Devourer

Chapter 116: Weapon Tests

I held up the new Focii crystal as I stared at the new shape I designed. The Focii crystals were interesting to say the least. The old techniques resulted in a large allocation of ether just to stabilise the output. The natural crystals had a specific shape, or perhaps a rough specific shape would be more accurate. Since the Focii crystals are naturally formed ether crystals with a rare shape they were never perfect. One couldn’t cut an ether crystal like a sapphire or a ruby, trying to do so just causes an explosion if the ether crystal was charged or just breaking the crystal if it is uncharged.

But this Focii crystal was not a natural crystal, it was an artificial creation of mine. The biggest inefficiency of the past crystals was based on their imperfect shape resulting in an unstable power output. Thus any device utilising the unique properties of a Focii crystal needs many enchantments to stabilise the ether output. These Focii crystals are usually drained and then act as lenses for ether released by the user.

The shape was a specific one; it resembles a typical gem shape used for diamonds with an extended lower half creating an almost teardrop shape. The books I read indicate that the closer to this teardrop shape the Focii crystal was, the more powerful it was.

I looked down at the natural Focii crystal and noted how the teardrop shape was almost bent with numerous jagged protrusions. All these imperfections caused the ether to arc away in unpredictable and wasteful ways.

However, with this new Focii crystal all those problems are resolved. This one was perfectly shaped. I took some inspiration from some gem cuts used by normal jewelry. Of particular interest to me was the kind of cuts used in earrings and pendants since they often used a teardrop shape for their gems. Two designs that I have narrowed it down to were Briolette and Pampel cuts. The Briolette cut was rounder with less facets on the cut so it was cheaper to produce. The Pampel had more sharp angles and more facets, the Pampel was also much longer that the Briolette cut resembling closer to a spearpoint than a tear drop.

Both had slightly different properties; the rounded and shorter Briolette cut seemed better for Focii blades and as for the prototype guns I was making, I could edit the shape slightly to do something.

“Are we testing that one first?” I heard Cecilia ask from beside me.

I looked down and saw her staring at the gem with great interest, in fact she has been staring at all the gems with great interest.

“You really like gems huh?” I asked wryly and I saw Cecilia shoot me an amused look at my teasing jab.

“I will admit I am quite fond of gems. But I prefer the kind of gems that have certain magical applications.” Cecilia replied with a chuckle.

“So shall we get started, this Briolette gem has a weird effect when I do the cut like this.” I said as I turned away from the pedestals that held the testing crystals.

I walked over to a pair of devices, one was metal and the other was made of flesh, bone and carapace. Next to the metal one I saw Mahaila fiddling with the mechanism within the device.

“Final adjustments?” I asked as Mahaila turned around to look at me. I recently let Mahaila into the Black Box, it was a bit of a risk but she completed her end of the bargain. Also honestly some good faith would be a good idea. There was a demon hiding in the shadows influencing the pieces on the board, the Syndicate was basically under the board everywhere and nowhere at the same time, while Heaven was staring down at the board from above ready to flip the whole board at any time.

So I need powerful pieces to ensure we don’t get sacrificed like pawns. Mahaila told me the Syndicate has gone astray from the original path of the First Cult. They were obsessed with their little vendetta against the angels. Mahaila’s concern was the same as mine, if they were truly interested in helping me where the hell were they?

They could have showed up by now but they are deciding to hide. Mahaila tells me she knows where they are in Averlon now but she tells me it’s pointless to go after them. They will be long gone before we even arrive. They only appear when they want to. Of course I’m not stupid I know there may be some groups who slander the other groups. Every group needs me to turn the tide against heaven. So getting in my good graces was essential. Just from that it can be easily inferred there was a conflict of interest between the groups. Any faction could potentially undermine each other in my eyes and profit from it.

Yet the Syndicate knows Mahaila was here yet they continue to remain hidden. That can only mean one thing, they have a way to keep tabs on me. But I suppose that was something for later, Mahaila was already very forthcoming and I could tell she wasn’t lying about the Syndicate stuff.

