thomasdarkrose
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Fabricator v2 - Chapter 19
🕑 Added 2023-08-22 03:24:46 +0000 UTCJunichiro spent some more time experimenting with his Sacred Gear before calling a stop to it. Or at least, a stop to making various different swords to test what he could do. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that size didn't matter with one of the experiments. As long as the thing he made could be identified as a 'sword' it could be small enough to fit on a charm bracelet. That, in and of itself, gave him a plethora of ideas.
Now though, he was using his diagnostic wands to perform scans of himself. He wanted to see what, if any, changes he needed to be aware of with his own body and soul. It was also his first chance to scan someone with a Sacred Gear within their body. If he was going to extract Boosted Gear from Issei, preferably without killing the guy, he would need to know a lot more about how a Sacred Gear was attached to a soul. Once he knew how it was attached, he could figure out how to detach it.
It wasn't just Issei he wouldn't mind stealing a Sacred Gear from. There were plenty of good ones out there and if he could take them from their owners, he could make life a lot easier for everyone. Joining Rias' peerage just meant he would be much more likely to run into those people. Or was it because Issei was the Red Dragon Emperor? Well, either way, he could get his hands on ones like Annihilation Maker, Blade Blacksmith, Dimension Lost, Night Reflection, and so on from just the dicks in the Hero Faction. God he wanted to stomp those idiots SO badly. Stealing all of their Sacred Gears would render them non-entities.
It could also be used to help, such as in the case of Gasper. Poor kid had an amazingly powerful Sacred Gear that could stop time. But he was too weak to control it properly for quite a while. If he could take it out and just set it to the side for a while, Gasper would no longer fear it freezing the world and leaving him alone and could focus on growing stronger. Once he was strong enough it could be given back and trained with. Not to mention it would also stop one of the dumber plots early on in the canon, the events during the peace talks.
So, yeah. Being able to harmlessly remove Sacred Gears from people would be an excellent option to have at his disposal. He was sure he could figure out things to do with them, even if he couldn't, or wouldn't, install all of them inside of himself. Though if he stole True Longinus from Cao Cao, he was definitely keeping that one for himself.
The information he received from the scans didn't tell him a huge amount of information, but it did give him some. His previous scans, made to help construct better prosthetic arms and measure the growth of his magical core, had shown his body was made up of three distinct pieces. Those were his physical body, spiritual body or soul, and what he was dubbing the 'Magical Nervous System.' Unlike what one might expect, he didn't just have a 'core' within his meta-physiology that contained his mana. Rather it was that, plus a system throughout his body that allowed magical power to move through it. How else would the energy move to different parts of his body?
Now though, there was a fourth, metaphysical, part added to his body, the Sacred Gear. According to his scans it was located right next to his soul, sharing the same 'space' within him. They weren't totally intertwined or anything like that, but they were definitely connected and he could see how removing it wrong would kill someone. Damage to the soul was inherently worse than damage to the physical body. Given everything he knew the soul contained, that made perfect sense to him.
He'd need to scan a few more people with Sacred Gears, but from his initial findings, he was pretty certain he could remove his own Sacred Gear without killing himself. Doing it damage free and with ease though? Definitely needed more study and examples.
He set his tools back in their places and hummed to himself as he considered the things he'd learned today. It was only the loud sound of his stomach roaring for attention that drew him out of his contemplation. He decided to call it a night and made his way out of the workshop. As he stepped outside he saw that night had fallen, and fallen quite some time ago by the looks of it.
Stepping into the house revealed all was quiet. Mittelt was likely asleep already given the time. He felt kind of bad about that since he was supposed to be the one making her dinner. Normally she would have just stormed into his workshop and demanded he stop whatever he was doing and cook for her. He kind of found it a bit cute when she acted all snobbish and imperious with him, but only because he knew she was joking. At the same time, she also gave him his space when he was busy with something extra important or deep diving into something new and lost track of time.
Just a few more reasons to like her enough to date her.
He decided he would go all out tomorrow night and make her a kick ass dinner. Which brought him neatly to the next problem. There really wasn't much left in the house for a quick grab and go meal. They'd both been lazy about shopping the last few days and silently competing to see who could make a good dinner with the scraps left in the kitchen. To make a decent meal would require him to do some actual cooking, something he was not in the mood for.
Seeing no other option, he made the decision to go out and pick something up from a twenty-four hour store. Earlier he was thinking about how he needed to man up and be willing to leave the house by himself. However, he wasn't going to leave right away. Instead, he turned around and made his way back to his workshop.
Once inside he started gathering supplies. The first thing he grabbed was his newest upgraded 'utility belt.' It was similar to the one he'd made in the graveyard previously, but upgraded with new materials and more storage space. Once it was wrapped around his waist, he opened a cabinet and smiled as he looked at the weapons contained within.
