They entered a room the size of a football pitch. Painted in soft blue and white colours. The floor was made from some very solid tiles, whi
They entered a room the size of a football pitch. Painted in soft blue and white colours. The floor was made from some very solid tiles, which they had no idea what it was.
Most importantly, they saw a massive hologram of Earth spinning in the middle of the room, floating in the air.
"That's Aurora on standby, it emulates planets as background images." As Serafall said that, the image of Earth switched to Mars.
"That's so cool. Whereas normal people have pictures as the background, this dude has a freaking holographic display of planets…" Saji said with a twitchy eyebrow.
"In a room the size of a stadium."
"I know right? But the point of the size is that he has recently started designing things at a bigger scale. He is now working on some satellites and stuff." Serafall said with a shrug.
"It was quite a quick switch, you know? One day he just said that his new place was done and then, bam, he started working here." The older Sitri said while making hand gestures all over the place.
"I see… this is quite a big place…"
"The holograms are also solid so he can stand on them, this way he can design houses, cities, and massive robots… you name it."
"Wait...does that mean he can truly build Gundams?" Sona asked her older sibling.
"Why of course! Marcus already has a smaller, autonomous version that he just finished recently." Serafall pointed at the right wall, there are glass panels built into the wall.
The peerage quickly walked over and saw Gundams behind the glass.
They were around 3 metres tall, nowhere near the original size which was around 40 to 50 metres. Nonetheless, this size allowed them to check it out in detail.
"Those look like Freedom…" Saji said with an awed look. But then one of the girls elbowed him and made him look at the golden plate attached to the wall above the glass panel.
It had the model name carved out which says, Freedom MK I.
"Damn...he started from Freedom. Passing Strike altogether."
"I thought Strike came from a different line altogether?" One of the girls who watched the shows said with a confused look.
"Details. It was both piloted by the main character." Saji said while waving his hand casually. To him the main characters machines from one and the same line.
[While I don't mind listening to people talking about my creator's greatness. He is waiting for you in the testing room.]
Aurora's voice spread through the room, bringing everyone out of tourist mode.
"Right! We should not waste anymore of Marcus' time!" Serafall snapped out of her trance. She, kind of, is in tourist mode herself. After all, this was only her third time here.
Everyone nodded to her words and started following the excited Satan. But not before dropping one last glance at the third model, which is named Freedom A-1. The machine looked like an exact replica of the real deal, from the colours to the form of the machine. It looked like it was not even meant to be used as a suit.
Which is quite interesting. Since the whole thing is autonomous, meaning that it can fight on its own?
"You know… I think Seekvaira would have a meltdown seeing all of those." Sona mentioned one of her childhood friends who is, quite frankly, obsessed with the whole Gundam franchise.
"Oh, the Agares Heiress? hmm, interesting… I will mention to Marcus if he wants an assistant when he is building his scale mails.
Not that he spends much time on them anyway. Not after he upgraded Aurora." Serafall said with a shrug, she didn't mention more on the upgrade since she can't.
The younger sister of hers nodded. Finding ways to keep him interested in the devils is always a good thing in the long run. After all, she is receiving the first batch of Sacred Gears before Rias most likely because Serafall mentioned her before Rias...
~~~
The first thing the group noticed when they entered the testing room was that it was big… so big that they could not even see the end of it…
"Wha… how big is this?" Momo asked with wide eyes. She wants to know what kind of magic did this!
"Not quite, it's an optical trick. Everything here is built from enchanted Diamond bricks. Making it look like it expands forever, but I assure you, it does not."
They heard a male voice as their eyes went to the side. They saw a young adult with black hair, leaning against a white wall. His arms were crossed as he was waiting for them.
Serafall quickly rushed forward and clapped her hands in a praying manner, she quickly started saying her apology.
"Sorry for the wait! I was still getting used to the new place!"
"It's fine. I had some time to test those." Marcus pointed at the front. Everyone's gaze quickly followed where he pointed.
…
…
…
"Are those… the portals from that Portal game!?" Saji asked in disbelief as he saw blue and red portals. There was a loop and a ball of electricity constantly flying from one portal to another. There were also several other portals with projectiles flying out, towards other portals.
Sona's gaze snapped at her pawn, she looked utterly pissed. But thankfully, Marcus didn't care. In truth, he was quite excited that this dumb-looking blonde knew what it was!
"Cool right? I saw the teaser and the trailer for the game. So I was like, why not make one myself? The majority of the tech was already done. All I needed was some space magic." He pulled out a gun from the holster on his thighs and shot a wall creating a blue portal, then pulling out another gun, he shot into the same wall, right next to the blue portal. Only this time it was a red portal.
"The colouring still needs some work as it is supposed to be orange. But…" Marcus replaced one of the gun's cartridges and shot a bolt of electricity into the blue portal resulting in the bolt coming out the red one…
"...It works properly." Marcus lowered the gun after the demonstration. He was quite satisfied with his work. It was not properly done yet. But the portal works so it's fine.
"..."
