nor cared for what he did. Although his children may be another story.
"Ugh, fine. I'll take him with me." Loki complained and sat down on the bed with her head at an almost 180 degrees to the ground. However, as she heard the door close with Riveria's footsteps slowly getting further away, Loki couldn't hold back the small smile that had blossomed on her face despite her desire not to do so.
'A day out with him huh?...may not be so bad.'
URGENT! READ BELOW!
A/N: And that's a wrap. Now, I bet many of you are very very confused right now.
I don't blame you, so am I.
Ok, so while I was writing this chapter, for some reason I felt that Loki just deserved a bit more affection y'know? And since I am planning on writing a harem story for The Last Hero, I came across this thought, so I wanted to ask your opinion on this.
How would you guys feel, if I made this a Bell x Loki and Bell x Tiona story. Basically, instead of having one washboard, he would have two. But yeah, I thought in this case, with Bell being a bit clueless as well as effectively heartless, it would suit well to make an extra pairing. Although I'm still planning out the romance Icl.
So I wanted to ask you guys, what do you think about this idea? Because as far I can see in this chapter there is no major confirmation or anything but rather since, it's a bit vague shows of affection (that Bell doesn't comprehend himself), so if you guys think it should happen, I'll make it happen.
But if you believe that it shouldn't happen, I can just make the affection something akin to motherly love. Not much a problem. Either way, tell me your opinion on this guys.
Bless.
(Riveria will come by to Loki's room to tell her that Bell went to the dungeon on a sunday. as punishment he must go to the monsterphilia with Loki.)