The Mechanical Era

A bunch of maids and servants were found moving wooden tables around inside a long room, surrounded by painted stone-brick walls, with large windows, and a polished planked wooden floor. They all connected them, like a piece of a puzzle, before covering them all with a lot of white tablecloths, making what appeared to be one giant table with lots of white tablecloths over it.

Once they were finished, the maids and servants were instructed to leave, as a bunch of DEF agents, wearing their tailored suits with their accents and pinned emblems, walked inside. They come in holding wooden crates, containing void equipment and void crystals inside.

The agents opened them up, carefully picked out the weapons, and placed them on the table. As for the crystals, they used a metal tong to avoid touching them with their bare hands and place them on a small red cushion pillow.

These particular items were rather strange. They had this smooth Vantablack texture to the manacite infused with the crystal. This feature was seen across all the weapons, except the void crystals themselves, which have a pitch-black glass texture to them. The difference in color may be small, but it made it obvious next to the other objects.

These weapons were there to be displayed and demonstrated to the king, so he can examine them and then evaluate whether he can or should start a workshop around them or not. The demonstration on some demons themselves will take place outside, where they have brought a bunch to be their test subjects.

Once they were finished, many of them carried the wooden crates out of the room, while a few others waited inside, being tasked to explain to the king how each void weapon worked. The rest of them either left or waited outside, protecting the room. Although they may be part of the DEF, they had to assume these roles until the HAF gets fully trained and equipped.

They made sure that they all looked sharp and clean, ready to present themselves to the king. The DEF agents wore tailored black suits, black shirts, or skirts, with the only other colors being their accents, presented mainly on their ties, indicating their rank.

The ranking itself follows the color order of the mana stones. A white tie means that have 0 to 6 months of experience. Green accents mean that you have about 6 months to 24 months of experience, while blue means that an agent has more than 24 months of experience.

Yellow accents would indicate one has more than 48 months of experience, while violet accents signal over 48 months of experience while holding 1 recognized achievement under their belts, awarded to them by the commander.

The room itself was filled with DEF agents ranking violet, the best there was. These men and women were all given these weapons to use at some point in their careers. As a result, they thought it would be best to have them present it.

Now that the preparations were complete, it was just a matter of time till his majesty, Kant Maybale, comes down the hallway.

...

Kant was found busy in his room, typing away on a piece of paper to add it to the stack of paper right then to him. He then stops, and thinks for a minute, before continuing to type away at the charter. Once he had reached the end, he takes the paper off his typewriter, turns it around, and continues to type.

As the king was busy typing away on the piece of paper, he was interrupted by a knock on the door. Kant stops typing, and stares at the door for a minute, before deciding to call it for today. He took out the paper and placed it underneath the file.

Kant then gives his consent for the stranger on the other side to walk in through the door. Minister Alan Fleck and DEF General Director Kristina Robins, walk inside the room and bow before their king.

"Good morning your majesty. We came to inform you that the preparations have been completed," he informs the king.

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ "The Void Crystals?" Kant asks.

"Yes, sir."

"Alright then. What about the demonstration? Has that been set up?"

"Yes, your majesty. I made sure to bring in the most experienced DEF agents with the weapons to demonstrate their abilities to you," Kristina replies. Kant then gets up from his chair, picks up his black suit, and put it on.

"Alright then. Let's go." The trio then walks out of the room, down the maze of hallways inside the palace, before making their way down to the former knight hall, now called the DEF Headquarters, and to a long room protected by two DEF agents.

They bow upon seeing Kant and open the door for him. The room, which was filled with a little chatter for the DEF to pass time, suddenly goes silent as they see their king right in front of them.

Kant then walks up to the first exhibition on the table, a Void Spear. The spear looked to be made of a long polished wooden stick, with a manacite blade at the top end. The socket containing the void crystal was at the neck, connected to the blade and allowing it to possess a ton of void energy.

Kant turned to the DEF agent who was right next to it, who despite being much older than him, was just 1 inch shorter than Kant himself.

