Chapter 920 - Responsibility

Just as he had observed during his confrontation with Enyo, those with high enough values of Loyalty or Allegiance were extremely resistant to any effects, including Innates, that could influence their mentality. Though it would require a fair amount of observation and research, Vahn believed that Helen should be fine to interact with anyone over a certain threshold. This meant that, within the Xenos Village, Spero, or deep within the central area of Haven, Helen would be able to move without having to conceal her presence. As a result, Vahn suggested she stay with the Xenos as he felt she would benefit greatly from existing in their relatively simple and welcoming society.

Though she had been somewhat hesitant at first, Helen quickly became friends with Marie and, after interacting with the members of Spero Village, she realized that the Xenos were a very 'pure' species. She was so used to people looking at her with 'intent' in their gazes so it was a liberating experience to interact with a sizeable group of 'people' without having to worry. Vahn had allowed her to take up permanant residence there, staying with Ray, Terror, Fear, and the other bird-type Xenos. Among the Xenos, they were the most sociable group and it would be very ther.a.p.eutic for Helen to have people she can associate with in order to open her long-closed heart.

For the time being, Helen was left to her own devices since Vahn wanted her to be able to live a 'normal' life, even if her situation was still more than a little unique. As for Jeanne, her situation was also relatively unique but, with her straightforward an earnest personality, she quickly integrated into the Manor. Unlike many of the women around him, for one reason or another, Jeanne didn't have any romantic interests or expectations about how her future might develop. From her perspective, the only thing that mattered was her 'duty' as a Knight and, with Vahn planning to build an Empire, she would become instrumental in training the first generation of Imperial Knights.

Unsurprisingly, Jeanne had become 'very' quick friends with Vana who, unaware that her Papa was injured at the time, had been following the ashen-haired beauty around like a puppy. Within the record Danmachi, Jeanne's tales were one of the only historical examples of famous female Heroines so Vana had always been very fond of her. Now, Jeanne was helping Vana, alongside Vahn's other children, with their training. Lenneth and Aisha were quickly growing fond of her and, with even Ais, Haruhime, Mikoto, and Arnya unable to get any advantages against Jeanne during sparring, she truly was the best possible instructor for the girls. As for how she matched up against the powerhouses within the Manor, the only one to truly come close to her Ais and Haruhime, both around the middle of Level 7 in strength. Jeanne herself, however, was very near the peak of Level 8 and, as a result of her strong foundation and Soul Tier, she had monstrously high Parameters and skills...

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[[Stats]]

Name: Jeanne D'Arc

Age: 329

Race: Human

-Level:8(+)

-Power: 6993+(A843)

-Endurance: (-)

-Dexterity: 6993+(S994)

-Agility: 6993+(S901)

-Magic: 6993+(A871)

Total: 42,672+(5709)

Soul Tier: 3 (Lord Soul)

[Karma]: 3,019,442

Skills: [Perennial Saintess:Innate: SSS], [Voice of the World:Innate: SS], [Precise Strike:SSS], [Sweeping Blow:SSS], [Shield Stance:SSS], [Shield Slam:SS], [Armorbreaker:SS], [Chasing Strike:SS]

Magic: [Holy Ray:SS], [Healing Touch:S], [Sacrament:S]

Development Skills: [Fealty of the Knight:Innate: S], [Child of Light:Innate:D], [Grandmaster Swordsman:A], [Unbreakable: C], [Null-Magic Aura:B], [Grandmaster Shieldbearer:B], [Master Spearman:B], [Armsmaster:A], [Cooking: A]

[Precise Strike]

Rank: SSS

Use: Active skill that allows the user to strike the intended target with 100% accuracy. Doubles natural critical rate.

[Sweeping Blow]

Rank: SSS

Use: Active skill that prevents the momentum of a blade from being deflected while cutting through enemies. Successfully cutting an enemy modifies Power by 10% for the duration of the strike.

Restriction: CD: 00M30S

[Shield Stance]

Rank: SSS

Use: Active skill that doubles all physical and magical resistances for .5 seconds.

[Shield Slam]

Rank: SS

Use: Active skill that allows the user to convert resistances into physical power after receiving an attack. Guaranteed stun chance on targets with resistance lower than the rank of the skill. Duration: 1-10S

[Armorbreaker]

Rank: SS

Use: Active skill that rapidly reduces the equipment durability of an opponent with each strike.

[Chasing Strike]

Rank: SS

Use: Active skill that allows the user to close the distance to a target, regardless of the difference in Agility and base speed.

[Holy Ray]

Rank: SS

Use: Short-chant magic that creates a beam of light elemental energy that can pierce through heavily armored targets with ease. Deals double damage against targets with negative elemental energies. Range: 3,000m

Chant: Light's Judgment, Holy Ray~!

