Uh, this is the first time I've answered reviews in a chapter.
Artoria99: don't worry, you weren't rude. I was aware about the "truth" of the Paleblood after reading "Paleblood Hunt".
naufalrakha0104: thanks, I hope you like the direction I plan to give to the story.
montavousr: sorry about that, English is not my native language and there are things I overlook when translating.
knifeman3874: I'm flattered to hear that, thank you very much.
teckbears1: glad to hear that. Sorry for the errors in the pronouns, I'll fix that later.
mistalenny: it's an honor that my first comment is from the author of one of the biggest Danmachi x Bloodborne fics on the platform, thank you very much.
With that said, let's go to the chapter!
MrSoul, out.
Twenty years ago.
Alfia and Meteria, 9-year-old twins belonging to the [Hera Familia], watched with fascination and a hint of fear the phenomenon that had been present that night in the city of Orario.
Over the landscape that was a dark starry sky loomed the largest, brightest, most beautiful and terrifying moon that the people of this age had ever seen.
To say that such a phenomenon was something without any record in the history of Genkai was nothing more than a lie, after all those who were really interested, not to say obsessed with the legends of the heroes of old and the gods themselves knew very well that there was a story that described perfectly what was happening.
As an omen that something important was about to happen, Albert Waldstein, the legendary hero of Dungeon Oratoria, contemplated this very moon the night before his final confrontation with the then Black Dragon of the Apocalypse.
It was said that the world itself whispered the name of this event to Albert.
The Paleblood Moon.
"... I don't know why, but seeing this makes me feel angry," whispered the little Alfia. To tell the truth, everyone recognized that the color red was never the girl's favorite color, something she did not share with her sister who found the color appealing in one way or another.
"There are few things that don't make you feel angry or indifferent..." whispered the leader of the [Familia] the goddess Hera, known for her deep concern for the daughters under her wing, as well as for keeping her husband, a hopeless pervert by the name of Zeus who led his own [Familia], in line.
The [Familias] of Zeus and Hera held sway in Orario, renowned for having endured for a thousand years and brought an age of peace to the world by pushing the monsters that roamed the face of the world in the past into the Dungeon.
Of course, such prestige had earned them a good number of enemies both among the ranks of the gods and among adventurers, for example the Osiris, Set and Sobek [Familias], a battle already won centuries ago. However, in the present there were Freya and Loki who were waiting for the slightest sign of weakness to strike the right blow and take the place as the strongest families not only of Orario, but of all Genkai. It was more than stated that neither Hera nor Zeus would allow something like this to happen, much less.
It was something in very early discussions, but both [Familias] wanted to carry out the Three Great Missions.
To talk about that is to venture several years into the future and what concerns us is here, in the present. Specifically, in those two girls, two goddesses and a baby.
That same night a... quick celebration was organized.
Despite what many might think, a phenomenon like the Blood Moon was not viewed with horror by anything other than overly young children and highly superstitious people, for most it was a fascinating thing to be alive to behold something only recorded once in history. Most of the gods joined in this joy in equal measure.
Little Meteria had almost cried when she saw the color of the moon, it took the presence of Hera and her twin Alfia to calm her down. It was thus that the white-haired girl's terror turned to fascination.
Still, there was something that kept bothering Meteria and she didn't have the courage to tell her sister or goddess.
She would swear she was hearing the cries of a baby, a common occurrence during the Paleblood Moon according to the accounts compiled in Yharnam's Gherman's Eyes.
Said book was chilling in the realism of its tales, but it was still just a horror story for daredevils or read by parents to misbehaving children.
Anyway, there was nothing to fear because of one irrefutable fact: Orario was not Yharnam.
And The Moon Presence was dead.
So why was the moon that color?
The answer lay before a bewildered goddess with short red hair.
Hephaestus, having separated from her [Familia] members who would be in one of the many taverns that would stay open late. The Divine Blacksmith, all had been encouraged to drink by a young 18 year old Tsubaki Colibrade.
So the goddess set off for her residence, she had some items to check and see if they could be sold with her [Familia] mark, a clear sign of quality. During her journey, she had to cross an alleyway that was quite popular but abandoned at that moment due to the improvised celebration, and that was when she heard the disconsolate cries of a woman.
