Better rested

"So now, try weaving the cloud between the chains," Blue said. She was sitting in a wheelchair with a blanket covering her legs, not because she couldn't move them, but because she was cold.

"Like this?" Hera asked, pushing the cloud construct between the chains, almost like she was weaving the crust of a pie. She made sure to alternate between chain and cloud as she worked. They were outside at the agency headquarters. The entire operation team had arrived along with the prisoners, who were now being cared for by the healers there.

"Yeah. Now try flapping the wings," Blue said. She was calm, much calmer than she had been when they first arrived. The first thing the controller did was try to check on her family, but it took a few hours to get someone to confirm that her family was still at their home and that no one was bothering them.

In addition, they were able to learn more about what was happening in the MAZE. The last few days had been pivotal for the war. With the death of the Soldiers of Strength, the guild lost most of their power. The Mind control also seemed to have been disrupted, though not completely broken. A lot of people started to go against what the guild was doing, which allowed the Alliance to expose more and more of the horrible acts being committed by the humans. In response, people organized protests and marches against the guild, putting a lot of pressure on them to stop the war. But since it had been only a couple of days, the bigger ones were still being organized. Only small displays happened here and there.

Things were still developing, but that pressure allowed the Alliance to reclaim a lot of their lost territory. Without the Soldiers of Strength making up for the lack of power in the guild's army, they hadn't won any significant battles since the operation. Experts were predicting that the war was heading toward its end. Whether it would happen after one massive battle or through various smaller skirmishes, they couldn't tell yet.

But Hera was more focused on personal issues. The doctors confirmed that Blue wasn't in any immediate danger, and that all she needed now was rest. There was nothing wrong with her body or her mana. However, before they could do anything about her arm, two things had to be addressed.

First, they needed to let her recover properly. Any operation or prosthetic attachment would cause her body to react in ways that could cause a downward spiral. Second, they called Alex to remove the tattoos that were still on her body, the ones given to her by the guild. Though they were inactive, since the primary tattoo connecting her to the Strength Spirits was gone, they were still capable of disrupting more complex spells. Because of that, the doctors opted to avoid any procedures until the tattoos were removed, just to prevent any unforeseen circumstances.

Hera stayed by her friend the entire time, listening to the opinions of the healers and being there to support Blue. All in all, the controller seemed to be doing well. She still showed some pain every time the topic of legacies was brought up, but she was taking the loss of her arm in stride.

Between all the discussions with the doctors and the tests they ran on her, Blue somehow had time to find an empty plastic glove and fill it with water and tie it up. Anytime anyone around her asked for a hand, she would toss the glove at them, saying it was the only one she could spare. It was a dumb joke, and it got old quickly, but it was hard to be annoyed with someone who had such a good sense of humor about the situation.

Along with Hera, she was outside in an open field that the agency staff used for running. Blue had an idea. She had always tried to do something with her legacy that never worked because of the size of the clouds she created. She could make a flying cloud that carried her, but she had always wanted wings. Since Hera's version of Stormcloud was smaller and more condensed, maybe it could work.

They tried a few times with no success, as the clouds weren't dense enough to carry Hera. But eventually, they came up with an idea. Using Blade Accord, the Empress could create a harness and the framework of the wings, while the clouds became the feathers themselves. It took her a couple of tries to come up with something that might work. Simply wrapping the chains around the clouds caused the clouds to dissipate, and doing the opposite made it so that when the chains moved, the clouds stayed still instead of moving with them.

The newest idea came from Blue: to weave the clouds and the chains together, hoping that creating both constructs at the same time could attach them. That's what the Ophidianite was doing now. It wasn't an easy process. Unless there was a skill attached to it, creating something like this wasn't quick or simple.

"Be not afraid!" Livy's voice echoed through the field. She held her arms out to her sides, forming a T, while being carried by long chains wrapped around her waist that worked like giant spider legs. The Leviathan was already three meters tall, but now she was five meters above the ground, towering over the rest of the court.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lurize gasped.

"Asserting my dominance!" Livy laughed and tilted forward, only to lose control of the chains and start spinning before falling down.

They were all surrounded by a field of tiny flowers made of mana. That was one of the three effects of Hera's newest skill, which was created using Storm Eye as a base.

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Imperial Domain

As the Empress of the court, you are able to designate an area as your domain. This area is stationary and can take one of the following forms: 

Royal Garden: All court members inside the area will benefit from reduced mana costs for their spells and improved mana regeneration rates. 

