C89: Rescue, Ritual and Mission
Overall Word count = 3093 on 5/27/2024.
So because of a post early in the story for a possible ability. I finally got around to watching Records of Ragnarok. I can clearly say that Adams Divine Retribution abilities of his eyes are just a sharingan copy to me but focused on gods. So it's kinda worthless since we never fought the gods themselves so there was never anything to copy since monsters don't have 'skills'. It also seems to be limited to physical abilities. So Axel wouldnt be able to copy others magics. On the other hand, Buddha Goated as F.
I'd be willing to make a copy character of Buddha in some other fanfic like mha but there exists one story for that, unfortunately it's dead (only 25 chaps). I also already have a full-fledged plan for MHA, in fact more so than my Bleach story which i'm going to work on next after I finish this one. So that's a skill issue on my end.)
(Also tell me what you thought about the last chapter's Loki familia interaction. I planned to ask about that then but forgot. I recognize I struggle with various talking and other interactions which made this story a bit more rushed than it should have been. I'm trying to fix that but not sure how much I can actually do with the plan I already have set for the rest of the Danmachi world arc. It will mostly be more tiny interactions like these that will show up.)
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The words said by Raikou were no joke. The entire city had partially turned to Ruins with Daedalus street being the worst of it. After cleaning up a good bit of their own home. Axel left to assist the Orphanage that he and Kaoruko had visited before. He found that a good portion of it had cracks all around it but most of the damage was from the other nearby buildings collapsing on it.
He quickly got to work by splitting into multiple shades to help excavate most of the nearby rubble so that anyone inside the church/orphanage could leave. He entered and found that some of the inside walls had broken down which was blocking the front entrance. So he cleared that up and soon enough saw the matron, covered in dust with a hammer and chisel in hand. He found that she was breaking down the rocks so that the kids could carry them away until they could finally escape.
"Are you all alright?" He asks while they are surprised to see him as they had only seen him that one time and only really remember him because of Kaoruko. Axel himself had no real reason to be here either yet his potential mortality has made him a bit more sentimental. Besides, the kids here have a right to live their lives even though Axels own is shortening.
The matron nods her head while saying, "We faced good luck to not suffer any injuries. Thank you for helping us out of the Orphanage." She bows to Axel and the kids do as well in thanks. Axel nods and quickly returns to work.
His shades soon enough gather all the debris to a semi distant location, this frees up plenty of other people that can now leave their homes as well. Axel casts cleanse on them for free but he doesnt overdo it to ensure they don't hound him endlessly for charity.
Once he finishes helping that region, he teleports over to the central street and makes his way to the Takimakzuchi familia to help out only to find that with Chigusa's knights, they have already cleared out the area around them and their neighbors. So he went to help Bell, after a few minutes of walking he became worried by the sight before him. The already old and partially ruined church has broken down in its entirety.
"Bell ! Are you Ok?" Axel yells with some force which causes some shaking in the rubble. Axel directs his nen into his eyes, soon enough he sees an outburst of nen from one of the largest rubble chunks.
"Oh you stupid kid. Why haven't you moved out already?" Axel complains as he activates his asura arms and mantra arms. Giving him extra sets which all begin to move various rubble away. He slings the heavy flat walls over his head and into the nearby City walls. The impacts of which attract some of the tired guards to see what the situation is but when they notice him, they take their leave as they notice that he is clearing the rubble in a hurry.
Once he clears a good chunk of it, Bell is able to finally push up through the rubble and break out. Axel soon sees Hestia, Artemis and the last huntress, Kyrene. She has suffered an injury and is bleeding a bit but Axel can tell that it has already stopped and healed if the empty potion on the ground is any indicator. Bell himself has panda eyes due to the lack of sleep.
"Is anyone else injured?" Bell looks around while Hestia shakes her head.
"Alright then, let's go." Axel states but Bells responds in a bit of panic.
"Wait, we need to get our things." Axel just raises his eyebrow with an 'are you serious' type expression that makes Bell take a double take of the destruction around them.
"In case you're too sleep deprived to tell Bell. But everything has been destroyed. The whole city is covered in ruins. Come to stay at my place for a few days until you finally arrange to buy yourself a proper home of your own. I have no clue why you haven't moved out a while ago."
Bell begins to give various jittery excuses but Axel shuts them all out while raising his head and quickly headbutting Bell which causes him to collapse unconscious.
"BELL" All three lovely ladies call out and rush to catch him.
