Chapter 10 Memories of the past
Disclaimer: I do not own God Eater or Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darouka / Danmachi
[Hostess of Fertility.]
Bell came out of the room where Hestia was resting while heaving a sigh of relief. Hearing footsteps, he saw that one of the waitresses had gone up the stairs to the floor he was on.
"So, is she all right?" Syr asks as he stands on the stairs and looks Bell up and down.
"Yes, she's better. Thank you for allowing us to leave her here." Bell thanked Syr, he looked at the girl's face, but looked away, looking a little red with embarrassment.
"No problem, after all..." Syr walks down the stairs and stands next to Bell, she puts her face close to the boy's ear and whispers. "I'll always help the boy I like."
Bell was shocked by Syr's words, and the girl turned away from him and giggled before turning and walking back down to the lower floor of the tavern. Bell stood there, shocked by Syr's words.
Bell slapped his cheeks a few times to regain control. Looking down at his waist, he saw the Knife of Hestia that was attached to his belt. Picking up the knife, he sees the runes glowing blue. Bell is surprised as he has never seen a weapon of this type before, but to be honest, after seeing Penny's God Arc in action, it will be hard for anything to really impress him.
Bell looks at the door behind him, deciding to ask his Goddess what exactly this knife is. Opening the door, he enters the room again.
[Hestia's House - Night]
After Hestia had spent a whole day sleeping at the Hostess of Fertility's, the boys took her back to the church where they lived. Hestia enters the church and stretches, already feeling more relaxed after sleeping for several hours.
"Ahhhh... finally back home..." Hestia says happily, but she notices that something seems different. Looking around, she sees that one of the benches has been destroyed and has parts burnt off. "What happened here?"
"Ah, well..." Bell scratches the back of his head nervously, he seems to have realized that Hestia noticed the destroyed bench.
"Bell..." Hestia turns to Bell and Penny. Staring coldly at the boys, she points to the bench. "What's that?"
"G-Goddess, it's well..." Bell tries to explain himself, but is flustered by his Goddess's gaze. "We, well, we..."
"We developed a bullet for my God Arc, and I ended up shooting the bench to test it." Penny says, knowing full well that lying wouldn't do any good.
"What?" Hestia asks looking confused and a little angry that Penny destroyed the bank.
Penny picks up his God Arc, which is in Pistol mode, he points it upwards and aims at an opening in the roof. Pulling the trigger, he fires into the opening causing a beam of fire to pass through it. He looks at Hestia and waits for her reaction.
"Okay... I think I need to think a bit more..." Hestia rubs her temples trying to calm down. She walks to the door that leads down to the basement, entering it, she still feels that something is wrong, looking around she narrows her eyes.
"Goddess, did something happen?" Bell asks as she walks down the stairs with Penny.
"... What have you done?" Hestia asks looking at the boys.
"What... what do you mean, Goddess?" Bell asks, worried and nervous by the look on his Goddess' face.
"You've done something, haven't you?" Hestia points at the boys. "What did you do?"
"Yeah, well... we... we..." Bell puts his hands together and starts rubbing them together nervously. Bell feels his body tremble, his legs shake and he almost loses his balance.
"Goddess Hestia, take it easy." Penny goes over to Bell and holds him, preventing him from losing his balance. "The boy's almost pissing himself with nerves."
"Hey!" Bell looks at Penny, even though he feels that if he remains in the gaze of his Goddess, this could turn out to be a possibility.
"Ahh..." Hestia sighs. "Right... right... okay, I'm going to rest for a while. Making the knife and facing that fight of yours really stressed me out." Hestia rubs her temples. She walks over to her bed and lies down on it.
Hestia lies down on the bed to rest, moving around in the bed, she feels something strange. Putting the pillow to her face, she begins to smell it. Penny and Bell are a little confused, but soon realize what she's doing.
"Smoke..." Hestia says in shock. With her expression changing from shock to disbelief and then to anger, she looks back at the two boys. "Why does the pillow smell of smoke?"
Bell and Penny swallowed after being stared at by their Goddess. Even Penny, who has been through some pretty dangerous and near-death situations, felt a shiver run down his spine after being stared at.
"Say it now." Hestia jumps out of bed and walks slowly over to the two boys. "Say it now... what have you done?"
Bell becomes so nervous at the sight of his Goddess that he has a slight panic attack and collapses in Penny's arms.
"Bell!" Penny holds Bell before he falls to the ground.
"Oh my God! Bell!" Hestia changes her expression to concern and runs to her son. With astonishment and concern on her face, she worries even more. "Bell! Bell, wake up!"
"Calm down, Goddess Hestia." Penny reassures Hestia as she lifts Bell into her arms. "He just fainted. It's probably because your look made him so nervous that he fainted."
"Oh my God!" Hestia whispers frightened. "I... I didn't mean to..."
"Calm down, don't worry about it." Penny walks over to the bed and leaves Bell lying there. "I'll take off his armor, you can rest easy. This isn't your fault, I'll explain the smell of smoke later, okay?"
"Right..." Hestia lowers her gaze, looking a little calmer. Hestia moves a little away from the bed, she sees Penny move Bell's body and start to take the armor off his body.
She lowers her gaze again, feeling quite guilty for having made her son faint.
(Bell's dream.)
[Sunken Grid.]
Once again, Bell slowly opens his eyes. He looks around and sees something that... looks like a ruined city full of dirty water pipes and moss, lots of moss. He gets up and sees that he's in his armor, but this time, Hestia's Knife is tucked into his belt.
"What... what's going on?" Bell mutters in confusion. Feeling some tremors, he almost loses his balance, but manages to stay on his feet. He looks around to try and find the place where the tremors came from.
Seeing a small cloud of black smoke forming in front of him, Bell feels déjà-vu at the sight of it. The smoke gets thicker and thicker, until a giant white being emerges from it.
