Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Seth!" Marcel greeted them when they encountered them at the buffet. Funny enough, Lydia and Mike were together with them. The united friends started their assault on the exotic buffet like true bumpkins.

They had just started, and Seth had only finished two plates when the princess approached their group.

"Seth?" she asked awkwardly

"Oh, Princess, what's up?"

"I wanted to introduce you to someone."

Seth excused himself and followed Leana. The hall was big and full of people, it took a while for the princess to compliment her way through the masses of nobility that kept approaching her. Finally, they came to a group of aged men.

"These are the researchers of our Imperial Institute. They are responsible for most technological advancements in Chrona. The sword you lend me was also investigated by them."

"So, you are the blacksmith who forged that remarkable sword! I have to tell you, we had quite some work testing it. Albert here spent the better part of the last months trying to reveal the weapon's secrets." a jolly old man with a well-trimmed beard approached first.

"Dean Myers, please don't expose me like this." a slightly younger man with a scraggly beard said embarrassedly.

"But isn't it the truth? I heard to spent every free minute on that research."

"Th-It's true, but our friend might get the wrong idea. I don't covet your possession; I am just fascinated by it. It's already rare to find divine materials that elude the effects of the system. For someone to not just get their hands on them but manage to create an item from it is almost unthinkable. It is such a great chance to learn more about the system." Albert suddenly started gushing.

"I-is that so? It was really something I did on the spur of the moment." Seth smiled awkwardly.

"I heard that you have created more of these artifacts and there was a chance you might entrust another to us for research?" continued in excitement.

"My dear Albert, you should hold back a little with your enthusiasm. This is still an official event." Dean Myers scolded him.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Albert immediately apologized to Seth.

"It's okay. To answer your question, yes. I thought of lending out another one, depending on the results."

"On that note, I believe you visit the Institute tomorrow to collect your sword and check the research results. That's okay, right Dean?" Leana interjected.

"Of course!" the jolly man said with a bright chuckle.

"His majesty, the Emperor of Chrona, Leander Cornelius Chrona!" the magically intensified call of a herald suddenly interrupted their conversation and the wide hall immediately fell silent.

On the head of the hall was a wide podium with several empty thrones. Now a regal-looking man, with a solemn and stately expression stepped upon it. On the first look, the garments he wore had nothing fancy to them. However, under the <Blacksmith's Eyes> Seth could see that at least the crown and his accessories were legendary. Most likely the whole outfit was!

A procession of princes and princesses followed him to man the thrones in the back. A beautiful woman, probably the empress, sat on the second to highest throne, while the emperor stepped forward to hold a speech.

"Nobles, statesmen, and visitors from other worlds, I welcome all of you. You all have come here, because of the great Evaluation of the latest generation of Worlds."

It seemed that the Chona empire classified the worlds added to the patchworks in generations of 5 years. The current generation had 25 worlds, of which the 5 most recent would be taking part.

The evaluation itself was a quest, whose specifics would only be revealed on the day of departure which was-

"Tomorrow, we will send the brave heroes on their quest for this year's evaluation. Depending on their performance we will decide the future direction concerning their worlds."

A murmur went through the crowd. The departure date seemed quite close and sudden. It was hard to guess what the emperor intended by setting it this soon.

Princess Leana beside him also seemed shocked at the short preparation time. From their reaction, Seth could guess that there would normally be more time for the participants to prepare and spend time in Chrona.

"Without further ado, I declare the official start of the banquet. Please enjoy the rest of the evening" he said with a smirk. He seemed quite happy with the crowd's reaction.

"Please excuse me, Seth, I have to go somewhere urgently!" with that the princess ran off.

-------------------

The group of Elza, Marcel, Brock, Lydia, Mike, Mina, Ellie, and Fin had paused their crusade on the buffet for a moment to listen to the speech. They were too far away to really see the emperor, but thanks to arcane sound design they could easily hear him.

Mina's ear flopped down when she heard that Seth was already going to leave tomorrow.

"No need to be upset, we can keep watching the broadcast." Fin comforted her.

"You still have tonight to make some memories."

"Thanks, Fin. You are right."

