The battle of the titan blade had kickstarted the tournament in high spirits, the entire coliseum coming alive with the fervor of ascenders dueling for the glory of their respective houses. Alvar sol blade had gone next, pitting his powers against a diamond of house storm razor. The battle had started just as how all expert battles would, a clash of realms, the realm of the ever burning sun, and the storm razor, a realm of dark clouds, intent blowing with the wind in a ferocious gale that covered the whole fighting space.
The ruler ranked protective runes forged by the true blade himself glowed faintly as they held back the force of the realm, the spectators watching with wide eyes. Alvar literally glowed, his golden mantle covering his neck and body all the way to his legs as he floated in the dark storms that raged around him. Blade held in hand, he subtly projected his aura, the wisps of pure energy burning all around him, eyes flitting around as he watched for the storm razor.
Intent screamed around Alvar who flicked his blade, lances of pure intent lights tearing out from his blade, illuminating his surroundings and revealing the storm razor who was bout to come down on him, blade raised. Alvar blazed, his aura coalescing into a single spot as he clashed with the storm intents of the storm razor. The two of them began exchanging attacks, storm intent clashing with blazing intent. Flashes of light illuminated the arena as the two diamonds zipped and crashed all around the fighting grounds, flying up and down the grounds.
Alvar calmly deflected the attacks of the diamond, blue eyes watching the movements of the diamond as he attempted to pierce through the storm intents. Golden blade flashed as Alvar deflected the attack of the diamond, pushing his skill with the blade deeper, trying to get a glimpse of Anshara, the fabled mythical state all swordsmen attained. Grunting in frustration as he had no idea what he was searching for, he resolved to take it out on the storm razor whose futile efforts at piercing his heat intent seemed to be draining the life from the realm of storms that assaulted him.
Alvar had closed off his realm, allowing the windy dark and sharp realm of the storm razor destroy his surroundings, but he had seen enough of the gloomy realm. With a short effort of authority, his realm blazed to life, a large glowing orb of fire appearing at his back as the mere heat burnt the dark clouds away, illuminating the entire coliseum in a light so bright, it blinded the storm razor for a few seconds, and it was all Alvar needed. With pure diamond ranked speed, he appeared next to the diamond, his blade of golden light and heat cleanly relieving the ascender of his head.
He landed as the announcer called the victory in his name, walking back to the waiting room as his projected body dissipated into motes of light. He awoke in his stasis pod, opening it and stepping out to see the Moyo watching the event with arms folded behind him. The event of the first duel had been talked about by everyone, his gesture had been seen by every power. His defiance in the face of house Dracon had been a slap in the face on the supposedly strongest house of the archailect, and the Dracons were out for blood. He walked up to Moyo who glanced at him and then back to the screen,
“Anshara” the titan said,
Alvar chuckled,
“You noticed?” he asked,
Moyo shrugged,
“I’ve learnt to tell the signs, touched it for a few seconds a long time ago” he replied,
“In time” Alvar said,
“Assuming we get to convince the masters to train us on attaining the state” Moyo replied,
“Like I said, in time, besides, what did you do with your two essences?” Alvar asked,
He had turned it over to the masters, the essences in safe hands where after the tournament he could decide on what he wanted to do with it, either as a weapon or pure essence he could absorb to increase the strength of his authority. Being a second generation diamond of house thousand blades, he and the rest of the various clan scions were destined to become masters, with more than enough masters, the power of the house would be solidified as a great house. The titan had been quiet about his essences, but Alvar had no doubt he would follow the same route, or petition the house to help him forge a weapon with it, but then again, he was friends with the Kairos girl, he had options.
Moyo gave a brief smile,
“Making miracles” the titan replied,
Alvar nodded, he was definitely going to get a weapon. The large screen announced the next match, Ashira Kairos, or the three-fold monster versus a diamond from house light bane. Alvar watched Moyo turn his attention squarely back to the screen, gaze staring with pure concentration and he wondered how the man had gotten the attention of a princess of house Kairos. The house of mythical monsters, the house whose rulers were the only primordials within the circle of great houses, not even Raye Garuda herself wasn’t classified as a primordial, only known as an ancient.
