Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Danmachi. Both series belong to their respective owners.
Hello my dear readers! I'm bring forth a new chapter!
Sorry for the wait, the dreaded monster known as Finals has been invading my life, so I've been really busy. Barely managed to survive with the skin of my teeth.
In the meantime...I really hate myself.
I finally decided to stop playing FGO, due to severe burnout. I wasn't having fun with the game, and it felt like a chore, having to log in and do whatever I need to do.
However, because I gave up FGO, it left this void in my heart. So I was curious to try out new mobile gacha games.
That timing, for better or worse, led me to discover the hype around Honkai Star Rail. Curiosity got the best of me, along with the fact that I wanted to try out a a turn-based RPG outside of Pokémon, especially when it's free.
The initial plan was to spend 30 minutes feeling out the game.
Before I knew it, I've sunk in about 3 hours.
...Hoyoverse games truly are terrifying.
Let's start the chapter.
Chapter 15: Face my Fears
Today was the big day.
It was time for the Loki Familia to set out for their expedition to the Deeper Floors of the Dungeon.
Everyone in at the Twilight Manor practically set out of their home and to the main plaza in front of the Tower of Babel. Except for a few individuals, who chose to stay behind a bit to take care of some personal business.
Finn, Riveria, and Gareth walked through the entrance of their Familia home, having said their goodbyes to Loki. When executives of the Loki Familia walked a bit further away from their Familia home, Gareth gave a small chuckle.
"Honestly, to get this far...feels like it's only yesterday when we first started out in the Loki Familia..." Gareth recalled.
"It's certainly a nostalgic feeling...the times when we endlessly argue with one another." Riveria recalled.
"Those are quite unforgettable memories..." Finn remarked with a small smile, before he turned his head to Riveria. "Speaking of unforgettable...I can still recall recent events that have been occurring in the Familia as of late..."
"And it revolves around a certain princess of ours..." Gareth chuckled while stroking his beard.
"Do tell..." Riveria simply responded, pretending that she doesn't know about the subject.
"Well, before we get to that..." Finn started, before he turned his head towards Riveria. "I just want to know what your thoughts are on Sora."
Riveria's facial expression didn't change she asked that question. She simply glanced at Finn, before a small smile formed on her lips
"What makes you think that I have any knowledge on Sora?" Riveria simply asked.
"Call it intuition and observation." Finn simply answered with a smile. "You see, Ais has been participating in some interesting activities around the manor. Said activities include approaching Familia members for sparring."
"Heh, I could still remember the faces on those young ones' faces." Gareth chuckled. "Imagine their shock and surprise when Ais approaches them out of nowhere and asks if they're interested in sparring. They immediately turn her down, because they're terrified in facing her in combat."
"Quite, she even asked me to spar with her. It's certainly an interesting request out of nowhere." Finn recalled, remembering Ais approaching him and asking him for a spar. Honestly, he would comply with Ais's request. However, he had far too much on his plate to make time for Ais.
"The only people who were willing to spar with Ais were Tione and Tiona, but even Tiona complained how she prefers hanging out rather than constant sparring." Gareth added up.
"And this sudden requests isn't like Ais. Normally, outside of the Dungeon, she usually hones her sword or blankly stare off into space. But she's changed..." Finn noted, before he turned to Riveria. "So, considering how close you are to Ais, I figured that you have an idea on who is planting these ideas into her head. It's certainly not you, seeing how such unorthodox ideas aren't really your way of doing things. It must be someone else." Finn pointed out.
Riveria stared at Finn for a short moment, before she simply pushed a strand of hair away of her away from her face.
"...Even if you ask me, I personally don't know what's going on with her meetings with Sora." Riveria admitted, seeing how there's no harm in revealing the truth to Finn and Gareth.
"Is that so...?" Finn remarked. "Still, I am quite surprised that Ais is privately meeting up with Sora. I wonder what spurned this on...?"
"About that..." Riveria started, seeing how there is context needed for this.
By the time she finished her explanation, Finn gave a slight frown.
"So it was our blunder that led to these circumstances. Well, you certainly did the right thing, wanting to make up for the shortcomings that we've made. And I can understand why you didn't want Sora to get involved with our expedition. We already owe Sora for what he has done for us, and using his abilities for our expedition certainly won't help balance the books..." Finn muttered.
"Indeed. Ais is making connections with people outside of her Familia, which is important for her. We have Sora and Bell to thank for that." Riveria said.
"...The Hestia Familia managed to find a couple of interesting people..." Finn remarked with a small smile. He felt his thumb tremble when he thought of them. And it's because of that feeling that Finn had a premonition that something was about to drastically change.
~ Break ~
It's been a full week since Bell has seen the last of Sora. And even though that Sora told them they will reunite, Bell can't shake off this empty feeling. Without Sora around, things have been less...bright, for better words.
That isn't to say the Hestia Familia is in a depressing mood, far from it. His Goddess always brings warmth to their home. A sense of comfort and belonging. But when Sora is around...he brings this air of sheer positivity and optimism. He makes you look forward to seeing a brand new day and what type of adventures that await you.
To think Sora is capable of bringing such a positive atmosphere just by being around.
Bell and Lili were traversing through the 9th floor of the Dungeon. Without Sora around, they haven't noticed any Heartless popping up as of late. It goes to show how important Sora is in eliminating the Heartless.
"...No sign of Heartless here..." Bell noted aloud as he looked around his surroundings.
"Lili finds it strange the the Heartless are no longer showing up every time we finish a floor..." Lili remarked when looking around. "...They truly are abnormal monsters."
"Indeed. And it's up to Sora to permanently eliminate them from being a bigger threat." Bell said, and gave a soft frown. "I wonder how Sora is doing..."
"It's been a full week, and Sora still hasn't returned. Then again, traversing the Deeper Floors of the Dungeon isn't something that can be done in a single day." Lili recalled.
"Well, Sora does have the strength and Skills that allow him to survive and traverse the Dungeon with ease..." Bell said. "...Then again, Sora is unfamiliar with the Dungeon. So it may take him some time to figure out where to go."
"Lili still wonders if Sora was serious about going to the Deeper Floors despite him being a Level 1. You need a party to traverse the Middle Floors. Going solo through the Deeper Floors is tantamount to suicide due to increase monster number and spawn rate." Lili said with skepticism.
"It is rather worrying. But Sora is...different." Bell said with a with a frown.
Honestly, Bell felt that the Deeper Floor monsters were the only monsters that can give Sora a decent challenge, and that is if Sora was just using his swordsmanship, strength, and skill alone. Add in the plethora or Sora's magic and his Keyblades, and you'll find that Sora could easily deal with the tough mobs in the Deeper Floors.
Bell inwardly frowned when he came to that thought.
The only reason why Sora ever bothered to stick up here is because of the Heartless. If the Heartless weren't here, then that would mean that Sora is able to progress further. But that would also mean he would be left behind as well. And if he tried to follow Sora to the lower floors, he would only expose himself to danger that he can't handle and get himself killed.
Time and time again, Bell is painfully aware of his limits and how far he has to go, even with all of these improvements that he's been making lately. And that's exactly why he needed to break past his limits in order to reach the place where Sora stands and become a worthy hero. A hero that is able to stand on the same ground as a Keyblade Wielder.
He desired to Level Up already, but he hasn't met that yet.
Hestia has repeatedly told him that his growth is abnormally huge, and that no other person is capable of growing as fast as him. In fact, his status was big enough to constitute for a Level Up; Hestia is rather baffled that he hasn't Leveled Up despite all the things that he has done.
He supposes the only thing to do is to perform a 'heroic feat' that the Gods will recognize and allow him to Level Up.
Isn't his abnormal stats and fighting the Heartless truly not a heroic feat for a Level Up?
Then again, he's been fighting only a small fraction of the Heartless Sora deals with. From an outsider's perspective, he's merely just there to pick up the scrapes from Sora's fights. It's not that impressive.
Bell clenched his fist at the thought.
