Steel and Mana

Chapter 309 – Blood Weapons

When the call arrived and they heard about the experiment, Avalon’s elite stepped forward as a unit, volunteering to be the test subject for a better future for their comrades. Which, in turn, gave Merlin a headache. He expected some zeal, yes, but not the fact that the entire army signed up at once, including Pion, Oleg, and Polo, who already had a tattoo for his mech. It took him a few days to randomly select a few soldiers, akin to a lottery Leon had created once, doing it while constantly mumbling under his breath.

“Boneheads… if everyone comes away to be tested on, who will defend the Pass? Tsk…”

In the end, a dozen had been chosen for the first tests, ranging from fresh recruits who had just been assigned to the Pass to veterans who had been there when Leon was still a young boy. They were transferred away quickly, leading them to the underground, hidden facility, the same place where the Camelot was built. By then, it was undergoing refurbishing, switching its installments to start constructing mechs, making them sure to be ready when an adequate monster core became available. With the freed-up space, a bloc was now directly under Merlin’s control, prepared for applying the tattoos and letting them test out its compatibility with their Mark II armor set; as for the weapons… that would have to wait, as it would be done at an abandoned field. Merlin wouldn’t want to endanger their hidden base.

“Ready?” He asked the very first soldier sitting before him. His voice was firm, holding a cup of monster blood in one hand and the needle in the other.

The soldier nodded, bracing himself. His blue eyes were filled with determination, pushing down the initial anxiety they all felt at that moment. They had volunteered for this. There was no turning back now.

The first prick of the needle was sharp but easily bearable. While working, his Prime Minister sounded like he muttered incantations under his breath, each word weaving and guiding the monster blood around his right wrist, forming an elaborate, bracelet-looking magic formation. He wasn't far off from it because Merlin was simply repeating the sequence of placing the runes to himself, making sure he kept to the final revision and didn't have a new idea, modifying it on the go, jeopardizing the whole operation.

The needle buzzed across and around the soldier’s skin, causing him to feel a strange warmth spreading from the blood into his body, something that felt alien. It was monster blood, after all... But he remembered that it also could be a natural reaction, his mind knowing it was not supposed to be there. When the final rune was finally completed, Merlin stepped back, wiping his brow, and continued to mumble a little, tilting his head left and right.

“Should be perfect… hm, hm! Done. Give it a moment to settle, though. Next!”

The soldier stared at his wrist while getting out, letting the next of his comrades sit down and allowing Merlin to repeat the process much faster than previously. While waiting, he couldn’t help but stare at it because the tattoo felt alive, the lines looking like they were writhing subtly as if adjusting to his body.

“No," he muttered, blinking his eyes. It wasn’t. It was simply his nervousness.

Still… something was changing, and that part wasn’t only in his imagination. It was a barely discernable trace of energy coursing through him like a slight breeze in the summer. Looking up and focusing, he saw that the underground facility seemed to become brighter, with every detail sharper and more discernible, even from far away.

When Merlin finally finished applying the same formation to every one of them, he let the group rest for an hour, observing them, asking questions, and noting down with an excited hum that all of them seemed to experience an immediate enhancement of their senses. At first, he was unsure what kind of effect it was when they described it, but then he suddenly understood. It was how mages experienced the world. Their version was not a perfect copy, as he learned after asking more precise questions. Still, he noted that those with the tattoo had their mind a bit more cleared up, their eyesight, hearing, and smell getting sharper. Something that, for him, was normal.

The next phase was the armor test. The soldiers donned their Mark II suits, put on their helmets, and stood in a neat row before Merlin. As they strapped the helmet on, lowering its visor, the tattoo flared on their wrists, and the armor responded instantly. The weight on their bodies changed in an instant, and a second later, they weren't able to tell they were wearing their armor. It was as if it had become part of their bodies.

“Try moving around! Tell me if you feel any difference in it!” Merlin ordered, holding a notepad, strolling around them, looking on, checking their performance.

It was evident that they became more mobile, no longer feeling any restrictions in their suit. No matter how well Dorian designed them, it was still armor, something that wasn’t bending the same way their bodies were. But… somehow, the whole set now moved fluidly, amplifying their speed without the previous resistance hindering them anymore. They vaulted over obstacles with ease, landing smoothly as if their body and the suit were really one.

“Incredible,” Merlin muttered, along with the soldiers who were flexing their fingers. The gauntlets followed the motion precisely, the weight of the armor barely noticeable. “Any discomfort?” He asked, but nobody replied. “Interesting. Let’s test something a bit more painful…”

With a shrug, he brought out a metal rod, and it was, to put it bluntly, beating time. The soldiers all took hits from Merlin, and at the last test, he conjured a bit of fire, testing their senses through the black carapaces. Even though their perception was now enhanced and the suit’s functions reacted to their will as predicted, their sense of pain did not increase.

