2 Months and 5 Days Since the MS Begins.
∆∆∆∆
The morning sun beat down mercilessly upon the grand marble plaza stretching before the main entrance of the Guild headquarters. It should have been a standard, bustling day of bureaucratic transactions and adventurers trading magic stones, but today, the perimeter was entirely choked by a massive, spectator heavy crowd.
Word had spread through the taverns and back alleys of Orario within hours of the War Game's conclusion: the absolute dissolution of the Apollo Familia was officially underway.
Leaning casually against a structural pillar near the edge of the plaza, Hermes adjusted the brim of his traveler's hat, a faint, knowing smirk playing on his lips.
A few paces away, Loki sat perched on the edge of a stone balustrade, swinging her long legs back and forth while nursing a small flask of expensive wine.
They, along with dozens of mid-tier deities and off duty adventurers, had secured front row seats for what was rapidly devolving into a magnificent, historic clown show.
At the epicenter of the plaza, Apollo was currently on his knees.
The brilliant robes he usually wore were wrinkled and dragged through the dirt. Tears and mascara streamed down his flushed cheeks in thick, pathetic lines as he sobbed loudly, his hands frantically clawing at the air.
"Please! Hestia, my dear, sweet, merciful Hestia!" Apollo wailed, his voice cracking into a high-pitched shriek that echoed off the surrounding stone pillars. "You cannot do this to me! The castle, the gold, my beautiful children—you have already taken everything! To banish me back to Tenkai? To rip me away from the lower world forever? It is a cruelty unmatched by the deepest floors of the labyrinth!"
Hestia stood directly in front of him, her arms crossed tightly beneath her chest, her twin ribbons bouncing as she practically vibrated with unholy glee. A triumphant, incredibly smug smile was plastered across her face as she looked down her nose at the weeping sun god.
"Oh, keep crying, you golden freak! Let me hear some more of those beautiful, pathetic tears!" Hestia cheered, intentionally leaning over to get a closer look at his ruined face. "You didn't care about mercy when you blew up my room or when your thugs chased me and my children through the streets! The contract is signed, the Guild has verified the terms, and your bags are packed for a one-way trip to the heavens. I'm going to personally watch the light catch your heels when you vanish!"
Apollo's chest heaved as a fresh wave of desperate, breathless sobbing racked his frame.
Realizing that Hestia's maternal spite was entirely impenetrable, his tear filled eyes frantically scanned the small circle of the Hestia Familia standing nearby.
Welf, Lili, and Mikoto were carefully monitoring the heavy iron trunks containing the transferred assets, deliberately ignoring the god's theatrical breakdown.
In a last ditch effort born of pure desperation, Apollo dragged his knees across the cobblestones, scrambling toward Bell and Yuuya.
"Bell! Yuuya!" Apollo begged, reaching out a trembling, manicured hand toward the two boys. "You two are heroes! You possess the hearts of true warriors! Speak to her! Please, tell your goddess to alter the mandate! A compromise! A minor exile! Anything but the heavens!"
Bell immediately flinched, his shoulders tensing as he took a sharp, awkward step backward. His ruby eyes darted frantically across the plaza, looking at the stone pillars, the sky, the dirt—literally anywhere except at the weeping, red-faced deity currently groveling at his boots.
The lingering embarrassment of yesterday's city wide broadcast was still fresh in his mind, and the absolute creepiness of Apollo's intense gaze still disgusts him and make his skin crawl.
Yuuya, however, did not move a single inch.
He stood perfectly still, his arms crossed over his chest, the long tails of his Goliath Scarf hanging straight down.
His dark eyes were narrowed into a cold, freezing glare, and his face was contorted into a profound, venomous, god hating scowl—a look of pure, unadulterated disgust so visceral and dark it could have made a high ranking Evilus executive weep with religious joy.
Apollo looked up, his watery eyes locking onto Yuuya's face, a faint, delusional spark of hope briefly igniting within his chest.
Yuuya slowly tilted his head, maintaining the terrifying glare, and casually spit a neat line of saliva onto the cobblestones, landing it a mere millimeter away from Apollo's trembling fingertips.
(Imagine A-kun spit gif from the anime Aho Girl)
The rejection was absolute, cold, and entirely silent.
Apollo let out a pathetic, strangled whimper, his face dropping back into the dirt as his remaining dignity completely disintegrated.
Internally, Yuuya's vocal cords were itching to mutter the word 'gospel'. He stared down at the crown of Apollo's head, his mind rapidly calculating the structural integrity of the surrounding Guild walls.
'If I cast a Gospel right now...' Yuuya thought dryly, 'I could probably send this... Whatever this thing in front of me is... To the the pavement and launch him straight through the front lobby doors.'
[Not gonna lie mate, his head does look mighty punchable right now.] The system added, further adding into his itch.
His eyes subtly drifted toward the main entrance of the building.
Standing just inside the threshold, Eina was watching the entire scene like a hawk. She was currently holding a fresh, massive stack of blank disciplinary reports, her glasses catching the morning light with a menacing, bureaucratic gleam.
She hadn't taken her eyes off Yuuya since he arrived, silently warning him that a single unauthorized action would result in a lifetime of paperwork.
Yuuya let out a quiet, irritated huff through his nose. He really, REALLY wanted to punch Apollo right now, but he had no intention of spending his afternoon listening to a half-elf lecture him on Guild safety regulations.
Just then, a sharp, devious solution suddenly formed in his mind.
With a silent, fluid stride that left no footfalls on the stone, Yuuya stepped forward, moving directly behind Hestia. Before the small goddess could even register his movement, Yuuya reached out, his large hands clamping firmly around her wrists.
"Eh? Yuuya?" Hestia blinked, tilting her head back in confusion as she felt her arms being forcefully raised and guided into position. "What are you doing—?"
Yuuya didn't answer aloud. His expression remained completely deadpan as he forced Hestia's small hands into a tight, clenched fist, aiming them directly above Apollo's exposed head.
Within his mind, his focus sharpened. He channeled a controlled output of Satanas Verion. Casting it directly into the palms of Hestia's hands. The air around her knuckles violently vibrated, a low, faint hum of compressed atmospheric pressure rippling through the space.
Using Hestia's arms as a literal mechanical proxy, Yuuya drove her reinforced fist straight downward in a swift, brutal executioner's arc.
CRACK
A sharp, localized sonic boom detonated across the plaza as Hestia's fist slammed directly onto the crown of Apollo's head. The sheer kinetic force driven by the sound magic instantly sent the sun god's face smashing flat into the ancient cobblestones, fracturing the stone beneath his nose.
