The object that had gradually taken shape over the last 40 or so minutes wasn’t all that impressive to look at, it had been molded out of a metal alloy which development cost could buy a planet or two by nanite robots which exploited every single law of physics that had been changed and established over 16.000 years of history and 800 years of focused nanite development

“A, a sword?”

Matthew nodded and confirmed Alina’s guess

“A sword indeed”

Alina looked a little longer at the sword that was still taking shape before she asked Matthew

“Why a, a sword and not something like the suit, suit of armor you wore when we first met?”

Matthew showed a wry smile, indeed if he had his will he wouldn’t be wielding anything as basic as a simple metal sword as his primary weapon, from what he remembered high voltage large caliber coil guns had always been more of his style, but alas it wasn’t feasible

“A sword is the best allocation of resources for now, if we manage to set up a mine deep in the mountains then sure, a Mk. 22 armored drop suit would be the least I would be willing to settle for… But for now we have neither the raw materials nor the infrastructure to make anything like that”

Alina nodded, she didn’t quite understand what Matthew meant, but looking down at the hand of her new body she at least understood that it was something far more advanced than anything she had ever laid her eyes on during her mortal life

“Okay, still, still it’s a curious sword…”

Matthew showed a smile and explained

“That’s because it’s no sword of this world, it’s a Trerubic marshal sword”

The sword that had mostly taken shape by now looked like a claymore, the long heft left enough space to fit 4 hands grabbing it at once the cross guard were angled upwards towards the blade slightly and the blade itself was a little over a meter long and 30 centimeters wide, the surface of the blade had a mat black look which didn’t give it the usual shiny sword blade which Alina was used to, as the sword completed Alina commented

“That was, was a lot of metal for one sword…”

Matthew nodded, around 400 kilograms of metal had gone to a single sword, while the completed sword wasn’t that heavy it was still a little over 100 kilograms heavy, but one would know by how casually Matthew picked it up with a single hand and laid it over his shoulder before he simply let go of the hilt, and it instantly moved behind his back held in place by his bionic spine

“Have you detected any large animals in the area, Alina?”

Alina didn’t react to Matthew’s question, instead she stood frozen for a few moments before she lowered her head slightly and suddenly apologized

“...Sorry Matthew”

Matthew nodded and patted the top of her head as he glanced around

“It’s fine Alina, these guys appear to be somewhat decent at their jobs…”

Before either of them had noticed, an encirclement had formed around them, they had both been too focused on the sword to notice, but now that they weren’t they noticed right away, Matthew continued looking around to confirm their numbers as he asked Alina

“Could you prepare the thing we were talking about?”

Alina nodded silently and sat down on the forest floor while Matthew stood in front of her to shield her as he yelled

“Show yourselves!”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Matthew’s yell was answered with nothing but silence, toughly ticked off being snuck up on and then ignored like this Major Rockwell let out a sigh as he kneeled down and picked up a small rock as he stood up again he breathed another sigh before he closed his eyes for a moment to focus, then he suddenly took a throwing stance before hurling the rock into the distance with all his strength, the sounds of undergrowth being broken apart sounded out at the same time as horrific yell of pain as the rock had struck its intended target

“That’s what you get for underestimating your mark… Do you need another lesson before you stop being little turds and actually listen?”

A few moments after the Major spoke, a figure appeared to the front and walked slowly towards him, the man looked around 40, his figure was lean and covered in scars and ink black tattoos which flowed along his body in lines, he wore what looked like a lightweight metal armor which covered only enough of his body to allow for full maneuverability, the man wielded a solid black metal spear with a long tip, he wasn’t human, a long feline tail that swayed low behind him and the lowered beast ears on the top of his head told Major Rockwell that this man was questioning his lesson, so he addressed it as the beast man stopped about 10 meters away from him

“You are wondering what my lesson is meant to teach?”

The old beast man narrowed his eyes, which Major Rockwell took as enough of a response to tell him clearly

“Compliancy is taught to the young by the old”

The old beast man slowly spoke

“So why did you target our youngest?”

Major Rockwell shrugged

“A painful lesson is remembered the longest, given the force of my throw his leg is not going to be of much use anymore… And every single time any of you see him hopping along on one leg, you will be reminded of the lesson I just taught you”

The old beast man closed his eyes for a few moments as the silent fury that radiated off him only increased while he asked

“Did you make that sword on your back?”