"Is this yours?" he asks in his deep and monotone voice.

"No... your majesty. It belongs to you. I just happen to be the one to use it," the agent replied.

"How many times have you used it?"

"A lot. I think I used it to take down a few powerful beasts. Without it, I might have been dead those years ago. I can say the same for everyone else here, except the shield. We have all used it at one point."

"I see," Kant remarks before his head turns to face the spear. He picks it up and examines the weapon, looking at it from all sides.

"Do you use this like a normal spear? Or is there some kind of special technique I am unaware of?" Kant questions the agent.

"No sir. We just use it like a normal spear. Once the blade of the spear is inside a demon, it drains a lot of its mana, which is what is behind its great strength and regenerative abilities.

As the void weapon drains its mana, it becomes significantly weaker, allowing us to finish the job quickly, and without causing any excess deaths," the agent explains. Kant places the weapon down, thanks the agent for the information, and moves on to the next weapon.

He comes up to an axe, with two blades on each side, with a crystal socket on the neck. Like the spear, its handle was made out of a polished wooden stick. Kant picked up the axe, examined it, and turned to the agent next to him to ask a few questions.

"What can you tell me about this axe? How do you use it?"

"Well, your majesty. A void axe is mainly used for cutting. Mainly a demon's protective shield or flesh."

"Flesh?"

"Yes. Since we have found out that their flesh and skin are infused with mana, which is the same principle that is giving their strength, it has been made weaker to the effects of the void-axe," the agent explains while Kant listens.

"Alright. Thank you." Kant replies before moving on to the next weapon, which turns out to be a bow.

Unlike the other weapons he had seen so far, the bow had no blades, no parts particularly made out of manacite. Instead, it appeared to be the arrows upon which it fired, as they had the sharp and pointy arrowhead made out of manacite.

The bow itself looked to be a composite bow. It had a sleek and elongated shape with a deep belly and sharp tips made of snow-white horns. The yew stave, which forms the core of the bow, has a dark amber hue color with a smooth finish, while the elm backing on the back of the bow provided a beige tone color to contrast the amber hue.

The socket itself, which Kant presumed would power the arrowheads, was just above the arrow rest. It was connected via a few wires, which powered up the arrowheads. The arrow rest was separated from the wielder's hand, with a grip placed underneath, where they will keep their hands while using the bow.

"How would you use this weapon?" Kant asks as he picks up the bow and arrow.

"Well, your majesty. When you put an arrow onto the arrow rest, as long as it is touching the manacite wires, it will charge up the arrowhead. Once the arrowhead is Vantablack in color, you can take aim, and fire it at the demon.

As the arrowhead is charged with void energy, it is able to penetrate the skin or magical shields of even high-ranking demons with ease," the female agent explained, the first one to do so.

"I see. thank you." he then places it down and moves on. He then inspects the shield, which according to the agent, dispels any magical attacks, before finally coming up to the crystal itself.

"Is that it?" Kant asks while eying the crystal.

"Yes sir. That is it. That is the void crystal that powers the weapons that you have witnessed earlier." Kristina replied.

"I see. How hard is it?"

"Slightly less hard than a diamond. They were very hard to cut." Kristina replied. Kant decides to pick up the crystal to examine it closer.

As Kant's fingers touched the void crystal, it immediately turned Vantablack along with the rest, surprising everyone in the room. Kant himself felt a little strange, feeling a lot more energetic than usual. Upon seeing the change, he turned to Kristina.

"Are they supposed to do this?" he asks.

"I don't know sir, this is the first time I..." Kristina stops, looking blankly at Kant's face. Then, it was the minister, followed by everyone else. Feeling a little confused, Kant asked a question.

"Is everything alright?" Kant asks.

"Sir... your eyes..." the minister talks up but doesn't have the courage to speak.

"What about them?"

"They have gone black! Like... pitch black!" Kristina replies, finishing the minister's sentence.