Hello Readers, me again. Happy days so far, I hope!

I am quite joyous to say that things have been progressing well so far. Although my writing time has gone down a bit, it has not hindered me from pouring my fingers over the keyboard to bring you a new chapter.

As previously announced, this chapter will be the journey, yes the ENTIRE journey, and arrival in Altera, the city-nation of knowledge and magic, as well as home of Athena, who is its main governing authority alongside her familia. And just because its fun, there will be a small surprise at the end of it all, so I hope you look forward to reading it as much as I had fun writing it!

Now, one of the biggest issues was the geography, as we have little to no knowledge of the world of Danmachi at all, so I took the liberty of following the latest design of the fandom world map, to which I will leave a link at the end of the chapter for those who want to examine it. I could have gone with something more original, but writing geography is not my strong suit as it is, and I figured trying to pull something out of a hat, figuretively speaking, would be an unnecessary complication for both me and all of you.

Also, Bell's status update. He is still the protagonist of Danmachi, so of course you are all owed a peek at his progression.

Now, lets get into it!

As always: I own no rights to anything relating to One Piece or Danmachi, all of its intellectual property belong to its respective creators.


BELL CRANEL

HESTIA FAMILIA

HUMAN MALE

AGED 14

LEVEL 2

~~STATUS~~

STRENGTH: I194

ENDURANCE: H268

DEXTERITY: H292

AGILITY: G323

MAGIC: H261

~~SKILLS~~

MAGNUM LIARIS FREESE (Hidden by Hestia): Manifestation of Desire into growth. Stronger desire results in faster growth. Side effects make user immune to all mental attacks and divine charms. Current growth modifier: 6722% (x67.22 faster growth rate). May lead to further manifestation of Skills if desire achieves peak. User may break status limits.

HEROIC WILL: Capacity to manifest any and all willpower-related Skills known to the User. Current known skills: Color of Observation, color of Armament, Supreme Color of Conquerors;

TRUE TALENT: Instantaneous copy, mastery and deep understanding of all physical forms of skills, techniques and means of combat. Capacity to replicate techniques must pass status-check in Agility and Dexterity. Cannot replicate physical techniques resulting from magic or skills.

#####: #####

ARGONAUT: Heroic Strike. User may generate a charged counterattack with increased potency based on charge duration. Maximum Charge duration is 1 minute per user level. Current charge maximum: 2 minutes.

~~MAGIC~~

SERAPH BLAZE: Stage-type flame magic with 3 levels. 1st Level: Firebolt. 2nd Level: Pyroclasm. Chant: "Path of mine, Path of glory, praise courage and ignite bravery. Shields and spears, burn o' weapons of the heart!" 3rd Level: Seraph Blaze. Chant: "Hear the Song of Beginning. From powerlessness birthed despair, from despair birthed desire, from desire birthed power. Mine is but one life, mine is but one name, so echo across heaven and hell. Beware, stars beyond my reach, for I shall grasp my blade and take aim! Beware, hallowed dread, for I will shine aloud a breath of creation!"

~~DEVELOPMENTAL ABILITIES~~

LUCK: H


Ouranos, patron deity of the guild of Orario. If one were to ask which god holds the greatest authority across all of Gekai, not one Deusdea would dare mention any name other than his. Through the guild, he governs Orario, establishing order, balance and security for its citizens, keeping the cycle and purpose of adventurers strong and ensures that any deity that dare use their arcanum without his permission and/or beyond a certain, very restricted maximum, they are sent to Tenkai, either through an enforcing deity selected by him or his own means.

However, his purpose exceeds just the surface world of mortals. Within a hidden chamber few know about, deep beneath the guild's central building, the Pantheon, he spends every waking moment of his being whispering divine prayers to soothe the dungeon to what little degree he could, allowing for a limitation to its power and freedom of spawning irregulars or evolved monsters. A cause so important that those aware of his purpose would go as far as to claim that without those prayers, even with all those powerful familias around, the dungeon would, eventually and naturally, reclaim its full freedom, eliminating the domination of mortals and returning them to being merely a resistance force.

As such, due to the weight of his purpose, Ouranos rarely took any audiences, and when he did, they are no longer than a few minutes, for whenever his prayer is interrupted, the risk runs that the dungeon would use the opportune moment to flip out and unleash something akin to the Three Great Quests in retaliation. It may not have happened so far, but just the very possibility in itself was cause for utmost caution. As someone once said: Even if there is a 1% chance it could happen, it must be treated as an absolute certainty.

All of this culminates to a level of frustration the Deusdea feels in moments such as this very instance because of an unannounced guest within his chamber.

His eyes open slowly and his irises move, cast down to put the full attention of his vision on the intruder. "To what do I owe today's headache, Jay Rosée?" He spoke.

"Well..." The raven-haired elf began. "If it is any consolation, the headache won't be as bad as my last schenanigan in Rakia. I am leaving for Altera for a few weeks, no more than a month tops. And I am taking quite a few people with me. Enough for it to require your personal clearance."

Ouranos closed his eyes for a short, fleeting moment, contemplating whether or not he wants to even hear out who and just how many will go. As his eyes re-open, he nods. "Name them all."

"Astraea Familia, all of Loki's executives, Hestia Familia, Hermes and his captain, Asfi Al Andromeda. That would be everyone."

Ouranos frowns silently, wrinkles showing themselves on his forehead from how tired he was with the mortal man's doings. However, it was less people than he expected. "Permission granted. I shall inform Freya Familia that until the return of Loki's main force, she will be responsible for keeping the balance and aiding Ganesha Familia, shall any remnants of Evilus prove challenging."

Jay responded to this by simply giving the aged-looking deity a thumbs up before turning around. However, before leaving, he stopped for a second. "Give the Xenos my most passionate and friendly regards. And let Lyd know that I will be bringing a souvenier from Altera for him." With those words, the elven male exited the chamber, leaving Ouranos to be by himself once more.

The patron god in question only closed his eyes once more and returned his focus to his prayers.


Over the course of the day, the guild had sanctioned all the paperwork for the departure and had also informed every individual in question about the permissions being granted, so all that remained to do was to assemble the group at the eastern entrance of Orario. Of course it came with a LOT of complains and audibly shared worries for the city, but Royman very aggressively dismissed those and made it clear that Ouranos' permission is absolute and that all they could do is comply.

Loki and her children were the first to arrive, since they had a well established schedule in which everyone is usually up before or around 6.

Hermes was second, and the only reason he was anywhere near punctuality was because Asfi stressed him more than usual.

Astraea and Hestia familia arrived at the same time,with Jay being the last person to reach the designated point of their departure along with Alise and Kaguya from said Astraea Familia.

His presence immediately put most of Loki's children on guard, Riveria in particular seemed on edge to those who knew her well. Their ceasefire meant little more than a safety net, one the elven heiress was not really confident about.

"Now that everyone is here, I will be laying out our travel plans, alright?" The raven-haired man began, reaching into his seafarer's overcoat to take out a scroll from one of its inside pockets, opening it and turning it around so everyone could see its contents. "We will be going as straight a line as possible, trekking through the Seolo forest, swim our way across the Alpine river, then keep on foot south off the Alf Mountains, following the eastern sea's coastline until we reach Altera. Assuming no complications, we should arrive there by the end of the week in 4 to 5 days. Any complains?"

Lefiya rose her hand a bit and spoke up right away. "Why don't we take a ship and sail across the sea instead?"

