An unfortunate meeting

Hera moved quickly across the battlefield. More specifically, Nimbus was the one running, with the Empress on his back. It didn't take long for them to locate the blue-haired woman they saw before. She attacked one of the warehouses and was now running back towards the mist, followed by a large hand that carried a few boxes. If this person was Blue, she could've flown away with one of the clouds, but maybe the weight of the boxes was too much for her. Or she was worried about being attacked by the archers spread around the army camp.

Diving inside the mist, which should be just a large cloud, Nimbus followed the woman for a few more meters. When they got close enough, Hera leaped from the Sentinel, tackling the human and rolling on the ground with her for a moment before they were able to face each other.

The Empress held on a scream when she saw the woman's face, but still spoke in a shouted whisper, "What the hell are you doing, Blue?!"

"He-Hera? Why are you here?" Blue gasped.

"There are my people! Why are you here? Don't tell me you believe all that crap about humans being better than everyone else," Hera huffed.

"No. No! Of course not. But… I can't," Blue looked around and made a gesture with her hand. One that they would use when they were in the Abyssal Deep when asking the Empress to make a soundproof bubble.

Hera squinted, but did as the controller asked. At the same time, some of the surrounding mist became more solid and formed a spinning dome around them. One of the skill that Blue used before. It was a defensive barrier that stopped people from coming in or out. It also had the benefit of hiding whatever was happening inside. The Ophidianite knew that this could also work as a localized storm to make Blue's legacy even more powerful.

"Now talk. Are you really on the guild's side?" Hera asked, still on top of Blue, holding her friend down.

Blue weakly shook her head, "No. At least not by choice," she glanced down, "Can you get off me? It's hard to breathe like this."

"Are you going to talk? Or are you just saying this to run?" Hera asked.

Blue paused for a moment, "Talk… Do you really don't trust me anymore?"

Hera stepped back and helped her friend get up, "I'm not saying that, Blue. Things are just... A mess. My team was ambushed before they got here. And there was this dude with red skin that kept regenerating. He almost killed me," the Empress admired.

Blue's eyes went wide, "Are you ok? Your court couldn't help you?"

"They did, but he was still able to neutralize all of them. Nimbus is the only one that is not too injured to move around. Among the titled blades at leas. Oh, and Vulcan too, but he couldn't get close."

"Vulcan?" Blue asked.

"It's a new one. I hope you can meet him someday, but he is not great with humans. There are other two new ones too, the dagger that I got from the Naga hard mode dungeon," Hera explained.

"I can't blame him. Humans aren't great. And I'm sorry you faced Delta. I'm glad you are ok," Blue sighed.

"You know him?"

"I know about him," Blue made sure to emphasize the word 'about,' "And that information only reached me today."

"What is he? That red skin. I didn't see any tattoos or something of the sort. Did he take something or what?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I heard him say something about a tattoo that had the same color as his skin. He is a prototype of the Soldiers Of Strength program that the New Dawn is working on. They are saying they found a way to bind a Spirit to a person without having to worry about it turning into a Daemon. Honestly, the propaganda is really well made. If I didn't know any better, I would think this is a great idea."

"Really? You would say that this is a good thing?" Hera frowned.

"The way they are marketing it, yeah. New Dawn is saying they found the Strength Spirits and created a massive green house around their habitat, and are using the energy that leaks out of them to create tattoos that connect people to the habitat in general. The idea is to train soldiers, help them learn a skill to make it easier to cast spells constantly and use the tattoo as a catalyst for the mana. Delta is supposed to be a prototype because he can't control how much mana he takes at any time. Which means he will eventually go past the point where his body can withstand that."

"But that's not what they are doing!" Hera yelled.

"I know!" Blue rubbed her forehead, "Dammit, Hera. I know. I know those are all lies. I know they are using the other species as the middleman and I know that the program is making Daemonic Soldiers. I know the guild and the New Dawn are the bad guys."

"Then why are you working for them?"

Blue looked down, unable to face her friend, "Things are not going great back on Earth."

"How so?"

