Raising Hel, in Danmachi.

[Common]

The morning air over Orario was crisp, cool, and humming with anticipation. Ruby stood at the gate leading out of the city, watching the Loki Familia assemble with their usual chaotic confidence. Armor clinked, packs thumped against backs, mages murmured last-minute incantation checks. Even so early in the day, the crowd had gathered—because whenever Loki's elite went on an expedition, it was an event.


Ruby had to admit… they looked impressive.


"You don't need to come all the way out here, you know," Tiona said brightly, leaning forward with her hands behind her head, flashing Ruby a grin that could've powered a small district.


Ruby shrugged. "You guys are going deep. It felt wrong not to see you off."


"Tch." Tione smirked, arms crossed. "Or you're making sure we don't slack off."


"I mean, that too," Ruby said, grinning sheepishly.


Finn approached, prim and polished even in expedition gear. "We appreciate your presence, Ruby. And your concern." His eyes softened. "But don't worry. We'll bring them all back safely."


Behind him, Bete snorted. "Hah. As if we're the ones who need worrying about."

But even he didn't say it with full bite this time… more like the familiar bark of a wolf trying not to show he was touched.


Gareth gave Ruby a nod. "Stay outta trouble up here, lass."

As the last preparations wrapped up, Loki herself strolled over, stretching like she'd just woken from a particularly comfortable nap. Of course she hadn't—Ruby had seen her subtly checking her children's gear, counting her party lineup with hawk-like precision.


"Well, well, my lil' flame," Loki drawled, poking Ruby in the cheek. "Ya look like a maiden seein' her sweetheart off to war."


Ruby spluttered. "W-What?! No I don't!"


Loki grinned wide, then leaned in conspiratorially. "Relax. They'll be fine. This is just a deeper-than-usual dive, not the end of the world."


"I still plan on going in…" Ruby muttered, folding her arms. "Honestly walking in with them now would be kinda awkward."


Loki's grin sharpened. "Awwww, awkward? My lil' flame? The girl who punched a dungeon boss so hard it forgot how to respawn?"


Ruby's face went crimson to the ears. "That NEVER HAPPEND! AND WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME LITTLE FLAME?!"

"Because you set the guild on fire twice." Loki responds

Ruby let out a tiny, mortified squeak—

a sound so small it probably registered only to gods, animals, and people with very specific adventurer perks.


Then she exploded into a swirl of rose petals, the gust of magic whipping Loki's hair back as Ruby fled.


"Oi—! Don't just turn inta flower confetti when I'm bein' honest!" Loki called after her, though the grin never left her face.


A few petals drifted down lazily, almost mocking her.


"Kids these days," Loki mused, catching one between her fingers. "Strong enough to level a floor… emotionally fragile enough to die at a nickname."


Behind her, Bete snorted. "She ran."


"An? Shes like stupid strong. Did you not see how big that scythe actually is? I kinda want Hephy chan to outlook at it." Loki states

========

Ruby didn't stop moving until the air grew heavy and warm, the oppressive humidity of the mid floors wrapping around her like a damp blanket. Petals scattered behind her as she re-formed, boots skidding slightly on the stone.


"WHY does she keep calling me that?" Ruby hissed to herself, clutching Crescent Rose's haft and stomping forward. "I didn't set the guild on fire. I set parts of the guild on fire. Accidentally. Twice."


A roar answered her.


Ruby perked up instantly.


"Oh, thank the gods," she sighed, relief washing through her. "Something I can hit."


An infant dragon tore out of a cracked wall ahead—massive for its age, thick skinned, jagged scales the color of volcanic rock. Its molten-orange eyes locked onto her, steam curling from its nostrils.


Ruby's expression brightened like she'd just seen a puppy.


"Ohhh my gods, you're ADORABLE."


The dragon shrieked, offended.


Ruby lifted Crescent Rose, shifting into a stance Hel drilled into her—low to the ground, center tight, scythe poised like a reaping strike.


"Okay, big guy," she exhaled. "I'm embarrassed, emotionally compromised, and in desperate need of stress relief."


The dragon charged.


Ruby's smile turned sharp.


"Perfect."

It lunged with surprising speed, claws raking the stone where she'd stood. Ruby shot upward with a burst of petals, flipping over its back. Crescent Rose's blade traced a red arc that chipped three of its dorsal scales clean off.


The dragon howled, tail whipping toward her like a battering ram.


Ruby braced—caught the tail with Crescent Rose's shaft—slid backward a few feet from sheer force—but her boots held.


