Forsaken Heir

Over the course of the next day, the Empress and her court continued to practice the new skills while the larger ones were in the process of being integrated. Daskka changed her mind once again, suggesting they first take the Capstone from the Inherited Tapestry legacy and then try to add the minor ones. According to her, there was a chance this approach would give better results.

Early that night, Alex, Bonnie, and Helena arrived at the agency headquarters. They all came to see Blue, with seeing Hera being just a nice addition. They all gathered in the controller's hospital room for the purifier to cleanse any lingering ailments that could still be affecting her, specifically the tattoos and anything else the guild had done.

It took a few minutes for Alex to finish the procedure, if it could even be called that. Without the entanglement created by the legacy tattoo, removing the rest was very straightforward. She could see each one of them individually even without the help of [Steps of Purity], the skill that revealed the more complicated issues with a person, at least the ones she could fix. Even though she did not need the skill for this, she still used it to make sure she was not missing anything.

Blue did not really feel much of a change. After all, the spells on the tattoos only worked to support what would connect her to a strength spirit. But it was still a weight off her chest not to have to worry about that kind of thing anymore. The healers were all present: Neria, Marina, Wildborn, Michele, and the team in charge of helping Blue recover.

Despite being in a massive hospital room, the place still felt crowded with all the people there. Once it was over, and the doctors confirmed that one of the issues stopping Blue from getting a new arm had been resolved, they left to give the group some privacy. Wildborn and the others also stayed for a while. They had grown close over the past few days, not just because of their roles, but also due to everything they had been through together. Eventually, even the healers decided to leave.

Before leaving, Wildborn sent a file to Blue's tablet, the new one that had been provided by the Alliance. "By the way, I reached out to that person I know. I thought I was going to have to cash in a favor, but they were very excited about sharing the whole limb-made-of-mana spell. If you want, I can send it now, and you can already take a look. Apparently, they are going to try to make it a more official thing, like a whole field of spells, but they need more people to test things out and help improve it."

"Thank you. I will take a look when I have a chance," Blue smiled as the healers began to leave.

"Actually, Neria, do you mind staying for a moment?" Alex turned to the Triton.

"Sure. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I just wanted to tell you something," Alex glanced at the other healers, who understood it was a more private conversation. Even though the rest of the group did not seem to be moving to leave, the other healers exited quietly.

Neria walked to the side, sitting in one of the chairs in the room near the door. Blue was on the large bed, with her back propped up by the adjustable mattress. Helena and Hera were on the couch in front of Blue, while Alex and Bonnie were on the other side, also sitting in armchairs. This hospital room was the kind of space only the filthy rich could afford. Then again, that term applied to everyone in the room. They were all well beyond the point of making enough money to afford such a place back on Earth or in one of the lower levels of the MAZE.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Neria asked.

"One moment," Alex turned to Hera and made a circular gesture with her finger. It was the old signal for the Empress to activate her soundproof bubble. "Can you?"

Hera nodded and cast the spell. A green layer covered the entire room, blocking any sound from coming out. "Sure, but keep in mind I am not entirely positive if it will be effective. We are in a spy agency, after all."

"It is not something dangerous, but it is a bit private," Alex said, before turning back to Neria. "I have been told that you are the person responsible for getting rid of the Soldiers of Strength. Is that right?"

"Hera was the one who killed the person who had the legacy. We figured out that the tattoos were actually part of the legacy, which is with Hera right now. Anyway, she deserves the credit. I just had to break the final connection," Neria's voice was cold and mechanical, as if she had rehearsed the line over and over again.

"Okay. You are still the person I need to talk to."

As Alex spoke, Neria's hand tightened, but she forced herself to maintain a neutral expression. "I am sorry if you lost anyone who was part of the Soldiers of Strength. It was not my intention to kill anyone, and I thought I could maintain the connection long enough to avoid any major backlash."

"What?" The assassin frowned. "I am not here to complain. I am here to thank you. You helped save a lot of people."

"What?" Neria's voice cracked.

"Yeah. I was at a hospital that had a couple hundred people who were rescued. Every single one of them was suffering, and we had no way of breaking the connection to the spirits. Even with my legacy, it took me days to get rid of just one of the tattoos. And that is with me knowing exactly what I was doing. Some were a bit easier, sure, but it was not something I could do more than once a day. It was going to take several years to heal all of them."

"But… Hera cut the connection to the legacy. Wasn't that enough to fix everything?" Neria asked. Her voice had lost any semblance of calm. Hera knew the Triton well enough to tell the moisture in her eyes was not normal, with tears starting to form.

"Not really. Even when one of the tattoos vanished, most of those in the hospital had been connected for too long. Removing the tattoo was not enough to break the connection. All the ink in their bodies was functioning as an anchor. We assume the soldiers lost their power, but not the link. But once you broke the connection, the backlash energy made the tattoo that was connecting everybody burn so bright that it was easy to remove. Hell, I didn't even have to look at it. I started casting wide-range purification spells to clear everything up," Alex explained.

"It was kind of funny, actually. I had Ruby act like a giant octopus and pull Alex across the hallways. She would stop for a second at the doors to the rooms where people were located, cast the spell, and then Ruby would yank her to the next one," Bonnie chuckled.

"When you say funny, I say awful. That thing kept pushing my stomach. I thought I was going to throw up," Alex grumbled. "But either way, if it wasn't for what you did, we wouldn't have been able to break that connection. And we had no idea how long we could keep them stable for. Once you did that, all those few hundred people were healed in a matter of minutes."

