Danmachi: the Great Devourer

C173: Danmachi Finale!

Alt Title Teaser: Times Change

Overall Word count = 5269 on 1/1/2025. Second place Word Count. Leaderboard at the end for references.

***************************

A/N before we start I wanted to give a bit of a laydown of what this chapter will be like. This first part is a partial explanation of previously mentioned information regarding Orario and the primary changes since it was last mentioned. Then we get some interactions between various characters and how they have changed over time. At the end we finally transition back to Axel and all that he has been up to.

____________________________________

(Unknown POV)

A short figure can be seen sitting at a desk, a stack of blank papers and an inkwell. The figure sets down their cup of coffee and takes the feather out of the inkwell and begins to write.

Vibrant flora bloom and wilt, beasts continue eating and mating and Humans too continue to go about their daily lives. Yet the world has never been the same.

2 years have passed since the Great Dungeon City of Orario fell, uprooted by the very dungeon it had sealed, a colossal titan of mud and earth, too slayed by another titan, one that is man. Turning limbs into whips, summoning ghosts of people and giants, seducing goddesses, turning into liquid and shapeshifting. 

Many strange tales grew of this Hero over the course of the single year he had been in the city. After one titan had defeated the other, people believed that they could return home and continue their lives after rebuilding, but that is not to be. An unknown explosion had decimated the already growing cold ruins of the dungeon city, turning it ever so into dust.

The blame was placed upon the very titan who had saved them from danger. Yet even hated and scorned, the titan continued to inform the people of the dangers that their once home is now a cursed land that corrupts the soul. 

The people did not heed his warning and thus 2 monuments took his place. One continued to warn of the danger that was the cursed grounds while the other promised power to combat this danger. 

Many embraced their emotions of sorrow and reminiscence, losing their lives to the cursed land. After some time a new breed of adventurers rose up amongst this weary crowd, the cursed, the blessed and the chosen Inheritors. These three types of people who gain power in the cursed zone, but fall under different conditions. 

The cursed ones grew to only live a few months if they are middle aged and the few younger ones lasted only a year at most but in both groups they gained great but strange power. 

The cursed believe that they were in fact blessed but their negative emotions ensured that they truly were titled cursed as everyone of these people grew partial white masks that gradually turned them into monsters until their mortal bodies collapsed. It was reported that even after death, the area around those cursed continues to cause chaos and death. Many believe that the cursed ones serve as a form of plague spreaders for the original cursed ground that is the ashes of Orario. 

As for the Blessed, they too gained great power but its form differs from person to person with few if any similar. Yet they too show symptoms of their own powers corrupting them, some gain glowing veins reminiscent of lava if they hold fire type powers while another would gradually turn into a stone statue but there have been few actual fatalities amongst this group except if they overexert themselves, pushing their bodies to the brink.

The final group, the chosen, had only originally started showing up 6 months after the city's fall. Originally, a month after the disaster that claimed the great dungeon city, the titan had returned and with great power, had shared his sight with all. 

Further explaining what the meaning of the cursed grounds is while slaying the unseen predator and thus ensuring the cursed remain ostracized. He informed them that a combat solution was available in the second of the two totems he had made, from what could be ordained, is that there is some sort of test any can go through to gain the power to combat the 'white reapers'.

Some gods and their familias along with various newly formed groups of bandits sought this 'altar' yet few even progressed past the first step. Most were blocked at the surrounding area of the altar by stone walls. Some thought this to be a test and attempted to destroy the walls, only to be riddled with spikes or simply knocked away. This had deterred many who felt that the outcast Titan had played an elaborate trap on them. 

At least until the second month when a few children had wandered away from the refugee camp and had chosen to play tag, a few of them had wandered into the totems area but were not blocked or harmed. Their presence was soon discovered and their families who were blocked by rocks asked them to try placing their hands on the totem's mark. One fell asleep and awoke unharmed a moment later with a confused expression.

