They had trained all night, the titan blade pushing them to their very limits, his planetary force numbering in their thousands all drilling within his realm, under his oppressive force to hone their skills sharper. The titan himself sitting in a meditative stance, preparing, ensuring his inner rage had been tempered, his attention had been drawn to the war meeting for those flying under the banner of house thousand blades and its armada. Representing his fleet, he felt his consciousness being transferred into a room as he floated in the air, glancing around at his pale blue form as others began to appear within the room.

Ajax, Killian, Duval, Skatha and himself. Altair appeared a few seconds after they did, the rest of them bowing to the ancient as he appeared, he glanced at the titan blade, a grim smile on his face,

“never in my existence did I think I would meet such talent, such drive, and yet here you are, a master” he said as Moyo inclined his head,

“perhaps if we survive this war, we might see what becomes of you, but for now, we have our orders from the council” Altair said as he waved his hand and the map of the dire galaxy appeared,

“at sunrise tomorrow, the barriers will fall and the war will commence, the entire might of the archailect will be thrown against the enemy and we’ve been given the honor of launching the first blow against the first of the systems” Altair said with a hint of scorn in his voice

“someone or a group in the council wants us to bear the brunt of the war” Moyo said as Killian nodded,

“yes, odds are the cosmic dragon and her celestials” Killian replied,

Ajax’s eyes narrowed,

“that mythical being is back?” he asked,

Moyo wouldn’t consider her that much of a big deal seeing as he’d been in her presence, but he had felt her power, he knew what she was capable of and he supposed the legends Ajax must be remembering of her were more or less accurate in itself. Altair nodded,

“The primordials and harbingers lead the war, but I believe it isn’t so much as a rift between the celestials and terrestrials as much as a fight for power between the primordials and the harbingers” he explained,

Duval folded his arms,

“Both powers we can do nothing about, best we focus on keeping our heads on our shoulders and hoping for the best” he said gruffly,

Moyo had asked Killian about Sophia and the rest of the diamonds, the stellar blade informed him of their decision to leave the next generation home, to protect the systems and empire of the thousand blades, however at the end of the war, they would ascend to master rank. Moyo had found it comforting in a bit, the thought of having people safe from the war, although he would had loved nothing more than to fight at the side of allies.

Altair marked each of the five systems,

“Each has been designated a name, one for each of the five prime lords of the abyss, systems Araman, Lesuth, Vusal, Remhu and Molrik” he said,

“The prime system being Araman itself, each system would see an armada from each of the main banner forces descend on them, I represent the banner of Alastor, the blade, others would represent each of the other banners” he explained,

“I was to be under the banner of Lotes, I mustered at point Lotes” Moyo pointed out as Altair nodded,

“Yes, this is true, however you were transferred to my fleet as you well know” Altair said, gazing at the titan meaningfully,

Had there been some underground battle he was unaware of or was that simply as a result of military arrangements?, he could care less anyways. Ajax spoke up,

“I suppose we should be expecting a retaliatory force the moment the barrier falls?” he asked,

“Yes, we attack system Molrik, also known as the mutator and coincidentally the first system on entry to the galaxy” Altair said,

“Intel says the entire system is swarming with titanic mutated monsters acting as carrier ships for the forces of the abyss, numbering in their hundreds of thousands. We would need to break through that before making our way to the first system where those designated to system Molrik would make planetfall, fighting our way through hundreds of planets to get to the Molrik planet itself, seizing it and allowing the bulk of the archailects forces to turn that system into a staging point” he finished,

“We are to be the blunt force they throw at the abyss to save the rest, predictable” master Skatha said, speaking as she usually did through HUD,

“a newly ascended ancient and a pseudo primordial, this is to be our tests as much as any other thing titan blade” Altair said,

Moyo nodded,

Together they had strategized, creating plans over plans to ensure for any surprise from the enemy, but Moyo knew better, the best of plans shattered when war began. Sunrise had met him within the defiance, the entirety of his fighting force within the bowels of his ship, thousands upon thousands filling the spatial expanding rooms at the bottom of the ship, preparing for planet landing, assuming they get to the planet itself. All around space itself the forces of the archailect were arrayed, preparing for the barrier to fall,

