Chapter Text
At the tender age of six– almost seven years old–, Bell Cranel would wholeheartedly admit that he didn’t understand a lot about how the World worked, or how Magic worked, or how a lot of things worked. But what he did understand however–
“Raaaaa!”
“Really? Do you have to shout like that every time you swing that ax?”
“Uwaaa! So cool!”
–was that watching the carrot haired man cleave through entire logs with a single swing of his ax, was extremely cool.
Even if the redhead beside him kept sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
“Seriously, with your Strength Stat you don’t even need to use both hands– I have C Ranked Strength and I can do it one handed!” The redhead argued, his own ax propped against his shoulder and kept there by the leaning of his forearm against it. Admittedly, the duo did make for a strangely dressed pair– the redhead wearing a burgundy red three-pieces suit, even if the jacket had been left back at home, and square frames while the carrot haired man was wearing a simple jean & t-shirt affair… which was all the stranger given that denim did not exist in the Lower World.
Not that Bell would be aware of this, given that Ichigo hadn’t bothered to explain what materials his pants were made out of, nor did anyone plan to ask.
Sighing once more, adjusting his square frames as he looked around, the redhead– Elias– made a mental count of all the firewood they had just chopped.
“In any case, I think we’re good on firewood for now…” Raising his empty hand and giving a theatrical snap, a Magic Circle appeared beneath the chopped firewood before teleporting it back to their storage shed– the act earning another set of applause from Bell at the cool sight of Magic being used– before fetching his pocket watch, Elias glanced at the time before pocketing the device once more– one which still amazed Bell to no end given its strange designs–, “Better get back home if we don’t want to go under the table.”
The prospect of ‘going under the table’– which both Ichigo and Bell had quickly learned was an idiom for ‘not eating’– caused both Saber and Master to start panicking and running towards the cabin they called home, Elias following behind at a more leisurely pace.
As he ran towards Salvation– Food–, Bell couldn’t help but feel a sense of unreality at how quickly things had changed for him. One day it was just him and his grandpa, and the next twelve newcomers joined the household. All because Bell decided to go out into the forest, but that’s a story for another time.
“Ely.”
“Don’t worry! It’s fine~”
“Ely!”
“It’s fine! Don’t worry!”
While Ichigo and Bell were hauling ass to avoid missing lunch, said lunch was currently being prepared by Elysia and Jeanne– both women having decided to take over lunch duty for the day given that most of the actual cooks were busy somewhere else. That had, admittedly, perhaps been a bad idea– or so thought Arlecchino as she entered the kitchen to see the Ruler Servant desperately trying to keep Miss Pink Elf from pouring even more sugar into some diabolical looking abomination of sprinkles and pink food dye and other unspeakable horrors (sweets), what might have at once point been pancakes but now more so resembled diabetes-on-a-plate.
Perhaps, the Knave thought listlessly, it had been a bad idea to let the woman who could eat nothing but sweets cook their meal. At least the rest of the dishes looked serviceable enough, even if Jeanne seemed to have spent the majority of the time keeping Elysia from giving everyone diabetes instead of actually cooking anything.
“Ely! For the love of all that is Holy give me the sugar or so help me!” Jeanne shrieked, materializing her flagpole and pointing it menacingly towards Elysia, the Archer in return tilted the offending bag of white powder over the freshly cooked roast– a large smile on her face as she stared down the Saint of Orléans, daring the Saint to make a move.
“...Okay, that’s enough– give me the sugar Elysia!” Deciding to intervene, Arlecchino made a grab for the sugar, only for Elysia to float backwards with both the roast and the sugar in hand. “Jeanne, stop standing there and help me!”
Spurred on by the sudden arrival of help, Jeanne shot off towards Elysia with determination on her face, either to grab the roast or the bag of sugar– either outcome was acceptable.
Flagpole shooting forward to try and hook the sugar bag, Jeanne and Arlecchino weaved around each other’s strikes to try and find an opening in Elysia’s defenses (which mostly consisted of running and interposing the roast in-between herself and their attacks) to no avail.
The clash continued for a few more minutes as both Ruler and Lancer attempted to rescue their diner from the evil clutches of Elysia’s sugar tooth, the sound of screeching and screaming heralding a great battle (for food) as the kitchen turned into a warzone.
Next time, maybe don’t let Elysia cook– just a thought.