"The guild is making a lot of propaganda about what happened. Using the Last Line of Defense like a bogeyman that is going to steal our planet. The explorers know that's bullshit, and some did try to say it was a lie, but the guild cut them off and it's hard to go against media companies that are controlling the narrative. Every civilian is scared of the dangerous species that live in the MAZE, and the explorers either join the ideal, afraid that they will lose their place in the MAZE. Or they just vanish. I imagine that a part of those are going to the Alliance, but I've heard about some 'free cities' that are no longer affiliated with the guild, while not going against the other species, too."

"How did they change all that so quickly? I mean, it's been what? 3-4 months since the war started. That's way too little time to brainwash people like that."

"I don't know. Some people say they are using some mind control magic. Not like, do what I say kind of thing, but making their words more believable, and making the fear people feel stronger. It's subtle enough to go unnoticed, which means that shouldn't affect anyone who traveled through the MAZE for a bit. But people who are still level 1…" Blue shook her head and finished the thought, "Or at least, that's the only possibility that makes sense. Because like you said, it's only been a few months. The change was too drastic. Is too much of a mob mentality kind of thing."

"And where do you fit? I know you don't believe that bullshit, and the mind control shouldn't affect you or whatever. Why are you here?" Hera pressed. She realized that after they recognized each other, Blue refused to look into her eyes.

"I'm sorry… I'm not as strong as you."

"What does that have to do with anything? And you always were stronger than me. Maybe not if my court helps, or right now after the power level I went through, but still," Hera replied.

"You were power leveled? What level are you now?"

"56. How about you?"

"Damn. I'm still at 48. It's no wonder I couldn't break free right away when you tackled me. Wait. Not I should. Do you have any active buffs right now?" Blue asked.

"I had a couple, but they ran out. One was a pure Strength buff," Hera blinked slowly, "Stop changing the subject. What you being strong have to do with anything?"

Blue sighed, "I wasn't talking about levels. You gave up everything, and everyone, to save Silah, then to become an Ophidianite. I can never do that."

"What are you talking about?" Hera frowned.

"You left everyone behind, everything. I can never do that. I can never abandon my family."

Hera rubbed her temple, "Blue… What exactly do you think I gave up?"

"Your family?"

"My dad is in the MAZE, my grandmother is dead, and you know about my mother. Again, what did I gave up?"

"Your friends?"

"I barely talked with anyone when I was back on earth. The people from my school were all assholes, and the people I worked with were coworkers at best. The people who I truly consider my friends are those I met during training."

"Your… freedom? Like you can't travel around the world anymore," Blue's voice had lost all her confidence, and she knew this argument was a stretch.

"Oh no, if I want to see something on earth I'll she to use videos, or pictures. I guess I'll have to be satisfied with the endless number or rooms that can take us from the depths of the ocean to the literal fucking moon," Hera rolled her eyes.

"Then… what did you give up on?" Blue frowned.

"Nothing! I'm not asking why you are helping the guild to judge you. I want to understand what is going on with you. I know you wouldn't be trying to kill people if there wasn't a good reason for it. I just want to know the reason," Hera replied.

Blue looked into Hera's eyes for the first time since they met, "Hera…" she lunged to give her friend a hug. Despite being in the middle of a battlefield, they needed that moment. Eventually, the controller let the Empress go and brushed away a tear, "But I'm sorry to say, it's not a good reason. It's a selfish one."

"That's fine. No one needs to be a saint," Hera was getting more worried by the minuted. She couldn't be mad because of the possibility that Blue helped kill members of the Alliance. After all, she had killed humans. But that didn't mean she liked the fact that her friend was involved in all of this.

"Do you remember Peter? That asshole that was threatening us because we are close to you after you saved those people in the lab?"

Hera nodded, "Yeah."

"So, after I came home, he started harassing me. Saying I was lying about having killed you, which, like, fine, he was right. But he didn't know that. Eventually, he went after my family. He cornered my dad at his work and kept asking if we were part of the Last Line of Defense. I got pissed and went to the guild. Telling them to hold back their dog. They did as I asked, but apparently that made information about me going up the command chain. Including the fact I have a weather-based legacy. A couple of days after I got Peter to stop messing with us, another person came. Janna Ivanova," Blue sighed.

