Chapter 5: BELL-O-EMON SPAR FIGHT
Bete Loga was annoyed as he walked through the halls of Twilight Manor. Just last night, he had apparently been beaten by some weird-as-hell newbie kid. He vaguely remembered approaching a white-haired boy to teach him a lesson or two about strength. Then the next thing he knew, he was being carried over while being laughed at by Tiona.
What the hell just happened last night?
He tried to remember, but the best thing he could recall was a red cloth being waved in front of his face. The very same cloth that the hag, Riveria, was using just this morning. He had watched from afar and saw the bullshittery of the cloth.
Why the hell could it reflect all attacks?!
His ears then twitched; he heard something – no, someone fighting. From the sounds of it, it was coming from their backyard training ground. Curious, he walked towards a window overlooking the training ground. He saw Ais there, which wasn't unusual as she frequently practiced there. But Ais seemed to be fighting against...
What the f– Was that the newbie?!
Bete's eyes twitched. He blinked once, then twice, and rubbed his eyes to make sure. He still saw him there. White hair, red eyes, dumb face, short, and painfully amateurish in every way.
Why was the damn newbie here? And why the hell was Ais sparring against him? And how in the world could he keep up with her?!
…
Some moments ago, Bell was enjoying a small tea party with Loki and some of her executives. They were enjoying this tea turned drink party. They talked about things, mostly Bell asking for advice from the more experienced adventurers before him.
While Bell was talking about dungeons and adventuring, Ais hummed a bit before she made a realization. She then turned to Bell and simply asked him.
"Want me to train you? We could practice with sparring."
Sparring was the simplest and most easy way for her to understand someone. With a spar, she could determine Bell's current strength more accurately. Also, she might or might not have an underlying intention to see more of Bell's strange items or gadgets, as he called them.
Bell looked uncertain. "Umm, Ms. Ais–"
"Ais." She cut Bell off. "Just call me Ais."
Bell weakly laughed as he saw Ais start pouting. He cleared his throat. "Right, Ais. I don't think that would be a good idea?"
It was very uncommon for an adventurer of one Familia to practice with another Familia's adventurer. After all, the point of Familias, in the first place, was as a competition between Gods. Practicing with other Familia would undermine that. Why would you intentionally make another Familia stronger if this whole Familia thing was meant to compete with each other?
"I don't mind." Finn allowed Ais's suggestion.
As a captain, Finn knows best that under normal circumstances, letting Ais train other Familia adventurers when she could do it with their own fellow low-level adventurers sounds stupid. Note, under normal circumstances, Bell was as normal as an Orc flying in the sky. With how useful and versatile the boy's gadgets were, he really needed to forge a good relationship between their Familia and Bell's.
There was that, but there was also the fact that he saw how… happy Ais seemed to be when Bell was here. That alone was worth keeping Bell close with their Familia.
"Hooo, I want to see how the rabbit fights too." Tione raised her hand. "Maybe I can also spar with him too and, you know, teach him some stuff, hehe."
"Well, having a level 5 training with you will benefit you the most, Bell," Riveria joined the conversation. "But, while I'm confident that Ais could hold back her punch, the same couldn't be said for Tiona." She glanced at Tiona.
"Eeehh?" Tiona responded indignantly. "But, mama, I can also hold back my punch too!" Tiona pouted while calling out Riveria with her less-known title, mama.
Riviera narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure?"
Tiona opened her mouth, before closing it, and gave Riveria a small chuckle. "Well, uhhh, Rabbit can take a hit or two from me! Right, Rabbit?" She turned to Bell with hopeful eyes.
Bell sheepishly smiled as he slowly averted his eyes away from Tiona. Tanking a hit from an Amazon, a level 5 Amazon at that?
Yeah, no thanks. He would be turned into mush if she did that.
"So, how about it?" Ais asked again, her eyes sparkling, hoping Bell would accept.
He then turned to Ais. "I'd love to train with you, Ais. But…." He glanced at Loki, who was still blissfully drinking cup after cup of tea-turned-wine courtesy of Bell's gadget.
