Ritsuko quickly moved to the set-up Maya was preparing outside of the battle zone, still holding a now dried egg made of clay the size of a volleyball. Misato, having brought her here stood close watching as the woman worked. Nearby the SUV's trunk was opened and the Diesel generator was running at full power. In the background, the sound of another building collapsing could be heard.
"Urzael is proving problematic," Maya noted. "I hope this works."
"It'll work," Ritsuko assured her. She observed the capacitor bank was now at full power, and connected it to the top and bottom of the egg via cables with long metal probes attached.
"I have absolutely no idea what the hell you're doing," Misato observed.
"Watch and learn," her friend replied. The bank triggered, sending a massive electrical charge into the egg. All at once the engravings on its surface began to glow and lines of clay and earthen matter streamed from the ground around it, covering it in greater quantities of material. Misato and Ritsuko both stepped back as it grew and began to grow limbs of its own. After a mere minute, a massive five-meter-tall clay golem had formed. Occasional runic sigils glowed on the surface of its skin before fading.
Ritsuko opened what Misato thought was a toolbox and retrieved what appeared to be a VR headset and control gloves. She turned them on, and immediately there was a spark of electricity and a line of blue tinged smoke rising from the device.
"No no no!" Ritsuko yelled as she shook the headset. "Damn it! The control circuits are fused! I can't remotely control the golem!"
"Oh no," Maya echoed.
"All that work for nothing?" Misato asked.
The sound of another explosion drew their attention. They saw a spiral of flames and chunks of a building flying in all directions. A few chunks landed in their general area but none too close.
"I guess I have no choice then," Ritsuko noted grimly.
"Sempai!" Maya yelled. "Don't!"
Ritsuko dashed to the front of the golem and quickly drew another symbol on its body. Misato watched as the chest collapsed into a space and a chair formed inside the body.
"Are you mad?!" Misato protested.
"Shinji and Rei need help now," Ritsuko replied. "There's no time to try to fix the control unit, so I have to do this manually. Find Shinji and get him to safety. I'll help Rei." She jumped into the golem's chest sitting on the chair as the clay closed over it. Suddenly, the Golem came to life, flexing its fingers and arms before running in a lumbering gait towards the battle, smashing aside obstructions as it went.
"Damn stubborn Rits," Misato complained with a worried tone. "You take too many risks."
"I don't think so," Maya countered. "Playing it safe isn't an option anymore. And I think you know that too."
Misato didn't reply, she had to find Shinji…
Archdruid Sephiroth Presents
Part Six of the Symphony of Shadows Saga
Upon the Forge of Souls
I: A Chance Encounter
Three weeks after the defeat of the angel Urzael, Ritsuko finished moving her laboratory to a new location outside of Nagano. It was a peaceful area, if a little liminal in its appearance. Once a suburban neighborhood, not too unlike those found outside major cities, it was now an abandoned ghost town of a region. The people left in a hurry, leaving much of what they had behind. For Ritsuko however, it was a potential gold mine of resources from abandoned electronics to herbs and other flowering plants that had more esoteric uses than their original owners likely planned for them.
During that time, reports of cult violence continued to increase and more cities were suffering the brunt of their illicit activities. Now, monsters were beginning to appear, seemingly without any intervention from the cult, though these reports were scattered and unsubstantiated. Still, they disturbed Maya and Ritsuko both in their implications. Based on her own magical studies Ritsuko knew that "the veil" was a thing and that it didn't take much in the way of magical prowess to pull something though it. With all the magic being thrown around the world, Ritsuko surmised that the veil could be even thinner in some places, allowing certain entities to enter into our plane of existence without any assistance… or control for that matter.
And because of this, Ritsuko redoubled her efforts to learn magic and teach herself how to blend it with science. Her golem was only a proof-of-concept in her own words, a baby step that even in such a crude form, was able to hold a literal angel at bay for a few moments. Though she knew this was an accomplishment, she also knew that she needed to do more, and for that, she would need more resources, and so she moved her lab to a more convenient location on the mainland.