He needed to achieve something on his own merit, and not rely on Sora. Even if Sora said that he'll be helping Bell on his journey, can he truly grow strong when he's constantly relying on Sora's protection? He wants to return the favor and prove to Sora that he's a capable warrior of fighting by his side, not someone who needs to be looked after.
'...Will that time ever come...?' Bell thought with a frown, his self doubts starting to fester within the back of his head.
"Hey...Master Bell...Isn't this floor too quiet...?" Lili wondered aloud when she looked around her surroundings, which made Bell snap out of his thoughts.
"R-Really...?" Bell said aloud when he looked around his surroundings. Now that Lili mentioned it, it has been too quiet as of late.
Normally, quiet moments like this is usually the sign that Heartless are around. But that doesn't make any sense, since Sora has fully liberated the 9th floor of the Heartless a while ago.
Bell felt a a tingle up his spine.
Something is wrong.
Before Bell could ponder any further on what that feeling is, both his and Lili's ears picked up heavy stomping being made, getting louder and louder with each moment passing.
Bell and Lili looked ahead, and they could only freeze in shock on what they saw before them.
The saw a figure covered in dark wisps and shadows making their way towards them. It was hard to make out what it was with the shadows of the Dungeon hiding what it was. But as it got closer, the dim illumination of the Dungeon began to reveal what the figure was.
Bell's eyes widened in shock.
That figure looked like a Minotaur...and yet it wasn't the Minotaur that Bell is all too familiar with.
It's fur wasn't dark brown, but a deep sinister black color. Its skin is a very dark purplish color with blue veins surfacing at its arms. It didn't possess the violent red eyes like your typical monster, but an eery yellow glowing color. It's very horns are golden with black streaks all over it. It dragged a large sword, which was surrounded by dark energy.
But the most striking detail...
Is that it bore the Heartless Symbol on its chest.
"A Heartless...Minotaur...!?" Bell muttered in absolute shock.
"H-How could a minotaur be up on the ninth floor!?" Lili yelled in shock. "We need to escape, Master Bell! We're not strong enough to fight it! So let's get...!?" Lili was soon cut off when she saw Bell doing nothing.
"Master Bell?" Lili yelped as she yanked on his arm.
Bell couldn't do anything but have his breath hitched. His body was paralyzed in absolute fear. His heart was beating rapidly at the sight of the Minotaur alone. He couldn't take his eyes off the minotaur. His mind couldn't help but flash back at the near death experience of the minotaur.
"Master Bell, we need to-!" Lili yelped as she tried to snap Bell out of his trance, before she noticed the Heartless Minotaur roaring as it began to make its way towards them with its sword lifted up into the air.
The minotaur swung down towards Bell.
The only thing Bell felt was something pushing him out of the way, sending him flying towards the side. When the sword impacted with the ground, an explosion of dust and dark energy erupted, which sent the two flying back a bit.
Bell snapped out of his fear induced trance when he crashed into the floor, starting to recover his senses. As he finally did, he looked at whatever pushed him out of the way, and his eyes widened at what he saw.
Lili's backpack was practically destroyed from the slashed. Meanwhile, blood was running down her forehead and she lied still on his body.
Bell immediately thought his indecisiveness costed Lili her life, only to see faint breathing from her body. Seems like she was knocked out from the impact from all the debris.
Before Bell could feel relief that Lili was alive, the Heartless Minotaur roared as it charged towards Bell with its sword raised into the air. Bell immediately grabbed onto Lili and jumped out of the way, avoiding the Heartless Minotaur's slash.
Bell gritted his teeth as he immediately tossed Lili a good distance away. Immediately, he raised his hand towards the Heartless Minotaur.
"Firebolt!" Bell fired off his Light Firaga spell to the Heartless Minotaur. The white fire sailed through the air and impacted with the Heartless Minotaur.
The Heartless Minotaur roared out in pain, making Bell's eye widened in surprise upon seeing the reaction. If the Minotaur is a Heartless, and his Firebolt has light properties...then maybe...!
Bell's hopes were soon dashed when the Heartless Minotaur began to charge forward, with dark energy surrounding it. Bell immediately jumped to the side to avoid the incoming attack, barely avoiding getting tackled. However, Bell winced a bit when he felt the horn barely scrape his flank.
Bell rolled onto the around and stood up, and his hand immediately went to the side. There a a slight pain and small amount of blood leaking, but not too injured. Bell grimaced; his Light armor minimized the damage, but there's only so much it could take before he is in trouble.
The Heartless Minotaur growled when it turned around, its sights set on Bell, all the while not taking any notice of Lili.
'I just need to keep its attention...or else Lili...!' Bell thought as he took out his Hestia Knife and other knife.
"...M-Master...Bell...?" Lili's weak voice called out.
Bell immediately looked to the side to see Lili regaining consciousness, picking herself up from the floor. His attention was soon returned to the Heartless Minotaur, who roared as it closed the distance between them.
"Run Lili!" Bell yelled as he immediately side stepped to avoid the cleaver swinging down on him. "Get out of here! Quickly!"
Lili's eyes widened in horror and shock upon realizing the situation. She stood there, unsure what was the right thing to do.
"Go! Run! I'll catch up with you soon, hurry!" Bell yelled once more, internally begging for Lili to get the message.
Lili's teeth gritted against each other, before turned around and began to hobble off into the distance, all the while wailing in despair.
Seeing that Lili is getting away from the Heartless Minotaur took off one of Bell's worries. Now he has to focus on the biggest task at hand.
Bell immediately jumped back to avoid another strike, and raised his hand once more.
"Firebolt!"
The Light Firaga impacted with the Heartless Minotaur once more, making the Heartless Minotaur growl as its body was burning once more.
'I just need to keep my distance, and...!' Bell thought, before his eyes soon widened in shock when he saw the Heartless Minotaur charge with dark aura, before it released said dark power to release multiple dark orbs, all heading towards his direction.
"Firebolt! Firebolt! Firebolt!"" Bell yelled out as he launched multiple Light Firaga bolts towards the incoming projectiles.
Light fire and dark energy collided with one another, causing a massive explosion to occur between the two of them. Bell was sent flying back a bit from the explosion.
When Bell managed to plant his feet into the ground, Bell's instincts screamed at him to move. From the dust and smoke, a fist emerged from it. Bell, once again, jumped to the side once more to avoid the attack, only for Heartless Minotaur to deliver a backfist to Bell's side, sending the white haired boy flying from the impact. Bell soared through the air for a bit, and landed and rolled on the ground.
Bell coughed, feeling the wind knocked out of him. He shakily picked himself up and saw the Heartless Minotaur making its way towards him.
Bell gritted his teeth as he shakily raised his weapons once more.
~ Break ~
"Whew, almost there...!" Sora said as he was making his way through the 10th floor of the Dungeon.
It took some time, but Sora felt that he managed to gather all the necessary magic stones and monster materials to finally pay off Lili's fees for leaving her Familia. Honestly, he could've achieved this in a shorter time. But with all of the Heartless getting in his way, navigating the Dungeons, and taking down the Dungeon Monsters was a lot more time consuming than Sora thought.
But it didn't matter anymore. He managed to achieve his goal. Now all he has to do is return back to the surface and profit off his dive into the Dungeon.
"I can't wait to see how the others are doing! And if we have enough leftover valis, we can treat ourselves at the Hostess of Fertility!" Sora told himself, his mind already thinking on what dish to order and possibly learn from Mia.
Before he could ponder any further, he soon noticed something ahead of him. Nearby a wall was were three Adventurers, the two of them carrying one with a rather round build over their shoulders.
And Sora immediately noticed that the round Adventurer in question was heavily injured.
As soon as Sora spotted the figure, he immediately made his way towards the Adventurers.
"Hey, you alright!?" Sora asked with an alarmed tone when he examined the injured Adventurer.
"Another Adventurer...?" one of the Adventurers muttered with a surprised tone. "What are the odds! Hey, you have any potions you have on you!? Please, we'll properly pay you for any potions that you have! Our Familia member is dying...!"
