Location: Tech Realm
The Tech Realm was a highly advanced society straight out of a steampunk fantasy. But the only difference in fuel was not steam, but chi in gaseous form. Trains moved about were run by automatons, street cars, vehicles, etc. were all run by machines. Machines that were crafted not as means to help society, but slaves. Their very minds that powered them was of the souls of criminals forever in servitude to be labor, an object and nothing more. And there was nothing they could do about it.
When the Topaz King saw to punish those he deemed criminals, that sentence stuck. Sure small-time crimes happen and some serve jail time. But those days ended ten years prior to today. The Topaz King, they said, was drunk on his own legend. Becoming a living god, and to most in this universe that wasn't something uncommon. Cultivation had the very rank of God giving it even a number. So with cultivation comes godhood. Topaz King was past god ranking that regard. But in his madness and arrogance he thought he should be the only god in the realm. All those who reached Rank 5 or even to Rank 6 were thoroughly rounded up and their souls injected into automatons.
Be it humanoid or vehicle form all would end the same. Their minds and soul cores ripped from their bodies and encased inside a machine. With them gone came worship of a god. Throughout the city you could see monuments, statues, murals painted, and temples depicting his godliness. He also instituted laws that could be seen carved upon large rock statues in every square around the city. Being just as tall as the gold and bronze buildings. The city was surrounded by a large thick jungle home to many Mythical beasts used for hunting and forging. For this was the origin of the Mythical Forging technique. Here that was common and was considered an honorable profession. Many in the oligarchy that was the Tech Realm were rich from creating works of art or invention using Mythical Forging.
The biggest guild of the capital city known as the Golden Eye was the forging guild Molten Metal Works was ran by a man known as the Engineer. It was a massive domed structure that had glass ceiling and vents coming out of it. Inside was a large hot forge where only automatons works being able to handle the high temperatures. This where mythical creatures were broken down with chi stones, and other metal. The other side was the forging area where regular humans forged weapons, tools, coins, etc. All matters of metal works were made here at this guild over all others.
Today his factory had a new victim for the many vehicles he created. He was a short man with a massive mustache tipped gold leaf. He had a leather apron over a hot suit. He wasn't the type to use his new power status to sit above his employees. No, the Engineer always got his hands dirty and was better off for it. He took the time to teach new future forges that were using his facility. This was also driven by guilt.
Today he had another person to lock into one of his vehicles. And every time it was nothing more than torture. Twenty years prior he was someone who used the element Magus. Being a mage he used magic in his forging and later his inventions creating automatons that would think on their own and help with farming living amongst humans. He saw it as creating a new species and giving people bodies to live on after their mortal bodies failed them. He saw potential to stop death and so he caught the eye of the king.
He was then forced into servitude to the king in making his machines used for nefarious purposes. Playing god like he was he was lucky enough to not end up a machine slave. He stood with two attendants as he waited on the front steps for the transportation vehicle to arrive. He sighed, 'I am a cursed man still doing this over and over. Luck is a fickle thing' he thought. The carriage housing the prisoner pulled up. Two men in full tight gray armor exited the vehicle with butterfly doors opening up. These were Tin-men; royal policemen who worked directly for the king. They were armed with pistols that used chi gas. Another one of his inventions under the king's thumb. They then opened the back hatch removing a young man no older than fifteen. He was badly beaten and he looked extremely weakened. The Engineer could see his soul core was merely a Rank 3 and he was a slow cultivator being that resources were limited to the royals and their court. 'So he isn't being punished for being a rank of god?' He thought. 'Perhaps blasphemy?' He thought his mind racing trying to guess this young man's supposed crimes before they approached and told him directly his crimes. "We have another criminal for an implantation Engineer" one of the men stated bluntly. "And what has this young man done if you may ask?" The Engineer knew he was to know this for one reason. The king wanted certain criminals to be placed in certain machine shells. Those he hated the most worked in the hot forge. Ones he wanted to make forgotten were placed in transportation vehicles suffering monotony.
Each crime came with a different sentences and the Engineer would give anything to set them all free. But alas he pushed those feelings aside and remained professional. "He conspired with the criminal Sun Demon. Gave the criminal information" one of the guards stated. That had become increasingly regular, 'Another conspirator to the Sun Demon…they have all but single handedly brought all criminals together and focused mainly on hurting the king anyway possible. They interrupted trade, sabotaged vehicles in public transportation to explode, or go haywire. Always with specific targets in mind people who belong to the court. They even used shadow tactics black mailing, sabotage, and theft. Recently the Sun Demon and the criminals that followed assassinated a personal guards of a noble and his whole family along with them. This noble was Lord Pressfield and ammunitions manufacturer.
