Triple Connection

Myrene sat on the couple's living room chair. 

"Can you please talk to Yulia? She's been ignoring me."

Ellamir and Antani garnered pensive looks as they stood next each other. They both knew that it was Yulia and Myrene's private affair, but at the same time they couldn't help but pity Myrene. She looks like she's really not taking their break up in stride.

"All right, what do you want for us to say to her?" Antani asked. 

"Tell her…" Myrene paused, the look of emotional hurt on her face intensified which then gave way to tears. "Tell her I just want for us to make up, if she would just talk to me, tell her please."

Antani went beside Myrene so she could rub the sobbing woman's back. 

"Ellamir, get me a glass of water, please."

The dark elf nodded to Antani's request.

"Here, drink this." Antani handed the glass to Myrene while still calming her down with back rubs. 

"We'll talk to her, and maybe knock some sense into her while we're at it." Even Ellamir couldn't help but be supportive due to how pitiable Myrene was. 

Myrene drank the water, afterwards it seemed to have calmed her down a bit since she was able to recompose herself and halt the tears. 

"Both of you, thanks. And I'm sorry for disturbing you like this."

Antani offered a feeble smile. "No need to apologize."

"Tell her I'll be waiting at my place." Myrene said as she left. 

She must have been really out of options to approach them for help. They have to follow things through now since they both gave their word that they would talk to Yulia. 

Antani wondered, "Alright, how do we bring up the issue to Yulia without making it seem like we're butting in?"

"Just tell her how it is, Myrene approached us and they should just get back together."

"That's not up for us to decide, Ellamir. It's their relationship. We still don't know what Yulia truly feels." 

Suddenly, Antani's expression shot up. A realization came to her on how to squeeze out the contents of Yulia's heart. 

"I have a plan!" 

+++

At the guild's training ground. 

"All right, shield's up, Stefano. Remember, left foot forward along with your shield and right foot back. "

With his circular shield and mace at the ready, he anticipated Yulia's attack. 

The tiefling rushed at him, her sword went over her own shield, it was an overhead thrust. This action made Stefano lose his balance and stagger backward a bit, if it were a real battle Yulia would've followed it with a relentless combination and that would have been the end.

"You need to work on your leg strength a lot more but we'll build to that. Now, counterattack with your mace!"

Yulia pushed her shield closer to her chest.

"Yaaaah!" Stefano swung his mace with all his might, a mighty clang reverberated in the entire training ground but it still left Yulia unmoved. 

"Good, once more!"

Yulia's lesson plan was to start with the basics, learn how to utilize your shield along with your weapon, bit by bit until Stefano can withstand her attacks. If he can do that then it would be easy for him to get promoted up to silver. When the day comes that she can actually spar with Yulia will be the day that he can move up to gold. 

It might be a long road but Yulia is a patient mentor. 

A few more repetitions later and Stefano was already sitting on the floor, breathing hard like he just came from a long sprint. 

"Please…hah…let's…hah…rest for a bit."

Yulia, on the other hand, looks like she still hasn't broken a sweat. 

She wished that Stefano could at least take more, but he can't. Especially when the amount of pent up frustrations from her break up that Yulia wanted to unleash would split the poor cleric into two. 

"Yulia, up for a spar?" 

The tiefling turned around to see who was issuing the challenge. It was Antani, Ellamir was standing right next to her. 

"Sure, but won't Ellamir feel left out?" 

Antani grinned, "She will be joining, it's a three way battle. I'm sure we'll be able to make it work."

Yulia's lips widened into an arc, always leave it to Antani to grant her release.

 "Sure, I've always wanted to take on two women at the same time." 

"Disgusting!" Stefano shouted as he put on a dumbfounded expression, she can't believe Yulia just said that. 

"In a fight, Stefano!" Yulia shouted back.

"Whatever, I'm going to rest here at the side so you three can just do your thing."

As soon as stefano was out of the training ground, Ellamir manifested her armor. Her voice echoed but you could still make out what she was saying.

"Myrene approached us earlier, she looks torn from your break-up." 

"Ellamir, you dumbass, I told you that we're going to tell her in the heat of the fight!"

It was the Amazon's master plan. Once in the midst of battle, one can't help but let their emotions run high. It is Antani's theory that it would make it easier for Yulia to tell how she truly feels about it all.

"Why does it matter? It makes no difference if I tell it to her face now…..Hyaaaah!"

