Chapter 04: Resolution(Enforcement of the Hero's Justice)
"It's a monster!"
A stack of crates off to one side of the street were smashed to pieces sending broken wood flying everywhere. Citizens ran screaming in any direction away from the monster. Bell instantly moved in front of Astraea and Anna to protect them from the viola, or rather, get them away from it.
Then he felt his heart rate spike at the sight of it.
The beast was almost five and a half meters tall, an ape-like body covered in silver-white fur, and gleaming red-eyes. On each wrist were shackles and attached to each shackle was a length of thick, steel chain.
Bell knew this monster from Eina's teachings, it being a silverback from the 11th and 12th Floors. The monster had clearly just escaped from the colosseum, it still bearing the shackles and chains forced upon it.
This was worse than the violas! At least those had been plants they could feasibly run away from! This ape could actually chase them down!
But what about the violas?! Would they still appear along with this monster?!
("Chase the girl with the flaxen hair for me, won't you?")
"Groaaaah!" The silverback roared, sniffing wildly until it bright red-eyes locked onto Bell before shifting to Anna beside him.
"Um, why is it looking at me like that?" Anna shook. Of course, she was terrified. All of his plans to gradually embolden her against monsters with the 1st Floor were now effectively in ashes.
"Rea-sama, hide Anna in your invisibility cloak." Bell's {Ki Empowerment} crackled to life, unsheathing his sword against the monster. Rather than a viola which required a Level 5 at minimum, this was just a monster that had been subdued by a high-level adventurer. Theoretically, his Skills could probably help close the gap between them.
But for the first time ever, they had never felt as insufficient as it did now.
"Ganesha-sama!" A Ganesha Familia member burst into the booth in a panic. We've got a huge problem!"
"Fear not, for I am Ganesha!" Ganesha posed with one hand on his chest and the other raised into the air.
"Yes, I already know!" Krrish waved off his grand declaration. "Some of our captured monsters broke free and are loose!"
...ओह बकवास
"Uh-oh." Ganesha actually quietened in shock. "That's rather troublesome, isn't it?"
"Exactly, Ganesha-sama!" The young man explained. "The guards at the underground floor got incapacitated, and many Guild workers got injured as well! We suspect it's somebody from outside-"
"Meaningless chatter for another time!" Ganesha's voice easily silenced his child's. "We must protect the masses first! That takes priority! How many monsters escaped?"
"N-Nine, sir! Some of them are even strong and dangerous enough to give seasoned adventurers trouble."
And those type of monsters were loose amongst the powerless civilians?!
"Chase down the monsters immediately!" Ganesha ordered his child. "And request assistance from nearby Familia and adventurers in the area!"
"W-Wait a moment, Ganesha-sama!" Krrish protested. "This is our responsibility! What will people think if we go around asking for help?"
"I am Ganesha! None under my patronage are permitted to get hurt! Honor and pride mean nothing in endeavors to protect life! Just who the Hell do you think I am that I'd ever consider otherwise!" Ganesha declared powerfully with his arms crossed, almost looming over Krrish with his presence. "Keep Monsterphilia going and the arena closed in to avoid confusion! Don't do anything that will worsen the situation!"
"Y-Yes, Ganesha-sama!" The young man snapped out of his awe and bolted out of the private booth to relay the God's orders to the rest of the Familia.
Now to figure out who would do this and why... A diversion? Confusion?
Or perhaps...
"Monsters have escaped?!" Eina exclaimed, very much not wanting to believe Misha right now.
"I-I heard they appeared at the west gate." Misha was almost panicking as she spoke. "The Ganesha Familia seem to have their hands full with dealing with them...! What do we do, Eina?"
"Contact nearby Familia, everyone of them!" Eina immediately ordered. "Adventurers too, if you see them!"
Misha shook. "A-Are we allowed to do that on our own?"
Normally, not in the slightest. But Eina was well aware of the sheer danger of the current crisis. "It's much better than letting people get hurt! If we just wait around, the problems will just pile up!"
As well as the corpses...!
"I guess this is a bad time for a date."
Eina turned around at the sound of Goddess Loki's voice, seeing her and the Sword Princess approaching her. "Goddess Loki... Ais Wallenstein..."
"What did you just say about people being hurt?" Ais questioned.
Astraea winced as she and Anna saw Bell get whacked aside immediately after the silverback had leapt towards them, her Child slamming into a building.
