Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Swear it," Hephaestus commanded unexpectedly irritated.

"W-What?" Seth asked surprised as the hand pressure grew like a vice.

"Swear that this is NOT one of your avatar shenanigans again! You are trying to change his path before he starts leveling, right?" the bearded got threw at him.

Genuine indignation was seen on Seth's face.

"I am appalled that you think I could do something like this!" he said hurt.

"Zip it! You already DID something like this! Swear it! On your divinity!"

Seth glanced to the other gods, looking for help, but nobody stood up for him. Why would they? Nobody believed his acting and Hephaestus was absolutely right.

"I swear to Atum, I have no hand in this. Happy?" the god finally gave in. But Hephaestus still eyed him suspiciously.

"Let it go, Hephaestus. It's really not Seth's doing." The System God finally said.

"W-Why didn't you say that earlier?!" Seth asked offended.

"It was fun watching." the System God said with a shrug. "Now, shush, I want to watch this."

…

---Delta---

Begrudgingly, the blacksmith didn't have any time to rest. He made himself presentable and an hour after his conversation with Ember, the two arrived at the college.

It had been a while since Seth returned to the college. Usually, he only showed his face around when he needed to look for new or specific ballads, which didn't happen es often lately. The moment he stepped onto the campus he could feel the change in atmosphere.

After making things clear during the flyting, most other students had turned to ignore him, intimidated. Now, he could feel many pairs of eyes on him and they dared to look at him with hostility.

"Seems like things really changed. People forgot the lesson I taught them."

Now, it wasn't like Seth enjoyed being feared or ignored, but people looking at him with hostility for no good reason rubbed him the wrong way. Compared to that, the other two options were better.

"Don't mind them, we have to go meet Dean Remington," Ember told him, however, the other students seemed to have a different idea.

When the two wanted to enter the main complex a group of demons barred their path.

"Ember, so it is true, that you and Dean Remington asked humans for help!?" "Pathetic!" "What a disgrace." "Guys, doesn't he look familiar?" "Shut up, Will." "What an utter embarrassment you are, Ember!"

Seemed like only one of them had a brain, but he was unfortunately silenced by group dynamics. Seth suddenly had an idea. Maybe they didn't know who they were stopping because of his helmet and new armor? It was good, then they wouldn't know who hit them.

Had he never heard them speak their opinions, he may have been able to ignore them. They may not have uttered them if they knew who he was. But now it was too late. He had heard it and there was no forgiving it easily.

The group suddenly froze in fear and fell silent, when the pressure of <Dragon Might> descended on them. They were just wee little bards, still learning the crafts, there was nothing they could do when Seth lightly flexed the muscles of his armor.

"It's great you are already standing in rows. "

Seth wound up and five distinct claps echoed across the campus, as he slapped the five standing closest to him with his flat hand. The five fell like dominoes in the direction of the slap. They had been caught in a stupor and unable to even react to their fall. Several claps later, the path was open.

"Didn't you go a little overboard?" Ember asked conflicted, as they stepped over the moaning bodies of her bullies.

"After what they said about you? I think a good slap and a dislocated jaw here and there is quite light. If I was serious, they wouldn't be this loud, " he answered with a shrug.

After seeing the dark knight slap the daylights out of the group of delinquents, nobody dared to look at him unruly anymore as he followed Ember further into the building. She led Seth to the annex where the professors had their offices, but on their way they found many of the doors standing ajar, the offices empty.

"Oh, no! This doesn't look good," Ember exclaimed as she ran to the office of Dean Remington.

This door was open, too, the room behind in disarray.

"Ember, what is going on? This doesn't seem like they are gone holding classes," Seth asked when he caught up to the panicking demon girl.

"We have to hurry. If what I think is correct, then Galvan finally crossed the line and challenged the Dean and the other teachers to a flyting. We have to go to the arena, quick!" she said in a hurry and took off.

Then maybe the bullies and crowd outside were just a distraction to stop Ember? However, seeing her in such a panic upon finding the teachers might be in trouble, Seth found this behavior a little suspicious. That was if the dean was just a teacher to her.

"Ember, who is this elder for you to panic like this?" Seth asked, running beside her.

"We can't talk about it at college, but he's my grandfather. Enough talking, we have to hurry!" she said, already gasping for air.

"Is it the same arena I was last time?" the blacksmith asked. Seeing her nod, he decisively grabbed her and put her on his back as he sped up toward the inner courtyard where the flyting arena was located.

The commotion was audible from far away and they found a big crowd surrounding the flyte ring. Loud music was overpowering the crowd's chatter as two demonic songs fought for supremacy. Seth used force to move towards the ring, not minding people's reactions.

Despite hurrying, they came too late. By the time Seth and Ember arrived at the ring, an elderly-looking demon with similarly orange skin as Ember was already lying on the ground, blood dripping from his orifices.

"Look at him, his voice quiet, his rhymes weak. This was the man you relied on? No wonder all of you are so soft! This will change, once I made an example out of the dissidents." a tall demon stood opposite the man in the ring.

It was a gaunt demon, with bright red skin and a spider-like skull. He had two pairs of eyes and no lips. In his claws, he held a dark lute and there was a glint of insanity in his eyes when he saw Seth and Ember approach.

"Grandfather!" Ember cried out as she rushed onto the ring. Other teachers had already reached the old man, treating him. However, they were in a similar state as the elder. The dean was obviously not the first match of the day.

"You finally appeared. It's the whore who mingles with humans and her human plaything!" Galvan blared out towards the crowd. A sudden fire lance had him dodge to the side.

"Mind your words, guitar picker. I'm a faithful man to my two girlfriends and never slept with Ember," he corrected the demon, as he also climbed onto the arena floor.

"You dare!?" the demons exclaimed, but was ignored.

"Teacher, how did this happen?" he asked Ember and the group surrounding the elder.

" Galvan somehow found out about the scroll and our plans. Officially, he used our plan to split the college into two campuses and move the one focused on music to Minas Mar to refer to the old rules of flyting. A duel to solve the dispute. We sorely underestimated his power, and now the dean... the dean is..." the mantis teacher Seth knew from singing lessons explained distressed.

"What about him? He's completely fine." Seth asked confused, the old man was already completely healed. While they were talking, Seth had already used the <Superior Heal> from his Golden Fleece to recover his injuries. All the dean was, was unconscious.

"Thank you, Seth;" Ember thanked him, while the other looked surprised at the elder who was asleep, but otherwise unharmed.

"Human! Are you trying to get involved in demon business?!" the demon hissed

"What demon business? You call your prancing around like a monkey demon business?" he hollered. The crowd booed but Seth stepped up confidently. Was it his business? Obviously, it was. Ember was a friend and her grandfather offered him a way to get rid of the Scene. How could it not be his business?

"I just have to beat him before we can come to an agreement, right?" the blacksmith asked the mantis teacher, pointing his thumb at Galvan.

"Hahah, you? Beat me? Even if there is nothing impressive about you, your ignorance is astounding!" Galvan cackled. Seth ignored the weak taunt.

"So, do you agree to stay out of this if I beat you in a duel?" Seth asked disinterestedly.

"Haha, even if it only to see the despair on their faces as I crush their last hope, yes! I shall face this human according to the old traditions of demon poetry and show you all the WE are superior!" The crowd broke out in cheers at his words.

"Great, then sign here please," Seth just said, as a soul contract appeared in his hand with a jet of flames. His <Soul Trade> was lv.4 and he was now able to materialize simply contracts based on this kind of conversation.

"What?"

"Now this, this is demon business."