His laurels popped off his head, spinning wildly across the dirt as his entire body went completely rigid, twitching silently on the ground.
It was, template for template, a flawless Gospel Punch.
A few paces away, Bell's entire body went completely stiff. His jaw dropped slightly, his ruby eyes dilating as the specific, hollow thud of a gospel boosted fist meeting a skull echoed through his ears.
A sudden, overpowering wave of pure childhood nostalgia and phantom neural pain rushed through his nervous system.
He remembered a small, quiet house in a village. He remembered being a clumsy child, slipping up on his chores or saying something incredibly stupid, only for a beautiful, sickly woman with silver hair to silently materialize behind his grandfather or uncle Zald or even a unassuming wooden chair, and deliver that exact same move straight to the top of his head.
It was a visceral, terrifying memory of discipline that made him instinctively rub the crown of his own scalp.
The entire plaza fell into a dead, stunned silence. The spectators froze.
Hermes' hat slid slightly down his forehead, his jaw slack, while the Guild assistants standing near the doors completely dropped their ledgers.
'Holy Hera...' thought Hermes. 'I never thought I'll see that move ever again. Last time I saw it, Alfia used it to send Zeus crashing through the wall.'
Yuuya had just indirectly, yet completely intentionally, pummeled a deity into the earth without a single shred of hesitation.
Yuuya smoothly stepped back, releasing Hestia's wrists and crossing his arms over his chest again, his expression returning to its typical, unbothered indifference.
Hestia, meanwhile, stared down at her own tiny, smoking fist. Her eyes slowly went wide, not with horror, but with an absolute, unholy burst of excitement. She bounced on her heels, turning around to face the approaching, pale-faced figure of Eina.
"Did you see that, Eina-kun?!" Hestia shouted loudly, pointing her fist toward the sky while stepping directly in front of Yuuya to shield him. "Look at this raw, unbridled divine strength! My hand made the absolute physical contact with his annoying head! Yuuya was merely providing moral, spiritual, and kinetic motivation from behind! It was entirely my strike, so no rules were broken, and my child will not be receiving any disciplinary action!"
Eina paused, her hand holding the paperwork trembling slightly as her gaze darted between the unconscious god on the floor, the smugly shouting Hestia, and Yuuya, who was currently looking at a passing cloud with complete lack of interest.
She let out a long, defeated sigh, rubbing her temples as she realized the legal loophole was entirely airtight.
From the balustrade, Loki slowly stopped swinging her legs. The wide, chaotic grin that usually defined her face briefly vanished, her narrow eyes snapping completely open as she locked her gaze onto Yuuya's silhouette.
The casual amusement was entirely erased from her posture, replaced by a cold, historical gravity.
She hopped down from the stone, strolling over to Hestia's side, her voice dropping into a raspy, deadly serious whisper that only the immediate group could hear.
"Man oh man, that Yuuya guy is starting to really look like her." Loki murmured, her eyes tracing the sharp lines of Yuuya's scowl. "Hey, Hestia... you better pray to the source that your vanguard only inherited that woman's magical ledger, and not her psychotic attitude... Even though it looks like he's starting to inherit that too... If that kid starts acting like the Silence did during the old days, we're all gonna have a massive problem on our hands."
∆∆∆∆
As the faint, shimmering remnants of divine light finally dissipated into the atmosphere, signaling Apollo's forced departure back to the heavens, the oppressive tension hanging over the plaza broke.
Yuuya let out a long, heavy sigh that seemed to drag from the very soles of his boots.
The terrifying, god hating scowl that had frozen his features ever since the disastrous Apollo Familia banquet completely vanished. His shoulders slumped, the sharp, lethal edge to his posture melting away into pure, unadulterated exhaustion.
For the first time in weeks, he looked like the Yuuya that Hestia and Bell actually knew—just a tired young man in his 20's who desperately wanted a long nap.
Welf walked up beside him, crossing his arms and looking at the scorched, cracked cobblestones where Apollo had just been driven into the dirt. He nudged Yuuya's shoulder with his elbow.
"Man, that peacock really did a number on your mental health, didn't he?" Welf chuckled, though there was a note of genuine sympathy in his voice. "I haven't seen you look that murderous since we were staring down the Goliath on the 18th."
"You have no idea..." Yuuya muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose to ward off an impending headache. "If I had to listen to him wail for another five minutes, Eina's paperwork be damned, I would have used my spell to scrub his existence from the face of Gekai."
"Well, the annoying part is over." Hestia said, dusting off her hands with a highly satisfied smirk. She puffed out her chest proudly. "Now, all that's left is to finalize the paperwork inside. We have a massive castle to claim, legal assets to transfer, and..."
She paused, her eyes suddenly darting to the heavy oak doors of the Guild. Her triumphant expression faltered, replaced by a sudden, icy wave of dread.
"...and the status updates."
Bell swallowed hard, his hand instinctively flying to the back of his neck.
His ruby eyes locked onto Yuuya, a silent, mutual understanding passing between the two boys.
The business outside was finished, but the real dungeon boss was waiting for them inside the lobby.
As they walked through the grand entrance, the bustling noise of the Guild lobby seemed to drop by half.
Adventurers and staff alike stole cautious glances at the small group. The Hestia Familia was no longer an absolute joke; they were the one Familia who had just pulled off the impossible.
But as they approached Eina's designated counter, the trio slowed their pace, gathering into a tight, conspiratorial huddle.
"Remember," Yuuya whispered, his voice low and deadpan as he glanced toward Eina's desk. "Not a single word about the timeline. If she asks when the level up occurred, it happened last night during the post battle adrenaline. Clear?"
"Crystal clear." Bell hissed back, his face pale. He still had vivid nightmares of the lecture he received after the Middle Floors incident. "If she finds out we hid a Level 4 status right under her nose for weeks... we won't just be fined. She'll personally ensure our dungeon privileges are revoked until we're thirty."
Hestia nodded frantically, her twin ribbons shaking.
"My lips are sealed! I am a goddess of hearth and home, not fraud! But for the sake of our ears, I will take this secret to my grave!"
The memory of their initial basement confrontation was still entirely fresh in their minds.
The way Yuuya and Bell had perfectly synchronized their gaslighting routine to break Hestia's moral compass was a masterclass in survival tactics. They had formed a united front of absolute criminality, and there was no turning back now. It truly wasn't illegal if the Guild never found out.
Adjusting his scarf, Yuuya took a breath, resetting his face into a mask of polite indifference.
"Alright. Let's get this over with."
Eina was currently massaging her temples behind her desk, a cooling cup of herbal tea sitting forgotten beside a mountain of generic asset transfer forms.