"They… they didn't die? I didn't kill them?" Neria asked, barely holding back her tears.

"Not the ones we were able to save. Being honest, I know of one operation that finished just yesterday where they recovered a lot of bodies. But everybody we found seems to be doing just fine. A little bit hurt, maybe some bruises from all the convulsing, but otherwise, they are fine. And I doubt anyone is going to blame you for breaking that connection. I do not think we can truly understand how awful it was to be attached to a strength daemon."

"It's hell," Blue said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" Alex turned to the controller.

"It's okay. But really, it is hell. It's not just about the physical pain, it's not just the feeling that your mana is being forced out of your body. It is also all the fear and anger you feel. So many emotions at once that you literally feel like you are drowning in them. You don't have space for thoughts. It's just raw feelings, but without anything connected to them. I wouldn't be surprised if people who spent a long time like that go crazy," Blue said while looking at her sheets. Once she finished, she just shook her head. "Anyway, I'm glad I'm past that. But there's one thing I wanted to talk to you all about."

"Do… do you mind if I go, then?" Neria asked.

"You don't have to. You can stay. Hera trusts you, and that's enough for me," Blue replied.

"Even then, I would like to go. I need… a moment on my own," Neria said as she stood up.

Alex followed her and held out her hand. "I'm not going to stop you, but thank you. I have seen how much those people were suffering. You set them free. And I assume you did the same for those who were in the worst situations too."

Neria shook the assassin's hand and left the room, leaving the original group alone.

"What's going on, Blue?" Helena asked.

"When I had to give up my legacy, I also got something in exchange. In a way," Blue started.

"A skill or something like that?" Bonnie asked.

"Not exactly. Giving up the legacy removed a few of my skills, the ones that were connected to the legacy in one way or another. It also took about fifty attribute points away," Blue said as she looked to Hera.

"I didn't get any extra attribute points. I don't think it comes with a legacy. It's just the cost of giving it up," Hera replied.

"But fifty bonus points is not that bad. A couple of levels, and you get all that back," Alex tried to cheer her up.

"I wasn't talking about bonus points. I mean attribute points. My strength dropped from one hundred fifty-three to one hundred twenty-one. Other attributes also had a small drop. And apparently, the cost to increase those points will still remain the same. That means now I have to spend more points to get back to where I was before."

"Blue… I'm so sorry," Hera said, reaching for her friend's remaining hand.

"It's okay. I mean… it's not okay. But this is my life now. I have to deal with this. The agency sent someone who knows a lot about giving up legacies to explain it to me. But I also got a title, and this seems to be on par for the course," Blue said.

"What title?" Helena asked.

"It is called Forsaken Heir. Basically, it's going to give me a few extra bonus attribute points for a while until I can get back to what I had. It also makes it easier for me to learn things related to my previous legacy. In this case, clouds and storms. But I kind of have to pick one or the other. This part I don't really understand, and the person wasn't fully sure either."

"That is really strange. I have never heard anything about a title like that," Bonnie said with a frown.

"From what I have been told, there is a specific time period when you can get this title if you give up a legacy. You need to have it for a while so it is properly a part of you, but not so long that it makes sense to pass it on to the next generation. I guess this happens because people either keep the legacy forever or try to get rid of it quickly. So when you are in that strange middle ground, you get this. That is the theory I am working with, at least. The guy who explained it to me is the one who told me about it," Blue continued.

"And do you have to pick one of them? Clouds or storms?" Hera asked.

"Yep. But it's not like a notification. I need to train a skill related to one of those things, and when I do, it will lock the title to that aspect," Blue said. She was doing her best to sound upbeat, but Hera could hear something in her voice. It was the kind of tiredness that came from someone who had lost everything.

Before Hera could say anything, Bonnie asked, "And do you know what kind of skill you want to be buffed?"

Blue shook her head. "Not really. I was going to ask you all to help me figure that part out, for when… or if I ever come back."

"If? You are leaving?" Alex asked.

The controller let out a long sigh. "I'm tired, I had to fight in a war I didn't want to be in. I was tortured by a bunch of assholes who saw me as just a tool. Then I lost my arm to them for absolutely no reason, just because they were doing some random bullshit test. And all the while, I could only think about my family and pray that they were okay. I kept getting hurt during the fights. It hurt to have to kill people who were only trying to protect themselves. It hurt every time I thought about my family being in the middle of this. Everything just hurt."

Blue started speaking faster and faster, and by the end, tears were streaming down her face.

"I can't do this anymore. I can't be here and fight and get stuck in the MAZE again. Why do I have to fight for my life? For money? Fame? Power? I don't care about any of that anymore. I just…" Blue covered her face with her one hand and started to sob. "I just don't want to be hurting all the time anymore."

The rest of the group approached and tried to comfort her, but all they could do was be there. There was nothing they could say or do to fix it.

Many people had suffered during the war. Children lost their parents. Mothers lost their babies. Friends either saw their companions die in battle or were forced to fight those they had once considered allies.

The war had not been easy for anyone, and they all understood that Blue was not likely the person who had suffered the most. But just because others had suffered more did not mean her pain was any less real.

This was the kind of pain that would take time, effort, and support to overcome, and many were never able to do so.

All Hera and her friends could do was be there for Blue, even if she decided never to set foot in the MAZE again.