Welcome to my first crossover fic.
This is going to be a crossover fic with Castlevania and Danmachi with the game version of Castlevania, to clarify.
For an explanation as to why I've decided to go with Castlevania. Well, I've noticed how Castlevania has a large lack of fanfics, despite being a game series that is nearly 40 years old
Now, I know that Castlevania is quite high in its scaling compared to Danmachi, due to Dracula just having such absurd feats. So, if you are worried that this fic is just going to be Julius speedrunning through the dungeon, then don't worry. I'm going to mix the dungeon and Dracula's castle a little bit, so Julius will have an actual challenge with the dungeon later on.
But, without further ado, please, dive in.
Julius was standing at the castle's entrance with the others, anxiously waiting for Soma to come back victorious.
Julius trusted the boy to succeed, for the boy had managed to beat him in a duel a moment ago.
Well, he was holding back since he had sensed the humanity still in Soma, but regardless of that, beating him was still an impressive feat for the boy.
Despite trusting the kid, he couldn't help the itch in his hand to reach for the Vampire Killer. Ready at a moment's notice to fulfill his promise if Soma was to fail in his battle against Chaos
Rumble
"What was that?" Julius asked, alarmed by the sudden shifts and releases of power in the castle's magic, "Don't tell me that Soma lost."
"Quite on the contrary," Arikido said, a small relieved smile on his face, "The magic change you're feeling is the defeat of Chaos, and Soma claiming victory over his soul, overpowering Dracula's hold."
"I see," Julius nodded, feeling how his ancestral whip's, the Vampire Killer's magic started to fade away as well, its purpose in the cycle fulfilled.
"I'm so relieved," Mina said quietly.
"So, what happens now with chaos defeated?" Hammer asked, already packing up his shop.
"Now the castle will crumble, and we shall descend from the eclipse back to earth, to the shrine," Arikado explained.
"What about Soma? What will happen to him?" Mina asked, fearing that Soma would have to stay here.
Arikado's features softened as he wanted to ease the young priestesses' worries, "He should return to the shrine with us, don't you worry,"
The conversation ended there with everybody's questions mostly satisfied.
…
…
In the span of a few minutes, the castle completely crumbled away around them and they slowly began to descend back to the shrine.
When Julius was the most vulnerable, floating in the air and unable to fully maneuver, Chaos struck. In a last-ditch effort to do something, or just out of spite, it released the last of its magical energy at the vampire hunter. Julius tried to do something to defend himself, spinning the Vampire Killer whip around himself in the hope that the holy whip's innate magical nature to ward off the creatures of night would somehow block the magic. His efforts were sadly for naught, and the magic surrounded him completely. As the magic was just about to engulf him completely, he could hear the cries of concern from his old and recently gained comrades.
As the magic fully sealed around him, the voices muffled and disappeared completely. After that, his vision got fully enveloped by a blinding white light and then he could feel himself moving somewhere.
...
...
...
After a moment, the light faded into the dark... Wait, no, the place he was in was just dark... The vampire hunter realized after observing his surroundings for a moment.
Getting up from his crouched position, the Belmont grumbled, "Gah, shouldn't have trusted Chaos to act as Arikado expected and let us nicely return home..."
Curling his whip back up, Julius put the Vampire killer back to his side on his hip. He then started to observe his surroundings more.
"Now, where did you send me...? Some kind of cave it seems..." Julius observed the rocky light blue cave walls, ground, and then the ceiling. After a moment of observing the place and using his magic to feel out the place, Julius started to wander around the place.
"No, this feeling, this magic in this place feels familiar… Similar to Chaos' magic in Dracula's castle, but not exactly the same," Julius thought out loud as he walked.
His theory was confirmed when he could feel the Vampire Killer awaken again in his hold, the whip sensing the need for its service in this world anew.
"I guess then that this place is also a being of chaos…" Julius muttered to himself and then stopped, finding himself next to some stairs leading downwards deeper into the 'cave'.
"And to escape from a creature of chaos, one must either defeat its master/source of power or the manifestation of the creature itself."
"It seems then that I have to get to the bottom of this place to get the chance to exit this place and return to the shrine…" The vampire killer concluded, causing an uncertain frown to form on his face.
"I'm still recovering from my journey through Dracula's castle and from my battle with Soma... Do I truly have the required amount of strength in me to find my way out of this place…?" The whip wielder contemplated as he massaged his goatee in thought.
"No… I must get out of this place," He steeled his resolve and began walking down the stairs, "I need to be back there for Soma. His fate is still unclear, and I have a promise to fulfill if it comes to worst with him at some point."
As he walked further down the stairs, he noticed how the color of the walls turned into a light green color.
"This truly feels like a being of chaos… Suddenly changing environment like in Dracula's castle…"
"...And various monsters it seems," Julius noted as he came face to face with a giant ant-like monster and a strange humanoid shadow with sharp claws and a single glowing orb in its face resembling an eye.
Julius took his whip off his hip into his hand and unfurled the flexible weapon to the side with a crack, the loud, intimidating crack of a whip making the pair of monsters involuntarily flinch back slightly.
