Is it Wrong to Live Transmigrated as Bell Cranel in a Dungeon?

Chapter 20: Kidnapping & The Revenant

"There is nothing left of you, I can see it in your eyes.

Sing the anthem of the angels, And say the last goodbye.

I keep holding onto you, But I can't bring you back to life.

Sing the anthem of the angels, And say the last goodbye."

– Anthem of the Angels, Breaking Benjamin

Other POV

Vito had made it into the Dungeon unopposed thanks to that explosive distraction. Vito would have, of course, preferred to travel safely through Knossos. But it had been determined that it would be safer to avoid potentially riling up the Demi Spirits they already acquired with the Spirit-Child's presence.

As it wouldn't be the first time the Demi Spirits reacted oddly to certain mortals. Ais Wallenstein in particular comes to mind. But that wasn't the primary thing on Vito's mind.

"I dunno what it is, but that woman really rubbed me the wrong way… Someone like that trying to tell me what to do…" Vito grumbled, "Guess that's just how things go in the Lower World. Hahaha…"

It wasn't an amused laughter. Rather he laughed so that he didn't rage at the unfairness and imperfections of the world.

It was then that Vito turned into a particular chamber on the Upper Floors, where a squad of men cloaked completely in white was waiting for him.

"Vito-sama?" one of the Evilus members acknowledged his superior's presence.

"Oh, hey," Vito said mock-casually, "Thanks for coming out to meet me, Sorry, I got held up a little."

"Any problems?" the squad leader asked.

"Just a little… hiccup. Totally my fault…" Vito said casually.

"You look really happy, though. Maybe that's just my imagination?" the unnamed Evilus disciple inquired.

"Happy? Me? HAHAHA!" Vito laughed hysterically. "Maybe you're right."

You need to be more thorough if you want to deceive people.

Those words echoed in his skull.

"I just don't like being played with and leaving a job undone. Same as anyone else," Vito said firmly and vaguely.

"...Are you saying there's someone who's after us?" The member asked in clarification.

"Yeah," Vito confirmed, knowing that the duo of the Waitress and weiẞes Häschen would surely follow him, "We'll meet again, no doubt about it. Maybe now, maybe when it's all over."

Vito then referred to the bag over his shoulder as he said, "I got the goods right here. Everything we need to make a proper offering to 'Her'."

"Oh…! Excellent!" the Evilus member replied in euphoric glee.

"Ah, this takes me back," Vito joked, "I feel like I'm a kid finding presents under the tree again."

"Finally, our goal is within reach…" the Evilus grunt was still zealously rejoicing in their good fortune, his tone full of madness and glee.

"I make no promises that this is gonna work," Vito warned before saying, "But it should be interesting, whatever happens… Let's get this evil party started!"

And so the squad of dastardly men continued further into the Dungeon with their precious cargo.

Main POV

I had managed to catch up to Syr before she started running down the stairway into the bowels of the Dungeon. Why no one attempted to stop her, I'll never know. Why is it that no one, besides Eina, in the Guild is competent?

"Syr, seriously, this is the Dungeon. Stay here and let me take care of things from here," I pleaded with her.

"Let's… make a deal…" Syr said panting, slightly out of breath.

"Deal?" I said in confusion. This was hardly the time to bargain.

"I have some idea of where Noel is… where she's been taken," Syr claimed.

"!" I was shocked.

Was Syr so tired from running that she was forgetting that she was supposed to be a normal human girl? Why did she think I would believe that she could 'sense' Noel's presence?

Did Freya somehow make some leap of logic from my conversation with her at Apollo's Ball? Somehow realizing that I knew something about her true self?

Or had Freya relaxed to the point of lowering her masks?

Or maybe…

Freya was lowering her mask because she had no choice.

I bet that Noel's pure soul shines brightly. Of course Freya wants to save her. There simply isn't any other way for Freya to convince me to follow Syr without taking such a risk. To hope I will look over the oddity in all of the chaos.

I'll respect her resolve. For now.

"...Really?" was the question I asked after a long pause. I did my best to sound like I was in disbelief, which wasn't hard because I was shocked at Syr's boldness.

"It would be more accurate to say that I sense her," Syr claimed, smiling bittersweetly, "We've been together long enough that I recognize her presence, even from a distance. My eyes will tell us exactly where she is."

Syr must be really desperate to think I'm this gullible, but whatever. Seriously, I can't let this fly, but I'll save that conversation for later. This is hardly the best time to confront Syr about her alternate identity (note that I refuse to acknowledge Freya as her 'true' self).

Syr then argued, "If you stumble around blindly in there, you may be too late to save Noel. Take me with you, and I'll lead you to her."

Syr had a point. I don't have a Hiraishin mark on Noel, after all. Not that Syr knows anything about Hiraishin, though she can likely make some good assumptions now that I've literally used it right in front of her. I'll need to give Noel something to hold onto to prevent things like this from happening again in the future; excuse me for not expecting an innocent child to be targeted by the Evilus Remnant of all people!

"Think of this as a deal… no, a Quest!" Syr argued, "You escort me through the Dungeon, and in return I'll guide you to where Noel is. What do you say? I realize it's a little different from the Quests you are used to…"

"...I'll believe in you," I answered her, "Though we will be talking about this when we get home."

"Sure thing, dear," Syr couldn't help but slink in a tease despite the mood being not right for it.

I pointedly ignore her joke and say, "Fine, we'll do this together. Just stay close to me and don't do anything to put yourself in danger."

"Roger that!" Syr submitted to my orders as de-facto party leader.

"We don't have a lot of time, let's get moving!" I said, mentally preparing myself for the march ahead of us.

"Right, and Bell… thank you," Syr said to me with genuine gratitude.

"...Ryuu's gonna kill me for this," I murmured.

I was, after all, allowing her best friend into the Dungeon. You know, the place where all of Ryuu's loved ones have died.

Yeah, Ryuu's gonna kill me after all is said and done.

Truly, a hero's life is sacrifice.

Other POV

Ryuu was, mentally, in full battlefield mode. She rushed Mikoto-san to the Blue Pharmacy as fast as possible, constantly casting Noah Heal on the adventurer in an attempt to keep her stable. As such, she considered it a win that Naaza did have potions for negating curses. Ryuu had paid less attention to how Naaza had made a comment about sending a discounted invoice to Takemikazuchi Familia and more to Naaza's other comment.

"Ah yes… I have just the thing… here we are… meant to use these for Bell… oh well…" Naaza had commented under her breath.

Shortly after resolving to cure Bell of his curse, a new Skill had appeared on Naaza's Falna – one that granted her access to the Mystery Development Ability when crafting healing items specifically. It was like the very universe was saying 'take this, because you're going to bloody need it…'

At that time, Naaza tried not to dwell on dark thoughts and had instead got to work abusing her new skillset. And thanks to the subsidies from Freya Familia, Naaza was able to acquire a large stockpile of rare and esoteric ingredients for her potion making.

To which Naaza had focused her efforts on countering all types of Bleeding. From the symptoms of Bell's curse observed thus far, the most serious side effect was the internal bleeding. So Naaza figured that since a full-blown cure was likely going to be a long term project, that it would be best to start countering the symptoms first. Resulting in an Anti-Bleeding Potion that coincidentally was able to counter the curse cast by the Hexer Barca on Vito's sword.

Ryuu, meanwhile, had no idea why Naaza would make a comment under her breath about Bell in this situation. Why would Bell need anti-curse potions? Was it just a precaution for his chaotic, problem-seeking nature?

Part of Ryuu couldn't help but remember that Alfia the Silent had a curse-like disease, but Bell surely… no, that can't be it.

Ryuu chose to believe (delude herself for the moment) that Naaza only was carrying such potions for Bell because of the 'Effect' he coined after himself.

In any case, Ryuu had left Mikoto with Naaza for treatment and had headed back for the Hostess of Fertility.

And arrived at the front entrance at the same time as a pink-haired Guild-worker had shown up, out of breath.

The Guild worker – Misha – tired and out of breath, entered the pub without noticing Ryuu.

"Hello…? Is anybody here…?" Misha gasped out as she entered the pub. A pub that had emptied in the wake of, well, explosions going off in the city.

"Hai, Lion Ryuu desu," was the exact Koine/Japanese that Ryuu used as she walked up right behind Misha.

"EEEK!" Misha jumped in fright as Ryuu had snuck up on her.

Chloe, who was over by the bar with the other girls, gave a thumbs up of approval for the stealth. Luniore lightly jabbed the cat's shoulder in annoyance.

"I ran all the way here… my lungs burning… just to get scared like this… I don't get paid enough…" Misha lamented her fate before saying, "Anyway, Bell Cranel needs your help! He and one of your waitresses ran off toward the Dungeon!"

Ryuu put a hand on Misha's shoulder, her eye glinting darkly as she demanded, "Tell us everything."

"Eeeee~ these girls are scary…" Misha whined as all of the girls, sans Haruhime, suddenly looked very attentive to what Misha had to say.

Haruhime, to her credit, was worried, but was far less aggressive than everyone else.

Misha proceeded to spill all the beans she knew about to the room full of adventurers.

Vito and his backup had gotten to the white forests of Floor 10 when he noticed that the Spirit Child was about to recover from the unconscious state he put her into.

And, frankly, he was still pissed about that silver-haired waitress talking back to him like that. Reminding him of the detestable Gods responsible for creating such an imperfect world full of evil. Evil like himself. The natural evils like his deformed body and senses!

So, he couldn't help but satisfy his urges. To see the despair in another's eyes just like whenever he looks into a mirror!

That, and it would be helpful of the Spirit Child was driven to suicidal depression. It would make her more submissive and easy to control. Oh how he loved how pure logic and pure emotion could join together for a common purpose!

So Vito had his men stop as he put the bag down and opened it. Moments later, Noel awoke.

"...Huh…? This is…" Noel murmured as she rose to awakenness, "Where am I…?"

"Finally awake, Noel-san?" Vito said politely, once more wearing the false mask of a decent human being.

"Wh-where am I…? Who are you…?!" Noel frantically asked, quickly getting scared. On some level, she instantly recognized that Vito's mask was a lie.

"You're confused, I get it. But don't worry, just leave everything to me and it'll be alright," Vito said, maliciousness barely hidden behind a sweet tone. "Try not to struggle or make noise, or even think. Just be completely still and empty, like a doll… or a slave."

"I don't wanna… You're scaring me…!" Noel began to cry, not even needing to understand Vito's words to see through to his malicious heart.

Vito didn't hesitate to harshly slap Noel across the face.

Noel cried out in pain.

"Sorry about that, Noel-san," Vito said calmly, "But I'm the type of person who can't stand children crying, you see?"

Vito kneeled down and got in Noel's cowering face. He then growled, "What part of 'keep still and quiet' didn't you understand, you little brat? Try that again and you won't get off so lightly."

Noel squeaked, cowering in absolute fear as she couldn't stop shaking.

"Oh, don't give me that look," Vito said as he stood back up, "Long as you behave, I'll keep my hands to myself. Heh heh…"

Noel continued to cry and sniffle, but she did so quietly as she could. 'Mama, papa… save me…' she pleaded internally.

"There's a good girl," Vito said smugly, before adding, "Now let's get moving. Everybody's waiting for you."

"?" Noel was scared and confused.

"Aren't you excited?" Vito asked rhetorically, "You're about to meet all kinds of new people and fulfill your destiny!"

"Take me back…" Noel meekly pleaded.

"Huh?" Vito asked, giving her one chance to not make him more angry.

"Take me back to the Hostess of Fertility… I wanna go home!" Noel cried.

"Heh heh heh…" Vito laughed, full of malice, "Sorry, can't do that. Besides, that place isn't really your home. It's not where you're meant to be."

"Huh…?" Noel asked, afraid of what the scary man was implying.

"You don't even realize what you are, do you?" Vito asked rhetorically, realizing that Noel was unaware of her nature, "Can't say I blame you, I had no idea someone like you could exist either until Thanatos-sama pointed me your way."

Vito then added, "You're special, Noel-san. So I'm taking you somewhere you can be with other special people."

"I don't get it… I don't wanna…!" Noel continued to cry and protest meekly.

"Aw, ain't you precious?" Vito said mockingly, "Also kind of annoying, though. Do I need to 'educate' you a little more?"

"Dadddddy! Mooooommmy!" Noel lost her composure and cried out to be saved.

"Ha! That's the stupidest thing you've said yet," Vito mocked maliciously, "How could you even have a 'mommy'?"

"Noel!" a new voice called out.

"Oh? What's this?" Vito said allowing the approaching duo to get between him and Noel. The boy would have to leave them to fight Vito or his support, so he could easily reclaim Noel whenever he wanted.

Or so Vito intended.

For, indeed, a hero and a witch had arrived.

Main POV

Now that I'm Level 3, it was a piece of cake to just spam Firebolt over and over as I ran to clear a path through the Dungeon. With Syr riding on my back to boot, we were able to make good time.

(Syr, of course, made sure to take advantage of the situation to press her breasts into my back and wrap her arms around my neck as she whispered sweet nothings in my ear the whole time. Things like, 'nice shot, Bell' and 'thank you again' and 'I believe in you'. I'm not sure whether to be pleased or bothered by it.)

Perhaps because of the rapid rate at which we were descending, but few monsters were hitting us from the rear. Perhaps one of Syr's tails was giving us a hand? In any case, I appreciate the help they were giving even if I would have preferred more active intervention.

It was as Syr and I reached Level 10, the same place where Lili had done her shenanigans, that we saw the vague shapes of Vito, his guards, and Noel in the white forest below.

"Noel!" Syr loudly called out before I made the executive decision to jump and do a 'hero landing' near their position.

For some reason, Vito gladly stepped back to let us stand between him and Noel.

"D-daddy! Mommy!" Noel called to us in relief as we stood by her. Syr hooped off of my back and went to Noel's side. I glanced at Noel closely. She had been struck across the face so hard she was bruised purple.

I bit my teeth together in restrained rage. To hit a child like this!

"Heh, I thought I'd be seeing you again, but I didn't expect it to be quite so soon. I'd love to know how you caught up to me," Vito inquired.

I ignored him, "What have you done to Noel, Joker?"

"Have I gained a new alias without my knowledge?" Vito rhetorically complained before saying, "But me? Nothing really. Just gave her a light brush on the cheek."

I could see it in that man, no, that monster's red eyes. He knew exactly what he was doing and had no remorse or second thoughts. Was fully cognizant of his wrongdoings and evil and did them anyway.

This was Evilus. It was something I couldn't fully come to grasp with before. Not until having seen it up close and personal.

"Monster," I growled, "No, you're a Demon. Monsters are at least ignorant of their evil. Prepare yourself, Joker, because the hearts of all those living and dead are crying for you to pay for your crimes."

I remember the Astraea Record event. This man in that event alone helped contribute to the death of thousands of innocent people. He is complicit and knowing of every murder he has done. I can't see a shred of humanity in his eyes or heart.

There's simply nothing there to save.

"You think you can take me on, weiẞes Häschen? This should be fun," Vito laughed at me. Likely because I was publicly a Level 3 and he was at least Level 4. On paper, I stood no chance.

"This works out, in a way," Vito added, "You've garnered some big enemies, my boy, and I'll be glad to end the threat you seem to pose."

Vito motioned to the men with him, "Teach this guy a lesson. He's wanted dead."

"Aye, sir!" The squad of six cloaked adventurers chorused.

I drew the Hestia Knife in one hand and raised my other at them, "Firebolt!"

Six bolts of fire and plasma quickly erupted from my raised hand in rapid succession – almost like a machine gun in burst fire mode.

"AGH!" the adventurers screamed. Three of them got caught by individual bolts while the other three managed to barely evade the bolts sent their way.

I lept at the closest Evilus member, jumping right into the man's guard as he barely drew his own sword.

I lightly knocked the blade aside before swiping my own across his chest, drawing blood. I span, using my strength and momentum to kick the adventurer into the next foe with great force.

The last ran forward with a spear, but it was slow. I easily dodged my opponent's lunge before swiping down on his weapon with my own. The spear broke in two with a single strike.

The Evilus member, flabbergasted, was an easy target as I elbowed him in the face, followed up by a kick to the crotch, before using a (relatively) low-powered Firebolt Punch to send him flying.

I proceeded to blast the duo I had knocked into each with another Firebolt for good measure.

I was seriously starting to burn through my Soul Energy reserves, but thanks to the sheer amount from Antares, I was still going strong. My Mind Regeneration, however, was starting to reach more 'normal' levels that were likely comparable to Riveria's or Ais'. I'd perhaps gone though about 90% of the energy I'd gained from Antares, or thereabouts.

"Oh, not bad," Vito congratulated me, "You easily knocked all of these Level 2s out in no time. That's a Level 3 for ya. No wonder you're the talk of the town. Not a Record Holder for nothing, huh?"

Vito smiled mockingly, "Or maybe you're just trying to show off in front of your 'daughter'? Aren't you getting bored of playing happy families?"

"Your insults are about as pathetic as your character," I spat at him, but refused to drop my guard or leave an opening. He was not going to be an opponent so easily defeated. From a glance I could tell he was a much superior fighter than those goons.

"Don't let him get to you, Bell!" Syr warned me, "That man's nothing but a disgrace to humanity."

"Ow, you're breaking my heart over here," Vito said jokingly, "I can't argue with your assessment though."

"Only a demon would take pride in such a thing," I declared, convinced of my opponent's vile nature.

"So, you're gonna keep fighting or what? You'd really be doing me a favor if you just give up and go home now," Vito said, trying to get me to back off without a fight.

"I already knew you were wrong in the head, but if you think I'm just going to walk away, you are mistaken," I declared to him.

"Jeez, I'm not really in the mood," Vito complained, "Fighting a fresh Level 3 is a waste of my talents. It's tragic, really. The whole thing makes me want to weep."

"We're not leaving without Noel. You being flat on the ground would be a nice perk too," I told him, my intentions plain as day.

"Daddy!" Noel worriedly called out to me.