He was a sadistic man who used his wealth to kill for pleasure. He had a wife and three kids that he spoiled rotten and were not any better than their father. Grown now they made all those who worked and even around them miserable. They ran their father's guild the Bullet Hive and were somewhat successful, but they weren't Lord Pressfield. They were running the guild to the ground.
If they hadn't died by the Sun Demon then they would have died by the king having no further use to him. Ending up at the Engineer's feet eventually. This loss was not seen as terrible by the other guilds. But messing with the guilds would bring the King's wrath. To him it was the same as a personal direct attack. "The Pressfield murders?" the Engineer asked. One of the Tin-men nodded, "Yes the king wishes for him to become an ornament" he told him. The Engineer knew what that meant for each person accused of being a co-conspirator with the Sun Demon were given a specific punishment. They were to be encased in gold and then put into the King's trophy room. This fate was probably the worst one being that you were forever frozen in metal suffering till your body gave out inside the metal shell if the burns didn't kill them first. So far he had done this to at least fifteen people. "I see, follow me to the procedure room" he led the men and prisoner to a special room in the forge where he had to encase the criminal in gold.
Before they could an explosion outside caused the men and the Engineer to freeze in their tracks. The Tin-men looked out the window to see their vehicle was in flames. "Watch the prisoner!" they told him. Leaving the Engineer and his attendants to watch the young man. He slumped to the ground and smiled, "Seems my punishment won't be happening today" he whispered. The Engineer then looked outside to see a person in a yellow skin suit with gold robes over it. Upon their face was a demon mask with a single horn on the forehead, a smiling jagged grin with two tusks, and a third eye. They held a spear that had a glowing white hot blade. They stood over the two Tin-men that were dead and had puncture wounds to their chests and faces. From the alley way more masked people came into view and rushed into the forge. They then pulled guns on the Engineer, "ON THE GROUND!" they shouted. The Engineer surrendered and his two attendants were shot dead when they tried to run away. All that remained was him and the boy. They made for the boy first removing his restraints and taking him away with care not to hurt him. "Glad you guys came" he mumbled as two had him lean on them as they exited the building.
Now the Engineer was alone and standing before him was the Sun Demon and their rebels. "So? You're the Engineer?" The voice that came out from under the mask was not manly, guttural, or savage. It was a woman's voice and her tone demanded authority. He merely nodded, "Your crimes are worse than any others. I will take this forge from you and cripple the king. And you? I don't know? What should we do with him?" she asked looking back at her men. "Trophy," one said coldly. The Sun Demon nodded, "I think that's fair. Burn the place down, kill everyone and automatons free their souls with death" she told them as they rushed into the complex. They then dragged the Engineer to the very room he was leading the Tin-men. To be encased in gold was a death sentence to him, but he knew this was what he deserved. She was right his crimes were severe and now it was time to pay the toll.
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The Engineer was chained up from his arms and he had a black eye and split lip. The Sun Demon allowed him to be beaten before the procedure. He didn't fight it and didn't resist. As he hung there Sun Demon approached calm, "I'm not going to ask you why you haven't fought us. Your employees are all dead, along with the prisoner automatons you had working the forge, and this facility will be rubble shortly" she then sighed. "But I'm still going to ask, though why? I want to hear what your reasons are?" she asked calmly. "Simple....tired...my gifts, and my inventions were never meant for this. Let it all burn. Let the King burn! I don't say these things out of desperation to save my life. Or anyone else! I have no family and never thought I deserved love after being made to do this. I deserve to suffer. I have no loyalty to this realm, or it's people. They don't deserve a scum like me. They deserved better....my sole purpose in life was to be a creator. I created it and now I'm done. Please destroy all I have built. I don't want to be remembered" he told them with nothing but contempt for himself. Sun Demon stared at him with her static mask. She nodded and then approached a lever when the Engineer smiled big, "Captain goes down with the ship!" he said lastly. She pulled the lever as gold poured from up and rose from the bottom defying gravity. The molten gold then began to slowly coat him, burning his clothes, his skin, and all while he said nothing. Only grinned as the gold took him over completely falling to the floor with a thud as steam rose off the hardening metal.