Hi
"They're close." Bete said to himself as he surveyed the area.
"What happened here?" Lefiya asked as she looked down at the valley of drop items
"It has to be Ais! Only she can kill so many monsters!" Tiona said proud of her fellow member.
"Well, why would she leave so much loot behind?" Lili asked.
"Ais isn't one to keep an eye out for loot so I'm not too surprised; but even then, that doesn't explain why there's so much." Tione replied as she stared down the valley seeing the path of destruction.
"Maybe she couldn't carry it all?" Welf asked out loud.
"Or maybe there was something else she had to do." Lefiya added.
"Come on, this way!" Bete ordered. "I can smell the brat's fear from here." He told them and headed towards the pantry. "Oi useless elf, make yourself useful and pick up the trash." He said to Filvis and gestured to the valley.
"I'm not your subordinate, mutt." She replied angrily.
"Forgot you can talk." He said in surprise to mock her.
"I can do more than just talk." She said and stepped up to the wolf.
"Bring it on!" He said and grinned.
"Nope." Tione said and grabbed his ear.
"Ey! Watch it dopeazon!" He yelled as she dragged him along.
"Come on! We don't have all day." She ordered calmly and the group set off.
…
…
…
"Hehehe! Free loot!" Lili giggled to herself as she stuffed her bag full of the drop items Ais left behind and caught up with the group.
….
"Falgar! Get the right flank! Loulune you and your group get the left! Mages get your spells ready!" Asfi shouted.
She and her familia were slowly but surely taking care of the numerous violas in their path. She wished Ais was there so she didn't have to bark out so many orders but she was used to this.
"Dammit sword princess, where are you?" She asked herself and looked back to where they were separated from the duo.
"Asfi! Your next orders?!" Falgar yelled as they took care of the nearby violas.
"Everyone pull back! Mages fire when they do!" She ordered and watched as her members pulled back while the mages did their job and bombarded the violas.
"They're weak! Finish them off now! We'll regroup with the Sword Princess after we take care of what's going on deeper inside!" She commanded and watched as the vanguard roared back into action.
…..
"Aria. It's been too long." Revis told the sword princess.
"…" Ais did not reply and instead drew her trusty Desperate out.
"Little brat." Revis added acknowledging the young adventurer.
"Why are you here?" Bell asked her.
"To collect my prize." Revis answered and locked eyes with Ais.
"I will not be defeated so easily this time." Ais warned her.
"We'll see about that." Revis said and drew her sword
The two fighters clashed while Bell jumped back out of the way and thought of ways to help.
"You've gotten stronger." Revis noted surprised.
"Like I said, I will defeat you this time." Ais replied and pressed harder against the tamer.
"Amazing. I can't see it all, but now Ais doesn't even need her wind to fight." Bell gasped in awe.
The back-and-forth battle pressed on while Revis started to get annoyed.
"Why do you hold back Aria?!" Revis asked annoyed.
'There she goes again! Aria! Why is she calling Ais that? Is there something I'm missing?' Bell thought as he watched the fight.
"Don't call me that!" Ais yelled and pushed Revis back.
'There!' Bell thought and quickly chanted a spell.
"Flash Freeze!" Ice sprouted up from where Revis landed and her leg was soon covered by his spell.
"Ngh!" Revis grunted before freeing herself and staring Bell down.
"Don't interfere kid." She warned him.
"Then stop me." Bell shot back.
"I will once I-" was all Revis got to say before being kicked by the sword princess and jumped back to a safe distance.
"Thank you. But stay out of this. She's mine." Ais warned him.
"Yeah right. I need to pay her back too, Ais." Bell said and walked right next to her.
"There's no stopping you is there?" She asked and spared him a glance.
"Is there any stopping you Ais?" He joked. Ais only let the slightest smile show before getting back to business.
"Follow my lead." Ais instructed.
"There's not much else I can do." He said to himself and prepared to fight.
"Enough talk." Revis called out.
"Hm." Ais agreed and rushed at her.
"Scorching Tempest!" Bell chanted and quickly followed her into battle.
Ais mostly fought Revis alone while Bell sneaked behind her movements and attacked Revis from behind when he could, forcing Revis to decide whether to focus on Ais leaving her open to attacks or stop Bell's advances and get sliced by the princess. She decided for the most part to let Bell get chip shots in until…
"Lightning Storm!" Bell chanted and the floor was turned into a lightning field harming Revis while Ais and Bell were free to move around unphased.
"Is that all you got?" Revis asked. Truth be told, even she started feeling the effects of this magic. While it wasn't life threatening it certainly didn't help her focus.