Ancients and primordials were the names given to those who had attained the rank of ruler eons ago and whose power had eclipsed even the current powers of rulers that dominated the current form of the archailect itself. Azar, Raye, Hagan, these were but a few of the ancients that ruled the archailect, the patriarch of thousand blades was rapidly approaching that honorary rank, he was even rumored to be on par with the dragon ruler Azar and that was saying a lot. Primordials on the other hand were literal forces of the archailect, the backbones who watched in silence and whose names were lost to the annals of time. Of all the primordials whose numbers were known only by fellow primordials and maybe the leader and ruler of the brigade who was infact an ancient and was rapidly reaching the position of a primordial, Xerxes world burner, the three rulers of house Kairos were the most public.
Simply known as Kairos, the sage and Kairos again, the rulers were shrouded in mysteries and the sage was the only known public member. The house was a very secretive one, never straying pass their controlled galaxy of hundreds of planets and their interaction with the wider archailect were usually through third man parties or the brigade themselves. Their power and might was however not disputed, for the house was literally made up of masters who refused to ascend to rulers out of respect for their rulers and their wish to remain under the house.
That brought up the topic of whose daughter Ashira was, Alvar usually attributed her to the daughter of an offspring of the sage, for he was the only one who was recorded to sire offsprings, all of whom were masters currently and lorded over systems in the galaxy of house Kairos. However, she bore no physical attributes to the line of the sage, which brought the alarming thought that somehow, one of the other two rulers had sired an offspring and Ashira was the child of that offspring. It would explain the importance given to her, Alvar glanced at the titan,
And this man has the heart of such an important individual,
He turned back to the screen watching as her brown hair weaved in the air as she marched into the fighting ring,
“she’s going up against a lights bane” Alvar whispered, not wanting to distract the titan too much,
Moyo nodded,
“a pity” he said,
“Why?” Alvar asked, Ashira Kairos was strong, absurdly strong, could there be something he was missing?,
“For the lights bane, Ashira is a monster, and monsters hunt in the dark” Moyo replied,
*********************
Ashira walked into the sandy field, shaking her head as she tried to dispel the thoughts her mind kept conjuring of her and Moyo. Her face beet red, she slapped her cheeks mortified at the train of thoughts her mind was creating. She, Ashira Kairos three-fold style, princess of house Kairos and favored one of the sage was thinking really really dirty things even the sage would be mortified if he found out and one man made her feel that way. With a sigh she produced talon, her blade that gleamed as its bronze edges began emitting green toxic vapor, her poisonous path leaking out as the sands below sizzled from the gas coming in contact with it.
The lights bane ascender walked over from the other side, a bald man with no hair even on his eyebrows, his pale-yellow eyes staring at her intimidatingly,
“Well, that was one way to kill my fantasies” she thought to herself, wincing at the sight of the man,
“I shall have the honor of knocking out a member of house Kairos, excuse my brutality” the man said,
Ashira sighed, cocking her head,
“what’s your name?” she asked,
“What?” the diamond asked, confused, apparently he expected a sharp reply,
“Mr. what, are you aware you look ugly?, like horrifyingly ugly?” she asked,
The diamond took a step back,
“Excuse me?” he asked,
“I mean, I’ve seen my share of ugly, but you?, what’s with the absence of your eyebrows?, and the shaved head, are you in mourning?” she asked,
The man snarled and turned to the announcer who suddenly found the skies interesting, biting his lips as he fought the laughter holding him,
“The match?” the man snarled,
The announcer waved his hand in reply, the match beginning as the lights bane crashed his realm atop Ashira who simply blinked. She suddenly had the stark realization that it held no weight to that of the titan blade, in fact it felt as light as a feather, although to a gold it would no doubt feel like a mountain atop their backs. She shook her head, deflecting an attack from the diamond who recoiled in surprise that anyone could see through the murky misty mists that made up his realm within a reality where sunlight barely penetrated. Ashira cracked an eye open, pale golden eyes glowing as she tsked,
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“you’d think by the sobriquet three-fold monster, they’d realize I have a monster path and monsters could see in the dark” she started as she projected her realm within the realm of the lights bane who suddenly found himself in a thick jungle with his legs sinking beneath the ground, leaves dropping venom on him as he hissed in pain, blasting his way with intent out of the ground as he tried flying high into the air.
