Fate Weavers: a diamond ranked weapon forged from the primordial essence of a queen razor spider. Wielding the power of the deadly invisible but intent sharp webs of the queen, coupled with the thin sharp edge of aura of the limbs of the matriarch, this weapon also wields the deadly silver poison of the matriarch. Forged for Martha web weaver, the weapon obeys only the directions of the web weaver herself.
Forge ruler: a hammer forged from the primordial essence of aether king golem. Imbuing it with the aether dispersing power of the king golem, it has the ability to temporarily create constructs in the battle field as well as destroy any aether imbued attacks. Forged for Boyle primordial forger, the weapon can only be wielded by the forger himself.
Moyo panted softly as the two core forged weapons he had just created clanged to the floor, sitting softly on the ground while staring at the weapons. A usual human would be drenched in sweat, panting hard after forging two weapons at the same time of such perfection, but Moyo was an expert, a diamond expert, the height of mortal perfection and immortal at that, even the panting was a reflex action left over in his mind after completing such a task.
He stared at his hands, the smooth unblemished skin staring back at him despite the hot intent he just used in forging the weapons. With the completion of the two weapons, only Samantha was left without a weapon and Moyo was honestly confused as to what weapon he intended to forge for her. He knew he was driving his thoughts away from what bothered him, and he did so on purpose, for to think of it was to go on a rampage and Moyo wasn’t in the mood to wreak enemy bases.
Diamond rank and he still got thrown around like an insignificant piece, he was fighting for the future of his world and for all supposedly weak worlds around the archailect and he was still being thrown around like some insignificant acolyte. His fists clenched in anger, hissing as he stood to his feet, he should be the one facing Kenuran next round, not Lothar. The diamond blade was good, his defenses were strong, but he was facing a dragon, defenses were insignificant to a dragon.
His thoughts were cut short when he felt a presence outside his vault, a quick pulse of aura revealed it was Ashira and she was agitated. With a wave of his hand the weapons floated to his rack before he stepped out, the fault vanishing behind him, Ashira turned to him, eyes wide,
‘what’s wrong?” he asked,
“We have a…. situation” she said, shifting from one foot to another,
“House Dracon pulled another stunt?” he asked, voice hardening,
He wouldn’t put it past the dragons and their ruler to pull another dirty trick in the name of threatening universal peace. She scrunched her face together,
“What?, no, no” she replied quickly, waving away the thought like something inconsequential,
“Then what’s got you twisting from the inside out?” he asked,
“They are coming, well I mean two, not all of my house, but they are coming, the two of them” she rambled on,
Moyo rolled his eyes, putting his two hands on her shoulders, stilling her,
“Now I can’t believe I’m telling a diamond these words, but I want you to take deep breaths, relax” he said softly, chuckling,
Ashira gave a weak smile, then doing as he said, her eye clearing of the fright within her. She gave a sigh, running her hands through her hair, grateful eyes turning to him,
“Thank you” she whispered softly,
He nodded,
“Now explain slowly” he said,
“House Kairos is coming” she replied,
Moyo blinked at her twice, his head slowly processing the words,
“house Kairos?, your house?” he asked slowly,
She nodded,
“Like the house filled with mythical monsters and the likes?” he asked again,
“yes” she replied, smile dancing at her lips,
“Like the sage ruler house Kairos and Eogan master rank house Kairos?”
