"S-sister…" Aria said, suddenly a nervous wreck. The jade haired elf's eyes went wide at how Aria addressed her.
"You… must be Aria. As you said I am Riveria and apparently your elder half sister. It is a pleasure to meet you, Aria." Riveria said in a businesslike tone. The professionalism Riveria used made Aria cast her gaze to the floor, which in turn made Riveria's eyes go wide.
Without looking up Aria said "...I see… you must hate me too, huh?" Before Aria could even finish Riveria rushed to her side and wrapped her in a hug.
"Forgive me, I assumed you would have a grudge against our family. I could never hate you… little sister." Riveria said with a gentle expression on her face. Aria's face was buried in her sister's chest so they couldn't see her expression, but they did see how she returned the embrace.
Internally Aria was shocked, despite what Freya said she was sure all Alfs hated her simply for existing.
Finn cleared his throat and said "Well, we should give these two some space." Finn then exited the room, the others following close behind. Freya was wearing a big smile all the while.
Once in the hall Finn led the two goddesses and the blonde to a nearby meeting room. After showing Freya to a seat he asked "She didn't seem to know what your familia is normally like, she also doesn't seem aware that our familias aren't on the best of terms. Care to explain?"
Freya put on a wry smile and let out a sigh before answering "As for your first question, my boys are very fond of Aria. I don't know exactly when but at some point she earned their respect, since then they have taken to doting on her like a little sister. She is to my familia what little Ais here is to yours." Finn raised an eyebrow, he simply couldn't imagine those guys acting that way. But Freya had no reason to lie about this so he didn't pry. Ais didn't even notice she was brought up, the girl was staring at the floor lost in thought.
"As for your second… well Aria has been my familia's most closely guarded secret which has led to her being a bit… sheltered." Freya continued. What Freya didn't mention was that despite being borderline spoiled, Aria felt guilty whenever anyone did anything for her. The silly girl needs to accept herself. Freya thought.
"That… makes sense, I suppose." Finn lowered his gaze, clearly thinking about something. After a few moments he looked back up to Freya and said "It seems those two will get along just fine, why not make the most of it?"
Freya's gaze narrowed at the prum and she said "Aria is not some tool to be used, and I certainly won't allow anyone to take advantage of her."
Aria was her precious daughter, she wouldn't let anything happen to her. Even if it meant starting a war with Loki.
A drop of sweat rolled down Finn's cheek at the sudden change in tone. "That isn't what I meant of course. I was just thinking this may be a good opportunity to mend the relationship between our Familia, that's all."
Freya's eyes went back to normal and she hummed thoughtfully. Loki had looked truly surprised, but decided to leave the official business to her captain. Loki really didn't like Freya, but she couldn't deny that having a good relationship with her had too much benefit to ignore. "Hm… what do you suggest?" Freya asked.
"I just think it's a bit of a waste to be at each other's throats, Zeus and Hera didn't hold the throne for so long by tripping each other up. If the others in your familia truly care for Aria as you say, perhaps Aria will be able to convince them to play nice with us. I'd like for you to allow Aria to spend some time getting to know us, and if all goes well she can talk to the einherjar." Finn explained.
Freya smiled not sensing any lies in his words and said "That will be up to Aria." Finn's eyes went wide at this, as did Loki's. Freya was implying that she didn't give the girl orders. Which was unusual for all deities but especially for Freya, who was known to be very possessive of her children.
"...Lady Freya." Ais called out speaking for the first time since they left the elven princesses.
"Yes dear?" Freya replied, smile back in place. "Can I… go to the dungeon with Aria? …I want to see how she got… strong." Ais requested.
"Again, that will be up to Aria. You'll have to ask her, though I doubt she will turn you down." Freya said. Ais nodded in acknowledgement.
Just then the door burst open and a furious amazon stormed in, followed by her twin sister, a dwarf, a werewolf, and a blonde elf. "Captain! Why are you meeting in private with Freya when you have me!?" The amazon practically screamed. This got a laugh out of Freya and sighs out of everyone else.
