Alise Lovell the Pure, the Just and the Adventurer

I hated the Dragon Valley. Not because of the sheer danger it caused to the mortal world, which was an entirely valid reason to hate a location, but because of how horrible it felt to even breathe here.

Even a good five hundred kilomeders away from the Whirlwind the air was harsh and polluted by horrible black ash. As if that wasn't enough the wind was unforgiving, and the cold was worse.

But those were just the physical aspects, the worst part was the sense of responsibility. The city now barely visible on the horizon was a fortress, filled with troops and weapons. It was a staging ground for the protection of every single settlement north of it and a guardhouse for the patrols that maintained the Great Defensive Wall.

If this city fell the construction and maintenance of the continent spanning wall that protected the world from the ancient dragons would… not exactly stop but would become immensely harder.

For that purpose the city had been built by master artisans from all across the mortal realm and armed by the School District and Orario with siege weapons that could more than take care of the rare level four dragon.

This time all those weapons, the master crafted fortifications and the legions of warriors housed within the city were meaningless. The latest 'Snore' had released a dragon thought to be level 6.

Suffice to say… something like that hadn't been seen ever since the barrier device was created by the School District. People here just couldn't hope to fight that.

It all fell to us. It all fell to my familia.

We are much stronger than we used to be, so frankly I can't even say I was worried about the fight. Sure the dragon might be level 6 but even then, it wouldn't match up to Udaeus, who was a floor boss. It was within our weight class to handle… well mostly.

Right now I was the only dedicated frontliner we had. Kaguya was many things, capable of maintaining a frontline was not one of them. Lyra simply did not have the stats to keep up with the vanguard and even then, her new developmental ability meant she'd do more when intervening to support others.

When it comes to Leon… she was too fragile. Leon had offensive abilities that outclassed even Kaguya but there was no way she could endure a frontline role either.

With Taylor around we'd not had to worry about that, the two of us together were more than enough. But now…

Well, I was finally beginning to understand why Asta had always had that undertone of stress. Being a dedicated frontliner was terrifying, especially when you had so much resting on your shoulders.

…Watch over me, will you Asta?

"Lyra's ready." Leon's voice broke me out of my thoughts, and I turned to look where she was staring off to and saw Lyra signalling us with her flares.

I raised my hand to show her we received the message. She waved the flare to confirm as well.

Good. The traps were set, we'd chosen this place specifically so that she could trap it to her heart's content. She'd even rigged the nearby cliff to blow.

…as Lady Astrea had once jokingly said to Loki 'There is no kill like Overkill'.

"Right on time, it's here." Kaguya said as she took out a box from inside her dress and tore it open to take out two things.

A magic item shaped like a smoking pipe and a packet of finely shredded herbs. Ah… well she'd gotten it for a reason.

"You're actually using it?" I found myself asking as I drew out Crimson Order Alternative.

Kaguya rolled her eyes as she poured in the herbs and pulled a matchstick to light her pipe.

"I hate smoking and smokers but well… I'm not going to let my pride stop me from giving it my all." Kaguya spoke clumsily around the pipe with her eyes trained on a point distantly on the horizon.

I nodded as I cracked my neck and began walking forward.

Kaguya's newest item curtesy of Asfi was a smoking pipe specifically meant to keep up with a first-class adventurer and keep the flame inside going. It was necessary to use the herb mixture sourced from the Ninkarrak familia.

It was all for her to use her newest skill to its absolute maximum. Medicinal herbs meant to stop bleeding, reduce pain and on top of that some minor healing as well. It meant she could afford taking more hits to fuel her skill.

We'd tried potions initially but at our level even reinforced bottles couldn't be used mid combat. This was the best option we'd found. Even though it reminded her of her family Kaguya wouldn't let that hold her back.

Leon glanced back towards the city and the flags flying from the citadel.

"The evacuation isn't done; they are around halfway through. We'll need to at least cripple it." She deciphered as she drew her two swords.

"We'll be killing it." I said with certainty I had to source from the depths of my determination.

Just doing enough wasn't going to cut it anymore, I didn't know why but the world seemed to be getting crazier every day. We needed to prove to the people behind us that there were still people they could rely on.

Even without all that I personally had a reason to give it my all. Since now there was someone I needed to keep up with. I refused to let Taylor be alone at the top.

We couldn't afford to let high quality Excelia go past us. Just fending it off wasn't enough, just crippling it wasn't enough. We needed to crush it completely.

Neither Leon nor Kaguya said anything in protest. Simply readying themselves for the fight to come.

In that moment, I saw it off in the distance at least ten kilomeders away. A dragon. Dark almost tarnished silver scales covered its body, ones so thick they almost seemed like forged plates of armour built around its body. The beast was quadrupedal almost like the mythical dragon shape, but it had proportionally much larger and thicker limbs than any dragon I'd ever seen. I could already tell that the two wings sprouting from its shoulders were secondary in purpose.

This thing moved on the ground. The thin, gaunt wings were not meant for flight.

An odd sight but what made it even odder was the size of the thing. Frankly put, it was small, smaller than even the infant dragons that appeared on the upper floors if only slightly. But that small size did little to hide the absurd power I could feel from it.

Corded muscles so dense that I'd wager cutting through them would be just as difficult as the scales. Armed with a stubby maw of bent and razor-sharp teeth, talons, a glaive like tail and most likely a breath attack of some kind this thing was built to kill even more so than the usual monster.

I had no clue what kind of monster this was which only served to reinforce the danger this thing presented.

"I don't think this monster was in the archives." I noted.

"Might be from further down than we have access to." Leon said.

"Might be from a floor so deep that no one has reached it before." Kaguya voiced exactly what I was thinking.

I nodded my head resolutely and waited for the right moment to intercept.

The moment it passed that invisible threshold I burst off running with all my strength towards it. It wasn't in the prepared ground just yet, so I'd be able to meet it in the edge or the middle.

The edge was the safest.

"Leon, start chanting and attract its attention this way." I ordered.

"In the sky of a now distant forest." As I heard the first part of Leon's chant and felt the magic permeating through the air I took in a deep breath and sped up. With Leon's new skill echoing through the air and filling my spirit with energy I could give it my all. The absolute maximum of my new status.

With each step shaking the earth I quickly began picking up speed. I didn't bother checking if Kaguya was behind me, she'd be there to take advantage of openings.

That meant I could push on with total focus.

"Agaris Alvesynth." I chanted as I ran letting the flames of my passion ignite around me.

Even from this far from the dragon I could feel my Skills kicking into gear fuelling the flames and flowing into each other. The moment I got into close combat I'd quickly get to full power.

I kept my breathing steady as I ran, all hesitation flooded out of my mind as the distance between me and the dragon closed. I knew that in a moment it would truly begin.

As if confirming my thoughts the eyes of the dragon flicked first onto Leon and then onto me. There was more than bestial fury in those eyes. Sparks of cunning that were all too easy to see stared right into me. It decided I was the most dangerous opponent and immediately zeroed in.

But instead of rushing in as I was expecting it slid to a stop and steadied itself by opening its gaunt wings.

I had a bad feeling about that stance. Moments later my gut feeling turned out to be right. The stubby jaw of the dragon split into four sections revealing five red glowing crystals. One in each section and one inside the throat.

The breath attack. From this distance it should be easy to dodge…

Hmm? Something feels hot. A section on my stomach was feeling weirdly warm, not uncomfortable or painful but noticeable.

A moment later the gems inside the dragon's mouth started glowing. Oh shit. I threw myself roughly to the side flying dozens of meders in less than a second.

Good thing too, a series of beams instantly impacted where I had been moments before. Each of the three beams blasted a hole into the ground melting the blackened stone and blasting apart the ashy dirt.

Instantaneous beams? I'd only ever seen light quartz do those sorts of attacks.

Wait a moment. …three?

Just as that thought flashed through my head the fourth beam came and slammed into my abdomen. A searing pain drilled right into my midst. The armour and spirit cloth in the way didn't even hinder the beam at all as it melted and burned them right off to reach my stomach.

I winced from the pain as my midsection was burned deeply, but I couldn't afford to stop. I rolled back onto my feet as I was flying off ignoring the shouts of my familia.

A blast that could scorch a first-class adventurer' body from this far away fired so quickly? Even for a level six monster that was rare.

That feeling of heat had come right before it had fired and only the four crystals had fired. Was that heat from the fifth one in the throat?