"Good to see he has his priorities straight but his every argument was dumb and I would not stand for it. Now do you have any possible possession that might have been hidden underground and not outright destroyed from all the damage here?" Axel asks and while she is heavily frowning due to Axel's rough actions, she still nods.
"Lead the way and collect it then we will leave" She does so and in a few minutes Axel and the shade he sent with her find the hidey hole where they store their extra Vali.
Hestia brings the three bags back. Gives one to the Huntress and her goddess while she keeps the other two. One is a relatively small sack while the other she has to lug around a bit. Axel just rolls his eyes as he wraps the quadruplets in magic threads and then teleports over to his house. He shows them to one of the last spare rooms which was unfortunately barren. So Axel has to get a bed from the nearby supply closet on the 2nd floor. He sets up the bed and while it's a bit dusty. It's better than nothing. Bell is set down to sleep and rest to recover from his exhaustion.
While the magic rings provide tons of energy. They aren't meant to last more than 6 hours at a time. Which is why they are still incomplete rings according to Axel. He initially planned to make better rings soon now that he is level 8 but he hasn't had the chance yet.
Back in the room, Axel hands the ladies some cleaning tools as this room was one of the few left unclean. Once they get started on cleaning, Axel goes to inform them of their guests while he moves on to check on Adelaide and Mash. He quickly finds that they were safe and sound as they weren't at the store during the night. Instead he finds them simply cleaning up as a few tools and shop items had fallen out of their slots and spaces. This is one of the least damaged areas he has found.
Axel spends the rest of the day just wandering around for any place that might need help. He offers a few cleansings from time to time if the person does not possess a magic item from his store but only if they are desperately in need of cleaning. Anything less than being completely covered in dust and soot is not good enough for a free cleaning.
Axel returns home exhausted and sits in a chair at the front of the house. He soon spots that Tiona has arrived. He lets her in through the gate and gives her a quizzical look.
"Why are you here so soon? Don't tell me you already collected all the materials for the ritual you chose?" Axel questions
Tiona stays silent. This continues for a few moments until Axel realizes that she took his words seriously about not telling him if she already collected the materials. He face-palms from her actions as she soon sports a wide grin as she realizes that he understood her silence.
"Here it is" She hands him a sack with a few boxes and other bagged up items inside. Deeper analysis shows that it is the materials for either the speed or strength ritual.
"Which ritual did you choose? You should know that the two materials overlap but are just used in different ways" He asks tiredly as just like Bell, he is facing mental exhaustion from using his magic and strength for various random purposes to help people today.
"I choose Strength. It's already my strong suit before, that won't change now"
"Alright. But we will do it tomorrow morning. I'm too tired today. Don't forget the bag when you arrive….And bring some spare clothes." He says and hands the bag back. She pouts at learning that she has to wait a bit longer for the ritual but she relents as she can see how tired he is.
With no more distractions, he rests for a bit before heading inside to sleep the night away. The morning sun soon rises and with it Axel. he gets dressed and heads outside to sit in the chair again while waiting for Tiona. He got to watch the sun fully rise over the distant mountain peaks when Tiona arrived after half an hour of waiting.
"I'm here. How do we do this?" Tiona says excitedly. Axel just smiles before he wraps his arm around her waist.
"Not in the city. Ill bring us somewhere else." He answers and they both teleport to the Elsos Ruins. At it's deepest part. Tiona looks around in curiosity.
"This is the Elsos Ruins where Antares was originally sealed. I held my ritual here as it's a long enough distance away from the city to not affect it too much but they still felt the energy. Your appearance might change too, like mine. I have no clue how it's determined for anyone other than me.Which is why i said to bring the extra clothes" he informs her of where they are and a few more details about the ritual.
He gets started on drawing out the ritual diagram on the floor just like he did with his own ritual. Then when he finished. He had to paint on her body the necessary symbols. She blushes from the in depth inspection but it's not like Axel was checking her out or anything. He seriously drew the various symbols upon her before he told her to sit in the center of the diagram.
"Do I have to be naked for the ritual?" She asks a bit nervously to the person who had taken her virginity just a few days prior.
"No, you can get dressed but I can't be certain the clothes won't be destroyed by the ritual itself or if your body changes at all as a result of this." His answer makes her pout as she remains naked inside the diagram. She takes a few deep breaths at Axel's command to calm herself before he begins to pour out the various materials . Setting up stakes around her, Grinding down one material, only to merge it with another until there is a gooey paste before him.