"Fireflash!" Bell called and a ball of flame shot straight towards Revis.
"!?" Revis saw the blast coming and actually jumped out of the way.
"Don't get too-" Revis tried to say before being kicked by Ais who seized the moment.
"Don't forget about me." Ais told her and rushed at her.
'Did he level up?' Revis thought to herself as now she was forced to pay Bell some attention while she fought Ais unless she was fine with getting struck behind her back.
The fight seemed to swing in the duos favor as time went on with Ais fending Revis off while Bell created openings for Ais to get major hits in with his magic. Revis, the instigator of this fight, was forced to switch to defense because of their teamwork. Feeling as if she had enough of this, she kicked the ground sending rocks everywhere giving her a chance to back off and catch her breath with her foes doing the same thing.
"How are you holding up?" Ais asked as she spared Bell a glance despite knowing the answer herself
"I'm … fine… " Bell said trying to catch his breath and was forced to dispel Scorching Tempest unless he were to suffer a mind down.
"Dammit." Bell groaned to himself as he fell down in exhaustion and cursed his weak self.
"Thank you, Bell. Really. You fought well. This is my fight to win." She assured him.
"I'm sorry, Ais. I'll be ready in a little bit." Bell told her and pulled out some mind potions to drink.
"Don't be." She said with a small smile before turning back to Revis.
"Blegh. Lovebirds." Revis complained to herself before charging straight at Ais.
…..
"What the hell is this?" Bete asked out loud as the group came across the green wall.
"I'm going to guess this isn't normal?" Welf asked the adventurers.
"Nope." Tione replied while looking for a way in.
As if reading her sisters mind, Tiona sliced her own way in with her trusty Urga.
"We can go in through here!" She yelled.
"Lovely." Bete groaned and slipped in.
"Lili has a bad feeling about this." Lili told the group.
"There's not much else we can do." Tione told her and entered the shady room.
"C'mon. The sooner we save Bell the better." Welf told Lili and followed the group in.
"Okay Bete! Where do we go?" Tiona asked the wolf.
"How the Hell should I know?!" He yelled.
"Can't you smell or hear them? Useless wolf senses." Tiona whined.
"Hah?! You find them then dumb amazon!" Bete yelled at her.
"Shut up for now Bete. Let's figure out where to go next." Tione ordered.
"You too?!" Bete yelled getting ready for a fight.
Before he could instigate another fight, he shut his mouth and looked down two hallways.
"Is something wrong Bete?" Lefiya asked him.
"I can hear fighting." Bete answered and looked from one hallway to the next.
"Now that you mention it…" Tione spoke.
"I hear it too." Tiona finished and looked down the hallway. "Two different fights?" She asked the others.
"Yeah. Question is, who's doing the fighting?" Bete answered and stared down the hall in front of them.
"The one down here's closer." He told the group.
"I think there's fewer people in the other battle. I can barely hear them." Tiona added.
"Let's check this one out first." Tione spoke up and headed down the hall.
The group made their way through the winding halls of the green lair they found themselves in, killing a few violas on the way, until finally the came across a dead end.
"I thought you said there was fighting over here?" Welf asked the elites.
"Can it smith! It's beyond the wall." Bete snapped at him.
"Leave it to me!" Tiona yelled and sliced a new opening in the wall to see a bunch of adventurers fighting violas controlled by a hooded man.
"So, uh, what should we do?" Welf asked them.
"Tch. You should've just stayed back at the surface with the rest of the trash." Bete scoffed before leaping into the fray.
"What he means is, stay safe here while we handle this." Tiona told them.
"I somehow doubt that." Welf said and watched the twins follow Bete.
"Let's see what we can do to help." Lefiya told the rest of the group.
"Alright!" Welf yelled in excitement and jumped down.
"Wait for Lili!" Lili yelled and jumped down.
….
Back with the duo…
"Scorching Tempest!" Flames and lightning once again surrounded the young adventurer as he jumped back into the fight with the creature.
"Know your place!" Revis shouted and kicked him away.
"Ha! That didn't hurt as much as last time!" He mocked her as he caught himself.
"I'll make it worse yet!" She said as she ducked under Ais's sword.
"Aria! Why don't you use your wind?!" She yelled at her.
"I'm stronger than last time. I don't need it to face you." Ais reminded her.
"Why you!" Revis yelled as she dodged Ais's strikes.
"Wow. Ais fights so, beautifully." Bell said to himself as he took a minute to catch his breath while watching the Ais push Revis to her absolute limits.
"Huh?" Bell gasped in awe as his hand started to light up like it did against the infant dragon. He cleared his mind and focused on his arm as it started glowing brighter and brighter, so much so that even Revis noticed it.
