Chapter 9 Monsterphilia
Disclaimer: I do not own God Eater or Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darouka / Danmachi
Note: This chapter was longer than I expected, but I think it might have been okay. Please comment to let me know if the chapter is enjoyable, I want to know if this is as good as I thought it would be.
A curiosity about me, every time I'm going to write a fight, I go on Youtube and put on the following song "Lady Gaga - Bloody Mary instrumental (Slowed Reverb)" I don't know why, but this song always makes me calm down and more inspired to write. (In my Music App it's been repeated more than five hundred times.) And one more thing, I realized that blakkneko, Yo'Student'Here and For'Sleep 3rd were the ones who commented the most on this Fic hehe, but let's get to reading.
[Dusk]
[Streets of Orario.]
Bell was walking through some alleys while he heaved a sigh of relief. Apparently, he couldn't stand to be around Eina for another second after she said that.
"Well, at least now I can go home... actually, is Penny coming back early from Goddess Hephaestos' house?" Bell wonders as he walks down a flight of stairs, without realizing it he bumps into someone.
Bell bumps into someone who seems to be a girl, he is confused, but he hears murmurs and shouts.
"Hey, hold her!" A random adventurer shouts angrily.
"That bastard!" Another adventurer growls. "Wou, kid, that girl stole our equipment, we want it back now."
"What, did she?" Bell mutters, she looks back and sees that the girl is hooded and trembling with fear. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you hurt her."
"Come on, brat! Do you want to beat her up?" The first adventurer snarls at Bell.
"Apparently you're with her." The second adventurer takes a dagger from his waist.
"Back off, you two." Ryuu says, entering the scene. She seems to be coming down from the same staircase that Bell had passed before. She seemed to be carrying a shopping bag in her arms.
"Or what?" The adventurer with the dagger speaks out of patience.
"Or I'll kill you both right here." Ryuu says as she stares at the two adventurers. She looks them in the eye, as if she were seeing them through their souls.
In a few moments, the two adventurers burst out growling in frustration. Ryuu sighs with relief and approaches Bell.
"Are you all right, Mr. Cranel?" Ryuu asks the boy.
"Oh, yes. Thank you, I wouldn't know what to do if you weren't here." Bell said while scratching the back of his head awkwardly. While Ryuu blushed slightly at the boy.
"Tell me, why did you provoke those adventurers?" Ryuu raised a curious eyebrow.
"Well, I ended up bumping into her, and I..." Bell looked back and saw that the girl he had bumped into had disappeared. "Where is she?" Bell looks around, looking extremely confused.
"Well, never mind about that." Ryuu shrugs. "It's getting dark, you should go home." Ryuu looks up and sees that the sky is orange.
"Oh really! I can't be late for my appointment! Thanks for earlier and see you Ryuu!" Bell holds Ryuu's hands to thank her, then says goodbye.
"See you... more..." Ryuu was confused. Why had she let Bell touch her? Why didn't she react to his touch?
"Ryuu!" Syr shouted, getting her attention. "Mia will be angry if you're late. What happened? You seem to be going off the deep end."
"Nothing, it's nothing." Ryuu shrugs. The two walk back to the tavern.
"So, are you going to take part in Monsterphilia? I'm really excited to see the monsters!" Syr says while smiling at Ryuu.
"Yeah... me too..." Ryuu said without much emotion.
"Ahh look at you traveling again." Syr takes Ryuu by the shoulders and starts swinging her around. "Earth to Ryuu, earth to Ryuu, wake up!"
"Ah, yes, yes. Mom, come on!" Ryuu starts running back to the tavern.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Syr starts running after Ryuu.
[House of Hestia.]
Bell reaches the abandoned church and sighs with relief, he stretches and sits down on one of the benches. "Ahhh I'll finally get some rest!" Bell says relieved.
With the sound of footsteps, he turns to the church door and sees a familiar face standing in the doorway.
"Wow, I guess I got here a little earlier than I expected." Penny waves to Bell.
"Penny!" Bell gets up and runs over to him. "So, what did the Goddess Hephaestos want with you?" Bell asks, sounding excited and curious.
"Well, she wanted to know more about my God Arc." Penny replies.
"Did you tell her about your God Arc?" Bell asks, sounding worried.
"Well, there was no way I could hide much from her, since she's a Goddess." Penny sighs. "But since she's an old friend of the Goddess Hestia and someone she trusts, I decided to confide in her too."
"Well, if the Goddess trusts her then I guess it's all right." Bell said, sounding more relieved.
"In fact, when we were going to the guild you seemed very curious about the flute. Do you want to try playing it?" Penny puts her left hand behind her back and takes the flute out of her cloak.
"Well, I'm not sure I can..." Bell looks away and scratches the back of his head a little nervously.
"Come on, don't give up. You haven't even tried." Penny reaches out and hands Bell the flute. The boy reluctantly accepts it and takes it.
"Well, what do I do now?"
"Come with me." Penny beckons Bell to follow him. The two sit down in one of the church pews, with Penny sitting next to Bell, and he begins to give him instructions. "Okay, the easiest way to start is to find a position where you feel the touch of your fingers most comfortable."
"Right..." Bell puts the flute near his mouth and holds it upright in front of him, saying that this flute is meant to be used by blowing near the bottom, but not at the bottom itself. (Bell is trying to play the flute like a child.)
Penny takes the flute from Bell's hands, and places it near his mouth in just the right way, with the lower part closer to her left cheek and the upper part of the flute further away from her right cheek.
"That's better." Penny says, holding Bell's hands and placing his fingers in the holes of the flute. "Okay, Bell. The first step is to find a way that makes you flow through the musical notes, try playing something and we'll see what suits you."
Bell understands, he starts blowing to try to play the flute, but it feels like he's spitting because of his clumsy form.
"Bell, take it easy." Penny says, worried by his recklessness and the fact that his flute sounds a bit drooly.
"Sorry, I've never had the chance to do that before." Bell lowers his flute a little sadly.
"Everyone makes mistakes at first, but you don't have to blow so hard." Penny reassures. "It's like whistling, you just need to make a soft sound with your mouth *Demonstration whistle* see?"
Bell blinks a few times at the fact that she has to know how to whistle.
"You can't whistle?" Penny asks, and Bell nods negatively. "Okay, let's go back a few steps."
[Loki's family home]
Loki paced the corridors angrily. She was still angry that Hestia had once again used the fact that Loki had small breasts as an insult to her.
Loki entered her office in a rage, but was surprised to see the most important people in her family there. Aiz, Gareth, Bete, Finn, Tione, Tiona and... Lefiya, but she looks shaken.
"What's going on here?" Loki asks without much patience.
"We're trying to find out too." Tiona sighs in frustration. "Lefiya arrived here in the afternoon and hasn't stopped shaking since."
"Shaking? What happened to make her act like that?" Loki asks confused, the girl is mostly quite outgoing with the family members, but her looking panicked is something new for Loki.
