Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The weakened beast could not fathom what was going on. It was the 24th Ethnarch of the Beyond! A ruler of a region with uncountable minions. How did it happen that it ended up at the mercy of a mortal?

He had gone as far as to disgrace himself and beg for his life. Even offering power and wishes, was this not enough? Was this human so bent on killing him, despite everything it had to offer?

„Why do you ask for the number of souls? Are you going to judge me on the vain belief that life has a worth? On how many lives I have taken?" it mocked in derision.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting now? You offered power for your life, but I don't trust your deals. If you want to pay for your life, pay with a currency I deem valid. Cough up all the souls you have and I will judge whether you have enough to buy your life."

What was wrong with this human? Why was he so weird? A human that wanted souls? But it had devoured the souls it had attained. How was it supposed to hand him souls? Maybe it could cheat him

---a little earlier---

With the last sound of the Lyre, a row of notifications sounded in his head.

<Ding! A synergy between your classes has strengthened your ballad.>

<Ding! You have created an epic piece of music. Proficiency gained.>

<Ding! Skill: Singing(Journeyman) Lv. 2 had become Singing(Journeyman) Lv. 3!>

<Ding! Skill: Instrument Mastery(Adept) lv.8 had become Instrument Mastery(Adept) lv.9!>

<Ding! A soul-thrilling performance. Title: "Composer of Death" had been strengthened. Damage done by sonic attacks is now increased by 15%>

And more. Most of his music-related skills gained a level, but he had to focus on the beast.

After having their small talk, the beast's long skeletal body on the ground started shrinking and dissolving. Like icicles turning into water droplets, bone for bone melted and turned into a soul orb.

<Soul Fragment of the 24th Ethnarch of the Beyond(Medium, Rare) Crafting Material,

A fragment that was detached by a creature called the 24th Ethnarch of the beyond. A clean soul shard with a basic affinity for sorcery and necromancy.>

The fragments ranged between medium and big in size, but the description was always the same. Was this because it would absorb souls directly instead of collecting them? He heard some Demons or devils did that too, but most had a stash with souls to use as currency.

Unfortunately, there had not been any such Demons in Delta, yet. Otherwise, he would have already robbed- traded with them to get more souls.

What made him suspicious was the fact that <Soul Capture> did not automatically collect these fragments. Although he didn't see any connection between the fragments and the Ethnarch, maybe it had a way to reclaim them. After all, they were fragments of its soul.

"Is this enough?" it asked after separating roughly 300 souls from its body.

Its eerie body had shrunk by more than half, leaving an even more broken-looking fish specter behind. Seth looked at it and the souls strewn on the ground. He leaned against the anvil and played around with the hammer in his hand.

The creature's eyes were glued to Charon's Obol.

"Say, these aren't souls, they are fragments of your soul, right?"

"H-How did you know?! No, I mean, no. they aren't!" it tried to deny.

"You see, I bet you have a way to reclaim them somehow afterward. The deal is off the table," he said with a smirk.

…

What happened next happened too quickly for the Ethnarch to react. The man stepped forward in one quick motion and grabbed its skull with that weird gloves. It suddenly felt paralyzed and weak, It tried to call back the soul fragments but a foreign power originating from the glove enveloped its body.

It felt like it was cut off from the world and then there was this strange pull. It struggled to stay away from it, but it couldn't win. The pull promised peace and serenity and when it felt tired it finally gave up. It had gone through too much today. Peace sounded good. Serenity sounded fine. A small break maybe?

The next moment it couldn't sense anything. Hear anything... it had experienced this before. A time when it had not yet been the Ethnarch when it had not yet been anything.

...No! No, no, no, no, no. it couldn't be true! This was not peace or serenity. It's soul! It had been stolen and now it was trapped in itself, at the mercy of its captor.

...