Bell remembers the being and feels his body begin to tremble with fear and horror. He faces the Aragami who has jumped up and out of the ground in front of him, and feeling his breathing become heavy, he takes a step back. Hannibal hears Bell's step and looks in his direction.
Bell feels a shiver run down his spine. Before he can think of anything, his body acts on instinct and starts running in the opposite direction to Aragami. Hannibal sees Bell running and roars at him, lunging at the boy with abysmal speed, jumping up and landing in front of Bell.
Bell is startled by Aragami's action, stumbling, he falls to the ground frightened. Sitting on the ground, he looks up at Aragami, who is still staring at him. Bell tries to get up and run again, but his body is pinned to the ground when Hannibal uses his right arm to pin the boy down.
The Aragami brings his face close to Bell's face, growling at the boy, the Aragami glares at him. Bell breathes in and out faster and faster, feeling his whole body tremble with fear at the proximity of the gigantic dragon. Bell thinks about reacting again, but the Aragami has trapped his arms when it pinned him to the ground.
Hannibal approaches Bell's face and begins to smell him. Bell closes his eyes, just waiting for his immediate death. Feeling a hot breath on his face, he waits for his death, but nothing happens. Opening one of his eyes, he sees that the Aragami is still close to his face.
Looking at Aragami, Bell sees his eyes, eyes that seem empty with a sphere of fire at the bottom of his eyes that seems to see the boy's soul. Swallowing dryly, Bell feels his body tremble again, his eyes fill with tears and he looks as if he's going to start crying.
With a growl, Hannibal slowly lets go of Bell, and with one last growl, he turns and begins to walk away from the boy. Bell is surprised by Aragami's attitude. Slowly getting up, Bell wipes away the tears forming in his eyes and looks again at the huge dragon.
The Aragami looks at a nearby platform, and jumping onto it, he positions himself and lies down on it. Crossing his arms, he rests his head and sighs. Bell, who still thought it was strange, stood up on his two legs and slowly walked towards Aragami.
Even he doesn't know why he's going towards him, but even though his whole body is shaking with fear, he keeps walking towards Aragami. Hannibal hears Bell's footsteps and raises his head to look at the boy. Bell swallows and stops walking, he raises his head and looks Aragami in the eye.
Even he doesn't know why he did it, but Bell suddenly felt a slight sense of courage and determination. Hannibal glares back at Bell, letting out a snort that makes red-hot smoke come out of his nose. He clenches his fist, digging his claws into his palm, making it bleed. He swings his arm and throws the blood in front of Bell.
Bell takes a step back, seeing the blood in front of him. Confused, he soon realizes what's going on. The blood that Hannibal threw in front of Bell is sucked up by the ground, with a puff of smoke and black particles forming, then four white creatures jump out of the ground and look at Bell.
The creatures appear to be some kind of dinosaur with a large head and two large fangs in its mouth. Two large legs, and a huge tail that keeps it balanced. The Aragami are Ogretails.
Bell moves away frightened, but his foot stops before he falls backwards. He looks back and sees an overpass with dirty water. Not wanting to fall into the dirty water, which can carry all kinds of diseases, he faces the four Aragami in front of him. Taking a breath to try and calm down, Bell grabs Hestia's knife from his waist, positioning himself to fight, he faces the Ogretails.
The Aragami roar at Bell and jump on him. Bell rotates to the left and dodges the Aragami's jump. He lands an attack on the side of an Ogretail, injuring it. The Aragami growls in pain and faces Bell, but Bell doesn't give him a chance to react and plunges his knife into its skull.
The Aragami falls to the ground unconscious, Bell looks forward and throws his body backwards to avoid another Aragami. The Aragami advances on Bell and grabs him with its fangs, swinging Bell from side to side, it tries to kill him. But Bell holds on to his fangs to avoid being thrown. Using his knife, he pierces Aragami's eye, the Ogretail opens his mouth and lets go of Bell from the pain of having his eye pierced.
Bell falls to the ground, ducking to avoid a bite from another Aragami. Seeing the third Ogretail coming towards him, Bell looks around, deciding to get under the legs of the Ogretail he dodged. The Aragami that was advancing against him. The Aragami opens its mouth to bite Bell, but ends up biting the other Ogretail's leg. The bitten Ogretail growls in anger and tries to bite the other Ogretail's neck.
The two Aragami start to fight each other and try to bite each other, Bell seizes this chance, jumping onto the back of one of the Ogretails, he uses his knife and jams it into the side of its neck. Pulling the knife with all his might, he cuts off half the neck. The other Ogretail lunges at Aragami and bites his head off. Bell jumps away and watches the scene. The Ogretail that bit him pulls the other one's head off mercilessly.
Bell is confused by this, but he's even more confused when the Ogretail that he pierced in the eye advances against the Ogretail with the head and begins to fight over it. Seeing an opportunity, Bell lunges at them both. Throwing his body to the ground, he begins to slide. Extending his knife, he hits the legs of the Ogretail that was holding its head.
The Aragami loses his balance and ends up falling to the ground, helpless. The other Ogretail advances on his neck and begins to bite and devour his flesh. Bell seizes the opportunity, leaps up and lands on the Ogretail's back and plunges his knife into its neck. The Aragami struggles to get Bell off his back. Bell grips his knife tightly to avoid falling, Bell raises his free fist and punches the handle of the knife, causing it to jam further into his neck.
Ogretail screams in pain as he feels his throat fill with his own blood. Bell grabs the knife firmly and pushes it to the right side, cutting about two-thirds of the way through Ogretail's neck. The Aragami groans in pain, walking slowly, the Aragami stumbles and falls to the ground. Bell breathes heavily, getting off the Aragami, he walks away. Looking at the four dead Aragami on the ground he breathes a sigh of relief.
