Say what you want about the Middle Ages, but the human ingenuity for brutality was certainly evident in these times. The Iron Maiden, for instance, was a notoriously reputed torture and execution device, even though its actual use has never been historically confirmed.
Its structure was an upright, half-capsule-shaped cabinet, forged from dark metal, its inner walls and doors bristling with menacing, inward-pointing spikes. Atop its grim facade was the face of a horrified woman, marking the precise cavity where a victim's head would be trapped.
Victims were trapped between those razor-sharp points that barely pierced their skin, condemning them to an eternity of unspeakable agony. Each breath or motion would bring torment within the Iron Maiden's embrace.
While considered no more than a tool of fear, fiction writers loved the concept and took things to the extreme, incorporating every brutal trace of history they could find. The Iron Maiden was imported by Wartopia's writers in the most glorious of ways, not as a torture device per se, but as a method of crafting soldiers from trainees.
And just like anything grimdark, mortality rates spiked through the roof, not because of the spikes or the torture; that was what physical training was for. Rather, this was for mental training.
Each Iron Maiden comes with its stimulation mediums: sounds and visuals cast through the head to induce hypnosis; jolts of electricity, simulating an environment of suffering for the soldiers; and a chemical cocktail they get juiced with, which would make the mind malleable to hallucinations.
In other words, this device was meant to create a Full Dive Virtual Reality environment for soldiers to experience battle, though with no regard to pain, trauma, or death. The depictions in the comics and lorebooks were very severe and sparked outrage from concerned parents and activists who frowned upon the drug and self-harm glorification in that issue.
So when it came to the real thing, Adam was far from sure he would want to put his summons in that thing, let alone real humans, however…
"Holy Mother of the Legio Bellarium! Blessed Womb of War! She who birthed heroes and raised legends!"
… A certain Sergeant fell to her knees in a show of zeal and worship. Adam was losing brain cells thanks to the extreme personalities of his summons and could do nothing but resist the urge to headbutt something heavy.
Following Elena inside, Megan and Kave walked in looking half-dead, but the sight of the Iron Maiden made them look at Adam with terror. Adam explained what was going on, and the two joined his side of the argument instantly, much to the displeasure of Elena.
"Kave." She looked at her boyfriend and, with an air of authority, raised her head with a twisted smile, "If you are the first recruit to enter the Iron Maiden, I will "drill" you personally."
Kave's entire body froze. He looked at her, a shiver running through him as he imagined what she had just said.
"The hell? You're already drilling him with the others?" Adam asked, too innocent to comprehend a sickness he wasn't afflicted with.
"Adamant!" Kave turned to his friend, put a hand on his shoulder, and with a serene and meaningful look in his eyes, he spoke, "My time has come."
"Your what?" Adam snapped, but then realized that the serenity of his mad friend had more meaning to it.
"Kave, don't do it. You are not ready." Megan joined the conversation, her voice shaken and her eyes saddened.
"It is my destiny, Magpie." Kave smiled at Megan before taking a step back. "Take care of him. He can't be drilled, but he's a good guy."
"We'll miss you, Kave," Megan said, faking wiping a tear.
"I'm not getting it." Adam turned to Megan with a frown, causing her to roll her eyes, curse at him for being a nerd, and whisper it into his ear.
"Oh!" Horrified, Adam looked at Kave, eyes wide, his head shaking, "Kave, no!"
"I will see you on the other side, friend," Kave said with a smile, letting go of worldly attachments.
Dramatically, Adam turned to Elena, pointing at her:
"You… you did this… You said you'd fix him. Instead, you'll massacre my boy."
Megan held Adam's side as he pointed at Elena with a devastated face, yet Elena looked indifferent. She then dragged Kave away and stood over the Iron Maiden.
"It's incomplete!"
Hearing this theatrical play, Captain Creed shook his head without turning to face them. Elena stopped midway, not realizing that the Star Paladin was listening this whole time, as he was in the garage.