"We don't know either." Tione said while trying to calm her down. "She just mutters 'killed them, killed them' and I don't understand what she means"
"She must have seen something horrible to be like that." Gareth suggests as he puts his hand to his chin thoughtfully.
"She must just be scared, if she can't get over it she's just a useless weakling." Bete spits, not really caring.
"Bete, you keep quiet." Tione says without much patience. "A member of our family looks terrified and you're just going to talk idiocy?"
"What are you implying? Do you want me to show you what idiocy is?" Bete snarls, still not forgetting the provocation from the previous meeting.
"Enough of that." Loki cuts off the fight. She walks over to Lefiya and looks at her with her foxy gaze. "Lefiya, can you tell me what happened?"
Lefiya looks at Loki, worried and a little afraid. "He... I saw him... the boy with the cannon..."
"Really!" Loki grabs Lefiya's shoulders. "Where was he, did you find out what family he's from?"
"He... he killed..." Lefiya looks nervous, she's seen adventurers killed before, by monsters and other dangers in the dungeon, but she's never seen another adventurer kill other adventurers mercilessly.
"Lefiya, breathe." Tiona says, making an inhale and exhale gesture. "Breathe and calm down."
Lefiya breathes, she forces herself to calm down. Looking at the rest, she takes a breath before telling them everything she saw.
[...]
"That... that's not possible..." Tiona says in surprise, both at the fact that Penny killed the adventurers in cold blood and at the fact that her weapon changed from a cannon to two swords in seconds, no, thousandths.
"A weapon like that should be impossible to make, how is something like that possible?" Gareth wonders in amazement.
"Something of this scale exists and no one has ever had their hands on it apart from this boy?" Finn wonders, for in his entire adventuring career, he has never even heard of a weapon with the ability to change.
"Are we going to ignore the fact that he killed adventurers who threatened him, and he just dumped their bodies in that alley?" Tione said, touching on the subject.
Aiz, who had heard everything, still can't believe that that strange weapon has the ability to change shape, but the sensation and its warning of danger about the weapon still intrigues her.
"That's fantastic!" Loki shouts, sounding even more cheerful. "That's perfect, with someone like him in my family, we can have an unprecedented weapon in our hands!"
"Are you kidding me?!" Bete shouts in rage. "I will never allow that bastard into this family, and don't talk about that stupid weapon as if it were that strong!"
"Shut up Bete!" Loki shouts at him. "Are you an idiot? The boy has a weapon so unbelievable that no one here knows what it is, so obviously I want him in this family, I can't allow him to stay in any new family."
"I don't know if we should..." Lefiya says, sounding calmer. "He killed those adventurers without any difficulty, and they seemed to be level 2 or 3, so he must be stronger than a level 3 or even a level 4."
"Indeed. From what you've said, that fight must have been pretty easy for him." Gareth says a little worried. "What if he refuses our offer to join our family?"
"Always other methods." Loki says, she sits back in her chair and relaxes. "If he refuses, we can declare a war game to take him by force."
"But wouldn't that be harmful to our family?" Aiz says, surprising everyone.
"What do you mean, Aiz?" Loki asks, sounding curious and surprised.
"We're the Loki family, one of the most powerful families in Orario, wouldn't challenging a newcomer family tarnish our reputation?" Aiz says, as much as she wants to believe that fact, she's more worried, her instinct is indicating that that boy and that weapon are not a good thing.
"What are you saying, Aiz?" Loki asks in surprise. "This boy could be a great opportunity for us to grow up. If we find out how this weapon of his works, we could-"
"I don't think that's a good idea either." Finn says, surprising Loki even more.
"What do you mean!?" Loki says.
"If this boy has this strange weapon that nobody knows about, it must be because it's a very important secret. He killed some adventurers, which is a serious crime, just because they threatened him. So there's no telling what he's capable of." Finn says. Everyone in the room is impressed by his logic, even Bete seems hesitant now.
"All right, all right!" Loki snaps. She lays her head on the table and sighs. "We'll keep an eye on this boy for a while, if he doesn't prove to be too much of a threat, we'll get him into the family."
"I'm not sure either." Tione says
"This kid seems more reckless than dangerous to me, but I won't disagree with Master Finn." Tiona says as she looks at him.
"I confess I was very curious about this weapon of his, I wish I could see it in person someday." Gareth laughed as he scratched his beard.
The guys began to discuss what they could do with Penny, while Aiz still looked pensive. She really didn't want to get involved with that boy, but she still owes his brother a debt. She still hasn't apologized for letting that Minotaur escape to the upper floors.
[House of Hestia].
Faint whistling sounds could be heard from outside the church. In the background, inside the room where the family was sleeping, Bell was sitting on his bed. Letting out weak murmurs, he made a faint musical sound.
Penny, who was on the sofa and watching him whistle, as the boy finished, Penny gave him some applause.
"Well done, Bell!" Penny says impressed. "It usually takes people a while to learn to whistle, but you did it in a few hours."
"Well, that's thanks to you who taught me." Bell says a little embarrassed. "Well, do you think I can learn to play the flute now?"
"Well, I think we should practise your whistling a bit more. When you learn to do something more complicated like... *whistling in imitation of a bird singing* we can try."
"Waw! You can imitate birds whistling?" Bell says in surprise. "I want to know how to do that too!"
"I didn't know how to do it either at first, but by practicing you'll get used to doing it naturally." Penny stretches, he takes off his cape and leaves it on the arm of the sofa. "But we'd better sleep for now." Penny settles on the sofa and snuggles down to sleep.
"Well, I guess so, then." Bell says, he'd like to practice more, but he knows better than to push his body too far. He settles into bed to sleep. He feels a slight discomfort, as he is used to sleeping with his Goddess by his side, so sleeping alone seems strange to him.
Bell looks at Penny and sees that he has fallen asleep in a few seconds. "How can he fall asleep so quickly?" Bell wonders, he gets out of bed and goes to the closet, getting an extra blanket, he goes over to Penny and covers him with the blanket. Returning to the bed, Bell lies down and lets out a yawn, finally feeling sleepy, he falls asleep.
(Bell's dream.)
[Underground Facility: Central Sector]
Bell slowly wakes up, he rubs his eyes and is confused. He looks around, seeing that he's in a kind of tunnel with lots of black and red thorns and broken parts.
He looks around, seeing that he is alone there, he gets up. Still rubbing his eyes, Bell checks his body. He is surprised to see that he is wearing the armor he had bought. Still not understanding anything, he is startled to hear rumbling and the sound of metal breaking.
Looking ahead, Bell sees nothing. Still frightened, he feels his heart start to race. The ground starts to shake, Bell looks down in surprise, he sees that some kind of puddle of black goo is starting to form in front of him. Bell starts to move away from the puddle, but it starts to get bigger, bigger, bigger and bigger.