The Ogretails begin to be sucked back into the ground, and disappear as if they had never been there. Bell is a little confused by this, as the monsters he killed just turned to ash and disappeared. With a thud audible behind him, Bell slowly turns his body, looking back to see that Hannibal is staring at him.
Returning to his fighting stance, he faces Hannibal, but because his body is shaking, he looks more like a rabbit cornered by a dragon. Hannibal brings his face close to Bell's. He stares into Bell's eyes.
Bell feels a shiver run down his spine again, but is startled when Hannibal puts his snout to his chest. Bell is surprised, and Hannibal turns around and starts to walk away from Bell. Bell just stands there, still in his fighting stance and trembling a little. Feeling his conscience weighing him down, he slowly closes his eyes, gradually loses his balance, falls to the ground and passes out.
Bell sees everything black, perhaps because his eyes are closed or because he's passed out, but there's something. He feels something, a sense of... comfort, even though he's killed four monsters he's never seen before and a strange dragon monster has almost killed him, he still feels... comfortable.
(End of dream.)
(Next morning.)
This time, Bell wakes up quickly, not by jumping out of bed, but by sighing heavily as he feels his heart racing.
"Bell, what happened? Are you all right?" Hestia, who had been talking to Penny, quickly ran over to the bed and stood next to her son.
"Did you have that nightmare again?" Penny asks, approaching the bed and crossing her arms.
"I... I... I don't remember..." Bell put his hand to his forehead as he felt a little dizzy. "I don't remember... the dream..."
"Nightmare? What did you mean by that?" Hestia turned her attention to Penny.
"During the time you were away, Bell had a nightmare and almost had a heart attack. If I hadn't calmed him down he probably would have had a heart attack." Penny sighs as she explains. "He looked terrified."
"Bell..." Hestia holds Bell's face and puts it against her breasts. "Bell, there's nothing to be afraid of, I'm here with you. And Penny's here too."
Bell would normally be embarrassed to have his face on his Goddess' breasts, but the strange sensation of that dream still overwhelms him with curiosity and confusion.
"G-Goddess... can you let me go?" Bell realizes that he is on his Goddess's breasts and is embarrassed.
"Oh, of course!" Hestia lets go of Bell while laughing embarrassedly. She soon turns her attention to Penny and speaks to him. "So, Penny. What did you want to tell me before about... that Aragami?"
Bell realizes what has happened. "Really, that thing was the Aragami you faced in your world?!" Bell asks in surprise.
"Look... the explanation about him is quite long, but I think we have time." Penny walks over to the sofa and sits down. "Well, I'll start with the Oracle Cells..."
[...]
(After the explanations.)
"My God... is your blood that dangerous?" Hestia covers her mouth in surprise and terror.
"That's it in a nutshell. For example, if my blood comes into contact with a tree, that tree could become an Aragami..." Penny sighs. "Look, if I'd killed that monster when it bit me, I might have been able to prevent it from appearing." Penny covers her face with a sigh. "It's all my fault... it's all my fault..."
"Hey, Penny..." Bell gets up from the bed and goes over to Penny. As Penny comforted him before, now it's Bell's turn to comfort him. Bell sits down next to Penny and uses one arm to hug him. "Penny, there was no way we could have known that that kobold would bite you and run away."
"Still... I should have eliminated him on the spot..." Penny sighs again as she covers her face.
"Penny, look at me." Bell says, and Penny quickly uncovers her face and looks at him. "Penny, you're someone nice and brave, it wasn't your fault at all that you infected that kobold with your blood."
"Still... I don't know if-"
"Penny, what if there's a way to stop you from infecting other people?" Hestia murmurs, and the two boys immediately look at her. "Penny, remember what you told me at Hephaestos' house?"
Penny is confused, but soon remembers what she said. "That's right!" Penny stands up and claps her hands in understanding. "If my blood gets infected and your blood can inhibit my Oracle cells from killing me, then all I have to do is create a potion or an antidote for it!"
"Are you sure that can work?" Bell stands up and looks at Penny.
"Look, I'm not sure, but we can test it." Penny puts her hand to her chin thoughtfully. "Goddess Hestia, do you know anyone who can keep this kind of secret and who can help us too?"
"Look..." Hestia wonders about some trustworthy people she could call. "Maybe Miach, but I don't know if he'd agree."
"We can talk to him when he's not too busy with the store." Penny says. "As far as I can tell, he's quite fond of you and Bell, so he's likely to help us out."
"I see..." Hestia feels a little more relieved. More because Penny has found a way not to infect other people, because he could certainly cause an apocalypse on earth if he wanted to.
"Oh really! Goddess, what's that knife you gave me when Penny and I fought that Aragami?" Bell asks, remembering the knife at his waist.
"Oh, that's right! I hadn't explained what it was yet!" Hestia scratches the back of her head a little embarrassed. "Well, Bell. This knife was created using my blood and Penny's blood. As you can see, the runes embedded in it make it grow and become stronger as you evolve and become stronger."
"You mean..." Bell picks up his knife and looks at its blade, seeing the runes light up he is surprised. "You mean she's going to get strong along with me?"
"Yes, and what's more, I've managed to work out a few tricks so that she can grant you an innate ability." Penny says proudly while waiting for Bell's reaction.
"WHAT'S IT LIKE?!" Bell shouts louder than she meant to.
"Bell, don't shout so much!" Hestia covers her ears feeling them sting a little with pain.
"Oh, I'm sorry... Goddess..." Bell apologized in shame. "But... is it true that I have an innate ability?"
"Well, do you want me to check your statuses so you can find out?" Hestia asks, she gets up from the bed and goes to the cupboard, she opens it and takes out a sheet of paper.
"Yes!"
[...]