'I need to gauge the strength of the monsters here. This is a new environment I'm in and I'd be a fool to recklessly try to just overpower anything in my way,' Julius thought as he initiated combat and made what was supposed to be a prodding strike at the ant.
The whip struck true at the head of the ant, caving its head slightly in and causing it to catch a flame from the holy magical powers of the whip.
The shadowy humanoid turned to see the burning carcass of its 'comrade', and with the little intelligence within the monster, it started to slowly back away, which Julius wasn't going to allow to happen, and cracked his whip precisely at its glowing eye, causing it to crack and shatter.
Strangely, the shadow turned into ash after its eye was shattered, not leaving a corpse like the ant. Julius made a note of this before walking over to the burning corpse of the ant, proceeding to just stare at it curiously as he collected his thoughts.
"These monsters were kind of weak, which I suppose I should've guessed due to the only minuscule amount of magical power I was sensing from them."
"Speaking of magical power…" Julius began as the corpse burned away completely, leaving behind a small crystal, "I could sense their magic focusing at the certain body, to this little thing it seems."
"I guess then that these crystals are like their hearts, their cores," The experienced monster slayed concluded and pocketed the stone, curling his whip up at the same time and placing it back on his hip.
Just as Julius was about to continue his journey, he could hear screaming from far away, the noise getting clearer and clearer as they came closer.
After a moment, a blood-soaked boy came around the corner from the various hallways of the cave, screaming their lungs out as they tried to run past him.
In a mix of curiosity and mostly worry, Julius stopped the boy by extending his arm to the side, catching him at the last moment. The sudden force sent the poor lad to the floor and made him let out an audible 'oof', sound as he hit the ground.
Julius let out a small wince as he looked at his nice jacket now stained with blood before turning back to the boy.
"Calm yourself, young man. What happened? Are you hurt? Are you in danger?" Julius asked as he crouched down to the boy's level, trying to check for any injuries on the teen.
The boy panted for a little while, catching his breath from the running and screaming before answering, "I'm fine… and I'm not in danger anymore," he said, embarrassment in his voice.
"Then why are you here covered in blood and screaming loud enough to wake the dead?"
"I don't want to say why…"
"Huh?" The vampire hunter looked confused.
"It's embarrassing…" The boy could've been noticed blushing were he not completely covered in blood, which hid his reddening cheeks.
"That doesn't matter," Julius huffed, "I need to know what's happening out there so I can properly react. I don't wish to put myself in needless danger."
The boy let out a frustrated sigh, "Fine… I was running away from a pretty girl I wanted to thank her for saving me, but I got really shy all of a sudden and ran away…" the teen blurted out quickly.
"..."
"..."
"Pfft…" Julius tried to stifle his laugh by putting a fist in front of his mouth and looking to the side.
Unable to keep his composure, the vampire killer started to chuckle first, the chuckles evolving into full-blown laughter uncharismatic of the normally serious vampire hunter.
The boy pouted at Julius, "Stop laughing!"
After a moment, Julius managed to compose himself, "Haah… to be young…" the Belmont muttered and then turned back to the boy, "Apologies, but I couldn't help myself. I really didn't expect to run into the plights of a young man's romantic life in a place like this."
"It's fine…" The boy muttered, stopping their pouting.
"So, tell me, Mr…"
"Bell."
"...Bell, if you're alright, then may I ask why you are completely covered in blood?"
"Ah, you see, the girl was saving me from a minotaur and when she managed to slay it, all the blood flew on me," Bell explained while scratching the back of his head slightly.
"Hmm, quite unfortunate then," Julius nodded and then glanced at the sleeve of his jacket, already imagining the pain that it was going to be to get cleaned.
"Hm?" Bell was momentarily puzzled by the man's silence until he noticed him staring at his blood-stained sleeve, "Ah! I'm so sorry for that! Please, allow me to cover the cleaning expenses," the boy bowed his head slightly down apologetically.
"Cleaning expenses? I doubt a place like this has any cleaning services within it," Julius raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? You don't know? The guild has put shower and cleaning facilities on the first floor of Babel's tower. It's actually pretty close to the entrance of the Dungeon."
Bell slightly tilted his head to the side as he looked at the Belmont questioningly, "This all should have been told to you by your guild advisor though…"
"Ah, I must have zoned out when that was explained," the monster slayer quickly made up an excuse as his mind focused more on the fact that this place had an entrance that could be freely entered and exited through by Bell's statement.
The blood-soaked boy narrowed his eyes at him for a moment, slightly doubtful that someone would be zoning out when given valuable information for easing a dangerous job like this.
Bell then shrugged, seemingly letting the thing go, and moved on, "So, shall we head out of here?"
"Yes, you go on ahead… You need all the experience you can get," Julius offered his hand to Bell, which the boy took and also rose from the ground, "I'll cover our rear."
"Alright," Bell nodded and started walking towards the stairs Julius had come down previously.
Both of them drew their weapons and began their march to the surface.