Ashira slammed him back into the ground as she appeared from nowhere, her skin reflecting light to hide her frame, she could now adapt to her environment. She floated back downwards as she continued,
“But noooo, the first thing an idiot like you thought to do was to use a realm of darkness on me, trying to blind me, you do know I have a great sense of smell as well, and you reek, badly” she continued,
The man struggled to his feet, his blade glowing as the mists of his realm became razor thin, glowing with the power of diamond rank as they shot towards Ashira. She blurred with diamond ranked speed, her mantle blazing to life on her body as she deflected most of the attacks and crashed into the diamond who got slammed back into the ground. Blade sinking into his shoulder, the lights bane cried out in agony, pushing her off his body as he rolled off the crater, Ashira staring at him with cold eyes.
Runes flared to life around the lights bane as he zipped back into the fight, pulses of dark grey energy intent blasting out whenever they clashed. Ashira grew weary of the battle, she wasn’t even using her real strength, but she had a point to prove. Blade flashing so fast even the diamond ranked lights bane couldn’t follow the movement, she relieved him of an arm. To his credit he grunted, using his other hand which still held his blade to deflect the attack that was aimed at his throat. Ashira hopped backwards, eyes glowing,
“You defeat me, then what?’ she asked,
The diamond increasing the space between them, pain in his eyes as the injury sizzled and bubbled, the toxin of her path withholding even diamond ranked healing abilities. She smiled, a monstrous aura in the shape of a creature too hazy to describe appeared behind her,
“you think you’d live long enough to boast of such accomplishment?, against house Kairos?” she said as green toxic vapor puffed out of her mouth,
“No, in no reality would you live on, in no reality would you defeat a diamond of house Kairos” she said as her realm shattered his,
The diamond roared, knowing what was about to happen, but determining to go down with at least a fight, intent blasted out around him, pale yellow lines of energy trashing the surroundings. Then Ashira moved, a most perfect step with talon outstretched, removing his head in one move even with his mouth opened,
“In no reality would you defeat me” she said,
Bringing down her realm to the cheers of the audience, she waved and walked briskly back to the waiting room, then willing her consciousness to leave the island and back into the statis chamber aboard the ship. She woke up to see Moyo folding his hands, a stern look in his eyes, but his lips fought desperately to hide the smile dancing on them,
“You wasted time” he said in his best strictest voice,
“Missed me?” she asked,
He rolled his eyes,
“The theatrics weren’t needed” he replied,
She shrugged as she hopped out of the chamber,
“Wanted to correct a few assumptions about house Kairos, felt it was best to let them know earlier on” she replied,
He laughed, finally letting it loose,
“Show off” he said,
“Takes one to know one” she replied,
“Three wins down” Alvar said from behind them,
“two more to go” Moyo replied,
************************
Raina fought a diamond jackal, the two of them dancing of them dancing around in realms of shadows and moonlight, both realms complimenting each other. Flashes of silver moonlight attacks clashed with shadowy wisps of intent as the two flew around the air, trying to counter each other. Eventually the stellar blade had won, powering her realm of moonlight to illuminate the entire shadow realm of the jackal, and then began to fire hundreds of lances of jackal, turning his surrounding to freezing craters of intent that obliterated the diamond.