Morgan had to admit, even if begrudgingly, that the Philanderer God had done a good job in raising Bell– complete fascination with heroes not withstanding. Staring at her husband-to-be– because ‘fiancé’ would imply that Bell had proposed to her, which he hadn’t done yet– but she still held hope that he would eventually!– Morgan couldn’t help but feel a flutter of something that might have been infatuation burgeoning in her stomach. Okay, so maybe Bell didn’t look the coolest right now, running around the field with a stone slab tied to his back all the while gasping like a fish out of water, but hey that’s training for you!
Few people actually look cool while training, and if they did look cool then it was probably because they weren’t doing very good training anyways.
“Come on Bell! Just one more lap, you can do it!” Following a bit behind Bell was Minato, the Assassin Servant having taken it upon himself to help Bell get into shape at the lad’s insistence. Now if he could also teach Bell how to propose to her, that would be even better! Or so Morgan thought at least, but she would admit to being biased in that regard.
Looking back on it now, it was a bit surreal to think it’d been almost six months since they’d been summoned here– six months since she’d met Bell, and six months without a proposal in sight! It was driving her insane!
“You know, you’ll mess up your pretty face if you keep frowning like tha– Wait! No! Ack! I’m here in peace!” Throwing a bolt of mana towards the offending philanderer, Morgan felt her frown deepen as the God of Thunder threw himself to the ground to avoid being struck by an attack that would surely send him back to Heaven!
“Then speak– No, rather, stand there and avoid breathing– or even better, drop dead!” Morgan shouted, making her outrageous demands as she let loose even more bolts of energy towards Zeus, the God making some impressive moves as he rolled around to avoid being painfully sent back to Heaven.
Six months ago, the scene would’ve drawn attention from passersby– at least until they realized who it was that was being brutalized. Now, it didn’t even earn a raised eyebrow as people simply moved to avoid the blast radius around Zeus– a few even taking the opportunity to throw stones at the old pervert before moving on with their day.
After a few minutes of unsuccessful attempts at enacting parricide, Morgan huffed and crossed her arms, allowing Zeus to cautiously rise from the ground and dust himself off, the God of Thunder taking this lapse in attacks to actually say what it was that he wanted to say, “I think it’s time for me to leave.” He said bluntly, earning a bewildered expression from the Faerie Queen who had been expecting a lot of things, but not that of all things. “Before you say something, I don’t mean just leave this place– I mean leave the Lower World.”
The seriousness of the topic– of a God willingly talking about leaving the Lower World, baring themselves from ever returning– caught even Morgan flatfooted, her eyes widening as she processed the information, a single question making its way to the surface beyond the myriad others that bubbled in her mind, “But why? Do you not care for Bell? Is that it– you want him to have some sad sap backstory so he can use it to be a Hero!?”
Once again, the Faerie Queen held nothing back as she rendered accusations upon accusations onto the God of Thunder, but unlike before where venom was all that could be found in her voice, now there was only confusion.
Sighing deeply, Zeus allowed the accusations to continue– it wasn’t as if he had any ground to stand on anyways, as that had been his initial plan, to mold Bell into the ‘Last Hero’ by laying the groundwork of a simple boy following grand dreams of heroism. Just like with Argonaut long ago. Except, the arrival of the Heroic Spirits had thrown a wrench in his plan, even if the large majority of them had no interest in actually slaying the One-Eyed Black Dragon or completing the Dungeon.
“I did think of that, once.” He admitted, because lying to Morgan was futile given her [Fairy Eyes], the lack of excuses once more silencing Morgan as she wasn’t used to Zeus being so blunt. “But now I genuinely think it’s time for Bell to outgrow me… No, rather, if I stick around– I’ll just try to push Bell onto that path.” The God shamelessly admitted, a still silence enveloping the duo as one tried to process the implications of what she’d just learned, and the other simply being at peace with his choices.
“I asked Elias to help me hide my departure– took a lot of convincing too.” Really, the look on the Caster’s face when Zeus had made his demand had almost sent the Thunderer back to Heaven instantly from how bewildered Elias had seemed. “But it’s done, I’m going back to Heaven in a dozen minutes. All I’m asking is that you keep this a secret– keep Bell from digging too much into it and all that, alright?”
Clicking her tongue, Morgan watched as Zeus turned on his heels and left– that shitty geezer, making trouble for everyone and then running off before he could face the consequences. Still…
“Fine. For Bell.”
Mount Olympus was a lot of things– grand, divine, amazing, and not actually a mountain.
It was also the home of the NEET Goddess of Hearth and Home, Hestia. Said NEET Goddess was currently busy doing nothing, as was usual. Given the amount of Gods that had descended to the Lower World, the workload for those still in Heaven had almost quadrupled.
Except for Hestia, because as much as she was kind and willing to help, few actually wanted the Goddess with two left feet and lead fingers to help with their work. To say nothing of the fact that Hestia herself was supremely lazy when allowed to be.