“Lord, all ships are instructed to prepare for intrusion” shola the A.I said as she appeared,

“Noted, now we wait” Moyo murmured as he stared out at the blank wall of separating the galaxy,

As the main ships belonging to the primordials and harbingers began to pull into formation, titanic crafts that flew their personal banners, Moyo stared with all focus, the ships coming to bear directly in front of the barrier that now shimmered, a figure blazed to life in front of the ships as other figures followed as well,

Xerxes Tarrengazer sun-burner, harbinger of Lotes, being of aether

Moyo only personally knew of the other five harbingers that appeared in succession with Xerxes but he had seen their images at the meeting, they had been tagged the strongest users of each particular power of the archailect to the lesser ranked ascenders, but those who were in the uppermost circles of power knew who they were,

Zane true blade, harbinger of Alastor, being of intent

Grimswolf Wolftide, harbinger of Draulr, being of aura

Tixuhl Irios, harbinger of Filvux, being of mantles

Ernesh Crestsun, harbinger of Liakya, being of technology

Eisnar Nebula, harbinger of Vazyra, being of mana

Each of them a blazing life form in the endless darkness that was space itself, all known as prodigies bestowed weapons by the supreme beings for their strengths and accomplishments, they were the faces of their respective powers and each lifting their respective houses into the ten great houses. Moyo could feel the tension in the air as the barrier cracked, jagged pieces of glowing cracks manifesting as far as the eyes could see, already other parts of the assembled forces were waiting at the other side of the galaxy, billions upon billions of light years away, those were under the protection of the jades.

It had been a pity that none of the jades had been invited to the banquet of Altair, he wanted to meet one of the vaunted powers reputed for the safety of the archailect. It seemed though that they stuck to themselves, those powers known as the jades, a reclusive almost feral barbarian bunch from what Killian had told him, in essence the type of people Moyo would love to go into battle with. He shifted his attention back to the barrier as a transmission broke through his ship,

“All forces of fleet thousand blades, prepare for imminent barrier break, spear tip protocol is underway” it said, the voice of Duval sol blade crackling through,

Moyo felt the reassuring grip of dominion in his hand, his heart pounding heavily in his chest as he felt a grin break out on his face,

It wasn’t fear, it was excitement,

The thought of new enemies to face, new areas and worlds unseen, it spurred him to action, his feet tapping impatiently as his heart beat to the drums of war. His HUD lit up with a red notification as he opened it,

ARCHAILECT NOTICE:

You are about to enter a galaxy temporarily devoid of the archailect power, the following will be the current status of power within the galaxy:

- Slow but steady leeching of power for those below the rank of master until a spire can be placed on the planet,

- Leeching will commence two archailect days after entry per rank,

- Once spire has been placed, ranks will be restored and ascension will commence at twice the usual speed,

- Skills will be temporarily locked till spires can be placed on the planet, one per planet continent,

- Access to only primary archailect path i.e.: intent, mana and aura (with mantles for experts} will be semi-available till entire system will be available

Ps: those with access to aspects and thrones will be able to fuel their own skills, hence most of these restrictions are negligible to them (this is a private message for emissaries, harbingers, ancients and primordials)

General message: WE ARE WITH YOU – SUPREME BEINGS

Few moments after the message, Moyo could hear a loud roar from the hold where his forces waited, he guessed the same was happening everywhere on all other ships, the message from the supreme beings, unprecedented in the history of the archailect spurring them on. He grinned as he hopped from foot to foot,

“Come on” he urged silently, grin plastered all over his face,

The moment the barrier shattered, darkness engulfed the entire universe, Moyo felt his HUD fizzle and die as despair began to spread all around, a thick wave of bile inducing power roiled through the ship and Moyo growled as he felt his aspect blast out in resonation, covering his entire ship, cutting off the nauseating energy from smashing into his forces.