Little by little, the puddle begins to gain mass, as if something were coming out of it. Something big, something enormous, a... monster. With the black liquid disappearing, Bell now turns pale and panics. Some kind of white humanoid dragon was standing in front of him.
The monster now known as Hannibal the Aragami dragon stared at Bell. Letting out a growl, it started walking towards him. Bell, who was trembling with fear, turned and began to run away. Bell ran with all the strength he had in his legs, but it didn't seem to be enough.
Hannibal, without any effort, jumps up from where he was and stops in front of Bell. Extending his right arm, the Aragami pins Bell to the ground. Getting close to his face, he begins to sniff Bell. The boy is still panicking and, afraid of being killed, tries to punch Aragami in the face.
The Aragami gets angry, throwing Bell up, he opens his mouth. Bell starts to fall and is horrified that he is about to be devoured, but the Aragami has another idea. With his mouth lighting up, Hannibal fires a burst of fire at Bell. Bell begins to scream in pain as he is burned alive, but he feels something strange, a sense of... life...
(End of dream.)
"AHAGAGAAAAHHHH" Bell jumps out of bed, falling back onto it, he feels his heart racing even faster. With fear, horror, anguish, sadness and whatever else he's feeling at that moment.
"Bell!" Penny rushes downstairs after hearing Bell's sudden jump. He sees that the boy looks terrified and runs over to him. "Bell! What happened?! Are you all right?"
Penny tries to talk to Bell, but it seems that her words fall on deaf ears. Bell seems to be panicking so much that he can't even hear him. Penny gets worried, he sees that Bell is hyperventilating and his heart is racing. Without much choice, Penny grabs Bell's shoulders and lifts him out of bed, then hugs him. Penny doesn't know what happened to make Bell act like this, but he doesn't want to see him in this state.
Bell, who still looked panicked, felt Penny's embrace. Starting to breathe more slowly, Bell gradually calms down. Bell breathes a little calmer and hugs Penny back. Feeling nervous, he rests his head on Penny's shoulder.
"I'm here. I'm here with you." Penny says, patting Bell on the back. He still doesn't know what happened to make Bell feel this way, but it must have been something horrible.
Gradually, Bell lets go of Penny. He looks at Penny's face and sees her worried expression. "I'm sorry, I... I just..."
"Calm down, calm down." Penny puts her hand on Bell's shoulder and reassures him. He hugs him again. "Whatever happened is over now, you don't have to worry anymore."
Bell still looked a little anxious, but he's starting to feel a little calmer. Bell sighs, already feeling a little more relieved.
(Hours later.)
Bell was sitting on the sofa and holding a glass of water, looking a bit down, he sighed.
"Okay, so what happened to make you have that panic attack?" Penny asks, sitting down next to Bell.
"I don't know... I just woke up and... I felt like I was going to die..." Bell says a little sadly.
"Hey, you probably had a bad dream." Penny says, taking the glass from Bell's hands, and holding his hands. "But it's just a nightmare, something unreal that doesn't exist. It won't hurt or kill you."
"I know, but..." Bell lowers his gaze. "I don't remember what it was like, but I know it was horrible..."
"Hey." Penny taps Bell on the forehead, making the boy look at him. "Bell, the world is a cruel place, with tough battles and even tougher challenges, but letting your fears overwhelm you will only make those battles even crueler. Tell me, you want to be strong, don't you?"
Bell nods in agreement.
"Facing your fears is a way of starting to face the true nature of the world. The world is not a magical place full of wonders. You will have your moments of sadness, agony, pain, suffering, but dealing with these problems is what makes you strong enough to cope with the challenges the world throws at you." Penny closes her fist and places it on Bell's chest. "You're not alone in this, Bell. Both the Goddess Hestia and I are with you, and we will support you in all your struggles, because we have a strong conviction that you are more than capable of winning those struggles."
Bell is surprised by Penny's words, no one has ever said anything like this to Bell before. Even though Penny is another version of Bell, a version who has suffered a lot and been through a lot of pain, she can still stand firm and be happy, so Bell can too. Feeling calmer, Bell smiles.
"Thanks... I... I think I needed that." Bell laughs a little embarrassed.
"I'll always support you. I've even got something for you." Penny points to a box near the stairs. Bell is a little confused, but sees that it's the armor he had bought earlier.
"Woohh is that my armor?" Bell jumps up from the sofa and goes over to the box, not looking like he was terrified a few minutes ago.
"Yeah, I woke up and decided to go for a little walk, so I found a worker from the tower of Babel here in front of the house, he left this box here with his equipment." Penny explains, he approaches Bell and takes a look at the armor. "The armor looks pretty sturdy, how much did it cost?"
"It cost almost the 10,000 valis we had." Bell says, a little embarrassed at having spent his entire savings.
"Well, since you'll be better protected, we can go a little deeper into the dungeon to get more valis." Penny declines. "Would you like some help putting it on?"
[...]
After a while of putting on Bell's armor, Penny takes a more critical look at him.
"Hmm... the armor is light, protecting the most sensitive parts of your body, but there are still unprotected parts like your armpit." Penny says.
"So the armor is bad?" Bell asks, sounding a little disappointed.
"No, the armor is great, it just has parts that could use some extra protection, but if you can fight without leaving your less protected parts exposed you'll be fine." Penny smiles at him. "You've made a great choice, Bell!"
Bell smiles, pleased that Penny has complimented his choice. He looks down at his left arm, rubbing the arm protector that Eina had provided him with, Bell smiles.
"Well, I'll finish getting ready and we'll go to the Dungeon, okay?" Penny turns around, walks over to the sofa and picks up his cape. Slinging it over his shoulders, he zippers it up.
"Right!"
[Streets of Orario.]
Penny and Bell were walking through the streets, with the two of them walking together so as not to get lost in the midst of the many people walking through the streets.
"Wow, is there an event going on to have this many people?" Penny wondered as she walked alongside Bell.
"Apparently so, in the time I've been here I haven't seen so many people on the streets." Bell replied, he looked around and saw the street that led to the Dungeon. "Come on, Penny!"
"Easy there!" Penny follows Bell, they walk a little further until they pass the Hostess of Fertility and a female voice calls out to them.
"Hey, you two niaw!" Anya comes out of the tavern and calls to them.
"Anya? Did something happen?" Penny asks, turning to her.
"Well, I wanted to ask niaw a favor niaw." Anya walks over to Penny and taps his chest plate. "By the way, that pizza of yours niaw been a big hit niaw." Anya says in a slightly provocative tone.
Penny is a little confused by her tone, but he looks around the tavern and sees most of the customers eating pizza. Giving a proud smile, he turns to the cat-girl.
"Well, do what? Pizza is really delicious food." Penny shrugs. "But tell me, you didn't call us just for that, did you?"
"Oh, yeah niaw!" Anya puts her hands behind her back and pulls out a small green purse. She holds out her hands and hands the purse to Penny. "Syr niaw went out to see monsterphilia niaw and she forgot her wallet niaw and I want you to take it for her niaw."