When the shadow of the Hestia Familia fell over her counter, she slowly raised her head, adjusting her glasses with a look of profound, deeply ingrained wariness.
"Bell-kun. Yuuya-san." Eina began, her voice dangerously calm, though her eyes narrowed slightly as she took in Yuuya's relaxed posture. "The public execution of Apollo-sama's dignity outside was... quite a spectacle. I see you managed to avoid direct physical assault charges by using your goddess as a blunt instrument."
"It was a joint effort, Eina-san." Yuuya said smoothly, sliding a sealed parchment envelope across the smooth wooden counter. "But we aren't here to discuss the property damage. We're here to officially log our updated status sheets following the conclusion of the War Game."
Eina sighed, pulling the envelope toward her.
"Right. The standard updates. Bell-kun's exceptional performance in the castle was heavily monitored, so we anticipated a significant rise in his core statistics. Let's see..."
She broke the wax seal, sliding the first parchment out. Her eyes scanned the elegant divine script detailing Bell's growth.
Bell Cranel
Level 3
Eina's breath hitched. She looked up, her gaze shifting from the paper to Bell, who gave a nervous, sheepish grin.
"Level 3... In such a short amount of time. It's completely unprecedented, Bell-kun. The higher-ups are going to be throwing a massive fit over the scaling metrics, but you defeated a Level 3 while being a level 2... I am incredibly proud of you."
"T-Thank you, Eina-san!" Bell squeaked, bowing slightly, immensely relieved that she hadn't started yelling yet.
"Now then..." Eina murmured, turning her attention to the second piece of parchment inside the envelope. "Let's see your adjustments, Yuuya. I suppose this is just for me to take a look at your current status? Because after all, given your support role and the magical assistance you provided on the war game, I assume your statistics have stabilized nicely at Level 3—"
The words died in her throat.
Eina's eyes locked onto the bold, numeral at the top of Yuuya's sheet.
Yuuya Mitsukuji
Level 4
The silence that followed was absolute.
Eina froze completely. Her fingers went rigid against the parchment, her jaw dropping just enough for a faint, imaginary wisp of her soul to literally begin escaping from her mouth.
Her eyes darted from the number four, to Yuuya's completely calm face, back to the paper, and then to Hestia, who was currently sweating profusely while whistling a terribly unconvincing tune.
"Level... Four..." Eina whispered, her voice cracking into a register that sounded entirely foreign. "Two months. It hasn't even been... you were... you just..."
"The adrenaline of the War Game is a powerful catalyst, Eina-san." Yuuya explained with a completely straight face, his voice a soothing, entirely fraudulent hum. Though inside, he himself is nervous. "The sheer pressure of protecting my Familia forced a sudden, massive breakthrough. It was a miraculous development."
Bell nodded solemnly, his eyes wide and innocent.
"Yes. A total miracle. We were all very surprised."
Eina didn't hear them.
Her mind was rapidly calculating the sheer volume of bureaucratic chaos that a dual level-up—specifically a record-shattering Level 4—would unleash upon the Guild's infrastructure.
The tax adjustments for a high-tier Familia, the mandatory rank-up reports, the safety protocol rewrites, the official statements to the divine coalition, and the inevitable security audits.
"Misha..." Eina called out, her voice hollow and dead, staring blankly ahead.
Her pink haired coworker poked her head over from the adjacent counter.
"Yes, Eina? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Bring me the high-density tax ledgers," Eina murmured, her glasses sliding slightly down her nose. "The Level 4 registration forms. The exceptional growth auditing sheets. The regional defense reassessment packets. And... bring the extra inkwell. The large one."
Misha blinked, her smile faltering as she looked at the status paper on Eina's desk. Her eyes went wide.
"Wait. Level 4?! As in...?! Today?!"
The realization spread through the front desk like a contagious plague.
Within seconds, a senior Guild supervisor walked out of the back room, carrying a literal wooden crate stacked to the brim with blank, yellowing documents, dropping it onto the counter with a heavy, dust-kicking thud.
"Attention all floor staff." the supervisor announced grimly, rubbing his temples. "We have a catastrophic administrative anomaly. All scheduled lunch breaks time are officially cut in half. Divide the Hestia Familia's asset seizure files and these new level up logs into four separate sectors."
A collective, soul crushing groan echoed across the entire reception hall. Dozens of Guild employees simultaneously dropped their pens, slumping over their desks in absolute misery.
"Are you kidding me?!" one clerk muttered, burying his face in his hands. "I had plans tonight!"
"A Level 3 and a Level 4 in the same week? From the same three person Familia?!" another cried out, aggressively shuffling a massive stack of papers. "The paperwork alone is going to take until next Tuesday! Why couldn't they just stay low level?!"
Sensing that the atmosphere in the lobby was rapidly turning hostile due to the sheer volume of forced overtime they had just caused, Yuuya subtly tapped Bell's shoulder.
"Our business here is legally concluded," Yuuya whispered. "Let's move."
"Agreed." Bell muttered, backing away from the counter while Eina was still staring blankly at the massive stack of tax forms being piled in front of her.
The trio slipped out of the Guild doors smoothly, blending into the morning crowd before the administrative wrath could materialize into actual shouting. They had survived. The tactical delay had done its job, Apollo was gone, and their secret was safely buried beneath a mountain of miserable Guild paperwork.
Leaving the chaotic bureaucracy of the Guild behind, the group marched through the winding streets of Orario toward the southeastern district. Cosisting of Hestia, Bell, Yuuya, Welf, and Lili. Mikoto has something to do so she didn't manage to come along.
The mood was significantly lighter, but they still had one critical piece of legal business to conclude before they could truly celebrate.
They were heading to the Soma Familia compound to finally buy out Lili's freedom.
As the gloomy, run down stone walls of the Soma compound came into view, Hestia suddenly froze in the middle of the cobblestone street.
Her hands began frantically patting down the front of her uniform, her eyes widening in a slow, mounting horror.
"G-Goddess?" Bell asked, stopping beside her. "What's wrong?"
"The... the money pouch..." Hestia stammered, her face turning entirely pale as she patted her empty hips. "I left it on the tavern! And the Apollo Familia's treasury funds are still locked up in the Guild's verification office! We don't have a single coin on us!"
Welf groaned, tossing his hands behind his head.
"Great. We walked all the way across town just to show up empty handed. Should we turn back?"
"It's completely fine, Goddess, Master Bell." Lili said quickly, offering a small, reassuring. "There's really no rush. Soma-sama isn't going anywhere, and my former Familia members are too busy dealing with their own internal mess to care about me right now. We can always come back tomorrow."
Yuuya, who had been walking silently at the rear with his hands casually on his sides, tilted his head slightly.
