I don't own Danmachi, but you never know what might happen.
A loud clang could be heard around the Hearthstone manor. It was something that signalled to the people who lived there that the smith was busy at work.
"Are you sure you just want me to go over your old armour? I can make you some new ones, plus some extra if you want."
"Nah Welf I'm fine, thanks for asking though. Maybe if I was going to the lower levels, I might have wanted better arm guards, but since I'm not even going into the water capital, I should be fine."
"That's all-good Nathan. Do your swords need sharpening as well. I haven't touched them yet have I?"
"If you want, I can explain my swords to you now."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well you are my blacksmith for the foreseeable future, so I should explain them."
"That's not what I meant."
A raised eyebrow and a look of confusion was the response to the red-haired smith.
"What I meant was, aren't they only normal swords. They look like they would fetch a high price as they look really good, but I thought they were just swords."
"Oh. Well first off they are priceless and worthless at the same time."
"What does that mean?"
"I'll get to that properly in a bit but just keep in mind that I am the only one who can use them, making it useless for others and therefore worthless. However, this makes them one of a kind, which makes them also priceless. Think of it similar to Bell's knife."
"Ok, I think I can understand that. Why though?"
Nathan drew both his swords and lay them on the main workbench. He then seemingly unwrapped what Welf thought to be the base of the hilt. However, after Nathan had finished tearing off the black tape from the swords, Welf looked on with surprise and awe at the now freely exposed hilt of the pair of blades.
The hilt of Nathan's swords had a very peculiar design. The base colour was a dim gold. The pattern looked like vines, branches and leaves had been etched into it, making Welf think that it suited having an Elf wield them. All of the vines and branches connected to a tree that was centred in the middle. Welf was stunned by what he saw.
"I assume the reason you cover this up is that it would attract unwanted attention." Welf guessed now having known the half-elf for over two weeks and quickly figuring out he doesn't like attention to be drawn to him.
"That's the main reason but there is another." Welf raised his eyebrow at this.
"The second reason is there is a magic gemstone in both of these swords. It is placed underneath the tree."
"Why is there a gemstone in there?" Welf asked, trying to sound like he wasn't in a state of confusion. He hadn't done a particularly good job of it.
"Honestly, I don't know but I assume it is to help concentrate magic into the swords."
This made Welf remember back to the fight he witnessed on the 13th floor when they were pass paraded a week ago.
"So that's how you put your wind magic on your swords."
"Yep"
"So what's this got to do with you covering them up?"
Instead of talking, Nathan decided a demonstration was a better way to explain it. Nathan grabbed one of his swords and quickly started to chant his magic. After the wind had encircled his 4 limbs he looked over at Welf.
"Watch the pattern."
Welf did as he was told and looked at the pattern design. He noticed Nathan concentrate a bit more, which resulted in some of his wind starting to reach out to the sword he was holding. It seemed no different from the few times he has done this in the dungeon but then he saw something he wasn't able to see because of the tape that had wrapped over the now glowing design.
The pattern on the hilt had started glowing green, with a clear movement heading away from the tree in the middle, which almost seemed to be pulsating a dark green, the same colour as Nathan's magic.
"The gemstone in the middle can absorb my magic. The gemstone underneath the tree starts glowing the same colour as my magic."
"This then makes the rest of the pattern glow, which is what allows you to transmit your magic onto the swords," Welf said, finishing off Nathan's explanation by putting the pieces together himself.
"That's pretty much it."
"Where the hell did you get something like this."
Nathan turned his head away slightly at this question, not wanting to explain how he had felt a presence pull him towards a certain witch's shop and how he may or may not have broken in and stole a pair of swords that, for some reason, he couldn't stop himself from grabbing.
"Someone gave them to me for doing something for them."
The lie didn't convince Welf, but he rolled with it, another question on his mind.
"How does this make you the only one who can use them again, I think you glossed over that part."
"Well when I gripped them for the first time, the pattern glowed quite brightly. I assumed the gemstone marked me or something because when someone else tried to use their magic on them, the pattern didn't glow at all but the guy still had his magic sucked out of him."
"So you are the only one who can use magic on them."
"Pretty much."
"Can't other people still just use them as swords, they seem to be in very good condition."
"Well, that's because the gemstone uses a bit of my magic to keep them in top shape."