"What?" Bell asks, not quite understanding her words.
"You know, is this 'niaw' thing you do a habit of yours or is it just a fad?" Penny asks curiously, while Anya looks confused.
"She wants you to take Syr's wallet. Because going to an event as big as monsterphilia without money isn't recommended." Ryuu says, coming out of a stall next to the tavern.
"Is this monsterphilia such a big event?" Bell asks curiously.
"Yes, an event where the monsters from the dungeon are taken out of the dungeon and try to be tamed in that coliseum." Ryuu points to a coliseum further away from the Dungeon.
"They're trying to tame monsters? Wouldn't that be extremely dangerous?" Penny asks, not liking this event very much.
"Well niaw, so far nothing much has happened." Anya disagrees. "Now go, Syr can't wait niaw!" Anya took hold of the boys' shoulders and began to lead them to the opposite side of the dungeon.
Ryuu watched the two of them leave, but she wondered about Penny's question. She had never stopped to think about it, even if the powerful adventurers can handle the monsters well, the newcomers and civilians could be in danger if something happens.
[...]
"Let's split up, we can search the area better if we split up." Penny suggests as the two walk through the people.
"Are you sure?" Bell asks, he reaches out to take Penny's hand, but feels something being placed in his hand.
"Bell, keep the wallet, we'll meet in front of the coliseum in no time!" Penny says and begins to be dragged by people, luckily none of them touch the handle of his God Arc.
Bell is worried about getting separated, but he hears a familiar voice calling him.
"Bell!" Hestia shouts in the distance and waves to him. She seems to be on a grassy spot near the coliseum, she also seems to be carrying something around in a cloth that is tied around her shoulder and chest. Bell hurries past the people and starts running towards his Goddess.
"Goddess, are you back?" Bell asks in surprise, coming up to her.
"Yes, I am! Oh, what beautiful armor!" Hestia says impressed by the armor, she starts circling her son to get a better look at it.
"Yeah, that's right, Penny told me to buy one since we might have some trouble in the dungeon." Bell says, a little embarrassed that his Goddess is watching him.
"Penny's very clever." Hestia puts her hand to her chin proudly, for by luck or fate she has managed to recruit two Bells into her family. "Come on, Bell!" Hestia grabs Bell's hand and starts running through the event.
(With Penny.)
Penny walked along a street with less traffic, both to avoid bumping into people and to feel more comfortable. He sighs with relief as he walks.
"Oh, Penny, is that you?" A female voice calls out to Penny and taps him on the shoulder.
Penny turns around and sees that the caller is Naaza. "Oh, hi Naaza! Are you taking part in the event?"
"Actually, I was buying some sweets for myself and Mr. Miach. We may be in debt, but we have to take advantage of these moments." Naaza lifts a small bag of sweets. "But what about you? Are you enjoying the event?"
"Actually, I wanted to go to the Dungeon, but one of the Hostess of Fertility workers asked me to find one of the girls there and return her wallet." Penny explained while looking around and trying to find Syr.
"Is that so?" Naaza raises a curious eyebrow, as much as she hasn't known Penny for long, she didn't like the fact that he was looking for another girl. Walking over to Penny, she takes his hand. "Come on, we can have some fun while you don't find her."
"I don't really know if we should go, I... I don't really like this kind of big event." Penny says as she walks alongside Naaza.
"So you're more the antisocial type?" Naaza asks, laughing a little at his face.
"I'm not antisocial, I just like to be with people close to me who make me feel comfortable." Penny explains as she feels Naaza's grip loosen.
"Well, I'll help you loosen up then." Naaza speaks and starts running while pulling Penny along with her. Penny didn't quite understand, but she still smiled as she ran along.
[In the coliseum.]
Inside the coliseum, a masked adventurer was using a whip to try to tame a boar monster, moving with mastery and dodging with leaps, he kept hitting the whip close to the monster in an attempt to beat it into submission.
At the top of the coliseum, in a spot more suitable for viewing, stood a strong man wearing a red elephant mask on his face. Behind him, two more people arrived.
"Mr. Ganesha, the Shakti has just contacted us, she informed us that she found a monster acting strangely on the seventh floor of the dungeon." One of the men says.
"And what did she do?" Ganesha asks.
"She informed us that she brought him to the event, he's trapped in a cage in the monster prisons, but she's a bit worried." The man explains.
"Worried about what?" Ganesha asks, sounding a little anxious.
"She informed us that the monsters in the dungeon couldn't get close to this monster, even if it was down." The other man says to the God.
Ganesha looks thoughtful. "Leave that monster there, as soon as the event is over we'll do some investigations." Ganesha says to them both.
"Right!" They both say at the same time.
In the wards where the monsters were locked up, they growled and grunted with rage.
"Hold on, you'll be out in the arena soon." A man in a green elephant mask says to the monster, sighing as he walks through the place. "Mr. Ganesha really wants people to get used to monsters, but I still don't understand why."
"Maybe he wants future generations of adventurers to be more intimate with monsters," the other Ganesha family guard says.
"Still..." The man looks at a cage nearby, he sees that there is a kobold lying in it and breathing heavily. "What's wrong with this monster? Ever since Shatki brought him here, he just lies there and breathes."
"Maybe he was attacked by a poisonous monster." The other man says, hearing a noise further on, he sees that a hooded person has entered the place. "Hey, you! No entry here."
The man starts walking towards the hooded person, pulling back his hood, he sees the beautiful face of the Goddess Freya.
"Goddess-"
"Sleep." Freya holds the man's face, and in a few seconds, he feels his body grow heavy and his eyelids close. The man falls to the ground unconscious. The other man is startled, but Freya is quicker and does the same to him.
With the two guards passed out, she approaches the cages and begins to unlock them all. As the doors open, she walks over to a cage that appears to contain a giant white gorilla with small metal parts and chains on its body. Smiling, Freya enters the cage and removes the chains that bind him.
She approaches Silverback, holding his head, Freya says to him. "Find Bell Cranel." The Silverback stands up to try to get out, but looks in one direction. Freya is confused, but looks in the direction he was looking and sees that it's a kobold, but it's a lying kobold.
Freya is confused at first, but realizes it's the same kobold that bit Penny. Leaving Silverback's cage, Freya goes to the cage where the Kobold was. Still finding it strange, she speaks to him. "Get up."
As if a button had been pressed, the kobold began to be surrounded by black particles. As he gets up and growls, the black particles get bigger and bigger. Freya thinks it's strange, because the monsters nearby start to stir and growl at the kobold.
The monsters become more agitated, and with them running around desperately, Silverback breaks through a wall and runs outside. Freya worries, she looks back at the Kobold, but the only thing she sees are two red dots of light being visible.