"Hey, why am I left out? I'm also going!" Ellie looked up from her food. She had not paused to listen at all.

"We will watch and cheer on everyone." Mina also included Marcel, Elza, and Brock at the side with a smile.

The mood was good, and they had just turned back to the buffet when they heard a voice from behind.

"Look at them, the Banquet was just opened, and they are already pigging out on the buffet." they heard a haughty voice behind them.

"Who let that filthy beastmen in here, to begin with?" a second voice added.

They turned around and saw a group of nobles nearby. Mina had almost forgotten that discrimination against her people existed. In Delta were a lot of people who admired and envied beast people.

Despite the empire's ban on such practices, "Human Supremacy" was a common thing in many territories and provinces. The imperial censors couldn't be everywhere.

This was an official event and even the emperor participated. The catgirl decided not to make a scene and tried to ignore them. She even signaled the others to stand down. However, it was not up to her.

"Hoh, what are you glaring at, little kitty? Did you think expensive clothes could hide your ugly origins? If you wanted to try and fit in, you should have cut off those filthy animal ears." one of the women approached her when she noticed her initial glare.

"Aw, what? Did the cat get your tongue? Or did you realize that you don't belong here?" the woman suddenly poured her glass of champagne over Mina's head.

"If you understand, you should le-" a resounding slap hit her cheek so hard, that her voluminous lips burst.

"You bitch! Do you Filth have any idea who I a-!" a backhand slap hit the other cheek. Two deep red handprints were slowly tuning darker as the woman fell back into the arms of her associate.

"How dare you!" the men behind caught the woman and hollered. The

"As expected of a dirty beast!" the woman's companions exclaimed.

"Barbaric! They really don't belong in society."

"Bah! Beasts stay beasts. Their only worth is as slaves." a noble behind commented.

"it's on!" Fin called out ready for a brawl.

But Ellie had already rushed off jumped on a guy's shoulder and started choking him with her thighs, while ramming her elbow in his face with maniacal laughter.

After a moment of shock, the fairy brute laughed out and joined the fray.

"You beasts!" one of them called out and equipped a sword. He proceeded to attack Mina, who had only watched in shock as Ellie turned a person's face into a bloody mess.

Other lackeys followed his example and brought out weapons.

"Aww, you should have done that." Fin mumbled. The next moment, a flame explosion occurred in the back and a burning man flew past her.

Mike had let the chance slip away and "protected his sister" using the Flaming Fury. Since the opponent had drawn their weapons, the same happened on their side. The other side were no weaklings and a heated battle ensued.

The group around Marcel could only stare, not knowing what to do, as the situation escalated, and more and more people started joining the fight. Mostly other otherworlders who showed little care to the time and place of the fight.

...

"What the?! Stop!" the hero was attracted by the commotion. He and Rich stood at the edge of the wide circle of bystanders who simply watched the chaos unfold. The battlefield was centered around the buffet and many waited for the commotion to end, so they could get some food.

His face fell when he recognized members of his group fighting in the chaos.

"We are using skills now!? Don't come whining to me later!" Ellie shouted. She had left a trail of unconscious meat piles behind when she faced someone using sword skills against her.

"Acid Punch!"

She ducked away under a sword strike and punch his abdomen with her hand fist covered in bright green goo.

"Thunder Strike!" she followed up with her other hand, clad in a bright blue slime.

Lightning arcs covered the twitching man, as he fell to the ground, paralyzed. Ellie proceeded to sculpt his face to her preferences.

A female with cat ears kept vanishing and appearing from shadows in quick succession. Wherever she appeared she would strike someone's weak spot, rendering them incapable to fight, or giving an ally the chance to do so.

Similar scenes were seen, wherever the members of Minas Mar were fighting. Marcel, Elza, and Brock had also joined, though they were not as freely roaming the battle, each locked in a fight with a worthy opponent.

"How dare they abuse their power for wanton slaughter? Hurry, we have to stop them and apologize!" the hero told rich.

"What? You don't even know-"

The hero's burning eyes made him stop talking.

"...Fine."

The hero and the Slavemencer joined the skirmish at the buffet to stop the rampage.