Author Note: Here's another chapter everyone! I'm sure everyone has been curious as to more 'outside' perspectives. This chapter is dedicated to more of that, but it does still, of course, have our adorable Hakuno in it! By the way, I made myself potato snacks from Danmachi. They were delicious! And I'm healthy, though my sister is feeling ill, wishing her to get well soon!

Snake screamer: Salem was pretty fun, thanks for asking.

King of Fans: Indeed, Rin has to go through the same thing as Mashu, though at least Rin has Ereshkigal to help her out!

Kerrowe: We'll get to the bottom of the Falna mystery shortly.

Enjoy the chapter everybody! The tale of a different wish, a story that changes the predetermined outcome, the journey, the Extra that pushed the world of gods into Extella!

Digital/Lunar Hearth

Chapter 36: Eyes of Others

Her dream began like any other, a mix-match of desires and illusionary memories for her Familia. Her status as a goddess rivaling the top contenders in Orario, even superseding them. Bell, Liliruca, and Hakuno all enjoy the peaceful days within a grandiose mansion, served to by professional butlers and maids, and faceless figures indicating potential future children that would be her Familia. Hestia felt so proud of them, she could spot the figures of Saber and Altera in the background, standing diligently and guarding the household from dangers yet unseen.

But the outside windows faded away from brimming sunshine, replaced by a deep blue underwater environment.

Her mansion blurred and distorted, the imagery of everyone and herself obscured into nothingness.

Now…

She explored.

Not Hestia; rather a young brown-haired girl with distant stars dotting those chocolate-hued eyes. This amnesic child venturing into the depths of the maze, a virtual sea covered in stone ruins and fake ocean life. The corridors were nearly transparent, only the glistening yellow light marked the paths.

In each break from the hallways, every expensive room, and even between them, enemies of oddly shaped designs created by an observing system patrolled with cold logic. Ready to eliminate her, to destroy her existence, she was defenseless against such entities.

But, this girl was a Master. A concept, initially unfamiliar and foreign, now a comfort. A protective guardian stood behind her, following every step, acting as her blade and shield against any that dare strike.

Her Servant- A optimistic empress- A magical fox maiden- A scarlet man- the Heroic Spirit that would follow her through this travesty.

The battlefield known as The Holy Grail War.

Where she would kill to survive, every week, a new opponent where it's kill or be killed.

To live or die by the sword, where the choice lies in her hands between dancing flames, decaying earth, and withered ocean.

And she chose to survive.

Hestia splashed her face with cold water, then proceeded to grab a rag and dry off. Her thoughts were scattered and confused but had an understanding of what just occurred. Hestia had awoken in a sweat earlier and carefully motioned herself out of the bed towards the bathroom without disturbing Hakuno's sleep.

She stared into the tiny old mirror, "Nothing makes sense." Hestia voiced her thoughts.

The goddess understood that her latest dream was connected to her little mage girl. But, Hestia knew very little of the events that transpired within them. Her knowledge of all her time in the lower world didn't help, and even anything she could recall from Heaven couldn't answer this.

All… All those battles against artificial entities… Conflicts between the few Heroic Spirits that appeared. And yet, Hestia knew that it was still nowhere near the ending of this Moon Cell journey.

To fight against those Servants? Hestia was beginning to doubt even her own chances at surviving when using even her Arcanum, her divine powers.

But, most importantly.

"She struggled and went through so much…" Hestia trailed off. "I want to help her, my child," She gripped the rag, staring into the mirror. "While I can't change her past I can help her now. She needs to relax more! No more crazy stuff!"

The petite goddess was determined to give her little mage child a vacation!

No more dungeon diving, god attracting, headache-inducing incidents!

"Right! That's it, Hestia!" She loudly proclaimed. "Time to do your part and-"

Her stomach growled intensely.