“You ready?” I asked as I looked down at Mahaila who had her tongue slightly out as she tweaked something on the device.

“Almost… I’m not as good of an artificer as gramps but this should be fine…” Mahaila replied as I saw her hand turn then I heard a satisfying click.

“All good?” I asked and Mahaila nodded.

“These cheap materials aren’t easy to work with but it’s all we will have if we decide to mass produce it.” Mahaila said as she took the device off the mount that held it up. The device was of my design, Mahaila and Cecilia think it’s genius. Mahaila especially praised its ergonomics and the sight that allowed for more accurate aiming. They of course had no idea where I got this idea from. The device was basically a gun made from mithril and it had a wood stock body. At the tip of the barrel was a little module that could slot in a Focii crystal to change the firing pattern.

Mahaila hefted the prototype Focii gun and placed it against her shoulder. As she tested the sight to ensure it was working.

“Modeling this similar to a crossbow was a good idea, I was going to build it like a staff but this is far better.” Mahaila admitted as she lowered the gun and removed the module at the tip. The module was basically a cylinder to house the Focii crystal and you were supposed to attach it to the tip of the gun. I handed her the Focii crystal and she placed it into the little brace in the module.

“This the scatter shot one?” Mahaila asked as she checked the dials on the side of the gun.

“Yeah, I changed the angles on it slightly, it should increase the accuracy now.” I replied and Mahaila nodded as she took up a firing position. As she did so the nearby fleshy wall opened revealing a prisoner who was gagged and blindfolded. A nearby Adjutant research assistant affixed a mithril breastplate onto his chest as he squirmed in his restraints.

“Another rapist?” Mahaila asked.

“Murderer actually, this guy caught his wife cheating so he killed her and the guy that was sleeping with her with an axe.” I replied as the assistant finished fixing the chest plate.

Mahaila has mixed feelings about this human test subject thing. But I could tell each time I told her their crimes she seemed to relax a little. Perhaps the fact that these were all condemned criminals helped soothe her conscience. Well she wouldn’t have to deal with this much anyway, I have started shipping pig carcasses to the Black Box. Crime was down, like way down, the Empire was now probably the safest nation in the world. I got like two condemned criminals last month and only one the month before. If mandatory volunteer test subjects were an industry it would be in free fall. So now I have to settle for pigs and only use the actual criminals for the final tests.

“If you are using that one I assume you are confident that this design will work?” Cecilia asked as she crossed her arms and looked at the squirming man.

“Well I plan to use him twice. The scatter shot crystal isn’t that effective at this range anyway.” I replied and Mahaila took aim.

“Remember to be fast on the sedative.” Mahaila said as she turned to glance at me and I smirked as I saw her give me a glare in response.

“Yeah, I know I don't have many of these guys left. Have to make the most of what I have.” I replied and Mahaila paused as she turned to look at me.

“I’ve wanted to ask this, but why don’t you make some human torsos to test?” Mahaila asked as she raised a brow.

“Already tried, the pain response isn’t right. Not sure what it is but those fake bodies don’t really react properly to damage.” I said and Mahaila turned away for a moment as if thinking. Then after a brief pause she raised the gun again as she took aim.

“Scatter shot, test seventeen.” Mahaila said as she made final adjustments.

“Ready whenever you are.” I replied and I saw a flash of blue as the gun fired. It released a spray of small beams of ether energy. The man screamed into his gag as he was absolutely peppered with the beams.

“Oh quiet you big baby.” I said as I sent the message into the hive to knock him out. The damage was minor at this distance. He was only screaming because one of the shots hit his eye. The mithril plate deflected all of the shots and some of the shots hit the man’s limbs. The burns were shallow and he was in no immediate danger.

“Accuracy is better.” Cecilia remarked as we began walking over to the now unconcious man.

“Power too by the looks of it.” I added as I stared at the burns. It went through the skin and a good portion of the muscle but it didn’t reach bone on the biceps. “Shallow wounds, this is probably only effective at extremely close range.” Mahaila noted.

“Hmm then I think we may need to reevaluate this scatter shot idea, doesn’t seem that effective.” I said as I gazed at the slightly injured body of the man.