"What are you planning?" She asked and tried to stop him with Ais chasing after her.
"Hmph!" Bell focused all his efforts to charge the attack and end the battle once and for all. The sound of a bell tower started ringing as he transferred the attack from his hand into his sword.
"Ngh! Back off Aria!" Revis yelled as she tried fending off Ais.
"Tempest!" Ais chanted and called her wind forward and raced around Revis and stood in front of Bell ready to defend him.
"There we go! You're finally using your wind, Aria." Revis said happy for the fight to continue.
….
Back with the others
"Agghh!" Welf yelled as the violas knocked him away.
"I thought I told you to piss off!" Bete yelled as he smashed the violas to pieces.
"Are you okay?!" Tiona asked as she sliced a viola on her way to check up on Welf.
"I'm okay. But my pride isn't." He told her feeling ashamed of himself.
"Tiona! Get back over here!" Tione shouted calling her sister back.
"Save some for me!" She yelled and took off.
"Here! Don't die on us." Lili yelled and ran up to him to give him a potion. "Huh?" She asked and picked up one of the viola's stone. "It's yellow?" She asked no one in particular and put it in her supporter bag. She picked up some of the other ones lying around and put them in her bag while stashing one inside her pocket for safekeeping.
"Hurry up you lousy fairy!" Bete yelled and shot a glare at Lefiya while kicking a viola away from a scared Lulune.
"Fusillade Fallarica!" Lefiya shouted finishing her chant as thousands of rays of fire shot and decimated the violas nearly wiping them all out.
"Awwww! I wanted to fight more!" Tiona cried.
"Now's not the time for your nonsense!" Tione yelled at her sister.
"How is everybody?!" Lefiya asked the remaining fighters.
"Loki familia?!" Lulune yelled in shock
"Hey! It's that girl from before!" Welf yelled and pointed at Lulune.
"I have a name!" She yelled back.
"Where's Ais?!" Bete asked the group.
"And Bell!" Lili added.
"We were separated from the Sword Princess and the Little Rookie chased after her." Asfi informed them.
"How's everyone holding up?" Tiona asked the group.
"We're just fine! Agh!" One of the members replied before falling down and clutching their sides.
"Here! We have some potions for everyone." Lili told them and pulled out potions Loki gave to her just in case.
"Here! You have some too." Lefiya added and gave the mages some mind potions.
"Fools! You will all perish under my Lady's wishes!" The mysterious hooded man yelled at them.
"Shut up! I'll kill you and find the others my damn self!" Bete yelled back and jumped in to fight him. The two clashed while the group tended to some of the injured.
"Ha! You think this is enough to stop me?!" The man mocked Bete.
"Shut up dammit!" Bete yelled and kicked him away. 'Who the hell is this guy? And why is he so strong?!' Bete thought to himself as the fight went on. Each time he kicked him he countered even harder and he had no time to focus on the others.
"Tione? Bete's not winning!" Lili called the elder sister as time went on.
Tione looked up and squinted to see what was going on.
"What's taking him so long?" She asked herself.
"No way! He can keep up with Bete?!" Tiona asked her.
"Lefiya! Take care of the rest." Tione asked the young mage.
"Yes ma'am!" Lefiya replied and tended to Lulune next.
"Hey uh, does anyone else hear some sort of bell ringing?" Welf asked the group.
….
Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!
"Scorching Tempest!" Bell chanted and swirls of flames and lighting surrounded his body.
'Something tells me I really don't want to get hit by that.' Revis thought to herself and tried jumping out of the way before Ais decided to pay her back in full for what she did to Bell and kicked her side so hard she was sent flying and crashed into the green wall.
"Agh! Huh?!" Revis winced before opening her eyes and saw Bell appear right in front of her before swinging his sword at her.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Crap"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
" " " "Huh?" " " " The group asked in unison as the wall in the east exploded and a figure shot through out of there like it was fired from a canon.
Bete took advantage of the distraction and delivered a heavy kick to the masked person and jumped away to catch his breath.
"About damn time I got a good hit in." He murmured to himself and turned to the hole in the wall to see Bell and Ais looking down surveying the area.
"And where the hell were you in all of this?!" He yelled at them.
"Miss Ais!" Lefiya cheered.
"Bell!" The smith and supporter called.
Bell and Ais jumped down and ran towards the group before Bell stumbled with Ais catching him.
"Are you alright?" Ais asked concerned.
"Yeah. Took a lot more out of me than I thought it would." Bell told her.
"Rest for now. You did well. I'm impressed." Ais instructed him with a smile.