The only thing that stopped her from fully panicking was his immediate return, him roaring as he charged at the silverback again. Dodging beneath the silverback's swing, he leapt up into it's face and slashed at one of it's eyes.
The moment blood was spilt, Bell immediately abandoned the fight and rushed towards them.
"Rea-sama, we need to leave!" Bell shouted as he grabbed both women to his sides before kicking off towards the roof.
Grunting a little when Bell immediately broke into a run, Astraea looked back and gasped as the silverback followed after. "Bell, duck your head!"
Bell didn't hesitate to obey, thereby saving himself from the fatal chain swing that would've pulverized his head upon impact. "We can't make it to the coliseum with him up here with us! He's easily gaining!"
"G-Go down into the streets!" Anna suggested. "He's too big to fit, right?"
Astraea knew better, though. That great size just meant that it would keep searching from above, possessing both the strength and reach to keep up and just swipe them up if it reached a space wide enough. "Bell, find us a secure space, even for just 40 seconds!"
"Eh?!" Bell gasped after leaping over a wide street, his ki crackling wildly as it was worked overtime. "What's your plan?!"
"If I were to give you a better weapon and update your Status, can you kill it?!" Astraea asked.
"...I don't know!" Bell answered. "I'm sorry, but I don't know! Right now, I'm sure that I don't even stand a chance, not against-"
"He's pouncing!" Anna screamed.
Bell promptly dodged with a sudden jump to the side, the silverback slamming down upon where they'd been a second ago. "Right now, I can only put my full beliefs in running away and getting you to Ganesha and his Familia. I absolutely can't let you two die, and I can't hurt you by dying so soon!"
Astraea stared at her terrified child in worry and sadness. So even in the midst of his terror, he was still capable of worrying for her mental welfare like this?
All the more reason... to do this... "Bell Cranel... Listen to this order from your goddess!"
Even with his motions, Bell tensed up as both he and Anna stared at her.
"Procure a space for me to update your Status, now!"
"...understood!" Bell suddenly dropping them as he twisted about while unsheathing his sword, Ki running down it's length and enhancing it's potency(while immediately causing some more cracks along). Flinging it just as the silverback came too close to dodge, the blade shattered upon impact into many fragments that dug deep into the monster, including it's already injured eye. "C'mon!"
Grabbing them again while it screamed and flailed in pain, Bell dropped down into the streets before immediately sliding into an underground space. "Okay, we've got time now!"
While Bell pulled off his shirt and immediately exposed his back to her, Astraea removed Justitia Libra and let one of it's spikes prick her finger.
"Hold these!" Slapping the gauntlets into his hands, Astraea immediately went into updating his Status as hastily as she could.
"Okay, Astraea. Listen carefully. The hieroglyphs you carved into these gauntlets gave the weapons a Status of their own. In a manner of speaking, they're just as sentient as your Child is. In a way, that also makes them defective as it can now only be used by those who bear your Falna. The next time you have to update his Status, have him hold them so that they will properly begin their growth alongside him. Not too strong or too weak, Justitia Libra is utterly unique in it's functioning existence. That's why... Please don't ever make me craft a weapon like these again..."
Making a note to thank Hephaestus again later, Astraea finished up with the updates.
-:|Status|:-
Bell Cranel
Level: 1
STR: G-297 → E-479
VIT: F-303 → E-401
DEX: F-337 → D-517
AGI: F-390 → D-598
MAG: I-0
.
-:|Magic|:-
.
-:|Skills|:-
Ki Empowerment: Uses a mix of lifeforce and willpower to enhance all physical abilities and grant special effects to magical abilities.
Defier of Fate: Greatly boosts the effects of Skills and Magic in the face of adversity. Greatly boosts growth in the face of adversity.
By Demeter's Bosom, what the fuck?!
"R-Rea-sama, it's coming!" Anna's warning was promptly followed by their surroundings shaking from a powerful thump, causing Astraea to calm down and finish up.
"Bell." When he turned back to face her, Astraea leaned forward and pressed her lips against his forehead before cradling him close. "It's going to be okay. It's fine, if you don't believe in yourself. Just believe in the me that believes in you."
"...alright, Rea-sama." Bell pulled back and donned the gauntlets, the hieroglyphs lighting up across the metal immediately drank in his Ki before crackling as they suddenly clinked into fitting his hands better. "If you'll believe in me that much, then the least I must do is to ignore my doubts and measure up to that!"
"Then, go!" Astraea slapped his back. "Enforce your Justice at once!"
