The day blew by like a hurricane, the whole gang had split up with Hestia taking a bunch of Valis to buy toiletries and prepare us food while Belle and I trained an insane amount. I'd stopped by Welf's workshop too, but unfortunately the sword would only be done tomorrow, and it was too early today!
Though the trip wasn't completely pointless, because I managed to buy some training gear off of him!
"Belle don't feel down, you're doing great!" The truth is I'd destroyed her repeatedly now that I had a wooden sword, but she was making insane amounts of progress!
She could use basically any weapon she picked up, and could adapt her fighting style to fit it. This led me to an internal debate however.
Should I teach her Master's style? It's not like I thought she would fail in learning it like I had. I believed in Belle! It's just that I wasn't sure if Master wanted me teaching anyone that wasn't considered her Family.
Wait a second! Belle is my Sister now! So if I'm Master's grandson (not blood related), then that means Belle is her granddaughter!
Yeah! That makes so much sense!
I really am smarter!
"Belle, want to learn something extra cool?"
She pulled herself up from the ground, a faint trick of blood fell from her nose but she wiped it away in order to reveal a determined expression.
"As long as it will help me avoid being thrashed."
I gave her a radiant smile. Belle was perfect for this. Belle could wear any face she needed too, she could become formless and in doing so adopt the four other forms needed for this Bladedance!
"Awesome! Let's get started then. We'll start with the part I feel you'll have the most affinity for. This part is called White Tiger Intent, I could never pull it off, but I believe in you! "
She faintly blushed under my praise, but she looked slightly confused by my self degradation.
"Do you know why you can't do it?"
I just gave a shrug.
"Master said I couldn't do it properly even if I could mimic the movements, she always said that my Sword Intent was too chaotic to do anything but carve my own path."
And carved I had. I felt myself on the edge of grasping what she meant by 'Intent' honestly it sounded vaguely supernatural, but it clearly wasn't! It's not like people were magically glowing or anything with an intense 'aura' whenever I fought them.
While I showed Belle the movements my thoughts wandered.
A lot of people back home were just huge chunni's! Or maybe they were just as Shounen as I was! I could never really tell.
I made a light snort as I remembered an old friend. She was the most chunni person I'd ever met! Always rambling about something crazy, but she was fun. I hope she's doing alright!
Reminds me of the time she said she had to use her 'Dark Tapestry Intent' . . . I still have no idea what she was talking about, but it seemed to make her better at fighting.
Calling out your ultimate moves was a trait I'd picked up from her, a trait I'd love to use outside of video games, if I had any ultimate moves outside of games!
Dang it, if only I could still tap into the next level! I'd only ever done it once, and it was on a very bad day.
I had to fight one of my friends who was crashing out. She started saying how I belonged to her and she was going to turn me into her most prized treasure. Then she was going to destroy the world for me or something like that. Something about me being burdened by the Execution of Fate and only she could 'save' me? I wasn't super sure, she wasn't really making sense in her ramblings.
She had lost it! Luckily I managed to bring her back to sanity with a three hour long fight and lots of Shounen speech ending in a big hug.
That was probably the most intense fight of my life, she even took a bunch of drugs to become super strong and fast! Though she only told me she did so afterwards.
For a moment there I believed my world might just have supernatural shenanigans, but nope! Just drugs! If you ask some people though, those might just be the same thing!
Either way her 'Heavenly Demon Intent' was scary! Ugh, now I miss her!
"I can't feel anything out of what's normal."
Belle was a genius, and even she couldn't learn it? Well I guess I had no idea what exactly I was teaching, and couldn't give an example. The realization caused me to sigh. Unless I could show her what I was talking about I most likely couldn't teach her how to do it!
Considering the fact that I don't even know how to do it myself, that's looking to be impossible.
Today is a sad day for my teaching skills! That doesn't mean it's a sad day though! I'm spending time with Belle!
"Well then Belle, I think it's best we work on our fundamentals. I got these nice training swords from my Blacksmith Buddy for a reason!" Belle had been weirdly insistent on learning more about Welf, luckily she didn't seem hostile after some light questioning.
Silly Belle, you aren't that subtle! Or maybe she was super subtle! That's how being subtle works!
Either way we trained, and trained, and trained! She was making decent progress, but she couldn't beat me! When wielding a blade my senses were heightened, as though the steel itself was sharpening my senses with its razor edge!
I looked down at the blunted wooden sword with a frown. Alright, maybe it had nothing to do with sharpness. Maybe I was just weird. Belle threw a strike towards me during my momentary lapse, but I easily deflected it and struck her hand causing the wooden dagger to fly into the ground. My eyes widened at the rapidly bruising hand, my instinct had caused me to hurt my friend.