Bell Cranel
Level 1
Strength: H167 - G224
Endurance: H101 - H113
Dexterity: H149 - H199
Agility: G219 - F398
Magic: I0
Skills:
Intermediate Burst: The User can activate the Intermediate Burst Skill, there are two ways to activate it. 1, the user must attack continuously while forcing their body to the maximum, or 2, the user must be in a high-risk situation for the Burst to be activated automatically. When activated, Burst can amplify all of the user's statuses in general by 10% to 50% depending on the situation.
%$ $%...
Magic:
#$%& #$%...
"AEEAEAEAEEEEEE!" Bell shouts so loudly that the likely neighbors they had several kilometers away hear them. "I have an ability!"
"Calm down, Bell. There's no need to make a fuss." Penny clears her ears after Bell's huge scream.
"I've got a skill! I finally have a skill!" Bell celebrates as she starts jumping around the room.
"What's all the fuss about a skill?" Penny mutters, not quite understanding Bell's joy.
"Let me explain." Hestia approaches Penny while cleaning her ears. "Well, abilities come straight from the individual's soul, and since you and Bell have the same blood type, you practically circumvented that rule, since Bell didn't have an ability."
"I think I understand most of it." Penny says. "Is that really so cool? I just made it so he could use the Burst ability."
"Oh, and really... what's this Burst?" Bell stops jumping and looks at Penny curiously.
"Remember those sparks around you and me in the fight against Marduk?" Penny asks, and Bell nods positively. "Well, that was my Burst ability. It makes my physical stats increase a lot, giving me more speed, strength and agility."
"If it's your skill, how could I use it too?" Bell scratches his head curiously.
"Well, that was another skill from my God Arc, I can distribute the Burst among my companions." Penny smiles happily. "That's why you could use it too."
"Ohhhh..." Bell says, extremely impressed by Penny's words.
"Penny, I have to be straight with you." Hestia says, drawing the attention of the two boys. "You're going to the dungeon, aren't you?" Hestia looks at Penny and he nods. "Look..." Hestia sighs. "When you go to the Dungeon... please... don't hurt yourself and don't let your blood infect anything..." Hestia speaks, as much as she doesn't want Penny to go back to the Dungeon and run the risk of another Aragami showing up, she knows full well that the boys will refuse her offer.
"Goddess Hestia..." Penny approaches Hestia, he stands next to her and hugs her, surprising both Hestia and Bell. "Thank you... I know this may seem sudden, but... thank you for accepting me into your family..."
"Penny..." Hestia whispers, she feels a sort of... maternal feeling about it. Hugging Bell back, she comforts him. "It's okay... no thanks."
Bell looked on, feeling a little envious, but also grateful that Penny was better off than he was in his world.
"Thank you very much..." Penny let go of Hestia, and he stood up and stretched. "Well, I guess we'd better get going... hadn't we, Bell?"
"Right." Bell says smiling, he walks over to his armor that was in the box it had been delivered in and picks it up to put on.
[Guild.]
Penny and Bell enter the guild, but they see a rush from all the receptionists. Bell looks around and sees Eina at one of the tables, with several papers in her hands and looking very anxious.
"Miss Eina!" Bell runs up to Eina and catches her eye.
Eina looks at Bell, her eyes red and she doesn't seem to have slept very well.
"Wow, are you all right?" Bell asks, surprised by her advisor's horrible appearance.
"I don't even know anymore..." Eina laid her head on the table as she sighed. "If it wasn't enough that the monsters from Monsterphilia escaped, now we have an unclassified monster on the loose."
"Unclassified monster?" Penny approaches the counter and asks, even though he already knows the answer.
"Well..." Eina stands up again and sighs, already looking quite exhausted. "A giant wolf monster has been spotted in the poorer wards of Orario. We sent adventurers to try to find it and eliminate it, but they found nothing."
"Giant wolf, you mean the Mardu-" Before Bell can say anything Penny quickly covers his mouth and pulls him away from Eina.
"What do you mean? What were you going to say?" Eina looks at Bell and Penny suspiciously. She stares at the boys acting strangely and then speaks. "What are you two hiding?"
"Nothing, it's nothing!" Penny tries to wiggle out of it and walks away.
"You two, come with me now!" Eina says, in such a serious tone that it doesn't seem as if she hasn't slept at all during the night.
"Shit." Penny mutters in defeat. He lets go of Bell and speaks to him. "Bell, whatever happens, don't say anything that could get us into trouble, understand?"
"Right." Bell says, sounding a little nervous.
[...]
"YOU WHAT!?" Eina shouts from a reserved room in the guild. She sits back down in her chair, because after that shout she felt very dizzy.
"Look, Miss Eina. We managed to deal with Arag- I mean, the monster." Bell said, swallowing.
"Eina, there's nothing to worry about, we've solved the direwolf problem, haven't we?" Penny says.
"Still..." Eina sighs. "I still need to make a report on this unclassified monster..." Eina picks up a notepad and a pencil. "Would you mind telling me what this wolf looked like and how it fought?"
"I can explain what I saw when I fought it." Penny says.
[...]
"Right... I'll let Royman know what happened to that giant wolf." Eina puts her hand to her face, feeling sleep begin to overtake her body. "I just hope I can take an eight-hour nap."
"Well, if we're done, I'm going to the dungeon with Bell to test out a new skill of his." Penny says to Eina.
"Skill?" Eina is surprised to hear this, so surprised that sleep leaves her instantly. "Bell, do you have a skill?!"
"Yes, I do." Bell scratches the back of his head, a little embarrassed.
"And what does that ability look like?" Eina approaches Bell, making him feel a little embarrassed.
"É... well, it's... it's..." Bell moves a little away from Eina and takes a deep breath to calm down. "Well... she makes my attributes increase considerably!" Bell says a little embarrassed.
"Ohhh what an incredible ability!" Eina says again impressed.
"Well, I have Penny to thank, because without him I wouldn't have this ability!" Bell points to Penny, trying to get Eina to move away from him so that he doesn't continue to be embarrassed.
