The monster that came out of the gate was like no other that Bell, Haruhime or even Lefiya had ever seen before. They weren't sure if it was actually a monster or just a part of a monster's body. It looked like a huge, green, scaly tentacle. It thickened towards the tip and then tapered to a point, a little the one flower bud that hadn't opened yet. However, the movement immediately made it clear that this was not a plant but a monster. It had no visible eyes or other senses, but its head immediately turned towards the three.

"A snake?!"

"What is this?!"

There was no time for more words, the monster attacked them head on, literally. As if it wanted to ram or pierce them, the head shot forward. It was good that Bell stood in front, but not so good that he didn´t wear his armor. Then again, the armor would´ve probably been shattered by the sheer force of the impact. Out of instinct, Lefiya and Haruhime had jumped back and to the sides, so that they wouldn´t stand directly behind Bell. And since he didn´t know how strong the monster was, he evaded to the side and used Silence to deflect the head.

And dear heavens was this monster strong!

"Irgh!"

It felt like he got rammed by a few minotaurs at the same time. The head of the monster was way too hard for him, Bell got more thrown to the side than that he jumped. Instead of pulling the head back, the giant tentacle that was the body of the monster pushed to the side. Bell held Silence with both hands, he didn´t dare to duck down under the monster.

""Bell!""

Lefiya and Haruhime immediatelly started to chant their spells. Since they didn´t know how strong exactly the monster was, Haruhime would cast her level enchant, while Lefiya went for her fire spell.

The tentacle raised it´s head and hammered down at Bell again, again he could only try to evade instead of blocking. This time the impact was even stronger, since the monster moved with Bell.

He couldn´t believe how hard the head of this monster was! Maybe it was similar to the types like the black rhino, heavily armored in the place that was meant to ram an adventurer with.

Bell had no time to say anything or to glance to the two girls, the monster attacked him again and again.

"Argh!"

He was just a little too slow with his evasive parry, the monster clipped his shoulder. It really felt like the smack of the Irregular Dragon he had fought. His shoulder began discoloring in a bruise almost immediately.

Even when he didn´t look, Bell heard the chants of Haruhime and Lefiya.

And then...everything happened at once.

The stone behind Haruhime cracked for a second, she didn´t have time to react. Another tentacle shot out of the stone, but looking different to the first. It was much smaller and ended in split leaves, completely green.

"Wh-!"

The plant tentacle whipped her with such force that it ripped open her kimono and the skin on her back. Haruhime's eyes widened in shock and pain as she was thrown forward. In the same second, the large tentacle stopped attacking Bell, whipped around and slammed into Haruhime's side head-on. The breaking of Haruhime's left ribs could be heard loudly. Her expression went blank in shock, tears welled up in her eyes and blood spurted out of her mouth.

N-No way...

Control of her magic ebbed away, thankfully without exploding. As she was thrown back, the small tentacle lashed out at her again, right on the fresh wound. The pain that shot through her body broke the shock and made Haruhime cry out.

Seeing Haruhime's lifeblood squirting out of her mouth and wounds, Bell let out a wordless scream and nearly went mad. A soft ringing swing in the air, his hands shimmered for the second it took him to swing Silence. With another yelp, he discharged the short charge, firing lightning across his sword blade and smashing the side of the tentacle with all his might.

There was only a dull thud...nothing further happened.

Silence could not penetrate the scale skin of the tentacle. His status and level weren't high enough, even with Argonaut's short charge...

Maybe he could do some damage if he had more time to charge, but he just didn't have that. And even the flashes didn't seem to bother the thing in the slightest.

Damned!

The thing's head approached Haruhime, Bell lunged forward and hacked at the smaller tentacle, this time Silence slicing deeply. With another yelp and a one-second charge from Argonaut, Bell chopped off the smaller tentacle.

There was a sort of rumble from the larger tentacle...then the tip opened. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say...it blossomed.

What he first thought was some kind of snake was actually a plant. The "head" split into five large petals that slowly retracted over the head and fanned out behind. They drew back a kind of slimy plant sap, leaving behind the actual knob-shaped head. And that very eyeless head then ripped open, revealing a massive mouth.

The monster looked like a titanic Venus flytrap with razor-sharp teeth. And in that first maw... was a mouth that looked truly human, complete with tongue, teeth and uvula.

It was one of the most disgusting and terrifying sights the three had ever seen.

And that same tongue now licked the sap dripping teeth and approached Haruhime. More small tentacles appeared from the gate and moved toward Haruhime's feet. She tried to crawl away, but her broken bones rubbed against each other and her injured flesh. She screamed again and Bell howled in anger as he stood in front of her.

"You won't be-"

Bell was nearly pushed aside as Lefiya jumped in front of him, before he could finish his sentence.

Anger and cleansing hate burned in Lefiya's eyes. Never before in her life had she been so upset as she was when she saw Haruhime being injured so badly.

She raised her staff, already glowing with magical energy, and thrust it towards the monster's maw.

.
"FUSSILADE FALARICAAAAA!"

.

A dozen small magical portals appeared like a wall around Lefiya and above her, the flaming arrows moved out and then shot into the maw all at once.

Bell was only an upper level two, but Lefiya was an upper level three adventurer, very close to get to level four. Also, while Bell´s magic didn´t work on the Violas, her magic was the exact weakness of that monster and she attacked it from the inside.

Magic was the strongest gift that an adventurer could have, it gave them the power to defeat monsters that they couldn´t otherwise. But the big difference betweens Bell´s lightning spell and Lefiya´s fire magic wasn´t the element.

It was the fact that Lefiya had the mage ability, that she created a magic circle and that her spell used a chant.

