"Gospel."
"Crack. Ahhhhh!"
As that was heard you could see a beautiful silver haired girl was currently sitting on a chair in the middle of the forest with her eyes closed however while they were closed she seemed to be reading a book. Sprawled out across the grass in front of her was a boy, no older than 11 with very similar hair to hers however it was more of a brown color due to the dirt on it. His clothes in tatters, bleeding from the back of his head as he rolled on the ground off of the tree he was just thrown at from the silver haired girl's magic.
"Alfia, this is a little overboard don't you think, I understand that I can always heal him but that doesn't mean going, crack, this hard is good for him."
The red haired girl saying that was walking over to the boy, sending fire his way so that she could heal most of his wounds, once she had healed most of the wounds she went over and bent down, grabbing his right forearm with both hands and resetting it back into position from the broken state that it was in at the time so that she could heal it back to its normal position.
"He needs a strong enough body to be able to contain you, if he doesn't then there is a possibility for him to just explode due to your energy, I'm just making sure that doesn't happen."
The red haired girl who had just healed the boy began walking slightly in front of where the boy was, picking up a shorter silver sword that was on the ground. The sword had a crack running from the base of the sword up to around halfway up the sword where it split into 2, one went up another 4 inches almost to the tip while the other ran back down heading to the hilt of the sword where it failed to reach by about a half an inch.
"I'm surprised that he is still even alive, the sword that Zeus-sama got for him to use is basically useless already thanks to your magic hitting it."
As she stood back up from bending down from where she had gotten the sword the crack that ran near the hilt of the sword could be seen slowly spreading down further to the hilt of the sword almost making the sword more useless than it already was.
"He needs to learn how to make his sword take less of the magic then and the sword that old man got isn't very durable, I'm already holding back almost all of my power and yet that still happens."
"Zeus-sama said that he was getting him another new one but a better one this time, he said that he thinks that Bell is strong enough to wield a heavier sword now."
Finally opening her eyes, the silver haireds lips curled up slightly.
"Yes, his progress is much better than the idiots that I used to train even though he is much weaker than them, at least he is actually getting a little better and breaking the swords less."
"I noticed something, whenever you are happy, even if you aren't actually smiling you open your eyes, it's kind of nice and makes your eyes look even more beautiful, it makes me kind of jealous of your eyes."
Pouting at the end of her statement due to jealousy, the eyes of Hiiro, the one who is jealous, were a slightly reddish orange that seemingly glowed, contrary to Alfia, who had one green and one silver.
"Urgh."
Finally waking up from being knocked out during the current conversation, his eyelids fluttering open while he slowly clenches his right fist, seeing that his arm was back to normal and no longer was broken.
"I see your up now Bell, I think you and Alfia will need to stop your training for now, if Alfia's magic hits your sword again it will likely break."
Showing Bell the current state of the sword as Hiiro brought it up from her side where she had it, tossing it to Bell as if it was normal and there was no danger he caught the sword. Stopping the sword by catching it and looking at the sword by twisting it to look at the side of the sword, a crack was heard coming from the sword, while quiet it was still there as the second crack came down making its way all the way down to the hilt.
"Sigh… I guess, is there anything else I can do to train more? I want to be able to cure her as quickly as possible."
While walking away from training, holding the now useless sword in his hand he laments out loud about the fact that he couldn't help Alfia sooner.
"You are close Bell, today Alfia and I will give you a test to see if you are ready. There was an outbreak of surface monsters near the village and some people are going to hunt them, it is likely that some people will get injured or even killed taking them out."
"What!? We should help them, we should go now!"
Panic and worry sounded throughout the air, tension spread throughout it however that was quickly removed by a punch to the head by Alfia.
"Too noisy." Came the blunt reply from Alfia.
"Owww."
"Don't worry Bell, your test is that you will not only need to prove proficient enough in using the healing properties of my flames but also good control over the flames that you will be using to kill some of the monsters at the same time."
Unfortunately even though Hiiro was the one who had the best control over her flames she couldn't use them to heal Alfia, this was because when she created herself a medium to use and transferred all of her power over to it she couldn't exert her full power, making it so that if she tried to do it at best the outcome would be failure, at worst however it could mean death for either Alfia, or both of them.
Making their way inside of the house, Zeus came with them as well, planning to head out to kill some of the monsters as well, sealing the gods powers weakened the gods a lot, but similar to gods such as Hepheastus still being an amazing smith Zeus was still good at combat and being a god he was physically stronger than anyone who wasn't blessed by falna.
Outside the village there were monsters, much more than normal for them being on the surface, the strongest of the group seemed to be a merman, Because it is on the surface its threat had been reduced but that doesn't mean that the threat wasn't high, around a level 2.
As the scene came into view for Bell as he crossed the hill it was then he saw all of those that were there. 25 men were fighting off the monsters, these men had all come from nearby villages, trying to protect their children, wives and fellow villagers. There were trees on fire, the tall grass that had not been trimmed burning with a raging flame coming from a Hellhound that although physically weak and its fire was not very hot due to it being a surface monster but the tall grass caused the flames to rage throughout.
Next to Bell a bright fire appeared in the place of Hiiro, going into the body of Bell so that he could now use her powers. When Hiiro was outside of Bell the power that she could provide to Bell would be fully transferred to the medium that she created to use as a body. With Hiiro now inside him, allowing him access to the power that he had trained to be able to use for the sole purpose of curing Alfia.
