akasoindustries

269 - Favonia Pt. 3 [Cherno]

A simple upgrade for the Prospector’s Eyes was one thing. It was entirely believable that Casus may have mentioned Krahe’s use of the artifact and its, by now, severely subpar specifications. Krahe had, after all, not mentioned her commissioning of upgraded lenses, and she had not met with Casus since she had picked up her order from the craftsman, meaning he had no way to know. Therefore, if their mentality really was as similar as Casus and Favonia both seemed to think, Favonia could ha...

268 - Favonia Pt. 2 (Vinculae Peregrinus) [Cherno]

“What is it?” Krahe questioned, turning the strange cigar over in her hand. It was much heavier than one might expect. Its scent reminded her of metal shavings, gunpowder, fusion reactor coolant. Heavy and industrial, yet it also had aromatic notes of perhaps some kind of incense or aromatic resin.

Rather than answer, Favonia smirked, and, reaching into her hair again, took out a pair of glasses. Silver frame, circular lenses. At a glance the same type of design as the Prospector’...

267 - Favonia [Cherno]

The next several hours of her time came down to more productive pursuits — refining the Schwarzfaust’s theurgic pattern, interspersed with short sessions of reading and absent-mindedly inspecting parts of the room to see if she could notice the concealment formation poking through anywhere else. Eventually, having laid a number of Schwarzfaust and Wandrei Faust talismans across the table, both for reference, Krahe finally arrived at a more refined design, eliminating several extraneous el...

266 - Re: Safehouse [Cherno]

As she made her way out of Garvesh’s pawnshop, walking through the back alley in the other direction than she had entered, she noticed two new things. The first was the presence of a stranger approaching from the direction she was headed. The second was that, amidst the posters and ads, old and new, she could make out Yao’s talisman patterns, ever so briefly before her eyes slipped off them. Only by “glancing over them” could see actually get a good look, something made possible only ...

265 - Astrowave Pt. 2 [Cherno]

“This one’s pretty old, but it’s pretty good,” Garvesh said as he plucked a memslate from somewhere under the counter. Its edges were worn. After skipping well past the halfway point, he let it play. The clashing of swords and din of gunshots spilled out as a meticulously choreographed battle between two thaumaturges ensued, one a saurian and the other an Inax. They seemed to be fighting atop a great spire, in the middle of a gigantic metropolis that almost seemed like something pluck...

264 - The Wizard Pt. 2/Astrowave [Cherno]

“I’m the Wizard, I’m twelve thousand years old, of course I know everything,” the young man smirked. She noticed seams in his skin, starting at the corners of his mouth. “I was turning tower-dwelling savages inside-out before Igaria built the first spoke. This-”

He gestured about himself, perhaps at the Lost Sun Society, or perhaps at the world at large.

“-is nothing to me. I’ve seen the Banishing, I’ve seen Zavesh shoving random organs into his torso, I’ve see...

263 - The Wizard [Cherno]

Krahe allowed herself to give into the theatre of her involvement with the Lost Sun Society, making her way to the very firing range where she had demonstrated her ability as a theurge in order to gain entry. The giant, Moloch-esq target statue loomed behind a scene of smaller, much more reasonable targets, including human figures, steel plates, and even forms of viscous gel, retreating into mechanized canisters to reshape themselves after being shot. There were even a few barrier generators,...

262 - Schwarzfaust Pt. 2 [Cherno]

A/N: Edit: Truncated some of the dialogue that kind of just repeated earlier information. Chapter ends up being shorter than normal but next one will be longer to compensate.

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“Basic, in the sense of avoiding overdesign. A direct equivalent to this land’s Yellow Atropal…?” Yao murmured as she turned the talisman paper back and forth, looking back and forth between them. Somehow, the Schwarzfaust puzzled her ...

261 - Schwarzfaust [Cherno]

Krahe deciced to undertake an exercise in creating a theurgic pattern usable by others. Yao’s scroll insisted that even if one didn’t plan to do so, it was a useful skill to have, and understanding the principles behind it was vital to having a solid foundation as both a theurge and a talisman-maker. It quickly became evident why — it just wasn’t the same. First, one had to create the root pattern, then adapt it to universalize the instructions. The wider the intended userbase, the ha...