"No need, I got this!" Sora said as he held up his arm towards the injured Adventurer. "Heal!"
A flower materialized over the injured Adventurer, and a green light showered over the injured Adventurer. The wounds on his body began to fade away as a result.
"Uuuh...huh?" the formerly injured Adventurer groaned, before he blinked in surprise when he saw his wounds no longer present.
"Holy crap! You're alright!" the Adventurer said in surprise and shock.
"That was a close one..." the Adventurer said while sighing in relief, and turned to Sora. "Thank you, you're a life saver!"
"I'm glad I came at the right time." Sora replied with a small grin.
"Still, you better be careful! There's this weird minotaur that made its way to the Upper Floors!" one of the Adventurer warned.
"A minotaur...?" Sora muttered with confusion and surprise.
"Yeah, a minotaur! And it looked way different compared to the typical description of a minotaur! I think it's some irregular monster or something, with some weird symbol on its chest..."
"Yeah...that thing is way too dangerous to deal with. We've only managed to get away because one of our Familia members stayed behind to hold him off..." the Adventurer muttered with a bitter look on his face.
"That minotaur killed Kenny...that bastard...!" the other Adventurer spat with outrage.
"Anyways, thanks for helping us out-" the Adventurer said as he turned to Sora, only to find Sora no longer there. "Eh? The hell did he go?"
Sora was already sprinting ahead of the group.
"A minotaur is roaming the Upper Floors! Bell may be in danger...!" Sora exclaimed with alarm as he sped through the 10th floor of the Dungeon.
He managed to get to the second to last room of the Dungeon, where it led to the room where it held the entrance to the 9th floor of the Dungeon. But just as he was about to reach the entrance, he soon spotted a certain figure standing in front of it, as if the figure was guarding the entrance.
Something felt off to Sora, and he begun to slow down his pace as the mist of the Floor began to clear up a bit.
When Sora took a good look at the figure, it was a tall and heavily muscular boaz with rust-colored hair and eyes, along with a pair of boar ears. He wears a dark blue sleeveless top with a red pectoral and a collar-like part, grey pants, and brown and gray shoes.
When the two got into good viewing distance, the boaz examined Sora for a bit.
"You're the one with the sky blue soul..." the boaz declared with recognition.
"Me?" Sora said while pointing to himself, before he shook his head. "Never mind that. We can talk later! Right now, I need to get to-!"
Sora was cut off when the boaz unsheathed his weapon and brandished it for Sora to see, which raised alarmed bells in Sora's head.
"I challenge you." the boaz declared.
"Challenge...!?" Sora repeated with an incredulous look. "Why!? No, forget about that! There's a minotaur on the loose, and I gotta stop it from taking other lives! I don't have time for this!" Sora told the boaz.
"Why would I care about lives outside of my Familia? Whether they live or die is none of my concern. The only thing I have in mind is challenging you." the boaz simply replied.
"Well I care about those lives! So get out of my way!" Sora demanded.
"If you wish to get to the minotaur...then simply get past me then." the boaz told Sora as he raised his black sword.
Sora scowled.
'Hang on Bell...I'll get to you soon! I know you can survive this...!' Sora thought, deeply wishing within his Heart that his friend is alright.
He soon kicked off the ground and towards the boaz with breakneck speed. Sora swung his Keyblade, just as the boaz swung his own large sword.
A heavy clash was made when Keyblade collided with the Supreme Black Sword.
~ Break ~
The sound of explosions and rubble flying was heard throughout the area of the 9th floor.
Bell was internally screaming to keep moving, lest he suffers a horrible blow dealt by the Heartless Minotaur. And anytime he couldn't move and had to parry the blows, his arms screamed out in agony upon clashing with the monster's strength.
The Heartless Minotaur roared as it kept closing in on Bell. It swung to the side, making Bell raise up his knives once more to block the incoming strike. The strength behind the blow caused Bell to be picked off his feet and sent tumbling to the side. Bell hurriedly picked himself up in order to avoid a stomp from the Minotaur.
Bell hurriedly tried to back away once more, only for the Heartless Minotaur to roar as it released another volley of dark energy orbs to close in on Bell. Bell immediately had to back away once more, only for his back to be met with a large stalacite behind him. His eyes widened upon this realization as the dark energy orbs closed in on him.
From there, a massive explosion occurred, causing dust and rubble to explode once more.
The Heartless Minotaur stood there for a bit, waiting for the dust cloud to settle. Once it did clear up, it could only give a deep growl.
The site of the explosion was nothing more than rubble, while Bell was a bit further behind from the explosion, sitting on his behind.
Bell was breathing heavily, as he couldn't believe that his quick thinking managed to save him in time. He managed to get around the large stalactite as a shield, but the result of the explosion has sent him flying back. As a result, he didn't become too injured.
But not without a price.
Bell grimaced as he looked at his arm guards, which were heavily damaged by the dark explosion. It was thanks to these gauntlets, along with the Hero's glove that he managed to withstand the damage.
Bell hurriedly stood up as he watched the Heartless Minotaur charge at him once more, doing its charge once more with a dark energy surrounding it. Bell, once again, made him self roll out of the way to avoid getting hit. Thankfully, he managed to properly react in time as he avoided the attack.
Once Bell got out of the way, Bell immediately pointed his hand backwards, without looking at the target.
"Firebolt!" Bell fired off his Light Firaga spell towards the Heartless Minotaur's back. From the way he aimed his hand without looking, the Firebolt spell was aimed at an off direction that didn't look like it was going to hit the Minotaur. However, bolt of fire soon curved and headed towards the Heartless Minotaur, hitting it square in the back.
The Heartless Minotaur roared as it tried to shake off the Light Firaga once more.
Bell immediately turned around to take a look at the Heartless Minotaur, and saw the chance to get some more distance. Just as he backed up once more, the Heartless Minotaur roared as it turned around and proceeded to throw the large sword towards Bell.
Bell's eyes widened when he saw the sword flying towards him, and made himself move to the side to avoid it, only to wince in pain when the blade managed to leave a cut on his upper right arm. The cleaver sword impacted with the wall behind ball, embedding itself deep inside it.
The Heartless Minotaur roared as it charged forward once more, making Bell grimace as it was going to close the distance between them. Bell was about to back away once more, only for his ears to pick up cracking behind him. He quickly looked behind him, and his eyes widened in shock when the cleaver sword came out of the wall and its pommel was heading straight towards him.
'No, it's coming back to the minotaur...!' Bell thought in realization.
Bell jumped to the side once more to avoid being pincered. He managed to avoid getting hit from front and back, but he was still mid-air. And it was an opportunity the Heartless Minotaur didn't miss as reached out and grabbed a hold of Bell's leg, catching him.
Bell couldn't even reaction properly, as his vision was suddenly turned into a blur as he was thrown violently through the air, and he ended up crashing through one of the Dungeon's stalactites. Once he crashed through one of them, Bell crashed and rolled onto the ground.
The white haired teenager could only cough heavily from all of the damage that he just received. He struggled to pick himself up, his arms shaking with absolute terror and pain.
'I...I can't win...' Bell thought in horror as he was struggling to stand up. He could only look up and see the Heartless Minotaur standing before him, growling was it was slowly making its way towards him, as if it knew its prey couldn't get anywhere.
'There's no way to escape...I just can't...!' Bell thought as he closed his eyes in horror and grim acceptance.
"C'mon Bell, I know you're better than that!"
Bell's eyes shot open when he heard that familiar voice.
"S-Sora...!?" Bell muttered in recognition, looking up once more with a bit of hope in his eyes.
Only to see no one around but the Heartless Minotaur. There was no familiar back for Bell to see.
Bell's hopes felt dashed, seeing how his hero isn't here to save him.
Bell paused when that thought came to his head.
If Sora were here...he would be saved once more.
Just like last time.
But...is this truly an outcome that he wanted?
...
..
.
No.
