Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

As Tyr's Gavel turned another cultivator into a bloom of blood mist, he already felt the attack of the next one bashing against his back. It wasn't strong enough to overcome the defense of his armor, but it angered him slightly. With a backhand swing, there was another puddle of blood on the street.

Gallwell was already a little pissed because he missed part of the final and had to watch the rest on the public screen in the Pythian Plaza and not live. But ultimately he was glad that he had listened to Seth and his people.

Before the final ended Gamma Resistance and the Boulder Guild had assembled their men in the Pythian Village and spread across the city to prevent collateral damage and casualties among the public.

When the swarm of cultivators appeared in the sky, about every third cultivator and a bunch of foreign adventurers started attacking people and the infrastructure at random. Casting skill for wide area destruction, or sneak attacking pedestrians. It was a good thing most players vanished the moment the announcements rang only a few suffered from sneak attacks.

Gallwell and the people of Gamma Resistance were deployed around the Pythian Plaza, the biggest square in the village and the biggest venue for public viewing. It wasn't so he could watch the rest of the final, at least it wasn't the only reason.

Once the battle began, the plaza fit the criteria of a battlefield. It was the best place to max out the effects of his skills as the Chosen of Tyr, the god of war and justice. Apart from leadership buffs to his men, the trait Men of War also triggered.

The average level of the attackers was 75, not weak at all, but with the various battlefield buffs even the ordinary members of Gamma Resistance were able to go toe to toe with most of the attackers. allowing the people not involved to evacuate.

They jumped in to prevent damage, but in many cases, the intervention of the Guards or guilds wasn't even needed. The Pythian village wasn't a place ordinary citizens of Little Gamma would come without confidence in protecting themselves. Instead of running, many would join them in defending.

It was a scene, not too uncommon across the Pythian Village. The members of the guilds and the guards stopped the initial surprise attack across the city, preventing a panic. The tourists, the visitors, and even some of the residents who migrated here joined the battle after the initial surprise was gone angered by the sneak attacks, the overall situation, or the damage to their property.

...

Not everyone was so righteous that they would join the defense battle, or petty enough to turn around and stab their attacker in the back, the moment they got distracted. While Gallwell and the people of the guilds concentrated on fighting, many of the guards focused on evacuating the uninvolved citizens left in the Pythian Village.

These consisted mostly of cultivators that had come here for business, or to watch the tournament. Of course, they couldn't just let this crowd of people enter Little Gamma. This was why they had prepared several shelters across the Pythian Village with smaller barriers, to house the certified visitors and business owners.

Despite that, a large number of guards were bound at the pathway to cross barriers to enter Little Gamma. Not because there was a strenuous process of checking passports or something like that. People without permission to enter Little Gamma would simply bounce off the city barrier, unable to cross, anyway.

The pathway was clogged up by people who had no entry permission and decided to stay and argue with the guards, to gain access to Little Gamma, blocking the few people with permission who couldn't use <Home Call>.

“There is nothing we can do about it. If you didn't get the permit through official channels, you aren't able to cross the barrier,” the guards kept repeating. They didn't have the means, much less the permission or will to let random people flood into Little Gamma.

Not that they would have if they could. The guards were also local adventurers. They were clear about the chance that many of these people were spies, trying to get in and cause havoc. Despite their insistence that there was nothing they could do, the people stayed and argued, holding up the whole operation, maybe even on purpose.

“Let me in! I said let me in! I will not die in this place!” a man in blue robes screeched, pulling out the saber from the sheath at his hip. The moment the weapon left the sheath, the man lost consciousness and crumbled to the ground like a sack of potatoes. A figure had appeared behind him and K.O.ed him in a single strike.

“Listen here you maggots. If you have no permission to enter Little Gamma, then fuck off. Right now, nothing stops you from just leaving the Pythian Village and going outside. If you don't want to do that either then, step aside and stop causing trouble. Otherwise, you will end up like him and who knows what will happen to him?” the pissed Cade ordered the crowd.

She had large rings under her eyes. After being pulled off from the duty of protecting the construction site, she became the leader of the covert operations. Leana didn't blame her for what she did and in many ways, this was a promotion...

It was just so tiresome lately. She had not slept in days. Seeing this crowd of people just irked her to no end, on top of her already aggravated, sleep-deprived state. It reminded her too much of the last days in Gamma.

“You can't do this!” “You can't treat us like that!” “Do you know who I am!?” Obviously, a bunch of them were unwilling to take the order lying down. They quickly joined the first guy, literally taking the order lying down. Seeing her quickly deal with insurgents, the crowd fell silent.

“I will not argue about this. If you have no permit and stay to cause trouble, I will floor you and throw you outside the barrier myself. Everyone else get in line and leave quickly,” she shouted for everyone to hear, further silencing the crowd. With a sharp glare, the guards who had hesitated for a moment, also started ushering people to form orderly lines and sending them through the gateway.

...

---Delta---

Perturbed he looked to the sky above Delta. The clouds were hanging deep, swallowing the peak of the volcano the city snuggled up to and hiding the floating peaks in the surroundings. The sunset had colored them crimson, but something didn't seem right about the shade of red to be just the light of the sunset.

Rich stood at the window of his office on the tenth floor of the parliament building. As the last remaining member of the original Evaluation Team that followed the instructions of Delta's parliament, he was always on standby in case there was an attack on the assembly.

Ever since the sudden attack on Arget Nore by a yet-to-be-identified force , the assembly members were practically living in the parliament to come up with assistance and defense measures. As they stayed here, so did he and his team.

There was another meeting right now. But this time they were not talking about the undead. It was probably to watch the final of the Pythian Game with bated breath. They didn't want to admit it, but Minas Mar had long outgrown them. Adventurers and People with talent, striving for a greater future, would ultimately choose to leave Delta and live in one of the Tree Stations.

Rich couldn't blame them. Maybe he would have left, too, but the offer he got here was too good to leave. Since the attack on the granaries, things had gradually become worse in Delta. Lately, there had also been complaints from and against the forces of Chrona stationed in Delta.

Despite half their force in Delta being made up of people recruited here, public opinion had taken a weird turn and in answer to that, soldiers also complained about their treatment. It was like someone was manipulating public opinion to drive a wedge between Delta and the Chrona Empire.

The Slavemancer couldn't help but suspect the new ambassador of Chrona. At least it felt like things had gotten worse since he arrived. His attitude in meetings and on official events also wasn't very diplomatic. It was clear that he didn't like Urth and would randomly find details to pick on or bring up previous failings.

However, he was nothing more than a glorified bodyguard. His opinion didn't matter to the big shots, or they also knew but decided to stay silent. Either way, it didn't take much to see the Delta was caught in a downward spiral ever since Princess Leana wasn't in charge.

With idle thoughts, his eyes wandered over the city skyline in the distance. On the opposite side of the city was demon territory. The weird spires and eccentric alteration to the original city building had turned the demon district into a sight that wouldn't get boring.

His eyes focused on a pillar of bright red smoke rising between the high risers of the demon district. Another new feature. What exactly were the demons doing this time? Was it the start of another radical change like the part of the city enchanted with eternal shadows?

Rich was wasting his time thinking about the red smoke when he heard a great outcry from the assembly hall. With a swift move, he charged into the chamber, to find the politicians fixated on the hologram in the center.

It showed the Pythian Village, surrounded by a foreign fleet of flying vessels and cultivators. Little Gamma was being attacked!