What was the purpose then? I hadn't seen anything so the beam it fired was invisible… was it meant to help it aim? That sort of accuracy from this distance was nearly unheard of from Monsters.

"If you feel a weird feeling of heat on your body the breath attack is targeting you! Immediately start dodging to throw it off!" I shouted to my familia as I continued closing the distance.

The moment I did I felt another feeling of heat right in the middle of my chest.

Like hell!

I dashed from side to side momentarily dodging the invisible beam of heat but every single time it found its way back onto me. That's fine after all so long as I kept it from staying on for too long the Dragon didn't fire.

Besides… completely dodging wasn't my intention, finding the right position was.

And I'd just now gotten there. With barely a couple hundred meders left between us I stopped dodging and carefully watched the crystals.

From this angle all of them would be neatly lined up and once it fired, I could defend against it easily. I could make an opening to rush in that way.

The dragon noticed I'd stopped dodging, and I could see its eyes narrow with animalistic cunning, but it refused to back down from the challenge. The crystals flashed and I brought up my sword perfectly aligned against the paths of the series of beams.

The flashes came and all four them and reflected straight off my sword. I couldn't even feel any force from them, this was a purely heat based attack. The exact sort of punishment my sword was forged to resist.

"Luminous Wind!" Leon's shout announced her barrage of stardust and wind. Before I'd even seen the orbs myself, I picked up speed turning my paced sprint into a full-blown charge.

Even then the magical barrage passed by overhead and slammed into the dragon's head one after the other blowing dust everywhere. The dragon roared from behind the smoke screen, but it wasn't one of pain rather of indignance and fury.

Of course even with her new Mage ability Ryuu's magic wasn't quite powerful enough to blast apart this thing's armour. That was fine, we'd tear those scales off piece by piece if need be.

I arrived right as the dust cloud cleared and revealed the figure of a dragon mid leap right towards me with its claws extended.

I ducked low and brought my sword up with a two-handed swing parrying away the claws smoothly. A kick to the midsection came immediately afterwards to push the beast further upwards and over me perfectly served for Kaguya to tear into.

Before I could turn around, I heard a sword being drawn from its sheath and then sailing through the air dozens of times. Good, Kaguya is in, now I just needed to get back in myself. I spun on my heel and batted away the bladed tail swinging my way down into the ground.

I didn't waste time trying to cut into the tail, the thick plated scales covering it made that too troublesome. Instead I pushed off towards the back legs of the dragon. Even now Kaguya was facing off against the claws and fangs of the monster cutting scores into its lighter armoured joints. I had to get the attention off of her.

I saw the mass of fangs split into four again and tried to call out a warning, but before I could even voice it, Lyra's new 'Carnivore mk. II's flew in from the side cutting into the dragon's maw forcefully throwing off its aim. Seeing the deadly blasts miss Kaguya entirely and head off into the horizon I breathed a sigh of relief and continued my attack.

"Arga." I chanted my spell key and flared my magic.

My sword swung horizontally with explosive flames propelling it and cut into the lighter scales of the dragon's left thigh. Even then I could feel that the slash wasn't deep enough, the scales and the dense muscles were too strong to cut with my current strength.

Still, that was changing.

Three of my four conditions were already fulfilled. And I could feel that this monster still had plenty of strength in reserve. The only condition left was the powerful opponent one.

So show it. Show us that mysterious strength of yours already so we can end this.

As if reading my thoughts the dragon suddenly changed its behaviour. In less than a second it spun propelled by its wings and powerful limbs and suddenly swung its tail around catching Kaguya unaware. Even though she parried the blade away she was hit with the blunt shaft of the tail right in the midsection.

I heard a painful crack as Kaguya was sent flying away. I caught her eyes staring into mine as she was wincing. She looked perfectly focused trying to mitigate the damage. I didn't get to worry about her however as I was forced to defend from the claws coming my way. I had to dodge under the first and then thrust my sword into the offending limb of the next as I kept moving closer.

Even then my sword couldn't pierce through properly. It stuck into the limb, and I pushed the arm down into the ground trying to force a deeper wound.

"Arvana!" I called my next spell key producing more flames to flare from my sword and body. The dragon roared as I managed to push the sword further in and then finally clean through.

Not daring to continue my assault I backed off ripping my sword out as I dashed backwards. It had been the right choice as the dragon bound away with its wings flaring and a mass of beams flowing out of its maw into where I had been moments before.

Maybe it was chance or maybe it was that Lyra had prepared a ludicrous amount of traps, but the monster landed right on top of a mass of mines set by Lyra setting off an explosion so large it could've covered the entirety of Stardust Garden.

"The nostalgic song of life." From the distance I heard Lyon chanting her healing spell and charging towards the stunned dragon. Her attack power was at its highest when she was chanting and running it was no wonder when her mithril sword cut straight through the scales covering the dragons back and her wooden sword slashed deep into the opening drawing blood.

Leon didn't stop to continue her attack instead simply sliding right over the rough scales of the Dragon's back and running towards where Kaguya was standing back up.

She probably intended to use her new skill and prepared spell to heal Kaguya back up, but I knew for a fact that Kaguya would refuse it. With her new smoking pipe some injuries could be ignored for the duration of a fight to fuel her skill.

Healing went counter to that.

I turned my eyes away from those two and caught Lyra's form running up to toss a bundle of her bombs at the recovering dragon.

…I had a bad feeling about that. I rushed forward right after her and chanted another spell key to fan my flames again.

"Arvelia!" With the flames fuelled for a third time my mind usage went way up but so did the strength of my spell.

Now then. Time to push my body to its limits.

The first push of this sprint alone had more strength behind it than my entire charge towards the dragon before. Even without all my conditions fulfilled at this level of boost my strength and speed were greater than any level five in Orario.

There was a simple explanation. I was the sword of lady Astrea, a seeker of justice. Someone who couldn't afford to lag behind. That was the certainty that made up the core of my identity and had birthed my skills and my spell.

They were the reason that I was always lauded as the strongest of my level.

But that wasn't enough this time. I'd always been seeking strength, so determined to make sure my friends found their justice that I'd always aimed to be their shining beacon to orient themselves by.

But now… I'd found my own beacon. Taylor. I… wanted to make sure that no matter what happened, we could stand by her side. We could be a pillar for her to lean against.

So I couldn't let anyone, or anything stop our march to the future. With that wow I could pour everything in my soul into this fight.

I didn't let up and ran right after Lyra watching the dragon carefully as the bombs finally impacted its side. The resounding explosions tore into the wound Leon had already made blasting apart scales and muscles scattering blood everywhere. Even then the deep wound so grievous that it would kill many monsters then and there was shaken off.

The dragon slowly rose back onto its legs.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Muttered Lyra as I passed her by.

She met my eyes, and I sent her a look asking her to support me. Lyra nodded without hesitation and pulled her paired weapons out.

With assurance of support I finally entered the last stretch of my thunderous charge. The face of with the dragon. In that very moment our eyes met once again. Unbridled fury and animalistic wrath met my passion, and it decided to rise to the challenge.

Instead of splitting its maw to target me it widened its stance and roared.

"RRRRROAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHHHHHHHHH." I had no doubt that that roar would've rendered me frozen had I still been level four. It was imbued with so much energy I almost even mistook it for a chant.

That thought might not have been far off as I saw waves of power begin to emanate from its body almost as if it was imitating my own spell.

The moment I realised that two things had happened. My skills kicked into full gear meaning that the last condition was fulfilled.

And the dragon nearly disappeared from my vision with a push off so powerful it made a crater large enough to fit a house inside of it.

I didn't hesitate to listen to my instincts and immediately dodged to the left barely avoiding the first claw strike. The next one however managed to clip me on my right shoulder sending me flying off.

I grit my teeth then pushed my feet and sword into the ground skidding to a stop. I was bleeding badly; my shoulder had been savaged straight through my now ruined armour.

"Noah Heal." Leon's spell triggered from out of my vision immediately stopping the bleeding and giving me motion on my right arm back.

"Thanks." I said quietly.

"In the sky of a now distant forest." Leon didn't waste time replying instead she immediately began another chant. I sighed in relief as her skill kicked in further replenishing my stamina and filling my limbs with strength.

The moment I saw the dragons vision flick over to Leon I pushed forward intent on drawing its attention my way. Even then the monster dashed forth leaving sonic booms in its wake.

