Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

978  977.  Iiiincredibly boring

A pale silver sword pierced into the center of the basin, clear for everyone still alive to see. Even the presence of the goddess herself, that inhabit her statue, had no idea what killed her priests or where the sword had come from.

Gatris had even less explanation for what happened after the weapon got stuck in the basin. The pool of blood came into motion. Turning quicker and quicker it formed a powerful whirl surrounding the innocent-looking sword in the center.

Nobody knew what was going on, except for Seth, the maker of the sword. The Ravenous Sog was having a feast, as it absorbed the mixture of blood, potions, and divine power. The high priest looked on in horror, forgetting the pain of his severed legs.

"No, all my work! This can't be! What have you done!?" he screeched just before he went up in flames, vanishing in body and soul. Seth only wanted to allow him to see the ultimate failure of their plans, before he made him vanish.

As the level of the blood pool shrank, one by one the cell door surrounding the inner sanctum opened. Every time a door opened, a small bright flame of salamander fire appeared from thin air, floating in front of the captives' eyes. He couldn't reveal himself here, so he used the light to guide them out.

"Follow me~" a soft voice whispered to them, telling them to follow the whisps of light. While Seth opened the doors one by one, the flames he controlled assembled the crowd of girls at the exit where the blacksmith had entered from.

Since he didn't know the correct way, Seth brought them out the way he came in. Using earth magic he created ramps the girls could use to climb up the floors of the park house, through the holes he had made on his way in. He guarded them all the way until they exited the mall, anyone trying to stop them was devoured by the guiding flame.

Once they exited the mall-turned-church, several golems appeared before the 50 girls. They differed in size and aura, but they all seemed like powerful knights. They were Seth's first batch of golem knights, that had come along with him for the longest.

Golems only grew slowly, but each of these golems was above lv.90. They used to go around with Wolfram for a while, until Seth gave the Gray Knight his own troops and collected them back as stable residence of Legion, for times exactly like this.

"Tell them where you want to go, and they will make sure you reach there safely," he told them with a trustworthy tone, before turning back. With the girls out, Seth had another thing to do here.

By the time Seth arrived back in the inner sanctum, the pool of blood was gone. Stuck in the empty, blood-stained basin, waited the Ravenous Sog for its retrieval. Seth was not worried at all that someone might have come and stolen it in the meantime. Nobody could touch the sword without his permission.

What was a bummer though, was that the sword had not become legendary after drinking something called the blood of a goddess. A slight consolation was what the sword had gained from the feast. A tremendous jump in power and the two additional effects and most important of all, an ego.

<Ravenous Sog

Ego, Relic (Growth) n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Damage:3000->3700

Durability: 700->9500

1. Will absorb blood and soul to repair and strengthen itself

2. Will absorb part of the target's blood and soul to heal and strengthen the user

3. Active Skill: Lacerate

4. Passive skill: Strength of the Minotaur

5.+60% Skill Damage ->+80%

6.+80% Magic Damage-> +100%

7.+50% Damage in Dark Places

8. Absorb Willpower on Hit

9. Greater Curse of Lethargy on Hit

10. Specter Bane on Hit

11. Overeating

12. Curse of Obedience on Hit

13. Regeneration(New)

14. Dark Mercy (New)

An exceedingly excellent sword created by Craftsman Smith with minute attention to detail and a clear function in mind. The superior craftsmanship improved it's performance to it's physical limits, while the enchantments lend an opportunity for growth. After Grand Sorceress Al'Zalsar has bestowed the sword with powerful enchantments, Craftsman Smith further modified the sword using mysterious and terrifying means.

Once this sword becomes more known, it will become legendary.>

The improvements in some of the basic effects and attributes were already quite notable, but they were overshadowed by the effects and the ego. Although the ego was still very basic, like that of the Giant's Meteor Rock, the hardest part was gaining an ego in the first place. It just needed time to grow.

As for the effect, Regeneration was not what one would expect. It did not increase health regeneration, instead it increased the fundamental boundaries health regeneration usually had. Regeneration made it so, that one could easily regenerate severed limbs, body parts, even the head. As long as the sword remain in the user's hand, they were technically immortal. Except, that it would take a lot of time to regrow any of it.

Dark Mercy on the other hand was a curse, that could be put onto enemies one spared. If the sword's wielder did not execute the final strike and decided to let their opponent live, the curse would be inflicted on them and cause them to slowly lose strength and fall into despair. The robbed power would in turn benefit the wielder. Seth was convinced this effect was born from the power of Gatris inside the blood.

After marveling at the changes to the growth-weapon, he put the dangerous thing away and went to business. Seth wasn't responsible for the first time the Gatris Church in Delta was destroyed, but it very much intended to be responsible for the second time.

Without holding back, Seth started pouring out waves of pale blue flames that quickly filled the inner chamber, forming a tornado of fire. Not intending to control, or shape the fire, allowed him to fully concentrate on quantity and power.

Like the Herold of destruction, the pale wave of all-devouring flame shot through all the levels of the park house, originating from the inner sanctum. Doors turned to ashes, bricks exploded in the heat, the tarmac itself started bubbling and turned into a carpet of fire. The priests that had been here just moments before, were lucky they died early on and didn't have to face this scene.

Soon, the flames also broke through the floors of the mall, swallowing the superficial statue of Gatris and eating their way through the rooms of the church. The only thing desperately resisting the onslaught of fire was the statue in the inner sanctum. A flimsy membrane of divine power was fending off the flames of the underworld.

However, what it couldn't stop was the brutal blunt force that suddenly struck its pedestal. A club surrounded by chaotic force easily broke through the flimsy barrier and shattered the pedestal and feet of the statue, causing it to fall like a felled tree. It crashed face-first into the burning cells, taking down several of the surrounding floors with it.

Swinging the Scepter of Seth, Seth demolished the statue's ugly mug, before leaving the church quickly. He doubted he could die but working his way out of the debris once it all collapsed seemed like a hassle. He had long since stopped feeding the flame with his mental power by the time he came back out again. There was more than enough food inside to keep it burning.

Outside, he only made sure that the fire didn't spread to the city, only burning a nice circular hole all the way to the foundations of Delta, leaving nothing of the Church of Dark Mercy. His work was unlike the crude terrorist attacks on Delta, his work was like a high-precision laser, cutting out a cancerous mole.

He watched the fires until they were slowly dying out when he realized that he had promised to quickly follow Mina, Fin, Tored, and Vathon back to Minas Mar. That was three hours ago, more than two of which were him watching the fire doing its thing... maybe he did deserve the arsonist title...

Using the Scorpio Amor's incredible speed boost, he arrived back at the System Church in less than five minutes. Only then did he take off the helm of Hades in a small side alley and step out on the street to return to Minas Mar.

"Seth, where have you been?" Mina asked when he appeared beside her and Fin with the help of the Tower Ego.

"The boy was really talkative. Told me his whole life story, it was iiiincredibly boring."

"Oh, really?" she asked, stepping aside so he could see the scene in the orb she had been looking at. It was the news, News talking about what had just happened at the Gatris Church. She gave him the look. Seth leaned in for a hug and whispered in her ear.

"Well, you see, after he told me his life story there was somewhere I had to go. One thing led to another, some crazy fanatics died, and some innocent girls lived. You know~"

"Pff, sure. How about you explain it to me later, real slowly,"

"As slow and as long as you like..."