When asked what happened, he said, "I had a strange dream of a man, he was swinging a sword to kill a scary monster with a white mask. The man then said that I was too young to be granted power" The few gods in question like Hermes who had been cataloging all this information set up a board of all the known requirements.

From this certain guidelines were established but the overall premise was: a type of innocence or sense of duty, the child who had this conversation was 8 years old and thus an age limit remains. Many believe that this age limit was 13 as that is how old the Titan was when he arrived but others believed that he was much older than reported as such strength is nonsensical for a 13 year old. 

As such, many tests across multiple months had passed. The Goibniu and Hephaestus Familias had both left for the great dwarven city, allowing both groups to continue to pursue self excellence in their craft amongst worthy rivals. Many of lower class or lesser known gods and familias left to inhabit various villages, allowing villagers to gain the falna and a slight increase in their power, helping them in their farm work, and overall improving life as a whole.

As known, the Loki Familia alongside Finn Deimne and all the Pallum who worship the fianna knights came together to form a new city by the name of Asgard. A rapidly growing metropolis that regularly comes under threat of Ares and a few other war-like gods. Ganesha and his familia established a city of their own, named Goa. They continued their duties as guards and peacekeepers across various other cities as their location is a prime spot for banditry and war. Ganesha works to ensure Ares is regularly repelled as his familia was still part of the upper class management of gods in the former city of Orario. 

Peace remains across the land until the end of the third month when a caravan group moving around from village to village is assault by bandits. One survivor amongst these people, a young boy by the name of Karl Gallard had run while the bandits were attacking and hid by the monument and while sneaking around it to hide from the bandits, had accidentally touched the hand mark imprint. 

When he awoke, he was deemed the first 'Soul Reaper'. He used his newfound powers to rescue his whole family and the members of the Caravan. Reports from the later captured bandits tell that they never saw the kid but were injured anyways. This is why the bandits ran away. 

From there and over the course of the following year and a half, many more of these Chosen or 'Soul Reapers' rose up to combat the invisible enemy and act as a secondary form of police against even the Cursed and Blessed should they lose control of themselves. While the 'hollows' or 'white reapers' as the monsters are called are their primary targets. 

From the few known details, the chosen can willingly expel their souls from their body to fight both spiritual and magical enemies. That leaves them open to anyone who means their real bodies harm but with the difference in power of simply being an empowered soul, that is rarely an issue. 

The Chosen Inheritors have set up their own city but the location is not known except for their close families that live with them and watch other their sleeping bodies while they commit to their unseen war. From the few recollections of Lord Byren, a former high class adventurer that had retired but later became a blessed, he chronicled how he once spotted one of the Chosen in patrol. Wearing a black haori with a sword at their waist, they moved faster than the eye can see.

Other than these few and far between recollections that have made their way to me, I have no other information regarding the chosen. But I know that if they are inheritors of 'that person's' will, then they mean well.

Signed, former Commander and Current Historian of the Fianna Knights, Liliruca Arde

The figure puts the quill away with shaky hands as they have grown numb from writing for so long, she was so concentrated on the task at hand that her untouched coffee has grown cold.

"Gods damn it Axel, why are you making so much trouble even when you have secluded yourself away somewhere" Lili curses as she strolls out of her room to get a fresh batch of coffee while also stretching her limbs. 

She reminisces on her own journey up till now. After the Fall of Orario, she and Finn had re-established the Fianna knights with her at the head again while her 'brother' kept busy with peacekeeping in Asgard alongside his friends in the Loki Familia. She stepped down last year and has taken a historian role, generally advising the new leader, her own pallum apprentice who she saw a reflection of her past self. 

Because of her, the fianna knights is primarily filled with females, that has granted them a mix culture as the newly reforged Artemis Familia mixed in with them as the Fianna knights dedicated Archery division. They are still two different groups but they share a close bond which makes many outsiders consider them one and the same at this point. 