[Healing Touch]

Rank: S

Use: Accelerates the natural healing of the target by 5000% during contact. Warning: Overuse of this magic can shorten the lifespan of the target considerably.

Chant: (-)

[Sacrament]

Rank: S

Use: Four-verse magic that allows the user to amplify the parameters of allies by 10% for each successive verse.

Chant: [Because I could not attack for Allies, they did kindly attack for me. Pause to attack, as Allies do.]-[Companions, however hard they try, will always be stronger together. Do armies make you shiver? Together, we shall overcome.]-[One afternoon I asked myself, "Why do people oppose the Light?" Enemies are heinous. enemies are unworthy, enemies are ugly, let us begone with them.]-[Hope for freedom. Give freedom to those who have Hope. Sacred Sacrament, Divine Blessing~!]

[Grandmaster Swordsman](Third evolution of Swordsman)

Rank: A

Use: Allows the user to comprehend the truth of the sword, overcoming the limits of both the body and mind with a blade in hand. Greatly enhances perception and mental acuity.

[Unbreakabale](Third evolution of Strong Defense)

Rank: C

Use: User is completely immune to physical damage under a certain threshold.

[Null-Magic Aura](Third evolution of Magic Resistance)

Rank: B

Use: User is completely immune to magical damage under a certain threshold.

[Grandmaster Shieldbearer](Third evolution of Spearman)

Rank: B

Use: While using a shield, Endurance acts as a modifier for shield durability. Flat damage mitigation of 50% from all sources when blocking.

[Master Spearman](Second evolution of Spearman)

Rank: B

Use: Greatly increases proficiency with all rods and spears. Increases critical hit chance and allows attacks to pierce armored targets.

[Armsmaster](Super rare Development Ability from achieving Mastery in three unique combat styles)

Rank: A

Use: The user is able to demonstrate mastery of any weapon, armor, or item based on the rank of Armsmaster. (A/N: In other words, Jeanne could even pick up a Yoyo and use it as an A-Rank weapon, even if she has never used one before.)

[Cooking]

Rank: A

Use: Increases the efficacy of all actions related to cooking. Moderate enhancement to all senses while providing the ability to discern unique ingredients and flavor profiles.

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The first time Vahn had seen Jeanne Status Board, after her conversion to the Hestia Familia, he had been completely taken aback by the sheer amount of information. Not only had she reached the 'limit' of each parameter before leveling up, made possible by the use of special items that had allowed each member of Legend to 'revert' back to Level 1, but she was near-mastery of almost every skill, magic, and ability she possessed. Even her Innates were of a very high ranking and, so long as she was able to push her [Child of Light] to higher ranks, Jeanne would be able to reach Tier 4 with 'relative' ease.

From conversing with Jeanne, Vahn was finally able to learn exactly why it felt like, even if he went all out against her, he would never be able to 'defeat' her. With [Perennial Saintess], so long as Jeanne never lost her 'purity', she was completely impervious to all detrimental effects, including damage. Even if this wasn't the case, her natural Endurance was around 16,800 and, with basic modifiers, he would need to have a damage output that exceeded an Endurance factor of around 40,000. Since parameters scaled exponentially, Sis calculated that he would need to hit Jeanne with around 24,000 kilotonnes of instantaneous force. Even a direct charge with his Lightning Emperor form wouldn't be able to overcome her resistances...

As for Jeanne's [Fealty of the Knight], [Voice of the World], and [Child of Light], they were decided less 'impactful' than her [Perennial Saintess], but still very impressive. With [Voice of the World], Jeanne had a basic level of Clairvoyance while also possessing the ability to 'speak' with the world itself to gain information. She could locate almost anyone, or anything, so long as she knew what the targets were. At the same time, she would be able to determine their approximate strength, if they were a 'good' or 'evil', and how much of a threat they posed to the world itself. The [Voice of the World] would also actively warn her about dangers, allowing Jeanne to detect threats much earlier than most, even without actively having to do so.

With just [Perennial Saintess] and [Voice of the World], Jeanne was already an existence that was far outside of Vahn's expectations. Since her [Fealty of the Knight] also enhanced her combat abilities, especially if it was in service of the person she had pledged to protect, her base parameters were already enhanced greatly. Combined with the fact that [Child of Light] allowed her to create and weave constructs out of pure Light Elemental energy, it was easy to see why Jeanne was one of the strongest entities in the entire world. Though she was still below people like Heracles, Theseus, Musashi, and a few others, they would be hard-pressed to actually defeat her. The only option, without something like The Path to provide support, was to seal Jeanne away and restrain her, albeit temporarily...

For the time being, Jeanne was one of the strongest forces within the entire Alliance, even if she was specialized in defense and was unable to go on the attack in most situations. Her vows prevented her from taking proactive action to directly increase the strength of the Alliance, meaning she would have to train other people to be combatants if Vahn wanted to have 'Knights' that served the purpose of attacking. However, if it came to protecting his life from enemies, Jeanne was one of the staunchest protectors he could ask for, second only to Terra herself...