During their journey to the surface, Julius had been analyzing Bell. The boy was quite agile and seemed to be a speed-focused fighter. He was definitely inexperienced, lacking the discipline required for a warrior delving into this place.
Instead of moving carefully through the dangerous place, the blood-splattered teen was keen on impressing him, going for bold moves and wasting energy for theatrics.
So, their journey became a learning experience for the young teen, with Julius pointing out the little and larger mistakes he noticed in Bell's fighting. The tips were very much welcome for the rookie adventurer and he could even see his fighting improving quite a bit.
"When going for a slash at the upper part of the leg, try to go for the inner thigh. There usually is a major artery with most humanoid monsters," Julius gave another tip to Bell as he noticed the boy go for a slash at a kobold's leg after ducking under its strike.
"I see," Bell nodded and immediately tried out the advice he'd gotten by slashing the inner thigh of the kobold's other leg.
Bell then quickly leaped back from the spray of blood that came from his slash, not wishing to get covered in any more blood or risk getting hit in the eyes by the blood.
"You can now play it safely and defensively, a femoral artery bleed is no joke. That monster is going to bleed out in a minute or less," the experienced hunter of the night gave the boy another tip again.
"Understood," the boy nodded again and started to fight almost completely defensively, just moving out of the monster's reach and refusing to engage. As the monster's movements became slow and tired from the blood loss, Bell went for the kill by stabbing his dagger through the werewolf-like monster's skull.
As the red-eyed boy went to harvest the monster's core, speaking to Julius as he did so, "Thanks for the tips again mr… oh yeah, I never got your name," the boy paused and turned to Julius.
"Ah, my apologies. It seems I've been falling into a bad habit of not introducing myself," the vampire killer said, getting reminded of his first interaction with Soma, "You may call me Julius, Julius Belmont."
"It's nice to meet you, Julius," Bell smiled at Julius for a moment and then continued digging into the chest of the kobold with his knife.
"So, Julius. I've been meaning to ask this for a moment now. How long have you been an adventurer? You seem to know a lot about monster slaying, and you've been really helpful with these tips.
'Adventurer, huh? I guess that's the name of the profession for the people that go to this place,' the Belmont made note of the word.
Julius rubbed his goatee for a moment, having to try a little to recall his younger days with his recently resolved amnesia, which made it a little more difficult.
"Well, I've been training since my childhood, but you could say I went on my first adventure when I was nineteen. So, with that, I guess I've been 'adventuring' for about 36 years."
"Wow! No wonder you're so experienced," Bell said in awe, turning around to face him with an excited glint in his eyes, "So, why did you start adventuring then?"
"Let's just say that it was a part of my destiny," Julius said, not feeling like telling the boy all about Dracula and the hundreds of years of history to him.
"That sounds something just like from the books my grandpa used to read me. You're almost like the hero from those stories!" the teen beamed in excitement.
"I guess you could say I am…" Julius shrugged, his words causing Bell to beam a little more, "But enough about me, what about you? Why have you decided to become an adventurer?"
"Oh! I want to become a hero! Someone strong like you or like Ais Wallenstein!" Bell said excitedly.
"The idea of having a chance encounter with a cute girl might have been on my mind too…" Bell slightly blushed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Not too bad of a goal. The world always needs more heroes," Julius nodded, respecting the teen's reasons despite them being slightly naïve, "Who is this Wallenstein girl, though? A colleague of yours?"
"Ah, no, I wouldn't say that. She was actually the one who saved me from the Minotaur back there. She is also pretty famous in Orario, being the record holder for the fastest level up to level two," Bell explained.
"I'm actually kind of surprised you haven't heard of her. She is an executive of one of the strongest familias."
"Ah, well, it must be because I'm kind of new around here," Julius explained.
"Wait, you got this strong outside of Orario? That's even more impressive!" Bell was once again in awe.
"I guess it is…" The Belmont admitted.
"But enough of this. Get back to getting that monster's core so we can move on," Julius let out a huff.
"Yes, sir!"
After going up three flights of stairs, they were at the uppermost floor of the dungeon, according to the boy. They were almost out of this place, with Julius seeing a spiraling staircase in the distance. The exit, surely.
The two uppermost floors had been quite noisy and active compared to the lower ones. The sound of rookie adventurers fighting kobolds and goblins could be heard all around the place.
Strangely enough, they hadn't run into any other adventurers during their ascent. Julius had commented about this to Bell, who had explained that it was still quite early in the day and that most adventurers would only be exiting the dungeon around dinner time.
After walking for a couple more minutes they finally reached the long spiral staircase leading outside of the dungeon. It took them another few minutes to climb the stairs to arrive in a bustling lobby filled with people.
What caught Julius' eye first were the many different types of people. Races straight out of a fantasy book. Elves, dwarves, beast people…
Julius couldn't help himself for getting on the edge a little. Some of the different races here reminded him of the monsters inside Dracula's castle.
Bell noticed Julius suddenly stiffening, "Huh? Julius, what's wrong?"