With the trapped particles gone, Freya gets a better view of the Kobold, or... what it has become. A wolf with large front paws clad in white armor. A white face with tentacle-like threads coming out of its back, a tail that looks like it's on fire because of its fur. Marduk the Flaming Wolf.
The Aragami snarls at Freya and leaps at her. Freya narrowly manages to dodge, even she didn't expect such speed from him. But she is still frightened by the fact that the kobold has turned into a giant wolf monster.
Marduk looks at Freya, snarls again and strikes the wall with his left paw, easily destroying it and making an escape route. With speed, he runs out of there and begins to make his way through the city. Freya goes to the hole that Marduk had made, and hearing footsteps approaching, she gets out of there as quickly as possible.
(With Bell.)
"Goddess, do you mind if I ask you something?" Bell says as he eats a crepe that his Goddess had bought for him. The two of them seem to have made their way back to the coliseum and were sitting on the grass.
"Sure, Bell! You can ask." Hestia said, smiling as she ate her crepe.
"Why did you call Penny to come to Goddess Hephaestos' house?" Bell asks, sounding very curious, because for her Goddess to have sent Penny a letter to go there, it must be something important.
"Oh... about that..." Hestia hesitates for a moment, holding the cloth that was tied around her chest, she sighs. Knowing that Bell wants to get stronger, she wants to help him. "Bell-"
"Monsters!" Some people scream, Bell and Hestia turn towards the place of the scream and see some people running. Taking a closer look, Bell realizes that there is a herd of monsters running towards them.
"Goddess!" Bell grabs Hestia's hand and starts running. Hestia gets worried, but decides not to stop him.
"Bell, wait! I-" Hestia tries to speak, but a stone is thrown in front of them, causing them both to trip and fall to the ground.
Bell looks back and sees that a Silverback has thrown that stone, the gorilla roars at Bell and starts running towards him. Bell gets up quickly, grabbing the hand of his Goddess, he starts running again. Changing his direction to an alleyway, Bell starts to run down it.
The Silverback follows them, but stops when he hits his head on the wall of the alley because he can't fit through. The monster snarls at them both as they continue to run away.
(With Penny.)
"Here, eat this." Naaza puts something like a pink ball near Penny's mouth.
"Is that really edible?" Penny asks suspiciously, as much as the ball has icing flour on it, he's not too confident.
"Of course, silly!" Naaza mocks him. "Did you think I was going to give you something that wasn't edible?"
"Who knows?" Penny says, he opens his mouth and bites into the little ball, seeing that it has a soft texture and jam inside, Penny's eyes widen in surprise. "Wow! It's delicious."
"See?!" Naaza laughs, putting the little ball close to her mouth, she eats it. There's a slight blush on her cheeks from eating the candy that Penny had bitten into a few seconds before.
"I don't know if you're doing this on purpose, but if you are, I think you'd better stop." Penny says, putting her hands on her hips.
"Why? Are you embarrassed?" Naaza says, but it seems she's the one who's red, not Penny.
"Look who's talking, I'm not the one with the cheeks-" Penny tries to retort, but stops when she hears desperate screams.
"What was that?" Naaza asks herself, she looks around and sees that people have started running. Hearing noises, she sees that around seven monsters are approaching them. "What?..."
Naaza is shocked, but before she can react, Penny grabs her God Arc, which is in Pistol mode, and starts shooting at the monsters. Using her fire bullets, Penny manages to eliminate four of them. Seeing that there are three boar monsters left, Penny switches his God Arc to blade mode and advances.
He cuts off the top of one of the boars' heads, killing it instantly. Seeing the other two approaching his left flank, he jumps up. Still in the air, Penny throws his left sword at one of the boars, managing to hit it in the back. Penny lands on the ground, running towards the other boar, Penny strikes it in the head. Piercing its skull, Penny pulls up her God Arc and cuts its head in half, killing it instantly.
The other boar, despite having Penny's other sword on its back, lunges at him. But Penny just raises her sword and lunges forward, slashing the boar in the side, cutting off its entire upper half. The boar dies, going up in smoke and Penny's left God Arc falls to the ground. Penny walks over to her sword and takes it in her hands.
"Penny!" Naaza runs up to Penny, startled and relieved that the boy has killed the monsters. "You... you managed to kill them..."
"I knew this event wouldn't be good." Penny clicks his tongue, looking around, he sees that people seem calmer after the monsters have been killed. "Naaza, you'd better get back. I have to find Bell as soon as possible."
"Are you sure? I can help, I don't want to let you deal with this alone!" Naaza says, as much as she wants to run and hide, she feels she shouldn't leave Penny alone.
"I'm sorry, but if those monsters got away, there's bound to be more. And I don't want Lord Miach's daughter to die, because you don't look equipped to fight." Penny points to Naaza's body, which is dressed in a more casual outfit for the event.
"Still!" Naaza holds Penny's left bracelet and raises his hand. "You can't fight this thing alone!"
"It's not the first time I've fought monsters, Naaza you must-" Penny stops talking as he hears a howling sound, a howling sound he knows all too well. "It can't be..." Penny turns abruptly, looking around him, he hears the whispers and mutterings of people, but he's sure he heard that howl.
"Penny? Hey, Penny." Naaza holds his shoulder, making him look at her. "What's wrong? You look a bit pale."
"Naaza, go." Penny says. He releases her hand from his shoulder and starts running.
"Penny!" Naaza shouts, but his words fall on deaf ears as Penny keeps running. Without much choice, Naaza looks around to try and find a safe place. She starts running for cover.
[...]
With a precise sword slash, a monster Toad is dead in a millisecond. Aiz, who was on the street, managed to kill the monster. Putting her sword away, she looks around.
"Is everyone okay?" Aiz asks the people around her.
"Thank you sword princess!"
"You're the best, sword princess!"
"What did you expect?" Loki scoffs as he approaches Aiz. "These monsters are no match for you."
Aiz looks at Loki, the Goddess bends down and picks up the magic stone that fell from him. Aiz is about to speak, but hears a howling sound. Looking around, she sees nothing. She looks into a wing and sees that a kobold is running up to her, readying his sword.
But before Aiz can move, she sees Penny falling on top of the Kobold and cutting off his head in seconds. She is surprised to see Penny practically fall out of the sky.
"Oh, it's him!" Loki says excitedly as she runs up to the boy. "Hey, kid!"
"What do you want?" Penny asks without much patience. He looks around, trying to hear that howl again.
"I'd like to make you a deal! How about you-"
"No." Penny says and starts to walk away from her.
"Hey!" Loki shouts.
Aiz watched this, in her entire adventuring career she had never seen Loki disrespected so easily by a novice adventurer.
"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Loki goes after Penny.
Without much patience, the boy leapt onto a house and started running across the rooftops. Loki looked on angrily; once again she had been ignored and disrespected by a novice adventurer. Aiz looked at the situation with curiosity, even high-level adventurers don't disrespect Gods like that.
