A day before Sol arrived to receive his new weapon, Fabio and Taliya were hard at work completing their masterpiece.
Fabio was carefully placing a glass like plate into position. If it was off by even the smallest amount, the void beam's trajectory from the Tynamo Cannon would always be slightly off center. If the target was within 10 meters, it wouldn't matter much, but when targeting someone thousands of miles away, even a milligram of difference would send the beam miles off course.
Bang!
'Almost there…' Fabio encouraged himself.
Bang!
His hand shook slightly, and his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
Bang! Bang!
The glass lens trembled and slipped out of place, falling into the mechanism and getting stuck among other delicate components. Extracting it without causing damage would be time consuming. Fabio's patience finally ran out, and he turned back to the source of the noise, yelling, "Could you keep it quiet over there for one second?!"
Taliya, who had been hammering a piece of void metal into shape, lifted her welding goggles and yelled back, "You want it done or not?! I'm almost done, so give me a moment! Lisa, can you hand me that file?"
Lisa, who was on standby, nodded and passed over the titanbronze file.
Fabio rolled his eyes. 'Almost done, my ass. You said that four hours ago.'
It was clear to him that the noise wasn't going to stop anytime soon. At that moment, he had an idea and reached into his spatial ring to pull out a pair of earmuffs.
'I almost forgot I had these.'
The earmuffs had been sitting in his spatial ring unused for years; the only time he ever used them was when Taliya was too loud and didn't let him focus on his work. He looked at the earmuffs, which were noticeably worn with small scratches and frizzled fur, with a sentimental gaze and let out a small chuckle.
'But I could never forget my first creation.'
The earmuffs were his first successful creation, technically. He bought them at a market and inserted his real creation inside one of the muffs: a small cube that, when infused with mana, created a localized noise suppression zone around the wearer's head. At the time, he made it because it was impossible to study or work in peace with Taliya always hammering away for hours on end.
Putting them on, Fabio sent a sliver of mana into the item, which immediately showed its effects.
Tunk.
Tunk.
Fabio smiled. 'I can still hear it, but it's much more bearable now.'
As expected from something created by a half-baked tinkerer and worn down by time, it didn't perform optimally. If Fabio really wanted to, it would only take him a few minutes to make something better, but he didn't need or want to do that. This worked more than fine and held a special place in his heart.
With peace of mind, he began trying to extract the glass lens that had fallen inside the mechanism with precision.
But the peace wouldn't last for long.
…
Ryogan frowned as he gazed upon Taliya's forge. It had taken him a while to track down the source of the void energy because the forge had a barrier to prevent such energies from leaking out. But luckily for him, one of Taliya's blacksmiths had drunkenly mentioned at a bar that Fabio, the tinkerer famed for creating the Lipon used by Knight Captain Sol in the knight selection, was visiting the forge and staying there for an extended period. Only Taliya herself and her apprentice were ever allowed inside her personal forge, which is why it caused quite a few rumors about their relationship.
Were they friends? Business partners? Lovers? Nobody knew. But Ryogan knew better. He knew no craftsman worth their salt would leave such a valuable item in their workshop. They likely took it with them to continue working undisturbed by the grunts he had been sending.
This gave him a golden opportunity to go in himself, with no chance of any Royal Knights stopping him this time.
But he still hesitated. After all, the place he was considering stealing from belonged to the only A-Rank smith in the entire black market, Taliya. Pissing her off was not a good idea by any means, as it would anger the many forces she supplied, especially the other two of the Big Three. But the temptation was extremely powerful.
'If I can get ahold of the source of the void energy, I can get the final push I need to comprehend a space law technique. If I'm lucky, maybe a void law technique. Fuck it, let's do this.'
He decided that comprehending a law technique—one of the more elusive laws—was too good of a chance to pass up, even if it completely torched his business relationship with Taliya.
From Ryogan's spatial ring, he retrieved his magic staff, which greatly enhanced his fire magic, and prepared to enter.
"[Rift Walk]."
He appeared next to the wall of the forge, unable to go any further just like with Fabio's workshop, but he wasn't surprised this time. He knew Taliya had such defenses. He raised his staff and gently tapped the wall with it.
The wall immediately melted like ice, creating a large opening through which he stepped, unaffected by the molten wall he was walking on.
Taliya, who was hammering away at the void metal, was the first to notice his entrance and was surprised by his sudden appearance.
"Ryogan? What's the meaning of this?"
"Hand over the source of the void energy," Ryogan said bluntly.
"Huh? You think I'm just gonna hand it over?!" Taliya never expected the boss of the Fire Whisperers to come to her forge and start making demands out of nowhere, but she wasn't one to submissively obey, especially to force.
"If you know what's good for you. Don't make me ask again." He would rather not kill Taliya, as it would lead to antagonizing the other two criminal groups, Rat Pack and Charm Sisters, but he would if he had to.
'Did she actually finish?' Fabio, who hadn't heard the hammering sounds anymore, took off the earmuffs and turned around to see the melted wall and the new person in the forge. "What's going on?"
Taliya was baffled at his delayed reaction. "Now you notice?!"
"Well, it's not my fault someone was making too much noise."
"How are you turning this back on me?! Didn't you feel the heat from him melting the wall?!"
"Where do you think we are?! It's a forge! When is it not hot in here?!"
Fabio wasn't like her; he couldn't detect the smallest change in temperature. Neither wanting to concede, the two quickly devolved into bickering like an old married couple, leaving Ryogan standing there awkwardly.
'These bastards…' His eyes twitched in anger. He had broken into the forge with the ability to easily kill them both if he wanted to, but was being treated like air.