Hence why she was currently alone on Olympus, busy trying to become one with the marble flooring that made up the chamber of the Sacred Flame.
Look, it wasn’t her fault she couldn’t work to save her life!
The fact that she was alone in what amounted to Olympus’ throne room was also the reason why she was the first to realize that an Olympian was returning to Heaven– the realization causing her to almost choke on her spit as she scrambled to get off the floor and make herself at least somewhat presentable.
But who could it be? Hephaestus? Naw, couldn’t be– the Smith Goddess spent most of her time hauled up inside of her forge, if Hephaestus was coming back to Heaven then most of Orario was coming with her since, well, it probably didn’t exist anymore.
‘Okay, yeah, that’s kinda dark… Moving on…’ Shaking her head away from thoughts of Orario turning into a giant crater, Hestia mentally went down the list of people it could be. Apollo? Couldn’t be, not enough screaming and fire. Hera? Same– not enough screaming… Ares?
Glancing towards the corner of the Lower World where Ares had hauled up, Hestia noticed a distinct lack of monsters or craters or overall large-scale destruction that would indicate the nation was at war (in its own capital at least) or had been blown up. So probably not Ares.
Still, it didn’t take very long before Hestia did get some answers– in the form of a familiar scent of ozone starting to wrap around her, a cold sweat beginning to form on her forehead as a familiar laughter echoed throughout the room.
“Big sister! Wow, aren’t I lucky? To think you’d still be here! Welp– sorry, not sorry!” The Thunderer declared as he reformed out of the Sacred Flame of Olympus, a shit-eating grin on his face as Hestia let out a shriek, trying to scramble away from her younger brother (and good heavens did she feel really old to see him with a full beard and grey hair) as the God threw himself onto her, the divine siblings wrestling for a bit before Zeus managed to leverage his superior bulk… and threw Hestia into the fading pillar of light that had heralded his return to the Upper Plane.
“Tell Elias I regret nothing!” He hollered after her, watching Hestia scream bloody murder as she was pulled towards the Lower World by the fading embers of Elias’ Spell. Once Hestia’s many threats towards his manhood had faded to silence, Zeus allowed himself a few moments to laugh before he settled down on his throne– ready to watch his adoptive grandson become a Legend.
Hopefully–
“Ack! Meteria!? How did you– Hades!? HADES YOU BASTARD! HOW DARE YO– WAIT, NO, METERIA I SWEAR I DIDN’T CORRUPT YOUR BOY! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”
“I swear I’ll castrate him when I get back up there! No– Wait, I should toss him inside the Sacred Flame and then use that to burn it off!” Hestia ranted and raved from her spot on the ground, wholly unashamed of her haphazard condition covered in dust and dirt as she angrily shook her fist towards Heaven. Even Elias’ presence, silent as he was as he contemplated whether or not making a Voodoo Doll of Zeus and nailing it to a tree would actually do anything, couldn’t get the Goddess of the Hearth to feel even slightly ashamed of her current condition.
Eventually however, a breathless Hestia collapsed back onto the forest floor after a dozen minutes or so of continuous cursing– seven minutes in fact, Elias noted as he glanced at his pocket watch, before shifting his attention back to Hestia. The Goddess and mortal(?) staring at each other for a few silent moments, Elias raising a finger to try and interpel the Goddess, only for Hestia to let out a loud shriek of anger, another tirade against her baby brother on the tip of her tongue–
“Hey hey! Stop screaming, will you!? How did you get here anyways!?” Deciding that he wasn’t in the mood to hear another tirade, Elias quickly threw out his questions in the hopes that they would kill Hestia’s momentum, to some success as the Goddess of the Hearth started wheezing from suddenly exhaling all the air in her lungs– since Elias’ question caught her completely flatfooted.
Turning her gaze towards Elias as the Mage dropped his jacket over wheezing form, Hestia couldn’t help but wonder what kind of mortal magic had been able to forcefully (even if with Zeus’s help) drag her out of Heaven. “...So you’re Elias huh?”
Blinking at the mention of his name, Elias watched as Hestia got to her feet– throwing his jacket a strange glance as if she wasn’t quite sure what to make of its presence on her shoulders– before she stared up at him with a huff. “I am Hestia! Goddess of the Hearth and Home! And, err– yeah.”