He didn't want to be saved again.
He didn't want to be just someone for Sora to constantly look after.
He wanted to become someone worthy of fighting alongside Sora's side.
But time and time again, past experiences have shown how far behind he is to Sora.
Can he truly succeed...?
"I don't think. I know."
Another familiar line echoed within his head as Bell slowly and firmly got himself back on his feet. Somehow, hearing this familiar voice within his head once more brought Bell a sense of comfort, and he couldn't help but give a small chuckle.
He didn't know why he was suddenly having Sora's voice echo inside of his head. Perhaps it's the near death experience that's causing him to hallucinate these voices.
Or perhaps...it's the connection of their Hearts that's giving Bell strength. Just as the connections Sora has with others gives him the strength to fight.
Bell liked to think it's the latter.
It's strange and oddly relieving. He could no longer feel the icy grip of fear and death. It was instead filled with newfound determination and resolve.
Bell's eyes hardened.
'That's right...Sora...all that I'm doing up to this very moment...is to become a hero! I want to be a hero who will fight the Darkness!'
Bell raised ups his knives once more in preparation.
"I'll prove Sora here and now...that his faith in me isn't misplaced!" Bell declared, ready to take down his mighty opponent. The Heartless Minotaur roared once more, seeing that Bell isn't throwing the towel just yet.
Time to face his fears.
~ Break ~
If anyone was in a certain room of the 10th floor of the Dungeon, the only thing they could feel with their senses are the small earthquakes that were occurring, their ears hearing the clash of metal heavily clashing against one another, and if one were to be close to the source of it all, a heavy shockwaves of wind that'll blow anyone away.
Two warriors were clashing. One trying to get past, the other holding his grounds to prevent the pass.
Blow for blow, neither side backed down from one another. Both sides kept pushing against each other.
The speed at which their swords clashed was something that no normal eye can keep track of. One needs to be highly experienced and high level to comprehend the speed of their swings. But even then, high level Adventurers would struggle in keeping track.
Just in a single moment, multiple clashes have already occurred. Each clash resulted in an explosion of wind and sparks.
It was then when the swords were met in the middle of it all, and the two were pushing against each other with their strength.
As the two were pushing their weapons against each other, one thought was coming to mind throughout their clash.
Strong. The opponent is strong.
That was the thought that passed through Ottar's head as he was putting in all of his strength into this fight.
He, who is no doubt the strongest Adventurer of all of Orario, is putting his all into his fight with his opponent. His well-renowned swordsmanship, which actually surpasses that of the Sword Princess, was actually being put to the test against this very opponent. Even his very own Perfect Defense is slowly being broken down by the individual before him.
The only times he ever put his all into his fight is when he is facing multiple opponents at the same time, and around the same Level as the higher Level members of his Familia. In fact, it's only logical that in order to stand a chance against Ottar, you fight him with a highly capable group of Level 6s.
Unfortunately, such logic falls flat when it comes to Sora.
Even so...
'Alright, this is going nowhere...!' Sora thought in frustration as he kept trying to push back his opponent. He honestly thought that he could just overpower his opponent with his physical strength and skill, but to his surprise, his opponent is doing well in staying in the fight.
But even so, this fight is getting nowhere with just brute force. And Sora didn't want to waste any more time.
"Alright, enough is enough...!" Sora yelled as he jumped back from Ottar, much to the boaz surprise.
'He stopped?' Ottar thought in surprise, seeing Sora jump back from their clash.
It was then Ottar witnessed the strange silver key sword in Sora's hand disappear, and was replaced with...a rather strange looking sword, if it could be called that.
The grip is a black cylinder with coils around, and the guard consists of a white square with blue highlights. The blade is a green cactus, with some kind of brown hat at the top and a rope and red bandanna coiled around, and the teeth consist of the rope wrapped around it.
To see giant key sword be replaced with an even more absurd looking weapon only confused Ottar, not sure where Sora is doing.
But the strangeness of the weapon didn't stop from there, as Sora proceeded hold up his weapon, and the the weapon proceeded to break apart into pieces, before reassembling itself into some sort of weirdly shaped pointed weapon that was spinning in place. This only confused the boaz even further, as he never encountered such a weapon his life.
Sora pointed his Drill Punch forward as he jumped forward towards Ottar. As he did, the Drill Punch enlarged and begun to spin rapidly, with energy coalescing around it.
When Ottar saw the incoming drill attack, he knew that he was going to be met with massive force. As such, he proceeded to plant the soles of his feet deep into the ground as anchorage for what is to come, and raised his Supreme Black Sword for defense.
When the Drill Punch collided with the Supreme Black Sword, sparks flew everywhere. The ground beneath Ottar practically cracked into pieces from the force, which pushed Ottar back a fair distance. But even though he was being pushed back, Ottar didn't let up his defense against the drill.
Pushing all of his strength into the defense, Ottar gave a mighty roar as he pushed back with all of his might. The clash was short and intense, but Ottar managed to withstand the assault as he barely deflected the Drill punch, moving his arm to the side.
With the sword out of his periphery, he saw Sora flipping backwards in the air. He thought he succeeded in that clash of theirs. However, as soon as they made eye contact with each other...
He saw that Sora wasn't exactly done. In fact, this is what Sora intended from the start.
Sora saw the opening when the boaz before him after putting his all into defending himself.
Sora pointed the Drill Punch towards the boaz, and the drill transformed into a four pronged claw. It then shot forward, immediately closing the distance between the two, and it grabbed firm hold of the vulnerable boaz.
Ottar's eyes widened when he saw the weapon do this, again something that is outside of his knowledge, expectations, and experience. His free hand immediately went to get the weapon off of him, but it was surprisingly sturdy.
Before he could do anything else, he soon felt his body being flung through the air, his feet no longer on the ground. He world turn into a blur as he was violently yanked through the air, and his entire body was slammed onto the ground.
Sora yanked hard on the energy rope once more, sending Ottar flying through the air once more and proceed to slam him into the ground a second time. From there, Sora proceeded to repeat the process two more times. And once he finally reached the fifth slam, Sora gave one mighty pull and swung with a lot of force, with the slam being the biggest out of all the slams.
And that final slam has landed Ottar in a position that far from the entrance to the final room that reaches the 9th floor of the Dungeon.
With the obstacle out of the way, Sora immediately took off and made his way towards Bell.
'Hang on Bell!' Sora thought in hurry as sped forward.
~ Break ~
In the middle of the crater lied the Captain of the Freya Familia. The boaz laid there for a short moment, before he grunted as he shook the dirt off his body and picked himself up. When he stood up, Ottar examined himself before he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. He felt something wet roll down his face, and his nose could immediately tell that it was his blood. Flexing a few muscles throughout his body, he didn't feel anything broken in his body.
If anything, he could spot a few scrapes and bruises on his body when he was flung around by Sora.
Nothing a potion or two could heal up.
Even so...
"...I failed." Ottar muttered to himself.
Even if he said that to himself, he didn't feel any disappointment. He has fulfilled his role in holding back Sora from reaching Bell, satisfying his Goddess's command. Even when Sora managed to get past him, he didn't feel upset.
He was instead focused on a feeling that he hasn't feel in a very long time.
Not since those dark days that occurred in Orario.
When was the last time he clashed with someone who was capable of matching him in strength and swordsmanship?
When was the last time he fought someone with impressive use of magic?
When was the last time he was flung around like a rag doll and couldn't do anything about it?
When was the last time he felt his blood pumping through his body through such a clash?
Ottar looked at his hand, before clenching it tightly, as if he didn't want to forget this feeling.
"Not bad...Not bad at all..." Ottar quietly said to himself.
He found a worthy challenge to overcome.
~ break ~
"A-A minotaur was attacking some kid with white hair, and-!"
That was all Ais needed to hear, as she broke out into a sprint from her group. She ignored the cries and shouts from her Familia, and put all of her effort into getting to Bell.