Going down the cliff Bell created wings on his back made of flames, the purpose of these wings was not only to allow him to fly, letting him gain speed even if they were normal wings but use the accelerate properties that created heat and in turn the fire to not only accelerate bell but make the air that he was forced to push his way through less dense due to the rise in temperature making it to the battle in record time to the first wounded person who had their arm cut off.
"Ahhhh!"
The one who Bell had made his way to was crying out in pain due to his arm being torn off, the grass around them being burnt was an issue for the others, Bell with Hiiro had become immune to any fire type attacks because she was residing inside of him but that did not mean the others were, seeing this he decided to take control of the fire being produced by the Hellhound and use it to kill the same monster that was creating it.
"M-My arm?!" In surprise the one who had his arm cut off, to his surprise the arm that he had lost was back on and in perfect condition.
"It works again right?" Questioned Bell. "If it doesn't tell me."
"I-Its fine, I don't know how to repay you for doing this for me."
Still in shock the man said this though Bell would be unable to respond as another person had gotten injured. The one who had gotten injured this time was a brunette haired Chienthrope, they had gotten pierced by the fangs of the Ligerfang that was biting into his left abdomen.
The sound of the raging flames increased as Bell incinerated the Ligerfang that was attacking the man, at the same time Bell was in the process of internally healing the parts where the monster had attacked by reconstructing the areas where they were injured. Bell had to do it this way because if he wanted to help and cure Alfia this was almost what he had to do, completely reconstruct her, though it sounds impossible it wasn't.
This process went on for a while until Bell had not only finished healing all of the people but had killed all of the monsters.
Exiting his body, Hiiro came out and congratulated Bell on his achievement of completing his challenge, seeing that he had passed the test they all went back to the cabin.
Inside of the cabin Alfia was on a chair while Zeus watched her attentively from the couch, in front of Alfia Bell stood motionless, seemingly staring into her soul. This scene had been going on for the past 4 and a half hours where Bell was healing Alfia from the inside out, finally about to finish the last piece of Alfia was remade, seeing it done Hiiro exited Bell trying to congratulate him but that failed.
Bell could be seen passed out in Alfias arms due to extreme exhaustion that was caused by healing her, just after he had finished his attempt at healing her he had finished what he was so focused on, causing him to pass out having Alfia catch him. While he would in no way die he would need to rest for more than a day to recover from what he had just done.
There were seconds of silence that passed, the tension in the room was palpable, not only had Bell just passed out but it was uncertain if Alfia had even gotten any better.
"I-... I don't feel as weak anymore…"
This statement released the tension in the room, Alfia and Hiiro just smiled while Zeus could be seen with an extremely proud look on his face caused by the pride he felt inside of him due to the feat of curing the incurable disease that she had.
The day passed as Bell was still out from exhaustion, while he was out in exhaustion, Alfia was playing with Bell's hair as his head was in her lap, body lying on the couch. Alfia while playing with Bell's hair seemed satisfied, having the edge of her lips ever so slightly curled up on the edges. She was happy at what Bell had done for her, a rare emotion for her for the past couple of years.
"Ughh…"
The sound came from the one in Alfias lap, Bell had just woken up from his long exhaustion in her lap, as he woke up his eyes fluttered open, seeing Alfia looking at him on a smile on her face as she peered over her chest.
"Thank you, Bell."
Surprise crossed Bell's face hearing what Alfia had said, hearing that he asked a question, trying to confirm the only possible way Alfia would thank him, with a beautiful smile like that.
"Is… Is this a dream?"
Bell knew how Alfia acted, he knew that sometimes she would rest his head in her lap, and rarely say thank you, and even more rare was to smile, but, for all of these things to happen at the same time seemed impossible, thinking that, he came to the only possible conclusion. This was a dream. This was only a wish, a longing that he had for more affection from the one that he desired it so much from leading him to ask the question.
"No, why would you think that this was a dream?"
Only just realizing that this was not a dream, Bell started to sweat, he knew that if he did not perfectly make his way through this situation, then he would likely meet the same fate as grandfather when he pissed off the beautiful silver haired girl.
"I-I… Um, are you okay?"
Realizing that there was an easy way out of this situation, Bell brought up the important topic of her illness, seeing if what he had done had worked and helped her, as he said this he started to get off of her lap, Alfia's smile that was slowly disappearing from her face was reappearing as she remembered what the little boy had done for her.
"Yes, I am fine now, you cured my illness"
Hearing that, Bell almost jumped off of the couch in excitement over what he had just heard. He was careful not to be loud and did not yell in happiness but excitement was evident in his he made his reply.
"Yes, I did it, I'm so happy that I was able to do it."
Saying this, Bell hugged Alfia, he had hugged her out of impulse of his emotions, however, Alfia accepted this with open arms, hugging the small boy back, doing this surprised even Alfia. As they embraced the morning sun shone over the horizon, seeing this, Alfia stood up off of the couch, bringing Bell over to the dinner table where they would eat their food as the sun's glare shone into both Bell's and Alfias eyes.
As the days continued, so did the training, sometimes he would be allowed to use Hiiros power just to make sure that he still had good control over her power though most of the training was without her powers. During this time Bell had gained better control over his magic, allowing him to aim it better now.
Over the next 2 months, happiness filled the small house that the 4 living there called home, Alfia had started to move around more as she was getting used to her newfound energy, though some habits such as keeping her eyes shut stayed the same as in reality using her near perfect memory and sensitivity to sound she had always managed to make her way around everyday like this, making it a habit.
"Knock, knock, knock."
