Elsos Ruins.

“Hiiiiiiiissssss-riiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Antares screeches for the last time, as its legs give out and crash to the ground.

“Bell!! Go!!!” Ais shouted.

“Raaaaaah!!!”

Whoosh!!!!

With Ais’s wind behind him, Bell shoots down towards it with Argonaut activated.

Dong!!

Dong!!

“You're not gonna hurt any more people!!!” Bell shouted as he impaled the Hestia Knife into the exoskeleton of Antares. “(Fire)!!!!” He channeled his magic through his knife and shouted. “(Argo Vesta)!!!!!”

Bwoooosh!!!!

The flame burned through Antares, destroying their magic stone.

“Hiiiiisssss… riiiii…”

Antares was finally slain.

“URAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Everyone cheered in celebration as its body turned to dust from having its magic stone break.

“Damn no drops.” Said Eupheme. “No… wait.” She walks over to find a stinger. “This will do well!”

“Is that all you're taking?” asked Welf.

“Yup! They can have anything, but I only want this! It’ll be put to good use!”

‘This is the first time I have seen her look so happy.’ Welf thought as he could see a very slight smile on her face.

"What are you gonna use it for?"

"Hmm... my Magnum opus. Still have to draw up the plans and how I am going about it, but it's something down."

 

“Haaaa…. It’s finally over.” Said Gareth. “You did good, kid!” he said, hitting Bell’s back.

“Thanks! It was a good experience to fight alongside you, Gareth sir!” Bell said politely.

“Hahaha!!! Come now, how about a drink?”

“He isn’t old enough to drink.” Said Ais coming up to them.

“Just one wouldn’t hurt! What’s your Immunity rank?”

"Leave him out of it." Riveria said. "The last thing he needs is to waste money on alcohol with that debt."

 

“Are you leaving Elf?” said Aisha, looking at Ryuu, who was already walking away.

“I am. Now that this has been settled, I need to return. The longer I am away, the angrier she will get.”

“Ah… The dwarf. I’ll tell them you said goodbye.”

“Hm.”

Ryuu left with the wind.

 

Back in Orario.

West section of the Entertainment district.

Murmur!

Murmur!

Murmur!

Standing before Cirrus and Ai at a café was Ottar.

“Yo! How did the expedition go?” Cirrus said with a cup of hibiscus tea.

“As I said before, I wish for a rematch,” Ottar said boldly with his body still littered with cuts and bruises from the Dungeon.

A grin appears on Cirrus’ face.

“Then.” Cirrus stands up. “You reached level 8, huh?”

He nods, and the crowd went silent.

“Oh! Oh! Can you do it on the 5th!” said Ai waving to catch their attention.

“The 5th… you want the rematch to be on your birthday?” Cirrus said, confused.

“Yup! It’ll be really fun to watch!”

“… Is that good for you?”

“It is. We will face one another in 3 days at the Colosseum,” Ottar said, turning and leaving in a better mood.

 

Word would obviously spread like wildfire as when the Antares subjection party returned, they heard of the news.

“W-what! Tomorrow!” Bell shouted.

“Yup!” said one of the guards at the north gate. “It’s so big they are allowing the gods to use their arcanum to watch from a safe distance! Unless you’re a strong adventure, that is, and are going to watch from the front row.”

“Well, I’m sure as hell going!” said Tiona. “It’s not every day you get to see Orario’s strongest clash with one another!”

“Reminds of their fight years ago.” Said Finn. “When they first fought… Gareth, Riveria, wanna go watch?”

“Of course! I want to Finn!” Gareth said.

“It is a bit of a shame they took out a shinnying return from fighting for two weeks,” Riveria said.

They would later learn that for those who participated in the Antares raid were given free passes to eat and drink on the 5th when the fight was supposed to begin.

 

October 4th.

Freya Familia home, Folkvangr.

“Huff! Huff! Huff!” Ottar was breathing heavily with his twin great swords in hand.

“Ottar, that is enough. You have been training for the last couple of days.” Said Heith Velvet, a level 3 adventure of the Freya Familia.

She has long, light red hair kept in two ponytails with dead-looking eyes from constant work.

“If I wish to win, this is necessary.”

“Then you should get some sleep. Getting this worked up will only cause more problems.”

“I shall keep—"

“Do you want me to get Lady Freya?”

“… I will do one more set before resting for tomorrow.”

 

Moonlight Tower’s training area.

“Haaa~~.” Cirrus let out a loud sigh of relief. “It’s been a long time since I used a whip.”

“Huff! Huff! Huff! C-Cirrus, could we take a break?” said Ai, gasping for air.

“Go ahead. I’ll be going over what I learned. Artemis, you still up to train?”

“Hmm…” Artemis looks at her fingers. “I think I’ll take a break.”

As several of the Familia left to take a break, they only watched Cirrus slowly perform several of his techniques in excruciating slowness.

“Cirrus has been doing this since Ottar challenged him.” Said Phi.

“Yeah, it’s rare for him to go through this much training.” Said Cale.

“Ai, did he ever do something to this extent before?” asked Rethusa.

“No, when we train, he usually sticks to his most reliable way of fighting, but for Ottar, he can’t rely entirely on his sword, spear, and limbs." said Ai. "Ottar, as I would say has the best defense in the world. Even when he fought me, he quickly began to understand my fighting style and its patterns. To fight Ottar, you will need to essentially grow as you fight to make new moves and ways of fighting on the spot.”

“It wouldn’t be much of a big deal if he still had Brilliant Nightmare.” Said Nox. “Sucks it's on the moon. If he still had that, I’m sure he would feel a lot safer. Oh hey Artemis! Is it still there!" She said mockingly.

"Quiet! And... yes it's still there." Artemis said.

“Ah, his trick weapon… I heard they're fairly well used, but most can’t seem to have a talent for them, as Cirrus does.” Said Rethusa.

“Really!?” said Bree. “Can I learn to use one!"

“I’m sure with your brains you can be as masterful as Cirrus is!” said Ai, patting her head.

 

The next day everyone was watching from a comfortable seat as two level 8’s entered the Colosseum.