Cost reduction: 20% 

Increased mana regeneration rate: 40% 

Imperial Barracks: All court members in the area will gain bonuses to their defense and offense. 

Extra damage bonus: 20% 

Defense bonus: 20% 

Throne Room: The Empress gains the benefits of all court members. In addition, the titled blades receive a quarter of the bonus received by the Empress. 

Every buff that affects one of the court members will instead affect the Empress. 

Buffs that affect multiple targets will stack with diminishing returns. 

Mana cost: 0.5% maximum mana per square meter. 

Duration: 1 hour. 

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The skill was very similar to the one Blue used to have. According to the former owner of the Stormcloud legacy, her version also had a few different modes that she could pick, but those were focused on the types of storms she could create. And they were using the increased mana generation version so that they could practice using the chains. 

Once the Empress finished weaving the cloud between the chains, she got ready and jumped, flapping the wings. The first attempt failed, as she simply landed as if nothing had happened. On the second attempt, she flapped her wings faster, managing to get some air time, but not enough to gain altitude. On the third attempt, she went for strength over speed, making powerful flaps with her wings. This time, she was able to gain a few meters, but she lost her rhythm and fell back to the ground.

"Holy shit!" Blue gasped.

"Yeah," Hera smiled.

"I maintain what I said before. The wings you're making are too small. You need to make them bigger and give them some joints," Nimbus said. He was nearby, just in case the Empress flew too high and needed someone to catch her.

"And I told you she needs to learn to crawl before running. What's the point of making a super big and super complex wing if you don't even know if the base idea is going to work?" Daskka huffed.

"Okay, okay, stop bickering. We're testing things out, and the next step is to make a more complicated wing that will be stable," Hera cut them off.

"Fine," Nimbus grumbled. "How's the range, by the way? Did you feel any increase in the mana you're spending?"

"I haven't. No matter where the rest of you are… at least if you have the magnets. If you don't have them, then it doesn't work," Hera glanced to the side, noting how far away the court members were. They were much farther than her range would usually allow. This was all thanks to the last of Stormcloud's skills, Electromagnetic Field, which was now called Magnetic Rule.

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Magnetic Rule

Bladed weapons are, more often than not, made with metal. Someone who lords over such weapons can assert a permanent influence over their kind. 

When active, an area of 10 meters around the Empress becomes magnetized, causing any metal in the area that has not submitted to the Empress to behave abnormally. 

Alternatively, this area can be empowered and increased to 50 meters at the cost of 0.1% mana per second. 

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The "behave abnormally" part caused any metal in the area to become magnetized in random directions. Sometimes this could be useful, but other times it could be a detriment. It was an interesting disruption skill, forcing enemies to respond quickly to the changes. And the empowered version could be permanently active as the Empress' passive mana regeneration was higher than the 0.1% per second. However, the main benefit for the court was something entirely different.

The electromagnetic field surrounding her was also considered part of her court. While the basic effect didn't change much, once she activated the empowered range, it also extended the range of her court members by that much.

As long as each of them had one of the magnets attached, which they always did, since it was part of their summoning routine, they could now stay 50 meters away from each other instead of the usual 20 to 25 meters. The skill also recognized each court member as being part of the Empress herself, effectively creating that extra 50-meter range from the position of each court member, with no additional mana cost.

No one really understood why this was happening like this. It didn't make much sense that the skill allowed the blades to expand their range without additional drawbacks. The field also seemed very specific to metals that were not attached to anything. It wouldn't affect doors, windows, or electronics in general. Even small shards of metal were only weakly affected by the skill. Weapons, and more specifically bladed weapons that could be added to Hera's legacy, were the only things that took the full brunt of the skill.

In the end, that was everything. All the skills that Hera could get from Azure Chain and Stormcloud had been acquired. Now, only the Tattoo Legacy was left. This legacy included one magnetism-based skill, though Hera had no clue if it would be added to Magnetic Rule or not. Then again, it was technically a skill inside another skill, which was weird to say the least. It was hard to predict what would happen.

Either way, she didn't have to worry about that for now. Alex was expected to arrive in a day or two to finish removing the tattoos from around Blue's neck. The war seemed to be going in their favor, and no one could argue that Hera had done her part. She deserved to stay with her friends and ensure they were okay.

With any luck, she could soon go back home, though she wasn't entirely sure where "home" was supposed to be.