Just after it had been 2 months since Alfia was cured a knock was heard on the door, hearing this knock annoyed Alfia to an unimaginable extent, this was not because of the noise but because she could recognize who was the person knocking just based on their presence. As anger rose in Alfia, Bell had started to make his way to the door, as he opened the door his face brightened up into a smile, seeing someone that he recognized.
"Uncle Hermes!"
This surprised reply came from Bell, in the past Zeus had introduced Hermes to Bell, this had happened over a period of time before Bell had met Hiiro, back when he was 7. When Bell met Hermes he had taken a quick liking to him, saying how Hermes was very similar to his grandfather. Comparing Hermes to Zeus was not entirely accurate, while they were good friends they were not so much similar to make this statement, however, Bell being young as he was, as well as not knowing that either of them were Gods at the time and not knowing either of their full personality this statement was correct from the point of view of the young Bell.
"Hermes, why are you here?"
The poison tipped response came from Alfia, shocking Hermes, though that was put aside quickly as he focused back on Bell. Coming in Hermes, was not wearing his normal expression, his face was slightly serious, and there was a spear on his back that was clearly emanating divine power, something that Alfia knew shouldn't exist in the lower world.
"Hey Bell, I see you're doing well, but I need to talk to your grandfather, can you get him for me? I need his help with something important."
Curiosity crosses Alfias face, not only was this more serious statement made by a very carefree god, but the spear on his back that was radiating power and the sudden appearance and need for Zeus was unlike the carefree god that she knew.
"Hey Hermes, I'm right here, what is it you need?"
As Hermes had asked Bell where his grandfather was Zeus had overheard him asking Bell where he was. As he heard this he recognised the same thing that Alfia had noticed, the spear on his back, or more accurately the arrow, it was a divine weapon and one of the strongest at that. The arrow belonged to the Goddess of the hunt Artemis, seeing that Hermes of all people had it Zeus knew it was serious as for Artemis to even interact with Hermes was a miracle, let alone give him a weapon of such power.
"We need to talk, there is something important I need to ask your help with."
Seeing the seriousness of Hermes, Zeus had his suspicions confirmed, showing that indeed it was something important that needed to be taken care of seemingly urgently. Alfia had come to the same conclusion as well, knowing that this was something important she decided to join the conversation about what was going on, for Alfia, even if the 2 of them didn't want her to join the conversation there was nothing that they could do to stop her from joining.
Conveying this with her look, both Hermes and Zeus accepted it, knowing what would happen if they were not to. As this happened one person who was excited at the arrival of his Uncle was fascinated by the spear on his back, so much so that he took it off the back of Hermes, where when he did the spear glowed, causing someone to come out of the spear, however, Bell kept looking at the spear.
"Woah, Uncle Hermes, what is this spear that you have? It's really cool."
The spear that Bell had grabbed to look at was special, it being a divine weapon made it special already but there was another thing about it that made it even more special than the rest of the normal divine weapons, it chose who could pick it up. Knowing this about the spear, Zeus smiled at the fact that his grandson could pick it up.
Hermes, who knew why the spear was needed, paled at this. Little did the ones in the room know how important it was that the spear got a powerful wielder, Hermes though, didn't know that Bell had gotten a spirits contract and had gotten slightly powerful. When he saw that Alfia was in the house, he wanted her to be the one to wield it; if she could wield, he believed that the goal that he had with the spear would be accomplished.
Alfia sat in curiosity, she understood that there was a reaction when Bell grabbed the spear, it could be seen in the connection that the spear had made when Bell grabbed it, seeing this Alfia understood that the spear was something akin to a weapon with a will, seeing a person come out of it with a divine presence surprised her. She noticed that the spear's power had not diminished at all, but that it acted as a method of projection of the one who came out instead, seeing this, she had questions that she felt she needed to ask.
"Orion."
The one who spoke was the one who was projected from the spear, she was beautiful, her hair was a mix of light blue and violet, making her seem as if she was a moving painting due to its beautiful color. The hair blew through the air as she took her steps forward, the back of it was tied in a beautiful braid that had been done to perfection as it was clipped up at the top with a thin white ribbon at the start of the braid and tied off at the bottom with a golden clip. Her hair contrasted with her green eyes, they were similar to the color of Alfias right eye, though, both of her eyes were green instead of Alfia only having one green eye. She was clad in clothes that were blue, with a white center going from her chest down to where the clothes became a skirt at the bottom, the clothes weren't really clothes though, they resembled a battle dress more as there was a piece of armor off of her left hip.
"Orion."
As she came into view of everyone she said the name of the one who was not there again, though the statement was directed at the one who was holding the spear, Bell.
"Me? My name is Bell, not Orion."
Bell was not the only one who was curious, Alfia was as well, her and Bell did not know why she was calling Bell Orion, though, they were not the most curious person that had entered the house, that would be the blue haired girl who ad just came from the spear, she recognised that the other man inside the house was Zeus, who was hiding his divine presence and was dressed in normal farmer clothes, though while that spiked her curiosity it wasn't the weirdest things to her. The weirdest thing would be the boy who she called Orion, not only did he call Hermes his Uncle, but she could also sense a spirits presence inside him.
"Artemis, I see that that is your arrow, why is it in this world? I'm assuming that something happened that makes you need it, would you care to enlighten me?"
The one whose name was now known as Artemis still had not taken her eyes off of Bell, the second that she had gotten here she had started to analyze Bell, due to this she was able to not only recognize that he had a spirits presence in him, though it was very weak. The reason Hiiros presence was so weak was actually due to the fact that she was not in him at the moment, she was currently collecting firewood outside, though even if she left Bell and took all of her power with her there was some of her essence and influence on his body that was still left behind.