"Fine! I'll take it off your corpse! [Flame Python]!"
A snake formed from highly intense flames flew out of his staff and went straight for Taliya and Lisa, who stood behind her.
Seeing the incoming attack, Taliya and Fabio became serious. The hammer in her hand sparked with power as she threw it with all her might. The fire snake stood no chance as the hammer went through its body like lightning and continued toward Ryogan.
"[Blink]."
Ryogan teleported a foot to the left as the hammer passed by where he had previously stood. He found her attack so simple that he couldn't help but chuckle.
"Hahaha! You're just a crafter, do you really think—[Blaze Veil]!"
Before he could taunt Taliya, a blast of lightning struck from the side and collided with his barrier. The flames dispersed the lightning, creating static in the air.
Fabio, who had a cylindrical tube attached to his forearm, spoke. "I have no clue who you are, but I'm giving you one chance to get out of my sight. I'm not gonna kill you, but I'll make you regret ever being born."
Protected by the barrier of flame, Ryogan couldn't help but find the situation preposterous. Leave? Now? He had already made an enemy out of Taliya, so he wasn't going to stop now. Besides, there was something he found hilarious about the situation.
"Pfft! You really think you stand a chance? You're just a tinkerer and a blacksmith. All you're good for is making us real fighters useful tools. But if you can't even give me what I want, what good are you two? I've changed my mind. I'll find some way to appease them for your deaths."
The other two forces of the Big Three would surely be mad at him for Taliya's death, but he realized it would be easier than letting her live. With this in mind, he went all out.
"[Frenzied Whisper]!"
He cast his signature spell, releasing countless yellow flames from his staff that spread chaotically in all directions.
Taliya yelled while lifting a nearby anvil and preparing to use it as a makeshift shield. "You're casting a law technique in here?! You're mad!"
Ryogan laughed maniacally as the flames spread throughout the forge. The highly heat resistant walls and floors began to melt as the flames approached the trio.
Fabio didn't have time to pull anything out of his spatial ring to defend against such flames, as he never expected the situation to escalate so quickly. Thinking fast, he reached for the unfinished mechanism he was working on. He hadn't finished adjusting the glass lens, but he didn't need it for what he had in mind. He moved in front of the others and manually twisted the inside, flipping the void root inside.
'Please work!' he desperately prayed.
The void root inside the mechanism hummed as the wild yellow flames began changing course and were drawn into the half-built creation.
VRRRR!
The flames were sucked inside, but the proximity of the heat began to affect the components. They heated up to the point that the metal and other parts caught fire or began to bend in unusual ways.
'Just… a bit… more!'
Fabio's hands were burning from the sheer heat, but he held on until all the flames were absorbed by the void root inside the mechanism.
Ryogan was stunned. "How did you—Is that what I think it is?!" His eyes widened as he saw the very object he had coveted was within reach.
Fabio, on the other hand, celebrated.
"Haha! It worked! How's that for a test run?!"
He had previously calculated there was a 70% chance of his design working, but he wouldn't know for sure until he tested it. He couldn't be more glad; it worked exactly as he wanted, even if it resulted in half of it being melted.
Ryogan was amazed that the item had completely absorbed his full power attack, but he didn't panic.
"I'd like to see you do that again. [Frenzi—[Blink]!"
"Oh no you don't!" Before he could cast the spell again, Taliya interfered by tossing the anvil she was holding, which flew frighteningly fast for its large size. It forced Ryogan to cancel his spell and quickly teleport out of the way.
"You bitch!" They were like two flies constantly bothering him. He was about to cast the spell again but was shocked by what he saw.
An odd looking machine and two large cannons stood behind Fabio, while Taliya was wearing full body blue armor and wielding two large hammers. In the short time he teleported, the two had retrieved all their weapons from their spatial rings and were fully equipped to deal with whatever might come their way.
Seeing this caused Ryogan to falter and take a step back in surprise. His instincts told him it was time to retreat.
"[Rift Walk]!"
He cast his spell but didn't move a single inch. The odd machine was a spatial stabilizer that prevented the manipulation of space in the surrounding area. With nowhere to escape, Ryogan could either run or fight them head-on, and he doubted he could outrun them as a mage. He regretted not bringing his own men not wanting them caught in the crossfire, but now he wished he had them to serve as a meat shield for his escape.
Fabio could tell Ryogan was already regretting messing with them and taunted him. "You know, there's a saying about crafters: 'If you can't cause destruction…'"
Taliya knew where he was going and finished his sentence as she charged forward with her fire resistant armor and anti-magic hammers. "'Create it!'"
Fabio grinned as he used [Overclock] on both cannons and sent two powerful blasts of water and lightning.
"[Sea of Flames]!" Ryogan responded in kind, sending a massive wave of fire at them.
As the three fought, Lisa stood at the back wide eyed, witnessing a true battle between A-Rankers. A normal person would have died standing this close to such an intense fight, but Fabio had gone out of his way to shield her from harm with various gadgets while Taliya fought Ryogan head-on.
The fight seemed even at first, with Ryogan using his fire magic to its full potential to create distance while unleashing his own attacks at the two of them. But without his space magic, Taliya eventually closed the distance and smacked him with one of her hammers, breaking his flame barrier and sending him flying. Before he could even land, a lightning blast hit him mid air, shocking him and knocking him back toward Taliya, who followed up with another hammer swing.
Helpless against the two's unceasing onslaught, it didn't take long for him to beg for mercy.
Ryogan, barely conscious from the vicious beating, was chained with magic sealing chains, with Taliya and Fabio looking down on him.
Taliya took off her helmet and said, "Next time, use the door."