The Noble Queen-A Shadow Slave Fanfic

Chapter 842 842: The Family the Builds Together

The crates and bags were unpacked, and soon pieces of metal, repurposed Nightmare Creature scraps, and some other less identifiable objects were spread out over the rocky terrain. There was no snow so close to the volcano's mouth, so there were also large canisters of water that had been drawn up earlier that day.

Teddy looked around at all that had been gathered. "Aren't you missing something?"

"What?!" Blaze felt a surge of panic. He had meticulously collected the materials and drawn up all the schematics. What could he have forgotten?

"You are missing a member of your family for this family event. Where is Crazy Girl?"

"She was out hunting yesterday," Fort answered calmly. "Usually, she needs the next morning to recover."

'He didn't even flinch or look unhappy!' Noble smiled at him.

"Rain's hunts are very important for her to keep up her skills." Brock bragged about his sister. "We didn't want to bother her, but we did leave a note in case she comes by."

"Whether or not she comes now, Rain promised that she will be here for the official demonstration when the time comes." Blaze wasn't bothered by his sister's absence. She was allowed to have a life. "But there won't be anything to see if we don't get moving."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Teddy saluted.

Blaze pulled out the schematics and examined them. His mind puzzled out where to begin.

"There!" He pointed at a long piece of piping. "That needs to be attached to this first."

Under the watchful eye of their project manager, the workers dutifully assembled the structure as it was designed. As the contraption took shape, Brock studied it warily.

"I thought you said this was going to be a scale model."

"Of course, this is the scale model. The full size would be bigger than our house. The electrical generators at home are housed in huge facilities." Blaze wished he had a good way to wipe his forehead.

Even with the suit, it was very warm. He tilted his head to keep the sweat out of his eyes while he studied the next step.

Picking up a shard of bone he bartered from an Awakened at the cafe as a "tip," Blaze secured the piping with the nearly invincible nail.

The clang reverberated down the tubing, giving a melodic ring to the end of their construction.

"That should do it!" Blaze declared triumphantly. "Well, almost. We still need to…Oh!"

The pipes began to creak, and a red spot formed on the material.

"Is it corroding?" Fort didn't like what he was seeing.

The spot began to grow, and Noble could hear the distinct sound of grinding.

"I've got it!" Teddy jumped next to the spot and placed her hand on what she had built. The red melted off like wax and drifted back toward the lava. She brushed off her hands indignantly. "Pesky little critters!"

"What was that?" Noble had never seen anything quite like it.

The assistant tilted her head. "Microscopic things making trouble, what else?"

"I thought you said that they were friendly here?" Brock furrowed his brow.

"Oh, those weren't my friends." The young woman pursed her lips like she had tasted something sour. "Those were something from the lava. But I killed them. No more of them will join us right now. I am much scarier than they are, and now they know it." Teddy's bright smile only made her words more chilling.

She could control things that others could not see. In the wrong hands, that could wipe out entire civilizations.

'What was the Spell thinking?!' Noble would never know.

She was just glad that Teddy was friendly and not more off balance than she had been as a mundane. As far as Awakened went, the spunky assistant was pretty sane.

'I don't know how I should feel about that...' Child of Promise decided she should count her blessings and move on.

Noble looked at the contraption, which was now free of any strange corrosive beings.

Even on its side, the structure came up above the twins' waists. One end was wide and looked like a bell. Attached to it were two thick pipes, one of which Noble assumed contained a turbine. Beyond the turbine, there was another component and then a hole at the far end.

The whole structure was long, delicate, and rather unwieldy.

There was no good way for the boys to lift it upright, let alone push it into place.

Fortunately, they didn't have to.

"Mom, would you do the honors?" Blaze backed up slightly.

"Of course," Noble's eyes swirled with color as the prototype lifted into the air. It turned upright and hovered, groaning slightly as the fixtures resettled under their new orientation. "Where do you want it?"

Blaze pointed. "Right over the fissure. The more of it you can cover with the wide end, the better."

Noble stepped closer to the edge to get a better angle. Carefully, she set down the prototype over the fissure. When it looked like it might tip to one side due to the imbalance, she weighted the struts on the opposing side to hold it steady.

"That should do it."

"Not quite!" Blaze was already digging through his pack. He pulled out a box and cradled it gently. When he opened it, a soft light shone upon his face.

Inside, two objects rested, nestled in soft cotton-like batting.

"These are the most important pieces. None of this will work without them." Blaze viewed the items with due reverence.

Reaching into the container, he pulled out a soul shard

Well, not just any soul shard—it was the one that his mother had procured while nearly being eaten by exploding Devil bunnies.

Blaze handed his twin the box and clutched the soul shard so tightly to his chest that Noble thought he might break it. A mundane person breaking a shard with their bare hands was almost impossible, though, and the shard remained whole.

With his free arm, Blaze climbed the structure until he reached the place above the turbine.

He secured the shard in the casing, which was insulated with a material that Noble couldn't name.

"What's that going to do?" Brock asked.

"Normally, the power is directly sent to be used or collected in a reservoir. But from everything I've read, that seems to be the point of failure here—that transfer. So I think the only answer must be a magical one. I think the shard can hold the power in this world just like a generator in the NQSC." Blaze situated the soul shard in its seat and closed the casing.

It was more complicated than he was letting on. He had sent at least a couple dozen letters through his parents' connections to a lady named Beth. The woman had been exceptionally accommodating, especially when she found out the person making the inquiries was a teen on a mission. Beth had said he reminded her of another genius she once knew, but the lady hadn't mentioned his name.

Beth had helped his progress immensely, and Blaze was now standing on the crossbar of the culmination of his work.

Only one piece was left to complete the scale model. Blaze motioned to his brother.

"Ok, Brock, hand it up!"

This item had been even harder to procure than the shard. The elder twin reached into the box and held up a single glass orb with a filament inside. He climbed the first rung and reached up to hand the precious cargo to Blaze.

Unfortunately, he missed.