"Orion."
As she noticed all of these things, she called out to him again though not using the name that he had given her, but the nickname that she would call him instead.
"My name is Bell though."
"No, it's Orion."
Saying this Bell was about to retort again, cutting him off though it was Alfia, she did not want the unneeded noise to stay, to her this was a useless conversation that wouldn't end soon enough. Alfia also wanted to know why Hermes was really here, having these thoughts she cut off Bell from retorting.
"Just let her call you Orion."
"Tha-"
Artemis, hearing what Alfia had done, seemingly making Bell accept the name that Artemis had given him, she attempted to respond to what Alfia had said with gratitude, Alfia though, would not allow this, wanting to sedate her curiosity first.
"Shut up. Don't be noisy, it was annoying. Now, why are you here Hermes and don't beat around the bush and tell me now."
The response Alfia made shocked Artemis and only Artemis, this was due to her not being used to Alfia and how she was, though this was not the only reason that she was surprised. Artemis being a god was immune to others aura due to her aura, even if she were to suppress her aura it would still stop her from getting intimidated by others auras as long as they were not a god, however, this mortal had just done the impossible, without even projecting an aura on her she had not only made Artemis shut up, but also suppressed her desire to retort to the statement that Alfia had made.
"I-I, I think we should go somewhere else becau-."
As he was trying to move them somewhere else to have a more private conversation, Alfia opened her eyes around halfway, doing this, she sent a glare at Hermes, making him shut up understanding what would happen if he did not comply with her earlier statement. As this short interaction happened Zeus had pulled out 4 chairs, Alfia and Bell were going to sit on the couch assumedly, meaning only 4 were needed if Hiiro came, in this precaution he pulled out one extra, allowing for Hermes and Artemis to explain what was happening.
"So you're telling me that Artemis got eaten by an ancient monster named Antares, allowing it to use her power and now you want our help in killing it."
Asking this question was Alfia, after Hermes had explained the situation to Alfia and Zeus she had asked the confirmation not because she wasn't sure if she heard something wrong, she knew that she didn't but because the situation seemed unbelievable."
"Yes."
A simple yes was all that Hermes had given in response to the question that Alfia had asked even though he knew she didn't want him to answer the question.
"I want to save Miss Artemis, Uncle Hermes says this spear is powerful, and you're much more powerful than anyone else, so if you help we can save her, please help."
Bell, wanting to be a hero had made his decision in wanting to help Artemis, Alfia though didn't. To Alfia helping would not only be troublesome but too noisy as well. Bell however, was adamant on helping Artemis, disarming to be a hero like those in the stories, he wanted to help her, but he knew he couldn't do it. In the end he knew that it would be impossible to win against this monster that Artemis spoke of, knowing this he asked the one person who he saw as the pinnacle of power, Alfia.
"Fine, I will help you under one condition, if we are able to free you I want Bell and I to join your Familia, I don't want him or I to join his Familia."
When Alfia mentioned the one that she referred to as "his familia" she opened her eyes looking at Zeus who was at the table out of the corner of her eyes, giving him a look filled with hatred.
"You can't save me, so that won't be possible."
Saying that it was Artemis, after she was eaten she had accepted her fate, thinking that whatever anyone did, she couldn't be saved. Thinking this she didn't want anyone to get up their hopes as she already knew what was going to happen.
"That's not what I asked."
Slightly annoyed at the answer that she received, Alfia retorted, however even though the words that she said were correct that was not what she was trying to say, in reality she was saying that Artemis should answer her previous question with just a yes or no.
"Gulp. Yes…"
When Alfia made her retort to Artemis, both Zeus and Hermes gave her pleading looks, not wanting to have to deal with what would happen if she took a roundabout answer again, seeing their glances Artemis understood that she should answer Alfia, though, she didn't understand why they feared her so much. Understanding the rules of the mortal world she knew that Alfia couldn't do anything much to them, this was wrong though, while the rules in place prevented mortals from harming or killing gods that didn't mean they couldn't. Zeus and Hermes, knowing Alfia knew she didn't care much for the rules as she constantly put them both on the verge of getting sent to heaven many times before.
"Good, then I will help, this way Bell can get a falna."
Saying this Alfia got up, going to change into her gothic dress and her gloves, this way she was able to fight. The gloves Alfia had were extremely durable, more so than a goliath robe and her dress was made from a material with the same strength of adamantite but was also magic resistance, this had happened over all of the years with her having her magic nullification barrier around her, the clothes that she wore had gained a portion of its properties.
Bell was given gloves similar to Alfias for this, however, the gloves that he were given instead of reducing the power of the wearers own magic they amplified it, they were gloves that Alfia didn't use because to her, she hated her own magic, leading to her reducing the power of her own magic by sealing it with her magical barrier that was always on. It was another reason that her own magic stat was allowed to pass 999. Her being allowed to surpass this limit was because the barrier that was always around her used an extraordinary amount of mind to keep active making her always be using so much mind that it passed the normal limit, this was also affected by the skill she had, Gias blessing that always allowed her to be in a limit off state.
After she had come out of the house, getting ready to leave, Bell noticed something, through all of his training he had gained knowledge about certain things such as magic reductive properties, knowing this he knew that Alfias gloves would weaken her magic. He knew about her barrier that was always active and that it weakened her magic but to him that made sense as it didn't allow magic to ever harm her even if it was a surprise attack. Seeing this he was confused, why would she not want to use the power of her magic, curious he asked.