This was especially so after the goddess Artemis had chosen to 'settle down' but no one knows where she actually went but she keeps mentioning 'her Orion' when she left. Kyrene, the last of the former Artemis Huntress has taken over as the new leader of their familia, maintaining the same discipline she was taught over the years. 

Lili laments the gods' departure as they got along well, she stops and looks up through the ceiling from her second floor courtyard position. Witnessing the night sky and the beautiful bright stars, she lets out a sigh, "Bell-sama, where have you gone?" she whispers with longing and melancholy. 

For a while after she regained her memories, she was essentially stuck as fianna but over time she had mellowed out to her original self and was disheartened to find that her 'lord' along with his goddess had disappeared. She had spread a bounty for any information about the man she desires, Bell Cranel. Yet she has not heard back any news from this even with the substantial bounty.

MEANWHILE

Far to the west, near the great Dwarven city of Rhondda, a small quaint village, if it can even be called that due to the severe lack of people and houses. The local mountainous region has been converted into stable farmland, where a young man standing at an even 6"1', with a budding beard is standing amongst his field, using his immense strength with his hoe to rejuvenate the land, spreading manure and other fertilizers to breathe life into the land. This is already the second patch that this person is making as he had made the first one a year ago and got a plentiful harvest from it in the recent spring to keep him and his family going. 

"My dear Orion, here, wash off some of that sweat and rinse your hands. Hestia has finished making dinner, though I'm sure it's something strange again." The speaker is a beautiful blue haired woman of a slim build. A bow and quiver rest by the chair she is sitting on. This is the goddess Artemis who could no longer resist her desire, the call to be with her destined one. Especially in a world of peace where they can spend eternity together. 

Her Orion, the farmer, identified by his pure white silver hair and deep red eyes nods as he approaches the sitting woman, washing his hands in the bucket which would be used to water the plants later and then wiping his sweat and grime with the towel. 

The two head inside their home of 4 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and the living room/kitchen space. Inside this kitchen space is a relatively short woman with black hair wrapped in a single ponytail on the left side of her head, a style reminiscent of her original one. She is wearing a loose one piece green dress reminiscent of nature, she is stirring a black cauldron filled with soup over a fire but her movements seem a bit limited or strained but not too much.

"Hestia, we're back" The man calls out to the black haired woman who turns around, revealing her 'full' belly hidden beneath her loose dress. She points the ladle in her hand at Artemis, "you haven't been seducing my husband again when I wasn't looking?"

"Hestia, you've already won every single competition possible, can I please make love to my Orion? We already share the same bed" Artemis pleads to the goddess hestia, her old friend from Heaven but the goddess of the hearth turns her head away with a scowl. 

"Hmph, Not happening, I will show this baby of mine but it means to have a proper happy family, only then will a home wrecker like you be allowed to join" her possessiveness over Bell trumps her old friendship with Artemis as she has not changed over the years except created a bigger bond with Bell due to being pregnant. 

Bell is standing off to the side as he rubs his head with an "ehehe" laugh. He is split on his choices, on one hand he doesnt want to upset Hestia who has been there for him from the start but on the other hand, Artemis has been supporting their familia and vice versa since the Antares invasion (Circa Chapter 51).

They had been through alot of emotional and physical growth throughout the years, so he can't deny that he has feelings for Artemis too now at this point. For now at least, he will try to placate Hestia and hopefully not find a whole uncooked onion in the soup for him to eat like there was a month ago. 

It has to be noted that Hestia has been pregnant for nearly a year and a half now. It's only been in the past 2 or 3 months that her belly has been this big so Artemis believes that there should only be one or two more months of 'moody Hestia'. There is little detail about gods getting pregnant so nobody expected that Hestia would be pregnant for so long. It's also unknown if he had actually got Hestia pregnant somehow during their time in Orario or if this purely because they are both gods now that it takes so long.