Vito laughed, "Heh heh… Have it your way. Just don't expect me to go easy on you!"

Vito, his sword already drawn, attacked!

I frantically found myself on the defensive, barely able to deflect Vito's attacks with the Hestia Knife. Part of me wished I had the extra reach that Orion would have provided me and part of me wondered if it would even help considering I wasn't as proficient with a spear.

Vito's strength and speed were much stronger than Hyakinthos'. It didn't compare to Ryuu as she was now…

But Vito was still dangerous, and was not leaving any openings as I held out as best I could with swordplay alone. That said, I had quickly accrued a series of shallow cuts that were bleeding profusely.

Much more so than such cuts should have done. Like my body was refusing to clot over at all…

Is this a cursed weapon? How nefarious! My one healing potion is functionally useless and his every attack is much more serious than it otherwise would be. This fight was quickly becoming more complicated.

I needed space. I really regret not bringing any of my throwing knives with me!

Somehow, I thought I wouldn't need them for escorting Hestia around town. Go figure.

I blocked another series of blows with the Hestia Knife as Vito pushed me back under an unbelievably fast flurry of attacks. His last strike knocked the Hestia Knife out of my hands and into the air.

Vito smiled, for in his eyes, my defeat was imminent…

NOT.

I clenched my other fist, mana channeling!

The sound of a bell rang once.

"Firebolt!" I declared, punching Vito in the chest with a one second Argonaut Firebolt Punch counterattack.

Vito flew back in an arc, but landed on his feet. He hissed as he clutched his burnt clothes and lightly burned skin.

"I-Impressive," Vito said, catching his breath from my attack, "You are no mere Level 3, I acknowledge that now. I see how you've managed to make so many enemies. But this is check. Without your weapon, you are my prey!"

I quickly scanned my environment. Seeing a landform tree near me, I lept and kicked a branch off. Catching it, I silently cast Hiraishin on it and said, "I'm not an easy rabbit to catch."

"I've got a feel for your strength and speed," Vito declared, "I don't know how, but you're strong like a mid-Level 4. But I'm better than that. Ahhh, I can't wait to see the look on your face as you slowly die~ Broken hopes and dreams~ Ah, I want to see it!"

Something about Vito's aura had changed. Did his strength suddenly grow? Why does he have to have a stage 2? This is ridiculous.

And I may have just lost the underestimation advantage I had. Vito was probably going to start fighting seriously as soon as he was done listening to his own voice.

"The only thing you're gonna see is my fist in your face," I told him, "Cut me up all you like, but I will never back down. I'm taking Noel back home, and I'm going to stop you! I'm not going to abandon her just because this is a little hard!"

It's not like I had been going all out myself either. This so far has been a warm up for me too. And a chance for me to get used to Vito's strength and speed myself. While these shallow cuts that were bleeding unendingly were less than ideal, I was prepared to fight seriously now.

I just needed to finish getting over my mental block of avoiding aiming for vital points. See, the thing about training with Ryuu as much as I have done, is that it has resulted in the 'bad' habit of aiming for non vital points on humanoid targets. While Chloe's own assassination instruction were counter to that, Ryuu's more frequent training tended to win out.

This meant that I had to consciously readjust my attacks to aim for more of those more debilitating vital points rather than doing so on pure instinct. Those individual seconds of corrections add up. Vito, on the other hand, had no difficulties in striking with the intent to kill and maim.

"Ha ha ha ha haaaaa!" Vito laughed uncontrollably, "If that doesn't beat it all! What a sight this is! Jeez. What a joke. Eventually, everyone abandons their allies to save their own hides. I've seen many adventurers like you break down and beg for their lives."

"What makes you willing to resist pain and keep going? You're nothing special!" Vito asked piercingly. "Why won't the light in those creepy red eyes of yours just die already!"

My unwavering resolve seemed to be annoying Vito, if my assumption is correct.

"It's… it's almost like you're… I see now…" Vito rambled, "I see it now. How a rising player like you made so many strong enemies so quickly! It didn't make sense to me before, but now it's clear. You don't fear death in the slightest, and your will to fight will not waver. A bonafide Hero… ah, I can't wait to see how this plays out! It oughta be a good show!"

Vito charged, resuming the battle, moving even faster than before! If he was playing with his food earlier, he was now going to strike to kill!

"Firebolt!" I blasted the ground in front of his path.

But Vito just leapt up through the smoke and fire, his sword raised high!

I need a weapon! To protect me and those behind me!

A flash of white. A familiar grip settled in my hand. A swing, and a clash of steel.

"HOW?!" Vito yelled, his blade intercepted by the Hestia Knife now back in my hand.

"Again!?" I yelled incredulously to myself. Only realizing after I blocked Vito's attack what had happened – all my movements beforehand being instinctual.

WHY CAN'T THIS EVER FUCKING WORK WHEN I'M DOING IT INTENTIONALLY?!

Distracted by how I unconsciously summoned the Hestia Knife back to myself, Vito was all too glad to take advantage by kicking me back with the flat of his foot.

"Ack!" I couldn't help but wince as I slid back from the hit. That felt like a broken rib!

Vito didn't let up, coming at me again and forcing me to go back on the defensive. Vito's blows were fast enough that I couldn't see an opening to counter. Nor a chance to concentrate to use Firebolt.

The landform branch I was using as a secondary blunt weapon broke to bits after enduring one too many hits from Vito's weapon as I continued to block, parry, and endure the flurry of attacks coming my way.

The limitations of training with Ryuu in the courtyard really showed. I was able to keep up with Vito's attacks, only letting minor grazes through.

But we couldn't throw around any magic at the Hostess. So I simply had little experience using magic while under such pressure. At least with the Juggernaut, I had some distance to work with!

Basically, Vito was an expert at killing people and I was not. The fact that I was technically faster didn't mean much considering the length of his weapon compared to mine in combination that he wasn't exactly a slow-poke either. And it was a cursed weapon. In a choice between blocking lethal strikes or gazes and not both I chose the former. This entire situation was shit.

"Bell! Fight on!" Syr cheered for me.

"Fight on!" Noel mimicked her.

That was right, I needed to do something to break this stalemate before my blood loss steals all my stamina. If I don't, who knows what Vito will do to Noel and Syr?!

Fuck it. Time to start fighting like a crazy bastard. Who cares about consequences? It's not like these curse wounds last forever or something, right?

Within two seconds, I blocked three more swings and let a fourth add another minor cut to my thigh. I easily had about a dozen or so cuts that were bleeding profusely. None of the wounds were particularly threatening on their own, it the cumulative bloodloss that was the real problem…

Another strike from Vito had my knife arm go wide, leaving me vulnerable.

Vito grinned, readying his sword to stab me right through. He lunged!

But instead of running me through, I caught the blade right through my open palm! And, oh boy, does getting stabbed through the hand hurt like hell!

"What?!" Vito exclaimed in shock as I clenched my stabbed hand around the blade that impaled it. He was likely perplexed at such a risky and insane play.

But it would be worth it, because I had immobilized his weapon!

I raised the Hestia Knife high, channeling magic as I swung down!

"Vesta!" I declared, slicing right through the primary arm Vito used to hold his cursed sword at the elbow. Vito, overconfident that he was about to win and stunned at my insane action, was unable to react in time to block or run from my counter attack.

Vito's wound was instantly cauterized by the fire and plasma shooting out of my weapon as it disarmed him in both senses of the term.

Vito howled in pain as he leapt several bounds back away from me, clutching his stub of an arm with his remaining hand.

Wincing in pain of my own, I used the opportunity to pull Vito's cursed sword out of my hand. And let me tell you, being able to see through your hand was incredibly disturbing. Adrenaline was probably the only reason I wasn't panicking or feeling even more pain than I was.

"Woah…" I mumbled, swaying on my feet slightly. The world shook around me, my head felt dizzy, the blood loss must be starting to get to me…

Unable to keep my balance, I dropped Vito's black and red sword and fell to a knee, feeling the 'grass' of Floor 10 against where my pants had been cut open and caked in blood.

"Bell!"

"Daddy!"

Syr and Noel cried out for me in concern.

"You damned…!" Vito cursed me, "Pain… I can feel?! My arm!? You'll pay, you'll pay for this!"

"No…" I gasped out, feeling lightheaded but I refused to lower my guard, for all the good that would do me in my current condition, "I don't think I will."

Vito, despite the agony he was likely in, smiled maliciously, "Yes, you will!"

Vito's continued confidence was revealed in a moment, as multiple squads of Evilus goons emerged from the white forest around us. It would seem that since Vito had taken too long, his associates sent out reinforcements to back him up and retrieve their target!

They were all Level 2s mind you, at a glance anyway. But this blood loss was no joke. I'd be able to fight them off, but Vito looked to still be a threat – he just needed to reequip himself – he wasn't out of the fight just yet either.

Yeah, this situation wasn't great. The Evilus goons were too spread out for me to take them all out with Firebolt before others would be able to counterattack. There were easily thirty of these guys. Without any Hiraishin marks prepared, I only had my own wobbly agility to work with.

Vito knew this too, and started to laugh at my expense, "Ha ha ha! You fought well weiẞes Häschen! But if monsters can die a death of a thousand cuts, then so too can heroes!"

"Die?" Noel cried nearby in concern for me.

"Don't worry, Noel, Bell has this," Syr said, though her face also recognized that the situation was far from ideal. She looked around, as if looking for someone?

"The white lies a mother tells their child," Vito mocked, his voice a little tense from his pain, "In his condition, that boy will slip up and either me or my men will dispose of him. So make sure you get a good look at him while he's still whole. It's funny really. If he hadn't acted like you were all family… he wouldn't be in this situation at all."

Before I could reject Vito's lies, Noel began to cry hysterically, "No, no, no! Please… please…! Save my Daddy!"

Suddenly, the subtle power centered around Noel spiked!

I had to cover my eyes as Noel began to shine brightly like a blue star! Magical energy pulsed once, twice, thrice!

I felt my wounds close, my stamina return, and my vitality restored in sync with each pulse of power.

The light faded, and sight returned.

I looked in shock as my wounds were fully healed. Unclosing wounds from a cursed weapon had been removed like they had never been made. My hand was like I hadn't been stupid enough to catch a sword with it.

Needless to say, everyone was stunned. Even the Evilus goons refrained from instantly engaging in combat in awe of the feeling of magic that had overcome the chamber.

"How…?" I gasped out, not understanding. I didn't think Noel had such power within her?

Noel, meanwhile, was panting in exhaustion.

Vito looked upset and pleased at the same time, and said, "How annoying. But, it does confirm what we had strongly suspected. Truly, we've witnessed a miracle here! Now that's what I call power. It's even greater than I imagined!"

I knew enough about curses from the Guild Codex to know that magic to heal curse wounds was rare to the point of only the likes of Amid the Dea Saint being able to do anything directly.

Potions existed, but they were rare and expensive because few people used them outside of nefarious organizations like Evilus. It also didn't help that the strength of curses varied in intensity. Now that I think of it, I shouldn't be surprised if Evilus is using some of the strongest, longest lasting curses available.

Me allowing myself to get stabbed was probably the height of recklessness. Opps?

That Noel could heal curse wounds so relatively easily was an impressive feat by any means.

I got to my feet, glaring at Vito, "You know what her power is?"

"So you noticed but didn't figure it out?" Vito asked rhetorically, "Let me spell it out for you. That girl is a Spirit."

"What?" I said in confusion. Hadn't all of the major spirits vanished from this world? Noel sure wasn't like the Salamander, Gnome, Tonitrus, Lux, Undine, or Shade Spirits that still commonly roam Genkai. Or so I assumed.

"Wh-what's a Spirit?" Noel asked in confusion, "If I'm a Spirit… does that mean I'm not like everyone else?"

Of course the take away that Noel gets is that she is different and thus bad.

At least all of the goons were doing nothing. Maybe they knew not to interrupt Vito when he's being an asshole to kids?

"I… I don't know, I don't understand…" Noel hiccuped, "If I'm a Spirit… am I not allowed to come home?"

"Of course you can come home," Syr assured Noel.

"Mommy?" Noel whimpered.

"Noel, I don't care if you're a regular human girl, or a Spirit, or a monster, or a God," Syr told Noel sweetly, "None of that matters. You are who you are."

"Mommy…" Noel cried happily.

I mean, good to know that Syr will approve of the Xenos by that logic. But… Syr… CAN YOU BE ANY MORE BLATANT? You might as well just say, 'Hey, I'm Freya by the way'. Maybe she's trying to leave hints for me? But considering how I already know, this is kind of hard to listen to…

"Ah, the love between a mother and child. It's beautiful to behold, even if it's all just an act," Vito mocked us.

"Sorry your mother and father didn't love you enough," I mocked right back, "that you can't accept the sight of affection right in front of you."

Vito sneered, "You know nothing about my past."

"I know your senses betray you," I instantly retorted, "It doesn't give you any right to spread your suffering to everyone around you."

Vito's reasons for being an evil bastard is as pitiful as spilt milk. I'm sure having the five main senses being screwy makes your ease of living incredibly annoying and frustrating. And there is merit in addressing the philosophical Problem of Evil. The world is full of evil in many forms, from stubbed toes to endless hordes of the Dungeon and every type of evil in between. If the Gods from Tenkai are responsible for the creation of the Lower World, then they can't be gods in the philosophical sense – where god is all powerful, all knowing, and all good.

All powerful, all knowing, and omnibenevolent gods would know of the evils, how to stop them, are able to stop it, and would want it to be stopped and never happen. Yet evil still exists, the world is imperfect and flawed. Ergo, one could argue, the gods don't deserve our reverence and are evil.

The thing is, however, is that Vito doesn't actually take his anger out against the gods. Significantly more ordinary people than Gods died during the Grand Feud alone. Vito's massive trail of bodies might as well be entirely made of fellow Children of Man. The fact that he uses his hatred of the gods as a Casus Belli but takes his anger out on his fellow man is proof that he is just using philosophical points as a strawman to justify his own malignant behavior and selfish, prideful desires.

Or, put more simply, Vito is a selfish, whining manchild who took a beginner's philosophy course and was gifted the powers of a super soldier.

Vito clicked his teeth in annoyance, angered that I knew about his deficiencies, "This discussion is meaningless. All that matters is the girl. You can see why my associates and I want her so bad, don't you? We need her power for, what you would call, a nefarious plan."

It seems I hit a nerve.

"Noel's coming home with us," Syr asserted.

"With only one adventurer and a waitress to stop us? We'll see about that," Vito said, all but telling his men to begin their attack.

I tensed up, readying myself for combat. I had been using this time the conversation provided to ensure my stamina was recovered and to take stock of the loadouts of the goons surrounding us.

And to give the moving Hiraishin marks behind me time to catch up.

As if taking a cue, a white and gold blur suddenly appeared and crashed into a trio of Evilus goons.

"What the?" Vito said in surprise at the sudden entrance.

"Don't you dare look down on waitresses, nya!" the familiar voice of Anya called out from the smoke cloud caused by her attack.

As it cleared, it revealed Anya who was fully decked out in her adventuring gear with her signature golden spear. She then said, "You have no idea what we're capable of, nya!"

The cavalry has arrived!

"Anya!" Noel called out in relief.

Another trio of goons exploded as a vial similar to Asfi's broke in the center of their formation. Chloe, also in her adventuring gear, calmly appeared from the shadows behind them. Chloe then said, "That's right, nya. Tracking down creeps that kidnap little girls is an easy matter for us, nya."

At the same time, Luniore landed on top of another group and beat them up in a flurry of martial arts. Lunoire bragged, "Now we're going to mop the floor with your sorry hides!"

Ryuu, wearing her Star Limit Stellar Dress, landed a few meters in front of me. She declared, "Our family is going home, together. And you will finally answer for all your crimes, Vito!"

"GALE WIND!" Vito growled with absolute hate and fury, "Why couldn't you just DIE with the rest of your damned Familia!?"

"Justice Never Dies," Ryuu retorted, "And your 'justice' is about to come back to you."

Usually, that phrase means that good things come back to you. But Ryuu turned it around to say that all the bad things that Vito has done are about to catch up to him.

VIto growled, before smiling wickedly, "We highly suspected that there was a chance of you interfering. We aren't completely unprepared!"

One of the goons blew into a special whistle. A moment later, the ground shook violently.

"!" I grunted in surprise as the ground underneath me gave way before shooting outwards.

I was launched into the air, but managed to safely backflip and land on my feet.

My eyes widened in recognition at the sight of the plant monsters, Violas. They had appeared on Floor 18 with Lefiya and Ryuu, and again at Port Melen!

My intuition was telling me that these monsters were Level 3-4 threats at a minimum. And there were easily forty to fifty of them. With around twenty Evilus members still able to fight.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Noel screamed as one of the Violas had grabbed her in its vines – the monster having knocked Noel and Syr to the ground as it erupted from the ground – and tossed her far away from everyone else.

"Noel!" Syr called out in shock.

A random Evilus goon caught Noel before she could fall and retreated next to Vito. Another member had grabbed Vito's dismembered arm and sword and had already rendezvoused with Vito.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Noel called to us for help.

"You're welcome to come after me!" Vito mocked us, "If you can make it past my friends here, that is. Good day, then!"

"HEEELP!" Noel cried as her trifecta of captors began to run away deeper into the Dungeon.

"SHIT!" I growled, we had been so close to ending things here!

My brain had completely forgotten to link the Evilus Remnant to the Violas! I should have expected them to appear at any moment, especially in the Dungeon! Between Apollo, Ishtar, Soma, Evilus, and my personal life it was hard keeping track of every detail! Truly, my life was too chaotic right now, and I only had myself to blame!

I was brought out of my thoughts, as I heard a voice in the distance I hadn't expected.

"Grow!"

My eyes snapped up to the cliff where Floor 9 had given way to Floor 10. At the top of the cliff stood Haruhime in her Hostess uniform as she began to sing her powerful song, promising power and glory to a champion!