"So let's say, hypothetically, someone just wanted a good pair of swords and that person had the basic knowledge to look after their weapons, couldn't they still use them."
Nathan didn't have a response to this, instead just looking at Welf with bitter realisation.
"So then, they are not worthless as they could still be sold as normal swords. From what I could tell, with a cool looking hilt and a strong blade, they could be sold for quite a high price."
Welf looked back at Nathan to see a hint of sadness in his eyes and his posture had slightly slouched.
"I'm not going to sell these swords if that is what you are worried about. They are your swords and you can do what you want with them." Welf said quickly, trying to cheer up Nathan, thinking he had upset him by saying he would sell the boy's weapons.
"Cheers for making them seem less cool."
"What?"
"It was kinda cool to think that I was the only one able to use the swords. I… I hadn't thought of that they could just be used as basic swords by anyone." Nathan said, trailing off at the end.
As it dawned on Welf what had upset the half-elf, he stifled a laugh. However, he couldn't help it after a few seconds and burst out into laughter, not caring about the glare the half-elf was giving him.
"God Nathan, I almost forget that you are only 15. That's really funny though. How had you not thought about that? That is not like you to miss something so obvious." Welf said in between breaths.
Welf continued his laugh for a good few minutes, Nathan softening his glare and chuckling at his oversight and the laughing smith. It felt nice to laugh.
Welf almost missed two buttons on either side of the swords, having been too engrossed in the design.
"What do these do?" Welf asked, pointing at the buttons.
"If you look at the actual bottom of the sword, I'll show you."
Welf preceded to do what was asked and after seeing Nathan click the right button, Welf's eyes widened.
"Damn that's awesome. Wait, if it is the same on both swords, does that mean?"
"Yep. Want me to show you."
"If you wouldn't mind."
Nathan continued to talk with Welf about his swords for another hour, giving his newly made armour time to cool down.
Two days later
"Who was that?" Nathan asked, pointing at the gate where a horse-drawn carriage had just departed.
"Oh Nathan, you are back from your session with Bell's Advisor. How did it go." Hestia asked, spotting Nathan walk up to the front door.
"I knew most of the stuff she said that I had already gained from experience. There were a few things that surprised me though."
"Like what?"
Nathan looked over to see Bell and Mikoto walking over from the other part of the garden. He failed to notice the feathered hat walking out behind them though.
"Well first, she doesn't shut up. She kept asking me if I was ok and making absolutely sure I understood what she went over."
"Yeah, Miss Eina can get like that sometimes."
"Nothing wrong with. If anything, the other guild workers should be like her. Too many idiots jump into the dungeon, dying because they don't anything about what they are coming up against."
"What were the other things."
"I did not know that the name for floors 19-24 are known as the Great Tree Labyrinth. There were also one or two monster weaknesses about which I haven't known. Looking forward to testing them out."
"Wait really, you didn't know the name of the floors in the Great Tree Labyrinth? What did you think they were called?"
"I always just knew them as floors 19-24, It's not like it was important for me to know."
"So it wasn't a waste of time," Hestia butted in.
"I mean I did learn some things, so you could say that. Anyway back to my previous question."
"Oh, that was a business merchant requesting a mission for us."
"Already got merchants looking to make a relationship with us, happened faster than I thought."
"Well we did win a War Game against a D ranked Familia." Mikoto says.
"What's the mission?"
"To collect certain resources found in the dungeon," Lili replies, looking at the information.
"What's the payout?"
"1,000,000 valis."
""1,000,000 VALIS!"" Both Bell and Mikoto shout at the same time, a weird glint in their eyes.
"Let's do it Goddess" Bell immediately said.
"Yes, can we please, Hestia-sama" Mikoto followed up enthusiastically.
'The hell, not like them to care so much about money' Nathan thought.
"I suppose we do need the money right now, what do you think little miss supporter?"
"I'm with Lady Mikoto and Master Bell but not as enthuastic about it."
"Why do you care so much?" Nathan asked.
Mikoto and Bell preceded to tell everyone about Haruhime, the situation she is in and how they can help her.
"I'm assuming there isn't a possibility in talking you two out of it?" Nathan asked, now sitting down and resting his chin on one hand.
"Why can't we, if we earn enough money we can free her."
"We could risk going against the Ishtar Familia, Master Bell. WE barely beat a D ranked Familia, now you want to go up against a A ranked one."