Bell both fears this lengthy time period and looks forward to being a father. He fears this because he is afraid of 'moody hestia' but they had already been preparing for this for so long, which is why they had built the second room attached to the house. 

He is sometimes struck by a fear that his child would be a mortal. He would love to have them live out their lives happily but the thought of them dying pains him greatly. After sharing his fears with the two goddesses, they both explain that they hope the child is born as a god who can at least grow up physically as they share his fear of watching the child pass away for any reason even if it's old age. Yet that is still a long time away, for now he is happy to become a father and even introduce Welf, Daisy and their nearly 2 year old daughter Rio to their child. 

Compared to Lili, his level was higher when he unlocked his memories so he didn't experience any more personality changes, he just sees his past life as more experiences he had but he does relate to the later half of his past life's direction. Downplaying his own achievements, besmirching his own heroic name and creating 'Argonaut The Fool'. While he isn't outright slandering himself in this life, he is fine living in the shadows with his family which is why he had taken up farming as a profession. 

During his contemplations, Bell had walked up to hestia and hugged her instinctively to calm her down. Yet he had made a fatal mistake.

Sniff Sniff. "Uh oh" "Bell Cranel, YOU STINK!!!" Bell realized his mistake too late as his eardrums ruptured a second later and he ran away to bathe. 

Thus is the life of the current generation Argonaut, Bell Cranel. The hero of the original world of Danmachi. 

As for the 'hero' of this world, he is organizing. Stack after stack, memory after set of memories that he has, experiencing them, keeping vital information and then storing it all away within his archive. While this is not the only thing he has done throughout the 2 year period, it is the most prominent, other than spending time with his kids.

Serina is now 2 and a half years old, walking easily and talking like a 10 year old. He had spent plenty of time with her and teaching her about her powers. It's already known that she has a variation of his own devouring power but with her consciously able to manipulate it, her expertise with it is extraordinary. 

There is an analogy that can be given to how both their devouring powers work. Axel's is similar to the Spy Kids microwave, turning the thin packets of 'something' into a full course McDonalds meal. 

While Serena's is more like a cursed blender. Imagine you put something in a blender and start it up. That item will be torn apart with no damage to the blender itself, but you stop it halfway through and retrieve your item. It might have chunks hanging off it if it was a strawberry or other fruit, Now nothing will happen to that item in a 'normal' situation. But Serena's power will latch onto the thing that was struck by the devouring power and keep 'ripping' it apart until it dies or turns to dust. 

Even though Axel didn't understand this power at first, he is lucky that he trusted his instincts to cover her baby form with his [Repulsion] from Accelerator, that ensured that the cursed gluttony on Raikou, Freya and Airmid didn't kill them as the reflection gave back the stolen strength almost instantly. But now she can control it herself and cancel the curse. 

Axel believes that her devouring ability is Migi's fault.

The reason for that is that when they had the 'session' that got her pregnant, his most recent soul shock power was Migi's body manipulation. Migi by default is a parasite and that parasitic nature must have mixed with his devouring to grant her, her unique devouring.

He also learned that through whatever power that Freya gave Syr to mimic her appearance and charm, was passed along to the child as she has an innate divine level charm ability and can temporarily disguise herself. 

Serena's only real 'fault' is that she is obsessed with the anime world of Naruto. While he was setting up the archive, she stumbled in and began watching the projected memory (he does it out of habit to show his close ones the outside world). From the memory Axel had of watching the show, it was magically recreated into its own standalone thing for Serena's use alone. He had gotten her to watch other anime to at least diversify her tastes but she just keeps rewatching Naruto from start to finish (regular and Shippuden). 

She even jokingly named her little disguise ability as 'Transformation Jutsu/Henge no Jutsu'. Axel feels a strange pain in his chest which [Raphael] blames on some of the higher grade law powers related to Probability, Fate and Nature. So he just left her be with her little figurines she made after the characters. 

