Convincing Hestia

"What are you saying Bell? Different Worlds?? Voices in your head?!"

Hestia's voice boomed inside the abandoned church and gazed at Bell almost like the latter had just lost his mind.

Bell had just finished explaining everything that happened between him and Meliodas earlier in the day.

Now, faced with Hestia's expression of disbelief and incredulity, Bell found himself unable to say anything to retort.

'Now that I think about it, if anyone were to say the things that I just said, would I believe them?'

Bell thought.

Hestia did not believe a single word that he just said.

Even though Goddesses or Gods have the innate ability to see through the lies and truth of a mortal, what Bell had just told her was something too unbelievable, it was not surprising for her to react that way.

Hestia was a goddess that had lived for millions of years, she had thought she had seen it all, and being told that the world they lived in was not the only world to have existed was something she could not easily accept.

Hestia then made a worried expression, like a mother discovering that her child had autism.

(This is gonna be a pain)

Meliodas said when he saw her expression.

"Bell, I love you and all, but I think you need to take a break from going into the dungeon, overworking seems to have taken a huge toll on you"

Hestia said and hugged Bell while patting the back of his head.

"But Kami-sa--"

Bell made a flustered expression, however, before he could say anything, he was immediately interrupted by Hestia

"NO buts!"

Hestia yelled while putting her index finger on Bell's lips to silence him.

"I am the goddess of this familia and I order you to take a break"

Hestia said in a dignified and authoritative tone, yet there was a hint of worry in her voice, she genuinely thought that Bell had overworked himself in the dungeon and now he was seeing things and spewing nonsense about other worlds.

A wave of guilt flashed through her eyes when she looked at Bell's flustered expression.

'Bell is overworking himself for our familia's sake... I'm sorry Bell that you had such a useless Goddess like me'

Meliodas sighed at this.

'Looks like we are not going anywhere if I don't step up'

Meliodas stood up and tapped the ground with his feet.

(Bell, mind if I take it from here? This has gotten a bit more troublesome than what I had expected since the Gods could see through lies and whatnot... I was too naive in thinking it would be easy)

Bell's body jolted at Meliodas' words, he made a pondering expression and nodded.

'Oh okay, your gonna take control of my body and explain it to her yourself?'

Bell said in his thoughts knowing Meliodas can read his mind.

(Yeah, release control for a bit and let me take over, don't worry I'll help you)

Meliodas already had a plan in mind to convince Hestia that what Bell just said was true.

Meliodas had already got a good grasp on how this world's system works.

'If I show my falna, would it show Bell's status or mine?'

Meliodas thought.

It was the most straightforward way he could think to convince her.

If his calculations are correct, then there would be changes that would occur to Bell's falna because of his existence.

He still wasn't sure what type of change would occur but he had a gut feeling that his assumptions would be spot on.

Gods can see and feel the experiences that their adventurers went through via the excelia they gathered and there is a chance that Hestia would be able to see Meliodas if she updates Bell's status.

There is also the fact that he is a completely different person.

What if he takes control of Bell's body but they could receive different falnas despite sharing the same body?

This was just pure speculation though with the limited knowledge that he got from Bell's memories.

There is also the possibility that Meliodas' could significantly change Bell's falna, if Meliodas couldn't get a different falna, then in some way or another, he could influence Bell's falna to some degree.

'Maybe you could receive my magic and skills'

Meliodas thought as he explained his plan to Bell.

'Wait really? That will be so cool'

Bell wore an excited look on his face, he could already imagine himself using a full counter on his enemies as they threw countless magic attacks on him.

'Either way, if none of them works, I'll try to think of other methods to convince her'

Bell nodded, he closed his eyes and released the control of his body, and handed it to Meliodas.

"Okay Bell, just sit down on the couch--, huh?"

Hestia immediately realized that the aura around Bell suddenly took a massive shift.

"Bell, are you alright?"

Hestia nervously said.

Hestia took notice that Bell's demeanor suddenly changed.