"My Lord!" She paused, going down on one knee.
Adam grinned from behind, as he would never even allow her to put Kave in that thing, even if he had to unsommon her just to stop it.
"Your Commander thinks it would be brutal for soldiers to be drilled by the Iron Maiden." The Captain explained and then returned to what he was doing.
"C… Commander." Elena perked up and turned to Adam, "Sir, the Iron Maiden is a treasure like no other. It offers years of training in a single month. The Terminator Men-at-Arms were all forged by the Iron Maiden."
Now that the conversation had taken a serious turn, Adam let out a sigh and squeezed his tired eyes between his index finger and thumb.
"Sergeant, you do know the mortality rate of the Iron Maiden, right?" Adam asked.
Elena paused and spoke.
"Seven out of ten don't make it." She replied in a low tone, looking away as she did.
"I cannot lose a single man, Sergeant. Think of me as a soft, inexperienced commander as you wish, but your lives matter to me more than anything. You are not just game pawns or rune summons; you are people to me. I am blessed to have you by my side," Adam said.
Elena nodded and raised her head:
"I know that, Sir." She then paused for a while before wiping away a smile that was about to form on her face. "Thank you, sir."
"Aw!" Megan broke into a grin as she hugged Adam from the side, "You've always been a softie, babe."
Kave looked at the two with disgust, devastated by the opportunity he had missed.
"Adam… I'll never forgive you."
He said so and ran away, not looking back.
"Well, that's that." Adam shrugged while still being hugged by Megan, who was resting her chin on his shoulder.
"Commander, sir. We need to discuss the Iron Maiden." Elena returned to the subject.
"What is there to discuss?" Adam asked. "I can't let anyone use it or complete it, for that matter. And now both Kave and Captain Creed are upset with me about it."
"But, sir, unlike the Hologram Room we were going for, the Iron Maiden's efficiency is far superior. If we were to redesign it, maybe change some of its components."
Adam thought for a while and shrugged.
"The problem here is that not only do we lack most of its code, but banned technology is considered HereTechia, right?" Adam pointed out. "We all agreed that we don't feed that kind of Malcode to the Sacred Code of this Base."
As soon as Adam spoke of Malcode—which stands for Malicious Code—even Elena didn't know what to say, just as it was with Creed.
"Honestly, Adam, the Banneret Paladins were the ones to ban the Iron Maiden in the lore, right?"
Finally touching the subject, Megan let go of Adam and took a seat on his chair.
"Yes, the Bannerets are arguably the most compassionate of the Six Paladin Legions." Adam nodded, emphasizing who banned it.
"But here's the thing, Bannerets always ban things. I mean, there was this running meme that derived the name Bannerets from 'Banning' cool stuff. And you can't forget what they did with the Sonic Knights." Megan said with a smile, playing on Adam's emotions.
"The Sonic Knights?" Elena asked, unfamiliar with the term.
"Yes, Adam's pride and shame, both at the same time," Megan replied and turned to Adam, who closed his eyes as a flood of sad memories gushed from his soul.
"It was the 5th Edition Rulebook. The Sonic Knights, a Knight Order formed around Heavy Metal combat bands that sang through the battlefields with Sonic weapons so potent they would explode demon heads. The Hivers would melt from their sick beats; the Machina was critically vulnerable to them. They were one of the greatest… then…"
Adam remained silent for a while before opening his eyes again.
"They had a feud with a Knight Order that was supported by the Bannerets. Since the Sonic weapons were double-edged weapons, harmful to both enemies and allies, the feud turned critical as the Bannerets banned them. Those who didn't surrender turned rogue, and in the 6th Edition, they became Chaosaders—traitor paladins."
Adam still couldn't recover from the pain he felt since that day.
"It was just a license lawsuit between Warforge and music recording studios for ownership of the music," Megan added, watching Adam's broken expressions, adding more salt to the injury. "He hated the Bannerets for an entire year, refused to play the 6th Edition, and had his Sonic Knights t-shirt framed in the living room."
