In one of the brief breaks they had after passing out, Raul and several of the other new members of this expedition sat, half in awe, half in confusion. Bell noticed they were acting weird so he walked over and spoke to them.
"What's wrong? You look… scared?" Bell asked with his kind red eyes staring at them.
"Huh, no, it's not that." Raul said, shaking his head. "We've never had training this intense before. Finn and the others had stated multiple times they were pushing as hard as possible, but it was nothing compared to this."
"They're weak, so it makes sense. They had to gang up, and get fully healed again just to manage taking my father down. I will pay them back for that." Bell stated, showing a bit of anger in his face, still uncertain if he wanted to kill them himself, or let time take them naturally.
"I knew they were far behind everyone else, but I had no idea it was by this much. Even Donathan is still in the fight." Orba added, finding his voice after realizing he had some water.
"It won't be much longer. Once I fall out of the battle it isn't much longer before those a level higher than me start falling out." Bell said, and as if on cue, Donathan along with many other level 6s started vomiting, or worse, passing out. "See, I told you. Happens every time." Bell giggled. "Uncle Shurry is really strong!"
"That's the understatement of a lifetime." Raul chuckled, laughed, and then sighed, recovering enough to move and smile again. "I wish I'd joined this familia earlier, but since I didn't it's time to make up for what I've lost out on."
Finally, after an insanely long, and intense fight, all level 6s dropped out of the battle with Shurry. This included Ardee, and Neze, both made their way over to see Bell. Alise and the others in Astraea familia joined them.
"It feels good to get back at it." Ardee said, then pat Bell's head. "So, Bell, you haven't been scaring them yet, have you?"
"What, no. I was just checking up on their condition, it looked like they had a blank expression." Bell said, almost in protest… he poked his fingers together with a shy cuteness. "And Uncle said we should help them when we can…"
"That's good." Ardee and Neze giggled.
Anakitty, from where she sat, looked up to Ardee, and then stood up straight. "Miss Ardee, is alright if I ask you something?"
"Hmm? Sure, why not."
"How did it feel?"
"What do you mean?" Ardee asked, looking Anakitty up and down, and then came to a realization. " Oh, you want to know how it feels to have a kid, right?"
"Yes! That's right!" Anakitty replied concealing none of her interest, causing Raul to blush so hard his face was more red than Bell's eyes, or Alise's hair.
"Hmm, well it was fun getting started, the feeling of being so close and intimate with my husband was just the best." Ardee began.
"Then he held us like we were the most precious, and most fragile. That embrace was simply the best." Neze added.
Rose came running over, hearing the talk about Shurry. "Are we talking about our husband? Oh, about having puppies? The cozy naps we got with him were the best, and he'd always talk to us, and our bellies like the pups were already here. It was the cutest thing." She added. "The love he gave us was… there's nothing to properly put it into words."
"When we each gave birth to our babies. The pain of pushing them out was quite something. But when I saw my baby girl, she was worth it." Ardee finished.
"So it hurts towards the end. Alright, got it, that's not going to stop me. I'm going to have a litter as soon as I can!" It was then the realization of just how she openly admitted it dawned on her, and she grew embarrassed by the nano second.
Just as she was getting more embarrassed, there was suddenly a burst of interruptions from afar, the fight seemed to have heated up quite a fair amount. Magical bombardments, and physical blows all mixed in with the sounds of fighting. Afterglows flared to life moving directly towards Shurry, only to be batted away with a single firm gesture of the hand. Everyone stood up to get a better view of the fight.
"Thi- this makes what we were doing look like child's play." Orba mentioned, with a tone bordering on interest, and fear.
"That's the true power of the level 7s and above. They're in an entirely different weight class compared to the rest of us. Even Bokhoir and Nernatti seem to have radically improved since the Evilus war." Alise noted, then with a smile she continued. "I need to earn a dragon slaying type of skill, or something else that further boosts my abilities passively. I can't return to the surface without it."
"Scarlet Harnel, may I ask how you can smile and still make a serious face at the same time? It's confusing?"
"Hehe, that's just who I am. I don't know how else to explain it." She answered with a smile on her face, and hands resting on her hips.
"I think Bokhoir and Nernatti are about to earn their level up… Each of them nearly tagged Shurry." Donathan noted, with a calm, yet serious expression on his face, one that showed he was determined to level up as well. "It's good, they understand what it takes."
"What it takes?" Raul questioned, with a curious look, almost fully recovering from the embarrassment from before.
"Yes, the sheer determination to continue pushing forward despite the situation. And more than that, to continue being beacons of light for others to aspire towards." Donathan elaborated. "To many, they too, are heroes of our age."
"Hey, look at that, my sister is doing good down there as well!" Ardee said, with a cheerful expression.
Soon though, the intensity of the fight had increased, the level 7s finally dropped to their knees… though, the difference here is that they each got up one more time, continued pushing forward, repeating the process multiple times before their minds and bodies gave up on them. They were each so exhausted that Shurry delivered them to the base camp via light disk transport.