"Yes ma'am." Bell replied and sat down near the others to rest up.
"Bell!" Lili yelled and gave him some potions.
"How you holding up buddy?" Welf asked.
"I'm exhausted." Bell told them and drank the potions given to him.
"What power though! You sent whoever that was flying! You could've killed them though!" Welf praised him.
"No. She's still alive. That still wasn't enough to defeat her!" He said cursing himself. He still couldn't defeat Revis as he was now.
"I thought you would handle things yourself?" The man berated her.
"Shut. Up." Revis groaned and pulled herself out of her crater shaped hole.
"Hah. Do I have to do everything myself? Viscum!" He yelled and the monster summoned even more violas to fight.
"Tch! More of these?" Bete asked annoyed.
"Lefiya!" Tione called.
"I'm on it!" Lefiya replied and started her chant.
"I'll go." Ais said calmly. She jumped ahead of the group before calling out "Tempest!" as her wind covered her and shot her out like a bullet as she tore a path through the violas and she found herself in front of Revis and the hooded man.
"You monster!" The hooded man yelled.
"Useless." Revis scoffed and plunged her fist inside his chest.
"Agh! R-R-Revis! Why?" He asked in fear.
"Sorry about that. I need a little boost." She told him.
"No you aren't! Please! Let me live! For out goddess' sake!" He pleaded.
"You really think she is a goddess? You've lost it." Revis spoke coldly before pulling his monster crystal out of his chest causing him to shriek in pain before disintegrating.
"Did she really just?" Welf asked taken aback.
"Mhm!" Tiona answered surprised.
The whole group was surprised at the cruel scene before them. Even Bete was at a loss for words.
Just to strike even more fear into the group, Revis opened her mouth and ate her comrade's heart in front of them with no hesitation.
"Aria. Even this is still not enough to take you on." Revis said outloud.
"You think you can run away?" Bete yelled and made to run after her.
"No. I'll simply walk away while you're busy dealing with this." Revis answered before grabbing the pillar.
"Tell me, sword princess. What will happen if I destroy this?" Revis asked with a cold voice.
"You wouldn't!" Ais gasped with wide eyes.
Before she could say anything else, Revis crushed the pillar causing the ceiling to crack and start to give way.
"Woah!" Bell yelled and jumped backwards avoiding falling rocks.
"Ah!" Lili yelled as Welf tackled her to safety.
"Oi! Ais! It's time to go!" Bete yelled and kicked the falling rubble away from him.
"Over here!" Tione called near the green wall.
"HAAA!" Tiona roared and sliced a way open with her urga.
"Retreat!" Asfi ordered and helped her familia get to safety.
"Ais! We have to go!" Bell yelled.
"But!" Ais sputtered back and saw Revis making a beeline in the opposite direction.
"Aria!" She called out to her before she escaped.
"Head down to the 59th floor. You'll find your answers there." She told her.
"The 59th floor?" Ais repeated.
"You too brat." Revis added and looked over to Bell.
"Me?" Bell asked.
"Till next time." Revis finished as more rubble fell to cover her exit.
"Ais! We have to go now!" Bell called to her.
"Hm!" Ais huffed and followed Bell to where the others were.
….
"So, not only did you trust a random mages words, you accepted his quest and even dragged Bell here with you to floor 24? A floor he's never been to and one he isn't ready for? Also, all you send is a 'everything's okay; please don't worry' letter? Without even thinking to ask for back up? You're lucky no one was hurt too badly, except for Bete." Riveria lectured the dynamic duo.
"Tch. I'm fine hag." Said wolf tsked on the sofa with bandaged legs and wrists. "Damn things." He said to himself and held a piece of his broken flosvirit.
"Sorry." Ais said meekly.
"Sorry." Bell apologized with fear.
"And you." Riveria added while staring daggers at him.
"Geh!" Bell froze.
"You're also to blame. Why didn't you stop her? Why did you even agree to go to a whole 10 floors deeper than where you're supposed to be? That's not even adding in the fact that the tamer was down there too. What would you have done if the others had not arrived?" She lectured him.
"I'm sorry!" He yelled and begged for forgiveness.
"Now now mama, I'm sure you've scared them enough for one day." Their patron deity spoke.
"Who are you calling 'mama'?" Riveria asked.
"I'll decide your punishments later. For now, Bell, please wait in my office while the adults here talk." Loki said ushering him out.
"Uh, yes goddess!" He said and excused himself.
"Loki." Ais spoke up.
"Hm?" Loki turned to her.
"I want to go to floor 59." Ais said bluntly.