That's fine, I can match that now. With a single push I leapt into the dragon's path and my sword ripped into its shoulder. With narrowed eyes it rolled to the side shifting its wings and brought about a claw. I began turning hurriedly to bat it away, but Lyra was already on it.

The two boomerangs cut into the stab wound I'd made prior and slashed lines through the scales as they forced the claw down.

My gaze flicked her way, and I saw her pointing towards the trapped cliffside. She wanted me to push the dragon there so we could drop the cliff on it.

I sent her a smile and kicked the dragon's maw shut followed shortly by a slash into its back. With its attention fully my way I punched it straight in the side of the neck as I fell to the ground.

I didn't trust myself to withstand a direct attack even with all my skills active and Leon's boost so keeping it off balance was key.

Leon appeared from behind me and slammed her swords into the side of its head but even with her skills she failed to pierce through the thick scales all along it's blocky face.

It did serve well to stun it though. With that opening made I let myself land solidly onto the ground and widened my stance. I doubted we'd get many more openings with the way the dragon was still getting faster as time went on. So I needed to push it there with one blow.

…I could do it.

I let my sword fall to the side and sucked in a deep breath.

My strength. Ever since the start of my life with Lady Astrea, I'd diligently raised it. Every single day, weighted training constant frontline combat. The whole thing.

It was just now stepping into the ends of the I rank with all the training we'd done since we'd become level fives. It wasn't prodigious but with my skills roaring I had enough strength to match even a level six.

There was no way I could keep up with Uncle Gareth or even Taylor of course, even then I didn't need that sort of strength. I needed just enough to blow this thing right into the ambush point.

"ARGA!" With that spell key I began a war cry that emerged from the very depths of my soul. A cry that bore no resemblance to the elegant and perfect hero of justice I tried to be.

This was purely the cry of an adventurer.

"HHHUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

With my soul laid bare for the gods to laugh at I stepped forward and pushed every single fibre in my body to produce more forward momentum. At the apex of that power an uppercut flew.

The sound barrier shattered again and again and the flames flowing off my body were joined by the air itself as it ignited against my fist. A blow beyond any I'd ever thrown before. In an instant it connected with the side of the dragon's torso shattering scales and pounding flesh purely from the sheer force of the punch.

I could feel as my own bones painfully creaked in response to my blow, but I didn't let something as meagre as that stop me from putting everything into it. And I felt my reward for having done so quite clearly.

The dragon was lifted off the ground forcefully eliciting a cry of pain and launched upwards in the direction of the cliff. Yet even as I was feeling the bones of my hand set themselves back into place, I already knew for a fact that it wasn't enough. The dragon would fall short, and Lyra wouldn't be able to trigger the trap.

I began trying to reassess the situation, but Kaguya decided to remind me of something.

I wasn't climbing the steps to the peak by myself. My familia was more than ready to fill in when I fell short.

With only the vague impression of a shockwave announcing her presence Kaguya flew past me and Leon, who was setting of in a sprint of her own.

With each short skip she neared the flying form of the dragon. When the moment was right, she leapt off the ground and slammed her foot into the armoured stomach of the monster. Pushing it yet further off.

But not without cost. The cunning beast managed to turn itself around with its wings and scored a cut right along Kaguya's right leg shredding apart her beloved dress and revealing a deep slash wound.

Kaguya didn't cry out, she didn't even react as if to say that such a blow wouldn't change anything. I saw another cloud of thin smoke waft off from her pipe as she continued to fly forward. With elegance born of years spent in training she landed onto the ground skipping while avoiding putting weight onto her wounded leg.

She was barely a few meders away from the dragon when I saw her take a familiar pose.

'Issen' she'd called it. It was one of her family's techniques. A single draw of the sword bearing immense speed. It went against Kaguya's usual style of chaining her attacks together, but it was possibly the pinnacle of her swordsmanship.

The absolute pinnacle of her skills that had improved by leaps and bound ever since she'd lost her arm and had switched to using her left arm. She'd even joked about wearing a blindfold daily to see where that would take her.

The moment she drew her sword I rethought my decision to dissuade her of that choice. Her tachi was drawn so fast even my eyes couldn't follow it and bit into the clawed limb of the monster still being flung away. I couldn't even see the moment it reached the limb.

One moment the monstrous limb and the tachi were separate and in the next moment a clean cut had been made straight through the scales, the dense muscles and even the bones.

Even the dragon seemed to be in shock as it suddenly continued its flight sans a limb. Even the desperate attempts to take control of its flight with its wings had suddenly stopped as it roared in pain and flailed about. After a moment it split its maw again trying to aim Kaguya's way.

With Kaguya practically immobilised as the wounds she'd accumulated to fuel her skill still healing she'd have no way of dodging. I wasn't worried though; she had Leon to cover for her.

"Luvia." With that Leon's prepared bombardment arrived right on time to blast into the dragon shattering the weakened scales and causing blood to fly off from the open wounds all over its body.

That last push did it. The monster fell against the cliff side setting off a mass of mines as it fell, and those explosions caused a chain reaction as buried ordnance detonated all over the cliff. With a tremendous quake the entire thing came down over the form of the great monster.

Rock after rock fell over it followed by ever larger bits of rubble until the entire cliffside came down smothering the indignant cries of the Dragon.

Lyra stopped next to me.

"Think that did it?" She asked and I suddenly got a terrible feeling.

"Agaris Alvesynth!" I chanted quickly reapplying my enchantment. It was a bit wasteful, but I'd not dare run it close to the time limit with this sort of feeling.

I began sprinting. "Arga!" I called the first spell key to propel myself faster. With each passing second the feeling in my gut was getting worse.

I passed by Leon, who was busy chanting to heal Kaguya. But I didn't pay mind to their shocked cries. I wasn't quite sure what was wrong, but I knew for a damn fact that the monster wasn't dead just yet. So I needed to be there if it broke out.

Somehow as if the Fates were paying particular attention to this moment, I saw something. The rocks that had buried the dragon. They were beginning to glow. Glow red hot that is.

A heartbeat later a bright flash of light burned itself into my retinas as the monster's breath attack melted through the layered rocks and escaped into the sky almost like the shining pillars that heralded a god's return.

"Arvana!" I called my spell again and sped up once more. I didn't care that I was using up mind at a rapid pace, I didn't care that my halfway healed wounds were being agitated. Because I knew for a damned fact that this dragon would try to escape if I let it.

As I was running the battered and broken form of the monster climbed out of the rubble with molten stone sliding off its scales. The dragon's tarnished silver armour gleamed in the light as it pulled itself out of the grave, we'd graciously prepared for it.

Slashes along its body, scorch marks, bruising dents, a savaged forelimb torn apart by Lyra's and my attacks, A massive hole opened along its side curtesy of Leon and Lyra… And that wasn't even counting the limb cut off by Kaguya. Even with that exhaustive list of wounds the mighty beast rose and kept its back straight as it did so.

It was on its last legs but almost as if it was saying 'This is still not enough!' it rose with a furious look in its eyes.

But I finally saw something that was exactly what I'd feared. Trepidation, hesitation. It was debating whether to bolt or not. I didn't intend to give it a choice.

"ARVELIA!" With the third spell key called I moved yet faster. Up to the absolute maximum of my speed with the boosts from my skills.

My mind was running low but then again… that was an opportunity itself.

My new skill 'Give Them No Quarter' was not usable in most circumstances. It was the absolute last thing I could use as it got stronger the less mind I had and the less mind I had the more mind it consumed.

It was clearly meant for one last strike brought out from the very depths of desperation so much so that even my developmental ability couldn't account for it.

That was fine. I was ending this right here and now.

With barely ten meders between me and the dragon I called for its activation. For a moment nothing happened and then… my flames came to life.

Leaping off my body and starting to melt the very ground underneath my feet they rushed out. I felt my status go through the roof as my skills and spell kicked into overdrive.

I stared into the eyes of the dragon currently in the middle of a leap towards me and brought my sword up over my shoulder for one last slash. The flames burst and flowed along my sword, eager to leap off the edge and reach forward to cut.

I took in a deep breath and let them flow off turning into a second blade flowing around the actual mithril. I stopped running and began sliding along the ground, once close enough I grasped my sword with both of my hands, And I brought the blade up in a downward slash. There was nothing special about my technique, it was the self-made style born of thousands of hours of swinging. Nothing but a straight and steady cut.