The second child, STILL nameless, will only be referred to as 'C' as that is the only thing he knows that Aisha calls the child in public. In private she always uses her own newfound divine powers to act as fuel for her own hell Kaios that she modified into a divine authority as well as a barrier. All to still prevent him from learning the childs name even after 2 YEARS. 

He will remember this vendetta. And he knows that it's all about the same reason as before (not being there for her pregnancy even though she was inside his inner world), because he had to have a chat with her about a 'certain something'.

But the child doesnt seem to outwardly show any strange powers except super strength and a relatively high affinity for gravity. If nothing changes too much in the future, he wouldn't mind making the child the God of Gravity.

Now as for why he keeps referring to 'C' as 'The child' is because he doesnt actually know if it's a boy or girl. Due to completely natural circumstances, Amazoness only give birth to girls. Yet C was supposedly born as a Boy. He only found out a year later while helping Aisha out at her designated personal home, that C has both sets of Genitals. Born like that, even Aisha was surprised at first but just silently blamed Axel for it. 

It was after that, that they had the talk about the 'certain something' previously mentioned. That was when he confirmed that she was indeed petty about her pregnancy. Though out of 'kindness' Aisha told Axel that C is just a nickname completely unrelated to the childs actual name. 

Axel swears that Aisha will rue this day for never telling him their childs name. But other than doing normal stuff to raise C, the gender problem has not been all that much of a problem. Axel doesnt know if it's because of their powers or just living in a world filled with law energy but C is smart as well and can take care of themselves. 

Moving onto the third one, A girl by the Aika, a little fox girl born between him and Haruhime. Aika is 1 and a half years old but was born with multiple golden blonde tails, partially resembling her mother, Haruhime when she uses her spirit magic, Uchide no Kozuchi. 

While she doesnt have proper signs of powers from Axel's side, she has shown an innate talent for spirit based magic. This leads Axel to assume that she might have a power related to his [Soul Meister][1] powers but not the final version which is [Spirit Energy]. 

They are still all children so there is a lack of things that they can know or do but with the archive serving as a pseudo-internet format. They are all able to quickly absorb information like math, various languages and martial arts. Magic is the major deciding factor for them all. 

Serena is skilled with Hypnosis (subsect of illusion), charm and transformation. C is skilled with body enhancing techniques like Aisha as well as gravity magic like him, having trained their body quite a bit at a young age. Though Axel is a bit worried about them getting too heavily tired out, Aisha assures him an Amazoness can handle even tougher training, so she is actually being very lenient. 

As punishment for forcing their child to exercise so hard, and totally not because of the name thing, he slapped her butt and ran away. After all, if he didn't run then Aisha's Hell Kaios would have split that [Doppelganger] in half which is not a pleasant experience. 

Freya is still pregnant, just like Hestia, her belly only recently becoming more proportional. Something that causes Freya endless agony as she wants to shower the child with love already while Raikou is happy. Afterall, that meant that his fourth child is with her. 

Raikou named the child Minamoto no Seiko, or Seiko Gram[2]. Axel was a bit confused as he wasn't conferred at all about what they should name the child, and while to him who knows multiple languages thanks to all the soul fragments he has, it looks weird, he can't fault Raikou for it. Seeing her crying face as she held her sweet child. 

Seiko growing up this past year has shown an innate understanding of magnetism. She is a full fledged goddess in her own right, the first born actual god between Axel and another goddess. While Syr, Aisha and Haruhime have also become gods. That only happened after they had children while Raikou was before and she was a legend even before that, long having an affinity for lightning which was partially given to Seiko.

Seiko is a quiet child but is very diligent as she mimics her momma's training sword swings with a small stick she picked off a tree. She doesnt actually spend much time with the other kids except Blythes Son. Axel does have to note that she is growing like a normal baby but he can tell that she can stop her age at any time. When Seiko gets older, he would at the very least tell her to stop her age when she reaches 18 or so but will leave the final decision to his little girl. 