"Whoa! Strong!" she grinned. "Okay, you're officially worth the cardio."


The dragon inhaled—a deep, building rumble in its chest.


Ruby twirled her scythe.


"Oh no you don't—"


It exhaled a jet of flame.


Ruby vanished in a burst of petals, reappearing on its snout mid-breath, and slammed the heel of her boot downward.


"NO FIRE BREATHING AT ME. I AM VERY FLAMMABLE."


The dragon's head cracked the floor.


Ruby hopped off, twirling Crescent Rose casually as the beast struggled to rise.


"Round two?" she asked cheerfully.


The infant dragon roared weakly.


Ruby sighed, almost disappointed. "Aww. Okay fine, I'll make it quick."


She blurred forward.


A single sweeping strike.


A shockwave rolled through the hallway as the dragon dissolved.

CRACK.


Ruby froze.


She slowly— very slowly—looked down at Crescent Rose

A hairline fracture ran along the crimson edge, glowing faintly like an offended ember.


"…oh no," she whispered.


The weapon hummed in her hands in a tone that could only be described as judgmental disappointment.


Ruby winced. "I-I know, I know! I didn't mean to! You just—he was—okay, yes, maybe that was a little excessive—"


Another soft crack.


Ruby squeaked, hugging the scythe like it was a fragile baby bird.


"PLEASE don't break!" Ruby shouts

===

"Okay… okay… don't panic… don't panic…" Ruby muttered as she half-jogged, half-teleported down the main street of Orario, clutching her scythe like a dying pet.

Hel spotted her immediately — hard not to notice a girl carrying a weapon taller than a lamppost while hyperventilating.

"Ruby," Hel greeted calmly, "you look like you murdered a dragon and then lost a custody battle."

Ruby whined. "HEL I THINK I BROKE MY BABY."

Hel rested a hand on the scythe, feeling the faint hairline fractures shivering along the divine metal. "Hm. Yes. I see the problem."

"CAN YOU FIX IT?!"

"Can't you?" Hel asks almost certain the redheaded girl had built the weapon herself.

Hel lifted a single brow. "Can't you?"


Ruby froze mid-panic, blinking. "I… I mean… I made her, yeah, but I didn't think I'd need to fix her this soon! Or ever! Or— or that I'd hit something that hard!"


"Yes. An infant dragon," Hel said flatly. "On floor eleven. A creature most adventurers treat with extreme caution."

She tilted her head. "You treated it like a fly landing on your sandwich."


Ruby made a pathetic dying-seal noise.


Hel sighed lightly — not exasperated, just the eternal calm of someone who has already accepted chaos as an ambient background noise.


"Well," Hel said, "if you want real repairs, you'll need a proper forge."


She deflated.


"But I've never done it with THIS world's materials! Or this world's forging methods! Or this world's… uh… rules! And I don't even have the right setup or tools." Ruby Rambled

 

[Common]

Hestia was outside sweeping, humming a cheerful—slightly off-key—tune when she spotted the two girls approaching.


She blinked.


Then blinked again.


Then dropped her broom.


"Hel?! YOU DESCENDED?!"


The goddess of the dead raised a polite hand. "Hello, Hestia."


Hestia's jaw worked in small, panicked flaps. "B-But—BUT—You—YOUR DOMAIN—THE DEATH—THE RULES—LOKI—WHAT—HOW—WHY—"

"Is Hephaestus in?" Hel asked, with the same tone someone might use to inquire about today's weather.

Hestia snapped out of it with a dramatic inhale. "W–WHY do you need Hephy?! Are you here to bring her to the underworld?! Are you here to—"


"No," Hel said simply. "Ruby fractured her weapon. She requires tools ranked above 'primitive.' Hephaestus is the logical option."


Ruby held up Crescent Rose like a child offering a broken toy. "It's… um… in pain."


Hestia blinked at the scythe. Then at the hairline fractures glowing along the blade. Then back to Hel.


"…Why does her weapon look like it lost a fight with a dragon?"


"That is because it did." Hel answers

Hestia froze.


Her eyes slowly… slowly… tracked back to Ruby.


Ruby, who stood there smiling like the world's guiltiest puppy.


"…Floor… eleven…?" Hestia whispered, horror blooming.


Ruby nodded.


Hel added helpfully, "The dragon died instantly."


Hestia slapped both hands onto her cheeks. "THAT'S NOT A REASSURING DETAIL!! Isn't she NEW!?"

"It was my second trip into teh dungeon." Ruby chirps

Hestia froze.


Absolutely, completely, spiritually froze.