"...that's kinda cool…"The blonde teen said the only thing he could in this situation…
"You don't say…" one of the Sona's peerage girls said with a deadpan at the only male of the group.
"Nonetheless…" Once again Marcus changed the cartridge of his pistol and shot a ball of Power of Destruction… earning a raised eyebrow from several of the girls who have seen Rias Gremory use this power…
Destabilising the portal, which in turn, quickly made a wall of purple barriers appear around the area where the portal self-imploded…
"It's not the final product yet…"
[Sir… as I said before! you should not use products that are in the alpha stage just yet!]
A pouting voice came from the walls.
"Yeah. I heard that before. No field testing with experimental tech…" Markus said with a tired tone. He might have overdone it with that pouty tone. He is finding it quite hard to ignore…
[Yes! The portal cartridge, and space magic in general, are still in the early development stages! I still have over 3 million calculations to do!]
The teen inventor rolled his eyes. While he takes security quite seriously. His A.I takes health and safety even more seriously, specifically his safety, very very seriously.
"Sure thing. Take your time. I won't be making any more portals today anyway." He shrugged his shoulders before holstering his guns.
"Now that you guys are here let's get to business."
Everyone got stiff and serious when he said that. The purple barriers have already disappeared after the chain reaction of the portals destabilising and breaking apart has stopped and closed.
"I was quite satisfied with how seriously you take your training and duties. So I decided to take the contract we have to the next level." Marcus said that as he started walking toward a table set up. It looked quite out of place in this, almost fully white, room.
Nonetheless, the items laying on it was what interested them.
"To the next level? What do you mean?" Sona asked curiously while also trying to be as respectable as possible and not show any childlike giddiness.
"As you know, I have been monitoring Kuoh and collecting up quite a bit of data, from the energy readings I got when Humans turn into Reincarnated devils, to all the stray devils you and Gremory have slain.
In total there were about 23 skirmishes that the two peerages had in Kuoh altogether. To say the least, I am slightly disappointed that I only got the energy readings and not the Sacred Gears and blood samples.
It's annoying…" Marcus said with a sigh. He did not expect that there would be that many fights against strays…
"That's why your peerage will be promoted from simple testers to field agents." He said while picking up one of the items laying on the table.
It looked like a phone. A very futuristic posh phone.
"In this phone, there are several apps which will assist you in your new mission. One of them is a built-in radar. And another is a shop app that is linked to my assembly lines. This shop is quite simple. You can get items and stuff for slaying stray devils and other freaks which end up in Kuoh. The better the opponents and the more samples you collect, the more points you earn.
There is also an app that allows you to separate the stray devil from its Sacred Gear. If you bring those to me. you will get quite a bit of points depending on gear. You can either sell it to me for points or keep it to yourself after I do the full scans." Marcus explained while showing several apps on the phone.
"Whoa, are you making our life similar to that of a video game?" The blonde teen asked as he realised what this meant.
"Most likely? My tech has reached the point where I can easily do that. With the rewards and all. Here, check them out." Marcus handed over the phone to Sona's peerage as they started inspecting it.
First they checked out the design of the thin, full touch screen phones. Which came from the future.
After all, they were still using phones with buttons and this doesn't even have buttons…
"It's a fully operating phone, you can call, message, and surf the internet regardless of the signal in Kuoh. You can even access the GPS satellites to get a live stream from space. Of course, the holographic display is there too.
The best part is that it's fully green energy. You don't need to charge it, ever."
After getting over the shock from hearing all that, they were more than ready to check the app inside.
"Whoa...damn cars, phones, tv sets, consoles, pcs… clothes, jewellery… and they only cost some of these points!"
"Saji...you need to beat strays and get their samples first," Sona said with a sigh before looking back at Marcus.
"This is a very good way to keep my peerage motivated. Many thanks for this." Sona respectfully nodded. She can see this as a very good way to motivate them. The best thing about this was that they could keep the gears they collected.
Marcus only wants the reading and full scans and they can sell it for points too…
"Now then, moving onto the reason why I want you here. These." The teen inventor announced as he showed the stuff on the table, getting everyone's attention once more.
"These are the gears which you will be using. They are the common ones, I will be selling them to factions in the future."
The group saw several orbs laying on the table, they then quickly turned to him with a shell shocked look at what he just said!?
"...You will be selling Sacred Gears? Are you sure it is wise?" Sona asked him and the rest nodded at her words.
"Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't be selling them if I knew that there is a chance it could backfire on me. Unlike Big G gears, these cannot be used against me in any sort of way." Marcus clarified that as he saw the concern on everyone's face when he mentioned selling the gears.
"Though… don't tell anyone. It will be amusing to watch when other factions get quite a bit of them and then try to use it on me." The teen said with an amused chuckle.
Sona and her peerage slightly gulped down nervously. They don't want to know what he planned for this kind of event.
"I-I will keep that in mind. So, w-what kind of gears are they?" The younger Sitri decided to change the subject. She doesn't need to know how those people are going to get destroyed.