Bell´s thunderbolt spell was weaker than a normal spell of someone at his level. If that someone would have the mage ability, the spell would have the strength of someone with level three.

So the difference between Bell´s spell and Lefiya´s was basically a mid level two against an upper level four spell.

Maybe Lefiya´s feelings also forced her to increase the firepower.

Whatever it was, the monster had no chance.

One of the magic arrows burned right through the maw and came out where normally the right eye should be. All the others burned through various places and deeper into the body. Due to the form of Lefiya's spell, the Viola's long body became its undoing. Each arrow could do maximum damage. While she didn't hit what counted as a magic stone in the monster's body, the spell killed the monster instantly. Not even having time to scream, it collapsed in front of Lefiya, smoldering and seething. The momentum of his movement would have sent it crashing into her, but Bell wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her towards him, Silence stretched out to shield her from any physical attacks.

When Lefiya´s eyes flashed to Bell, he could see the anger in them. Not because he had touched her, but because this monster hurt Haruhime so badly.

Haruhime coughed more blood up, while she tried to crawl away from the gate.

Lefiya readied her staff. "We have to get out of here!"

"Can´t we close the gate?!"

"And how?!"

Haruhime weakly pointed to the orb that lay at the side. On the side of the gate was an indentation that seemed to fit the orb. "There..."

"Heal Haruhime, I will get it!"

Bell didn´t wait for an answer, he jumped forward.

"Bell, watch out!"

Lefiya heard the noises that came, more than before, she started to chant again, as fast as she dared to do.

Trusting Lefiya´s warning, Bell started to charge his Argonaut skill. Maybe his magic wasn´t ineffective, but if he would charge long enough, it could work or at least help.

Bell was nearly at the orb when another of those plant monsters burst out of the gate. This time he saw that the smaller tentacles were part of the body and were set further back. Whatever the reason, apparently the monster wasn't able to dig through the walls or the floor while it was behind the gate.

This time the head opened straight up and shot at Bell. Only it wasn't alone, two other heads shot forward as well. Was this a multi-headed version, or were several trying to get through the gate at the same time?

He made a decision, instead of charging his lightning, he used the charge to give his legs a boost. Bell grabbed the orb, threw it behind him and jumped backwards.

He suddenly noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A rune was faintly visible around the indentation for the orb, glowing slightly. He was only able to see her from this angle, as he moved further the rune faded again.

"Bell!"

Haruhime's pained scream snapped him out of his astonishment, and a forest of small plant-like tentacles shot out in his direction.

Silence sang her whispery song as it bobbed up and down, at least he could hack those little tentacles.

As the three heads darted toward him, Lefiya unleashed her magic again, this time hearing the exhaustion in her voice.

How many times had she had to use her magic in the last hour? Too often for his taste.

And once again her magic pierced and ripped through the plant monsters, but at a cost.

Lefiya dropped to one knee and gasped while shaking her head. It wasn't just the frequency with which she used the magic, but the speed.

Bell saw the first signs of minddown. Lefiya wouldn't faint right away, but any further use would be dangerous.

He just turned to face the orb...

"Lefiya!"

Haruhime's scream came too late. A tentacle that looked different than the one before shot out of the ground behind Lefiya, grabbing her collar and throwing her towards the gate. As Bell jumped to help her, the fourth head, who hadn't passed earlier, shot out of the gate.

Maybe it was sheer luck or the monster just didn't get as far forward as it wanted. But when the snapping jaws closed and in the same second Bell grabbed Lefiya's ankles to pull her back, it didn't bite her head off, only bit her hair.

Immediately, the monster began to pull at Lefiya with tremendous strength, Bell trying desperately to hold her.

"Aaaaaah! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Lefiya screamed on the top of her lunges as the monster started to drag her towards the gate. Her hands clawed into her hair and she punched against the teeth, but that didn´t help. No matter what he did, Bell didn´t have the strength to hold Lefiya against the monster.

Besides, he couldn't risk grabbing Lefiya's ankles and pulling. As the monster pulled with tremendous force, her body would be caught between their conflicting forces. It was an all too real danger that one false jerk would snap Lefiya's neck. So Bell let go of her foot, jumped forward with a yelp and smashed the monster's head like a possessed with Silence.

Bell howled in frustration and anger, Silence left only very small cuts on the monster's head and what made it worse, it completely ignored him. Haruhime screamed in agony as she saw Lefiya being pulled towards the gate. Bell saw pain and panic in Lefiya's eyes, but no matter what he did it didn't help.

Just before they reached the gate, Bell remembered the one thing he could do. Silence flashed through the air, accelerated by a brief charge of Argonaut...cut Lefiya's hair and severed it.

With a sudden jerk, the monster slammed backwards while Lefiya fell to the ground. She was now holding her neck, screaming, something inside had cracked.

Bell could only pray it wasn't the worst imaginable. He hastily bent down, grabbed the front of his jacket and picked Lefiya up.

How much time would he have? With Lefiya and Haruhime badly injured and ineffective at his own options, all he could do was run away. But how far would he get?

It didn't matter, only the thought of getting those two to safety mattered to Bell.

But the monster wasn´t so nice to wait.

It shot forward again right as Bell sprinted to Haruhime, dragging Lefiya with him.

The maw opened wide...

A tentacle wrapped around Bell's ankle and pulled him back with such force that his grip on his jacket loosened.

Bell half turned to protect Lefiya and.

The.

Time.

stopped.

His whole field of vision was filled with the gaping mouth of the viola. It had opened its mouth so wide that its human-looking mouth was directly in front of Bell and was closing around him. He didn't even have time to raise Silence, in a hasty reaction there was only one thing he could do.