260 - Case Four Closed, More or Less [Cherno]

Krahe stared at the mutilated form that laid across the room from her, hooked up to tubes and cables, hollow eye sockets covered by fresh gauze. She felt herself sink in place, her sight growing detached, merely pointed in that direction, but not truly focused. A strange grinding noise came from her mouth. Teeth on teeth. She could feel something wet run down her face. Strange. She didn’t recall Firminus’s ambulance having leakage issues anywhere.

“One of them I mentioned… Aldri...

259 - Another Junko Furuta Pt. Final [Cherno]

The strongest piece of evidence in favour of Aldritch’s humanity, distorted and rotten though it may be, was Barzai — the eidolon awoke within Krahe, twisting and turning in his formless state, not unlike a dog might do upon the leash when presented with fresh meat. Could a truly hollow psychopath be so tormented by the knowledge of his impending punishment as to entice the palate of an astral beast with a taste for the suffering of evildoers? In the end, the content of his character and ...

258 - Another Junko Furuta Pt. 8 [Cherno]

Yazata followed Krahe’s lead, with one of the Red Hoods taking up a guard post at the front door. The inquisitor seemed somewhat perturbed by Juno, but Krahe got the impression that it wasn’t because of her physical state. Yazata quickly gave Krahe’s more refined report a once-over as the two made their way upstairs. Krahe then spent a few moments to defuse some of her wards, and when she finally cracked open the door, the sound of Aldritch’s dismayed struggling rushed out like a gust...

[Announcement] Cherno Caster Vol. 2 Now Available on Amazon!

Currently only on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited, but the audiobook is in production and paperbacks will also come soon. We were aiming for a simultaneous release with the audiobook, but unfortunately our VA was struck by the California fires.

Cherno Caster Vol. 2 on Amazon

257 - Case Four: Another Junko Furuta Pt. 7 [Cherno]

“...can you… can you carry me? Take me…” Juno spoke up, insomuch as the wheezing whisper she emitted could be considered speech. She stopped short of saying something, the start of the word “home” almost audible in its absence.

“I can take you to a grafter. Get you fixed up,” Krahe suggested.

Juno turned towards Krahe. “That… Would be better,” she said with an unsettling clarity. A strained, stiff smile. “My parents mustn’t see me like this.”

Krah...

256 - Case Four: Another Junko Furuta Pt. 6 [Cherno]

Krahe didn’t bother with any elaborate torments. Instead, she simply dragged Aldritch off the wall, and before he could realize what she was doing, she dislocated his shoulder. He cried out, but… It wasn’t convincing. The pain was real, but the reaction wasn’t how it should’ve been. That alone was enough to tip her off — despite being dislocated, his left arm writhed and wrapped itself around Krahe’s arms, while something writhed inside his good arm, and in a flash, the limb spl...

255 - Case Four: Another Junko Furuta Pt. 5 [Cherno]

The moment Krahe broke through the door, Aldritch had already prepared himself, having already raised his barrier and letting loose several thaumaturgic blades aimed exactly at Krahe’s head the moment she was in his sight. He was already pointing a gun off to the side, and the moment it became clear his first salvo had not struck its target, he began screaming how he had a reaper and how he would use it if Krahe made another move. His gun was double-action, and his finger wasn’t seated on...

254 - Case Four: Another Junko Furuta Pt. 4 [Cherno]

A/N: Fairly severe content. One more chapter to come as promised.

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Within another fifteen minutes, she had arrived at the second location — in total, between following Ogura into his house and now, twenty-seven minutes had passed. Not so much as a squeak escaped the building. After skimming through the fence from a side opposite any of the active windows, Krahe raised a narrow pillar of smoky jade from the ground, jumping off ...

253 - Case Four: Another Junko Furuta Pt. 3 [Cherno]

A/N: One more chapter is ready for tonight. I might be able to get out a third.

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After taking a moment to observe the aftermath of her unfinished creation, Krahe once more turned her attention to the miscreant before her, and any sense of satisfaction was washed away by the returning tide of disdain.

“Youssef and Aldritch, is it? And they never involved you in the disposal?”

A feverish head-shake.

“They...

388 - Fear of Perfection Pt. 3 [Sturmblitz]

Giving it a few moments for the sight of the Boar’s Head Insignia to sink in, Strake then began reciting none other than the oath of the Knights of the Boar, or at least a modified version of it. Graham didn’t know that it deviated from recorded versions, he only vaguely recognized it to begin with.

