Author Note: Here is my new chapter, from the next one things will become interesting, a couple of Servants will appear and Bell will take his first step towards the right direction to become a hero.
XXX
Story Arc: Welcome to Labyrinth City Hours
Episode 1: Is it wrong to take a gap year in a dungeon? (III)
Chapter 3: Is it wrong to seek answers about your children's origins?
Synopsis: Hestia wakes up in her bed, believing she was dreaming, but soon realizes it wasn't a dream.
Keeping her bargain, Hestia delivered her blessing to Bruce.
In the process Hestia has been gaining more and more questions.
Then when it comes time to get some answers, Hestia begins to regret her curiosity.
Existential crises and headaches will be quite frequent things for Hestia.
XX
POV Narrator
The Goddess Hestia woke up in her bed with a rather confused expression.
Vague memories of meeting a girl with a large shield and a feminine boy in fearsome armor flood Hestia's mind.
' It must have been a dream.' Hestia thinks, believing the two wacky characters are figments of her imagination.
The little Goddess gets up partially from the bed, sitting on the edge of the bed, with her feet touching the floor.
"Bell, I had a strange dream, you brought two heroes from another world into our house and there was even a talking animal." Hestia said, in an amused voice, joking about what she thinks is a strange dream.
As Hestia looks around the room for her lovely Bell, she receives confirmation that her dream was not a figment of her imagination.
In the lower floor of the Abandoned Church there is activity.
A small squirrel/fox-like animal sleeps on the sofa.
Bell and Mesh are in the kitchen preparing some pasta-and-sauce food.
Bruce added to his sci-fi outfit, a red-black coat, with lots of zippers and pockets.
Bruce is taking out of his backpack various objects that are unrecognizable for Hestia and any inhabitant of this world.
On a minor note, the female ferret-like creature, Vritra, remained wrapped around Bruce's neck.
"Rabbit, the Waifu has woken up!" Vritra exclaims, in a bored voice, barely moving from her comfortable position.
Bell Cranel, hearing these words, stops helping the lilac-haired girl cook and runs towards Hestia, as if she were a dog that has not seen its owner for a long time.
"Hestia, are you okay? Do you need a glass of water or something to eat?" Bell asks, ready to satisfy his Goddess's every wish.
Bruce stops working with his trinkets and walks towards the albino boy.
"Bunny-Boy, you're exaggerating." Bruce said, as he grabs Bell from behind and pulls him away from Hestia
"Little Goddess fainted from shock, not from excessive fatigue or lack of nourishment." Bruce said, speaking like a doctor explaining things to a small child.
" Hello, Goddess Hestia, you have caused concern with your fainting." Mash said, greeting the little Goddess while she gets busy preparing dinner.
"When was I passed out?" Hestia asks, getting up on her own legs.
" Half an hour. Time to calm down Bunny-Boy, prepare food and get out the materials
" Bruce replies, ceasing to hold Bell by the collar of his shirt.
The Black Knight with a wave of his hand created a small dark purple magic circle.
In an instant, a set of four pieces of cutlery was enveloped in a purple aura, then they began to float, landing on the table without anyone's help.
Hestia, seeing such a simple use of magic, without reciting a verse and through an unusual magic circle, remembered an important detail about Mash and Bruce.
"Aren't you two of this world?" Hestia asks, hesitating for a moment.
"Yes, Mash and I are not original to this world, we are basically aliens through and through. But we are the friendly kind of alien, not the bad kind like the Kree, Skrull, Thanos, Galactus, Knull or the Aristoteles." Bruce said, as if he were one of the daily subjects of discussion.
Little Goddess again sat on the edge of the bed, feeling like the floor under her feet was about to collapse.
"I have so many questions." Hestia said, not even knowing where to begin.
"Bruce promised us he would answer our questions when you woke up, but first you have to give him your blessing." Bell said, offering his Goddess useful information.
Meanwhile, Bruce has taken several boxes of food packaging out of his backpack and places them in the center of the table.
The food boxes are full of snacks of all kinds: candy bars, chips, marshmallows, donuts, cookies, pretzels, etc.
" Hestia, it's too late to pull you back. Mash has already joined your Clan and where Mash goes, I go too." Bruce said, in case Hestia doesn't want to accept him into her Clan anymore.
"Bruce, lie down, in a minute you will be part of my Familia, then you will answer my questions." Hestia said, in a slightly tired voice, gesturing for Bruce to get on the bed.
Accepting two children from another world is a migraine-inducing concept.