Within the supernatural world, the most common weapon of mankind, guns, were generally useless against anything above Low-Class. Granted it depended on the caliber of the weapon and the individual being shot, but as a general rule of thumb, Mid-Class and above were immune to handgun fire. Someone like Azazel could laugh in the face of a shelling from a battleship's cannons. If they could even hit him in the first place. Another general rule of thumb is that if the being is strong enough then it's unlikely that anything non-magical can even scratch them. The most powerful could also require equally powerful magical items to harm, generally.
Artificers were all used to dealing with beings of power and knew little tricks to get around such things. In this case, Junichiro had used that knowledge to craft himself several magical guns with various designs. For tonight... He grabbed a revolver modeled after a Colt Single Action Army, better known as the Peacemaker. Though his version was slightly modernized with a better grip. Thanks to the gun being a forty-five caliber, he was able to design all kinds of various bullets to go with it.
He collected a holster for it that had a clip and stuck it onto his belt at the small of his back where it would be out of sight once he slipped on a light jacket. With the holster in place, he opened the chamber of the revolver and double checked to make sure it was empty. Which, of course it was. He would never put away a loaded weapon, that was just asking for trouble. He left the cylinder opened to load it with ammo from a drawer he pulled open below the cabinet. Within the drawer lay an array of various different looking bullets, all the same uniform size. Unlike a normal bullet that was likely to have either a lead or copper coated bit of bullet sticking out of the top, all of the bullets within the drawer had tips that looked like colored glass.
Each color represented a different magical element. When fired the bullets that left the barrel of the gun were not solid slugs but rather compressed magical spells for various elements. The red bullets would launch a compressed bolt of fire. The light blue ones launched ice. The yellow ones, which he collected and began loading into the revolver, fired out bolts of pure light. He chose the light rounds because while they were extra effective against devils and other creatures of darkness, there were actually very few things they wouldn't at least hurt.
Once the revolver was loaded and in its holster, he collected his next weapon, a massive clip point Bowie knife with a twenty-five centimeter long blade. He slipped the clip on the sheath into the right side of his belt and used a string on the tip of the sheath to tie it in place against his leg. Between the revolver, massive knife, and all the items stored in his belt, he was prepared for war.
Was it overkill for just going to the convenience store down the street? Ab-so-fucking-lutely. Did he care? Not in the least. The last time he'd left the house in the night to get food, he'd lost his arm. Something he'd grown more suspicious of over the last year. It seemed odd that Azazel, or one of the other fallen, hadn't noticed the stray devil lurking about. He had no proof, but if he ever found any he would find a way to make Azazel pay.
Anyway, he was fully aware that what he was doing was paranoid, possibly stupid, and definitely overkill. He just didn't care and couldn't bring himself to leave the house, alone, for the first time in over a year without being armed to the teeth. Even though he was one hundred percent certain there were no stray devils within fifty kilometers, he made a detector a long time ago, he was still going to be armed for bear, as the saying went.
Once he felt armed enough, he grabbed a light jacket to help cover his gun, activated an enchantment to make people ignore his belt and the huge knife in plain view, then made his way toward the gate at the end of his driveway. Walking around on his property wasn't an issue, he'd warded the place as much as he could a few days after moving in and had upgraded the wards constantly as he got stronger or thought of something new to add. He felt pretty safe behind them and would get a warning if anyone entered his property from any direction.
When he reached the gate he came to a stop and observed the street through the metal bars. He hadn't been past this point alone since that night. He took a deep breath, held it for a few moments, and then released it. Before his courage could fail him, he opened the gate and stepped past the threshold. He was as prepared as he could be, come what may.
-----Line Break-----
Despite the melodrama he put himself through, Junichiro returned home within half an hour of leaving and hadn't run into any kind of issue. He'd left, arrived at the store, got some food, and returned home, all without anything happening. Just like hundreds of thousands of other people country wide were doing at the same time. He knew how irrational his fear was. That was the thing about irrationality, it just didn't make any sense, ever.
As he stepped back in through the main door, he was surprised to see Mittelt standing there with a smile on her face, “Well well well, look at you. All grown up and going out all by yourself at night.”
Junichiro rolled his eyes and walked past her, “Shut up and come to the dining room. I've got enough to share.”
He hadn't been able to decide what he wanted to eat so he'd grabbed anything and everything that caught his attention. Sushi, Onigiri, Instant Ramen, and Shrimp Chips just to name a few random things. Once he had everything unpacked, he took of his utility belt and hung it on an empty chair. Mittelt eyed the belt and the two very obvious weapons hanging from it, “Isn't that a bit much?”
Junichiro shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe, but it made me feel safer so...”
Mittelt mimicked his shoulder shrug and dropped the line of questioning. Instead she switched to something even more embarrassing, “So, have you decided where to take me for our first date?”
Junichiro instantly blushed and began to fidget while trying to focus on his food, “Not yet. I was kind of busy with that order and then playing with Sword Birth.”
