Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth quite liked the name, but "A demonic device of doom."?

Seth looked across the broken landscape and pulverized glacier. Mutilated monster corpses were slowly freezing in the cold wind. After some tests, Seth could not deny that. He could have expected it since he witnessed what simply plucking a string of <Essence of Kova> was able to do but it had not weakened a lot, despite everything he had done to dampen the effect.

It was all to make it more controllable, yet it was still called a device of doom in the flavor text. Even with the wheel of the hurdy-gurdy gently bowing the strings and the strings themselves being wrapped in a softer material to weaken even that force... the power was overwhelming.

There was no way to deny the flavor text. On that note, it didn't mention his titles as a master this time. Another indicator that likely his <Instrument Maker> was counted as the primary skill, making him simply Craftsman Smith.

Of course, it was not the flavor text that got his heart beating in excitement before. For starters, he found that the Blessing of Paimon could increase any music played with the Devil's Wheel Fiddle by 250%. Not only that, but he also got one of the skills of the demonic king.

<Active Skill: Paimon's Presence No Cost, Duration:2 minutes, Cooldown: 24h

"He maliciously inflicts severe psychological, physical and spiritual torment upon his victims, including reconstruction of traumatic events, as well as horrifying visions and nightmares."

Imitates the presence of the Pale King, Paimon, to all hostile targets in the range of played music.>

One needed to play during the whole duration for the effect to take hold, but this and the blessing meant he had done quite well in his performance. The blacksmith was greatly relieved that he had not somehow offended one of the big shots. He was also greatly shocked when he saw what it could do to the monsters in the vicinity.

That was, those who survived Kova's Thunder, the explanation for the apocalyptic power he had felt the first time he dared to pluck a string. The description described it as the power of Kova's last roar, that would be imbued in every note created by the instrument.

Seth had immediately decided, that he would find a quiet place in the mountains to tune and practice with this thing. He had used the Tower's teleport to go to the very edge of its range. After he registered with the computer-like ego he had tuned and tested the Devil's Wheel Fiddle.

The power of Kovas Thunder was benign when he played gently, thanks to his various countermeasures. However, when he played more aggressively it was barely weaker than the note that shook Minas Mar and the city above. The very mountain cliffs around him had cracked and he believed some of the weaker monsters to have exploded...

The fiddle also inherited the power of both traits of the soul. Charming Voice kept the same effect but for the music played instead of a voice. The question was how useful it was when coupled with Kova's Thunder.

Calm, quiet play could charm weaker enemies and the moment he played more aggressively they would explode. The other trait was in a similarly ambiguous situation. The Beast of Dawn had little direct effect on the music or most of the other effects and skills since they were all of demonic and dark nature. What it affected was the very first effect.

Disposition of the Guardian Tree inherited the dualistic nature of the soul and the wood. Leana had told him, that a Guardian tree was fundamentally different from other well-known trees, like the Tree of Life, a Phoenix Tree, or a World Tree. A Guardian Tree would not only guard and protect but also retaliate and kill.

This effect had two sides, one was the inherent nature of the Hangingtree, capturing and draining its victim's life to supplement itself. Music could hinder movement and drain the life force from targets. On the other hand, it had the power of the Guardian Tree that would help and protect allies. The drained power would be turned into support and healing for allied troops.

The former part was of dark attribute and the latter of light attribute, as such it would be boosted by the Beast of Dawn if he played his music in darkness or twilight. The Beast of Dawn would also affect supportive songs, but as a demonic bard, Seth had few songs of purely good nature. So the effect would mostly boost the passive effects of the Disposition of the Guardian Tree.

Lastly, there were the other skills. <Illusion Notes> and <Sound of Madness> were the result of the soul's attributes from its former life. The former could create illusions that depended on the person listening while the latter could induce various curse effects that would be counted as madness, such a going berserk, confusion, or being unable to differentiate friend from foe.

<Music of Twilight> was unfortunately not a skill that could directly create a field of twilight for him. The passive skill simply strengthened the power of all music when in dim surroundings. These were the things he found out from the descriptions and texting it in the mountains outside Delta.

Seth's conclusion: Great for large-scale battles. Absolute overkill in any situation where he had to mind collateral damage. In other words, perfection.

The bard took special care as he put away the Devil's Wheel Fiddle and returned to Minas Mar.

…

---Cinema Dimension---

After the big advertising event in the Holy Land, the gods have, once again, returned to their smaller private theater to enjoy the show in a more prestigious company.

"Is there anyone who knew Kova? What kind of freak made him die that way?" Apollo asked taken aback. They had just seen the blacksmith's "tests" with differing reactions.

The happiest of them was obviously Seth, who appreciated a good scene of destruction and mayhem. Hermes may have been the second happiest. Hades was stoic as ever, while Hephaestus had a knowing smile on his face. He was looking forward to something.

"You would have a hard time finding someone who knew him personally. After his little sister killed him she single-handedly initiated the twilight of the gods and slaughtered their whole pantheon directly or indirectly, becoming that world's main deity;" the Dungeon God commented grimly.

"Two-faced little bitch," the System God added, the bright stars covering his robe pulsing like an animation.

"Whoa, she managed to offend both of you?" Hermes asked in awe and horror.

"Oh, you know. As one may expect, killing all the gods on a world in a matter of centuries without giving it time to stabilize can kick a world out of balance. I thought it was interesting and offered to add it to the Pathworks to stabilize it. At least so it wouldn't break apart.

When things turned better, she had the gall to brand me as an evil invader to unite her people who started killing people from the system church. She used the resulting surge of power after the unification, to shield her world against the Pathworks and my eyes," the god complained incensed.

"Was that the last thing you heard of her? Then I have good news, most of her religion fell to ruins after she picked a fight with me!" the Dungeon God commented triumphantly.

"What's the point if I couldn't even watch..." the wizard robe said bummed.

"Wanna make a new bet?" the brown robe suddenly asked.

"Ho? You want to lose again. Go ahead."

The gods present started sweating a little. Those two were at it again, they could only hope Seth's hurdy-gurdy could help him in the adversities to come.

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