Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The clouds of battle and the light of skills could be seen even from the throne podium.

The empress sighed.

"Why does this have to happen every time?"

The emperor on the other hand grinned gleefully.

"What are you even saying? This is bound to happen when people of power and different cultures clash."

"When will you stop this?"

"Why would I? This is great entertainment. I want to see how it play out."

"What if something happens?"

"Don't worry, my Empress. From what I can see, the stronger party makes sure not to kill anyone."

-------

Mina had just appeared behind a female warrior who gave Brock trouble when she felt a dangerous presence approach from behind.

She ducked away to dodge the swipe of a single-edged blade. It was a young man with black hair and a solemn expression.

"Obediently surrender and stop fighting. I am sure we can sort things out then!"

As he talked, Mina evaded an attack from the female warrior and struck back.

"I told you to stop fighting!"

"Dafuq are you even talking about? Should I let myself get killed?" Mina aggressively shouted back and vanished in a shadow.

"Brock! At least you should-!"

"Shut up! I'm having a hard time surviving over here! How about you help me instead?"

"If you won't listen, then." the hero started attacking Brock with the back of his katana.

"What are you do-urgh!"

On the other side of the battlefield, Rich and his slaves had joined the battle, only to face Ellie and Fin. The laughter of the fiends struck terror in their hearts as they brought mayhem onto them.

"No! No! No!" Rich kept screaming as he blocked Ellie's punches.

"C'mon! I will restructure your face just a little bit! I am sure we will get along a lot better then!"

"Enemies of Ellie, are enemies of Fin!" they heard the tiny brute as they mopped up the slavemancer's followers.

Everything was accentuated by the muffled sound of demonic moths that wreaked haviok among the people.

...

After putting Brock out of commission, Ben Harker continued to chase Mina. In his opinion, the assassin was the biggest reason the fight continued. Even though he was stronger than the catgirl, it was hard to catch her, as she skillfully used and created shadows to evade him.

While the hero managed to dispatch Marcel, who was the second who refused to stop fighting in the middle of a match, he suddenly faced Mike.

Honoring his class as a Sword Demon, he matched the Hero in a sword fight. Still, mike had already fought for some time and could not keep up in the end.

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"Hmm, they are quite promising. To be able to put up a fight against someone with the hero class. Especially their equipment, it's above average"

"How long do you think the fight will keep going?" the queen asked bored.

"I guess it will end soon. The hero seems intent on striking down his own teammates. Hilarious, isn't it?"

"Whatever."

"Oh!?" the emperor suddenly exclaimed.

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"Why don't you use the shadows? Did your mana run out?" the hero shouted incensed.

Most people were already unconscious. Only Rich and his people were still fighting seriously. He had been running after her and felt like playing "whack a mole" the whole time. Now it seemed, that this chase would finally have an end!

"I got you now!"

Suddenly, the catgirl ran past someone and hid behind them.

"You think you can hind behind a bystander! Out of the way, sir!"

However, his sword was caught mid-swing by a bare hand, clad in bright flame. The next moment a heavy boot rammed into his abdomen. It triggered a shockwave that shot him back and threatened to pulverize every bone in his lower body.

Despite his <Pain Resistence> , <Phys. Damage Resistance>, and <Mag. Damage Resistance>, the hero sank to his knees and threw up. It was a critical hit.

"What dirty tactics, who?" he moaned.

Looking up he faced a fiery pair of pupils and watched as his beloved katana was engulfed in flames and turned to a puddle of molten metal on the floor.

...

<Ding! You have gained the skill <Pain Resistance lv.1!>

Seth endured the pain of his forearm shattering when he caught the sword's back with his hand. It was secondary and drowned in his anger to see someone harming his people and trying to hurt his girlfriend.

In a fury, he instinctively kicked the hero with his Disruptor Boots. He aimed for a Star breaking kick, but missed the hero's balls, hitting his abdomen.

<Ding! Your title "Burning Savage" has improved. +1,5% crit chance when fighting dirty.>

The golden fleece immediately healed his broken arm.

"Mina are you okay?" he asked the out-of-breath catgirl.

"Yes, thanks to you. He beat up the others."

Seth saw Lydia, Mike, Elza, Marcel, and Brock on the ground. Fin and Ellie were still up.

