Hey there, how are you guys and gals? if it's not too much to ask, could I ask you all to share this story with your friends, if you wish to make fanarts of Bell and Venna or scenes of the fanfic, please send a copy to my Gmail: mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox.
I have a Deviantart page, which I'll use to post the fanarts and credits to all the artists and put a chapter link for each chapter they resemble on my DA page
back to the audience
Bete's eyes widen when he sees who came out of the tunnel; it's just two nobodies! And worse, they are the same! (Bete ignores anything and everything if whoever he's staring at doesn't look strong and in his eyes, both twins are weak)
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Bete screams with fury and revolt, drawing the audience's attention to him "HEY! ARE YOU OF THE GANESHA FAMILY CRAZY?! YOU SAID THOSE TWO TIN CANS WOULD FIGHT HERE IN THE COLISEUM, SO WHAT ARE THESE TWO WEAKLINGS DOING IN THE ARENA?! WHERE ARE THE KNIGHTS? IF THIS IS A JOKE, I DON'T THINK IT'S FUNNY, BRING THOSE TIN CANS IN HERE NOW!"
Finn facepalmed in embarrassment hearing Bete's stupid speech, who still hadn't realized that the two there in the arena WERE the knights, just without their armor (although he was surprised that both had shouted "deactivate" before entering the arena, but maybe there was an explanation for that)
As soon as Bete's speech ended, many in the crowd believed what the enraged adventurer had said and started protesting and demanding their money back.
"ACTIVATE!"
They all heard two people shout over the protests of the crowd before a flash of light appeared and there, where the two siblings had been, now were the knights; much to the confusion of many who were watching.
With the audience's attention back in the arena, Bell and Venna removed their helmets so everyone could see their faces, confirming that they, indeed, were the knights.
"Do we have your attention now?" Venna asks sarcastically "now before the nervous guy over there starts screaming nonsense about us, we were already going to introduce ourselves and show this, however, something didn't work, what could it be, right?"
Venna ended her little speech by striking a thought-provoking pose, with her hips swaying and her face making a sensual expression and looking in Bete's direction, which caused many men in the audience to look with other eyes (not the good eyes).
This caused Bell to facepalm himself before tugging at the collar of his sister's armor to make her stand up and flashing an intimidating glare at every male in the audience, a look loaded with all the protective intent of an older brother. (even though he was only the oldest for a few seconds); Immediately, all men were terrified of the pressure generated by Bell's simple gaze, a pressure that did not go unnoticed by the gods or higher level adventurers like level 5 or 6, who immediately took note of how potent and extensive this pressure was. In theory and sometimes in practice, only adventurers of level 4 and higher should be able to generate.
"Now that we've solved this problem, can we get on with the fight?" Bell asks with dissatisfaction in his voice, before putting his helmet back on.
Venna does the same and they both again yell "deactivate" and in a flash of light their armor disappears. This immediately impresses several mages and blacksmiths, who start asking questions about the twins' armor but they ignore them paying attention to the captain in front of them.
"I hope you enjoyed this theater!" Raux yells above the noise of the crowd, silencing everyone "because now, I'm going to prove you two are nothing but a fraud and I'm going to make sure you confess the truth before you surrender!"
With that statement Raux pulls his greatsword from the ground and charges at the twins, striking with his sword in a downward arc.
Hestia, who was in the audience with Cort and Poux, covered her eyes with her hands to avoid seeing the attack hit Bell and Venna. But both brothers just leaped to the sides, completely avoiding the attack. Raux then moves to attack in another arc, this time an upward arc, in Bell's direction; he dodges it with a simple step to the side and with a somersault avoids a second attack from Raux, who tried to punch Bell with his other hand using the first attack as a distraction.
Venna runs close to her brother and the same, when he sees her coming, makes support with his hands; Venna puts her foot on her brother's support and he hurls her over to Raux, who sensing this is a distraction, attacks Bell again, forcing him to dodge his attacks. Raux then pulls out Cort's dagger and throws it in Venna's direction.
"Look out!"
Hestia screams in terror, but Venna with an elegance only seen in elves, grabs the dagger and a dance pass throws the dagger to the ground before running back to her brother, this time she makes her brother jump over the enemy captain herself.
Raux tries to attack Venna with his sword, but Venna proves to be much faster and more flexible than her brother, easily dodging all of the enraged adventurer's attacks.
