[Alia's PoV]
"Co on, Alia!!! Block one strike! Or better yet, just hit !"
"I- I'm trying!"
Alia caught her breath, forcing it to steady. She was going to beco a warrior today, not tomorrow. The last few days Juliana spent teaching her weren't about to be wasted.
That isn't the only reason she needed to toughen up. Juliana's approval should be at the bottom of the list when certain doom was on the horizon.
Due to being an orphaned richwhol who joined dungeons just for Fynn, she didn't really know much about what Nick and Juliana talked about. But if it involved the Forgotten Quadrant, then it was nothing good.
She knew that better than anyone.
Her father was the complete opposite of her. Was.
'Today, I'm going to block a strike. I promiDeadweightweight was sothing she would never be again. That's all she was for her family and Fynn. That's why they died.
Nick and Juliana... they weren't going to die because of her.
The first step to ensuring that promise started here, facing the lightning bolt Juliana had just launched at her.
Bracing herself, Alia readied her sword as the lightning flew closer and closer. Because they were Valkyries now and not re humans, even lightning was relatively slow.
For the past few days, that had only created a sense of dread and impending doom for Alia. To her, lighting acted like a cat that was playing with its mouse.
Today was going to be the day she struck back though. Taking a deep breath, she prepared her entire will for the gargantuan task against her.
Lightning hitting her sword was likely to hurt. No, it was going to hurt. Just the sa way the Fallen had hurt her. But like before, she would survive that pain.
She had to because otherwise, it would kill her. That was the warning Juliana and Nick repeated over and over.
No, not a warning. A promise.
This lightning was nothing compared to what was coming.
"AAYYAAAGGHHHH!!!" Alia squealed as she swung the sword in front of her, directly slicing the lightning in two.
A soft chuckle escaped her lips as she realized what she had just done. 'I- I actually sliced through it?!'
No way!
She dropped her sword as excitent defined her very being. Unable to hold in her newfound energy, she jumped in the air screaming, "I faced the lightning!"
"Yes. Now, let's see how you fare against a second lightning."
'Second lightning...'
Her excitent disappeared just as fast as it ford. Facing her directly was exactly what Juliana had promised—a second lightning bolt.
Of course, it made sense. An enemy wasn't going to stop attacking after she blocked its first attack. Still, the logistics of the situation didn't make it any less scary.
Lightning struck Alia square in the chest, knocking her to the ground.
It wasn't all that strong a blast all things considered, but it was still enough to completely take her out of the fight. Even disregarding her weak ntal, she knew she was extrely weak physically as well.
Which even stemd from her cowardice. Juliana and Nick were ready to face danger head-on, and thus they both leveled up imnsely from the goblin strongholds. To put it simply, the sa could not be said for her.
'I'm never going to amount to much...'
"If you start crying again, I'm going to zap you for real this ti."
A soft plump sound of Juliana sitting down next to Alia quickly followed this threat. Alia blinked, not realizing how moist her eyes had gotten.
She was happy Juliana stopped her. Those tears wouldn't have been earned. They were a symbol of a coward brought by cowardice.
Tears weren't going to help in the upcoming battles. If there was nothing else she could do, maybe she could take one or two attacks and have her death cause a diversion.
Yes, that's about the peak of what she could attain.
ZAP!
"AHH!!!" Alia scread as the current jolted her into sitting straight up.
Juliana simply sat beside her, smiling. Before she even spoke, Alia could pretty much imagine what she was going to say. 'I told you I was gonna electrocute you! Grr! I'm a big bad anie who only knows how to hurt people!'
Instead, Juliana's smile turned into a laugh. The snide remarks Alia expected were non-existent. In its place, Juliana placed her hand on Alia's shoulder as she slightly pushed off.
"You know, your face gives away pretty much everything you think."
Alia's face fell, knowing that Juliana sohow heard her thoughts, which included thinking of Juliana as sothing akin to a devil. That was sure to only lead to an even more demonic Juliana.
"Hey, you did do good today though. Every perfect piece has to start sowhere, you know."
"I'm not perfect though. Not even close."
A small silence took hold over both of them as they took in the training area. It had been furnished with a few training dolls and wooden swords.
Now... well, maybe so of the charcoal could be used for a fire!
Juliana was the first to break the silence. To Alia's surprise, the voice was shaky, not at all reminiscent of the poised voice she knew.
"Maybe perfect was a bad word choice. After all..."
Her voice trailed for just a second as her guard dropped. Alia's eyes grew wide as she realized a side of Juliana she didn't even know existed was being revealed. Ever since they t, all she knew was this hard-nosed perfect princess.
Beside her right now was a scared girl, just like her.
The real Juliana.
Juliana smiled as she said, "Well, we can't all be perfect like , huh?"
Oh.
Maybe Alia was mistaken.
It did make sense that soone like Juliana would be perfect.
She was brave, after all. In order to be brave, you had to be competent. If you were competent, you might as well also be perfect.
...
"Huh. The mage girl has gotten quite a bit stronger. And so fast, too!"
"Do you think that will pose much of a problem?"
"No. Not now, that the newborn is busy with the necromancer."
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