One week after the Denatus.

“…. So you all wanna get trained?” said Cirrus as he was helping with some construction in the entertainment district.

“Yes!” said Ais, along with her were Beta, Tiona, Tione, and Lefiya.

“… Haa, is it because Ottar went down into the dungeon?”

“Of course it does! The city is talking about him finally killing the damn Balor and getting to level 8!” said Beta.

“Well, I’m busy at the moment, but go to the Familia home and say I sent you there for training. They should show you the way.”

“Will you be coming by to help with the training?” asked Tiona.

“Maybe when dusk hits, until then you have Ai tossing you around. Oh, and before you leave, tell the guard this ‘Red, Blue, Fish, Green, Yellow, March.’. That will let them know you speak the truth.”

“Hm! Got it!”

They all left, but Beta stood behind.

“Is it almost done?”

“Yes, but it needs testing. We can do it later tonight.”

A grin appears on his face.

“I can’t wait.”

 

When they arrive at the Moonlight Tower, they are met by a guard.

“Loki Familia, what is your business here?”

“Cirrus sent us over for training! He said someone would show us the way?” said Tiona.

“He did?” she looks at them and then at Lefiya. “Did he give you a code?”

“O-oh yes! He said ‘Red, Blue, Fish, Green, Yellow, March.’.”

“I see, I see. Very well. You elf, what level are you and your position?”

“U-um, I’m a level 3 and a backline mage!”

“Ah, lucky you. We need more higher-leveled mages in the back, Bree!! Come take them to the training grounds!”

Jumping down was a child of 9 years of age.

Boing!

“Hello! I’m Bree! It’s an honor to meet you all!” said Bree, a little girl with brown hair and eyes. “Follow me!”

They follow the child as she joyfully walks ahead.

“So kid, are you part of the Artemis Familia?” asked Tione.

“Yup! I’m the youngest one in the Familia! Had to graduate early from school to join!”

 “You’re a graduate as well!” said Lefiya, surprised.

“Yup! Just had to learn to read, write, and mathematics! Unfortunately, I’m too young to go out into the Dungeon so I’m learning the basics right now! But hopefully, I can prove myself and I can start going into the dungeon next month!”

“Heh~ What are you, learning kid? How to stand guard?” said Beta.

“642 steps.” She said, stopping. “You walk with a cocky stride to intimidate others from getting in your way.”

“Eh?”

“That’s how many steps you have taken since I saw you from up top of the wall. You Sword Princess took 661 steps at a good pace with little movement in the arms. You are very well trained in efficiency. Amazon and Jormungand took 754 and 668 steps respectfully, both holding a somewhat free-spirited approach. And you Thousand Elf took 1062 steps. Are you nervous about your steps or do you just like to be behind your friends in case of battle? I’ve kept track of many people as they walked by or caught my eye.”

Smart and very observant.

‘She has sharp eyes and brains. I can see why she graduates so young.’ Thought Lefiya. ‘And my position is where I usually am at when in the Dungeon with them. I guess it’s become a habit.’

“So anyway, here we are!” she runs up ahead and opens the door to the right tower of the home.

 

They enter the tower to see many of the Artemis Familia to be coming up and taking step-elevators up the tower.

In the center of the floor was a wide staircase leading down.

“What is this place?”

“This is the lobby area! Up top is the bath, spa, sand baths just anything relaxation and bathing is up top! Down below is where the training is!”

“How big is this damn place?” said Beta.

“Fairly big, come I’ll show you the way down!”

They follow her down the stairs to see a long and wide room with many more elevators.

“Get in!” she said, getting into one.

They all followed her in.

“Alright, hold on tight!”

“For what?” asked Lefiya.

“This.” She pressed the arrow pointing down and suddenly the elevator shot straight down.

“!?!?!”

“Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!”

“Hahahaha!!!!!!”

They plummeted down 3 stories before a sudden stop.

Ding!

Crash!!

Boing!

All but Bree crashed to the floor.