"Tione… everyone, how nice of you to barge in." Finn said, clearly exasperated. Tione still wouldn't stop ranting in her beloved captain's face, forcing Finn to lightly chop her head.
"Calm down, I assume you all heard about Freya familia's new level six?" Finn asked, getting nods from everyone. "That level six's name is Aria Ljos Alf, she is currently meeting with Riveria."
Everyone's mouths were hanging open, particularly Lefiya who had gravitated to her idol's side as soon as she entered. Lefiya was the first to come back to herself and asked "There's another Alf princess in Orario?"
Freya giggled at the girl's awestruck expression and said "Yes, just across the hall actually. I brought her to meet her big sister, they seemed to be getting along well so we gave them some space."
"B-but? …how?" Lefiya choked out. "Ahahaha, you're awfully cute, Lefiya was it?" Freya said clearly amused.
Lefiya blushed and nodded, earning a growl from Loki, which in turn earned another chuckle from Freya. "I adopted little Aria nine years ago. She is an illegitimate child and was unwanted by the Alf's. I think you will be getting to know her quite soon though, so you can ask her your questions directly." Freya said, finishing with a glance at Finn.
"HAH, why the hell would we get to know some weak little princess." Bete scoffed.
The temperature in the room dropped immediately. Freya turned to the werewolf, smile gone, and said "Clearly you aren't a very bright puppy. Aria is level six, last I checked you were not."
Normally Bete would normally throw a fit at being called a puppy, but even he couldn't do anything but nervously swallow in the presence of Freya's glare.
Before the situation could devolve any further a knock came from the door. Seizing the opportunity Finn called out "Enter." without even checking who it was.
Riveria then entered, closely followed by Aria. "See love? I told you everything would be fine." Freya said. Aria smiled with a nod, apparently their talk had gone well.
After a quick round of introductions Freya spoke up again "Aria, I believe Finn has something to ask you." Aria tilted her head and looked towards Finn.
Finn quickly explained his idea, which Aria seemed to like quite a bit if her smile was anything to go by. "Great, how about heading to the dungeon now? All of our executives are already here, and what better way for adventurers to get to know each other?" Finn said, earning another nod from Aria. Unsurprisingly Ais also nodded.
"Storage" Aria chanted quietly, pulling out her battle dress. When she looked up she found everyone other than Freya staring at her with wide eyes. "H-huh?" she said in confusion.
Aria didn't think her magic was particularly impressive, she had only ever seen the einherjar's magic before so her frame of reference was …lacking.
The first to recover from their shock was Tiona "THAT WAS AWESOME! Did you just pull that out of thin air!?" she shouted, making Aria inch away from her.
"Y-yes, it is one of my spells" Aria said. The next to speak was Riveria "That's incredible, how does it work…"
—-
After a thorough interrogation about her spell Aria was eventually shown to a private room to change, and then led to the dungeon. Loki had offered to have some of her children escort Freya home, but as soon as they got to the gate they found Allen waiting. Somehow he had known that his goddess needed him, though he didn't acknowledge anyone else other than a quick head pat for Aria.
Allen would never admit that he was worried for Aria and had tailed them.
With that out of the way the group of nine headed for Babel, Lefiya had asked to tag along as a supporter and no one had opposed.
They decided Aria would lead the way down to the 18th floor so the others could see what she was capable of.
It started off very simple, Aria just using her short swords to cleave through the beginning floors. Stuff any adventurer of her level could do.
After reaching the third floor Riveria hesitantly spoke up "S-sister… that dress is rather revealing, you don't have any problem with that?"
Aria looked down at herself, her black battle dress didn't have any sleeves and had a big slit on one side going from the bottom of the dress to just below her hip. Aria knew elves usually preferred robes and showing as little skin as possible but… "I'm not a mage, I can only fight up close, so I need something easy to move in."