Bruce, instead of listening to Hestia, takes off his red-black coat and decides to sit in the chair backwards.
"Believe me, little Goddess, it's better for everyone if we do it this way." Bruce said, in a tone of voice that only a certain type of person can understand.
Hestia raises an eyebrow, slightly confused by this answer.
"My Aniki's life is full of violent and very jealous women.
If a Virgo Goddess ends up in a sexual position with the object of their obsession, it will end very badly for you, Lady Boss." Vritra said, in a slightly amused voice, appreciating scaring people and/or joking about Bruce's love life.
'It is best to avoid possible misunderstandings.' Hestia thinks, not wanting to have problems that can be easily avoided.
"Vritra, the women I associate with are many things, some good, some bad, but none of them are Yandere." declares Bruce, in an irritated voice. Bruce doesn't support Yandere's label being placed on the women in his life.
"I don't know what's stranger: Mash's Status, the talking animal or the fact that you two are not from this world." Hestia said, rubbing her head as she rose from the edge of the bed.
"I vote for the talking animal. I mean, the Gods already come from the upper world, so that other people come from another place isn't too different." Bell explains his reasoning to him about why he is most surprised by the talking animal.
Grabbing a stool and a needle, Hestia sits down behind Bruce, ready to bestow her blessing.
"Take off your suit." Hestia said, needing to touch Bruce's bare back to give her blessing.
Without saying anything or invoking magic with a wave of his hand, Bruce's suit begins to move as if it were a living being.
The suit has been remodeled to leave the entire back exposed.
Bruce's back is adorned with a huge black tattoo depicting a dragon.
In addition to the tattoo, there are two perfectly symmetrical vertical scars that cross the entire back.
"Tell me please that this suit is magical." Hestia asks, her voice trembling. Little Goddess is experiencing strange sensations when she saw the suit move by itself.
" Lovecraft can be considered a magical costume if you want to simplify things." Bruce answers, but doesn't reveal the whole story.
"Did you give your dress a name?" Bell mutters, not knowing what to say about this.
Naming a weapon or armor is a decent thing. Baptizing a dress is something completely different.
"Senpai has baptized all sorts of objects. Weapons, armor, vehicles, buildings, fighting techniques, clothes, body parts, scars and many other things." Mash said, slightly embarrassed by Bruce's habits.
"Giving you my blessing will be a little difficult with a tattoo in the middle." Hestia said, pricking her finger with a needle, to draw out the primary material for her blessing.
Bruce took a deep breath, closing his eyes, simultaneously the back tattoo begins to disappear, leaving his back bare.
" What did you do?" Hestia asks, slightly baffled by Bruce's makeup that made the tattoo disappear.
"You know when a guy holds his breath in the pool to look cool?" Bruce asks, speaking slightly more slowly than before.
Hestia nods, having seen some people trying to pretend they've lost weight.
Hestia nods, saying no more.
"I'm doing something like this. So hurry up, because it's a rather uncomfortable feeling." Bruce said, in a lower voice, as if he was out of breath.
Hestia is about to ask one more question, but holds back.
Now she has to do her Goddess work and add one more person to her Familia, it doesn't matter whether they are of this world or another, Hestia will not allow her children to be sick or uncomfortable.
For the next few minutes, Hestia appears to be a tattoo artist working on her first work.
'I don't know why, but compared to Bell and Mash, giving Bruce my blessing was a much more tiring task.' Thinks Hestia, with some sweat on her brow, as she grabs a scroll to transcribe Bruce's status.
Once done, Bruce took a deep breath, making his dragon tattoo appear, hiding the Falna.
Then, his black suit, alias Lovecraft, moves to cover his back under an unknown, skintight material.
"Let's see who what you're capable of, Bruce." Hestia said, starting to read the scroll that shows the Felna's attempt to read and translate the abilities of a being from another reality.
Hestia's eyes widened and her entire body began to shake, as if the scroll held a secret that could ruin the whole world.
"This is even more ridiculous than Mash's Status!" She exclaims Hestia aloud, squeezing the paper so hard she almost tears it.
"False Status, Knight form, Name Unknown, False Name, the name of another deity claiming you, race Incomprehensible, and what is a Valkyrie or an Einherjar!?" Hestia exclaims, leaping up from her stool.
"I don't even try to figure out the stuff about the immortality technique or invulnerability. I have because there's a whole section of sealed abilities full of question marks." Hestia said, feeling her head ready to explode as she tried to make sense of Bruce's status.