But the power behind it was simply overwhelming.

The lengthened blade fuelled by my spell and skill contacted the scales of the dragon and cut straight through first the shoulder and then the spine flying through meat, bone and viscera as if they were air rather than the form of a level six monster.

I cut regardless of the blood that sprayed over me letting a guttural roar emerge from my mouth as I poured my last embers of strength into the slash.

And finally, the dragon split. From left shoulder to the right side of the hip I divided the beast into two. The lower half turned to dust as I cut it off and the upper body flew past me with its limbs now permanently limp.

I breathed in the air polluted by the terrible ash with my flames burning bright.

I'm dragging myself there, Taylor. We're climbing towards you and like hell are we letting you be alone at the top.

With that last thought I gave the gods still watching me a performative, triumphant laugh and fell to my knees leaning against my sword for balance. As I watched Leon, Kaguya and Lyra running to me I laughed again a bit more genuine this time.

Man…

Hahahahahahaha!

We did it. Simple as that.

I knew a foolish smile was on my face, but I didn't try to hide it. After all, I aimed to be a Hero. And every Hero was foolish one way or the other.

The moment I heard the horn of the Hringhorni echo from far away that smile only got wider.

A bit late aren't you, Mr. Delinquent?


Loki the Goddess of Trickery

The night. Contrary to many expectations I didn't much care for it, nightlife is pretty boring in many ways and if you're going to drink it's much better to day drink instead, you get what I'm saying?

Anyways this night was quite different, I'd been wandering around questioning various gods seeing how the mortals were freaking out and enjoying the atmosphere. But eventually after learning nothing of worth I had to go to doorstep of the most annoying woman in Gekai.

Freya.

As always it ended with us inside a nearby coffee house owned by someone she had wrapped around her finger. Though I didn't know what to think of her drinking coffee with that much liquor in it. Rough day I suppose. Not like her to show that though…

I didn't partake. Coffee this late? Like hell, I liked my sleep schedule non-existent not nocturnal. Well, time to get on with things.

"I'm sure you noticed just how close we were to a full-on apocalypse, now as much as I enjoy your company…" That is to say not at all. "I'm here for a reason, what do you know?" I asked directly, it was actually getting quite late, and the drinks were starting to slowly hit my system properly. I wanted to get what I came here for.

"Been here for five minutes and already tired of me, when will you get over this impatience of yours, Loki?" Freya tried to play off her own worry elegantly but with the way her hair was messed up and how her eyes looked dazed it wasn't very effective.

"And when will you stop trying to play these games with me when shit's going down?" I asked with faux anger. I wasn't really frustrated or anything, Freya was always like this and would always continue to be like this so long as she kept to her role.

Besides being irritated at Freya for something like that was just plain wasteful, she'd eventually piss me off for real somehow.

Still, for tonight I was inclined to grace.

"But aren't these games the entire reason we are here?" Freya spoke softly and playfully.

Not too unusual but going by her tone and with the way her eyes looked vacant she clearly had something on her mind.

"Cut the shit, what's got you so moody that you're trying this dumbassary with me?" I interrogated rapidly changing the topic to throw Freya off, we both knew that sort of philosophical bullshittery wasn't important to me anyways.

Freya's mouth shut and she stared wistfully out of a nearby window.

"It's nothing to do with that lightshow if that's what you're wondering."

I wasn't you cow; do I look stupid or something? You're clearly in that same mood that had you crying all over my fucking magnolias back in Tenkai.

I gestured for her to get a move on and with a soft sigh Freya continued.

"I met with Taylor Hebert; someone you are quite familiar with. And she saw right through me and my well… everything." She admitted with a soft chuckle.

I snorted.

"Makes sense, that brat is far too perceptive for a child. Comes with the territory being what she is." I waved her off purposefully acting uncaring. "But if that's it I'm afraid you're going to be damn moody the whole century. Someone noticed the situation you're in, but your familia didn't, that's to be expected by now, isn't it?"

I tried getting a reaction out of her, something juicy had happened between Taylor and Freya and I sure as Hel wanted to know.

Freya sighed with a genuinely depressed look passing over her face.

"She figured out what I was feeling immediately, and the way she looked at me… I could tell it was pity. Seeing that in the eyes of a child…well even I know how pathetic that is." She uttered with a hollow voice.

Oi, oi, oi she's gone all soppy! This is no fun at all! It's just depressing.

I put upon a curious face and continued prodding Freya.

"So? How the hell did she manage that? Now, not to compliment you or anything but usually you're pretty hard to read… well whenever you aren't like this I mean." I waved my hand generally in her direction with fake exasperation.

"My Domain. Taylor can feel domains. I'd been careless ever since Hera was exiled, not masking my Divine Will, she picked up on it and my feelings through it.

Freya's words had me freeze up suddenly. I had to rethink every reaction Taylor had had to my presence… The nature of my Divine Will was off putting to mortals already and if one could directly feel domains...

Well, no wonder, she'd been so tense. She could feel my suspicion and delight at her perfectly.

Tch! Horrible, how utterly amateurish of me.

"You don't seem all that surprised to hear that." Freya commented idly.

"It puts a whole lot of things into context, she'd always been a little more skittish of me than normal. But now I keep thinking 'I should've expected that'."

I really should've with whatever the fuck was going on with Taylor or rather with Khepera there was bound to be a lot of weirdness with her. Spirits couldn't feel domains, even when they spent some time in Tenkai they weren't really 'Conscious' there. So that couldn't be the explanation.

The Dungeon then? Maybe it had something to do with the 'sickness' Ais noticed.

Ugh! There's no easy explanation then! How the hell am I supposed to pick apart what the Dungeon may have done. Literally the one thing we don't know everything about…

I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes for a moment debating what Taylor having such an ability could mean in regard to her connection with Khepera. Maybe she'd neared the Heart of the Dungeon, and gotten her mind scorched? That certainly was a possibility. Though if something like that had happened her being flat out dead would be much more likely.

"The Guest and Taylor were connected." Freya suddenly broke the silence. "I'm not quite sure how that connection happened but they've mixed with each other and then separated." She continued while I was still stunned to silence.

"Wha-?" Why was Freya telling me this? She usually held onto information dearly and refused to give anything up even if it could mean serious harm to Orario. So what could she actually gain from telling me this.

"Don't look so dumbfounded, even I can give gifts once in a while." Freya said scathingly, though her heart wasn't really in it.

This wasn't a gift to me, no matter what she said Freya's gifts always had something to do with things she loved, usually to draw something out of them. So she was gifting me having this information to someone else. To put it simply she needed me to help someone she couldn't.

"Taylor, you think I could help Taylor if I knew this." I guessed.

Freya quickly averted her eyes. Right on the nose, heh.

"She… most likely won't approach me again, given her initial impression of my Familia and myself. But even then, I want to see her soul unclouded and whole."

So, Taylor had drawn her attention and even genuinely interested her.

"What's got you so invested in her then?" Freya being this passive was unusual, she definitely preferred to just take who she wanted and if that person wouldn't fit in her Familia than she'd at least keep avenues for communication open.

The goddess herself looked contemplative for a bit before speaking.

"That girl, she whittled her soul down and shaped it into a weapon. And then her soul was shattered."

I simply raised an eyebrow, what she was describing was… weird to say the least, even her being alive would be a damn miracle at that point.

"That wouldn't be enough to interest me, I have no desire for a soul that is merely a sword. That's the whole reason we can have such a civil conversation and not be busy squabbling over your doll."
Oi, you stupid whore, my Aisu is perfect and adorable. If you say anything more, I won't give a shit for our past and rip that head of yours straight off.

Unaware or uncaring of my sudden murderous intent, Freya went on. "As I've said the Guest and Taylor were once connected and that connection separated." Yeah, that was quite interesting in and of itself and might be the reason Taylor could feel Domains, but with the Guest being a complete unknown I couldn't draw any lines towards Khepera from there…

Maybe the Guest had saved Khepera from the Dungeon? It would explain some things, like how Khepera seemed fairly sane after spending a millennium in the Dungeon. The Taylor personality might just be her and the Guest's combined identity that took over from Khepera to keep the Spirit alive and sane.

"They are trying to reconnect, so aggressively that tendrils from the Guest entirely hide Taylor's soul from me, I can only see the shadows it casts." I whipped my head so hard back at Freya when she said that a lance of pain went through my neck.