Ritsuko had managed to get a combination of solar and wind power generation active for the particularly large house she had taken up residence in. The entire first floor was converted into her laboratory where she could continue to work on her projects, both scientific and esoteric. The second floor served as the actual living area of the house complete with a kitchen, bedroom, and entertainment area, the latter of which Ritsuko found little use for. Much of her time these days was spent studying, meditating, and experimenting, except for those times Maya was able to drag her off for proper food, water, and perhaps a little bit of "them time". While one would assume Maya would be upset with the lack of access to Ritsuko as of late, the reality was that Maya liked watching her sempai work.
Today, Ritsuko was working on a crystal sphere about the size of a grapefruit. The sphere was contained between two flat metal clamps, connected to each other on one side with a digital read out that was occasionally shifting from a Zero to a zero-point-three reading.
"It's still amazing watching you work," Maya noted.
Ritsuko smirked. "Flattery will get you everywhere my dear," she replied, before turning to plant a kiss on Maya's lips and then returning to her work. She knew she could get obsessive and even fixated on her projects, so little gestures of affection would serve the purpose of both reminding her that she wasn't in this alone, and that she should take regular breaks.
"So, what is this you're working on?"
"I call it a Magi-Spectrometer," Ritsuko explained. "I'm going to use it to find 'hot spots' where magic was used or where the so-called 'Ley Lines' can be found. Some ancient mages tried to map out the Ley, but were unsuccessful. They didn't have the tools for it."
"Oh, I remember you mentioning this before!" Maya replied excitedly. She loved it when she actually understood something her Sempai was talking about. "Those are the paths of magical energy throughout the planet, right? Kind of like the mystical circulatory system for the world."
"Very good, Maya." Ritsuko did enjoy watching Maya's moments of pride. "I theorized that these locations could be used to tap into a wealth of energy, though I would need to be careful."
"You're talking about your 'Magitech Generator'?"
"Honestly, Maya, that generator would be the least of my innovations if I had a direct connection to the Ley." She clicked another small device into the Magi-Spectrometer and the digital readout suddenly jumped from zero point two at its last read, all the way to three point one. "Well, I don't think a connection is nearby, but we are close to one of the 'veins', and that's a good a start as any."
"Plenty you can do with that right?" Maya offered.
"Plenty for my initial experiments. Maybe with this knowledge I can start to learn how to manipulate other forms of energy."
"Like."
Ritsuko smiled ever so slightly. "Ænima."
"But isn't that Shinji's thing?" Maya asked.
Ritsuko made an amused sound. "I wonder how much control he really has. I've theorized that the energy could be used for other purposes as well. The power of the angel Urzael was immense, but even a summoned monster carries at least some small measure of Ænima with it. If that energy can be collected, I may be able to manipulate it for other tasks, like powering stronger golems or even specialized weapons for the task. Imagine a weapon that can project a beam of unrelenting energy, or a factory that can build an army of constructs?"
Maya looked skeptical. "I can't even imagine the hurdles you'd have to overcome doing something like that."
"Oh, it would be a bear of a task to be sure. But I believe it's more than possible. And if the reports of monsters and demons passing through the veil on their own are true, this is both good news, and very bad news for us."
"Good news in that it will give you more material to work with," Maya noted. "And very bad because a lot of people are going to suffer because of it."
"Indeed. Which means we're going to need the results of my labor sooner rather than later."
Maya harrumphed at that. "Speaking of which, I've been doing more research though various biblical versions of the Old Testament and the Torah. I can't find anything helpful in terms of the angel's return though, or why they even have returned in their current form."
"They're probably doing it to sow mass confusion," Ritsuko noted. "This is the form we expected them in, in the first place."
"So, you think they want to appear like this?"
"It makes perfect sense," Ritsuko noted. "The most destructive upheavals in human history were ideological in nature. Religion has ironically been one of the greatest sources of misery on this planet, which is why despite seeing angels and demons, I refuse to commit to belief in any deity. If I'm going to be forced to fight for my life, it will be on my terms. I won't waste energy on entities that see us as little more than pawns in some great game."
Maya thought for a moment. "So, you don't believe in any of the stories in the bible… you don't think they happened at all?"
"I don't know if they did happen or not," Ritsuko admitted. "That said, I absolutely believe that Angels and Demons are one and the same, something that book does also indicate, though Demons are 'fallen'. In addition, we know that humans are close to angels genetically, which would mean that we're also close to demons as well." Ritsuko paused a moment before she smirked. "You're playing Devil's Advocate, aren't you?"