The rows of teeth moved toward him, disgusting as human teeth were on a monster, at least they weren't sharp. Bell's palms slammed against his closing teeth as he screamed and bucked against them with all his might.

He immediately noticed that the Violas was far stronger than him. Rancid, stinking breath hit him. Sap and saliva flowed and flew towards him. Blood spurted from his palms and he slowly sank to one knee as the violas clamped its jaws and continued to bite. If Bell dodged and jumped away, the monster would simply bite Lefiya.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGHH!"

Bell felt and heard his hands and forearms pop and break.

The pain was indescribable, tears welled up in his eyes, his left hand got it worse than the right. The jaws closed more and more, threatening to bite his hands off.
Haruhime did her best and repeatedly tried to cast her magic to increase Bell's level, but the coughing fits and bouts of pain along with the panic broke her concentration.

At the last moment, Bell's right hand slipped from his teeth, his jaws closed and he felt his left hand and part of his forearm being crushed.

The violas was about to turn its head to rip off his arm or drag him away...

.

"Get down!"

.

The voice that uttered the warning call was of a kind and tone that Bell had never heard before.

It sounded kinda...strange.

Accompanying the strange voice was a tall figure in a long black robe. The hood was pulled up so Haruhime couldn't see a face. The right hand, which was encased in some kind of gauntlet resembling a mechanical claw, rose and pointed a small staff with a glowing orb at the end towards the monster.

Bell had just enough time to duck further down and shield Lefiya with his body when the wand began to glow. He had expected a spell or something like that, but not what happened.

The stone floor behind him exploded, and what appeared to be thick, square pillars of dark metal shot out of it. The pillars grew, then shattered, revealing another monster.

The thing was made entirely of this dark metal, far larger and bulkier than the irregular dragon Bell had fought. The arms alone were more massive than Bell's entire torso, the legs even more massive. The head, without a neck, sat squarely on the shoulders, which were almost as wide as the whole gate.

From the stories of old, Bell recognized it as a golem.

The robed figure pointed forward at the violas with the claw-like gauntlet.

"Smash it! Do what I made you to do!"

The golem made no sound, it just thundered forward and raised its right arm.

The violas squealed in anger that it had to let go of its prey and lunged at the golem. Instead of dodging or blocking, the golem simply punched out with its right fist while ramming into the violas. The mighty fist smashed straight into the viola's mouth with fortress-shattering force. Plant fangs and human-looking teeth shattered as this living battering ram of pure adamantium crushed everything in its path. The golem grabbed something in the violas and jerked its arm back heavily. Plant matter and broken teeth sprayed from the maw, then the golem's left fist struck the viola's head from the side.

The viola's head was hard...incredibly hard...but the golem's fist was far harder. With a sucking smack, the golem's fist sank halfway into the Viola's head, then the other fist grabbed the jaw from underneath. The plant monster tried to fight back, but the golem's movement was as relentless as it was mechanical. It just tore the Viola's head to shreds.

The monster flinched and was then dropped by the golem.

"Block the Gate! Go O Golem!"

With earth-shattering steps, the golem stomped through the gate, only seconds later Bell heard more hissing and fist pounding.

"Give me the orb, quick!"

Bell saw that Haruhime had crawled in pain to the point where the orb had stopped... trailing a trail of blood behind her. She threw the orb at the robed figure with all the strength she could muster, while Bell knelt beside Lefiya, sword trained on the gate.

With surprisingly quick strides, the figure rushed to the indentation in the wall. It waved it´s hand briefly and the rune around the indentation faded. The three saw the figure press the sphere into the indentation, something resembling an eye flared up on the sphere and the gate began to close.

"That was it then with my trump card..."

The figure made an odd sound, like it was about to click its tongue...but had no...or lips.

With a thunderous crack, the gate closed and the sounds of battle behind died away. It didn't sound like the golem was defeated yet, but the gate also sealed every sound.

Still, there was no silence, Haruhime and Lefiya moaned and whined in pain.

"Lefiya! Haruhime!"

Bell didn't know what to do if a potion would help with this injury.

"Don't move her! Leave her there! We don't know how badly her neck is hurt!"

Bell saw Lefiya crying in pain... it broke his heart. He wanted to take care of Haruhime and her at the same time, but he couldn't do anything else.

"Please help them!"

The figure was already lost in murmurs.

.
"Pius' staff, Pione's light."

.

Bell hopefully noticed a magic circle forming beneath her feet. The robed figure began to cast magic.

.
"Intersect with the authority of healing and heal everything!"

.

The figure raised a clawed hand between Haruhime's and Lefiya's prone figures.

.
"Dia Panacea!"

.

Colored spheres of light appeared out of the magic circle, drifted through the air and set down on Lefiya and Haruhime. Not one of the spheres had just one colored, they looked a bit like rainbows pressed into small spheres. Bell saw fascinated how one of the orbs sat down on Haruhime´s injured back, soft light emitted from the sphere and the bleeding stopped. Two other spheres moved through the hole in her kimono above her rips. Haruhime sighed comfortably when the pain around her rips finally got numb.

"Don´t move your elf friend."

Bell looked up to the figure, more spheres circled around Lefiya´s wounds, especially her neck. He saw that she clenched her teeth. And then...he got aware of the immense pain that shot through his left arm and his right hand. Two spheres also encircled his wounds and did their best. His vision got blurry, tears of happiness streamed down his face, but also relief that his pain got numb.

The groaning of both girls stopped and their bodies relaxed.

"Haruhime...Lefiya..."

"Augh...it´s..nngh...okay...Bell..."

Lefiya tried to move her head a bit. "It´s okay..."

"Please don´t move your bodies until my magic is finished."