"…It's nothing, forget about it," The vampire hunter exhaled, trying to release the tension a little, "Now, about that cleaning service you talked about…"
"Oh, right! Follow me," Bell began leading them to a relatively quiet corner with a counter and some people in black and white uniforms behind it.
A sign hung above the spot. Reading: 'Equipment cleaning services.' A sign leading to the showers, he assumed was right next to it.
As they approached the desk, Bell turned around to face him, "Ah, if I could take your jacket so I can pay for its cleaning?"
"Right, here," Julius took off his nice jaguar-patterned trenchcoat and handed it to Bell, feeling awfully naked now only in his brown vest.
After Bell had taken his jacket, he headed to the desk and gave the employees Julius' jacket and his own before quickly heading to the showers.
After about ten minutes, the boy came back from the showers. He was now showing his full appearance more clearly with his snow-white hair, red eyes, and pale skin. He reminded Julius of a rabbit with his albino look.
It seemed that Bell arrived just in time for their clothes…Huh? How on earth did they manage to rinse those jackets of blood in ten minutes?
When Bell handed his jacket back, he just had to ask about it.
"Oh, I wondered about it too when I came here a few weeks ago. Apparently, there was a breakthrough with cleaning blood after an alchemist got so frustrated from getting their robes ruined in the dungeon, that they managed to create a solution to rinse blood from all sorts of cloths effectively," the white-haired teen happily explained to Julius.
"Frustration can really drive a person, huh?" Julius muttered for a moment, "But enough of that, let's move on."
"Right! We've still got these magic stones to change into valis," Bell nodded and once again took the lead by exiting the tower.
"Exactly…" Julius muttered, playing along and following Bell since he didn't know what else to do.
When they exited the tower, they were treated to the sight of a medieval fantasy-type city bustling with people.
What didn't Julius' attention weren't the various different shops or the vast amount of adventurers in the square they were now in. Julius' eye was instead caught by the absolutely massive tower they had just exited.
The tower reached high into the sky and could very much give the skyscrapers in New York a run for their money. Julius couldn't help but be impressed by a medieval society like this to be able to pull off this kind of feat.
Bell noticed Julius' sudden halt, "Impressive, isn't it? After living here for a few weeks I still find myself standing here astonished by the sight of the Babel."
"Yes… It is impressive. I wonder how this was even to be able to be made…"
"Well, it was built by the gods… So I guess that explains it a little bit."
"The gods…?" Julius was once again taken back. He was getting hit by bombshell after bombshell of groundbreaking information.
"Yes, the gods. The same ones who came down here to guide us. The ones who lead our familias," Bell confirmed.
"Speaking of familias, I've been wondering, Julius. Which familia are you a part of?" Bell asked.
"To tell you the truth, Bell… I'm not a part of any familia," Julius admitted, feeling like it would be pointless to lie here since he had no idea what were the names of the gods around here.
"Wait, you don't have a falna then? How are you so strong then…?" Bell was left confused and slightly mind-boggled.
"Let's just say that I'm a part of a strong bloodline…" he answered vaguely.
"I see… But hold on, then! What were you doing in the dungeon then? People without a falna aren't supposed to be in the dungeon! All of this was made very clear when registering to be an adventurer at the guild!" Bell didn't notice how he was raising his voice as he berated Julius, turning some heads as he did so.
"I… might've gotten really excited and just rushed into the dungeon…" Julius quickly made up an excuse, "Now, please, if you would lower your tone… No need for us to cause a scene."
"Ah, sorry about that," Bell lowered his tone, looking around at the drawn eyes abashedly for a moment before continuing to walk towards the guild building.
"It's alright. I guess I have been quite foolish today and deserved the berating," Julius let out a short laugh, "I have to ask, though, what is this falna you are talking about? Why are people required to have one if they wish to enter the dungeon?"
"Wait, you don't even know what a falna-"
sigh
"Well, I guess it makes sense that you wouldn't know if you just went straight to the dungeon…" Bell exhaled and then started to explain to Julius what a Falna is.
…
After the small lecture, Julius was left stroking his beard in thought, "A blessing given by the gods themselves… A way for mortals to fight against the monsters…"
The vampire hunter's mind was set. He would join a familia and gain this blessing for himself. A way to gain strength without drawbacks was something a fool would only refuse.
"By the way, I'm totally going to force you to listen to the briefing about the dungeon given by guild advisors," Bell gave Julius a blank look, "I had to go through that long lecture, and so will you."
An amused smile appeared on Julius' face, "I guess that's fair. I have been giving you some extra work with all these questions, which I apologize for."
"Oh, it's fine, no need for apologies. You gave me some good advice back in the dungeon after all," Bell smiled, "It's only fair for me to return the favor. I say we're even now."
"I guess that is reasonable enough," Julius nodded.
As they continued to walk Julius noticed the gears moving inside Bell's head, it looked like he was gathering up the courage to ask something.
Just as Julius was about to ask the teen about this, Bell turned his head toward Julius.
"So…"
"Yes?"
The white-haired teen took another second to compose himself before finally shooting his question, "So, since you are not in a familia, then would you be interested in joining mine?"