Even if the executives plus the captain were okay, Loki, as the Goddess, might have reservations.
Loki noticed she was being stared at and just shrugged. "Sure, but only in our manor training ground."
Her views of Bell now were significantly higher than when she first met him. She could tolerate him more now. Ais wanted to train this rabbit? Sure, she could do that as long as she could see them both do the training. The Rabbit was cool now, but it was still no way in hell she would allow her Ais to have a secret rendezvous alone with the Rabbit somewhere.
She also thought the same as her Familia's captain. She needed, under no circumstance, to keep the boy around. She missed getting him in her Familia, so the next best option was to keep a friendly relationship with him.
But that also meant she needed to start making amends and play nice with Itty Bitty.
Oh boy….
Ais stood up then pulled Bell's arm. "Come on…"
Bell nodded and felt slightly embarrassed as Ais basically led him to the training ground hand-in-hand. Behind them, Finn, Riveria, and Tiona looked at them with amused smiles and grins, furthering his embarrassment.
Loki's eyes twitched, annoyed at seeing how Ais led Bell away. She pouted before chugging away another cup of tea-turned-wine again. Hoping the drink would wash away her saltiness.
Damn Rabbit.
…
"Your stances need to be lower," Ais told Bell before she swept his legs easily, "Or this would happen."
"Y-Yes," Bell pulled himself back, his guild-issued knife held tightly in his hand. He lowered his stance and then rushed at Ais. With a swift spin, he used the momentum to deliver a horizontal slash at Ais.
Being way more powerful and experienced than Bell, Ais blocked the attack effortlessly. She then watched as Bell quickly disengaged before delivering another attack, an upward slash. Again, she blocked it with ease, but Bell didn't stop. Ais noticed that Bell was particularly quick on his feet, way above average for a level 1. She also observed how Bell was like a sponge when it came to learning. He rarely, if ever, made the same mistakes twice.
Ais hummed. This was… fun?
She couldn't explain properly, but seeing Bell improve under her care made her feel somewhat proud of him.
Hmm, was this how a teacher felt when their student did exceptionally well? Maybe.
After a while of sparring, Ais decided that Bell deserved a break. Tiona then approached him while carrying a glass of water.
"Not bad, Rabbit," Tiona said while giving Bell the glass of water. "For a level 1, you're certainly quick."
"Hahaha, thanks," he bashfully smiled, "but speed alone is not enough, right?"
"Yes," Ais responded, "but your growth was... quite fast. If you keep improving like this, it won't take long for you to level up." Ais cheered him on.
It took her around a year for her first level up. She was sure Bell could also achieve this considering how attentive he was during their training.
"Hmmm…" Tiona stared at Bell for a while. "Hey, Rabbit, do you have gadgets in that pouch that can make you stronger?" she wondered.
Tiona's question reminded Ais, "You don't use the sword you used against the Minotaur, Bell?" Ais asked.
Bell raised a brow and tilted his head. "How did you know about Denkomaru?"
Ais' body stiffened. She forgot something crucial. He didn't know that she watched him from afar back then. She then tried to explain, "U-Umm, I was actually there when you used it… I was chasing down the Minotaur and saw how you defeated it yourself... from afar."
She quickly averted her eyes from Bell.
Gods, she sounded like a stalker now.
While Ais was secretly embarrassed inside, Bell didn't seem to notice and didn't think much of it. He then replied, "Well, I do have some gadgets like that, but my Goddess said that I still need to grow my strength naturally."
Tiona perked up as she heard that he had gadgets that could make him stronger. "Well, how about using it now?"
"I'm not so sure..." Bell responded uncertainly.
"Ehh, why not?" Tiona pouted. "I'm sure Ais won't mind, right Ais?"
"Yes, it would be helpful. If you close the gap between us, then I can learn from you as well," Ais added.
She basically said that if they continued their current way of training, then she would only act as Bell's teacher and barely improve herself. It was quite a harsh statement, she admitted it.
