Hey guys, welcome to the next chapter. I just wanted to say as a collective a big thank you to everyone who reviewed and PMed me with supportive messages about my friend. He's just started taking medication and is doing a little better now, we're still waiting to see how his body fully reacts to the meds, but it all looks great! Anyway, we've had another timeskip and it's about time we wrap up Arc 2, so this is the official introduction to the final mini-arc of Arc 2, the Rank Up Mini-Arc. Be sure to follow, favourite and review, but for now, onto the story!

Akihide looked down at the giant claw mark. "Okay... this is definitely bigger than the regular Infant Dragon..." he muttered, looking back at his party. Ryuu, Ardee and Airmid looked between each other with a mixture of concern and excitement. A sense of adventure. Ryuu felt the need to catch up grow as Alise and Kaguya were beginning to approach their caps at level 2, and would soon be looking for an adventure to rank them up to level 3, much like how several other members of her familia had Ranked Up in the year she had been with them. Ardee was much the same as their elven teammate. She was looking for an excuse to try and Rank Up and stand alongside her sister and the rest of her familia.

Airmid, however, was more cautious and concerned about this. Their party had never even faced a regular Infant Dragon before, and they only started hunting for the things that day, since they all decided that they were about as high in the stats category as they could be before a Rank Up. A regular Infant Dragon was fine, they had been trained on how to deal with them thanks to Riveria and their other teachers going on about their weaknesses. They knew their enemy, and they knew how to beat that enemy.

But this? What Akihide was describing was either a Variant or an Enhanced Species. They hadn't even encountered a regular Infant Dragon in the five months hey had been exploring the 12th floor, so they were in no way prepared for an enhanced species. Sure, she had done pretty much all she could do, stat wise, seeing as she had maxed out her magic stat to 999, and how her other stats were ranging from B to E, thanks to their mishaps on Floors 11 and 12 during their adventures, but she still didn't know if she was truly ready to take on an Infant Dragon. "I don't know about this..." she said to the group, getting the three others to turn to her. "I mean... shouldn't we start with a regular Infant Dragon first before trying our luck against an Enhanced Species?"

"I guess you're right..." muttered Ardee, sighing as she put her sword back in the sheath. "Should we head to Floor 11 just to relax for a bit, or should we call it a day and go home? We've been down here for hours after all, and the drop items and magic stones are getting kinda heavy..." she said with a cheeky smile, probably hoping to go home rather than waste more time on Floor 11, where there would be no way for them to gain good Excilia.

Ryuu sighed. "Maybe we'll call it a day in the dungeon, rest a bit more before the lessons about the Cave Labyrinth with Riveria-sama." said the leader of the party, turning to the three of them. "Good work today, everyone. We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow, and hunt a standard Infant Dragon." she said, turning around to go towards the exit to Floor 11.

However, a problem in the form of a large, blue dragon standing around 4 meters tall and 10 meters long blocking the path to the stairs. The blue dragon seemed to be looking right at them from around 40 meters away, which was about how far they could see through the mist of Floor 12. "That's gonna be a problem..." muttered Ryuu, looking back at their team, who seemed to be fine apart from a bit of panic. "Okay... so we have 2 high potions, 2 mind potions, and two low healing potions. Think we can take this thing on?" she asked her comrades.

Ardee smirked and cracked her knuckles. "Only one way to find out! We can't leave so we have to fight!" she said, her smile brightening the moral of Kiddy Party.

"I can blind it." said Akihide, drawing Utsukushī-me from it's sheath. "I just need to use my skill and get close to the eye. That should make a blind spot we can exploit." said the youngest member of their group.

Airmid sighed. "Do we have any other choice?" she asked the group, before readying her staff. "We just need to kill this thing, right?"

"Just need to kill it..." muttered Ardee, smirking. "Big talk from the one who wanted to turn back. You cure you can handle this, princess?" jokingly mocked the Ganesha Familia girl.

"Just shut up..." returned Airmid, glaring at their main tank.

"I'm gonna go now!" called out Akihide, running forward a bit and teleporting right next to the Dragon's eye, making it go wide in shock as Akihide drove his blade into it's eye. Utsukushī-me drew blood as the dragon roared in pain, jolting back in shock and anger, trying to slam it's face into the wall behind it. Akihide teleported back, his wakizashi covered in dragon blood and said Dragon turning to look at the four with it's one good eye, furious and ready to kill them. "It's weak on the left side, take it out from there!" he yelled, as he, Ardee and Ryuu charged at the beast whilst Airmid began chanting.

