[DING]
[You have created a partial set of armor, please name it at your discretion!]
William scratches his hairless chin as he pondered on the name before he realized that this was merely a prototype and should name it as such.
[Confirm name: Hellhand Prototype]
[Congratulations, you have built the unenchanted Hellhand Prototype 100 Artificer Class experience gained!]
With his clawed hands outstretched, William began to draw upon the relatively modest magical energy reserves that were currently at his disposal.
In his right hand, a brilliant and dominating purple light began to form, coalescing into shimmering ribbons of light that danced gracefully across the palm of his hand.
These ribbons seemed to mirror the effortless grace of a ballerina as they twirled around his fingers.
William extended his left hand in a mirror image of his earlier action, and a shockingly eerie red magical energy erupted from his palm, spreading outwards like a flame blazing straight from the depths of hell across his entire hand.
William focused the Shield Spell through his right hand, the purple magical energy collecting at the point of his index finger, with which he proceeded to trace magical leylines that pulsed as he made them, as if reacting to some distant heartbeat.
Upon completing the lines of magic in a series of spiraling patterns, he pulled his hand, which was now no longer glowing with purple light, away from the full arm harness.
The swirling leylines continued to pulse for a few moments before the lack of a source of magic caused it to eventually cease.
Karlach, who had been intently observing the entire display, initially found it absolutely captivating and awe-inspiring. The sheer brightness of it all was genuinely breathtaking. But what really took her aback was how rapidly the light began to fade, disappearing almost as quickly as it had appeared.
"What? Where did the light go?" She exclaimed.
William smiled at her, "It needs a source to draw from, until I find em external source, I'll have it draw from me!"
Having explained this to Karlach, William proceeded to perform the very same action he'd done previously, this time utilizing the Hellish Rebuke and Fire Beam spells. As he moved his left hand, the infernal energy emanating from the spells began to work its magic, etching precisely defined lines across the surface of the full arm harness.
The burning red lines weaved an intricate and orderly pattern that was pleasing to the eye ending with a brilliant flash of red light that signified a successful fusion.
After the flash receded William heard the familiar noise within his mind.
[DING - You have successfully enchanted the Hellhand Prototype]
William lowered his arm and turned it slowly beneath the dim glow of the forge.
The Hellhand Prototype had changed.
The metal was no longer the simple dark iron it had been moments before.
Thin channels now ran across its surface in the precise patterns William had etched earlier.
They traced the plates like carefully carved circuits, branching across the knuckles, spiraling around the wrist joint, and continuing along the length of the forearm guard.
But the lines were dark.
No light pulsed through them.
Without a magical source feeding them, they remained dormant, their presence visible only as faintly engraved pathways across the metal.
The gauntlet itself was built from overlapping plates shaped to follow the natural structure of his arm.
The fingers were reinforced with narrow ridges that allowed his claws to extend through the channels he had carved earlier.
Along the back of the hand, the metal formed a raised ridge that ran up the forearm where the segmented armor locked neatly together.
Each plate rested tightly against the next.
No straps.
No hinges.
No exposed joints.
Everything held together through the precise grooves and pressure fittings he had shaped while the metal was still hot.
William rotated the arm harness again, studying the etched lines closely.
He ran the tip of a claw along one of the channels.
The metal was smooth.
No warping from the enchantment.
No cracks where the heat might have weakened the structure.
He checked the edges of the plates.
Then the knuckles.
Then the wrist seam.
Everything held perfectly.
Karlach stepped closer, leaning slightly to get a better look.
"Looks mean," she said, folding her arms. "You sure it won't bite back?"
William let out a quiet chuckle.
"Only if I design it to."
Satisfied with the inspection, he lifted the Hellhand Prototype and aligned it with his right arm.
The gauntlet hovered briefly before him.
Then he slid his hand inside.
The interior metal closed neatly around his palm as his claws entered the channels he had carved earlier.
The fingers adjusted around them without resistance, the plates shifting slightly to accommodate the natural curve of his hand.
When his arm moved fully into the forearm section, the segmented plates along the wrist tightened in sequence.
One after another.
Each section settling into place.
The metal did not pierce his skin.
It did not clamp down painfully.
Instead, the inner surface seemed to mold itself gently against him, adjusting to the exact shape of his hand and forearm until there was no empty space between metal and flesh.
Where the armor met his skin, the boundary blurred slightly before stabilizing.
It was not fused into his body.
But it was firmly attached.
Karlach tilted her head as she watched the last plate settle into place near his elbow.
"Uh… was it supposed to do that?"
William flexed his fingers.
The gauntlet moved instantly with him.
His claws extended through the reinforced grooves with ease as the plates shifted around them smoothly.
"There's no pain," William said calmly.
He rolled his wrist and slowly raised the armored arm.
"But…"
He clenched his fist.
"…I can feel the weight."
It was not unbearable.
But it was there.
A steady heaviness wrapped around his hand and forearm.
Solid metal resting against him rather than floating weightlessly like a magical construct.
A reminder that this was forged armor.
Not conjured energy.
William turned the gauntlet slightly, observing how the dull etched channels followed the shape of the plates.
Inactive.
Waiting.
A faint smile spread across his face.
"Good," he murmured.
Karlach grinned beside him.
"Well," she said with clear approval, "that's one hell of a handshake waiting to happen."
William held his arm out in front of him, turning the gauntlet slowly as the forge's dim light slid across the dark metal.
For a few seconds, nothing happened.
The etched channels remained dull, the armor silent and inert against his skin.
William narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Let's see if you actually work," he murmured.