"Alfia, why are you weakening your own magic with your gloves?"
Alfia stood in annoyance, she knew that the only reason that he was able to recognize what her gloves did was because of her own training, seeing this she sneered at the remark made by the white haired child.
"Tsk. Why do you want to know, do you want to get hit?"
She didn't want to tell Bell that she hated her own magic as she assumed that he would misinterpret it thinking that she hated him, she had told Bell that his name came from the sound that her magic made as she was close with his mother. Knowing that, she knew that if she said she hated her magic, the very thing that gave Bell his name he would think that she hated him as he was similar to a representation of the very magic that she hates, not only did his name come from it but he had a similar one to hers, only his didn't make sound making her jealous of Bells magic. In reality Alfia didn't completely hate her magic, while she hated that she got it because she took all the talent from her sister, the part she really hated was the noise it made, the sound of a bell being hit, allowing to amplify that very sound into a deadly barrage of vibrations that would go through everything due to its very nature allowing it to damage the insides of a person.
"Well if we are trying to save Miss Artemis shouldn't we not limit ourselves, like you gave me these gloves to help out her more?"
Giving what he thought was a reasonable response, Alfia got more annoyed with him.
"It's my choice, I can take them off if I want to."
As she said that, she went towards the Wyvern that Hermes had rode to get to where they were. In the end it was decided that Alfia, Bell and Artemis would go, Hiiro would stay inside Bell, allowing for him to fly to their destination while Alfia and Artemis rode on the back of the Wyvern.
Before they left, Zeus spoke, just before they would leave, he asked Bell a question.
"Bell, are you sure you want to do this? I know Hiiro is going to stay with you but you might get hurt."
"I'm sure, I will save Miss Artemis, I promise."
Saying this the young boy puffed out his chest, showing confidence in his statement that he had just made. As he did this, a current of wind blew his hair, this wind came from the wyvern that was taking off
"Okay, go be careful and save her."
"Don't worry Grandpa, I'll be fine."
Saying this, Bell tightened his grip, the spear in his hands as wings of fire rose from his back. Each of the sprouted wings on Bell's back, grew to the size of a Wyvern's wing; The exceptionally large size of these wings were created so that Bell could fly in a straight line as quickly as possible.
"Bye Grandpa."
As the wings expanded a wave of heat could be felt around, as the grass underneath the wings started to wither due to the heat that the wings created evaporating the water. As this happened, Bell started to flap the wings, picking himself off of the ground, so that he could catch up to Alfia and Artemis, who were already flying out of sight, heading towards Antares.
Flying up into the sky, in chase of the Wyvern that had Artemis and Alfia on its back, Bell sped up so that he could fly in tandem with them as he did not know where their destination was, only Artemis knew. Slowly catching up to the Wyvern, due to Bell's body not being able to handle extreme speeds for longer periods of time due to it still being immature, making it not strong enough to be able to handle the speeds for the duration of the flight that they were going to take.
Flying throughout the skies used much more of Hiiros energy than Bell thought. The wings that Bell used to fly did not take much of the energy, what took most of the energy was the fact that he needed to use Hiiros energy to fortify his body so that it didn't get ripped apart due to the damage his body would receive from friction had he not fortified his body it would have ripped apart. The heat that was caused by the friction was not what would rip his body apart, what would have hurt him the most, would be the air resistance that flying through the air would cause. Had Bell not used some of Hiiros power to fortify his body, the friction that the air resistance caused would gasp at his skin causing it to slowly peel off.
Stopping that from happening Bell reinforced his body with her power, allowing him to fly normally. While he was flying next to the Wyvern, Bell twisted and twirled in the air, having fun while he flew.
"I see that you're having fun flying again."
Talking into his mind, Hiiro questioned Bell. When Hiiro was inside Bell she could feel his emotions, this allowed her to know that Bell was having fun flying faster than he had ever flown before in the skies.
"Yes, though I feel like I'm using a lot of your energy to do this, I thought I had good control over your energy."
"You do, however that doesn't mean your control can't be better, you are wasting a lot of the energy on reinforcing your body, this is because while your control over the output of my energy is good your control of using it similar to an enchantment is not as good as the output, an example of this is the wings you made should take more energy to create than the energy needed to reinforce your body however as you can see it takes less in practice due to your worse control."
To heal Alfia, Bell needed to have good control over the output of Hiiros energy due to both healing and destroying the disease in her being a version of outputting Hiiros, with no need to strengthen himself. Without practicing to enhance things' strength with Hiiros power it made it more inefficient, along with enhancing things like an enchantment being harder to master than output made him waste much more energy than needed.
"Hiiro, After we save Miss Artemis can you help me control and enchanting myself better. We focus more on me attacking with your powers so I didn't realize how important it could be sometimes until now even though I have flown before."
Having flown before Bell had needed to strengthen his body to handle the speed that he was flying at, however, he had never flown at the speed he was currently flying at. Trying to stay the same speed as the Wyvern was hard for Bell due to his new issue of trying to keep Hiiros energy controlled efficiently so that it would last the distance that they had to fly. Talking earlier Bell was told that they would need to fly over 240 miles to where Antares was, this was also the reason that the Wyvern that Hermes had rode to Zeus was an enhanced species allowing for it to fly even faster than normal.
"Aren't you just trying to get away from Alfias training…"
"No… Maybe… Okay yes, but just a little though. I want to train with you more too though, it's fun training with you."
