Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

----Delta----

"What? They bombed the field generators? What are you waiting for? Get them repaired before something happens! It's too late, what do you mean?" the archbishop of the system church hollered.

"We just received an emergency signal from Priest Simon. The theocracy has managed to open a portal." the acolyte answered intimidated.

The old man looked at him with eyes like floodlights.

"...where?"

"The stadium."

"We have to hurry!"

-----------Delta Stadium------------

The chains kept snatching people from the crowd. Many of them were previous participants of the tournament. Dohu, Elza, Marcel and even the Mist demon were the first ones to be snatched and had no way to resist the divine tools.

While Marcel and the judge were caught, Derog was somehow ignored. The sun warrior kept punching the chains but could not deal any damage and was simply ignored.

Nobody was safe. Several chains broke through the windows of Minas Mars private booth. Only Seth, Mina and Mary were currently present in the booth as Simon had left to contact the church.

Similar to Derog, Seth was ignored by the chains, and they charged at the two women. Seth saw Mia vanish in the shadows and decided to shield Mary from the chains.

"Can't you summon Al'Salzar?" Mary asked in a panic.

"I would have already done that if I could! She's on cooldown!" Seth barked in a hurry.

His auto-shields activated, blocking most of the metal tentacles while he guarded against the rest with his shield and wyvern blade.

The chains that had lost their target when Mina fled changed their focus to Seth. They had ignored him at first, but he had now become a target.

Seth fended off over ten chains with his shields and weapons all the while chanting a ballad to buff himself. When the new ones joined the siege on him, he tried to use his flames, but they could not faze his attackers.

Mina appeared from the shadow behind him and slashed at the chains with shadow blades. Seth saw her behind him and dropped a chest from his inventory.

"Mina, take the chest and get geared up."

The catgirl grabbed the chest and vanished in the shadows again.

------------Outside the Stadium---------------

The chains were not just acting inside the stadium. Civilians were being kidnapped left and right when the archbishop and priests of the system arrived.

In orderly rows, the priest surrounded the stadium. A huge formation was set up and a barrier shot up cutting off the chains that extended from the gate.

~ Resistance is futile! ~

The dark angels stood in the air and hindered the barrier from reaching the gate.

~ You system dogs! You cannot stop us from saving these hapless sheep! ~ The bigger figure shouted.

"Don't fall back! Strengthen your efforts!" the archbishop ignored the mindless babble and strengthened his subordinates. The barrier slowly pushed the angels back and closed in on the gate.

~ Mark my words! This is not over! ~

A huge number of chains pulled out of the stadium robbing another huge number of people. They entered the gate, followed by the angels before the barrier reached the gateway and crushed it.

-Theocracy of Chains- ------------Northern Alpha--------

Seth and many others from the stadium were cooped together in giant cages on a wide square of hardened dirt. It was surrounded by high castle walls.

Moments before the gate closed, he had shoved Mary out of the way and was grabbed by one of the chains which had pulled him into the gate.

He had tried to free himself using the soul flame, but the chains only heated up and glowed without losing integrity. Just before Seth was gulped by the gate, he removed all his armor and only wore uncommon casual clothes. He followed the advice Simon had given him in case he was ever captured by the Theocracy of Chains.

No matter what he did, he ended up being thrown into the cage like everyone else. He saw a few familiar faces. The boy with the lightning wolf from the PVE event and the caster specialized in barriers were in the same cage as him.

Many rows of cages filled with people covered the square and huge creatures patrolled between them.

These wardens looked like insect centaurs with their black shells and 4 spindly legs they used to walk. On top of these body sat a humanoid torso clad in a dark metal, looking similar to the dark angels.

But unlike the smooth faces of the dark angels, the face, or where the face would have been, of the warden was one giant facetted eye like that of a firefly. Their presence had silenced the captives.

Simon had told him about the Bringer of Chains but it had been a long time and Seth had a hard time remembering the details. There was only one thing that was clear to him.

They were caught to become slaves and strong warriors were highly valued. But these warriors were also under constant and strict observation. A key point that Simon emphasized was that he had to put away all his strong items while he still could.

If he could smuggle among the less important worker, he might get a chance to flee.

A growing whisper reminded him of the reason for Simon's insistence.

"I can't use home call, can you?"

"No! What is going on?"

"I can't even use the inventory."

"The inventory? You are right...I can't even check my status!"

A high-pitched scream from the wardens silenced the crowd once again. That was right. System options and rights were completely locked under the influence of the Church of Chains.

They could not teleport away, call their pets or even bring their items out of the inventory. At the moment they could not even use their class skills. Only a few like Duhu or the mist demon could use them as they were their racial features.

And it was shown in the different treatment of such people as they were heavily guarded in a separate cage by the bigger and more dangerous-looking versions of the wardens.

Many people lost their hope faced with this realization. How were they supposed to escape without their powers?

Seth didn't because he felt that he could still use most of his skills, even now. Simon had had mentioned something like this, but he only remembered when Al reminded him.

~ They can't lock divine skills, that's why the chains did not target you at first. ~

The Bringer of Chains could ban the influence of the system and skills, but not the power bestowed to a champion by a god. But then why was Seth still taken?

~ maybe because your state is ambiguous? You have some power from three different gods, instead of a huge lump like an actual champion. ~ the lich theorized.

In that case Seth did well in hiding his skills until he saw a chance to escape. When he calmed down a little, he questioned why he could hear the sorceress, but not the caterpillar. One was locked in his inventory and the other in the pet space.

~ Are you serious? I AM an almost legendary sorceress. Don't compare me to a barely 1 year old worm. it's not that hard to weasel myself through a generic lock like this. ~ she bragged proudly.

The captives didn't know what would happen now and could only wait. As they waited Seth was approached by the young man from the PVE event.

"Hi! I'm Evan. You are the blacksmith from the tournament, right?"

"Yeah, I am," Seth answered a little surprised. The young man noticed the awkwardness.

"I-I'm sorry. It's just, you are the only person I kind of know here," he said embarrassed.

Seth observed him a little closer. Although Evan had gotten far in the tournament one could barely call him a young man. The boy was maybe 16 years old. Maybe he felt insecure when he was unable to summon his pet?

He had nothing better to do, so he started a conversation with him. Evan visibly calmed down when he found someone to talk.

He was a beastmaster, a rare class that could not just tame beasts and was allowed to have a huge number of pets but also inherit some of the attributes and skills from his partners.

It was a very strong class, but him being unable to summon his pets meant he felt even more vulnerable than the others.

Time went by as the two talked when finally, a change happened.