"Lili." Yuuya said, his tone entirely flat. "Exactly how much is the buyout fee that Zanis demanded?"
Lili blinked, turning around to face him.
"Oh, it's quite a steep sum because they wanted to make it impossible for me to leave. It's exactly ten million valis."
"Ten million..." Bell choked on his own breath, his eyes popping out. "That's a lot of money! We should wait—"
Before Bell could finish his sentence, Yuuya casually extended his right hand into the empty air beside him.
The space near his fingertips suddenly rippled like water, a strange, silent tear opening in the fabric of reality.
Without a single word or a change in his expression, Yuuya reached his arm deep into the invisible rift. A second later, he hoisted a massive, impossibly bloated canvas sack out of the void and dropped it onto the cobblestones.
THUD
The heavy, unmistakable, metallic clink of thousands of high-denomination gold coins echoed sharply through the quiet alleyway.
The sheer weight of the sack caused it to slump outward, revealing neatly stacked, glinting rows of pristine valis coins bursting from the ties.
It was exactly ten million valis, counted down to the very last decimal.
Welf stared at the giant sack of money, then looked up at Yuuya, then rubbed his eyes aggressively. He repeated this cycle three times before finally speaking.
"Hey... Bell? Hit me real quick." Welf muttered, his voice cracking. "Am I tripping right now? Am I having a post war hallucination? Did Yuuya just summon a literal fortune out of thin air?"
"Y-Yuuya?!" Hestia shrieked, jumping back a few feet while pointing a trembling finger at the gold. "Where did that come from?! What did you just do to space?! Are you secretly a god of wealth disguised as a mortal?! Explain this to your goddess right now!"
Yuuya calmly pulled his hand back, the dimensional rift snapping shut behind it without leaving a single trace. He adjusted his Goliath scarf with complete indifference.
"It's not divine magic, Goddess." Yuuya explained casually, his voice completely level. "Think of it as a localized dimension storage. It's a personal ability I've kept on the down low."
"Dimension storage?!" Lili gasped, her jaw dropped so low it looked like it might unhinge. "A sub-space pocket? Like the legendary items from the stories on the ancient hero eras?!"
"Pretty much." Yuuya lied smoothly, maintaining his perfect cover story without letting a single detail about his System slip. "The mechanics are simple. I can store essentially anything inside it, as long as the total volume of the items doesn't exceed the size of a small room. There are obvious limitations, of course. I can't store living humans or monsters inside it."
"A small room?!" Welf yelled, his eyes sparkling with an intense, blacksmith's curiosity. "Do you know how many rows of heavy broadswords and spare armor plates you can fit in a space that big?! You could carry an entire armory on your back!"
"There's one more feature." Yuuya added, holding up a finger. "Time inside the pocket is completely static. If I put a hot, freshly cooked meal inside it and pull it out three months later, it will still be steaming hot and completely fresh. Food doesn't spoil in there."
"But why didn't it ever appear on you falna!?" Asked Hestia.
"I don't know."
The alley then fell into an absolute, breathless silence as the sheer weight of his explanation sank into their minds.
Lili stood completely frozen, her eyes darting from the ten million valis sack to Yuuya's unbothered face. Her mind, sharp and trained entirely around the logistics of dungeon exploration, began executing rapid, terrifying calculations.
"A vanguard who can carry an endless supply of hot food..." Lili murmured, her voice dropping into a shaky, horrified whisper. "A vanguard who doesn't need to carry a backpack. A warrior who can mindlessly slaughter a horde of monsters, instantly absorb their magic stones into a pocket dimension, and keep moving at full agility without ever slowing down or getting weighed down..."
She took a slow step backward, her hands trembling.
"Yuuya-sama..." Lili said, her eyes wide with a profound, terrifying realization. "You... you are basically a one man army. You don't actually need a supporter at all, do you?"
"Well, practically speaking, yes." Yuuya replied, nodding once.
But as the word supporter left his mouth, something suddenly clicked in Yuuya's tactical brain. His eyes shifted slightly.
If you really thought about it... his pocket dimension didn't just make him efficient. In the context of a massive dungeon expedition, an ability like this was an absolute, game breaking cheat code.
A traditional expedition required dozens of supporters just to carry the food, the spare weapons, the tents, and the heavy loot back to the surface. They were the lifeline of any major Familia.
And Yuuya? For all intents and purposes, he was the literal, ultimate enemy of the entire Supporter trade.
He didn't just replace a supporter; he entirely invalidated their existence.
He could act as the apex vanguard and the ultimate pack mule simultaneously, executing a flawless, deep floor solo run without a single logistical drawback.
'If word of this ever leaks out into the streets of Orario...' Yuuya realized. 'Majority, if not all familia in Orario, will literally declare war on us just to kidnap me for their deep floor records. And every single supporter in the lower world will look at me with enough pure, burning jealousy to manifest a new curse.'
While Yuuya was having his silent realization, Lili's entire worldview was violently collapsing right in front of them.
"A one man expedition..." Lili whispered, her voice trembling as a dark cloud of pure existential dread visibly formed over her head. She dropped to her knees right beside the giant sack of gold, her arms hanging limply at her sides. "He carries the money. He carries the weapons. He carries the food. The food doesn't even get cold..."
"Uh, Lili?" Bell asked nervously, taking a step toward her. "Are you okay?"
"Then... what am I even here for?" Lili questioned the empty air, her eyes completely hollow and devoid of light as she began to spiral into a massive crisis. "What is my purpose? Why did I train my legs to carry heavy weights? Why did I master the art of organizing inventory? If Yuuya-sama can just swallow an entire dungeon floor into his invisible void, what am I supposed to do? Am I just a decorative ornament for the Hestia Familia?!"
"Lili, that's not true at all—" Bell tried to comfort her, waving his hands frantically.
"No, Master Bell, look at the reality!" Lili cried out dramatically, clutching her head as she rocked back and forth on the cobblestones. "I am obsolete! I've been entirely replaced by a pocket dimension! My life's work as a supporter has been utterly defeated by spatial magic! Why did I even buy these specialized storage straps?! What is my purpose in the dungeon?! To just walk behind him and clap smoothly whenever he clears a room?! Is my ultimate destiny to become a professional cheerleader?!"
Welf bit his lip, trying his absolute best to smother a loud burst of laughter, while Hestia just stared at the dramatic, weeping prum girl with a mixture of amusement and pity.
Yuuya looked down at the spiraling girl with concern on his face, and slowly nudged the ten million valis sack a fraction of an inch closer to her.
