Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Gleobem was writhing in pain on the ground.

~Seth! The connection is finally back!~ Puffles called out to him.

~Mom!~ Tatzel exclaimed.

"Please, I give up! I already dispelled the illusion!" the satyr cried with bulging eyes and twisting goat ears.

Right, it was about time for the finale and to take his prize. Since he had won, his demonic ballad came to an end.

"T-this has truly widened my horizons. Hehe, please take my panpipes." the satyr mumbled.

He had tears in his eyes. Was Seth more talented than him? That wasn't the question. The satyr realized that skills didn't matter if the other just beat the crap out of him. His music had been beautiful, but vain and empty without any power.

"Why would I take your pipes? No, no, no, I'm taking your most valuable possession, as per our agreement," the demonic bard said with a cold smile as he crouched down beside him.

"What o you think of becoming an instrument yourself? Wouldn't that greatly further your horizon?" he asked as he grasped the satyr's head.

He didn't have a lot of chances to get his hands on classes that were not combat-oriented. After all, he could hardly go around town and harvest the citizens of Delta. That was why the satyr's soul was very enticing.

"Relax, you are just paying your due." the minstrel's face paled. The blacksmith's gleeful smile seemed almost demonic.

"W-Wait! What do you meeee-" Gleobem's words cut off as Seth harvested his souls with the help of the Wraithguard.

The soul of a wandering minstrel that used musical skills and illusion arts to rob unsuspecting wanderers. It has a good affinity with nature and great skills in illusion magic and music. >

If he got his hand on more souls like this, wouldn't he be able to make a whole band for himself?

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--- Cinema Dimension---

Apollo didn't look so good and gave the three tricksters an angry look.

"I knew you were crafty Hephaestus and I did not expect any better from someone like Seth... but even you Hades?" he asked crestfallen. They had tricked him.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Hades shrugged his shoulders remorseless. Persephone beside him couldn't help but chuckle. Her husband didn't often get the chance to show his playful side.

"You deliberately hid the fact that he was also a bard!" Apollo accused, feeling wronged.

"Brother, it was meant as a surprise." the messenger god tried to calm him

"Even you, brother?" the god of sunlight asked exasperated.

"Oh, c'mon, Apollo. Don't act like you are upset. I saw you grinning when he used music to take apart the satyr. You liked the performance." Hephaestus teased him with a mischievous smile that could not be hidden by his voluminous beard.

Apollo had an inherent sympathy toward musicians and he never like the guts of satyrs who had a habit of challenging the skills of the god of music.

"Th-This and that is totally different." Apollo pouted.

If he was honest, he couldn't say he hated little blacksmith's guts. Although he was a little too mild for the god's taste. After all the other three had shown him, he had actually grown some liking for him. Seeing him be talented in music, even if it wasn't the one he preferred, was just the icing on the cake.

But even if they didn't lie, they had definitely hoodwinked him and there was no way he could admit that he liked the blacksmith at this point. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction of praising their favorite after what they did.

He had wanted to give the blacksmith a challenge and watch him suffer to try and learn an instrument or singing. Now Apollo realized that they had led him by the nose, to make the challenge easy because their little champion already knew music.

Most importantly they had made a bet! Apollo was confident of winning against a blacksmith, even if he had a bunch of weird golems. Even if he knew magic. But seeing him perform music shook this confidence.

The god of sunlight was sulky, but there was nothing he could do at this point. Knowing they had planned all this made it just more aggravating.

"Br-Brother..." Hermes tried to talk to him.

"No, I'm not in the mood to talk now. Especially not with you. Even you kept it a secret."

The messenger good looked a little guilty but he simply couldn't hide his smile. He was serious, but couldn't help starting to laugh in the end.

"I'm sorry, Brother. But your expression when the blacksmith started to belt out in song was just priceless!" the young man chuckled.

The blacksmith god and desert god joint him.

"It really has been ages since I saw you like that," Hephaestus added.

Persephone also chuckled, but for a different reason. The others may have thought Hades stayed calm, but his beard was not enough to hide his smile from his wife.

One might have thought Apollo would feel shamed, but after listening to their merry laughter for a while, he finally joined it himself. It didn't happen often that they played such innocents prank on each other and he realized, that this wasn't so bad.

Bet or not, this was all entertainment. He would gain nothing by acting all grumpy. The god decided to enjoy their peaceful get-together instead. He pulled Hermes in his arms and furiously rubbed his golden locked head in revenge.

"Urgh, brother!"

"This is your punishment for lying to your big brother." he laughed.

Seth and Hephaestus couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief that Apollo actually ended up appreciating their prank. Things could also have gone the other way around. Not all Olympians were mature enough to take a good-natured joke for what it was.

The rest of the cinema, the hidden figures in the rows behind them, were creeped out to see Olympians laugh together in harmony. It was very... counterintuitive.

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"Wasn't that a little harsh?" Ceres cawed, landing beside him.

"Beating him and taking his soul on top. Are you going to put it into his own panpipes? You start reminding me of Forgebrand. " the bird asked slightly berating.

"Hey! Who asked him to live the life of a robber. It's even stated in the description of his soul. How passionately do you have to be about robbing people, that it becomes part of the information on your soul?" Seth justified his loot and packed up the satyrs body, too.

"Fine, fine. I will follow from the sky again." the bird said disinterested and go back into the sky.

Although he justified his actions, the bird's words made him ponder. Was it a little harsh to take someone's soul for trying to rob him in broad daylight? Back in the day, he would have just beaten the daylight out of the satyr.

But what if he went back to robbing people afterward? That would have been his responsibility.

Seth pondered about this for a moment, before storing away the soul and summoning Puffles.

"Let's hurry and get to Dawn," he said and mounted the nightmare centipede.

It was a difficult topic to think about and Seth made the executive decision not to think about it for now. It wasn't the time to be stuck in a moral dilemma. He could make the resolve to be a little more responsible about whose soul to take, next time.

He was also cured from his weird fascination for the serene surroundings. There was no time to be squandered on dreamily viewing the landscape. Seth had no idea how Mina and the others were doing, the quicker he got this quest over with, the better it was.

Seated on the mighty Iviver's back, they cruised along the streets. Puffle's sharp, porcelain-like feet clattered on the pavement of the road and they sped toward their destination

Within two hours Seth and his bunch were able to see Dawn in the distance.

To not disturb any of the citizens, he, once again, made Puffles return to the pet space and walked the rest of the way on foot.