*clang* *boom*

The dark elf tried to be cheeky and pulled a sneak attack on Antani with her curved sword, the next thing that she knew was that she was out of bounds, crashed into a wall.

With her curved sword she tried to slash antani only for her to evade and counter with a mana infused kick, sending Ellamir ragdolling Yulia who then swatted her like a fly with her shield.

Ellamir grinned, she was finally getting in the mood. "You two have really done it now."

The two fighters watched as Ellamir perched up to dust some debris off of her, with her shadow armor the whole exchange was only a minor inconvenience.

"Heh. Serves you right." Antani's demeanor was filled with a joyful lust for battle.

Yulia, someone who hasn't been able to go all out in a long while could tell that this battle won't be a misfire, the three of them would give it their all. 

The tiefling's helmet emerged from her armor in order to fully clad her, "I hope you two can hold out until I've had my fun." Her shield faced Antani as she blitzed towards the Amazon. 

As the only unarmored combatant, you would think that Antani would at least be a little cautious, but that wasn't the case. She would fearlessly go toe-to-toe with them because she is confident in her agility. 

Antani's sword was at the ready but she wasn't planning on using it, her last match with the tiefling ended in a stalemate so she would try to switch up her tactics.

Yulia's shield as a distraction, it opened to reveal her sword planning to skewer Antani with a thrust.  

*Swish* Antani evaded Yulia's sword by a hair's breadth, she followed it up with a graceful circular motion that ended up with her elbow planted on Yulia's back. *Bam*

The blow was akin to a blunt weapon bludgeoning Yulia's armor. As soon as she was about to fall on the ground her combat experience kicked in and stomped her feet, preventing her collapse, masterfully recovering and unleashing her sword from a downward angle. Their swords were about to lock but Ellamir made her move. 

Drawing strength from her shadow armor, Ellamir leaped up high into the air. With gravity as her ally, her descent was powered up to monstrous proportions. As Yulia and Antani sensed the dark threat falling from the sky, they were both forced to seperate. *Boom* Crashing where the two were before, Ellamir's impact sent shockwaves into their directions as she landed, leaving a crater in the ground. The dark elf dauntlessly stood in the middle, unbothered by her opponents' speed, she may be the slowest among the three but if she ever scored a hit on either of them it would be pretty devastating. 

"You're having too much fun again." Ellamir reminded Antani of their reason why they came here in the first place.

"It's because you're here with me. Now come, let's make every second count." Antani winked at Ellamir.

The dark elf couldn't help but grin at Antani's words, saccharine as they may be, they were still in the middle of the fight and she knew the perfect response that would make Antani equally as happy. Ignoring Yulia entirely, Ellamir's black visage bolted towards the amazon.

*clang*

Their swords intertwined, Ellamir released a flurry of slashes. Antani was smiling as she deflected each slashes that came her way, how could she not? Gone was the Ellamir who was wildly swinging her sword, her technique was a bit brutish but Antani would argue that swordsmanship like that fit Ellamir quite well. It was all thanks to her tutelage. 

Antani couldn't let up even for one second, if she so much as failed to main the mana coursing through her arms and legs she would undoubtedly be staggered from the weight Ellamir's strikes. What's even more troublesome are the spider legs on Ellamir's back, ominously looming over the Amazon. 

Two of Ellamir's extra appendages shot forth! 

*Clang* *Clang* The Amazon was able to deflect both of them with ease. Ellamir sent them with the intent to pierce through Antani's flesh, she had to, halfhearted strikes wouldn't allow her to reach Antani's level. 

"Come on, lovebirds. You're making me feel like a third wheel here! You came here to talk to me about Myrene, didn't you? Let's hear it!"

Yulia couldn't stand the constant flirting between the two, she wouldn't have minded but she just came from a break up. She couldn't help but feel like they were rubbing it in her face how nice it is to have that special someone that Yulia was so averse to. No matter, her next attack shall contain her fiery displeasure.

"Let the fallen angel's flame burn all impurities into oblivion." 

The air around the couple began to heat up, they traced its source and found Yulia with a burning halo above her head, her sword raised up high -  enveloped in hellfire thrice its length. 

Her sword swung down to launch an arc of hellfire that would devour the lovers. 

Antani kicked Ellamir away and used her as a springboard to jump far to the side, making sure the dark elf wasn't caught in Yulia's attack. 

The beam of hellfire hit nothing but the ground they were standing on and exploded into a pillar of flames.