"Good question" Asfi responded, stepping forward. "The problem is that there are no harbors or even coastal villages along the shores of the sea. Altera is the ONLY city there with a harbor. We would have to detour to either Edas up north to the Beol mountains and sail the entire Alpine River, or unnecessarily walk to the edge of the continent across Lakrios, by which we might as well head to the far east instead. Each of those alternative routs add days, if not an entire week in duration to our travels."

This answered the question for many of the present people, as the geography of the world outside of Orario was strangely not as common knowledge as one would assume. But it also made sense given how central to the global economy and stability Orario is, knowing the lands beyond it was unecessary for anyone who wasn't either a merchant or working as delivery such as with the Hermes Familia.

"I see..." was all the young Thousand Elf responded before lowering her hand.

"Not to mention..." Jay added to the response, his good eye relaxing lightly. "...that the Seolo forest has quite a number of dangerous monsters, even if they are much weaker than their dungeon counterparts. Bloodsaurus in particular can be found there. We will take it slower through Seolo forest because I want all new level ups to get a touch of their new abilities and strengths. Bell and Haruhime here-" he motioned to the young duo of his familia. "Each achieved new magic, and while they had like half a day to spar with each others at the church, neither of them had the chance to make use of it in combat, which means new, fresh hands-on experience. So our path also conveniently doubles down as a little bootcamp, if you will."

Whatever thoughts and doubts anyone had were kept silent, as nothing was said for a few seconds.

"Great, now we just need to discuss one last thing" Jay continued before he then stepped aside to reveal that Alise and Kaguya, the captain and vice captain of Astraea Familia, were each holding onto one of two chains. Said chains were connected to a set of cuffs that were restricting arm and leg movements of one Filvis Challia.

Understandably, the reaction was one of surprise.

"What the..." Bete began, but suddenly silenced himself. He gave Jay a good look, then softened his glare a little. "You're bringing her along because you think Altera has the answer to undoing her condition, am I right?"

Jay for his part just gave Vanagrand the fingerpistols in a gesture of correctness to his guess.

"Filvis..." Lefiya whispered. She never really got over the revelation that her best friend was one of Orario's most murderous entities to be known, Ein, one of two creatures made by Evilus.

The Tyrant moved his one eye back and forth between the duo and hummed to himself. He did not dislike the friendship they had, on the opposite, he was all for people having relationships like those two did. He felt within him a parental stirring, the instinctual urge to see it rectified. It was, after all, his hand that forced the revelation and essentially wedged a giant axe between the duo. "Cheer up, Lefiya" He began before he stepped closer to her and placed a hand atop her head, patting her head and ruffling her hair like she were a little kid. "Once we figure out how to undo her condition, you can cry and yell and make up with her all you want" He continued before he pointed with his free hand's thumb to the prisoner in question. "For all that its worth, she never lied to you about how much you mean to her."

Filvis remained silent, but it was clear in the glint in her eyes that she was surprised. The man who effectively destroyed her whole world on what could only be described as chaotic whim was now trying to give her back a part of it? It was absurd, some trickery, vile foul and bait for her to lower her guard, she was sure of it. In her mind, nay has there been a man more dangerous and wretched than Jay Rosée. She would not fall for it.

"Now then, any more questions?" Seeing only silence be his answer, Jay gave a grin before he stepped forth in front of the group to spearhead their travels. "Onwards then, my ugly ducklings!"


Elsewhere meanwhile...

"They have departed from Orario..." spoke a deep, feminine voice. The person it belonged to turned around, revealing short, red hair and emerald green eyes. In her right hand was a tiny pearl-like orb that was emitting a very faint, purple glow.

"Good. I have readied my men to... 'welcome'... those pesky adventurers" spoke a male voice in return. Its light distortion hinting that it was artificially transmitted, through the very orb the woman held in her hand. "You will trail them, if possible ambush them even. Any casualities they suffer is good enough."

"Finally..." the female voice responded and followed up with an animalistic snarl from her lips. "I've been itching to kill for days now."

"Then enjoy being outside without a leash, knowing that with the exception of complete failure, anything you do is sanctioned by my authority. It would be most ideal if you were to retrieve Ein, but if she poses a safety risk, you are within your rights to dispose of her as well. Do not fail me, Revis."

The redhead woman simply tapped the orb lightly before stuffing it away. "Thank you, Lord Thanatos." Once the orb was put away inside one of her many pockets, she lifted her head up, revealing her vantage point, which was currently ontop of the rooftop of one of the taller buildings close to the wall, a spot that offered ideal vision on the eastern entrance of Orario. The perfect spot to observe her targets, and also the perfect distance to determine at which point she should follow them.


Hours passed since the large troupée left Orario by foot, hours that were spent with tons of chatter.

For starters, Finn had made an evaluation of Hestia's new familia members, particularily Aisha. An end-stage level 3 like her was a pretty desired asset, and for one of the, for lack of better words, most battle-hungry prostitutes from Ishtar's former familia, to join a goddess like Hestia, who was a completely family-friendly goody two shoes in his opinion, raised questions. Questions the strongest Pallum alive was rather invested in having answered... all while he had to soothe Tione and tell her on multiple occasions that he has no manner of interest in Aisha beyond her reason for joining a virgin goddess.

On the other end, Bell, Haruhime and Tiona found themselves engaged in a passionate exchange of heroic tales and stories of old, having come to common grounds through their shared interest in heroism.

Riveria had successfully struck a conversation with Ryuu and Celty, the two elves from the familia of justice, and was rather pleasantly surprised to see Celty finally come around and not address her as 'princess' and 'your majesty', but call her 'Riveria' as she had asked quite frequently. But this also came partially due to what she remembered about Jay's words to her on their first encounter. She was too timid about herself and did not allow for her fellow elves to understand that this was more than just a little whim, that it was her deep desire to be seen as a person, an individual judged for flaws and achievements as all others. So she had been firmer in her tone when asking Celty to drop the formalities. A mild start, but a start none the less, and one that proved fruitful. "I suppose he was right in that regards... its everything else he said that bothers me so." she thought as she was remembering what else came up in that conversation.

Her eyes thus wandered towards the raven-haired elf in question, who was currently scolding Kaguya.

"YOU NICKED YOUR BLADE!? HAVE YOU BEEN SLEEPING ON YOUR HAKI TRAINING!?"

The normally composed, aloof and teasing swordswoman from Astraea Familia, a woman who was perhabs known as the most audacious mortal female being in Orario, save for a few gods, was practically sweating bullets, her posture shrunk down significantly and she was holding her hands in prayer before her head. "N-no, I did not, I remain diligent in the exercises. Alise's fire magic has just improved so much that the heat bypasses my armament and weakens the metal-"

"SOUNDS LIKE AN EXCUSE TO ME!" Jay roared with comically wide, enraged eyes as he was gripping his halbert and held it upside down so the blunt bottom of it was facing upwards. "100 ABDOMINAL HITS I SAY! IF YOUR ARMAMENT DOESN'T TANK THEM ALL, I AM DOUBLING YOUR REGIME!"

The far eastern woman paled significantly and some of the onlookers swore they saw a small kaguya-looking ghost exit through her mouth as if her soul vacated the scenery.

At this point, Ais inserted herself into the conversation. "Excuse me..." she spoke, her tone soft, composed and empty of emotion. However, to those that knew the sword princess, they immediately picked up on how interested she was in something. "You spoke of training, right?"

Jay immediately calmed himself down completely and put his halbert away, something Kaguya was eternally thankful for. "I sure did. I take it you listened in on my talk just now?"