“By the might of the Boar, whose sign I bear upon me, by the white of the cloth about my body bound. By this brand upon my back, I do swear upon my honor, to uphold the Knightly Virtue...

252 - Case Four: Another Junko Furuta Pt. 2 [Cherno]

Krahe closed out day 2 of the investigation into this particular case with initial preparations for Barzai’s evolution ritual, followed by working out the beginnings of Wandrei Faust’s sibling theurgy. As she leaned back in her chair, crushing beetle-like beans between her molars and fiddling with her cigarette-roller, she inwardly questioned why the reagent for Barzai’s evolution ritual was Semzar’s souldregs. For the first time since the raid, Barzai responded — inside her own hea...

251 - Case Four: Another Junko Furuta [Cherno]

As for actual customers, thankfully, her methods had worked as intended by filtering out, those she wished to avoid — for instance, a husband who just wanted someone to go stalk his wife to see if she was cheating.

It was somewhat disappointing that her first real customer under the Crow and Raven Agency didn’t walk into her front door bearing a suitcase full of cash and a troubled stare. In fact, she found them. Four days after opening her agency, while getting br...

387 - Fear of Perfection Pt. 2 [Sturmblitz]

It had been her tutelage of Lucian, as well as the desire to be more capable to teach the other disciples, that had inspired her to push Carnifex as far as it could go in terms of shape variation. The young man’s growth had been incredibly promising. Time and time again, in defiance of his own glaringly lacking intelligence, he gleaned insight from someplace or another and advanced. Unceasingly, at times slowly, and at many times painfully, he kept on advancing, and as part of that, he kept...

250 - Solomon Howitzer [Cherno]

Everything Krahe learned from securing her new office would also inevitably carry over to everything else that involved talisman-drawing, especially Theurgy. Besides just being able to produce working Wandrei Faust talismans faster and more consistently, the standard Wandrei Faust would inevitably be improved as well, as her improved understanding would allow her to incorporate more complex maneuvering thrusters based on her own left arm, allowing it to be uncannily maneuverable for its size....

249 - Give Me An Excuse Pt. Final/Crow and Raven[Cherno]

A part of her wanted to speak, or even to fight them, just to see if she could take them. But there were five of them, and they weren’t worthless gangsters. Even if they weren’t exactly well-suited to subtly trailing a target, they had real skills. She decided against initiating a conversation, but her pursuers did it for her.

“Somehow I do not expect that you will come quietly,” said the bald one.

“Would you buy it if I told you that you capturing me would have conseque...

386 - The First Two Guidestones Pt. 2/Fear of Perfection Pt. 1 [Sturmblitz]

The Estoras Family’s Seven Calamity Armaments were unique in being a truly independently-developed art, but to say they were entirely unrooted from Grekurian cultivation and martial arts would have been a lie. And these… Crovacus couldn’t articulate what a treasure this was if he tried. Despite only totaling three or perhaps four volumes across all the fragments, Crovacus knew that with these as his reference material, he could refine and evolve the Calamity Armaments to a level never b...

385 - The First Two Guidestones Pt. 1 [Sturmblitz]

A/N: I'm not dead. Just wished I had been for the first half of december or so. And then christmas.

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A clandestine expeditionary force made its way through the countryside — six figures in dark cloaks, all riding steel beasts faster than any animal, closely followed by a similarly-disguised humanoid tank — a UOT-314-01 Steelwing, the fastest mass-production third-model tank suit, if a run of nine total units could be consid...

248 - Give Me An Excuse Pt. 2 [Cherno]

A/N: I'm not dead. Just wished I had been for the first half of december or so. And then christmas.

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Brizogia’s head twitched upon her neck in a manner that a human’s head absolutely shouldn’t, and it seemed that her anger had spilled over into confusion.

“Are you just… Are you just mad? Do you have soot on the brain?”

“Perhaps it would be easier to say that than to explain why I think the way ...

384.5 - Nameless Interlude [Sturmblitz]

Cut in half.

Burned and scattered.

Frozen and shattered.

Disassembled cell by cell, molecule by molecule.

Countless years passed, and I met with countless deaths, beneath countless skies. Each time, forgetting. Each time, coming to remember just as my next death approached.

But there, in the depths of Hedan’s Wall, I approached my death, I met with my death, countless more times, only to be pulled back. The first time, it was simply raising it. I awakened, a cr...