Akihide was the first to arrive again, moving to take out the other eye of the dragon, teleporting over it, only for the dragon to cover it's eye with one of it's wings. Akihide's wakizashi clashed with the scales and didn't leave so much as a dent against the powerful monster. Akihide grit his teeth and jumped back looking down to teleport, only for the dragon to flap it's wing and send Akihide flying across the floor with a gust of wind. The others looked on, horrified, as Akihide saw the ground and teleported to in, regaining his balance as he slid on the grass and dirt, before coming to a stop.

Ryuu turned to the dragon, rushing in with a war cry as the dragon turned to her and roared, charging at the elf. Ryuu jumped up and slashed at the dragon, only for her sword to do no damage. A shocked look on her face, she was sent back by the dragon slamming it's wing into her, dropping her to the floor with a cloud of dust picking up, causing the elf to spit out blood. The dragon tried to stomp on her, only for Ardee to appear under his foot and slash at the flesh at the bottom unprotected by scales. The dragon roared in pain once more before stepping back, allowing Ardee to pick up Ryuu and retreat to a safer distance.

The dragon made to follow, only to notice Akihide returning with his katana drawn. The dragon shielded it's eye once more, not willing to go blind, but was shocked when Akihide teleported under him instead and stabbed him in the exposed stomach, enticing another round of painful roars. Akihide teleported back out as the dragon turned to the boy, furious. "What? Did you think I'd go for your eye again after last time?" mocked the young boy as he got into his katana stance, smirking at the dragon. "Come and get me, you scaly, slimy, shit." he mocked, grateful Riveria wasn't there to hear him cuss and potentially punish him.

The dragon seemed perfectly fine with complying with the boy's request to die, so charged at him with his jaw outstretched, ready for a meal. The boy smirked with faux confidence, and charged at the beast, jumping into it's reach as he swung his katana.

At the entrance of Babel, a group of adventurers came crawling out of the Dungeon. The other adventurers looked on as three young children dragged a blue haired human by her arms through the central courtyard, looking dirty, bruised and a little done with everything. The other three seemed to barely have the energy to stand up, much less drag another person out of the Dungeon.

The three dragged their friend over to a bench, before setting her down on in and taking a set themselves, sighing in relief as they gave their feet a rest. The young 10 year old girl turned to her friends. "If that isn't Rank Up worthy, I don't know what is!" she exclaimed as she laid down, trying not to move her muscles more than she needed to. "I mean, an Infant Dragon Enhanced Species?! How rare is that?!"

Ryuu sighed, the 12 year old looking down at her party member. "Spawns approximately once every 3 months or so. The blue ones are generally on the weaker end though..." she let out with a groan. "I heard some adventurers have to kill 20 Infant Dragons to Rank Up."

"No..." moaned out Akihide, who had all but collapsed on the bench, sliding down to the floor. "20? Why?" he cried out in exhaustion. "I barely even managed to hold that thing off for a minute, let alone take it out! How am I meant to do that 20 more times!" he yelled in frustration, before turning red as everyone in the plaza turned to him.

Yes, the fight had been something. After Akihide had charged at the blue monster, Airmid's spell came crashing down on it, only for Ryuu, freshly headed with one of their potions, and Ardee joined the fray. The monster was able to blast them all with the wind generated from it's wings several times, before Akihide pulled back and enhanced the strength of Ardee and Ryuu with his magic, allowing them the chance to attack, as well as giving Ardee the killing blow as she slammed her sword into the remaining eye of the monster and killed it, but collapsed afterwards from exhaustion.

They had also been incredibly lucky with their drop items, having found 2 blue scales, 3 dragon claws and a dragon tooth. They decided that Airmid would take a scale, Akihide 2 of the claws, Ryuu the claw and the scales left over and Ardee would get the very rare tooth. After trading in the magic stones and other drop items for a very respectable 50,000 valis, they split it four ways before walking Ardee and then themselves back home.

Akihide collapsed almost as soon as he entered the Twilight Manor, and was put to bed by Gareth, who told him he'd wake him up when Loki was ready to update his status. Akihide slept the entire rest of the day before Gareth came to collect him. The young boy entered his goddess' private room and laid down on her bed, his shirt discarded. "So how was the Dungeon today?" asked Loki, smiling at Akihide.

"To be honest, Loki, if I don't rank up from fighting that Enhanced Species Infant Dragon, I don't know how I will." said the boy, still exhausted from the fight, and still in need of a shower.

