She had watched him get rejected by two other stalls, in the dismissive manner that one would use on a legless hobo asking for spare change. He looked somewhat shady; just the sort that might know something interesting. So, Krahe let him in. There were multiple empty bowls on the table, one of which he took and replaced atop the hookah, filling ...
2023-03-25 04:25:46 +0000 UTC View PostBeyond the warrior, between his wide-set legs, waited a passage to a large cave from within which scorching heat flowed. He did not move to attack, or to block her path. Instead, he opened his blue-burning eyes and she felt his gaze bear down upon her.
“YOU BEAR THE KING’S MARK. YOU MAY PASS. LEAVE ALL THAT WHICH YOU DO NOT NEE...
2023-03-24 21:13:26 +0000 UTC View PostIt surrounded them, forming a great serpent, only to slip beneath the sturmgandr. The viscous mass rushed them into the tower’s confines, leaving the machine’s wheels as well as its riders’ feet slightly damp. Upon setting them down, the water-serpent rushed through the air in an elegant arc and flowed back into its place as the gate, free...
2023-03-23 18:53:59 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Edit to end of chapter.
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She told herself that she didn’t know why she felt so invested, so motivated to fulfill this seemingly random case. It wasn’t special in any sense other than being her first case since her rebirth. Deep within, she knew what it r...
2023-03-23 18:49:23 +0000 UTC View PostNotably, a great swath in the south-west was outlined as nationless territory; both Jas’raba and Audunpoint itself were marked as major locations of interest. Apparently, Audunpoint’s source of water was a giant artificial river which pulled water from seaside marshes and purified it to freshwater conditions. These marshes, according to the ...
2023-03-22 20:26:48 +0000 UTC View Post“I almost expected to be sent to the Zaveshian temple,” she remarked, trying to probe for info.
“I would have done just that, if your condition was severe enough to merit amputation. You would then be given the choice of either buying a new arm on the spot or waiting for a while until the church found or made you a free replace...
2023-03-21 21:16:58 +0000 UTC View PostUnlike the Zaveshian temple, the Seven Spokes one was markedly more alike to what she expected from a religion. In fact, its interior was unsettlingly close to old pictures of shintoist temples she’d seen. Imagery of the “seven-spoked wheel” abounded wherever she turned, though it was more of a spindly, seven-pointed star whose points went...
2023-03-20 21:07:09 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Next chapter this Thursday, Mar. 23rd.
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The young smith’s eyes, once more, lit up. One could see him give into a sense of relief, and then, he broke. In seconds he went from an utterly manic visage of sleeplessness, to a dead man’s slumber spl...
2023-03-20 03:10:22 +0000 UTC View PostIngvald’s attention focused on the Type-1a’s spitzer nose right away, and just as quickly as he took it in hand, he muttered: “As softer main body with a hard, narrow penetrator in the middle. Yes, I can make this. Dragonsteel core, soft starmetal projectile body.”
He looked up at Zel again.
“I could simply tie the return d...
2023-03-18 23:21:11 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Minor edit to the very end of the chapter.
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“I understand that I am to play a role in the recovery of our comrade, Codename Butcher, to a combat-ready state. I regret to see that he is not here with us, but I understand that the risk of his...
The purple baneworm woman froze halfway through measuring around Krahe’s waist, peering up at her, concern in her voice: “Casus? Casus Aristedes? Mamon Knight Silberblut? That’s…”
She shook her head and continued measuring: “Oy, Igaria banish the thought. The whole district will turn into a warzone if Hashem gets his tendrils o...
2023-03-18 00:38:13 +0000 UTC View PostKrahe casually raised her left hand to her lips, shaking the ashes from her cigarette. With it in hand, she turned to meet the stranger’s gaze. Somehow, just moving her arm like normal seemed to have shocked the woman. Perhaps its appearance made people assume that it was damaged beyond function?
“I’m sorry to say that you’ve only ...
2023-03-16 20:48:06 +0000 UTC View PostHuge animals seemingly made of living wood dwelt in the grove, which, as she learned, served as mobile hives for the grove’s monads. There were even leshies just walking around, tending to the trees. In its center, past a small town’s worth of spiritual plants and druidic holy structures, there stood a gigantic, gnarled tree of golden leaves...
2023-03-16 20:44:54 +0000 UTC View PostGarvesh breathed a sigh of relief.
Something was off about her, beyond the state of her arm. Nay, even that looked wrong. At a glance it seemed to be terribly anathema-burned, but just a few seconds of watching it move disproved that hypothesis. A limb that badly damaged ought not to be able to move at all.
Her gaze, the way she held...
2023-03-15 20:37:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe goal he had feverishly pursued all these years was finished, yet the fire of yearning in his breast didn’t so much as waver. A spark of egoism, of superbia, had perhaps been passed on from the woman by whose side he had done all this.
“Then I would wield you in pursuit of glory, so that Sagas may be written in the honor of myse...
