Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

“Yee old dick twist!”

Nobles and upper society from all around the Chorna Empire, dressed in the finest yarn, jumped from their seats and unleashed their loudest most primal howls as they competed in cheering on the dwarf. At this point, the audience was more of a scene than the arena.

Seeing this, Leana looked defeated. She knew some of them personally and had seen quite a few of them before, but this... she never expected they could act like this. It had to be this world, the lunacy of its people was probably contagious.

“Just what is wrong with this world,” she mumbled quietly.

“ A lot, but this is just the effect of good entertainment... and alcohol. Lots of it in the early morning,” Seth answered her sigh with a chuckle.

The first round finally ended with Polter as the winner, but the poltern, as the chat dubbed, would continue for the rest of the tournament. The second round of the preliminaries started after a small break, which everyone could use to calm down, clean themselves up, and get dressed again. Some people who went too hard needed a healer...

The second round proceeded in a similar fashion to the first, but couldn't spawn such a viral gesture as the poltern. After an intense first few minutes, it evolved into a small number of high-caliber battles and duels ending in either a single winner or double knock-outs.

In the same manner, the preliminaries continued. Some participants shone through their skill in battle, others through their valor. Especially the cultivators became popular among the audience, as their skills were very exotic and diverse in the eyes of the system folks.

The demons participating were not as lucky, as their magic was very similar to normal system magic, although they sometimes had cooler visual effects. However, no matter who stood on the stage, none of them was able to overshadow the very first performance of Polter and all the consecutive favorites would be cheered on with loud poltern.

Although not all powers were able to get into the tournament, a lot of exotic abilities were displayed during the preliminaries, even ones Leana had never heard about. There were cultivators using weird “Taoist” magic and others like the monk mumbling Huddbist chant to unfurl fantastic powers. There was even one that used something similar to golems, that managed to get into the tournament.

But surprisingly it wasn't just the the people of the Voracious Cloud Continent shining with weird powers, as there were participants from all parts of the Chrona Empire and some other nations of the Pathworks. Especially People like the Maggot Priest, The Centurion, or Nogad, who also when on into the tournament, stayed in people's memories.

Despite limiting the roster to people below lv.100, the 42 participants who entered the final tournament were extremely powerful. With none of them being below lv.95, they all were on the last stretch and knew the worth of this much publicity.

The high-level participants also guaranteed their audience ratings. However, they also observed the high-level participants carefully. The preliminaries had not been without incidents, although they had been kept away from the eyes of the public.

...

“How do you feel after going viral, Polter?” Seth asked laughing, patting the shoulder of the embarrassed dwarf. Ever since he won the first preliminaries, he had to live with the consequences of his actions. The poltern, a stone he had kicked off, was unstoppable and had kept going for the full four days of the preliminaries.

The blacksmith, the people of Minas Mar, and Polter's group had met for a meal. Seth had also invited some others like Lyca, Ember, and Hannibal Cho to the table. Of course, they didn't fit all the people on one table, it was more of a dining hall and the meal was more of a party celebrating the end of the preliminaries.

As one would expect, this was not just meant to be a friendly meal with everyone to catch up on old times and new gossip. They were all here for one...two simple reasons. They were friends, or Minas Mar was sure none of them belonged to a hostile faction.

There was one person who had actually asked for this opportunity. He was the winner of the 38th preliminary match. The reasons for his victory were the same reasons that made his the most shocking participant, to Seth... and to Mike.

At the time, Seth was filled with a mix of surprise and anger, when there was a man, proudly stepping into his arena, wearing a ram-horned helmet, ice-glider boots, a flaming sword, a familiar brigandine, and a special pair of gloves. A man cheeky enough to step before the blacksmith's eyes, wearing the stolen items he had been more or less searching for in Y-City.

However, after defeating all other participants with a starlight aura, he actually kneeled in the arena and announced his identity.

“The Chosen of Krios greets the great blacksmith. My god send me to ask for forgiveness and plead for an audience with you,” he said respectfully and lowered his head. It was a gesture of submission. Seth didn't quite know what to think of it, but it would have been a lie to say that he was not curious about the man and how he managed to get his hand on Mike's stolen gear.

This was why the Champion of Krios, was also part of the guests this evening.

...

On the night before the tournament, outside of Little Gamma, the group of robes met once again. The preliminaries had just ended and they met to adjust their plans.

“Didn't you say you had a plan?” the big robe asked with a smirk. The man with the silver mask looked disgruntled.

“I admit, I may have underestimated the competition. Even our secret pill couldn't gift them an easy victory... This world is weirder than I expected,” the man admitted. not even one of his henchmen made it past the preliminaries. One of them has suffered a trauma so great, he would probably be a vegetable for the rest of his life...

The big robe sighed.

“And you, didn't you say you had people in the preliminaries too? Which of them made it to the tournament?” he asked, turning to a normal human figure.

“We tried our best... but whenever we tried to get rid of one of the favorites, someone from Minas Mar would inexplicably appear, making it necessary to reveal ourselves if we were to go through with the plan. Their security net is extremely tight,” the immortal admitted. Despite his espionage experience as part of the now dismantled Scene, he and his brothers had been unable to do anything noteworthy during the preliminaries.

“Well, at least I have good news,” the man wearing a monkey mask said proudly.

“The Silk River Sect and its affiliates are already assembled not too far from here. They will attack when we give the signal. What about you, demon?” he asked the big robe.

“The other commanders have already traveled to Delta. We have been ready for a long time,” the bulky robe answered confidently. “Now, we can only hope for these vermin to do their work,” the demon said, making it obvious that he meant the remains of the Scene.

“Don't worry, the fleet won't get in our way. But can the Silk River sect really do it?”

“Unlike you, he is a true immortal, there is no need to worry,” Monkey Mask said dismissively.

Now, they only needed to wait for the right time.