"They were the peakest of the peak." Drowning in his sorrow, Adam shed a tear or two over his dream, which died stillborn.
"That said, the way the Iron Maiden was banned in the Solarium had to do with politics more than saving lives. Solwoken Theron Luminor was still a new Acting Lord Regent, so he needed public opinion." Megan returned to the topic, politically analyzing the lore. "It wasn't even revised or redesigned. They simply favored the Hologram Training rooms over it. And somehow, the Legio Bellarium could still produce Terminator Men-at-Arms."
"It involves enhancing drugs and training over a longer period of time now, from what I'd heard." Sergeant Elena explained to Megan, but the latter simply nodded, as she had read that excuse in the lore before.
"Look, Adam. The Iron Maiden is extreme; it is more dangerous to the people of our world than to the indoctrinated populace from the Solarium." Megan agreed with his point of view but then offered an alternative. "However, you can still take a crack at it yourself. Redesign it, play with its code, and maybe make it safer."
Adam took in a deep breath and thought for a while.
"The problem here is that the Data Core is what limits us. Building add-ons such as the Hologram Room had already been done, but if I add the Iron Maiden… God! I'll need to expand the core even more."
"Welp, you're the Techie. Best of luck!"
Megan and Elena gave Adam a double thumbs-up, dumping all the work onto him again. On the other hand, Adam knew this would happen.
"Sadly, since the Iron Maiden is incomplete, we'll need salvaged electronics." He said and started examining the large device. "From the looks of it, we need media transmitters for visuals and audio, along with headphones or speakers. These would then be paired with VR goggles for the eyes, installed over here." Adam pointed at the Iron Maiden's head. "As for the safety measures, we'll need some medical equipment: medical monitors, such as those for heart rate and other bodily functions. We'll install them on the outer shell."
"Yes, sir. I'll have Stone and Sharp form a team and do loot runs at medical and electronic hotspots." Elena said as she started scribbling in Urdic on paper.
"We'll also need a medical bench for Biscuits and Patch to work on and prepare the necessary drugs. That will be our priority for now, since it will take the most time." Adam said and thought for a while. "The drugs that will be brewed must be reviewed by medical experts from this world. We'll have to establish standards for drug use at this rate; let's contact the doctors in Professor Hendrick's shelter and get their opinions, as they were eager to get Solarium medical supplies."
"What about the Grub Processor, sir? We'll need to construct two of those. I was going to start on them tomorrow," Elena reported.
"Yes, that too. Once I'm done with the Data Core tonight, I'll join you on the Grub Processor while the rest salvage and the recruits train." Adam decided, trying to get his schedule to accommodate all that.
"Since all hands will be busy, I can allocate the recruits from training to construction duty," Elena suggested. "We'll need to get the garage going in order to convert the engines of the vehicles from fossil to blazer."
"As long as nobody dies from overwork at this rate," Adam said, stretching his work hours even more.
"I will construct the garage, Adam Clay."
With the voice of a true angel, Captain Creed emerged from the door leading into the garage, taking over one of the tedious tasks for himself.
"Thank you, Captain." Adam immediately took a pose as the military camp life started to rub off on him. "This will be a great help."
Captain Creed only nodded to that, now treating Adam as a real commander responsible for a base.
"Well, Sergeant," Megan said playfully, addressing Elena. "The Iron Maiden project is back online. Don't get us killed, eh?"
"Well, recruit," Elena replied, seeing Megan in a better light. "Keep doing your best, and I'll make a Marine out of you."
"I was opting for a Terminator," Megan replied.
"That's ambitious!" Elena was taken aback by the bold request.
"I've been called worse," Megan replied with a smile.
As an orderly plan was set in motion, it was only a matter of time before the ragtag group of survivors in a makeshift base turned into the apocalypse military dream team.
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