Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

--Y-City--

Her heels made echoing clacks with every step as she walked down the tales hallways to the annex. It was a beautiful woman wearing a black Gothic dress walked toward the great wooden door that slowly opened as she drew close.

Following the invitation, she entered the dim room, filled with antique and lavish decorations. Everything was decorated in the opulent style that was in style centuries ago. It was not just a recreation, the whole mansion had been disassembled and reassembled here during the construction of the Ypsilon District.

"We lost connection with the troops we sent to Agra. The last message we got was that Minas Mar had arrived and they were proceeding with the plan, but-"

She was interrupted by a huge sigh. Slumped over the massive desk in the darkness, was a languid man. His delicate build was accentuated by the frilly silk shirt he wore. His skin was almost translucent and so pale, it seemed to glow in the dark.

"Again. Minas Mar this, Minas Mar that! How come we manage to infiltrate governments and even the most secure companies, but it's always Minas Mar somehow interfering at every step of the way?" he lamented drowsily.

"Their choices are...unusual," the lady conceded curtly.

"Right, they never move the way one would expect. We still don't know nearly enough about them to make adequate plans.- Ah, I don't mean to blame you Court Seamstress. You are doing great work. They are just so-"

"Secretive. They choose their allies strictly by character instead of skill or education. it#s hard to get anyone in, or anything out of their members."

"And that guy, what was his name? Smith? He lashes out at any small provocation, like a rabid dog, but then proceeds to prove surprisingly deliberate at times. It's annoying."

"No not worry, your Lordship. We have already come so far. Ypsilon, Delta, and the remnants of Beta are already in our hands. Minas Mar will not stand in the way of your great goal of unifying Urth for much longer," she said convinced.

"What makes you so confident about that?" he mumbled, looking up at her.

"Our messengers managed to make contact with a bugger clan of the Voracious Cloud Continent. They have already pledged to help us with our little problem in exchange for our cooperation here."

"ho? I see. Why didn't you start with that?" the man suddenly said excitedly and stood up.

"I wished to surprise you with the good news," she answered with a light blush.

"Oh, you beautiful woman. How about you stay with me for the night, so I can thoroughly reward you."

"Oh, your Lordship!" she said embarrassed but didn't deny him.

--Beta--

A vortex at the coast signified their arrival. Soon after rows upon rows of mermen appeared at the shore of the fallen district. At their helm was not Prince Mur, but a human man was proudly taking the lead as they landed on familiar soil.

Adam, the man who once woke up as a research subject, only to become a rebel leader in Beta, had now returned as the official Governor of Beta. He was personally appointed by Emperor Mur, the new leader of the Muir Empire, also known as the maritime empire to the people of Urth.

Under the rule of the new Empire, Adam returned to his people with a new approach. Emperor Mur gave him the full authority to work on a healthy environment for the people and further a friendly relationship with the ori huma of Urth.

It had been months for Adam, since he and the research subjects that had managed to regain their ego, had left Beta following Mur, who was still a Prince back then. The city had changed a lot. From initial reports of their scouts, most remnants of humans and the former merman troops had been wiped out by the growing presence of powerful monsters on Urth from the Pathworks and Dungeon breaks.

Other districts were probably fine, but Beta was without protection and left to decay, without its original inhabitant. The mutant nature was quickly reclaiming the massive cityscape at the shore.

"It seems like the first step will be to clean up at least part of Beta and return it to a state fit for human habitation," Adam mumbled.

He was standing in a command tent, looking at a table-sized, rough map of Beta. Aside from him were the commanders and advisors Mur had sent as his aid. They were all experienced warlords, that agreed with Mur's more empathetic approach to conquest.

"I suggest this satellite city northeast of the central city. It didn't see many battles, so most buildings should still be intact."

"That doesn't mean much. The humans have built this city atop subterranean greenhouses. Any of those could have turned into a dungeon, spewing out destructive beasts at any time. We take into account more than just the surface condition of the place."

Adam nodded grimly.

"We will also need to send some people to Delta, or Y-City to look for technicians. The power plants will be offline after all this time. Not to mention the infrastructure and other facilities," the former human added.

Adam knew what people expected from living in a city and he knew what was needed to provide it. This didn't mean he knew how all of it functioned. It would be easiest to see if they could get some experts from other districts.

The problem was who to send. Delta would not outright massacre an envoy, but it was much further away. Y-City on the other hand was closer but had more than enough reason to hate the Muir Empire for their first wave of invasion. There was no way that they could just show up and go: "Yeah, sorry for that. We have a new emperor now, so everything should be okay between us, right?"

"Let us go, Adam," a muscular woman spoke up.

She looked mostly human, except for the few pairs of ocean-blue scales here and there on her skin. The woman with a similar build to Adam was from an earlier batch of lab rats of the same experiment. Like most of the others, she could not perfectly return to her human form, but they were definitely more human than the mermen.

The other subjects of the experiment were standing behind her. They volunteered to be the envoys and go to Y-City to look for technicians that could help restart Beta's infrastructure. They also decided to send a group of envoys to Delta.

"Good, and while they are gone, we should concentrate on where to settle," one of the advisors returned to the original topic. For now, they identified all the places that had a high chance to be intact, to send scouts for closer inspections.

Even though it was only their first day in Beta, they were moving things quickly. They had already secured the portal, set up a reinforced bridgehead, and scouted the immediate surrounding while sketching up their plans for the future.

After the long day, Adam was tired when he finally entered his private tent. Despite his fatigue, he felt excited since he finally had the chance to build something. Mur had given him a taste of building power, and now he wanted more.

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