Wilting a bit under Elias’s bewildered expression, Hestia once more silently cursed Zeus for (literally) throwing her down here before she was ready– it wasn’t laziness if she had a reason to avoid coming down here! And if that reason was just an excuse, then shut up nobody asked you–
“I.. see.” He did not, in fact, see. Carefully taking his glasses and cleaning them– and checking them over for some weird Curse Zeus’s presence might have left– Elias had to accept that, yes, the Virgin Goddess of Hearth was a loli with big boobs. What a world to live in. Closing his eyes and counting to five, Elias turned his gaze towards the wilting Hestia– crocodile tears streaming down her face as she muttered something or other about not being ready to form a Familia– and decided that he was neither drunk enough nor mad enough to try and make heads or tails of her words. Deciding to ignore that particular train of thought, for only madness and the Abyss laid down there, Elias felt entirely ready to throw that particular can of worms towards someone with more empathy than he had.
“...I am indeed Elias. It’s nice to meet you, Goddess Hestia” His lame introduction did pull Hestia out of her (overly dramatic) funk as she once more glanced up at him before puffing out her chest in what might have been pride– At what!? Talking to someone!? Aren’t you a Goddess!? Have some self-respect!– which he decided to also ignore in favor of keeping his remaining sanity.
Before either could speak up, a loud growling escaped Hestia’s stomach as her now mortal form– and thus mortal needs– made themselves known, with her stomach loudly protesting its empty state.
“...Right, I think we have some leftovers…” Extending his hand in invitation, Hestia gave a dramatic sob as she accepted the hand– at least there was food where she was going, even if all it cost her was her dignity as a Goddess.
“...”
“...”
“...”
“... Would you all please say something!? I feel like I’m being judged way too harshly for something I haven’t even done!” Hestia cried out, pointing accusingly towards the gaggle of Heroic Spirits staring dumbfounded at her, the fork in her hand waving in what might have been a threat were it not for a piece of cooked potato stabbed into it, the rest of the potato being found around the Goddess’s mouth as she had been busy filling her stomach for a good few minutes before realizing that she had an audience.
Amiya allowed a kind– if slightly stiff– smile to form on her face as she raised her arms in a surrender motion to try and placate the irate Goddess, “Please don’t be angry Goddess Hestia, we’re just… not used to seeing Goddesses around this place is all.” The rabbit girl tried to be diplomatic in how she spoke, throwing a glare towards the snickering Ling as the Sui made no efforts to hide how amused she was at the situation.
The rest of the group wasn’t much better; Herta was busy trying to decide whether she was angry at the Goddess’s oversized bust or at the consumption of what she had considered her leftovers, Ichigo and Jeanne were instead busy trying to wrap their head around the idea that this was Hestia (a Virgin Goddess) and that Elias hadn’t tried to pull a prank on them. The rest of the Heroic Spirits either didn’t know who Hestia was– with Minato, Ozen, and Arlecchino being woefully unaware of who she was supposed to be– or had just decided to accept this reality and not think too much about it– well, Welt and Elias had, Elysia was busy wondering if she could convince Hestia to become an idol with her.
As for Bell, well, he was busy between being in awe at finally meeting a divine for the first time in his life– that thought made Zeus flinch up in Heaven– and trying to keep Morgan from setting the salacious, in Morgan’s own words, Goddess on fire with her glare.
“Still… I think it might be for the best if you changed into something more… appropriate?” Amiya advanced, trying to stay diplomatic while really wishing she could force the buxom Goddess into an oversized hoodie or something. Really, did Hestia not know how immodest her so-called ‘dress’ was!?
Hestia tilted her head to the side, causing her bust to jiggle slightly as Ichigo and Jeanne turned their heads away only to see Morgan throw her arms around Bell’s head– causing the boy to let out a strangled yelp as the Berserker all but dived on top of him–, confusion clear on her face. “Really? I don’t see the problem with–”
“Yes please and thank you!” Sensing the incoming calamity as Ichigo and Jeanne tried to pry Morgan off of Bell, Amiya quickly went over to Hestia, pushing the Goddess along towards an empty room. “I’m sure Elysia– I mean, Arlecchino– Actually, never mind, I’ll help you!” Quickly stumbling over her words as she tried to find someone to help the Goddess change, only to change her mind once– because giving this task to Elysia was just asking for trouble– and then be forced to once again change her mind as Arlecchino was dragged into the fray.
“So this is the Falna, interesting.” Glancing between the various sheets of paper Hestia had used to transcribe their so-called ‘Status’, the newly formed Hestia Familia sat around the slightly anemic Goddess of the Hearth– now changed in a much more modest dress after much badgering from Amiya– as she went on to explain how this entire thing worked.
