°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
"Impossible is nothing more than a self imposed limit" - Elduin Ravaslor (Original Character)
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
Ryuta and Hephaestus stood inside the workshop, the furnace unlit and the tools poorly maintained.
"Really?"
"You said an empty room would suffice, this is not empty but we have no empty rooms- only unused ones"
"..."
Breathing out a sigh, Ryuta shook his head in resignation, he didn't really mind. The tools, furnace- everything in this room won't be used anyway- save for the piles of materials brought in.
Ryuta sneaked a glance at Hephaestus who was silently watching him, her eye focused as if seeing through everything.
'Well… what did I expect from a God?'
With everything prepared, Ryuta didn't even hesitate to activate one of his secret weapons. A bounded field only accessible to the top magi in the Nasuverse-
'Should I chant?'
He thought before shaking his head as he initiated his magecraft with a-
*SNAP*
The sound of his fingers snapping caught Hephaestus attention, she focused on Ryuta's fingers and as she did-
"Wha-"
Uncontained shock could be seen on her expression as she witnessed something that was on the realm of God's.
It was something- an ability?
A spell?
She did not know what it was but she understood what it did-
"A subspace? No… a subdimension?"
Her mind whirled into action as she scanned the room that had now turned into a vast underground- fort.
The walls were made of bright molten rocks formed into bricks that built walls.
Scattered all over the vast room were weapons, tools and all manner of constructs.
They all had different shapes, sizes and colors, their materials- an amalgamation of various metals, flesh, blood and- souls.
Her one eye opened wide in shock and horror as she witnessed the gruesome and unholy- yet majestic sight before her.
"Welcome to my world Hephaestus-sama, my Reality Marble, [Origin of Chaos: Forge of Madness]"
Hearing his words, Hephaestus immediately dialed in on one term-
"Reality Marble?"
Ryuta revealed a faint smile as he explained.
"A barrier, one that projects my inner world, my entire being onto the World. In exchange, I take its place- it's a trick, a switch, I enter my inner world and it would take the place of my physical state- a paradox that should not occur but once it does-"
He paused, Ryuta waved his hand and the as he did the countless, weapons scattered about shook as they all floated revealing the fact that any and all things in this space-
'Is under his control'
Hephaestus gulped, not out of feat but out of shock and amazement. Her face revealed a smile, one that should not appear on the face of a being stuck in a world under the complete control of another.
But Hephaestus was not a mortal, she was not a magus, she was a God, and for her, what she was seeing was not something to be feared-
'This man… he- he's reached such heights without the guidance of Gods? Hestia… you truly got yourself a legendary piece'
Reluctance and remorse crossed her face but it only lasted for a moment.
'Alas, neither Hestia nor I could have changed it, he has made his choice… this child… still full of potential'
As she thought of the things Ryuta could achieve, a smirk appeared on her face-
'I see, no wonder he could create artifacts… in this world-'
She turned towards the piles of mithril and Seiros stored in crates. They too were pulled into this world and she could "see" it, their nature being taken over, being assimilated into this world-
'Creation, Forge of Madness…'
She thought of the name Ryuta had given this ability of his, her eyes shone with a crimson light as she observed the young man-
'So that's how it is…'
Ryuta could see a look of understanding flash in the eyes of the Goddess.
"So you understand?"
He asked, curious as to what Hephaestus figured out.
"Leave the talks for later, hurry up with the artifacts, you're body won't be able to sustain it for too long"
Her words caused Ryuta to pause, he let out a sigh before taking out the vials of blood as he proceeded to work with the mithril and seiros.
Watching his actions Hephaestus sighed-
'Unfortunate, even with Falna, this ability, a creation that did not need the blessing of the God's had been made to survive based solely on mortal strength… but… instead of longevity this ability… it corrupts'
Hephaestus watched as Ryuta made the mithril turn into liquid, he shaped it into two spears, one silver another crimson. He then created two pistols, identical in shape but unlike normal guns they had no barrels.
Another gun was made, this time it was longer, but like the pistols it did not have a barrel, The guns looked like toys but their lack of a barrel came from their purpose.
They were not made to shoot bullets, their projectiles were magical energy, complementing the ability carried by the Loki Familia member- Maria Rose.
As the initial forms of the weapons were created, these "shells" made from an impossible alloy between mithril and seiros levitated around Ryuta.
'His mind is resilient but-'
Hephaestus turned her attention to the various weapons scattered about, she found them eerily familiar and as she focused on them she realized-
'These are the tattoos- no [Brand]'s!'
Recalling the weapons drawn all over Ryuta's body, Hephaestus realized what this "inner world" of Ryuta's truly represented. Moreover-
'I see… so the [Brand] is an extension of this ability… but- what is its core?'
Hephaestus tried to understand the true nature of the Reality Marble, an ability she was unaware of. But as she tried to peer into Ryuta's existence-
*👁 👁*
She froze as she felt an intense glare, a pair of eyes- monstrous dark eyes, had stared back at her. These eyes… they gave her a sense of danger-
'Danger?'
As a God, few things could give them true terror, even when facing death in this world, they did not carry any true "fear". If anything, the fear they would feel would come from the reluctance to part or leave their familia.