Now, with the exception of the still pregnant Freya, nobody else has gotten pregnant in these past 2 years. Not for a lack of sex or anything, but just that Axel gave an ultimatum that 5 kids is enough for a few years. Tiona continues her work as a maid and somehow Tione had tracked Axel's original body down and forced him to have her work alongside her sister. 

As such, the amazoness twins are both acting as Maids and babysitters. During this 2 year period, Tiona has fully transitioned into the goddess of strength (physical). Tione is also working hard to get her own divinity to stay alongside her sister but is not worthy of it yet. Though he did learn that their original plan was to have him marry both of them, then having their children take over Telskyura from the 'bad' amazonian goddess, kali. 

Yet after the incident with Syr and her pregnancy, the plan was completely scrapped and that is how they got to where they are now. Axel learned that Tione had also given up her 'love' for Finn after witnessing Tiona's depressed state before and being rejected by Finn for the Nteenth time.

The heroes and legends who have decided to live in the reality marble have developed their own proper village now, some have created small scale labs away from it but for most people everyone remained together. Keeping each other company as neighbors and very few amongst them have tried to get together after hearing that Axel can cancel their longevity, allowing them to live healthy but limited lifespans. The few of them had gotten together with at least 1 child on the way. 2 more had requested Axel to let them bring certain members of their familia to live with them. Turns out, they lusted for their own 'children', so he allowed it and after giving those adventurers minor blessings and putting them on an even level with their legendary spouses, they could also start proper families. 

Axel is shaken from his remunerations by two short but cute oni. They have been shouting in his ears the past few minutes after he sent out Ais Wallenstein to catalog the newest 'black box of memories'. Yes Ais is also living in Axel's city, her circumstances are similar to the twins but more power focused since she hopes to defeat him and prove that she could kill the OEBD. he gave her a divine wind core so she could feel closer to her mother but has otherwise not touched her….yet. 

He is not an innocent fool when Ais questions Tiona about what sex feels like or at least how it feels like with him, or her 'nightly' routine. Axel had expected more from her than this 'degeneracy' but he cant really judge when he locks up all the porn from all of his soul fragments and stores it separate from the rest of the memory archive. 

"AAAAAXXXXXEELLLLLLL" The two oni continue to shake him while trying to get his attention.

"Can you two stop shaking me?" He finally gives them his attention.

"Axel Titan Gram, get us pregnant already." Ibaraki Douji demands

"Uh, no. Besides, i didn't know Cum Dumpsters could get pregnant"

"That's not fair, besides, you cum as much as a minotaur, so everyone is cum dumpster to you" Shuten Douji retorts while tracing a finger on his open chest. 

"And you're supposed to stay out of the Hentai Locker, so how would you even know that?" He reprimands Shuten by putting her over his knee and spanking her ass, but after the first hit, her yelps of surprise turn to moans but he does not give her the sexual satisfaction she wants.

"How long are you going to keep meditating like this anyways?" Ibaraki asks 

Sigh, "I was actually thinking of taking a break, to be honest. So much suffering across hundreds of soul fragments, so many tragic deaths. I can take out the memory of their lives but not my own of seeing and experiencing their lives, which sucks."

"So are we gonna go traveling? Shopping? Drinking? Killing?" 

"How about a little bit of all of that, I have a place in mind. Depending on how it turns out, you two might try to get yourself a sister or daughter."

(Danmachi World-Complete)

***********************************

Alt Title: 2 years of Difference, Danmachi done, Goodbye Orario.

Drop a comment if you wanna judge my writing or the story. Ill try to respond, especially if you're confused or anything. 

[1] Soul weapon is related to the Soul Eater 

[2] I did look up proper names and it's not Seika but Seiko. It's supposed to translate to Holy child as she is Raikou's precious child.

C144: Knowing Myself continues to be the reining champion of the word count leaderboard at 6,890 words while this chapter C173 is now second palace at 5.26k. This is 5k even from C68. 

Gnight folks and until next chapter and the next world.