“Ugh… how are you fine?” Tiona asked, a bit shaken from the sudden drop.

“I have these Impact Boots Cirrus made me! These can absorb a lot of kinetic energy! So I can effectively jump from the tower and be fine! If I release the stored energy, that is beforehand. Come along!”

“This kid!” said Beta as he gets up.

“Ugh… How did we fall so fast!?” said Tione, a bit mad.

“This elevator runs on magnets! The stronger the push, the faster you go! Now come, we are here!”

They follow her to a rather large training area filled with several members of the Artemis Familia training against one another.

At the far end, they could see Ai training against a white and black-haired person.

“Keep your guard up!!” Ai shouted.

Ai swung a wooden sword at him, and he was blocking them.

“Y-yes!!” Shouted Bell.

“Watch your feet and find a time to strike!”

“Yes!!” shouted Mikoto.

Bell and Mikoto were sweating and battered head to toe, Ais looked to find the rest of his Familia training.

 

“Keep moving!” said an Artemis Familia member.

“Yes!” shouted Lili as she carried a full bag, all the while dodging arrows.

“As a support, you need to monitor things your party can’t see! So always be alert!”

“Yes!!!”

Lili was dogging all the while, returning fire from her crossbow.

To the right was Welf.

“Waste no energy! Swinging around that great sword will tire you out sooner rather than later! So maximize its uses! Refine it as you do to your metal!” said another Artemis Familia member.

“Yes!!” Welf said as he uses his great sword to block and attack incoming bow fire.

Closer to the front was Haruhime.

“S-sorry!!” she said all bruised up.

“Do not apologize, stand back up and keep going! Will you say sorry to your party when you are out of breath while they are fighting!?” said one of the Artemis Familia.

“N-no!” she said, gripping her spear.

“Then let's resume!”

A few people notched up blunt arrows and fired them at her.

She moved her spear to block a few before getting struck and knocked back down, right before getting back up and repeating the process.

“Whoa… This is something…” said Tione.

“They're all training in their own fields of expertise…” said Ais.

“Rethusa! We got some more trainees’!” Bree said, coming up to Rethusa.

Rethusa was up in the bleachers, keeping tabs on everyone.

“Hm?” Rethusa looked to see the Loki Familia. “Did Cirrus send you here?”

“He did.” Said Beta. “He said he’ll come by later in the night.”

“Ah yes, he has the west section to help build… Well lucky for us now we can get stuff done!” she turned to the training area and shouted. “Alright!! We have some new people!!!”

They all stopped to look at them.

“… Ais.” Said Bell.

 

“Alright!” said Ai. “Beta, Tione, and Bell will train with one another. Ais, Mikoto, you two will train with me! Tiona, Lefiya, and Haruhime, you three will train together!”

“Wait! Wait! Why am I training with this kid and this one here?” Beta said.

“Because you are all in-fighters. plus from what I have seen, you never really fought someone who was aggressive in combat, right? So you 3 will work on each other’s weakness, Bell with your guard and reaction, Beta with your reliance on level, and Tione with your anger.”

“Haaa!?!? What do you mean reliance on level!?”

“Practice, and you’ll figure it out. Now let's get to it! The rest of you have 1 more hour left before patrol!”

“Yes Vice-Captain!!” they shouted before going back to training.

“U-um, it’s nice to be training with you, Mr. Beta sir!” said Bell as politely as he could.

“Whatever.” He said, walking off.

“Don’t worry about him! He’s always like that! But I’m surprised we're stuck together for training?” Tione said.

“I-I'm a bit surprised as well! But I will do my best!” he said with a smile.

‘Heh~ He has a nice smile with so many bruises, like Tiona. I can see why she took a liking to him.’

 

“It's an honor to trade blows with you, Sword Princess.” Said Mikoto, giving her a bow.

“Hm, you have good form,” Ais said, doing the same with respect. “But wouldn’t Tiona also be good?”

“Naw, she uses a doubled-bladed sword. It works more like a spear or staff if anything. Now!!” Ai places her hand on her sword handle. “I hope you two are ready!!”