"You bitch. Who allowed you to touch my people?" he hollered, throwing the half-molten bits of the sword in the direction of the hero. The drops hit some unconscious people on the ground, giving them a rude awakening.

"I just tried to-" he moaned.

"Tried to what? Suck up to a bunch of trash from another world? Take some petty revenge because I called your values stupid?"

"They were beating those weaker than them!"

"Oh, and that means they were in the wrong?"

"I-It's wrong for the strong to beat the weak!"

Seth could help but punch him, hurting his hand in the process.

"Stop dreaming. It doesn't matter how strong they are. If they deserve a beating, they deserve it. How did something like you become a hero? Watch, I will show you how to deal with this correctly. Fin!?"

"Yes!"

Hers and Ellie's fight with the Slavemancer had ended when Seth entered the battlefield and floored the hero.

"What happened?"

"Some woman approached us and suddenly started calling Mina and Mike dirty and filth. Then she poured her drink on Mina's head and dress." the fairy reported.

Seth listened expressionlessly.

"And then?"

"Mina slapped her."

"And then?"

"The nobles started calling her a beast and only worth to be a slave."

"And what did you do then?"

"We beat the shit out of them!" the fairy brute reported proudly.

"Excellently done! Did you listen? This is a perfect execution of justice. Now, Fin, where are those people?"

The hero had to watch as the fairy led the blacksmith to the unconscious perpetrators.

<Critical Hit!>

<Critical Hit!>

"Stop that! How can you hit unconscious people! Is this your justice?" the hero cried in dismay and tried to stand up.

"What? No, I call it venting. Punching you hurts, so I've chosen softer punching bags."

Seth was already done when Ben overcame his trauma and rose back to his feet. The hero could only watch him leisurely going around, feeding healing potions to his friends.

"What about the other people? You should heal them, too!"

"Like hell, I would. If you feel so bad for them, you heal them." Seth scoffed.

The hero really did start fiddling around with small vials of the potion he took from his inventory.

"That won't be necessary. The imperial family will take care of the injured." one of the princes who had sat on the podium interjected. He had come over to deal with the aftermath, following the emperor's order.

Seeing the staff take care of the injured, the hero found the time to mourn his sword. It had been a unique katana that dealt additional damage based on his virtue stat.

"We will provide you a substitute for the evaluation, Mr. Hero. Actually, there was a very interesting one being researched at the Imperial lately." the prince promised.

"I know which one you are thinking about. Don't try it." Leana suddenly interjected.

Originally, she would have no place to talk here. The descendants that sat together with the emperor were those who had a right to the throne, unlike her who could at most inherit a kingdom or province.

"And why would that be so, Leana?"

"Because the owner had already come to retrieve it."

"Oh, I'm sure if I have a word with the owner, he will lend it to the hero."

"Oh, really? Then you can ask him yourself," she said with a smirk and pointed at Seth who was currently talking with Mina.

The face of the prince fell. Who would have thought the owner was the man who just had an altercation with the hero. Still, a Hero was a great asset. If he managed to play a role in recruiting him, it was worth some embarrassment.

"My dear friend, I'm Prince Hardwig Chrona. Leana told me, you are the owner of that special sword at the institute. Would you do me a favor and lend it to the hero for the duration of the evaluation. You did destroy his original weapon after all."

"What? Hell no. Although I did that weapon on a whim, I would rather destroy it than giving it to that steaming pile of-"

"Okay, okay! But did I hear right, you made it?" Hardwig asked in surprise. Leana that little witch had not mentioned that!

"Yeah, not a big deal. If it's necessary I can give that idiot a substitute, but I did seem to remember that the imperial family was going to give him one?"

"Yes, yes. You don't have to worry." he hurriedly got away from Seth and found Leana.

"Why didn't you mention that he was the maker? That was so embarrassing."

One had to know, a hero was a strong subject, but they were not too rare. There were always more than enough people that could fight. Scouting a talented crafter on the other hand was a much bigger achievement.

A hero was worth a hundred elite soldiers, but a master blacksmith could MAKE elite soldiers. Now, thanks to her little prank he had an awkward first impression with a promising craftsman.

"You just answered your question, Brother," she answered with an impish smile.