The human-spirit hybrid nodded her head slowly. "This... Haki... I remember it being part of your skills that you publicized through the guild... but if it is a skill, how does she have it?" Ais asked, pointing at Kaguya curiously.

Jay on his end grinned. "Haki is not a power granted by a skill manifesting itself. It is the opposite, the skill manifests itself as proof that you have achieved mastery over it."

Whatever conversation everyone else had was promptly silenced as they all wanted to hear what he was about to say.

"I have no quarrels sharing this information, and since Seolo Forest is up ahead, I can make a demonstration there."

As such, the pace was increased significantly to force a faster arrival at said forest. As soon as they stepped foot past the first trees, they were immediately attacked by goblins, kobolds, needle rabbits and the occasional Lizard. They were far, far weaker than the regular dungeon versions of them, since they were surface monsters, so dispatching them was left entirely to the lowest levels, those being Bell, Haruhime and Lili. They were the only ones that benefited from it, however small it may be.

Deeper into the forest, they found the first batch of Bloodsaurus. It was a small nest, with one Bloodsaurus mother guarding unhatched eggs.

Jay cracked his neck and turned to the crowd, walking backwards towards the bestial lizard, which immediately took notice of him and went for the attack. "Now then, What is Haki? The simplest way to answer that is a manifestation of sheer force of will into a metaphysical power. It is a strength that comes from the core of your soul. Therefore it is not a power granted through the falna, but it is a power that can be awakened by ANYONE. Now, to understand how Haki manifests itself, you need to know that there are three different types of Haki, or less commonly refered to as Colours."

As Jay spoke, the Bloodsaurus spiraled itself clockwise for a tailswipe, which Jay dodged without ever having to look by ducking himself. The Bloodsaurus continued to attack the raven-haired elf from behind while he was effortlessly evading without looking back once. "The first one is known as the Colour of Observation, or Observation Haki. It expands upon your senses and grants a range of awareness to motion and intention of all things surrounding you. Mastery of it and sufficient advancements enable users to peek slightly into the future even or become sensitive to the voice of all things, the capacity to physically hear the sounds of any soul and through it understand and communicate with things otherwise insubseptible to the human language."

Angered by its series of failures, the Bloodsaurus lifted its right leg, causing a massive shadow over Jay to loom. He in turn only stretched his arm out and let the massive, scaley foot meet his palm, causing the bloodsaurus to be repelled by an invisible force and knocked off its feet and back a good distance. "The second power is known as Armament Haki. It manifests as a mostly defensive, but also offensive coating along your skin or objects in direct contact with you, typically something you are holding in your hands. You can think of it as armor. It enhances all your strengths, and for those who reach its advanced stage, they can expel this force into other objects to damage them without touching them or to repel their attacks. But, Armament Haki has another useful trait. Bell, if you mind?"

The white-haired boy in question nodded his head and extended his left hand. "Path of mine, Path of glory, praise courage and ignite bravery. Shields and spears, burn o' weapons of the heart! Pyroclasm!"

A wild array of reactions, but mostly surprise, was shown by the members of Hestia and Loki familia, who watched the large, arrow-shaped and insanely hot flame-projectile fly towards Jay. He coated his right arm in Armament Haki, causing it to become carbon-black coloured. What happened next shocked those who did not know about it, for Jay PHYSICALLY GRABBED THE FLAMING PROJECTILE AND CHUCKED IT INTO THE BLOODSAURUS NEST, destroying the eggs and absolutely infuriating the mother saurus.

"Armament Haki is also an incredibly powerful anti-magic defense, for it lets you physically interact with spells. However, to do so requires a level of mastery beyond even the advanced stage, and for those with smaller mind reserves it is incredibly draining. Just redirecting that one Pyroclasm emptied almost 2% of my total mind reserves, and I did not touch Bell's spell for more than 3 seconds tops."

The enraged Bloodsaurus opened its maw as wide as it could, intent on biting Jay's head off with its teeth as it raced towards him. The elf in question just turned around, struck his right arm out and suddenly released an invisible shockwave. It was mild, manifesting itself as barely a light breeze extending from Jay's position, but within seconds, the Bloodsaurus was knocked out and fell to the ground without having been touched at all. "The third power is different than the two. It is something that one must be born with, so many will never see it within themselves. The Supreme Colour of Conquerors, or simply Conquerors Haki. It manifests the sheer range of willpower and measures it against those that seek to test it. Targets with a weak enough will lose the capacity to fight back, causing them to surrender, flee or even pass out. Those born with Conquerors Haki are said to always become figures remembered in history, for the sheer force of will within them compels them all to achieve great things. Those who successfully reach the advanced stage can coat themselves in Conquerors Haki for another layer of armor that boosts ones offensive and defensive capabilities beyond any limits you can imagine. Additionally, while currently only a hypothesis, the most powerful users may even induce hallucinations within targets through the expression of will. I say it is a hypothesis because as of this moment, I am the only one I know about that can do that."

After explaining Conquerors Haki, Jay turned to the bloodsaurus and took his halbert, stabbing its neck to have it bleed out and die before he turned back to the crowd. "Because Haki is not a power granted by the falna, it does not obey its powerscaling. A level 1 with sufficient mastery of Armament Haki could take a full powered swing from Ottarl and walk away with barely a bruise visible on their skin, for example. As such, those capable of using Haki are all supremely dangerous because they have the strength to bypass differences and limitations given by the Falna and employ methods of combat that trumps even the strongest adventurers' skillsets."

Silent stares was all that welcomed the completed introduction to Haki. So many thoughts were racing across people's minds, until someone finally spoke the magic words that summarized it all.

"...Fucking hell that's broken" Bete commented, earning a chorus of nods from pretty much everyone.

"To think anyone could have access to this kind of power..." Finn noted.

"How..." Ais started, walking forward towards the raven-haired tyrant. "How do I learn these powers?"

Jay just raised his left hand with his index-finger pointing upwards. "Well, training is the hard part. The sheer range of aptitude and talent for Haki users is beyond vast. Iska and Kaguya are Astraea's best Armament Practitioners for example, they learned it within a year. But Alise, the next-most talented amongst them all, needed over 4 years to get the hang of it. Meanwhile, Ryuu is the best user of Observation Haki I know, besides myself of course, and she has only barely managed to expand her sensory range past a neighbourhood block, and believe me when I say she has ridiculous talent. As for Conquerors Haki... well, training that one is ironically easier, but it needs to be awakened first, and there are two methods to doing so. One is severe emotional distress, such as watching someone you love about to be killed in front of you, and the other is exposure to the full power of anothers' Conquerors Haki. So far, Bell is the only other Conquerors Haki user I am aware of amongst our group, so all of you will need to either be traumatized or I bathe you in the full extend of my Haki."

Tione was the first to respond, immediately stepping forward and making an exaggerated salute. "I am ready for it! Hit me with it! I wanna see if I got this Conqueror's thing!"

Finn, ever the tactitian and genius, decided to make the grand decision for his familia. "The boons of knowing and mastering this power is high, very high, so I am willing to wager that all of us are ready to undergo your trial."

Jay's eye wandered to Hestia Familia and Asfi, who were all silently nodding as well.