The audience that before was in a racket wanting to watch a show now found itself in silence immersed by the beauty and elegance of Venna, who seemed more to be dancing with Raux's attacks. Soon Bell arrives behind the Hestia family captain and jumps over his head, landing next to Venna and they both begin to dance; both dancing in an unfamiliar style, dodging attacks with each dance step and making Raux's attacks seem like part of the dance, further enchanting the audience.
Five minutes later
Raux gets tired of the twins dodging and dancing around his attacks
"FIGHT BACK!" he orders "FIGHT BACK! AREN'T YOU WHO ASKED FOR A DUEL?! FIGHT BACK!" The enraged captain orders as he continues his furious onslaught of attacks
The twins stop dancing and stare at the captain before crossing their arms, confusing everyone in the audience and Raux himself.
"I didn't ask for the fight to kill each other" Bell starts talking, confusing everyone, including his sister who looks at him out of the corner of her eye with confusion "but you didn't want to calm down or listen, so I decided to show you the results of the training that my sister and I have spent the last two years outside of Orario"
Bell's words get the crowd talking about it;
"Did he say they spent two years training?"
"Is it possible to get strong without fighting the Dungeon monsters?"
"This is ridiculous, there is no way to get stronger if not fighting the dungeon monsters and accumulating Excilia for your stats to be upgraded! "
"Is that why they have those armors? because they are some kind of training equipment"
"Who trained them and why did they choose to take the two of them out of town? there aren't many monsters out there and they are also often much weaker than their dungeon counterparts"
"Tsk! what a waste of time, what do they want with this litany?" (A/N: credits to whoever guesses who said that)
"You saw it just now, didn't you?" Bell speaks and then looks at Venna, his gaze carrying his real intention: 'we're going to provoke him so that his darkness is exposed, and what better way than to tell the truth he wants to deny'
Venna understands, showing no physical reaction, and nods before turning her attention to the confused adventurer and saying, "yeah, you saw it, didn't you? You are a level two adventurer and yet how many of your attacks hit us?"
Venna's question, while simple, leaves everyone in the audience confused for a moment.
"Hmm? what does she mean by that?"
"Is she talking about something we didn't understand?"
with Finn's entourage
"Hah? what is that weak dancer talking about?" Bete asks annoyed
"hmm"
"Captain?" Tione asks seeing her beloved captain in his deep analysis state
"Bete, Tione" Finn draws both their attention to himself "By any chance… at some point in the last 5 minutes, were they hit by the other adventurer?"
For a moment both Bete and Tione don't understand what Finn means by this question until they both realize and in shock look at the twins in the arena.
"no way…" Tione says in surprise, which in itself is a rarity for the young Amazon
"no f#!$ing way" Bete swears in shock
Both twins are intact with no scratches OR cuts on their clothes. even the twin sister's long white braided hair is in one piece. At no time were both of them harmed in any way by the level two adventurer.
"OI! IS THIS A JOKE?" Bete screams in fury, drawing the audience's attention back to him "YOU TWO, WHAT LEVEL ARE YOU?"
Venna points to the area reserved for VIP guests, where Ganesha and his captain are, before announcing "Lord Ganesha, please confirm to everyone that what my brother and I are going to say is true or not."
Ganesha is surprised to have been thrust into the spotlight so suddenly, but he smiles happily and starts lecturing.
"Yes! I, Ganesha, will be the judge who will determine if your words are true!"
with this little presentation, everyone in the audience is in expectation, after all,l gods can discern when a mortal is lying and are never deceived by it.
with that, the twins turn to Ganesha's reserved area and then reveal their levels
"My name is Bell Cranel, I am a level 1 adventurer" Bell reveals, his voice steady and serious.
"My name is Venna Cranel, I am a level 1 adventurer" Venna reveals, her voice steady and serious.
everyone in the audience heard the twins but didn't believe it, starting to laugh and make fun of them
"Hah! level 1? with all that skill, what an absurd lie!"
"Ahahahaha, two are level 1 adventurers? so in this case I am a level 7 veteran"
"with such a big fib, not even a person needs the help of a god to know they are lying"
The mockery and insults continued along these lines, irritating and much Hestia who was being held by Cort to not try to attack the people closest to them until Captain Shakti demanded silence from the audience with the use of a voice amplifier equipment. As soon as the crowd was silenced Shakti consented to Ganesha and the god then rose and with a serious look uncharacteristic of Ganesha himself
"Pay close attention, all of you; My next words will be the absolute truth and nothing else, so don't you dare question if I'm lying, because I won't be. Am I clear?" The elephant-masked god asserts and asks with seriousness and authority, like the god who is
the audience is taken aback by the god's harsh words, but everyone remains silent, not wanting to test their patience; with that, the lord of the masses looks at the Cranel brothers and asks them to say their levels once again, they both do
"my name is Bell Cranel, I am a level 1 adventurer"
Bell repeats, his voice still steady and serious, as well as having a tone of respect and honor that Hestia hadn't seen in him before; two years ago he was very shy and straightforward, but now, he looked like someone else: a man, who has lived through great adversity and challenges.