My eyes softened and I prepared to take out our last potion, but her other fist flew towards my neck! What a ravenous rabbit! I know I told her we could stop training early if she could beat me once, but this was ridiculous! That didn't mean I was going to go easy on her though.
So I headbutt her hand causing her to let out a cry. Faint blood trickled from my head despite my enhanced endurance, her hand however made a small cracking sound and I prepared to lecture her about getting used to pain. She was rich, and she'd probably never been seriously hurt before, I didn't like hurting her, but it was necessary- then she threw a leg sweep at me!
This bunny is too murderous! I stepped over the attack, and then I grabbed her ears causing her to eep and blush.
"Belle! This is just sparing, if you're hurt, we can stop!" Dang it, wasn't I supposed to be lecturing her about resisting pain? She grumbled under her breath, the words incoherent. Not because I couldn't hear them, but because she was just speaking in gibberish!
"Cup your hands together, I'm gonna use the potion. This is enough for today."
Despite clearly being in pain, she was smiling as I poured the potion on her hands. She did deserve some praise for 'locking in' as my cousin would put it.
"You did really good Belle, you've made tons of progress today and that ferocity will be useful when your back is against the wall." She let out a small smile as she leaned against me, Hestia already making her way over as I continued. "That doesn't mean you should let yourself get hurt though, and if you need to retreat, always know that I'll have your back."
Belle's hands had already repaired themselves, truly Naaza is my hero! She's great, though we should certainly buy more potions before our next dive.
"Alright you two, enough squishing into each other! You two need to eat!" Hestia looked slightly conflicted as she stared at Belle, who gave a cheeky smile back.
Hestia was amazing.
My stomach growled with desire, and Hestia surely had to have known that the way to an athlete's heart is through their stomach!
Hestia POV
Dang it! Andrew had already seduced Belle! Why do I feel so mad! There both my children, I just want what's best for both of them? Shouldn't they be happy together than have myself interfere with their relationship?
Belle had told me he 'loved her'' and it made me super mad!
. . . though family is supposed to love each other, right? He'd said he loved me as well. So why did I care so much about him loving Belle as well.
Andrew gave me a hug, but I didn't initially react to it. I was used to his touch at this point, and it wasn't a bad thing.
My cheeks glowed as I pressed closer into him, Belle had also moved closer and threw an arm around her.
"Isn't my Sister amazing? She's made so much progress."
Belle's face paled and my eyes widened in shock as I slowly rotated towards her. She started blushing profusely in embarrassment. So they weren't dating.
Why did that make me feel so good? Why did that make my heart delight in anticipation despite the fact one of my children had not achieved their desires?
Oh. I don't see myself as a proper Goddess with him, now do I? My face heated up and I smiled. Then he spoke.
"You're awesome Auntie!" An arrow through my heart in an instant! Instant shut down! I looked down for a moment, and locked eyes with Belle. A silent challenge lurking in the air.
Neither of us wanted to lose, this was just a small setback. Andrew wasn't taken, and that made him up for grabs.
I'd make sure he chose me!
Afterwards we enjoyed a jovial meal as a family. Its not like I hated Belle, she was still my child . . . that didn't mean I would go easy though.
Yet perhaps one day that dynamic would change, at least it would if I had it my way!
Andrew Ariti POV
Hestia was awesome. This food was amazing!
"You're awesome Auntie!" Hestia gave me more aunt vibes than Mom vibes. Mom was super scary after all, and Hestia wasn't really like that. Though she was super cool too!
Then the world froze.
Thou hast turned a Vow into a Blood Oath.
Thy bond shall become the wings of hope and break the yoke of thy City's heart.
Thou hast awakened to the ultimate secret of the Sun, granting thee infinite power . . .
Rank 10: Hearth Flame of Endless Love - The Kindling for the Sacred Fire is prepared. Awakens the Persona: ???
Wow! I don't know what the Sacred Fire is, but I get a new Persona! Hestia must have really liked being called Auntie! I should continue to do that from now on! Soon after I prepared to settle in for sleep, my stomach was full and I was exhausted! Belle was hoping to sleep with us again, but Hestia didn't seem to be the biggest fan of it this morning so I elected to do something I hadn't done in a while.
I was going to sleep on the roof! If both of them wanted to sleep with me, yet not with each other, then I had to allow them to resolve that on their own. I wasn't going to pick and choose, I loved all my friends a whole bunch after all, and I'd rather not make any of them feel like I was picking one over the other!
So as I rested on the roof and drifted off to sleep, I prepared for Day Six of the Dungeonless Week. Almost the last day, and as I rested I did not dream, yet I felt on the cusp of awakening my Persona!