Craftsmanship was something that had been drilled into her head from the moment of her creation. It was her purpose in life, the one thing that she was destined to do for the rest of her immortal life, crafting wonders and weapons both in service of the hunt.
In the beginning she and her siblings had been largely confused and directionless. They had all of the Grand hunters knowledge of magical artifice along with more mundane methods of craftsmanship, as limited as it was. They were given no orders and no direction other than a general order to create weapons for the soldiery.
Which is what they did, they created the weapons that were already in use en masse, flooding the stores with tens of thousands of sets of equipment, for they had no other purpose or task than the creation of more weapons for the Fey armies. Needless to say the Grand Hunter himself came to them and ordered them to focus less on the creation of existing weaponry and instead begin creating new weapons for the warfront, they were to innovate.
Just like that the suggestion had been planted into their heads. Innovation, the creation of something new and unique. It was like a fire had been lit underneath them as they desperately began creating everything that came to their fancy.
At first it started off small, slight modifications to the rifles used by the soldiery, new types of melee weapons, cosmetic changes to the equipment to fit less with a human eye and more with a Feys sense of aesthetics. Something the Grand Hunter was more than happy to encourage among them.
It quickly grew from there as the created new and more varied types of artifice, no longer constrained purely to weaponry, though that stayed a major focus. Ulen created a new type of rifle that was immediately put into mass production due to its higher rate of fire and greater killing potential.
Nizam created cloaks that quickly became the new fashion among the Lords due to their ability to change color and length, even lady Celras herself requested two be specially made for herself and the hunter so that they may have a matching set. Nizam still liked to hold that above the heads of the rest of their kin.
Sinnia created the armored tanks that had quickly become a mainstay of the frontlines, it took her weeks to finish on her own and over a thousand Daemonic souls to get the design just right. The Grand Hunter had rewarded her greatly for her creation and now she stood among the Artificer lords of the grand court, apparently she had some new grand weapon in the works that she was sure would bring the war to an even quicker end.
And then you had the oh so great Larus throne-smith. The braggart had created the Grand hunters new throne, and while he hadn't been rewarded with the title of Artificer Lord he sure acted like he had been, ordering around others like he was the hunters gift to all fey. She despised him greatly.
"Uffi! What are you daydreaming about now?" Her friend Dalun asked her, breaking her from her internal monologue. He wasn't an artificer like herself, he was a Jaeger, one of those created by the feenmutters to help with the war effort. Only he hadn't been assigned to the front, he had been assigned as one of their guards just in case the cult of Imperium thought to try and attack the spire in which they resided.
Unlike her artificer brothers Dalun was strong, powerful, and skilled with weapons. On more than one occasion she had thought of taking him to her bed, but in the end she chose not too. She didn't wish to ruin their friendship on the off chance that he didn't feel the same way about her that she did about him.
What could she offer him after all? She was a failure as an artificer, just one of the many cohorts hard at work creating the mass produced equipment used by the war effort. She had no great deeds or works to her name, and she was not as powerfully built as a Jaeger or Ritter.
No she wasn't worthy of him, of that she was certain. So she would never even attempt to steal him away from someone more deserving of his presence. "Just thinking about what my next experiment will be, I was lucky enough to get a few Daemonic souls assigned to my use." She said, her voice full of a slight excitement.
"That's great! Can't say I understand your obsession with experimenting with the souls of those vile creatures but if it means I can get a nice new piece of equipment out of it I won't complain." He said with a laugh, placing a hand on her shoulder that sent a jolt of heat through her body.
"That's actually why I asked you here Dalun, since you'll be one of those using my newest project I was wondering what you thought would be most useful. As someone who's never seen the front I can't know exactly what you would need, especially with the start of the final conquest of the hive." She said, looking at him expectantly.
While he had been assigned to guard duty he talked a lot about the month he had spent on the front fighting against the Imperials. His stories had been an inspiration and everytime he dived into them she listened with rapt attention. "Hmm" He rubbed his hand across his jaw, obviously thinking deeply.