“Good… It was a good idea to tweak it.” Merlin muttered, proud of himself that he had thought so far ahead that he should not include the possible upgrade in the functionality of their pain receptors. They were still armored, still resistant to the blows they would have to withstand in a battle, and if they began feeling pain... Leon would tease him for it until the end of times!

With his last remaining tests done, like checking that they could activate their helmets’ functions by only thinking about it, it was time for the dangerous part.

The testing of weapons.

Leaving the underground facility, they marched in formation towards the designated field, a cordoned-off area, ensuring that no other eyes were there to witness it. And... If something went wrong, nobody else would be hurt by it. Merlin had already finished his work on their weapons, etching the 'fake' spell variants onto them, using the original rune on the bones as their core, and recompiling a new spell from scratch. Whenever he finished one, he couldn't help but remember how a God's formation incorporated theirs into itself.

The weapons—swords, axes, and spears—were laid out on a simple table before them. Each one was the personal weapon of the volunteering soldiers, one that they had chosen for themselves when passing the last test and acquiring the right to wield the armor and weapons of Avalon. It was the very first soldier who got the tattoo who stepped forward once again, quickly recognizing his own sword, walking up to it, and lifting it without issue.

It was the same weight and length as the one he was used to wielding. Like many of his comrades, he felt that he had already bonded with his weapon, and it was reassuring to have it back in his hands.

“Channel your thoughts into it,” Merlin instructed, holding his own staff, a rare sight, but he was ready for everything. If there was an explosion, he was going to save the rest… and himself.

The soldier focused, letting his will flow into the weapon through his new tattoo that was now surrounding his sword-wielding wrist. The effect was immediate. The blade ignited with a brilliant glow, arcs of energy dancing along its surface, becoming wreathed in a bone-chilling frost. When he swung it, the air itself seemed to freeze, a cold mist rippling outward and forming a chilly mist spreading in the air around him.

“Step back!” Merlin ordered, and the soldier did so, losing his focus, which deactivated the sword at once. “Check your armor!”

Doing so, watching his gloved fingers around the hilt, his forearm, the black Avalonian armor being frosted over, a light-blue hue already covering it. Yet with a prod, it broke apart, revealing that he wasn’t injured, nor did it actually hurt him.

“Interesting… A natural resistance? Or synchronisation? Probably the latter…” Merlin whispered, noting and examining everything before continuing the tests.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The next soldier, now really excited, stepped forward, gripping his axe tightly in his hands. This time, the energy coursing through it transformed into a searing heatwave. The axe’s blade burned red-hot as if pulled out a forge, melting through the snow around him without swinging it once. Going through all of them, each weapon had a unique reaction to the magic, their attributes shifting depending on the type of formation Merlin had etched onto them.

As for the soldiers… it was an early birthday gift.

“It’s… alive,” one of them said, awestruck. “My spear is certainly alive with electricity…”

“In a sense,” Merlin replied. “The monster bones retain traces of their original essence, their magic. Combined with the blood-infused tattoo, they mimic how the beasts function and adapt to the wielder’s intent.” As he was explaining it proudly, the very first soldier frowned, coming up to Merlin.

“Lord Merlin… it no longer responds to me.”

“It isn’t?” Merlin frowned, but he began sensing something. Tapping his staff to the snowy ground, he summoned a formation, taking a deep breath as it expanded outward above them before dispelling it. “Oh. I… I didn’t think about it. You!” He looked at the others, “Keep using them and push them to the limit! Count the time until they turn off!”

By then, everyone had a guess, and, one by one, all of their weapons returned to their regular, non-magical state.

“Take off your gloves,” Merlin asked them, and they could see that their previously bright, red tattoos were gone. “The weapons drain the monster's blood energy… How interesting! Hmmm… Prolonged use will deplete it entirely, rendering the magic inert. We will need to reapply the tattoo to restore its power...”

“So it’s a consumable.” The first soldier flexed his fingers, feeling the diminished energy and the weight of his armor returning. “How often will it need to be reapplied, Lord Merlin?”

“Depends on usage, I think.” He answered while everyone was gathering around him. “We have been testing the weapons for what…? An hour? Two? Hmmm… Heavy combat will drain it quickly. Let me calculate!” He muttered, closing his eyes, running through numbers, his eyes swiveling back and forth under his eyelids until he reopened them, “In theory, you could get through a single battle before needing a reapplication if you don’t overuse your weapons’ abilities. But we will need proper testing to lay out a framework!”

“Still, Lord Merlin…” They spoke, flipping their helmets’ visors, their faces burning with zeal and child-like joy. “With weapons like these, not even the first Ishillian Emperor could stop us!”

“Nah, he wouldn’t.” Merlin waved a hand, chuckling, “And we don’t need to use it against humans either! You are already the Sovereign’s best sword for battle. What we will need to perfect this for are not human enemies.”

He knew that his Sovereign’s son was hearing a call from the other side, and if there was a call… it would have to be answered sooner or later. Leon wouldn’t let his child face it alone, and in turn, he would do his best to assist his Sovereign… his friend.