"Really? How exactly?" Eina turns to Penny a little suspiciously. After Penny suggested they go deeper into the dungeon and get cornered by Killer Ants, Eina didn't have much confidence in him.
"Well, I had help with that, but in short: that knife Bell's carrying has unlocked an ability for him." Penny says to Eina.
"Wow, a magical weapon granting an ability..." Eina mutters in surprise.
"Actually, it didn't give him an ability, it just made it easier for him to access it." Penny explains again. "But anyway. Shall we get going, Bell?"
"Well, if you don't mind, Miss Eina. I'm going with Penny to test out my new skill." Bell says goodbye to Eina.
"All right, off you go..." Eina nods to the two boys and bids them farewell, watching the boys walk away, she feels her body heavy again from sleep. "God... I need to sleep..."
[Tower of Babel.]
Freya was back on her throne, as usual watching the twin boys enter the dungeon. But one thing still stuck in her mind, the sudden change in that kobold.
"What happened to that kobold? Was it because of my charm?" Freya wondered as she watched Bell and Penny.
The two boys seemed to be on the tenth floor of the dungeon. With the place full of fog and dead trees, they see an Orc approaching. Bell draws his knife. But he seems to hesitate for a moment.
Penny, who had her God Arc in double-bladed staff mode, walks up to Bell and taps him on the shoulder. The two of them talk for a while as the Orc gets closer and closer.
"Aren't they going to kill the Orc? Tck, looks like you two are pretty reckless." Freya laughs happily at the scene she is about to see.
The two boys stop talking and look at the Orc. Penny signals with her hand and Bell agrees. Bell advances against the Orc, who appears to be unarmed. The Orc raises his hand to attack Bell, but the boy slides under the Orc and makes two cuts, one on each of his legs.
The Orc loses his balance and falls to his knees on the ground. Bel quickly gets up and runs to the Orc's back, climbing onto it, he begins to stab him as fast as he can. The Orc screams in pain and tries to get Bell off him, but Bell stays on his back and continues to stab him. Bell looks down at his knife and sees that all the runes have glowed red.
Grinning, Bell jumps off the Orc's back and lands on the ground nearby. The Orc stands up and turns to Bell, he stares at the boy with pure hatred on his face. Feeling a confidence inside him, Bell makes a hand signal and calls the Orc to come closer to him. The Orc roars and runs towards Bell, Bell takes a deep breath and lunges at the Orc. Activating his Burst, Bell is surrounded by sparks and red and blue particles.
Freya jumps out of her trone in surprise at Bell's sudden ability. Bell slides to the ground and goes under the Orc, using his knife to cut off one of the Orc's legs, causing it to fall as it is missing one of its legs. Bell uses his feet to stop his slide, turns to the Orc and jumps towards him. In one swift movement, the Orc reaches out and grabs Bell by the face. Getting a little desperate, Bell swings his knife and cuts off the Orc's arm.
The Orc screams in pain again, now having two limbs amputated. Bell lands on the ground and puts his free hand to his face. Seeing that it was still there, Bell turns his gaze towards the Orc. The Orc tries to get back on his feet, but without a leg and an arm, it's very difficult.
Bell runs towards him, jumping onto the Orc's left flank, jumping onto his arm, Bell cuts his other arm off. The Orc falls to the ground screaming in pain. Bell jumps on his back and jams his knife into his neck, joining forces, Bell pulls his knife out and to the side, cutting half of the Orc's neck.
The Orc stops screaming and falls to the ground, no longer strong, the Orc begins to disappear into ashes. Bell lands on the ground, with the sparks and particles draining from his body, he is on his knees on the ground. Feeling the adrenaline drain from his body.
Penny walks over to Bell, he looks away from the magic stone on the ground, then back at Bell. Penny holds out her hand to Bell, Bell takes it and stands up again.
"That... that's unexpected..." Freya starts breathing harder, feeling like her whole body is burning after seeing this strange ability or magic of Bell's. With her gaze becoming wilder, she is surprised when the two boys look in her direction.
Freya is surprised by this, as it shouldn't be possible for people being watched to pick up the transmission from her mirror. The two boys continue to look in her direction, Penny steps forward. Switching her God Arc to Pistol mode and aiming in their direction, Penny fires and breaks the transmission.
"What?!" Freya says excitedly. She walks over to her mirror and gives it a few taps to try to get it to transmit again, but nothing happens. "That... that shouldn't be possible."
"Goddess Freya..." Ottar enters the room and bows to his Goddess. "We've found out more about that kobold who metamorphosed."
"Just say it." Freya said as she tried to return to the transmission.
"Apparently that kobold turned into some kind of giant wolf that could control fire. Several people were killed and a few more traumatized after finding him." Ottar speaks.
"Did he run away or was he killed?" Freya asks, still trying to turn on the mirror and getting no answer.
"We don't know. He may have been killed, but we have no confirmation." Ottar says.
"Right... Ottar, I want to ask you something." Freya puts the mirror aside and turns to her son. "I want you to find a way to collect the blood of the notorious Penny..." Freya says, as much as she's not sure, she still knows that this changed kobold must have something to do with Penny.
"As you wish, my Goddess." Ottar stood up and turned to leave the room.
As Freya watched her son leave, she sighed again. Turning to the mirror, she tried to turn it back on.
[Hostess of Fertility]
After testing Bell's new ability, the two boys returned to the guild, exchanged their valises and went to the Hostess of Fertility for dinner before returning home. The boys sat down and soon received their orders. Bell received a plate of fish with lemon while Penny got a strawberry tart.
"Say, kid. What else can you surprise me with?" Mia said as she leaned on the counter next to Penny.
"Surprise you with what exactly?" Penny says while eating strawberry pie.
"I don't know, what can you do?" Mia asks with a challenging smile on her face.