"Lili..." Yuuya said smoothly. "You're overthinking it. Your current purpose is to pick up that sack, walk into that building, and buy your freedom. We can discuss your decorative value to the team later."
It appears Apollo's effect on Yuuya's mind is still not entirely gone. Making him have a poor choice of vocabulary.
The moment the words "decorative value" left Yuuya's mouth, the ambient temperature in the alleyway seemed to drop by ten degrees.
Bell froze mid panic, his jaw dropping as he looked at Yuuya with a horrified expression that screamed "Why would you say that?!"
Welf instantly clapped a hand over his own mouth, his shoulders shaking violently as he tried—and failed—to suffocate a massive burst of laughter.
Even Hestia winced, pulling back slightly.
For a second, Lili didn't move. She remained on her knees, her head bowed. Then, slowly, her shoulders began to tremble.
"D-Decorative..." Lili whispered, her voice dangerously quiet. She slowly raised her head, and the pure, unadulterated existential despair in her eyes had been replaced by a hollow, chilling void. A dark, comical aura of sheer, concentrated malice practically radiated off her small frame. "Decorative value..."
"Ah, wait, Lili! He didn't mean it like that!" Bell yelled, waving his hands so fast they became a blur. "Say something else! Smooth it over! Quick!"
Yuuya flinched, his eyes widening as he realized the absolute disaster he had just spoken into existence.
The exhausting, tense armor he'd been wearing all morning was completely gone, leaving him wide open.
His face twisted into a panicked, frantic grimace, his hands flying up in a desperate wave.
"Wait, wait! Hold on, Lili, bad phrasing! Terrible phrasing!" Yuuya yelled, his voice cracking slightly as he backpedaled so fast he nearly tripped over his own boots. "I didn't mean it like that at all! You're a vital asset! I swear!"
"Oh, so now Lili is just a glorified accountant?!" Lili shrieked, popping up to her feet like an angry jack in the box. She marched straight up to him, pointing a tiny, trembling finger right at his chest. "An administrative asset?! A clipboard with legs?! First, Lili is made obsolete by an invisible room that keeps soup hot for three months, and now Yuuya-sama views Lili as a walking ledger!"
"Lili, please, mercy!" Yuuya pleaded, his shoulders slumping as he held his hands up in total surrender, a look of pure defeat plastered across his face. "A pocket dimension can't haggle with merchants! It can't organize our inventory, or read the market, or manage the absolute mountain of Guild paperwork Eina is about to dump on us! I can throw swords into a void, but I'm an idiot with logistics! We need you!"
"No, Lord Bell, look at him! He's just trying to save his ears!" Lili wailed dramatically, turning her tear filled angry face toward the sky. "The world is cruel! Why did Lili spend years surviving the slums, mastering the weight distribution of heavy armor pieces, and learning how to dodge monster aggro, only to be reduced to a decorative accountant for a one man expedition?!"
She turned back to Yuuya, crossing her arms and pouting so hard her lower lip could have served as a shelf.
"If Yuuya-san ever wants Lili to carry a single potion or manage the spoils of war again, he will have to formally apologize to the proud tradition of Supporters everywhere!"
Welf finally lost it, bursting out into loud, booming laughter while leaning against the brick wall.
"An administrative asset! Gods above, Yuuya, you really are a genius in the dungeon and an absolute trainwreck on the streets! I haven't seen you sweat this much since we tried the food Syr gives to Bell!"
"Shut up, Welf, you're not helping!" Yuuya snapped, rubbing his temples as a vibrant, colorful blush of pure embarrassment rushed up his neck.
He looked back down at the furious, puffing prum, genuinely distraught by his own social clumsiness.
"I am incredibly, deeply sorry, Lili." Yuuya said, giving a frantic, respectful bow. "The war game fried my brain. Your value to this Familia is entirely irreplaceable, and I would be totally lost without you. Please, take the bag before Welf laughs himself into a medical emergency."
Lili sniffled, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye, though her expression instantly shifted into a smug, triumphant grin the second she got him to break his composure.
"Hmph! Well, since Yuuya-san understands his error, Lili will graciously accept the role of managing this transaction. But Lili expects a full review of her operational duties later!"
With an impressive display of supporter strength, Lili grabbed the massive canvas sack of ten million valis, hefting it over her shoulder with a sharp nod, and marched toward the Soma Familia entrance like a tiny, unstoppable general.
∆∆∆∆
Watching Lili march into the Soma compound like a tiny, triumphant conqueror usually would have brought a wave of relief to the group, but as they turned to make their way back to the Guild to finalize the Apollo transfer, the lighthearted atmosphere abruptly dissolved.
Yuuya, whose shoulders had finally un-tensed after his embarrassing apology, slowed his pace. His eyes locked onto the back of Bell's head.
Something was wrong.
Bell wasn't walking with his usual stride. Instead, his white haired head was tilted slightly downward, his shoulders drooping heavily as he swayed from side to side.
Every few steps, his feet dragged against the cobblestones, his balance entirely off.
"Hey, Bell?" Yuuya called out, stepping closer and matching his stride. "Are you alright? You're swaying a bit."
Bell blinked sluggishly, turning his face toward Yuuya. He looked incredibly pale, his cheeks completely drained of color, and his ruby eyes were hazy, struggling to focus.
"Huh? Oh... yeah, Yuuya-san. I'm... I'm fine. Just a little tired from yesterday, I guess..."
He brought a fist up to his mouth, breaking into a dry, hollow cough that rattled awkwardly in his chest.
"Ahem... cough... cough..."
"Bell-kun, you don't look fine at all!" Hestia voiced her concern, immediately rushing to his other side, her brow furrowed with deep maternal anxiety. "Your face is entirely white! Are you dizzy? Did you overexert your mind during the battle?"
"No, Goddess, really, I'm..." Bell started, but the words were abruptly choked out as a sudden, violent fit of coughing seized his entire body. His chest heaved rapidly, his posture bending forward as he gasped for air between harsh, wet coughs.
"Cough! Cough! Cough-cough!"
"Whoa, easy there, Bell." Welf said, his easy going expression vanishing as he and Lili stepped closer, their expressions turning serious.
Seeing the boy practically doubling over, Yuuya quickly stepped in, placing a reassuring hand flat against Bell's upper back to steady him.
"Bell, stop talking. You're clearly not—"
Yuuya froze.
The moment his palm pressed through the fabric of Bell's coat, a jarring, unnatural heat radiated against his skin. It wasn't the typical warmth of an adventurer who had just gone for a light jog. It felt like touching a stone that had been sitting under a blistering desert sun for hours.
"Bell, your back is—" Yuuya began, his voice tightening as he leaned down to check the boy's face. "Are you running a fever?"
