Hitman with a Badass System

The sudden appearance of the past Dark Lord surprised Michael. But deep down, he expected the Dark Lord to leave a holographic recording of himself. The moment Michael stepped into the forge, he felt like he owned this place. For a few seconds, the Dark Lord's image flickered in the air. The device he left had been lying dormant for thousands of years. It was a miracle the device was still in working condition.

"I knew you would find the forge. Listen carefully. By the time of this recording, I don't know how long this message will last or when you will reach the place," said the Dark Lord. He talked to Michael with his hands behind his back. Unlike earlier, the Dark Lord looked relieved and even had a smile on his face.

"I have made some mistakes. That's what makes me human. But soon, everything would go back to normal. I hope you have found some of the armor pieces I left behind. Find them all and forge yourself a new one. Trust me, you will need it soon. I know you will feel frustrated by all the cryptic messages. To be honest, I'd too. But this time array and time travel are not as simple as we think. Even now, I can't tell you my whole story as much as I want to. Our friend strictly ordered me not to," The Dark Lord emphasized the words 'our friend'. Michael had a feeling he was talking about the system. Since the system itself ordered him not to reveal his story, Michael couldn't blame the past Dark Lord.

The Dark Lord smiled. Michael was pleased to see his past self smile.

"This forge is my gift to you, along with my hammer. You need it to forge powerful weapons and armor. If my guess is right, you might be in a financial mess, and that's why you are here in the first place. When this recording is over, you will receive something that will open up a portal directly to this forge. But you must build a powerful portal in your castle first if you hadn't already," The Dark Lord paused for a moment and looked around as though he was searching for something. Meanwhile, Michael was delighted to hear he could travel to the demons grave and to the forge from his castle. It seemed like his past self was more powerful and resourceful than he initially thought. Which made Michael wonder more about what the hell happened that pushed him to reset the entire universe. He had a feeling it was connected to Gaya but didn't know the whole story behind the past Dark Lord's reasoning.

"Where the hell did it go?" the past Dark Lord searched for something frantically. A few seconds later, he turned his focus back to Michael.

"The monsters you fought on your way here, they were modified by an asshole to fight me. Of course, I could kill them with a snap, but I don't think it would be true for you. So tread carefully. And keep Vedora out of trouble. I really miss the time when they were tiny and cute. The grownup Vedora," The past Dark Lord sighed and let out an exhausted smile.

Vedora frowned as Ayag almost hissed at the Dark Lord.

"After your trip to the demons grave, I hope they still call the place that, your life will get a whole lot tougher. But here's a piece of advice from yourself to you, not everything is black and white. Also, don't always go for the kill. Some of our enemies are far more valuable alive than dead," as he said, the Dark Lord turned around and walked to his work table. Due to some reason, Michael couldn't clearly see the table or what he was working on. The time had corroded the recording and made it impossible to see anything other than the Dark Lord.

"This array will fix everything," Michael heard the Dark Lord mumble. Then, he turned around once again.

"What else I thought about telling you?" The Dark Lord rubbed his chin for a moment,

"Ah yes," The Dark Lord snapped his finger, showing his sudden realization.

"Finish your castle as soon as you can and spare no expense. You have no idea how many tried to penetrate mine and lost their lives. Sooner or later, you will get tired of all the killings," The Dark Lord paused as his expression grew darker.

"Don't get tired. Because you are just starting your life as the Dark Lord. Always provide a reason for the people to fear you,"

"My lord," suddenly, Michael heard another voice. It sounded wise and elderly, but he had heard this voice before.

"Elidyr?" Michael frowned. He sounded old, very old.

"Are you recording another message for yourself again?" Elidyr asked the Dark Lord like a strict father. Unfortunately, Michael couldn't see Elidyr in the recording.

"Hey, is that Elidyr I am hearing?" Ayag asked Cain and Sarba in a husky voice.

"I think so," Sarba nodded.

"You cannot leave these messages everywhere, my lord. It will create unwanted branches in the timeline. You already took a big risk by breaking down your armor and leaving them behind. Who knows what catastrophe it's going to bring?" Elidyr yelled at the Dark Lord.