"Hmmm... Syr, can you come here for a moment?" Penny says to Syr who is standing at a nearby counter.
"What is it, Penny? What do you need?" Syr asks with that cute smile she always has.
"Can you get me a mug of beer? Preferably one that's full." Penny says, and he claps his hands together and rubs them together.
"Ah, okay..." Syr didn't quite understand the gesture, but still obeyed. She goes into the kitchen to get the beer.
"What do you intend to do?" Bell asked as she took a bite of the fish, although the lemon tasted a little sour, it was very tasty.
"Just wait and see." Penny says, smiling a little.
After a while, Syr returns with the glass of beer and hands it to Penny. She stands nearby watching, along with Ryuu and the other girls.
"Well, what I'm going to do now is a magic trick." Penny says, as he takes his cape off his back and places it over the glass.
"Magic trick?" Ryuu mutters a little suspiciously.
"Well, just look... sing salag bing..." Penny snaps her fingers. "And that's it." Penny says, and he takes off his cape. Everyone nearby is surprised to see that the glass is empty.
"What? How?!" Chloe says in surprise at the sight.
"It's gone niaw!" Anya says in surprise, she looks around to try and find the spilled drink, but sees nothing.
"How did you do that!?" Lunoire says impressed.
"Calm down, I've still got more." Penny says and everyone looks at him again. He puts the cover over the glass again and speaks. "Sing salag bung..." He snaps his fingers. "And here it is." He takes off the cape and the beer is back in the glass.
"That's black magic niaw, it can only be niaw!" Anya frowns as she points at the glass. Most of the tavern who hadn't seen the trick thought she was acting weird.
"How did you do that?!" Bell mutters, surprised by Penny's trick.
"When you're stuck for a long time you learn a few tricks." Penny says proudly. He puts the mug in his mouth and drinks it in a few seconds.
"Wow, if you drink like that, won't you end up getting drunk too soon?" Syr laughs, still remembering the magic trick.
"Not really. I don't get drunk that easily." Penny says, thanks to the Oracle cells, her liver has become more resistant than a normal liver. So being affected by alcohol is very difficult for the God Eater.
"Waw, so you're the rare type." Ryuu says approaching him, she looks at Penny's face looking for traces of someone who is intoxicated, but sees that he is normal.
While the staff continued chatting about Penny's magic trick. A very familiar family began to approach the Hostess of Fertility.
"So you're telling me that he has a shape-shifting magic weapon and that he's also killed three adventurers of possible level 3 or 4?" Riveria says curiously to her family members. "You know, I'm away for a few days and all this happens? If it wasn't for Goddess Loki I wouldn't believe you."
"Yes, that's right!" Loki says excitedly. "And that's why I want to recruit him into our family... I can't let the busty little girl have him all to herself." Loki mutters the last part angrily.
"I still haven't agreed to that little shit joining the family!" Bete spits angrily.
"You keep your mouth shut, Bete." Loki retorts. "As I said before, you have no say here."
"But I'm still a little worried." Tiona says, sounding a little anxious.
"About what, Tiona?" Gareth asks curiously.
"He might try to fight us if we try to take him by force." Tiona explains.
"Well, in that case, we'll just kill him." Tione says.
"But of course not!" Loki shouts angrily. They walk until they enter the Hostess of Fertility. "He's someone valuable, of course I'm not... it's him!" Loki says excitedly, seeing Penny sitting at the counter next to Bell. "And he's got that gun!"
Loki runs over excitedly, she reaches out to touch the gun, but has her arm grabbed unexpectedly. The whole Loki family is alarmed by the scene. Loki looks away from the person holding her and meets the deadly gaze of the white-haired, blue-eyed young man.
"I'm sorry, but I don't want anyone to touch her." Penny says, still looking Loki in the eye.
Loki is confused and slightly frightened. She's been stared at by level 6 and 7 adventurers before, but she's never felt what she was feeling about this boy's gaze, this one boy, made her feel afraid.
"Hey, no need to make a fuss!" Loki laughs a little uncomfortably. She turns to her family members and signals for them to calm down. "Well, I didn't want to make you uncomfortable."
"Just don't touch my God Arc, it has a security system that lets only me touch it." Penny says, as he turns to go back to eating.
"Uh, really?!" Loki grabs a chair and sits down next to the boy. "And what's this security system like?" Loki rests his elbows on the table and speaks in an affectionate way, leaving most of them surprised by the Goddess' attitude.
"Is she... trying to charm him?" Gareth whispers to the other members.
"She just wants him to come into the family, she'll use all sorts of tricks to do it." Finn says sighing. "Mia, we'll take the same table as always."
"Right." Mia murmurs in surprise at seeing Loki act like this, but she soon goes into the kitchen to prepare their orders.
"So, tell me. What's the security system like?" Loki moves closer to Penny until he's almost touching her shoulder.
"She basically..." Penny moves her chair away from Loki. "She attacks anyone who tries to touch her besides me."
"How interesting, could I see her in action?" Loki moves closer to Penny, still trying to work his charm on her.
Bell and Syr watched the scene in awe and fear. Bell was afraid that her Goddess would find out what Loki was doing with Penny, while Syr was amazed that Loki was getting to Penny before she did.
"Look, I know you're interested in me. And my answer is no." Penny says, picking up another glass of beer and drinking it.
"What do you mean?" Loki tries to dismiss what Penny has just said.
"You want me to join your family, don't you?" Penny turns to look Loki in the eye, even though her eyes are closed. Penny touches Loki's shoulder, surprising the tavern staff even more. "Look, I'm sorry, but I'm already happy in Goddess Hestia's family."
Loki gulps at those words, in her thoughts she hears only one thing: "You've lost, you've lost, you've lost, you've lost!" Hestia suddenly spoke in her head. Loki was even more enraged by those words.