"Infant Dragon Enhanced Species?!" demanded Loki, looking at the boy with shock and awe. "Well done on surviving that! You should be proud! I have a feeling something good will happen today!" she sang out as she dropped her godly blood on the child's back, reaching into his Falna and increasing the arcanum he could handle. She hummed as she did, before finishing and placing some paper on his back. "Alright, so good and bad news." said the goddess, lifting up the paper and Akihide. "Bad news is you didn't Rank Up from this, which is fine, because look at this!" she said, handing the status over to Akihide.

Status:-
Level: 1
Strength: 912(S)→943(S)
Endurance: 898(A)→932(S)
Dexterity: 973(S)→999(S)
Agility: 994(S)→999(S)
Magic: 987(S)→999(S)
Magic: Kaizen no Mon
Skills: Mico Grandus
Development Abilities: N/A

"All your basic abilities are S now! And three maxed out stats! How amazing is that! Not many people can say they have all S stats! That Infant Dragon must've been just shy of giving you the Excilia you needed to Rank Up." stated his goddess in glee for the boy. "At the lower levels like this, having a status this nice isn't something to sneeze at. It shows how far you've come in the last year."

Loki smiled as she pulled the young boy to his feet. "Now come on. There's somewhere we need to be." she said as she dragged the boy away. Akihide, still feeling dejected and agitated that he couldn't Rank Up, even after the whole year. Feeling down about that was natural, but he couldn't help but wonder where he went wrong in the dungeon. Loki snapped him out of it as she looked down at the boy with a smirk. "I have a feeling you're gonna like this~" she said in her usual teasing voice, which did nothing for Akihide's confidence. She lead him down the halls to the mess hall. She smirked and snickered as she threw the doors open, allowing Akihide to see inside.

Akihide's eyes went wide as he looked at the hall, which had seemingly been taken over by the Far East since he went to the Dungeon. Everyone in there was dressed up in traditional Far Eastern Clothes, holding out party poppers as confetti rained down on the boy. "Surprise!" they yelled with bright smiles on their faces. Akihide looked around, seeing everyone from the Loki Familia, Astraea Familia, Kiddy Party, as well as Alfia hiding in the corner.

Riveria walked up to him, scooping him into her arms and hugging the boy. "Happy Birthday Akihide." she said, smiling at her basically son's confused face as he looked at her, wearing a beautiful kimono, decorated with the petals of the sakura tree. "We know that you don't remember your birthday, so we decided to simply make today your birthday. You're 8 years old now." she said to the boy, putting him down and holding his hand as they walked through the mess hall, drinks and food being distributed amongst the Familia and their guests.

"My... birthday..." muttered Akihide, remembering bitterly the last time his age was celebrated. It was a bit before the monster attack, when he was 5 and undergoing his second shichi-go-san with his sister who just turned 3. That was so long ago, he almost forgot what it was like to celebrate a birthday.

He looked around the room, at the different foods that were there, a mix of Orarian and Far Eastern. There was a giant cake in the middle of the room too, decorated like on of the shrines found in his home country, complete with Torri like the ones from his magic. A lot of time and effort obviously went into making the cake. And the decorations as well. They were a mix of traditional Far Eastern lanterns, along with streamers, a banner wishing him a happy birthday, and balloons floating around on string. Akihide, whilst an adventurer, was also a 7, sorry 8 year old child, and couldn't help but smile brightly at the decorations and party. The whole party noticed, their own enjoyment of the event increasing.

"Alrighty then!" yelled out Loki, holding up a mug of booze. "It's time to get this party started!" she called out, raising her glass in the air as other people did the same. "Cheers!" she called out, as mugs smashed into hers and around the room.

"Cheers!"

Akihide smiled as he looked over at everyone celebrating his new birthday. Alfia had moved on from the corner only to wish him a happy birthday and give him her gift, a handmade bracelet. Apparently the most important person in her life taught it to her before she died, and she made one for him. It was a touching gift, but she left soon after since she didn't feel comfortable around all the new faces and people staring at her. With a small pep talk that his Rank Up would probably come soon, she left to spend the night in the church, reminiscing about her lost sister.