When it came to how Jeanne got along with Terra, the two actually became quick companions since Jeanne's Pure Light Elemental affinity was extremely pleasant to Terra. Vahn had expected her to be a little 'jealous' of the fact that Jeanne wanted to serve as his protector but, as Terra was truly a [Pacifist] by nature, she was happy to have someone capable to stand at her Master's side. She was usually very busy with protecting the Manor, watching over Spero, and developing her dominion of influence further. Knowing there was another capable protector at her Master's side, especially with potential enemies like Heracles in the world, made Terra strangely fond of Jeanne. It wouldn't be until much later that Vahn realized that Terra accepted Jeanne quickly because the latter wasn't a 'competitor' for her Master's affection...

Other than the matter of Helen and Jeanne, there were three other 'pressing' matters that Vahn had to deal with before he could truly begin to relax. Ioke was currently staying with the Juno Familia, being cared for by the petite, yet motherly, goddess. Her urges to 'slaughter' weren't so extreme that she would indiscriminately start killing people but Vahn still wanted to help find a semi-permanent solution until he could find a way to restrict Divinity without causing a god to have a mental breakdown and die. Currently, he was still considering the idea of developing an underground arena that was connected to the Dungeon so that she would be able to kill monsters whenever her Divinity was acting up. This would serve as an interim solution while his research into Sub-Space orbs and projection magic was still underway...

Ioke wasn't the only goddess that Vahn needed to worry about at the present moment, however, as an extremely troublesome pink-haired goddess had been lingering around the Alliance lately. After the defeat of Rakia's forces, which Vahn still needed to deal with, Aphrodite had decided to enter Orario. She had originally tried to approach the Hearth Manor directly but had quickly been shut down by Hestia, Hephaestus, and Loki. The latter tried to keep her under control by having Freya look after her but, not caring for the authority and influence of the Alliance, Aphrodite had ignored warnings as she went around pestering various gods. Because of this, the Alliance had to take an official stance against her while having the Guild act as an intermediary to put a stop to Aphrodite's actions.

In order to avoid being forced to return to Heaven, Aphrodite had to follow the same rules as every other god within the City. The only reason she had avoided outright being killed by Loki or Freya, other than the fact that she was relatively harmless, was because Aphrodite had a Major Divinity related to Love. Though there were several other gods and goddesses of Love that were associated with the Alliance, Aphrodite was the only one amongst them whose primary Divinity was Love. She was a potential candidate for a spot on the Divine Council and, even though she was a troublesome woman, it wasn't that difficult to control her actions...

Aphrodite was the type of goddess who was exceptionally lazy, expecting other people to pamper and care for her while she just indulges in their affection and adulation. Even when Rakia's forces were making their way through the Southern Sands, she had been carried in a palanquin that had a regulated temperature on the inside. Most of her time was spent lounging about, sleeping, or being made love to. Aphrodite rarely took a more proactive role in her relationsh.i.p.s, choosing to let the other party pamper her excessively. Surprisingly, she wasn't actually that spoiled and instead had a very gentle and amorous personality. Her nature was the result of the fact that she had simply 'always' been treated a certain way, as people were almost compelled to love and care for her...

Vahn knew that he would have to deal with Aphrodite at some point, even if it was only to have her become a part of the Divine Council in the future. Fortunately, though she was interested in him, Aphrodite was one of the few goddesses who didn't want to have a child. She was content being pampered herself and never thought about having to take care of others. With her licentious and 'open' nature, Vahn knew she wasn't really suited to be a mother either, especially with Divinities related to S.e.x, Passion, and Sensual Pleasure. It was to the extent that, even though she also had a lesser Divinity related to Fertility, Aphrodite had never born a child since she often 'overindulged' in her other Divinities, keeping them sated...

The most pressing matter Vahn needed to deal with, other than the dismantling and destruction of the Rakia Kingdom, were the 303 Valkyries that were residing in Freya's Manor. Even the weakest member amongst their forces was Level 5, making them an exceptional force that could even contend against the might of the Alliance, at least for a short while. Vahn had some expectations about what they wanted to talk about and had discussed the matter with Hestia, Hephaestus, Loki, Anubis, Artemis, and Freya herself. As was often the case, they left the final decision to him thus, with Jeanne and Fenrir at his sides, Vahn made his way to the Southern Manor. There, likely waiting for his arrival for the last week, Vahn found three inordinately beautiful Valkyrie. Each possessed cold and stoic dispositions that did nothing to mar their beauty, instead, enhancing it to a degree that some mortal men might die with a smile, even as the Valkyrie's blades pierced their hearts...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Helen, at home amongst monsters...? xD','Holy snazzballs, Jeanne, you need to calm down with those stats (O o O)...','Aphrodite is a true wastrel~!')

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