"Of course I-" Loki tries to say, but is interrupted by Penny.
"How about a bet?" Penny winks with her right eye to tease the Goddess.
Loki was curious about the boy's proposal. "Bet is, what kind of bet?"
"A simple bet." Penny put her hands together and snapped her fingers. "A contest of who drank the fastest, if I win you'll never bring up the subject of me joining your family again."
"What if I win?" Loki asks suspiciously.
"I'll join your family immediately."
"Done!" Loki says without giving Penny time to complete her sentence. "So, how do you want to do the challenge?"
Penny smiles as the goddess in front of her accepts the challenge without a second thought.
[...]
"Here you are! 3 liters of beer each!" Mia places two small kegs on the worktop, one in front of Penny and the other in front of Loki. She herself stopped the movement in the kitchen and everyone in the tavern also stopped eating just to watch this dispute.
"So, are you prepared to lose?" Loki asks with a smug smile.
"Don't crow about victory before it's time." Penny says, but he feels a touch on his shoulder.
"Penny, are you sure about this? What if the Goddess finds out?!" Bell mutters, rather worried by Penny's recent dispute.
"Don't worry, if Goddess Hestia finds out I'll explain everything to her." Penny says.
"Ready?!..." Chloe asks, she raises her hand up. Penny and Loki hold up the barrels preparing to start drinking.
"Do you think Goddess Loki wins?" Tiona asks while eating.
"She's a deity, so she'll probably win fairly easily." Finn says, paying attention to the dispute.
Aiz, who had been silent all this time and looking at Penny's God Arc. Just as Loki was about to touch the weapon, she was sure she saw the cannon moving.
"NOW!" Chloe says, and in a split second Penny and Loki grab the barrels and start drinking.
Everyone is impressed by the speed, Penny's of course. For Loki was feeling his throat burn from the alcohol.
"BLeeeh! No more!" Loki stops drinking after reaching a quarter of the drink. She looks over and is surprised to see that Penny has the keg raised above her head and is drinking every drop of the beer.
Loki is even more surprised when she looks at the boy's throat and sees his rapid contracting and retracting movements. With one last gulp, Penny finishes her drink.
"There!" Penny places the keg on the counter and breathes a sigh of relief. "Uhhh... I thought it was going to explode..." Penny looks around and sees everyone's reaction. Even Aiz, who always looked like a dead fish, is surprised.
"Penny... are you all right?" Bell asks, surprised to see the three-liter keg that Penny had drunk in one minute.
"Of course I am... actually, I'm a bit full, I don't think I can eat any more." Penny sighs again. He turns to Loki and speaks to her. "I won the bet."
"No... no... no, no, no!" Loki starts to fuss like a little baby. Maybe it's the alcohol, but who knows. "It's not fair!"
"Goddess, you've lost. Then I think you'd better leave him." Riveria gets up from her seat and walks over to her Goddess.
Loki lays his head on the table and starts to cry, again, it could be because of the large amount of alcohol. Riveria approaches Loki and takes her by the shoulders.
"Look, I'm sorry if she's bothering you." Riveria apologizes to Penny.
"It's okay, I think it's kind of fun." Penny laughs at Loki's childish attitude.
"That's not fair, at least tell me how you got so strong!" Loki stands up again and points at Penny.
"How did I get strong?" Penny asks, he looks up and starts to think about what he should say.
"That's right!" Loki says to the boy. "If you don't want to join my family, at least tell me how you got so strong." Loki says while smiling inside, because if the boy in front of her lies, she can easily get the truth out of him.
"Look, if you don't want to talk, that's fine, because-" Riviera tries to wiggle out of it, but Penny interrupts her as she starts to speak.
"You must be taken from your parents at birth, taken away by mad scientists who will experiment on your body and mind. Go through years of suffering, torture, pain, tears, anguish, and whatever else you feel. After all this, develop depression and try to take your own life once, be thrown against extremely strong monsters from your childhood and survive these challenges with the purest force of hatred in your heart. Go through this atrocity for years and years, until you manage to escape this hell and finally get some peace. And finally, be cornered by a swarm of monsters and by luck or fate survive that too, and reach the city of Orario." Penny says quietly, he yawns looking a little sleepy. "Well, at least that's what I went through."
The whole tavern falls silent after hearing Penny's words, the people who seem most shocked by the statements are Bell, Syr and Aiz. The whole tavern turns to Loki, expecting the Goddess to disprove Penny's claims, but even she seems in total shock.
"Penny..." Bell mutters, even more surprised, as there are details about this speech that Bell didn't know yet.
"Kid, is all this true?" Mia says, still in shock.
"Yes, and you know that bracelet?" Penny puts her hands together and clasps the bracelets. "They also serve as handcuffs." Penny separates the bracelets.
"Oh my God..." Anya covers her mouth in shock.
"He... he tried..." Chloe says in surprise.
"Penny..." Syr walks over to Penny and holds his hands. "Look, no matter what happens, we're here."
"What do you mean?"
"That's right!" Chloe walks up to him and hugs him from behind. "We're here with you."
"Seriously, what are you doing?"
"Don't worry niaw!" Anya jumps on Penny. "We'll take care of you!"
"Come on, get off me! AHHH!" Penny stumbles and falls to the ground because the girls are on top of him.
Loki and the other family members were shocked by the words. Bell, who was trying to get the girls off Penny, was no exception. Even though he already knew a lot about Penny's past, he didn't know it was so heavy.
[...]
"I'm sorry, Penny. I didn't know you'd been through so much." Bell apologized, looking a little crestfallen.
"There's nothing to apologize for, Bell. It's all behind me and I'm a thousand times better now." Penny speaks, he feels a presence nearby, until Mia arrives and puts a meat stew in front of him.
"Here, this one's on the house." Mia says and walks back into the kitchen.