But she really, really wanted to see more of Bell's strange gadgets.
Bell thought about what Ais said. He couldn't disagree with that statement. But at the same time, his Goddess told him not to use those gadgets unless he was in a life or death situation.
No, Ais was already willing to train him just now. The least he could do was to use his gadget to help her train too.
"Okay then, just for training," Bell reached into his pouch and pulled out a small cylindrical gadget. "Strongest Mic," he exclaimed.
Admittedly, at a glance, it didn't look quite impressive, but Ais and Tiona still watched with curiosity in their eyes. Loki, Riviera, and Finn, who watched from afar, also paid more attention to this new gadget.
"So, what does this one do?" Tiona inquired.
"It's better to just show it in practice," Bell smiled mischievously. "Ais, would you mind if we do another spar?"
Ais nodded quickly, excited to see what would happen.
Ais and Bell then stood on the training ground, swords and knives in their hands, ready for the spar. Bell then attached the mic on his chest. With a grin, he then stated, "I'm now as strong as Ais."
ZIIIIIIIIING!
As soon as Bell said that, a weird sound followed. Everyone who watched was confused and waited for something to happen, but nothing did.
"Are you ready?" Bell asked Ais as he lowered his stances.
Ais nodded, "Yes," and readied her sword.
"Then, here I come," Bell said as he rushed towards Ais... fast.
His sudden significant increase in speed surprised Ais and the other Loki Familia members around. Snapping out of her shock, Ais managed to parry Bell's strike. She then tried to deliver a counter-attack, only for Bell to easily dodge it and strike her back repeatedly. His knife was swinging relentlessly.
His speed was one thing, but she also noticed some other things. Like how the strength of each of his attacks was several times stronger than before. She smiled a bit; it seemed she needed to get serious now.
Mustering her strength, she swung her sword hard, forcing Bell to block it, but it failed to stop him from being swatted several distances away from her. Focusing her mind, Ais then lunged towards Bell with all her speed. It was her turn now to attack. Bell barely managed to keep up with her flurry of strikes. They kept going, trading attack after attack with each other.
His overall strength was way stronger than before, but his skills, stances, and footwork were lacking and still needed improvement. Thus, when two equally powerful people fight against each other, the one most skilled would triumph in the end. With one well-delivered strike, she was able to disarm Bell of his knife. After that, a good leg sweep followed, making him fall to the ground, and then she thrust her sword down at Bell.
She stopped right before her sword actually hit Bell, a gust of wind blowing everywhere, a testament to how strong her thrust was.
"I... I yield," Bell awkwardly said, hands in the air, while a sharp sword was pointed at him.
Ais nodded and sheathed her sword back. "That was... amazing," she remarked, "how could you do it?"
Bell pulled himself back up, feeling a little sluggish because of the after-effects of Strongest Mic. Then, before Bell could answer Ais's question, Tiona came towards them, shouting, "Hot damn, Rabbit, that was awesome!! You suddenly went from just a level 1 Rabbit to a Rabbit that managed to keep up with Ais!" she exclaimed.
"It was only thanks to this gadget," Bell picked up the Strongest Mic that was attached to his chest. "The Strongest Mic allowed me to get as strong as Ais by stating what I said earlier," he explained.
"Wait, really?!" Tiona's expression was a mix of awe and shock.
Ais, too, was amazed by that small gadget. Instantly going from arguably weak to pretty strong simply by saying a line was absurdly broken. Was there even a limit to it? Could she use it as well? Well, nothing's wrong with asking. Ais was about to open her mouth before Tiona cut her off.
"Hey, can I use it too?" Tiona asked Bell before Ais.
"Uh..yes," Bell replied.
Tiona pumped her hand. "Nice, wait here for a sec," she rushed inside the manor and came back carrying her weapon, Urga. "Can it make me as strong as I want?" She eagerly asked.
"Well, yeah–"
"Sweet, now make me ten times stronger."
