C171: Final Growth and Changes
Alt Title Teaser: Faith Orb
As mentioned before, next chapter will be on the 28th unless i can somehow get one out via my phone but spoiler, there is smut next chapter as well as the final conclusion to Danmachi. So it's kinda unlikely unless i somehow do the writing bit by bit yet I don't know what to expect when i cross the great Ocean to Europe. Bye bye yall.
Overall Word count = 2487 on 12/17/2024.
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Two months had passed since Axel created the two pillars outside of the Orario's ruins.
The first month's results could not have been very stellar. Many foolish people ignored the first monument and its warning, attempting to unearth anything of value from the areas of their former home. As a result, many bystanders who were wary of the warning witnessed horrors beyond their comprehension as various humans, be it regular citizens or adventurers. Everyone found out that the people who ventured inside died in one of three ways.
The first is that they simply dropped dead immediately upon entering the area due to walking right into a cluster of laws and the general roaming hollow energy. The second is a group of people who were able to survive for a while, some even reported growing stronger but even they had not been able to scavenge anything, upon leaving the area their lifeforce was drained along with the law energy in their bodies. Most of these people were adventurers, people who, thanks to their god's protection (Falna) were able to last longer but their bodies internally were destroyed instead.
The third group is the weirdest, they were a mix of adventurers and civilians but they walked through the dust bowl ruins of the city in weird directions. These people are those more naturally sensitive to law energies and could have had the potential to reach a high level state if given enough time and Excellia.
Yet that is not to be anymore, instead these people gradually adapt slightly to the law energy. Some gained powers, and kept them while others less fortunate succumbed to the law's volatile nature. These people who survived gained great fame and even enjoyed the privilege of being referred to as demigods themselves, especially since all the gods have fulfilled their obligation to Ouranos and thus are no longer under threat by the dungeon for using their Arcanums.
Some gods like Hephaestus took their familias far away, to the dwarven mining city, where a new great metropolis was created from metal through the dwarves and the goddess' natural blacksmithing ability. Welf and Daisy had gone with the goddess to this far away land, saying goodbye to Axel, Bell and the rest.
As for all the poor fools who had died either under the law energies or simply perished within the perimeter of the explosive area. Their souls were torn right out of their bodies and turned into hollows.
At the end of that first month, Axel had come back from the temporary base he made for himself at the foot of the crumbled mountain he used to forge the first prototype ring for himself. He had come back and was immediately saddened by the great number of hollows he saw. Hundreds of hollows fighting amongst each other or trying to absorb the remnant hollow energy from Gaius to elevate themselves like their cultivators.
He even spotted a few distant Menos, an advanced type of hollow that had evolved after gathering enough energy, these towering pillars like behemoths of long black cloaks and white masks with long white claw hands. Axel learned that thousands of people died, either from venturing into the forbidden zone, or died from the newly formed hollows. Thousands more still had not left, as such it was up to Axel to inform these people of the existing invisible threat to their lives.
Spreading out thousands of mana threads, he links up with all these civilians and adventurers and they witness the horrifying beasts with their own eyes, "Do my words mean nothing to you all. I deemed the land forbidden for a reason." Axel slashes out with his [Spirit Energy] at a hollow.
A hollow which was about to devour a wandering woman in it's mouth. The woman started running around randomly upon getting the third person perspective of her imminent demise. Only letting out a sigh of relief at witnessing the monster wither away.
"These are not newborn monsters but your own fellow humans, their souls mutated under the soul wrenching influence of the city as it is. Scram from here before you all die like your fellows. You think all these disappearances are unrelated?" Then before their shared vision, he summons hundreds of spiritual blades reminiscent of the [blades of Chaos] as they essentially heatseek all the hollows, even the Menos until they all died.
Once the last dies, Axel snaps the connection but not before offering them a piece of hope. "If you know more who have died in these lands then venture forth to my altar, I have laid there My Blessing."
They turn their attention to the second pillar which still glows even after the whole month has passed by, unlike the first which requires a person to touch to activate and glow, the second naturally siphons outside energy and bits of law to power it's glowing text. Many had dismissed it, especially after a few greedy people had sought the power for themselves and unexpectedly never woke up or were directly blocked by automatically manifesting stone pillars, jamming into their guts and sending them flying.
With the final warning,3/4th of the people took their leave from the area, including many smaller gods and their familias. The larger ones took to closeby cities or set up their own cities, due to the influence of Lily and Finn, many Pallum flocked to the Loki Familia and their city of Asgard, allowing it to become one of the few successful divine ventures in the years to come.
Due to the two pallums blessing, Loki felt like she was on cloud nine as many pallum or wandering former adventurers who settled in the city provide their services for free to the trickster goddess. Her only true heartbreak was the fact that upon finding out that the reason for Orario's destruction was the appearance and apparent suicide of the One eyed black dragon in Hollow form. Ais Wallenstein had left the Loki Familia, she had seemingly run away in tears.
Many would spot a wandering platinum blond haired woman with a rapier moving around the city's ruins. Her identity as a half spirit made her naturally attuned to all the remnant attacks and powers of the battle. From these faint traces, she learned of the power that the 'dragon' had reached, this sent her into a state of misery as she had gone to the place that she considered her parents' grave.
Crying and mourning their loss. She had become lost of what to do as her target of revenge is completely gone and dead. She felt hopeless of how to proceed forward, her empty body eventually stumbled upon the 2nd altar Axel had made. She can feel the vibrant energy inside the altar, an offering of strength. She can plainly recognize the contract like power but her thoughts turn in a different direction as she desires a power uniquely hers. With her mind made up, she ventured out towards her target that had been on her mind for months now.