"Look on the bright side, Elidyr. We won't be here to see it," The Dark Lord shrugged.

"Come on. Finish what you are doing. We have a lot to do in a short time," said Elidyr.

"You became grumpier with age. Relax and give me some time alone with myself," The Dark Lord looked over his shoulder and winked at Michael. The Dark Lord waited until Elidyr left the room.

"Huugh," The Dark Lord sighed.

"I am going to miss many things, but grumpy Elidyr is not one of them. Try to find a way to stop him from getting older, because you do not want him to. Trust me," The Dark Lord chuckled.

"Who am I kidding? I am going to miss that old elf. It feels good to have someone look you in the eyes and lecture you," said the Dark Lord. At the peak of his life, no one dared even look at him, let alone lecture him. Almost the entire world trembled at the mere mention of his name. Only a few people existed in his timeline who had the guts to speak their minds before him. Elidyr was one of them. Just by looking into the Dark Lord's eyes, Michael could tell how much he would miss his world. The Dark Lord sacrificed everything so Michael could fix his mistakes and live the life he deserved. Soon, the hologram began to flicker.

"Despite his advice, I will still leave some recordings for you. Take care of everyone and everything. Who knows, we might even meet at some point. After all, time is a mysterious thing, and life is full of surprises," After these words escaped the Dark Lord's mouth, he vanished into thin air. As soon as he disappeared, the table before Michael trembled. A copper ring big enough to fit in his hand materialized on the table. With another tremor, a silver hammer with many intricate runes engraved in it appeared. At first, Michael gently grabbed it and studied the ring.

"Is that a portal?" asked Ayag as Michael nodded.

"With this, we can get in and out of the demons grave as we please," said Michael with a grin. Countless ideas popped into his mind and made him excited for the journey ahead. However, his excitement was doused by the Dark Lord himself when he appeared again above the table once again in the holographic form.

"And forgot to tell you, the monsters in this realm aren't your typical XP farm. Every death makes someone I can't name strong. Don't make your enemies stronger," The Dark Lord warned Michael. Judging by the serious tone of his voice, Michael let go of the idea of farming Experience points by killing the monsters here.

"What did he mean by XP farm?" Sarba asked his siblings, but they seemed confused as a child lost in a parade.

After warning Michael, the Dark Lord's figure completely vanished into thin air. The Dark Lord left Michael with more questions than answers. For instance, Michael wanted to know who created these monsters in the demons grave, as well as how he would grow stronger with the death of each monster. The more time Michael spent in the realm, the more he realized there was more to this place than meets the eye.

Finally, Michael took a deep breath and decided to clean the mess in the forge. Returning to the metal pipe, Michael sent a stream of dark flames and continued to melt the dark metal bars. Although he was focused on forging the swords and cleaning the forge, he couldn't help wondering about everything he had heard from the past Dark Lord.

Michael lost track of time working the forge. While Vedora was asleep on the table, he continued to melt down the metal bars. After two days, to be exact, Michael saw the metal bars completely melt and take a liquid form. He covered his palms with dark flames and lifted up the cauldron with dark metal liquid inside. Sweat beads formed on his forehead as he slowly carried the cauldron to the table. When he reached the table, he slowly poured out the black liquid into the metal block with the sword-shaped hollow. The black liquid ran through the hollow, slowly taking the shape of a sword. After filling both metal blocks, Michael placed the cauldron on the floor. A typical blacksmith would wait for the liquid to harden, but Michael was anything but typical. Hence, he took out his Doom bringer and summoned frost to cool down the black liquid. The black liquid sizzled as tiny red lightning bolts cracked around the metal block. Somehow, the dark metal created these tiny lightning bolts. These lightning bolts crackled around the black liquid like tiny guardians.

Michael focused the frost beam toward the black liquid, tempering the metal. Even with the frost beam, the black liquid took hours before slowly starting to harden. He then grabbed the hammer, preparing to douse the dark swords into hot lava and shape it up.