Julius took a moment to think, he had already decided that he would join a familia a moment ago. However, he did not know which familia to join. He didn't know his options yet and it would take time to learn about the gods here. The Belmont wanted to find a deity that could be trusted to be his god or goddess.
"Well…" Julius began after collecting his thoughts, "I'm not opposed to the idea, but, I want to get some information about a few things before making such a decision."
"First, I want to know who is the deity leading your familia." Julius looked Bell in the eye.
"It's Hestia, the Goddess of the hearth," Bell said, puffing out his chest proudly.
"Hmm, I see. One of the virgin Goddesses and also one of the few gods I know that is spoken well of in the tales I've heard," Julius nodded, inwardly relieved to know that it seemed that this world at least shared some of the pantheons of his home word.
"So, tell me, Bell. How many members does your familia have?" Julius asked.
Bell's pride vanished, and the boy visibly deflated, "Just me…"
"...I see," Julius' ranking of Hestia familia as a familia to join dropped, but not by a significant amount though. A trustworthy deity was a major plus.
Julius then tried to switch away from the awkward atmosphere by diverting the Bell's focus, "Ah, that's the guild building you talked about, correct?" Julius pointed at a wide building constructed of stone with banners hanging off its walls, adventurers entering and leaving the building.
"Ah, yes it is!" Bell nodded, "Let's head inside so we can change the magic stones we got into Valis," Bell energetically jogged inside the building, gesturing for Julius to follow.
Julius let out an amused exhale, "Haah, The energy of the youth…" He shook his head and followed after the teen.
Once he stepped inside, he was greeted by a large open space filled with guild personnel and adventurers. From the wall opposite the entrance, was a large counter taking a large chunk of the room. Behind the counter stood the guild workers with their white and black uniforms, handing out quests or giving advice.
On the left side of the room, were the exchange booths. There, he could already spot Bell changing their magic stones to the coin.
Julius leaned against the wall and waited for a minute or two before Bell came from the exchange with two pouches filled with valis.
"Here's your share, half of what we got there," Bell handed him one of the pouches.
Julius looked at the pouch and then back at Bell, "Are you sure about this? I really didn't do anything."
"I am," Bell smiled, "You gave me lots of good advice down there. I couldn't have killed as many monsters as we did had I not received your small lessons today to boost my efficiency.
"Very well then, it's your choice," Julius shrugged and pocketed the pouch into his jacket.
Bell then clapped his hands together, "Now with that settled, let's go see my advisor so we can get you registered as an adventurer."
"Right," Julius nodded, "Lead on."
Bell nodded back and then started to lead them to the opposite side of the building. Nearly at the end of the counter was what appeared to be a female elf judged by the ears. The elf had shoulder-length brown hair, emerald-green eyes, and a pair of round glasses sitting on her nose.
As they got closer, they noticed the stacks of paperwork lying beside her, the quill in her hand furiously going through the paperwork. When they got in front of her, she didn't even notice them. Completely absorbed with the giant stack of paperwork beside her.
Julius frowned at this, he could notice how most of her colleagues were taking it easy around her, chatting, laughing, and gossiping while Bell's poor advisor was absolutely swamped within the paper hell.
"Excuse me, Miss Eina."
"Eh? Ah, it's you Bell!" Eina raised her head, happy to get a break from the paperwork.
"Aren't you a little early here today? It's only a little past mid-day, and you usually come back from the dungeon around dinner time."
"Also, who is this one with you here?" Eina looked up at Julius behind Bell.
"Ah, this is Julius. I met him inside the dungeon today;" Bell said introducing the man, "But I think we should get into one of the private booths, where I can explain why I'm so early here today."
"I guess we could do that," Eina rose from her seat and was about to say something before Bell interrupted her, "Oh! Also, could you get Julius the form to register as an adventurer?"
"Of course," Eina reached under the counter and took a few papers from there, "Wait, why would he need to register if he was in the-" She halted, "Oh no… Don't tell me you went straight to the dungeon without registering or even joining a familia?" Eina looked at Julius, a baffled look on her face.
"I might've been a little too excited when I got here and just went straight into the dungeon I had so much heard about," Julius said, trying to act a little embarrassed to sell his cover story.
Eina narrowed her eyes at him, "Aren't you a little bit too old to foolishly and recklessly just charge into an unknown and dangerous place?" She chastised him.
Julius refused to answer her question and looked to the side to avoid eye contact, grumbling inside his head from being called out old like that.
Eina then relented with a sigh, "Normally, you would receive a fine for going into the dungeon without a falna, but I guess I can let it go this time…"
"Thank you, Eina. I'll promise to try to avoid breaking any more rules," Julius bowed his head slightly in gratitude.
"Good," She nodded and adjusted her glasses, "Now, if you would follow me…" Eina exited from a small gate at the counter and started to lead them to an area filled with small discussion booths.
Once in the booth, Julius was handed a quill and some ink. As he filled out his form, writing down his age, name, and other similar stuff, Eina and Bell discussed what happened in the dungeon today.
