CHAPTER 143: INFERNAL ECLIPSE

The control room was quiet except for the hum of the Sanctum.

Lucian leaned against the railing, eyes narrowed at the glowing map before him. Alfred had just finished the scan—one of the monster nation’s rulers, the Lion King, had come into range. Delta Rank. Dangerous, yes, but not enough to unsettle him. More interesting were the three Gamma Rank guardians listed under him. The kind of formation that would make most hunter guilds retreat.

Lucian smirked. "Finally," he muttered. "Something worth stretching my hands on."

The doors hissed open behind him. Lucy stepped inside, her steps slow but steady, her presence dragging heat with it. In her hand she carried a blade—a black steel long-sword, veins of flame pulsing faintly through its length. The Hellflame Blade.

Lucian’s breath caught for just a moment. He hadn’t seen that weapon in years. He turned his head, his gaze fixed on it. "That sword... it’s been a long time." He stepped closer, eyes scanning the runes carved into the hilt, the faint glow rippling across the edges. "Father forged this, didn’t he?"

Lucy nodded. "It’s one of the last things I kept. I didn’t want to use it until I had the strength to wield it properly."

Lucian reached for it, brushing a hand along the steel. He remembered the weight of his father’s hands hammering steel, sparks flying in the forge. The scent of molten iron and fire filled his memory, sharp enough to sting.

And then, without warning, a whisper of the system chimed in.

[Blueprint Archive – dormant module detected.]

[Would you like to activate?]

Lucian froze, his hand on the blade. He had never touched this function, not once. His Infinite System always had more than he ever used, but the words lit something in him. Slowly, he nodded.

[Activating Blueprint Archive...]

[Function: Allows user to record, store, and replicate structures, weapons, artifacts, and even certain skills.]

A low glow spread from the blade into his hand. Schematics unfolded across his vision—lines, curves, runes, the flow of heat through the steel, the core essence locked inside. Every strike his father had made on the anvil appeared like a ghost before him. He saw it all, not just the weapon but the craft itself.

Lucy blinked. "Lucian?"

He shook his head slightly. "Give me a moment. I need to do this."

Without another word, he left the room, heading into one of the empty chambers of the Sanctum. The lights dimmed as the door closed behind him. He drew the sword fully now, holding it up in both hands.

"Blueprint Archive," he said.

The system responded.

[Recording Hellflame Blade.]

[Analyzing composition...]

Lines of light traced the weapon in his vision. Each rune lit up, annotated with numbers and glyphs. He could see the power veins—the channels where fire essence flowed, the way the steel had been folded again and again. He could even feel the imperfections, small fractures left in the forging that didn’t matter when their father made it but mattered now.

[Recording complete.]

[Would you like to replicate?]

Lucian exhaled, steady. "Not just replicate. Improve."

The Archive shifted.

[Modification open.]

[Overlay adjustments: Allowed.]

Lucian touched the air. His hand moved through the projection, shifting the curves of the blade, tightening the channels where essence would flow. He reinforced the spine, etched new runes of compression and release. He altered the balance slightly, so that the weapon would respond faster to Lucy’s strikes.

And then, finally, he laid in a new core. Not Hellflame as their father had built—but something sharper, deeper. He infused a structure that would draw on Lucy’s Epsilon aura directly, amplifying her fire instead of channeling it.

[Blueprint modified.]

[Would you like to forge replication?]

"Yes."

Light swirled around the old sword. He watched as the Archive disassembled its structure into raw data, then rebuilt it in the air. Metal and fire clashed without sound, the runes etching themselves as the weapon reformed. When it settled, the blade was different. Sharper. Sleeker. Its black steel glowed faint red, and the veins of fire weren’t cracks anymore—they were rivers, flowing in perfect sync with its wielder’s aura.

The system chimed.

[New Artifact Created: Infernal Eclipse.]

[Rank: Mythic.]

[Description: A blade forged from Hellflame’s legacy, perfected through the Archive. Channels the wielder’s aura directly into endless streams of destructive fire. Balance and durability beyond conventional limits. Responds to Lucy’s Epsilon rank aura as if alive.]

Lucian stood still, the weight of it in his hand heavier than the old blade but alive, pulsing faint with energy.

And then the system whispered again.

[Artifact Rank Classification:]

– Common

– Rare

– Epic

– Legendary

– Mythic

– Divine (Locked)

– Primordial (Locked)

He had never seen that list before. Not fully. His system always revealed what he needed, never more. But now...

Lucian smirked faintly. Mythic. The jump from XXX to this—it was beyond even what he expected.

He looked at the old sword, now lying silent at the edge of the chamber. He left it there, untouched, as a relic. A memory of their father.

He took the new one in hand and walked back to the control room.

Lucy was waiting, arms crossed, her flames faintly dimmer now. She raised a brow as Lucian entered. "Well? Did you just vanish to play blacksmith?"

Lucian said nothing at first. He held out the blade.

Lucy’s eyes widened. She recognized it immediately, though it wasn’t the same. The glow, the edge, the very hum of it was different.

"This is..." She reached for it, her fingers brushing the hilt. Fire surged instantly, linking with her aura, brighter than before. She staggered slightly, then laughed. "It’s like it’s alive."

Lucian’s voice was low. "Infernal Eclipse. It’s yours."

Lucy stared at him. "What did you do?"

He shook his head. "Improved it. Kept the old one as a relic. This one is for you now. Stronger. Mythic rank."

Lucy blinked. "Mythic?"

Lucian nodded once. "You’ll need it."

For a moment, silence hung between them. Then Lucy smiled faintly, softer than her usual teasing grin. She lifted the blade, letting the flames ripple along its edge. "Father would’ve been proud," she said.

Lucian’s jaw tightened. "That’s why I did it."

The Sanctum’s alarms flickered faintly, reminding them of the target below. The Lion King’s settlement pulsed on the map, red markers flashing.

Lucian turned, cloak snapping behind him. "Get ready. We test them both now."

Lucy smirked, flames burning hotter as she lifted Infernal Eclipse. "I’ve been ready."

And together, they moved toward the fire waiting below.