"Enemy attack!" Ryuu called out, reminding me to focus on the battle at hand, for the Evilus goons and Violas began to tighten their encirclement and attack!

"Bless the vessel with divine power."

I turned, putting my back to Syr and the others as I faced my portion of the encirclement. There were five Violas and four Evilus goons in my section of the battlefield.

I raised my free hand and chanted, "Firebolt!"

Bolts of fire and lightning rung out, detonating two of the goons and stunning one of the monsters.

"A tower of riches, for a tower of wishes. Until the tolling of the bell, I call upon thy glory and illusion."

An explosion echoed in the distance, the familiar sound of Ryuu's Luminous Wind likely sending a bunch of our enemies straight to hell.

Wielding the Hestia Knife in one hand still, I blocked a sword's strike. I lashed out with my foot at the Evilus goon's heel, knocking him off balance. Still mid-air, I struck the goon in the chest with a glowing hot, Firebolt-boosted fist that left him sprawling on the ground in a harsh crash.

"Grow! This golden light provided by the gods above, for this body that has devoured divine gifts."

I jumped back as a series of vines struck around me. The strikes were violent enough to shake and dislodge rocks from the ground. I winced from how one of the vines grazed my arm. That was gonna bruise, and if not for my clothes, it would have left a nasty burn from the friction forces.

I rolled out of the way of another wave of vines attacking me. The damned things weren't so fast I couldn't see them, but they were fast enough that I had to be serious in order to evade them. I'd have to be careful, wait for an opening before I could counter-attack monsters this strong.

"Firebolt!" I chanted, shooting the last Evilus goon in my section of the battlefield and the Viola behind it. Only the goon stayed down.

"With the pounding of a mallet into the ground, may thou be blessed with good fortune! GROW! Uchide no Kozuchi!"

There was a flash of golden light around me. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with a surge of power. My body was enveloped in a golden glow, signifying my stats had been boosted a single level.

I span the Hestia Knife in my hand, getting a feel for the change in how fast my body was, before charging the nearest Viola.

What had once been a dangerously fast vine attack, now appeared like a minor threat. It was significantly easier to sidestep the first vine and slice through the second and third.

Almost defenseless, it was wide open for me to leap into it's guard. I swung the Hestia Knife perpendicular to the 'stalk' of the monster's neck. "Vesta!"

With the fire and plasma increasing my attack power even further, my knife was able to easily cut the Viola in two.

Landing from my leap into a roll, I yeeted the Hestia Knife at the next Viola. Despite trying to swat my weapon out of the air, the Hestia Knife struck and impaled the monster's 'stalk'.

In a flash of white and gold, I appeared by my weapon and grabbed it.

"Firebolt!" I chanted, blasting magic through my knife in the effective opening it created.

Hey, it worked against the Minotaur. It worked against the Juggernaut. Don't fix what ain't broken.

Sure enough, the Viola puffed up from the pressure and fire that suddenly built up and exploded within it. The Viola, with me still hanging on, fell limp to the ground as it died from too much internal damage.

Thanking the universe for not being positioned in such a way that the dead Viola had crushed me, I immediately cursed it as a different Viola smacked me in the chest… rebreaking the rib that Noel had just healed as I went flying.

"Why…?" I groaned after hitting the ground hard. That's just messed up! The exact same rib! That's just not even Right.

My eyes widened, and I rolled like a moving log to avoid getting smashed by more vine attacks.

"Bell!" Ryuu's voice called to me in the distance.

I glanced in her general direction in time to see her yeet something at me from across the battlefield.

Crash!

Landing into the ground near me…

…was Orion's Arrow.

I realized that Ryuu must have had it slung under her cape and I simply hadn't noticed it because I was too focused on Vito and the goons surrounding me when she had first shown up.

Despite my diffidence, I didn't hesitate to roll over and grab the spear from the ground.

The hieroglyphs lit up as soon as I grabbed it. If the situation was less tense, I might have winced.

I span the spear in my hand, getting a feel for its weight and feel in proportion to my boosted strength.

The closer of the two Violas attacked with its vines, but a few spinning slashes from me with Orion was enough to dismember them.

Hefting up Orion, I threw it like a javelin and the Viola was pushed back from the impact as it was impaled. With a flash of white and gold, I once more grabbed onto my weapon and I channeled a Firebolt into the monster's insides, burning it to death from the inside – frying the biochemistry too boot thanks to the plasma's electromagnetism.

Hey, this combo is amazing. Don't blame me for getting repetitive!

Also, I wasn't really certain where the Violas' magic stone was located exactly. Being a plant-snake monster, it was hard to tell where its vitals were. It also wasn't something in the Guild's records for this Floor, or Floor 18 for that matter – maybe I should get Eina to give me lectures on the deeper Floors where these things might have come from?

With only one Violas left in my section of the battlefield, I felt like experimenting a little. I was already used to the speed that Firebolt traveled. And I now had a good idea how fast I could throw Orion's Arrow…

I lept a few bounds back as the last Violas attacked me with it's vines. My boosted stats from Haruhime made it much easier to spot and dodge than it would have been otherwise (since Leveling up also increases conventional senses like sight and hearing and smell).

I hefted up Orion, aiming by extending my thumb on my free hand, and threw it at the last monster. Immediately after my throw, I aimed my hand and channeled my magic, "Firebolt!"

It was only thanks to my essentially Level 5 senses that I was able to make out what happened moment by moment.

A few instances of time before Orion's Arrow hit the Violas, my Firebolt hit the spear and was ingested by the spear's magically conductive properties. So that as soon as Orion buried itself in the Violas, it exploded in a massive burst of fire and electricity.

The flash of light was almost blinding. But as it faded, all that was left behind was about 35% of its carcase.

My side of the field was clear. Well, I'm not sure if those Evilus goons are dead or not – probably the latter. That said, I don't feel particularly empathetic about them getting eaten by monsters.

They were all grown-ass men and women that had (presumably) been with Evilus for years. They've had plenty of time to realize they were evil bastards and change for the better. Maybe if there were kids or teens I would bother trying to reform them — because kids are stupid. But I felt little empathy for these murderous assholes.

May they not be as much of assholes in their next life, I genuinely prayed for their future wellbeing.

In any case, the rest of the girls had finished up on their ends around the same time. By the time I went over and retrieved Orion's Arrow (which glowed when I picked it up), the glow around my body faded.

Haruhime must have kept the boost on the short end. Maybe to preserve Mind? Speaking of, I needed to have a talk to her about leaving the Hostess. We are so gonna get jumped by Ishtar Familia on the way back up to the Surface, I swear. I'm not mad though, just worried.

All the girls had gathered around Syr, except for Haruhime but she was moments away from joining us by the time I walked over.

Lunoire was doing some post-battle complaining, "...I can't believe how tough their hides were. I've still got the heebie-jeebies… Eew, and my gloves are filthy."

"Thanks for the help, everyone," I said, "I would have been toast without all of you."

"Darn right you couldn't, nya!" Anya rebuked me, but not harshly, "Haven't you ever heard of waiting for backup, nya?"

"Sorry, we were short on time," I apologized before looking over to Haruhime, "But that doesn't really explain why you've come along."

"Eh?" Haruhime uttered.

"I thought we agreed you needed to lay low until something was done about Ishtar Familia? Why would you risk yourself like this?" I asked her.

"...Was it not you who said that it is in saving others that we save ourselves?" Haruhime said to me softly, yet with confidence, "I couldn't just sit still while Noel-chan was being kidnapped and being threatened so!"

Should I feel proud or annoyed that my words keep on getting thrown back into my face to justify heroism?

Both. Both is good.

"I can't argue against that…" I grumbled good-naturedly.

"Speaking of those that shouldn't be here…" Ryuu spoke up then.

"Ehe…" Syr began to chuckle sheepishly.

"What were you thinking, doing something this reckless?" Ryuu asked her best friend, clearly upset that her non-adventurer human friend had gone into the Dungeon at all.

"Ryuu…"

"Do you have any idea how dangerous the Dungeon is for someone like you?" Ryuu continued to nag.

"Not to give excuses, but…" I attempted to defend Syr, but Ryuu wasn't having any of it.

"I know," Ryuu cut me off, "That you would protect her. And that she just wanted to save Noel. But I was worried about you, Syr, as much as you were about Noel. Understand? I don't want to lose you, Syr. Try not to forget that you have people that care for you."

Syr's eyes widened for a moment, before she adopted an apologetic look, saying, "Ryuu… you're right. I'm sorry."

Did Ryuu's words of love reach Freya? That Syr has genuine friends?

It was another reason to be careful in handling the entire Freya/Syr situation. By confronting Freya, it could result in tearing apart the relationships that she had built with Ryuu and the other girls and vice-versa. Were the cons worth the pros? It was a more complicated situation than one might initially think.

"So long as you understand," Ryuu said satisfied that Syr had been chastised.

Ryuu then gave me a long hard look. As if silently telling me that she would not forget who exactly let Syr go into the Dungeon in the first place.

Ah, shit. I'm in the doghouse now. I'm gonna get the crap beat out of me in our next training session, aren't I…

I'm not a masochist. I just felt the need to say that.

In any case, we did a quick round of checking ourselves over. Namely, Ryuu passed me my pouch of throwing knives and spare potions. She then used her healing magic to quickly set my rib back where it belonged – with a warning that it would likely still be easily breakable for the rest of the day and to try not to get hit there again.

Yeah, my luck has been shit outside of the casinos lately, so I doubt I will be so fortunate.

"Let's get a move on, we still need to rescue Noel," Ryuu said, taking charge of our battle party.

"Not gonna send Syr back to the Surface so Mama Mia can make her do all our chores?" I joked.

Syr paled at the thought, "Eh?"

"As fitting a punishment that might be, no," Ryuu replied, her lips twitching upwards as she tried not to smile, "At this point, nothing we could say will convince her to turn back."

"She'd probably just find a way to make us say yes," Lunoire said with a cheeky, knowing grin.

"Syr may look innocent, but deep down she's a witch, nya," Chloe joined in on the ribbing.

"Teehee!" Syr giggled, taking the teasing in stride.

"I-I don't think she's that bad…" Haruhime said, not knowing what she was talking about.

"Thanks Haru-chan!" Syr thanked her sole supporter.

"H-Haru…?" Haruhime seemed flustered at the nickname.

"Besides, she'd need someone to accompany her, and we're going to need all the help we can get," Ryuu said, pointing out that we didn't know how many more Evilus Remnant goons and their pets there were ahead of us, not even to mention the monsters of the Dungeon proper.

"Splitting up our party would be unwise," Ryuu concluded, "And I wouldn't be surprised if Ishtar Familia is watching the entrance to Babel. I'm afraid my appearance had not gone unnoticed."

Indeed, the sight of Ryuu and a bunch of heavily armed women probably was hard to miss despite the chaos that may still be going on after that explosion and fire.

I bet some people lost in nostalgia thought it was like seeing Astraea Familia as they were over five years ago.

"I apologize for the inconvenience…" Haruhime said with a bow, knowing that any trouble we faced on our future ascent was likely her fault.

"Don't be," I assured her, "Besides, some idiots may have tried attacking the Hostess if most of the staff was gone like it is, even with Mama Mia still present. So it probably was the best call."

"If there are no further objections or quips, I suggest we get moving," Ryuu said. I suppose as the strongest of us and most experienced Dungeon Diver, it made sense for her to take the lead.

"Everyone happy then, nya? Let's get after them, nya!" Anya cheered enthusiastically.

"Easy for you to say. Making lots of noise was about all you contributed to that last fight," Luniore gaslighted.

"Don't be too hard on her, nya," Chloe joined in on the ribbing, "We can let her go crazy now and then, nya."

"Lies and slander, nya!" Anya complained, before running ahead to head deeper into the Dungeon, yelling "Time for our counterattack, nya!"

And so, the entire Hostess of Fertility Squad (minus Mia and Noel) set out!

Other POV

Hestia wondered where Bell was, since he'd promised to escort her to the Jagamakaru Stand.

"…I am going to choose to believe that instead of being involved with that explosion and fire nonsense that he is busy robbing casinos of their ill-gotten money."

Hestia deluded herself thusly. And decided to go ahead and head on her way to her next job. The War Game wasn't going to pay for itself and she'd rather not have to admit it was entirely funded with gambling money and hand-outs.

Surely nothing would go wrong?

Hestia, who had been getting stared at ever since the War Game declaration, cared little for the eyes watching her as she left Babel Tower.

"An explosion off of West Main? Bell Cranel running into the Dungeon with a waitress? Gale Wind rushing after him? Hmm… my thumb is twitching…"

"An explosion off of West Main… Bell Cranel seen heading into the Dungeon… I think I see an opportunity…"

Noel, who had once more been knocked unconscious so Vito didn't have to listen to her crying the whole way, started to wake up once more.

She heard Vito talk with another Evilus goon.

"...This girl is a Higher Spirit. There aren't too many of them – legend says monsters chased them out of their home, and a few came to Orario," Vito regaled to a transfixed grunt.

"She's a rare one even among her kind," Vito continued, "I've never heard of a Spirit disguising itself as a human before."

"A disguise…? That's why she looks like this?" the grunt asked.

"I don't know for sure," Vito admitted, "I'm no expert. The whys and wherefores don't really matter to me. What's important is that we have her here with us now. It's enough to make you believe in miracles, isn't it?"

"...Speaking of, I do believe without the skills of the likes of the Dea Saint that there is nothing we can do for your arm. Too much of the tissue has been burned away and fried," the other grunt, a medic apparently, confirmed.

Vito grunted in annoyance, "...It matters not. Soon we will all be free of this imperfect hell of a world."

Noel only then took in her surroundings. It looked like she was in an icy cavern, but it was actually a bunch of tiny shards of crystal.

It was still cold and windy though.

Noel whimpered as she noticed that Vito had given her his attention once more.

"...This will save us a lot of time and effort," Vito said ominously, before once more putting on his mask of a polite gentleman, "Awake, princess?"

"Where… am I…?" Noel asked, trying to understand her surroundings, "Where's Mommy and Daddy?! Anya? Ryuu?"

"Well, I don't know for sure, but they're probably all dead by now. I hope so, anyway," VIto said casually.

Vito then said, "Let's talk about something more fun. I have a new family for you to meet, Noel."

"Family…?" Noel asked in confusion.

"Yes. I'm sure you're going to be the best of friends," Vito said, holding back a mocking laugh, "Take a look behind you."

"Behind…?" Noel said, turning around to look at the wall of ice and crystal.

And the thing trapped within.

Main POV

Something to keep in mind is that marching down the Dungeon takes time. Especially since we had to take a slower pace to accommodate Syr and Haruhime. And not all of that time is spent fighting.

Usually, those moments in between monster encounters are spent listening for monsters ahead. Or discussing strategy. Or our logistics. Or just random stuff to keep tension down and morale up.

And considering that the Hostess girls had relegated me to watching our rear and to otherwise be a reserve fighter, I hadn't really fought at all because we were outpacing any flanking maneuver the monsters might have tried.

Why was I in reserve? The girls don't really train as often as Ryuu and so they wanted to further shake off the rust before the encounter that was sure to occur ahead of us.

All of this was to say that I found myself needing to pass the time and keep morale up in the face of Noel still being in the enemy's hands.

My solution had been to come up with a marching song.

While normally, making noise by singing was just asking for monsters to swarm us. But considering everyone but Haruhime and Syr was Level 4 or greater and we were in the Upper Floors… our safety was all but guaranteed.

I shamelessly stole the beat from 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' and refined some lyrics with Syr's help. With Ryuu's permission on the content matter, and with Haruhime and Syr joining in on the chorus, I called out the cadence as we marched along.

"Glo-ry, Glo-ry, Halle-lu-jah!

Glo-ry, Glo-ry, Halle-lu-jah!

Glo-ry, Glo-ry, Halle-lu-jah!

Her soul goes~ march-ing on~!"

"Alise Lo-vell batt-led death with a smile and a grin~!

Alise Lo-vell batt-led death with a smile and a grin~!

Alise Lo-vell batt-led death with a smile and a grin~!

Her soul goes~ march-ing on~!"

Syr and Haruhime joined me in singing the chorus as Chloe and Anya casually swatted Minotaurs away like they were goblins. The threat to the three of us being nonexistent. While casually moving monster corpses from the battlefield, I called out the cadence of the second verse:

"Ka-guya Go-jou chall-eng'd death with a sneer and a laugh!

Ka-guya Go-jou chall-eng'd death with a sneer and a laugh!

Ka-guya Go-jou chall-eng'd death with a sneer and a laugh!

Her soul goes~ march-ing on~!"

Once more the three of us in reserve casually sang the chorus as Lunoire bashed a third Minotaur's skull in. I then did the third verse:

"Lyra the Pall-um, though un-see-ing, looked death in the eye!

Lyra the Pall-um, though un-see-ing, looked death in the eye!

Lyra the Pall-um, though un-see-ing, looked death in the eye!

Her soul goes~ march-ing on~!"

As I pulled the Minotaur corpses out of the way of the girl's battlefield, I continued to sing the chorus with Syr and Haruhime before singing the final verse:

"The stars ab-ove in heaven now are kind-ly look-ing down!

The stars ab-ove in heaven now are kind-ly look-ing down!

The stars ab-ove in heaven now are kind-ly look-ing down!

On the mar-ch of Ryuu Li-on!"

"Glo-ry, Glo-ry, Halle-lu-jah!

Glo-ry, Glo-ry, Halle-lu-jah!

Glo-ry, Glo-ry, Halle-lu-jah!

Their~ souls~ go march-ing on~!"

By the time we finished our marching song, the battle encounter was over and the magic stones were all looted. Despite being in a rush, it was important to remove them to prevent monsters eating the stones and potentially turning into an Irregular.

"…it's really nice, but also embarrassing," Ryuu commented shyly.

I was just glad that Ryuu had recognized I was honoring them rather than shoving their names and deaths in her face when we first brought it up to her. The girls of Astraea Familia deserve to be remembered for the heroes they were, and all the good that they've done for Orario and the world. They may have died tragically, but their will for a brighter tomorrow lives on in Ryuu and in the hearts of all those whose kindness their actions have reached.

