Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Looking around the arena, her face turned into a displeased frown. Such savage display of power beneath her. For her to use the powers granted to her by her goddess for something this mundane... To act as entertainment for a bunch of mongrels had her feeling deeply humiliated.

No wonder they had forced her to do this as a mistake for her failures. She had shone ever since she was chosen during the ritual and was sent to Urth after initial setbacks, but... After making promising progress in growing the local church someone infiltrated their church and even foiled her ritual to have an avatar of Gatris descend.

If it wasn't for the upper echelons and the Council of Saints forcing her, she would have never stooped so low to take part in this circus. But offering the church a legendary armament was the only way she could make up for the loss incurred. That's just how valuable the material for the Blood of Gatris was.

After eyeing the audience, that were whistling and cheering like horny mutts, she turned to her opponent. The saintess had to admit, that this Fairy Dowloon, as she called herself, rivaled her in appearance, though her way of fighting was despicable.

As the saintess of the Goddess of Dark Mercy, she found no beauty in a cowardly weapon like poison. How could one break their spirit and open their mind to the mercy of their goddess, when using they didn't thoroughly break their pride and confidence? How could they realize the mercy of knowing their place and enter Gatris' Embrace, if they were not properly broken?

Thinking of what she would do to the cold beauty before her inadvertently brought a crooked smile. Maybe it wasn't so bad to take part in the tournament, she did enjoy this kind of missionary work after all.

"Are both contestants ready?", the moderator girl asked the two women. She didn't say a word and simply nodded, her opponent did the same. The saintess was looking forward to seeing, whether Dowloon would keep playing silent, once she started to proselytize her.

"Since both agreed, Begin!" the announcer called out and the other immediately spread a cloud of thick poison mist across the arena. She could feel the tiny drops of poison land on her, eating away at her skin and robe.

The pain of being dissolved, the suffering, the burning. It sparked a fire of passion in her soul as waves of pleasure shook her body together with the pain. Her eyes opened wide, as the poison invaded every pore of her body, and she folded her hands in prayer.

"Consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna. Aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua!" she finished her chant with a saintly smile, hiding the intense pleasure flooding through her body.

<Ding! You have learned the skill Deadly Poison Resistance lv.3> The announcement rang in her mind.

A holy aura enveloped her body, shielding her against the poison mist, mending her robe, and healing her wounds. Finally, she stood among the poison mist, completely unharmed. Even when the droplets landed on her skin or drenched her robe, they could no longer harm her.

This was the power Gatris gave her followers. Enjoying the pain, becoming immune to it, showing the other that even their greatest strength is vain before the powers of god, and enlightening them on her way to grant them mercy in knowing their play and allowing them to leave this world to enter her embrace.

"This can't be it. Please show me everything, Give it all you got, and let me enlighten you in the way of my goddess," she taunted her opponent. it sounded benign, almost pacifistic, but really, it was just a taunt to slowly disassemble her opponent's mentality and savor more of her skills.

<Ding! Your Skill Deadly Poison Resistance lv.3 has become Deadly Poison Resistance lv.4!>

The notification came without warning. Why did it suddenly go up? The Aura of Gatris was only supposed to increase skill proficiency when she was attacked. Was she? The saintess started looking around herself in a hurry.

She found a set of darts with bright colorful feathers decorating her buttocks. Since when were they there?! She had not even felt a sting. The initial confusion turned into amusement before it became a chuckle and then laughter.

What did it matter whether she couldn't see the attack when the attack only helped her raise her skills? She truly enjoyed the powers granted by Gatris, the pain, the pleasure, and the pleasure of crushing others. She thrived with these powers, it was the reason she became a saintess in the first place.

"Your poison does not work! What else can you do?" she laughed in the mist when the laughter suddenly got stuck in her throat. An emotionless face, with wide-open eyes, appeared beside her. The pupils were big, dark, and cold.

There was an unsettling darkness in the depths of these dark eyes. It felt like she was staring into an abyss and a cold shiver ran down her spine...followed by a terrible heat shooting down her abdomen and legs.

Looking down, she found a foreign hand, deeply embedded in her abdomen. Her eyes dilated, feeling the cruel Dowloon rummaging around in her bowels. Then she gifted the fairy a crooked smile, filled with glee.

...

The audience watched with bated breath. Was this the end for the saintess? Seth sure hoped so, but his hopes were dashed. With sudden, jerky movements, the saintess of Gatris caught Dowloon's head and turned it by 180%.

A yelp went through the crowd. it was a gut-wrenching sight and everyone expected a disgusting crunch, but they were surprised again, as the female cultivator simply spun her body in the air, escaping the grasp.

She didn't seem hurt at all, although she was moving her head left and right as if to loosen her neck muscles. With a whipping motion, she professionally got rid of the blood on her hand and looked at the saintess in silence.

With a smile that had the crowd's hair stand on end, the saintess looked at her, her head leaning to the side. The dark hole in her abdomen dripping with blood was slowly closing back up. Then the fight finally started, as the saintess and Dowloon exchanged quick moves in close combat.

The cultivator seemed to have given up on the poison approach, but the saintess received less and less injuries, while Dowloon kept getting battered. This was the same strategy they had already seen of the saintess in the preliminaries.

She would simply take whatever was thrown at her and slowly grind her enemy into submission. Not once had she used a weapon before. Growing accustomed to her opponent's specialties and then crushing them with brutal force.

However, it didn't seem like the Poison Fairy, as the chat dubbed her, was going down any time soon, just because her poison didn't work. In a purely physical slugfest, she still dominated over the saintess.

"She is quite skilled in combat for a poison cultivator, " even Yu praised her fighting. But would that be enough for her to win over the power of someone blessed by a god?

..

The relentless fists met in midair, but she had to evade, feeling a painful sting run through her body.

<Ding! Poison Energy had invaded your body. You have failed to resist.>

<Ding! You have received another Poison Counter. Current Stack: 15>

She coughed, feeling incredibly sick. Just what was going on? Things had been going so well since the start of the fight, but then this suddenly appeared when they started exchanging blows. The weird energy that accompanied every attack of Dowloon simply bypassed her magic blessing.

Why couldn't she resist it? It was a constant question in her mind, as she kept feeling sicker and sicker with every stack of poison she received. At least it wasn't real poison. Her HP was totally fine, but she was racking up status effects. If she didn't end this fight soon, she might...

This sense of urgency and threat was a first for her. This wasn't how it was supposed to go! It was her that should be- She suddenly felt something rip on her inside and a scalding hot wave of blood traveled up her through and gushed from her mouth.

She felt something move in her chest. Another bout of terrible pain rushed to her brain and then the world went dark. She had failed her goddess once again.

...

"it seems like we have a winner!" Umi called out.

The poison mist receded, and only the Poison Fairy stood in the arena. Nobody knew why the saintess suddenly died, but everyone cheered for the cold beauty that won the match.