Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

“Great, since you agreed to join, show me your souls, big, epic, and up please,” the blacksmith could finally get to business. This all started with him needing a soul for the shield, after all. The demon could only sigh, the Tower Master acted as if he didn't understand the situation, but knowing that he acted like this despite knowing was even more frustrating.

“Any preferences?” Tano'Mol asked. He had lost the energy to get upset anymore.

“A soul related to the earth element would be fitting,” the bard mused. Although the Mountain Borer had no magical affinity with the Earth, it was undeniably an earth elemental beast. Tano'Mol made a complicated expression, hearing his choice. The goat's face was hard to read since he was a goat and such.

“I don't have any big earth element souls anymore...” he said succinctly. It seemed like there was more to it, but the demon did not explain. On the other hand, Sandra suddenly proved to be surprisingly helpful.

“Before fleeing, Mr. Mol tried to bribe one of the Leaders under Bragmomal to hide his whereabouts using all the good earth elemental souls in the shop. It's safe to say, it didn't work,” Sandra jammed the metaphorical dagger into the goat's back, exposing what he felt as a shameful failure.

“Urgh, Sandra, whose side are you on?” the goat cried tragically, saddened by her betrayal.

“Ours, of course. Tower Master, the demon in question as you may have guessed a demon of the earth element. Her name is Azzo. Since you are going to pick a fight with Bragmomal anyway, why not harvest her soul?” Sandra deftly... crudely tried to set the bard up to directly take down one of their enemies.

As crude as this attempt to kill with a borrowed dagger was, her words were not wrong. Since he was going to pick a fight anyway, he could also start the harvest while his opponent still didn’t know that they were enemies.

“Tell me more about this…Azzo.”

…

“But before I go, let me choose a bunch of soul, as a commemoration of our new business relationship. For free, of course.”

The demon goat grimaced but nodded unwillingly.

…

Following Sandra’s descriptions, it was not hard for the blacksmith to find the base of Azzo. According to the lady, there were four followers of Bragmomal in Delta, that took the role of leaders of the faction. Each had their own base, across Delta’s demon district.

Against Seth’s initial guess, they were NOT called the four heavenly demons, or kings, they didn’t have a collective name at all. They were just people in the middle management, not worth having any great titles.

Understandably, Seth was a little bummed that his targets were just some cogs in Bragmomal’s War Machinery. Big cogs sure, but still, nothing world-shaking. The demon king would probably not even care about losing these guys.

The building Seth reached after following Sandra’s instructions was a former hotel that had now quite obviously been remodeled for the oldest profession in the world. Lavish decorations had been added to the modern façade, making the building look exotic and old.

Striking lighting and arcane advertisements that could not be misunderstood lured with promises of unforgettable nights with sexy and skilled demons that could cover any fetish. Blinded by the outside, the bard expected to go up against a succubus and once again get something like the soul of a seductress.

However, just because someone put up their base in a brothel, didn’t mean they also worked there themselves. Azzo was neither a slimy pimp nor a buff bouncer or a petite seductress, she resembled what internet culture used to call a muscle mommy.

She was tall and covered in firm muscles, only overshadowed by her considerable bust. Her skin covered in short, brown fur told stories of great battles as it was marked by many scars where no fur grew.

Although she was a demon, she resembled the Thijaak, with facial features like those of a cat or a lion, as well as a golden mane of hair and the fitting ears. What made her out as a lion, were the five pronounced black horns that emerged from her golden sea of hair.

Seth had entered invisible and found the demoness in the VIP lounge of the club that occupied the three bottom floors. Here she was, playing around with demons and demonesses alike, drinking alcohol and enjoying carnal pleasures.

She was a whopping lv.150 but absolutely defenseless. For a moment, he considered waiting and letting her finish her business. It seemed rude to interrupt her orgy for his profane business of killing her. A last nice memory before death, couldn’t he grant that? Nah, the blacksmith didn’t have a fetish to watch others at work.

With a practiced snap, pop, and crackle the body lost her life, soul, and body, as everything wandered into Seth’s inventory, leaving her partner's confusion that quickly grew to hysteria. Panicking, these weaker demons started crying for help and running around like headless chickens.

Now, the bard could have reaped the whole field, but it would have lowered the impact of what he just did. There was a difference between killing and making the body of a high-ranking subordinate disappear with nobody knowing how and getting rid of all the witnesses. Also, Seth didn’t want to touch them.

Azzo was one thing, but he would not voluntarily touch these people covered in…stuff. Anyway, he had various reasons to let the witnesses live, and quickly booked it, leaving the brothel behind. Although Seth already had the soul he wanted and more, he still had three more houses to visit. He felt like the Krampus, going around, catching bad children.

…

---Former of Epsilon---

Bragminima, a buff demon with ruby-red skin, was sitting on his throne of skulls. He was the blood brother of Bragmomal and the first of his Four Dukes, the demons directly below the king. He had been sent to this new world, following the summon of local demon worshippers.

Unfortunately, they had suffered some setbacks facing the resistance of Epsilon. The survivors went as far as to bomb their own city, leaving the demon only with a massive field of ruins and a pitiful number of followers in this world.

“So, you are telling me, that we lost Azzo, Mazzo, Ipso, and Faxo?” he asked undeniably pissed.

With so few worshippers remaining, the conjuration of their troops to Urth was arduous and slow. They had sent people to the other districts to look for willing natives who would sell their souls and services for power.

This was an unfortunate necessity for their troops. Since they did not descend with their true bodies, they would be under severe restrictions in a foreign world, unless they were properly summoned to this plane by a native of this realm.

The Scene had been quite open to deal with them, but they had vanished a few weeks ago in an incident that involved a true lord. Leaving them with nothing in return of their cooperation, not even space to complain in that matter.

As for Delta, there already was a big population of demons, originally of a moderate faction, there were many forces vying to take the power in this place. Now they had lost the four executives they had sent there to grow their forces in a mind-numbingly weird manner.

“Yes, we got reports that each of them was killed in front of a crowd of witnesses, without anybody being able to see the assailant or react or their bodies had been taken. Even their Soul has vanished without a trace.”

“Even their souls…” This was the most depressing part.

A demon dying on a foreign plane meant nothing. Usually, their souls would return to their true bodies, and they would be able to descend again when summoned with the corresponding sacrifices. But there was nothing they could do if someone stole their souls.

“Do we have any clue about who could have done this?”

“...Not yet, I’m sorry. Without proper leadership, the investigations are slow, and it doesn’t seem like there are any rumors yet, about what faction would have a reason for such drastic measures.”

“Then make sure to tell them, to summon a new leader and fix this problem.”

“Yes, your highness.”