"Hmmm." Loki hummed in thought.
"Floor 59 huh?" Finn spoke up. "Very well." He added.
"Finn?" Riveria asked.
"It's fine. We were already making plans to head back down there anyways, this changes nothing. Now that we have an objective we can plan accordingly." He explained.
"Ay! I'm roaring to go!" Gareth chuckled eagerly.
"That's what it is Riveria. No use going against it." Loki smiled.
"Hm. Very well." Riveria sighed and sat down.
"Now, I wonder what punishment I should give to these two." Loki chuckled to herself before grinning.
….
"That should do it." Loki huffed and handed Bell his status sheet.
"Wow." Bell gasped.
"If even that doesn't surprise you, I don't know what will." Loki told him.
Bell Cranel
Human
Level 2
Strength: G 250 - F 330
Defense: G 220 - F 320
Dexterity: G 240 - F 310
Agility: G 280 - F 360
Magic: H 180 - G 270
Skills: Realis Phrase
Rapid Growth
Continued desire results in continued growth
Stronger desire results in stronger growth
Argonaut
Magic: Elements
Fire: Burn. Burn everything and leave nothing but ash. Fireflash!
Ice: Freeze. Ice and snow from a winter's storm. Flash freeze!
Lightning: Holy lightning, rain down and smite my enemies. Lightning Storm!
Water: Tranquil rivers flow through and heal and purify those in need. Water cleanse!
Earth: May the land I stand on become my domain and obey my command. Gaia's divine will!
Wind: Surround me and bend to my will. Gale Wind!
Scorching Tempest
Coats the user in fire and lightning magic that greatly improves speed and strength.
Can be funneled into weapons to enhance damage greatly.
Can boost fire and lightning magic when in use at the cost of more mind usage.
"Thank you, goddess!" Bell thanked her got ready to leave.
"Hold on a minute, Bell." Loki told him.
"Yes?" Bell asked at the door.
"I think it's time we discussed your punishment." She told him.
"Oh…" Bell said timidly. He had hoped Loki had forgotten about that.
"Actually, I think I'll let you off with chore duty for a week or two." Loki told him while rubbing the back of her head. With what she had planned for Ais, Bell was just an afterthought.
"Huh?" Bell asked.
"Well, if you think about it, it was a good thing you went with Ais. Who knows what our little sword princess would've done if she went unsupervised." Loki laughed.
"Thank you, goddess!" Bell bowed.
"Yeah yeah. Get to work!" Loki ordered.
"Yes ma'am!" Bell yelled and bolted out of there before she could change her mind.
'Huh. I wonder what punishment Ais got?' Bell thought to himself as he made his way back to his room.
…..
"So, he grew that much huh?" Finn spoke softly while examining Bell's latest status sheet.
"Yup. And it pretty much came from that fight with the tamer." Loki told him.
"He really is something else." Finn smiled.
"Are you sure you want to take him down there? I do believe he'll get stronger before ya leave but still." She asked him.
"You have a good point. While I don't doubt he'll only get stronger, his greatest weakness is his lack of experience. That is the one thing we can't teach; we can only prepare him so much, the rest he'll learn over time." Finn told her. "Don't worry, I'll only take him if he's ready."
"Whatever you say, Finn. Now! I have some important things to get to!" Loki laughed and made her way out.
"I'll have to apologize to Ais for this." Finn laughed.
…..
"Death. I await thee." Bell huffed and collapsed on the ground. He spent the last two days hard at work doing every odd chore that was asked of him. As it turns out, running a huge familia like theirs needed a lot more work than one might think. Bell was about ready to give up until he was finally given a break.
"Back… to… bed…" Bell groaned and started making his way back to his room.
"Hehe! This is the best!" He heard Loki laugh in the background.
"Loki?" Bell searched around to find his patron deity before seeing her in a room laughing to herself with a drink in hand. He turned his gaze to where she was looking and almost fainted on the sight.
"A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-AIS?!" He yelled.
For the past couple days he couldn't find the resident sword princess anywhere. Yet, here she was perfectly fine. Just doing some cleaning. In a maid costume.
"Bad Bell." Ais said shyly and retreated.
Bell was taken aback so suddenly that he fainted at this godly sight.
And that's it. Yeah I know, short chapter and everything blah blah. I am sorry for not uploading in a long time. I hadn't been in the best spot mentally and had to step away for a while and collect myself. I just followed the anime for this fight as I just wanted to get this portion over with and missed the actual fighting with Bete and Hermes Familia but oh well. I'll be uploading again later with another chapter as we get into the meat of the story so that'll be fun. See you guys in the next one.