'Why...why is a minotaur here...!? I thought we took care of all of them, and Sora eliminated the last one...' Ais thought in confusion as she used her impressive speed to get through the Dungeon floor.
As she was speeding through the floor, she soon saw a pallum leaning against the wall while struggling to move forward. When Ais saw the pallum, and the pallum saw Ais making her way towards her, she began to pick up the pace towards her.
"Please...help us...!" the pallum begged, and she tripped forward, only for Ais to catch her. As she did, the pallum could only point in the direction ahead of them.
"Please...save master Bell...!" the pallum begged.
'He's in that direction...!' Ais thought in surprise when she looked at the path ahead of her.
Just as she looked ahead of her, her fellow Familia members were catching up to her.
"Ais, what the heck came over you-" Tiona attempted to ask, but Ais took off once more.
"Please have Riveria look after her!" Ais shortly told the Amazon as she ran ahead once more.
"She left on her own again..." Tione quietly commented, before she looked at Lili. "Woah, looks like she has seen better days..."
"Honestly..." Bete clicked his tongue as he followed after Ais.
Ais kept speeding along the path where Lili pointed to, and her ears started to pick up noise ahead of her. She could faintly hear metal begin clashed, sounds of explosions, and rubble being sent flying.
She was getting close.
Ais's eyes hardened in focus, ready to save Bell from the minotaur that he's facing. That fact that there's still activity shows that Bell managed to survive this long, an impressive feat to be sure.
In a short moment, she finally managed to arrive at the scene, but her eyes widened at the sight before her.
Before her was a Minotaur, but it looked completely different compared to past Minotaurs that she has encountered in the past. It looked more darker and sinister compared to the other monsters. It was bathed in a completely dark aura, an aura so dark that it reminded her of a very terrible monster in the past, one that she completely despises with all her being.
And what stood before the Minotaur was Bell. He looked rather roughed up from his encounter, and just seeing his state was enough to step in and save him from the dark Minotaur.
But when she saw the look in his eyes...she stopped herself from doing so.
She saw the raw and absolute determination in Bell's eyes. It was as if Bell wanted to overcome the obstacle before him, no matter the odds. There was no sign of him wanting to be saved.
He was having an adventure.
"Oi, Ais! You found him and the mino-!" Bete called out, but was soon stopped when he saw what was before him. "That color scheme...and that symbol...it's just like...!" Bete muttered in recognition.
"Geez, you keep leaving us behind! Good thing we finally caught-" Tiona said, before she stopped at the sight before her as well.
"Ais, have you found-" Finn called out as he arrived as well, alongside Tione and Riveria, the latter was holding Lili in her arms. Just like the others, they were stunned at the sight of the Heartless Minotaur.
"Master Bell..." Lili muttered with worry. "Aren't you going to save him!?" Lili questioned as she turned to the other Adventurers.
"We can't. He's having an adventure right now." Ais simply told her, leaving no room for the others to intervene.
As soon as she said that, both Bell and the Heartless Minotaur gave out their battle cries as they charged towards one another.
The Heartless Minotaur swung its sword horizontally, leaving Bell no room to jump sideways. Bell wasn't deterred by this, as he proceeded to jump into the air and spun himself, avoiding the attack. Bell flipped above the Heartless Minotaur, and quickly delivered a slash across the Heartless Minotaur's right shoulder, though it looked to be rather small. Bell then landed behind it, and pointed his hand towards the Minotaur.
"Firebolt!" Bell fired off his Light Firaga Spell, hitting the Heartless Minotaur square in the back, which caused the Heartless Minotaur to stagger a bit from impact.
From that staggering, Bell didn't let up as he made his way towards the Heartless Minotaur once more. The Heartless Minotaur roared as it turned around and slashed downward. Bell jumped sideways to avoid the downward slash, and then proceeded to spin himself to slash at the Minotaur's arm. The Hestia Knife delivered a good cut across the dark minotaur's arm.
Bell then proceeded to jump backwards as he brought his second arm to fling forward his Trancheuse. The knives sailed through the and was heading straight towards the dark minotaur's head, only for the minotaur to quickly raise up its arm to block the knife, causing the throwing knife to bounce off the minotaur's arm.
The dark minotaur roared as it proceeded to give chase to Bell. Bell saw the minotaur coming to him, and proceeded to turn around and run away.
For a moment, Ais thought Bell was trying to escape with his life, but her eyes widened when Bell was running towards one of the Dungeon's stalactites. Just as the Minotaur was about to catch up to Bell and deliver a brutal slash, Bell proceeded to jump up and grab hold onto the stalactite, using his momentum to spin around it.
The minotaur stopped for a brief moment when it saw Bell avoid its attack and move strangely above it, and momentarily looked up to see the white haired boy.
It was a fatal mistake on its part.
Bell spun back towards the Heartless Minotaur, and lets go of the pillar, allowing the momentum to move above the minotaur. When he was above it, Bell quickly moved his arm and made a slice towards the Heartless Minotaur's head.
The sound of flesh being sliced, alongside a loud roar reverberated throughout the room.
The Heartless Minotaur was clutching its right eye in pain, while Bell landed behind and pointed his hand towards it once more.
"Firebolt!" Bell fired off another Firebolt once more, the streak of white flames soaring through the air and impacting the Heartless Minotaur, burning it in its white intense flames.
"He's not giving any breathing room to the Minotaur...!" Tione muttered in surprise.
"He took out its eye...!" Tiona yelled with an astonished look.
"With half of its vision gone, the battle is turning in his favor..." Finn muttered, before he narrowed his eyes. "Wait...now that I look at the minotaur now..."
"So you've noticed as well." Riveria said as she narrowed her eyes at the sight of the Heartless Minotaur's body. She could see numerous small slashes delivered all over its body. While each slash may be small, the numerous slashes was slowly accumulating the damage dealt to it.
"...He actually managed to deliver this many hits towards this minotaur during this entire fight...!?" Bete muttered in shock.
Bell was about to fire another Firebolt, but the Minotaur soon growled when charged with dark aura, and unleashed multiple dark orbs once more to home in towards Bell.
"Wait, since when could it do that!?" Tiona yelped in shock.
"This minotaur...! Its abilities are just like the Violas we fought during Monsterphilia!" Tione muttered in realization.
Bell wasn't deterred as he pointed his hand once more.
"Firebolt! Firebolt! Firebolt!" Bell chanted once more, firing off multiple bolts of Firebolt to head towards the incoming projectiles. The white fire and dark orbs clashed against one another, resulting in another massive explosion. A massive dust cloud and smoke formed as a result.
"...This is a fight beyond a Level 1 could handle, and yet...!" Finn muttered, his eyes absolutely glued to the battle before him. His thumb was trembling immensely at the sight before him. "To think such bravery could shake even me...!"
Bell paused for a moment, cautious what is to come from the dust cloud. His ears soon heard the the sound of metal flying through the air, and he immediately moved to the side to avoid the incoming attack. Just as he did, he quickly glanced behind him, expecting the sword to impact the wall and return to its owner.
But much to Bell's surprise, the sword soon glowed with a dark aura, and immediately changed direction and headed towards Bell.
'It can change direction any time...!?' Bell thought in shock, as he immediately jumped to the side once more. The sword sailed past Bell, and proceeded to turn around once more. Seeing the incoming sword, Bell immediately pointed his hand forward.
"Firebolt!" the Firebolt soared through the air and impacted with the sword itself. While it certainly looked pointless to cast magic on a piece of metal, the dark aura around it waned a bit, signifying that the Light Firaga is burning away the dark magic surrounding it.
Even so, the sword's charge didn't let up as it headed towards Bell once more. Bell then proceed to jump above the sword this time, and pointed his hand downwards.
"Firebolt!"
White flames crashed down on the sword once more, this time completely burning away the dark magic surrounding it, causing the large weapon to clatter against the ground.
As soon as that was finished, Bell immediately looked behind him to see if the Heartless Minotaur was charging at him. But much to his surprise, the Heartless Minotaur was no where in sight.
