Chapter 266 — The Kindled Blade

It was a beautiful weapon—beautiful and deadly. Its whole form was of a deep, somber hue; the near-black blade and grip everywhere expressed the precise beauty of an industrial product. It was a single-edged sword, and to Gao Yang's eye more like a union of some kind of war saber and a cleaving blade: its spine ran straight and firm, rune arrays visible on the black metal for heat dissipation and reinforcement, while the edge curved slightly toward the tip and showed a deep blue. The grip was heavier and more intricate than an ordinary one-hander's; on the inner side of the guard could be seen a trigger mechanism, none too obvious, its position and size specially designed so that a soldier's grip in combat would never be affected—and beside the trigger was a sliding safety catch, to keep the blade from being accidentally activated while carried and injuring its bearer.

Gao Yang reached out and took up the sample Molten-Cut Sword, giving it a couple of casual swings first: it was a touch light for him, yet it handled exceptionally well—clearly the craftsmen had taken Sir Byron's advice seriously when designing it.

"I reduced some of the blade's weight and adjusted the center of gravity to keep it well balanced," Sir Byron explained from the side. "A lighter sword spares the soldier's stamina, and since the Molten-Cut Sword kills by the heat of its edge rather than by gravity and momentum to break armor like an ordinary cleaving blade, the weight reduction does not diminish its lethality."

Gao Yang nodded, then activated the high-temperature edge.

With a faint stirring in the grip, the energy stored in the mana capacitor was conducted into the heating runes embedded within the blade. The scorching runes originally used to make magical traps came to life, and Gao Yang watched the blade's deep pale-violet hue swiftly turn red, becoming blazing bright within a second or two, as though a congealed gold-red flame lay sheathed over the steel.

Its heat did not bleed away, so standing near the Molten-Cut Sword one felt only a faint warmth—but when Gao Yang pressed the edge against an iron plate set nearby for testing, it sliced the plate clean in two almost effortlessly, with the feel of cutting through somewhat hard butter.

Gao Yang, wearing no gauntlet, earnestly felt how hot the grip grew, and asked the arcanist-technician beside him with some curiosity, "How did you solve the heat insulation and the sword's own stability?"

"My lord, the violet-steel edge and the body of the Molten-Cut Sword are not one piece. We inserted between them an insulating layer molded from a mix of quartz sand and crystal dust, and joined the parts with violet-steel rivets running through the spine. The rivets still conduct some heat, so we added rune arrays around them to bolster high-temperature resistance, and added heat-dissipation structures along the spine—so all the heat is channeled away in time, neither destroying the Molten-Cut Sword itself nor harming its user."

"Does the blade's strength not suffer for it?"

"It drops a little, but violet steel is itself an extremely tough and stable magical material, and the refined steel we forge now is tougher than the steel of old, so the sword's strength remains sufficient. Besides, most of the time it has no need to 'meet force with force.'"

At this, Sir Byron put in from the side, "Of course, should the energy run out or some other unavoidable case arise, the soldiers can still stake their lives on this sword against the enemy. The violet-steel edge is keen enough in itself; for a short while it serves perfectly well as an ordinary blade."

"Very good," Gao Yang said, giving the Molten-Cut Sword in his hand a light flick; the edge, holding astonishing heat, traced a dazzle of flowing light through the air. "The domain's safety has one more safeguard."