Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Minas Mar had a rough idea of how many enemies they currently had on the Voracious Cloud Continent, thanks to Marco and the presently missing Paolo. The sect alliance at the rim of the XiGuang Province where the entrance to Urth had appeared was not a joke.

Although they were removed from the central powers, even small Sects on the Voracious Cloud Continent couldn't be underestimated. Yet, this force even had the help of a great force within the system worlds.

“So it's Spatia again,” everyone realized with a sigh.

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It didn't take much brain gymnastics to find out who it was. They knew that the Scene was involved with Spatia and according to their recent information, even some demons. With the remnants of the Scene and the demons of Bragmomal had both appeared to cooperate in recent incidences, it was not hard to guess, that Spatia was also supporting this operation.

The rival empire of Chrona had even gone as far as to send people equipped with legendary items, during the the war with Y-City. Most of them had found their way to the hands of Minas Mar. This time they went as far as to set up such a huge teleportation formation. the price must have been astronomical.

“This explains how they want to get past the gate surveillance,” Luf gave a conjecture. With the passage between the Cloud Continent and Urth being the only way in, Minas Mar was naturally observing it vigilantly. However, with a teleport formation like this, they wouldn't need to use the passage at all.

“According to the report, the agent that went in was able to listen in on some conversations. it seems that they really intend to attack during the final when the tournament garners the most attention. That means we only have a few hours, right?” Mina mentioned, flipping through the papers.

“Right, but now that we have this last puzzle peace, we can give them the welcome they deserve,” Luf mentioned with a smile. With the information they had gotten from Adam Clarke, their investigations, and this report, they had a pretty clear idea about how things were supposed to go down, according to their plan.

“Wait, aren't we hitting them right away?” Fin asked surprised and a little disappointed. The fairy brute was always in the mood for the direct approach. Since they had the location and an estimate of their current troops, why not just storm the place right away? This way, they could directly get rid of a potential threat to the citizens and audience.

“Where's the fun in that?” Faenys asked with a grin. “ They are coming to the doors of how stronghold, challenging us. We should crush them in the most humiliating way possible, to send a message to everyone else,” the mountain brigand and chosen of Phobos voiced her opinion.

Although nobody voiced it like this, everyone had a similar idea. Since they already knew the enemy plan, it was best to use them for their own goals, instead of snuffing them out in secret. Seth also considered that their base in the mountains probably wasn't without security. Why start a siege on their own, when the enemy wanted to smash their head on their door?

“I just had a good idea how to tie it in with the purpose of the Pythian Games,” the blacksmith said with a sinister smile. the team spent the two-hour break, coming up with their plan.

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The break finally ended around noon. people had the chance to relax and have a meal before the meat of the tournament finally began.

“Welcome back, everyone! Did you enjoy the break?” Umi Kaldrops greeted the audience. The break came to an end, and it was time for the reveal of the voting and the subsequent drawing for the quarter-finals.

During the break, the arena floors had been repaired and upgraded to luxurious Mithril plates. Since rare marble didn't cut it anymore, they really had to move on to rare metal. Apart from Umi, the final five of the last round were also assembled in the arena.

“Your votes are in! The audience has chosen their three champions to return for the quarterfinals and they are: In first place with over 40% of the votes, Lyca, the Amazon, returns for the quarter-finals!”

Cheers rocked the stadium. Her great performance and sportsmanship in the last fight of the previous round had captured the heart of the audience and voided her forfeit. With a bright smile, Lyca joined the five already in the arena.

“In second with a whopping 20% we welcome back Bercy, the Beast,” Umi called out and the werewolf warrioress came up to the arena. She showed a roguish grin, as she waved to the audience. Who would have thought that she had this many supporters among the live audience and not just in the chat?

“And lastly, with 15% of the votes, we welcome back Dowloon, the Shadows under the Rosebushes,” Umi called out the last returnee. Dowloon, the Poison fairy, walked up to the arena with light steps and joined the row of participants. Unlike the other two, she didn't react to the cheers of the audience.

Seth felt a little disappointed, that Polter was not given the chance to return after he had such a great impact on the audience during the preliminaries. But it seemed like the hype had died down, with his loss. On the other hand, the impact of a beautiful woman would never let up. The audience had made sure to raise their woman quota for the quarter-finals.

With the 8 participants for the quarter finals assembled, it was time for the last random draw the the Martial Tournament. Like before, each participant stepped forward to pull a lot from the pot in Rayki's hands. Each of the eight drew a number, under the excited gaze of the audience watching with baited breath.

“With this, we have our match-ups for the quarter-finals!” Umi announced once Lyca had taken out the second to last lot. The big screen in the stadium showed the pairings for the next round.

Caleb vs Bercy

Mathias Bartholomew vs Nam

Lyca vs Ibelin Godfrey

Dowloon vs Dark Wizard of Mug

...

“You now have another 10 minutes to make your bets in the stadium, before the quarter-finals commence,” Umi informed the audience. In the meantime, everyone but Caleb and Bercy left the arena.

Caleb looked over at the woman in fur armor, judging her strength. The Dragon Knight felt like crying, seeing his money flow away from him. If he had faced Lyca or Nam at least, he could have given up gracefully, with a good excuse for Jane.

The day before, when he intended to get his winning from the bet, he had a short meeting with Jane. The Lord of Minas Mar had... suggested that he would invest the money from betting into trying to win the tournament.

In the end, he guessed it was still better that he was allowed to use the money to get items, than not getting the money at all. Apparently, betting on himself wasn't 100% legal. He had still hoped to surrender in this round and save the items, maybe selling them off later in secret...

“Don't look too much. I already have a suitor,” she joked when she noticed his looks. Caleb couldn't help but cringe. His luck was really the worst. He had already given up on winning the tournament, but since he had a relatively high chance against her when using potions, he was forced to waste his money on a lost cause, he really didn't want to know what Minas Mar would do to him if his performance wasn't convincing...