"Guilty as charged," Maya admitted. "Just helping keep those wheels greased in your mind."
"I was going to say, I know you basically became secular after the war."
"True," Maya admitted. "But this whole situation has me questioning just what I believe now. It helps that someone can remain objective that I have constant contact with, else I might do something dumb like start praying again."
Ritsuko chuckled, causing Maya to do the same.
"That said," she continued, "it's become obvious that there is, as the quote goes, 'more under heaven and earth than has been dreamed about in my philosophy', or however it went. So much right now can't simply be explained away just yet."
"Point well taken," Ritsuko noted. "At this point, we have little idea of what to expect, so for now it, it would be prudent to keep an opened mind."
That evening just before nightfall, Ritsuko and Maya entered northern Nagano. They were still passing though the residential area, speaking of some of the more esoteric things Ritsuko was working with, and trying to find a rare goods seller who could provide Ritsuko with the rather niche items she needed for her alchemical experiments. Ritsuko suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, her face blank and conveying a minor case of shock.
Maya looked at her curiously. "Something wrong?" she asked with concern.
"I sense something," Ritsuko noted with confusion.
"What do you mean by 'sense'?"
"I can't say," Ritsuko admitted. "This may be what Shinji and the others feel when they detect something supernatural occurring." At that moment, they both noted a nearby explosion with a plume of smoke rising into the slowly darkening sky.
Without a word both started running in that direction and stopped against the outer wall of a house. Maya took a moment to catch her breath as Ritsuko peeked around the corner. It appeared they still had a block to go before they would be close enough to the disturbance, and the sounds of combat were now unmistakable.
"How can you start getting this sense as well?" Maya asked.
Ritsuko stopped peaking and began walking across the street towards the other home. "I'm uncertain," she admitted. "It's possible that my work with magic has reached a critical point and I can now sense these things. Though my sense is rather rudimentary. I was able to sense something happening but couldn't make sense of what I was feeling."
"And why are we going towards the danger?" Maya asked, betraying only a small bit of fear in her voice.
"Oh, where is your sense of adventure, Maya?" Ritsuko replied. "Besides, aren't you curious too?"
"A little," she admitted as they started around the side of another house. "What I don't get is why I'm not hearing sirens?"
"After Urzael's attack, emergency services are incredibly understaffed. It may be a bit before anyone comes out here, if at all."
Maya frowned. "Society is really falling apart, isn't it, sempai?"
"Exactly what both the cults and the angels want," Ritsuko noted grimly. She peaked around the corner of the house as another explosion resounded. As close as they were, she felt the reverberation though herself. "Speaking of which…"
The opposite side of this house was a playground and part of a school. Though she didn't know the particulars of what was happening, she knew what she saw. Two parked cars were burning, and many cultists lay dead. A small army of skeletal warriors were being devastated by Mari and Asuka, a pair that for the first time since they fought each other in an alley so many months ago, were by themselves, and were now fighting side by side instead.
"I still can't believe you were stupid enough to think you'd get away with this, Rastur," Asuka taunted with an angry tone. "Truly idiotic!"
"They were meant for greatness!" A red-robed mage yelled back.
"They're just kids you bastard!" Mari yelled back, a wide swipe of her sword taking out two more skeletons at the same time, splintered bones and owner-less spears flying.
"Sempai, we should help them!" Maya whispered.
"We can't, Maya," Ritsuko noted. "The only thing I have on me right now are two of my Ænima Orbs, and they won't help here. Let them finish it."
"Greatness is never realized in its own time," Rastur replied sardonically. "Why don't I give you something more fun to play with?" He pulled out a black orb. Ritsuko recognized it is as a conjuring orb, used to prepare a powerful conjuration effect ahead of time. He threw it to the ground ahead of him, and the spilt energies quickly formed a pentagram on the ground.
"Oh shit," Ritsuko whispered, feeling a quaint terror welling up in her.
Asuka had her throwing axes at the ready while Mari pointed her rapier towards the forming circle. Rastur, chuckling faded away in black smoke behind it. A massive Archdemon suddenly erupted from the circle and roared its challenge, wings spread and arcane energy licked its form.
Maya contained her voice but was terrified of the daemonic entity. She noticed that Ritsuko was almost captivated by what she was seeing.