Ashira gave a weak giggle, nodding her head,
“Yes, but just the sage and Kairos” she said again,
Moyo paused, his eyes widening,
Kairos of house Kairos, the ruler whose name was blatantly used by the house. Moyo stepped backwards,
“that’s a big deal” he said,
“indeed” she nodded,
“Are the masters aware?” he asked,
Ashira shrugged,
“I have no idea, father and the sage never leave Tartarus or house Kairos space” she replied,
They both glanced at each other immediately, Ashira realizing what she just said and Moyo whose eyes widened even larger,
“Your father, Kairos is your father?” he asked, his mouth gaping like a fish,
She froze, pale golden eyes dancing,
“yes” she simply said,
Moyo wasn’t sure what to think, none of his thoughts had gone to her being the child of a ruler, and the fact that he had come close to having a relationship with the daughter of the ruler of monsters drove fear into his chest, but he stifled it. Turning to her,
“That was totally unexpected” he replied chuckling,
She fidgeted a little,
“you’re not…. put off?” she asked softly,
“What?, no, its cool your daddy is the king of monsters and all that, just didn’t expect it” he replied,
She nodded,
“Your mom has got to have some balls dating a man like that” Moyo said with a light laugh,
Ashira winced,
“About that” she started,
Moyo paused for a minute, realization dawning on him,
“No way” he whispered,
She nodded,
He stood rooted to the spot, mouth opening and closing,
Only another ruler as terrifying as Kairos could become the partner of the king of monsters,
“Your mother” he started as Ashira slammed her realm over them, Moyo not even noticing even as he stared on,
Ashira nodded,
“Now you know why I was hesitant to share my origins” she replied,
A child of two rulers, and judging by her relatively young age, wait, he cocked his head at her,
“How old are you?” he asked,
“Moyo!” Ashira protested, stamping her feet on the ground as her face became red,
He raised his hands in protest,
“Had to ask” he chuckled,
She turned away with a sniff, Moyo shook his head as he plucked a poisonous leaf in her realm, nibbling on it despite it packing enough toxin to knock a diamond out, possibly kill them if they ingested too much and here was the titan not even feeling it. He turned back to her,
“The child of two rulers, got to say, you’re way past my league at this point” he said,
She turned him,
“Father wants to meet with you” she said,
Moyo was in the process of cutting another leaf when he froze, turning to her,
“Why?” he simply asked,
Ashira shrugged,
“No idea, Eogan must had told the sage about you and the sage informing him, too many theories at this point” she replied,
He scratched his beard, shrugging,
“Well, there’s nothing we can do about that, we don’t even know how far off they are” he said,
She nodded,
“Kraken, my mothers’ name is kraken” she said,
“Are you even aware your parents have names attributed to mythical monsters from my world?’ he asked,
He found it peculiar, she nodded,
“Once you reach ruler, I have no idea how it works but the more powerful you are, the more your name echoes through reality or something like that” she said,
Moyo nodded, the sage bringing up a few ideas about the identity of the third ruler, he turned to her,
“The sage, his name is Wukong, isn’t it?” he asked,
Ashira paused,
“How did you-, myth, isn’t it?” she asked,
He nodded, Wukong, the monkey king, great sage and equal of the heavens, how house Dracon was number one made no sense to him any longer. He waved at her realm, Ashira nodding and bringing it down, the both of them appearing back in his room. He walked to the door, opening it as the both of them returned to the large living quarters,
“Nothing we can do about that, we have to deal with what’s on ground now” he said, his mood darkening,
Ashira nodded,
“The team are in training” she replied,
***************************************
Raina sat in the training chamber, silver blade in hand even as she stared at the projection of the titan moving through swords swings, feeling the pure efficiency and brutal cold movements he had used in the round of 32. She shook her head,
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“she trained him too well” she said, eyes turning to master Killian who sat nearby, silver eyes on the projection,
Her father, Killian stellar blade and head of the stellar clan, the main branch clan of the ruler Altair, her grandfather. Grandfather was a bit of a term of endearment, for she had only been in the presence of the thousand blades once in her life, and that was when she had been born, the ruler had felt her potential and had declared her the heir to the stellar blade line.
Ever since then she had been trained by the best iron experts, then bronze at iron, then silver at bronze. On and on till she began training with the master whenever he had the chance. The stellar blade himself was a busy man, lording over his own system in the thousand blades galaxy, it was a miracle he had gone on an adventure with the death blade, emissary of the ruler. Of all the diamonds in the stellar blade system, she had been chosen to represent the stellar blade clan, and while most who bickered and claimed it was due to her royal heritage, Raina had proved her strength in the duels organized by the clan.
