chapter - cleaning and names
"Argos, please summon them"
[I cannot]
"F*BLEEP*k do you mean you 'cannot'"
[It's not my rune sire]
"Ah right"
[.....]
"What"
[Are you not going to apologize?]
"For what?"
[...]
Our protagonist was a shameless person. Perhaps the most shameless one on the planet. Which wouldn't be wrong since he likely is the ONLY one on the planet.
Aedhira closed his eyes, and dived within him, into his heart. The space where his runes and his 'heart' resided. Or rather ingeniously named, the 'Heart Space'.
....It wasn't that ingenious
Aedhira furrowed his eyebrows and looked around for no one in particular.
His heart pulsed, with flashes of pure ether, the strange bindings contracting and relaxing, as a heart would. He guided the ether to his rune, the [Armaspace], floating quietly next to the more....natural, runes.
"Ignite"
And so it did. The lines that formed the rune were suddenly set aflame. Space rippled slightly around him, and a white square was carved into the space before him.
*THUD*
Heavy. It could only be described as heavy. What walked out of the white square unintentionally struck the floor underneath with the force of a thousand elephant. Out of its sheer weight. Looking like a metal gorilla given a life and a gun, stepped out the Defender Mtezu, the Maxim of the tankers.
It's glossy black flame reflected the lights, highlighting the railgun on its back. Which would surely be oversized for just about any humanoid being. Well....except for this one. Standing at a hefty 15 meters and 1500 tons, this could only be a behemoth. Only, it was a behemoth sized beast packed into 15 meters of metal.
It's head swerved, blue eyes, glowing with....curiosity? It walked over to Aedhira, it's steps causing a small earthquake every time it moved. It came before him, and bowed its head.
[I have arrived, sire. Let your command be known]
A voice, much lighter than expected, with an accent of an English butler. Almost unfitting for such a large frame. And most importantly, it's voice held, not the monotonous tone of a general automaton, no.
It held...wonder, no....sentience. And this could only baffle out seemingly tiny protagonist. That is, until Argos' voice rang in his mind.
[They are connected to you sire, not only by the power you supply them, but also by your soul. You share bits of it with all your soldiers]
"My soul?....Wait all of them?...Then shouldn't I be a...a husk? Sharing that much soul is fatal right? Especially since when you share it, soul doesn't recover, unlike an injury to it"
[Affirmative, but that only applies to conventional beings. On top of that, your soul is far too vast for it to be affected by such a small expenditure. Your soul was given to you by The Mother herself. Like attempting to take a city sized chunk of land from a planet, it's negligible]
"....I see"
[And with the supply of ether you give them, with time, they will form their own souls]
"Wait what"
[Albeit only a minor soul, it will get better with time]
SIlent, Aedhira looked on to the still bowing Maxim.
"I can't call you Maxim, not can I call you by your model. Tell me, what should I do"
A test, Aedhira wished to test his Maxim, to test this....'sentience', to see to what extent it would have autonomy. And in a heartbeat, he received his answer.
[Bestow upon me a name....sire]
Not a conclusive test, but it showed decisiveness. He smiled.
"Very well...Aspis...no too cliche. I think...Amanii"
The automaton...no, Amanii, looked down to Aedhira, and tilted his head, clearly he didn't understand the meaning behind his new name. Yet his boss snickered at the sight.
[Peace. That is a fitting name. A gentle giant indeed] said Argos.
"Yeah...." Aedhira looked back to the white square "Well, bring out the rest"