Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The shuttle was flying through the skies of Sigma, only the light of the raging fires below to guide them. In places it passed, where alien-looking spires hid between towering skyscrapers, a giant armored snake would suddenly appear.

Strangling the spires with its massive body, it easily crushed the tower to dust before vanishing again. It was not always a snake, at time it was a flying centipede that blew the tower apart with fiery light magic, a bird spewing lightning, or a weird night in gray armor. No matter which one was up, their targets ceased to exist.

6,7,..., 12, 13...

One by one the spires fell and nothing that emerged from them was able to fight or even so much as harm the snake in a meaningful way. This went on without a hitch at all, though it became noticeably slowed after the twelfth tower fell.

As Seth expected, nobody came to stop them until he reached the final, 24th structure. Once all towers were gone, they would have been able to warp the whole of Sigma that was transported here, back to Urth.

As the shuttle closed in on the last, final spire, the dark skies above started to churn. The black mists of this foreign world coagulated and masses of spectral bones began to materialize, filling the heavens above.

The shuttle halted in the middle of the air, unable to proceed toward the last tower. Climbing onto the roof of the vehicle floating there, was a man wearing a smooth cloak and a golden robe under it.

Seth faced the indiscernible mass of fractal patterned bones and macabre skulls of indescribable creatures. The pressure was hard to endure and the sight was nothing for a weak stomach, but Seth pulled himself together. This was his chance.

"Puny human, your struggles are futile! We-"

"You must be the Ethnarchs of the Beyond. Have you finally come to stop us?"

The deep voice like the echo of caves echoes through the city without a discernible source, but the man had cut it off in the middle of its sentence. The voice stocked. This was not how it imagined this to go. Their victim was way too calm, this was not in the script.

Seth had broken its flow and did his best to hide they hardship he went through to endure their presence and not run away immediately. He had to endure and stick to the plan for the optimal outcome.

His heart ached as the number of souls in his soul space rapidly vanished through his <Channeling> and <Soul Trade> skills, in preparation for what was to come. Hundreds of small common souls gone, almost a hundred medium souls, gone. He even paid the muddled souls he had collected in Keväti Kuinen.

"You do not seem surprised or afraid. Do you still hold the notion that you may have a chance to escape us?" a voice said almost amused.

The bard almost choked, when the pressure of channeling the flood of demonic power was added to the pressure he was already enduring. When e spoke his voice was oozing with oodles of demonic power that gave weight to his words.

"Escape from all of you? No. I heard that you are always open to a deal. You could just crush me and the Wards and end everything with your power, but wouldn't that be boring?"

They had waited all this time to crush their hopes in their final moment of victory, Seth was sure. It meant that although they could have stepped in at any time, they had let things go for their own entertainment. They were not too different from the gods the blacksmith had come to know.

He pandered to their fancy for entertainment.

"Ho ho, you want to make a deal?" another voice chuckled.

"I fancy an interesting offer, " a third voice mentioned.

"What is it you suggest?" the first voice gave him a chance.

" A final duel! I challenge the 13th Ethnarch to a fight one on one. If I win, you will not stop us from leaving this place," the blacksmith suggested.

"The last struggle of a valiant hero? How delightful," a voice mused.

"Interesting, interesting," one repeated.

"But what stand we to gain?" the main voice he had been talking to retorted.

"Nothing, but an exciting show. What else could you want?"

"How about your soul?"

"Right, right, his soul."

His soul? Seth was taken aback. Who were they to covet his soul? He was the one taking other people's souls, not the other way around. However, a small smile splayed around his lips. He was very confident in this fight, there was no reason not to agree.

"Fine, if I win against the 13th Ethnarch of the Beyond keep my soul, and if you lose everyone in Sigma, even the vampires, will be allowed to leave. Deal?"

"Deal, come forward, 13th ."

The deal was finished and he could finally stop using his skills.

<Ding! Your skill Soul Trade lv. 2 had become Soul Trade lv. 3!>

He heard the notification but did not have time to take a look. There was a fight ahead of him. From the raving mass of spectral bones separated an individual. It was massive, at least three times as big as the 24th Ethnarch Seth had beaten before.

It had a skull that resembled an alien crocodile with a mane of spikes.

Facing the giant creature, Seth actually became calmer. The biggest hurdle, getting them to agree, was taken. Even when these things were incredibly powerful, they still exerted less pressure than the zombie dragon or the koor worm. Still, they were existence he couldn't possibly beat if the blacksmith's skills and his fire were not technically their natural enemy.

Items appeared on him. His natural advantage was not the only reason he was confident in beating this creature. On his right hand appeared the Wraithguard, swapped for one of his Gloves of the Firesprit.

And with Wraitguard he grasped the final version of the Ravenous Sog. Its aura had completely changed. It was emitting serene ghostly light, that emitted a purely malicious and evil aura. Just looking at it, could make someone shudder, without really even knowing why.

Any being with a soul would sense the intense feeling of danger and doom from the blade.

After the others agreed to his plan, Seth had set on finishing his biggest advantage for this battle. If he was honest, he felt like he wasted the soul of the Titanoboa Patriarch for it, but it was necessary.

Seth had turned the massive soul of the giant patriarch snake into a soul armament mirroring the Ravenous Sog and used demonic runes to edge and exceedingly simple phrase into the blade. It was a text that had burned itself into his memory after reading it just once at the library of the bard college.

If he translated the runes roughly it would have meant something along the lines of

"It's about souls, It's about power. You stay hungry, I devour.".

It was an inscription that could be used to extract and collect souls. After infusing it into the Ravenous Sog, the sword changed and gained a similar property to Charon's Obol.

<Ravenous Sog

Relic (Growth)

Damage:2300

Durability: 6000

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

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

3. Active Skill: Lacerate

4. Passive skill: Strength of the Minotaur

5.+50% Skill Damage

6.+50% Magic Damage

7.+20% Damage in Dark Places (Charon's obol)

8. Absorb Willpower on Hit

9. Curse of Lethargy on Hit

10. Soul Bane on Hit

11. Overeating

An exceedingly excellent sword created by Craftsman Smith with minute attention to detail and a clear function in mind.

The superior craftsmanship improved its performance to its 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 widely known, plays a role in the user's ascend to a legend, or absorbs enough souls the item will become legendary. >

Not only could absorb souls to strengthen itself and the user, it was also able to directly harm souls and the Soul Bane caused even more additional damage, than if it was just a soul armament. Despite using a massive soul, it did not give additional mana. Why? Because of the nature of the inscription Seth had edged into it.

Instead of having a specific capacity like most enchantments, it would just become stronger the more mana it had. It even had Overeater, probably from the snake soul, that could store excess energy and use it to strengthen itself even further later one.

The effect that directly benefited the most from this was strengthening was <Soul Bane>. The primal fear anything living felt when looking at the sword, was the effect to deal huge damage directly to the soul.

This made the sword absolutely useless to Seth if he wanted to level or collect souls, but it was perfect if his only goal was to kill an opponent. Such as the giant specter, which didn't even have a real body to protect it from his soul eater sword.

"Was this weapon why you were so confident in this fight?" the 13th Ethnarch scoffed.

"No." the blacksmith answered amused when a helmet appeared on his head and his figure suddenly disappeared.