Given Rashael’s physical attributes, Kiefer had wanted a weapon for him that would ideally put him far from the battle, and yet give him the choice to move up close effortlessly and quickly to save people if needed. The first thought Kiefer had was to give Rashael a sniper rifle, but then he had no idea how to construct a gun or any of its components for that matter.

Explaining to Rashael a brief version of the workings of a gun, Rashael seemed impressed at Kiefer’s society, being able to develop such devastating weapons without the use of magic. However, at the mention of magic, Kiefer’s mind lit up like a Christmas tree. If he did not know how to build a gun, he will just design one with what he has, and right now, he has plenty of magical resources at hand.

After a quick brainstorming session, Kiefer decided to take inspiration from a popular video game back on earth, as well as one of the abilities of his titan companions. The first part included designing a mana reserve as well as a charging system for reservoir. Since Rashael’s part was done, Kiefer decided to make things easier for the future and gave Rashael instructions to return to his moon. The trip would take a little over 10 days and the purpose was to acquisition more moonstones and moon crystals.

Equipped with one twin of a portal rune 1m in diameter, Rashael teleported to the surface and transformed into a cream white bird the size of a house. As he flew, white luminous mist trailed after his feathers and wings, forming cloud swirls with each flap of his wings. Carrying the rune on his back, Rashael was to install the rune on his moon, and then return directly to the mansion using the portal.

Kiefer was given full authority to use anything within the mansion and with glee, Kiefer took the treasury into his PD. Taking out an irregularly shaped moonstone from the stash, Kiefer shaved it down into a long rod, 30cm long and 2cm wide. The cream white rock powder was collected and Kiefer had intended to save it for later use. With this, the main mana reservoir for the rifle was completed.

Next, taking out a single ingot of raw mithril, Kiefer fashioned numerous identical runes out of them. The silver runes were designed to collect, convert and store mana into the moonstone rod that will be in the middle of the runes. Threading the moonstone rock through the center of 50 or so mithril runes, the silver cylindrical block was now 8cm wide. As soon as the moonstone rod came in contact with the middle of the first rune, it’s cream colour had started to change, and by the time Kiefer was done with the last rune, the core of the block was already pure white and starting to turn a slight blueish tint.

Next in line was the amplification chamber and the barrel of the gun. A cap was attached to each end of the block with a rune on one end that directed mana from the moonstone to the amplification chamber. There, the mana was directly converted into energy to excite the atoms in a fientral crystal to produce high intensity, photons. The photons cascaded and stimulate more atoms in the crystal to release photons. The amplification chamber that housed the Fientral crystal was made out of smooth silver that was cast over a cylinder made out of Kiefer’s mana. The result was a mirrored interior to perfectly reflect the photons and direct them through a small gap in the chamber that led to the barrel.

The barrel itself was short, and made of Carbon steel coated with silver on the interior. Kiefer then made the outer casing out of honeycombed steel engraved with runes lowered the temperature of the weapon. Adding a simple hand-grip at the front, lining up 2 ironsights on the side for aiming and padding the bottom and back of the stock with a generous amount of thick cloth leather, Kiefer finished the weapon by installing a trigger that separated the moonstone reservoir from the amplification chamber. The finished product looked somewhat like a primitive and cheap version of a Spartan laser from a very popular video game franchise on earth.

Kiefer poured his mana into the moonstone and soon, it turned pitch black. Going to the backyard of the underground mansion, Kiefer aimed the shoulder mounted laser at the back wall of the cavern where he had intended to expand and squeezed the trigger. An intense and bright red beam shot forth, similar to the one Sher used, but smaller in size. The beam stayed on for as long as Kiefer squeezed the trigger and it melted through the stone walls, creating a river of magma that flowed out of the tunnel made by the beam. Though not as strong as Sher’s upgraded attack which literally atomized everything in its path, Kiefer deemed it enough for a powerless titan to become useful.

With the weapon done, Kiefer continued on with the prototype for aiding in Rashael’s movements in the field. Unlike the other titans, Rashael would be fighting in his humanoid form, so Kiefer chose to construct a lightweight steel Breastplate for Rashael with the help of the blacksmiths in the mansion. Along with the breastplate was a pair of metal greaves with spiked soles to improve traction, which would be dearly needed with what Kiefer had planned.