<Soul of the 24thEthnarch of the Beyond(Massive, Epic, Ego) Crafting Material,

The soul of the 24thEthnarch of the beyond. A being that was on its way to becoming a legend. Affinity with Necromancy, Sorcery, illusion, and Spatial Manipulation>

In the end, the price it was able to pay was not enough for Seth to spare it, so he harvested its soul directly. Had it not already been weakened, Seth would have doubted he could have collected it, even with the help of the Wraithguard.

This time it was the soul and not just a fragment. It shared some effects with the fragments, but there were also Illusion and Spatial manipulation. Especially the latter interested Seth greatly. Skills related to space were rarer than one might think.

How much did he wish for a pocket dimension where he could store creations like Ceres or the Faer? Maybe he could make something like that with this soul?

After he harvested the main soul, <Soul Capture> sucked the fragments into his soul space.

~Urgh, can we not do that again? Like ever...~ Oz complained in a pained voice.

Despite giving the lyre soul armament, it had taken quite some damage. It would heal over time, but Seth wouldn't be able to do the same in the close future.

~Are you guys okay?~ he asked in the pet space.

~I'm fine, Mom!~ Tatzel answered.

~Puffles?~ Seth asked again when the Ivicer didn't answer.

~Urgh, What could possibly be wrong with the great me? Even if I took a sneak peek, would your low-tier music be able to hurt me.~ the nightmare centipede moaned.

So he HAD looked. This has been one of his worries since they were able to observe the situation from inside the pet space. As long as they didn't, they wouldn't be affected by the music, but if they did... only his soul armament was able to prevent harm.

~Puffles, do you think you are fine enough to catch the bus?~ Seth asked worriedly.

He was only confident in telling them to go without him because he had the flying nightmare centipede. The fight was quite the commotion and more bests might be coming soon.

Seth made sure to not show it on the outside, but he was worse off than it might seem. The ballad had bottomed out his mana and mental energy. It didn't mean he was helpless, or anything, but it didn't feel great to have limited options.

~Why do you ask? I'm fine. Fine! I have NOT peaked. Why would the great me want to see your child's play? Hmph! ~ he argued indignantly.

Seth heard howls in the distance. Yes, it was time to go. Otherwise, they might not be able to find Mina and the others again.

"Sure, sure, then can we set off?" Seth caved in.

~Of course!~

The Ivicer appeared, posing majestically. The blacksmith climbed in his back and they set off towards the sea.

…

„This was new, right?" Seth asked perplexed.

The god of chaos and destruction had finally broken the silence that ensued as the god stared speechlessly at what Seth did. They had watched the blacksmith practice playing on the anvil and saw the destructive force in the dungeons...

But this was the first time he combined the destructive soul ballads he learned for the refining of the angel souls with his own style of music. It was hauntingly effective.

"Do you think we should warn Apollo?" Hephaestus asked in the room.

"No, it should be okay. The Lyre was heavily damaged in this round. He probably won't use it on Scorpio." the god of the underworld denied.

"But what if he does?"

" Asking for forgiveness is better than asking for permission. It's not like we can stop it at this point. He is already about to enter Hyperboreas." Hades said with a tiny smirk around his lips.

…

---Sigma---

"The 24th vanished." a voice stated in the darkness.

"Was it Vlad?" another voice asked.

"Did his sister make her move and betrayed us?" a third suggested.

"No, nobody left the wards." a fourth voice denied the second.

"It seems like he vanished outside the city. Was it something from this world?" one mused.

"Hmm, he was weak but I wouldn't have expected him to fall in such a world." another voice commented.

None of them sounded concerned or very moved. There was no sympathy between the Ethnarchs of the Beyond.

"How about we just name a new 24th Ethnarch and have him look into it." The first voice suggested.

"Good idea!"

"I second this!"

"Yes." "Good."

A multitude of voices sounded their agreement. Nobody was interested enough to move themselves for something like the 24th Ethnarch. They gladly shoved the investigation to some unknown pawn in the future.