Fabricator v2 - Chapter 15 (Patreon)

Junichiro exhaled a cloud of purple sweet smelling smoke as he stretched his arms over his head. His spine let out loud cracking sounds that caused him to groan in pleasure. His latest project sat on the table before him but before he could begin to admire the finished product, the door to his workshop opened and Azazel stuck his head inside, “Sup?”

Junichiro lowered his arms and plucked the herbal cigarette from his lips while cocking an eyebrow, “Sup yourself?”

He hadn't seen Azazel since he'd moved into this place a little over a year ago. Since then he'd been working his ass off and building himself a decent reputation as a magical craftsman. He now had a bevvy of orders for all kinds of items, potions, and various magical doodads that people wanted. The orders came from around the world and were all filtered through the Grigori. No one but Azazel and Mittelt even knew who he was.

Azazel lazily shrugged his shoulders, “Got my hands on something you've been looking for. Well... technically a yokai I know has it but they're up for trading it for something custom made by 'The Artificer' for them.”

Junichiro snorted at his 'title' in the supernatural world. All of the factions worldwide knew that name and knew he'd make them quality stuff. Trades were also the only way to go about high level item sales. Frankly, selling something at the tier he was working at now would cost trillions of yen or billions of dollars. Frankly ludicrous numbers in cash. It was slightly better in gold bullion, but not by much. Raw materials though? Now that was worthwhile.

“And what's that?”

Azazel's grin grew, “Sword Birth.”

Junichiro's eyes widened in surprise. He'd put the word out as soon as he started selling stuff that he was on the lookout for Sword Birth. He'd just about given up on ever getting a copy. He couldn't help smiling, “How'd that happen?”

Azazel looked slightly whimsical, “It's a funny story really. It's also something I didn't even know was possible until now! See, this particular yokai is one of the rare soul eating varieties. They don't usually live long since no one, not even other yokai, like having such a dangerous being around. This particular one though, she has a penchant for only eating the souls of the truly evil so she generally gets a bit of a pass.”

Junichiro made a hand motion to tell Azazel to get on with it. Soul eating yokai aside, he just wanted to get to the Sword Birth and what this lady wanted for it. Azazel smirked but didn't speed up his tale, “So, in this instance she was hunting down a small time serial killer in Germany. The guy was know for using blades to slice his victims up.”

He looked at Junichiro pointedly. Junichiro knew what he was getting at, the serial killer was using sword birth to make his blades and then dismissing them. It was an excellent way to leave zero evidence behind. Seeing Junichiro got it, Azazel continued, “So, she hunted him down and ate his soul. She was rather shocked when something caught in her throat during her meal. After hacking it up, she found herself in possession of an owner-less Sacred Gear.” Azazel's grin grew, “That's where I come into the story! She had no idea what Sacred Gear she had so, naturally, she came to the most knowledgeable being on, and off, the planet! Me!”

Junichiro rolled his eyes as Azazel preened about his own greatness, “Get to the point.”

Azazel sighed but continued, “So I identified it as Sword Birth for her. She didn't seem all that impressed, or happy, until I told her the great 'Artificer' was looking to get his hands on a copy of it. Now that got her excited! She's willing to make a trade, Sword Birth for a commission of her choice. Though...” And here Azazel seemed a little uncomfortable, “She did have one request that I'm not sure should be fulfilled.” Seeing Junichiro's deadpan stare, Azazel got on with it, “She wants to talk to you in person about her request.”

“Why?”

Azazel sighed, “When I asked she said she would only relay the details of her request to you in person. It seems she wants something rather... personal to be made by you. So that's the deal. She comes here, gets you to make something for her, and in exchange you get a copy of Sword Birth.”

Junichiro crossed his arms over his chest, which was still and odd feeling with his version three arm. He'd ditched the wooden one he'd made with Azazel as soon as he could and make himself a second version out of metal that was essentially a hallow gauntlet. After that he'd made this current version, a hallow gauntlet with a skeletal frame inside for further strength. It was also the most dexterous one he'd made so far, almost as good as his left hand really.

“That's a hard choice.”

