"What do you mean she had a Legacy? Are you talking about this bitch, or one of those?" Hera pointed to Victoria's corpse, then to the other two Soldiers of Strength that were closer to the rest of the Harmony Guardians.
"That one. The one with the clown makeup. It's on brand now that I know about this," Vash pointed at Victoria.
"What's going on?" Neria asked as the rest of the team approached.
"Vash got a Legacy," Hera replied.
"What?" Skyler and Roan gasped.
"Okay, talk while moving, people. We're still in the middle of a combat zone," Flint gestured for everyone to continue walking before turning to Vash. "Did you kill that guy before I finished him off?"
"No. It wasn't that one. It was the one Hera was fighting," Vash replied, but his eyes were focused somewhere else. No one except Hera understood what was going on. He was likely meeting his Legacy herald for the first time.
"So you stole the Legacy that was supposed to be Hera's?" Neria asked.
"What? No! I didn't steal anything. Besides, she already has a Legacy!" The harpy turned to the Empress. "Did I steal it?"
"I mean, you sort of did. But that's okay. If I got the Legacy, then it would be gone. Some of the skills might get integrated into mine, but that's about it. Having someone with an entire new Legacy is more helpful," Hera shrugged. It wasn't the first time she almost got a Legacy only for it to end up being someone else's. But it had happened with Blue and Shane. Not to mention she already had her own Legacy and she wouldn't change that for the world.
"But Vulcan might be pissed. I think he wanted to kill that one," Viper said.
"Yeah. It's kind of unfair. All our work was stolen like. What's the Legacy called? What if it was something that could really have helped us? Like a master of all weapons or something," Crimson suggested as she quickly picked up all the weapons and gear Victoria was wearing.
During the war, everybody was allowed to take the equipment of those they killed. But it was recommended to bring the body to a safe location before taking the gear. If that didn't happen, the gear would later be gathered by a specific crew once the opportunity arose. Only then they would pass it along to the people who were responsible for the kill, if they were able to register the information that is. If not, it would go to a place where people of the army could get the items if they wanted to use them.
That's why most people focused only on getting the weapons or accessories from the bodies. In this case, the Cyr Wheel and the smaller circular blades that were on Victoria's waist were free for the taking. Someone using a Legacy had to have a good weapon, and Crimson didn't want to waste that. Especially since they already lost the Legacy.
"I honestly don't think anyone else would want this one. It's called [Arcane Cirque], as in an Arcane Circus," Vash explained.
The Harmony Guardians exchanged a look before they all shrugged. "Yeah. It's perfect for you," Flint scoffed.
"I know, right? My own personal stage is already a circus tent. I'm sure there's something related to in the Legacy," Vash's attention was pulled to a random spot in the air as he heard something intently. "Really? Variations, you say?" There was another pause. "Oh, come on. Why can't I get that one now?"
"Oh, the struggles of a new Legacy. I kind of miss that, having to ask about skills and not knowing what I can expect. It's a shame that I don't have any more skills yet for my Legacy," Hera paused and turned to Daskka. "I don't have any more skills to get, do I?"
Daskka shook her head. "No, you don't." She stopped and then frowned. "Actually, scratch that. There is another skill you can get, but it's one you didn't want."
"I didn't want it?" Hera tilted her head.
"Yeah. It was the skill that let you combine the blades into a mega weapon of sorts. But I explained it looked really weak. The skill was more or less shoe-horned in the Legacy, which resulted in doing something fun but a bit useless," the snake explained.
"Oh yeah. I remember that. Why is it useless?"
"Because you can only make either a sword or a spear with this. And all the blades involved in the fusion lose most of their skills. The only thing they do combine is their attribute and one skill from one of the blades. But that's not even empowered or anything, it's just the regular skill but stronger because of the scaling. And it can only happen with the blades. The title blades cannot be a part of this," Daskka continued.
"But like, is there any benefit in not getting the skill? What if we find something else that we can merge with it to make it even stronger?" Hera glanced to the side at the snake wrapped around her shoulders.
"That's possible, but I don't know where to start."
"Let's check the skill when we reach the tent. But for now, does anyone have any ideas what we might be able to do to make this stronger?" Hera glanced to the sides of the circle of weapons around her.
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To her right, Vash was going through a similar conversation with his own herald. The rest of the Harmony Guardians only hearing parts of their conversation as most of the participants could only be heard by those who the Legacies belonged to.
"Fucking hell. There's two of them now," Skyler rubbed her temples and turned to Flint, Roan, and Neria. "Please tell me the three of you are not talking with voices in your heads, too."
"It is not so much talking as it is understanding. The bestial armor has its own personality, depending on the animal I'm trying to channel," Roan admitted.
"I only hear the voices of the materials I'm working with. They tell me what they want me to do and what they want to become," Flint said with a satisfied expression.
Neria stared at Skyler for a moment before smiling. "The waves have much wisdom to share if you're willing to listen."
"This is a madhouse. A madhouse. I'm with people who should be committed," Skyler groaned.
That conversation happened while the group was moving towards the command tent at the back of the army. Aside from getting a chance to rest, they also had to report about all the Soldiers of Strength they fought, and especially Victoria. She seemed to know about Hera and there was a chance that she was even chasing after the Empress.