"Mh."

The figure continued to hold the magic for about a minute, then the spheres got smaller and smaller until they vanished. The wounds of Lefiya and Haruhime had closed and both could slightly move again, exhausted but out of danger.

Bell looked up to the figure again. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Instead of saying something, the figure put the orb into it´s robes, then it looked at the girls.

"Are you still feeling pain somewhere?"

Haruhime slowly shook her head, she was already busy to try to hold her heavily damaged kimono together. Lefiya got slowly back to her feet with Bell´s help. Even with being healed, the fear and the moment of nearly dying made Lefiya very exhausted.

"Bell, please give her the jacket."

With careful movements, Bell opened the jacket with his right hand, he couldn´t feel his left and the arm felt strange, took it off from Lefiya and gave it to Haruhime. As soon as she had covered herself, Bell turned to the robed figure.

"We have to get out of here. I can´t thank you enough for helping us, but we have to alarm the guild! There must be more monsters behind that gate!"

"They can´t get through now that it is closed. And you shall not inform the guild about this. Also don´t move your left arm, I couldn´t heal everything at once."

"But why?!"

"Because I say so, why are you even down here in the first place?"

"What does that matter?"

Bell heard a kind of sigh. "Don´t understand me wrong, young man. But the reason you are still alive is because of her."

The robed figure pointed at Lefiya.

"Me?"

"Yes, you belong to goddess Astrea."

"I do..."

"The situation that you stumbled into is a serious matter and nothing that should be talked about. I have waited for this gate to open for a while now. And when my alarm rune informed me and I come down here, I see you three. I thought you would belong to someone else, but the fact that you fought against the monster and have a member of goddess Astrea´s familia with you made me help you."

"What? Does that mean otherwise you would´ve let us die?"

"No, I would´ve captured and interrogated you."

Bell looked baffled, he wasn´t sure if the figure was a threat or not.

"If you would now please be so kind and answer my question, why are you here?"

It was Lefiya that answered, she saw that Bell was agitated. "We went on a quest for the Dian Cecht familia. Our quest was to see if the rumors about an old Mansion being haunted by ghosts was true. There we met a member of the Loki familia, but she left shortly after. In the basement, we found indeed ghosts and War Shadows."

"War Shadows?! In the city?!"

"Yes, but we exterminated all of them. Then the basement collapsed and we landed in the sewers. We looked for a way out, but encountered a strange trail of plant parts, then later a minotaur and goblins. We decided to follow the trail and see where the monsters were coming from, before we would alert the guild."

"Mmh...not goood. This is not good! This makes things more complicated! I have to alert them now to check the sewers too."

"Them?"

"Nothing of your concern."

The figure walked back and forth for a few moments. "I have to ask you to not talk about what you´ve seen here."

"But how can we not report this to the guild?!"

The figure pulled something out of it´s robe. "Because I am with the guild."

What the figure pulled from his robes was a medallion engraved with a special symbol, that of the god Ouranos, the leader of the guild. The medallion started to shine when the symbol glew.

"Not that I don´t want to believe you since you saved us, but how do we know this isn´t made by you?"

"You are smart enough to doubt me, good."

"Bell, I didn´t hear any lie in his or her voice." Lefiya slowly rubbed her arms, it was a bit cold just standing around in a shirt.

Haruhime stopped next to Lefiya and wrapped her tails slowly around Lefiya´s arms, the elf smiled thankful.

Bell nodded, he trusted Lefiya´s ears.

"Alright, we shouldn´t even tell our gods or familias?"

"I would apperiacte it. But I guess you still want to know why there are monsters under the city. The thing is, I can´t tell you, I´m not allowed to. Please trust me when I tell you that they will be exterminated, all of them."

The three looked uneasy at each other.

And of course things had to get more complicated...

.

.

Lefiya and Haruhime moved out of instinct closer to Bell when they heard hasty steps.

"Bell, someone is coming."

"More than one person."

Bell didn´t know if he should raise Silence, he looked at the figure. "Are they with you?"

"I´m working alone."

"Then..."

The approaching people came into view all too soon, they didn´t try to hide and they moved fast.

Lefiya looked really surprised when she saw the person leading the group.

It was a group made up almost entirely of elves, all of them women.

The secret special forces of a certain familia, called...the fairy force.

And they were led by...

"Lady Riveria?!"

And indeed, the leader of the group was the very famous first tier adventurer, Riveria Ljos Alfr. Behind her came a group of her familia, only two members weren´t elves, they supported the group.

The group stopped in front of them, but Riveria walked a bit further.

"Lefiya? What are you d- Dear forests! Why are you looking like that?! Rakta, give me a blanket, hurry!"

Lefiya left Haruhime´s "embrace" before the group came close, now she stood just in the shirt and it was obvious that she only wore the shirt.

"Y-Yes!"

One of the supporters of the small group was a rabbit beastkin girl, she opened her backpack, pulled out a small blanket and gave it to Riveria. Riveria immediatelly gave the blanket to Lefiya, who wrapped it around her shoulders.

Before she could ask them questions, the robed figure stepped slowly forward.

"Riveria Ljos Alfr."

"You? What are you doing here?"

"I got alerted by a magic item of mine that this gate got opened. These three here were at the opened gate and fought against the Violas that tried to get out of it. They also fought against other monsters that escaped into the sewers."

The whole group looked alerted immediatelly. The robed figure explained shortly why Bell, Haruhime and Lefiya were here.

Riveria looked quite shocked.

"Thanks to them, we got this. I will give it to you, you know what to do with it."

The robed figure pulled the orb out of it´s robe and handed it to Riveria. She looked at first at the figure, then at the other three.