He pours the paste into a view of the dug out symbols on the diagram. He then pours a salamander's oil into the other side. He sets the oil ablaze before channeling his wrath energy to activate the ritual. As Tiona still barely has magic power, he has to activate it for her. But also by using his own wrath energy as the medium. She would gain a minor influence into Wrath as well as her own Major influence into Strength.
Her ritual soon begins as the burning oil swims around to reach the paste which works like a blockade to stop it from reaching Tiona while she digests the other half of the paste he had made. She almost throws it up due to the taste of it but on knowing the ritual is already active. Any attempts to stop now would both deny her from ever gaining access to the Strength divinity. She would also be injured as well since the paste is technically poisonous.
Which is why when the oil breaks down the outside paste, the merged fluid then begins to merge into Tiona through the markings she has. As it seeps into her, the oily paste would begin to merge with her bones and muscles. Using the digested paste as extra nutrients while using the poison from said paste as a tempering agent for her body.
Tiona grits her teeth as the liquid merges into her body. The markings light up and glow red before she let's out a few whimpers of pain due to the fire seeping into her skin. Her whimpers turn into growls as the energy of wrath flows through her momentarily. Seconds turn to minutes, minutes into hours as Tiona feels her insides burn but has far more greatly adjusted to it and the energies. In her current state, her body is evolving into the demi-god physique that Axel has but different. More unique to her specific situation.
Her breasts become more developed, her arms and legs thicken up a bit due to the extra muscles giving her a fit physique without detracting from her looks. Her black hair becomes a slightly lighter hue, becoming a caramel brown color. Her facial structure remains the same but her skin becomes much more fair and clear as the drawn markings vanish from her body. Her height increases from her original 5'5" into a perfect 6" tall beauty.
While the changes in her body are being finalized, the sky trembles just as it did before during Axel's ritual. A flowing reddish brown color condenses in the sky as it seeps into Tiona's body. The sensation is slightly Euphoric which causes her to let out occasional moans from time to time. The infusion soon ends after an hour. Axel simply has been sitting and appreciating her beauty since he couldn't before when he was drawing on her.
(pic here)
Tiona soon opens her eyes which have taken on slightly golden color around the edges of her original blue green eyes. She takes a deep breath again and lets it out which spills out tons of thick white smoke, akin to an exhaust pipe from a revved up car.
She lifts her arms to stretch a bit, as if she was just waking up from a nap. Her eyes finally focus and she looks at Axel with a charming smile.
"So what's next?" She asks
"You are a fully fledged demi-god now. The only way up is with you reaching level 10 and likely becoming a god. Your lifespan should be much longer now and from your body, you should be plenty stronger already. A strange energy should be flowing through you right now. This is likely the manifestation of your Strength energy. You should also feel it building up through your feet. Part of the ritual bound you to the ground. This makes it so that you regain your divine energy faster as long as you're not in the air. So no more jumping for you if you can help it." Axel explains the various changes that she should be going through and other hidden surprises which enhanced her strength a bit.
She pouts at the no jumping part but then frowns as she processes his words.
"Does…does this mean Tione will die of old age while I remain like this?" She hesitantly asks, biting her lips in worry.
"That is likely, unless she also becomes a god or undergoes a similar ritual as you" He answers her. She begins to ponder what can be done as she doesnt want to lose her sister. She has full faith in her sister but who knows what is needed to become a god through the falna.
"Can you help give Tione a ritual like mine?"
"I could….but why should I? Our deal is finished. I made love to you. You gained near infinite power. Capable of crushing anything under your foot" He declines as he emphasizes their deal.
"Then i'll make another deal, on behalf of my sister. What do you want for my sister to also go through a ritual like this?" Her resolution to not separate from her sister sends her into the arms of the devil before her once again.
Axel ponders on what would he need from her before his curiosity takes afloat. The two of them are now proper demigods. Blessed by the world to carry divine might. She takes her hand and lifts her to her feet as their chests meet.
"I'm a simple man, Same conditions as before. Fair?" He states his conditions and she blushes before frowning and exclaiming.
"You tease me about me outliving my sister. Offer hope, only to say that you just want to have sex with me?" Axel bobs his head to one side before straightening and simply nodding.
"Pervert"
"Thank you for the compliment."
"Why cant you just ask normally?"
"We aren't exactly close enough to have a normal conversation and relationship. Which is why I can only do it this way"
"Tch. I accept. But i'm beating you up first" She states as her fist moves to connect with Axel's face.