"I don't think that's a good idea, Ms. Tiona," Bell told her, "but maybe two times is okay."
To be honest, Bell himself was quite unsure about this, but he was absolutely confident that Tiona couldn't handle being ten times stronger.
Tiona pouted, "Booo, fine. Two times it is."
Bell nodded, he then used the Strongest Mic. "Ms. Tiona is two times more powerful than she is."
ZIIIIIIIIINNG!
The weird sound was heard again. Ais watched with curiosity as Tiona patted her body and swung her arms around.
"I don't feel any different," Tiona mentioned, "but let me try something." She then gripped her Urga and raised it high above her head.
At that moment, Bell made a mistake. A very big mistake.
Doubling Tiona's already high strength would result in a power akin to someone after a level up. Thus, a level 5 Tiona now had her power doubled to the realm of a level six adventurer or perhaps even higher.
As a result, Urga was swung downwards with all of Tiona's newfound strength, and all hell broke loose. Everyone in the immediate area felt the ground shaking.
The Twilight Manor's training ground was obliterated, the force pierced and destroyed the walls surrounding the manor, and it even continued moving through the road outside, ruining it as well.
Rubble was everywhere, and a cloud of dust covered everything. It took some time before the dust dissipated and revealed the aftermath.
A ruined training ground, a broken-down wall, and a ruined road outside. Not to mention Urga in Tiona's hand, now reduced to half its size, seemingly snapped after the swing.
Tiona wryly smiled, "Hehehe, whoops?" she muttered before feeling a little tired and falling to her knees.
…
Loki, Finn, and Riveria watched in astonishment as Bell pulled out yet another strange gadget, amazed by how that small thing seemingly strengthened his stats. This sudden increase in power was strong enough to make Ais take him more seriously. Loki figured that by sheer strength and speed alone, Bell's current stats should be at least around Ais's own stats, which meant around level 5.
That was overpowered and broken in so many ways. The gadget could make a level 1 adventurer as strong as a level 5 adventurer? Every god and adventurer everywhere would kill to have something like that.
"What if a high-leveled adventurer used it?" Loki wondered.
She found out the answer not long after as Tiona asked Bell if she could use it. Bell agreed, and that's when it happened.
Loki's jaw dropped, and her eyes widened. Finn and Riveria beside her also couldn't hide their shock. The sheer power that Tiona unleashed just a moment ago dwarfed her actual strength by a lot.
Then the realization hit Loki hard. Seeing the destruction Tiona caused, she knew that she needed to somehow fix this—the training ground, the wall, and the roads. Her fists balled as she calculated how much Valis she needed to pay. Not only to fix everything but most likely also to pay a fine to the Guild.
Loki gritted her teeth and took a deep breath before...
"Tiona!" she shouted. "You idiot!!"
She walked over to Tiona and pinched her cheeks. Tiona, still feeling a little sluggish, could only helplessly let her cheeks be pinched while a frustrated and teary-eyed Loki glared at her.
"Look at what you did! How can we pay to fix all of this?! Do I need to remind you that our money is in the red, huh?!"
"Awawawa, sowwyyy."
While Loki was busy with Tiona, not far from them, Ais looked like she was hugging Bell.
"Are you okay, Bell?" she asked.
"Uh yeah, somewhat."
When Tiona was about to swing, Ais's instinct was blaring. Noticing this, she immediately pulled Bell towards her and used her body to shield him.
She was strong, so this wouldn't hurt her seriously, but Bell was a different case.
So she used her body to protect him!
From the outside looking in, it looked like she was just hugging the rabbit boy. But she only wanted to protect him, okay!
It wasn't like she wanted to hug him or something.
Well, the hug itself felt nice, but still!
"Umm Ais, you could let me go now..." Bell sheepishly muttered as his cheeks became tinged with a faint red blush.
Well, nobody could blame him honestly, as the poor rabbit was basically pulled and held by Ais so close that he could feel how, umm... her body was basically embracing his. Naive and innocent as Bell might be, he was still a boy. His imagination started running wild as he felt Ais's chest pressed against his.