"The lightshow, that was the Guest trying to force connection again." I cut off her explanation getting me a pout from Freya.

"Yes, I was going to get to that. After I explained why I wanted to see the results of that connection on Taylor's soul." She complained with exaggerated indignation.

I waved her off. "We both know I'm lookin' out for her regardless. Aisu likes her, Riveria likes her helping with Ais; Finn and Gareth like her training the newbies. If you won't be trying anything with her, we're right as rain."

She simply rolled her eyes. "Back on topic then. Yes, it was the Guest trying to force a connection thankfully stopped by Vesta." Ugh. I felt myself cringing the moment I heard that stupid pip-squeak's name. Seriously I hate owing her like this.

"At least try to hide your disdain, it's unbecoming." Freya chided playfully and I gestured obscenely in return. Which got me a covered mouth not at all hiding the smirk behind it and averted eyes.

Yeah, yeah laugh it up. That chibi is going to come down eventually and I'll laugh at her when she does.

"In any case, the reunion… will most likely be good for Taylor, but it can't happen with a Descent like that, or we'll be getting an entire hoard of Black Monsters." Freya led on.

"So you're sayin' we need find a way to get them reconnected without ending the world for all the issues around Taylor to begin resolving." It wasn't a bad hypothesis.

But the problem was how did we do that? If something like that was easy, the mortal realm would seriously be really messy. Seeing as it wasn't, that meant there were some very rare conditions going around. The presence of the Guest was probably one of them, but even then, the Guest itself had only appeared a short while ago, whereas Khepera had probably been connected with her since before Astrea Familia had found her.

"We both get what we want, no?" Freya asked.

I nodded absent mindedly.

"Sure we do, you get your kicks, my Aisu remains happy because her new big sis is healthy and all. First time in a while we find something like this." I agreed.

She hummed in response.

"A little cooperation between rivals is nice once in a while."

I huffed and pre-emptively hid an easy going smile I knew would annoy her.

"Sure, it is." As if I didn't consider you a damn charity case. Get your head in order first before declaring me your rival you Love-Crazed goddess.


There is a certain feeling you get when you've done everything you can do and now have nothing to do but wait until something happens.

It is a feeling I can say that I despise without the merest shadow of a doubt.

The sale of monsters or rather the sale of something "Exotic" to nobles… it had been a rumour I'd heard when I was snooping around the entertainment district's casinos.

The rumour specifically about monsters being sold had popped up afterwards and I'd initially dismissed it; it hadn't made much sense back then. If it was illegal monster parts they wanted, simply smuggling that out would've been much easier. Or if they sought monsters to be tamed weaker versions of monsters were freely available in the outside world or so I'd heard.

With all the other leads back then it hadn't seemed worth pursuing, that kind of operation simply didn't make sense from Evilus's perspective. To much effort for minimal return.

Then time had passed and any leads I'd had were useless by the time I'd tried checking it out. Even then over the rest of my time whenever I wasn't spending it training Ais and her comrades or diving into the dungeon for whatever reason a few rumours about it kept popping up among the more mundane criminals and the rare few Evilus members I could get my hands on.

Despite that I'd prioritised whatever Ganesha familia brought me first and then whatever concerns Fels had had.

But now that I knew of the existence of Xenos it made a hell of a lot more sense. Nobles being what they were there was definitely a lot of money to be made from selling intelligent monsters.

Shutting that down was naturally what I planned to do. It was the sale of sapient beings, no different than the slave rings I'd found during the initial few weeks.

And though it felt… a bit off-putting to think that way it was also an opportunity to discover whatever way they had into and out of the Dungeon potentially also connecting to the supposed base they had.

Regardless to properly get an idea of where and when it would happen, I'd taken a reverse veil out of Fels's stash and snuck once more into the casinos to find one of the rumoured nobles buying the Xenos.

It had taken a few days of searching but I'd eventually managed to happen upon a group of foreign nobility discussing their… finds from Orario in a private room of one of the casinos. A few bribes and muffled threats had gotten me a brief opening into and out of that room.

I'd simply stood silently listening and noting every little thing they'd said and eventually stalked the woman, who'd mentioned having plans to buy a "special monster". Stalking a woman and her guards through the streets at night wasn't exactly what I was used to doing but it had produced results.

I had the specific time and location of the deal. Now it was just a matter of waiting for the deal to take place. Once it did, I could easily trail the Evilus members or the middleman back to wherever they had snuck out from.

I had thought of informing Ganesha familia of my plans, but I wasn't sure if they knew of the Xenos or not. I'd have to ask Fels once I could contact them again. Regardless the rest of the information I'd noted from the group of nobility had already reached their hands though I'd asked them to wait a week until they acted.

I didn't want to tip off my own target before everything went down.

So now I was stuck waiting for everything to line up. Not that that was necessarily a bad thing, no matter how restless it made me.

I finally had time to work on something that had been bothering me.

Back in the fight against the other two hybrids my sword hadn't been able to penetrate the chest or cut through the neck of the red head.

I knew for a damn fact that I had the strength necessary to cut through, but my technique was lacking. Until now I'd mostly used my sword against monsters that were decisively weaker than me.

Even when they had hard shells or though hides simply applying more force into thrusts had been enough.

But after a certain point simply putting more strength wasn't enough. That woman's flesh was hard enough that even as I stabbed, her flesh had been getting pushed back instead of pierced.

A monster you might be, even you are limited

I'd grown complacent with the nanothorn knife, which was more of a saw than an actual blade. That had been a mistake, the nanothorn knife had become a crutch without me realising it. I needed actual skill.

My sword was meant to be easy to use, and it definitely was comparatively. But it wasn't so easy that I could just copy over knife fighting techniques. That meant I needed to learn new styles or more likely adjust what I knew to fit the sword. I needed to develop proper technique. Ideally with Astrea familia's help but it paid to get started early.

I give you everything and yet you are still clawing desperately to cut at me

That was the reason I was on top of the walls of Orario glaring at a barely scratched improvised target dummy made with Adamantite I'd sourced from the Lower floors.

The thing was little more than a block shaped vaguely like a person and weighed more than 500 pounds. I'd asked if they could make it denser and the Hephaestus familia member I'd paid to make it had thrown her hammer at me. So I had to make do.

Craftsmen are always unreasonable.

Regardless, I'm getting sidetracked. Thrusts, they are easy to do once you get the footwork right.

At least in a… beginner level. Actually using the force of your blow to penetrate? That required work.

I readjusted my stance and took a deep breath to steady myself. A moment later the floor shattering heralded my move.

Four steps, I covered only four steps worth of distance and thrust my arm forward repeating the motion I'd gone over hundreds of times once again. The tip of my sword contacted the middle of the "chest" a few inches beside the many gauges and scratches torn into the metal.

I thought this time I'd done it but once again a terrible shriek rung out through the air and my sword barely bit into the surface. I stood watching as it flipped over and over again eventually coming crashing down onto the reinforced floor shattering the stone covering all the while.

With a sigh escaping my lips I walked to the dummy and brought it up to inspect it. I ignored the pathetic attempts at slashes at the neck and quickly went over the gauges on the chest. It wasn't hard to find the latest one, I'd managed to make some headway this time around.

At the moment of impact the sword had only sunk an inch, maybe two. Better than before certainly but nowhere near what I wished for.

Still so far away, bloodying yourself for nothing

…Progress was progress. I'd eventually manage to pierce through this thing. If I could do that, I might be able to spear straight through the red head. Once she was dead Ais would be safe and Evilus would lose another level five equivalent. Another step to getting rid of them.

And once they were done… the monster that had mastered me would be next.

You will bend or break, just as all the others did

I let the dummy go and took a few steps back. I shifted slightly when taking my form, I'd noticed that my previous strike had been slightly angled, some of the force had been wasted upwards.

Leverage, that was key. I was keeping the sword at the wrong angle so even if my own movements were precise the stance had been throwing the thrust off.

I want you to see things my way and set me free

With that realisation I was just about to try again when I heard something.

Footsteps, heavy. Without a doubt powerful. My empty hand thumbed for the knives that were supposed to be in my sleeves. That is if I hadn't left my new outfit to be repaired.

With a soft swear I reached down onto my thigh and pulled out my baton switching it to my left hand and my sword to my prosthetic. Only then did I turn my head backwards right on time to see a massive figure emerge from the stairs.