Then Lothar had fought a pure blade, the two of them clashing in shower of sparks as their blades did the work. Attacking and defending, Lothar wore out the pure blade as he deflected every attack, crusts of diamond locking on the blade of his opponent, the crystals growing bigger and heavier with every swing the pure blade took, till eventually the blade of the pure blade became too heavy in time to lift and defend against Lothar. One attack from the diamond blade effectually ended the pure blade, ensuring house thousand blades qualified for the round of 16 with five diamonds in total.
****************
The next three matches saw Kenuran, Titus and Sonya secure wins for their respective houses. Kenuran crushed Ulsa frozen blade, diamond of house Garuda in two attacks, the dragon essentially eviscerating her from the inside out in two quick slashes of his blade, dragon fire lighting her up from the inside in a most agonizing form of death. He shifted attention back to house Dracon, the scion of Azar showing his worth and throwing his house back into favorable light. Moyo had gritted his teeth in that moment, swearing retribution against Kenuran.
Sonya of house Garuda, the ember lady retaliated in a stunning display of phoenix fire, the signature ability of her matriarch and queen, the blazing empress by wiping the floor with Curtis eclipse blade of house jackal, finishing the jackal in three moves, her flaming feathers totally erasing the jackal even in his realm of darkness.
Titus pure blade faced a Dragonoid of house Dracon, calmly walking through the realm of flames as he partitioned it in one swipe of his blade before proceeding to decapitate said Dragonoid with a swing of his blade.
In all, the scions of the houses that participated proved their worth in the round of 16, barring Curtis eclipse blade who had been taken out of the tournament by Sonya. As it stood, house thousand blades had the greatest chance at winning the tournament with five diamonds in the race for the top four. Again they made their way back to the ship of house thousand blades, making their way past the throngs of ascenders that congratulated them, tears in their eyes. Apparently, the results of the competition had far reaching effects than even the fate of weaker worlds.
They got to the chambers of the masters whose moods were oddly subdued, even Gisela and Inge had stormy looks on their face. Moyo turned to his master who was gripping his blade hard, staring at something on his HUD,
“what’s wrong?” Moyo asked,
Master Duval spoke, his voice barely holding back the rage in them,
“Politics of rulers and great houses, but before that, congratulations are in order” he said,
Indeed, you all have gone farther and with more diamonds than any other house, even the Dracons master Skatha said as she materialized from nowhere, standing near Duval,
Ajax snorted as he stood up, swinging Krial softly, the diamonds giving him and the death aura that trailed his blade a wide berth,
“Ajax” Killian warned,
“Typical Dracons, can’t take a beating lying down” Ajax growled,
Master Skatha appeared in front of the death blade, standing unnaturally still, hand on her blade. Ajax glanced at her and snorted, sitting back down on his chair and keeping silent. Moyo spoke up,
“This looks worse than you described” he said,
Master Killian sighed,
“The rulers present protested the number of diamonds from house thousand blades still in the competition. They petitioned the true blade and he agreed; hence we have been placed at a handicap” master Killian replied, wincing
“How much of a handicap?” Ashira asked,
Master Duval tapped a construct, the recorded image of Sigmar true blade appearing from the construct. The bald master bowed to them,
“Firstly, I would like to apologize to the ruler and members of house thousand blades, and I would like to apologize to the diamonds who had fought with everything in them to reach this point of the tournament.” Sigmar started,
“For the peace of galaxies and hundreds of worlds, the true blade had to bend to the wishes of the houses who saw the number of diamonds from house thousand blades as being too advantageous for their opposing faction as unfair”
“Those bastards” Moyo cursed, already understanding where this was going, rage burning inside of him,
“The duels for the next round will be as follows” Sigmar true blade said,
ROUND OF 4
Kenuran vs Lothar
Sonya vs Titus
Moyo vs Raina
Ashira vs alvar
The shock from the diamonds excluding Moyo was like a knifes edge, Moyo gritting his teeth in anger, fury dancing in his eyes that glowed purple. Sigmar true blade bowed again,
“Again, I ask for your forgiveness, the true blade cannot in good conscience doom entire worlds to retribution from the Draconian faction. Also, as a consolidation prize, all members of house thousand blades who lose in this round will also be given a construct ship built to their specifications. The true blade hopes this is enough to quell any protests that might arise from this changes, good luck, I will be watching and hoping your persevering spirit grows” Sigmar true blade said as the construct died,
Moyo was still, dominion humming in his hands as he bit back his reply, eyes glowing in anger at what he had just heard,
“They do as they like” he managed to bite out, even as Ashira placed a hand on his shoulder,
“The patriarch views this as a motivation rather than a setback” Duval said,
The diamonds turned to him,
“In his words, he said power dictates all. House Dracon has played their ace for the tournament, leveraging their political strength, we need to show them how wrong they are”
A box appeared in their front, teeming with essences, soon enough other boxes appeared in front of the rest, ten essences of primordial monsters. Moyo picked his box and left silently, making his way through the ship to he and Ashira’s quarters before making his way to his room. He summoned his vault, passing through and sealing it behind him.