Then she turned to a cat girl that was with the group. "Anakitty, bring the key to Finn and tell him what happened here. We need to check all of the sewers. Hurry!"

"Yes, lady Riveria!"

The cat girl took the orb and dashed off in the direction they came from.

"I will take my leave now. It may be time to talk to goddess Astrea now that her child has seen this."

Riveria nodded. "We could need some help."

"Then I will go to her, excuse me."

"Let me do it, I will talk to goddess Astrea and her children."

"As you wish."

Before the figure left, Bell made half a step forward.

"Please wait."

"Hm?"

"Could you at least tell us your name?"

"Call me, Cat of Altena."

With these words, the robed figure left.

.

.

Riveria turned to Lefiya. "Are you hurt?"

"No, Haruhime and I are fine, but Bell´s hand..."

Riveria saw that Bell held his hand close to his chest.

"What happened?"

"That plant monster crushed his hand, the Cat healed us, but I don´t think Bell´s arm is fine."

Riveria nodded. "You´re the dragonboy, Bell Cranel, right?"

"Yes."

Riveria went to Bell, raised her right hand and held it close to Bell´s still wounded hand, before she started to mumble. The other elves came closer and formed a circle around the three. One of them and the rabbit girl took care of Haruhime.

Lefiya noticed one of the elves that she knew a bit. "Ms. Alicia, what are you doing down here?"

Alicia looked for a moment at Riveria, who nodded slightly.

"We are here to exterminate monsters and look from where they come from."

"Eh? Such a strong group as yours?"

"I´m sorry, I can´t tell you more, you have to wait until lady Riveria has healed your friend."

"Hm."

She saw that Alicia looked uneasy. "You really went through a lot here."

Lefiya nodded slowly. "It was really close."

"What...happened to your hair?"

"Huh?"

Alicia pointed at her own hair. Lefiya raised her left hand and touched her head, when she went further down she finally noticed it. To free her from the monster, Bell had severed her hair, now it only nearly reached down to her shoulders, before it went down to her waist.

"My hair..."

Bell clenched his teeth while Riveria´s healing magic did it´s work. "I´m sorry, Lefiya...I had no other choice."

Alicia looked at Bell. "You did that?"

He nodded.

Elves just couldn´t get out of their skin, more than one of them looked infuriated at Bell.

"You dare t-"

"No, Ms. Alicia. Bell did that to save my life. Please don´t think or talk ill about him. If he hadn´t done it, the monster would´ve dragged me through the gate."

"Still...was there no other way..."

"Alicia!"

"Y-Yes, lady Riveria?"

"Survival comes first at all times! Hair means nothing when he saved her life!"

Riveria looked at Bell. "You have my thanks for saving Lefiya, Bell Cranel."

Bell shook his head. "There was no way I could let that happen, the monster would´ve stolen half of my heart then."

Riveria slightly raised an eyebrow, some of the elves looked shocked. His word could only be understood in one way. As soon as she could move properly again, Haruhime staggered towards Bell and Lefiya. She half lunged at him, sobbing loudly, then pulled Lefiya towards him. Haruhime started crying loudly and stammered how glad she was that the two were okay. To the immense surprise of the other elves, Lefiya hugged them both as well, it was a complex three sided hug. As usual, Haruhime's tails moved up and hugged the two of them as well.

The adult elf didn't say anything about it, it was very obvious that the three of them felt a lot for each other. Alicia looked more than a little shocked, most of the other elves averted their gazes.

Riveria gave them a few moments to calm down, she had heard after all what they went through.

Alicia whispered. "Lady Riveria, the Mansion that they had examined, isn´t that the same that Ms. Ais and Ms. Tiona went to?"

Riveria nodded, since it was easier for her to talk to Lefiya, she asked her about it. She looked baffled when she heard how they found Ais and brought her out of the Mansion. But she also looked concerned when she heard about the monsters. Riveria sent a third of her squad to follow the plant trail and examine the collapsed basement and the Mansion further. Then she sent another third to bring members of her familia messages.

.

.

"I need to ask you three to not talk in public about what you´ve seen here. As "the Cat" has informed you, he is with the guild and we also work together with them in that matter. All you need to know is that things get taken care off. Our whole familia is out there to investigate and exterminate the monsters, everything is under control now."

Haruhime and Bell looked a bit uneasy, Lefiya could do nothing else than to trust Riveria.

"So please, when you return to the guild, just inform them what happened at the Mansion and that you took care of things."

Haruhime looked a bit scared. "Are there more dangerous monsters in the city?"

Riveria shook her head. "Don´t be worried, Ms. Haruhime."

"Eh, you know my name?"

Riveria raised an eyebrow. "How many Renards with four tails do you think live in Orario?"

"Oh...right."

"We took care of every monster that escaped. To be honest I don´t want to reveal too much, but I will tell you this since you´ve seen it anyway. An evil familia and members of Evilus are responsible for this."

"""Evilus?!"""

"Yes, but again, don´t be too worried. I know this is easy to say, but we will take care of things. They failed with their main plan and we now only exterminate the rests, the situation is nearly over anyway. That you stumbled here into them was bad luck for you, I´m sorry that we didn´t come earlier."

Haruhime smiled wryly. "Maybe it was luck that we came, so no monster escaped into the city."

Bell nodded, Lefiya agreed.

"I thank you for protecting the people this way. But now you three should finally get out of here and back to the surface. Rakta, show them the way."

"Understood."

Riveria looked at them like a worried adult...or mother would. "Please go and report to the guild, then go back home. You three will soon feel sick, you´re all still in shock."

Bell looked confused. "In shock?"

"Yes, I have experience with something like that, believe me."