"Maybe food first," Hestia laughed a bit. "Ack, wait! I have to head to the jagamarukun stall soon! I've been skipping out!" The goddess exclaimed suddenly. "Curse this debt! The pains of the lower world can all be summed up in money and love life!"

"Loud," A voice interrupted Hestia's mild rant.

"Oh, sorry, Hakuno~!" Hestia apologized, noticing a monotone-faced magus girl now up and about. "Didn't mean to wake you up…"

"It's fine… I was waking up anyway," She replied, then briefly glanced around. "Where did Bell and Liliruca head to?"

"The Dungeon, probably," The goddess answered.

Hestia had known that Bell Cranel had been very intensely in his Dungeon Diving the past few days since Hakuno Kishinami's return. She realized that the boy must be feeling inadequate next to his junior, the 'Contractor of Spirits', that overshadowed his seniority as a Familia member. But, Hestia had connections in the godly gossip, and while Hakuno was a hot topic, the sheer progressive speed her Bell displayed in obtaining his strength was hardly unnoticed.

Many eyes were on the Hestia Familia due to the combination, and Hestia was beginning to wonder if perhaps Liliruca might do something to draw even more attention. Given Bell and Hakuno's out-of-the-ordinary progress, it wouldn't be too shocking for the prum to pull something off next.

Like a super Supporter skill that's one of a kind, or perhaps gaining access to powerful magic?

"Why is my Familia destroying common sense?" Hestia spoke out loud.

"But everything is fine?" Hakuno questioned in confusion.

"You and Bell… Nevermind, it doesn't matter!" The petite goddess still wouldn't have her children any other way. "But you are not going to the Dungeon!"

The monotone girl blinked, "... Are you still upset?" She asked.

"Concerned! And I can't leave you alone in Orario, not since you're not going to stay home anymore," Hestia pouted.

"I'll have my Servant with me," Hakuno replied.

"You always have them with you and stuff still happens!" She retorted. "Alright, you're going to help me with the stall! Since you're part of my Familia, you're technically part of the work contract!"

"Stall… Work?"

Bell Cranel collapsed to his knees breathing heavily, sweat dripped from his brow and his muscles ached with a stinging pain. Bell's body was telling him a fact that his mind refused to acknowledge, that he was exhausted. Still, in spite of this, his willpower drove him to stand back up on his feat. This sheer act prompted a sense of energy to come to him, an effect of his acquired skill to continue fighting while disregarding exhaustion and injury.

"Your Battle Continuation is noteworthy, squire," Saber spoke to him. "Seven times I've brought you low, yet again you stand tall."

He readied again his stance, the Hestia Knife gleamed under the sunlight as he stood across from Saber, both on top the tall walls of Orario. The Knight was a ruthless sparring partner, her combat style and technique was vastly different from the Sword Princess. It was honed and practiced, whereby Ais' was developed and adapted through battles with monsters.

The boy recognized what Saber was referring to, his Skill obtained on reaching Level 2, Heroic Willpower. Still, even this did not stop the aching pains, it was incredible how even with a wooden sword that Saber matched his goddess' gifted weapon.

Bell thought about using his chantless spell, Firebolt, but immediately discarded the thought. It was one of the first actions he tried today, but the spell dissipated uselessly against the spirit. Saber briefly explained after the fact that she possessed an extraordinary high rank in the Development Ability, Magic Resistance. It was something that Bell had heard of before, but not to such a potent degree.

Though Saber called it a Skill, Bell didn't correct her. She was a spirit, it's possible she meant differently.

"Still can't seem to land a single blow though," Bell replied optimistically to the Knight.

"That hasn't discouraged you," Saber said in approval. "Your skills are improving at a decent pace."

A decent pace? That was reassuring, but he was also aware of perhaps how quickly his attributes increased compared to other adventurers. It had been Liliruca that had revealed that fact to him. But if Saber viewed this as decent; what pace did she expect normally?

"I've been diving deeper into the Dungeon," Bell said. "I wanted to help Hakuno but it seemed like I couldn't do anything."