"What Ryuu means to say is that she likes it but is embarrassed her name is in it," Syr piped in, translating Ryuuisms into Kione.

Ryuu blushed and refused to comment on Syr's translation.

"Anyway, I'm surprised we're all the way to Floor 17," Luniore commented, "Where the heck are they going?"

"Who knows, nya?" Chloe shrugged, also clueless on where Evilus was possibly running off too.

The only place I could think of was Knossos, but I'm also pretty sure they are avoiding using it for some reason. So I'm utterly clueless as to where they are going.

"Well, we're making good progress," Luniore said, referring to the speed at which we have descended the Dungeon, "but there's still no sign of them… Can you cats pick up their scent?"

"There's traces of it, but it's hard to distinguish it from all the other smells here, nya," Chloe said.

"Yeah," Anya agreed, "between the monsters, plants, minerals, and the stench of death, I don't think we'll be able to track them, nya."

"You just said something really scary just now…" I commented. 'The stench of death' is always an ominous thing to hear. I mean, I wasn't scared or anything, but Anya doesn't usually say stuff like that so it stands out.

"I'm surprised too," Luniore agreed with me, "Anya doesn't get serious like this often."

"Unlike us, Anya's no stranger to the Dungeon, nya," Chloe said, reminding everyone that Chloe and Luniore got most of their experience outside Orario as opposed to Anya and Ryuu who had plenty of experience Dungeon Diving.

Chloe continued to say, "If Anya had reached a higher level, she'd be able to navigate by smell alone, nya."

The higher the level of Falna, the better the senses. Even so, a race with a natural skill in particular senses will always be stronger than those of other races of a similar race. So the animal races tend to have better senses of smell and/or hearing, while Pallum's have greater vision.

"Thankfully, we have other ways of tracking them," Ryuu said, "I can feel Noel's energy. She had been here. Recently."

Ryuu, apparently, had learned how to detect and commune with Lower Spirits before she came to Orario. Which I swear has to be a quirk of this particular universe. She had, apparantly, always noticed that something was off about Noel but it hadn't particularly mattered to her either so she left it alone. In any case, we weren't relying entirely on Syr to track Noel.

"That way, right?" Syr said, pointing down a seemingly random passageway.

"...Yes, the trail seems to go that way," Ryuu agreed. I think she was perplexed as to how Syr was doing that.

"Let's go then," I said, hoping to keep the conversation moving along. We proceeded down the pathway, thankfully running into no more monsters for the time being. However, the passage ended in a dead end.

"A dead end, nya?" Chloe complained, "What are we supposed to do now, nya?"

Syr didn't answer, for she was looking intently at the wall…

I was reminded of the hot springs room on the 13th Floor. Or that there should be a Xenos Hidden Village on Floor 20. Not all of the Dungeon's caverns and chambers are easily accessible!

Lunoire seemed to notice something too, "This boulder…"

"What's up, Luniore, nya?" Anya asked.

"I think there's a hidden chamber here," I spoke up, "Ryuu, remember Floor 13?"

Ryuu's eyes immediately shot to the lower half of my body before coming back up to my eyes just as quickly. Completely red, Ryuu stuttered, "Y-yes I remember…"

I covered myself, blushing madly at Ryuu checking me out like that, "H-Hentai! Where are you looking!?"

"I-I…" Ryuu was clearly mortified.

BAM!

Lunoire proceeded to start furiously punching the boulder before us. I think she was trying to bail Ryuu out of an embarrassing situation. What a pal. After a barrage of bizarrely strong punches, the boulder shattered. And as the dust settled, an additional passage into an icy cavern was revealed.

"Elegant as always, nya," Chloe teased sarcastically.

"Substance over style," Lunoire said with a grin, "You're welcome."

"Definitely an Unexplored Area," Ryuu concluded, having regained composure, "I don't recall such a chamber being here on the official maps."

Anya stepped forward and poked the 'snow' and said, "What's all this white stuff, nya? It looks like snow, but isn't, nya…"

"So pretty…" Haruhime commented on the beautiful sight of the cavern.

Chloe scooped up a handful and declared, "They're shards of crystals, nya. They're so tiny and delicate they may as well be snowflakes, nya."

"How thematic," I commented since it was close to being 'Christmas'.

"It's like something out of another world," Lunoire said, taken in by the beauty of the 'ice' cavern, "This Dungeon sure is a crazy place."

By this point, we had all entered the icy passageway. The Dungeon was quick to repair and replace the boulder that concealed this passageway from the rest of itself.

"The perfect hiding place…" I observed.

"You mean, nya…?" Anya said realizing what this meant.

"Yeah, this is probably our enemy's hideout, nya," Chloe concluded with certainty.

"Indeed. Noel… she's up ahead," Syr said solemnly.

"This incident escalated really quickly," Luniore said, "I can't wait to put it behind us. Let's get Noel-chan and finish this!"

Luniore was trying to contribute to hyping us up for the battle ahead.

"We'd better be quick," Chloe agreed, joining in by saying, "Mama Mia will be so mad if we aren't back home before curfew, nya."

"That's right, nya!" Anya realized, "After we rescue Noel, we're still going to have to get the pub ready for the festival this week, nya!"

"Time is of the essence. We're taking her back. There is no other acceptable outcome," Ryuu declared firmly. "Show no mercy, for the Remnants of Evilus will give us no quarter."

Ryuu was reminding us that these men and women ahead would be fighting with the intent to kill us. And that we would need to be ready to respond in kind. The idea of killing another was abhorrent to me. However… it was easy to forget that those ahead of us were people. Indeed the goons of Evilus were more akin to monsters than the Xenos are.

I can lament the tragedy of war when everything is said and done. For now, there is a child in need of saving and a demon in need of defeating!

I pulled Orion off of my shoulder, watching as it glowed in my hands before looking back up, "Let's go!"

Other POV

Lili left Welf's workshop after another day of helping the man with the preparations to help Bell for the upcoming War Game. The sun was turning orange as it descended below the horizon.

Intent on going back to her place where she bunks with her Gnome friend, she walked home alone as she usually does. Having been at Welf's workshop all day, she hadn't heard the rumors about how there were explosions, plural, and fires in the city.

Or that Bell Cranel had been seen heading into the Dungeon.

Or that Ryuu, a Renard, and a party of girls had also entered the Dungeon.

Or how parties from other large Familias had also been seen heading into the Dungeon after them.

What she quickly discovered, however, was that she was being watched. Watched and followed.

"Looks like Lili's combat training will finally get some use…" Lili whispered to herself as she ducked into an alley in a vain attempt to lose her pursers.

She had her spear Sacrilege on her person. Without abandoning it, Lili would have a hard time escaping notice like she usually does when being chased. The spear was a little too noticeable. And despite that being the smart thing, ditching her very noticeable weapon, Lili's pride wouldn't allow it. She was sick of losing and being stolen from.

It didn't stop Lili from grimacing when a group of men appeared at the other end of the alleyway. And another behind her.

Men with a moon and wineglass insignia on their persons…

Back in the Dungeon, Noel looked and cried in horror at the sight before her, "What is this thing? It's scary! Let me go!"

"Well that's a fine 'how do you do'," Vito joked to himself, "She's going to be sad if you keep acting like that around her."

Vito was still mad about his arm, but he was biding his time. He would get more satisfaction out of torturing Noel with an audience.

Vito was content for the moment with mentally torturing the girl before him as recompense, saying, "I went to a lot of trouble to find someone to be your family, you know."

"No!" Noel rejected Vito's words, "This isn't family… A family is kind, it makes you feel warm and safe inside… Just like Mommy and Daddy… Not this! This isn't my family!"

Vito mocked her resolve, "You can scream and shout all you want, but it won't change the fact you're wrong. You see? She's just like you…"

"Er… Vito-sama, do you have a minute?" one of the goons cautiously stepped forward.

"What? I'm busy," Vito said, displeased his mental torture of a small child was being interupted.

"The thing is…" the goon explained, "those girls and the record holder from before have already made it to this Unexplored Area. Her Ladyship is… annoyed at how long things have dragged out."

Even Vito was nervous at the thought of that 'woman'.

"I see…" Vito said, thinking for a moment before once more putting on his polite mask.

He said to Noel, "Good news, Noel. Those folks you call your family are coming here right now."

"R-Really?" Noel said, her voice full of hope, "Mommy and Daddy and Anya and the others?"

"They're a persistent bunch, I'll give them that. They just can't seem to let us be," Vito admitted, "But all that ends now."

Noel flinched at Vito's ominous words, understanding the malice behind them.

"The way I see it, it's all a matter of finding the right way to deal with them," Vito observed and ordered his men, "Let's take advantage of them… Tell everyone to prepare for battle. We're going to eliminate every last intruder that comes our way."

After all, his intent in mentally attacking Noel was to get her to use her power and awaken what was trapped in the ice. But it seems that she only used her power in the presence of her 'family'.

Might as well kill two birds with one stone. Four if you count the added bonus of killing Bell Cranel for his bounty and Ryuu Lion for personal reasons.

"We can at least put up a fight for the first few minutes. We have to put on a good show, right?" Vito said, hyping up his men for battle, "I don't care if you get cut down or try to flee. Valor, cowardice, glory, despair – choose your poison and give it your all!"

Vito smiled maliciously, full of bloodlust, "Make it into a great 'Heroic Tale'! Oh, how I love a good tragedy!"

"Mommy, Daddy, everyone…" Noel whimpered for what was to come.

"Let the funeral bells ring out!" Vito declared war, "Merry Christmas, everyone! Mwahahahaha!"

Relatively close by, 'her Ladyship' scoffed at the weaklings' antics.

The lead goon soon told the rest of the men, "Look alive people, we've got intruders! Take no prisoners – that's a direct order from the boss and her ladyship! The day we've been waiting for is almost here. It won't be long now until this messed up World gets what it deserves! But first we have to wipe out anyone standing in our way. Kill them all!"

? POV

It was time for the remnants of Astraea Familia and Bell Cranel to face the might of the Evilus Remnant.

The souls of all those slain in Evilus' Quest for Armageddon prayed for our heroes' victory. And the hearts of everyone with kindness and justice within them beat as one in a united purpose. A united hope for a better tomorrow.

Hope versus Despair. Creation versus Destruction. The Future versus The Past. Who would be victorious? A turning point was at hand. Their world would never be the same.

Main POV

We got far enough through the tunnel to see that it gave way to a significantly larger chamber. Of course, however, this made the end of this tunnel effectively a chokepoint. So it was no wonder that a large contingent of our enemies were guarding it.

Thankfully, there were no more of those Violas. However, there were easily 30 or so goons and more seemed to be converging at their location.

"There they are! Attack!" one of the Evilus goons yelled out to his comrades.

We didn't exactly have many options for stealth. Knocking down the front door was our only real option.

"Time to run wild, nya!" Anya growled enthusiastically as she brandished her golden spear and ran forward to meet Evilus' charge toward us.

"Wait up you stupid cat!" Lunoire yelled, joining in the frontal assault.

Chloe yeeted a vial over their heads that exploded on impact in the enemy forces. She seemed amused at Anya's enthusiasm… or the thought of battle was exciting her bloodlust. Or both.

I ran over and jumped off the side of the cavern wall to get some height. Mid-air, I yelled out, "Firebolt!"

Streaks of orange and red fire and lightning soared over my allies' heads and struck into the charge of Evilus' goons as they attacked us en-mass. A melee soon ensued as the Hostess girls systematically crushed the large contingent of enemy troops. It was a one sided slaughter. Despite being outnumbered 3 to 1, this initial company of attackers was subdued in a minute or two.

Luniore groaned, looking over her minor cuts as Ryuu (almost comically) bonked the last enemy over the head with her Alf's Lumina.

Lunoire then said, "They're not that strong, but there's so many of them… Does anyone have a Healing Potion I can use?"

"I didn't bring any, nya!" Anya said like it was a good thing.

"Don't say that like it's something to be proud of, nya!" Chloe retorted.

"I packed a few supplies of my own, but I wouldn't insult your skills by suggesting you use them now," Ryuu stated, likely believing we would need them for the battle ahead.

Indeed, Vito and Evilus might be holding more of those Violas in reserve. Which, beyond Vito, were the real threat.

"Why'd you have to poke my pride like that…" Lunoire grumbled, not sounding offended. Just reasonably annoyed like anyone would be if they got scratched by weaklings. Paper cuts may not be dangerous, but they are still annoying.

"The real fight is up ahead, stay frosty," I warned everyone, feeling the tension in the air.

Everyone agreed to maintain focus as we moved ahead into the main chamber.

The chamber was massive. It was easily tall enough to hold the Black Goliath within it and then some. It was large enough that we couldn't really see the end of the chamber. It didn't help that the wind was sending tiny crystal shards everywhere like sand in a sandstorm – so visibility was down to about 10 to 20 meters at most.

"It's like some kind of grand hall," Luniore commented, "What are those up near the ceiling?"

"Bridges made of crystal, nya?" Chloe observed through the haze, "It looks like they formed naturally, nya. I wonder where they lead, nya?"

"I bet if we follow them, they'll take us right to that Vito creep, nya. Where else is the last boss gonna be, nya?" Anya added her two cents.

"It does make sense he would be located in the deepest part of the hideout," I agreed with that much at least.

It was then as I continued to observe our surroundings that I saw it.

My eyes widened. An enormous plant-like monster with a female humanoid torso at the top was frozen within the ice and crystal. Similar to how the Goliath spawns by breaking through The Great Wall of Sorrow. The monster was easily 25 meters tall or more and wide enough to match those proportions. My instincts screamed that whatever it was, its strength was immense.

The other girls noticed it too.

"What the heck is that, nya…?" Chloe gasped.

"It's so huge, but it looks almost human…" Lunoire paled, "That's some kind of monster?"

"I've never seen a monster like this," Ryuu declared, sounding tense at the unfamiliarity.

"Me neither, nya," Anya said, "Could it be something exclusive to the Deep Floors, nya?"

I found it incredibly worrying that neither Ryuu nor Anya had any idea what that thing was. And that I had no idea what it was. But if it was from the Deep Floors, it made sense that Ryuu and Anya didn't know about it. Maybe Lefiya and Loki Familia know more?

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Vito's voice called out to us.

We all turned to Vito who appeared nearby with Noel from the crystal mist.

Vito then declared, "Before you is an extension of the one true goddess that we follow. An embodiment of chaos and destruction. Of the one who promises to redeem and remake the World."

"Mommy! Daddy! Everyone!" Noel cried out, tempering the ominous atmosphere Vito had been building.

"Noel!" Syr called back.

"Yes, it's great to see you again," Vito said mockingly, "The way you keep coming back for more, it's almost inspiring."

"Vito, what do you plan on doing with Noel? And what is that monstrous creature?" Ryuu demanded calmly.

"Monstrous?" Vito said, offended, "Watch your mouth there! She's not so different from the little girl you've all been doting on."

What?

"Are you kitten me?" Anya retorted, "Where in whiskers do you get off lumping an adorable kid like Noel in with that thing, nya?!"

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" Vito said mockingly, "But they are the same, in origin anyhow. Our sleeping beauty here is also a Spirit."

"That monster is a Spirit?!" Lunoire asked the question all of us were surely feeling right now.

"A Demi Spirit, might be the more correct term," Vito admitted before saying, "It would seem that long ago this sleeping beauty had tried to ascend to the surface, but after a battle with Osiris Familia was forced into hibernation. Having taken significant losses in exchange for a stalemate, Osiris Familia buried the matter. Until I found her here, hidden away in this remote place. I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest!"

I believe that Osiris Familia was one of many Egyptian deities that challenged Zeus and Hera Familia before the duo had begun to tackle the Three Great Quests. It would seem that Evilus had absorbed some of their number and learned their dirty laundry.

"Once she awakens and sings her song, she'll blow the lid off this Dungeon," Vito declared, "Imagine the havoc of monsters running free! I can't wait!"

"That guy is out of his mind, nya," Chloe determined.

Indeed, it looks like Evilus was still aiming to do what they had done during the Great Feud – destroy Babel and unleash the hordes from the bowels of the Dungeon onto the world once more.

"We've done everything we can think of to wake her up, but nothing's worked," Vito said, explaining his evil plan, "She's never shown any signs that she might open her eyes. How do you think she will wake up, everyone?"

"Just let the blasted thing sleep, nya!" Anya instantly retorted.

"No, no, that won't do at all," Vito said with a malicious smile, "But I do have some ideas of my own. For starters, how about we try to rouse her with your screams?"

"Are you done playing?" A new feminine voice called out.

Ryuu, near me, tensed up and gasped, "No… I must have misheard…"

The ground shook violently. Monsters were burrowing up from the ground!

"Another new strain?" Lunoire commented out loud as the new monster type appeared alongside ones we had fought before, "More Violas and… maggots?!"

"Ew, they're even more gross than before, nya. Keep them away from me, nya!" Chloe squealed.

A feminine form appeared from the crystal mist behind Vito, but I couldn't make out the details just yet due to said mist.

"Oh, Levis-sama," Vito said meekly, "Apologies for the delay. I did not mean to call upon your aid without due cause."

"Enough," the woman called Levis said coldly, "I tire of your theatrics. I just want this done and over with. I'll take things into my own hands from here."

Levis had finally gotten close enough now to be seen properly.

Levis had short, blood red hair and green eyes along with what seemed to be a perpetually cold expression. She wore a red colored battle cloth and wielded an ominous looking red nature-like longsword – like flesh and metal had been fused to make an eldritch weapon.

Somehow, she seemed vaguely familiar.

"No… no… impossible…" Ryuu choked out, falling to her knees.

"Ryuu!?" I called out in shock and fear. Why was she suddenly crying? Why had Ryuu fallen into despair?

WHO WAS THIS WOMAN!?

"Alise…?!" Ryuu cried out in desperation and sorrow, "HOW! HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!"