Intrigued Bell looks over Hestia's shoulder to see Bruce's stats sheet.
XXX
■ [Error] Status [Error]
False Status - Knight form
Real Name: [Unknown]
Falso Nome: Bruce Bel Bahamut Belmont / Moriarty Morgan /Arkan Bloodedge
Class: Masters
Servant: Mash Kyrielight, [?], [?], [?], [?], [?], [?], [?], [?], [?], [?], [?], [ ?], [?], [?], [?].
Patron deity: [Error] Othinus [Error]
False patron deity: Hestia
True Race: [Inaudible]
False Race: Valkyrie/Einherjar
Level: One
■Statistics
Strength: I 0
Defense: I 0
Dexterity: I 0
Agility: I 0
Magic: [Error] INCALCULABLE [Error]
False Magic: I 0
■ Magic: [Error], [Error], [Error], INCALCULABLE [Error], [Error], [Error]
■ False Magic:
Sjálfr Sjálfum Mér: The user by slaying a dragon, eating its heart and hanging himself from a branch of an ancient tree, gained wisdom. As a result the sight of him has expanded beyond worldly perception.
Seiðr: The user willingly hanged himself by the neck from a branch of an ancient tree after stabbing himself with a weapon; by surviving in this state, teetering on the precipice between life and death for nine days and nights, he attained the arts of seiðr, rune arts, magic and weaving. Each of them is a powerful form of magic that can take the form of prophecies, blessings, or curses.
Víxla Hömum Skipta Hömum: The user has the power to shapeshift at will. Any natural form within the world is available to the user, even to look like someone else. Changing shape and size, do not affect the strength and skills of the user.
■ Skills: [Error], [Error], [Error], INCALCULABLE [Error], [Error], [Error]
■ False Skills - Knight form:
King of Grail: The user is an innate leader, capable of guiding heroes through apocalyptic scenarios and achieving a miraculous victory.
Heroes who pursue the King of Grail receive an increase in their abilities based on how close its bond is with the user.
The greater the dangers, the greater the devotion to the King of Grail, the greater the rewards.
Six Hearted: The user managed to replicate and perfect the technique of immortality of Dorothea, alias Jester Karture.
This technique allows the user to hide their true spirit origin, their soul, under a multitude of spells and six artificial spirit origins.
Then, when the user would have truly been killed, instead of experiencing true death, the user simply suffers the destruction of one of your artificial cores, before standing up again.
Hamrammr (Body): The user gained wisdom by eating the heart of a slain dragon. But before doing so the user bathed in the dragon's blood, making its flesh invulnerable to physical harm. No worldly force can pierce, to inflict injury or harm; regardless of size, any damage should come from non-physical, divine, or magical sources.
Hamrammr (Magic): As the user bathed in dragon blood, he drank it, granting the user understanding and the ability to speak the language of nature.
Simply understanding this language gives the user's words greater weight and meaning, empowering all spells and abilities cast through the medium of songs and sonic stories.
■Development Abilities: [Error]
Messiah: [?]
Hero: [?]
Kingmaker: [Error] A Skill that represents the techniques and arts of artificially birthing and raising a King or Hero.
The constant presence and protection of the user brings out an enormously higher potential than what should be possible for the user's students. [Mistake]
Master: [Error] Allows user to summon and maintain Heroic Spirits in this World. This skill can be used on other magical entities such as Spirits, Angels, Demons or Outer Gods. [Mistake]
XXX
" I don't understand much, but you sure are amazing, Bruce!" Bell exclaims, in a fanboy voice.
"You have led heroes into battles and slain a dragon like an ancient fairytale hero!" Bell exclaims, focusing on the things that are easiest for his mind to understand.
" Senpai, Bell, Hestia, dinner is ready it will be ready in a few minutes." Mash said, leaving the pasta to simmer over low heat.
The lilac-haired girl walks towards Hestia and Bell.
"Can I see Senpai's stats sheet?" She asks Mash politely, mildly surprised by Hestia and Bell's reactions.
"Yes, here it is. I hope you can understand more than we do." Said Hestia handing the parchment to Mash.
The lilac-haired girl adjusts her glasses before taking a quick look at the scroll's contents.
" That's all ?" Mash said, raising an eyebrow.
Mash pulls out the scroll that shows his stats from Falna's point of view, then compares the two stats sheets.
" With Senpai it's quite evident that Falna can't sum up all her abilities, I think having multiple forms makes everything more difficult.
But even in my case, there's just the basic skills I've gained in the last few years." Mash said, before handing both stat sheets to Bruce.