He then took a few steps back, exhaled loudly and straightened himself. "Fair warning, this will be a nightmare for you." Just as soon as he finished saying that, he unleashed all he had in terms of Conqueror's Haki, purple lightning with a black contrast harmlessly emitting itself from his body, dancing around his skin and his clothes while a continuous shockwave was emitting itself from his entire being, creating a permanent gust of wind that was blowing loose clothes and hair back. Within seconds, Lefiya, Filvis, Tiona and Bete were completely knocked out and on the ground, and a short moment later, Haruhime, Aisha, Lili and Gareth followed suit. One by one, those without Conqueror's Haki were falling unconscious under the sheer, suffocating pressure Jay emitted. All except Bell, the gods, those who were already trained in Haki and could, to a degree, resist it such as the children of Astraea Familia... and two other individuals.

From Ais' point of view, the world went black. Everything disappeared from her mind's eye except for Jay and herself, all else was just permanent, inpenetrable darkness. She continued to stare into Jay's eye and to her complete terror, she saw it emitting a red hue. His being slowly became darker, swallowed by the shadow, only the one, red eye remaining. Eventually, it was all that was present, and to her own senses, the blowing air died down, leaving behind an eerie silence. The red-glowing eye suddenly rose higher and higher up, hovering somewhere above 20 meters over the ground. Suddenly, the shadows gave way to the creature of her every nightmare, the source of her every terror and dread. The one-eyed black dragon, roaring with such raw power that it took all of Ais' strength to remain where she stood, her arms covering her face while she looked on in uncondensed, fully exposed fear. In the blink of an eye, she was back in the real world, screaming as loud as she possibly could while a deep green lightning, coated in black contrast, was dancing over her form while her body emitted its own push back. It was weak, leagues weaker than Jay's Haki, but it resisted none the less.

Riveria experienced a similar hallucinogenic vision, except her terror was something less personal. She saw herself from the outside view, ragged clothes, malnourished to the point bones were clearly visible through the skin, hair was a completely unkempt mess. But what terrified her the most was the eyes. This Riveria she saw was broken. There was no light, no life, no hope in her eyes. She was defeated, dead inside and accepted despair and futility of any and all efforts. She was cuffed by the hands and ankles, being dragged by a humanoid being clad in full armor, its face clouded in an unreadable shadow, leading her towards what looked like a scaffold. Vision-Riveria was forcibly pushed down to her knees and bent forward, neck placed in a semi-circular stone fitting with her head peeking out from one end. Then the guard from before reached for a massive axe and lifted it, readying for the swing. And then, she finally noticed the last piece of this hallucination of fear: Before the vision-Riveria, on the front part of the scaffold, there were heads. hundreds upon hundreds of heads that were departed from their bodies. And each and every single one of them was elven. Her dread was the death of her people, the inevitable ending that would conclude the rise of the elven arrogance until they one day overstep their lines and act up upon their prejudice for other races. A crusade backfiring into the systemic extinction of her people. And worst of all? The shadowy head of the guard uncovered itself to reveal none other than Jay himself, who stared down at the broken form of the elven heiress with pity. He warned her that day, he warned her of the sin of bigotry of her people... This fear transformed into a despairing desire to change this outcome, and with it, Riveria found herself free of the vision, back in Seolo forest, fallen on her knees, her hands digging into the earth and her mouth parting to roar like her very soul was set ablaze. From her own form, a sapphire-tinted blue lightning coated in black contrast danced around her form while she too was creating a push-back from her body, a pushback that was more than 4 times stronger than Ais' own.

Having concluded the trial, Jay slowly receded his Haki until it eventually ceased entirely. "Looks like we have two winners."

Ais and Riveria had stopped screaming by now and were both on all fours on the ground, panting profusedly, sweating buckets and staring into the ground with the worst panic they have ever felt in their entire lives.

"You have uncovered what you fear most, both of you" Jay began as he stepped forward. "Death. Your own, that of your loved ones, an incarnation of death itself, it matters not. Conquerors Haki is an expression of your force of will measuring up against the fear of death. It is the single most powerful impulse of the soul, it is the greatest of all drives. Now that you were reminded of it in its full capacity, you may now begin learning to use Conqueror's Haki. Congratulations, Ais, Riveria. Along with Bell and myself, that means there are now 4 users in grand total amongst our group-"

His words died down as he suddenly turned his head to his left side, and just as he did, men and women clad in by now very recognizeable robes of white with red markings appeared from seemingly nowhere, surrounding the group of adventurers.

"Ah, looks like I didn't pay attention for a few seconds..." Jay began to say, only to be interrupted when a blur of red appeared above him. Just as the blur homed in on his head, he lifted his halbert up and blocked what turned out to be a strike with a sword aimed for his neck. "And you decided to strike in that time? Not bad, pawns of Evilus."

Astraea Familia readied themselves immediately. Alise forsake her usual cheerful attitude and went into full Captain mode. "Ryuu, Maryu, Iska, form a perimeter around us. Kaguya, Neze, Celty, Asta, protect the unconscious ones! The rest, divide as evenly as you can and push them back, we need more space!"

Jay swung his halbert with a strong upward push, getting Revis off of his topside and forced her to land on her feet. "Nope, none of you will engage the horde of nameless goons except for Bell and Ais. And they are only allowed to use their new powers" he instructed, turning his head enough so that the corner of his vision could catch the duo that he named. "If you cheat on this assignment, or if anyone interferes..." his tone suddenly turned serious and his eye was filled with a dark glimmer of bloodlust and malice. "...I will knock you out before abandoning you to their mercy."

The gods, Astraea in particular, had a grim expression. The brunette deusdea of justice gulped nervously before she pat Alise on the shoulder. "He... spoke no lies just now. If we intervene, he really will take their side just out of spite..."

Alise was annoyed at this and grew a visible tick mark on her head. "DAMNIT JAY! WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR RIDICULOUS TRAINING ORDERS! CAN'T YOU JUST BEAT THEM SENSELESS YOURSELF LATER!?"

The raven-haired elf blocked a series of strikes from Revis' blade, his halbert expertly flipping and circling as he twirled it with his hands to deflect all broader swings and block all faster, but weaker ones. "No, this is what they will do if they are to garner some hands-on experience. Now do as I said because even if it is just one of you or me alone, they can't take us out either way."

The remark of confidence insulted the creature, who scoffed at Jay. "You think you can take us all out alone? Pah, you talk big game, adventurer!"

The Tyrant returned the gesture in kind, scoffing back at Revis. "Interesting. That you do not know who I am means either Thanatos did not tell you, or he himself hasn't found out yet."

Revis' eyes narrowed at what he just said and she took a more aggressive stance, ready to attack once more. "what are you talking about?"

"Who do you think unveiled Enyo's identity and had him sent back to Tenkai?"

Revis' eyes widened, but her momentary lapse of attention from the shock was heavily penalized by the male elf, who suddenly closed the distance in a dash of such speed not even the trained, high level adventurers could follow. In the blink of an eye, he had his left hand against the creature's face, clutching her face tightly. Then, his hand became engulfed in a transluscent sphere of white. "HYA!" In one short roar of strength, the sphere compressed its size, barely engulfing Revis' head, and when that happened, a loud CRACK echoed across the area.

His hand let go and Revis' unconscious form fell to the ground.

"OH NO!"

"REVIS!?"

Various cries of worry came from the Evilus goons, but none were of care for her well being, no, they were all of fear. If someone like Revis could be knocked out like that, what will happen to them?

"AWAKEN, LORD OF TEMPEST!"