Plowing through the sects and schools that had come at the summons of the clan, she had proved her superiority in battle, displacing the rumors and crushing any protest, the path of the stellar blade shining through her. She glanced at the titan blade lobbing off two heads of diamonds in one stroke,
And still she was nothing compared to him,
She knew well enough that Moyo had no ill feelings towards her, he had been the one who walked out in anger at the thought of facing a fellow ally, but she couldn’t hold back the bitterness of her not being as strong as him. She saw her father stand up, his muscular frame and white her flowing beside him. From little she had been taught about how her father and his brother Duval had acquired their paths, it was said that the thousand blades wasn’t one to force his offsprings into practicing his own path.
Infact, the story went that he had let them loose with only a master to watch them, a master of the silent blade clan who had been one of the first to ally under the thousand blades when it had been a fledgling clan, they had ventured into the dangerous reality that was the archailect. When they returned, the brothers had picked opposite paths, one following the brutal but piercing path of the sun while the other followed the cold and patient path of the moon.
Together the brothers at the direction of their master father who was on the brink of ascending to ruler had carved their path through their galaxy, creating their galaxy spanning empire. Raina was to be a second generation stellar blade, she would be the one to carry on the clan name and power, and here she was, balking at the thought of facing the titan blade.
Master Killian cleared his throat, getting her attention,
“Did you know what my first impression of the titan was when we met?” he said,
She stared on expectantly,
“naïve” he said,
“naïve?” she asked, master Killian nodding,
“He had grown up on his world, the apex creature, and with the mindset that he and he alone could protect his world from the powers that be of the archailect” master Killian said chuckling,
“What happened?” she asked,
“We crushed him of that notion, showed him that he was a speck in the scheme of things and explained just how big the oceans of the archailect were compared to the little pond he had been in” Killian replied,
The master shrugged,
“of course, he went on from there to touch Anshara as an iron ranker, enlightenment to bronze, broke through to silver, gold and then diamond on one month”
Raina frowned,
“you’re not helping father” she said,
He chuckled,
“Apologies, my point, my little moonshine” Killian started as Raina protested the name,
“Is that the naïve ascender from a literal backwater world, realized just how high the ladder was, and undauntingly fought his way to where he got today. A few weeks back, he’d see Kenuran and run for his life, now he can’t wait to pummel the dragon”
“Do you think he can beat the dragon?” Raina asked,
“No, he’s gotten stronger, but the bloodline powers of scorching claw runs true in the blood of the child of Anala, he might get close, but the dragon still has his trump card” master Killian replied, shaking his head,
“And that means” she said,
Lothar, sweet, sweet Lothar,
“Indeed, Lothar would honor his clan well, and he has honored his clan well enough by getting into the top eight. With the resources he has accumulated, clan diamond blade would be able to extend their power by ascending their silvers to gold, the future is bright for the clan” master Killian said,
Raina got up, master Killian trailing her movements with his eyes,
“Perhaps there’s a way for you to beat the titan” he said, eyes twinkling
Raina turned to him, eyebrow raised, master Killian raised a finger,
“The only reason I’m teaching you this is due to the fact that you won’t be using your actual body and the effects won’t last, so you need to time it well and catch the titan completely off guard” he said,
She turned to him, eyes giddy, master Killian rolling his eyes,
*******************************
Alvar clashed with his father, two suns blazing in the air compared to the four of his fathers. Alvar winced, golden blade flashing repeatedly as he tried to get within his fathers’ perfect guard, the leader of the sol blade clan using one hand to bat away the super-heated blade his son sent his way. Alvar had repeatedly been in battle with his father, pushing for his limits even as his father patiently indulged him which was a lot as his father wasn’t known for his patience.
Alvar sol blade, diamond and heir to the sol blade clan, an authoritarian clan who ruled their system with an iron fist was a place of constant battle. Sects and schools were in constant war for the favor of the sol blade clan and Alvar had been at the eye of the whole thing. When the clan had called all sects to fight for the position of representative for the swordsmanship tournament, Alvar had seen the state of the sects and schools, the golds who were being primed for ascension to diamond favoring to take each other out behind the call up rather than face each other in honorable duel.
