The Arcane Architect Chronicles: Framework of War Book 2: A Slice of Life Harem LitRPG Fantasy Adventure by Marcell Anver

Author:Marcell Anver [Anver, Marcell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2026-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

The air in the locker room smelled of searing copper and burnt hair.

Jax sat on the metal bench, his left arm extended on the table. He was breathing through his teeth, a rhythmic hiss of pain and focus.

"Tighten it," Jax ordered.

Nia hesitated, holding the wrench. "Jax, the bolts are digging into your skin."

"It needs to be flush," Jax gritted out. "If there’s an air gap between the conductor and the scar tissue, the arc will jump. And if it jumps, it blows my elbow off. Tighten. It."

Nia squeezed her eyes shut and turned the wrench.

CREAAAK.

The steel band of the gauntlet cinched down around Jax’s forearm.

Jax threw his head back, a silent scream caught in his throat. The metal bit into his flesh, locking onto the swollen, glowing veins of the Lichtenberg Scars.

"Contact," Jax wheezed.

He looked down at his arm.

It didn't look like a limb anymore. It looked like an engine block.

The Sizzler Mk II was ugly, industrial, and terrifying. It was a framework of scavenged steel bars wrapped around a core made from the Volatile Arc-Battery casing. Copper tubes snaked along the length of the gauntlet, acting as heat sinks. On the back of his hand sat a focusing lens ground from the shard of Void-Glass.

The erratic, blinding blue light that had been pulsing from his arm for days was gone.

Instead, a soft, steady hum vibrated from the gauntlet. The blue light was contained behind the leaded glass of the battery casing, glowing with a stable, rhythmic beat.

Thrum... Thrum... Thrum.

Jax flexed his fingers. The heavy metal glove responded instantly, servos whining.

"System check," Jax muttered.

He visualized the mana flow. Usually, it was a raging river, uncontrollable and painful. Now, as the energy left his shoulder, it hit the regulator. The gauntlet siphoned the excess heat, venting it through the copper tubes.

HISSS.

A thin jet of steam shot out of the vent near his elbow.

The pain in his nerves dialed down from a scream to a whisper.

"It works," Jax whispered. He held up his hand. "I’m not leaking anymore."

"You look like a cyborg," Rika said, poking the metal casing with a claw. "A shiny, steam-punk cyborg."

"It is crude," Elara noted, stepping out of the shadows. "But effective. You have capped the volcano, Architect."

"I haven't just capped it," Jax said, a cold smile touching his lips. He pointed the gauntlet at the wall. "I aimed it."

Ding-Dong.

The sound of a magical chime echoed through the locker room.

A golden drone, embossed with the Sterling crest, hovered in the doorway. It dropped a cream-colored envelope onto the floor and zipped away.

Jax picked it up with his metal fingers.

"TO THE SEMI-FINALISTS OF THE AETHERIA CUP." "YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THE CAPTAINS' GALA." "TOP OF THE SPIRE. BLACK TIE MANDATORY."

"A party?" Nia asked, rubbing soot off her face. "Now?"

"It’s a power move," Jax said, crumbling the invitation. "They want us to show up so they can parade us around. Show the sponsors that the 'rats' can clean up nice. Then intimidate us before the match."

"We cannot go," Nia said.

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