As Ais chanted, her body and the immediate area around her became engulfed in a powerful set of gusts that released a green-ish wind. The blonde swordswoman glanced at the palm of her right hand with surprise. "So powerful... my Ariel has become much stronger!" She thought to herself before she focused on the wind surrounding her. "And my wind is... wilder... and yet..." she continued, focusing the direction. She aimed her right hand's open palm to a part of the large gathering of Evilus members, and on command, her wind fired itself with immense speed forward, cutting into their robes and bodies as if they were made of warm butter, instantly defeating a large number of them.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? ATTACK!"

"URAAA!"

The highly numbered Evilus goons all tried to descend upon Ais, but her wind kept her protected, dancing around her perimeter and cutting down anyone who came too close to them.

"FIREBOLT! FIREBOLT! FIREBOLT!"

BOOM!

A loud, fiery explosion echoed as Bell rained Firebolts one after another down on the mass of henchmen, burning many of them into unconsciousness or levels of pain that completely incapacitated them.

And as all that was happening, Riveria observed, astonished at the display of strength from both of the youths. "Amazing... Ais' wind has grown leagues more powerful, and not only that, she has control of its properties and even its range! And the young, white haired 'Heracles'... is he not just a level 2? What firepower..."

Jay observed the battle with a smirk to his face. The two were showing promising strength. Bell's Firebolt not only was now a stage-type spell, but even its first level was stronger than the original Firebolt he would have possessed. "I guess the answer he gave the Grimoire changed due to an influence he had on what it means to be Powerful. How very interesting..." His eye then shifted towards Ais. "She may not yet be at her peak, but she is already far stronger than she would have been if I hadn't done anything about her... but she is still lacking..."

Ryuu was watching the spectacle with awe. Her eyes darted back and forth between Ais and Bell, however, her attention was slightly more drawn towards the young adventurer with white hair and red eyes. "Such potential... is this what Jay sees in him? No... no it is something else..." She thought to herself, still unsure if she should bother letting the young boy become aquainted with her more personally as the older elf had suggested to her not too long ago. "He was adamant that Cranel would be good for me... and my elven instincts did not reject his touch..." she remembered to when Bell, without thinking, grabbed her hand, before profusedly apologizing for it. Her instincts at least seem to aknowledge the goodness of his heart and the utter and complete lack of ulterior motives in his character. "I suppose I can accept that he is a good person..."

One of the henchmen leapt up behind Bell, aiming to decapitate him from behind.

Ryuu, seeing this, grew wide-eyed. "CRANEL! BEHIND YOU!"

Bell, however, already knew, and reinforced his neck with Armament, causing the attacker's blade to harmlessly stop as it collides with the surface of his skin. Bell barely paid the person attention, just flicking his palm backwards before calling forth a Firebolt from up close, scorching the attacker's abdomen and knocking them out.

Ais and Bell continued to fight for a few minutes before the numbers had dwindled down so much that the remaining goons had decided to retreat, running away and leaving a triple digit number of unconscious criminals to be captured, including Revis herself.

Astraea Familia was charged with restraining them all to the best of their abilities while Riveria guarded Filvis for the time being.

Ais and Bell were both laid on the ground, recovering from the exhaustion they endured. Mild it may be, they still had spent a lot of Mind for this endeavor.

And in those minutes, the rest had awoken from their unconsciousness, with Finn being the first to wake, followed by Bete, then the others one by one.

Finn, ever the tactical genius, immediately went over their options and had come to only one conclusion for positive outcomes. "With the sheer number of captives, it is impossible to send a simple envoy to Orario and have an escort from Ganesha Familia arrive... part of this group will have to take them back, prematurely ending this trip for some."

As captain of Astraea Familia, Alise was the one to speak on this matter with Finn. "I have to agree. Just the number of prisoners means we need a larger escort force. Likely more than half of the people present..."

And the third authority on this was Jay himself, who had his arms crossed. "I will divide us, in that case, and I want to do so because there are specific people I want to take with me to Altera which you two might initially not know about, so better get it out at the earliest. Hestia Familia, Ais, Lefiya and Ryuu will accompany us. The rest can return."

The two first class adventurers and captains could not voice objections, so they simply nodded their heads. "In that case, it seems this is where we part ways for now. But you had to move quite a few obstacles for our departure, Jay, you sure about only taking two members of my familia with you?"

The raven-haired elf shrugged his shoulders. "I took such a large force with me precisely because I anticipated an Evilus ambush. You really think I brought Filvis with us JUST to see if we can cure her?"

The dark elf in question scoffed as she heard those words. "I knew it, you are a vile schemer with no goodness..." she spoke with not even the slightest attempt at hiding the venom in her tone.

"Now thats just hurtful" Jay retorted, making a gesture of fake-pain by placing his hands where his heart was and even tilting his upper body backwards to simulate being struck in his chest. However his tone of voice betrayed that he was just joking.

"I have to agree..." Alise responded, her arms crossing. "I am not a fan of your way of making use of other people, Jay. As a paragon of Justice, it comes off as very malicious, not to mention that if Evilus had brought more traps and cursed weapons, this could have gone very wrong."

This time, Jay however looked like he was actually hurt, if only a little. "We've known each others for years, Alise. When have I ever allowed someone to actually get hurt in any of my plans?"

The redhead looked at him with the most 'are-you-really-asking-me-that?' expression she could muster. The sheer strength of the expression left it without need for words that whatever answer she uttered would amount to recounting examples where people did get hurt from his shenanigans.

"AW COME ON NOW!" He shouted at Alise with a comically shocked expression.

"Hmpf!" Alise answered. "I will let you go, but only because I am such a beautiful and just person inside and out to know it in my heart to forgive you!"

"Aaaaaand there it is" Ryuu and Kaguya deadpanned in perfect sync.

Finn could not help but laugh lightly at the lightheartedness of this group. "In that case, I leave Ais and Lefiya in your care. I don't think it needs to be said that I would like them back unharmed and in healthy psychological condition?"

Jay gave the pallum a silent look that was a mixture of deadpan and an actual glare. "Obviously."

Finn nodded his head and clapped his hands together. "Then that concludes this little meeting of ours."

And with that, what was assumed to be a larger expedition to Altera was cut down to less than 2/3rds of its original size. Thus, the remaining people were: Bell, Haruhime, Aisha, Lili, Jay, Hestia, Ais, Ryuu, Lefiya, Filvis...

"Except for one thing" Jay spoke and reached for the still knocked out form of Revis. "I'll be taking her to Altera as well. I have a feeling that she will be beneficial in figuring out how to reverse creaturification so we can return Filvis to being a healthy dark elf."

Finn was about to argue that, but the look Jay shot him silenced his protests then and there. Were it any other person, he would still voice himself, but Jay was the one person he could not afford to antagonize even the least bit. Their animosity for each others is still extremely fresh, and the very, very last thing he needs is to give Jay an excuse for round 2. So he only nodded after a prolonged period of silence and turned to his familia members to check if everyone is accounted for.


The considerably smaller group ended up continuing without stop after leaving Seolo Forest, taking a break for the night only after they arrived at the very large, very broad strait known as the Alpine River which separates the Alf Mountains from the central portion of the continent, thus separating the home of the elves from Orario with a body of water.

As they set up camp, Ais approached Jay who was currently sitting at the edge of the river with a rather distant look on his face.

"I figured you'd want to chat. Shoot, what can I do for you?"

The blonde looked down at her hands again before she spoke. "Just how much do you really know about me?" After asking, she saw Jay briefly turn his head enough to look at her form the corner of his eye before he returned his gaze forward. "You don't simply know my history... you KNOW about me, not just from a distant observation... you know the full extend of my spirit-based powers..."