"It's not like we will be fighting them, we just need to pay for her freedom. Apparently Ishtar herselfs allows this."
"Where did you hear this from?" Welf asked
"Hermes-sama told us." They both said at the same time.
"I don't trust him one bit." Lili states.
"Yeah neither do I but he has no reason to lie about this. It's probably the truth." Nathan says, defending his previous God.
"Come on Lili, we can do it."
"Yes, of course we can."
Lili looked at the two pleading pair of eyes, more so the red ones.
"They seem fixed on this, lets just do it."
"I wasn't going to say no anyway. I am Master Bell's supporter and I will follow him where ever he goes."
Both Bell and Mikoto started jumping joy, with Bell patting Lili on her head while thanking her, bringing out a blush.
"That settles it then, I'll go double-check everyone's gear then," Welf stated.
"You going to go tomorrow then."
"Yes, get it done as quickly as possible," Bell said, a wide smile still on his face.
"We shouldn't rush this Master Bell," Lili says, trying to calm down the white-haired boy.
"Well if you go tomorrow, I'll be able to help."
"What do you mean by that Nathan, won't you be coming with us."
"Well, tomorrow I had planned to start my solo dive. If we both go at the same time, I'll run ahead of you lot and clear out all the monsters."
"Why don't you just come down with us?"
"I could do but my objective is to raise my status as much as possible, so any bit of excelia is important. Besides, I didn't realise you had to constantly rely on me."
"Lili does not need to rely on you all the time. Lili understands anyway."
"Does that mean you guys are going to do this tomorrow?" Hestia asks.
"I guess so."
With that confirmation from the Prum, both Bell and Mikoto were practically beeming from ear to ear.
The next day
Outside the entrance to the first floor of the dungeon could be seen the Hestia Familia. They all adorned their usual dungeon equipment and armour. The only small difference is that Nathan is also carrying a rucksack on him.
"I'll only bring back expensive magic stones or Drop items. I won't need anything big to carry them in."
"You going to be alright Nathan, you double-checked you've got everything you need in there," Bell asked, still a bit worried about the half-elf.
"Yeah, I've got enough potions, water and food to last me a week."
"Alright then, guess we will see you in a few days. Good luck Nathan and stay safe."
"Same back to you. Good luck on the mission."
And with that brief goodbye, Nathan started running down the dark, cold cave, leaving his Familia's sight in an instant.
"He is on another level; I doubt we have seen him get serious yet," Welf exclaimed as he started to walk in with the rest of the party.
"Yeah well, I asked him to do a bit of sparring one morning," Bell said
"How did that go."
"He just kept dodging my attacks, only parrying my strikes if needed. I asked him what he was doing and he only responded with 'you are quite boring when you fight, try new things.'"
"So he taught you to do what, do extra twirls in the air when you fight."
"It was to be more creative when I fight. I believe he was calling me out for being easy to read."
"He calls your attacks easy to read. I can't even keep up with them." Lili says.
"Well he is a level and a bit stronger than me, so it's to be expected." Bell chuckled.
With that, the rest of the Hestia Familia set off inside the dungeon, not knowing they were being followed.
Inside the dungeon, a group of hooded figures could be seen talking to each other.
"Aisha, are we here to abduct an adventurer?"
Aisha turned to look at a pair of dazzling emerald eyes.
"Yes, Haruhime."
"Who?"
"You don't need to know."
"Just remember the plan. Haruhime, you are going to give your level boost to Tammuz, understood."
"Why not you?"
"It would be nice if I could have it, make my job easier but I don't need it as me and the rest of the Berbera can deal with the target and force him towards Phyrne. You are giving it to Tammuz as the person he is fighting is currently an unknown.
"What does that mean?"
"An unknown, like the name suggests, is someone who we know very little on. This includes his strength, so we give it Tammuz to make sure the unkown is dealt with."
Aisha thinks back to how she and the rest of the Berbera were not convinced when it came out that the half-elf that had decimated half of the Apollo Familia was only a level 3. This made them wary of him and under Ishtar's orders, Tammuz was sent to deal with him.
"Who is it that needs a level boosted level 4 to deal with them?" Was Haruhime's final question.
'Floor 13, that didn't take too long.' Nathan thought, taking a second to realise where he was.
