Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth just returned to Minas Mar when he ran into a staff member waiting for him in the entrance hall.

"Tower Master!"

"What's up?" Seth halted and asked.

Mary knew their current situation and what he was doing. If she sent someone to disturb him it had to be something important. Seeing Seth stop to listen, the man sighed relieved.

"Mary asked me to call you. There are two guests that need your attention."

"Two? On the same day? This day? What an interesting timing. Fine, take the lead. Let's go right away, give a short introduction on the way."

Seth didn't feel like wasting any more standing around. The quicker he got this over with, the earlier he was back in his workshop to finish the items. As they walked up to the elevator the man started to explain.

"One of them claims to be a messenger sent by Mark Baker from Y-City. However, he says his message is only for the Tower Master. The other is an old man who introduced himself as a former researcher from Zeontech. He has information regarding The Scene, the criminal organization reigning in Y-City. Mary wanted you to hear him out in person."

"How weird. Two guests from Y-City on the same day, during such a chaotic time at that."

It was fair to say that felt suspicious. Especially of the supposed messenger from Mark Baker.

"You know what? I think I will meet them both at the same time. It will save time and I think that could be fun. "

The secretary grimaced but simply nodded.

…

He didn't wait long for someone to come. Albeit short, Cromwel quite enjoyed the following conversation with Mary. It was a rare glee to talk with a competent person once in a while. She didn't go too into depth, before deciding that she wished for him to meet the Tower Master and iterate the whole story.

He was asked to change rooms, but what was weird was that there was someone else already sitting in the office, and it was neither Mary nor his conversation partner. The hooded figure was sitting on one of the chairs opposite the big desk.

The doctor wondered what this was about, but decided not to show any discontent. He simply sat down on the second chair, beside the hooded figure. The other stared at him for a moment, but also stayed silent.

They waited for a few minutes in silence when a conversation made its way through the hallway outside and into the room. It was quiet and hard to understand but they could understand snippets. Cromwel could discern Mary's voice and she seemed to complain about something.

IT fell silent as the door opened and a man in a full suit of dark, oppressive-looking armor entered the room. It almost didn't look like he was wearing armor, as he leisurely walked over to the desk and sat down opposite the two visitors.

His whole aura made clear that this was his place. Mary entered behind him and stood to the side. The man's helmet vanished, revealing the face of a black-haired, young man. He looked at the two of them and gave them a greeting smile.

"Hello, I'm Seth Smith, the Tower Master of Minas Mar. Mary here told me you had the information I needed to hear."

The man introduced himself cordially, yet Cromwel couldn't help but feel something was wrong. It felt like the Tower Master's eyes were fixed on him in cold interest and he suddenly had the urge to talk. Yet, he held back, when the other spoke up before he could.

"My information if is only meant for the ears of the Tower Master, " the hooded figure pressed out and looked at Cromwel and Mary in the room.

"Oh, please don't worry. I trust these two wholeheartedly. Mary is the head of administration and this person here is our in-house expert on Ypsilon. Please don't mind their attendance and go on."

This time he could feel it. When the sentence wasn't directed at him, Cromwel was able to detect a minute amount of some kind of power swinging within the man's words. Despite sounding vehement about only the Smith hearing the message, the figure readily nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm a messenger sent by Mark Baker. He is not dead. Baker had to go into hiding because the Scene has already taken control of Y-City from the shadows."

"Doctor, is that the case?" Smith suddenly turned to him and asked with a friendly smile.

"Indeed. The Scene has thoroughly infiltrated Y-City's leadership and taken control of the district. Even Delta is in the process of being taken over."

He didn't know what was going on, but he readily answered. For now, he decided to play along. The messenger looked at him perturbed for a moment before he continued.

"Mark has a plan to unveil their connection and cut out the tumor that is currently holding Ypsilon in its grasp. But we lack the manpower to go through with it. He sent me here to ask for help from Minas Mar," the messenger explained.

"Oh, and what plan exactly is that?" the Tower Master questioned, slightly leaning forward on the desk.

"I wasn't given the details, I'm sorry. Mark said he would explain everything if you came to Y-City yourself."

The tower master leaned back again, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table he fixated on both of them before his smile vanished and he spoke with a cold voice.

"Isn't it funny? What a weird coincidence that while Mount Agra is being besieged by immortal monsters I suddenly have two visitors. One is a sudden messenger from a dead acquaintance who came by to lure me away from Delta with some outrageous story of his survival and subsequent plan of rebellion. The other is a soulless monster that kept its sanity and can walk through the soul-whisking membrane just fine. Both on the same day at that."

Cromwel was taken aback. Although it wasn't true that he had no soul, for someone to be able to judge that something was wrong with his soul was a shock to him. But again, before he could react, the other person spoke up.

"A-Are you implying I came to lure you into a trap?!" the messenger asked enraged.

" <Acting>, <Lying>, <Status Cover>, <Status Forge>, Title: Impersonator, Title: Traitor... Should I keep going Mr. Thorne Lovelace?" the Tower Master suddenly stated a bunch of skills and ended it with a question.

"TSK!" suddenly the figure jumped up, pulled something from his inventory and a loud bang suddenly filled the room.

Cromwel looked at him shocked. A hexgun? Had the officials in Y-City fallen so low, that even these thugs could get their hands on this magic technology? However, even more shocking was the fact that Smith was absolutely unharmed.

A bullet, probably made from a Mithril alloy had stopped mere millimeters away from the Tower Master's forehead. The bullet turned into a flat coin on impact and fell into the man's lap without causing harm. The doctor also spotted a shield in the man's hand, but he couldn't remember when it got there.

"Wolfram."

Things weren't over, yet. While the hooded man was still staring at the completely fine Smith, he called a name and a dull gray knight appeared beside him. Cromwel only saw a purple light flash and at first, it seemed like nothing happened, until he noticed that the hooded figure had turned the same gray color as the knight. He had been petrified with the weapon still in hand.

"Now then, shall we have a nice long talk?"

The tower master asked the question with a smile, but a cold shiver ran down his back. The knight also didn't vanish again but positioned himself beside the man, opposite of Mary. Cromwel wasn't stupid. After seeing what happened to the figure, he knew that the presence of the Knight was a blatant threat.

He couldn't even start to understand what power the purple light was, he doubted he would look any different than a statue if he were hit by it. It was an effective means against his kind of immortality.

"I-I have been meaning to from the start."

Sweat was forming on Cromwel's wrinkly forehead. Maybe he had bitten off more than he could chew?