Penny runs across the rooftops, he sees some monsters passing through the streets, but he sees some adventurers killing them. Leaving it to them, Penny hears the howl again, seeing a small explosion in the poorer wards of Orario he is sure.
"It's an Aragami." Penny says, using his Air Dash, he starts to move towards the explosion. As another explosion takes place, the creature leaps onto the rooftops and bites a person in the mouth, devouring them whole.
Penny stops in her tracks and takes a closer look at the Aragami.
"Marduk." Penny clutches her sword in anger, worry and guilt. Anger that an Aragami is in the city, worry that she won't be able to cope on her own, and guilt. Guilt at knowing exactly what happened. His blood, there's no other explanation, he's the only one in this world with Oracle Cells, the only one with the ability to infect others, so he... he's to blame.
The Marduk roars at him, opening its front paws smoke begins to pour out of them, it leaps towards Penny while setting her paws on fire. Penny jumps to her right side, narrowly avoiding the attack. The Aragami turns its body and hits Penny with its tail, Penny tries to activate its shield, but is hit and thrown into another house.
Landing on a wall, he sees that Marduk has jumped towards him. Moving his body upwards, Penny rests his hands on the ground, propelling himself upwards, Penny jumps back towards the ceiling. The Aragami lands and breaks through the wall Penny was standing on and enters the house. Penny worries, but as the place is poor and decaying, there shouldn't be any people inside.
An explosion of fire erupts from the house, Marduk jumps up and breaks the roof, returning to the top. Marduk lunges at Penny while trying to slash him with his claws. Penny jumps back and tries to avoid his claws as much as possible.
"It's more complicated alone!" Penny thinks as she dodges. Seeing that one of his paws is about to go, he uses his God Arc to avoid the attack. Being hit, Penny is thrown away, but manages to move his body in time to get back on his feet on the roof of another house.
The Marduk leaps towards Penny again, hitting the ground next to him, and a small explosion erupts from its attack. Penny jumps up and spins her body around. With a spinning attack, he hits the Marduk's right paw. The Marduk jumps towards Penny and hits him with its head.
Penny flies away a little, but this time he doesn't crash into another house. Getting back on his feet, he gathers his God Arc and switches it to double-bladed baton mode. Twisting the staff, he sticks it behind himself and looks at Aragami.
The Marduk roars at Penny and leaps towards him. Penny jumps to the side and slashes Aragami's other paw, Aragami turns his body, facing Penny, he tries to hit Penny. Penny jumps sideways, passing by Marduk's side, he spins his staff to hit him. He manages to hit Aragami in the ribs and jumps back to face Aragami.
Marduk growls angrily. Opening the armor on his paws, they begin to ignite into fire. The Marduk rushes towards Penny, hitting the boy who had no chance to defend himself and is thrown into another house. Penny hits a wall and breaks it, causing him to fall into the wing.
Penny groans in pain as he gets up. He looks around and sees that he is in some kind of warehouse full of boxes with termites. Feeling the tremors of Marduk's footsteps, Penny jumps to his God Arc and holds it up, switching it to blade mode again. Marduk destroys the wall and enters the house, advancing against Penny, pinning him to the ground.
Penny thrusts his right sword forward and activates Devour Mode, the Aragami comes out of the sword and bites the Aragami's hind leg. The Marduk lifts its paw slightly after being bitten, giving Penny the opportunity to attack, Penny uses her other sword to attack the Marduk's face. Slashing at the Aragami's cheek, the Marduk moves back a little, giving Penny the chance to roll over and move away.
Breathing heavily, Penny worries. The place is tight and Aragami is fast, what can he do? Switching her God Arc to Pistol mode, Penny starts firing in the Aragami's direction. Marduk jumps onto the wall to avoid the shots, he jumps towards Penny and tries to slash him with his claws.
Penny quickly switches to blade mode and starts using her swords to avoid Marduk's claws. As the two collide, sparks light up the room. Penny moves his body, avoiding one of Marduk's claws, he steps on his paw and jumps up. Gathering all her strength, Penny unleashes an attack on Marduk's left eye.
The Aragami moves away and growls angrily, he looks around and starts to run. Penny gets worried and starts running after him.
(With Bell.)
Bell runs alongside his Silverback Goddess, while they continue running. They reach the poorest wards of Orario. Bell looks around and sees an alley, he continues running down the alley.
"Bell... I... I'm getting tired..." Hestia said, sounding exhausted.
"Sorry Goddess!" Bell says as she runs. But Bell was getting tired too, and they reached a wing that seemed to be a circular place. Bell turns to leave, but Silverback blocks the entrance and faces them both.
"Bell..." Hestia speaks a little nervously. She seems frightened that she could be killed at any moment.
Bell stands in front of Hestia, Silverback advances against Bell. But before he can grab him, a giant wolf jumps on top of him and gobbles him up. Leaping away, Marduk pinned Silverback against the wall and began to devour him.
Bell looked on in awe, a monster he had never seen before had just trapped and devoured another. Bell and Hestia were startled, but they heard someone calling them.
"Bell! Hestia!" Penny lands near the two and looks at them with concern. "Are you all right?"
"Penny! Are you... are you all right?! What is that thing?!" Hestia speaks nervously, she looks at Marduk who was still devouring Silverback.
"That's for later!" Penny walks past the two and faces Marduk. He holds out his arm to stop the two from advancing. "Bell, protect the Goddess Hestia, I'll take care of that Aragami."
Bell and Hestia are shocked to hear that word. Aragami, the monsters who had caused an apocalypse in Penny's world, were now here. They trembled a little at Penny's words, but trembled even more at the sight of Marduk staring at them.
Penny, without hesitation, runs towards the Aragami. The Marduk advances against Penny, with the two of them throwing blows at each other, the area alight with sparks. Bell and Hestia move away and hide behind a wall as they watch the battle.
Bell looks at his Goddess and sees that she is trembling, trembling because she is tired or afraid, I think Bell knows the answer. Bell looks at the battle, he sees that Marduk has hit Penny with his tail. Penny is thrown against a wall. Bell and Hestia worry, but Marduk looks in their direction, running towards them. Bell takes the lead to protect his Goddess, but the Marduk stops when he is shot in the back.
The Marduk looks back and growls. Penny, who had recovered, leaps towards the Aragami, managing to get two cuts on the Aragami's hind legs. Penny lands on the ground and attacks the Aragami again. Bell, who was watching the fight, felt helpless. Looking angry and frustrated, he clenches his fists in frustration.
Hestia looks at Bell and notices his expression; she knows what her son is thinking. Feeling a strange sensation inside, she walks over to Bell and pulls on his arm.
"Bell..." Hestia whispers, a little quieter than she wanted, but Bell can hear her. "Take this..." Hestia takes off the cloth that was tied around her chest and hands it to Bell.
Bell is confused, but soon sees what it is. A black knife, he takes the knife and sees some runes glowing on it.
