Hera, her court, and the Guides were all watching as the new title blade began to form for the very first time. The shape was a bit taller than the Empress and that was without counting the horns. She really had a slender build and the head of an antelope, or maybe a deer. It was hard to say, as the mist was slowly forming. Her feet were like that of a herbivore animal, like a horse or a zebra. But her legs were more human or elf-like. Slender and long, all draped in a black dress that had a multitude of fabrics within.
Some pieces were solid in color not allowing anyone to see what was underneath, but there were a lot of other places almost transparent, which made anyone who tried to look at her a bit confused about where her body would be. As the fabric continued to the waist, it was met by a light brown leather belt that was embroidered with golden thread. The embroidery was not just a frame around the belt but also a few symbols very similar to hieroglyphs to Hera's eyes, but they were not exactly that.
There was also a mix of images one would see when looking at the sky. The golden markings around the belt showed constellations, the phases of the moon, and even the solar system. The mist started to form above it, revealing a more evident upper part of her dress. It was made out of the same fabric as the skirt, but not the translucent part. Only the solid cloths. It was made in a way that was so form-fitting that her stomach and chest almost looked like they were inside a corset. But that wasn't really the case, just an optical illusion created by the tight fitting of her dress.
She also had a pair of breasts about the same size as Hera's, which was somewhat strange since she was the first and only of her title blades to have that kind of body parts. Then again, Nimbus and Livy did have them too, even if they were the muscular pecks. Instead, Filigree had a more feminine shape.
From her shoulders, a large shawl flew down. When looking from outside of it, it was just a black piece of transparent cloak very similar to what was on her leg. But when someone was to glance inside, they would see a myriad of small glowing dots, almost like stars, inside of a galaxy. Around her neck was a thick golden necklace with details in a black onyx stone that made them resemble those worn by the great pharaohs of Egypt.
And then came her head. Her face was that of a gazelle with a pair of long horns curving into each other before pointing back up. The horns themselves were also covered in small bands of gold and onyx, with a few pieces of light brown leather. Her hands, previously covered by the show, emerged, revealing various bracelets and rings also following that Egyptian theme. And on their tip were the gloves. The gloves that Hera and Vulcan had just created. The gloves that became the most powerful weapon Hera ever owned and whose attributes were the strongest she ever saw.
Filigree blinked a couple of times, her brown eyes in the same shade of the gloves flickering against the light and turning gold for a moment before she started to move. Taking a few steps like a baby deer that was just born before steadying herself and placing one hand over the other before looking towards Hera and the rest of the court. She paused for a moment, just staring at the Empress, which caused Hera to have a strange shiver run through her back before Filigree opened a big smile.
"Empress, I cannot put into words how happy I am to be able to meet you on this day. I will cherish this life that you're giving me forever. And I swear to you that I will spend every waking second doing my best to serve you."
Filigree bowed her head more, her hands still on top of each other in a very proper posture. Hera was not expecting that kind of intensity. Especially the feelings that were coming from the Weaver. There was almost a layer of fanaticism behind Filigree's voice. Which, in a sense, every other court member also had it. Since they were created to serve the Empress but somehow, she felt more.
"I hope you like your name. I honestly couldn't think of anything else when I was looking at your weapon form," Hera smiled, trying to ignore that strange feeling.
"There is nothing more that I love than the name I have been given, Empress. I can see the dedication and love that was put into naming me as well as into making me. I cannot express into words how happy I am to be part of your retinue."
"Girl, you need to tone down like three notches. Things here are not that deep. Like we're happy that you're happy, but you don't need to be acting like that. We're not about it, dude," Daskka spoke up.
Livy followed that up, "You know what, I agree. I'm glad you're happy here, but if Hera starts liking the way you talk and asks everybody to do the same, I don't think I can handle it.
"I'm never going to complain about the way that you all talk. And Filigree, do whatever you feel is most comfortable. If you want to keep talking like that, it's fine, if you want to be more casual, it's also fine. I'm not going to impose what I think for anyone," Hera said.
The Weaver nodded. "I will try to be more casual, as it was requested. That way, the other members of your retinue won't feel uncomfortable in the way that I speak."
"I'm glad," Hera replied. "I mean, I'm glad that you are comfortable in your body." She opened the status screen for Filigree again. "I'm sorry. It looks like you are the only titled blade that doesn't have a guardian form or something."
"Guardian form?" Nimbus turned to the Empress.