Mittelt smirked a little at making him blush. Despite how mature he could be at times, at others he acted exactly as his age would dictate, “You know, you never really explained why you wanted Sword Birth. Wouldn't a different Sacred Gear be stronger?”
Junichiro made a so-so motion with his hand, “It all depends. For me, I think Sword Birth is just about the best possible Sacred Gear for me to have. With my abilities, skills, and knowledge, I can design rather impressive swords in my mind and then conjure them up with Sword Birth. All without having to spend anything but my magical power. I grant it's not as amazing as a Longinus, nor as powerful, but most Longinus lack something that Sword Birth has in spades.”
“What's that?”
“Flexibility and Utility. Take a Longinus like Dimension Lost. Sure, teleportation and dimensional control are really powerful abilities. Like destroy the world powerful. But it's also limited to just that and it lacks any form of direct combat power. Sure, it can transport people to the Dimensional Gap and kill them that way, or into a fake dimension where they starve to death, or something similar, but it's not going to kill them head on. It also can't do things like healing, enhancing the abilities of others, or any number of other things not related to its main abilities.”
“So you're implying that Sword Birth can do that?”
Junichiro leaned back in his chair, “I'm not one hundred percent sure what the limits of Sword Birth are. I do know a few nifty things though. For example...”
He held up his hand and in a flash of golden light a tiny sword appeared in the palm of his hand. The blade almost looked like a cross necklace with its size. An image that was reinforced by the fact that there was a long loop of chain attached to the pommel. The longsword style blade looked like a miniature version of the flaming sword he'd made earlier, complete with a red Hihi'irokane blade.
He held the necklace up for Mittelt to get a better look at it, “For example, the size of the swords made are irrelevant as long as they can be recognized as a sword. This particular sword has the ability to absorb fire thereby protecting the person wearing it from flames until it can't take any more and shatters.”
Mittelt arched and eyebrow at that and closely observed the sword necklace, “Okay, I can kind of accept that this small thing counts as a sword, but how the hell did you make it into a necklace?!”
He smirked at that, “All kinds of swords have all kinds of decorative things on them. For example, a Chinese nine ring broadsword has, oddly enough, nine rings pierced through the spine of the sword. Others have decorative tassels and bits of chain hanging from the pommels. This is just an extension of that. It's just an exceedingly long and delicate pommel chain that happens to come back around to form a loop.”
Mittelt looked at him in surprise at that, “So... you're basically scamming the system to make things most people wouldn't think to make?”
Junichiro's grin grew wide, “Exactly. I mean, as long as it's a sword I can make it into just about any shape I want. I could even, hypothetically, make a sword in the shape of a ring. Just a small sword like this one,” He hefted the necklace, “But bent into a circle like a ring would be.” He set the necklace down in front of her, “Or what about making a pair of knuckle dusters with a collapsible super thin rapier blade built into them? I don't, technically, have to extend the blade for that to count as a sword. How about a sword completely covered in crosses to kicking the shit out of a devil? The possibilities are endless. So, while Sword Birth might not be Longinus class in raw power, I'd argue it's Longinus class in sheer versatility.”
Mittelt let out a low whistle as she went over the mentioned possibilities in her mind, “I can see why you'd be so interested in getting your hands on one now.”
He pushed the necklace across the table towards her, “Keep that, it's not super amazing, but if anyone throws surprise fire at your face it can protect you long enough for you to move. Just don't count on it protecting you from a ton of fire.” Once she collected it, he continued, “All of that doesn't take into account one super important question.” When she looked at him, his grin turned from playful to flat out wicked, “What happens when I include my rune schemes into the swords I create?”
Mittelts eyes bulged as the very idea slammed into her mind. She did not understand runes and could not even guess at what they did without Junichiro explaining them. That said, she had seen them used in a lot of his work and their versatility combined with their potential power blew her mind. Adding in the ability to have them added to the swords he summoned was a mind boggling idea that kind of terrified her. She had no doubt that once he got used to Sword Birth, he would be a force to reckoned with and she would cease to be stronger than him.
Junichiro grinned at the look of shock on Mittelt's face slowly turning into dawning comprehension and then a small bit of fear. He still hadn't testing impregnating runes directly into the creations for Sword Birth, but he saw no reason that it wouldn't be possible. If his eyes hadn't started to feel so dry and his body wasn't telling him to get some sleep, he'd stay up the rest of the night and do nothing but create swords and test theories. Sadly, it looked like he would need to wait until tomorrow.
It would be a glorious day.
Comments
Cody S.
Until this comment, I hadn't even thought of aging Mittelt up a bit, at least looks wise. So... a cosmetic ageing potion? Something for me to think about. Though it can't happen until there's at least one incident of someone calling a 17-18 year old Juni a lolicon. Just for the comedic value.
King hand axe
A short but sweet upload. Wonder how long it is before Millet tells him why she's worried about dating him and how long before he makes an permanent aging potion.
We are truly blessed this day with a double upload