"Bell... I want to help you get strong, so... then help Penny." Hestia speaks, regretting her words at the same moment, but she knows that Bell wants to be stronger. To be strong enough to deal with his own problems.
"Goddess..." Bell whispers in surprise, but he hears a crashing sound behind him. Bell sees that Penny is on the ground and trapped by one of Marduk's paws. The Aragami opens the armor of his paw and starts to catch fire.
Acting on instinct, Bell runs towards Marduk. Jumping up, Bell extends his knife and hits Marduk in the shoulder. The Aragami lets go of Penny and tries to tackle Bell, only for his chest to be slashed. Jumping back, he realizes that Penny had cut his chest when he let go.
Penny uses his arms to propel himself up and stand again, he walks over to Bell and touches his shoulder.
"Bell, what were you thinking?" Penny asks, breathing heavily.
"I... I'm not leaving you alone!" Bell says, still afraid, but also worried that Penny might die again. "I'm not leaving you alone!"
Penny is surprised, but smiles at these words. "All right, if you want to help me, I'll give you some advice." Penny stands and spreads her arms, making a slashing sound in the air. "Marduk is a fast Aragami, he can control fire, his weak points are his head, his hind legs and his front legs if his armor is destroyed."
Penny runs towards Marduk, while Bell runs alongside him. The Aragami leaps towards the two, separating, Bell and Penny each stand on one side of Marduk and advance against him. They each hit him on the hind legs, causing him to lose his balance a little.
Penny wastes no time and jumps on Marduk's back and starts slashing him. Marduk starts moving around trying to get Penny off him.
Bell steps back a little, he sees the giant wolf's rapid movements and is surprised that Penny can handle it. As Penny is thrown upwards, he begins to twist his body as he falls, managing to cut through his tentacles, Penny lands on the ground and walks away.
Marduk walks a little dizzy from the attacks he's suffered. Finding an opportunity, Penny extends her right sword and activates Devour Mode. The sword's Aragami comes out and flies towards the Marduk's left front paw. The Aragami bites the paw and rips a chunk out of it, the Aragami returns to Penny's sword.
Penny faces Marduk and gives him a smile. Inhaling, Penny lets out a "Burst." A small glow surrounds Penny's body, red sparks begin to surround his body along with his God Arc. Bell is surprised to see Penny surrounded by sparks, but he doesn't have time to think, Marduk gets back up and faces them both.
The Marduk growls with rage and leaps towards Penny, but the boy easily dodges and hits him in the right paw. The Aragami falls to the ground, but gets up quickly. Bell, taking courage, runs towards Marduk, dodging a bite from him, he hits his right paw and manages to break the armor.
The Marduk becomes enraged and tries to bite Bell, but the boy is quicker and bends his body to avoid the bite. Penny leaps towards him and slashes Marduk's forehead, causing him to back away.
"Penny!" Bell breathes heavily, not used to this speed.
"You look tired... how about that?" Penny switches her God Arc to Pistol mode and points it at Bell and pulls the trigger. Bell is startled, thinking Penny is going to shoot him, but only sees a sphere of light being shot into his chest.
"What?" Bell is confused, but his body feels lighter, stronger. "What is it?"
"I've activated Link Burst for you." Penny, he says, sees Marduk coming towards him and swings his sword to ward him off. "Come on!"
Penny runs towards Marduk, Bell doesn't quite understand, but he decides to act. The two of them run towards Marduk. Dodging every attack from his claws, they begin to slash his arms with mastery. Marduk screams in pain as he is cut.
Further away, Loki and Aiz arrive on the scene (Loki forces Aiz to lead her to the boy again.) The two are surprised to see the two brothers fighting some kind of giant wolf.
Bell jumps to the side while using his knife to cut the claws on his right paw, the Marduk growls in pain at having his claws cut. Penny advances from the other side and swings her sword at the paw that his Aragami had bitten earlier.
The Marduk moves away a little, with one paw already weakened, he looks at the two boys and growls. Advancing against them, Penny and Bell move away from each other to avoid the attack. Feeling himself getting weaker, Penny realizes that Burst Mode is running out.
"Bell!" Penny looks at Bell, he gathers his God Arc and switches it to double-bladed staff mode. He twirls his staff and looks in Marduk's direction. "Let's get this over with!"
"Right!" Bell readies his knife, the two of them advance against the Marduk. The Marduk tries to use its right paw to attack the two of them, Penny dodges to its left side, while Bell jumps up.
Penny spins his stick, hitting the left paw which was damaged, he manages to pull the paw off. Bell, who was falling, lands on his snout and uses his knife to hit him in the other eye. Marduk screams in despair as he moves his head to try and get Bell out.
Bell ends up being thrown, but Penny jumps up and pulls him back to the ground. The two of them advance again against Marduk. Penny throws herself to the ground and slides under the Marduk, cutting off both its back legs, the Aragami destabilizes and falls to the ground. Bell wastes no time in using his knife to strike the Aragami's chest. Piercing the flesh, Bell opens his chest.
The Marduk tries to get back on his feet, but Penny jumps on him, changing his God Arc and jamming her two swords into his back. Marduk screams in pain, but Penny doesn't give him the chance to fight back. Raising his foot, he steps on one of his swords and sinks it further into his back.
"Bell! Take the core in the chest!" Penny lands behind Aragami and holds her swords locked onto Aragami to stop him moving.
Bell doesn't quite understand, but he sees a red glow on the cut he had made on Aragami's chest. Being as quick as he can, Bell cuts further into the Aragami's flesh and sticks out his arm and picks up something that looks like a sphere. Pulling on it, he pulls out a sphere and is surprised to see it.
"Throw it up!" Penny unsheathes her swords and jumps up. Bell does as he's told and throws the orb upwards. Penny wastes no time and cuts the sphere into two pieces, destroying it in the process.
Marduk screams some more, until he stops moving. Penny lands on the ground and walks away with Bell, the two of them watching the Aragami on the ground, slumped over and looking dead. In a few seconds, the Aragami begins to dissipate in a puff of black smoke, leaving even Penny surprised, as Aragami are usually sucked back underground after their death.
Bell kneels on the ground, feeling the adrenaline in his body begin to fade, and he breathes heavily.
"Bell! Hey, are you okay?" Penny drops her God Arc on the ground and runs over to Bell. Holding the boy, he worries.
"Wow! I've never seen someone fight like that!" Loki says impressed. She decides to walk over to the boys to talk to them, but is paralyzed when she sees a familiar face coming towards them.
"My boys!" Hestia runs up to them both while hugging them. She begins to cry as she tightens her embrace even more, she has seen her sons face such a monstrous and frightening creature. But they're okay, they're alive.
"Goddess Hestia... we're fine, don't worry." Penny held her back as she tried to calm her down.
"But you... you... I thought you were going to die..." Hestia spoke through her tears, even though she had allowed Bell to fight alongside Penny against the Aragami, she was still afraid of losing them both.