The disconsolate cry of a baby abandoned in the cold outdoors.
Unwilling to stand idly by, the goddess Hephaestus carefully approached the baby and cradled her in her arms. She was wrapped in a warm coat and a long cherry scarf and on top of these same garments was a long note written in cursive, something unusual in the goddess' opinion.
She waited until the baby's crying stopped to read the note, hoping it would explain how anyone could be so heartless as to abandon their own offspring.
Inevitably what she read caused her to stifle any divine wrath Hephaestus might direct at the one or ones responsible.
"If you are reading this, then you have found my little Flora.
Caring for a baby, for another human being is not an easy task, but I implore you, protect my little girl.
I never wanted to abandon her, it's just that... I can no longer be by her side, I can never do it again.
In this leter I also make it clear that, when she reaches the age of 12, Flora Leukos will be able to claim the inheritance of Lady Mary Selene and mine, which is protected by the Guild of the city of Orario. Only she and no one else will have the right to what resides there.
And you who have found my daughter, I can only thank you for eternity. I know that, if you have found her, then you are a good person and will take care of her.
I have no right to ask anything of you, but... never let that in the brief time you were able to be with her, Mary and I love her deeply, as much as a mother can love her daughter.
That is my last wish... grow big and strong, forge your own story, Flora.
Signed, Aurora Selene. "
As she finished with the letter, the lovely crimson eye of the Blacksmith Goddess rested upon the warm little baby she now held in her arms, finally asleep after losing what little energy her body could retain at barely 1 day old.
It was by mere instinct that Hephaestus' right hand went to the part of the sheath that covered baby Flora's face and what she saw made her make a choice that would change the rest of her existence as a goddess.
Such a delicate face with skin as pale as the moon itself on a normal night, adorned by fine wisps of faint gray on top of her head. She had chubby cheeks as was common in babies and a healthy flush to her skin, proof that such pallor was not the product of disease to Hephaestus' relief.
"Flora, huh?"
... ... ...
... ... ...
8 years later.
The news spread unchecked through Orario, echoing from the normal taverns to the more 'wholesome' locales of the Pleasure District.
Hephaestus had a daughter.
The goddess of the most prestigious blacksmith [Familia] not only in the city, but in all of Genkai, had herself adopted a baby girl.
Of course, all those female members of the [Hephaestus Familia] were daughters of the goddess and she herself was immensely fond of them, the same was true for her children. But the unprecedented thing about this case is that the girl whose name remained anonymous thanks to a request from Hephaestus herself to the Guild, had been raised by the goddess since she was a baby. It is not superfluous to mention that the Guild was accused of favoring the [Familia] of blacksmiths for fulfilling such a request and before such an accusation that came from no one else but the same goddess who led the Pleasure District, Ishtar, and for this very reason Hephaestus made something very clear in the Denatus held after the accusation. "My daughter does not have and will not have one [Falna] until she asks for it!" That was what she said at the time, more than enough to dismiss the accusations of Ishtar who had no choice but to back down.
Something strange during that time is that Hephaestus had an unexpected support.
That of the [Hera Familia].
When the Blacksmith Goddess questioned Hera about it, she said that it was a simple whim she had to fulfill for one of her daughters who was curious about the girl. Hephaestus was angered by this, but Hera soon quelled the divine blacksmith's fury by telling her who it was.
Meteria, the sister of the Talent Monster, a Lv. 7 adventurer named Alfia, [Silence] being the adventurer's name bestowed upon her by the gods.
All this had happened a year ago and with some resignation, Hephaestus had granted his little girl permission to visit Meteria regularly.
There you have why Hephaestus' case was so unusual.
For those boys and girls raised in [Familias] like those of Zeus and Hera, they were still their gods at the end of stories.
For Flora Leukos, Hephaestus was her mother and nothing more.
To tell the truth, the girl was confused about why she had a second mother named Aurora Selene, but Hephaestus always told her that when she turned 12 she would understand so she played it down. However, with her frightening childlike intelligence, Flora had used this as a bargaining tool to receive the first permission to visit Meteria in weeks. "My own seven-year-old daughter beats me at negotiation... Sometimes I'm afraid of what she'll do when she grows up, heh." Hephaestus declared that day.