Yulia smirked. "Now that I've got your attention, 

Let me just tell you both that I was honest with her from the start that I wasn't looking for anything serious."

The tiefling charged towards the most reasonable out of the pair in order to air out her grievances. As they crossed swords, Antani noticed that Yulia's moves had sped up, although her strikes weren't as powerful as Ellamir they were still a bit heavier than before.

*clang* *clang*

The Amazon's voice was strained, it took all her focus in order to match Yulia as she blocked and countetered. "J-just, speak to her. Damn it!"

"I'm not blind, I can see that she's hurting. I can't commit because I'm still running away!" Yulia let all of the anger and insecurities flow into her blade, with Antani on the deflecting end. "Maybe one day when I'm ready to face it all she will be still there, but I don't want to give her any hope because she deserves happiness even without me by her side!" 

+++

High above his office, the guild master had full view of the spectacle down below through his large window. Much unlike the adventurers near the arena who are watching behind cover.

"Are you just going to let them run amok like that?"

Standing next to him is an attractive woman wearing silver light-armor that fits her slender figure well, her long black flowing freely. On her left hip rests a weapon that doesn't fit the aesthetic of her armor yet the way she rests her left arm conveys her fondness for it. The said weapon of choice is a katana, a weapon whose origin lies in a different continent.

"Let them have their fun, it ain't everyday that we get a show as explosive as this." With a slight grin, the guild master stroked his bear as his snake eyes bore upon the combatants below.

"There are low ranked adventurers who would like to use the arena, father. They're just scared shitless to confront them." The woman argued. Like the other high ranked adventurers, she's enjoying the spectacle herself but her father has a responsibility to keep things in check around the guild. 

"If that is the case, then go down there and tell them to cease at once, Althea." 

+++

With Yulia's sole focus on Antani, Ellamir was able to tackle the tiefling to the ground with enough force that they slid far away from Antani. 

"Just get back with her already. She loves you, isn't that enough? Stay with her until you can face whatever it is that you are running from."

Ellamir's simplistic outlook was starting to annoy Yulia, if break ups were that easy to fix then no couple would have to split ever again.  

"Like I said, it's not that simple!" Yulia pushed her thighs upward to off-balance Ellamir above her. Following it up by a shield strike to her abdomen. The clang from Yulia's blow made Ellamir roll to the side.

"Gods, that armor of yours is too fucking hard."

Yulia couldn't believe that an Armor made out of mana has better defenses than her armor which was forged by a talented Dwarven blacksmith. 

As they both stood up, all three were once again at a staredown. 

Antani readied her sword with glee, ready to take on whichever of the two would come her way. 

Ellamir's eyes darted in between the two, she couldn't pick her target because she was dead set on convincing Yulia but she also wanted her dance with Antani to continue. 

Yulia positioned her shield forward, she was poised to defend and strike. 

The three giggled at the same time once they noticed that they all arrived at the same conclusion. 

All of them emitted a battle cry as they dashed towards each other with wild abandon. 

Before they could, however, a loud crackle of electricity stopped them from their tracks as a lightning pillar streaked past in their midst. 

"Playtime's over, Yulia. The guild master is asking you and your friends to stop at once."

With remnants of electricity on her katana, Althea's gait was that of a veteran warrior combined with the arcane presence of a powerful mage. The diamond necklace she wore fit her well.  

"Don't be like that Althea, why don't you join us instead? These two could learn a thing or two from the guild's highest caliber spellblade."

With swift motion, Althea sheathed her katana. "Guild master's orders, Yulia."

The tiefling sighed, looks like their training session was over. 

"Alright love birds, you heard her." Then, the realization hit Yulia. "Crap, Althea, what time is it?" 

"Half-past noon, why?" 

"I just remembered I have to pick up Gloria, Stefano, let's go!" Yulia dragged Stefano by his arm. 

Antani shouted before Yulia could go far, "Myrene said she's going to be waiting by her place!"

The Amazon said her piece, she wasn't going to convince them to get back together after discerning that Yulia is carrying a heavy baggage. She just hopes that she could find someone that might help her ease the load even by a little. Antani turns to face Ellamir who was right next to her. 

"What do you think, do you still think they should get back together?" 

"Naturally. If Myrene loves her that should be enough."

"Ellamir, you hopeless fool." 

Antani mellowly rested her head on Ellamir's shoulder. Ellamir was lucky to have found someone who would stick around come what may.