“This material feels different to what we got directly from Eisengeist. It obeys more readily. Maybe refining more in this way will eventually lead to a truly reusable mask. Did you at least get some answers?”
“Roughly the same number of answers and questions.”
“A best-case outcome, then… What is the Walking Way of Veles? Did Koschei mention anything like that? I can’t help but think about it, but I can’t recall any context.”
Zefaris spent the next short while recounting the full conversation she had with Koschei, while Victor gathered the refined dragonbone into a single mass.
“...That explains the third eye, then,” he said. “I was wondering if I would just get one eventually or if that was something of his own doing. Guess looking into Veles Perkunas is as good a place to start as any before we commit to anything inside the Ziggurat.”
It soon became clear that both study into Veles Perkunas and exploration of the Ziggurat would have to wait, as Zelsys waited for them right as they left the private room. From one meeting to the next, the Newman Sect’s elders gathered trusted disciples.
After recounting relevant information, from her meeting with the governor to her intended party and the availability of Dracofulminate, discussion went on for some time, starting with a fruitless debate theorizing on their fragmentary intel about the Red Fog Array, and moving into more concrete tactics.
“We have a direct Ankhezian road connection to the city, and thanks to going mostly through FCA or FCA-adjacent territory, we won’t need to worry about stealth…” Zel said. “If I push it, we might be able to get there in a few hours. Jorfr is out leading a joint hunting expedition with the Arkaley Sangers at the moment and won’t return for another week, but… I think I should be able to dismantle the formation or at least open a hole in it with your and Victor’s help.”
“I’ve learned my share about seals and arrays, but I am not an array or formation specialist,” he protested.
Zel shut it down: “You know more about arrays than nine out of ten of our sect’s members, and that won’t change if you continue studying the Itrian scroll as you have been. Your eyes alone will be useful, to ensure neither my nor Zef’s senses don’t miss anything. How many secondary servitors have you got in storage seals? Is Dawnwolf ready?”
“I’ve filled up thirty seal-spaces; several hundred servitors if I count the tiny ones, twenty-six if I exclude them. And yes, Dawnwolf will be ready by the time we leave.”
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“One of these days I’ll learn how to make storage seals myself…” Zel said, staring off into empty space. Her thought process kept snagging on something, looping back around.
“What is it?” Zefaris asked, immediately noticing her absent stare.
“I just… Keep thinking of what Koschei said. The sun is also a warrior. There’s… There’s something there. I’m sure it’ll make sense later. Oh, right - Victor, have you tried releasing the restrictions on the Black Cylinder the way you did with the Philosopher’s Eye?”
“Hm? No, I haven’t. Should I?”
After exchanging a glance with Zefaris, the two elders nodded in concert.
Half an hour of attempts later, Victor managed to discern and disable only one restriction - the one that would’ve caused the Cylinder to self-destruct if attempts were made at reverse-engineering it.
“Guess we can’t hope for a huge jump like that every time,” the blonde shrugged.
“Still, imagine a whole battalion of gun cultivators with their own Black Cylinders…” Zel added.
“An image of the future, I’m sure,” Zef replied.
A few things of interest happened between that moment and the fateful morning.
Goings-on within the sect continued without disturbance. Zefaris finally got Pentacle back with its new leshy-antler scales with dragonbone and gold inlays. Victor completed several things he’d apparently been working on, including an upgrade to Dawnwolf incorporating some Eisengeist materials and a provisional field-test version of his new Devil’s Teeth. He spent the better part of a full day in the city’s own Reactor 4, apparently having agreed on helping them conduct a generation test just a week after arrival to Willowdale. In exchange for acting as a human diagnostic tool, he received ultra-high-purity Ignis gems to convert into fuel cells for Dawnwolf. A handful of disciples also signed up to come as a support corps to join the tankmen, including Mata Gano, Old One-arm, the Mercenary whose name Zel kept forgetting, and Vaceran. Halxian expressed his wish to come as well, but apparently his father had vetoed it ahead of time.
Zelsys spent a full night loading shells, meticulously filling her dragonsteel shells with Dracofulminate by the whisker and doling out “Black 7 Solution 3” to fill in the gaps. Normally, there would be need for various assistant materiel such as wads and sealant, but no such thing. She just pushed the wicked-looking spike of a bullet into place, exactly to the mark, and it seamlessly attached to the shell casing, not letting an iota of Black 7 seep out.
She did all this with assistance from Fulguris, as, being wholly inorganic, it was safer to have the spirit handle Black 7 instead. It also ran no risk of some freak elemental reaction, unlike manipulating the volatile substance with her Thundergods. Her shell belt being already full, she willed Fulguris to just put the finished shell into Fog Storage. The spirit picked up her Fog Storage bangle, since it was within reach, only for it to vanish.
“What good are fangs if not to devour with…”
Those words ran through her head. It came from a serial that less-than-subtly took inspiration from everything it could, including her own books. Conqueror of Storms, it was called. She liked that serial; easy to read, long-running, good mental background noise for tedious training sessions... Even if her replacement in its story was a gangly albino with an atrocious side-swept haircut.
The reason those words ran through her head was a feeling, one coming through her connection with Fulguris. The instant the bangle vanished, she felt it enter the spirit’s inner world.