All these events having transpired, we arrived at the day when Flora Leukos turned 8 years old. Her birthday party was to be held that very night at the main headquarters of the [Hephaestus Familia] so the girl had decided to spend the whole day until sunset with her 'big sister' Meteria who could not attend the party due to health circumstances.
"Woah, your belly is much bigger than the last time I came."
"And you can say that, besides, I'm starting to feel it kicking, hehe."
Meteria was expecting a child.
Unknown to Flora, this was a great source of concern in Hera, Hephaestus and Alfia.
Hephaestus' concern was multiplied by three, in these years he had also grown fond of the girl from the [Hera Familia] and if anything happened to her or the baby she was expecting, she didn't know how she would explain it to Flora.
As for Hera and Alfia, it was amazing that they didn't crack under the pressure of all of the above plus an event that had been foreshadowed years ago.
The Three Great Missions were taking place.
Currently, Behemoth and Leviathan, ancestral beasts that terrorized the world, had already been defeated, with Alfia being the one who dealt the final blow to Leviathan.
Flora had given her a bronze fish that she herself had forged behind Hephaestus' back, much to the dismay of the white-haired adventurer. She would never admit it, but she didn't know how to deal with children.
"Have you chose a name?"
"Not yet Flora-chan, but I've been thinking... Have you seen that magic of my sister's, [Genos Angelus]?"
"Yes... She tried to hit me with it once because I told her that, if she kept getting mad, she'd get old sooner. By the way, what the heck is that 'Flora-chan'? Isn't that one of the honorifics use in the Far East?"
"Sniff, scolded by a seven year old girl."
"I'm not scolding you, hphm."
Meteria's face turned red with grief, she never thought that a seven year old girl, 8 that very night, would know the meaning of that honorific she used as a token of affection. Meanwhile, Flora couldn't help pouting, though there wasn't much she could do about it either.
Orario was a huge and varied city whose citizens came from all corners of the world, from the warring kingdoms and peoples in the north, to the territories in the east ruled by ancient dynasties versed in the magical arts
"So, what about [Genos Angelus]?"
"Well, I've always liked it, especially those bells. It's a bit ironic considering my sister's adventuring name is [Silence]."
"The ironies in her life are so many that they could easily fill your [Familia] coffers."
"Ohh, can you repeat that, brat?"
Flora froze, wishing the voice she heard behind her back was the work of her treacherous mind.
Like a living statue she spun around, finding Alfia behind her with an angry expression she could more than recognize.
"Are you chasing Cranel again?"
"... The bastard is quick when it comes to running away," she said, crossing her arms. If Flora didn't know her better, she'd think she was pouting even though she was already seventeen.
... ... ...
... ... ...
7 years later.
Alfia and Meteria were gone.
She didn't even get to say goodbye.
The Zeus and Hera [Familias] had been destroyed during the last of the Three Great Missions: eliminating the Black Dragon of an Eye.
The few survivors, as well as the respective gods of both [Familias] were driven out of Orario by Freya and Loki, trying to take the place left behind.
Flora... she had never felt like this before. Not angry, not sad, she simply felt empty.
She had no appreciation for someone in the [Zeus Familia], but that didn't apply to the [Hera Familia]. Despite her young age, they recognized her potential, they helped her in ways that, sadly, her mother Hephaestus recognized she could not, there were adventurers there besides Alfia and Meteria who were like family to her.
And now they were gone.
She was only 8 years old when all this happened, but it still felt fresh in her mind. It wasn't helped at all by [Evilus]'s recent actions in the city. In fact, Flora found herself thinking about all this as she fought against the members of this organization who were bent on creating a Dark Age for Orario.
In Flora Leukos' eyes, they were beasts.
And it was the duty of a Hunter to give them no mercy.
With that mentality, she felt no remorse when her characteristic weapon, the Holy Moonlight Sword, severed the head of a member of [Evilus] with an unholy cut. His companion screamed in horror, looking around for something to give him the advantage, however, he couldn't even take a step before he felt himself fall to the Dedalus District floor as an iron-scented warmth ran down his right leg.
