Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Before the blacksmith who rushed out of the temple stood a winged woman with a divine aura of crimson light, reminiscent of dawn. A voluminous many of curly golden hair flowed over her shoulders.

She wore a delicate toga made of thin, soft fabric that didn't leave much up to his imagination. Seth had to gulp when she gave him a beautiful smile.

"Oh, my. Nobody told me you were such a handsome young lad."

Her gaze was unmistakable when her delicate soft fingers grasped his chin.

"Don't hide such a nice face behind this crude thing"

When her fingers touched his well-groomed beard, it fizzled away to dust, leaving his face cleanly shaven. Seth was frozen in shock, as the smooth face of the goddess came close. He could feel her breath and smell the fragrance of roses from her.

Just moments before her soft lips stole a kiss from him, the blacksmith's rough hands grabbed her subtle shoulders, stopping her from advancing. He had to swallow as her beautiful eyes looked at him questioning and a little wronged.

"I-I'm sorry, but I have a girlfriend. Although we are quite open about stuff, I would have to talk with her first."

Rejecting the goddess probably hurt him more than her. The regret he felt was almost unnatural. However, he was a man of principles. If he were to sleep with another woman, he would want to give Mina the chance to join. Also, his friends and materials were in danger. He didn't have the time.

"Oh, what a shame. I don't really like to share," Eos mused.

With a sudden motion, she got out of his hand and pressed her alluring body against him. How could he even tell how soft she was, through his armor!?

"Are you really sure?" she asked again, looking up at him with big, beautiful eyes.

His breathing quickened, but if his desire was the unstoppable spear, then his resolve was the unbreakable shield. His spear could not gain the upper hand and the goddess easily read it from his eyes.

" What a shame, what a shame," she repeated. "Then I will have to reward you in a different way."

She finally took some distance from him, giving him room to breathe and calm down.

"I would say it is far from the fun we could have, but take this blessing in exchange for bringing back Orian, that rascal." she finally said and her light of dawn fell on the blacksmith's body.

When he checked he found that Eos was now also added with a weak connection, the same as Apollo.

"Well, then, I will hold you back no further." the goddess said her goodbye and left, dragging the struggling Orian behind her. With a flash, both vanished and only Orian's claw marks on the ground were left behind.

"Erm, yes, I will leave now, too. Good Bye." Seth told the priest before getting on Puffles' back.

The Ivicer's mana was mostly depleted, so they traveled back to the Village he first entered by road. By the time they reached the coast, the nightmare centipede's mana pool had filled again and they did a running start off the cliffs at the shore.

Seth didn't know how long it had taken to reach Hyperborea, but he had spent almost two days on the island. He could only hurry back and hope Mina and the others were okay.

---Cinema Dimension---

"That was very nice of you," Hephaestus said to Apollo when the god of music returned to the cinema dimension. He was sure that the god of sunlight had taken a liking to their little blacksmith.

Apollo avoided the blacksmith's grinning gaze.

"This was nothing special. It's only because you guys gave me the power to make Scorpio grow. Don't think I would have spared him if it wasn't for that!" the god denied what Hephaestus tried to insinuate.

However, it was too late. Everyone, even Hades, gave him a similar look that seemed to say "Look at that guy playing hard to be pleased."

"Since you don't like him and the quest is over, you don't have to keep watching." a rough voice suddenly commented.

Seth, the god, had spoken up. Although what he said seemed, offensive, his grin was even wider than that of Hephaestus or Hermes.

"Wh-Who said that I don't want to keep watching?" Apollo asked defensively.

"I mean if you intend to stay, don't you think there is something you should do?" the god of destruction asked, rubbing his thumb and index together.

"You want me to pay?!" the god of sunlight exclaimed shocked.

"You know, he is right. The quest is over, Seth left Hyperborea. You are just another guest now." Hephaestus supported Seth.

For a moment Apollo thought of kicking out Hermes and going back in his promise to pay his entrance fee.

"B-Brother?" the messenger god looked up at him with big puppy eyes.

Begrudgingly he paid divine power to the three patrons of Seth, to stay and keep watching from the cinema dimension.

The three couldn't help but smile in satisfaction. They had caught another one and this one would even pay double for a freeloader.

"but what should we do about Eos?" Hephaestus asked Hades after a moment.

"What about her?" Seth asked cluelessly.

"Well, Eos has a minor problem with her infatuation with mortals. She had already blessed him. She might find him in the future, but I don't think there is any problem," Hades explained to Seth and also answered the blacksmith god's question.

"On another note, what's with that trait, Hephaestus?" a deep voice came from behind,

A cold shiver ran down the spine of the blacksmith god. The system god had leaned forward from behind and spoke right into his ear. His chuckle was wiped from his face.

"I-I have no idea what you mean." he tried to play dumb.

"I knew her was something up with that. First Strike," the darkness in the tacky wizard robe said unimpressed. The system god knew that the craftsman god had tried to pull something with the trait, but for it to grow stronger with the blessing of Olympian gods...

It wasn't completely against the rules he had set previously, so he couldn't just throw the guy out. Instead, he gave him a strike. If he did any more funny stuff, he could still kick him.

"What?" Hephaestus wanted to argue but was interrupted by Seth.

"He's getting strikes?! I was directly banned!" he complained indignantly.

"You also directly broke the rules. What? Do you want to go back into solitary confinement?" the system god countered.

Seeing the god of chaos and destruction shrink back with a wince, the robe leaned back in his chair and shoved a hand into his popcorn bucket.

Everyone's gaze returned to the screen, where the little blacksmith was on his way back to Sigma. Although the Scorpio Quest was interesting, it did not quite live up to the build-up. With the number of preparations the little blacksmith had done, the gods were expecting a little more from Sigma.