"Ever fought one of these before?" Mari asked, taking a much more defensive posture.
"No," Asuka admitted. "But Hikari has, and Shinji said she beat it handily. If she can do that, we got this."
The roar of the archdemon seemed to goad them into trying just that. It's aura glowed in the shape of a pentagram as a ring of arcane fireballs began to surround it.
"Just follow my lead," Asuka state calmly, before launching herself forward in almost a glide over the ground before touching down and running at it hard. Her axes held behind her with her arms swept back in a ninja-like run. Mari was just behind her, running in a similar manner with her sword in hand.
The flames around the monster glowed as it pointed towards the quickly advancing pair. In sequence, they suddenly flew forward at high speed, trailing blue arcane flame behind them. The girls split off from each other, continuing the close the distance as they dodged around the projectiles, staying out of range of the resulting explosions.
The Archdemon readied itself for the attack but didn't expect what happened next. Asuka slammed both of her thrown axes together into a two-handed axe and front flipped, using her momentum to throw the weapon as Mari jumped into the air behind her. The Archdemon didn't get out of the way in time, and the axe punched into its stomach, tearing though the abdominal cavity before coming to rest against the spine. It shrieked in pain, throwing its head back as Mari transformed into a large bat. Suddenly, she went from normal running speed to moving so quickly her flying rodent body left behind a trail of after images. Asuka watched as she flew past the Archdemon just over it's left shoulder, her right wing tearing though the demon's neck like the blade of a guillotine. In midair she came to a swift stop, forming back into her humanoid form as the monster's head fell to the ground along with its body.
A moment later, Mari landed. Looking over her shoulder back at Asuka, as blue arcane fire began to consume the body of the fiend.
"Ok," Asuka began, "I have to admit it; that was fucking cool."
Mari smiled. "Let's see if we can't track that bastard," she suggested.
Asuka nodded, and both ran into the night once more.
Ritsuko quickly closed the distance between the building and the quickly burning body of the Archdemon.
"Sempai," Maya called out following her. "What are you doing?"
"Trying not to waste the opportunity," Ritsuko replied, pulling out one of the Ænima Sphere's she spoke of. The object was about the size of a baseball, made of pure crystal glass and encased in an electrum cage that surrounded the outside of the sphere of glass. A trio of electrum rings ran along the horizontal surface at the half and quarter distances from the top and bottom of the sphere. Holding it out she quickly spoke an incantation.
" Ad hanc caveam cristalli et metalli trahe spiritum obscurum! Lux enim redimet! "
(Draw in the dark spirit to this cage of crystal and metal! For the light shall redeem!)
The remaining body seemed to writhe in pain a moment before the back arched, lifting the chest higher. A black orb of energy phased out of the burning carcass's chest and flew into the caged orb. A dark smoky mist now filled the orb, boiling and rolling like an angry storm.
"You did it!" Maya stated excitedly. "I didn't think it would be so easy!"
"It wasn't," Ritusko admitted as she dropped to one knee.
"Sempai!" Maya was instantly at her side.
"I'm alright. The spell just takes a lot out of me. Unlike Shinji, souls don't just come to me willingly." She lifted the caged orb in front of her, looking past the cage. The orb had grown from the size of a baseball to nearly the size of a bowling ball somehow. While that was unexpected, she could see that the sphere was still holding together and showed no signs of weakening. She gazed at the rolling storm inside, seeing the same arcane blue energy beginning to boil inside of it as well.
"Now what?" Maya asked.
"Now… I rest, just as soon as we get back home."
The next day, Ritsuko began reading another of her books. Maya watching her taking notes almost furiously. She was worried but she allowed her Sempai to continue to work, keeping her focused with coffee and anything else she needed at that moment. By midday, her ashtray had to be emptied again.
"So apparently the existence of Hephaestus was not limited to mythology," Ritsuko finally said around 1:30 pm. "Someone who had this name in times long since past had figured out it was possible to redeem dark spirits by putting them to work for the light."
"Like a kind of penance?" Maya offered as she filled Ritsuko's coffee mug for the twelfth time today.