Before Bell could even attempt to answer, his knees completely buckled beneath him. He collapsed straight onto the hard dirt of the alleyway, his hands slamming into the ground to keep his face from hitting the stone, his entire frame violently shuddering as the coughing fit reached a terrifying crescendo.
"COUGH! COUGH!"
"Bell-kun!!" Hestia shrieked, dropping to her knees beside him, her hands trembling as she reached out.
Yuuya dropped down instantly, his heart hammering against his ribs. He grabbed Bell's shoulder to stabilize him, using his other hand to firmly press his palm flat against Bell's forehead.
The moment his skin made contact, Yuuya visually flinched, pulling his hand back slightly in sheer shock.
The boy was absolutely burning up. It felt like a wildfire was raging directly beneath his skin.
"Master Bell, please look at Lili!" Lili cried out, her voice cracking with pure panic.
Bell slowly lifted his head, his breathing shallow, ragged, and wet.
He weakly pulled his right hand away from his mouth—the hand he had been using to cover his face during the violent coughing fit—and held it up.
The palm was plastered with a thick, brilliant smear of fresh, crimson blood.
"B-Blood..." Hestia gasped, the air completely leaving her lungs. Her eyes dilated in absolute terror as she looked at her captain's ruined face. "Why is there blood?! What's happening to my Bell-kun?!"
"Is it an old wound from the castle?!" Welf yelled, his face turning pale as he frantically looked for any tears in Bell's clothing. "Did one of those Apollo bastards poison him?!"
Yuuya stared at the crimson on Bell's hand, his mind completely stalling out. A chaotic storm of panic, confusion, and fear swirled violently through his brain. He was a Level 4 adventurer, a warrior who had faced black variants of floor boss's and monsters of the deep floors without breaking a sweat, but looking at the person who sees him as their big brother bleeding and burning on the dirt, he felt completely powerless.
He didn't know what this was. There was no status effect, no visible wound, no explanation. He just stared, his hands freezing in mid-air.
[Yuuya! Snap out of it!] The familiar, sound of the system that uses his own voice, suddenly flared into his mind. Acting like a alter ego, the rational version of him at the moment. [Take the boy to a healer before his situation gets worse!]
Hearing this, Yuuya finally snapped out of his stupor and began to move.
"Welf! Get back!" Yuuya commanded, his voice slicing through the frantic shouting of the alleyway like a blade.
Without wasting a single microsecond, Yuuya dove forward, sliding his arms beneath Bell's limp, trembling frame. He hoisted the boy up into a securely, lifting him effortlessly. Bell's head slumped heavily against Yuuya's shoulder, his breathing dangerously hot and irregular.
"Yuuya?! What are we doing?!" Hestia cried, her eyes wide and tearful as she scrambled to her feet.
"The Guild paperwork is canceled!" Yuuya shouted, already pivoting his body toward the main street, his legs tensing as he prepared to activate his full Level 4 agility. "I'm taking him straight to the Dian Cecht Familia! They have the best healers in the city! Follow me if you can keep up, but don't slow down!"
Before the words had even fully registered in Hestia's ears, Yuuya exploded forward. A sharp crack of wind ripped through the narrow alley as he launched himself into a full sprint, leaving a cloud of dust behind him as he raced desperately through the streets of Orario toward the medical district.
∆∆∆∆
The wind roared in Yuuya's ears as he tore through the streets of Orario, a blurred streak of pure desperation.
He didn't care about the startled shouts of the citizens he bypassed. His entire focus was locked onto the burning, trembling weight in his arms.
By the time Hestia, Welf, and Lili burst into the pristine, sterile lobby of the Dian Cecht Familia headquarters, out of breath and frantic, the immediate chaos had already been contained.
The receptionist had recognized the sheer gravity of Yuuya's terrifying expression and the blood on Bell's hand, instantly calling for their absolute best.
Now, the waiting room was dead silent. The frantic rushing had stopped, replaced by a suffocating, agonizing quiet. Hestia sat on the edge of a bench, wringing her hands so tightly her knuckles were white, while Welf paced the floor and Lili stared blankly at the polished marble tiles.
Yuuya stood leaning against the wall, his arms tightly crossed over his chest, his eyes fixed on the heavy oak doors of the treatment ward.
After what felt like an absolute eternity, the door clicked open.
Airmid Teasanare stepped out into the hallway. The silver haired saint looked as ethereal as ever, but her pale face carried a heavy, deeply troubled exhaustion that instantly made Yuuya's stomach drop.
"Goddess Hestia, everyone." Airmid began, her voice soft but carrying a profound weight. "Bell-kun's condition has stabilized. His fever has broken for the time being, and the respiratory hemorrhaging has stopped."
A collective, massive sigh of relief echoed through the hallway. Hestia slumped forward, clutching her heart.
"Oh, thank the heavens... thank you, Airmid-san..."
"However..." Airmid interrupted, her tone sharp and somber, immediately freezing the relief in the room. She looked down at the medical ledger in her hands, her brow furrowing. "There is something very wrong. Bell-kun is suffering from a disease, but it isn't a normal bacterial infection, nor is it a dungeon born curse."
Yuuya straightened up, his eyes narrowing.
"What do you mean? You're the best healer in the city. Can't you just cast your magic?"
Airmid raised her eyes, looking directly at Yuuya with a profound sense of helplessness.
"I did. I cast Dia Fratel at full strength. My magic can mend flesh, purge lethal venoms, reverse deadly blights, and even purge curses. But when it touched the root of Bell-kun's affliction... it did nothing. The spell completely slid off. It's... incurable."
The word echoed in the quiet hallway like a death knell.
Incurable.
The air in Yuuya's lungs completely turned to ice. A sudden, violent realization slammed into his chest with the force of a runaway train. His mind began to race, connections firing in the dark as pieces of a tragic puzzle suddenly locked into place.
'Incurable... coughing blood... a sudden, burning fever that defies magic...' Yuuya's thoughts staggered, a cold dread pooling in his gut. 'Don't tell me—'
[Yeah. It's exactly what you're thinking.] the System murmured, its voice unusually dark and somber. [It's the incurable disease. The exact same illness that Alfia and her twin sister Meteria suffered from. It looks like in this alternate reality... Bell wasn't lucky enough to dodge the family inheritance.]
Yuuya's hand clenched into a tight fist at his side. He wanted to scream, to rail against the sheer, unadulterated cruelty of the world. Bell had just won the War Game. He was supposed to be safe.
Airmid's voice pulled him back to reality as she continued her explanation, trying to offer what comfort she could.
