The heavy cast-iron hoist chains groaned as An Ni swung the graphite crucible out from the mouth of the smoldering blast fire.
The liquid Dragon-Scale Star-Steel glowed with blinding violet-gold radiance, swirling like liquid stars within the black crucible.
On the central forging anvil, the twenty-eight-pound Great Blood Cleaver lay clamped firmly inside a two-piece heat-proof clay casting jacket.
Its dark spine was exposed, cleaned to bare metal and scored with deep sharp-angled grooving to ensure clockwork adhesion.
“Pouring the core jacket!” An Ni shouted, her voice muffled behind her leather breathing mask.
She tilted the long-handled crucible with practiced, steady leverage.
A stream of blazing bright violet metal poured from the crucible lip into the casting sprue.
The liquid star-steel cascaded into the clay mold, washing over the spine and cutting bevels of the original cleaver.