"Lady Hakuno was in exceptional circumstances," Saber replied. "Rather than focus on the past, steer your dedication to the future."

Bell understood what she meant and knew that was what he should do. He brushed aside his thoughts and decided to follow up on the knight's advice.

"Right!" He shouted and charged forward with the Hestia Knife, starting another round of training against the Servant.

Ais Wallenstein had a deal with the Contractor of Spirits, one made within the depths of the Dungeon on the 18th Floor. But, the past few days had yet to fulfill the conditions, considering that Lady Hakuno had gone ahead of the expedition back to the surface. Originally, Ais had hoped the expedition would head deeper into the Dungeon, seeking to deal with rising issues that concerned Orario and the Dungeon's erratic behavior.

But the situation went wayward very quickly. At first, the Dungeon had plant-like appendages appearing in Orario, they could be dealt with. There was also that strange woman that fought against her on the last trip a few months back.

That was but moot points now.

Instead of the Dungeon seemingly erratic behavior, it was now more akin to the Dungeon having a spreading virus, that which the only barrier was the mysterious cube structures on certain floors… Which only obeyed the Contractor of Spirits, Hakuno Kishinami.

However, because of that, it seemed as though events were calming down after the peak intensity nearly a week ago.

Now… For very important business…

Ais Wallenstein walked through Orario's busy streets and came upon her target, a stall she'd grown attached to for its delicious potato snacks. But, today was incredibly busy, more so than usual for this stall and even the surrounding area. It seemed like there were probably twice the amount of people as usual. So it took a few minutes in line before she met her goal.

"Three potato snacks, extra red bean filling," Ais raised an equal number of fingers as she ordered.

"Right away- Ack! Ais Wallenwhatits!" Hestia greeted with the usual response that the Sword Princess had grown accustomed too.

"Ais?" The voice of Hakuno Kishinami came from behind the stall, which surprised the blond girl.

"Lady Hakuno?" She replied, blinking.

The normal brown attire that typically adorned Kishinami had been entirely replaced by more casual wear. Gone was the light and dark chocolate coloration and now replaced long shirt and pants with bright white and blues matching Hestia's, despite the more masculine clothing it fits rather well with the girl's charm and feminine appeal.

Though, Ais was never into appearances.

Though, her presence here explained the large crowd.

"Hungry?" Hakuno said, raising an uncooked potato snack, her hands coated in flour and flakes. "I don't cook, just coat them."

It was quaint to see a girl of her popularity working at a rather normal job, "Helping your goddess?"

"She's concerned for me. But doing this is fun," Hakuno replied with a small smile.

Hestia grinned, "You're doing something new! Of course, it should be fun! Now, here's your three potato snacks, extra filling," She presented a small bag containing the food. "Though, some of these people are just here to annoy us."

"The title?" Ais referred to Lady Hakuno's now-famous name.

"You would know, Sword Princess," Hestia said. "I can't seem to shoo them away! They slow everything down!"

Ais glanced back, she noticed that amongst the crowd, there were some lesser-known gods. But they did stay their distance and she could understand why. For although Lady Hakuno appeared to be without her contracted Spirit, that wasn't the truth.

There was a presence nearby, a powerful one that had an uncanny resemblance to Saber's own. Ais could even determine that this belonged to that amazoness-like individual.

She took a bite into the potato snack, savoring it before swallowing, then spoke directly to Hakuno, "Our agreement?"

"Tomorrow morning," Hakuno said. "Bring Lefiya as well."

The Sword Princess nodded and went her way along with her newly purchased snacks.

In a pleasant cafe elsewhere, Rin Tohsaka rubbed her temples in frustration. Of course, gathering information wouldn't and hadn't been as simple as reading a few books, as the written language was unlike anything she'd known from Earth. She had some semblance of an idea of all these deities from their Earth counterpart mythologies, and it seemed to hold true in some aspects. At the same time, it also appeared like they were bastardized versions.

