"Are you fine with this?" Artemis asked Loki with a low voice. After their debate got everyone's attention, the three Goddesses were seemingly forgotten.
"About what?" Loki asked back with a smile.
"You went out of your way to stop the skewed mentality they have, yet here you are, letting it happen again. After this, some cracks on the seal would surely appear."
"It's fine, isn't it?" Hestia answered for Loki, "It's been years and the seal was placed and they've changed to a certain extent. If you don't allow this, then you'll just be too overprotective."
"...For once, I agree with you.", Loki replied with a wry smile, "If they still can't adapt , then I'll just accept that it's their fate."
Hestia knew that even though the Loki Familia was deemed to be one of the most powerful Familia out there, they were also one of the most closed-off bubbles that Loki was in full control of. Although it may seem that they all have the freedom in the world, it was actually Loki who was steering the whole ship and without them knowing, they ended up depending on her way too much. More than Freya to her Familia in Hestia's opinion.
'Because of that, when Kisuke's existence was revealed to them and they too tried to reach it, it was mostly for their pride as a member of the Loki Familia and for their Goddess, Loki.', mused Hestia, 'That Ais Wallenstein might have been different, but the bond of the family shackled her for better or for worse.'
Loki saw that Hestia was looking at her strangely and was able to guess what she was thinking, "I know... But you also know what I am and I couldn't change that. At worst, I'll just disappear somewhere."
People would see Loki and Hestia being good friends and that's the truth. But if it's just Loki, she would never want to be friends with Hestia mainly because she's the one Loki is most envious of. The same as all the Deities of this world, absolutely nothing major could be changed in Loki and that includes her mentality that's influenced by her Divinity. So even if she wanted to stay back and watch, she would always want to do something to control the situation to a certain extent, 'I wonder what could have happened if I could become the 'Hearth', I could watch from the sidelines quietly too...'
Of course, Hestia could also understand this frenemy of hers. Turning her head away with a harumph, she said, "Hmph! Did you think your Familia could have reached this height without you?"
For a moment, Loki smiled softly before it immediately changed into a grin as she stood up and messed with Hestia's hair, "What? Feeling a bit mature and trying to comfort me? It's still too early for you!"
"What are you doing!?" Hestia angrily slapped her hand away.
All in all, Loki never regretted being friends with this shorty.
Watching the understanding between the two of them, Artemis only chuckled gently. It was these kinds of moments that she looked forward to life.
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Bell couldn't understand most of what they were saying, but there was one thing he could gather from their conversation. And that is the technique he's so proud of is shit in front of them. Since he couldn't take it anymore, he asked, "Uhmmm... What could be the problem with this technique?"
Kisuke, Yoruichi, and Serafall all looked at him before all saying simultaneously, "It's too basic."
"...Huh?" Bell, and the others listening to them, couldn't understand. When Bell is in [Flame Shift], he could overpower Ottar. And when he's on [Lightning Shift], he's faster than Ais. Calling that basic seems to be an insult to everyone he defeated using those techniques.
Kisuke was about to answer his confusion but a certain signal suddenly interrupted his train of thought, 'What are they doing now?'
Without explaining himself, Kisuke bid his farewell, "Thank you for the lunch, Cranel-san. Something came up so I have to go. Loki-sama and everyone from Loki Familia, I'll be going first. Yoruichi, Sera-tan, Hestia-sama, Artemis-sama, I'll see you later."
The slight urgency within his voice made Yoruichi and the others only nod their head in understanding, "Alright. Be careful. We'll take care of things here."
Kisuke left the bar in a hurry and just a few seconds later, his entire presence disappeared.
"That's too abrupt. Is he going to be alright?" asked Bell.
"He's the last guy you should be worried about." Yoruichi immediately replied, "Anyways, want to know why we called your technique very basic?"
Bell hurriedly nodded his head.
"When we say it's too basic, we're talking about the Magic side of your technique. Your Ki integration with Magic Power is impressive and it's really hard to believe that you are self-taught. In that regard, you're definitely a genius. Your Magic, on the other hand, is too elementary."
"Elementary?"
Serafall sat back down and answered his question, "In other words, you're a complete beginner. Although your Magic has good fundamentals, it still lacks the most crucial aspect which is a mystery. Without mystery, your Magic is nothing more than manipulation of an existing phenomenon, and anyone who can control Magic Power is fully capable of doing that."
Serafall then raised one of her fingers and a small ball of ice appeared on top, "This is produced using very basic Ice Magic. Try destroying it with your lightning."
Bell did as he was told and pointed his finger at the ball of ice before an arc of lightning escaped from his fingertip. The ice was instantly blasted into many pieces and disappeared as a vapor.
Serafall didn't mind that and produced another ball of ice, but this time, a complicated Magic Circle appeared below it before it was conjured, "Now this is produced using an advanced mystery that I developed. Can you tell the difference?"
Bell stared at it for a moment before shaking his head, "...No."
Serafall didn't immediately give the answer and instead looked towards the girls of the Loki Familia starting from Tiona, who shook her head, and Tione, who also couldn't tell the difference. Her eyes then landed on Ais and the latter answered, "...I don't exactly know what the difference is, but this ice... Is very dangerous."
Serafall smiled, "As expected of someone who also uses mystery. In that regard, your wind is much more valuable than his lightning even if you can't defeat him in a fight."
Turning back her attention to Bell, she continued, "Now do the same thing. Destroy the ice."
Bell got a bit wary because of Ais's words but still went and sent his lightning arcing to the ice. He was expecting something else but the ice was easily destroyed as before. But when he thought that nothing else would happen, the vapor gathered again, and instead of forming the ice back, the path that the lightning arc took to travel suddenly began freezing and it instantly reached his arm which in turn, also started freezing, "!?"
Bell hurriedly gathered his lightning in his arm to defrost himself and he was successful in blasting away the ice freezing his arm. However, it didn't end there as the vapor once again gathered and began freezing his arm once again, though this time, it reached his shoulder and threatened to freeze his whole body.
Bell got scared but he also understood what he had to do. Releasing his Ki and Magic Power, he blasted the ice away and cleared the vapor using the shockwave generated by his power. It was then that the ice stopped freezing him and he was able to calm down a bit, "W-what was that?" he asked while taking deep breaths.
"Oh nice~! You were able to deal with it faster than I thought.", praised Serafall.