Astraea pulled back after a moment, her gaze traveling to Crimson Order's tip, buried in the floor some distance away.
Alfia had already moved away after glancing at his status. Rising to her feet, she crossed her arms beneath her chest.
Artemis finally had her chance to look at his status, freezing in place while leaning over his free shoulder after a single glance.
Hestia glanced up from where her head rested on his other shoulder, nodding in satisfaction at Artemis's reaction.
"Bell, you brought Alise's sword with you. Are you thinking about... summoning her?" Astraea asked, her voice dropping lower with each word.
Snapping out of her stupor at those words, Artemis shifted off his shoulder, clearing a path between his back and Astraea.
Hestia heard that somber tone and wisely shuffled off his other shoulder, settling off to the side.
Finally free, Bell turned around. Still sitting cross-legged, he faced Astraea and the others now.
Remaining silent for two long seconds, his eyes shifted between Crimson Order and his Goddess.
"Yes... I'll summon her for the upcoming War game. Is that okay with you?"
"You need her help, right?" Astraea asked, extending a hand toward the sword.
"Yes." Bell nodded.
"Then summon her. She wouldn't mind helping you. I just never thought I'd get to meet her again." She sighed, her fingers gently tracing the sword's cross-guard before her grip tightened around its hilt.
"I'll summon her, but not right now. We need to dive into the Dungeon again and meet some people in an hour."
His words made Artemis narrow her eyes, while Hestia's head snapped toward him.
Astraea's hold on Crimson Order tensed.
"You're about to go fight someone? Or maybe many people?" she asked.
Bell gave a small nod. "We're about to go raid Evilus' base."
Silence fell.
Artemis's shoulders went rigid. Hestia made a small sound beside her. Alfia watched it all without a change in expression.
"...Being your Goddess is not easy, Bell." Astraea rose to her full height and walked toward him, tracing a half-circle around his seated form to halt at his back.
He tilted his head at her movement but kept quiet.
"Hestia, pass me one of your ribbons," she said, threading her fingers through his hair with practiced care.
"Mine? This?" Hestia jolted, pointing at her twin-tails, or rather, at the ribbon holding one of them together.
"Yes, pass it to me."
"Alright, alright." Without overthinking it, Hestia pulled the ribbon free from her hair and handed it over.
Astraea gathered Bell's white hair together with one hand, her other palm closing around Hestia's ribbon.
"We gave your armor to Hephaestus for repairs after it was nearly destroyed earlier. It just came back today. Make sure you wear it when you go." Her fingers continued to move through his hair, twisting those strands into a neat man-bun near his nape.
"But before you go, you have to promise that you won't fight anyone other than those people from Evilus." She tied Hestia's ribbon securely around the man-bun, letting it settle.
"I believe our Bell can take care of himself with how strong he is now," Hestia chimed in, pointing a finger at his face and poking his cheek insistently. "But you still have to promise us! You will only fight Evilus, or anyone else who attacks you first!"
"Alright," Bell said softly, reaching up to touch the ribbon. "I promise. As long as I wear your ribbon, I won't fight anyone except Evilus and those who attack me."
He had barely finished speaking when Artemis drove into his arms from nearby. "Orion, if you're going somewhere dangerous, then I'm coming with you. At least I can provide cover fire from behind."
He didn't move immediately. She wasn't clinging, she was holding on, and those were different things.
Gently, he created some distance between them by sliding back. "We're going into the Dungeon, Goddess Artemis. You shouldn't follow us there."
"Take Lante and Rethusa then. They can still help somewhat."
A wry smile tugged at his lips. "No need for that. Haven't you seen my status just now? I'm at least as strong as a Level 5. And I have my Aunt with me, who is ten times stronger than I am. You don't need to worry this time. I won't burn myself out."
Bell's words were followed by Astraea pulling Crimson Order free from the floor, offering it to him with both hands.
Artemis glanced at Alfia, then toward Hestia, who nodded frantically. Finally, her shoulders went slack. "Fine. But I'll come running to you inside the Dungeon if something happens."
Bell rose from his position and curled his fingers around Crimson Order, lips twitching simultaneously at Artemis's threat.
"Where is my armor kept, Goddess?" His eyes met Astraea's.
"It's in your room. You should change into it." She pointed up the stairs.
He didn't wait. Instead, he waved toward the kitchen, acknowledging Haruhime, Rethusa, and Lante as they eavesdropped from inside.
Then, he moved toward the staircase.
...
Stepping out of their house with Alfia, Bell stretched his limbs, muscles unclenching and bones popping in places.
His platinum breastplate looked as good as new. Pauldrons and knee guards shone with a polished sheen, elbow guards heavier than they had been before. His hair remained tied near his nape in a man-bun, bound by Hestia's ribbon.
"Shall we then, Aunt?"
He straightened his spine, two swords sheathed at his sides. Crimson Order on one. Typhon, which had been sent for reforging alongside his armor, on the other.
Alfia wordlessly took a step forward and vanished into flickering afterimages by sheer speed.
Bell was about to surge ahead when he felt something amiss. Freya was not gazing at him right now, and that was a first.