"What…?" Syr gasped, "But there's no…"

Alise? This was Alise? I don't understand. I don't understand! What's going on?

"Oh? Are you perhaps a remnant of a past I no longer know or care for?" Levis asked, though I had the impression that she wasn't curious in the slightest. Levis didn't seem to care at all. About anything.

"Aaah…" Ryuu gasped out, the fact she was crying could be heard in her broken voice. So shaken by the fact that this woman before us was Alise and yet not had clearly sent Ryuu into a catatonic state.

"Oh well," Levis said dismissively.

In a flash of movement I barely kept up with, Levis appeared before Ryuu, her weapon pulled back in preparation to run it through Ryuu.

"Die," Levis demanded as Ryuu catatonically didn't do anything to defend herself.

I didn't think. I moved purely on instinct.

There was a flash of white. Followed by pain.

I shoved Ryuu down and out of the way, ignoring the pain and cold that crept through my body as Levis' longsword stabbed completely through me. I didn't need to look down to see the sword piercing through me, I could make it out of my periphery.

I could feel blood gathering in the back of my throat. It was hard to breathe – perhaps one of my lungs was partially or completely destroyed.

I fell to my hands and knees above Ryuu's prone body. Levis seemed content for the moment to leave her sword inside me and watch. I think I could make out the sounds of monsters attacking the other girls.

But I didn't look that way, I just continued looking into Ryuu's shocked, shaking, disbelieving, horrified blue eyes that were crying unceasingly.

Ryuu's lips quivered as she held back a sob. After a short moment, she managed to ask, "...Why?"

Her question could mean many things. So, forgive me for choosing a selfish interpretation.

"Idiot…" I choked out with a rueful smile on my face, blood dripping down from my mouth, "Love you…"

My vision was quickly darkening. I gasped out a final request, "Keep… march…ing on…"

Feeling cold and numb, I closed my eyes as my vision left me and I fell into a deep darkness…

Other POV

Ryuu had to double take at first.

The voice of the woman, Levis, had been similar to Alise's but also different. Like it was deeper and darker. But it was similar enough for Ryuu to notice the similarities before quickly dismissing them as a mere coincidence.

Then Levis had come into plain view. Again, things were similar but not quite right. Levis' facial bone structure was similar yet also wasn't right either. The red hair was telling but not enough on its own.

It was those emotionless green eyes, however, that caused Ryuu to realize that Levis had to be Alise. Even if Ryuu had never seen Alise's eyes look like that, Ryuu could still recognize them. Ryuu could never mistake them.

It was too sudden. Ryuu barely had time to think or process it. Alise was before her, but she couldn't be. Alise was dead. And Alise would never talk like that. Alise would never look at the world around her like that.

Alise was fire, life, passion. Alise had a deep love of Justice and Hope for a better future. This creature wearing Alise's skin was an emotionless existence that rejected everything Alise had ever stood for. The thought of Alise being before her. Seeing what Alise had become. What Alise was doing. That Alise didn't remember her. It was too much. Ryuu despaired at the cruelty of the world.

For a moment, just for one moment, Ryuu wouldn't have minded if she had been struck down. Just so that she didn't have to endure such cruelty any longer.

One that Bell Cranel, again, categorically rejected as he once more saved her at her darkest moment. But not without cost.

Ryuu could see it in his eyes. She didn't need to look at the grievous wound to know he was dying.

Why? Why? Why?

Why would he save a pathetic woman like her? How could he throw away his own life for a foolish, sinful elf like herself?

"...Why?" Ryuu asked the man she loved and admired why he would die for her. Ryuu hadn't even noticed how she was crying rivers of tears.

"Idiot…" Bell answered her like it was obvious, "Love you…"

Perhaps because he didn't have much time or energy to explain, Bell made it sound like the answer really wasn't that complicated. All the while, the eternally burning flames of hope in those ruby eyes slowly began to fade. Not out of despair, but simply because the flames were running out of oxygen to stay lit. Those flames that kept those close to him warm and safe were rapidly cooling into embers. Yet not for a moment did they lose their resiliency.

As Levis started to pull her sword out of Bell's body, he then said, "Keep… marching on…"

Bell then closed his eyes as his body went limp, sliding off of Levis' blade and falling on top of her. His face landed in her modest breasts.

…Bell really was like Alise. To leave her such a burdensome cross to bear, and demand that she not join them on the next great journey.

"Idiot," Levis heartlessly mocked, "He could have lived slightly longer if he hadn't gotten in the way."

Ryuu's eyes were shadowed over, breathing in sharply as Levis mocked Ryuu's hero.

Then she, Ryuu Lion, began to sing.*

"...Astraea... Record! The mission is fulfilled and the balance is restored," and as Ryuu sang, a matrix of starlight formed a sphere around her and Bell. The sigil of Astraea Familia appeared on the ground like a magic circle.

Levis' eyes widened at the sight. She struck once, twice, at the shield but it refused to yield to her.

"The Fortress of Order, the Crown of Integrity, the Torch of Evil," Ryuu continued to sing as she gently rolled Bell off of her – setting him down like he was a delicate statue about to break. Her voice was pained, like it hurt to speak anything at all.

Ryuu stood over Bell, drawing Alf's Lumina as Levis continued to attack her defenses. Ryuu's Star Sanctuary started to crack.

"In the name of the Goddess, the footprints of the stars are spelled out on this Earth as if they were shooting through the sky!" Ryuu sang, her blue eyes consumed by a completely different kind of flame; a promise of cleansing fire and brimstone to purge evil from the face of the Earth.

With her free off-hand, Ryuu grabbed hold of Orion's Arrow. After a moment of no reaction, it glowed brightly with power.

"I only really want Bell to use me. But they say that marriage has two people become one. So I'll allow it early, considering the circumstances. Go give 'em hell!"

"Justice Comes Around!" Ryuu yelled to the heavens, her eyes continuously crying as she furiously stared down the red-haired monster that continued to attack her barrier. Alise or not, Ryuu was going to strike down the being before her that took Bell away from her!

"Agaris...!" Ryuu cried out as Levis jumped back, giving up on breaking Ryuu's shield.

Levis took a defensive stance as she prepared for Ryuu's counterattack.

Ryuu jumped into the air, and yelled, "...Alvesynth!"

In what now seemed like something paradoxical, Ryuu summoned Alise's fire enchantment, causing her legs, hands, Orion's Arrow, and Alf's Lumina to be covered in red-hot flames. At the same time, the Star Sanctuary faded and retreated back into her body.

The force of the flames propelled Ryuu forward and down, effectively launching herself at Levis from mid-air.

Levis blocked Ryuu's burning wooden blade with her longsword, the two blades locking against each other as Ryuu forced Levis to slide back. With Ryuu glaring deeply into Levis' uncaring eyes – Ryuu's eyes as furious as a raging Magnetar Neutron Star, with Levis' as dull as moss in the shade.

Ryuu's eyes emitted a constant stream of steam — for her tears boiled away as soon as they appeared from the sheer heat of the flames around her.

So began a battle to the death.

As soon as Levis struck down Bell, the monsters and remaining Evilus goons proceeded to attack the rest of the party.

The girls all took evasive maneuvers as the Virga, the large maggot monsters, began to spit acid at them from a distance.

"The ground melted, nya!" Chloe squealed in fright. She, like the other 2nd Class Adventurers, put Bell's fate in the back of their heads as they focused on their immediate safety and situation. As a former assassin, Chloe was easily able to shove her grief into a mental closet for her to open or not at a later time.

"Fucking hell!" Lunoire growled in anger and hate, trying and failing to ignore what had just happened to Bell. Ignoring the tears in the corner of her eyes.

Tears freely falling down her face, Anya growled, "We just have to beat them before they have a chance to attack, nya!"

Anya had gotten so sad she looped back around to feeling furious. Or perhaps it was a quirk of Inspiring Leader that kept her and the others focused on ensuring they lived to save Noel that pushed them to focus on the battle around them.

Either way, Anya ignored Chloe and Luniore's warnings as she charged the nearest Virga and tried to stab it to death.

Only for her to pull back her spear from the Virga's body to watch her weapon dissolve before her eyes.

"M-My spear's melting too, nya?!" Anya stammered, her anger giving way to shock.

Despite the atmosphere, Luniore couldn't help but deadpan, "What an idiot!"

Lunoire proceeded to unleash her anger and frustration by punching in the skull of the nearest Evilus goon.

"As always, nya!" Chloe agreed as she yeeted another explosive into the open mouth of the Violas closest to her.

"We need magic," Syr observed, her tone empty, as she stood next to Haruhime in the center of the triangle that Anya, Lunoire, and Chloe had formed around them.

Syr was emotionless as she stated, "Ryuu is busy fighting the enemy general. And Bell is sleeping."

"Er… B-Bell-sama…" Haruhime shyly began to correct Syr, but when the silver-haired girl stared Haruhime found herself unable to speak for a moment.

In the 'background' the trio of 2nd Class Adventurers had focused on taking out the Evilus goons and Violas while avoiding the Virga as much as possible. Anya may have been without her weapon now… but she was still capable of bashing skulls in like Luniore. Just with less martial skill.

Syr ignored the frantic battle around them as she questioned Haruhime, "Why? Why haven't you fallen into despair? Didn't you tell me that Bell was your Hero?"

Syr could see that Bell wasn't dead just yet, his soul(s) were still there. But it was clear as day that would not remain the case for long. Not even Ryuu would be able to heal such a devastating wound faster than it would kill him (not without a significantly higher Development Ability Level anyway).

Haruhime was silent for a moment, before saying, "...I have not known Bell-sama as long as you all. But I've seen enough to know that he is like a hero straight out of the tales I love so dearly. Rather than falling in despair, he would want me to keep on fighting in his name. I can cry when we are all back home, and Noel-chan is safe."

Haruhime was firm in her resolve. Her eyes were watering in barely restrained grief. But something deep within her pushed her to see the bigger picture.

And to admire Bell for sacrificing himself to save the one he loved like a true hero. Haruhime couldn't hate him for making such a decision, and had long since given up hating the world for forcing people like him and her for making such choices.

In a way, all of the suffering that Haruhime had endured made her more resilient to despair and hardship. Bell's determination to resist Ishtar Familia despite the stacked odds inspired Haruhime to at least attempt to mimic a fraction of that willpower. That was how Haruhime was able to 'change' in such a short period of time.

Syr, who was used to things always going her way, was not able to keep her composure as easily. Syr, who could not understand why Bell refused to completely open up to her, could not see him in the same way that Haruhime could.

It was then that a white and blue light began to build nearby.

Syr's eyes widened in shock and realization as Haruhime smiled softly – for Haruhime also recognized the power that was building nearby.

"Besides," Haruhime stated casually, a serene smile on her face, "Heroes tend not to die so easily."

The only enemy that hadn't partaken in the battle was Vito. Who was glad to watch the proceedings with his captive.

"Daddy…?" Noel whimpered in disbelief and shock. Unable to believe what she had just seen.

"He's gone sweetie," Vito said, his voice sickeningly sweet, "He's long beyond hearing you now."

"No way… it can't be…" Noel tried denying reality.

"Oh, but it is," Vito immediately squashed such vain hopes, "Take a good long look. Funny, really. If he hadn't had to act like you were all a family… He wouldn't be dying right now."

Vito, an experienced killer, could tell that Bell Cranel was moments from dying, but was technically still alive.

"All of them will die because you walked into their lives. If you'd never come to this world, if you hadn't wandered into that pub… I don't know why you decided to come here, but you've brought nothing but disaster with you!"

"No, no, no!" Noel cried in despair as she rejected this outcome, "Please… please…! Save my Daddy!"

Noel had been so lonely. She wanted to be warm like them. So she would freely give the power hidden deep within her as recompense for the echoes caused by her presence!

And so, Noel unleashed the blinding light of her healing power and brought about a miracle.

Levis was sent flying by Ryuu's initial attack, but easily landed on her feet as she continued to skid back. Shards of crystal being sent into the air in front of her.

But a moment later, Ryuu came flying through the cloud of crystal, the sheer power of her ruby, red flames erupting off of her formed a shield of sorts as the air around her became superheated. These forces pushed aside the crystal before they even got close to the actual flames pouring out from Ryuu's body.

Flames that were so hot, they were overriding Ryuu's natural defenses via the Magic Resistance Development Ability, causing (for the moment) first degree burns across her body.

Ryuu didn't care about the self-harm, spinning mid-air as she flew at Levis to attack with her sword and borrowed spear.

Levis was content to stay on the defensive at the moment as she kept blocking Ryuu's attacks and falling back of her own volition.

That said, Levis was not being nonchalant either. Rather, Levis was frantically trying to keep Ryuu and her flames at a distance as much as possible. Levis may have natural Magic Resistance, but she had no intentions of letting herself get burned alive if she could help it. Levis wasn't an idiot or some kind of masochist.

Levis simply hoped to force Ryuu to use up all her Mind before committing to a counterattack. A healthy respect for the fierce magic spell Ryuu was using was what led to Levis adopting a defensive strategy.

Little did Levis know that despite her rage, Ryuu was not fighting completely blindly.

After the fight with Antares, Ryuu realized that the effective speed boost from using Agaris Alvesynth was counted towards her Aero Mana Skill – which boosted her attack power the faster she was moving. Meaning that Ryuu could avoid using her Mind Load Skill and as much of her Mind reserves to boost her power when attacking.

Ryuu continued her attack, thrusting a series of jabs with Orion's Arrow as her momentum and flames continued pushing her ever forward in a ceaseless charge.

Levis dodged the first attack and quickly blocked or parried the follow up jabs. Only to get batted back as Ryuu struck with Alf's Lumina at Levis' abdomen.

Levis winced as she was pushed back and landed on her feet; ignoring how part of her battle cloth had completely burned away where she had been struck. All the same, she quickly jumped to meet Ryuu who leapt at her mid-air. Their swords clashed once more before they pushed off of each other.

Still mid-air, Ryuu flared her magic, the flames intensifying for a moment to reverse her momentum. Ryuu refused to give up the initiative as she flew at Levis at speeds that Level 4s and below would struggle to follow. Ryuu aimed Orion's Arrow ahead of her like it was the tip of a missile.

Levis jumped backwards at the last second, getting pelted with crystal shards from Ryuu's impact with the ground.

Ryuu immediately pulled the spear from the earth. She threw the spear at Levis with an underhanded throw before leaping at Levis after it.

Levis blocked the flame encompassed spear, the force of the impact sending her skidding back and farther away from where all the others were fighting. Orion's Arrow, meanwhile, had been deflected to the side.

Just in time for Ryuu to fly by it's path in the air, grabbing it as she perfectly angled the parabola of her jump to land right where Levis had skidded to.

Spinning, Ryuu unleashed a tornado of strikes from her sword and spear at Levis once more.

The intensity of their battle, and their distance from the others, meant that Ryuu and Levis were ignorant of the miracle taking place in the distance.

Main POV

For a moment, I wondered if I had gone up to Tenkai.

Because, well, I could feel things. After the wounds I had taken, I could have only died. Of course, I hadn't wanted to die, but life is like that sometimes. I'm the source on that. You sometimes give it your all, and it's not enough. One can't be lucky forever.

Of course, it would be apt to say that my dying was unsatisfactory. That I still had so much to do. But a hero's life is sacrifice. And I loved Ryuu. I couldn't accept letting her die like that. I couldn't let the Heroine I admired die so tragically. So if I were to claim that I regretted trading my life for hers, that would be a lie.

I've already lived one life. The fact I had gotten a second was more than I could have asked for.

I, of course, would have preferred to simply teleport myself and Ryuu out of harm's way. But Levis had been so fast that I only had enough time to mentally react in order to get to Ryuu and nothing more.

It would seem, however, that such concerns about my passing were premature. Because I was cognizant enough to recognize that the stabbing of tiny crystal shards on the back of my head and neck probably meant I wasn't dead.

I opened my eyes, gasping for air using a new lung protected by new bones and flesh. I cautiously leaned up before getting back to my feet. Taking a few moments to mentally come to terms with the fact that: 'yes, I was alive and this was real'.

I looked forward, seeing a panting Noel and ecstatic Vito. My expression was likely one of shock, surprise, and confusion. My brain was still rebooting or something. I found it hard to react with much emotion beyond that.

Noel panted, gasping out, "D…Daddy…"

Noel looked moments away from passing out from sheer exhaustion.

It clicked in my head then, that Noel used her powers as a Spirit to do what would have been impossible without the likes of the Dea Saint. Or perhaps Ryuu if she had a higher level of Medic.

It was an honest to Hestia miracle.

"I've been waiting to see that!" Vito exclaimed joyfully.

Eh?

Again, my brain is slow at the moment. Getting revived is taxing, go figure.

"That power of yours is really something," Vito commented, "And if it can heal mortals from the brink of death so thoroughly… Just imagine what it can do for your sleeping brethren here!"

CRACK!

The large crystal wall emitted such an ominous noise.

I felt my heart sink into my chest as I turned and looked in the direction of the trapped, massive Demi Spirit.

The wall it was trapped in had cracked.

"...Oh fuck me," I rasped out. I could see where this was going.

I really would rather not die a third time, thank you very much.

I noticed that all the other girls were still up and about. Chloe, of course, had multiple of her clones running about. And Anya had lost her weapon. Ryuu and Levis were missing.

An explosion echoed in the distance.

Ah, that explains where those two had gone off to.

Our enemies had, at this point, dwindled to those maggot monsters. The girls must have focused on taking out the Evilus goons and Violas for some reason or other.

The only actual member of Evilus left, besides Levis, was Vito himself. All the others were dead or dying or had fled. And Vito, who was only one armed now, must have not been eager to join in fighting himself. Maybe?

Anyway, the point was, the girls had noticed that the Demi Spirit was breaking out too, based on the direction of their gazes.

Which was distracting them from the maggot monsters that were all too glad to start spitting acid at them.

I frantically pulled out and dropped a marked Hiraishin knife before flashing to the real Chloe and back – just in time to avoid the cat girl being doused in what was clearly a purple acid.