It really was too. He liked his privacy and didn't want it to come to an end just yet. Sure, he was at least a hundred times stronger and more prepared than he was a year ago, but he knew he was still a rather small fish. All the sword training, working out, magical exercise, and magical items he had wouldn't enable him to handle more than someone mid-class. At least, according to Mittelt. She would know too, they'd been living together this entire time.

Azazel shrugged his shoulders uncaring, “It's your decision. Though, if it helps, she has a massive set of tits.”

Junichiro rolled his eyes at the lecherous look on Azazel's face. Of course that was the important part to the fallen. After thinking about it a bit, Junichiro smiled, “Alright, tell her she has a deal on one condition. She has to sign a magical contract swearing herself to secrecy. If she agrees, bring her here and I'll make whatever I can, within limits, in exchange for the Sword Birth Sacred Gear.”

Azazel nodded, “Seems reasonable. That was the first bit of news, I have other news as well...”

Junichiro sighed at Azazel drawing things out, “Well? Get on with it.”

Azazel smirked, “I've been hearing some quiet whispers about a couple of devil heiresses being interested in coming to Japan. And since this is their only territory here...”

Junichiro froze for a moment at that, a flicker of remembered flames going through his mind before he shoved them aside for other thoughts. Rias and Sona were coming to Earth. He tried to figure out the timeline from that information. By his best guess, the pair of them had been on Earth for two years by the time the story started, with them being in their third, and last, year of high school. He didn't know if they spent any time at Kuoh Middle School or not.

He was currently fifteen, about to turn sixteen, and would be getting ready for his first year of high school, if he was attending. So, was he the same age, or older than Rias and Sona? He'd find out eventually it seemed. Either way, he planned to find and join Rias the first chance he had. The sooner he was a devil, the sooner he could take his Essence of the Blank and begin really gaining strength. Add having Sword Birth on top of that? Yes, he was definitely looking forward to the future!

Azazel watched as Junichiro descended into his thoughts with a smile on his face. He'd watched Junichiro pretty closely over the last year and had liked what he'd seen. He'd also learned a few things, at least until Junichiro had found and disabled all the spying magic he'd layered into the workshop. Any attempts to secretly replace them had been instantly foiled and Azazel had no idea how. That was pretty intriguing in itself. Eventually he got bored of watching Junichiro thinking and looked at what he'd been working on.

His eyes widened as he saw a new prosthetic arm sitting on the table in front of Junichiro. He'd been kept up to date on the replacements that had been made since the first wooden one they made together. Yet, this one, just on external looks, blew the last three completely out of the water. If he didn't know better, he'd swear there was a severed arm sitting on the table. Unable to resist his curiosity he opened his mouth to break Junichiro out of his thoughts, “Oho! Is that the newest model for your replacement arm?”

Brought out of his thoughts by the question, Junichiro looked down at his bench and couldn't help smiling brightly, “Indeed.”

Laying on the bench was the fourth model for his replacement limb. The exterior was coated in doppelganger flesh. Not as creepy as it sounded as it wasn't actually the skin of a doppelganger, that was just what the alchemical creation was called. Using it let the thin membrane take on the coloration of anything it was attached to, in this case it would be his stump. Even so it had a fleshy tone as its base color.

Beneath the layer of doppelganger flesh was a thin, relatively, layer of alchemically modified Adamantine. The modification was to make the usually very rigid, nigh unbendable metal, more flexible so it would appear to move and flex like muscles beneath flesh yet still be nigh unbreakable. Thin struts connected the exterior shell to an internal skeletal structure made of Blood Iron. Blood Iron, poorly named, had strength on par with Mithril, though weighed significantly more. It's special property was that channeling mana into it would cause it to make more of itself or, in other words, grow.

He chose that and designed the arm so that it could get bigger over time, he planned to have it for the next few years as it'd cost him the equivalent of hundreds of trillions of yen to create. The Blood Iron and Adamantine were just the two most expensive metals but not the only expensive things used in the construction. That didn't even cover the functions, hidden features, and things he had hidden in the space space within the arm between the outer skin and bones. The whole thing was filled to the brim with high tier runes, still not top of the line but significantly more advanced than what he'd used on the first arm.