With a height past two meders and raw power so tangible I could almost feel his presence send a shiver down my spine the man that emerged was beyond any adventurer I'd seen. Absurd, even after I've seen so much… The fact that he can make me halt when nothing in this world even came close so far…

A Monster

There was no doubt as to his identity, Ottar.

I didn't socialise much, but even I knew the very peaks of the metaphorical mountain when it came to adventurers. Good thing I knew at least that much. Ottar could be said to stand at the very top of that mountain. Ottar the King. The Warlord.

Captain of the Freya familia.

Someone who'd kill you the moment he knew what you were

I was coming to pretty much despise that familia.

I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I couldn't survive a direct fight against him. Even then I stared into his inscrutable eyes. What the hell was he thinking? He was armed with only a single sword, and I could see still healing wounds all over him. He must've returned from the Dungeon hours ago at best.

He said nothing simply examining me silently. He seems to have found something as he nodded slightly.

"Warlord, why have you come?" I asked simply, no use beating around the bush.

"To understand my Goddesses words." He admitted just as simply.

I had to hold myself back from shaking my head in confusion. The hell was he talking about? No, before that what the hell had Freya told him?

With the questions flashing through my head I took in a deep breath and steadied my grip around my weapons. In response Ottar nodded once more as if satisfied he'd been right.

"A Soldier then, or a Killer. Not an Adventurer." He commented as he diverted his eyes from me towards the dummy.

I didn't consider myself a soldier, but I was a killer even if it wasn't in the same sense that he meant. Still what was he basing that off of? My stance? Or maybe just a gut feeling, going by what I had seen that made an equal amount of sense.

Tch, reading Ottar was difficult. I couldn't make sense of him properly; I knew too little about him.

I could wonder about his thoughts later, right now I needed to get through this conversation without this massive wall suddenly getting 'renovations'.

Going by how relaxed he was he didn't seem to be here for a fight. Good thing too, because I wasn't quite sure how I'd deal with him without using the nanothorn knife.

Just blinding him with flashbangs and running away might be my only choice. Though the more realistic or as some friends of mine would call it 'paranoid' part of me told me that probably wouldn't work against him.

Combat was simply not an option.

"So? Are you satisfied?" I ended up asking. I had to make sure to keep any aggression or reprehension off my tone.

Ottar's blank stare didn't change in any manner, but he did shake his head.

"Lady Freya has been in a terrible mood ever since she met you. Hedin informed me that you might know how to solve it." He admitted reluctantly, or rather what I think passed for reluctance for him. It was the first hint of an emotion I'd seen from him.

Whatever the emotional capacity of the living killing machine may be, I still had to figure out what Freya's moods had to do with me.

…Suffice to say I preferred that the mood of the city's top dog didn't fluctuate so nebulously.

Was it something I'd said? My first instinct was to say no, but I knew for a fact that my last comment about her familia had bothered her. Now was it the fact that I'd pointed it out that had annoyed her or her position inside a gilded cage?

It was most likely the latter.

As if I could say that to Ottar, who knows what his reaction would be.

I shook my head. "Hedin must've been mistaken; I've got no idea what could be bothering her." I replied carefully.

Liar you're just afraid

And Ottar… well he reacted a bit weirdly.

He bowed slightly and clasped his hands in front of his head with his face pointed towards the earth. Even then his head was above mine. The bowed pose did nothing to hide his prodigious size and impressive build, but it did look… quite weird.

Silence reigned as I tried to figure out what was going on and Ottar remained in his pose.

"…What are you doing?" The words finally escaped my lips breaking the silence.

"I've been taught this is a powerful method of asking for a favour." Ottar rumbled with his usual tone but now that I knew what his tells looked like I thought I saw a hint of desperation.

He continued as I was still silently stunned.

"Lady Freya… her mood has been getting worse and worse over the years, though I am ashamed to admit it my skills do not lie in helping her. I must earnestly ask for your help." He spoke surely but politely as if merely asking for such a favour was against his nature.

He must've really cared for Freya. Similar to the others in his familia but slightly different, more… like a doting child rather than the slavish worship I'd recognized.

Damn it. I'm just convincing myself, aren't I?

"I'm assuming the rest of your familia is also useless?"

Ottar unclasped his hands but remained bowed.

"Yes." He replied unashamedly.

A sigh escaped my lips.

…Honestly, I want nothing to do with Freya. Her whole unwilling beauty or whatever creeps me out.

But when I see someone stuck, totally isolated… it pulls at my heartstrings. Simple as that. I've always hated isolation and Freya… well she's isolated in a uniquely terrible way. No one around her even realises they're slowly but firmly choaking her.

No wonder she's getting 'moody'.

…Lisa would laugh at me if she saw me like this. And she sure as hell could've found a more effective way to solve the situation. But she's not around and she's also not around to tell me to keep my distance.

"Your familia has become a collar around Freya's neck." I spoke making Ottar raise his head back up.

I ignored his blank stare and continued.

"I can't guess at her thoughts regardless of what this Hedin might've said, I'm still just a human. But I can tell for certain that she's trapped by the devotion of your familia." I spoke despite the unnerving blank stare I got from Ottar. "Putting it simply you people aren't giving her what she came down here for and are also preventing her from going about and searching for it."

"Ah… We have been trying to foolishly chain the wind to ourselves." Ottar spouted nonsense as he finished listening.

"Sure, if that makes it easier to understand. I don't see how you lot can fix that though; you're a bit different than the rest but even then, it's a fool's errand." I dismissed his words and tried to get him to go away.

Instead Ottar nodded his head gratefully and rose back to his full height.

"Regardless, you have cleared up much, my Lady was right to call you a Sage."

A 'sage'? The hell was he on about? I wasn't a sage in any manner or form.

"I'm nothing like a sage, just someone seeing from an outside perspective." I dismissed hoping he'd go away now that the conversation was done.

But he didn't.

"I will try to pay you back with advice from an Adventurer to one who is not." He spoke again making my attention flick over to his serious looking expression.

"You are not used to using a sword and your technique is inherently flawed. Every gauge and scrape in that dummy is proof enough, I will not lecture you on how to develop your skills. Anyone can do that." He began his lecture, and I had to wonder how the hell he was pulling all this info from a mere glance at my target dummy.

"It is your mentality that is lacking, you do not see yourself as swordswoman or an Adventurer merely a soldier. You do not triumph against great foes, you trample obstacles." He spoke full of conviction beginning a lecture with eyes that stared off into an old memory.

"At the point you are at, conventional wisdom fails, and hard work is only one half of the trial. You must challenge yourself fully and wholly to proceed." He lectured neutrally, almost as if he was reciting something he'd learned long ago.

It seemed like gibberish but with the way this world worked… I was hesitant to call it that.

Regardless of my opinion on his teachings he turned around and left just as quickly as he had come and without a word of goodbye.

…What a weird guy. I could certainly see him being the strongest of Orario though.

Terrifying even to me, and with the mess I've been through that's certainly high praise.

A monster recognises another

As I finally heard his footsteps fade, I holstered my baton and got back to my practice though with Ottar's advice now in the back of my mind.

…hah, 'You must challenge yourself fully and wholly to proceed.'? What did that even mean? It's not like I had a Falna that would let me grow with challenges. Repeating my motions and getting my technique down was the only thing I could do.

Even if I had a Falna… My opponents, they've never mattered. Whenever I've fought, I've always fought for those around me. I've never fought to conquer or to overcome.

I fundamentally cannot be an adventurer like Alise or Leon. I can't see my enemies as great challenges or anything. The only thing I see when I look at this dummy in front of me, is another little step to take so that I could make the world a safer place. I am no greater than life hero or some sort of warrior.

I am just Taylor Hebert and all the baggage that came with it.

An abomination, one that no one will accept except for me

I took in a deep breath and let it out again. The world seemed to fade away slightly and I could feel my vision narrow down on my target. Time to force myself to take another step.

Take as many as you like, it won't be enough

With smooth motions I shifted into my work in progress stance and steadied my sword. Another breath in and out. In the next instant I'd leapt forward once more. Shockwaves kept following in my wake, but I didn't let my gaze waver even slightly from my target.

Right as I was within a meder or so of the dummy I thrust my arm forward at a slight downwards angle. It connected with the battered surface of the dummy right in the chest.