Finn, Riveria and Gareth were out mingling with the Familia as well as Astraea Familia, making the situation a little less tense for the newer and weaker members of their Familia as well as the new faces in their home. Alise had taken a special liking to Gareth, and started affectionately calling him 'Uncle'. Gareth didn't seem to mind one bit, and was talking to her and Kaguya on their potential to soon hit level 3, and how great it would be to have more Second Class Adventurers in the fight against Evilus, to which the Captain and Vice Captain of the Astraea Familia agreed.

Speaking of Kaguya, she had been talking to a few members in her usual... sound polite but insult everyone way of speaking on how she trained Akihide in his swordsmanship, as well as how good he was thanks to his training under her. It felt good to hear Kaguya praise him, or brag about how great of a teacher she was to other people, but everyone saw the absolute pride in her eyes every time she looked at Akihide. There was no mistaking that for anything less than the pure, unadulterated pride that someone had for another person, watching them grow and become a better version of themselves.

Riveria was making conversation with several of the elves that were in attendance, including Celty and Ryuu, both of whom had trouble speaking to their High Elf Queen. Riveria tried her hardest to make the conversation soothing and calling them 'her comrades and not her subjects as fellow protectors of Orario', but the two younger elves were very respectful and a little hard to talk to for their Queen, perhaps seeing themselves as not worthy of speaking to Riveria since they weren't Second Class Adventurers yet. Riveria simply put on her smile and continued to talk to the two before excusing herself to speak with the other guests. The two looked visibly relieved as their Queen left, not out of dislike for her, but rather due to the fact that it felt like a giant weight had been lifted up and off their shoulders.

Finn was busying himself talking to Lyra, the fellow Pallums having a lot of fun between the two of them. Lyra being the mischievous little devil she was would not expect to mash well with a rule follower like Finn, but it seemed the two got along like bread and butter, exchanging stories and experiences they had as Pallums, a race looked down upon for their weakness but proving time and time again that they were stronger, Lyra out of a sense of justice and Finn in his desire to be the new 'Fianna' for the Pallums.

Akihide turned as he heard a familiar laugh, looking at Ardee cracking jokes to a few of the younger members of the Loki Familia. She seemed to be enjoying herself, perhaps as only a way to escape her sister for a night. It was good for people to take a break from each other every once in a while, and it wasn't too crazy to imagine Shakti enjoying a relaxing night in without her sister around. And Ardee was in her element here, meeting new people and having a good time.

It felt nice, just looking at everyone enjoying themselves, even if he knew Riveria was going to have to apologise to Astraea as Loki began drunkenly hanging off her shoulder and singing 'Happy Birthday' whilst trying to cop a feel of her breast. Astraea was putting up with it like the patron saint of all patience, smiling and taking care of the stupid goddess' antics. Honestly, Astraea was a cinnamon roll too pure for the world, being able to deal with Loki like that was no easy feet, as Akihide remembered that one time she got absolutely hammered when the rest of the Familia was on an expedition, and Akihide was left dealing with her antics, especially her hugging him so tightly it felt like she was trying to suffocate him. The Familia returned home from their Expedition, only to see a drunk Loki clinging to Akihide and begging him to not leave her like the rest of her children, the pleading eyes of the young child to make it stop staring into their soul.

The food was amazing too. He had thoroughly stuffed his face with as much delicious food as possible, smiling all the way as people kept bringing him small presents, some simply monster drops that the adventurer was lucky enough to find on a Dungeon Crawl, or even some small amount of Valis. He especially was a fan of the crispy tempura that was available, having not tasted it in so long. It reminded him of home, and brought a few happy tears to his eyes as he remembered all the fun times he had with his family and village. And whilst he may never have those memories with those people again, he could always make new memories with the new family in his life.

The door to the party opened suddenly, grabbing everyone's attention. "I AM GANESHA!" screamed a god Akihide had not met yet, but knew about well enough. Ardee's god, Ganesha, was a tanned and muscular god, wearing an orange robe with a red elephant mask with yellow eyes over his face. He had long, shaggy black hair, and a smile that instantly drew the crowd's attention. He truly was 'The God of the Masses'.

Said god dot immediately smacked in the back of the head by his Familia's Captain. Shakti entered the mess hall after him, her fist drawn back. "Sorry, everyone. We came to pick up my sister." she said, looking at the pouting Ardee. "We have patrol tomorrow, so we have to go."

"AHAHA!" roared Ganesha as he regained his footing and stood up, tall and proud. "Fear not, dear citizens! For the great, almighty, beautiful Ardee Varma is protecting our city! May Evilus fear her wra- GUGYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed in pain as Ardee punched him, sending him flying back.

