Steel Trim

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 69

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 68

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 67

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 66

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 65

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 64

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 63

Moment by moment, John marched deeper into the heart of civilization.

This was an awful idea. He didn't know what dangers lurked in Broadstream Town.

Moment by moment, his heart beat faster as he fidgeted, struggling to keep his hands steady.

He should turn back and figure something else out with Yuki. At the very least, he should have co-opted some of the militia to form an honour guard.

Moment by moment, danger drew closer, wearing the shapes of other people...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 62

They were only left alone for a few minutes.

Yuki perked first, ears swivelling to some unknown noise before turning to face a seemingly empty road a second later. "We are all agreed that I will handle this, yes?" she asked, and both John and Rin gave her quick nods.

It was a half minute later when Aiki and Haru returned, a small squad of armoured, tense men following behind them. At their head was Sergeant Yashiro, and shortly behind him was his second in command.

...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 61

John reconnected the cabling, chuckling deeply as he thought about the sheer firepower this upgraded glove would possess. Sure, it was bulky. Heavy, too. Yet, the latter would be solved by levitation to the point where it might as well be made of silk, and the former was blunted by never wanting to be in melee combat to begin with.

They were small sacrifices, all in all. With the vastly larger batteries, John could push foci harder without worrying about depleting his reserves mid-fight...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 60

Yuki's talk with the priest was at least productive. While he didn't directly say much of value, what he didn't say had some interesting implications for her to sort through later. It was rather telling that he didn't even think to ask for more specificity when she asked about the local yokai population. He didn't even mention any factional splits! It was like he thought of them not as other people, but as beasts. 

She might even have to delay her plan to test the tainted foodstuff...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 59

John's breath caught, and his hand trembled as he stared down at the ofuda. It couldn't be. No, there had to be something off, but several pieces fell into place all at once.

Ofuda and similar items could only be created by mortals; the process didn't work for Unbound or yokai, hence the niche of the priests. In the same way, he had to avoid magical contamination while he was making them.

Both channelled magic through an input, producing effects by shaping it. The damned ...

About Scheduling Going Forward

Hey hey folks. It's your grumpy neighbourhood Steel Trim here, returning from break.

First, wow, I needed that. I'm going to have to start adding a few to my schedule to avoid burnout so I can keep bringing you all this story. My first idea is to take one every 10~ chapters/weeks or so, but the first is going to be in late January, on the week of the 27th.

Why then, when I just said it might be every ten chapters?

Well, I'm getting all four of my wisdoms extr...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 58

The walk back to the fort was awkward this time, although John supposed that was to be expected when he Shanghai'd someone on impulse. In retrospect, maybe he could have handled that better, but he was committed now. Getting him killed by his fellows was not an option.

Their captive kept his eyes on the pair the entire way as John and Yuki led him through the underbrush. He’d given them a weird look when they suddenly veered off the path into the brush. It wasn't like they were trying...

Delay Next Week

Hey, sorry folk, but quick announcement. Unfortunately, there will be no chapter next week for reasons of avoiding burnout and my work is honestly weakening a lot. As of late, I've been rushing to get these out, and I honestly feel as if I don't have enough time to actually sit on and consider aspects of them. This is my first major creative writing project where I actually keep to a schedule, and I made the mistake of not having a proper backlog, so I really, really need to fix that and edit...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 57

By the time the sun had started to crest the horizon, filtering through the trees in little wisps, they were down to the last two buildings. 

"Nothing yet, huh?" John asked Yuki, casting a glance out the door towards the now tied-up and clothed priests. Strangely, they seemed a lot calmer than they previously were, but that was probably because he took away the "demon eye" that threatened to curse them at a moment's notice. Honestly, part of him was surprised they took it ...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 56

John's jaw set as he stared down the crowd, no longer offering them any sort of warmth, even as they shivered. Yuki had spent the last few minutes going from building to building, occasionally casting a concerned glance over to him, which he pretended not to notice as he redoubled his guard duties. Occasionally, he made sure to cast a glance toward the entrance to see if whoever had left earlier had come back, but there was no luck.

This duty ill-suited him, he felt, as it gave him too ...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 55

It wasn't hard to hear the frantic whisper-shouts emerging from the buildings as lights started flickering on through the windows. The first actual human they saw, though, was a single man who poked his head out the door, all bleary-eyed and half-asleep, only to see the two of them before shrieking and hustling back inside, followed by the sound of him tripping over something and hitting the ground. John wasn't sure what he said after that, but he was sure it was rather colo...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 54

John dismounted the hover disc, Yuki hopping off behind him. The rain wasn't as overpowering as it once was; although it was still coming down hard, it was more a regular storm rather than an ice-cold wall of water. Thankfully, this gave them plenty of concealment, and hopefully their absence went unnoticed. 

Perfectly workable for what they had to do.

Kiku was undoubtedly surveilling them somehow, but with any luck, she didn't have a good way to track a small moving object a...