****************
Ashira watched as the diamonds dispersed, mood down. Alvar followed master Duval, Raina being led away by master Killian and Lothar moving with lady Skatha who summoned him. The diamond blade would be fighting Kenuran and he’d need all the help he could get, she sighed and began to walk back to her rom when a message stopped her in her tracks, her HUD pinging. She froze, her body growing cold,
HELLO DAUGHTER
Ashira winced, the capitalized words glaring in her face, despite her teaching them how to use the HUD without typing in capitalized forms, her parents were steadfast, claiming it denoted rank and prestige. Despite her fighting such thinking, they claimed to have come from a time when the archailect had no use of HUDs, eons ago, a time before time, and she had no cause to disbelieve,
Her parents were monsters in the truest of terms,
Hello mother she replied
I SEE YOU’RE ALIVE her mother replied, the sign ‘K’ appearing beside the message, a very short form of her name, a name countless people have deliberated on, a name only Ashira knew.
Indeed, and diamond Ashira replied,
DIAMOND AND STILL BEING PUSHED AROUND BY LIZARDS k said,
Ashira rolled her eyes, her mothers’ distaste for the Dracons was legendary, no Dracon in their right senses, not even Azar or Hagan themselves would venture close to Kairos galaxy. Ashira supposed she shouldn’t be surprised how her mother knew of the politics playing out in the tournament despite being millions of light years away. Her reach was archailect spanning, but something bothered her with the tone of the message, why was her mother bothered?, why not the numerous masters of the house.
Biting back the trepidation in her mind, she asked,
You aren’t coming here, are you?
It was laughable her mother would do that, being a very vital and important member of house Kairos, and Ashira prayed to whatever supreme being was listening that she wasn’t coming. Her HUD pinged with another message,
NO, I AM NOT k said,
Ashira heaved a sigh of relief, putting a hand on her chest, thanking her stars as she sat on a chair,
THE SAGE IS COMING k said again,
Ashira shrugged, the sage was known for crashing events he wasn’t invited to, not like anyone could hold him for that. Besides, with the sage around, Azar and his cronies of rulers who answered to him would behave, not when the crusher of rulers was around,
No problem, I would welcome him she replied,
OH, AND INFORM THE TITAN BLADE, HE HAS QUESTIONS TO ANSWER TO k said,
Ashira scrunched her eyebrows together, did the sage take a liking to him?, was he about to be recruited into the plantsmen?. She knew Moyo wouldn’t agree, staying true to his path despite the powers both political and physical that would be bestowed upon him. She typed back,
He wouldn’t join the plantsmen
NOT THE PLANTSMEN k typed back,
Ashira fell further into confusion before the next message arrived, bolting out of her seat with wide eyes,
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FROM KAIROS, YOUR FATHER IS COMING
“Moyo!” she screamed, running and shouting his name all the way to their quarters,