"Goddess... I'm okay... I'm here with you..." Bell holds her Goddess' hands to reassure her.
"That's... good..." Hestia says a little weakly, feeling her gaze heavy, she closes her eyes and faints into the arms of her children.
"Goddess Hestia!" Penny approaches her, takes one of her hands and begins to reach for her wrist.
"Goddess! Goddess are you all right?" Bell asks while holding Hestia in his arms. "Penny, is she all right!?" Bell asks with clear desperation on his face.
"Weak pulse, she just fainted." Penny says in a slightly calmer state. "Let's get her to a more suitable place." Penny walks over to his God Arc, switching it to pistol mode and places it on his back.
Penny goes over to Hestia and takes her in his arms while she was passed out.
"Do you know a hospital or someone who can help us?" Penny asks as she starts running with Hestia.
"I don't know if there's a hospital nearby!" Bell said as he ran alongside Penny. The two boys ran away while talking about what they could do.
Loki and Aiz, who were hiding and saw the end of the battle, were impressed.
"I can't believe it!" Loki bit his lip in anger and frustration. "Dwarf is his Goddess!" Loki growls in anger and frustration, anger that his number one enemy has someone so powerful and special on her side, and frustration that Penny has ignored her again.
Aiz, who was silent and in a bit of shock at seeing Penny kill a monster she had never seen before, but she too was curious. What were those sparks around them as they fought?
[Hostess of Fertility]
Hestia slowly wakes up, rubbing her eyes and realizing she's in some kind of hotel room. Looking over, she sees Naaza next to her wiping a white cloth.
"Naaza?..." Hestia whispers, still feeling a little dizzy.
"Oh, Goddess Hestia you're awake!" Naaza twists the cloth and folds it into a rectangle and places it on Hestia's forehead. "Don't get up yet, rest." Naaza tells Hestia to lie down.
"Where... where are Bell and Penny?..." Hestia says, feeling her surroundings spin.
"They're outside the room, do you want me to call them?" Naaza asks while checking Hestia's pulse, seeing that it was normalizing she breathes a sigh of relief.
"Yes... please..." Hestia pleads in a weak tone of voice.
Naaza agrees, stepping aside, she walks to the door and leaves the room. Looking around, she sees that Bell and Penny are sleeping next to each other by the door.
"Hey, kids." Naaza shakes the boys by the shoulders. "Boys, wake up."
"...hmmm..." Bell slowly opens his eyes, seeing that Naaza is in front of him, he stands up compressed. "Miss Naaza! The Goddess, is she all right?"
"The Goddess Hestia, is she all right?" Penny gets up quickly because of Bell's sudden movement.
"Yes, she's just woken up and she wants to see you two." Naaza says.
"Bell, lead the way. If we both go in at the same time, it might stress her out." Penny touches Bell's shoulder and beckons him in.
"Are you sure?" Bell asks worriedly.
"Yes, go on." Penny points to the door and Bell quickly enters. Penny sighs with relief and looks at Naaza. "Thanks... I didn't know who else I could ask for help."
"Look, I'm an alchemist, not a doctor." Naaza puts her hands on her hips. "I had to use a high-quality potion to relieve her pain. And these potions are very expensive and difficult to make."
"I understand, I'll pay any price for your service." Penny says, feeling more relieved.
"Leave that for later." Naaza shrugs. "After all, I was your first choice, wasn't I?" Naaza gives him a slight smile. Approaching Penny, she takes his hands. "Just keep going to Lord Miach's store and buying potions whenever you need them."
"Right!" Penny agrees with a smile.
"In fact, I was very curious. How did that cannon turn into two swords in seconds?" Naaza looks behind Penny and sees his God Arc, which is in Pistol mode.
"Well, it's a bit complicated to say... I don't think you'd believe much of the story." Penny scratches the back of his head in embarrassment; he's not sure how he can explain to Naaza what the God Arc is.
Inside the room, Bell was kneeling beside the bed as he stared at his Goddess.
"Goddess, I'm sorry, I... I thought I might lose you..." Bell spoke as if his eyes were filling with water.
"Bell..." Hestia settles on the bed, sitting up and putting her hand on Bell's head. "Bell, I was worried too. I thought that monster might kill you and Penny, I'm sorry if I just got in your way..."
"No! It's nothing like that!" Bell moves closer to Hestia and hugs her belly. "I didn't... I didn't want to lose you... I didn't want to lose my Goddess..."
Hestia is surprised by Bell's words, but smiles at him. Hearing the door open, Hestia sees Penny entering the room.
"Better?" Penny asks, approaching the bed.
"Yes, I'm feeling better now." Hestia says smiling at him.
"Goddess Hestia... I'm sorry... this is all my fault." Penny clenches her fists. "It's all my fault... that Aragami, he... he just... he..."
"Penny, it's not your fault." Hestia says, surprising the boy. "Whatever happened, it's not your fault. There's no way you could have known that creature would show up."
"Goddess..." Penny mutters a little in shock. He walks over to the bed and sits down next to Hestia. "I'm sorry... I really am..."
"Don't blame yourself..." Hestia puts her hand on Penny's head and strokes it. "You did well, you killed that thing and dealt with the problem... you both did it." Hestia stroked Bell's head, who was still hugging her belly.
The boys were surprised by the Goddess's actions, but realized that Hestia's caresses were calming them down. Hestia continued to caress her two sons.
"Don't worry... you haven't done anything wrong." Hestia reassured them, even though she was worried and frightened that her children had faced an Aragami, she was relieved that they were both safe and well with her.
Her body feeling heavy again, Hestia slowly goes back to sleep. The boys realize that she has fallen asleep and put her more comfortably to bed. Looking at each other, Bell and Penny filled up a little, took two chairs and sat in them while they watched Hestia sleep. Bell felt relieved to see his Goddess sleeping peacefully, while Penny felt guilty for letting that Aragami get close to Bell and Hestia.
End of arc 1.
Note: Holy shit! This chapter was huge! But anyway, as you can see, I want to put Penny in a relationship with Naaza. You may not like this, but I've never seen anyone put Naaza in a romantic relationship in any other Danmachi fic, and since Naaza is a character with a great narrative and I like her a lot, I decided to put this couple together from my very first chapter. One more thing, did you notice that Hestia was the only Goddess Penny referred to as "Goddess"? He didn't use that category for any other God he saw. I hope you enjoyed it, and see you next time!
Thanks:
yokai1235: Answering your three points. One, the blood of Gods can inhibit the spread of oracle cells, meaning that adventurers and Gods are not affected by oracle cells. Secondly, I've already changed this about Burst, in case you're curious, in chapter 8 I've added a new modality. Thirdly, bracelets can't be taken off, there's a scene in the anime where after Lenka loses his God Arc, his bracelet tries to be taken off, but it gets stuck on his body because of Aragami.
blakkneko: Yeah, man. Penny was killed and now he's in this world.