"Frostbite? Why is she making house calls?"

"I don't know. Apparently she was on vacation, or something, and they asked her for help since she met me before. At least, it was better than speaking with one of the bureaucrats. She was more direct. I was being drafted into the army. If I refused, they would draft my family. Her words were, 'Four people should be enough to cover one legacy holder at my level.' Well… she said your level, but you get the point."

"Can the guild even do that? Draft people like that?"

"Can they do that? I don't know. But they are doing it. If someone refuses, one of their servers is 'hacked' and the list of people who refused to help the guild is leaked. Then the public pressures them into either leaving the city, or joining. My dad has his shop, and we own our house. We could give all that up, but the problem is my baby sister. Sure she is 14, but if an entire family is forced to go to the army, who is going to take care of her? Best-case scenario, she is shipped to live with my grandparents in Brazil. In the worst case… people are talking about this boarding school, controlled by the guild where all the kids of families that are in the army are being sent to. I can only imagine the kind of brainwashing that is happening there. Leaving wasn't much of an option."

"Did you talk with them? I don't think they would appreciate you sacrificing yourself just so it won't be annoying to them."

"I did. We decided to run, but it would still take a while for us to leave, and Frostbite was waiting outside of my house. I went out and said I was going to join, as a lie, of course. It was just a way to send her away. But she added that if I refused or lied about that, they would draft my family. And if they refused, she would personally leak the information that my family was conspiring with the Last Line of Defense. That was basically a death threat. Even if we were in a small town in the middle of nowhere. That kind of things is all over the news. And since I have a legacy, I know they would just send a high level explorer to kill me so that power is still in play. Trying to tell people about what is going on "

"Fuck, Blue. And no one is going against all that?" Hera gasped.

"People try, but anyone who dares ask 'are the other species really that bad,' is shunned. Some of the explorers tried to organize a protest. But a mob of civilians showed up and started attacking them. Not even the police of the guild. The civilians themselves were going after them."

"What level were them? I mean, a bunch of civilians shouldn't be an issue."

"That's not the problem, Hera. We still have rules about not hurting civilians, you know that. And if we hurt them on purpose or even by accident, it's considered more of a crime than if we fought each other. So the moment one person fought back, the police got involved, arresting all explorers. Then all the guild had to do was label a few of them as terrorists and Alliance sympathizers. Any other groups hoping to join the protest gave up. The only thing that stops things from being completely hopeless is the fact that other countries are giving more push back to those ideas. So most of the guild's armies are focused on the rooms around here."

"Which means we might be able to redirect some of our troops," Hera nodded.

"Maybe. Or maybe they were hoping someone spills that information so they can deploy troops on weakened areas," Blue admitted.

"Do you think that's what they are doing?"

"I honestly don't know. Aside from what Frostbite told me, and the thing about the Soldiers Of Strength, the guild is not telling me anything. That information is just news, and things I saw myself. But if they are controlling everything to the point of brainwashing people, who's to say I'm not being controlled to say this."

Hera nodded, "Yeah. I can understand. Still, I'll share that information. What the Alliance does with it is beyond me. I'm not high enough to have an actual say."

"Are you sure about that? I heard some rumors about the 7th seat of the Alliance Council. Apparently it belongs to the Snake Empress."

Hera groaned, "Oh, fuck me."

The two of them chuckled, in a rare moment of peace during this conflict. Still, they knew this couldn't last. Not right now. Maybe when this was all over, they could talk about their days, about their new items or skills. But today, despite everything, they were enemies. The realization dawned on both of them just and Blue spoke up.

"I need to go. The longer I stay here, the more likely I am to get in trouble. Besides, my legacy is holding the cloud in the ground to make the mist."

Hera nodded, "Me too. I left some people fighting Delta. They seemed stronger than me, so I don't think they are hurt, but I should check on them."

The two women gave each other a hug one more time and left. Each taking half of the supplies stolen by Blue. The humans would be getting some of the ammo, a few blankets and some soap, while the medicine and mana crystals stayed back with Hera. With a bittersweet smile, the Ophidianite and her friend exchanged a glance before dropping the barriers and returning to their side of the conflict, hoping they would never meet like this again.