Before he went any further, Nathan's got an abnormal feeling in his gut.
'Why does my instinct ability want me to hide. What's happening?' Nathan thought. He rarely ignored his instinct as it was always right in knowing when something bad was going to happen. So Nathan hid in a dark area and activated his nightcrawler skill, making him undetectable.
After a couple of minutes of waiting, the feeling in his gut only got more aggressive as time went on. During that time it became obvious why, as a familiar noise and feel of the ground shaking jogged Nathan's memory of when he and the rest of the Hestia Familia were pass paraded just over a week ago. However, his body knew he could easily take on any horde of monsters on this level as he had previously done. So why did it want him to hide?
His question would be shortly answered as before him was a large group of monsters running out of a large corridor. But what caught Nathan's eye were the hooded people next to the group, moving it along.
'What the hell. What are these people trying to do?'
Nathan let the entire group run past him. His confusion was only heightened when the last cloaked person ran past him. When he examined that person, he heard that she was running barefoot, which signified to Nathan that they were most likely an Amazon. But what truly gave it away was the smell of perfume that had wafted into Nathan's nose. Nathan only knew of one place that had that kind of smell.
'Ishtar Familia. What are they doing?'
With his decision made up, Nathan decided to follow the group of monsters and cloaked figures, abandoning his previous objective, thinking he could always just do it another day.
Nathan stayed about 100 metres behind the horde of monsters, rarely losing sight of them and on the one time he did, he just simply followed the sound of many pairs of feet smashing on the ground. He had tried to get closer to hear any conversation being made, trying to get any info from what was happening. When he got close, he picked up that the amazons at the front were talking but he couldn't make out what they were saying over the massive pounding of feet on the floor. The amazon at the back wasn't saying anything, though he had noticed a grin on her face when he ran to the side of her, still emersed in a shadow. Nathan didn't bother trying to get near the front, as the monsters left no room to sneak through. He would have to activate his magic if he wanted to get over them.
After almost 15 minutes, Nathan heard more voices up ahead of the group.
'These could be the people the Amazons are trying to pass parade on. They haven't been taking the normal route on this floor. Must have planned this out thoroughly." Nathan thought.
Nathan caught up to the back and looked ahead to see who the other voices were. What he saw made his mind freeze for a split second. The next second and for the next 30 minutes, the only emotion that he felt was pure anger.
The target of the Ishtar Familia was a prum girl, a purple battle dressed ninja, a red-haired man, and a white-haired boy.
'Fuck my promise, I'm going to kill every last one of them.'
"Master Bell" Lili shrieks out, seeing Bell being snatched up by a hooded figure and thrown away from them.
"Lili, focus on the monsters, Bell can handle it," Welf shouted over the noise while using his greatsword to block an attack from an Almiraj.
Lili, Mikoto and Welf turned to face the oncoming monsters. However, they quickly noticed that the horde of monsters had been slimmed down quite considerably.
"Who the hell is that?" They heard come from one of the hooded figures.
The three looked ahead to see the final hellhound being sliced apart by a sword. When they saw who was holding the sword they sighed in relief.
"Nathan, come help us. They got Bell." Mikoto shouted.
"Where's Tammuz, it's the half-elf."
"Why wasn't he with the rest of them?"
"That doesn't matter, all that matters is that we need… "
The amazon was cut off by a feeling of dread flooding her body. The other hooded figure's present also froze, as had Lili, Welf, and Mikoto. This was because they all felt an enormous amount of bloodlust bursting from in front of them. Walking towards them was what felt like a monster from the deep floors had just suddenly appeared. A raw feeling of bloodlust was radiating off of the half-elf and the amazons knew it was directed at them.
"WH-WHERE THE FUCK IS TAMMUZ, WE NEED HIM RIGHT NOW!" One amazon shouted, shaking herself from the state of fear and quickly called out for help. However, before she said anymore, a bone-chilling voice was heard, making her turn back round to face the person intent on slaughtering every single one of them.
"Welf, Lili, Mikoto. Go help Bell."
The people in question didn't, couldn't respond as they were still frozen in the same fear-induced state as the amazons.
"now."
However, they feared disobeying that order more. The three quickly head off after the direction they saw Bell get snatched from, soon hearing the sound of a battle. Assuming that was their captain fighting, they followed it. An amazon tried to stop them but was immediately stopped herself by a blade in the throat, pinning her body in the wall behind. They didn't need to look to know where that blade came from and who threw it.