Acid. Why is it always acid?

Explains where Anya's weapon had gone I guess.

My thoughts are awfully calm and sporadic. Is Singularity acting up or is this just shock chemicals in my brain from almost dying? Who is to say?

No, I don't need therapy.

"T-thanks, nya…" Chloe stuttered. Probably from a mixture of 'wow I almost died' and 'so yeah you're not dead, my emotions are kinda not sure how to process that'.

Fair enough.

The wall of crystal proceeded to shudder violently once more. Which made Vito's day.

"It's time to wake up!" Vito exclaimed like a zealot, "Oh, beautiful and terrible Demi Spirit… open your eyes and lay waste to this world!"

The wall in the distance shattered, and the Demi Spirit within let out a ferocious roar, like a siren's shriek. So much so that everyone had to cover their ears to shield from the pain of the sonic attack.

My Vitality being rather decent, I was able to recover in time to notice that the Demi Spirit was raising large tentacle arms up to smash everyone and everything in the vicinity.

Thankfully, everyone but Haruhime had a Hiraishin marker on them – and Haruhime just needed a knife thrown by her feet as I rapidly teleported Syr and then Haruhime out of the way of the impact of raining debris.

Lunoire and Anya both managed to barely evade the attacks on their own merit. Even as the tentacles struck the ground with enough force to shatter the earth and cause a small earthquake.

The only good news was the Demi Spirit cared little about killing other monsters and had wiped out 3/10ths of the maggot monsters with that little stunt.

Well, that and I was pretty sure that Vito was so distracted looking at the Demi Spirit in awe that he hadn't really noticed how Hiraishin worked in the slightest.

Not that it mattered at this point. It was getting impossible to hide it at this point. All I could do was minimize the spread of the specifics. And attempt to pass it off as a speed buff over teleportation. Not the point nor time for such thoughts.

What I really needed was an idea for how to deal with that Demi Spirit. But my instincts were telling me it had to be a Level 6 threat at a minimum.

Yeah, we're fucked.

That said, it's not like I'm going to run. It's gonna destroy Babel Tower and unleash the Dungeon on the world! I had to stop this exact same problem from happening not even a week ago.

Too soon.

You know this is the sort of enemy where a She-Shall-Not-Be-Named Killing Spear would be handy.

Where is Orion?

The Hiraishin database says it is over where all those fiery explosions are taking place.

Ryuu borrowed my spear? Considering her opponent's strength? Fair enough. Understandable.

Welp. Hestia Knife, looks like it's up to you!

As if to flex on us, the Demi Spirit then used magic, singing, "Untold blades, freeze over as though trapped in an eternal permafrost. My name is Undyne. Avatar of Water, Queen of Ice! Icicle Edge!"

Thankfully, the Demi Spirit was more content to slaughter the maggot monsters and remaining Evilus goons that were closer to it. So we got to watch as the Demi Spirit fired a huge pillar of ice that shook the earth violently. The entire vicinity around the impact sight might as well have been the center of a tactical nuclear weapon from the sheer kinetic forces. The ground shook violently like an earthquake, and a sudden blast of wind and displaced crystal shards reverberated, but failed to move me.

A spell uttered that quick doing that much damage? For fuck's sakes. That's not fair at all. I can see why it's said that Spirits are the Gods' most favorite kids. Spirits are OP, please nerf them.

Vito chose that moment to laugh hysterically, "Hahahaha! Wonderful! She's everything I could have hoped for – destruction incarnate! The world is your oyster, Spirit – feel free to trample all over it!"

The Demi Spirit roared as it continued to slaughter the remaining maggot monsters, all the while eating the fallen monsters to add to its power via the magic stones within them.

Bruh. It doesn't need to be any stronger. Thanks a lot.

Luniore and Anya had bounced over to us by this point. Anya even going so far as to hug my arm tightly as she rubbed her cheek on my arm possessively.

"This is ridiculous, nothing should be that powerful!" Lunoire complained, before saying, "It's nice to see you up and about, Bell."

"Amen," I said right back, idly patting Anya's head before she let me go with a 'hehe!' and a blush.

"Tentacles and magic, nya?" Chloe said, realizing this situation was vastly different from the Juggernaut, "How are we supposed to make it past that, nya?"

One of the few remaining survivors of Evilus could be seen in the distance running for the passageway we had entered from – and the only exit we knew of. The Demi Spirit mercilessly squished him with one of her large tentacles.

It would seem that the Demi Spirit wanted to kill everyone present before leaving the chamber itself. How diligent of it.

"I think my question has been answered, nya," Chloe deadpanned, "So, Bell, how was it being dead, nya? I'd like to know what I'm getting into, nya."

"I was told that all the boys that die young have a separate section in Tenkai where no intermingling is allowed," I instantly bullshitted.

"Sounds like hell to me, nya," Chloe quipped back, having picked up on my dark sarcasm.

I felt someone start pinching my ear.

"Bell~" Syr said with a dark smile, "I don't like these kind of jokes. Okay~?"

"Sorry, dear," I immediately apologized.

Anyway, that was enough trying to keep morale up via jokes. That Demi Spirit wasn't going to be distracted for much longer.

"Anyway, don't lose your cool, everyone," I said, trying to rally everyone, "We can't afford to lose heart. I have a plan to defeat it!"

"If the plan is suicidal than it doesn't count and I protest its usage," Syr immediately retorted. Syr, are you an Esper?! Don't read my mind like that!

"I have no plan to defeat it," I amended my words after Syr's declaration.

My first idea was to jump into its guts and spam Firebolt until it died. Blowing up giant monsters from the inside always works. Though I'd probably dissolve to death in doing so. So maybe it doesn't always work.

"Wonderful," Lunoire deadpanned, "Well it was nice knowing you all. Even you, new girl."

"T-Thank you for the consideration," Haruhime said, seemingly pleased at being included.

Needless to say, everyone had gone through so much emotionally at this point that we were not reacting to things with the emotions and tact we probably should be having. Trying to keep up with all this bullshit was hard to do.

No one woke up this morning thinking we would be chasing terrorists into the Dungeon, watching someone almost die and get resurrected (or being the one to almost die and be resurrected), to then fight some giant Spirit thing that was stronger than most Boss Monsters.

Not to forget the whole 'Levis is apparently Alise' thing. That is going to take a lot of freetime I don't have to process.

Vito, meanwhile, had certainly gone into double insanity (he was clearly already insane, now just moreso). He continued to sound like a deranged zealot, "A rampaging Spirit… If this doesn't just scream 'tragedy', I don't know what does."

I noticed that Vito seemed completely unconcerned about the fact that the Demi Spirit was killing everyone and everything. Which included himself.

"You're not so crazy as to forget you are also going to get caught up in said rampage?" I asked, finally giving Vito some proper focus and attention.

"I don't mind," He admitted casually, proving he was mad, "As long as she's free to destroy Babel and reduce the world to rubble, I don't care what happens to me."

Vito then slowly drew his sword, saying, "That said, I would like some personal revenge for the arm. And it would be nice to make an additional sacrifice to make sure everything goes smoothly…"

Vito looked in Noel's direction, who scampered away from him.

Vito said threateningly, "Demi Spirits like this one are born when a monster consumes a great number of Spirits. Or one of high strength. I'll bet taking in a Higher Spirit will do wonders for 'Her' power. Isn't that great, Noel? You're going to become one with your true family."

"No… no, I don't wanna!" Noel whimpered as she continued to back away from an uncaring Vito (who could easily close the distance due to his nature as a Level 4).

"Oh for the love of– enough of this!" I said in exasperation before yelling in fury.

I was sick of this son of a bitch. Never before had I wanted to kill someone so badly. All the tragedy that his man has caused before. The tragedy he seeks to cause now. The tragedy that is currently rampaging!

But I had an even better idea.

I grabbed a handful of knives and threw them at Vito.

Vito stopped stalking Noel to deflect my salvo of knives. Two of the knives sailed safely past him.

As intended.

In a flash of white I appeared behind Vito.

Using all of my strength, I stabbed him in the back. More specifically, his spine below the base of his neck.

Vito squawked as he went limp. Paralyzed from the damage to his spinal cord.

I vaguely saw Syr run past in my periphery over to Noel. Likely to cover the child's eyes.

"Firebolt," I whispered, aiming my hand at the stab wound I had just made. Fire and plasma lightly shot out, cauterizing the wound. So that he wouldn't bleed out, nor be healed so easily.

"W-what?! What have you done?" Vito gasped out, "I can't feel…?"

"I severed your spinal cord," I said darkly, "A Level 4 like you would likely be able to escape before we could get you to one of Ganesha Familia's cells. You're simply too dangerous. And are an evil bastard. But death is too good for someone like you."

"Y-you…!" Vito said hatefully, beginning to understand what I've done to him. Completely paralyzed, Vito would have no way to feed, clean, relieve, or defend himself. He…

"You, who hate people and the world so much, have no choice but to receive help from both if you don't want to die," I declared, "Nor can you use your power to hurt or intimidate anyone again. Relying on help from what you hate most, and unable to torture others to your heart's content. That is your punishment."

"BELL CRANEL!" Vito howled at me with all of his hatred. It was undercut by how he was unable to move anything below his neck.

Chloe whistled in appreciation, "Damn. That was hot, nya."

"Was that supposed to be a pun, nya? Also, gross, nya!" Anya quipped.

"If it were anyone else, it would be too cruel…" Haruhime said. She clearly didn't like my choice of punishment… but she also didn't feel sorry for Vito either.

"If I make it through this, I need a drink. Or five," Luniore moaned, unaffected by the maiming but was clearly done with all of the insanity of today.

"Mommy… I'm so… tired…" Noel whispered before she yawned heavily.

"Go ahead and rest, sweetie. We'll take things from here," Syr said softly, watching the small child with a relieved smile as Noel peacefully fell into slumber in her arms.

Vito looked ready to scream some more. So I gave him a few kicks to the face to encourage him to keep his mouth shut. He got the memo for the moment.

"We're running out of time, nya," Chloe warned everyone, "If there is a plan, I'd like to hear it, nya. Or we can start getting everything off of our chests before we die, nya."

Indeed, with Ryuu stuck fighting Levis in the distance where we couldn't even see them, we lost our heaviest hitter. The only real option left was to hit the Demi Spirit with a fully charged Argonaut based attack. Maybe from the inside to get around its hide, because knowing our luck the Demi Spirit is magically resistant.

But that would be hard, because I still needed to be relatively stationary to charge up Argonaut. And I couldn't use Hiraishin while charging, so I couldn't whisk people out of danger like I mainly had Lefiya do during the Juggernaut fight.

Basically, our odds were even more shit than during the Juggernaut fight. Go figure.

The only path forward was to use my friends as shields and hope that my max level Argonaut attack will be enough.

It… it was like the world was once more demanding a sacrifice for it to be saved.

Save me! The voice of Artemis wrung in my head.

"Need a distraction, don't you, nya?" Chloe suddenly asked.

"E-Eh?!" I stuttered, taken out of my thoughts in shock as Chloe had deduced my only plan of action, "Er, I–"

"Alright girls!" Chloe said cheerfully, "We need to distract that ugly bitch so Bell can torch it with his magic, nya!"

"Wait…" I protested, but my voice came out like a whisper.

"Heh, I had no plans on living forever!" Lunoire said with calm resolve and a determined smile on her face. She cracked her knuckles, saying, "I'll be seeing you ladies in hell!"

"I said…" I again tried to speak up, but I was ignored.

"Bell, you idiot, nya," Anya said as she suddenly appeared in my face.

"Eh?" I rasped out in surprise at her appearance.

"This is where you are supposed to inspire the troops, nya!" Anya said, like I was stupid, "Something like, 'Buy me five sardines, and I'll lead the way to Vahalla, nya!'"

"Stop thinking with your stomach, you moron, nya!" Chloe rebuked Anya's phrasing.

"Who are you calling an idiot, nya?!" Anya yelled back.

I just stared at them completely lost.

Before Syr tapped me on the shoulder, getting my attention.

She looked at me with a solemn smile with Noel sleeping in her arms, saying, "You've heard their resolve. Will you not answer it?"

I looked at Syr deeply for a moment, before I slowly smiled ruefully.

"...Who needs a status boost?" I asked them, a wry smile worming its way onto my face.

This wasn't a sacrifice. We just needed to kill it before it killed us. That was what the girls were trying to tell me. Instead of being fatalistic, I just needed to give it my all and defeat this thing without losing anyone!

I bet that if I had Orion's Arrow with me, it would pulse in approval.

Chloe raised her hand, "I'm the best dodger, I'll draw the heat, nya!"

Whoever got Haruhime's level boost was going to be the one putting themselves in the most danger, ironically enough. Considering Chloe's illusion and substitution combo, she really was the best dodger besides myself.

The Demi Spirit in the distance roared as it started turning our way, having decimated everything else in the chamber.

It was time.

"Attack, nya!" Anya declared as she charged forward like a chariot, Luniore and Chloe on her heel.

Haruhime began to sing, "Grow. Bless the vessel with divine power. A tower of riches, for a tower of wishes."

I jumped aside a couple of meters away from Haruhime, Syr, and Noel, on the off chance that changing Argonaut would make me a target for the Demi Spirit's ranged attacks. And due to the sheer heat of the attack I was about to start charging up.

I drew the Hestia Knife, and chanted, "Firebolt."

Ding!

Dong!

Argonaut began to charge as I called upon its power. The power needed to smite a monster that threatened the world. That threatened to kill me and, more importantly, my friends.

Fire and Lightning was trapped within Mythril. The ultimate attack was building.

Ding!

Dong!

"Until the tolling of the bell, I call upon thy glory and illusion. Grow! This golden light provided by the gods above, for this body that has devoured divine gifts."

I watched as the Hostess trio quickly got into range of the Demi Spirit's tentacle attacks — likely hoping to prevent the Demi Spirit from using large-scale magic attacks by being too close to it. Like flying your Mon Cala Cruisers right up to Star Destroyers so as to not get blown up by the Death Star II's super weapon. (Wow I'm such a nerd.)

The tentacle strikes were hyper lethal. But getting nuked by the Demi Spirit's magic was much worse.

Speaking of, those plant-like arms were mercilessly hammering the ground around the girls as fast as fire from a machine gun. Even at my distance, it felt like there was a constant earthquake going off.

"With the pounding of a mallet into the ground, may thou be blessed with good fortune! G-GROW! Uchide no Kozuchi!"

Why had Haruhime gasped and stuttered? Because Anya had tripped over debris left over from a tentacle strike. And was about to get hit by a follow up attack – a menacing blue-green tentacle moments away from turning Anya into liquid cat food.

"NYA!" Anya could be heard yelping as the Level Boost, suddenly given by Haruhime, gave Anya just enough speed to dodge the Demi Spirit's attack. Still, the SHEER force of the attack caused a shockwave that sent Anya literally flying away into the distance like she was a cannonball. Like, seriously, I lost sight of her, that's how far she got launched.

Until Anya landed and made her way back over, it was up to Luniore and Three Chloes to keep the Demi Spirit distracted…

The Demi Spirit laughed as it continued to attack. A sinking feeling settled in my stomach at the thought that the Demi Spirit was just playing with us.

Was it ignoring me charging up? Or was it confident that it could out shoot me down before I could attack it? Was it smart enough to realize our tactic!?

Ding…

Dong…

As if to prove that it didn't care about potentially hitting itself, the Demi Spirit began to sing, "Howl, bitter winds! Fall, fall, fall. The creep of the tundra. The chill of ice. An eternal cold. May the entire world forget the Sun and know only of winter. Let the snow fall forever. Trap and destroy the earth below. As the oceans recede, may all life die in a neverending blizzard! May the sins of the fallen make the world as cold and barren as their corpses. My name is Undyne. Avatar of Water, Queen of Ice!"

The magic buildup was enormous. If I hadn't been blasted in the face with Arcanum, I would have mistaken it as godly. Chloe and Luniore and everyone had gone still as the Demi Spirit's magic began to crescendo.

There was no dodging that. We weren't fast enough. There was no surviving it. The power was simply too great.

The Demi Spirit smiled triumphantly. Opening her mouth to finish us all with the announcement of her spell, promising everyone an icy grave.

Other POV

CLASH!

BANG!

CLASH!

Ryuu and Levis leapt at each other once, twice, and thrice in rapid succession. Trying and failing to brute force their way through their opponent's guard to little effect.

They broke away, panting for air as they stared each other down, trying to recover stamina while trying to not leave an opening.

The flames around Ryuu withered and died. Ryuu's reserves had reached critical levels. Attempting to cast another spell might be enough to send her into Mind Down.

Despite this, Levis did not pounce on the opportunity. From being in proximity to Ryuu's flames, Levis was covered in 2nd degree burns. Despite her natural durability and magic resistances even. Levis' saving grace was the fact that her 'natural' healing factor hadn't left her in an even worse state. Levis figured that without it that she would have long since been covered in third or even fourth degree burns.

Levis found herself unpleasantly surprised. While she didn't expect a fight with a Level 5 adventurer to be overwhelmingly easy… Levis hadn't expected Ryuu Lion to fight at the same level of power and skill as Ais Wallenstein. Levis didn't understand how that spell and whatever Skills that Ryuu Lion had that allowed the elf to fight a Level higher.

Levis was also surprised to once more feel her strength and speed increase out of nowhere as the fight progressed. The only times she can recall this odd sensation was when she fought against The Braver on Floor 18 and again when dueling The Kenki in the Pantry.(1)

All Levis knew was that it was pissing her off.

Ryuu, meanwhile, continued to glare at the zombie wearing her first love's skin. Ryuu had long since run out of tears to shed. Ryuu didn't consciously know it, but she was on the verge of serious dehydration – and not just from the sheer amount of tears she had shed.

It was as they continued to stare each other down… did the sound reach their ears even at this distance.

Ding…

Dong…

Ryuu's eyes widened in realization, light replacing the darkness that had been smoldering within her irises.