It took him three months to make the arm and it was his greatest creation so far.

Azazel fully stepped into the workshop and froze mid-step as a shiver ran down his spine, “What the hell?”

Junichiro looked over at Azazel in curiosity, “What?”

Azazel looked all over with a small frown of confusion on his face, “The mana density in here is ridiculous. I couldn't tell until I fully stepped inside.”

Junichiro nodded in understanding, “Just a ward I set up with gather and restrain mana in here. Takes a while to build up like this since it's not actively sucking mana in from the environment, but any that naturally gathers in here never leaves unless its absorbed into something. Makes recharging my personal mana pool and charging runes a lot easier.”

Azazel nodded, “I can see how that would be useful.” He rubbed his chin while resuming his walk toward the bench, “What would it take for you to install such a ward in my workshop?”

Junichiro seriously thought that offer over. Azazel was probably one of the richest people he knew and had a plethora of knowledge on all kinds of topics. Though one stuck out above others, “I'd be willing to do it in exchange for any information on Sacred Gears you'd be willing to share. I'm kind of interested in trying my hand at making my own.”

Azazel smiled broadly, almost proudly, at that request, “I'm sure we can come to an arrangement. I wouldn't mind giving you copies of some of my earlier notes to help you get started. Though I would highly recommend putting in effort to study souls before you even try to make anything Sacred Gear related. One wrong step and you could accidentally destroy a soul.”

Junichiro nodded in understanding. He had no intention of trying to run before he could walk. He knew exactly what could happen to someone that made a mistake with something dangerous or volatile. Death would be a mercy in some cases. Messing with something related so heavily to the soul? Yeah, he could easily imagine the amount of damage that could be caused by making a mistake. There were probably thousands of simpler ways to commit suicide!

That over, Azazel finished closing the distance between them and looked over the arm laying on the table, “That's a pretty nice piece of equipment. It looks rather realistic.”

Junichiro nodded, “I needed it to if I wanted to be able to go outside without having to use magic to keep people from looking at my prosthetic arm. Especially when it looks like medieval armor.”

To make his point he lifted his current arm, which easily looked like it came off of a suit of plate mail armor. Seeing as how that was the easiest thing for him to design, it made perfect sense to appear like that. Aside from that, he hadn't had the proper materials to make doppelganger flesh to cover it up at the time. Finding replacement materials had taken him quite a while.

“Well, there's no time like the present.”

So saying, Junichiro reached up to his right arm and rolled up the sleeve on his tee-shirt. It was a matter of moments for him to detach his current arm and attach his new one. After the first he'd had some minor surgery to install a simple quick-change port in his stump. Once he stopped growing he had plans to make all kinds of different arms for different uses and situations. Like one that did nothing but throw rocket punches! Yes, he was still determined to have such an arm! But he could also design arms for more precise movements to help with working on smaller things. He planned to get into electronics to see if he could incorporate technology and magic together and bring Magitek into existence. He'd looked but no one seemed to be doing any research on the subject.

Soooo maybe a steampunk arm at some point just for the cool factor? Eh whatever.

As he attached the new arm there was a hiss and click as the socket connected properly. He felt a slight pinch and groaned in minor pain as the arm fully connected and nerves he hadn't felt in a year sprang to life. He felt a tingle, like a sleeping limb waking up after being sat of for a long time. The pair of them watched as the doppelganger flesh slowly transformed to match Junichiro's natural skin tone. The only sign of there being something off about the arm being a crease and line where the prosthetic connected to his flesh.

As the tingling sensation faded and the numbness lifted, Junichiro started to feel other sensations from his new 'flesh' on his arm. First came warmth as he wasn't too far from the coal forge. It wasn't going full blast but he had some coals banked so it was emitting at least some warmth. It was enough for his new, still sensitive, synthetic skin to pick up. After that he could feel a slight breeze blowing across his skin cooling it as air naturally moved through the area. The sensations were almost overwhelming to him as he hadn't felt anything from his missing arm in so long.