A heavy sigh left his lips and he waved at her with his right hand to sit down. "I was hoping you'd wait with that issue until we reached Altera, where it would all become clear once Athena's newest little toy lets me share my memories with you all. I underestimated your impatience."

"Tell me... how?"

The raven-haired elf shook his head. "Not until we get to that part. So wait for it, Ais. I am unwilling to repeat myself, not to mention you will require quite a bit of context of it all. If I were to simply answer your question without revealing everything step by step, you'd grow more confused."

The blonde Sword Princess remained silent for a moment, gazing at the side of Jay's head with a serious stare before leaving him again, not pressing the issue further.

"Alright everyone!" Aisha called out to get the groups' attention. "I will take first shift for night watch. We will rotate every two hours for a total of 8 hours, with Ryuu, Bell and Lefiya taking the remaining shifts in that order."

No complains were voiced because Aisha was a seasoned adventurer who knew what she was doing, and aside from that her assignment was sound. The most likely time to be attacked was in the hours before and after Midnight, so the two most experienced, if not highest level adventurers would keep watch first as they are the best for keeping an eye out on things others might miss.


Since then, the group had progressed at a rather good pace. They spent the next morning swimming, yes swimming, across the entire Alpine River, which spread itself several hundred meters in width. If one were to offer a sufficient comparison to a size, it would be matching to say it was about half of the size of the Strait of Gibraltar separating the nations of Spain and Morocco. Being from that world, Jay was at liberty to make the comparison.

Needless to say, many complains were voiced, particularily by Lili, who did not have the best physical constitution, and Hestia, who didn't drown because of her floaties on her chest keeping her above water no matter what, and the strait certainly was trying to see her underwater with strong currents and a fish smacking her in the face as it leapt through. To say she was pissed at the elf of her familia was an understatement. His ears were ringing an entire day later from all the yelling he endured.

Haruhime had remained silent, and as it turns out, she didn't have to complain because she had been craddled on Aisha's back as the amazon swam them over together.

Filvis was carried over by Ryuu and Revis by Jay himself.

Aside from that fun ordeal, they spent the walk in relative silence save for the occasional chitchat and purely professional exchange of ideas and tactics, which was mostly done by Ryuu and Aisha, with Lefiya joining twice.

However, Ryuu ended up making a comment that got the groups' attention. "Weird... the first of the Alf Mountains should already not only be within sight, but we should be a few kilometers away from its base... instead they seem so much further away..."

Jay was rather silent on the matter and his tense expression did not go missing to her.

"Let's just continue..." was all the male elf commented on the matter.

It was barely 3 hours later that they all found out why...

One of the mountains was missing. Yes, missing, as in, completely gone. In its place was a gigantic crater, almost more like a hole in the earth, stretching itself all the way to the next mountain.

"Wha..." Hestia tried to say something about it.

Ais grew more shocked as she turned her head sideways. "That was you, Jay... you did this, didn't you?"

All eyes turned to the male elf, who only exhaled a long and heavy sigh. "Yes... where this mountain used to be is now this giant scar in the earth because at the peak of that mountain was where Albion Ljos Alf, Riveria's brother, had a laboratory where he did some... some of the most disgusting, inhumane things I have ever been able to imagine. The second I was able to, I buried it all and made sure absolutely nothing could ever be salvaged, resulting in this."

Ais gulped very heavily. For one man, one mortal being, to be able to create such destruction... for such power to be possible... it frightened her deeply because she was beginning to see just how vast the gap between her and Jay really was. But beyond that fear was also anticipation and hope, because the fact that this gap exists in the first place tells her that it can be bridged. Attaining such power is possible, and she WILL see herself reach this height.

"Jay..." Hestia almost whispered, a tone of worry lacing her words.

"Let's just go, I don't want to be here any longer than necessary. We still have 2 days to Altera assuming we hurry, three if we decide to not stress it. Your call" he responded and turned away from the massive scar in the earth, walking towards their destined direction and intentionally ignoring any attempts from the others to talk about this incident.


The group continued on with their march, finally reaching the coastline and the Eastern Bay. For those with the best eyesight, even though it was many kilometers away, so far away that the globe's curve was obstructing the sight somewhat, Altera could be seen to the north-east of their location. Those who could see it were Ais and Ryuu, and Jay of course, given their high levels and high Dexterity statuses improving their eyesight enough to glimpse such distances.

They followed the coastline until the sun was beginning to go down and they readied everything for the night's rest, setting up tents and preparing a campfire.

Jay was once more by himself near the body of water, sitting cross legged and looking out into the distance.

This time, his peace was interrupted by Hestia, who sat down next to him, rather close to his personal space. Neither said something for a while, just glancing into the distance, until...

"You lost someone, didn't you?" Jay said nothing, so she continued. "Not just anyone... family. I recognize that particular pain, it is my domain after all. Family is the most sacred of all things to me, and no matter who or why, any of those losses inflict a measure of pain to me as well... I want you to know that I might not be able to relate, I might not even understand, but I-"

"She was my daughter, Hestia..." Jay began, his one good eye closed as a single tear was running down along his cheek.

As it turns out, he hadn't been reincarnated into this world alone. His daughter had joined him on this trip...

"She was my one true joy. When I lost her... all I wanted was to see that place disappear into the deepest corners of hell. See it burn and those responsible for it suffer in every way imaginable. It's been 15 years now, and the fact that Albion is still alive makes me want to go to the Royal Alf Forest and burn the entire place down to the last tree... the only reason I don't is because once this mountain and its laboratory was gone, those responsible were hiding behind innocent people and I wasn't gonna involve those..."

Hestia slowly reached her arms up and gave Jay a hug from the side. She was not going to say any words, she knows that Jay does not need some sort of help or a verbal display of support. He already knows that she cares, so just the gesture in and of itself would be enough. A few seconds later, she let him go and left him to be by himself. She understands that he wants to just forget this place, and to calm his mindset and refocus on more important matters, matters in the present, he would want space.


The remaining trip to Altera was uneventful and even boring, save for one singular instance, being when Revis finally woke up.

She was furious and instantly tried to attack everyone, but Jay knocked her out again with a punch to her face that cratered the ground for almost a hundred meters in diameter.

Jay had been left by himself for the rest of the trekk, as the group had been informed by Hestia that he was in a bad mood and not to be disturbed until he himself approaches them. Since he did not, nobody exchanged words with him over the entire trip, and he in turn kept himself uninvolved in any plannings such as night watches, cooking and fighting off random packs of surface monsters that had the brass idiocy to attack a group where only three people were below level 3.

It was only once Altera's western gates were visible did the group seemingly spring to life.

"Altera is in sight!" Ryuu announced and their walking sped up into a series of evenly paced jogging, allowing for the distance to be gapped faster.

"HALT!" One of the guards commanded once the group was close enough. "STATE YOUR-"

"At ease, sisters!" Another guard voiced before she made herself present to the group ontop of allowing them to have a good look at them.

Altera's guards were all women. As a nation ruled by the third of the virgin goddess and one that was rather well known for a poor and even aggressive, bordering bigoted view of the male sex, the social hierarchy of the city-state forbade male mortals positions of prestige or power such as being part of its military.

As for the guard's looks, they were adorned heavily in armor. Beginning at the upper torso, they had multi-layered shoulder-pauldron made of singular plates overlapping each others and covering said shoulders and the upper half of their upperarms, connecting to a secondary set of plated armguard that connects to gauntlets with similar multi-plate overlay. Those overlays were connected to each others with very small, axial joints within the metal to allow for flexibility without constrains. Their left arms also had an additional slot along the back of their hands where shields could be mounted.