The molten steel used to craft the breastplate had the moonstone dust from earlier mixed in, and thus had a decent mana storage capability. On the back, Kiefer engraved multiple small 5cm wide runes in the shape of an X. The runes would use mana stored within the armour and release a compressed blast out from the back, propelling the wearer forward instantly by about 50 meters.

Kiefer estimated that at full charge, Rashael should be able to use the dash about 20 times consecutively. Only problem would be that Rashael would need to be able to endure the tremendous G-force from the sudden acceleration. However, that could only be tested out when Rashael was actually there, so Kiefer move on.

Finally, the last thing on Kiefer’s agenda was the expansion requested by Rashael. Kiefer found that using the laser was slow and counterproductive since the molten rocks just flowed out and became even more difficult to remove. As such, Kiefer resorted to smashing the cavern walls with his ballistic silver bullets. Hence, we arrive back to present time where Kiefer had been going at it for 3 hours, causing tremors in the otherwise peaceful city above.

[[Above the north western border of Rashael]]

“What’s going on? I’ve feeling this tremor since some time ago. Could Drigor have taken the initiative to attack Rashael?” Isana thought quietly.

Right now, she was the only one making decisions. Being weak during the day, Luna was fast asleep as Isana carried her on a piggyback. Sher too, was resting peacefully on Isana’s head, buried in her silver hair. Fiora had been distracted constantly by the presence of the catgirls hidden throughout the jungle as scouts and Isana have had a hard time keeping her on track. It was as if Isana alone was carrying the other 3 titans on their journey and she silently wished Kiefer was here to help her.

The tremors became more intense the closer they got to Latiase and Isana could begin to hear faint explosion sounds ringing through the ground, as if cannons were going off underground. Without any way to confirm or even investigate what was going on, Isana kept trudging on, unable to fly because of the extra weight.

It took her half a day to traverse the forest, finally reaching an open grassland. Setting down the still slumbering Luna, Isana looked towards the city walls just on the horizon, dwarfed by the huge white moon rising in the back. Within minutes, the blue crescent moon followed and with it, Luna finally slurred from her sleep, rubbing her eyes and looking around her. Fiora had taken this chance to take a quick nap, still hugging the freezing Feni statue.

“This is too weird.” Isana muttered to Luna in a soft voice. “It’s been more than a day since we entered his province. Rashael should have sensed us by now and at least come out to greet us. No matter how engrossed he is in his work, there is no way he would ignore the arrival of 4 titans within his territory.”

“What if something has happened to him, Isana?” Luna asked cautiously. “I did feel the ground shaking earlier as I slept. Maybe Drigor got to him already?” Luna looked at Isana with worried and fearful eyes.

“Right. Then we better make haste. The shaking has stopped, but that could only mean that Drigor has stopped his attacks. At least we know Rashael is still alive since we have yet to gain any of his powers. Maybe we can make it in time to save him.” Isana reassure Luna, still worried about Kiefer’s instruction to absolutely avoid conflict with Drigor.

“But if Drigor is here, then that must mean something has happened to master!” Sher cut in, on the verge of crying. “Quick! We need to find master first!” Sher urged the group, clearly worried more for Kiefer than for Rashael.

“Wake up you stupid bird!” Isana yelled as she kicked Fiora’s shin. “We need to move NOW! Drigor might be here in this province already.”

With the sudden jolt to her leg, Fiora quickly stood up, wiped the drool off her face and took to the skies along with the other 3 titans. They knew if Drigor was here, he would be able to tell their location if they stayed in contact with the ground, so the 4 titans flew the rest of the way to Latiase, arriving within a short hour.

Luna immediately pinpointed Rashael’s personal elevator entrance, and the 4 of them descended quickly to the shack on the outskirts. However, what greeted them was not the usual platform that had been there, but instead was a large rune with the design and instructions of the rune carved in English, a language none of them were familiar with.

“FUCK!” Isana cursed.” What the hell is this rune?! I’ve never seen language like this before! Did Drigor some up with a new runic language!?!” Isana yelled, letting the rage take over her and completely forgetting that there was one person she knew that would fit the role of knowing a foreign language.