Since they wouldn´t want to stick around longer, Bell, Lefiya and Haruhime followed Rakta.

Only Riveria and Alicia remained. "Lady Riveria, what now?"

"We will go and talk with Goddess Astrea."

"May I ask...why didn´t we talk to them earlier?"

"We didn´t have enough informations and we needed a second key."

"Will we manage to deal with the matter now?"

"I hope so. I believe in Finn, that he will be able to talk things out with the Freya familia."

"I thought Loki wanted to talk to them."

Riveria looked at Alicia, no words needed.

"Right, I will believe in the captain."

.

.
While Bell, Lefiya and Haruhime went to the guild, Riveria and Alicia arrived quickly at the Stardust Garden. The Astrea familia was one of the more open ones when it came to visitors, especially certain visitors.

Soon, Riveria and Alicia sat in the living room, together with Astrea, Alise, Kaguya and Ryu.

"So, Riveria, what is it that you want to talk with us about?"

"It is something that we call...Knossos."

They listened to Riveria´s full story without interrupting her. Astrea looked shortly at her three high executives, then she nodded.

"We will help you, tell us where you need us."

"Just like that?"

Astrea smiled. "Ryu looks up to you a lot and I don´t think Alise and Kaguya want to lose against your familia when it comes to protect Justice and Orario."

"I thank you, justice familia."

Riveria continued to give them all the informations, especially the very dangerous ones and what they feared to find inside of Knossos. In the end, even Astrea made a worried and sinister face.

"Alise."

"Yes?"

"It is time to use this."

"Understood."

Riveria looked confused.

Astrea looked at Alicia, then at Riveria. "Riveria, there is something delicate that I will inform you about. I trust your character and that you won´t use this information against us. But I want your promise and that of you, young Alicia, that you don´t talk to anyone about this, except for Finn Deimne."

Alicia nodded with a serious face.

"You have our oath, lady Astrea."

Since this information would be cruel for the upcoming fight, Astrea told Riveria about Alise, about what that cheerful woman was actually capable off now that she reached level six. If Loki would hear about her skil and magic, she would complain that Astrea had a "broken follower", that this strength was unfair.

Alicia didn´t understand everything, but Riveria understood one thing especially.

Never mess with Alise Lovell.

From what she just heard, Alise was the second strongest adventurer in all of Orario and that probably even Ottar couldn´t just overwhelm her.

When the strict conditions for her skill to activate completely were met...Alise became a monster.

A gentle, smiling, cheerful...monster.

That was why Astrea told Alise it was time for that.

That was in a sealed chamber that only Alise and Astrea had access to. It was Alise´s personal, secret armory. While other familias like the Loki familia made sure that all of their members got fine equipment, the Astrea familia knew how crazy strong their captain could be. So they had used tons of money to buy an order made armor for Alise, so that she could fight the strongest enemies alone if she had to.

Due to her skill, Alise was at her strongest when she was alone.

The other members of her familia called her the "Champion of Justice" for a reason.

No other level six in the city could hope to stand a chance against Alise when her skill activated. And her magic made this only stronger. She could probably wipe the floor with Finn, Gareth and Ais at once, since she became stronger the more difficult the fight got.

The fact that Alise never used her power for evil, but always remained so pure and nice was a good thing.

Only the seven strongest members of the Astrea familia would join the assault on Knossos, but it would be a huge help.

The only thing that made Astrea worry and scold Ryu for, was that she mumbled to Alise she would give her an answer after the fight was over. Astrea forbid her to raise such a death flag and demand that she would talk with Alise before they went to attack Knossos.

.

.
While Riveria informed Astrea and her children, Lefiya, Bell and Haruhime finished the confirmation about the quest at the guild and went to the home of the Miach familia. Lefiya went with them as if it was the most natural thing to do. Alise agreed all too happy with her goddess. She hoped for a positive answer, it would boost her fighting strength ten times.

The attack on Knossos would start in one week.

.

.
It felt a bit like a dream when Haruhime, Lefiya and Bell walked from the guild to the home of the Miach familia. Lefiya got a spare jacket at the guild, but if she was honest, Bell´s jacket had felt better. They didn´t speak a word until they arrived at the Mansion. All lights were out and nobody was home.

Bell closed the door after they went inside.

Bell silently went to his room, got some fresh clothes and then went to the bathroom to take a shower. He felt very, very strange. His heart was beating pretty fast and he felt shaky but couldn't figure out why.
Since Lefiya didn't have any clothes here, of course, Haruhime lent her a few pieces, both went into one of the women's bathrooms and also took a long shower, they were very taciturn.

It wasn't as if both young women were lost in thought, their minds were strangely blank.

They both had a bit of a hard time throwing Bell's piece of clothing into a tub of soapy water. Lefiya helped Haruhime dry her tails like it was the most natural thing in the world.

When they had finished showering and were properly dressed again, Lefiya wearing a lighter kimono from Haruhime, that only reached down to her knees, as the fox girl didn't have western clothes, they stood in front of Haruhime's door in silence for a moment.

They both looked at each other, then their eyes traveled in the same direction...where the men's rooms were. They slowly walked in silence until they came to the half-open door of Bell's room.

Lefiya knocked weakly.

"Come in..."

They both walked in slowly like in a dream and Haruhime closed the door.

Both saw that Bell sat on a chair close to his couch and looked out of the window. Haruhime walked to the right side of the couch, put her tails carefully on the armrest and leaned a bit forward. Lefiya followed her and sat down next to her.

Silence followed, neither of them spoke a word. Haruhime noticed that Lefiya moved her hands nervously, she moved one of her tails and let Lefiya fluff it gently.

No one spoke a word...

.

Drip...Drip...Drip...