"my name is Venna Cranel, I am a level 1 adventurer"
Venna repeats, her voice steady and serious, her facial expression exemplifying her words, steady and serious. Hestia watched her dear children in the arena, they didn't seem to be the same children who left Orario two years ago, they looked more like a mature man and woman, for their age.
"I don't feel any lie in your words" says Ganesha seriously, then he turns to the other gods who are in the VIP area of the audience "tell me, my fellow gods and goddesses can you feel any lie in the words of these two?"
The other gods who came to watch the fight get up and step forward, look at the two interrogated and seeing their hard and serious eyes, take a step back, surprised by the attitude of the two brothers.
"They…" Apollo begins with disgust and confusion "Are telling the truth…"
Hephaestus composes herself before speaking "there is not a single trace of falsehood in their words" the red-haired goddess speaks firmly "they are telling the truth"
Freya doesn't say anything, just sits down again and then comments "if three gods have confirmed the veracity of these claims, why do they need more witnesses?" She says disinterestedly, but inside she's in shock, discreetly using her *Discerning Eye* she can see the souls of these two and they're so bright and radiant, she thought she looked at two stars
"Hah? Are you kidding Freya?" Loki asks in annoyance, although she has come to watch the fight, only her best adventurers have the acumen and experience to be able to correctly assess would-be adventurers.
The goddess of lust just sighed in boredom before speaking loud enough to be heard.
"I can't feel any lies in the words of these two. What do you think, is it good enough for you Loki?"
"Tsk, you pompous ass" Loki grumbles before turning to the arena "there's something about the two of you that bothers me, but even so, there's not a single lie in your words, which is strange given the situation. being sincere here"
With those words, Loki and the others sit down again and this time the arena is filled with murmurs and whispered conversations.
"The gods confirmed, they are level 1 adventurers!"
"But how? No level 1 adventurer can go against a level 2"
"it's like comparing a wooden sword with a real sword, the difference is clear"
"Do they both have high level 1 stats?"
"Even high stats of level 1 shouldn't be able to face a level 2 adventurer! They're completely different levels!"
"Silence!" Ganesha orders, his voice amplified for all to hear, "Now that this issue has been resolved for you, I have a question for you both. How, how did you become so formidable even though you're level 1? It's not possible that, in just two years, you have reached that level of power without having upgraded their Falnas once"
The god's question makes sense and unfortunately both had no satisfactory answer
"To be honest, Lord Ganesha, we have no idea either, we just became strong like that with the training of our two masters" Bell answers sincerely.
"We started our training here in Orario with our first master, Terra, but… he had a condition that deteriorated while he was training us and so he left us under the teachings of a friend of his, our second master Sora Shotoko" Venna adds smiling as she remembers from your master Terra
"That for personal and important reasons, he couldn't train us here in Orario; so we accompanied him on his journey, training under his tutelage" complete Venna sincerely complements
"They both tell the truth" Ganesha confirms to the audience, who are in awe of the story and curious to find out how is it that they could have become so strong without upgrading their Falnas.
"What a joke!" Raix screams in rage, and a slight and almost imperceptible black aura begins to manifest from his body "DO YOU WANT ME TO FALL FOR THAT LIE?" The captain asks with contempt in his voice
"TWO YEARS AGO YOU TWO ABANDONED GODDESS HESTIA TELLING HER THAT LIE. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF THE PAIN SHE FELT WITH YOUR LEAVING?! THEY DON'T LOVE HER AND JUST WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HER!" And more the black aura became visible around the young man with dark skin and blond hair.
Bell lowers his head, his hair falling out and covering his eyes.
"..." Bell mutters something, which isn't heard but everyone sees his lips move.
"Hah? What did you say?" Raux mockingly asks "Speak up! What lies you have to tell us now, liar?"
"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH SHE SUFFERED?!" Bell screams so hard in his voice that even the sand on the ground at his feet rises in a leap.
Everyone is surprised by the strength of the young man's words that made the sand jump, but it was the pain and hurt in his words that surprised them the most; the young albino's words were charged with sadness, hurt, and pain.