"Yes, but a penance where they would be forced against others of their kind. His work was rather fascinating; not only was he able to transform the souls of deadly monsters and demons into weapons and armor, but also created unique constructs for combat against the darkness. In a way, what he did was less crafting and more necromancy, but the things he created were still basically constructs with redeemed souls guiding them. He called them, 'Innocent Devils'. At some point, during the dark times of eastern Europe there were two more of these so called 'Devil Forgemasters'; Hector and Issac. Though their methods differ, they were both accomplishing similar feats; the ability to animate a created body with the soul of a demon, or the spirit of someone who died."
"That sounds like Necromancy," Maya replied with slight disgust.
"To call it that misses the intent," Ritsuko countered, causing Maya to stop and pay attention. "Necromancy is the animation of the dead, or conversing with the spirits of the dead. This is using the souls of demons and those who have passed, along with base materials and alchemy to create life."
"Is that even possible?" Maya asked in surprise.
"In a way, this is what we did with the Evas," Ritsuko noted. "Shinji's mother's soul gave life to Evangelion 01, Asuka's mother's soul gave life to Unit 02, and it's entirely possible my own mother may have given 00 it's life as well."
"So this Devil Forgecraft explains how EVA was somehow possible," Maya observed. "And the work of these other Forgemasters and Hephaestus proves you were right."
"It at least proves my theories were sound, and that the craft is possible," Ritsuko noted. "Time to take things from Theory, to practicality and see if I can replicate what was done so long ago."
"Create an Innocent Devil?"
"Not yet," Ritsuko replied. "Devil Forgemasters were also able to forge weapons and armor from souls and base materials. This should be significantly easier than animating something as complex as an Innocent Devil. If I can forge a proper blade, and imbue it with the soul of the archdemon I captured, it would prove that I have what it takes to become a Devil Forgemaster."
The books Ritsuko had acquired told of the required tools of the trade. Creating the proper tools required a proper forge, and it took three days just to construct such a forge. Although crude, it was sufficient for her current needs, and it allowed her to craft the magical tools she would need to forge her first weapon.
It was complex work, requiring the creation of Pure Metal, a complex alchemical process requiring odd components with ancient names such as Oil of Vitriol and Salus Mundus. Lovingly, she crafted the various tables, imbued her anvil, and enchanted the tools her craft would require. Now, nearly a week after she began this seemingly mad quest, she stood before the great work, admiring the details of the forge and the power she could feel emanating from it. It was small and crude, but it was hers.
As she basked in her accomplishment, Maya was busying herself loading it with specially prepared Mobius Coal, a type of alchemical coal that Ritsuko kept in large quantity for her own basic forge-work. Now this powerful alchemical power source would serve a purpose for which its energy density was uniquely suited….
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Maya asked.
"We're going to find out soon enough," Ritsuko noted as she brought over the pure metal ore she had created. Much of what she needed she salvaged from the surrounding abandoned neighborhood. Purifying such crude metal actually required her to use nearly four times as much metal to accomplish the goal then she would have. The alchemical process involved dissolving the metals in oil of vitriol before reconstituting them repeatedly to burn out and separate the impurities from the pure metal she required. Now with all of that difficult work complete, she began to melt down the pure metal ingots needed for her weapon. As she waited for the metal to become molten, she made certain the red sand mold she had created would be sufficient for the job she had planned for it.
Maya watched as Ritsuko carefully poured the pure metal into the sand mold. Nearby the orb, sitting on a marble pedestal designed to hold it, also seemed to watch the process as a pair of eyes appeared in the smoky orb. After the metal cooled, Ritsuko worked and tempered the blade. She looked over to the orb, meeting its gaze.
"Do you understand what I'm doing?" Ritsuko asked. Maya wondered who she was talking too before seeing the eyes in the orb and gasping in fear.
The eyes seemed to nod.
"Why isn't it trying to escape?" Maya asked.
"Because it wants this," Ritsuko noted.
It took three further days to finish the blade, but finish it Ritsuko did. A finely crafted silvery steel masterpiece of a one-handed sword. The flat blade stood engraved in a flourish of vine designs, surrounding a Latin phrase.
NOLITE MORERE VICTIMAM SECULI HUJUS REDEMPTIONEM ACCIPIEMUS
Or roughly translated, "Mourne not for the victim of this blade shall receive redemption."