The amazons, now even more terrified, started sprinting for their lives, not caring about the mission, and only about leaving the dungeon alive. The amazon who was at the back turned to see their soon to be killer had already reached their dead comrade and had pulled out his sword from her neck, a spurt of blood covering the man's mask, not even earning a flinch from the boy. Just before the dual-wielding swordsmen pushed forward to kill her and the rest of them, a gold glowing figure drove straight into him, knocking him away at a blinding speed. The amazon turned to spot a levelled boosted man walking towards where he had punched the half-elf, not turning to look at his fleeing Familia members or the dead one as well.
Nathan stood up from where he was punched. He looked up to see his new opponent. He recognised him immediately. Tammuz Belili, Level 4, Vice-Captain of the Ishtar Familia. Nathan knew this man from when he was back in Evilus as he was always the one to accompany Ishtar when she visited. They had talked once, only briefly. Not that it mattered as Nathan was about to slice the man's throat.
"You are the half-elf who betrayed the Evilus group, aren't you?" Tammuz spoke calmly, all of his emotions had disappeared when Ishtar had completely charmed him.
Nathan didn't respond, instead cautiously walking towards him.
'That glowing thing around him must have increased his power. That punch did not come from a level 4 and neither did that speed. My instinct didn't have enough time to react.'
"No matter, I have been ordered by Lady Ishtar to take care of you."
Instead of a response, Nathan started to quietly chant his magic.
"Gift me the power to control the wind around me, so I have the strength to survive another day."
Tammuz heard this and jumped at the half-elf a fraction too late. The wind had already wrapped around Nathan's arms and legs. Nathan had seen Tammuz jump at him, and instead of dodging, he punched the ground. This sent Tammuz flying back, but not as much as Nathan thought it would. It didn't matter as he immediately jumped at Tammuz, swinging both his swords in a X. However, as Tammuz was now a pseudo level 5, he was fast enough to dodge this. Nathan swung his left sword down, with Tammuz blocking it with his right arm guard. Nathan stabbed his right sword for the brown-skinned man's gut but Tammuz batted it away with his left hand. Both men pushed back.
'Damn, he is stronger than me. That glow has made him go to level 5.'
'He can attack me like that even though I'm a level 5.'
Tammuz dived again at Nathan, though this time he was ready for it. Nathan pushed off the ground with his wind imbued boot and narrowly dodged Tammuz's level 5 punch. When he pushed off, he immediately turned around and made another attempt at cutting his opponent, though Tammuz ducked underneath it. Nathan's foot came into contact with the wall 20 metres away a second later. Instead of pushing off, he allowed himself to fall onto the floor. He had attempted to use his skill to hide in the shadows but Tammuz jumped straight at him, only his instinct ability allowing him to dodge. Tammuz quickly recovered and started pummelling Nathan with attacks. The half-elf could barely get an attack off, using up all of his energy dodging and blocking the level 5s attacks. A punch to the gut was stopped with a sword swing. A high kick to the head was dodged by Nathan bending backwards. This was followed up by a jump kick with the other leg, which was caught between swords. Before Nathan could slice the Achilles tendon, Tammuz smashed his foot down, breaking the lock. This caused Nathan to fall forward a bit, which Tammuz used to try to get an uppercut to the face. Nathan used his forward momentum to tuck and roll underneath the punch. Halfway through the roll, Nathan put both his hands on the floor and pushed up in the attempt to land a kick to the chin. Tammuz simply stepped back but when he went to attack, with what seemed like an easy hit, Nathan spun his wind covered feet in the air, making a gust of wind which Tammuz jumped over. Landing back down, Tammuz immediately went low to sweep the half-elf's arms out, but Nathan's instincts kicked in and he psuhed up just in time.
After 3 minutes of this, Tammuz finally got an attack off, catching Nathan in the side with a kick, sending him flying across the room. Though as he did, Nathan flipped upside down in mid-air, sending a blade of wind straight at Tammuz.