His father had patted his shoulder as the golds of the clan itself laid the sects to waste, revealing that the leaders of the sects weren’t even vying for the right to represent the clan and the house in general, they were vying for the resources given to them simply for answering the summons of the clan. From little Alvar had been taught to follow orders to the letter, training day and night to acquire the path of the sol blade.
At sixteen years of age, he had acquired the path through training rather than a path scroll the members of the clan used, his father bestowing him with the golden blade he named sol in honor of his clan. By all right and purposes, he had done right to the clan, getting to the top eight of the tournament, never in his reality did he imagine he would be facing a Kairos. Even far away, millions of light years away, the house Kairos was a literal myth, the home of monsters held at bay only by the might of the rulers who lorded over them.
Ashira was royalty, that much was undisputed, however the specifics were held from him when he asked his father, which pressed home the point that she was pretty high up the ladder of power in the house. Distracted, his father blasted him with a beam of his sun realm, Alvar crashing to the ground as he cursed, master Duval floating serenely down towards him,
“You were distracted” he said,
Alvar gritted his teeth as he stood up,
“Apologies father” he said,
“Apologies would be too late when you lose to the threefold monster” Duval replied,
Alvar cracked his neck, twirling his blade as master Duval crossed his arms,
“While I won’t deny that you’ve gotten closer to touching on your aspect as a sol blade, the Kairos girl is literally a monster, a monster capable of putting down the titan blade if my predictions are correct”
Alvar paused at his fathers’ words, glancing at him,
“You think I have no chance at beating her” he said,
“The future is always in flux; do you think you can defeat the Kairos blood?” Duval asked,
Alvar paused, then continued twirling his blade,
“she’s absurdly fast, her path contains three different paths fused into one, a toxin path, a strength path and a feral path” he started,
“Go on” Duval said,
“She wields the bloodline abilities of house Kairos to a very proficient degree, and her reflexes are top notch even for a diamond”
“However?” Duval asked expectantly,
“However, her path hasn’t attained perfection, her three paths fused in one leaves shortcoming such as the instance between changing attacks” Alvar said,
“a deficiency she has atoned for by permanently coating her blade in her toxin” master Duval noted,
“The light of sol can burn away the toxins before they set in”
“And the monstrous strength of hers” Duval asked again,
“Wear her down with long range attacks, burn her and let her spend half the time healing rather than in battle with me” Alvar replied,
Master Duval nodded,
“you’ve put much thought into this, been planning to duel her for a while?” he asked,
“After the tournament, to test my limits, fate it seems had other plans for me” Alvar replied,
“We will work on your realm of sol, for if you’re to have a chance against her in the fashion you’ve decided, your sun must burn bright, exceedingly bright” master Duval said,
Alvar gripped his blade with two hands, his two suns rising up to the skies and glaring down at his father,
“Let us begin then” Alvar said,
************************************
Lothar crashed into the ground, flipping through the air immediately even as his diamond mantle broke, wincing at the pain that lanced through his head he kept his wits about him. Master Skatha landed in the crater he created and Lothar immediately activated his skill, shards of diamonds from his mantle that crumbled there immediately attached itself to her body, weighing her down,
Good she said, and then proceeded to use a burst of aura to shatter the diamond, her blade swinging silently through the air even as Lothar brought his diamond crusted blade to bear on her sword. The force of the clash with master Skatha jarred his muscles, sending shockwaves even through his diamond mantle, Lothar however persisted, determination burned in his eyes as he held on.
Lothar diamond blade, enigma, genius and scion of clan diamond blade was the rising star of the clan of backwater ascenders who grew to power under the strength of their child who attained diamond rank of his own violation. A clan made up of mostly golds, he had been the one to break the deadlock of the clans’ growth, surpassing his father and dragging their fame into the eyes of house thousand blades. With their clan noted for their persevering strength in battle, they had generously seen an influx of growth, their golds breaking through to diamonds and holding planets down in the name of clan diamond blade.
The house had given them one of the numerous systems in the thousand blades galaxy, on the fringes of thousand blades space, the clan given the mandate to beat back any faction that would be stupid enough to try invading thousand blades space. A mission they fulfilled with zeal and dedication, crushing attacks after attacks from clans and sects that sought to have a foot in their space.