I heard the horrific ringing noise and the screech of metal against metal, and immediately afterwards I felt shards of metal scatter across my exposed face. Even then my eyes didn't close as I watched every single moment of my sword finally biting into the adamantite.

One, two, three, four inches.

My sword sunk into the dummy four inches deep and I pushed the dummy down onto the ground with the nail like sword digging into its chest. I knew a grimace was on my face, I knew this was good progress, but it was unsatisfying.

It wasn't enough.

That thought kept echoing through my head as I stared at the sword sticking out of the dummy like a nail begging to be hammered in. I knew what to do when the conventional and rational method didn't work.

I stepped onto the dummy and raised my arm. With frustration built up over days fuelling my muscles I brought my fist down onto the pommel.

A shockwave rung out through the air as the nail was hammered in and sent even more metal flying out of the puncture.

Smashing your head against a wall won't bring it down

…It won't but pick up a hammer and eventually you'll get through.

I brought my fist down again. Once more the screams of metal against metal filled the air.

If I can't elegantly pierce or slash through, then I'll carve a way one hammer blow at a time. Just like I've always done.

My fist rose one last time and came down again rewarding me with the feeling of my sword piercing through the dummy.

I stood there breathing heavily. Staring into the sword forcefully shoved through the dummy.

Ottar had been right, it was spirit that I was lacking. Hard work I had in spades, skill I had more than enough of. But I didn't have the spirit of an adventurer.

I couldn't overcome a great challenge or anything like that. I could only force myself forward, hammering over and over again when piercing didn't work.

After all… I had never shied away from unconventional methods.


Ais Wallenstein Troubled Girl

Father was practicing his swings again and mother had once again managed to convince him to let us watch. Though she was trying to read a story to me I was far too occupied with watching Father to listen to her. For some reason I felt I desperately had to watch him or else he'd slip away.

I could never track his actual blade or even his arms but the slight movements of his torso and the almost unnoticeable motions he did were always burned into my retinas every time I watched him like this.

I needed to learn from them, I…

Why would I need to learn from them? Father would never let me pick up a sword anyways always saying I was 'far too young regardless'…

Not like it would matter when he left me.

Huh? But he's not going to leave me… Mother and Father will never leave me. They can't!

"Ais, your dad and I are going on a little trip down into the Great Pit, we'll leave you with Celdia for a while. Alright?" Mother asked with her usual gentle tone.

"Not Miss Khepera?" I asked back, but my Mother didn't reply for a long time and even Father stopped his swings once he heard my words.

He didn't turn back towards us, but I saw his hands clench tightly. I suddenly had a terrible feeling pass through me.

"Khepera is… Well, she won't be able to come see you for a long time." Mother eventually answered with a shaking voice.

She's…dead?

She's not dead.

She's dead.

No way, I just saw her.

She's dead.

She can't be dead!

DeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDeadDead...

"Is she busy? When will she come back?" The voice that was once mine asked again, pure like a fresh spring. It was lost to me now.

As my head turned towards Mother, I saw the pained expression she had on her face.

"…It'll take longer than mortal memory for her to come back, Ais." Father replied instead, having already returned back to his swings with fresh vigour.

My head tilted slightly. I hadn't gotten what he'd meant at the time. But that was fine, I had still had time to remain ignorant back then.

I had had time until all was taken from me.

"Why will it take that long?" Another painful question slipped out of my mouth. Mother latched onto me tightly embracing me in an almost crushing grip and I heard the wind around us intensify, violently shaking the branches of the trees in the surroundings.

"Us Mortals have only so much time on this world, Ais. Even spirits like Khepera and I will one day… fade away." She spoke gently into my ears, as if she didn't want me to hear her words no matter how necessary they were.

I turned back to ask another question, but mother wasn't there. Nothing even indicated she'd ever been there. I was alone.

I turned my head around to search for my Father only to be met with a desolate wasteland of scorched earth caustic ash. The vast body of a creature covered in onyx scales landed right before me and before I could even take a step back, I was pushed into the Great Pit by an unseen force.

I screamed as I fell. I-!

Woke up.

A muffled gasp escaped out of my mouth. Had it not been for the hand covering my mouth I surely would've screamed. But once I felt the heat of the two bodies wrapped around mine, I relaxed, if only slightly.

Tione and Tiona had slid out of their own bedrolls again and tumbled into the jumble of limbs we inevitably ended up in whenever we shared a tent. I shook off Tiona's hand from my mouth and lied back down.

Sleep didn't come though. Of course it wouldn't, dreams of my parents ending with a nightmare were very rare and always left me disturbed the entire night.

The fact that it involved Khepera only made me more worried. No, worried is putting it lightly, I was terrified. My hands were still shaking from that nightmare, and I could feel a constant shiver going down my spine.

Khepera, Taylor… When I'd last seen her and she'd been hiding something, but even I could tell she'd fought "someone" not something.

Taylor often ruined whatever clothes she fought in, but this time was different, the cuts were a little too straight and there was too much blood for such small wounds. They all had a simple explanation. An adventurer had tried to kill her and failed.

And on top of that once she'd greeted us with clear fatigue, she'd pulled Finn aside and told him something which had him going straight to biting at his thumb in worry.

Taylor had been careful to keep me out of earshot and Riveria had gone so far as to order some people to keep me away. For what reason I had no idea but that secret along with Taylor's worn-down form was more than enough for me to guess someone dangerous was running around the Dungeon.

Evilus? I was usually forbidden from fighting against them so I didn't know much but the only other faction in the city besides them that could harm Taylor would be Freya Familia. And from what I knew of them they wouldn't attack in the Dungeon if they truly wanted Taylor gone.

So that only left Evilus. But why hadn't she told me?

…That's a stupid question, I already knew why. I was weak.

I was a weak, pathetic, a doll that couldn't catch up no matter how many Monsters I slaughtered. No matter how much I pushed myself, tore at my muscles and swung my sword tirelessly I remained firmly behind Taylor, Finn, Riveria and Gareth.

Forced to chase after their shadows while never catching up, kept away from the true danger because I was not even worth considering.

I…I-

I was pathetic.

Silently I untangled myself from the Hiryute sisters' embrace and stood up only pausing to grab Desperate. I pulled on my boots and left the tent as silently as I could. Getting caught by Riveria when I was like this would be disastrous, I didn't want to see the distraught expression on her face, nor did I want to be gently reassured.

Just a few minutes or hours of slaughter to set my mind at ease and I could sleep.

Silent steps took me through the line of tents and away from the occasional guards scattered around. Normally I would've had to wait for a shift change or something of the sort to get out but since we'd camped near a cliffside there was an easier way out.

Climbing.

Just as Finn had taught me, I secured my sword tightly on and jumped on to the wall making sure that my body remained in the shadows. I began climbing palming gaps in the surface and pulling myself up slowly but surely.

It took barely ten minutes for me to climb the entire cliffside, if I hadn't had to make sure to stay in the shadows it would've been even faster, but Taylor had told me to do something properly if I was going to be doing it at all.

"Always give everything your all and think every decision through to the end. Carelessness and indolence are the greatest killers."

I don't think she meant for me to use her lessons to sneak out at night to kill monsters but neither would Finn so that was moot.

With one final push I pulled myself up and over the ledge stepping away from the cliff so that no one below would see me. Now then… where do I go?

That question was quite the good one, because for all my talk of following Taylor's lessons I'd forgotten to plan ahead. I didn't know the layout of the 18th floor exactly, but I knew all the exits on these mountains led upwards, I didn't want to fight minotaurs and weak hellhounds I wanted to fight properly, to empty myself in combat, to let my worries be burned away by the black flame.

I-

A loud cracking sound and the earth shaking briefly interrupted my thoughts. A monster birth? In the 18th floor? No that was impossible, it must be something else.

…I need to check it out, even I am not reckless enough to danger my Familia to sneak away.

I drew my sword and began making my way to where I had sensed the shock with my eyes peeled. There was an entire forest between me and that source, but quick steps made short work of that. I wasn't doing much to hide my presence, if it was a monster then killing it was the first course of action.

If it was someone suspicious, I would use Ariel and Riveria would wake up the moment she sensed me… She had become scarily perceptive to my magic over the years.

Between those thoughts I finally arrived where the trees parted, and the edges of the floor was clearly visible. I halted in my tracks when I saw the walls.

