Alto rolls her eyes, a touch of impatience infiltrating her voice.
"Stop the dramatics, Mizuki...I want to see the blade." (Alto)
I push my bottom lip out in a faux-pout.
"So pushy..." (Mizuki)
Alto cuts her eyes at me, no trace of sympathy or guilt in her gaze. I let out a disappointed sigh, and return my attention to the developing lightblade. My eyes narrow in focus, my prior lightheartedness evaporating.
First, I have to practice the spell I want to enchant into the sword. There's no time for fine-tuning during an enchantment, it has to be decisive.
I hold the lightblade hilt up, adjacent to Alyse's sword, as though they are twin images. Then, I visualize my magic forming a blade out of the aluminum hilt that mirrors that of Alyse's sword, and once I'm confident in my visualization, I give the corresponding mold of magic the property of reflecting light in the blue spectrum.
Suddenly, a brilliant beam of pure, cyan light shimmers into existence out of the aluminum hilt, forming a translucent blade that reminds me of blue stained glass. I hear Alyse suck in a cold breath, her voice barely a whisper.
"It's beautiful..." (Alyse)
I give her a brief, appreciate smile before returning my focus to the edge of the shimmering blade. I take a steadying breath, trying to clear my mind for the next step.
This will be the trickiest part.
Why did I say that this won't be a true lightsaber? Simple. It's because whatever I make is still subject to the laws of physics, and a lightsaber is...impractical. They're cylindrical, producing insufficient pressure to cut through armor or maybe even skin, and they rely on intense heat for their destructive power.
Not only would heating the air in a blade to such temperatures require magic levels that a normal person simply can't sustain, but it's dangerous to the point of being useless. I'd have to regulate the direct heat transfer and radiation generated by the superheated blade so that it doesn't kill the wielder instantly, and only infuses its energy into what the blade touches directly.
That's a tall order, but it might be possible with very selective, multi-layered magic barriers.
The real problem is that, even if all of that is achieved and the magic requirements are ignored, the blade's contact with its target would be disastrously and indiscriminately destructive. The inevitable, violent heat transfer would cause any contacted material to superheat, expand, and ultimately explode, no doubt harming the wielder. That's why superheated designs are best implemented into ranged weapons and attacks...like my plasma ball.
So, how do I intend to make a lightblade that can cut through anything? Well, by taking advantage of the special properties of magic-generated forcefields.
In theory, to maximize the cutting power of a normal sword you want a blade that is as thin and edge-sharp as possible, to maximize contact pressure and minimize resistance during cutting, while still being able to support the applied forces and internal strain. It's a careful balance between the physical strength of the blade's metal, the technical limitations of sharpening an edge, and this theory of cutting power that produces most blade designs.
However, magic forcefields turn this balancing act on its head.
Not only can their structural integrity be raised to unholy levels with enough magic investment, but their shape is only limited by the detail of your conceptualizations. You can visualize a perfectly flat forcefield, something restrained to pure theory on Earth, and it produces a frictionless surface. You can visualize two forcefields at an acute angle to one another intersecting and terminating at an infinitesimally small point...
to create a blade edge the width of a single elementary particle.
A giddy grin slips onto my face as I turn the proto-lightblade over in my hand, so that the flat of the blade faces up towards me. Then, I carefully visualize the shimmering, cyan blade thinning...slowly...until it's only about two millimeters thick.
I turn the hilt over again in my had, so I can look down the spine of the associated blade, and I'm pleased to see it nearly disappear from my sight, the only hint of its existence the thin distortion of light in front of me.
My grin widens, but it's quickly replaced with a serious expression as I turn the blade over once more to inspect the leading edge of the blade.
This is the part that will truly set the lightblade apart from any other sword on this planet.
I hone in on the very edge of the blade, carefully trying to visualize its edge as though I'm viewing it under a powerful microscope, and I painstakingly imagine the sharp edge that I desire.
Two, perfectly flat forcefields, starting from the paper-thick body of the blade, but sloping at a five degree angle until they intersect at a line alonge the edge of the blade. I visualize the thickness of this line in steps, starting at the width of a hair, down to a molecule, until I'm imagining it the size of an electron.
I lock in on that final product, visualizing it over and over again, trying to get a feel for the shape and intent of my magic in the blade. Until eventually, when an unknown amount of time has passed, and everyone in the room, even Nina, is holding their breath in anticipation, I'm ready.
With a deep breath, I release the blade spell, razor-focused on not letting the feeling or visualization of it fade, and I apply the enchantment spell to the copper within the lightblade's hilt. Then, I focus on flowing my magic through the copper before redirecting it towards the space above the blade's hilt, guiding it to once again mimic the echo of the lightblade spell I'm desperately holding onto.