2023-03-15 20:30:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe prices went up steeply from one to the next, each being some variation of a flat head with a long body, some resembling keys, others blades or icepicks. There were two keys she considered within her budget, and two others that grabbed her eye as potential future purchases. Both were in the ten-thousand DD range, the second approaching twenty...
2023-03-14 20:59:49 +0000 UTC View Post“What makes you think I can or intend to help you find some wannabe paragon of justice?” she asked, though she fully intended to follow through - if for nothing else, then for curiosity.
For a few seconds, Garvesh stared at her. Then, he stated with utter seriousness: “You’ve got murder in your eyes and you walk like a loaded gun....
2023-03-13 21:55:54 +0000 UTC View PostStarting tomorrow (Monday, 13th March), I will begin public serialization on Cherno Caster. Sturmblitz Kunst will shift to a Wed-Sun update schedule, while Cherno Caster will be Mon-Fri, both fics thus getting 5 chapters a week. At least, that's what I hope to do.
2023-03-13 00:57:22 +0000 UTC View PostWhile Zelsys and her companions engaged in revelry and worked towards the Butcher’s rebirth, the Revenant King spent that same time unraveling the conspirator-clans’ plot and meting out judgment.
The Revenant King’s powers of insight made themselves known during the investigation, as he unraveled the conspirator-clans’ schemes mere...
2023-03-13 00:47:19 +0000 UTC View PostThe hard part wasn’t getting Ingvald to agree. It was convincing Red and making sure she wouldn’t try anything. Zel used the Black Contract to secure their agreement, and a lengthy negotiation was had as to the exact terms. In the end, Zel conceded certain trade concessions to Arches that she absolutely did not have the right to concede. The...
2023-03-11 21:14:52 +0000 UTC View PostThe Dragon’s Neck, he had come to call it in his mind, for its towering height and the flame which would billow out of its top. It was not built to last. One use, and it would be worthless. Its purpose was to burn up and become a spent husk in the process of alloying the immaculate homogeneity of a fallen star’s heart with the unique structu...
2023-03-10 20:33:11 +0000 UTC View PostDuring her first time visiting him after her return, Zelsys delivered a bevy of materials to Ingvald, including Eisengeist’s blade. Massive thing that it was, it demanded its own sled and had to be strapped down in a roundabout manner, as its edges just shredded through anything they touched. It utterly seethed with the same type of incredibly...
2023-03-10 03:03:21 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Next chapter on Thursday, Mar. 9th.
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“EISENGEIST SHAN’T ACT SO FOOLISHLY AGAIN, I CAN BE CERTAIN AT LEAST OF THAT,” the Revenant King said, turning his attention to Eisengeist’s two siblings. Edelweiss and Sprengfaust were fu...
2023-03-07 21:16:55 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Vol. 3 of Retribution Engine is now available in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon!
As before, this is mainly for those who want a paperback copy.
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Eisengeist stirre...
2023-03-06 22:13:35 +0000 UTC View PostThe only person to make them stop was Asgeir, impassively looking on as his forces were massacred. They came upon him last not because they decided so, but because he had used his magic to disguise himself as a wounded ally of the Hulsons. A static illusion, it was, one which wouldn’t hold up the way a physical transformation did. His disguise...
2023-03-05 21:14:44 +0000 UTC View PostIt was time… But not enough time. It wouldn’t stop those determined enough, fast enough, or plain durable enough to simply ignore bonefire burns; especially not the brambleback. Some of its quills burned up, but that was about it. Several more men piled through, each using some means or another to avoid being burned too severely.
Victo...
2023-03-04 20:09:52 +0000 UTC View PostIt had taken some time to assemble a proper third-wave assault force. With the Aase heading the bulk of the second wave, it had been expected that the third wave would just be the cleanup crew, but it had become eminently clear that was wrong.
Only with the return of communications from Kristina Ramdall had the third wave been impelled int...
2023-03-03 21:39:45 +0000 UTC View PostAnother keyturn.
Victor reached out, taking hold of the dead meat which surrounded him… And he used it as fuel. The corpses of Eisen, Aase, Buhaug, and a few Ramdalls alike writhed only to erupt with great tendrils of gore from betwixt whose many fibres wicked thorns of bone protruded. Like gruesome blossoms, Devil’s Teeth grew upon th...
2023-03-02 22:36:35 +0000 UTC View PostVictor traversed the rooftops towards the longhouse, summoning up dozens of Devil’s Teeth as he went, sending them down upon those who still dwelt outside the longhouse. Not many of the enemy remained, a fair number of them being frozen solid, while a smaller, compact force waited just outside. Just outside the longhouse, he counted over two-h...
2023-02-28 20:27:37 +0000 UTC View PostThere was now a gaping hole right through Eisengeist’s torso, its edges and inner walls still smoldering royal-blue as the dragon’s immortal blood filled the gap, its flesh reaching across in an effort to heal itself as it howled - nay, screamed - in searing agony, its good tendrils thrashing and wrecking its surroundings. Teutobochus itself...
2023-02-27 01:30:47 +0000 UTC View Post