"Don't say weird things like that!" yelled back a red faced and embarrassed Ardee.

Ganesha picked himself up, clutching his stomach. "What power... my new level 2 doesn't know her own strength yet!" he said, laughing, expecting another punch. However, when one didn't come, he looked to see Ardee staring at him in shock, before turning back to Akihide, who was staring at her in shock as well.

"Level 2?" he asked his friend, looking at her in shock. Ardee, looking upset, only managed to nod.

"I... I was gonna tell you tomorrow, after your birthday..." she said, hoping Akihide wouldn't take it the wrong way. He was just a little kid after all, and she didn't want to ruin his birthday with him being jealous of her.

She didn't expect him to laugh though, looking shocked as he started laughing. "Oh man. I guess that makes sense, you landed the killing blow, after all. Congratulations, Ardee!" he said, raising his glass, to which everyone else did to avoid the awkward situation. Akihide turned to Airmid and Ryuu, who had come up to talk to him just before Ganesha arrived. "Looks like the three of us have to catch up! She can't leave us in the dust like this!"

The two girls flinched.

Akihide looked shocked again, looking between the mage and the elf. "You both... also..." he muttered out, the two looking between each other before looking down. "What... how?" he asked, looking between the three. "We were all there... why am I the only one stuck at level 1?" he asked, as people began feeling awkward about the situation. Akihide got up, and Ryuu went to grab his hand. "I... I just want to be alone right now... enjoy the rest of the party, everyone." he said, walking back to his room, tears threatening to spill out of his eyes and his chin quivering.

Everyone turned to Ganesha with the fury of the devil.

Akihide looked down the street of Orario where he had chosen to walk his sorrows down. Just get some fresh air and re-evaluate. He was happy for his party, of course he was, they had done something great. A Rank Up was fantastic news.

He just wished he had the same news.

It was bitter jealousy he felt crawling in his gut. He hated the fact that they moved on without him. He was with them the entire time, and took part in that faithful battle that got them all ranked up, and he was the one who did the most damage to the dragon, both initially and overall. He was the one who made the blind spot that Ardee exploited to land the final blow and kill the beast, so why was he the only on who didn't Rank Up? What did or didn't he do that the others did? What was the secret to Rank Up?

"Oh my, is that a lost soul I see before me?" asked a charismatic voice, causing Akihide to turn to the voice. There, he saw a god in travelling clothes, with orange hair and a hat with a feather. The tall, fair skinned god gave off a charming energy, one that lowered Akihide's guard a bit, before he consciously put it back up. "No need to be threatened. I'm Hermes, a god. I see you're lost, child."

"I'm not. I'm Akihide of the Loki Familia." retorted the boy, staring angrily at the god. He didn't like people condescending him for his age.

"Oh, the famous hero I heard so much about!" exclaimed a gleeful Hermes, before smiling. "Tell me, why are you upset?"

"Why do you care?"

"I am a god, it's my responsibility to guide lost souls of children towards their destiny." said the god, smiling at the boy.

With nothing to lose, Akihide told him about how his friends had Ranked Up and left him in the dirt, despite the face that he had done more than them in taking down the monster that let them Rank Up. Hermes listened to everything, before smirking. "That's an easy fix. It sounds like the Excilia you're gaining with your party is somewhat slowing you down, going to all of them instead of you for some reason. Perhaps the other gods have higher expectations of you to perform something truly great to Rank Up, more so than your party. The easiest way is to do something you'd normally do with your party, and go on an adventure, all by yourself."

Akihide listened to the god, thinking back on it. Maybe he had to perform a feat better than the girls, but now they were level 2, and better at everything stat wise than him, he probably wouldn't be able to do much with them there to bail him out.

"Thanks." said Akihide, checking to make sure his weapons were there before making a B-line straight to Babel and the Dungeon.

He had Infant Dragons to kill.

Hermes watched with a smile, hoping that maybe this kid could be the Hero Orario needed to defeat the Black Dragon, and assured himself that this would not be the last time he saw Akihide Okami. But he needed a way to make getting close to him easier if he wanted to talk to him again.

'Hm... what if Asfi... yeah... that's an idea...'

Hey guys, hope you enjoyed. I think next chapter is going to be the conclusion of Arc 2 and introduce Arc 3, which will mainly focus on Ais becoming a member of the Loki Familia. There's no omake this time, but I'll be sure to make it up to you with an extra long one next week. Hope you guys have a great rest of your day! For now, this is Striker777, over and out.