As for Axel, with his work on cleansing the spirits completed, he began to return to his Cave to meditate.Yes an empty cave for him alone as everyone else is inside his 'reality marble world'. Except he found the cave occupied by 2 individuals. One is a shorter happy bubbling woman with black hair, wearing an elegant white blue dress with a twin tail hairstyle.
This is the Goddess Hestia. As for the second person, it's a reasonably growing young man with white hair and red eyes. He is wearing a casual pair of suit and pants but the hestia dagger remains at his side. A backpack is set down on the ground as the two were waiting for Axel after hearing him appear and finding his little cove.
"Bell, good to see you, what can I help you with?" Axel asks the shonen protagonist who is no longer as innocent as he used to be due to Axel's influence. The white haired youth has a guilty expression on his face as he and hestia sit down on the chairs that Axel brought out for them from nowhere.
"We are doing alright Axel, simply unsure of where to go next." Bell responds as the duo of boy and goddess hold hands within Axel's purview. If this was a month or two ago, Axel would have tried endlessly to mock Bell for how perverted he is for hand holding but as a father, he is more mature now.
"My bell, such open affection, I should take a picture and spread them all over Asgard" Of course that doesnt mean that Axel still won't be immature when he wishes to be. The guilty expression disappears from Bell's face as he blows up a bit red along with Hestia but they make no retorts, far too used to Axel by now.
In the end, Axel decides to break the silence by tossing a glowing glass orb to Bell. He catches it and looks at the wondrous product with his own eyes, confusion evident on his face.
"I broke my word earlier, what should have happened is that we simply beat the dungeon, freed the city from it's grasp and threat and gain untold amount of praise, yet what happened is far worse and thus none of you gained the necessary faith energy to ascend to godhood. Or did you, Argonaut-kun?"
'Bell' shakes his head, "That was my past life, I had abandoned my name then and had myself raised my story to be that of a fool. I am just. Bell Cranel." The ancient Hero turned 'Fool' shares a bit of his story. Hestia seems unsurprised as she tightens her grip around Bell's hand. Axel is happy to see their relationship progressing so nicely thanks to his influence.
"That orb is half of the accumulated faith meant for me, it represents my god of magic title due to all the reverence for my magic amulets spread around the city. I've already shared a similar orb with Welf and Daisy.
Welf has authority over craftsmen while Daisy shares the other half of the god of magic. I hear they are gods on their own right now, even sharing their bed with Hephaestus as she adhered to her word about falling for the greatest formerly mortal blacksmith. "
Axel explains what the orb is and how to use it while also sharing the info he got from the world thanks to [Heaven's Feel] telling him about their ascension and the rest is his hypothesis based on previous incidents and Welf's original self doubt and loyalty.
Bell bows to Axel as the duo take their leave. Alone again, Axel sets down upon his mattress as he re enters his inner world with his spirit only.
His first thought turns to Raikou who has been in a coma this past month, he has been tending to her in his free time whilst also developing his world further. All his closest people remained in the original Village of Origin, Tempest Village while the rest willingly left to form their own city.
Axel provided these heroes the necessary materials but food would be up to them, granted also partially provided by Axel as he used his dungeon powers to create both normal and magical beasts. Though not inside their city unless domesticated. These creatures are edible for them and with no contaminants to their mana or any cores. They chose to live in Axel's world after feeling greatly alienated by a great number of the population.
Out of the hundreds of heroes and legends, 100 went back to the outside world while the remaining ones chose to create their own city and properly settle down. Axel offered them the choice of giving them a finite lifespan which he can do unless they decide to leave in which case the world would help them regain their youth and immortality but only a select few chose this as they fell for each other in their time in Orario. And thus a new generation of people would be born inside Axel's world.
As for the man himself, other than taking care of Raikou, he had been keeping busy by sorting all the hundreds if not tens of hundreds of lives he gained the memories of but had sealed away to not be overwhelmed. He cataloged these lives into multiple Archives, different worlds, prime world inhabitants who had seen shows and stories of other worlds like anime and games. Inhabitants of those very same worlds and games and even memories of various fanfictions.
All of which are made available to his most precious people: Syr and the now pregnant Freya, Aisha who had successfully given birth to their newborn son. Though Aisha is holding a grudge on Axel for missing her pregnancy due to his fight with Alaya and everything that followed after that. So much so that Axel could spread his senses around his entire reality marble and even ask [Raphael] and he wouldn't know the child's name as Aisha had never spoken it yet. He has some theories due to previously mentioned baby names but he has no concrete information.
So those 3 plus the 2 babies, a quite pregnant fox girl by the name of Haruhime who has somehow picked up a craving for Anchovies of all things but absolutely hates the smell of them. So he has grown used to that. Kiara is simply chilling, tending to a flower garden of her own creation.
Of course she has not forgotten her original goal as she uses these flowers to attempt to drug Axel into a ravenous baby making sex with her but her plans are gradually put on the back burner due to her weakening since her body is adjusting to become a new 'Beast' of Axel's world as the longer she lives there, her original connection is severed with 'Danmachi'.
Axel is currently sitting at the end of the second month of his meditation when he finally sees Raikou stir from her sleep. She slowly wakes up, only to be met with a kiss on the lips from Axel.
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Alt Title: Hollow slaying operation, Bell's Divinity, Inner world Changes
Drop a comment if you wanna judge my writing or the story. Ill try to respond, especially if you're confused or anything.