It was the honor of raising his clan to greater heights that Lothar had been chosen by his father, the leader of clan diamond blade to represent the clan in the tournament. With the essences he had acquired, the ship he would be given and the core forged weapon house thousand blades themselves would bestow upon him, none can doubt that he had done right by his clan, his father watching would be proud of him.
Still, he wasn’t happy, he wanted more,
Lothar diamond blade didn’t get to where he was by playing second place to others. Day and night he had tolled, he had shed blood and he had fought for every piece of power he had acquired, but still, it seemed the powers that be would end his run in the tournament in shame. He would be facing Kenuran red jaw, son of Anala red jaw and hair of Azar scorching claw, the most vile and powerful diamond in the archailect.
Logic dictated Lothar should forfeit the match, not even he was that naïve to believe he could defeat the dragon, but Lothar couldn’t. He had departed with the hopes and expectations of his entire clan behind him, he couldn’t possibly let them down this way, he couldn’t let his father down this way. So it was with that thought in mind that he crashed his blade repeatedly against master Skatha’s, channeling his entire strength into cracking through to her mantle. Master Skatha in a move so quick, even though his diamond ranked eyes could follow, dislodged his blade from his hand and smashed him into the ground.
Eyes dizzy, he stood up, master Skatha placing her blade at his throat,
You’re dead she said,
“I was dead a few moves ago” he replied, his voice rumbling,
Realization is your best friend for the coming match, perseverance your blade she said,
“I will hold your words to heart” he replied,
Master Skatha sheathed her blade, blank black mask cocked to one side,
your heart is set, you want to test yourself against the hatchling she said,
“I’ve never been afraid of battle, and even if I’m to go down, I’d go down swinging” Lothar replied,
You have a lot in common, you and the titan I mean she said,
However he has the power of a plethora of evolved attributes behind him, what do you have? She asked,
“My unwavering determination to prove my worth in the greater archailect” he replied,
And you have, an unknown clan would be going up against the heir to a great house tomorrow, win or lose, clan diamond blade would be revered, she said,
Lothar gripped his blade tight, mantle glowing and locking back on his body,
“Who said anything about losing?” he replied as he went on the attack
*************************************
Announcer Iax true blade got to his residence high up in the private district reserved for those of true blade royalty. The floating island, one of twelve which surrounded the realm and home of the true blade himself housed the extended families of the clan, Iax also a master was a highly respected member of the house, his standings with the main family in high regard, a reason why he was given the honor of being the announcer for such a prestigious position, at least to him.
As a master of the true blade path, Iax had attained the state of Anshara constantly, getting closer to what the idea blade path should be like, just like the true blade, blessed of them all. However, the alarming news that the cult of the undying hand had managed to infiltrate their planet was alarming, but he trusted in the power of the clan and the true blade, they would root them out, the clan didn’t need the proposed strength of the supposedly great houses.
The moment he entered the house, Iax immediately noticed something was wrong, his light was dim and the bickering noises of his maids as they fussed around his home was nowhere to be found. With a thought his blade appeared in his hand, a plain weapon that hummed with the silent power of intent, he narrowed his eyes,
“Reveal yourself” he ordered,
A second later the master was dodging a projectile attack, in the process of calling his realm when he found himself staring into an eyeball glowing with otherworldly power, his realm refusing to manifest,
“roha- “he said as he felt his throat lock up,
With a growl and his authority manifested, he broke the control and blasted out of the house, channeling his entire master ranked strength into escaping. He had to raise the alarm, he had to warn them all that he was here, that the blockade of the planet and scores of masters who kept watch had been made a fool of, he-
Announcer Iax true blade got to his residence high up in the private district reserved for those of true blade royalty. The master paused, no, something was wrong, his eyebrows rising,
Oh no, he thought,
He blasted out again, flying towards the spire,
Announcer Iax true blade got to his residence high up in the private district reserved for those of true blade royalty. He screamed, battering his authority against the power that held him….
**********************
He who was not announcer Iax smiled, black inky eyes staring into the night, taking a deep breath and exhaling, he spoke, his voice flowing silently through the night,
“begin” he said.