Outside the Order's underground laboratory, listening to the alternating screams and euphoric cheers coming from within...
Luca didn't need to walk inside to know what was happening. They were definitely conducting another so-called "Ascension Ceremony."
Only that twisted ritual, half-heaven and half-hell, could generate such a bizarre atmosphere.
However, Luca didn't enter the lab. Instead, he turned toward a small side door.
Ignoring the suits of armor standing guard on either side, Luca pushed the door open and walked right in.
It looked simple enough, but the security level of this room was actually higher than the Sanctus's private chambers. All the defenses were hidden in the shadows. If it weren't for Luca's special status, he wouldn't have been able to get within a foot of this place.
The reason for such tight security was simple: this room housed the most crucial components of the Order's upcoming master plan.
Laid out neatly before him were four weapons.
The Devil Sword Sparda, the impact steel gauntlets Gilgamesh, the spectral weapon Lucifer, and the calamitous weapon Pandora.
These weapons weren't critical to the plan just because of the raw combat power they offered.
In reality, the Order's plan was to use the "Ascension Ceremony" to strengthen their own followers, then have them repel demons in a heroic fashion to "protect" humanity. This would expand their influence, gather faith, and achieve total dominion.
But the stray demons that occasionally wandered into the human world weren't enough to satisfy the Order's "grand" ambitions.
So, the Order needed to open Hell Gates to release demons en masse, creating a stage large enough to achieve their "Divine Manifestation" in one fell swoop.
Years ago, on the shores of Fortuna, the Order had accidentally found the broken Yamato—a Devil Arm capable of opening Hell Gates.
But since the Yamato itself couldn't be repaired easily, and opening Hell Gates required massive amounts of energy...
The Order had spent years scouring the globe for Devil Arms to power the gates.
Unfortunately, the trash-tier artifacts the Order had collected previously provided meager energy—barely enough to open tiny, unstable rifts to capture lesser demons for the Ascension Ceremony.
But the four powerful Devil Arms before him now were a "gift" delivered recently by a woman named Gloria.
Although her origins were mysterious, these four weapons served as a stepping stone that vaulted her straight into the Order's high command. They also made the Order's seemingly unreliable plan finally feasible.
Of course, Luca didn't care about the Order's so-called "Savior Project" or whatever that mysterious woman was plotting.
The only thing he cared about was the manufacturing technology embedded within these Devil Arms.
Leaving the first three aside for a moment...
The Sparda was the physical manifestation of the legendary Dark Knight Sparda, the "God" worshiped by the Order.
Gilgamesh was forged from a special metal called "Impact Steel," fusing with the user's organic power.
Lucifer was literally a Hell Lord whose form had been forcibly altered under a demonic contract to become a weapon.
But the last one, the disaster box, Pandora...
"Okay, this is still incredibly unscientific..."
Luca watched as Pandora shifted in his hands, transforming from a briefcase into a bowgun, then into a rocket launcher, responding directly to his will. He scratched his head helplessly.
Pandora could transform into any weapon the user could imagine.
It was a masterpiece combining demonic forging techniques with technology.
Using this weapon brought "calamity" upon the wielder, but simultaneously, that "calamity" served as fuel, driving Pandora to unleash even greater destructive power.
"This feeling... it's kind of like nanotechnology..."
"Uh... what is nanotechnology? Did I research that before?"
Luca's eyes suddenly glazed over. He unconsciously lowered the weapon as complex thoughts and flashes of inspiration surged through his mind. He didn't snap back to reality until Pandora reverted to its briefcase form with a distinct click.
For the next while, Luca cut himself off from all outside information, devoting himself entirely to studying Pandora.
Fortunately, although his specialty was technological firearms, his participation in the "Ascension Ceremony" and "Weapon Demonification" research meant he wasn't completely clueless about Pandora's principles.
Unfortunately, good times don't last. Just as Luca was starting to make headway, the weapons were taken away. As the power sources for the artificial Hell Gates, they were distributed to various locations across Fortuna.
Is the plan officially starting?
Watching his adoptive father walk away with the artifacts, Luca shook his head helplessly.
He clasped his hands behind his head and walked leisurely toward his independent workshop outside of town, looking completely unbothered.
Go ahead, make a mess. You guys play with your Savior Project; I'll just go back and work on my weapon upgrades. Is that too much to ask?
However, before Luca could even reach his workshop, a noise suddenly broke the silence of the empty streets.
Well, saying it came from the "street" wasn't quite right. The noise was getting closer, but it sounded like clatter-clatter-crash—like someone doing parkour across the rooftops, smashing tiles along the way.
"That's weird. Today is the Festival of the Sword. Shouldn't all those Sparda-obsessed fanboys be at the opera house listening to Kyrie's concert?"
"Who's out here causing a ruckus?"
Just as Luca wondered this, the clattering got closer.
Then he saw him. A white-haired man in a long red coat, carrying a massive sword on his back, sprinting across the rooftops in a very... unrestrained manner.
Perhaps because the streets were empty, Luca's solitary figure strolling along stood out like a sore thumb.
The white-haired man glanced down, then suddenly threw his arms back, braking hard on the nearest roof like he was surfing.
Sending a shower of roof tiles flying, he leaped into the air, performed a triple-and-a-half twisting somersault, and stuck a perfect, incredibly showy landing right in front of Luca.
Upon landing, the white-haired uncle even threw his hands up in a 'ta-da' pose, like a gymnast waiting for judges who didn't exist to give him a score.
However, seeing that Luca remained completely unmoved by this stellar performance—and actually looked a bit tense—the white-haired man dropped his arms, looking bored.
He took two steps forward and looked Luca up and down.
"Yo, kid. You've got a scent on you that feels awfully familiar..."
---