Levis seemed to understand something based on Ryuu's reaction to the sound.

"That boy survived then? How annoying," Levis spat spitefully, irritated at how these adventurers were ruining everything. And at how that boy seemed to have survived a killing blow. Her weapon was cursed! And don't get Levis started on how Ryuu's flame armor prevented her from cutting Ryuu even once. All the damage Levis had done to Ryuu was more from kinetic damage from the sheer power the two generated as their blades clashed against each other.

Relieved that Bell had somehow survived and was still fighting, Ryuu's spirit to resist was emboldened. Trusting him to handle things on his end for the moment, Ryuu demanded answers, "Who are you!? Why are you wearing Alise's skin!? Why are you aiding Evilus?!"

"Who I am doesn't matter. I don't know or care who that is. I don't need to answer my enemies anything," Levis stoically refused to really answer any of Ryuu's questions – aside from answering that she wouldn't answer.

"Amnesia?" Ryuu guessed rhetorically, "But, Alise is d-dead. Astraea-sama confirmed it. My magic confirms it! Answer my questions, imposter!"

Ryuu's spell, Astraea Record, works by summoning the magic of deceased members of Astraea Familia. That, and Astraea had confirmed that Ryuu was the only one left bearing her Falna. And yet Ryuu was confident that Levis was Alise. Something didn't add up.

Levis seemed to consider something, before giving a malicious smirk, saying, "It seems you care a lot about this 'Alise' person you claim I am. Fine, behold."

Levis proceeded to tear open her chest, revealing her grotesque insides and, most importantly, the eerie green magic stone buried within her.

Ryuu gasped in horror at the sight.

"I am a Creature, an extension of 'Her' will," Levis said tauntingly, "Whatever 'I' was before is nothing now but a tool and slave to fulfill 'Her' desires. Your friend, or lover perhaps, is gone. 'Levis' is all that remains."

Ryuu's hands clenched around her sword and the spear in righteous indignation and fury. (Deep down, Ryuu's instincts screamed that Levis had told a lie, but she couldn't determine what it was specifically.)

The Spear. The thought of the weapon in her off-hand suddenly came to her mind.

Ryuu realized something then, glancing down at the Spear in her hand, and remembering what it had been used for…

Ryuu's lips smoothed in firm resolve as she looked Levis back in the eyes once more.

Ryuu declared, "In that case, I'll kill you so that Alise's soul can rest in peace – knowing that her body is no longer being used to make others suffer and cry!"

"You can try," Levis taunted, clearly doubting that Ryuu would be able to fulfill her promise.

Both fighters tensed, ready to resume their battle, only to pause as they felt the magic buildup from the Demi Spirit even at their relatively great distance from the battle.

Both fighters realized that even this far away, they needed to take cover lest they get caught up in the edge of the spell's attack radius!

Levis chose to avoid the attack by disengaging from Ryuu and running even further away – taking advantage of how massive this chamber was.

Ryuu, instead, stood her ground. She reached for a pouch around her waist behind her cape, pulled out a Double Potion she borrowed from Bell's stash and downed it.

Ryuu dropped the empty vial and then frantically started chanting, "Astraea Record! The mission is fulfilled and the balance is restored. The Fortress of Order, the Crown of Integrity, the Torch of Evil. In the name of the Goddess, the footprints of the stars are spelled out on this Earth as if they were shooting through the sky! Justice Comes Around!"

Ryuu's Star Sanctuary had formed, but that wasn't what Ryuu was aiming to use to protect herself.

Ryuu finished the chant, summoning Celty's defensive magic, "Alexandria!"

A barrier of fire-red magic formed with Ryuu at the epicenter. The barrier was covered in a mass of Hieroglyphs and other unknown symbols/languages, as if giving a glimpse into the Akashic Record. (Not to be mistaken with Astraea Record)

Something that Ryuu was very grateful about was that Astraea Record only needed it's own chant and the name of the spell that was being summoned. While Ryuu had certainly memorized the chants of her fallen Familia members' magicks, having to perform two chants for one spell was both inefficient and took a massive amount of time unless it was already a short chant like Alise's magic.

For the record, the chant for Celty's magic was: 'The turning of pages, the dripping of ink, the fruit of curiosity. Although they are only breath, the words which you command are immortal. May your knowledge and wisdom protect your visitors from all that which would harm them! O' great library, may your great works stand the test of time!'

Ryuu just hoped this physical and magical shield would be able to hold up considering her distance from imminent blast and her low Mind reserves. She certainly trusted Celty's barrier more than the relatively new barrier caused by a Skill for what was about to hit her.

A worry, it would soon seem, she needn't have fretted over.

Main POV

The Demi Spirit opened her mouth…

Before suddenly looking over to the entryway to this cavern, yelling "Aria!"

Eh?

That incantation has barely anything to do with wind…

My internal confusion was put to the side as I managed to hear a familiar voice cry out in the distance, "Fusillade Fallarica!"

The metaphorical equivalent to an entire army battlegroup's artillery stocks worth of fire attacks rained down on top of the Demi Spirit's head.

A blur of wind suddenly sailed by the Demi Spirit, slicing off a great many tentacles as it flew by.

"Hey everyone!" the voice of a familiar Amazoness called out nearby.

Straining my eyes, I watched as Tiona appeared on the battlefield, grabbing Lunoire before forcibly carrying her over to Chloe. Tiona proceeded to manhandle Chloe and retreat in the direction of Syr and Haruhime and I.

Lefiya teleported in a flash of golden brown next to Tiona after the latter had started dragging Chloe away from the battlefield.

Ding…

Dong…

Despite my confusion, I kept on charging, having reached the one minute mark.

Smoke cleared around the Demi Spirit's head. It had been completely taken by surprise and thus had taken many direct hits. 'Her' head was half melted away, but it was also clearly regenerating rapidly. And 'she' was not happy.

Ais Wallenstein, of all people, appeared in a flurry of wind by the other Loki Familia members as they quickly bound over towards Syr, Noel, and Haruhime. Lefiya broke off to join me.

"I don't know why you're here, but you've got awesome timing!" I cheered with a laugh.

Lefiya grabbed my shoulder, saying, "Explanation later! That thing is still able to fire!"

Indeed, the massive buildup of mana inside the Demi Spirit had not faded in the slightest. The Demi Spirit not only had a massive magic circle beneath it, but also various circles in the air around it; like a sort of three dimensional magic circle that was as beautiful as it was deadly.

I closed my eyes as Lefiya teleported us over to everyone else. I awkwardly angled my flaming sword away from everyone.

Ding…

Dong…

Lefiya immediately began to chant, her staff outstretched in both hands, "Dance, spirit of the atmosphere, Lord of Light. Make your vow with the guardian of the forest. Light of the forest, become a great barrier and protect us. My name is Alf! Via Shilheim!"

A golden barrier rose up and surrounded the entire party with Lefiya at the center.

"Ice Age!" The Demi Spirit, so adept at manipulating its magic that it was able to postpone casting despite its distractions and interruptions, unleashed all the oppressive mana that had built up.

The massive three-dimensional light-blue magical circles around the Demi Spirit erupted outwards. The entire world shook as an entire ice age's worth of cold air, ice, and snow was created and ejected in all directions.

Within seconds, the barrier was hit by freezing winds moving faster than a hurricane and shards of frozen ice and hail.

Lefiya winced under the strain of maintaining the barrier. Syr yelped at the cacophony of noise, while Noel slept peacefully, as the shield was bombarded with blizzards worth of ice and snow every second.

My adventurer senses were able to just barely notice that it had also started raining a bit.

…Was it so cold out there that the nitrogen in the air was turning into a liquid?!

It is a damn good thing that the Falna allows adventurers to hold their breathe for long periods of time. And that it meant we could survive with a thinner atmosphere. Syr is the only real concern, but I'm sure she would love to receive CPR to help make sure she's able to breathe…

Anyway, I think everyone really was appreciative of how the Hestia Knife was on fire right now.

After the longest 15 seconds of my life, the spell ended.

There were chunks of ice from the size of basketballs to massive boulders the size of buildings everywhere. The crystal shard floors were covered in snow about 20 centimeters deep. There was a drizzle of liquid nitrogen that was (hopefully) slowly turning back into a gas.

Ironically, the higher concentration of oxygen in the air would probably make my flames stronger. I know enough chemistry to know that much. Er… I just hope to not set the local atmosphere on fire…

"That isn't normal rain!" I warned Lefiya in particular, "That's liquid nitrogen! Syr and Noel won't be able to breathe! Keep up the barrier!"

"Seriously?!" Lefiya exclaimed in shock. Whether it was because of surprise at what the rain was or the fact she had to keep using Mind to maintain the barrier was hard to say.

Ding…

Dong…

"I need another minute and a half!" I told everyone, figuring everyone would understand what I meant considering how charging Argonaut was rather easy to notice. "Ais! Tiona! Kick it's ass!"

"Like you needed to tell me!" Tiona cheered.

Ais nodded, and said to Tiona, "I'll clear a path. Tempest!"

Ais surrounded herself and her blade in a torrent of wind (makes you wonder if she was manipulating existing wind or was also creating air at the same time via converting magic to matter). Ais then bolted through the barrier, using her enchantment to effectively become a snowplow as she rocketed forward to meet the Demi Spirit in close quarters.

"Aria! Why won't you become one with me?! Aria!" The Demi Spirit demanded as it focused 'her' attacks against the Sword Princess. With Ais cleaving through the attacking tentacles like they were paper.

Aria, that's right. Ais' mother is Aria, the Great Spirit of Wind from Dungeon Oratoria. Clearly this type of monstrosity is connected to the Loki Familia side series plotline. But that can be reviewed at another time.

I glanced behind me at the sound of banging on the back of the barrier. I turned to see an exhausted and bruised Anya, still glowing from a Level Boost, knocking on the back of the barrier.

"I want a warm bath, nya!" Anya complained to us through the barrier (which somehow allowed sound in but otherwise seemed to block air from moving, this spell makes no sense). I assume from the lack of ice on her that she was outside the spell's immediate range and had used her impressive speed to get to us after it had gone off.

"Shut… up, nya…" Chloe retorted, panting on the ground. Utterly exhausted from trying to avoid the Demi Spirit's attacks.

Luniore was also breathing deeply, her eyes closed, not even bothering to chide Anya for being an idiot.

Meanwhile, the Demi Spirit was enthusiastically trying to kill Ais and Tiona to little effect. The duo had a much easier time avoiding 'her' tentacles and even were cutting them off faster than the Demi Spirit could regenerate them.

Which made 'her' mad. Aiming in the direction of Tiona, the Demi Spirit sang, "Untold blades, freeze over as though trapped in an eternal permafrost. My name is Undyne. Avatar of Water, Queen of Ice! Icicle Edge!"

"Lil Rafaga!" Ais' voice echoed as she leapt and intercepted the icicle column, shredding it to pieces before it could 'nuke' Tiona.

"So!" I called out to Lefiya, "Before I go swing this and go into Mind Down, how and why are ya'll here?!"

"Captain Finn… heard about the explosion on West Main and your frantic entry to the Dungeon!" Lefiya answered, "He assumed that Apollo Familia was up to something because Apollo-sama likely planned on you saying no!"

Ding…

Dong…

"Quite the backup he sent!" I commented.

"That said, Finn really suspected that the Evilus Remnant could be behind it!" Lefiya admitted, "But we couldn't think of a reason why you would be on their radar! I volunteered to lead a squad after you to investigate! Ais-san and Tiona-san volunteered!"

"Finn-dono didn't question how you could find me? None of you are trackers!" I questioned.

"Nope!" Lefiya replied simply, "Are you done charging that up yet?! You're roasting us all!"

Indeed, the air inside the barrier was getting rather hot. Not only was the Hestia Knife dripping plasma, but the barrier itself gotten so hot that the surrounding snow had melted in a 50 centimeter radius outside.

Ding…

Dong…

"Close enough!" I declared.

Considering I had managed to keep on charging despite all the distractions, I was more confident about being able to charge the last thirty seconds while on the move.

"Go Bell!" Syr cheered, tears in her eyes.

"Here I go!" I yelled as I ran forward through the barrier.

If it was still cold outside the barrier, I couldn't tell thanks to the immense heat coming from my blade of fire and lightning.

I ran down the path that Ais had laid out, the flames coming from the Hestia Knife melting snow alongside as I ran passed.

"Tiona!" I yelled out, getting the other adventurer's attention, "Give me a lift!"

Even at a distance, I could tell that Tiona had grinned toothily. She quickly began to run to intercept me along my path.

In the background, Ais continued to jump and fly around like a gnat with her wind magic, keeping the Demi Spirit distracted.

Tiona jumped into the pathway that parted the snow with me. She offered the flat of Urga out, saying, "Hop on, Argonaut-kun!"

Without hesitation, I jumped onto the flat of her double great-sword. In an impressive feat of strength, Tiona's stride towards the Demi Spirit didn't falter. Instead, with some impressive footwork, Tiona continued charging toward the Demi Spirit while she started spinning like a top and me along with her.

After an almost dizzying couple of seconds, Tiona yelled to me, "NOW!"

I pushed off of Urga at the same time as Tiona jerked her weapon to send me flying at the apex of her spin. The result was me being flung into the sky at high speeds, the parabola sending me towards a very slow moving and immobile Demi Spirit!

"Winds of the top and bottom of the world, sail to the center of the earth. Slash apart the warmth of civilization…" The Demi Spirit began chanting, for once ignoring Ais as 'she' began focusing all her attention on me.

I angled my feet and body to give myself a spin mid-air, doing everything possible to increase the power of my attack.

"My name is Undyne. Avatar of Water, Queen of Ice!'' The Demi Spirit continued to chant moments before I impacted.

"Purification by holy flames! Argo Vesta!" I cried out as I swung my blade of flame incarnate.

"Icy Wind!"

Fire and lightning crashed against a massive blast of ice and snow…!

,,,and the latter was purified and melted away in holy flame!

Thundering flames cleaved the ice magic in two before impacting the plant-flesh of the Demi Spirit.

"AHHHHH!" The Demi Spirit howled as the humanoid portion of its body had been severed from the rest of its body, roughly 80 percent of the Demi Spirit was on fire.

"Lil Rafaga!" Ais' voice could be heard as she zoomed in right after me, her arrow of wind striking the more monster portion of the Demi Spirit.

Ais pierced right through the monster's massive lower torso, her winds tearing the monster's flesh apart. The flames from my attack gladly followed the wind, their power growing along with it as the flames entered the monster's insides, roasting the insides completely.

"Oooof!" I coughed as I hit the ground on my back, about 30 meters away from where the humanoid portion of the Demi Spirit was thrashing in pain as it burned alive. The Demi Spirit was trying to regenerate, but between the fire that refused to go out, and the fact it was trying to reform it's lower half, it's healing factor just couldn't keep up.

"DAMN YOU!" the Demi Spirit glared balefully, recognizing its dire situation.

I glared right back, my eyes half lidded in exhaustion. I tried to ignore the freezing cold snow up against my back. Having put all of my Mind into that attack, and due to the after-effects of using such a high level charge of Argonaut my mental and physical stamina was completely gone.

The Demi Spirit's moans and cries of pain became unintelligible as it had burned away any ability to speak properly. After a long twenty seconds, the Demi Spirit fell still, only the sizzling and crackling of burning plant life remained as my eyes closed for a moment to rest.

"Nnngh…" I groaned, as I slowly opened my eyes.

Eh? I don't remember falling asleep.

And this incline and softness…

"R-ryuu?" I gasped out, my throat completely dry.

"Yes, I am Ryuu," she said softly, running her fingers through my hair without hesitation or restraint.

From the feel of the shards poking my bare arms(Argo Vesta ruined my shirt) we were still in the chamber. I slowly took in my environment, too stunned to react to how affectionate Ryuu was being.

Lefiya was blushing madly as she used healing magic (likely from Riveria) over Chloe, Anya, and Luniore.

Tiona and Ais were staring at me more blatantly.

Tiona had a cheeky, amused grin. Ais, meanwhile, was pouting; with an expression that screamed that I had betrayed her.

Why, though?

Mind is down. Brain no workie.

Hello, delirium, my old friend.

"W-what happp…" I tried talking, but my body was not having any of it. My words were clearly slurred and vacant.

My body was in a weird state. I was suffering from the symptoms of Mind Down, but Accretion Disk was refilling my reserves faster than my body expected. I was simultaneously too tired and too awake.

All the effort I used to purge Soul Energy from my system from Antares, and most of it was brought back thanks to that Demi Spirit. Gee, thanks.

"The so called 'Demi Spirit' was defeated," Ryuu told me softly, "The one calling herself 'Levis' escaped. I suspect she noticed the arrival of Loki Familia and decided to retreat admit the Demi Spirit's rampage."

"That woman…" Ais uttered in recognition. Apparently they had a past.

Odd that Ryuu didn't comment on the whole 'Alise' thing. I had no clue about this Levis character in the slightest, so I'm pretty confused on the whole matter.

"Vito committed suicide," Ryuu told me, "Apparantly your punishment was too much for him. So he bashed his head in against an ice shard until he finally died. That said, that Demi Spirit's magic would have done him in if he had not done so…"

To think I went out of my way to not kill him. Go figure. Still, Evilus was stopped and they lost a lot of manpower and one of their Executives. That has got to hurt.

"There were some broken bones," Ryuu told me, "But Lefiya-san has been very helpful, as I currently do not have the Mind to spare."

"She broke both of her forearms, by the way!" Lefiya said, blabbing on Ryuu to me, "Her legs were cracked like stained glass! I'm starting to understand the exasperation of medics everywhere!"

"Ah s-eee," I slurred out. My body was completely spent.

At least now I could rest and call this an absolute win–

The Hiraishin marks on Lili's Hidden Blade went dark.

Other POV

Hours Earlier…

Upon seeing the sigil of Soma Familia, Lili instantly knew what it meant. Soma Familia, no Zanis, was not waiting for the War Game to reclaim Lili.