As soon as the Last Master of Chaldea touched the scrolls he memorized their contents, then turned them to ashes without uttering a word.
" Bunny-Boy, Little Goddess, let's sit at the table, during the meal I will answer yours and perhaps tell you the story of the Last Master of Chaldea and the Knight of the Grail." Bruce said, in a calm voice.
"I've never wanted to hear an explanation like I do now." Hestia murmurs, while Bell nods.
Both want to get to know their new family members better.
XXX
A few minutes later, the Goddess Hestia and her three members of her Familia are seated at the table, plates full of pasta.
Hestia and Bell are seated on one side, while on the opposite side are Bruce and Mash.
The first two didn't touch the food, the thirst for answers defeated their worldly hunger.
Mash and Bruce having been through similar situations before are calm and calm.
Mash drinks a glass of water and Bruce is feeding his talking pet.
"Saying we don't see from this world. Does that mean you come from Tenkai as my Goddess or something?" Bell asks, not having too much trouble asking the first question.
"We don't sell from Tenkai and we're not Gods or otherworldly beings. Well I'm half human and Bruce is Bruce." Mash said, having no words to describe what his Senpai is and the word Ultimate Life Form is a bit exaggerated in his opinion.
" Okay, Mash is half human. But Bruce what are you exactly, why doesn't your Falna show your race ?" Hestia asks, quite curious about this fact.
Bruce took a deep breath before answering Hestia's question about what he is.
"I'm a unique case, more unique than Aslaug, who was part human, part dragon, and part Valkyrie." Bruce replies, not wanting to talk about his complicated family tree.
"How complicated can it be?" Hestia asks, not knowing what she's getting into.
Mash put a hand on Bruce's shoulder, as if to give them a push to talk about this topic.
"My maternal grandmother, she was a descendant of the Great Wizard Merlin, a Half-Incubus, and the Fearsome Sorceress Morgan Le Fay, a Half-Fairy with the dragon attribute within her.
My maternal grandfather was a Belmont, a bloodline recognized as the most powerful vampire hunters that ever lived." Bruce recounts the basis to the two bloodlines obtained from his mother whom he never knew.
"My paternal grandmother was a witch of the Boiling Isles, belonging to one of the Seven Ancient Noble Families, the House of Bahamut, who in ancient times were blessed by the Great Spirit Bahamut, hence our name.
My paternal grandfather was a Half-Devil sorcerer, cursed by the blood of the Archdemon Samael and blessed by the blood of ancient pharaohs who interbred with Solomon, King of Magecraft." Bruce explained his paternal heritage.
Hestia's brain metaphorically begins to emit smoke.
The idea of talking to the descendant of two evil creatures and a fairy, i.e. a great spirit, is difficult for her to assimilate.
Bell seems slightly confused by the existence of such a complex pedigree.
"It's these are the things I was born with, if we are to list the things I've gained in my many adventures. We could stay all night explaining how complex and unique I am." Bruce said, in a tired voice, crossing his arms.
The King in Black of Chaldea doesn't want to explain the blessings, curses, upgrades and modifications he received during his life as a hero.
Hestia's brain is metaphorically burned out.
"But doesn't that explain why your Falna also has the name of another Goddess and the Valkyrie/Einherjar stuff?" Bell said, taking the role of the interlocutor, until his Goddess recovered.
"This is one of the easiest queues to explain on Senpai." Mash said, missing the task of answering this question.
"Senpai, you can show them your work of replication." Mash said, in a gentle voice, knowing that kindness is a surefire way to get Bruce to do something.
The left sleeve of Bruce's suit pulls back on its own, allowing the Last Master of Chaldea to show the inside of his left forearm to Bell and Hestia.
On the forearm there are six perfect circles pierced by a line, one of these circles emitting a faint red glow.
"Each of these circles corresponds to an artificial spirit core that can be considered as an extra heart or a bonus life." Mash explains in a simple way what these tattoos symbolize.
"Each of these artificial cores were created by Senpai using the best materials and magic he knows.
The current generation of Six Hearted, they were built with the help of six different Goddess, this had a certain influence that the Falna misinterpreted." Mash finishes explaining why the Goddess name Othinus appears on the Falna of Bruce.
At that moment, Hestia manages to recover and continue the discussion in Bell's place.
" Bruce, Mash, I understand that you two are not entirely human. But where exactly are you from?" asks Hestia, desperate to understand the origin of her new children.
Bruce's face has turned serious, a sign that he's about to discuss some pretty important stuff.