To Bell, training with Hiiro was a lot of fun due to him liking talking with her, while not liking her company as much as Alfia, training with her was much more fun as when he trained with Alfia, it was a constant beating, not allowing for Bell to rest at all. With Hiiro, the training was much more forgiving, and at his current age, getting beaten up constantly is not very appealing due to his body being weaker than that of an adult. Another issue that Bell had training with Alfia, was her absurd expectations of what Bell should be able to do and how quickly he should be able to learn it. Due to this, Bell liked being trained by Hiiro more than Alfia as her training methods and expectations were reasonable.
"Sure, I will help you with enchanting your body, but you will be the one to tell Alfia about it, I would rather not get killed by her."
Knowing this, Hiiro wondered if Bell was just trying to get away from training with Alfia, going to train with her instead due to his preferences, hearing what he had said she still had doubts if he was lying or not, however, she decided to believe him for now due to not wanting him to be distracted while he helped save Artemis having her accept his request
"Thanks, I will get even better at controlling your power so I can be a hero, just like the ones Grandpa talks about."
"Hehe, do your best Bell."
While Hiiro chuckled at Bell's childish dream she still supported him fully in achieving it. Over the time that they had spent together training to heal Alfia, and after succeeding their relationship developed, Bell had started to feel affection to the spirit, though not romantically. Hiiro filled a void that Bell had, a spot that Alfia couldn't fill because of her aggressive tendencies, while neither of them knew it, Hiiro started to see Bell the same as a mother would see her child, and Bell felt the same affection for Hiiro that a child would feel for their mother.
"I will."
As Bell replied to Hiiro, she started to smile a little inside of Bell, believing that the statement that he had just made would one day turn into reality through his own actions.
"For now, try to use my power sparingly, if this monster is as strong as Artemis says that it is then you will need as much of my power as you can. Before we fight it, we could rest to allow for me to regain some of my power but it is most likely better to kill it sooner than later."
"I'm trying already, I'm not sure how far I can push myself without damaging my body, if I do that the natural regeneration that happens when I use your powers and get injured will start to take effect, using more of your spiritual energy than if I had kept my body more enhanced."
One of the reasons that spirits were so good in the times before the dungeon was sealed was due to their natural affinity for prolonged battles due to the regeneration that they would provide. The regeneration provided was both in the person's magical power, the spirit's own spiritual power, and any physical injuries, allowing for less fatigue in prolonged battles due to the constant regeneration. When all of the factors were combined and added with an immense control over the spirit's energy the person who was in a contract with the spirit wouldn't feel much fatigue and also allowed for them to sleep for much less time.
"Don't worry, just keep doing as you are doing now then, what you said is certainly true, if you don't think that you are able to use less of my power than don't worry about it and just focus on flying, I will tell you if you need to change your flight direction."
"Okay, thank you, I will focus."
As he said that, Bell closed his eyes, closing his eyes he was able to focus more on controlling Hiiros power, only listening inside his head in case Hiiro told him to change direction, slow down or speed up.
Still flying through the air, Bell's hair fluttered through the air flowing behind his head, the longest of his hair just barely fluttering past his shoulder. Bell had started to grow out his hair due to a comment that Alfia had made to him in the first few months that she knew him.
6 Months Ago
On a plain of grass, green as the emerald right eye of the silver haired girl who was currently sitting under the single tree that was seen in sight. The girl had her eyes open, a rare thing for the one who was leaning up against the tree. As she sat under the tree, she gazed down, looking at the pure white hair of the boy who sat on her left thigh, leaning against her left arms bicep, as she stroked the white hair of the boy in her lap.
"Grandpa said that you knew my mother, what was she like?"
Asking this question, Alfia closed her eyes as she raised her head, allowing for her to gaze out to the horizon once she opened her stunning heterochromatic eyes with a nostalgic look in them as she remembered his mother.
As she looks into the distance, she closes her eyes, remembering a long past memory that she kept inside her mind. The woman who appears inside the memory was of someone who was similar in physique to Alfia, however her hair is a snow white, much longer than Alfia, whose hair already went down to her hip. Her eyes were a blue that was as beautiful as the sky on a cloudless day with the sun shining brightly. The eyes that looked at her were filled with joy, despite the condition of being stuck in the bed due to being too sickly to get out of the sheets.
"If, really just if I had a child, whether it's a boy or a girl I would name it Bell."
The one who had spoken was Alfia, as the woman who was in the bed smiled at the comment that she had made. The conversation that prompted this remark was a question that the bedridden woman had asked Alfia, she had asked a question to Alfia that only she could ask her without being struck down with a blow hard enough to kill. What she had asked was a hypothetical question, one that Alfia detested due to its implication due to the fact that it did not at all seem like a hypothetical, "If you had a baby, what would you name it?"
"Just like your detested magic."
Came the reply from the broken down girl, the magic in question was gospel, the magic that had made her famous due to its short chant and firepower combined, allowing for a magic that surpassed reason; however, the reason that she hated it was childish and unreasonable. She hated it due to the sound it made, the sound of the bell that was caused due to using that magic, she would name her child after the very magic that she hated, however deep in her heart she cherished it, the magic that was born from her very soul.
Remembering that Alfia spoke to the boy who was still in her lap, however looking back up at her, peering into her eyes. Looking back at the one in her lap she was again reminded of the shrill girl in bed, seeing just how much he looked like her mother.
"She looked very similar to you, with hair longer than mine, but it was a color just like yours, everytime I see your hair it reminds me of her. Just like her, your hair is beautiful, almost perfect, just your hair isn't as long as hers."
