Hera was currently in the middle of the woods by the volcano. She walked a few meters inside the forest, hoping to be hidden from any prying eyes. Before actually stopping to rest, she asked Daskka to spread out a thin layer of mist on the ground so that if anyone got close, they would sense it. The snake did just that, creating a sheet of thin mist that would be impossible to notice unless you pressed your head against the ground. Hera's court was also surrounding her. They were the second line of defense. Each of them was looking in one direction while at the same time, looking at the Empress.

"Mum, are you sure you want me to call Lurize? He won't be able to move, and it would take even longer for him to recover," Daskka wanted to confirm what Hera asked one more time.

"I understand that his recovery might take longer, but if I call him will he get hurt?" Hera asked.

Daskka shook her head, "No. Your blades don't feel pain. They can tell when something is hitting them, but that's it. Even I feel something closer to pain than they do. You can still talk to him, but you won't be able to move or do anything. That's why you can't call him yourself."

"You don't feel pain either? But I've seen you react like you did," Hera tilted her head.

"I don't. What I feel is pressure and my mana leaking. The reaction is… something that doesn't come from me, I think. It comes from… whoever I was before, but it's more like I'm reacting to something unpleasant, not pain," Daskka continued. She was now on Hera's lap, looking up to the Empress.

"I see... If it's not going to hurt him, can you call him? I really want to know what happened."

Daskka let out a sigh and looked to the ground, " Okay, mum."

Some mist left the snake's body and started to take the shape of the two-handed sword. However, it wasn't a complete object. The handle was in one piece, but the blade had been broken in two. As the shape became more and more vivid, Hera could tell that there were even some small shards of metal that had splintered when Releon snapped Lurize on his knee. However, the blade itself was mostly intact.

"Lurize? Can you hear me?" Hera asked.

'I can, Empress. But I cannot see you or move,' Lurize replied.

"What can you see?"

'The three top and some pieces of the sky,' he replied in her mind.

"Ok. Let me prop you up then…. Where are your eyes? Or whatever you use to see? The hilt or the blade itself?"

"In a situation like this, it would be the piece with the most mass. So since it's a two-handed sword, it would be the blade itself," Daskka explained.

"Okay. And the tip is the head? I never asked how your anatomy works, if there are any actual rules to it," Hera scratched her head.

'If I may, my Empress,' Core spoke up and got a nod from Hera in response, 'Each of us is different. But as a rule of thumb, as one would say, you can think of our eyes at the very edge of our blades, facing what you would consider forward.'

"Oh, so they are basically where I would expect them to be?" Hera asked.

'Yep. Although I'm a bit of a special case. My eyes are in my center of gravity, not in the edge of my blades,' Armory added. The tiara was the easiest one to imagine. For a moment, the image of all of her blades with googly eyes flashed on Hera's mind, making her chuckle.

"I understand now. Thank you," Hera smiled and turned back to Lurize, propping the broken blade up and placing him against one of the trees so they could talk face to blade, "Can you see me now."

'I can, Empress. I apologize for not being able to stand up by myself.'

"That's fine. And you are not in pain or anything, right?" Hera believed in Daskka, but she couldn't shake off the idea that being broken should hurt.

'I am unable to feel pain.'

Hera nodded, "Right then," her expression darkened, and she stared down at her first blade, "What happened back there? Why were you unable to hit Releon?"

'I was not fast enough.'

"You seem to be moving fine before the attack. And I even used my All In skill on you. Why did you fail to hit him? If it was me, I would've been able to strike the general, and we should have the upper hand during that ambush."

'I do not have an answer. I felt your skill and used all my strength to attack him. Yet, it wasn't enough,' Lurize's voice was still calm like it always was. That was something unique about him. The blade would always say things in the same tone of voice as if nothing could make him angry or happy, for that matter.

"Why did you attack from the ground? You could have hidden behind one of the other volcano tribesmen. Or, you could have tried an aerial attack. But you chose to go to the ground, which made you travel through the longest distance possible while being close to Releon before trying to attack. Were you trying to get caught? Because for someone who's always talking about how my movements are wrong when I'm using a weapon, this seems like too much of a rookie mistake for you to make."

'I would never go against your orders, my Empress. The plan was to kill the general, but I failed,' again, Lurize's voice didn't change even after being borderline accused of treason.

"He's right, mum. They can't do something like that. They can't do something that would put you in harm's way consciously. That won't change no matter the situation. You have the absolute loyalty of every member of your court," Daskka spoke up, trying to defend Lurize.

'That's true, Empress. I was in the back, but I could see that Lurize was doing the best he could,' Armory chimed in.

'They are right!' Scythe added.

"Do you all agree with that? Was Lurize doing the best he could?" Hera looked around, and all the blades seemed to agree. Hera was feeling very anxious about this situation, but she had to press on, " Very well then. This changes things. Lurize, tell me why I'm keeping a blade that can't perform the tasks I give it."

'I am unable to give you an answer. I don't know the motives for your decisions.'

"Then tell me this. You are supposed to be a teacher, an instructor. Tell me if keeping you as one of my blades is something I should do to get stronger. Is your advice worth risking myself like this? Or should I just ignore your existence during a fight and use only the others to help me?" Hera was doing her best not to look away from Lurize. She knew that the moment she saw Daskka or any of the other court members, all her bravery in handling the situation would be gone.