Riveria looked a bit troubled but nodded in acceptance, she didn't like her cute little sister exposing so much skin but it couldn't be helped.
Aria then continued to annihilate the weak monsters of the upper floors, however both Riveria and Lefiya nearly fainted when Aria reached into the slit of her dress exposing most of her pale thigh for a moment.
Everyone looked a bit confused at what Aria had pulled out. Her pendulums. Aria thought if the purpose of this trip was to see what she was capable of she ought to use everything. Except for Iron Rose and Ghost. The einherjar had been very thorough in teaching Aria that having an ace or two up her sleeve was vitally important.
"Hey! What are those?" Tiona asked, voicing the question on everyone's mind. "It will be easier to show you." Aria replied with a smile. She held a scythe pendulum in her left hand and a weighted one in her right.
She then unfurled them, letting the adamant weapons fall to the ground, while keeping hold of the ends of the strings.
Aria then proceeded to whip the weapons about bisecting and crushing every monster she came across. She let a few through her range to show that her adamant gauntlets and boots weren't just for show.
The others were mesmerized by the sight, they had never seen anyone fight like this before. Ais and Lefiya were particularly drawn in, Ais was thinking of how she would fight against the technique and Lefiya was awestruck, the same way she often got when watching Ais and Riveria.
Aria didn't realize how strange her pendulums were, as with her magic she had little frame of reference with what weapons other adventurers used.
Before long Aria had worked her way down to the middle floors, encountering a pack of hellhounds. She used her pendulums to instantly kill the ones that rushed her, but instead of closing in on the rear flame puppies she let them cast their fire balls.
The others were confused again as Aria didn't dodge them, instead raising an arm and allowing the fire to close in on her.
"Shield."
A disk of golden light manifested on her forearm and the fireballs were deflected into the wall. Riveria was shocked seeing that, Aria's storage spell was one thing but for a combat spell to have no incantation was nearly unprecedented.
Working in her pendulums, short swords, and shield when appropriate Aria arrived at the entrance to the 17th floor.
Riveria couldn't help herself from speaking up "Aria, you have already proven that you are very capable, but the Goliath can be dangerous even to first class adventurers. There is no need to push yourself to fight it alone."
Aria smiled and said "I've taken it down on my own before, I'll be fine." Something Riveria had noticed about her little sister was that her smiles weren't genuine. Except for when they first met Aria seemed to be forcing herself to smile. The only ones perceptive enough to notice it were her and Finn, and Riveria was not ok with it.
Riveria hadn't told Aria earlier but she felt incredibly guilty for not being in the girl's life until now, for not being there when Aria needed help. Riveria knew that she had no way of knowing Aria even existed, but emotions rarely listen to logic.
Riveria had only just met Aria, she didn't want to push the young woman away by prying. The others had no way of knowing that Aria was determined to prove she was useful. She believes that she needs to earn the right to stay with them, with anyone.
Aria then entered the boss floor and immediately heard the sound of the wall cracking open. Not wasting a moment Aria chanted "Illusion." manifesting vague images of a party of adventurers in the center of the floor.
The members of Loki familia entered just in time to see the newly born Goliath bring its massive fist down on the illusions. They were no strangers to the cruelty of the dungeon, they had all seen more than a few adventurers meet their end, even so most of them looked away from what they thought would be a new stain on the floor.
None of them were expecting to see no trace of the party when they turned back, no corpses, no blood, nothing. The next thing they noticed was Aria standing behind the Goliath's right leg.
Before the monster could get over its confusion Aria gripped the end of a weighted pendulum with both hands, planted her feet, twisted her hips, and swung with every drop of strength in her body.
"BAAAANNNNNGGGGGG"
With the sound of a massive bell tolling the weighted sphere made contact with the side of the monster's skull, caving half of its head in.
—-
A/N Hello there, first real fight scene. I'm new to writing so please leave any criticism/advice in the reviews. This is still basically prologue, the first few chapters will just be establishing Aria's relationships with the cast. Story will really kick off when Bell is introduced.