“Back to the drawing board I suppose.” Mahaila said as she looked at the nearby hive assistant who approached and healed the wounds.

“Perhaps a more portable design. Like you pull it out of your pocket and you just fire it into your target’s face.” I replied. Mahaila and Cecilia paused for a moment before nodding slightly.

“Yes, that could work. I’ll look into it.” Mahaila said as we shifted our attention to the mithril breastplate. The assistant was taking it off but just from the front it looks like the shots were blocked by the mithril plate. After a quick examination it was revealed that none of the bolts penetrated to any decent degree. It wasn’t that good of a result honestly considering this one was unenchanted.

“Now onto the more exciting one.” I said and Cecilia smirked as we turned away from the limp body.

Mahaila did the same with the other crystal and attached it onto the gun. This was the Pampel cut gem and it was designed for a more general purpose. It would be your standard rifle that fires a single, accurate and high powered shot. This crystal was wide at the base but narrowed into small points where the beam would appear, concentrating the ether as it travelled from the base to the tip.

“Wake that wretch up.” Cecilia said and the assistant nodded as the fleshy wall dispensed this cocktail of chemicals into the man through a tube that was attached to his back. The man stirred and his eyes widened as he saw Mahaila aiming the rifle at him again. He started to thrash again, it was unfortunate but that split moment of pain helped me gauge the pain based on the jumping of the vitals. If something hurts enough it can incapacitate even if it does not kill.

“Standard piercing, test fifty four.” Mahaila said and the assistant nodded in recognition.

The mithril breastplate has only taken superficial damage and most importantly the part Mahaila was aiming at was untouched so it could be reused. Once the breastplate refixed onto the man’s chest Mahaila fired. This one was a bright blue bolt that shot in a clean straight line. I saw the shot hit the breastplate right where the heart would be and I saw a flash as the bolt hit the wall behind the man. I could see this smoking hole in the breastplate and the man went limp. The shot went straight through the breastplate, into the heart and right out the other side.

“I guess we can try it with an enchanted breastplate now.” Cecilia muttered as she stared at the corpse.

“Yes, that went right through.” Mahaila admitted as we observed the smoking hole in the breastplate.

“Well at least we have something to test out if Veria act’s any stupider…” Cecilia muttered as she rolled her eyes.

“Why did you get a reply?” I asked, it was about two weeks after the meeting and I have been holed up here ever since. So I had no idea what was going on in the political sphere.

“Yes…” Cecilia replied with a small sigh.

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“Veria is perhaps the most isolated of the nations yet they insist on defying me. Jaria bent the knee, Vororia and Boria decided to ally with the Lizardkin in a coalition to defend against the Empire as expected. Also they gave the land back to prevent war. So if our first little scheme doesn’t work then we may eventually get to test out this new technology in the field.” Cecilia said.

“At least the other three made wise decisions but why didn’t Veria join the coalition?” I asked and Cecilia gave me a small smirk in response.

“The Lizardkin refused to join if Veria was included. It makes sense, Veria is impossible to defend in the event of a war so the Lizardkin don’t want to risk getting dragged into a continental war over a lost cause.” Cecilia replied.

“Hmmm… makes sense.” I admitted as my mind wandered to the little scheme we had concocted. The underlying objective was still to come across as benevolent so assassinating the entire court or directly blockading them and starving them was not the first option on the table…

“I guess I’ll get ready to deploy the blight across Voleria, nothing like a little famine relief to buy us karma points with the angels. Hopefully the Volerians will love us after this. Now we just gotta wait until it rains then I can deploy it. Gotta make it look convincing.” I said and Cecilia nodded.

“I will start shipping food into the greater Volerian region on the pretence of emergency food stores for averting famine and social aid for displaced citizens in Tralis and Beralis.” Cecilia replied with a nod.

“Great, with any luck this will be enough to get most of them on our side. Afterall…” I said as my smile widened and the clicking sound of fangs striking each other echoed out into the room.

The key to someone’s heart is their stomach…

I know this all too well…

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