.

Haruhime looked to the side when she felt something strange on her tail, as if small drops of water fell on it.

Bell looked up when he heard light sobs and hiccups.

Lefiya was crying.

Tears streamed down her face, gathered at her chin and fell down onto Haruhime´s tail. Haruhime´s vision got suddenly blurry, she touched her own cheek, it was wet.

Lefiya sobbed stronger and started to shiver, to Haruhime´s surprise, Bell was the same.

All three of them sobbed and gulped as an unmistakable tremor set in. Riveria was absolutely right, they were in shock after what happened and they almost died.

Now that they were in a safe environment, had showered and settled down, the shock erupted with full force.

Lefiya put her hands in front of her face and started to cry, sobbing loudly. At the sight, Haruhime couldn't stop herself, she gently wrapped her hands around Lefiya, pulling her towards her, leaning her head against the elf's and crying too.

Tears also fell from Bell's chin onto his knees and the carpet.

He slowly lowered himself from his chair onto the carpet, kneeling in front of them. Out of instinct, they each placed a hand on his head and pulled him towards them, one hand resting on their knees.

It wasn't just the shock that caught up with them now, it was the fear and panic of almost losing each other. And the relief that they had made it. All three realized that losing one or both would have been heartbreaking.

For almost ten minutes they sat and knelt and just cried.

Each of them had fought monsters before, been in dangerous situations.

But today was different.

Today each of them had almost lost the people they held in their hearts.

Whom they loved.

.

.

When the tears finally stopped, Haruhime´s and Lefiya´s eyes were nearly as red as Bell´s. It felt good to cry it out, to let their emotions run wild a bit. They felt better afterwards.

At some point, Bell wanted to get up and make some tea, but Lefiya and Haruhime didn´t let go of his hands, they wanted him to stay.

Lefiya had a determined gleam in her eyes when she looked at first at Haruhime and then at Bell.

"Bell...thank you for saving me."

"Mh...but you still got hurt...I´m sorry for your hair..."

Lefiya felt that Haruhime gently touched the point where Lefiya´s hair ended, she didn´t mind the touch.

"It´s better to cut my hair than to lose my life."

Haruhime smiled slightly. "It...looks really good..."

"Huh?"

Haruhime´s cheeks were a bit pink. "Your short hair...it looks quite good."

"Is that so?"

Bell smiled wryly. "I ahm...must say so too... Your long hair did look good...but with short hair...it looks even better."

A shy smile sneaked onto Lefiya´s lips. "Hehe, then it isn´t so bad at all."

Then she felt a gentle touch on the back of her neck, which was now always visible with her noticeably shorter hair. Haruhime's fingertips moved slowly over the velvety skin.

"You have a pretty neck."

"O-Oh?"

Lefiya noticed that Bell also glanced to her neck...which made her more happy than embarrassed. The elf had started to slightly fluff one of Haruhime´s tails again, it really calmed her down. Another tail went to Bell and allowed him to fluff it too.

"I-I´m glad you like it...and I like your tails...they are so fluffy and beautiful."

"Ehe, you are just like Bell in that matter."

They talked a bit about this and that, unimportant things to calm down more.

But Lefiya still wanted an answer for something.

"Bell?"

"Yes?"

"I...you said before when you destroyed the Minotaur´s corpse...that it goes against your nature to let a woman do it when she isn´t wearing the right clothes."

"I did and it does."

"But...you said it would go against your nature even more..."

Lefiya looked at Haruhime shortly.

"When it comes to one of us..."

Haruhime nodded, she had heard this too.

"Could you...tell us what that means?"

"I...ahm...do I have to?"

The expression in their eyes was answer enough.

"I...I...hah..."

Bell sighed loud, then he averted his eyes.

"I feel like scum..."

"Bell?"

"Why?"

"There is...something that I want to tell you...both of you...but...at the same time I feel like I shouldn´t. That this is something you aren´t supposed to say to more than one person."

Haruhime felt that her heart started to pound really fast. Lefiya felt her ears getting warm.

Could it be?

Lefiya fidgeted on her seat a bit. "But...why do you feel like scum? Is it...something...bad?"

"Yeah...is it...something bad?"

"No...it isn´t bad...it is...argh! How can I say this to two people?!"

Lefiya had her hands slightly squeezed between her knees, she fidgeted back and forth. "Why don´t you...just say it?"

Haruhime agreed shyly, her ears and tails twitched, she held one of them clutched to her chest. So that she had the chance to hide her face behind it if necessary... The blood almost flushed in her ears with excitement and she made little squeaky noises...just like a fox that didn't know where to put all its happiness.

They saw that Bell´s face got really red and he had problems to look into their eyes.

"I...I...you two...I..."

Bell tried his best to gather all of his courage. Haruhime´s heart pounded like never before, she was close to fainting again.

.

.
"I love both of you!"

.

.
Bell´s eyes widened in shock, as did Haruhime´s. They looked at Lefiya, who had closed her eyes and shouted her feelings out loud. Then she grabbed one of Haruhime´s tails and hid her face behind it, squealing. Her heart couldn´t take it anymore, it just had to get out of her. Now she was afraid for the answer, that was why she hid her face.

But before one of them could answer, Lefiya blurted even more out with closed eyes, she couldn´t bear to look into their eyes.

"It is true! I really love you! Bell! Haruhime! I...Auuuuu!"

She burried her face again in the tail.

.

.

Argh, here goes nothing!

Bell looked deep into Haruhime´s eyes, since he couldn´t see Lefiya´s. He felt so relieved to hear the words from Lefiya, so he wasn´t the only one that felt this way.

"I love you, Haruhime!"