Craters as wide as a house and as deep as about half my height covered the wall, the Dungeon was trying to repair them but the cracks that went up the wall to the ceiling took priority. It was a terrifying display of strength from whatever had done it.

I didn't have to wonder about the perpetrator for long as my gaze landed on a squat form wearing simple clothes along with a small pack. His hands were raw from scraping against the walls and his beard was unusually messy.

Gareth. Why was Gareth here?! He halted in the middle of his next blow against the wall, and I ducked behind a tree before he could begin turning this way.

Calm! Calm! I needed to steady my heartbeat, just like Taylor taught me. I breathed out through my mouth slowly making my heartbeat return to normal. I breathed in and out gently forcing myself to return to a calm and silent heartbeat.

I leaned slightly to sneak a peek and…

Gareth was gone.

A powerful hand landed on my shoulder, and I almost jumped straight into the tree. I slowly turned around and Gareth was right there as I'd expected holding on to me gently but firmly.

"Where'd you learn something like that? Slowin' your heartbeat?! Good Gods lass, that's not something a girl your age should know!" He complained lightly but didn't move even the slightest bit.

I didn't answer him.

"So? Ain't it past your bedtime? Why are you wandering around here this late at night with only your sleeping clothes and a sword on ye for?" He questioned again and I awkwardly squirmed as he kept staring.

Gareth shook his head and sighed. He let go of me for a moment and with a gentle looking push knocked over a nearby tree. He sat on the trunk and patted the space next to him.

"Come over lass, let's hear it." He spoke gently, just like back when I'd first joined.

…Gareth, Riveria and Finn had always been so patient with me.

I shyly sat down and waited as Gareth pulled out a maintenance kit from his pack and held out his hand.

"Show me your sword Ais, I'll check over if you've been takin' care of it properly. And you can tell me what's botherin' you."

I silently passed Desperate over and Gareth brought my slender sword up to his eye level inspecting it closely. In his hands the sword looked almost comically small, and I had to imagine we looked like an uncle repairing his niece's toy.

"I had a nightmare." I said suddenly.

Gareth hummed and lowered Desperate.

"Worse than the usual?"

I grit my teeth slightly.

"It began with my parents, then they told me Khepera was dead and then they were gone."

Gareth frowned in response. "And now yer on edge, waiting for a shoe to drop."

I nodded as he passed Desperate back over and I sheathed it.

"I won't say 'It's just a dream', that doesn't help but I'll tell you somethin'. That girl, Taylor she's like you. In the very worst way possible."

He said and I flinched and forced my gaze away. Gareth sighed as if debating to say something. He decided not to hold back.

"You remember when that Tsubaki lass from Hephaestus familia called you a 'sword'?" He asked eventually.

I nodded silently, I couldn't forget that… she'd forced me to come face to face with what I was becoming.

"Taylor is like that too, but whatever her obsession was she overcame it." I couldn't understand the words I was hearing.

Taylor? Like me? When she was always so composed? When she always seemed so careful with people around her? When she was so strong and refined? How could she be similar to me? I was nothing but violence, just the black flame in the shape of a person.

A soft hit came to my head breaking apart my thoughts.

"None of that. I can't tell what yer thinking but it's no good." Gareth lectured and I nodded while holding the top of my head.

How did such a gentle blow hurt so much?

"As I was sayin' that girl, Taylor, overcame her own sort of that same flame you have. She's proof that someone like you two can live right properly. If you are worried about her, don't be. She's strong, not just in the way we are either… she's strong and talented in the way you are."

The praise made me send a questioning look his way which got a throaty laugh out of Gareth.

"Don't look like that, lass! You're probably the most talented adventurer of your generation, if you keep going like this, you'll overtake us in a few years. Mark my words by the time you're eighteen you'll have surpassed us!" He reassured me boisterously.

Eighteen? That's still almost seven years away…

"That won't help if Taylor gets into a fight now though…" I complained.

"That's your worry then? Not being allowed to join if Evilus picks another fight?" As expected, Gareth understood my worries, despite his usual attitude he was the one that understood me the best out of the three.

I nodded silently.

"Well… it's true if Evilus brings out their worst there's no way we're callin' you up." He admitted bluntly. "That's not because you're weak though, it's because you're not ready for that sort of bloodshed. There's a reason that even during the Great Feud you were mostly on monster cullin' duty."

I tilted my head slightly. "Not ready?" I questioned.

"Aye, fighting and killing people is different, Ais. It hurts the soul and for children like you who still need time to grow into your own it's worse."

I nodded uncomprehending. Gareth sighed in response.

"Don't worry about it, just trust Taylor and us to take care of ourselves for another… let's say five years." He said as he began softly petting my head.

I frowned but nodded.

"Then… if I promise to trust you, will you tell me what Taylor told Finn?" I asked with an insistent and petulant tone.

"Take advantage of everything you can." I remember Taylor telling me that. So this is definitely the right thing to do.

Gareth froze suddenly. He began rubbing the back of his neck and I swear I saw a drop of sweat drop down his brow.

"If I do that Riveria will genuinely kill me lass." He tried to refuse.

I pushed up on my seat and clasped my hands together just as I'd learned from Loki.

"Please." I begged.

Gareth looked so bewildered I imagined this sort of effect was exactly why Loki had taught me how to beg like this.

"I really can't…"

I looked up at him with pleading eyes.

He sighed loudly.

"Just a little then. Some Evilus members we thought dead were still alive and she had a run in with em." He said evenly.

I stared at him blankly…

"Anyone dangerous…?" I tentatively asked.

Gareth froze for a moment and then replied.

"… Just a level four Olivas Act, more of a schemer than anything else."

That's it…? A level four… even well laid traps could get them only so far against a first-class adventurer. So how had Taylor been so heavily wounded?

"Don't tell Riveria I told you that, all right?" I nodded mutely. So much effort for so little! Still Gareth looked so much more relaxed now…

Suspicious. But if Gareth really was going so far as to lie then there was no way I'd ever get it out of him.

"Come on then, let's get back before Riveria wakes up, I swear that woman can feel it when you're not sleeping." He said as he got up but before we left, I had one last question.

"Gareth…"

"Aye lass?" He asked as he turned around to look over at me.

"Why were you up here at this late an hour?"

Gareth began stroking his beard.

"Well even us executives need to train, and I can't really train in front of the rest of the familia it discourages them. So I train at night."

I nodded at his explanation.

"When do Riveria and Finn train then?"

Gareth laughed.

"Taking care of you is Riveria's training and Finn… well I know he disappears sometimes when we're above but no clue where he goes."

Taking care of me is training…? Considering what I had been trying to do tonight…

Oh. I really am troublesome.

I silently stood up and followed after Gareth.

Maybe I should be nicer to Riveria?

…I'll try.


An: Been a while, huh.

So suffice to say life, a wedding, writers block and a bit of Warthunder thoroughly kicked my ass while writing this chapter.

Seriously it took me 3 months to work this over till I liked it. Rewrites, rereads of Astrea Record and Worm and a bunch of days where I was not motivated to write at all later and here, we are. Hope you like it.

In any case, I have a lot to say in this chapter since a lot of it is character based. First off Alise.

She's troublesome in such a unique way, we don't get a lot from her P.O.V in Astrea record. We get a bit but really nothing in comparison to other characters. We know she has some sort of complex when it comes to leading her familia and keeping it safe and all her other character traits especially her searching for Justice.

But we don't know what she thinks as to her position as one of the recognized "Modern Day Heroes". To be frank, she's not all there yet and she never got there in Canon, since you know… Juggernaut. But people did see her as an upcoming big shot, in fact she was THE upcoming bigshot.

I like to think unlike Leon (the actual one not Ryuu) or Finn, who have entirely different thoughts on their positions as "Hero's" or Ottar, who doesn't give a shit at all, Alise is actively trying to be a Hero. Not in the same way as Bell is but similar, a bit more oriented around her own views.

That's about it as to her.

Now then. Loki and Freya. These two have a weird relationship, they have a rivalry but neither of them really considers it much of one. Freya doesn't give a shit, and we know from how Loki acts towards Syr that she's more interested in Freya being content rather then surpassing her. If she does surpass Freya? Eat shit sex-for-brains, the best goddess wins again. If not? Well the rivalry keeps going.

Fun.

I'll leave Ais and Taylor's sections for you to discuss. For now that's all from me, hopefully you'll get another chapter in two weeks or so.