"Yeah, like an animal form. You know? You can become a griffin, Livy a sea serpent, Lurize a beetle, the twins can become their version of Scryotra, Forge also has a different form even if he can't control it very well when he becomes a daemon. But from the looks of it, Filigree doesn't have that option. I thought it would be something that was going to be a part of everyone, but maybe the cloak pin wasn't animal enough to give it to her something like that," Hera explained.
"Actually, Empress, you don't have to worry about that. I do have a, as you called it, Guardian form," Filigree smiled, the gazelle's expression being much more natural than anyone expected. In a way, it was almost like watching a cartoon animal.
"You do?" Almost all the Court asked.
Filigree smiled and nodded. "I do. And I'm more than happy to show it to all of you, however," she glanced around, "I'm afraid this wouldn't be a good location for that. I require more space for my guardian form."
"Okay then," the Empress nodded and turned to the court. "What do you all say about going for a dungeon run? I still wanted to go after the Jarnak today at least one time."
Everybody nodded in agreement, and the Empress turned to Forge. "And if you're too tired, you don't have to go. That whole thing took a lot out of us. For some reason I'm feeling fine, but I get if you are tired."
Forge shook his head. "No. I'm fine. Honestly, all that hard work increased the Demonic influence a bit too much for my liking. If at all possible I would like to just go berserk for a little while we are in the dungeon, too just so I can go back to a more stable state."
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"Of course. That's not something you even have to ask for. You can do it without a problem, just give me a head's up," Hera smiled at Vulcan. She was extremely proud of him and equally happy for what they had accomplished.
"Okay then, we can head out. Oh, before that, Filigree, these are the Guides that helped us to create you. These are Veridallion, Zhao Ye, Noxis, Stewart, and Nana Mittens. And of course, Tara. She is the Ancestor who allowed me to become an Ophidianite."
"I didn't allow you to become anything. You are the one who managed to do that on your own. I just helped make sure the finer details were going to work," Tara corrected.
"If you say that I couldn't become one, I wouldn't have. It's as simple as that. And I'm sorry to introduce you all when we are about to leave but this is," Hera paused and turned to Filigree still struggling to believe that her final title blade was this strong, "Is something that I really want to know more about."
"Don't worry, dear," Nana Mittens said with a smile. "You have a lot to do and we all understand the urge to test something new. Go ahead. We will probably be watching your dungeon run just to see what your last title blade can do. Then at another opportunity I will be more than happy to talk to you," the cat guy turned to Filigree. "And I'm sure the others feel the same."
After that, they all left the Ophidianite's private room.
It took Hera of just a handful of minutes to reach the dungeon entrance again. Even if she was in the doorway of the room, when she was alone, she could have Nimbus flying her back to the settlement instead of waiting for the ride on the hot-air balloon with the harpies. She also made sure to send a message to her team explaining what she was about to do and all of them decided to join her since they wanted to know the new title blade as well.
In just half an hour, they were already inside the dungeon. But instead of rushing after the Jarnak right away, they were in the entrance of the village waiting for Filigree to show her own version of her guardian form.
"Empress, you must be aware that I have a skill called [Starforged Marionette]," Filigree said.
"I do. That sounded like a very interesting skill to have. You can basically make a giant construct, right?" Hera asked.
"Oh, so it's kind of similar to what the Nactra-Vall was able to do?" Pandora added.
Filigree frowned. "I'm not sure if that's the case since I never seen that Nactra-Vall. But yes, I can use my surroundings to make constructs. It can be gigantic, as you stated, Empress, or I can make it smaller. For instance."
She waved her hand and spent 25% of her maximum mana to create the marionette she was about to call. The strings from her hands lashed out connecting to the surrounding area trees, the ground, even a couple of rocks and they all pulled together forming a single humanoid body about the same size as Filigree as the Weaver continued to hold one hand up to control the marionette.
"This is the [Starforged Marionette]. The better the materials available, the stronger it will be, but it will never be as strong as someone who knows what they're doing. Livy, since you're the tankiest would you mind trying to punch it? I'm going to make the marionette punch you, too."
"I am not going to hurt you, am I?" the Leviathan asked.
"No. The damage the marionette receives does not come to me. I don't think that's something we have to worry about unless it's a strange effect that follows the mana I connect to it."
"Cool," the Leviathan walked forward and prepared a punch. At the same time, the marionette started to move pulling its arm back and on the count of three, both of them launched their attacks.