Bell told Eina how he had a sudden encounter with a minotaur in the dungeon before being saved by Ais Wallenstein. Bell's tale worried Eina, a minotaur wasn't supposed to appear on the floor he was on. Julius, however, was intrigued, not about the minotaur's appearance on a floor it wasn't supposed to be on, but about how the dungeon shared similar monsters with Dracula's castle. This was important information, as it meant that Julius would already know the weaknesses and the strengths of some of the dungeon's monsters.
Julius then mostly tuned out for the rest of the conversation, only letting a small amused smile fall on his face for a moment when Bell started to ask Eina more about the Wallenstein girl, finding the teen's crush amusing.
After checking a few boxes and writing his signature, Julius was done. He neatly gathered the papers into a pile and then cleared his throat, "I'm done," He said and then slid the papers over the table to Eina.
"Great!" Eina smiled and quickly looked over the papers before placing them into a folder.
"So, since you aren't in a familia yet, would you like me to give you a list of familias that are recruiting currently?" Eina offered.
Julius nodded, "Yes, please."
Eina then handed him a paper with a long list of familias and their addresses to Julius. The Belmont quickly glanced over the list, trying to find a specific name there, but to no avail.
Slightly disappointed, Julius folded the list neatly and put it inside his jacket, "This list looks useful, thank you, Miss Eina."
"I'm glad to help," She smiled.
"But, there is one thing I'd like to ask. I'd like to know if a certain deity is here. I assume you have records of all the deities in the guild, correct?" Julius inquired.
"We do indeed," Eina nodded, "The guild has one of the largest libraries within it. A list of all deities currently in Tenkai and Gekai are in our records."
'Tenkai? Gekai?' Those were unfamiliar words to Julius. He could only assume those were different planes of existence if gods lived in them as Eina said.
He would need to visit this library soon. There was lots of common knowledge he didn't know of this world yet and asking of them would be too suspicious.
With another addition to the list of the things he needed to do, Julius quickly snapped out of his thoughts, and back into the conversation.
"...So, if I could get the name of this yours…?"
"He's the god of Christians and Jews, he goes by the name Yahweh."
"Can't say I've heard of him before…" Eina mused, putting a finger on her chin as she thought.
"I still can check though if you wish, just write the name down on this piece of paper and I can try to look for it," Eina slid forth a small piece of paper across the table to Julius.
Julius then took the quill he had just a moment ago used to fill his registry form and then wrote the god's name. Eina then took the paper and exited the room for a few minutes before returning back.
"I searched through our records and tried to even look for your deity's name in our library's section about gods that only have tales of them… but to no avail," She sighed, an apologetic expression on her face, "I'm afraid that there exist no records of the god you're looking for."
"I see…" Julius' head went down in disappointment. His easy way of approaching the familias by joining the very god he had been serving was out of the question now.
"I guess that's that then…" Julius pushed himself up from the table with his palms.
"Sit back down, Mr. Belmont," Eina's customer service aura changed into a stern one, "I'm going to have to fill you in with all the knowledge a rookie adventurer needs to make it inside the dungeon."
"!" the Belmont was momentarily caught off guard by this change in behavior before sitting back down and nodding for Eina to commence.
From there, a lengthy lecture began with Eina trying to cram as much information as possible into Julius and with Bell chiming in now and then with his own experiences and insights.
After what must've been an hour or two, they finished the briefing. After thanking Eina for the lesson, he got up from his seat again and went to the door.
Just as he was about to exit, Eina spoke once more, "One more thing, Julius. I'm obligated to offer you the guild's premade kit for new adventurers in exchange for a few thousand valis. It contains some basic armor, a basic weapon of your choosing, alongside some potions and rations."
"Can't afford it," Julius said bluntly and showed her the pouch of valis he had gotten from Bell, "This is all I have currently."
"Besides, I've already got a weapon," He patted his whip at his side, "And I think I can manage without any potions for a good while in the dungeon."
Eina nodded slowly as she observed his whip, an exotic choice of weapon that she rarely saw outside of the monster tamers of the Ganesha familia, "I see…"
"I guess I can't force you to buy the kit, even though I'd suggest you do so by taking them with a loan like Bell," She sighed.
"I'd rather not be in debt right now, thank you for the offer though," Julius gave Eina a polite nod.
"Now, shall we head out, Bell?" Julius turned to Bell, opening the door behind him.
"Eh!? Head to where?" Bell sputtered in confusion as he hastily got up from his seat to follow Julius.
"To wherever your familia's headquarters are," The Belmont stated and headed out of the door.
"Wait wha- Hold on!" The albino boy scrambled after him, "You're actually joining my familia? Why though? You could definitely get into any familia with your level of skill."
"I looked over all the familias on the paper your advisor gave me while she gave me the full briefing on adventuring in the dungeon. After thoroughly looking over the list, I could not find any other god trustworthy besides yours. Either I didn't know the god on the list, they specialized in something that I had no interest in, or they were sketchy and untrustworthy based on the tales I had heard about them," The experienced vampire slayer explained to Bell.