All beings have an instinctive nature to sense fear, even God's do. This stems from the desire to live and survive.
But God won't fear death in the world of mortals as their vessels would not truly harm them or damage them.
Which is why the mere fact that Hephaestus felt a sense of dread as she noticed the pair of eyes glaring back at her shocked the Goddess.
She wanted to see more but-
'No… there is something more important I need to do right now'
Ryuta's secrets… she could slowly find out. But what she needed to focus on right now was the technique, the method he uses to create artifacts.
Although the core of his technique was the "Reality Marble", Hepheastus did not believe that she and her familia could not achieve something similar.
What she needed to know was how Ryuta used this "Reality Marble" to create artifacts and as she focused back on Ryuta she was made to witness something even more astonishing.
If Ryuta had used his dominion of this space to forcefully forge artifacts, then his creations would all end up second rate.
But his creations were top quality artifacts, they stood at the pinnacle of what mortals could achieve without divine intervention.
And now she witnessed why-
Ryuta's whole body was covered in dense veins of deep crimson, it was like his body was overflowing with flames.
But this was merely a side effect of what he was doing as around him, hundreds of complex interwoven magic circles spun.
The magic circles had various colors and their symbols much more complex than the simple Heiroglyphs used by the Gods.
'I see, this would not be possible on Gekai'
She mused as she watched Ryuta mix together the blood of Loki and Finn, the mixture was then placed on the two spears.
Ryuta raised his hand and hundreds of magic circles gathered on his palm forming a complex globe of interwoven spells- no, rules.
The magic circles that disappeared from the air were quickly replaced and as they did, a new vein grew on Ryuta's body.
'Each act he does brings him closer and closer to the brink of madness… he can't use this consistently, if he does'
She could already see it, underneath the mortal flesh, Ryuta's soul laid bare had countless scars. Proof of his repeated uses of this domain…
'Wounds heal but scars… they stay forever and scars on the soul cut by madness…'
Hephaestus felt a deep sense of respect for Ryuta, his soul, the short glimpse of it she could see had revealed the strength the man had.
But-
'Something is hidden'
She was not that great at "seeing through" souls, that was not her domain. Although it was a shared domain all God's held, her domain, focused on Smiths, could only "see" what could be called the "soul of a craftsman".
'Only Freya and God's in her domain could see the true nature of his soul… even Hestia could only understand his inclination'
Hephaestus thought as she watched Ryuta infused the orb of spells into the various constructs.
The infusion caused changes, the bland appearance of the weapons had started to ripple as various ornate designs formed on them.
The twin spears for Finn were particularly eye catching as the silver spear turned yellow, while the crimson spear developed what appeared to be blood vessel-like patterns on it.
The yellow spear exuded an air of purity while the crimson spear gave off an air of evil.
Though Hephaestus focused instead on the other items that had appeared.
She watched as Ryuta forged the mithril and seiros into boxes, and other constructs such as three silver birds and a staff.
The spells were all infused into these items, the same method used on the spears and in less than half an hour, all the artifacts were created.
As the creation came to a halt, Ryuta canceled the "Reality Marble" as he did the world returned to normal.
The artifacts were all stored in silver suitcases that were artifacts in and of itself.
Hephaestus was about to walk towards Ryuta and praise him with a pat when-
*Cough* *Cough*
Ryuta coughed out black blood, the blood fell on the floor and Hephaestus could feel a disgusting power emanating from it.
But, in a very practiced fashion, Ryuta conjured a white flame which he threw at the puddle. Black chains emerged from the black blood trying to resist the white flame but the chains were all burned into oblivion as the flame fell and erased the black blood from existence…
"Now I don't know what's more frightening, the "Reality Marble" of yours or the white flame"
Hephaestus could only give such words after witnessing all that to which Ryuta replied calmly.
"You know that flames' only function is purification right?"
In response to Ryuta's words, Hephaestus smirked as she responded in a teasing tone.
"Of course, of all the arcanum, Hestia's is the last one I'd fail to recognize"
"..."
(ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ)
"Fine… next time"
"I'll be waiting"
Hephaestus said as she took pulled out a chair and took a seat, she didn't seem to have any plans on leaving the dilapidated forge any time soon-
"You gave them an hour right? Or two? Anyway, resting for now is better than rushing and showing weakness right?"
Ryuta remained calm but internally he was already grinding his teeth. The feeling of being seen through was something he was already expecting but-
Between "expecting" it happen and actually "experiencing" it- Ryuta would prefer to have it all be left in his expectations but-
Reality was not so kind…
Calmly he found his own seat, as he sat he closed his eyes as he used the purification spell enchanted onto his flames to slowly burn away the "damage" on his soul.
As Ryuta silently healed himself, Hephaestus, seated a distance away, watched him. Seeing the activation of a spell that used the essence of Hestia's arcanum she found even more things about Ryuta that was- out of norm.
'I guess that's what I should expect from a man who survived and came out of the void… but for him to find a loophole in Falna… Ouranos would… let's keep that old man out of this for now, but… does Hestia know about this? If she did then she would have rushed here with Ryuta to show off… so he hasn't told her about it yet? Hmm~ Now that I think about it… I should've gone to inspect if all the things I sent to her were properly received… yeah, I'll check up on her later.'