Bell rushed out of the hiding spot, the women immediately following after. He came out into the wide space, just enough for him to dodge about while the silverback could swing it's chains.
"Look upon that young man, Anna." Astraea declared to the stunned girl beside her. "He is your future Captain."
"Okay!" Bell slammed a fist into his palm. "Come on!"
The silverback stared down at Bell for a beat before suddenly roaring immensely, Astraea's eyes bulging as she saw the monster's flesh and muscles seem to convulse with enough force to be visible through the fur before rapidly compressing themselves.
"Wh-Whaaaa?" Anna gasped, and Astraea couldn't blame her, as the silverback shrunk to half of it's original size, all of it's armor and shackles having fallen off it's currently slimmer appearance.
An appearance that exuded immense malevolence from just how much it was glaring at Bell with it's non-bloodied eye.
"What the fuc-" Bell wasn't even allowed to finish that sentence as the silverback shot forward and buried a devastating punch into his stomach, the two flying through the wall behind.
This monster was too fast!
Bell grunted as he was flung into another wall after being smashed through one. He barely managed to activate {Ki Empowerment} before the silverback's fist smashed into his guard, threatening to break his arms while his lungs were forcibly robbed of precious air.
Then another punch followed the earlier. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then another. Soon, the silverback was flat-out raining punches upon Bell, the latter held in place from the onslaught.
Each one of the monster's strikes were filled with the savage desire to inflict damage upon him, not a single thought spared towards restraint as the silverback simply sought to beat Bell to death. With one final slam, the silverback stepped back to observe it's handiwork, allowing Bell to dodge aside and recover a little.
Even as his arms throbbed immensely, a cautionary shake reassured Bell that his Ki had saved them from being broken. Miraculously, his new gauntlets didn't even seem scratched. As for the silverback, it was clear enough that Bell wouldn't be able to match it in strength.
"If that form of yours is meant to boost your speed..." Bell crouched a little, his Ki buzzing louder as he readied himself. "Let's test how far it goes!"
Bell kicked off with breakneck force, kicking off the surrounding walls and buildings as the silverback struggled to visually follow his movements. However, Bell noted with rising displeasure that the silverback's reflexes were at least on par with his as the monster ducked the sudden kick that would've struck it's head from behind.
Undettered, Bell let himself land before suddenly returning with a punch into the silverback's unguarded stomach. The monster merely skidded back a few meters before retaliating with a wide-handed strike that Bell punched against.
Upon impact, the resulting shockwave ripped through the air and rippled through both their arms, the two being forced apart. Before Bell could recover quickly this time, the silverback beat him to it and attacked again with the devastating punch that had sent him flying before, this time now flinging him upwards before he crashed down with enough force to crater the ground.
Before he'd even stopped rolling, the silverback had already reached him and gripped tightly onto his leg, swinging him about onto the ground with enough power to break it apart with each strike.
Lifting Bell up to observe his ragdolled form, the silverback slammed him down two more times and released him with the third one, leaving Bell in unfathomable amounts of pain.
"I'm so sorry I laughed at you for this, Loki..." Bell managed to cough out, so unbelievably grateful that his ki had miraculously kept his body intact and still combat capable as he managed to get back to his feet.
Somehow.
(Unaware to him, his Falna glowed brightly enough to shine through the back of his shirt, particularly the area where 'Defier of Fate' was inscribed.)
The silverback lumbered towards him, the monster growling as it loomed over Bell. Pounding it's chest twice, it roared into Bell's face loudly, blasting him with both stinky breath and nearly concussive sound.
"It's going to be okay. It's fine, if you don't believe in yourself. Just believe in the me that believes in you."
Coughing and spitting to the side, Bell cocked his fists once more. "Let's try this one more time."
Snarling in utter contempt for Bell's words, the silverback wound it's arm forward for a powerful punch from above. However, Bell was ready this time. Catching the punch in his palm, he let the force travel down his arms and twist him into delivering a brutal uppercut, the sheer force of it sending it back.
Not willing to give it the slightest bit of recovery time, Bell chased after it and punched it's face, directing it's head downwards into the ground.
Still, from how the silverback glared up at him with that bloody eye despite his fist burying itself into it's cheek, Bell knew that his punch was still too soft!
He had to hit him harder!
Bell rained down punches with his right fist, gripping down the monster's shoulder with his left as he delivered each blow with increasing force.
Before long, bloody flecks that belonged to the silverback started to splatter about along with the violent shockwaves until finally...