Bell lifts his face again, showing the tears that were streaming from his eyes.
"DO YOU BELIEVE WE DON'T LOVE HER?!" Venna was the next to scream, her eyes hard and angry, but the tears that streamed down them showed how hurt she was by the captain's words, "Do you think we're clowning around? That we've turned our backs on her? You…you weren't there. You didn't see how many nights we spent awakened, crying because we could hear our goddess crying!"
"We wanted to go back sooner, we wanted to be here with her, but we couldn't because we were still too weak! Too weak to protect her, too weak to make any difference!" Bell continues, his words are heavy with emotion and guilt.
"Even so... we persisted, we went through with our training; we sweated and bled to get stronger and be able to come back with advances and make our mother happy! For us, Hestia is our mother; nothing and no one will ever change that. " Bell and Venna speak at the same time, in perfect sync, the weight of their words only affirming how true they were to everything they said and everything Raux said about them.
Hestia had heard Venna call her mother before, but now, hearing them both say that, even after two years, somehow filled her divine heart with pride and love, motherly love for her two most devoted children.
"You're only saying these horrible things about us because you don't know us and want to prove the truth is a lie! Venna seriously accuses
"Open your eyes! We are not your enemies, nor are we liars. We just want to be back with our mother and be part of the family again!" Bell ends with his firm voice and commanding respect.
While the audience and the gods were in awe of the twins' words, Hestia was crying with joy, the joy that her children wanted to solve this without using brute force.
But Raux, the more he listened to them, the more their light tried to reach his heart, the more the darkness inside grew.
"DON'T MOCK ME!" Raux screams in fury and then darkness begins to spurt from within his body, with long tendrils and black flames covering his body like a cloak.
This scares many of the people watching the battle, but the most disturbed by it are Ganesha and Ouranos (who came to watch the fight in secret), and they are both in a cold sweat at the presence of darkness emanating from the adventurer's body.
'Now/ Now!' The twins thought at the same time, seeing the darkness manifest, and finally went on the offensive;
Both siblings run at full speed, leaving blurs behind them; they are running so fast, surprising the audience who go silent as they witness such speed that shouldn't be possible for anyone but first-class adventurers with levels of 5 or higher.
The siblings run in circles around Raux, who even without understanding what is happening to himself, uses his newly acquired power of darkness to attack the albino twins with blasts of black flames.
But by fate's will or perhaps by experience, Bell and Venna dodge all the black flames and move forward, slowly closing in as their feet lift the sand in the center of the arena.
Flashback, the shopping street, earlier that day
"THIS IS YOUR IDEA?!" Venna asks in disbelief at what she heard
"Have you got a better idea?" Bell asks rhetorically and Venna doesn't object but still tries to argue
"That idea is as risky as wielding them in broad daylight" the twin retorts.
"True, but in theory, the light from our weapons transfers to our hands moments before they appear, so in that split second we can use that light to cover our fists and deliver a blow."
end of flashback
The twins continued their onslaught, getting closer and closer. Raux, seeing the approach, lets the darkness inside him break free, causing him to scream and shoot several black flames in all directions.
The black flames released by Raux begin to re-direct themselves, heading towards the twins as if attracted by their light. Even trying to dodge or run faster, the albino siblings couldn't dodge Raux's flames.
"I don't know what this power is, but if you're so afraid of it, then that's all the more reason to believe there's something good in it!" Raux speaks with insanity in his voice, not noticing the tiny tendrils of darkness penetrating his skin and climbing up to his eyes and heart.
'Oh no!' Venna thinks scared and changes direction to run straight to Raux 'if that darkness reaches his mind and heart, he will turn into a Heartless!'
Venna gets as close as she can to Raux without being hit by any of his darkness-based attacks and when she is close to the possessed captain, she prepares to summon her Keyblade and unleash her attack.
"VENNA!" Bell screams, throwing himself at his sister's body; throwing her away from Raux
They both roll on the floor for a few moments before getting up.
"Why did you do that?" Venna angrily asks but her brother points to Raux and she sees several blades of darkness pointing to where she was moments before "Thank you"
"You're welcome, but you're also right, we have to act soon!" Bell says urgently "the moment we got too close the flames went out and those blades came out. if we get close enough, we can trick him into attacking in the wrong direction and then hit him from another angle" the twin explains his plan
"Nice plan" Venna comments "do you have any idea how to do it?" she asks uncertainly
"More or less I think we're going to have to risk a more direct approach like you tried" Bell reveals and starts running, with his sister not far behind.