"While I would love to request something like better armor or some new type of rifle, I'll be honest the front doesn't need that at the moment. Our equipment is already far above anything the cults and Imperials have." He said while sitting next to her deep in thought. She tried her best to calm her beating heart.
"Really we need something that's better at causing mass casualties to the humans, its been a problem since the beginning of the war really. We just have too many of them to kill for us to truly use our superior abilities to use. It doesn't matter if we can kill a hundred of them for one of our own when they outnumber us a thousand to one." He showed her an image of his time on the front with an illusion.
The scene was horrific, the trenches of the long war in the fifth were gone, replaced instead with brutal mobile fighting as panzers rolled across the field and fey sprinted to the enemy lines, only to be blown apart by heavy weapons and artillery. Wait, did they have artillery? She couldn't remember any of her siblings having introduced something like that.
"So I think something capable of producing mass casualties at a long range is definitely the way to go, something like the panzers but heavier and less focused on vehicle combat. Something like -"
"Artillery!" She shouted, jumping up from her seat. Dalun simply stared at her wide eyed for a second before chuckling. "Yes artillery, that would be something that would help us on the front immensely." He said grinning, to her immense embarrassment.
Still now she knew what her great contribution would be, she already had the design in her head, and really what had kept her from realizing it? Artillery was a mainstay in warfare as far as she was aware and it was simply disastrous that their armies had gone so long without it. "I'm sorry Dalun but I have to go work on this now, I can't let one of my siblings take this chance away from me. I can't be the first to have had this idea!"
He simply smiled and shooed her away. She didn't hesitate as she sprinted for her workshop, desperate to start work on her first truly unique work of artifice since she was created. It took her three minutes to cross the distance between her residence and her workshop, two to acquire the Daemon essence she had been given, and another two to grab all the souls that she had been assigned for use in her crafts.
Soon enough green magic swirled around her as she pulled still conscious souls and struggling Daemons into her grip, she started with five. Using the memories of the howitzers the Grand Hunter remembered as a base he tried to recreate them, she failed.
She created the machine, make no mistake, but it was unwieldy, far too large and slow to fire. Not to mention the internal mechanisms relied far too much on magic to function instead of that good mix that all artificer creations required. Magic was good and all but an actually functioning weapon was even better, especially during long battles when every iota of magic mattered.
So she started over, tweaking the various mechanical parts of the piece time and time again using the mechanical knowledge she had been implanted with along with everything she had learned during her time in the shops. It was a long and slow process, one that cost her hundreds of souls and a dozen failed attempts before she even began to approach a workable prototype.
But she never gave up, even as a full day passed her by and she was nearing collapse from exhaustion she worked on, until finally on the twenty third iteration she had it.
At 5,300 pounds it was far lighter than it had any right to be, but superior fey artifice could do much with very little. At 12.3 Meters long, with a barrel 7 meters in length it was quite the sizable beast, especially with its 200 mm cannon.
Was it a little excessive? Most likely. But she didn't care, her new creation would do exactly what it was meant to do, destroy entire formations of human soldiers. Because along with the main gun she had created a specific type of ammunition, with one human soul being required for every ten shells.
The shells themselves would come in two types, armor piercing, and vaporization. Armor piercing was obviously for the times when the gun would need to perform anti armor operations, while the vaporization rounds were just that. They harnessed the energy of the soul that had been used in its creation, combined with fey magic to produce an explosion so large and powerful everything in a sixty meter radius would be vaporized.
She wasted no time, as soon as she had the piece finished and a ten round stack of shells ready she requested a meeting with the Grand Hunter himself on the grounds of a groundbreaking breakthrough. She had to suffer through Sinnia herself inspecting her new creation before her request was granted but after twenty six hours of work and another three spent waiting for his arrival she finally got to show the grand hunter her grand work.