It took close to an hour for them to finally be ready to rest. Not only did the group have to cross a distance of about 5 km, but it also took time to find someone with a high enough position to report to. Which only served to make Hera upset with the situation. It seemed the Alliance had information about hit squads chasing after the Ophidianite Empress. She was, after all, the Aspirant Hero. Getting rid of her would be very good for morale and a blow to the Alliance at the same time.
However, the people who she met when she arrived in this room weren't aware of that information, which is why no one told her there was a hit on her head. If she knew, she would have been more careful. But now the cat was out of the bag. People knew she was around and it was likely that more and more people would be coming after her.
Eventually, the Harmony Guardians arrived at their tent so they could rest for a few hours. They were lucky the fight would be over before they had to get back into the field. Even if the humans would constantly be attacking, they also needed to sleep and rest. It was expected that when night came, everyone would return to their camps and prepare for the battles the next day.
After dropping their weapons in their tent, the same one the team had gathered their money to buy, Skyler, Neria, and Roan went to get something for them to eat and drink. Flint, on the other hand, was going after the cleaning crew. Both of them, the one responsible for gathering the corpses and their equipment, and the ones that could clean their gear. Everyone was covered in a deep layer of blood, sweat, and grime, and it would take some specialized spells for the armor to be properly cleaned.
That left Hera and Vash to talk with their respective Legacies and figure more things out about them. No one said anything, but it was an interesting contrast. On one side, someone who just got the Legacy and would start to learn about everything they could do. On the other, someone who was about to take the very last skill the Legacy had to offer. There was a part of the Empress who was excited about the idea of teaching someone the ropes. She wasn't there to help Bonnie since there was so much else going on and Alex created the Legacy by herself, meaning that the whole process of getting the old Legacy skills back was not available to the assassin.
Either way, the Ophidianite had one thing to check, and Vash needed time to hear the explanation from the herald. Even if Hera was able to give him some tips, nothing would be what the herald could tell him.
"Daskka, can I just get the skill I'm missing? That way, we don't have to keep playing this guessing game."
"Sure, Mum!" Daskka nodded and pulled the skill from the Legacy.
Convergence Of Blades - Legacy
With a command, fuse the power of multiple court weapons into a single blade, uniting their unique skills and scaling into a singular entity. Only one special skill from all weapons will be accessible, balancing their combined strengths without overpowering the blade. The fused blade gains an aura dealing extra damage based on the elements of all combined weapons. The converged weapon can only be a sword of a spear.
Maximum number of blades in the convergence: 4
All blades who were affected by skill become unavailable during the cooldown period.
"Okay. I understand why you're saying this is kind of bad. But the skill does have its good points," Hera nodded.
"I guess, but it's weird. Not to mention the convergence thing is not supposed to be a new weapon. All your blades are just going to stack on top of each other," Daskka explained.
"Well, I guess we have one way to figure out. Who wants to test the skill?" Hera turned to her court.
Sun, Glacia, Twiggy, and Robin stepped forward.
"Twiggy and Robin? I really don't know how the two of you are going to fit in this."
'We don't know either. That's why we want to try it out,' Robin replied.
'Besides, it sounds fun! We're going to become like a super giant robot combination!' Twiggy added.
"Okay then. Let me know what you guys think later," Hera focused on the [Convergence Of Blades]. When she called the skill, there was something telling her she should say the names of those involved. "Glacia, Robin, Twiggy, Sun."
The Empress did not think about the kind of weapon they would become, but as soon as she finished calling the skill, the four blades rushed towards each other as if they were being pulled by a magnet. Sun became the shaft, Twiggy and Robin were on the butt of the spear, first the bow, then the tiara like a latch. At the tip of the spear, Glacia became the actual edge of the weapon. In the end, it wasn't the cool-looking combination that everyone was expecting. Instead, it was as if a child had just glued the weapons together.
The end result was too big, unwieldy, and ugly. Still, Hera took a look at the combination.
[Converged Blades] - Twiggy - Robin - Sun - Glacia
Intelligence X 63.6 Endurance X 60.3 Charisma X 58.8
Strength X 46.8 Agility X 43.6 Luck X 36.8
Arcane Barrage: Robin can fire magic arrows that can be more powerful the more mana is used to fire them.
"I mean, the scaling is great, but only one skill. Robin, can you try to fire your arrows?"
'I can't. The part of my body that uses that skill can't move,' Robin replied. However, it wasn't just his voice. Twiggy, Sun, and Glacia all said the same thing at once. That created a cacophony inside of the Empress's mind.
"Yeah..." Daskka gave Hera a look that said 'Told you so.'
"You were right, this sucks. Maybe we can fix it with another skill. Keep an eye out if we ever get one that might interact with this," Hera sighed.
The Empress glanced towards Vash. Seemed like the harpy would still take some time before he was ready to talk about his Legacy. Not that she would pry, of course. Legacies were extremely personal, but she would be there in case he needed some help. Since she had time, she decided to take advantage of the moment and take a shower. Even if she was about to go back to her dirty clothes again, it was never a bad thing to feel refreshed.