The Last Master of Chaldea using his fork as if it were a magic wand, caused one of his strange instruments to float from the floor.
In this case a small metal sphere, covered in crystals.
"You two brace yourselves, because your vision of reality is about to be shattered to smithereens." Vritra said, in a mischievous voice, knowing what was about to happen.
After these warnings, the talking animal gets off its master's shoulders, going to eat the plate of spaghetti.
"Before we begin, the information you two are about to hear should never be told to anyone else.
This knowing if it's told to the wrong person could spell the end of the world." Bruce said, his voice deadly serious.
" I promise on my life, I won't tell anyone anything." Bell said, placing a hand over his heart.
"I swear on my honor as Goddess of Eternal Flame, Home and Family, I will not tell anyone anything even under torture." Hestia said, knowing Bruce wasn't kidding.
And this awareness scares her a little.
"We are not originals of this world, indeed we do not even see from this universe." Bruce said, before snapping his fingers, causing his toy to activate.
The crystals around the sphere have begun to project an immense three-dimensional image of the multiverse.
"But I thought the universe was everything?" Said Hestia, amazed that the universe doesn't encompass all of creation.
"Only a limited mind believes in the existence of a single universe. Multiple worlds make up a universe; multiple universes make up the multiverse." Bruce said, in a professor's voice.
"The planets or worlds are simply a fruit." Bruce said as the toy showed him a picture of a planet and an apple.
"Galaxies are just a branch of a tree." Bruce said, while the image changes showing countless worlds connected to each other as if they were fruit on a branch.
"The universe you know is just a single tree in a forest that makes up the multiverse." Bruce said in a solemn voice.
The three-dimensional image shows thousands of planets, stars and much more, which together form one colossal tree.
Then, this grand image is reduced to a speck in a sea of trees.
"I think I just understood what a mortal feels when he understands the perspective of a deity." Hestia murmurs, feeling as if there is no difference between mortal and divine, both compared to this forest are nothing but grains of sand.
"Actually the Multiverse is not really a forest, but Senpai who is a fan of Germanic/Norse Mythology, likes to use the metaphor of fruit, trees and forest." Mash said, intending to interrupt Hestia and Bell's deep reflection.
Before speaking, the little Goddess took a bite of the hot pasta, hoping that the food could help her better process this new awareness.
Bell preferred to drink a glass of water.
"Bruce, Mash, where are you from?" Hestia asks, hoping the answer to this question will be less troublesome for their minds.
"Earth-2126 is our home world." Mash said, with a smile on her face, loving to talk about the world she was born into and has saved numerous times.
Bruce's toy showed planet Earth in the year 2019, along with numerous images of the biggest cities in the world such as Boston, Paris, Tokyo etc.
'These are images from a different world than ours.' Hestia thinks, remaining silent in front of the vision of huge metal cities, densely populated, to the point that Orario can be considered a small city.
"The buildings are bigger than the Tower of Babel and there are metal carriages that move around without horses!" Bell exclaims, pointing at the modern skyscrapers and cars.
Seeing this show of pure curiosity, a faint smile appeared on Bruce's face.
Mash noticing that his dear Senpai seems to be in a good mood, decided to do something that would help Bruce to form friendship bonds with Hestia and Bell.
"Do you want to hear the story of how I met my Senpai?" She asks the lilac-haired girl, drawing attention to herself.
"I'd like to hear this story." Bell answers, wanting to get to know his new companions better and learn more about their home world.
"At this point, nothing can surprise me anymore." Said Hestia, sure that the story of Mash and Bruce meeting can't be more shocking than the discovery of the multiverse.
Mash covers her mouth to keep from laughing, while Vritra smirks, taking a front row seat for the upcoming show.
"Little Goddess, Bunny-Boy, you two must listen very well..." Bruce stood up, beginning to display the crazy energy that appeared before Hestia passed out.
"For I am telling the epic of the Last Master of Chaldea and the Lady Knight of the Grail." Bruce said, spreading his arms, at that moment more trinkets lifted off the floor.
The strange objects are an amplifier, a smoke machine, a light machine and several holographic protectors.
"A three-part epic about the heroes of Chaldea and how they saved the world from three great menaces: Goetia, Knull and the God-Alien!" proclaims Bruce, starting to tell the story of Chaldea.
This heroic tale will forever be engraved within the Familia Hestia and will be used to kindle the flame of adventure for future generations.
The first member of the Familia Hestia to be inspired by this story will be Bell Cranel.
Continues ...