Lili didn't really understand why Zanis was so persistent on the matter. How much money did he think a lone Pallum like her could generate?! Bell-sama had mentioned he might be after her magic, but using that to scam people seemed too simple and minor a revenue stream for Zanis to be this persistent about.

The point, however, was that War Game or not Soma Familia were well within their rights to exert control over Lili. Like forcibly taking her back. As far as Guild/Orario laws were concerned, this wasn't kidnapping but the forced detainment of an unruly and rebellious Supporter. An internal matter that was no one's business but Soma Familia.

Soma Familia might have a bad relationship with the Guild at the moment. But the Guild wouldn't be willing to set a bad precedent by interfering in the internal matters of a Familia over something so trivial and against someone as unimportant as Lili. Large and powerful Familias would riot if the Guild exerted such 'oppressive' control.

Lili needed to escape. Head west towards Hestia-sama's Church. But Lili had a feeling that was going to be harder than it sounded.

Lili was glad she was always equipped to make a getaway when she walked the streets.

Palming a stink bomb in her hand, she pulled back her other arm's sleeve to reveal her Lil' Ballista. In the same motion, she yeeted the stink bomb behind her. She then fired her crossbow bolts at the enemies in front of her.

Lili heard the adventurers behind her cry out as they became stunned by the foul stench that suddenly impacted their heightened, adventure senses. And the adventurers in front of her fell to the ground, clutching bleeding arrow wounds. Being relatively low level, such minor wounds were enough to stun them for a short time.

Lili started running, jumping over the adventurers she shot only to almost immediately halt as the alley had given way to a small courtyard. A courtyard that had all of its other passageways blocked off by more adventurers. All of whom were looking at her.

"Shit…" Lili cursed, realizing that Soma Familia must have managed to spy on her before now – and determined the path she would use from Welf's workshop to her house.

Lili turned around, attempting to flee the way she came, but more adventurers had appeared from nowhere to plug the gap.

Lili was well and truly trapped. There was no getting out of this. There was only figuring out the best way to handle her capture.

Resist or surrender?

Considering that Soma Familia had already declared themselves for the War Game, it's not like Bell-sama could get in much more trouble with Lili's original Familia.

Actually, Now that Lili thinks about it, Lili wouldn't be surprised if Bell-sama would make a move to free Lili despite how it would make him look if she were to be taken. That the claims of him 'stealing' and 'abducting' adventurers/supporters was true would spread through the rumor mill.

If a counter attack from Bell was inevitable… surrendering without resistance would allow for Zanis to focus on planning against outside threats. But if Lili resisted every step of the way, then Zanis would be distracted by her, and thus give Bell-sama an opportunity to act.

Surrendering, however, would ensure that Lili's capture would be more physically tolerable. Lili… had a good idea what she would be forced to endure if she resisted.

Lili is certain that her old self would immediately surrender in order to avoid physical pain. Because back then, Lili only had herself to look out for and only had herself to look out for Lili.

But the current Lili is different from past Lili. She is someone who has… dear friends who care about her. Friends that are really stupid and would do stupid things like risk themselves for their ideals rather than what is practical without Lili to remind them to not be so stupid. That would attack Soma Familia despite it basically being illegal to do so; that they would attack despite not being able to easily shrug off the consequences like larger Familias could afford to do.

One might wonder why Lili was so confident that Bell would come to rescue her. It was because she remembered Bell's words on their trek to Floor 18.

"I refuse!" Bell declared to an injured Welf in the Dungeon, "Like hell I'm going to tuck my tail between my legs and abandon a friend to die! You're getting saved whether you like it or not!"

It didn't matter if Lili knew that Bell knew that Lili wouldn't want him to save her for political reasons. Bell-sama would save her anyway. Lili's pride and resolve wouldn't allow her to put Bell into such a position where he needed to act without a fight.

"You're turning Lili into an idiot, Bell-sama…" Lili said to herself, her tone both hopeful and yet full of self-mockery. Lili stepped further into the courtyard, drawing her spear Sacrilege as she did so.

Bell-sama was the one thing that Lili unconditionally believed in. Sure, he sometimes could be annoyingly passive, but he had a kind soul that was hyper-aware of how his actions affect others – for better or worse.

He was kind to her, despite her sins against him. He supported her, helping her grow stronger and more confident in her abilities. And she knew he loved her, maybe not as a lover(yet?), but she knew from those words he spoke that Bell-sama was the type of person who would only allow himself to be sacrificed for the sake of his precious people…

"Arde," the firm voice of Soma Familia's Captain, Zanis Lustra, on the other side of the courtyard in front of her.

"Zanis-sama," Lili calmly said, her fists shaking, "Why are you here?"

"Is it not obvious?" Zanis said sarcastically, "I am leading an effort to rescue you, our estranged Familia member, from the adventurer that has blackmailed you into serving him."

"So that is the story you're going with…" Lili said, realizing how Zanis would be able to play this off.

It was public knowledge now that Bell-sama was Level 3. But most people were under the assumption that Bell had Leveled Up with the bare minimum in his Basic Abilities. Which would make him barely more powerful than most Level 2s… if that assumption was true.

This meant that Soma Familia could mobilize a large number of their troops for 'rescuing' Lili so as to counter Bell from easily shutting down their effort. That it would make sense for Soma Familia to have to resort to throwing bodies at Bell since there were only two Level 2s in Soma Familia. That the large amount of men present her actually made sense on the off chance that Bell might be around to intervene.

Essentially, Zanis deployed large numbers of adventurers to trap Lili on the off chance that Bell would show up. Zanis was banking on the fact that Bell wouldn't do anything about it once Lili was in their custody for political and legal reasons.

Zanis then said 'factually', "Our irreplaceable friend and comrade was stolen from us by swindlers. The time had come for us to exact revenge with justice on our side."

And this fact protected them from the Guild as well as gave them an escape route to avoid any penalties.

That was the true power of a contract with the Familia. If they were able to prove that one of their members was still bound to their god but working for the benefit of another, it would be next to impossible to punish their actions. No matter how much Lili would try to explain the circumstances, the voice of the Familia would win out.

Soma Familia was under no legal obligation to wait for Bell to 'return' Lili to them despite the War Declaration. The War Game was intended, from Soma Familia's perspective, as revenge against Bell for his 'crime' rather than a 'legal' means for reclaiming Lili. Because they already had a legal claim. There was no need for the War Game for Soma Familia to ensure Lili's reclamation onto them – the law essentially allowed for Soma Familia to reclaim her at any moment of their choosing.

Lili slid into a fighting stance, "Lili is going nowhere with you."

Zanis sighed, "It would seem my dear Familia member has been brainwashed by Hestia Familia. It is a shame, but it seems we will need to use force to make you comply. Get her."

Lili said nothing and began to spin her spear rapidly in her hand in an effort to force adventurers to be more cautious when engaging her. She knew this situation was hopeless – there were too many opponents – but still she would resolutely reject them. In this situation, there was no rational path forward.

The first to get close was a tall man with a long, two-sided battle axe. Lili made the adventurer lose his grip by striking the bottom of the wooden pole of the axe with her spinning spear. She then jabbed the blunt end of her spear into the man's crotch with great force.

The adventurer wheezed as he fell to the ground – other nearby male adventurers wincing in empathy at the blow.

Lili barely turned in time to bat aside another adventurer's longsword. She followed up her movements, swiping the blade of her spear against the elf's stomach – a few centimeters deeper might have disemboweled him. As it was, the adventurer clutched his stomach as he fell away wounded.

Lili was in the zone and turned to her next opponent, Zanis was now at her back, and blocked a downward swing from a more conventional sword.

Rather than fight a losing battle by using strength in this deadlock, Lili gave slack in a controlled manner; using her opponent's sword as a fulcrum to smack the animal person's head with the blunt end of her spear. Continuing her momentum, she spun the spear around and 'lightly' stabbed into the back of the adventurer's shoulder, disabling them.

Lili batted away another adventurer's longsword, only to yelp in pain as a second adventurer struck her back with a mace. She fell to the ground, barely keeping a grip on her weapon.

Lili cried out in agony as a whip then cracked against her sore back twice in rapid succession. She scowled painfully, tears involuntarily in her eyes, as she looked up and saw the sadistic grin on Zanis' face as he held the handle of the whip tightly in his hand.

"Now that I know of your potential, I'm not letting you get away again!" Zanis declared, cracking the whip against Lili's back again. And again. And again.

If not for the quality of Lili's gear from Hermes, her back would have long turned into a black and bleeding mess. With it, enough damage was absorbed that her back was only turned into a purple bruised mess.

Lili's fists were clenched impossibly tight around the handle of her spear from the pain – unable to resist as Zanis ordered his men to pick her up and bring her back to Soma Familia…

She knew what fate awaited her there. Her intelligence and intuition were only rivaled by the likes of Finn the Braver. She knew that she would be punished severely for her disobedience. For her refusal to submit. She knew what would happen to herself.

And she knew that he would save her. She just hoped that it will be the Bell Cranel she knows that comes to rescue her and not… something else…

And so Lili fell unconscious, the last thing she felt was the sting of the whip on her back.

Hestia had safely gone to her second job before going back to the Hostess, finding almost everyone gone except for Mama Mia, May, and Astraea.

And Hestia's heart sank. Realizing Bell truly was involved in something sure to make her anxiety levels hit a new high…

"Loki Familia is with them… we have strict orders to avoid confrontations with them."

"That damn ugly bitch… She only beat me at the port thanks to that damned mutt!"

"Don't even think about it Phryne! Ishtar-sama was insistent on avoiding drawing more of Loki Familia's attention. We'll have another chance."

"Grrr… damn you Kenki!"

"...Freya-sama is going to be mad isn't she?!" Hogni whimpered as he observed the Hostess Familia Party and Loki Familia reinforcements from a distance.

He had been the one on the 'Syr Patrol' for the day, and despite it being a position to watch over their beloved Freya-sama, it was NOT an enviable post. This was mainly because it involved being forced to watch as Freya-sama debased herself to be like a common peasant woman while ALSO shamelessly flirting with and receiving SHAMELESS flirtations from Bell Fucking Cranel!

And as if that wasn't enough, they were instructed to not intervene unless absolutely necessary so as to hide the extent of Syr's connections to Freya Familia. But to intervene if Bell Cranel's life was in danger. BUT to ALSO NOT intervene in dangerous fights so that Bell Cranel could continue to grow and impress Freya-sama with his heroism.

These stipulations were not only hard to judge, but were also contradictory. Bell Cranel had to be allowed into life and death situations to grow, but he couldn't be allowed to die, and they couldn't reveal themselves to him? The orders were functionally impossible to carry out.

Hogni and the other executives and aces were strong and fast, but they aren't gods. And it didn't help that their perceptions of danger, Hogni included, were warped. Hogni hadn't noticed that the red-haired woman was a threat until she was already in the blond elf's face.

And how was Hogni supposed to know that Bell could move that fast to protect his elven lover while also risking himself so idiotically?! (Though Hogni couldn't help but respect Bell Cranel for the act, despite how much it frustrated him. Nevermind how it also upset Hogni that Bell Cranel would look at anyone besides Freya-sama!)

All Hogni knew was that… "Freya-sama is going to kill me… Life is so unfair…"

Naaza Erisuis

Level 2

Strength: G: 218

Vitality: G: 204

Dexterity: G: 293

Agility: F: 339

Magic: H: 187

Magic:

(Darbh Daol)

• Bite, wither, decay. The jaws of the beetle that fells kings. May all my enemies understand a sliver of my pain. Darbh Daol!

• Curse magic that lowers the Stats of those affected by the black particles. Naaza is unable to use or even feel her arms while using the magic.

Skills:

Luibheanna an Dia Leighis - Gain the Mystery Development Ability when crafting medical items or equipment, strength relative to the user's Level. Medical items crafted by the user are more effective. Increased Excelia gain from crafting medical items or equipment. (Poisons and similarly negative items do not count.)

Development Abilities:

Mixing - H

Haruhime Sanjouno

Level 1

Strength: I: 8

Vitality: I: 54

Dexterity: I: 39

Agility: I: 33

Magic: D: 401

Magic:

(Uchide no Kozuchi)

• Grow. Bless the vessel with divine power. A tower of riches, for a tower of wishes. Until the tolling of the bell, I call upon thy glory and illusion. Grow! This golden light provided by the gods above, for this body that has devoured divine gifts. With the pounding of a mallet into the ground, may thou be blessed with good fortune! Grow! Uchide no Kozuchi!

Skills:

Eiyū o Machinozomu (英雄を待ち望む) - A genuine admirer of heroes. Increase to defensive stats(VIT, AGI), low Mind Regeneration, and Excelia gain in the presence of a hero true.

Development Abilities:

()

Authors Notes:

(*) Not Meet Doubt starts playing followed by the Last Agni Kai?

(1) The Skill Levis inherited from Alise, Lubrude Bequia, had activated when fighting Finn, Level 6 Ais, and now here against Ryuu. Since Levis is an amnesiac, she is unaware that she even has this Skill as a remnant from the fact she is Alise's body. Levis doesn't notice her magic stat increasing because she doesn't remember that she still has access to Agaris Alvesynth… yet.

Lili's Hidden Blade had been confiscated. In trying to take it apart, Soma Familia ended up breaking it, causing the Hiraishin mark to break. Which 'luckily' happened when Bell was 'conscious'.

So yeah, a lot happened in this chapter. A lot to process? How do you think Bell and Co. feel about it?! They're the ones who deserve pity, not you sorry lot.

Hello Levis. I'm gonna use the 'L' spelling of your name so that it's closer to being an anagram of 'Alise' – we can pretend that the 'v' is an upside down 'a' and that the 's' can be exchanged for a 'c'.

Also, hello Levis, thanks for traumatizing everyone. At least you had the presence of mind to make Ryuu mad so she could get over the fact that you are a shell of Alise. Much appreciated.

Basically, Alise didn't completely blow up her body to smithereens when she died. But did enough damage to herself that after being reconstructed by the Demi Spirit, her appearance was altered enough for most to not recognize her.

How is Ryuu able to summon Alise's magic then? Why did Astraea think Alise was dead? Because Alise did die – her soul left her body, and a monster's magic stone took its place.

Haruhime got buffed. Mad? Too bad. Anyway, despite it being useless while in Ishtar's employ, she put it on Haruhime's Falna essentially to mock her, because of how childish and unrealistic it was. A sort of, 'I might as well let you get to say you have a Skill'. In any case, the Excelia gain is only an extra 5%, which is very useful but not crazy either.

Also, Inspiring Leader hit Haruhime like a truck, making her quickly come to terms with Bell's almost death.

On similar lines, Syr/Freya is so shaken by her own emotional distress that she will refrain from acting out of fear that she will do something rash even by her standards. Which is saying something. Cause this is the woman who was like 'destroying Floor 19 to give Ryuu a demon to fight is a great idea'. Expect Bell's stalkers from Freya Familia to increase.

And, oh my, Bell didn't seem to give two shits about dying when he saved Ryuu and was revived. Is that heroic behavior? Or suicidal? Both? Probably both.

Vito gets maimed for being a murderous psychopathic sadist. He committed so much evil that even Bell was like 'yeah you don't deserve any mercy'.

Considering that Evilus is made up of a bunch of adults that know right from wrong, Bell feels little compulsion to try and use Talk no Jutsu to 'save' them. Especially when Vito is harming a child and releases a City/World Ending threat. Maybe if circumstances were different?

Filvis got the Talk no Jutsu treatment because Bell doesn't know she is an accomplice/leader of Evilus and because she is similar in age. As in, a stupid young person.

Long story short, Bell learns that he should really always carry a bunch of things with Hiraishin marks on his person. Vito could have been disabled/killed much earlier if he had them.

This event had a lot more escalation than I initially thought it would. Like wow. Anyway, MORE CHAOS! And there's still more to come, but perhaps not as crazy as the whole Levis thing.

Loki Familia people have an easier time fighting this particular Demi Spirit because it was also based off of the Titan Alm monster again. So they knew enough of its likely attack patterns to dodge easily. If the event was going to be unoriginal in what Demi Spirit was being used, so will I.

Bell manages to do massive damage because I'm going with the assumption that all plantlike monsters are weak to fire magic. And also because he attacked the point where the Demi Spirit is at its thinnest, allowing for the spreading flames to easily consume the entirety of the Demi Spirit's humanoid parts. Ais made an attack after Bell because she didn't expect his attack to do as much as it did – she used his attack as a distraction and to help soften the Demi Spirit up. In the end, her attack made sure that the humanoid parts couldn't easily reattach itself back to the rest of the body.

Put another way, a three minute Argonaut charge combined with a fire vulnerability allowed Bell to hit with the equivalent of Level 6+ damage. If the Demi Spirit was resistant to fire, this wouldn't have worked nearly as well. Also, without Tiona's help, Bell wouldn't have been able to get close in the first place, so there's that. Bell would have been too low on stamina already to properly dodge attacks moving that much faster than him. The Hostess trio had similar agility and struggled to stay alive for those 40-60 seconds.

So, yeah, shit's hit the fan. Funny how a minor interaction between Bell and Filvus has spiraled into something much more.

Random tangent, I've come to determine that how much the Gods and Goddess' see through Updates isn't as extreme as I have it in comparison to Canon. Consider it a quirk of this alternate universe from now on. At least I make sure to use this mechanic as a plot device, right?

Also, to clarify, Noel is still around. But she is in a coma for an undetermined period of time. Take the wins you can get?

Oh yeah, and that marching song definitely isn't foreshadowing. Pay it no heed.

Next time, Bell and co flee to the surface to recuperate before doing something about Lili's capture. Ryuu also confronts Bell in the middle of the night for almost dying. Zanis' time as head of Soma Familia is numbered and dwindling, for Bell ain't going to wait for no War Game to settle things now.

EDIT: Astraea Record doesn't require both spells chants to be incanted. It only requires Astraea Record's chant and the name of the spell being summoned. I fixed that mistake. Sorry about that.