Both run in circles around Raux again, trying to confuse him and get closer to deliver the blow. But the dark-possessed captain would not let them approach without resistance; this time Raux used his sword, now covered in an aura of darkness, and swung his sword in an arc, creating a blast of darkness that rushed at the twins.
(A/N: think of those special anime moves like Bleach where Ichigo launches an energy blade from his sword)
Seeing the energy attack coming their way and knowing that the same attack could injure the audience behind them both, the Cranel siblings brandished their daggers, now covered in several strange symbols and runes, and launched a joint attack against the energy blast in front of them.
the collision of blows sent a shock wave to the entire stadium and stands, many were pushed back by this wave, but everyone was surprised to see the brothers facing the onslaught of darkness launched by their opponent. the wave of darkness ended up breaking down after a few minutes with both brothers pushing it back; for a moment the twins and the captain stare at each other for a brief moment, like light and dark facing each other
"you have progressed well". a voice speaks in the twins' minds; a noble and mature voice
"!"
"!"
"You two got really strong. How nice!" a second, younger, and a more youthful voice speaks to both
'who is saying this?'
'how they got into my mind'
the twins thought in surprise but then felt a strange force manifest in their arms; on Bell's left arm and Venna's right arm, where they both held their weapons
"We will lend you our power" the mature voice said with authority
"Make good use of it! Good luck!" the jovial voice encouraged with joy
even without understanding what was happening the twins knew they had to run, because literally moments after receiving this strange power, Raux attacks them both with a new wave of shadow blades and this time goes on the offensive and attacks Bell with his sword while casts a black flame with his other hand trying to hit Venna.
Both brothers dodged by rolling on the ground, close to Raux, and with their daggers dropped to the ground, both preparing their punches to hit the heart of their opponent, to eliminate all the darkness released from the adventurer at the root.
"Concentrate, focus the power of light, and visualize your target: the darkness being struck! Scream! name the force that will purge this darkness!" The mature voice said one last time to the twins before they both rolled over to Raux.
"purgans lux!/purgans lux!" The twins screamed together, their fists covered in the light of their nearly summoned Keyblades; they both punched Raux's chest armor, shattering it to pieces from the force of the punches' impact, launching Raux into the air and causing him to roll a few feet before coming to a stop.
the audience is shocked by the scene they see: two level 1 adventurers, who haven't upgraded their stats in two years, have defeated a level 2 adventurer in just one punch. even the gods; Apollo, Ganesha, Freya, Hephaestus, and Hestia are surprised, not understanding how this is possible, but Ouranos, in his hidden location, is terrified, as he knows how both of them are so strong.
"That... was the light of the copy weapons, made in the image of the original weapon..." the old ruling god speaks with trepidation in his voice "they... are strong... I need to prepare the city and its inhabitants for eventual evacuation"
the old god sneaks out of the coliseum, his last words leaving the air around him heavy "after all… it will be necessary to use all the power of a god to eliminate those monsters that threaten the world"
Bell and Venna drop to their knees, both exhausted, not from the time they've run, but from the sheer amount of magic that was pumped to deliver that single blow.
Who were those voices speaking in their minds? Why did they manifest now? What were their goals in aiding them in this battle?
Questions roamed the minds of the two albino brothers and unfortunately it didn't look like they would find an answer anytime soon.
"BELL! VENNA!' Hestia yells from the stands "YOU DID IT!" The home goddess rejoices in her two children's victory as it means they can now be part of her family again and any other problems can be resolved without the need for violence.
Hearing this, the presenter of the Ganesha family remembered that he was still on duty and had to announce the end of the battle.
"AND WE HAVE OUR WINNERS! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. THE KNIGHTS, BEEEEEEELLLL AND VEEEEENNAAAAA!"
With that, the entire coliseum erupted in a flurry of cheers and congratulations to the victors of the battle. The people and the presenter went on talking about things that both siblings weren't even giving importance to because what they cared about at the moment was to help the captain they had just taken down and reconcile with him, to avoid new problems.
Both approach the fallen and still unconscious captain, and with Bell catching him in his arms and Venna pulling out a potion from one of her belts; opening, the albino young woman slowly pours the invigorating liquid into the blond young man's mouth, in moments a small green aura covers his body, indicating that he has recovered.
With their (possible) friend recovered, Bell puts Raux on his back and carries him through the tunnel to meet his goddess and family on the other side.