He inhaled slowly and reached inward, drawing upon the familiar well of magic that rested within him.
The energy stirred at his command, rising through his chest and down along his arm like a quiet current moving through a riverbed.
When the magic reached the gauntlet, the reaction was immediate.
The channels carved across the metal flickered.
A faint purple glow sparked to life along the etched lines running across the back of the hand.
The light pulsed once, weakly, before fading again.
Karlach leaned forward slightly.
"Oho… there it is."
William focused harder, guiding the magic deliberately through the armor rather than letting it spill out as a spell.
The flow moved from his shoulder, down his forearm, and into the plates that encased his hand.
This time the response was stronger.
The etched channels ignited again, the glow spreading further across the gauntlet.
The lines lit one after another like a chain of awakening circuits, crimson and violet hues chasing each other along the metal.
Pulse.
The light surged briefly before dimming again.
Pulse.
Another surge followed.
William felt the rhythm immediately.
It wasn't random.
The glow continued to flare in steady intervals, each pulse arriving in quiet synchronization with the beat of his heart.
He blinked.
Then slowly smiled.
With every beat of his heart, another wave of magic moved through the armor.
The gauntlet adapted quickly, the runic channels brightening as the rhythm stabilized.
What had begun as faint flickers soon became a steady cycle of light moving through the carved pathways.
Karlach watched the display with obvious fascination.
"Well," she said with a low whistle, "that's definitely not normal."
William flexed his fingers again.
The response was immediate.
The plates shifted smoothly, the metal adjusting with such precision that the movement felt… natural.
Not mechanical.
Not stiff.
Natural.
He slowly clenched his fist.
The glow surged across the gauntlet again, following the rhythm now firmly locked to the steady thrum of his heartbeat.
And then something changed.
The sensation of weight he had noticed earlier began to fade.
Not because the gauntlet had grown lighter, but because his mind began to register it differently.
The metal no longer felt like something resting on his arm.
It felt like something that belonged there.
William rolled his wrist.
Every plate moved exactly when he intended it to.
No delay.
No resistance.
He could feel the pressure of each segment as it shifted.
The edges of the plates, the joints at the wrist, the reinforced ridges along the fingers, even the subtle tension of the forearm guard as it adjusted with every movement.
It was as if his awareness had extended outward.
The gauntlet was no longer just armor.
It was an extension of him.
A second skin forged from steel and magic.
William slowly opened and closed his hand again, studying the glow that pulsed through the runic channels with every heartbeat.
"Interesting," he said quietly.
Karlach raised an eyebrow.
"That good, huh?"
William lowered the arm slightly, watching the light ripple across the metal once more.
"Yes," he said simply.
Then he flexed his fingers again, the armored claws glinting faintly as the runes pulsed beneath them.
"It works."
Karlach stood beside him, her eyes fixed on the gauntlet.
The etched channels no longer sat dormant.
Soft waves of crimson and violet light pulsed through them in steady rhythm, traveling across the plates of the Hellhand Prototype like a living current.
Each pulse matched the quiet beat of William's heart.
The metal itself gave off a faint hum now, subtle but unmistakable, like a forge that had cooled on the outside but still held heat deep within.
Karlach leaned closer, her gaze narrowing as she studied the shifting light.
"Well," she muttered under her breath, "that's new."
Before William could say anything, she reached out and tapped the back of the gauntlet with one finger.
The reaction was immediate.
William chuckled.
Karlach blinked and looked up at him.
"Did you just laugh?"
William flexed his fingers slowly, the armored plates shifting as smoothly as if they had always been part of him.
"I felt that," he said.
Karlach's eyebrows rose.
"You felt that?"
William nodded, rotating his wrist slightly as the runic channels flared again with the movement.
"The harness is responding to my nervous system," he explained calmly. "It's acting as if it's part of my body."
Karlach stared at the gauntlet again.
Then a slow, mischievous smirk crept across her face.
"Oh really?"
William had exactly half a second to realize what that tone meant before she flicked the armored knuckle.
Harder this time.
William let out a short laugh again.
Karlach grinned.
"Yep. Definitely works."
But the playful look faded after a moment as her attention returned fully to the armor itself.
She leaned closer, eyes scanning every detail now.
Karlach wasn't just looking anymore.
She was studying it.
Her gaze traced the lines that ran across the back of the hand before following the segmented plates along the wrist and forearm.
She watched how the metal shifted when William flexed his fingers, how each plate slid neatly over the next without grinding or catching.
Her hand hovered near the forearm guard as she observed the layered construction.
"Huh…"
She tilted her head slightly.
"That's clever."
William raised an eyebrow.
Karlach gestured toward the wrist joint.
"The plates overlap like scales," she said. "Lets it bend without leaving gaps."
Her finger pointed toward the ridge running along the back of the forearm.
"And that spine there's probably reinforcing the whole thing so it doesn't twist when you punch something."
William's smile widened slightly.
Karlach might not be an artificer, but she clearly understood how armor worked.
She leaned in a little closer again, watching as the runic channels pulsed beneath the metal.
Then something in her expression changed.
For a brief moment her eyes flickered with a faint glimmer of light as she studied the gauntlet.
Her head slowly turned.
Karlach looked straight at William.
Her gaze was sharp now.
Curious.
Questioning.
"So…" she said slowly.
Her eyes dropped briefly to the glowing gauntlet before returning to his face.
"You gonna test it?"
"AUTHOR NOTE - Sorry for the lack of uploads, I have been working on a twisted ankle and the additional pain has left me both physically and mentally exhausted!"