Serafall is thankful that her sister is smart this way. She doesn't go where she should not. And partially the Leviathan is interested in how stupid the Angels would look when they decided to get their hands on Marcus' stuff. It will be beautiful to watch when they either become Fallen… most of them will likely become fallen while the rest will get chained up and made to do some pointless work.
"Right so let's start with you first." He picked up an orb and gave it to Sona.
"This one is specifically built with the Sitri water manipulation in mind. Your sister helped with the creation of this. It cuts the amount of magic you need to create water by gathering moisture in the air. The manipulation part is improved considerably.
You could even incorporate some hand to hand combat in this. If you watched Avatar the Last Airbender you would know what I mean. Apart from that, it helps your magic training as well."
Sona nodded multiple times hearing that. This was good. Very good for her. A gear specifically crafted for her family magic. How many devils could brag about that?
'Well none… I am the first pure blood to have a Sacred Gear…' The black-haired Sitri Heiress thought internally with a smug smile. Oh, she is so going to flaunt the gear in Rias' face, at the appropriate time of course. She doesn't want to be treated like a child after all.
"Next is for your Knights… it's a reimagined Sword Birth. The imagination part has been completely reworked. The better one's understanding of the sword you wish to make, the better and easier it's creation is going to be. From knowing the metal to the abilities. The better you know those, the better the weapon. If you properly trained with this, you could even achieve Ultimate Class… in several decades…" Marcus handed over the orb to the knight of the Sona's peerage.
"Next is the Bishops. Once again. It's quite similar to Sona's, only that it is designed with a neutral type of magic energy in mind. You can use less of your magic with this, through motions. It helps with training magic as well." Marcus handed over the two orbs to the white-haired and brown-haired girls from Sona's peerage.
"And lastly for the Rook. Fighting gloves, Frankly indestructible, it can absorb magic attacks and send them back. Though you need to use your own magic for that." The teen inventor handed over the other orb to the blue-haired Rook of Sona's peerage.
The group were quite awed by their new gears. But internally Marcus only sighed. They were so easy to make that it's even sad for him to see them being so impressed. To him, it was as easy as making tea…
Inventions / Technology / Sacred Gears
Water Devil Mage armband
Water-type armband designed to enhance a magic caster's ability to wield water magic with greater ease.
Classification:
Custom Neo-Type Mass Production Sacred Gear
Composition:
Sacred Gear Alchemical Metal
Diamond Core
Balance Breaker:
New gear—insufficient data for manifestation.
Key Magic Systems & Technology:
Basic Aurora Monitoring OS:
The gear is monitored by Aurora OS, collecting data to aid in future Balance Breaker development.
All performance readings are uploaded to the main databanks for analysis.
Custom M.T.M System:
Converts the caster's motion into magical energy by drawing moisture from the air, reducing the energy cost for water magic.
Basic Magic Training System:
Assists the user in honing their magical abilities through guided training functions.
Devil Mage Armbands
A Sacred Gear designed to train magic users and reduce the energy cost of spellcasting.
Classification:
Neo-Type Mass Production Sacred Gear
Composition:
Sacred Gear Alchemical Metal
Diamond Core
Balance Breaker:
New gear—insufficient data for manifestation.
Key Magic Systems & Technology:
Basic Aurora Monitoring OS:
Supervised by Aurora OS, collecting data for future Balance Breaker activation.
Performance data is uploaded to the main databanks.
Basic M.T.M System:
Converts the user's physical motion into magical energy, reducing the energy cost of spells.
Basic Magic Training System:
Provides automated guidance for magic users to improve their spellcasting.
Reimagined Sword Birth
A mass-produced Sacred Gear inspired by the previous generation's Sword Birth, but utilizing neutral energy as its power source.
Classification:
Neo-Type Mass Production Sacred Gear
Composition:
Sacred Gear Alchemical Metal
Diamond Core
Balance Breaker:
New gear—insufficient data for manifestation.
Key Magic Systems & Technology:
Basic Aurora Monitoring OS:
The Aurora OS collects and stores data to improve the Sacred Gear's future capabilities.
Imagination System:
A system inspired by the Annihilation Maker, allowing the wielder to shape weapons using imagination-based constructs.
Magic to Swords (M.T.S) System:
The core function of this Sacred Gear, where the crystallized concept of "sword" is the base of its abilities.
Brawling Fists
A close-combat-focused Sacred Gear, designed specifically for hand-to-hand combat specialists.
Classification:
Neo-Type Mass Production Sacred Gear
Composition:
Sacred Gear Alchemical Metal
Diamond Core
Balance Breaker:
New gear—insufficient data for manifestation.
Key Magic Systems & Technology:
Basic Aurora Monitoring OS:
Overseen by Aurora OS, gathering data for Balance Breaker optimization.
Barrier Absorption System:
A defensive system inspired by the Barrier Rail System and Longinus: Dimension Lost.
Creates a small energy barrier that absorbs an incoming attack and redirects it back at the opponent.
Basic M.T.M System:
Converts motion into magical energy, paying half the energy cost required to counter an attack.