Then his eyes tried to look into Lefiya´s.

"And I love you, Lefiya!"

.

.

Haruhime´s eyes swam around, her mind was slowly overloading.

"I...I...m-me too..."

She looked into Bell´s beautiful rubelite eyes, the eyes of her hero.

"I...wuv...you too..."

Then Haruhime´s eyes wandered to Lefiya, she pulled her tail slowly away from the elf, who squeaked embarrassed.

"And..."

Haruhime knew from her past in the pleasure quarter that love between women wasn´t impossible.

"Wuv...you too..."

.

.

It took a few seconds to let it sink in.

Then Haruhime was the first to react, she started to chuckle. After that she started to make a strange noise, half chuckle, half hiccup. When Haruhime got really excited or sometimes when she used her fire magic, her beasty nature got out. It wasn´t a halfway beastification like it had happened when her tails grew or she felt the urge to bite one of them.

Yet...her teeth itched again...even more now that she saw Lefiya´s neck all the time. It was such a beautiful...smooth...delicious...neck.

Bell also started to chuckle and Lefiya joined them.

Pure relieve and joy broke out of them.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yeeees!" Bell shouted out, he couldn´t do anything else.

Lefiya couldn´t help but squeal in joy, she had finally listened to her heart and yelled out what it wanted. And that Bell and Haruhime returned her feelings made her more than just happy.

.

But...now that they had confessed their love to each other...there was something else to do...right?

.

Bell slowly got up to his feet, he looked at both of them. Lefiya leaned nervous a bit forward...her neck was clearly visible to Haruhime...and her teeth really itched.

Since the joy in her heart needed to get out, Haruhime couldn´t hold back.

"Lefiya..."

"H-Haruhime?..."

Lefiya saw how Haruhime leaned closer to her with this special gleam in her eyes. The elf got deep red when she raised her chin and turned her face a bit away to give Haruhime free access to her neck...her personal privilege now... Haruhime´s teeth were just a tiny little bit longer and she pinched Lefiya more than that she bit.

"Nom.."

"Mmmh!"

To get lightly bitten by Haruhime felt now much different from before, Lefiya shivered comfortably. Since it wasn´t a new friend anymore...it was her..

Hiiii! She is my girlfriend noooow! This is like a kiiiiiiss!

"Haaahn!" Lefiya couldn´t stop herself from making this noise, she felt just too good.

She saw with flushed cheeks out of the corner of her eye that Haruhime had her eyes closed and made a face...as if she was kissing her. Basically she was kissing her neck.

"H-Haruhime..."

Bell put his right hand on the armrest where Lefiya´s left hand was, the right between Lefiya´s and Haruhime´s thighs. He leaned a bit closer to Lefiya´s face.

"Lefiya..."

"B-Bell..."

She had only eyes for his lips...they were so close...they looked so nice...and soft...

"Lefi..."

"Bel..."

Both closed their eyes as Bell moved even closer.

.

It was the happiest moment in her life when their lips touched...or at least it should be.

"Ack!"

"Ouch!"

Bell flinched back, he had moved a bit too fast and their teeth smacked lightly against each other.

"S-Sorry!"

"Mouh...Bell Cranel..."

Even when she was a pure Maiden, Lefiya was head over heels in love now and she didn´t want to wait nor have her first kiss ruined. It had to be before Haruhime stopped kissing her neck. So Lefiya pulled Bell slightly closer and moved forward on her own.

This time...this time it was perfect.

.

The time came to a hold, it felt like an eternity...a wonderful...eternity.

.

Lefiya and Bell couldn´t believe how good a kiss felt, for her it was even better since Haruhime was kissing her neck. The feeling was completely different compared to getting a kiss from her parents when she was a child.

Hah...Bell...I love you...

Lefiya...

.

.
After what felt like an eternity, their lips separated. Lefiya heard a whimper next to her, when she moved her face, she saw the eyes of her girlfriend looking at her.

Bell would never forget this sight. How Lefiya and Haruhime looked at each other, how they slowly moved their faces closer. The lips slightly parted, both incredibly beautiful.

Now he understood the wise words of his grandfather...that a kiss between two women was...magic.

Lefiya sighed happy, Haruhime´s lips were even softer than Bell´s...and had a different taste.

Bell gulped when he saw them kissing...his girlfiends...it was a indeed magical sight.

.

.

And when their lips separated...Haruhime looked with a longing gaze at Bell.

Her tails moved quickly around, she was nervous and excited.

She would feel immense shame afterwards...before Bell could slowly move closer...Haruhime moved quickly forward, put her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips. For her first kiss with Bell it was a rather passionate one.

But she was finally able to kiss her hero...

Lefiya didn´t want to be left out...she moved a bit of Haruhime´s hair to the side and kissed her neck in return...while her fingers entangled with Bell´s right hand ones.

.

Kissing with three people was nice.

.

.
O-O-Oh my...I didn´t expect to see this...

In her home, Astrea turned her magical mirror off. She just wanted to look for a short moment what her child did, since she was worried about Lefiya after hearing what happened from Riveria.

But to see her in such a situation...

I´m sorry...I didn´t intend to peek...but I´m happy for you, Lefiya.

The goddess was as red as her child.

.

.
And right when Haruhime was about to separate her lips from Bell´s...the door to his room opened.

.

.

Alfia was back at home, she didn´t think that Bell would be home, she just wanted to put something in his room.

.

.

And it was quite the shock to see her beloved son standing there in a passionate kiss with Haruhime, Lefiya at the side, her hands entangled with Bell´s and one of Haruhime´s at Bell´s neck, the tails of Haruhime wrapped around them.

For Alfia, this was a horrific, lewd sight.

.