Taking a deep breath to calm his roiling emotions, he lifted his right arm and marveled at the feeling of it moving. It definitely did notfeel like his left arm but it was feeling none-the-less! For a few quiet minutes he lifted, bent, moved, and flexed his arm and fingers to get a feel for their range. It still wasn't as good as a natural hand and arm, missing some of that freedom of movement being made of more rigid materials all through it. Still, it was a thousand times better than his first wooden arm and a definite improvement over the third version he'd just removed.

He was brought out of his reverie by Azazel letting out a soft whistle, “That's might impressive, kid. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that was your natural arm.”

Azazel's praise was honest. In the last year he'd kept as close of an eye on Junichiro as he could. To say Junichiro's growth was impressive would be an understatement. The only person he'd seen grow stronger faster was Vali. Given Vali's determination and goals though, it was no surprise that he was growing in leaps and bounds. That's just how it went with any Sacred Gear holder, let alone one with a Longinus class one. He honestly couldn't wait to see Junichiro's growth after he got his own Sacred Gear. Even with a weak one like Sword Birth, it should be a sight to see.

The two spent a little time chatting while Junichiro got used to his new arm. Once he felt comfortable with it, the two of them left the workshop. As they were walking, Azazel grew a cocky smirk as he innocently asked, “So, when are you planning to ask Mittelt out on a date?”

Junichiro was instantly blushing and almost tripped over nothing in his surprise. He and Mittelt had actually become rather good friends over the last year. Spending every day together ensured they would either grow to like or hate each other. Despite their different interests, they actually got along pretty good. They both shared a love of cooking and had small competitions to see who could cook what better. Mittelt often won due to sheer experience, but it was fun regardless. Mittelt also had an interest in fashion, something he could relate to since his Artificing abilities covered making clothing and leather armor. She was one hell of a clothing designer and had mad skills with a sewing machine. All of her clothing was hand made and looked as good, if not better, than the stuff in stores. She mostly stuck to her signature Gothic Lolita style, but it was also nice to see her making normal dresses, skirts, and other clothing then trying them out. With his puberty in full swing and his hormones going crazy, he'd ended up finding himself attracted to the petite fallen angel that was hundreds of times his own age.

After recovering from his near trip, he glared at Azazel, though there wasn't really much heat behind it. Especially not with his cheeks still tinted red. Azazel just looked at him with a raised eyebrow, clearly waiting for a response. Junichiro finally looked away and sighed, “I'm not sure. I've been wanting to for a while now.”

Azazel just gave a nonchalant shrug, “Just ask her. The worst she can do is say no.”

Junichiro knew that. He had no idea why it was so hard to ask his friend out. While he'd never been on a date in this life, he'd been on a few in his last life. Even then though, it had been nerve wracking and terrifying to ask the women out. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. He'd ask Mittelt out on a date soon enough. Right now he wanted to focus on getting used to his new arm and getting his hands on the Sword Birth Sacred Gear, “I'll ask her out after this deal with Sword Birth is done.”

Azazel didn't look at him as he asked, “Why the wait?”

“So I can focus. If I start dating Mittelt right now I'll want to put all of my focus on her. She deserves that much.”

Azazel just shrugged his shoulders, it was none of his business. Though, unknown to Junichiro, his eyes wandered off to the side where he saw the edge of a black skirt disappearing around a corner. He couldn't help smirking as he wondered what was going through his cute little subordinates head right now. Oh, he was going to have so much fun teasing these two when they started dating! He couldn't wait for it! Though it would have to wait for later, there was business to attend to now.

He looked down at the still shorter than him Junichiro, “I'll contact the Yokai and get her over here a little later today. That alright with you?”

Junichiro just nodded. His mind was elsewhere as he imagined what having Sword Birth would be like. Things were starting to really progress and he was looking forward to all the coming changes with glee!

-----Line Break-----

AN

I know last chapter sucked. Sorry about that. Hopefully this one is much better!

Things are progressing, and we had a nice timeskip! We also have a better idea of around where Junichiro is in the timeline and can expect the devil's to come to Kuoh before too much longer. What will happen then?! It's going to be fun to write!

Hope to hear from you all about this progress!