Within the Forge-Labs of Navaleon, silence turned to resonance. Engineers and mages worked side by side under Sharath's sleepless guidance.
He summoned Runeweavers from the Elven Archives, Hydrokine Technicians from the Aldamar coast, and even permitted the use of unstable ley-crystals — all to build a new force.
It would not be powered by gunpowder — an archaic Earth concept he had once studied and shelved.
This would be pure Arc-Engineering.
The first prototype was forged of midnight alloy, etched with adaptive runes, powered by a battery of triple convergence: kinetic, mana, and heat. It hummed with menace and possibility.
He called it "Ashvara." The Death Wind.
It didn't fire bullets.
It sang lightning.
The first demonstration occurred in the Dead Valleys of Shael: a fortress carved from blackstone. Sharath aimed at a wall 12 cubits thick. When he fired, the wall ceased to exist.
Envoys fainted. Generals fell to their knees.
The gun did not shake the ground.
It silenced it