Their chests and abdomens were protected with a singular, very precisely crafted plated cuirass that left a rather deep cut into the cleavage. What was most interesting about this cuirass was that despite being made to look the same for all guards, it was custom-fit for the different women's chest sizes, meaning each one of these were handcrafted. Beneath the cuirass was a secondary protective vest made out of many small plates connected in a way that made it resemble dragon's scales, hanging down past their pelvic area like a cloth.

From there, a large, singular pipe-like plate protector addorned their thighs, connected via multiple axial pins to the cuirass so they could move their thighs and waist freely. From there, overlaid plates similar to the shoulderguards connected the upper and lower legs at the knees, from where they wore plated shin protectors with an axial connection to metallic heels. The side of the shin protector's uppermost parts were decorated with very small wings.

All of the guards wore multiple weapons on their persons. On the left of their hips lay the primary weapon, a one-handed sword designed to look like a cross. To their right was a set of throwing knives, totalling 15 spread along their waistline in three sets of 5s, and on their backside were two daggers. And lastly, on their backs were a bow and a quiver with a large number of arrows.

So in short, Altera's all-female guard was heavily armored and armed to the teeth, and any adventurer worth half their salt could see right away that these women were also well trained and experienced in using everything they carried on their person.

The guard in particular that seemingly gave orders was slightly different. Her right shoulderpauldron was slightly larger and it had a vertical line with three horizontal cuts going through it engraved in it. It was Altera's mark of a guard captain.

Since she wore no helmet, her face was visible. She had deep sea blue hair that went down all the way to her rear end, waving very lightly amids the calm air. She had a beautiful, oval-shaped face with matching blue eyes that had a rather strong reflection in them, making them appear all the more captivating to most viewers. Added to that was a thin and short nose, fitting so naturally onto her facial structure that many would not pay attention to it at all, and full, light red lips curved upwards in a smile of genuine joy.

Said Guard Captain approached Jay and the two gave each others a fistbump. "Jay Rosée, it has been more than a year since your last visit. Lady Athena is still fuming at your departure. Shall I send a courier to inform her of your arrival?"

Jay only shook his head slightly. "No need. I like to surprise her by kicking down the doors." The male elf then turned to his group and waved his arms in a way to present the guard captain. "Everyone, meet Guard Captain Astilla Crow, a long time friend of mine and the only reason Athena hasn't ordered me hanged by a noose on sight."

The woman identified as Astilla just chuckled lightly. "Pleased to meet you all. And please, Jay, don't kick the doors down again. Each time you do, Athena deducts the repair costs from my wage."

Jay only scoffed at her. "As if you have any money issues with how little you spend it."

Astilla shook her head at his antics and stepped aside, and as she did, so did the guards of the western gate. "Please enjoy your stay, and try not to cause trouble. The merchants are still upset about what you did last time."

"Damn" Jay shot back immediately. "That's almost 3 years ago now, they really do keep those grudges huh?" After answering, he waved at everyone to follow him.

Astilla however stopped him once she saw Filvis in chains and the unconscious Revis on Ais' shoulder. But one look from Jay, one that was serious for once, made her silently retreat her comments and just nod her head before letting them all through.

Once past the gates, everyone looked over Altera and its design, and was astonished and awed.

Altera was built in a very sophisticated and circular fashion, similar to Orario in the sense that the city was circular, and all roads lead to the central area, where the immensely large and tall castle was located, a castle separated from the world with a second layer of walls. The city had a distinct architecture reminiscent of ancient rome, particularily with the rather liberal way homes were built. While many homes had the same overall design, each one had little details changed fitting for its individual occupants, such as an extra floor, or a pool, or a small garden with vegetables growing in it and the likes.

Tall and thinly built aqueducts were running along the circular structure of the city, connecting to various tall buildings, from where the canalization and water structure of the entire city would be managed.

And if one paid close attention, the city was built in a way where the outermost parts were lower than the center, meaning the entire city was artificially built like a hill to elevate its center, its castle.

Aisha grinned lightly. "I have to say, these guards all look decently strong."

Ryuu nodded her head in agreement to that comment.

Lefiya was lightly confused. "Huh? What do you mean? Well, aside from being really well armed, I mean..."

Jay decided to elaborate. "Altera has a very strict, meritocratic hierarchy when it comes to their military. Everyone must be a level two and have at least 3 years of active combat experience to enlist, meaning every single guard in this entire city is as strong as a mid-tier level two adventurer at the very least."

"WHAT!?" Lefiya yelped in sheer surprise.

"Amazing..." Lili commented.

"Indeed. Athena is a Goddess of War first and foremost, as well as the Goddess of War who reigns supreme over the domain of War in the same way Freya reigns supreme over the domain of Beauty, so she has the most experience and knowledge when it comes to making an entire nation sufficiently ready for wars. Say what you will about Athena, anything she touches can and oftentimes will become a weapon, including people."

Hestia crossed her arms and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, back in Tenkai she was always the one who nagged me and those she considered friends about self defence and how to most effectively knock out pesky gods who won't take no for an answer. But I didn't like violence so I instead took the vow of chastity and became a virgin goddess like her."

"However, her success is not attributed solely to her militarization. She has a second in command who helps her out in governing this nation..." he suddenly looked many shades of done with life. "And by all that is holy, this woman drives me nuts."

Ryuu was the one to try and guess the identity first. "Would that right hand woman be Silence?"

"By the gods, I wish!" Jay spoke in surprising volume. "Alfia can at least be reasoned with, but that damned spawn from hell is a menace to society!"

"O-oh..." Ryuu responded with before retreating herself from the conversation.

"You know..." Aisha then voiced. "You talk about Alfia as if you have an amicable relationship with her. Mind telling us about that?"

"Well..." Jay started, suddenly a bit nervous, even sweating. "When we get there, please..."

"This looks so different from Orario..." Bell spoke, a childish joy in his voice and expression. "I never knew architecture could differ so much!"

"Oh Bell..." Jay mused. "What I'd give to be young and naive like you. The world is a place more vast than most minds can comprehend. You've seen nothing yet."

"Oh!" Haruhime exhaled joyfully as she pointed at the aqueducts. "I've read about those! This is how people create a functioning canalization for a city! All the water runs along these aqueducts in one direction to create a constant and steady flow!"

"Indeed, Miss Sanjouno" Ryuu commented with a small smile. "It is architecture that predates even the dark ages, but its sheer efficiency and structural aesthetics make it desired even to this day. If it were not for the modernized machinations with magic stones, Orario too would be running with aqueducts."

Over the course of their journey to the castle at the center, the group had many such chatters about the differences and contrasts between Altera and Orario, all of which came to a halt once they were at the inner walls before the castle.

The guards there too recognized Jay, greeting him briefly before letting his group through and they continued their way all up into the castle.

"Well..." Jay spoke once they stood before the massive gates connecting to the throne room within the castle, meaning they were one set of doors away from meeting the primary VIPs.

One of the guards at the gate briefly saluted before speaking. "Lady Athena is currently out in the city consulting on a project regarding expansion of the city's port, but-"

Jay stopped her with a raised hand before that same hand went to the bridge of his nose and he tilted his head back in annoyance. "God damnit..." he whispered. "Listen up everyone... since Athena is out of house right now, it means her second in command is in there..." Jay spoke, growing increasingly and visibly nervous. "And I will keep this brief, no matter what you do, do not anger her at all..."