Floras Leukos had severed that man's head and the leg of another with a single swing of the sword inherited from her birth mother.
The member of [Evilus] whose name was unimportant was now panicking, believing he would bleed to death there. His belief was shattered when a foot abruptly landed on his chest and the sensation of cold metal rested on his face.
His throat closed at an inhuman fear that invaded him, as if he saw something capable of frightening the very gods in their domain in Tenkai, and the source of such horror were those lightless eyes tinted in pale red.
In desperation, the man could not help but make one last comment.
"[Bloodsight]... it really suits you."
BANG!
The shot resounded dryly, stunning the other adventurers in the area. Those with delicate stomachs, barely tanned by this war against [Evilus], soon regretted looking for the source of that shot.
What they found was a bloody mess of bone, cartilage, brain mass and blood still gushing from the wretch's neck. On his lifeless body, stomping on his chest so hard they feared it was going to pierce through, lay the infamous adventurer Flora Leukos, nicknamed [Bloodsight] when it was announced that she rose to Lv. 4.
A look of disgust spread among some in the crowd while others simply didn't care. It was a war for the integrity of the city at the center of the world, it was obvious that things would not be pretty.
Of course, not everyone could reserve their comments.
"That was unnecessary."
Flora's intimidating eyes met those of Finn Deimme, Captain of the [Loki Familia] and one of the most important figures in this battle against [Evilus].
They looked at each other not in an uncomfortable silence, but in a tense one. Flora had no record of any attack against any adventurer who abided by the rules, but that did not make her any less infamous and terrifying. Her brutal methods for fighting Dungeon monsters, bandits on the outskirts of Orario or unruly adventurers were more than well known and had earned her first nickname once Hephaestus announced that she had risen to Lv. 2, [Red Hunter].
Another puzzling thing, at least to adventurers and civilians, was that Hephaestus' daughter, that girl so much talked about back in the day, had become so ruthless, so indifferent to the brutality of her already unusual methods. The worst part was when she was questioned about it.
'A Hunter must hunt,' she said all the time.
Instead of deigning to give Loki's Captain an answer, Flora put away her gunpowder weapon, retreating in silence, not changing her expression in the slightest at the disapproval of a small number of adventurers or their brutal actions.
There was only indifference.
"It was quite a show. Not pretty, but it shows why [Evilus] fears you so much," declared a voice that Flora wished so much not to hear.
As if it wasn't a street turned into a battlefield, the goddess Freya and her top adventurer, Ottar, approached her as if it were a reunion between friends.
Nothing could have been further from the truth.
"Our talk was productive, dear Flora. You left me with a puzzle that I had a hard time solving, but I was able to do it."
The Hunter jet-black eyebrows arched, intrigued by what she thought she had discovered about her.
If Flora considered Freya anything, it was that she was an annoying pebble in her shoe. That's why during the times she'd had the misfortune of meeting with her, she'd said nothing but meaningless or sarcasm-laden things to her.
"Go ahead, shoot 'oh great Freya'. "
Ottar never found the girl's sarcasm pleasant, but he stood aside and made no comment.
Meanwhile, a smile of victory formed on the face of the aforementioned goddess, easily mistaken for a malic-laden one. She may have had that emotion in part, but Freya herself didn't realize it.
"To say it was complicated would be an understatement, but I figured it out... And it all goes back to the day Hephaestus found you, doesn't it, daughter of Selene?"
Flora's stoicism broke at that moment, looking at Freya in a way that seemed to have already sent her back from Tenkai in every way imaginable.
Without warning and at a speed that even Ottar could not keep up with, she unsheathed the Holy Moonlight Sword and pointed it at the goddess' throat.
"What do you know?"
At that moment, Freya's triumphant smile changed to one of melancholy, almost sympathetic.
What The Hunter and The Goddess discussed that day forged something no one saw coming.
A friendship.
... ... ...
... ... ...
Present.
The constant coming and going of the inhabitants of Orario was something she had contemplated with mixed emotions since long ago, when she was able to start an accelerated escalation by expelling the [Zeus Familia] and the [Hera Familia ].
Obviously, at some point she got bored of seeing the same colors come and go, believing that she would be stuck in such a routine until one way or another, she got bored and left the city. For yes, in spite of everything, not for a moment did it cross her mind to return to the Tenkai.
