Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

"Why is he here?" Confused by Markus's presence while Helga trained her, Aria couldn't help but question exactly what was going on. Both the Valkyrie and the knight had been acting kind of distant and Helga even seemed to be ignoring Markus at all times.

"Don't think about it, just focus on training!" Helga yelled, swinging the blunt side of her spear at the elf. Read new adventures at empire

Caught off guard Aria nearly flinched to the sudden strike but from the many weeks of training with Helga, her instincts kicked in and blocked the strike with the dark dragon scale glove. For a spell, she felt Helga's power being drained and channeled through her body to the white glove–which she quickly decided to use for a strike.

Halfway through her swing, however, the Valkyrie spun the spear under the dark glove and struck the back of the white glove to change its trajectory.

"SHIT!" As soon as the strike was deflected, Helga spun the spear again and struck Aria's head. Falling to the ground, the elf quickly began caressing the injured spot right above the back of her neck. "OUCH! OUCH! OUCH!"

While the elf laid on the ground trying to recover, Markus rose from his seat and began walking closer. Helga noticed in an instant as the tip of his greatsword was drug through the uneven ground. Holding her hands, Helga retreated upon herself. Keeping her eyes focused on Aria, she continued to pretend not to notice his presence.

But the moment his hand touched her shoulder, her act dropped in an instant.

Glancing sideways at him, she moved his hand off her shoulder. Then walking towards Aria who was just about to get up, Helga gave her a hand so she could appear busy with something else. Once Aria was back on her own feet, however, Markus could no longer hold his breath.

"Helga we need to talk," he said, but the Valkyrie continued to ignore him.

Aria on the other hand shifted her attention to the knight, all the while, Helga blankly stared at the elf.

"That's enough training for now," grabbing Aria's shoulders with a forced smile, Helga squeezed them a little to get the girl's attention. "We should go and pick up my daughters from school. Come with me, we'll get changed really quick."

The Valkyrie tried to move the elf by her shoulder, but Aria stiffed her body so she couldn't be moved. A bit surprised by her resistance, Helga looked at her frowning, but before she could complain the elf finally asked.

"What the hell is going on between you two?" Looking between the helmed man and the Valkyrie, both of whom now wouldn't even look at her, she couldn't believe that they'd fought wars together.

"Don't concern yourself with these things," Markus said, his voice rugged and broken.

He was a man aching for death while death wouldn't touch and the only other person who could grant him that wish would not even acknowledge his presence.

"He's right…" Finally looking at Aria, Helga looked her in the eye before adding. "You shouldn't concern yourself with our business."

Frowning some more, Aria placed her hands on her hips and glared between the two again.

"Oh so suddenly you two agree on something, huh? How's that?"

"Oh you snarky bitch, shut up." Rolling her eyes at Aria's sarcastic remark, Helga stood up straight and moved closer to her. For a moment, Markus saw a glimpse of her past self–the one known for rape, slaughter, and plunder. But that intense expression was washed away the moment Helga's chest touched Aria's. "N-nevermind…Sorry."

Shaking her head while Aria quivered ever so slightly, Helga took a step back before walking over to the log on which Markus had been sitting.

'W-what happened?' Wondered the elf, a strange bloodlust still filling up her lungs. She could almost see herself being punched by Helga, even traces of worse thoughts also seeped into her mind and heart.

"Bad timing, I shouldn't have come today," Markus's words broke Aria's dire trance.

Looking up again, she saw Markus trying to walk away while Helga sat in a corner. Even though she'd been told to keep out of their matters, something in her urged her to stop him from leaving and figure out just what was happening.

"Wait!" She called out to Markus and her voice brought not just his but Helga's attention as well. With the two looking at her again, she was at a loss for words. The elf hadn't thought of what she'd after all and her instincts were acting up on their own. "I-I wanted to ask you something!"

"What is it?" Asked Markus, turning around to face her.

"Who's stronger between the two of you?" Aria uttered the first thing that made sense in her mind. Freezing up to the unexpected question, both Markus and Helga stared at Aria for a while before their heads turned to each other.

"Him."

"Her."

The two declared the other to be stronger at the same time. Raising eyebrows at each other's words, both Markus and Helga began accusing the other.

"As if I'm stronger, why would you lie about this?" Said Markus, genuinely confused as to why Helga was even lying about something that seemed obvious.

"Oh fuck off, I'm a barbarian and you're a spirit. What am I gonna do? Punch through your body that can't be damaged by physical blows?" Fanning her hand towards Markus, Helga truly believed that there was at least some truth to that statement. "Besides, I used to lose control a lot but being a vanguard you didn't have that luxury."

"And you led the elites that won us our battle, I led men destined to die and then raised them as undead to continue fighting. How does that sound strong?" And thus their fight continued, but instead of ignoring each other, the two kept arguing about exactly who was stronger.

'Well, at least they're not ignoring each other.' Thought Aria, curiously watching the two fiercely argue until it was time to pick up Helga's daughters from school.

Note: This is the last catching-up chapter. Also if ever feel that the story's pacing is too slow, please do let me know. I'm still trying to learn how to become better at storytelling, so I'll appreciate the input. Thank you for reading.