"Are you mad at me Bell? I'm sorry but it's for your own good, please don't hate me for this"

Hestia pleaded as tears were starting to form in the corner of her eyes.

She thought Bell started hating her because she was preventing him from going to the dungeon.

The thought of Bell hating her almost made her want to cry.

( Note: I'm just gonna say the name of the person who is currently taking control of Bell's body instead of going like (Meliodas)Bell which was my original plan but instead I'm just gonna say Meliodas )

Seeing Hestia's pitiful expression, Meliodas smiled at her.

"Bell is fine Goddess Hestia"

Meliodas' assuring words did not ease Hestia's uneasiness one bit.

"Are you alright, Bell?"

Hestia felt that something was wrong, Bell suddenly felt a bit different than usual.

"Yo, I'm Meliodas' Bell's friend, and no, he is not crazy, I am real and from another world, as he said"

Meliodas went straight to the point and introduced himself in a lighthearted manner.

Hestia was stunned and flabbergasted.

It looked like Bell's shyness and timid attitude seemingly disappeared.

Even though Meliodas only said one line, the aura around him felt like Bell had just transformed into a completely different person.

As a goddess, she could notice this subtle difference, and as Bell's patron god, she knows Bell's personality like the back of her hand.

Hestia squinted her eyes to look at the Bell in front of her, the look on Bell's eyes suddenly changed from a naive youth to a person filled with confidence and calm.

The change was so significant and obvious, that the people who knew Bell on a personal level would notice this change.

At first, Hestia thought maybe Bell was suffering from multiple personality disorder and became even more worried for him.

Meliodas knew what exactly she was thinking.

"If you update Bell's falna, maybe you'll finally believe us"

Meliodas did not waste his time and walked toward the couch.

"Us?"

Hestia said with a quizzical look on her face.

Meliodas immediately took off his shirt like he doesn't want to waste any more time.

Seeing this, Hestia blushed a bit.

Meliodas laid down on the couch to show his back without hesitation.

Seeds of doubt were suddenly planted inside Hestia's head.

She was a bit frightened at the thought of someone taking over Bell's body.

At first, she dismissed Bell's words as nonsense but somewhere in the back of her mind, she was starting to believe just a little.

'Didn't Bell say that this Meliodas guy could also see through his memories and they could share the same senses? That is an invasion of privacy!'

She didn't know whether to believe Bell or not and a look of hesitation appeared on her face.

Hestia gritted her teeth, hopped onto Meliodas' back, and pricked her finger with a needle.

A drop of blood fell on Meliodas' back, and the black tattoo suddenly lit up in blue light.

Holographic words and symbols danced around and intertwined with each other to show Bell's status in a language that only the gods could understand.

Hestia wore a serious look on her face.

'It feels a bit itchy'

Meliodas said in his thoughts.

He could feel some sort of divine energy assimilating itself into his soul, but he chose to let it happen rather than repelling it back.

Meliodas' wondered how the blessings of the gods of this world worked, however, Hestia's yell brought him out of his thoughts.

"WHAT?!"

The blue light on Meliodas' back suddenly changed into a black color.

Hestia showed a dumbfounded expression on her face.

"How is this possible?"

Bell's status changed, his name changed from Bell Cranel to Bell Cranel(Meliodas), and his magic slot which only has 3 spaces increased to 6 spaces.

Not only that but there was also a new skill as well called 'Demon Mark' and a new magic called 'Hellblaze'.

Just as she thought that wave of surprises was finally over, her mind suddenly got sucked in by a mysterious force and saw sets of memories that she has never seen before.

When she tried processing the excelia that Bell had accumulated, moving images started to play in her mind, there she saw the image of Meliodas from Bell's point of view.

"Wh-what the... so it's all real?"

Meliodas grinned and realized that his plan was successful, as Hestia sat there motionless for a full minute, when she came to, she was trying to process the information that went inside her head.

She looked at Meliodas in the eyes and the way she looked at him now was completely different from before.

"We need to talk"