Ais, without doing pretty much anything, was already drop-dead beautiful for him. Now she did this to him.
Too much stimulation.
Too much stimulation!!
Riveria and Finn then approached them. "Ais, you need to let go of the boy. You'll kill him with embarrassment if not," Riveria told Ais while pointing at the flustered Bell.
Ais released Bell, realizing how close she had been holding him. "Sorry about that," she said, a hint of embarrassment in her voice.
"No problem," Bell replied, trying to hide his own blush.
Finn whistled, looking at the aftermath of Tiona's action. "I must say, I'm impressed, but....," he said, before he winced after thinking how much their Familia needed to pay for everything.
Suddenly, a blur smacked Bell's body, toppling him over to the ground.
"Rabbit!!" On top of him was Tiona, complete with teary eyes and slightly puffed cheeks after Loki's pinches. "Help meeee! Loki said she would force me to hunt for monster stones non-stop until I could pay for everything! That's just so cruel."
Tiona already had her fair share of financial problems. The cost of Urga maintenance alone was already astronomically high and put her in debt. Now she needed to commission another Urga, which meant more debt, and pay to fix everything here, also more debt.
Slightly sobbing while also pouting, "Rabbit, Rabbit! lend me something to pay for everything!! You must have some gadgets that can do that right? Right?"
Those who were around them mentally facepalmed as Tiona, a level 5 adventurer, was begging Bell, a level 1 adventurer, to help her pay her debt. Ais's eyes twitched; she walked towards Bell and Tiona. She then tapped Tiona's shoulder.
"Hmm?" Tiona turned her head to Ais.
"Get off of him," Ais told her, her cold demanding voice devoid of any emotions.
"A-Ah yes, of course." Tiona hurriedly pulled herself back from Bell. She got goosebumps after seeing Ais's eyes.
W-Why was she so angry?
Bell then stood up while patting dust off his body. Seeing how desperate Tiona was, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He then called Tiona.
"While I couldn't help with your debt, I can help with this… situation," he said as he pulled out another gadget. "Restoring Beam!!"
It was a hand-sized red cylindrical gadget. Bell then pressed the button on the Restoring Beam, and a yellow-orange light came out of it. He directed the light to the ruined training ground. Then slowly, everything started getting fixed as if time was rewinded. After the training ground was fixed, Bell then repaired the road outside, shocking some passersby along the way. Lastly, he fixed the wall back to its pristine condition.
While Bell was fixing everything, the rest of Loki Familia members who were in the manor came to the training ground to see what happened. What they saw was a ruined training ground that was slowly being repaired by a white-haired boy with some light magic? The executives who had already spent some time with Bell were already starting to get numb from the surprises Bell could pull from his pouch.
Bell then walked to Tiona. "Can I borrow that for a moment?" He pointed at the snapped Urga.
Tiona nodded and gave Urga to Bell; her mind was already in autopilot. Bell then shone the Restoring Beam at Urga. To Tiona's surprise and joy, her Urga was slowly being fixed too. Bell then gave the restored Urga back to her.
Tiona checked her weapon. No blemish, no dull blade, no chip, nothing. Everything looked perfect, as if it was a brand new out-of-forge Urga. Tiona turned her head to Bell, then to Urga, and then to Bell again.
"Hey rabbit – no, Bell," Tiona stared at Bell with serious eyes. "Marry me."
Suffice to say, all the people there were stunned into silence by her words, with Bell's jaw dropped and his eyes widened.
"No!" And surprisingly, it was Ais who replied to her.
-[Chapter 5 END]-
Strongest Mic: A gadget that will grant the user the strength they ask for. It can be used by requesting to be as strong as somebody else, multiplying your own strength, or combining both. Prolonged use and exceeding the user's physical limitations will result in tiredness, sluggish movements, and body pain.
Restoring Beam: A gadget that restores any object to its original pristine state.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone