Manullium Rifle

Ed left Dupe's office and headed for his underground lab. 'Only 2 manullium ingots left. Looks like I'll only have enough to make one.' When he had created the superhumans, he originally had 20 ingots. He had to make the bars used in the soldiers' limbs very thin due to the shortage. Fortunately, the material was unusually strong in all respects except for when it came into contact with ordinary fire.

He sat down at a drafting table and began working on some blueprint sketches. 'I've already got my backup plan in place for the governor. Hopefully, the railgun will finish him off. If that doesn't work, then this is an extra backup plan. More importantly, the primary goal of this plan is to kill Phantom if he betrays me.' His eyes turned red from anger as his hand tightened. Snap. His pencil broke in half from the pressure. He hurriedly melted it back into its proper shape. 'Phantom! I gave up the manullium to get you and Nexus off my back during the war, but don't think I've forgotten. If I were in your position, then I would definitely betray you right as you were exhausted from the war. Presidential pardon? Bullshit! As if I would be so naive as to believe that crap!'

His hand drifted across the page as he completed the blueprint. He stared at it with dissatisfaction. 'Another one-shot weapon. It can't be helped. I originally planned to build it completely out of manullium, but there simply isn't enough. At least I'll be able to make the parts replaceable this time.' The sketch was of a gun of comical proportions. It would be more accurate to describe it as an artillery cannon, for its total length was nearly 10 meters.

Ed collected steel ingots and created everything on the blueprints except for the gun barrel. Then he melted in some of the leftover crocodile bone to further strengthen the steel. However, there was something unusual about this gun. There was no steam engine built into it. Not even a miniature one. Instead, there was only a bolt-lever for loading the ammunition forward into the chamber.

'Now for the manullium.' He grabbed a single manullium ingot and held it over an opening he had left on the top of the gun. He grabbed a blowtorch and started an ordinary gas fire with it. Drip, drip, drip. A single drop of manullium fell at a time into the barrel. He slowly turned the barrel as he did this, removing the steel of the gun as he went. Soon, he finished creating a manullium gun chamber. Then he created a steel barrel and attached it to the gun.

'Good. One last step.' He grabbed the 2nd manullium ingot and melted it into a plate-like shape. Then he attached it to a gear on the rifle's loading mechanism. 'Now to test it.' He set the 10-meter-long gun on the floor. A lead bulled encased in a brass shell formed from his powers and he set it into the bolt-loading mechanism. He pulled the bolt-lever backwards, and the ammunition was pushed forward. As soon as the bullet was loaded, the manullium plate slammed shut, blocking off the chamber from the gun's loading mechanism. Then, nothing happened, as there was no steam propulsion to fire the lead bullet forward.

'Okay. Time to prepare for the real test.' He left the lab and headed for the main engineering building. As usual, the engineers were insanely busy. What Reef City lacked in quantity of soldiers would likely be made up for in quality of soldiers. It was at the point that pretty much every squad was guaranteed to have at least one mech suit. The steam tank division had expanded so much that they were having trouble finding bodies to operate them.

Ed walked past the engineers towards a corner where two 10-meter-tall mechs were located. They were the ones they had liberated from the manullium mines. 'If I remember correctly, Mr. Ardy named this mech model as Cleft. He's got a weird naming sense.' He grabbed one of the nearby engineers. "Let Rupert know that I'm taking this mech for the rest of the war."

"Eh? But we had plans for it." The engineer replied.

"Change them." Ed ordered as he stepped on a platform next to the foot of the mech. "This is far more important than whatever Rupert wants it for." The platform rose into the air like an elevator. Then he climbed into the head of the mech and sat down. He flipped a switch and the mech's engine roared as steam whistled out. It took large steps as it left the warehouse.

Ed returned to his lab. He carried the new gun outside and had the mech hold it. He also brought out five spare barrels, which he attached to the mech's back for easy access. 'Just need the ammunition now. For this job, light mana-powder is best. Fortunately, light mana-powder is the one type I never seem to lack supplies of lately.'

He returned to the lab again and began crafting six bullets for the new gun. 'It's more complicated this time.' He sighed. Normally, he could just make the mana bullets encased in an ordinary shell. The blunt force would trigger the ammunition. This time, however, he had to trigger the ammo while it was still in the gun. The manullium in the chamber would activate the bullet, but only if it could come in direct contact with the mana-powder.

'I guess I'll try the idea I've had for a while... I just hope I don't blow my entire lab up.' He grabbed a box filled with vials of mana-powder and carried them over to a small room within his lab. The room was surrounded by thick steel walls and had a single machine within it. It was a hydraulic press. He melted the bottom plate of the hydraulic press into a large bullet-shaped mold. Then he filled it with light mana-powder.

Ed left the room and sealed the door shut behind him. A small reinforced glass window was his only view to the inside of the room. He pulled a lever downwards, and the hydraulic press started operating. The press used a small steam-powered piston on the left to press down on a small surface area of water. The pressure placed on the water powered a larger piston, which pressed a steel cylinder-shaped plate downwards. Grinding sounds rang out as the cylinder pressed the mana-powder into the mold.

Soon, it finished. Fortunately, the pressure didn't cause the mana-powder to explode. Ed returned into the room and checked the powder. It was pushed deep into the bullet-shaped mold. He lifted it from the mold and examined it. 'Mm. Good.' He nodded in satisfaction. The bullet felt completely solid. 'The fact that mana-powder can be compressed solid raises future possibilities for other experiments. The entire point of creating mana-powders in the first place is because mana-cores tend to be impure with other elements mixed in. I wonder if I can improve the power of mana-batteries by compressing the powders? I'll have to explore the idea when I have more time.'

He placed some more mana-powder into the mold and left the room again. He had to repeat the process several times to repeatedly compress more mana-powder into the bullet. Eventually, he had a full-size bullet made completely of compressed light mana-powder. He repeated these steps five more times until he had a total of six bullets.

Ed took the six bullets and attached them to a belt around the waist of the mech. By now, the mech looked a bit funny. It was holding a comically large gun. Five barrels stuck out in all directions from its back. A belt of six bullets was wrapped around its waist. It looked more like a statue honoring a fallen soldier as opposed to an actual mech used for close combat.

'Now, who should pilot it?' He wondered as he rubbed his chin. 'This needs to be top secret so that Nexus and Phantom don't find out. That means Dupe is out. I wouldn't even be surprised if he was working for Nexus. It'd be weird if the man with the most bodies and secrets didn't work for them. I'll need to test his loyalty soon. Fortunately, I already have another plan in place for that. Flair? No, she'd likely sell me out if the technology offered was valuable enough. Rupert's a drunk. Ray's busy with the soldiers. Husky might freeze at a critical moment, plus he's busy anyways. Hmm... I've got it!' He slammed his fist into his palm and smiled. 'Gunther hardly has anything to do lately. He's also unusually loyal to me. More importantly, Nexus would likely never contact him. He's an ordinary human and has only served as captain of the guards. Perfect!'

Ed left to fetch a confused Gunther. The two climbed into the mech and left the base.

"Did Bolin teach you to pilot the Cleft Mech when we left the manullium mine?" Ed questioned.

"No." Gunther shook his head. "You want me piloting one of these in the war? There are better pilots than me for the job. Why bother wasting time to teach me?"

"This is a top-secret mission that I can only trust you with." He replied. He pointed at a switch. "This is the ignition." Then he pointed at another switch. "This is used to control the steam paths." He continued to explain each switch as they traveled through the city. Some instructions had to be explained twice.

"Like this?" Gunther questioned as he controlled it.

"You're doing great." Ed nodded. "Now control it to head towards the railroad tracks. We're leaving the city for practice."

"Mm." He nodded. A glint of determination sparked in his eyes. He was an ordinary soldier. No, not even that. He was just an ordinary guard. However, Forge, the man that saved his life, needed him for an extremely important mission. Something with which he could trust no others. A strong sense of pride swelled up within his heart. He secretly swore to himself to get the job done no matter the cost.

Thudding sounds echoed as the mech traversed the wastelands. The feet of the mech sunk into the ground with each step. Florida was originally a swamp, and much of it had returned to its natural state after the apocalypse. Originally, a pumping system was used state-wide to prevent flooding in the state and make the land more livable. Now, however, flooding was common and so was swampland.

"This should be far enough." Ed said. "Control the rifle and load a mana-bullet into it. Make sure to kneel with the mech. Otherwise, the force will likely blast the mech off its feet."

"It's that powerful?" Gunther's eyes widened in surprise.

The mech lifted up the gun that was nearly as long as the height of the mech. It knelt on one knee and aimed towards a swamp that was just barely visible from where they stood.

"Remember." Ed interrupted. "As soon as you load the bullet into the chamber, hold the rifle steady. The bullet will fire almost instantly.

"Mm." Gunther nodded, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. He placed a bullet into the loading mechanism. Then he pulled the bolt-lever, which loaded the bullet into the chamber. As soon as the bullet entered the chamber, the manullium plate swung into place, blocking off the chamber from the loading mechanism. It was designed to protect the loading mechanism from damage and to stop the force from backfiring against the mech.

A bright glow lit up within the rifle. Almost instantly, a white flash of light blinded them. The mech shook heavily from the recoil. When their vision recovered, they could see a beam of light blasting through the swampland. Trees were incinerated to nothingness. The ground sank deeper wherever the beam passed. When it finally reached the swamp itself, the bullet slammed into the ground. A white dome spread from the epicenter of the bullet, incinerating everything in its path as it grew. The odd thing about the explosion was the silence. Not a sound was made despite everything the beam and explosion touched being annihilated. Soon, the light faded away, revealing a completely empty crater where the swamp used to be.

"Looks like the explosion was about 100 meters wide?" Ed guessed while looking at the crater.

Gunther stared quietly in shock for a moment. His voice trembled as he spoke, "Do you think we've gone too far? Does the world really need a weapon like this?"

"It's not that bad." Ed shook his head. "I'm sure Europe has far more powerful weapons than this. Besides," A sharp gleam appeared in his eyes as he thought back to the nuclear weapons his father had taught him about. "This is very far from my goal. This weapon can barely be considered a stick compared to what I have in mind for the future."

"Just what do you plan on making?!" Gunther questioned in fear and surprise.

"Having second thoughts?" He questioned with a smile.

"No." Gunther shook his head without hesitation. "I trust you'll use the weapons right. I'm prepared to do what needs done."

"Good." Ed nodded. "Anyways, let me show you how to replace the barrel. It's completely ruined after each shot." He explained the ins and outs of the gun. Then he explained his plan for Gunther's role in the upcoming war.