"Wait...where did the Minotaur go...!?" Ais muttered in alarm, seeing such a large minotaur disappear from their notice.
It was then a dark ring formed above Bell, causing Bell to look up. His eyes widened when he saw the Heartless Minotaur materializing in the middle of the dark ring. The sword on the ground then flew back to its owners hand. The Heartless Minotaur grabbed hold of the handle, and held the sword above it, like it was about to plunge down on the target.
Bell immediately leaped away from the spot to avoid what is to come.
"Firebolt!" Bell attempted to fire off his spell as a sort of defense for what is to come, but the Heartless Minotaur charged straight past the bolt of flames and plunged its sword into the ground.
The moment the sword impacted the ground, a dark shockwave was unleashed from the center. This shockwave was large enough to completely reach Bell, impacting the boy and sent him flying through the air and his back collided with the wall behind him. He soon fell onto the ground, coughing from the impact.
And from that fall, a crackle of light appeared around Bell, before it begun to fade away.
It signified the armor of Light collapsing.
His physical armor began to collapse from all the strain as well. All of the armor around Bell couldn't handle all the damage dealt to it, as they all fell apart.
Bell staggered a bit as he picked himself up and stood up on his knee while plopping himself with his other leg.
"Master Bell...!" Lili whispered in worry.
"Ais...even if we were to honor the fight between Bell and the Minotaur...this Minotaur is an anomaly that's far beyond what he's capable of. He has proven that he's capable of defeating a normal minotaur. All of you here are aware of this." Riveria told her.
Bete clicked his tongue. He saw the way Bell fought the strange minotaur. Many Level 1 Adventurers would cow at the sight of a regular minotaur and run away. But the white haired Adventurer before him didn't so much as cower at the sight before him. He kept fighting the irregular Minotaur straight on, and it actually looked like the boy was having the upper hand and the odds looked to be in his favor. Even he could admit that the kid before him could actually slay a regular minotaur. But this abnormal minotaur...it was way beyond any Level 1s capability. The fact that Bell managed to push it this far is commendable in itself.
Ais clenched her fist. Even though she was allowing this fight to happen, a part of her was screaming to intervene. The boy has proven himself that he is strong, strong enough to tackle a monster that honestly felt like it belonged to the Middle or Lower Floors. But before she could even do anything, she soon stopped when she saw the look on Bell's face.
Bell didn't show an expression of fear, despair, hesitation, or defeat. Instead, it was the look of that he wasn't done yet. He hasn't used everything in his disposal just yet.
Bell slowly stood up, his hair shadowing his eyes. He slowly inhaled and exhaled, all the while sheathing his Hestia Knife.
"What is he...?" Ais muttered in confusion, seeing Bell sheath his weapon.
As soon as Bell made that kind of motion, Lili's eyes widened in recognition.
"Wait...he didn't use that yet...!?" Lili said aloud in surprise.
"Yet...?" Finn repeated with confusion.
Bell then held his arms out to his sides.
White flames began to flicker around Bell's hands. The sparks soon bursted into bright an intense flames. The intense white flames soon began to hover off of Bell's hand and soon began to coalesce into some kind of shape. The shape of the flames soon molded into that of a sword. When the shape of the sword took form, they began to rapidly spin, to the point where it looked like deadly sharp discs of fire.
Everyone's eyes widened in shock upon seeing what's happening.
"Is...Is that a new spell...!?" Tiona muttered.
"I didn't hear a chant, and the flames are the same as the spell he kept using...don't tell me...!" Riveria said in realization.
"The same spell...taking on a new form...!" Finn muttered in shock.
The Loki Familia was correct in this regard. The phenomena occurring before them was the result of the conditions of the spell in Bell's arsenal.
Firebolt: Swift Strike Magic Spell. Consecutive casting leads to Raid.
That second detail. It was confusing for Bell to figure out. What exactly did it mean by consecutive casting of the Firebolt spell leading to this so called "Raid"?
Since then, Bell has been working on it in the Dungeon, alongside Sora. The two experimented with a bunch of different methods on how to lead to this Raid. And after some trial and error, the two managed to succeed in achieving Raid.
Bell has to cast his Firebolt spell multiple times within a given time frame. If the amount of Firebolt spells fall outside the given time frame, it will not lead to the Raid form. If Bell does succeed in casting it in the time frame, the Firebolt spell will take on a new form.
And ever since Bell discovered this new form, he immediately trained on to learn how to properly use it, especially with Sora's Gummiphone. Thanks to the Gummiphone, Bell learned a lot about this Raid spell.
But the most crucial component that helped Bell's training with this new spell was a certain fire-wielding specialist amongst the Guardians of Light.
Bell got it memorized.
"Burn!" Bell yelled as he threw forward his Firebolt Raid. The flaming swords spun through the air while they headed straight towards the Heartless Minotaur.
The Heartless Minotaur roared as it swung its sword to deflecting the incoming projectiles. However, the curvature of the projectiles had the flaming swords narrowly avoid the dark sword. The Firebolt Raids then proceeded to dig itself deeply into the Heartless Minotaur's left shoulder and right thigh.
"That magic...they're capable of homing in on the target...!" Riveria whispered in surprise.
The Heartless Minotaur roared out in pain as the spinning flaming swords sawed their way into its body, before the swords proceeded to explode into a burst of white flames, making it fall onto its knee.
Bell manifested two Firebolt Raids once more, and proceeded to throw them to the sides, not straight towards the Heartless Minotaur. As he did, Bell immediately reached to his sides and grabbed his Trancheuse knives in both hands. He then proceeded to throw the two sets towards the Heartless Minotaur.
The Heartless Minotaur saw the incoming blades coming towards its head, and immediately raised its arm block the incoming knives. The knives bounced off the Heartless Minotaur's arm. Just as it raised its arm to block the knives, one of the the Firebolt Raids came to its exposed side and proceeded to cut deep into its sides, causing the Heartless Minotaur to roar in pain. It saw another Firebolt Raid coming from the the other side, and raised the arm holding the blade to defend itself.
The Firebolt Raid spun against the sword, before the Heartless Minotaur swung to deflect it away. When the second Firebolt Raid was deflected, the first one was still digging into its sides. The Heartless Minotaur roared as a dark aura surrounded it and unleashed a large volley of dark energy orbs.
The dark energy orbs collided with the Firebolt Raid, causing an explosion of energy. Meanwhile, many of the dark orbs headed towards Bell. When Bell saw this, the white haired boy manifested two new Firebolt Raids and threw it forward. The two spinning flaming swords flew through the air and managed to cut through some of the dark orbs, before they detonated, taking out the rest of the other dark orbs.
When the explosion occurred and a dust cloud was formed, Bell didn't hesitate on what to do next. He knew what the Heartless Minotaur was going to do with this dust cloud, and he's going to turn it against it.
He raised his hand up into the air, and flames danced off of his hand and floated above Bell. They soon took form of swords and began to rapidly rotate. But Bell didn't stop from there, as he created two new sets along with the first two to hover above him.
"Fire Tooth!" Bell yelled, as he threw his arms forward, causing the Firebolt Raids to fly in different directions.
On the other side of the dust cloud and smoke, the Heartless Minotaur raised its sword to throw once more, but soon paused when it saw an intense light shining within the smoke. The Heartless Minotaur then raised its sword to defend itself. One of the Firebolt Raids emerged from the smog, to which the Heartless Minotaur roared as swung down its sword, this time cutting down the projectile.
Just as it managed to cut down of the the projectiles, another Firebolt Raid came from below it and managed to whiz by its leg, delivering a deep cut. The Heartless Minotaur attempted to move from its sport to avoid getting it, but another came from above. The Heartless Minotaur jumped back, only for a third Firebolt Raid to appear from its behind and cut into its back once more.
The Heartless Minotaur had no way to escape from the Firebolt Raids coming in all directions, so the Hearltess Minotaur roared as it charged another dark aura and released a dark volley in all directions. The dark orbs collided with all of the incoming fire swords, causing an explosion to occur all around it.