"The only saving grace right now is that the disease seems dormant. It flared today due to the extreme physical and mental exhaustion from his time in the dungeon. My guess is that combined with all that stress, and then the War Game, is what caused the flare up, but it hasn't progressed to a critical stage yet. For now, it isn't immediately life threatening."
She closed her ledger, looking at the anxious faces of the Hestia Familia.
"He will be perfectly fine to be discharged tomorrow morning. But I must insist, Yuuya-san, Goddess Hestia—Bell-kun must visit me frequently. Every week, if possible. I want to closely monitor the degradation rates and see if I can find a treatment, or at least a way to stall it."
"We will," Hestia said, her voice shaking but determined, wiping a tear from her cheek. "We'll bring him every single day if we have to."
Airmid nodded.
"He is resting now. You may enter his room to see him, but please, keep the noise to an absolute minimum. He needs all the sleep he can get right now."
With a polite bow, the silver haired saint excused herself, walking down the corridor to tend to her other duties.
Yuuya stood completely still for a moment, staring at the door handle of Bell's room. He took a deep, shaky breath, forcing his expression back into a calm, steady mask. He couldn't let Hestia or the others see him break. He had to be the vanguard.
Slowly, he reached out and pushed the door open, stepping into the quiet, dimly lit room.
∆∆∆∆
The silence in the private recovery room was heavy, almost suffocating.
The late afternoon light filtered weakly through the tall windows, casting long, somber shadows across the floorboards.
Hestia, Welf, and Lili had eventually stepped out to the hallway, their faces pale and eyes hollow, leaving Yuuya alone with the captain.
Yuuya sat rigidly in the wooden chair beside the bed, his gaze fixed entirely on Bell's sleeping figure. The boy looked so fragile beneath the white sheets, his breathing shallow, a stark contrast to the fierce warrior who had defeated the Apollo Familia's captain.
Deep within the recesses of his mind, the familiar voice shattered the quiet. It sounded profoundly heavy, stripped of its usual cheerful demeanor.
[I've finished analyzing Bell's condition, Yuuya... and I'm afraid I have some really bad news.]
Yuuya didn't move a muscle.
'Give it to me straight.' he thought back, his internal voice dangerously calm. 'What are we looking at?'
[Right now, we are exactly two months and five days into the main timeline since Bell meets Ais.] the System explained, a grim undertone lacing its words. [Just like Airmid concluded, the disease is currently in a dormant state. But here is the problem: in this alternate reality, the corruption rate is drastically accelerated. It's getting more aggressive by the minute.]
Yuuya's chest tightened.
'How much time do we have before it becomes critical?'
The System hesitated for a long, agonizing moment. When it spoke again, its voice was laced with a deep, tragic solemnity.
[Fifteen days, Yuuya. You have exactly fifteen days before the dormant phase breaks. As that deadline approaches, his symptoms will gradually deteriorate. And the second that fifteenth day drops... the disease hits its absolute final stage. From that point on, Bell will only have a span of forty eight hours before his body completely succumbs. All in all... the kid only has seventeen days left to live. At that rate, Bell's last act of kindness would be saving Haruhime before leaving the world.]
Seventeen days.
On the outside, Yuuya's face remained a perfect mask of absolute, frozen indifference. He didn't gasp. He didn't cry out. But beneath the surface, his mind fractured.
'Ah...'
'...'
'It's my fault again, isn't it?'
A bitter, poisonous wave of dark resentment took root deep within his heart, spreading rapidly through his veins.
The suffocating weight of a familiar, old ghost crawled back onto his shoulders—a crushing despair he hadn't felt since the day his childhood friend, Haruka, had died the hospital during his past life.
'It's happening again... All because of me.'
'Because of my mere existence, this world has changed. The timeline warped, and Bell was caught directly in the crossfire.' Yuuya's internal voice trembled with a growing, terrifying surge of pure self-hatred.
'It's because of me that someone is going to lose their life again. Just like Haruka. Her parents. Akari's parents... All over again...!' Yuuya clenched his jaw so hard, his teeth are threatening to break.
'Because I exist, because of me, Bell won't even be able to fulfill his promise to Alfia... he won't ever get to become the hero he promised her he'll be. An innocent kid is going to die because I ruined the script.'
His right hand clenched into a fist so violent that his knuckles popped loudly in the quiet room. His fingernails dug deep, biting ruthlessly into the flesh of his palm until the skin broke, and a thin, warm line of crimson blood began to trickle down his wrist.
'Maybe...'
'Maybe it would've been so much better if I stayed dead back in Japan instead.'
A survivor's guilt, or perhaps something even worse. He was spiraling, standing right on the precipice of a dark, unyielding void of guilt.
[Yuuya! Stop it! Snap out of it!]
The System's voice suddenly barked inside his head. It was sharp, urgent, and sounded exactly like his voice.
It's a voice that he has grown used to ever since he first arrive here. He never understood why of all voices, it chooses his. But one thing is undeniable, it's like another version of him. The version of him that felt like it already conquered the challenge he is currently facing. Forcefully shattering his dark thoughts and pulling him back to reality.
[Yuuya, losing your mind to guilt isn't going to save him. You are his big brother, remember? Breathe, calm down, and look at your options. There has to be a way out of this, and you know it.]
Yuuya let out a sharp, ragged breath, his eyes widening slightly as he forced the rising tide of self-hatred back down into his chest.
'...thank you. I needed that.' Thought Yuuya.
He uncurled his bloodstained fingers, wiping his palm against his trousers. He forced himself to analyze the problem like a tactician, not a executioner.
'Alright. Think. My trump card is
He used Bell's aunt, Alfia, as his base foundation. According to what he knew, the moment Alfia received her Falna, her unique skill,
It was the direct, literal personification of her incurable illness. And in the logic of this world, skills and magic are born directly from the blueprint of one's immortal soul.
'That could be why Airmid's magic failed.' Yuuya realized, a spark of clarity igniting in his mind. 'It was never a biological virus. It isn't a physical curse or a dungeon pathogen. And it's certainly no genetics as well. It's a soul-bound disease. The illness is literally woven into the fabric of his soul.'
It made total sense, at least for the current situation. As for why it was never mentioned that Meteria or Bell had a skill like Gif Blessing in the original lore?
For Meteria, the author really never went into deep detail. For Bell, well, that is something that even Yuuya have no idea of.
But in this distorted reality, a soul-bound illness was the only logical conclusion that could completely ignore Dia Fratel, which arguably, if not, the most powerful healing spell there is.
'If the illness is bound to the soul, I just need to create a healing magic that can unravel the disease from his soul's blueprint without destroying his life force.' Yuuya thought, hope flaring in his chest. 'Since I only intend for it to be a strict, one time use spell specifically tailored for Bell, the cost and requirements shouldn't be too astronomical. System, if I reach Level 5, can I forge the magic?'
