The Forging Island’s platform sat crowded for once. Frame-grade stone from the Abyss haul stacked beside crates of Calamity-grade ore pulled from the Hollow Cloister’s vaults, and beside all of it sat the small, quiet weight of ten fragments pulled from a dead pantheon weeks earlier.
"We’re not using monster cores this time," John said, turning one of the fragments over in his hand. "Hunting a Calamity-9 every time we want a gear isn’t sustainable. It’s dangerous and slow, and honestly, we’ve got better options sitting in storage."
Chuthulos floated closer, clearly intrigued. "Exotic ignition. Riskier than a proven monster core, but potentially far more interesting. What did you have in mind?"
"These two." John set down the Fragment of the Unwritten Verdict and the Fragment of the Final Kindness, both SSS-rank. Both hummed with a weight that felt almost patient, like they’d been waiting specifically for this.
"An interesting philosophy for a forge," Chuthulos said. "Let’s see if the Forge agrees."
...
The Verdict Fragment went in first, dissolving into the platform’s molten heart alongside frame-grade stone and a length of refined Calamity ore. The Forge’s rings spun with a slower, more deliberate rhythm than usual.
What emerged was a slim, closed ledger bound in dark leather, its cover etched with a single unblinking eye.
[Eldritch Gear: The Verdict Ledger]
[First Gear: True Accounting]
[Vitality Cost: 15%, five-minute duration]
[Stat Boost: All stats +100%]
[Skill One: True Accounting. For sixty seconds, any statement spoken directly to the wielder registers as TRUE or FALSE in their vision. Accurate against any target below Demi-God rank.]
[Skill Two: Binding Verdict. Marks a target. Each hit the wielder lands on the marked target adds one stack, up to five. At five stacks, the mark detonates for damage equal to twenty percent of the target’s maximum health and stuns them for three seconds. Mark lasts five minutes or until it detonates.]
Azelis picked it up first, and the ledger’s pages fluttered open on their own, ink bleeding across blank paper in looping script.
"Ask it something," Chuthulos suggested.
"Chuthulos," Azelis said, deadpan, "did you eat the last Sungrief Persimmon?"
"Absolutely not," Chuthulos said, a beat too quickly.
The ledger flipped to a fresh page, a single word blooming across it in stark ink: FALSE.
"I knew it," Azelis said, delighted, while Chuthulos made a valiant attempt to look innocent and failed completely.
She tested Binding Verdict next on one of the bandits pulled from Monfroy’s holding cells, still awaiting judgment from Max’s people. A faint mark settled over his chest, and she landed four quick strikes in succession, each one adding a visible tally beside it.
[Stacks: 4/5]
One more strike finished it. The mark detonated in a burst of pale light, and the bandit dropped hard. Twenty percent of his health vanished in an instant, and he lay stunned flat on the ground.
"That’s going to be extremely satisfying to use," Azelis said.
Second Gear followed once she pushed further, the whole Forging Island falling unnaturally silent around her.
[Eldritch Gear: The Verdict Ledger]
[Second Gear: Domain: Court of the Unwritten]
[Vitality Cost: 40%, two-minute duration]
[Stat Boost: All stats +150%]
[Effect: A fifty-meter domain forms. All damage dealt within it becomes true damage, ignoring shields, resistances, and defensive stat boosts entirely. Stealth and evasion effects are nullified for every combatant inside for the duration.]
"That’s not a domain," Azelis said slowly, reading it twice. "That’s a battlefield where nothing gets to hide and nothing gets to block."
"That’s rather the point," John said.
"No Third Gear," Chuthulos noted, studying the readings. "Single-fragment ignition, same as the others. Give it room to grow."
"I can wait," Azelis said, echoing Jibril’s words from weeks earlier without seeming to notice.
...
The Kindness Fragment went in next, and the Forge’s rhythm shifted again, gentler this time, like something exhaling rather than igniting.
What emerged was a small, unadorned bell of pale silver, warm to the touch despite the cool evening air.