In theory, Filigree was stronger than Livy. Maybe not specifically with her strength attribute, but overall, her stats were considerably higher. Which should also translate to this cosmic puppet that she was using. However, the moment that two fists connected, the marionette was completely shattered. The grass and Earth that was being used to form its shape crumbled, leaving only broken pieces of wood and the rocks in its place.
Livy gasped. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting it to be this fragile."
But still Filigree smiled. "That's fine. Exactly what I wanted to show you. You see, this is not a powerful skill by itself. It very much depends on the things that are connected to the marionette. So if we are in a place that has a bunch of monster corpses, I might be able to make something interesting. But we don't have anything of value around, the skill won't be all that useful. Unless I use myself as the target for the marionette."
"Yourself? Won't that hurt you?" Lurize frowned.
"If it was anyone else, you or any other of the Court members, either the skill would fail or the strings will try to rip you apart in order to use just a part of you. Neither of which things sounds like a particularly good idea, but if I use it on myself, something different will happen. And no, it won't hurt me in the slightest."
Hera just stared at Filigree. "Is it something you can show now or do you have to wait two minutes since that's the duration of the marionette?"
"Oh no, I can show you right now. The duration only matters for the marionette. I can drop it whenever I want, but I can only handle one marionette at a time."
"If I use this on me," Filigree snapped her wrist, and the strings flew backwards into herself. She kept a neutral face as the bladed thread hit her body, but it also didn't seem like it was hurting her at all. Which makes sense since she was the gloves themselves. They were not just a part of her. They were her main body.
But suddenly, her entire form unraveled in countless bladed strings. Those strings spread out, the gloves having also completely becoming part of the white string with shiny spots. All the threads shot out to form a large shape about 10 meters tall. It wasn't exactly a shape, more the outline of a shape. The outline of a sphinx with the pharaoh's crown with the body of a lion sitting on its hind legs while the front legs were propping the rest of its body up.
The area between those strings grew darker and tiny stars seemed to appear inside of them. Eventually forming the representation of a constellation in the sky. Not an actual constellation, as Bonnie confirmed, but a version of one that was very lifelike.
"This is my guardian form," Filigree's voice was booming coming from the mouth of the sphinx which still had a gazelle's head instead of that of a lion or a cat. "I am able to watch over the battlefield and buff those inside it. My abilities grow a bit stronger in this form. The range that allows to get the bleeding buff grow to 60 meters and all those under my shadow become able to recover from their injuries by dealing damage to their enemies. In addition to a increased mana regeneration. Consider this lesser version of the [Gates of Mana]. Also, [Decipher Me or I will Devour You] allow me to target up to three people to be trapped. As long as they are close to each other."
Hera looked around and only Filigree's mouth had moved. The rest of her body was almost frozen in space.
Understanding the question, the Weaver continued, "Only my head is able to move when I am in this form. Everything else is stationary and cannot change positions. But don't think I am harmless in this form. If needed, I can," she turned to the side and a part of the outline of the sphinx shifted, becoming a large thread that attacked a nearby tree, "use any part of this body as a weapon. However, it is a choice. If my body is attacking, I am unable to buff those who are under my shadow. My strikes also become more powerful, but not by much. This is not like Vulcan's [Daemonic Form]"
Filigree quickly returned to her title form, a couple beads of sweat dripping from the side of her face. "Speaking out loud in that form is really tricky. I need to control a specific group of threads to act like vocal cords. It's going to be fine when I have to talk with only you, Empress, or the court, but speaking with others, that's a problem."
"That's okay. You don't have to push yourself like that. Thank you for showing everything you can do. It's amazing. And I just don't get why this wasn't a skill that was on your attribute sheet."
"Because it is not. It is a unique interaction between my form and my actual skill. Technically speaking, for one, I am not doing anything that I am not capable of doing without that form, I'm just increasing their power. Also, each Cosmic Marionette has their own attribute sheet and in there you can see everything I can do. It's just I can't show you that for some reason."
Filigree frowned trying to understand why the Empress couldn't see that sheet.
"Oh, it's because it's a stacking piece of gear on Hera's weapon. Basically, it's an item that you own and not Hera," Daskka explained, getting that information from the Legacy. "It's weird. But don't worry about it. You can just tell Hera what's going on. But now that we have all that, how about we chase after the Jarnak to see what you can do?"