339. When the Hammer falls

The giant flying insect dived down and then charged up toward the chanting angel. It got ready to dodge as it kept its chanting up and summoned the lower messengers for the ritual.

When the centipede drew nearer, there was an incomprehensible mumbling growing in volume. As the distance shrunk, the mumbling fused to a song, and it pulled the angel's attention like an itch.

...

People chanting songs they shall never share And no one is to dare Disturb the sound -

In shock, it realized how close the centipede had come and wanted to dodge, but there was no need to! It simply rushed past him. The ritual was almost completed, but the sound of the song increased. It tugged at his mind and delayed his magic.

...

Take my vow~ that I will reach you That my words, like silent raindrops fall to turn you into the wells of -

Something hit his back and almost broke his concentration. He felt the weight. He felt someone grabbing onto him, but he could not see him.

- And all will whisper in the sound of silence~

It was too late. His chant stopped as if stuck in his throat. The whole setup of the rituals was suddenly broken apart by a ripple originating from the angel leader. As if hit by a wave of nothingness, all the lights, the ritual, and any unfinished magic in the vicinity were negated.

He could not chant; he could not even cast any magic to protect him from the invisible assailant. A terrifying heat started spreading through his body. It struggled to get the attacker off, but it was far from strong enough.

Another song started after the first one ended. Was this...dwarven tongue?

With thy fire and my force is made, Every metal, axe, and blade-

TING!

A clear clash resounded and everyone on the battlefield could hear it. The angel's head was struck by an overpowering blow, and he was thrown into disarray

Metal wrought like fishes' mail, And dragon scale, to keep you hale-

TING!

The angel had a hard time as he was kept being hit in the head with great force and started falling. A weird energy kept invading his body and he was unable to realize what was going on.

The molten metal poured, And pounded into sword-

TING!

With every strike, he lost his consciousness and could not stop his fall. Like a virus, the foreign energy kept invading and there was nothing he could do...

The blade be forged and bound the hilt; Hordes are gored and blood be spilt-

TING!

Confused and trapped in agony it just wanted this to end.

TING!

The impact came, but no end was near as it was not the final strike. It was the ground and its back crashed and bend over a huge metallic object. The metal messenger of a god was draped over an anvil while a blacksmith was forging him to death.

Buckler and corslet, axe and sword, And shining spears will slay the horde-

TING!

Like a waking call, the clangs of iron being forged woke the survivor on the battlefield. As if lured by the clear ring, they stumbled towards the sound and assembled in the vicinity.

Even since the ritual was, the lower angels just stood in the air as if in a stupor. Easy prey for the hungry Ivicer.

No matter how many people surrounded the big anvil that had appeared out of nowhere, the blacksmith's hammer never stopped. He had taken off the Helm of Hades. Sweat was pouring down his face, but in his eyes, there was a craze that kept people from approaching.

Even Marcel and Elza soon joined and sometime later Duhu and the others also joined. They all just watched in horror and fascination as the humanoid figure was forged alive. Limbs became swords or shafts as the creature was still struggling chaotically.

But wherever the hammer fell, its smoldering body went rigid. As the work went on, the struggle was beaten out of the material and turned into lifeless equipment.

One leg became a spear, the other a poleax. One arm became a sword, the other a staff. Every time one was done it was severed from the torso.

Then Seth started to strike the chest and turned it into plates that became a shield and a breastplate. Finally, it was only the head left.

Deformed from mighty strikes, it had an expression of absolute confusion and horror on its face. So much that many of the audience could not watch any longer and had to turn away.

Ting~

The forge's fire, ashen-cold; No song is sung, no hammer falls.

With this, the song finally ended and Seth was done.

In the end, the head became a helmet, a mask, and a set of daggers.

The mask was the face of the angel leader, still being able to move. Seth could have easily harvested its soul. But this was his revenge for making him go through the last weeks. Imprisoning its ego into an item that would be used by others, like a slave.

This seemed like fitting revenge to him.

Unfortunately, he could not see any option for these items. Was it because they were made from a material foreign to the system? Like Puffles, who did not conform with the system, because it was the divine messenger of a deity that never joined it?

He would have to try them out, like the Helm of Hades.

When Seth looked up in thought, his eyes met with the shocked gazes of the crowd.

"What? Why are you all standing there? Don't you people have better stuff to do!? How about you rubbernecks go and help the injured and look for survivors, huh?!" he started scolding them after a moment of silence.

The crowd dispersed as if they had just waited for a chance to get away. Only Duhu with his party, Marcel, Elza, the Archer, and the Chimera Leader stayed. Looking at them he could only sigh.

"Are the other leaders... dead?"

"Even if they are not, they were not among the people healthy enough to come and watch." the chimera said matter of factly.

"Oh yeah, did you meet any people on your way out?" Seth asked when remembered the quest he had come across.

Unexpectedly it was Elza, the cold beauty, that had a sudden big reaction.

"The children! We have to look for them. They might be terribly hurt. Let's hope it's not too late!" she exclaimed and rushed off.

"Oh, right! We should look for them!" marcel agreed and ran after her.

Seth looked at the archer and the chimer.

"Can you... elaborate this?"

The archer ignored that he was asked a question. Only the chimera was kind enough to update Seth on everything that happened to the caravan lately.

"A group of children that learned magic without joining the system, yet? Interesting. Let's go look for them."

"I believe they erected some kind of wooden dome to protect themself in that direction." the archer suddenly gave useful information and pointed in a direction.

At a huge pile of broken wood, they found Elza, Marcel, and a few others hard at work to lift the rubble and search for the children.

"Get away from the pyre, I mean the rubble. Let me deal with it."

Ever since he gained the trait of "Kin of Fire" his fire manipulation had made a huge leap, not just in raw power but also in control. In close vicinity, he could even use his <Pyrokinesis> as a sense of heat detection to detect living beings.

Using this he could pinpoint the location of survivors and burn away any wood that was in their way.

It was only when he tried to calm down and concentrate on this sense that he noticed a gaze latched onto him. It was a young girl, maybe 11 or 12 that was staring at him intensely.

"Erm... don't worry, I will find your friends?" Seth said awkwardly. He had no idea how to deal with children or what was best to say here. That's why he decided to drop the standard line from movies and TV.

Then he did his best to ignore the girl and concentrate on actually finding those friends. After half an hour he had freed 7 children from the pile of wood... but that was it. All others were...

"I'm sorrry, but there are no other survivors trapped in this pile."