As she said this she smiled, thinking about the beautiful hair of the girls in her memories whose snow white hair she was jealous of, however she would never admit it, in fact, she was jealous of Bell's hair as well. As she was reminded of this fact she stroked Bell's white hair as she admired its color and softness.
"Should I make my hair long just like moms then?"
Asking this question to her, Alfia closed her eyes, thinking about the possibility of Bell growing out her hair, allowing for him to look just like her.
"It's your choice, I think if you did your hair would look even more beautiful than it already does… Just like hers."
Unknown to her, as she made that response she smiled, something that Bell had not yet seen her ever do before in the months that he had been acquainted with her. The smile to Bell looked beautiful, it was one of someone thinking about a beautiful memory, one that was cherished, caused by the thought of Bell with longer hair. Seeing her smile, something that he realized was caused by the thought of him with longer hair he made his choice.
"I'll grow out my hair then, so it will look just like my mothers hair."
As Bell said this Alfia just kept on stroking his hair, as she opened her eyes again, looking back out to the plains as she kept the smile on her face, happy at the statement that Bell had just made.
"Can I take care of your hair then, so that I can keep a memory of your mother?"
"Okay, you can take care of my hair once it's grown out."
While Bell's reason was to make Alfia happy, she wouldn't know that this was the reason, only assuming that it was something that he did for his own self satisfaction due to his birth being the reason for his mothers death.
"Thanks…"
In a whisper too quiet for Bell to hear, Alfia thanked him. Growing out his hair and allowing for her to take care of his hair made Alfia much happier than Bell could imagine, even though the main reason that he was growing out his hair and allowing her to take care of it was to make her happy.
The hair that Bell had been growing out had grown a total of 3 and a half inches in the 6 months since the conversation with Alfia. Bell's hair could be kept in a better condition than most due to his hair not being strengthened due to Hiiro, with the most effective part being that his hair could no longer burn. The strengthening that Hiiros blessing provided Bell's hair was due to hair being one of the rare things that when enhanced with Hiiros power, it kept most of the strength added to it even when the enhancement was removed.
Bell's hair had provided inconvenient on a few recent ocasion, this was due to his hair now not being long enough to be pushed behind his shoulders, making sure that the hair doesnt come into his eyes whereas his current length would sometimes block his view due to it not being long enough yet. The hair did not have an issue when he was running forward, however, when he would ever dodge backwards it would sometimes create minor difficulties. Flying through the air, Bell's hair would not get in the way due to it being pushed back.
As Bell was flying through the air he started to slowly descend lower to the ground due to not using as much power to keep his wings active, another reason for this was because of the wyvern above whose wings were constantly pushing down air onto Bell after he had done an air roll, putting himself under the wyvern wh above. As this happened Alfia recognized that Bell's use of Hiiros magic became more efficient, but also made the effects of the wyvern more pronounced, pushing him down.
"Artemis, move this noisy lizard to the side, it will help Bell fly more efficiently."
The one who was holding the ropes of the wyvern had been Artemis for the duration of the flight while Alfia sat on the back of the wyvern, completely unaffected by the wind and only annoyed with the noise that the flapping of the wings created
"Okay."
The reply came reluctantly, Artemis as a goddess had more pride than most people due to this so having someone order her to do something was not something that she wanted to follow however at the same time she did not want to get thrown off the dragon by Alfia. Artemis had witnessed what Alfia had done to Zeus just because he had made a comment that Alfia did not like to loud so she did not want to imagine what she would do to her if she let Bell, who Artemis noticed Alfia cared for more than she would admit get hurt the punishment would be worse, knowing this, she obeyed reluctantly.
Good, do you know how far out we are from Antares?"
Though it didn't seem like they had been flying for very long in reality they had been soaring through the skies at high speeds for over and hour at this point, knowing this Alfia spoke for the second time during the flight right after she spoke for the first time due to her dislike for noise that was actually slowly spreading to Bell. While Bell would never dislike noise as much as Alfia he had gotten slightly more sensitive to it due to one of the teachings Alfia gave Bell. Becoming more sensitive to sound did not mean that it hurt Bell when extremely loud noises were present, just that they were slightly louder than before, in turn making them more annoying due to its louder nature.
"I think we are about 2 hours out, why?"
"..."
After telling Alfia how far out they were from Antares she ignored the why question for why she asked in the first place, not wanting to make more noise than she already made by ordering Artemis and asking her a question which was already far too much noise for Alfia to make.
"Tch."
Annoyed by being ignored, Artemis clicked her tongue quietly, though they were clearly audible to Alfia, though in favor of silence, she ignored her again, creating a tension between the 2 on the wyvern. No sound other than the flapping of the wings that kept them from falling to the ground was heard throughout the rest of the flight to Antares.
The rest of the flight to Antares was uneventful, the only thing that happened the rest of the flight was Hiiro needing to course correct Bell so that he didn't stray too far away from Alfia and Artemis who were heading in the correct direction. During the flight the sun had started to set over the horizon, allowing for the sky to shine a delightful crimson created by the sunset.
Arriving at the near set up camp, Alfia, Artemis and Bell all descended down to the ground about a ¼ mile away from the camp in an open field, allowing for the wyvern to descend without messing up the camping area or Bell's wings setting the surrounding trees ablaze.
"Some of Hermes' children set up a camp where the fire was, it's only a quarter mile walk from here through the trees, he also has some of his children here to help in the subjugation of Antares."
Artemis had made the comment just after the 3 of them had landed in the clearing, this was due her assuming that both Bell and Alfia assumed that they would go straight to taking down Antares the same day.
"You should have told us that before we set off."