"Why is everyone treating me like this?" Penny wonders, he picks up a spoon and starts eating.
"After everything you've just revealed about your past, wouldn't it be obvious that people would sympathize with you?" Syr sits down next to Penny and smiles at him.
"I don't really need sympathy, I've been living better since I was bought by my boss... ahhh." Penny sighs a little wistfully as he remembers Hilda.
"Your boss, you mean Hilda?" Bell asks, remembering the name of the woman Penny had told him about when they were talking.
"Yeah, that's her!" Penny said with a smile that relieved both Syr and the other girls (except Ryuu).
"What was your old boss like?" Ryuu asks him. As much as she doesn't like meddling in her clients' lives, this one is a pure exception for Ryuu.
"Well..." Penny gets pensive, and everyone who had been listening to the boy's past lines stops to hear about the woman who was his boss. "She was a strong, determined, cunning and rich woman. Very, very rich. No wonder she bought me and my team together."
"There were others besides you?" Syr asked in surprise.
"Yes, there was me and a few other friends of mine, but after an accident I ended up separating from them." Penny says.
"And you... do you want to meet up with them again?" Bell asks, even though she already knows the answer.
"I'd like to, very much. But that's going to be practically impossible." Penny lays her head on the table to rest.
"Why should it be impossible? We can ask for information from other adventurers if you want." Syr says, immediately regretting his words.
"No need." Penny denies the offer. He sits down again and stretches. "Well, I think we'd better get home." Penny turns in her chair and stands up.
"Ohh, are you going already?" Syr says a little disappointed.
"Yes, we don't want to worry our Goddess. Bell." Penny turns to Bell. "Will you get Goddess Hestia something to eat?"
"Oh, right. I'll get it." Bell says. He sees Penny walk over to the God Arc and pick it up and put it on her back. He quickly turns and walks out of the tavern, leaving Bell standing there. "So... Miss Mia, can you provide me with a pizza for the journey?"
[...]
Still at the Hostess of Fertility, the Loki Family were eating while arguing.
"So that really was true!" Tione whispers.
"Tione, Goddess Loki could have denied it if he lied and..." Tione looks at Loki, and sees that she is quiet and thoughtful. "She didn't deny it."
"Still, it's hard to believe he was once depressed." Gareth says curiously.
"Wasn't that a rare disease that caused people to have suicidal thoughts all the time?" Lefiya says while eating.
"Didn't you hear? He himself confessed that he had tried to take his own life once." Riviera sighs. "Goddess Loki, what exactly did you see in this boy?"
"I was just curious about his strength and his weapon... security system, is it?... God Arc, eh?..." Loki put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "How come that weapon can only be used by him? I wonder if it's a weapon from a very old hero, but then it doesn't make sense..."
"Soon her brain will fry from thinking about it." Bete says as she sips her drink. "Really, that brat went through all that?"
"Well, he didn't lie once, or he just told me half-truths." Loki says. "But then it doesn't make sense either. Without a phalanx there's no way mortals can fight monsters."
"But he didn't say he'd been fighting monsters since he was a child." Tione says to the rest of the members.
"Knowing all this, what will you do, Goddess Loki?" Riviera asks her Goddess.
"... Let's wait." Loki says, surprising everyone.
"Wow, you giving up entertainment is news to me." Bete mocks her Goddess.
"Hey, hey, I'm not getting rid of it. I just want to observe him better. It's not every day you meet someone like him." Loki shrugs, but inside she's still boiling with rage that Hestia got someone so special before she did. "And you, Aiz. What do you think of this plan?"
"Bad idea." Aiz says without hesitation. Leaving everyone there surprised.
"I agree with the-" Before Bete can finish her sentence, Aiz cuts her off.
"We shouldn't get involved with him." Aiz says, surprising everyone again. As much as she wouldn't go against her Goddess' demands, her instincts are telling her to stay as far away from the boy as possible.
"What? Why is that, Aiz?" Loki gets up and knocks on the table in surprise.
"I..." Aiz hesitates to speak. "I... I don't know if we should get involved with him." Aiz finally speaks.
"Why is that? Do you think he's too strange?" Tione laughs at Aiz's words.
"Tiona, shouldn't we be trying to understand why she doesn't want to get involved with him?" Tiona sighs.
"So, Aiz. Why don't you want to get involved with him?" Finn asks her.
"I..." Aiz looks down thoughtfully. Ever since her first encounter with the blue-eyed boy, one thing hasn't left her mind. Danger. The feeling of danger was lodged in her head. "I just don't want to have any kind of relationship with him."
"HAHAHA! So that's it?!" Loki laughed as he wiped away a tear. "Whew! I thought it would be something more serious."
"So we just keep an eye on him?" Bete clicked her tongue as she asked.
"No, not yet." Loki put his hands together and smiled sadistically. "Let's just wait and see what happens."
End of chapter.
Note: Well, Penny was careless to reveal so much of his past. But understand one thing, he had Loki on his tail. He just thought that if he revealed what she wanted to know, Loki would leave him alone, but as we saw, that only made her more excited about having him. Comment so I know if this chapter was good, good morning, good afternoon, good night, and see you next time!
Well, I'll explain Bell's Intermediate Burst. To activate it, he must attack until all the runes on his knife turn red, showing that the skill can be accessed. Unlike Penny's Burst, Bell doesn't need to say the word "Burst" if he wants to activate it. It may seem like a stretch for me to give him a skill like this, but think about it, he's already Over Power in his own right, he has a skill that makes him increase his status according to his feelings!
Thanks:
blakkneko : Man, one thing that complicates me is the translation. In my native language the word is perfect, but when I translate I end up making the sentence make no sense sometimes.
Yo'Student'Here : Dude, about Marduk being the first Aragami to appear, I didn't really get into the mythology. I just thought it would be cool hehe!
And about the God Arc evolving, NO SPOILER!