Major Rockwell received the sword from his back and wielded it with one hand in a relaxed stance with the tip of the blade just above the ground

“That’s right”

The old beast man kept his silence for a few more moments before he opened his eyes again, and took a low stance with the long metal spear ready to strike as he spoke

“Iaka, 143rd Forge champion”

Major Rockwell showed a bloodthirsty grin as he slowly shifted the long Marshal sword behind him as he took half a step forwards in a low stance ready to strike

“Major Matthew Rockwell of the 913th Penance Marines”

As soon as Major Rockwell finished introducing himself, Iaka let out a short yell as he pounced off the ground towards his target, just as Major Rockwell was about to intercept his charge with a wide swing a chill went up his spine and Matthew kicked off the ground and moved backwards as he covered his head with his sword, and as he had feared, a loud ‘clang’ sounded out as the sword intercepted a metal projectile aimed at his chest, while another went straight through his left shoulder and right thigh

[Puncture wounds detected, Trauma nanite pattern 1 and 2 tasked, firing trajectory traced]

Major Rockwell clenched his jaw as he realized he had pissed off his opponents a little too much, he quickly deflected the spear Iaka trusted at him

‘How many skulls do I get to crush this time around..?’

Though suddenly bewilderment washed over Matthew, he was confused over his own actions, they didn’t make any sense, he originally wanted to enter into a cooperative relationship with these people, so why had he crippled one of them

‘Why did I do that?’

Matthew recognized that he had put himself in a position where he couldn’t achieve his goal, as he blocked Iaka’s approach his right shin was hit by a metal slug that passed cleanly through it, bone and all, which forced him down on his left knee where he rolled to the side to dodge another stab of Iaka’s spear only to suffer another two hits in his gut

[Puncture wounds detected, Trauma nanite patterns 1, 3 and 4 tasked, firing trajectory traced]

“What’s wrong, Major Matthew!? Lost your steam already?”

With Iaka hot on his trail, keeping pressure on him while making sure he couldn’t approach the marksmen that gradually withered him down over the next few minutes, Matthew was reduced to a sorry state

[Set Trauma nanite patterns to overclock level 1?]

As Matthew blocked another stab from Iaka while defecting a metal slug while another two went through his left leg he spoke

“Do it Aea, light the fire”

[Master permission received, Trauma nanite patterns overclock level 1, searing wounds shut…]

Matthew kicked off the ground and slashed out against Iaka that was caught off guard by his sudden second wind which forced him to block Matthew's slash which sent him flying back, Iaka managed to catch a branch mid-flight and swung around it before he landed on top of it where he saw Matthew flying through the air towards him, his body shining in the dark from the tens of gunshot wounds on his body that was quickly seared shut

“What are you made of, you monster!?”

Iaka voiced a curse as he leveraged his metal spear to jump to another branch further up as Matthew smashed through the branch he had just been sitting on, Matthew caught a branch and quickly launched himself further up after Iaka as the metal slugs wished around him

‘Alina should almost be ready…’

Suddenly Matthew kicked off away from Iaka whom he had been chasing, shattering the trunk of a tree he sent himself flying back towards where he had left Alina behind

“Come back here!”

Iaka quickly chased after Matthew as he retreated before he suddenly stopped giving chase as all the hair on his bushy tail suddenly stood on end, and he quickly retreated, Matthew continued back towards Alina, with the Trauma nanites in overclock he couldn’t show concern for his enemies sudden caution as he was running out of time already, and that’s when he noticed

The whole forest was suddenly covered in a pale blue glow, all other light had been snuffed out by the gentle blue glow, Matthew’s eyes burned from the blue glow

[Unknown radiation spike detected]

He felt it calling, all he had to do was look up, all he needed to do was look up and oblivion would gently embrace him, with the gentle coaxing Matthew gradually came to a stop

“I… I have too see”

The intoxicating effect of the pale blue light was not something he could fight against, as his eyes continued to bleed his head slowly raised upwards to see, that’s when Alina’s voice sounded out

“Matthew!”

And then before he managed to fully take in the mind searing sight of the pale blue comet that danced across the sky backwards in what looked like a movie at half reverse playback his figure disappeared from the mountain