“Yep! The Falna is what allows you Children to fight the monsters of the Dungeon… or so I’ve been told.” Slightly sheepish and anemic from having used up so much of her blood, Hestia was currently munching on an orange to help her body recover the lost blood as she continued her explanation. “There are five stats; Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic, and then there are Skills, Magic, and Developmental Abilities.”
The mentions of stats earned a raised eyebrow from quite a few Servants, especially Ichigo who couldn’t help but voice a few questions, “Why are Dexterity and Agility different Stats? Actually, wouldn’t it be better to just have them be the same thing? Also, why Endurance and not Vitality? Shouldn’t stamina be tied to speed and power?” He rattled off, growing more and more confused as he spoke and earning a baffled look from Bell and Hestia who also tried to wrap their heads around what the Saber was saying.
Before the discussion could be derailed too much, Hestia shook her head and slammed her hands onto the table before her– “What has my table done to you Goddess Hestia”– beautifully ignoring Elias’s muttering at the harsh treatment of his creation. “It doesn’t matter! That’s how things are, Developmental Abilities come after Level Up so those aren’t important– and I don’t know anything about them– so let’s talk about Skills!”
Standing up and pointing towards Heaven as if it had personally slighted her, Hestia then turned her gaze towards the now sheepish Heroic Spirits– each of them pointedly looking at their Status Sheet, “How the Hell do you all have Skills!? Isn’t that supposed to be rare or something!?” She shrieked, causing Amiya and Jeanne to once again try to placate the raving Goddess before she did something outrageous.
Admittedly, the reason every Heroic Spirit had a Skill was because of what they were– Heroic Spirits. Rather, while the Falna didn’t take into account things like previous life experience, strength, and accomplishments done prior to acquiring the Falna, it could manifest Skills depending on their ‘Soul’. As individuals with incredibly powerful Souls, it was only natural that the Heroic Spirits would all manifest a Skill tied to their being.
After a few minutes of placating, Amiya and Jeanne were able to get Hestia to calm down enough to reenter the conversation– even if she was still simmering a bit from the sudden reveal that her ‘Children’ were all actually Super Ghosts summoned by a ritual that shouldn’t have worked, aside from Bell anyways. “Ack! At least nobody else has to know…” Huffing a bit as she considered what she did know about Orario, Hestia took solace in the knowledge that the Guild and other Familias weren’t privy to the Status of other Familias, so at least she didn’t have to explain anything to anyone.
Still… Glancing over at Bell for a bit, the boy still busy gushing over Morgan’s Status– even if they were all at Level 1, since again, the Falna didn’t take into account previous accomplishments– Hestia made a discrete gesture towards Elias and Amiya, drawing their attention as she led them out of the living room and into the kitchen, the two Servants exchanging glances before following the unusually serious Goddess.
“Ahhh~ This sucks, who’d have thought that having awesome kids would be so stressful…” Hestia whined a bit, throwing her arms in the air as Amiya tried to placate the Goddess, Elias instead finding a counter to lean against, crossing his arms as he kept an eye towards the living room. “Well, can’t be helped now…”
Huffing again, crossing her arms as she glanced over to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation, Hestia turned her attention back to Amiya and Elias. “So, I need a Captain and a Vice-Captain. Or well, the Familia does. I asked Minato and Elysia and they were pretty quick to refuse, that means it’s up to you two! Good luck on that.” Throwing them a big thumbs up, Hestia couldn’t help but giggle a bit when Amiya swiftly turned to face Elias– a look of utmost seriousness on her face as she spoke up.
“Congratulations Captain! There’s still a lot of work to be done, so as Vice-Captain I’ll try to help as much as I can, okay?” Shamelessly throwing all responsibilities– and paperwork– towards Elias, Amiya stared deep into the Mage’s bewildered eyes as if to hammer home that no, she wasn’t going to get saddled with leadership or dealing with Hestia’s random wants and outrageous demands.
“...” Staring down at Amiya, as if staring long enough into her eyes would cause her decision to change, Elias eventually sighed in defeat, his shoulders slumping as he accepted that he had been sacrificed by the others. “Yay me…”
Sharing a glance, Hestia and Amiya highfived each other before Hestia spoke up again– with the next few words to come out of her mouth solidifying Amiya’s decision that being Captain was way too bothersome for her–, “By the way, Bell has a Skill and, well… here, it’s easier if you just read it.”
Pulling out a piece of paper with Bell’s Skill written on it, both Captain and Vice-Captain leaned over to read it, with whatever was written on the paper causing Elias to let out a pained groan as premonitions of severe headaches and issues flashed through his mind.
[Worldbearer]
Grants one the Right to Deliver the Cycle of Fate.