Then she turned her head toward Hel with the slow, mechanical rigidity of someone bracing for a divine audit.


"…Second… trip…"


Ruby nodded proudly, like she had just announced getting a gold star in kindergarten.


Hel, ever helpful, added, "She also outran the Loki Familia on her way in. At petal-speed."


"P–PETAL—?!" Hestia sputtered, eyes bulging. "SHE TELEPORTED INTO THE DUNGEON BECAUSE SHE WAS EMBARRASSED?!"


Ruby fidgeted. "It wasn't teleporting, it was just… um… moving very fast


They reached the workshop door just as a burst of heat rolled out from the forge—Hephaestus was clearly in the middle of one of her "don't bother me unless you're dying" sessions.


Hestia hesitated.

"Uh… maybe we should come back later—"


Hel didn't bother knocking.

She opened the door.


Inside, Hephaestus turned mid-swing, hammer raised, sparks scattering off molten metal.


Her single visible eye landed on Ruby.


Then on Crescent Rose.


Then widened.


"…What," Hephaestus said slowly, "is that."


Ruby froze. "…M-My weapon?"


Hephaestus marched toward her like an inspector about to condemn a building.


She grabbed the scythe, turned it, twisted it, clicked one mechanism—


CHK-CHNK—VRRRRRT—CLACK


The weapon shifted, folding into rifle mode.

Hephaestus recoiled like it had tried to bite her.


"WHO MADE THIS!?" she demanded, staring at the impossible number of moving parts.


Silence.


Ruby wilted.


"…I… did…?"


Hephaestus blinked once.


Then twice.


Then a third time, as if her brain had to reboot just to process the concept of a teenager casually forging a master-grade mechashift scythe in her spare time.


Finally, she jabbed a finger directly at Ruby.


"Hel, I want her."


Ruby made a noise somewhere between a squeak and a dying kettle.


Before Hephaestus could take a single step forward, Hel smoothly wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulders and pulled her firmly against her side — a sudden, possessive shield that radiated the cold certainty of a goddess who did not share.


"No." Hel said simply. "This is my little reaper."


Ruby blinked, going stiff as a board.


Hephaestus's good eye twitched. "Hel, you can't just— you don't even forge! You don't need a prodigy smith!"


"I need Ruby," Hel responded calmly, as if that settled the laws of the universe.


"It's not even the smith! It's the WEAPON!" Hephaestus snapped, pointing at Crescent Rose. "This thing shouldn't EXIST in this world! It— it transforms, it's made out of alloys I don't even RECOGNIZE, the weight distribution is absurd."


Hephaestus leaned in, eyes blazing. "Ruby. Ruby. Sweet child. HOW did you forge this?"


Ruby swallowed. Hard.


"Um… I… just kind of… used what I had… and improvised…? Until it worked?"


In the silence that followed, Hestia silently inhaled like she was watching a meteor fall toward Orario.


Hephaestus dragged a hand down her face.


"…Improvised," she muttered.


"Ruby has to fix it, However what if you were to provide a forge and the needed tools for her to make. A new one with better materials? You could watch her make it along with some junior smiths." Hel states


"I am going to need some precision machines to make it." Ruby responds.


"We have those. An the ones we dont. If you have the designs I can get them made." Hephastus states.


"So then are we off to the guild to get some land for my familia and a work shop for Ruby here?" Hel asks

Hephaestus stared at Hel like she'd just suggested relocating Mount Olympus using elbow grease.


"…Land?" the smith goddess echoed. "Hel. You descended five days ago."


"Correct," Hel said.


"You have enough money for land?" Hephaestus pressed, mildly shocked.


Hel tilted her head. "Hephy… I am massively wealthy."


Hestia blinked. "Then why do you keep sending every bill for everything you buy to Loki?"


Hel's expression remained serenely deadpan.


"Because it's funny."


Hestia choked. Hephaestus pinched the bridge of her nose like she suddenly understood the source of several of Loki's stress-induced migraines.


Ruby raised her hand timidly. "…S-Should we… still go to the guild?"


Hel nodded, entirely unbothered. "Yes. Let's go buy land."


"And send the receipt to Loki?" Hephaestus asked dryly.


Hel's eyes gleamed with mischief. "As much as I want to, I'll foot the bill this time."

 

[purplefox1013]

Hestia blinked. "Then why do you keep sending every bill for everything you buy to Loki?"


Hel's expression remained serenely deadpan.


"Because it's funny."

Click to shrink...

i am eagerly awaiting when loki finds out