Ais and Mikoto get into their stances.

“Yes!!”

 

“It's nice to meet with you Miss Tiona and Miss Lefiya.” Said Haruhime.

“It's nice to meet you two! Um, what’s your name?” said Tiona.

“My name is Haruhime. I am a level 1 supporter of the Hestia Familia.”

“Um, do you use magic?” asked Lefiya.

“I do, but it’s not for attacking, so they have me learning how to defend myself with a spear.”

“Then I guess I’m here to learn how to use my Urga 2!”

“Hmm… I guess I should learn how to use my staff than just a stick.” Lefiya said.

They all began training. Ai and Mikoto exchanged blows with Ai. Beta found some respect for Bell even if it pisses him off, and Haruhime improved her fighting capability.

Nighttime.

“Looks like you all put in a lot of blood and sweat!” said Cirrus from the bleachers.

“C-Cirrus…” they all said, looking at him.

“Unfortunately, I can’t come down and play. Something has come up that needs our attention. Your captain and goddess are up in our meeting room. You can wash up top and before I go.” Cirrus tosses a magic tool at Beta.

“Is this…” Beta looks at it and is a bit surprised by its small size of it.

“Yup, sadly, we don’t have time to test it. So it will be out in the field.”

 

After going back upstairs, they use the baths in the higher parts of the tower to wash up before arriving at the meeting room.

In the meeting room were Cirrus, Finn, and Shakti, along with Artemis, Loki, and Ganesha.

“Finn, what is going on?” asked Ais.

“Sit down and we can explain it.”

They found a seat and sat down.

“30 minutes ago we got a report from the Guild,” said Artemis. “And we called for the Loki and Ganesha Familia to come for this meeting, as it’s very important.”

“As of 3 days ago, it wiped 2 towns in the northeast out,” Loki said.

“!?” Their eyes widen in shock.

“W-what do you mean?” asked Lefiya in disbelief.

“It would seem Evilus has found a way outside the Knossos.” Said Cirrus, disgruntled. “And they're using a tactic they used to thin out the stronger Familia’s and bad timing for us as the Freya Familia just went on their expedition.”

“These are not new tactics, as these were the very same ones Cirrus dealt with. The Calamities,” said Finn.

“Calamities?” said Bell. “Do you mean the 5 great monsters of the Age of Heroes?”

“The same,” said Shakti. “These monsters were natural disasters released by Evilus 12 years ago and this one here.” Shakti gestures towards Cirrus. “Was tasked with putting them down, the last of which was what got him missing for 4 years.”

“A truly tragic time! Many felt great despair!” Ganesha said. “All the while, he was enjoying his time on an island!”

“Slander!! Don’t say that just because I didn’t want to do a bodybuilder event!” Cirrus said to Ganesha.

“And it seems they managed to release an even more ancient monster,” Shakti said, moving the conversation along. “Antares, the Scorpion Swarm. Right now, the Hermes Familia moved in first and has been slowing them down as best as they can, but it is a numbers game.”

“From the reports, it has several underlings it created from devouring organic matter from people to trees and it’s growing faster.” Said Artemis.

“Then are we going to go and fight it?” said Beta.

“We are.” Said Finn. “We will be working with the Hermes, Hephaestus, Artemis, and Hestia Familia on this one. The stronger members like Cirrus of the Artemis and Ganesha Familia will stay here and keep guard for Orario. Welf Crozzo, I heard you dislike making magic weapons but—"

“Say no more,” Welf said with an understanding expression. “We can’t let this plague spread anymore, but I ask that after it is done that any spare magic weapons be destroyed.”

“That’s fine by me.”

“Then when do we go?” asked Lili.

“Tomorrow at the earliest, this is a time-sensitive matter.” Said Cirrus. “In that time we who will stay here are going to have to extensively look for their new entrance.”

Cirrus's tone of voice told them exactly how he was feeling about this situation, very, very angry.