208 - Eisenretter [Cherno][+Artwork] (Patreon)

“Stronger. Not strong enough,” Tsetse remarked, a faint disappointment in his deadpan tone.

“You speak the truth,” Silberblut agreed. “I must thank you, for reminding me that mere imitation of my predecessor would only doom me on my path. That my reason to wear this belt was just as important as my ability to do so.”

He reached for his waist, as if to press the eye of his belt for a coupler charge, only to detransform. To those who knew what to look for, it was obvious that this was not some kind of sudden failure, but an intentional act. Strangest of all, he didn’t just detransform — he pulled the belt right off of his waist. At that instant his armor burned off of him, consumed by silver fire. As Casus retreated a few more steps, the burning ghost of his armor charged ahead to meet Tsetse, clashing with the insectile giant for a moment before disappearing.

Semzar shouted, and the three-eyed stillborn-handler to his left sicced two of his crebatures on the banisher — one with clawed hands, the other with two gun-arms. Despite being stripped of his armor, his arm shot out with the force and speed of a cannonball, hints of golden flame flaring between the exposed muscle fibres. He shattered the charging stillborn’s chitin with one punch and set it off-balance. Without wasting a moment, he tore into the same spot, his fingers digging into flesh and bathing in leaking hemolymph as he braced his foot against its chest. With a single motion, he tore out not just its side — but also a vital cable. Oily blue sprayed onto the tile as the graft-beast toppled down.

“No ward generator?” Casus asked as he threw the fistful of flesh aside.

“My employer expressed dislike for the sound they made. Those with ward generators were assigned elsewhere,” Tsetse remarked, pointedly tilting his head as he glanced at Semzar. “Your specifications surpass my data. Your compatibility must be excellent to channel the coupler’s power so readily untransformed. Two questions: How, and why? I sense no new relics. No new catalyst. No new voidkey. The change was you. How, and why?”

Tsetse’s tone was full of curiosity, entirely unconcerned by the destruction of his toy. His attention was fully on the conundrum of Silberblut’s abrupt growth.

Driven to nearly speechless fury by the implication that something was his fault, Semzar shouted for the onerous intruder to be struck down. Tsetse didn’t move, but those surrounding him did. His silhouette was completely consumed by the assault, tearing apart the floor and engulfing him in a clashing blender of magic, but it was too late — he had donned his belt once again.

The shape of his armored form, of Tarnished Silberblut, had formed from silver flame, overlaying him without actually becoming the solid armor. Five stars of golden flame burned above his head.

“I am a warrior of justice, not because I have been chosen, but because that is the path I chose!”

A sixth star ignited. Their revolutions accelerated.

“In my past life I fought for what is just, and in all lives that follow, so too shall it be!”

A seventh joined the six.

“Should the shadows grow darker than black, so be it! I need only burn more brightly than the sun, even if it leaves my armor charred black!”

Seven became one — a flaming halo with seven notches. It widened, descending to the ground, and with it, the armor of Tarnished Silberblut took form, pristine and gleaming for just this brief moment.

“Igaria steel my spirit and Zavesh guide my hand, so I pray!”

Then, from the halo, a fiery inferno erupted — at once, it consumed Casus Aristedes whole, and a projection of the seven-notched halo emerged in front of him, as tall as he was. One by one, bursts of golden flame flowed out of the flame-vortex and into each spoke, forming the shapes of additional armor components.

From the midst of the golden inferno, an enormous voice bellowed, one that did not belong to Casus, yet also slightly differed from how the Silberblut Coupler normally sounded. It was distorted in a manner that, to Krahe’s ears, resembled a disrupted or otherwise incomplete signal.

“The son of ho-pe, broth-er to anger and cou-ou-ourage! Mamon Knight Eisenretter!”

In rapid succession, the new armor flew into the pillar of flame, joining with Casus’ silhouette.

The swirling inferno tore itself apart, and the burning wheel which had given it shape rose up, shrinking to now revolve around Eisenretter’s head. His previously horn-like crown had expanded even further, completing a physical halo. The lower half of his left arm was twisted into a gigantic, disproportionate thing, with spherical joints and clawed fingers, an extra cross-pupiled eye adorning the back of the gauntlet. By contrast, his right arm only possessed a minimal gauntlet, a curved blade attached to it and sweeping forward over his hand. The blade looked as if it had been melted in the transformation’s flame, neither its star-shaped form nor elegant attachment joint anywhere to be seen. The close-eyed face on the suit’s chest was a mismatched blend of the robotic and the demonic, with large golden fangs. Similarly, curved golden spikes protruded over the knees, and the boots had short claws of the same colour.

It was crude and incomplete, and yet, the sheer, unrefined power pouring out of Casus at this moment truly felt as if he was the sun.

THE SON OF HOPE

BROTHER TO ANGER AND COURAGE

MAMON KNIGHT EISENRETTER

-IMPERFECT MANIFESTATION-

“Lucky,” Tsetse remarked, a tinge of unease creeping into his voice.

Upon receiving a look of panicked confusion from Semzar, he added: “Catalyst Resonance Evolution. All old-style speaking couplers could do it. Some modern models still can. Enormous performance increase through resonance with the catalyst. This one… Incomplete. He forced it. Got lucky. Hence the detransformation and the excessively complex transformation sequence. Can’t do it properly.”

“Why did you not interrupt him, then?!” Semzar demanded.

Tsetse scoffed. 

“Foolishness,” he said. “In seven thousand years, do you think none have thought of that? Even the oldest couplers have countermeasures.”