Bell was a bit worried, seeing his mentor, the man who laughs in the face of the world's logic being so nervous. "Sir Jay?"

The male elf exhaled deeply before he spoke. "Listen up, everyone... all of you have met your fair share of evil before..." he started, his left leg becoming twitchy and his knee visibly bouncing up and down. "But... the goddess you're about to meet... is the devil."

He took a step forward and pushed the large gates open with force, spreading the way to the thronehall open in one swift motion.

The first thing everyone saw was the throne, which in itself looked generic and even lame, but what was of interest was the person, no, the Deusdea, sitting on it.

She had hair as pale and white as chalk, a silvery white that was so dull it reflected no light. Her skin was a matching pale, the only difference between it and the hair being the contrast from where the hair grows. Her eyes were a deep, sinister red, a red that glowed through any and all atmospheres, as if it was something that was omnipresent, something you cannot help but notice no matter what.

She wore a thin, very fine corset that was white on its left side and black on its right, the colours remaining split until they meet at the waist, where a second layer of fine clothing, painted in a deep purple with golden ornaments shaped like shark teeth covered the underside of her being. The lower end of the clothing left one leg completely open while covering her other leg and waistline seamlessly from every direction, leaving only the front and side of her left thigh open.

The corset additionally had a secondary compartment from the hips going up to where her elbows were, like a set of wings surrounding her arms, but had enough width and openings to allow full movement of said arms without any sort of impedement. Her arms were covered in matching sleeves, one black and one white, from the lower half of her upper arms to her wrists, leaving her hands exposed, which were even paler than the face, with nails that glowed a sickly blood red, sharpened to the point of looking like claws.

Everything about this female deity screamed Femme Fatale. She was gorgeous, and she was powerful, and she was powerful in her beauty. But...

What stood out the most was the feeling of her divine aura. The group, from which everyone but Jay and Hestia were experiencing her presence for the first time, felt a chill down the spine and a sickness in their stomachs building up. Her presence felt like the end of life itself, like death was upon them.

Jay on his end gulped audibly as he saw her deep red eyes descend upon him. "Jay Rosée..." She spoke, her voice multi-layered and echoing to the ears, but not within the room. A voice that was booming. "What a surprise, is what I would like to say, but I could detect your putrid stench from before you entered the city."

Jay, who was very uncharacteristically timid, to the point his posture made him appear retreated and submissive with how his shoulders were tucked in, his legs bent and his head lowered while looking up at her with his one good eye. "Can't say I am too thrilled either..."

"J...Jay..." Bell commented, his voice and expression laced with a fear unlike anything he had ever felt before. The minotaur was a small hiccup compared to the sheer dread he felt in this moment.

"Everyone..." Jay began, gulping loudly again. "I want you to meet Athena's second in command, as well as one of the strongest deities that exist, rivaled only by Ouranos and Zeus in strength..." he spoke before he knelt down before the throne, which unlike the rest of his behaviour was out of courtesy, as they were guests and this deity was the authority, therefore they bow before her. "This is Lady Ereshkigal, Goddess of Death and the one who has absolute authority over all deities involved with the cleansing of souls in Tenkai as well as the cycle of Reincarnation... bend your knees and show respect, please..."

Haruhime passed out right away from the feeling of dread she felt, held by Aisha who was seeing to her not vomiting while unconscious so she doesn't drown on her own puke.

"Jay..." Ais spoke, falling on both knees and breathing very heavily.

Lefiya followed suit, falling down on all fours and panting for dear life. "What is this... pressure!?"

"This... is what it means to be within the range of authority of one of the supreme deities when they are showing a tiny portion of their Arcanum..." he explained before getting back up. "Now cease, Ereshkigal, I want my group to still be conscious within the next minute."

Ereshkigal narrowed her eye dangerously and flared her divine presence even higher, causing Lily and Lefiya to pass out next, with Filvis following suit moments later. "You dare order me?"

Jay, who was now having labored breathing himself, kept his stance firm. "You want me to make it a threat instead?"

The sheer balls on him was making all who were still conscious look at him with wide eyes of shock.

The Goddess of Death lowered the intensity of her gaze and her lips curved upwards, followed by letting a chuckle escape her mouth before she receded her Arcanum completely, thus no longer oppressing the group with the power of her mere existence. "I miss that nonsensical, world-order defying audacity of yours. None of the guards ever stand up to me and Alfia only does whatever needed to regain her literal peace of silence."

Jay exhaled deeply and relaxed himself while his group recovered. "Someone has to tell you when enough is enough, Ereshkigal, or else you'd end up killing people just by standing a bit too close to them-"

"But, Jay..." Ereshkigal interrupted him. "Is it really so wise coming back to Altera without making sure you're properly looking the part for greeting Alfia?"

"Huh?" Jay spoke before lifting his left hand to look at it.

Suddenly, his eye widened as much as it could, but before he could do or say anything more, the gates behind him burst open once more with enough force to propell a mild shockwave across the thronehall. "JAY!" A Female voice roared in sheer fury. Before anyone could even react, a blur of black and white raced past everyone and buried the male elf into the ground. That blur turned out to be an immensely gorgeous woman with silvery hair, heterochromic green-silver eyes wearing an all-black, gothic dress, her right foot's heel ontop of Jay's head while it lay buried in the ground.

Jay pushed himself off with all strength he had, catapulting Alfia off of himself. She however only landed gracefully in front of him, staring him down with a look of rage that promised a thousand ways to suffer.

Jay on his end finished standing up and took a step forward, closer to Alfia.

Alfia stepped closer towards him as well.

Slowly, bit by bit, they closed the gap between each others...

... and kissed.

Then Alfia punched Jay into the ground again. "You have nerve, coming home without your ring on..."

"Sorry, kinda slipped my mind..." He answered while still literally floored, only afterwards getting back up.

"Wha-..." Ryuu tried to comment something, her expression red due to her innate prudish nature considering such a display to be lewd.

"..." Ais just looked at Jay as if the world no longer made sense.

Aisha was just whistling in a manner that said she was impressed.

Hestia had her jaw almost hit the floor.

Jay slowly got up from where he laid, reaching into his front right pocket with his right hand, retrieving a small, golden ring before putting it on his left ringfinger.

"Everyone, I want you to meet Alfia, The Silence, a Level 7, or should I say, secretly Level 8 adventurer, otherwise known in Altera as Alfia Rosée... my wife."


SURPRISE!

Bet you didn't expect that, did you?

As mentioned in the pre-chapter notes, the link to the fandom-created world map based on what little we know:

f/p/4400000000000166693/r/4400000000000916273

Note that the map I referenced was the last one in the comments, the one where Seolo Forest is NOT directly connected to the Alf Mountains.

Next chapter features some answers about Jay as well as the first part of his past, which encompasses his past life in our world, how he reincarnated into Danmachi with his daughter, his first years in the world and the source of his One Piece inspired powers.

Jay's past will be divided into two parts, and the second part will encompass the remaining time he had on the world of Danmachi, what he did all those years, each instance of his level ups and how the fuck he tied the knot with Alfia.

As always, if you enjoyed the read, Rate and Review with your honest thoughts, any piece of criticism helps improve my writing for future chapters and each quip of enthusiasm motivates me to write more and faster for hopefully consistent future updates.

Stay safe, hydrate properly, hug your loved ones while you still can and I will see you on the next one!