“Sana… what is this rune?? I’ve never seen this before...” Luna cried helplessly, tracing the rune with her finsgers, finally stopping at the empty middle slot. “Did Drigor lock my brother up underground?”

Sher on the other hand, was fluttering around with her fluffy white wings and finally realised something. Without warning anyone else, she excitedly vaporised the floor beneath them with her beam attack and revealed a tunnel leading deep underground. She dove straight down the tunnel without any precaution and the other 3 did not even get a chance to stop her.

“I’ve seen those characters before! It was in master’s book that he wrote in a weird language! Master must be here!” Sher thought happily, as she raced down the never ending tunnel. Meanwhile, Isana and the rest were panicking above ground, unsure of what Sher was up to. Finally, not wanting to leave Sher alone, they descended down the tunnel, slower than Sher had just to be on the cautious side.

“MASTER! MASTER! Where are you?!?” Sher reached out telepathically as she continued the downward dive. Without realising it, Sher crashed into the bottom of the tunnel due to the limited visibility deep underground. Nevertheless, she was unhurt, climbing out of the Sher-shaped hole in the rock with the talons on the tips of her fluffy, and now a little dirty, wings.

Stuck in a dead end, Sher blasted her way out of the tunnel, revealing a brightly lit and smouldering room with a large gaping hole in the wall across the room. There Sher instantly dove through the mansion, following Kiefer’s scent and slammed head first into Kiefer’s chest in the backyard.

Kiefer had turned around just in time to see the little winged serpent shooting straight for him, having sensed Sher’s presence with his mana pulse. The collision threw both him and the tiny titan against the back wall that Kiefer had just finished excavating, causing the whole cavern to shake once more.

Kiefer stood up, embracing Sher while stroking her tiny head and dusting off her feathered wings. Dust and tiny debris continued to fall from the ceiling as Sher returned the favour by climbing up to his head and dusting it off, before securing herself firmly on Kiefer’s head.

“Sher, where are the rest?” Kiefer asked, tilting his head up while trying to catch a glimpse of his favourite titan.

“They still don’t know you are here, so they think Drigor has trapped Rashael down here. Isana is slowly making her way down as we speak master.” Sher replied enthusiastically, finally able to talk to Kiefer after having been separated for so long.

“Hahaha! Is that so? Well, let’s just leave them be. It’s been quite a while since I’ve spent some time with you alone. So tell me what you girls did after I left?” Kiefer laughed, enjoying his time with Sher.

Kiefer and Sher spent the next hour updating each other on their journey while waiting for the other 3 girls to make their way down. Finally tired of waiting for them, Kiefer brought Sher back to the room with Rashael’s personal entrance and sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall and took a nap. He had been tired from all the work expanding the cavern and did not want to miss Isana and the rest when they finally came through the hole.

Kiefer had not slept for long before he was rudely awakened by Isana’s vigorous shaking. Opening his weary eyes once more, Kiefer saw Isana holding him by his shoulders and wildly shaking him, with a worried look on her face.

“Well, took you long enough to get down. Sher was already here ages ago.” Kiefer chirped, standing back up on his feet and yawning. It was after all, night time and well past dinner. Looking at the relieved faces of Isana and Fiora, Kiefer spied a confused look on the newcomer’s face, as if she was frantically looking for someone.

“He’s gone back to his moon to set up a portal.” Kiefer announced loudly, directing it at the new girl. “He should be back in about 5 days. Here, before I forget.” Kiefer said, as he handed out portal key necklaces to everyone except Sher.

“Well, not too sure about you girls, but I know I’m tired as hell, so I’m going to wash up and hit the sack. You girls should do the same.” Kiefer suggested, before stepping up to Isana and lightly pecking her on the cheeks and whispering into her ear, “Welcome back Sana. I missed you.”

Smiling warmly at Sana and watching her go red up to the ears, Kiefer turned around and left the room through the gaping hole that Sher burnt through. Luna then led the rest of the party to the guest rooms like it was her own mansion and they retired for the night.

This chapter is a little technical so some of you might not enjoy it as much since it lacks development in the storyline. However, I just feel it makes the world more descriptive and I like it that way better. Hope you dont mind.