He didn't believe Freya would pass up a chance to so much as glance at his figure.
What was she up to, then?
After a second of thinking and arriving at no answer, Bell shrugged and launched himself after Alfia.
Embers trailing from his boots.
...
..
.
Floor eighteen.
"Bell-chi! You're here!" Lyd jumped up from a rock he had been sitting on near those three familiar mud hills.
"Finally. I thought you were going to chicken out." Ray said from her perch on a tree branch, talons clamped deep into wood for balance.
Let, who had been gesturing for tens of other Xenos to maintain formation and stay calm, looked over and tipped his hat with a low bow. "Mr. Bell. Miss Alfia."
"So, you're that human they keep talking about. You don't look that specia—" Gros, a gargoyle Xenos, gazed at Bell flatly and was mid-sentence when he cut himself off.
Because he only now understood that he was not feeling anything from Bell, like he was a Falnaless human. A bead of sweat traced down across Gros's stone wings, and he gulped audibly, tail curling around his own leg.
"Ahem... I meant to say, you humans look strong. As expected of my fellow brethren, they always find good allies."
Bell ignored Gros and swept his gaze around, eyes flickering past the different Xenos.
Rayne, an Arachne Xeno. Laura, a Lamia Xeno. Four, a Fomoire Xeno.
"You brought everyone?" Bell had barely spoken when a blur of red cloth flashed past Lyd. Blue arms crashed around his leg, a cheek rubbing against his trousers.
"Bel!Bel!"
"Wait—you brought Wiene with you?" He turned to Lyd, giving him a pointed glare, even as his palm patted her crown gently, and she remained glued to his leg.
Lyd's eyes widened at Wiene's actions. He brought his tail forward hurriedly, revealing claw marks raked across it.
"Bell-chi, you have to believe me. The moment she opened her eyes and didn't find you, she started bawling her eyes out. Then she tried to tear my tail off to go search for you. I had to promise to take her to meet you, otherwise she wouldn't stop crying."
His eyes widened even further.
"Besides, I nearly spent two hours playing with her instead of tending to my duties, and she even called me Lyd. But now..." Lyd trailed off.
"Wiene, look at me. Lyd. Lyd."
Wiene glanced at him once after pulling her face back, then promptly ignored him and resumed rubbing her cheek against Bell's leg.
Hiss... Lyd took an unconscious step back, claws rising over his heart.
"How unfair! When there is no Bell, there is Lyd, Lyd. When there is Bell, there is no Lyd. So in the end, is there a Lyd or no Lyd?"
Bell's lips twitched.
But then he straightened.
The warmth on his face was set aside for now. His shoulders widened, jaw tight. When his eyes swept across the gathered Xenos again, their softness was gone.
His fingers slipped beneath his breastplate, pulling something free.
"Alright." His voice carried now, flat and clinical. "Let, catch."
The Daedalus Orb left his hand before anyone had fully registered his movement. Let barely caught it, fumbling the orb against his chest before securing it with both hands.
"What do you mean by this?" Ray asked, flapping her wings once at his side.
"I mean that you take your people, and my Aunt, mapping and climbing up through the tunnels from this entrance, while I take another route and flank Evilus' base from the opposite direction." He said, glancing at Alfia, whose eyebrows had furrowed at his suggestion.
"Why don't you take more people with you from that route then, Mr. Bell?" Let asked, gesturing toward the multitude of Xenos gathered around them.
Bell shook his head, hands moving through Wiene's hair slowly. "Just consider that route viable for a single person."
"Oh..." Let adjusted his scarf at that.
Lyd was about to protest when Alfia brought a hand up, silencing the crowd with a single gesture.
She looked at Bell, her eyes narrowing. "You want me to lead the Xenos through the tunnels while you go in alone through a path meant for one person... Why?"
"Because I'm the only one who can take that route," Bell said, meeting her gaze without flinching. "And because if things go wrong on my end, I need you here, making sure the Xenos don't get caught off guard. I can handle myself. I need you to handle them."
Alfia stared at him for a long, unblinking moment.
Bell didn't look away.
Finally, her eyes hardened by a fraction. "...Alright. We'll take the tunnels and meet you at their base." Her voice dropped, cold and quiet.
"But if you are late by even a minute, I am leveling that base myself, along with everything standing between me and you. Am I clear?"
"Yes."
Alfia held his gaze for one more second, then reached out, curling her fingers around Wiene's red cloak and wrenching her away from Bell's leg.
Wiene looked back at Alfia and growled, only to go limp under Alfia's returning glare.
His Aunt moved ahead, toward that fissure between the mud hills, every other Xenos following her lead without protest.
Bell watched as nearly seventy of them vanished through the fissure.
And finally, he was left alone.
With a brutal roll, his shoulder cracked, then snapped back into place.
Evilus... Our first face-to-face meeting.
I won't let it be anything short of terrifying.
...
..
.
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[8 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
...
[Authors Thought]
Its about to start. Everyone go grab your popcorns, and sodas. Its going to be very cinematic action heavy, and you're about to see why I say cinematic and action heavy. Hold tight, I'm about to crank the accelerator up from here without pause.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!