A paper-thin forcefield tapered to the width of an electron, with the property of reflecting blue wavelength light.
As I feel the spell click into place, comfortably adopting the form that I painstakingly crafted, I turn my attention to setting the magical consumption properties of the enchantment. I make it so that more magic investment strengthens the forcefield, distributing the magic with a bias favoring the edge of the blade. After I'm satisfied, I release my spells, allowing the enchantment to settle into place. I sigh in relief, relaxing the tension in my body that I hadn't noticed was there.
I find an intense looking Alto and Alyse staring at me expectantly. and I can't help but give them both a shit-eating grin.
I present the finished lightblade, now just an aluminum hilt, to Alyse.
"That's it...time to test it." (Mizuki)
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"Are you sure about this?" (Alyse)
In front of me and Nina, Alyse stands across from Alto. Alto is wielding Alyse's lightblade, while Alyse stands across from her, inspecting its blade skeptically.
I shrug at her.
"Nope, that's why we're testing it. Now, quit stalling and get in position." (Mizuki)
Alyse lets out a resigned sigh, and reluctantly steps into place across from Alto, raising the sword I used as a template in front of her, as though she's expecting to parry a strike. Across from her, Alto raises the lightblade above her head, preparing for an overhead slash.
I nod at them approvingly.
"Perfect. Now remember...Alto, when you're ready to strike Alyse's sword, channel your magic into the lightblade at a rate you'd be able to sustain for about ten minutes. Alyse, physically reinforce your own blade as vigorously as you possibly can." (Mizuki)
This is the test we came up with to compare the...design, of the lightblade to a traditional sword. Between Alto's and Alyse's differing magic power levels and rates of magic investment into the weapons, Alyse's sword should have over two hundred times more magic investment into its strengthening.
My thinking is, if the blades can clash edge-to-edge without the lightblade's underlying forcefield being compromised, then it will be a monumental improvement in function over a traditional sword. If it fails, we'll just have Alyse dial back her magic investment until we determine the lightblade's limits, and I'll modify its design from there, if necessary.
Alto and Alyse both nod their understanding.
"Begin." (Mizuki)
Alto's admittedly scrawny arms flash into action without much ceremony, the light blade careening down towards Alyse's waiting sword. As the blades are about to meet, I slow time to a crawl, honing in on the impending clash.
Unlike physical materials, a magic forcefield's overall shape or stability is not affected when its local integrity is compromised, and it mends itself when the compromising force drops back below the necessary threshold.
So, if the collision with Alyse's blade's edge exerts a counter-pressure anywhere on the lightblade's forcefield that exceeds its limits, there will be a slight resistance before the lightblade passes through the sword, as though it suddenly became illusory. If the lightblade is 'sturdy' enough, however, the clash should look pretty similar to that of normal swords. There'd be a modest recoil of Alyse's blade before the two come to rest edge-to-edge.
At last, I watch in slow motion as the two blade edges meet, holding my breath as the momentum of the lightblade falters, the moment seemingly frozen in time. Then...
the lightblade appears to glide right through Alyse's blade.
Damn it!
I let out a regretful sigh, dropping my time spell as the arc of Alto's sword slash finishes in real time. I direct a glum look at Alyse, who seems to have just noticed the lightblade's odd behavior, her expression holding a mix of surprise and confusion.
I guess it's time to start mulling over how to address the blade's shortcomings.
CLANG!
I glance in surprise towards the sudden sound of ringing metal. After a second, I realize that it came from a small piece of metal that's now lying on the floor of the family room...
it's the top half of Alyse's sword.
My eyes widen in shock, slowly tracing their way back to where Alyse is holding the remnants of her now cleanly severed sword, her expression even more appalled than mine.
"Huh. That...worked better than I was expecting. A lot better, actually." (Mizuki)
Alto leans over, picking up the severed blade tip and inspecting it. Her eyes are practically shining with curiosity.
"Fascinating..." (Alto)
She shifts her attention back to the lightblade, her eyes narrowing in deep thought as she touches the flat side of the lightblade gingerly. I can practically see the wheels in her head spinning, already trying to decipher how the blade works. I can't help but smile at the sight.
However, I'm almost immediately shaken from my reverie by a blood-curdling scream.
"AHHHHHH! My sword! What happened to my sword!?" (Alyse)
Alyse holds the remnants of her weapon in her trembling hands, her face marred with disbelief. Slowly, her head turns, until I'm on the receiving end of a rather accusatory glare. I cut my eyes away from her, scratching my cheek sheepishly.
It looks like I'll be begging Percivil for a favor soon. But hey...sometimes, that's just the price of quality experimental data!
I'm sure that Alyse will understand...eventually.