His eyes widened immediately as soon as she saw it. His mouth going agape with obvious awe as he looked upon her creation. "You… You created this?" He asked her, still looking upon her work. "Yes my Lord, I created this new weapon as my own contribution to the war effort. With the recommendation of Jaeger Dulan." She said, being sure to include the one who had inspired her in the first place.
The hunter nodded once, so transfixed with the gun that he couldn't take his eyes off it. "How far can it fire?" He asked. She did quick calculations in her head before answering. "About 45 miles my lord at the maximum extent. At least based on what kind of stresses I created the weapon to be able to handle and the capabilities of the shells themselves." She said, receiving silence from the Grand Hunter.
"Show me." He said. She bowed and loaded a shell with practiced ease, took aim at a nearby abandoned building, about a mile away, and pulled the trigger. The boom was deafening, half a second later the shell landed and they were deafened once more, and almost blinded.
The shockwave hit them even a mile away, and when their vision returned they were met with the sight of a large crater where a building had once stood. The Grand Hunter just stared, a small smile beginning to stretch across his face. "How many souls does it take to create one of these, and how long does it take you to create them?" He asked her, and she could feel her heart pounding with excitement.
"Five souls are required to create one my lord, and I can create two in an hour. I have no doubt my brothers and sisters would be able to do the same as soon as they had the knowledge given to them. One soul is required to create ten shells." She explained, she would not end up like Lord Vannem because she forgot to include some minor detail.
He simply nodded at her words, seemingly satisfied. "Congratulations Uffi, you now hold the title of Artificer Lord, I expect great things from you. You will be assigned a hundred of your fellow artificers to use as you wish. I expect a thousand of these cannons within the week, and a thousand more every week after that." He finished, not bothering to look at her as he walked away.
She was still processing the fact that she had been made an artificer lord, and that she now had to create a thousand cannons a week when one of the Lords that had been accompanying him approached her. "Congratulations Lady Artificer, I will be your aid for the time being to introduce you to your new duties and responsibilities in the Grand court. It is my pleasure to work with you." He said while she barely paid him any attention.
She was a Lord now. She had accomplished something. She was someone. She had to find Dulan, and she had to find him now.
-
I could only kick myself at the ludicrous circumstances of my current situation. Not only was I the king of the fey in all but name, a conqueror, and the soon to be ruler of an entire planet. If all went well at least, the cult was putting up far more of a fight than I expected from them, especially with my new weapons at work.
Getting back on track, not only was I all those things, I was also apparently now the ruler of a Fey court without even really realizing it. Oh sure I realized that I had a court, and lords, and a throne, and all that shit. What I mean is I didn't realize that I literally had my own court, with fashions, trends, politics, and power plays all happening in the background.
To make matters all the worse? This was Fey politics, so half of it was just beyond my ability to understand. Some of the reports I received from Vannem on the subject were just plain stupid. For example, one of my Lords wanted to commission a work from Nizam, and instead of just requesting a commission or buying it with a few souls, let's not even get into how my economy ran on souls please, he decided to try and trap Nizam with a contract.
So over the last week the two men have been going back and forth over the terms of some contract, both desperately trying to outwit the other and force them into a set of terms that would ensure the other was under their command for eternity. What neither of them seemed to realize was that Nizam didn't have to sign a contract at all, and he could have just refused to play the Lords game.
The thought of refusal hadn't even seemed to cross the artificers mind, instead he immediately accepted the proposal and started working to twist the terms and conditions into his favor. It made no sense and it gave me a headache just reading about it.
The worst part though was all the fey that would approach me to overlook their various contracts, seeking my advice or input on this or that. Or in some cases acting as a third signature to enforce the commandments of said contracts. It's a good thing I have Celras literally always at my side as one even tried to sneak in a term that said I would be forced to follow the conditions of the contract as well if I didn't enforce the consequences within it.
Needless to say the two lords that had thought to pull that little trick were now stuck in their own little eternity of torment, acting as living magic batteries on my belt. Thankfully most of them weren't like that, and some of them were quite wholesome. One pair had even brought forth a marriage contract between the two of them for me to sign off on.