So it was until she observed him.
A soul so pure, so bright that it could outshine the sun itself and all the stars in the firmament, with the ability to turn night into day.
The soul of Bell Cranel.
If necessary, then she would follow him into the afterlife, she would never let go of the one who had stolen her heart in this way, with nothing but simple gestures and actions that were not directed at her, but it mattered little.
He was her Odr and she would not let him go.
She couldn't help but sigh, it was a shame that to get close to him at the moment she had to make use of an alter ego, one with the name Syr.
Even though it was enough for the moment, she was aware that her longing only grew more and more with each day, but she was a patient one, she would wait for the right moment to snatch him away from Hestia and bring him to her family.
To the [Freya Familia].
In that way, what was that goddess of beauty so feared, loved and hated doing at the moment?
"..."
"..."
She looked like a frozen child because her mother caught her eating candy late at night without her permission. And it was all the fault of the woman who had just entered The Hostess of Fertility.
At that time she could not be called Goddess Freya, but simply Syr, an overly cloying waitress.
Syr was very afraid of that woman. But overshadowing that fear, there was also surprise and happiness.
"You came back..."
There, in the doorframe and accompanied by two women Syr recognized as members of the [Apollo Familia], was the one who not only caught his attention for her unusual soul, the resistance she possessed to her [Charm] or whose blood ran through her veins, but who she understood to some extent her desperate search for Odr.
Ultimately, the woman herself may never have experienced the feeling herself, but her mother had. Something to cure her affliction, something to move beyond the eternal night to which she had consciously condemned herself.
The despair of her birth mother, Aurora Selene, was something Flora Leukos could understand and compare to what Freya felt.
That understanding was a strange way to start a friendship, but Freya, Syr, would not complain about it.
Returning to the present, Flora looked at the silver-curled waitress with a look of annoyance and a look of wishful thinking that this was all a bad hallucination.
"What the fuck are you supposed to do?" was all she could ask.
Syr refrained from making an awkward gesture to try to look adorable.
Doing something like that would only earn her a good smack upside the head from Flora. If there was one thing she don't missed about the woman, it was the reprimands she gave.
'Of all the things she could inherit from [Silence], why did it have to be that?'
... ... ...
... ... ...
[Flora Leukos]
Affiliation: [Hephaestus Familia].
Nickname: [Bloodsight]
Race. Human (?)
Class: Hunter.
Floor attained: ?
Weapon: Assorted arsenal, with preference on the [Saw Cleaver] and [Holy Moonlight Sword].
Money: 5,039,658 Varis.
[Crowfeather Armor]
-Inherited by Aurora Selene.
-Features a thin layer of concealed protective cloth.
-On the raven helmet are carved the runes of [Moon], [Blood] and [Beast].
[Hunter's Clothes]
-Inherited by Aurora Selene.
-Restored by Mary Selene.
-Set worn by the Hunters of Yharnam during the eternal Night of the Hunt.
-On the inside of the coat is embroidered the rune [Hunter].
[Choir Bell]
-Capable of healing minor deceases and wounds with its tinkling.
-Stabilizes serious wounds.
LV. ?
Strength: S793
Endurance: S1083
Dexterity: S1120
Agility: S1050
Magic: S975
Magic
[Old Hunter's Bone].
-Steady acceleration of movements.
[Augur of Ebrietas]
-Fast singing magic.
-Throws tentacles from hands capable of knocking out or piercing the enemy.
-The person decides the power with which the tentacles are thrown.
[A Call to the Beyond]
-Quick summoning of a Nova.
-The amount of projectiles launched from the Nova depends on the person's health.
[Thousand Eyes]
- ?
- ?
Skills
[Inheritance of the Paleblood]
-All the strength collected by Aurora Selene during her journey through Yharnam.
-Resistance to external influences.
[Hunter]
-Increases the person's abilities against monsters.
[Mistress of Caryll Runes]
-Free use of the Caryll Runes without any disadvantage.
-Complete mastery over the effects of the runes [Eye], [Heir], [Moon]. [Lake], [Deep Sea], [Impurity], [Beast] and [Hunter].