But that wasn't why she had a splintering headache.

Honestly, these so-called gods and goddesses were downright ignorant at times. They didn't flaunt their status, but many of them were leaders of a system known as 'Familia' and few of them had actual capabilities of a leader. Rin knew all too well, she had led many splinter cells of the resistance back on Earth in the battle against the Harway's western plutocracy.

Rin wasn't some staunch believer in humanity's ability to overcome and advance, but she would not deny that people of this world were over-reliant on the deities and the Dungeon led to some serious stagnation. She didn't know the situation outside of Orario besides a few questions here and there, but the same reliance seemed to be prevalent.

But that also wasn't why she had this headache.

The real reason was Falna.

From what Rin Tohsaka understood so far, the deities of this world once descended from 'Heaven', purposely restricting themselves of their powers, known as Arcanum, per some self-regulated laws. This gave them only the abilities and strength they would otherwise have as mortals, barring rare exceptions. However, they can still bestow on mortals of their choosing with the blessing known as Falna.

Falna did not act upon a bestowed individuals' prior experience, only thereafter. It accumulated excelia, metaphysical energy gained from the presence of monsters or the Dungeon, within the soul until the deity in question interacted with the Falna again to apply it to the person's body.

This was all Rin Tohsaka gained from a conversation with Hestia.

A simplistic system at first glance.

As expected, if that were simply all there was to it, then Hakuno Kishinami's Falna should work without issue, and Rin could benefit from it as well, even abuse it. That was obviously not the case, as Hestia and Hakuno had straightforwardly put it, the Digital Human's Falna just didn't work.

The symbolic imagery of the Moon Cell emblazoned on top of what was otherwise Hestia's Falna icon created another possible complication. It could be the reason behind its ill functional state or an indicator that Hakuno's very own nature as an… Artificial Intelligence… Worked against it.

Rin felt uncomfortable calling the girl that word, so she stuck with Hakuno's own interpretation.

Of course, it was also entirely possible that magic circuits conflicted with Falna, or more specifically, the excelia.

Hakuno activating her magic circuits and flooding them with od could very well clean out any excelia. If this excelia was stored in the soul, it likely tried to store itself in the magic circuits, only to be overtaken each time any digital magecraft was utilized. The result could very well confuse the Falna System.

They needed to experiment with this, but doing so would make Hakuno extremely vulnerable. After all, the Servants required a constant stream of magical energy from their Master. That could potentially also interfere.

Rin Tohsaka placed down an empty teacup.

"You went deep in thought there," Ereshkigal commented.

"Going over information can help reveal clues," Rin replied.

"Working on this… Falna… While having Archer investigate Artemis. Not to mention, we also have that stray connection with this world's incarnation of myself," She said.

"I'm curious if I can also do Falna while in Servant state…" Rin trailed off. "But for-"

Her words were interrupted as she cut herself off. The reason behind this action was that a rather large figure had been stalking her, spying on her.

"We don't sense a Servant," Ereshkigal stated.

It was definitely a local, dressed in dark colors, with small ears at the top. His brown skin hid him well in the shadows but his bulk made him no easy hidden individual. To an untrained eye, he could have not been detected, the man clearly had some experience in the dark.

But Rin Tohsaka had plenty more, assassins and hitmen targeting her had been commonplace on Earth.

Still… That man was no pushover, Rin doubted her chances as winning in a straight-up conflict. An Adventurer, likely high level, perhaps similar to Loki Familia's strength.

The girl admitted that without her Servant form, she wouldn't be able to fight against the stronger Adventurers with just Code Casts.

She placed down enough valis to pay, stood up, and proceeded to walk towards a more isolated location. The man moved as well, trailing behind her as she entered the maze-like area of Orario, Daedalus Street.

Rin grinned as she felt her magic circuits switch on, "Now… Let's see what these Adventurers can do."