Hey Folks.

This isn't a major announcement. It's my birthday today, and I happened to realize that, man, it's been just about a full year since I started writing EMK. Time flies, huh? I'll be honest. I never actually thought that I'd get to this point as far as writing goes, and I never thought I'd get this insane level of support from what started as a silly little plotbunny I had. So yeah, thank you all! Keep on keeping on, and, again, thank you all so much.

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 53

Preparation continued apace as John worked on his gauntlet, in between giving Rin new things to ponder. Of course, he had already given her a small lecture on what he remembered of weather mechanics, but he was no expert. She did seem interested to learn about charge differential, though.

"Hey, Rin, I had a question. You said you were tied to storms, right?" John asked, looking up from the latest tiny reinforced tube he had slotted into place.

"Of course, sensei. I can dr...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 52

Rain poured down all around, so dense she might as well be underwater, and the wind howled through the distant trees. Rin felt like she was home.

She sat on top of her probably temporary abode, legs crossed and gently breathing in and out, cycling her power through her form, working it like a muscle. She had not had much opportunity to do so recently, never mind in such an ideal environment.

The deluge gently kissed her skin, embracing her like a friend before dribbling away. Tiny...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 51

John's mind blanked.

For a moment, there was nothing; no thoughts put to words, just an overwhelming sense of worry. The fugue didn't last long, though. Something snapped deep in his core as he took a deep, shuddering breath, fighting down the sudden incandescent rage that threatened to burn him up from the inside out.

How dare she? What gave Kiku the right to come stomping around here like she was the queen of the universe and ruin everything like some god damn ...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 50

John tensed, although he kept his expression level, and Yuki's eyes flicked to him. She followed his gaze before locking onto the hair as well.

Think, John, think! The scanner didn't ding on Aiki himself, when it dinged on Yuki while she was in disguise, so it probably wasn't her, right? But she must have interacted with him somehow. Was he bent to her will by force and magic, perhaps? …But shouldn't that show up on his detector? He hadn't thought to test it yet, but any active magic ...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 49

The moment they crossed the barrier was obvious, as Yuki's eyes shone a bit more intensely, regaining a brightness he hadn't noticed was missing prior.  Of the sleepers, Rin awakened first, jolting up and her hand going for her blade, only to still as she beheld her surroundings, cautiously peering around with her hand on the hilt, yet not seeming to quite register anything at first.

Yosuke's awakening was more like a drunk waking up in the gutter, numb limbs feeling around as he r...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 48

John placed the manifest in the crate before putting the lid on, taking a brief moment to write "Box 12" on the lid in charcoal to make it easily identifiable later. Then, he floated it from under the canopy to a pile of boxes with other, related things, setting it off to the side. Of course, they would have to move this all in later, but the back lot gave them more room to work. 

"And that's how I, personally, would do it," he said to Rin, who stood nearby, carefully watching as h...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 47

John sighed, looking out the window overlooking the hot springs out back. The rain had begun to pick up, and he could still catch the echoes of the crowd, Yuki's speech distinct, but unintelligible over the low roar. Yet, he didn't need to hear the words to know what she was doing.

The kitsune was making it clear this was an emergency, and gathering immense political capital without having to declare herself the leader. After all, who would say no to the kitsune who had just rid them of...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 46

There were more people than John expected, but he just had to stick to the plan they had discussed. He just had to say a few words and then step out before Yuki did a particularly gruesome trick to mollify the mob.

At some point, the skies had turned ugly gray, and it started drizzling. The rain was thin, light, almost akin to a summer afternoon's, other than the bite it carried, like tiny little fangs scraping against his flesh. The heat had nearly been entirely sucked out of the day l...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 45

John sat patiently as Rin reviewed the notes, her face bearing a deep frown as she stared at them like arcane glyphs, despite his assurances that she didn't have to learn all this at once.

Turning to look, he saw Yuki dipping through the door, alone. Behind her, he saw the undead still calmly kneeling, and Shirai shivering on the ground, still bound, but otherwise unharmed. The kitsune closed the door as she left the room, leaving the pair alone, which was probably a good sign. After al...

Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 44

"I think the easiest place to start would be with a practical demonstration," John mused.

Almost idly, he grabbed his waterskin and a pair of ceramic bowls from a nearby shelf, pouring himself some water in one. The second bowl he awkwardly propped up above the water with two small boxes.

Fuck, would he even need an anode?

Probably, but magically summoned lightning was weird and didn't behave like it should, regardless. John's setup for de-rusting stuff needed an anode, alth...

Quick Heads Up

Hey, unfortunately, this week's chapter will probably be delayed until late tonight/early tomorrow. Work has called me in on my days off and shifted my regular schedule into my normal writing hours, so I'm a bit behind. It is almost done, but I don't want to give you all subpar stuff with bad editing. I'm on vacation soon, though, and I hope to build a backlog during that so we don't have that issue in the future.