[Eldritch Gear: The Threnody of Final Kindness]
[First Gear: Last Mercy]
[Vitality Cost: 15%, five-minute duration]
[Stat Boost: All stats +100%]
[Skill One: Last Mercy. Usable only on a target at or below ten percent health. Grants the wielder a binding choice. Spare stabilizes the target at one health point and prevents hostile action against the wielder’s allies for twenty-four hours. Judge deals true damage equal to the target’s maximum health.]
[Skill Two: Gentle Ending. Instantly defeats a target at or below five percent health. Bypasses damage reduction and immunity effects. No effect above that threshold.]
"That’s a real mechanic," Yuna said, reading it over Jibril’s shoulder, clearly impressed.
"Learning experience," John said, grinning.
Jibril picked it up, and the bell rang once on its own, though nobody had touched the clapper. Second Gear opened once she carried it further, warmth spreading outward from her in a slow, visible wave.
[Eldritch Gear: The Threnody of Final Kindness]
[Second Gear: Domain: Sanctuary of Final Kindness]
[Vitality Cost: 40%, two-minute duration]
[Stat Boost: All stats +150%]
[Effect: A fifty-meter domain forms. Willing allies inside recover five percent of maximum health per second. Hostile targets inside have all damage output reduced by thirty percent for the duration.]
"That would have helped every single person we pulled out of that cellar," Jibril said quietly, thinking of Monfroy’s altar and the Cloister’s cells.
"Next time, it will," John said.
...
One fragment remained from the SSS pull. John set it down last, the Fragment of the First Broken Oath, dark and cold in a way the other two hadn’t been.
"Last one for tonight," he said. "Chains and binding, from the feel of it. Let’s see what it wants to be."
The Forge’s rings spun hard and fast this time, runework snapping taut like something straining against a leash. What emerged was a long, dark chain coiled loosely around a weighted iron core, its links etched with faint, broken sigils.
[Eldritch Gear: The Oathbreaker’s Chain]
[First Gear: Shackle Strike]
[Vitality Cost: 15%, five-minute duration]
[Stat Boost: All stats +100%]
[Skill One: Shackle Strike. The chain binds the target on impact, immobilizing them for five seconds. Cooldown fifteen seconds.]
[Skill Two: Broken Bond. Instantly strips every active buff and shield effect from the target. Cooldown thirty seconds.]
Yuna picked it up before anyone else could reach for it, testing the weight with an experimental swing that cracked clean through a practice post.
"Oh, I like this one," she said, grinning. "This one hits things."
She tested Shackle Strike on a second bandit, and the chain lashed out on its own, wrapping tight around his legs and dropping him flat before he’d even registered movement.
"Five seconds doesn’t sound like much," Yuna said, "until you’re the one lying on the ground for it."
Second Gear came fast once she pushed into it, the chain’s links glowing faint gold along their whole length.
[Eldritch Gear: The Oathbreaker’s Chain]
[Second Gear: Domain: Unbound Reckoning]
[Vitality Cost: 40%, two-minute duration]
[Stat Boost: All stats +150%]
[Effect: A fifty-meter domain forms. Every hostile combatant inside has movement speed reduced by forty percent, and all teleportation or blink-type escape effects are disabled for the duration.]
"Nobody’s running from that," Azelis said, impressed despite herself.
"That’s rather the point," John said, echoing himself for the second time that night.
"No Third Gear yet," Chuthulos confirmed. "Same as the other two. Give it time."
"I’ve got plenty," Yuna said, coiling the chain happily around one arm.
...
Six gears sat gleaming on the platform by the time the light finally settled, judgment and mercy and broken chains joining choice and echo and sight.
Ythera’s coil shifted along the ridge above them, six eyes moving slowly across all six.
’You built these from fragments of dead gods,’ she said. ’That is either extremely wise or extremely reckless. I have not yet decided which.’
"Ask me again," John said, grinning despite the exhaustion pulling at him, "once we find out what the other seven fragments turn into."