The hilt had a cross guard design, it's pommel ending in a lapis sphere the size of a "taw" marble, or around 17 millimeters. The center of the cross guard was engraved with a diamond shape, with vine engravings reaching from the side most points to cover the cross guard. The blade came to a point and the weapon was sharpened with a fine edge.
"It's beautiful," Maya noted.
"It's unfinished," Ritsuko noted. "The most important component has yet to be added."
Maya looked fearful, knowing what Ritsuko meant by that. "What if something goes wrong."
Ritsuko only responded with a reassuring pat on her head, before retrieving the orb. Inside the house, Ritsuko had prepared a special altar. It was crafted from a combination of Ash Wood, and black marble. The majority of the top was the Ashwood, and the back 15 or so centimeters was black marble, raised slightly higher than the rest of the altar. It was low to the ground, requiring Ritsuko to keel before it.
Upon the marble back section of the altar, Ritsuko placed a silver candlestick holding a blue candle. She lit the candle and placed the sword upon the altar, with its point facing the left. An orb holder was placed between the sword and the candle, and the orb was placed upon it. Then Ritsuko opened a glass bottle, retrieved from the back of the altar, and applied the oil it contained to the blade of the sword using a pure white cloth. She made certain to coat the blade well with the oil.
"We seek not redemption from a higher power," Ritsuko said aloud. Maya stood a meter behind her, watching her work. "Only we can redeem ourselves. Only though adversity can we be redeemed. The soul within this prison of crystal and metal seeks to keep fighting, not for monsters who look upon him as a disposable tool, but as a soul meant for a higher purpose. For this reason, I seek the redemption of this soul."
The eyes within the orb began to glow. Maya grew nervous but noted the demon's spirit was still not trying to escape.
"Become my hand, my will. Though you will still be a weapon, you will be a weapon of purpose. Together we will gather and redeem the souls of the tainted, and reap a harvest from the seeds sown by evil. Bound by purpose, we shall do great things. Do you accept?"
Maya backed up as the orb began to float. The electrum cage around it opened of its own accord and the smoky spiritual essence within floated forward, looking Ritsuko in the eye. For a few moments, Maya could not even breathe as the demon's soul floated before her Sempai. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up… the air temperature dropped… and the smoke seemed to embrace Ritsuko.
Maya tried to scream but the sound caught in her throat. The demon's power had completely enveloped Ritsuko and all the scientist turned mage could do was twitch. Within seconds, it ended, and the smoky energy of the demon retreated from her and settled over the sword. Both Maya and the now recovering Ritsuko, watched as the energy was drawn into the weapon, causing the blade to glow blue before the glow retreated to the inscription and designs engraved. There they would stay.
"TUUS SUM IN AETERNUM."
The sound wasn't human… it was loud, more like a dozen low voices speaking in unison with a growl behind it all coming from the same throat. An impossible sound.
Maya looked at Ritsuko and gasped in surprise. She no longer looked like she was in her forties… Like Misato, she had become younger. Imperfections in her skin were gone, her eyes were brighter than they had ever been, and her body… Maya's heart beat with sudden desire as she beheld that even here, Ritsuko's aging had reversed. She was like an athletic teenager again.
Taking the sword in her right hand she examined the blade, running her fingers down the flat side and over the inscription she lovingly made. The weapon was an expression of her; her desire for perfection, her desire for purity, her desire to be useful, her regrets, her disgust at her own lust for power that nearly destroyed her, and most of all, her desire to set things right. The demon would never have a voice again. In many ways it ceased to be, and yet, its power and its legacy would forever live on inside both her, and what would be her signature sword.
Ritsuko stood up, her clothes now loose on her as her body was perfected by the demon's power. She spoke, letting her words be the acknowledgement of the pact the demon sacrificed itself for.
"I dub thee… Mourneblade."
There's a time, called the Twelfth Night,
When the unseen follow my way home
On these nights, just this once,
You can find their between world, The churchyard of all the haunting souls
Listen to what I say,
Hear their voices on winter days,
All of the resonations of their bitter world
- "Devil's Poetry", by Vanden Plas
"Ah, my first success. Looking back on it, I realized I took a risk, but was rewarded for that risk… and so I would take more and bigger ones… but I think I might have miscalculated… and perhaps I just bit off more than I could chew…"
Next Chapter: Further Experimentation