"I see…" Bell was taken aback, he had not considered how important it was to find a trustworthy god. He had truly been lucky to be rejected by other familias and find himself with Hestia.
Not dwelling on it for too long, Bell became cheerful, "This is great then! I'm sure my Goddess will be delighted to have you join us."
Bell then took charge again, happily going past Julius to exit the guild. Right at the exit, Bell turned back to the Belmont with a wide smile on his face, "Follow me! It's a bit of a walk, but it'll be worth it!"
Julius shook his head amusedly at the boy's energetic enthusiasm and then followed him.
Julius looked at the ruined church ahead of him while Bell sweatdropped beside him, "Worth it, you said."
"I know that it doesn't look that good, but please trust me when I say that it looks better from the inside…" Bell said, shuffling awkwardly from embarrassment.
"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt…" Julius said as Bell sighed from relief, fearing that the experienced whip user he had just met would turn around and leave from the sorry sight.
Bell's worries were for nothing. Even if the insides of the church were as bad as the outsides, Julius wouldn't have truly minded it much. He had slept and made camp in far worse places when he was wandering around the globe during his amnesia.
Bell then straightened up, "Follow me then."
Bell led them inside the run-down church. Shattered benches filled the room, and some parts of the walls fallen on top of them.
At the end of the church, there was a statue of some smiling deity, unrecognizable with all the holes in its body and half of its face missing.
Just as Julius was thinking that Bell was turning out to be a liar, the teen walked behind the statue into a small storage room where he pulled back a shelf to reveal a hidden flight of stairs leading to a door.
"Goddess! I'm home," Bell called out as he walked down the stairs, Julius following him shortly.
Bell then opened the door to reveal a surprisingly cozy-looking basement.
As they entered the room, a short young-looking woman got off a purple sofa and put her book away.
The woman, who Julius assumed was Hestia, had a somewhat childish look with her long black twin ponytails on each side of her head paired with round blue eyes.
Any thoughts of her being just a young teen could be thrown away with her divine aura and with her body build being the definition of a shortstack.
Excitedly she runs up to us, a wide smile on her face, "Welcome back, Bell!"
She then quickly looks at a clock on the wall, "Aren't you here a little earlier than usual?"
"Well, I'm here early due to almost dying in the dungeon today…"
"Wait, what?" The Goddess was taken back and then started to suddenly check all over Bell, "Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? I can't have you dying on me and leaving me here lonely and sad!"
"I'm fine, Goddess," Bell chuckled with a slight blush on his face from his Goddess kindness and care, "I won't be leaving you anytime soon, I promise."
Hestia stepped back, satisfied enough for now, "That's good then…"
She then looked up to Julius, who was standing behind Bell, "But would you mind explaining who this quest is of yours?"
"Oh! This is Julius. I met him in the dungeon soon after my near-death experience," Bell introduced him.
Julius bowed his head respectfully to the deity, "A pleasure to meet you, Goddess Hestia."
"He also wishes to join our familia!" Bell excitedly told Hestia whose eyes began to shine from excitement.
"The pleasure is all mine! We'll gladly have you join our familia!" She took his hand and shook it energetically.
"But! Before I grant you my falna, let us eat together," She pointed to a table next to the sofa she was just sitting on. On the table, there was a lot of some kind of finger food made of deep-fried potatoes.
"Wait… Are those!?"
"Yup! I got us some free potato snacks by doing so well at the stand!" Hestia puffed out her chest proudly and then went to sit on the sofa she had just previously laid on while Julius and Bell sat on another sofa opposite it.
Julius took one of the 'potato snacks', that he heard Hestia call them into his hand and took a bite out of it.
The snack clearly was not meant to be eaten at room temperature, with the insides of the snack feeling unpleasantly like cold french fries.
He didn't complain though, it wasn't unbearable; and again, he had dealt with much worse conditions before.
Bell explained what happened in the dungeon today as they ate, how he and Julius had met, and how he almost died to a minotaur before being saved by Ais Wallenstein.
Hestia also asked why Julius wished to join her, which to the Belmont gave her the same answer he gave Bell, leaving Hestia slightly flustered and very much flattered. To know that mortals knew about a Goddess like her in such a good light did wonders for her recently falling ego.
After a few minutes of them eating in relative silence, Hestia put down the empty paper container of her last potato snack on the table, "I guess this will be enough for us to last the rest of the day… Normally we would try to make an actual dinner, but I don't think we have enough food in the kitchen to feed three people."
"This is more than enough for me. Thank you for providing this meal to us, Goddess," Julius said with a respectful bow of his head to Hestia.
Hestia smiled at Julius' humbleness, "If it is truly enough for you, then you are welcome."
"But enough with that, I think now it's the time for me to update Bell's status and have you receive my falna," the Goddess of the hearth rose from her seat and made her way towards a bed large enough for two people further into the room.
Julius and Bell followed her shortly, with Bell taking off his upper clothes and laying down on the bed on his stomach.
Hestia then mounted Bell's back and began updating Bell's status, both of them going through the process smoothly with the habit the ritual had become. Hestia pricked her finger with a needle, not even flinching at the pain due to how used she had gotten to the process.