But by doing so, it exhausted a lot of energy in that single moment. And that brief moment of exhaustion was the key opportunity for Bell to take.
Bell emerged from the smoke, giving out a battle cry as he closed the distance between them with a Firebolt Raid hovering beside his right hand
The Heartless Minotaur saw Bell coming closer to it, and could only give out a roar as it raised its sword upward and swung down towards the boy. However, Bell didn't show any signs of dodging or slowing down.
Just as the sword was halfway to reaching Bell...a spinning white flaming blade suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
It headed straight for the Heartless Minotaur's arm and cuts it clean through, severing the arm in half. As a result, the sword was no longer heading towards Bell as it flew into a different direction.
The Minotaur failed to notice such a blade coming, as Bell used the chaos of the Fire Tooth to keep it distracted and threw another Firebolt Raid way off to the side, trusting its homing properties to head straight towards the Heartless Minotaur. The Heartless Minotaur could've taken notice of the incoming new projectile...if it weren't for it coming from its literal blind side.
And the Firebolt Raid that cuts clean through the Heartless Minotaur's arm soon dissipated, revealing the Hestia Knife in all its glory. Since the Hestia Knife is made out of mithril, Bell is able to channel magic through the blade. As a result, he combined the power of the Hestia Knife alongside his magic to make this Firebolt Raid especially deadly. Deadly enough to cut completely through the Heartless Minotaur's flesh.
The Hesita Knife flew towards Bell, to which Bell caught the blade with his free left arm. He then proceeded to spin himself and have the Firebolt Raid near him to follow his motion. As he did, he delivered a very deep gash diagonally across the Heartless Minotaur's chest.
Bell then proceeded to plunge his Hestia Knife straight into the gash, causing black blood to splash everywhere.
"Firebolt!"
A white glow was seen within the Heartless Minotaur's body, and tiny bursts of flames erupted throughout its body.
"Firebolt!"
This time, white flames erupted from the Heartless Minotaur's mouth. The Heartless Minotaur shook and weakly raised its other arm to smash down Bell.
"FIREBOLT!"
With one last mighty yell, Bell put his all into the spell. The Heartless Minotaur couldn't do anything else, as its entire body was soon exploded into a pillar of white flames.
Once the flames died down, everyone saw the Heartless Minotaur's body absolutely smoking from all of the fire burnt into its body. Then they saw dark plumes coming out of the Heartless Minotaur's body and soon formed into a dark cloud above the Heartless Minotaur. As it did, everyone saw the color of the Heartless Minotaur returning back to normal, a color that they're familiar with.
With the last of the dark plumes leaving its body, the Minotaur stood absolutely still, before its entire body exploded into dark ashes, leaving behind a black magic stone and golden horn with black streaks.
Meanwhile the dark cloud stood still for a moment, before it violently writhed and headed towards Bell.
"Not good...!" Ais whispered in alarm as she was about to make her way forward to save Bell from the dark cloud.
But before she made a single step, a flash of light appeared within her vision, and a beam of light soared through the air and hit the dark cloud dead center. The beam of light completely pierced through the dark cloud, dispersing the cloud to fade away into nothing.
Everyone was surprised to see the beam of light, and looked ahead, and some of their eyes widened in recognition when they saw a certain spiky haired teenager making their way towards them.
"Sora...!" Lili yelled in recognition.
Sora made his way into the scene and examined the situation before him. As soon as his eyes landed on Bell, he saw Bell standing there while his shirt was destroyed due to the fighting and flames that have occurred.
"Bell! Thank goodness I made it in time! You alright!?" Sora greeted with a relieved smile as he made his way to Bell. "I saw dark cloud heading your way. Good thing I got rid of it. And did you encounter a minotaur? It's-"
Sora soon stopped when he noticed Bell not responding at all. Instead, he remained absolutely still.
"Bell? Bell? You alright there...?" Sora carefully asked as he grabbed a hold of Bell's shoulders and shook it for a bit. Bell didn't respond to anything, and Sora soon saw that Bell was unconscious.
"Not good...! Heal!" Sora casted his Curaga spell onto Bell, letting the healing spell do its work on Bell's bruised and battered body. The wounds soon disappeared, but Bell showed no signs of any response.
"Oh no, what's going on...!? Why isn't my spell working!?" Sora muttered in distress.
"Mind Down."
Sora blinked when he heard that voice, and turned his head to see Riveria standing a bit closer to the two. "He is in Mind Down. He used up all of his magic, to the point where it's completely depleted. As such, he simply entered an unconscious state. Your friend is in no physical danger."
"Is that it? Oh man, that's a relief..." Sora sighed with solace. He then blinked when he took notice of everyone else.
"Oh hey, what brings you all down here?" Sora curiously asked.
Everyone blinked when they were asked this question, and shared looks each other, before they looked back at Sora.
"We're currently on our way to the Deeper Floors of the Dungeon. However, we've heard a minotaur was running rampant amongst this floor, so we thought we could take care of it." Finn explained to Sora, before he turned to Bell with a small smile. "However, your fellow Familia member managed to take care of the rest."
"Is that right...?" Sora muttered with surprise, before he gave an exasperated grin. "Honestly, and I thought I was pretty reckless!"
With that, Sora picked up Bell into a piggy-back position, and turned to the rest of the group.
"Well, it's nice to see you all again! I'd love to stick around and chat, but I have more important things to take care of. Later!" Sora told the Loki Familia as he walked off, with Lili following in tow. The Loki Familia could hear the pallum talking to Sora, demanding where the heck he has been at this time.
The Loki Familia silently watched the retreating backs of the Hestia Familia, as they were all taking in what they just saw today.
"...Oi, Riveria, what were the stats on the kid?" Bete asked as he turned to the High Elf.
"...You're asking me reveal what he has without his consent?" Riveria simply asked.
"We just witnessed a Level 1 overcome an irregular Minotaur! That ain't normal! Him and the spiky haired brat are beyond that! And you practically saw what was on his back, so don't keep it all to yourself!" Bete demanded.
Riveria gave a small sigh as she stayed silent for a moment.
"...S."
"Huh?"
"All of his abilities are S." Riveria revealed to everyone.
Everyone in the room was stunned to hear this. While reaching S rank is possible, given that they managed to reach it at some point in their lives, to reach S in all parameters, especially as a Level 1, was surprising to learn.
But Riveria was shocked out of all of them.
The reason why?
While it is true that his parameters reached S, she didn't reveal the true quantity that he had, as she felt that she would be further violating the privacy for Bell.
'To think someone like him exists...and I thought I've seen everything...' Riveria thought to herself, as she witnessed something she never thought could be possible.
All of Bell's parameters are SSS.
~ Break ~
"This is not how I pictured our reunion to be like..." Hestia groaned while she was sitting on the edge of her bed, while Bell lied in the center of it, still knocked out cold.
"I don't think anybody wanted this..." Sora pointed out as he examined Bell. "I already used Curaga on him, so he should be physically fine. Never knew Mind Down could leave you out cold for this long..."
"Well, Master Bell did expend a lot of magic just to defeat the Heartless Minotaur." Lili pointed out, standing near the bed while she was holding Bell's hand in concern, much to Hestia's annoyance.
Though, when Lili said that, Hestia gave another aggravated sigh.
"First a Minotaur attacked Bell, now a Heartless version of it? This just keeps getting more ridiculous." Hestia groaned.
"About that..." Sora started with a frown. "That Heartless Minotaur...it was more different compared to the rest of the other Heartless. It was a lot like the those monsters that I fought during Monsterphilia."
"What do you mean?"
"For one, it wasn't a pure Heartless. It's not a Pureblood Heartless, made purely from Darkness, nor was it an Emblem Heartless. It had the Heartless symbol, but no Heart was released. Again, I found this." Sora said as he took out a dark magic stone out of his pocket.
"Another one...?" Hestia muttered in confusion. "First the Violas, now this? Just what is this...?"