[...]
The System went dead silent. The lingering hesitation was palpable, a heavy, reluctant pause that made Yuuya's stomach drop all over again.
[...Level 6, Yuuya.] the System whispered, its voice deeply apologetic and grim. [Even with the level boost that Limit Off gives, the cost of that magic is absolute. It needs you to be a Level 6, not a pseudo one. Even with a one time restriction, the strain on a Level 5 vessel would disintegrate your own mind. Not that the magic will allow you to create the healing spell in the first place since you lack the requirement.]
The spark of hope instantly died.
Yuuya almost lost every single shred of his remaining sanity. Level 6? In less than fifteen days? Even with his absurd, record shattering growth rate, bridging the gargantuan gap from a high Level 4 to the absolute apex of First-class adventurer in two weeks was simply impossible, even if he made the dungeon his home and slaughtered monsters 24/7.
The Excelia requirements alone were a mountain he couldn't climb in that timeframe.
[Don't throw in the towel just yet.] the System urgently cut in, its voice shifting into a determined, fiercely protective tone. [Listen to me. Because Bell is an absolute pillar of this world—a core anchor of the entire universe's destiny—his premature death creates a massive systemic paradox. Because of that, I can actually interfere. I can manipulate and bend the world settings to a certain extent.]
A sudden, sharp chime echoed clearly inside Yuuya's mind as a bright, golden interface materialized before his eyes. And for the first time since his reincarnation, he received his first ever quest from the system.
~~~~
[ EXCLUSIVE SYSTEM QUEST REGISTERED ]
Objective:
Complete the Ishtar Familia Conflict and safely rescue Sanjouno Haruhime from the Pleasure Quarter.
CompletionReward:
Immediate, unconditional Rank-Up to Level 5.
~~~~
Yuuya stared at the floating golden text, his brows furrowing deeply.
'Level 5... but System, that's still not enough. Even if I clear the Ishtar arc perfectly and force a level up, I'm still one entire tier short of the Level 6 requirement. The deadline... will hit before I can close the next gap.'
[I know, Yuuya, I know. Unfortunately, forcing a Level 5 jump by abusing the world's core settings is the absolute maximum limit of what my current permissions can handle.] the System explained grimly but full of absolute resolve. [But I am not giving up on the kid, and neither should you. While you are out there getting stronger, I am going to run continuous calculations in the background. I will find a way to bend the world's laws even further to bridge that final gap. I promise you.]
The golden quest screen gently faded, leaving Yuuya staring back at Bell's pale, quiet face.
[So don't you dare give up.] the System murmured softly, its voice holding a fierce, unbreakable vow. [Get stronger. Save the fox girl. And leave the rest to me. I promise you, Yuuya... Bell is not going to die here.]
Yuuya let out a long, slow breath, his tense posture relaxing just a fraction as he leaned back into the chair. The dark, suffocating fog of guilt in his mind cleared, replaced by a cold, razor-sharp focus.
He looked down at his blood-stained palm, his eyes narrowing with dangerous intent.
Seventeen days. A war against time itself.
Get stronger.
As those two words continued to ring in the quiet spaces of his mind, Yuuya's gaze drifted from the sleeping boy for a second then back to his own pale, calloused hands.
That was right. If there was a single thing in this life—or the last—that he was undeniably good at, it was combat.
If there was one area where he outclassed every regular person around him, it was the sheer, brutal efficiency of his own talent in fighting.
In his past life, he had basically been a Level 2 human walking among a world of Level 0s. He wasn't built for normal civilian life, nor was he built for soft, gentle days. He was born for combat. He was forged for war.
And if war was what it took to tear a life away from the jaws of a tragic destiny, then he would fulfill his purpose down to the absolute atom.
With a swift, silent motion, Yuuya stood up from his chair. The heavy wooden legs didn't even scrape against the floorboards as he turned his back on the bed and glided out of the room, closing the door behind him with a faint, final click.
In the dim hallway of the medical ward, Hestia, Welf, and Lili immediately looked up from their bench, their expressions anxious and raw. Before any of them could voice a single question, Yuuya stopped directly in front of his goddess.
"Yuuya... how is he?" Hestia asked, her voice cracking as she clutched the fabric of her cloth.
"He's resting." Yuuya replied, his tone flat, even, and entirely stripped of the panic from earlier. He didn't look at them directly, his eyes already tracking toward the exit of the clinic. "Goddess. I'm heading down to the dungeon. I will be gone for a while. Do not wait for me."
"Wait, right now?!" Welf blurted out, taking a step forward. "Yuuya, your captain just collapsed! The Apollo assets—"
Yuuya didn't wait for him to finish the sentence. The moment he stated his intention, his boots were already moving against the marble floor.
He passed them in a silent, determined stride, his Goliath scarf trailing slightly behind him as he vanished into the main lobby and out into the bustling streets of Orario.
As much as every burning instinct in his chest screamed at him to march straight into the Pleasure Quarter right now, to tear down the Ishtar Familia's walls stone by stone and drag Haruhime out of that den of vipers today, he forced his fists to stay uncurled.
He had to hold himself back. The events of Haruhime's rescue—specifically the harrowing, desperate battle that Bell was destined to fight during that chaotic night—were absolutely essential milestones for Bell's own growth.
If Yuuya interfered too early and broke the sequence, he might rob Bell of the vital excelia he needed to survive the illness's later stages.
This time, Yuuya was putting his absolute, unyielding trust in the System.
His own mission was entirely different. He was going to dive into the deep floors just like he always did, pushing his Level 4 vessel to its absolute physical limits, pushing his statistics until they hit the absolute ceiling.
He was going down there to fight until he can't no more and while he was at it, he might as well search for a miracle, or carve one out of the stone himself.
And he had no intention of seeing the sunlight again until the night of the full moon—the exact date when Bell was destined to launch the rescue operation.
As Yuuya neared the tower of Babel, it appeared to like a giant, uncaring finger pointing toward the heavens. He didn't check his supplies. He didn't restock on potions.
His destination was fixed: the 37th Floor. The White Palace. The Colosseum.
He was going back to that place for once more.
The absolute crucible of endless spawning monsters, a place where the dungeon generated beasts without cease, an arena of pure, unadulterated slaughter.
Yuuya plunged into the central staircase of Babel, descending rapidly into the dark, damp warmth of the labyrinth. He was going to throw himself into that meat grinder and murder every single creature that crossed his path until the dungeon itself ran out of blood to spill.
∆∆∆∆