Dropping the drops of her divine blood on Bell's back, she began making various motions all over his back with her finger.
As Julius looked closer, he could see more clearly the process. On Bell's back, there was a tattoo of Hestia's hearth alongside many different numbers with different meanings to them. There was always some sort of attribute before each number. For example, Bell's level was at the top, and his strength, dexterity, and defense, among other attributes listed on his back.
The whole thing reminded him of status screens from RPG games he used to play when he was younger; which, would explain why they are called statuses in the first place.
Julius could see how the numbers were constantly moving up and down before Hestia locked them in place by moving them with her finger again. At the end of the ritual, Julius noticed Hestia's eyes largening and a slight stop in her flow — the telltales of surprise, which Hestia tried to hide by resuming her work as swiftly as possible.
With Bell's status update seemingly complete, the Goddess reached for a piece of paper on a nightstand and pressed it against Bell's back, using Bell's back as a table as she copied down Bell's status on the paper.
"Alright, Julius. It's your turn now," Hestia cheerfully patted the bed with her hands.
Julius simply nodded to that and then proceeded to remove his upper clothing to reveal a lean upper body fitting for a vampire hunter of many years.
Both the teen's and the Goddesses' eyes were drawn to the various scars he had received during all of his years, both of them politely deciding not to comment on them. Figuring that it would be expected for Julius to have those due to him being an experienced fighter.
Julius did as instructed and laid down on the bed, Hestia shortly after getting on top of his back to give him her blessing.
This time, the procedure didn't feel as smooth, Hestia pricked her finger like before, but her finger movements weren't made with the same confidence as before. Only having ever done this once before with Bell.
After a few moments of fumbling around, Julius could feel the ritual being complete with an odd magical sensation in his back. The feeling of a small amount of divinity being pushed into his body to strengthen him.
After the ritual, Julius soon was sitting on a chair, reading his status with Bell looking at it curiously over his shoulder meanwhile Hestia stayed back, deeply in thought after seeing Julius' status.
Julius Belmont
Level One
STR → I 0
DEF → I 0
DEX → I 0
AGL → I 0
MAG → I 0
( Magic )
[ HOLY ARSENAL ]
• Projection magic
• Holy attribute
[ OMNIA VANITAS ]
• Evasion technique that turns the user invincible for a short moment
• One-word chant
• requires no consumption of mind
( Skills )
[ DIVINE BLOODLINES ]
• All holy-type magics are boosted
• Grants resistance to various negative effects
…
"Level one, huh?" Julius muttered as he looked at his status.
"Everyone starts at level one despite being however strong, that's just how it works," Bell explained.
The teen then looked more closely at his status, "Wait, you have a Skill and Magic!?"
"Is it rare to have both?"
"It's rare to have even one when you first gain a falna. I've been adventuring for a few weeks now and still don't have one…" the white-haired boy said, looking disappointedly at his empty skill section.
As Bell observed his skill slot, his eyes opened up wide as a small bit of hope got into them, "Goddess! There seems to be something in my Skill slot, but it looks like it has been erased…"
Hestia perked up from her deep thoughts, "Hmm…? Oh, my hand slipped and some ink got smudged on the paper. Your Skill slot is still open as usual."
Bell slumped a little, "Just my luck…"
Julius gave a pat on Bell's shoulder before getting up from his chair and putting his clothes back on. He then pocketed his status so he could use it to register himself as a member of Hestia familia tomorrow.
Tomorrow would be a busy day for him at the guild. He doubted that he would even get the time to go to the dungeon with all the registering and research he would do at the guild library.
Now though, he would like to find out what sent Hestia into such deep thought.
Night had fallen, and the two members of her familia had fallen asleep on their respective couches. Hestia couldn't sleep though, still caught up in her thoughts.
'How could someone be of divine blood? A mortal and a god cannot mix! It was just how it was!' Hestia rolled and squirmed in her bed, wishing to sleep but unable to do so with the groundbreaking information thrown at her.
Hestia had also thought of the chance of Julius being somehow related to a great spirit since they were also semi-divine beings made by the gods, but that wasn't possible as well, since like gods, great spirits couldn't mix with mortals.
But… great spirits lived thousands of years ago and records of them were sparse…
If they could interact and bless mortals, would it be too far-fetched for someone to get lucky and have a child with them? Maybe it was just very unlikely for a great spirit to get pregnant.
Child of a spirit or not, Julius was an abnormality.
An abnormality that Hestia would need to keep away from other gods.
…
A while back, I noticed a large lack of Castlevania crossover fics, especially ones where Julius was in them. So, I decided to become the first person (I think?) that made a Castlevania crossover fic with Julius as the lead. The strongest Belmont deserves at least one fic.
Also, huge thanks to TheCongo. He beta-read this first chapter and gave me a lot of good tips to make this fic flow more smoothly. Make sure to check him out.
Thanks are also warranted for the other members of the discord server I'm in. They also chipped in by beta-reading this and they also cheered me on as I wrote this.