"I'm trying to figure that out as well. But all I do know is that the Monsters of this world are being turned into Heartless, making them some kind of hybrid." Sora pointed out with a frown.
"In other words...darkened versions of Dungeon Monsters are now popping up in the Dungeon." Lili said with grimace.
"Great. As if we didn't have enough on our plate already..." Hestia groaned while rubbing her forehead.
"Even if that's the case, we can't afford to stop now. We got to work harder than ever to stop the Heartless from doing what they want." Sora said with determination, not at all thrown off with this new information.
"...Lili is astounded how you can stay positive in a situation like this..." Lili remarked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's just Sora for you..." Hestia simply shrugged at that, knowing how Sora is just full of endless positivity and optimism. "Speaking of work, we should also let the Ganesha Familia know about this, so-"
"Oh right...!" Sora yelped in realization. "I almost forgot...!"
This made Hestia and Lili turn to Sora in confusion.
"Sora...?" Hestia said in confusion.
"Sorry, I'll be right back! Gotta fulfill a promise!" Sora hurriedly told her as he sped out of the room.
Both Hestia and Lili stood there in confusion, not knowing what came over Sora.
"What just happened...?" Lili asked with confusion.
"I don't know, but this is Sora we're talking about. You can never figure out what he's going to do next..." Hestia tiredly sighed.
~ Break ~
"Honestly, I've never seen big sis act like this before..." Ilta Farna, the Vice Captain of the Ganesha Familia, commented aloud as she watched Shakti slowly pacing back and forth in one particular spot for a period of time.
"Yeah, it's pretty...jarring, to say the least..." Modaka quietly commented.
The two Ganesha Familia members silently watched their Captain walking back and forth in their courtyard, as if she was waiting for someone. Shakti acted fine these past few days, but today was bothering their Captain. As time kept on passing by, the Captain kept making subtle glances towards the Familia's front gates.
And now that Shakti has finished her work and duties for today, the woman was simply pacing back and forth.
Shakti was giving a small frown as she gave a glance towards the gate, before she gave a small sigh.
'It's nearing the end of the day already...and there's still no sign of him as of yet...' Shakti thought to herself, her eyes narrowing a bit. '...Alright. I've made up my mind. The first thing to do tomorrow is to-'
"Heeeeey, Shakti!" a familiar voice called out.
Just hearing that voice made Shakti freeze for a moment. Immediately, her head snapped towards the source of that voice.
Within her sight was a certain spiky haired teenager waving at her from the Familia's front gates.
"I'm back! I hope I'm not late!" Sora cheerfully greeted. Though, it looked like he was a bit flustered, as if he suddenly remembered something really important and quickly made his way here.
Shakti stayed quiet as she watched Sora make his way towards her. When the distance was finally closed between the two, Shakti just looked at Sora with her neutral look while she folded her arms.
There was a bit of silence, before Shakti decided to speak.
"...You cutting it quite close..." Shakti informed.
Sora winced a bit, and gave a sheepish chuckle while scratching the back of his head.
"W-Well, I was busy with a lot of things, especially on the way back..." Sora told her with a nervous grin.
Shakti simply stared at Sora a bit more, before she gave a small sigh.
"...We can talk more about that later. For now...let me just say this." Shakti simply said.
The azure haired Captain lets out a small and warm smile towards Sora.
"Welcome back."
Arc 1: A New Myth
Completed
Next Arc: Amongst the Shadows
And that's a wrap to this chapter.
And we finally reach the conclusion to Danmachi's first story arc.
I will say this flat out: If Bell were to take on a regular minotaur with his current stats and magic, he's going to have a lot more easier time. So I've decided to up the stakes by making the minotaur a Heartless hybrid.
The minotaur becoming a Heartless is also a double-bladed sword. On one hand, it became a lot more stronger and had the power of Darkness. On the other hand, because it became a Heartless hybrid, it became more vulnerable to Bell's Hestia Knife and Firebolt magic, both that are deadly counters.
In case you also haven't noticed, the Heartless Minotaur basically has the abilities of the Heartless known as Orcus, a variation of the Invisible Heartless (save for the flying).
(Bell's Heroic Second Wind)
I know it seems rather cliche for Bell to gain courage and drive to fight the Heartless Minotaur just by remembering his bond with Sora.
But honestly, this is up to par with how things typically go in Kingdom Hearts. There's always a moment where the power of bonds and friendship triumph over a great adversity.
As such, I took some inspiration from final boss fight in Kingdom Hearts 1: where Sora gained the ability to fly after hearing Riku's past encouragement towards Sora. But rather than flying, remembering Sora's encouragement gave Bell his heroic second wind.
(Sora vs. Ottar)
This chapter finally answered the question that you guys kept on asking me since the publish of this fanfic: Is Sora able to defeat Ottar?
I hope you're satisfied.
It was pretty tricky to gauge Ottar's strength and his relativity to Sora.
So Sora is able to cut through skyscrapers in KH2, and I'm pretty sure he grew beyond that in KH3.
Ottar's has the strength to sent tremors throughout Water City, which is said to make boast dimensions greater than half the size of Orario.
Not really sure on the whole science and physics behind cutting through a solid building and sending tremors through more than half a city, but let's just say that both are really strong.
Even then, Ottar has to give it his all (sort of) just to keep Sora busy, and that's honestly the best he could do...when Sora is fighting physically.
What makes Kingdom Hearts characters truly terrifying is their use of magic and formchanges. They're, more often than not, the biggest and decisive factor in battles. Sora's use of formchange literally moved Ottar out of the way. Now imagine if Sora used magic instead.
And even IF Ottar was physically stronger than Sora by a large margin, that wouldn't really change the outcome of the fight.
The reason being? Sora fought Hercules, the God of Strength, and prevailed in KH1.
Let me repeat: Sora LITERALLY defeated the God of Strength.
Did he do it by physically overpowering him? Not particularly. Sora doesn't have the strength to throw a rock titan into the atmosphere like Hercules, but he beat Hercules through the use of other skills and magic. You could say wooden barrels could've overpowered Hercules as well, but I'm just going to chalk it up as gameplay rather than canon.
I'm sure there are some of you are typing away how I misjudged Sora and Ottar's strength and criticize how Sora should've easily one-shotted Ottar with a swing swipe or something. But honestly, strength ultimately falls up to the interpreter. Just look at Death Battle and SeththeProgrammer's interpretations. I agree and disagree on some aspects they're pointing out. I'm no exception: you can agree or disagree with my interpretations.
And that, my dear readers, is the real crux of the Kingdom Hearts fandom: Nothing but endless arguments and debates (and emotional damage).
(Bell's Firebolt Raid)
You have no idea how I've waited for this chapter to reveal Bell's ace in the hole. That's right, I finally decided to reveal what the Raid is to Bell's Firebolt. I'm pretty sure some of you figured it out if the term 'Raid' wasn't obvious enough.
Here's a fun tidbit: Originally, I wanted for Bell to inherit the Firestorm Command Style from Kingdom Hearts BBS. However, when I looked at it as a whole, it felt like enhancement magic, and felt similar to Ais and Bete's magic. So I went for an alternative route and looked at Axel.
In case you didn't know, my favorite trio out of all Kingdom Hearts trios is the Clocktower Trio.
Basically, Bell has inherited Riku's Fire Raid Link Style from Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance: his Firebolt magic takes the form of blades made of fire, and perform what Riku performs in Kingdom Hearts 3D. However, I've also decided to mix in some of Axel's chakram techniques to help give a bit of variety to Bell.
But that's not all. The Firebolt Raid is a lot more versatile that one would think. While it is just one spell, there are many techniques that Bell can pull off.
Fun Fact of the Day
Co-director Masanobu Suzui and indieszero first pitched the idea of for a Kingdom Hearts take of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy in 2015, but Nomura declined the idea. Later on, Disney revisited the idea and Nomura changed his mind, having believed that a rhythm game would line up with the direction of the franchise by then.
Thus, Melody of Memory came to be.