Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

“I just got the report, it seems they are coming,” Leana informed the group sitting in the VIP lounge. They had invited Polter and the others over for a briefing, while they waited for the final match to begin.

Everyone watched the footage of the flying ship passing through the portal. Especially the scene of the last ship and the figure sitting on the throne had everyone holding their breath. Although it couldn’t compare to Epsilon’s mother ship in size, it was still humongous and the aura of the old man was peculiar and somewhat familiar to a few of them.

“That’s the master of the Silk River Sect, that little freak actually dared to come over,” Master Mountain exclaimed when he saw him.

“Daring to display his aura in a foreign world…” Hao Peng, the master of the Snow Falcon sect mumbled at the sight. “ Even if he stepped into the realm of an immortal, is he not afraid of the world's suppression?” he complained.

“Urth’s World Will is only just awakening,” Yu whispered to him.

Seth had an inkling about what Yu meant, but the realization of why the man’s aura felt so familiar pushed itself into the foreground. It was similar to when they faced the undead ancient dragon, the Stoorworm, and when he interacted with Apollo for a moment.

Immortals from the Voracious Cloud Continent would roughly equate to a legend in the system. And that was what he recognized, the aura that could only come from someone with the power of a legend.

The blacksmith didn’t like to admit it but realizing that they would be facing an actual legend in this battle, shook him. They had legends on their side, like Ceres and the Guardian Tree, but they weren’t prepared to fight a being on their level.

Python grew a lot, to the point that Seth didn’t even know how strong she was now, but he didn’t get the notification that she became a legend or ascended to become a god, yet. She had fallen into a kind of hibernation after swallowing the demon.

Of course, he heard that there were differences in power levels for legends, just like how different paths had different outcomes, but he doubted a legendary cultivator would be weak in combat.

“Don’t worry, if your wyrm can’t take it, we will step in,” Hao Peng, the old man who had pleaded with him for help to find his granddaughter just a few weeks ago, reassured him. Was his worry that obvious?

“Thanks,” the blacksmith tanked him with an appreciative smile. Seth was very confident in Minas Mar’s power, in general. But his confidence had wavered with the sudden reveal of their enemy’s power level.

It wasn’t because he thought they couldn’t beat them. Seth was selfish, He wasn’t worried about being able to beat them, but about having to make sacrifices to do so. He wasn’t ready- No, he wasn’t willing to sacrifice anything.

He invested quite a lot into his friends and the people of Minas Mar, and not just material things. Even their most recent allies, he wasn’t willing to throw out to die.

Others could throw their men into a desperate fight, to eke out a vain victory, but what the blacksmith wanted was a clean and crushing victory, where only their opponent suffered losses. They could all go suck a big one, but he wasn’t willing to sacrifice anything for this cruel world.

…

“Welcome to our grand final! You all have watched the past five days in excitement. The brutal fights, the bloody destruction, everything led to this moment. And thanks to our audience, we actually get to watch a rematch!

Please greet our finalist, Dowloon, the Shadow under the Rose Bushes, and Ibelin Godfrey, the Holy Cannoneer!” Umi Kaldrops announced shortly after the break ended.

It had become evening now. The sun was growing closer to the mountain range in the west and its warm light had a tinge of orange. It was the perfect setting for the final showdown of two fierce rivals.

Umi gave the two a moment for trash talk, but neither of the two was the talkative type. When she realized that neither of them would be willing to jump over their shadow and give the audience a show, she continued with the normal procedure.

“Are you two ready?” she asked and her question was answered by their nodding.

“Then let the final fight of this Grand Tournament- BEGIN!” she exclaimed, accompanied by the roars of the audience and the firearms in the arena. The moment the battle began, bullets filled the air. But not just bullets, but also poison smoke.

At first, it looked like a redo of their original fight, but the sudden sound of impacts in the fog, which even overshadowed the gunfire said otherwise. Every time an impact rang, the smoke would part, revealing the scene of Dowloon, smashing her daggers into Ibelin’s shield.

Like in her fight with Caleb, she was seeking a direct confrontation with Ibelin. This time she was not naïve enough to agree to a holy duel. On top of that, it seemed that she was also using doping again, as her movements were even faster than when fighting the dragon knight.

Especially her speed. It was thanks to her risen speed, that she had no problems evading Ibelin’s bullet spray. Even at close range. Having little to no vision and faced with the high-speed foe, it seemed like the first time that the crusader truly experienced difficulties.

Every impact of Dowloon’s left a spiderweb of cracks on his barrier. Although the cracks mended after a while, they had already seen that it could be overcome. Maybe Bartholomew Mathias succeeding in smashing the invisible shield, had given the Poison Fairy the confidence in this strategy.

“Yeah, get that turtle!” Gallwell cheered for Dowloon. As an aggressive man, he didn't like the way Ibelin fought, albeit he had to admit that it was effective. Things looked good for her. The only worry was Ibelin's holy lance. There was no telling whether Dowloon could compete with that.

“To call him a turtle, when even you would run from his Ma Deus...” Brock scoffed sarcastically. The master of the boulder guild thought calling a tank a turtle was ignorant.

“Hmph! I could take it...probably...”Gallwell said defiantly, but he piped down a little. The fight had not been on for a long when a stadium staff approached their seat. They were not hard to recognize in their black and yellow uniforms.

“Mr. Gallwell, Mr. Arrison. the Lords of Minas Mar ass for your presence in the VIP.-lounge of Minas Mar,” they said with a slight bow.

“What? He wants us to visit them in the middle of the final?” Gallwell exclaimed peeved. Obviously, he wasn't willing to just drop watching the final battle. Brock was similarly unhappy:

“I was ordered to inform you that it is concerning today's climax,” they added mysteriously. A simple listener may have thought it was about the final or the prize ceremony after that. But the two men had already been informed about what was going to happen today.

Minas Mar asking for their presence, probably meant that the plans needed to change or something unforeseen happened.

“Alright, let's go,” Brock didn't resist much and agreed.

“Fine, I'm following...” Gallwell said, still a little moody.