Tammuz was too busy trying to hit the half-elf to realise Nathan putting magic slowly into his swords. Nathan then gave Tammuz a small opening, letting himself get hit. This allowed Nathan to get off a quick surprise attack but more importantly, it had put distance between the two. Before Tammuz could try and attack again, Nathan started to pummel him with a Wind barrage. This stopped Tammuz from moving forward completely, as he had to keep moving backwards to dodge the flying wind that he knew would slice him in half if it got him. Tammuz didn't think up a way to counterattack as he was preoccupied with one thought.
'Has figured it out already.'
'So that's it then'
While he was busy dodging and blocking, Nathan had realised that Tammuz was being far too aggressive. Since he had the advantage in power and most likely even speed, the normal strategy would be to let the weaker opponent do the attacking and tire themselves out unless they were weak enough to be dealt with immediately. That was why it had caught Nathan off guard when Tammuz jumped at him for a second time.
'It almost seems like he wants this fight done as quickly as possible. Why rush things though. Why?'
Throughout the three minutes where the fight was close quarters, Nathan was busy trying to solve this issue he had produced.
A duck under a kick.
'Is it to do with him glowing?'
A step to the side, barely missing a punch to the ribs.
'That is the thing that gives him the power.'
A roundhouse intended for the face was met with an upwards swing, forcing the attack to turn into a block.
'Does it have a time limit? Is that it?'
With this thought, Nathan started to slowly put magic into his swords.
'If I create some distance between us then..'
With that decided and his swords fully charged, Nathan gave Tammuz an opening. He used his wind blade as an attack and thrust to put more of a gap in between them.
'So that's it then. I've just got to stall for time.'
And stall for time Nathan did, not laying off for a second. He bombarded Tammuz with attack after attack, not giving the vice-captain a second to think nor a centimetre of space to make an attack. He held him at this range for 7 minutes but Nathan had started to get a bit tired.
'Damn, I can't suffer from a mind down. I need to think of something else.'
His quick second of thought was enough for Tammuz to find an opening and he didn't waste it. He dove straight at the half-elf, hoping to end this before his advantage ran out. Nathan's instinct kicked in, allowing him to jump away again. However, Tammuz followed, not wanting to give Nathan a single bit of breathing space. Nathan kept jumping away though, his wind giving him just enough extra speed to stay a hair ahead of the tanned man.
Throughout the entirety of the 12th floor, the battle could be heard. Walls were shattered underneath punches that were dodged by a flip. Floors smashed when a kick landed in the place where a now airborne half-elf stood half a second earlier. These noises echoed throughout the dungeon. Monsters ran away. Adventurers ran for thier lives. The Ishtar Familia wondering what was causing this as the Hestia Familia had found their captain.
Another 2 minutes of this went by. Tammuz became more and more anxious as time kept dwindling from him, time he didn't have. However, the difference between his level 5 body and level 4 mind stopped him from using his full strength as his whole body felt out of place from the level boost. However, he finally felt like he could predict the half-elf's next move. The bleached-haired boy had pushed off and ran into a narrow passage, a dead end up ahead. His only option was to jump as Tammuz had the passage covered from below. The ceiling wasn't that high either. This meant that even if Nathan jumped and pushed off the wall, Tammuz would be able to reach and grab him. Tammuz watched Nathan run straight at the wall, his wind still circling him. He then ran halfway up the wall and pushed off, turning around, and facing Tammuz head-on. Tammuz wondered what this was about but still thought that he had finially got the slippery boy. He saw there was no wind on either sword, meaning no magic attack was coming. As the flying Half-elf rapidly approached him, Tammuz braced himself for a sword slash or a kick, getting ready to intercept it and end this fight. What he didn't expect was just before impact, Nathan pushed of thin air with his right hand, pushing himself to the ceiling and then using that as his new floor to run over the now confused man.
Nathan saw the dead-end. He knew this passage lead to a dead-end. He had used it many times. He also knew exactly what to do.
Just as he neared the Black-haired man, he used his wind magic to generate a platform of air to push off. When he flew above his opponent's head, he used the same thing on his boots, creating air platforms every time he put his foot down. This allowed him to run on the side of walls, upside down on roofs and it even allowed him to run openly in the air.
Nathan turned to see his enemy break out of his shock and start the chase once again, but the look on his face finally brought both of the men on the same train of thought.
'He is going to run out of time.'
'I'm going to run out of time.'