The short comment, laced with poison came from Alfia, who was annoyed that she was told at the last minute that they would not instantly start fighting Antares after they had stopped flying.
"Uncle Hermes's Familiais helping us kill the monster that imprisoned Miss Artemis?"
Same as Alfia, she was unaware that Hermes was providing support with his Familiaand he did not decide to tell her even when she asked him about killing Antares. This raises her anger for the mischievous god due to what she sees as a stunt that he had pulled while Bell is grateful for what Hermes had done to help them with taking down Antares.
"Yes, they are currently helping protect the surrounding areas from the monsters that Antares makes. The members of his Familia made the camp that we will be staying at before we go to Antares, some of his Familia members will come with us to help with our fight against Antares, while the weaker members will stay away killing the surrounding monsters that Antares creates."
As she tied up the dragon to a nearby tree, Artemis told both Bell and Alfia about the plan that Hermes had created to help take down Antares. The reason Hermes had originally sent out his Familia was due to the highest level adventures in Orario being only level 6, being Ottarl, and during the horrendous times that Orario were currently going through they likely wouldn't get anyone very powerful to help kill Antares.
"We should thank Uncle Hermes when we get back to Grandpa."
Contrary to Aflia's anger-filled reaction to finding out that Hermes had sent some of his Familia to help them, Bell was grateful for what he had done. Commenting that they should thank Hermes, Bell's tone was very excited, though it was quiet so that he didn't anger Alfia due to being noisy because of what he had seen happen to others being loud.
The trio started their walk towards that faint light that could be seen through the trees coming from the fire that was created by the Hermes Familia combatants to cook their food on. As they made their way over to the camp both Alfia, Artemis and Bell walked silently, making no noise as their feet hit the ground as they instinctively avoided the branches and crumpled leaves on the ground so that they wouldn't make any sound, this was due to Artemis's instincts as a hunter, while Bell did it so that Alfia did not become annoyed by the sound created by his steps.
At the camp there were 5 Hermes familia members that were there, all of them being level 3 while their captain, Lydia, was a level 4 being the strongest at the time. Lydia was just like her god, being an innate trickster and rather carefree most of the time, even so she looked and acted just like Hermes with her blonde hair being almost identical to that of Hermes only longer.
"Captain, who do you think will be the person Hermes-sama has come to help us? Hopefully they will be someone powerful."
This statement was made by one of the combatants who were sitting around the fire named Falgar, he was a Weretiger with both eyes and hair that were brown being lit up by the crackling fire that was lit in the center.
"Hopefully he does, just those annoying things that it creates are level 2 in strength and it can create hundreds of them, just imagine how strong it really is."
As she responded to his question 3 new faces were seen being lit up by the brilliance of the red-hot fire as it continued to crackle. Seeing the 3 new people who showed up, 1 of them was recognized by the ones who were sitting around the fire as they had seen her earlier.
"Artemis-sama, where is Hermes-sama?"
Lydia was the first one to ask the question that the members of his Familia who were staying at the camps had on their mind as they noticed that the group who came contained the Goddess who was trapped in Antares, and 2 unknown people to most of them, though, it did not go unnoticed by any of the ones who were there that one of them was a young child. The only one who knew 1 of the 2 others who came along with Artemis was Lydia as she had met Bell before when Hermes had gone to talk to Zeus.
"Uncle Hermes stayed home with Grandpa because there wasn't enough room on the Wyvern for him to come with us."
"Bell, what are you doing here?"
While Lydia had met Bell, she had met him before he started training so to her Bell was just a weak young child who she liked to dote on due to her seeing Bell as a cute little brother. The first time that Bell had met Lydia was when he was 4, making Lydia along with Hermes the first people who did not live inside their village that he had met.
"To kill Antares."
Before Bell could say his reason, Alfia said why they were there as she held the spear in her hand letting out an aura of superiority. While the Hermes Familia looked at her in shock after the answer Alfia had given about Bell fighting and also that Lydia knew who he was, the 3 of them all sat down on the only current empty log, where both Artemis and Alfia sat down elegantly.
"Don't worry Lydia-neechan, I'm as strong as you now after I got trained by Alfia, she is really strong!"
Excited to see one of his first friends, Bell excitedly makes a comment, expressing himself in an exaggerated manner, jumping up and down as he uses his hands as well to express his excitement.
"Boom."
"Don't be noisy."
Annoyed with his excitement, Alfia hits Bell on top of his head. The blow that was given to Bell was a blow hard enough to immobilize anyone without a falna or a spirits blessing, due to Hiiro still boosting Bell made the need for Alfia to hit Bell hard enough to immobilize most of the people who were currently sitting around the campfire.
"Wait… Those eyes… You're that scary lady that Hermes-sama talked about, Silence right?"
Lydia had head of Alfia from Hermes due to the many stories that were told about her due to her many encounters with Alfia were he eventually went on to vent about to her, she also knew who Alfia was due to the fame that she had in Orario, being a level 7 at the age of only 16, being the youngest ever 1st class adventure ever recorded, reaching level 5 at the age of 13.
"Why is that perverted God talking about me? When I see him again I should hit him."
"W-Well, if you are the ones who are helping us in this quest we should show you to your tents."
Shuddering at the thought of being the one who caused her God to die, Lydia quickly attempted to divert her, along with Bell and Artemis's attention, though, all of them noticed what the intent behind this childish reply was but ignored it.
As the sunset slowly disappeared from the horizon, all of the people at the camp started their sleep while 2 people were set up to watch for attacks by the scorpions.