'That would be unproductive. You would be restricting yourself to receive the benefits that may not be worth the risk,' Lurize replied.

"Then, I think you understand what this means," Hera said.

"Mum!" Daskka gasped, but Hera just kept holding the snake on her lap. They both knew that if she wanted, Daskka could escape her grasp, but the Empress hoped this would be enough to let her adviser understand her intentions.

'I do. And I would like to thank you, my Empress, for the opportunity to exist again. I may not remember my previous existence, but I will never forget the moments we spent together.'

The other blades started to protest, even Beam, who was the quieter of the bunch, spoke up, but Hera wasn't having it, "Unless you have an actual argument against the logic of my decision, I ask you all to be quiet," the blades stopped talking allowing Hera to focus once more on Lurize. She steeled herself and started speaking in a cold voice, "Lurize, you have failed a task and proven that you are unable to help me anymore. And for that, I release you from your duties."

Unlike what happened when she changed her blades the last time, Lurize was still there, and there were no specks of light around him.

'Apologies, my Empress, but I am unable to leave unless you tell the real reason for my dismissal.'

"I just told you. You're too weak to help me. Having you occupy a slot in my court does not bring me enough benefits to keep you here."

'That is a lie. Unless you tell me the reason, I cannot go.'

"What do you mean it's a lie? You were there. You saw what happened. You failed to hit Releon, and that caused a massive issue for the operation. Everyone but me died, and I was beaten to shit. I have two black eyes, I don't even know how many bruises, and I'm pretty sure I broke some ribs when I was running. All because you couldn't do your job. Tell me, where in all of this is the lie?!" Hera's voice became more and more frantic as she recounted all the reasons why she had to get rid of the blade.

'What you said is the truth, and I accept it. Your injuries are my fault, but it's not the reason why you were letting me go.'

"Then what is the reason?" Hera gasped.

'I do not know. Why am I no longer a court member worth keeping?' Lurize asked.

"It's not that. You are worth keeping. It's just…."

'Just?'

"I can't keep being so precious with everything. I need to be able to make hard decisions. If I could do that, I could have sent the people from Bonpei first and let them be caught in the Trap instead of me being in the middle. So I have to be colder, I have to be ruthless, I have to be…."

"Like one of the people who were in that team?" Daskka left Hera's lap and floated at her eye level.

Hera finally stopped. She stared at Daskka for a long moment, processing what she had just heard, "No… I don't want to be like them."

'Why are you doing all this then?' Armory sounded frustrated.

"I thought that I had to be stronger. I thought that I had to be willing to do some harsh things," Hera replied.

'We may be new here, but making hard choices and doing harsh things don't sound like the same,' Scythe said.

"You all are right. They are... Different. I'm the wrong one," Hera slumped back, losing all her posture, trying to process what was going on. During the past months, she forced herself to fight against people inside a dungeon so she could be okay with the idea of being a murderer. However, at some point, she stopped trying to just live with what happened and started chasing ways to become numb to what she had done. In other words, she was no longer trying to be someone who killed the man by accident and had to live with it, but someone who was able to kill again without feeling any remorse. The worst part of it all was that she never realized the change in her goals. If it wasn't for her court and she kept pushing herself like that, it was very likely that she would eventually be just like those who were part of her temporary team. She would eventually turn into the very same thing she was trying so hard not to become.

"I'm sorry, everyone. Lurize, Forget all about it. I don't want you gone. I want you by my side, telling me how to fight and helping me out. What happened back there wasn't your fault. It wasn't mine either. We just got caught."

'Are you sure, Empress? If you believe you should replace me, I would understand,' Lurize asked.

"I am. You're part of the legacy because someone decided you were strong enough to become a titled blade. It would be like spitting on the previous legacy holder's faces if I let you go for petty reasons like I was going to. I'm sorry. I hope you can still help me learn and fight by my side in the future," Hera smiled, her voice becoming warm again.

'Thank you for giving me a second chance to be by your side. I'm extremely grateful for being able to continue serving you,' Lurize replied, but he still had that emotionless voice.

"It's not a second chance. It's the first one. You never lost any of your chances. I was the one who made mistakes. In the future, if you realize that I'm getting too far away from what I decided to do. Please let me know. This goes for all of you. If at any moment I seem to be getting lost, tell me. I promise I will listen to you," Hera turned to the rest of the court.

'Will do. Sorry I didn't say anything before. I honestly didn't realize you were strange,' Armory said, and both Core and Scythe agreed with her. Beam and Ooze commented that they noticed differences but not enough to be alarmed by anything.

Having finished that discussion, Hera and her court continue to rest in the forest. She focused on recovering her mana, and Lurize asked to be out while they were resting so he could keep everyone company. During that time, the court kept casting the Luminous Light Litany to recover the Empress as much as possible. After about one hour, Hera felt like she was rested enough to go back to Bonpei. Her mind was clearer now, and she understood that just trying to kill constructs wasn't the way to go, but she still had something to do here. With some luck, the city had yet to fall, and she could still complete the dungeon.