The final few minutes were upon them. Tammuz couldn't catch up to the half-elf, especially now that he was now pushing off thin air, making it even harder to hit him. He thought about retreating once but the charm placed on him by Ishtar stopped him from disobeying her orders. He would see this threw.
Nathan saw the light around Tammuz start to dim, clarifying his thoughts. Tammuz seemingly noticed this too but didn't stop the chase. Nathan led him back into the room in which they started. He turned back around to see that his time-wasting had succeeded. Tammuz had no more glowing particles floating around him.
Both men were breathing quite heavily, Nathan having fought to his max for most of the fight, while the level boost had taken its toll on Tammuz.
Tammuz looked around the room, noticing that it was the one they started in, but now the only difference was that both men were the same level again. This now meant it was no longer an even fight. Tammuz knew this and took up a fighting position but got mildly confused as he watched Nathan just stand there, arms hanging by his sides, his swords still in his grasp.
"You tried to kill my family."
A voice reached Tammuz's ears and as he looked at the mask covering the boy's eyes, he felt a familiar feeling. It was the feeling that had helped him find Nathan 15 minutes ago. It was the feeling of bloodlust.
"I don't know why. I don't really care"
Tammuz looked on as Nathan got into a very obvious position, one that showed he would swing his right sword in an obvious side slice. Tammuz knew he couldn't do anything about it.
"I made a promise a year ago, saying that I would no longer kill."
Tammuz shuddered under the glare. Nathan took a step forward.
"But now I have broken that, I will make a new promise."
Tammuz remembered his Goddess' order and jumped at Nathan; arms out ready to intercept the slice to his body
"I will kill all that try and hurt my family. That is my new promise."
Nathan swung his sword and sidestepped, allowing Tammuz to run past him.
Tammuz slowed down and came to a standstill.
*drip*
He turned around to see Nathan with his sword swung out.
Tammuz fell to his knees.
*drip*
He saw a small bit of blood on his sword, watching it drip. He followed it, dropping to the floor.
*drip*
A pool of blood was now spilling out of Tammuz's neck, a cut going across it.
Nathan swatted his sword down, whipping the bit of blood off he got from the dead body behind him. He didn't look back at the now deceased level 4, instead, he walked towards where his family was.
That was my first actual attempt at a 1v1 equal fight scene.
We finially get to see what Nathan is and what he can do, even though there is still one more trick that he showed Welf in the forge, but that is for next chapter.
I don't have much to say about this apart from I'm really glad how it turned out.
Two things that I would like to address though.
1. In the light novel, Hermes tells Bell and Mikoto about the killing stone and buying prostitutes at a cafe but in the manga it was in their garden just before the merchant sent by Ishtar came to them with the mission. I went with the manga as it is the most recent and it fits my story better. (LN gang for life though, excepy maybe SO becasue mini Ais is very kawaii)
2. When Bell and Mikoto talk about Haruhime, they don't mention she is a renard. They say that to Hermes which makes him tell them about the killing stone but when they discuss it with the family they don't mention it, well not in this story at least. This means Nathan doesn't know about Haruhime being sacrificed so he can't tell them.
And with that, the reviews:
mistalenny (review 1) - I liked the opening up scene as well, it felt natural and yeah, Nathan doesn't give a shit about people stronger than him. That is becasue of a quote I can't wait to use, I'm giddy thinking about it.
I have installed grammarly and surprisingly enough, it is really helpful. I hope my writing looks better as I can't find an issue with it but maybe I just need to get a beta reader.
mistalenny (review 2) - You know, I've got nothing wrong with you guys guessing what happens next but when I read your review I moped a bit. I thought the reveal of Tammuz would be reallly good and then you go and guess it. Nathan couldn't fight Aisha or Pyhrne though as he would have killed Aisha as that is big no no, I love Aisha. Bet you didn't guess the outcome though and I hope the fight lived up to a bit of your expectations.
Jank7457 - I'm going to follow the main canon structure, along with the one from SO but Nathan will change some things but not change it too much that it will alter everything, like you saw with him killing Tammuz. It is a change but not somethign very significant (DW, I've already planned out everything with Tammuz dying, ik he had some importance mentioned in SO but I got it covered).
I have a story planned all the way to volume 17, where after I will be going off on a tangent after the Freya War Game. Yes I have already planned how I want the Freya War Game to go down, although I'm not sure how many chapters until then.
And with that out of the way, see ya next time and peace.