One final punch landed with enough force to pulverize the silverback's head and generate powerful wind pressure that shook the whole area.
For one brief moment, Bell paused to regard the dead monster before instinctually digging into it's chest to retrieve it's magic stone as he normally did, the monster bursting into black ash afterwards. "Yeah, looks twice as big as the ones I'm used to..."
"You did it!"
Bell turned around just in time to take Anna's gleeful tackle, almost staggering from her tight grip.
It was like the breaking of a dam as all of the citizens who'd been hiding away applauded Bell's victory as well, Astraea joining Anna in hugging him in clear relief.
With everything finally over, Bell turned to her. "I've finally figured it out, Rea-sama."
"Hm?"
"My Justice." Bell confirmed. "I... This monster pushed me to my absolute limit, to the point that I would've given up on my chances of winning if not for your encouragement. I want my Justice to be just like that. A Hopeful Justice that will always persevere despite how bleak it all seems. A Hopeful Justice... that can brighten even the darkest of fates."
"...that's a lovely Justice, Bell. Well done..." Astraea beamed at him before suddenly staggering, causing Bell and Anna to panic.
"...Rea-sama? Rea-sama?!"
"That was quite a mean thing to put Astraea through, but I'm really getting jealous of her..." Freya sighed in very slight guilt, her right arm held up below her breasts while her left hand graced her lips. "Still, congratulations are very much due."
She'd watched the whole battle and had been pleasantly shocked when Bell had finally decided to face the silverback head-on. Granted, the silverback's sudden mutation had caused her some worry, fearing that she'd unleashed an enemy too far beyond Bell's capability.
But Bell had triumphed against the seemingly impossible odds, which just made everything better~! He hadn't been fearless, not in the slightest. But his attacks had not been tainted with hesitation.
"How long has it been since I felt such thrills?" Freya giggled as she gazed at the boy whose souls had captured her interest so thoroughly. "Let's play again another time, Odr."
"Well, damn. It's already over?"
Not quite the words Ais herself would've used, but she was just as surprised. She'd arrived much earlier than Loki, which then granted her more time to see the battle's conclusion. Far from a weakling like Bete had assumed, the white-haired boy had been on somewhat equal footing with the mutated silverback, which was incredibly abnormal for an adventurer who'd started so recently. "So strong..."
Just what kind of training had he endured to reach that point?
Her innocent self cheered at the sight of him rushing past them with few injuries while carrying a woman he'd covered her face with cloth for some reason, along with another girl following after him. Familia members? Yes... She still had to meet him and apologize for Bete's actions. "Congratulations."
Bell finally snapped back to attention when the door to Astraea's room opened, Anna jostling awake from where she'd been napping against his side. "Syr-san, how is Rea-sama?"
Ironically, he and Anna had finally run into Syr somewhere inside Daedalus Street right at a moment when she'd been completely driven out of his mind, and she recommended him to get Astraea to the Hostess of Fertility as the second floor of the tavern also served as an inn. Either her or Mama Mia would definitely get their money's worth later if they got charged, 'but Bell didn't care at all this time.
"She's okay." Syr assured them. "It looks like she just collapsed from exhaustion. Also, she wants to see Anna-san first over a matter."
"What a relief." Anna sighed before patting Bell's forearm. "Well, excuse me, Bell-kun, Syr-san."
Watching Anna enter the room, Syr turned back to face Bell with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry about what happened today. Because you and her came looking for me to deliver my purse, you got dragged into such a dangerous incident..."
"Don't worry about, Syr-san. Nobody could've predicted that silverback's actions." Bell assured her, because he certainly hadn't. While he was relieved to have somehow avoided the violas, what had happened that a silverback got loose from Ganesha's coliseum? It was only a small relief that a cautious probing with some of the drunkards below had revealed that Ais, Lefiya and the Amazon twins had been seen fighting some 'plant monsters'.
This in turn meant that the story while the story was continuing on track for it's protagonist, it was probably still trying to kill him off, especially with that mutation... By Astraea, Bell really hoped that the silverback he'd fought had been an exception rather than the norm. "Besides, that incident helped force a few things into better perspective for me."
Getting stronger was no longer the sole priority. Saving Filvis and dealing with Dionysus/Enyo had shifted from afterthought to Side Quest. Main Quest was now actively seeking out Liliruca Arde to avoid the start of the Second Orario Dark Age as well as stopping Evilus from initiating the two-parter Dungeon Break arcs.
