Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

No spectacular fireworks, no big explosion, or a grand finale. Seth's song simply came to an end with Galvan falling over, unconscious. The blacksmith was the irrefutable winner of the match, yet it was Seth who had a cold shiver run down his spine.

The bard had realized where the power to discombobulate Galvan's brain came from. It resembled the power of the time when he enchanted the marvelous, magnificent, mad Yatagan Mim. At this point, Seth was sure it was Schalk, the demon of malevolent humor who had supported him on this gig.

He couldn't help the cold sweat on his skin, despite nothing happening to him this time. The fact that Schalk already appeared at least twice without Seth trying to call for him, meant that he had his eyes on the bard.

Remembering the stories the professor had told him, the feeling of burning alive in the presence of beans, or the urge to do the deed with any living creature one sees... Realizing that Schalk had helped him, was like he survived the encounter with a terrifying predator.

"Seth! Thank you!" Ember's voice brought him back to the present. While the blacksmith had been caught in his own thought, he had been officially announced the winner. Seeing him not react, Ember approached him.

"Are you okay?" she added when Seth stayed silent.

~Get it together, Man. You won, don't get hung up on this matter.~ Oz told him.

Although Seth refused to forget about Schalk's presence, the lyre was right, he couldn't get hung up about it. He had just won the right to a deal he didn't even know the details of. It was time to see what exactly he even won in this match, except for Ember's gratitude of course.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking. How's your grandfather?" he asked her with a smile.

"Grandfather woke up during your fight," she answered happily.

Things had turned better for Ember and his potential allies, however, Seth could feel the angry gazes from the majority of the crowd. The poor, misguided suckers that had bought into Galvan's bullshit had not been discouraged by Seth's show of overwhelming power.

Nobody dared say it out loud but could hear their whispers. He had to have cheated. There was no way a human could beat a demonic bard like this. Excuses for why their great "hero" lost so pathetically, none of them could accept that Galvan was just second rate.

"Then let's go talk with your grandfather. Unless of course there are more people asking for a beating?"

He called out the last part, his eyes wandering over the crowd, to see whether there was anybody dumb enough to stand up for their opinion. Seth was surprised, not. Nobody had the gall to step up, so he left the arena with Amber to meet her grandfather.

"I'm Dean Reppit Remington, thank you for your help. I'm glad that I finally have the chance to meet you in person. Ember told me a lot about you and Minas Mar," the elder demon greeted him.

The group moved to the Dean's office, for a private talk away from the crowd and some refreshing tea. During the conversation, Seth found out that the Dean had only recently returned to the college, finding that the situation in Delta and their society had tremendously worsened.

He explained once again that lately, foreign demons had started migrating here, abusing their treaty with Chrona and Delta as a means to infiltrate. The structure of their society was complex and there was no absolute leadership, however, public sentiment was turned against their human neighbors.

"Is this also the doing of the scene?" Seth mumbled, tired of that organization's shenanigans.

"No, it's not the Scene," the dean denied, surprising Seth.

"You know of the Scene?" he asked, as he was half-ready to explain who they were.

"I told you not to underestimate our information gathering," Ember reminded him.

"No, it's not Y-City behind this. They are followers of a Count who managed to open a portal from his domain to the North East of Urth," Dean Remington explained succinctly.

"So the gates to hell also opened on Urth? Great, just great..," Seth asked even more tired.

"I'm afraid so. Many of us also see this development as worrisome, especially how they find many supporters among our brethren. Delta's recent policies and their attempt to take influence on our society were not appreciated and pushed many to that side.

We do not wish to get into conflict with our own brothers or the natives, which is why we wish to migrate to Minas Mar. We have heard that you offered autonomy to the Tree Stations and are looking for people that could protect the populace in case of an emergency in your conflict with Y-City,"

"You really know an awful lot," Seth commented, and the old demon only nodded.

"This is why we wanted to prepare a gift to offer to you, this was also the reason Galvan suddenly challenged us to a duel when he found out about it."

Dean Remington brought out a scroll. Looking like ancient parchment, it possessed a powerful aura despite its fragile appearance.

"In addition to moving the musical branch to Minas Mar, we also intended to give you full access to our library and this to help you in your fight with Y-City. It is a family heirloom and recently recovered from one of our old residences."

"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your intentions but... How will access to the library and this scroll help me?" the blacksmith asked confused.

"The library will offer only supplementary knowledge, what is important is the scroll. It's not a simple skill scroll, but an inheritance scroll, created by one of our ancestors. This kind of scroll is created when a demon is about to die and they seal part of their soul in the scroll for their descendants to inherit it.

I heard from Ember, that you also work with souls, so you should know how difficult it is to split off a specific part of a soul while keeping the knowledge and properties intact. Not just is it risky, but it also means for the maker to lose this ability.

There are only a few demons that are born with this gift, making this inheritance scroll that much more valuable. You were looking for a way to defeat the abominable "immortal" creature that they have bred in Y-City. This power will help you," he said and gave Seth the scroll after hyping it up.

The bard's eyes flared up when he soon understood what the demon was talking about. It was an option Seth had not thought of before, but this was definitely going to work!

...

Looking down at one of the Hangingtree growing in a valley, was a young couple. A small child was playing in the snow behind them.

"These things really pop up everywhere like mushrooms, but somehow the air starts smelling nostalgic," the man said, scratching his horn.

"I get what you mean, Tearlach. Do you think we should look for a place to settle down now?" the beautiful woman asked in a dreamy voice.

"You are right, Uno. I think it will be better for him if we settle in a place until he is older. Then we can travel and show him this world," he agreed with her, smiling.

"But those things might get a little annoying," she said and pointed across the valley.

Following her pointing finger, Tearlach saw an army of creatures. They looked human, but something about them made them look more like empty shells. The lights were on, but nobody was home.

"Should we get rid of them?" he asked her, tilting his head questioning.

"We? Do you need my help? I think you can do it alone. I will take care of Ailbe, while you are gone."

Tearlach looked at his wife, who readily sent him into danger and only had eyes for their new son. He felt a little abandoned. But what could he do, it wasn't like he couldn't understand her.

"Alright, I will be back in a moment."