Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

There were no golems to broadcast this battle. Nobody wanted Chrona to hurry back, or Spatia to hurry up. While the group that had left Urth to level up took care of the upper ranks of the demons, Seth was left to deal with the upper ranks of a different faction.

“I would not have thought that you would be the one to open the door for me,” Seth greeted their informant with a wry smile. Standing at the door of the parliament building was Rich, the Slavemancer. Behind him stood a platoon of people in the high lv.90, clad in epic and relic-rated items.

“You know, you can't choose your family, but you can choose your employer,” he said and shrugged, keeping his wry smile. Rich had actually contacted Minas Mar after the news of Chrona's evacuation became known and asked to join as an affiliate.

It was his information that allowed Minas Mar to arrive in time to stop the demons from harming their future asset. He didn't just offer information, but also the parliament. Seth didn't need to be an experienced politician to know that these old fogeys would not let go of their power easily, despite having done an awful job so far.

After the hero left, Rich actually became the strongest player they could hire for money in Delta and they gave him command over the elites, they had painstakingly nurtured with the tax money of Delta. Now their very own private army, held the door open, for the new owner of the place.

Minas Mar guaranteed Tree Stations the right to govern themselves, but there was no way they could just leave the leadership of Delta as it was. Once the demons were dealt with, a thorough clean-up was in order. Without warning, the blacksmith kicked open the room to the parliament.

There had been some changes in the past months with Merkraut Sar's intervention. At the center of the wide auditorium, was a bench where the “council” sat like a panel of judges, while the rest of the politicians were seated on their normal seats.

Originally, the parliament was supposed to be an assembly of elected representatives, each with the same standing. Here it was restructured to look like the elected representatives had to speak to and be judged by the council, which had the power to make and change the final decision.

All eyes turned to the door in shock. They were in the middle of evacuating the auditorium when the door suddenly flew straight across the room. Ichabott, standing by the bench quivered in anger at the sight of the Tower Master strolling into the auditorium.

“You have some gall to just break in here! Do you know where this is?!” he screeched, huffing and puffing like a steam engine.

“What's wrong with walking around my property? I'm sure you heard my announcement earlier. Minas Mar will be taking charge of Delta from now on,” Seth said smugly, with a calm and confident voice. They were not here to talk. The decision had already been made. He was simply informing them.

“How did you get in here?” Ichabott barked, ignoring his words.

The older gentleman at the center of the council cleared his throat to get the attention. “All of us here are elected representatives of the people. By what right do you think you can relieve us of our duty?” he asked, trying to sound calm, but it was clear that he was frightened.

“By my power as the new landlord. Don't worry, not all of you will lose your job, it would be a little hard to find substitutes right away. Once we sifted out the spies and sympathizers of Spatia and Chrona, I'm sure some of you can be reinstated until we hold a new election here,” he answered graciously.

The bard's words were clear. The old man realized that there was no negotiating with Seth. He looked around, but the Tower Master had come without familiar faces like Mary or Leana, who could be talked to diplomatically.

“Please don't resist as the Oathguard takes you into custody until the situation has calmed down a little,” the bard asked nicely, as the team of armored guards entered the room.

“What happened to the people we sent to guard the entrance?” the old man asked Seth, as one of the Oathguards put them in arcane shackles.

“Oh, we let them in,” Rich offered an answer, popping up from behind the Oathguards in the cracked door frame.

“Rich! You betrayed us?!” Ichabott exclaimed in an ear-piercingly high voice. The short, rotund man was ready to jump at the slavemancer's throat if it wasn't for two Oathguards holding him down.

“Yeah, I worked for you for over a year and had enough time to make up my opinion. Delta is better off if Minas Mar takes charge, compared to you bunch of opportunistic hyenas,” Rich said with a frown, his eyes wandering over the group of assemblymen in disgust. It was clear that there were no good people among them, in his opinion.

“What will you do with us?” the older man asked him.

“For now, we will put you under house arrest in the parliament building. Your final fate will be decided after the investigations. but don't worry, none of you will die,” Seth said with a friendly smile, but somehow the politicians could help their minds circle around how many terrible things weren't actually lethal.

...

“Ptui,” the obese demon commander spat out saliva mixed with purple blood. He was bleeding from several wounds across his massive body. Other parts were bruised or burned. he had already unleashed his full power, rising to lv.180, but he could not keep up with the elites of Minas Mar.

It wasn't even that they had good team play, the number one reason for high-ranking beings to fall at the hands of weaker players. Each and every one of them possessed terrifying skills and attacks, despite being over 40 levels lower than him.

Yet, it wasn't them he was afraid of. What struck horror into him was that monstrous Tower Master. He had realized the problem some time ago. Each and every one of his opponents had not just a high level but was also covered in relics and legendary items. That blacksmith had created monsters, without anyone realizing. For some reason, the demon even thought that this was just the tip of the iceberg.

His eyes wandered over the circle of terrifyingly overgeared existences. Despite the hard fight, neither of them showed signs of wounds or exhaustion. While he had suffered, he had not even put a dent into them. This was a pointless fight.

The commander had already made the decision, the moment he recognized their power. He had to flee. It was his only chance of survival. Of course, Bragmomal hated cowards, but he also liked people who brought results. Maybe he couldn't beat Minas Mar here, but bringing back the information he gained here would be worth his life, maybe more.

“Haha, I see that I can't beat you, so I will take you down with me!” he hollered boisterously.

Concentrating all of his energy in his shell of muscle and fat, he started to glow in a vicious light. As expected, the champions backed off expecting he prepared for a suicide attack. On the contrary, this was actually his ultimate escape skill!

As 90% of his body and energy turned into a terrifying bomb, carpeting part of the city, the demon commander's true body shot through the sky with incredible speed. He was moving toward the summoning circle. It wouldn't take much to configure it and return to-

His thoughts stocked, his body stopped, and his eyes fell on a scene out of his nightmares.

The giant summoning circle was destroyed! The thick lines of metal, glowing in a demonic red, were severed and had lost their luster.

Golems, the size of cows and the shape of murderous termites were busy taking it apart, harvesting the materials, and vanishing in holes in the ground.

“Oh my, did you really think you could escape?” a lascivious voice spoke to him. Throwing his head around, he found a curvaceous lady standing in the air, looking at him with sarcastic pity.

“We already made sure, that nobody will get out of here. Really. Nobody,” she added with an ominous smile, that had the demon's heart throb in fear.

Nobody but these two were there to see what happened, but the commander vanished from the world, without as much as a scream.