I still couldn't understand the Fey obsession with contracts and oaths, but I could definitely use it to my advantage at the very least. "What is on your mind my love?" I heard Celras ask.
I looked at her, beautiful and resplendent in her cloak, currently displaying a brilliant shade of sparkling sapphire. "Just thinking about all the ways I want to rip the heads off everyone here if they bring me another bogus contract to read over, and how that cloak fits you perfectly." I said grinning.
She blushed slightly at my words, before clearing her throat to speak. "I acquired one for you as well my love, and yet you refuse to wear it. If I didn't know better I would almost say you didn't appreciate my gift." She said, smiling mischievously. I was about to respond when she leaned in close.
"I was going to give you another gift tonight, but it seems you don't appreciate what I give you, truly a shame lover." She spoke, her hot breath tickling my ear. The hand that she was running down my chest did me no favors in the willpower department. "Celras, you know my cloak cannot come off, it's a part of me. Don't tease me like this when you know as such." I said, trying not to show any reaction to her teasing.
She wasn't convinced, swinging her legs over me, straddling me on my throne as the rest of my court noticed and quickly decided discretion was the better part of valor, leaving the chamber quickly. "Don't use that excuse love, you've taken off that cloak more than enough times in the bedroom. I should know." She rubbed a hand down my stomach and over my erection, gently stroking it through the leather.
"You've certainly used my body enough times while in this form for me to know as much." She said, slipping a single finger through the pants to slowly tickle the tip of my penis. I groaned, "That's not fair, the cloak doesn't even truly come off, I just force it behind me." I said, not bothering to stop her.
Instead I pulled her closer, slapping her firm ass and eliciting a small giggle from her. God that ass, I don't think I had ever encountered one quite as perfect as hers. "I guess we'll have to put that theory to the test then, won't we love?" She whispered as she freed my cock from the folds of my pants and began to slowly stroke it.
I couldn't help it, I flinched as she ran her warm hands along its length, slowly playing with it in one hand while the other ran a single finger along my sack. I wanted to grab her face and skull fuck her, but I let her do as she wish, especially when she stopped playing around and used one hand to cup my sack and gently knead my balls between her delicate fingers.
Her other hand sped up as well, bouncing up and down across my cock with increasing swiftness, at the same time she brought her lips down on mine. I melted into her as she pressed her bountiful chest into my own, all the while her hands worked quickly but carefully to bring me to climax. "Do you want to cum love?" She whispered huskily into my ear.
I could only groan in response as she sped up and captured my lips with her own once more. Faster, faster, faster she went, her hand a blur as she desperately sought to milk out every drop of cum from my shaft while her left hand practically treated my balls like dough. Under such an onslaught I was defenseless and I could feel the release as it was drawing near.
"Celras, I-I'm close." I desperately breathed out, imploring her. She didn't disappoint. Moving her lips away from my own she dropped to her knees in front of me and engulfed my cock in her mouth. Suddenly I had two hands and her mouth desperately trying to get my cock to release. Her tongue played across the tip, her lips moved up and down constantly, and her sucking mouth felt like paradise.
I groaned as I came directly into her mouth as she sucked up my semen with gusto. The sound of her gulps filled my ears for several seconds as I tried desperately not to pass out from the pleasure of release and her still sucking mouth. Eventually she stopped gulping and her hands left my cock, but her mouth stayed and as I looked down I could see the mischief in her eyes.
She started suck again, gripping my thighs with her hands, stopping me from trying to escape. "Celras what are you doing?" I asked, groaning with pleasure, but also want. She stopped sucking for a second to answer me. "I know what you want, but since you won't even wear a gift I got for you, then I guess you don't want what else I have to offer. So this is all you get. Sorry love." She said before going right back to sucking my soul through my cock.
I could only groan with pleasure, my knees and body too weak to try and fight against her sucking mouth. If she really thought an hours-long blowjob from her was a punishment, then I wasn't about to complain. Especially since it meant I got to end court early today.