Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Past her interrogation in the princess's room, Avarice had grown ever more cautious. She thought the head knew about her intention and could read through her lies, and so the only way to counter her before she grew into a bigger problem? Well to her, it sounded like it was time to return to physical training.

"Master Regalia, a very good evening to you." Bowing her head to the novice trainer Regalia Bloodstorm, Avarice faked a smile.

The lady in red armor, her curly hair running down her waist, and her body clad in silver with only dark leather filling in the gaps, was none other than the royal guard responsible for the king's safety. However, ever since Ziel had taken over, she'd retired to training new grunts in the barracks.

Licking her candy red lips to the hint of blood and war holler, she finally turned her head to Avarice with a faker smile than the machina. Glancing her up and down, her legs crossed over one another, she leaned back on the bench and tugged on the white furs that made up her collar.

"Tin and iron have no place here, cranker. Now get the fuck outta here before I rip your heart out," her crimson gaze was bristling with hatred. She'd never liked automatons, not because of any past trauma, but for the mere fact that they didn't bleed like humans or demi-humans.

Being a demi-red wolf herself, she had an inherent hatred for all living prey, but even amongst them, she saw automatons were the lowest of scums.

"I apologize if my presence bothered you," lifting her head, Avarice made sure to keep that smile plastered on her face. "But as the king's new guard and adviser, I'd like to train with you. Maybe even get some pointers on how I should protect King Zeil."

"What king?" Even hearing another man be called a king was treachery in the red wolf's eyes. Leaning forward on her knees with her teeth gritting in rage, she growled at Avarice and tried to shoo her one last time. "Not every child who rests his ass on the ivory is a king, much less an impotent fool who can't look past his own damn reflection!"

"It was his father's wish," Avarice's quick response, struck Regalia like a prick.

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Growling in frustration for a few seconds, she picked herself up and turned to the training ground. Stretching her arm towards the soldiers, her voice thundered through the barracks ground.

"MAKE ROOM I NEED TO BEAT SOME SENSE INTO THIS TIN CAN!" Petrified by her voice, the men looked at each other for a moment before they heard her growl. Rushing away from the mud, they picked their corners and stayed as far away from Regalia as possible.

"You wanna be trained…" With a smirk on her face, she looked sideways at Avarice and beckoned her to follow from behind. "Then let me show you what it means to be a royal guard."

Nodding along, Avarice thought nothing of the matter and simply decided to do what she was there for. Standing a few feet away from each other, the duo were ready to fight not moments later, but before that could happen, Regalia couldn't help but be bothered by Avarice's attire. Unlike the armor she wore, the maid was dressed in clothing that would easily be pierced through.

"You sure you wanna fight in those clothes?" Glancing down on herself to Regalia's question, Avarice blinked a few times and her outfit began to glow before being quickly changed into a skin-tight dark suit. It still lacked any armor, but her body of metal was enough to handle the coming blows. Or at least that's what she thought. "If that's how you wanna die, sure."

Clenching her fists, a trail of blood oozed out of Regalia's hands. Her nails were digging into her own flesh, which in turn had made her bleed. However, before the blood could fall onto the ground, it swirled through the air and attached itself to the back of Regalia's hand in the form of glowing crimson blades.

"Grab a weapon, I don't wanna hear no whining about the fight being unfair later!" She screamed at Avairce, holding every intention to beat the machina into scraps.

"I won't complain, Master Regalia, I'm supposed to be a combat model, remember?" Holding her hands to the side, Avarice concentrated mana from the environment and turned it into a small sword. "Besides, I can just use mana from the air and switch between weapons, spells, and even heal myself indefinitely. If anything, this fight might be unfair in the opposite directi–"

Tired of listening to her blabbing about, Regalia jolted forward and drove the blade right through Avarice's skull. The machina's head split in two, yet the artificial flesh kept them from falling apart entirely.

"So much for a combat model," Regalia scoffed, drawing the blade out of Avarice's head.

Falling lifeless to the ground, the automaton was defeated before the fight had barely begun. And so letting go of her blood-blades, Regalia let her blood finally touch the ground. Turning to her shocked trainees, she gestured to them to clean up the mess. But then she felt something sharp piercing her belly from behind.

"WHAT?!" She screamed, slowly turning her head to look behind her.

There she was standing as good as new, but what surprised Regalia more was the crimson blade made out of her blood in the machina's hands. Pulling the blade out of the demi-human, Avarice said not a word but simply smiled.

"Protocol Actuated: Kaleidoscope!" A mechanical voice echoed from within Avairce. And even though she was falling to the ground with a gaping wound in her belly, Regalia heard it clearly and dashed a few steps before letting herself fall.

"AHHHHH! I'M GONNA KILL YOU, YOU BITCH!" Beyond infuriated by the sight of her skill being mimicked perfectly, she pulled herself up with the wound in her body slowly closing itself up. "YOU THINK YOU'RE SO FUCKING SPECIAL, DON'T YOU?! I'LL SHOW YOU SPECIAL!"

Covering her mouth, the demi-wolf whispered something to her patron in a land far beyond the mortal realms. And as she pulled her hand away, the colossal, bloodshot eye of her only remaining master opened behind her body. Oozing blood and contorting the very reality into a shard of broken glass with no escape, the patron of the warlock demi-wolf sundered any chances for Avarice to escape.

"Activating protocol: Aegis!" The words echoed from inside Avairce's body, but this time unlike the last, nothing seemed to have changed. That is until the creature's tentacles tried to whip Avarice in the head.

Parting in multitudes of flesh and iron cubes, her head split on the side and a small shield appeared on the very spot that was about to be struck. The moment it did, the tentacle bounced like a ball in the opposite direction.

The shield itself was made of the same material as Avarice, but the blue galvanization on top was a special amalgam of metal that reflected every bit of damage back to the attacker.

The patron's avatar tried to strike her again in another place, but once again, her body splitting into cubes gave room for the same shield to reflect the assault.

'This fucking bitch!' Regalia screamed internally, realizing that it was better to back down now than to push Avarice to the point where she actually started fighting back. Even so, she wasn't gonna give up the idea of turning her into scraps. 'I'll get you soon enough, trust me.'