If the story thought he was going to remain passive over it's repeated murder attempts on him, it had another thing coming!
"That was the same for me." Syr blushed, causing Bell to remember that she was still standing before him. "The truth is... I actually watched your battle a bit, and I still haven't been able to stop thinking of how amazing you were."
"You flatter me, Syr." Bell huffed. "My goddess had to rile me up into doing so after I'd spent so much effort fleeing it. I'm a coward by nature."
"I, on the other hand, think that you're heroic by nature." Syr suddenly stepped close to him, pressing him against the wall as she leaned up to whisper into his ear. "Is it any wonder that I'd fall for you?"
...WHAT.
"I have some preparations to do, so if you'll excuse me." Syr giggled as she stepped back and went down the stairs. "See you later, Bell-kun."
Bell found himself staring as the waitress deliberately seemed to be swaying her hips as she descended out of sight. "She's gotta be teasing me..."
The door opened to reveal Anna's head peeking out. "Bell-kun, Rea-sama wants to see you."
Shaking his head to free his thoughts from Syr, Bell immediately entered, looking aside to see Anna readjusting her dress before concentrating on Astraea and reciprocating her glad smile. "Rea-sama!"
"Bell." Astraea happily returned his hug, moving him so that he was seated beside her. "I hope that I didn't worry you too much."
"Yes, you did." Bell bluntly stated, ignoring Anna's shocked squeak. "Why did you collapse like that? Where have you been? And why are the gauntlets I drew for you now a real thing on my hips?"
"Coincidentally, those questions all lead into the same answer." Astraea chuckled. "I left to secure a special ore to be crafted into a weapon you liked because your Skill kept ruining the normal weapons you had. Once I'd done so, I persuaded Hephaestus into forging it into the gauntlets in exchange for being able to keep the leftover material. Due to the sheer necessities of forging such a weapon, I was needed to help out through the process. However, my stamina just couldn't match that of a divine blacksmith's."
"...why did you go so far for me?" Bell whispered in disbelief. He'd fully examined the gauntlets in question. Even if it was a rather complicated piece of technology that he'd mostly based off of a few of Vi(LoL)'s different gauntlets, the fact that it'd been faithfully reproduced with what was sounding like very precious material stunned him immensely. "What have I done to deserve such a thing?"
Astraea blinked in honest confusion before smiling gently. "You entered my life."
Bell felt his words die in his throat, unable to properly vocalize how he felt right now. Rationally, he knew that Astraea cared. But... But...
"Didn't we swear to each other that we would do our best to help each other?" Astraea chided as she intertwined their fingers together. "We were friends before we became Familia, and not even that has changed much. I'd like you to think that I can give as much as you've been giving me-"
Bell grabbed Astraea into a tight hug, sobbing quietly into her shoulder as he did so. At some point, he'd felt Anna awkwardly rubbing her hand against his back.
He'd have to apologize later.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" The adventurer called out to her, thereby interrupting the work he'd specifically hired her for. "Hurry up. So slow... You're useless as a supporter."
She paid no mind, retrieving her knife and walking up to pace with him.
"I've got no money for somebody who just slows me down and can't do her job." The adventurer finished his sentence with a punch to the top of her head. Not too hard that she'd be knocked down, but not too soft that she wouldn't be suffering a headache for a while. "Well, if we get surrounded by monsters, I can at least use you as a decoy. Useless moron."
The adventurer walked ahead, prompting the supporter to follow after. With years of experience, Liliruca Arde held back from allowing her murderous disdain to show through her gaze.
Principles of the Astraea Familia Members
Astraea: Starry Justice("There are as many kinds of Justice as there are stars in the night sky. I can only hope that they can all cooperate together to guide towards a lovely completion.")
Ryuu Lion: Turbulent Justice("Justice must be like the wind. A refreshing breeze to the innocent and an unforgiving disaster upon the guilty, with no hint of mercy.")
Bell Cranel: Hopeful Justice("A Hopeful Justice that will always persevere despite how bleak it all seems. A Hopeful Justice... that can brighten even the darkest of fates.")
Anna Claes: UNDETERMINED
KingVessel: What do you get a Bell who's shown no problems using his fists whenever his dagger broke? First a sword to satisfy the Original Bell's hero dream, then a special pair of gauntlets for both practical(harder to lose, misplace or get stolen) and awesome(for that reviewer who wanted Bell to be an early era Z Fighter-type) reasons.