Then he felt the harbingers blaze to life, glowing as bright as the sun as they released one technique each, techniques of unexplainable power that dwarfed anything the titan blade could had produced and left him breathless with its beauty as much as its devastation.

Stolen novel; please report.

Flames burning as bright as the sun,

intent tore through the universe,

mana burned through reality,

mantle shielded and repelled the ravaging powers,

beams of titanic strength burned through space from machines resistant to the blight powers,

aura pushed back the abyss, smashing into it with all the force of reality behind it,

Moyo shielded his eyes as everything went white, not even his master ranked eyes could weather such a power. His communication construct blasted with the voice of Altair,

“All fleets of armada thousand blades, go!” he said,

“Shola!” Moyo shouted,

“I comply!” she replied just as eager,

Moyo felt the thrusters of the defiance blast forward with a huge lurch, its powerful engines propelling them forward as the brightness reduced to reveal a devastating sight. The darkness that engulfed reality wasn’t some sort of power of the abyss, no, they were blights, trillions upon trillions of blights and from what he could see, categories 1 and 2. Moyo felt revulsion as the defiance right behind the ship of the thousand blades pierced through the still burning and disintegrating bodies, feeling them touch his aspect brough the feeling of worms crawling all over him and Moyo felt like throwing up his guts.

His purple eyes blazed, shola turning to him,

“All weapons are being brought to bear in the distance, preparations to fire have been completed” she said,

“Good, bring in the bridge crew” he replied,

One by one, ascenders he had handpicked to serve aboard the ship rather than fight below appeared. They had been undergoing mental ship control education by shola and were just brought out of stasis, the woman, a green skinned tall humanoid with yellow tied hair walked towards him and saluted,

“Ascender Urne now appointed commanding officer of the defiance at your service my lord, I hereby swear on the archailect and my personal honor and life to protect this ship, its resources and inhabitants as I would protect my life, my life is yours my lord” she completed as she went down on a knee, the rest of those on the ship following suit. Moyo for one disliked the whole honorifics, but he couldn’t change the archailect and he had come to accept it, plus he was pretty sure shola had integrated the act of salute into them as a symbol from his home.

He nodded,

“take control, I have a war to fight ” he said as he turned from the deck and made his way down towards the holds where his troop commanders and guard waited,

Her voice echoing as she replied whoever was communicating from the main ship, he thanked the powers that be that he had invested in buying communication construct devices, his HUD was gone and he could feel the presence of the archailect pulling away the deeper they got into the dire galaxy. As he reached his destination, he saw his guard, all dressed and waiting, weapons held ready, faces grim,

“it’s time” he said,

“Then we will meet this war in the same fashion we have met all other battles, with resolution” Idris said as his conquerors might glowed on his arms,

His construct device blazed to life, powered by his very own aura as Urne appeared on it,

“My lord” she started,

“Coordinates for our first attack has been transmitted, we are to supress all blights on the planet with extreme prejudice, then raise a spire, although I was told you would know how to do that yourself” she said confused,

“Acknowledged, continue on course, are we meeting resistance in space?” he asked,

“Affirmative, all weapons are firing at maximum strength to clear a path towards the planet, I’m afraid that even with the help of other ships in this fleet, we might just be able to launch you down to the planet and hold back the waves of monsters till you can create the spire at the designated location my lord” she said regrettably,

“Also acknowledged, do your best, we will handle the rest” he said,

“As you will it lord, time to launch is in 5 minutes lord” she said as the transmission cut off,

Moyo turned to his guard,

“Well you heard them, I believe our plan has been explained to the entire force?’ Moyo asked as they nodded,

“Good, go to your respective troops, may the archailect be with us all I guess, the supreme beings can do nothing right now” he muttered as they nodded,

As they dispersed, Moyo sat down on the ground, watching the countdown on his HUD as he awaited planetfall. He closed his eyes and breathed,

He was the shield, he was the blade, he was protection and destruction, he was the defender of the archailect,

As he snapped his eyes open and his mantle snapped in place, he stood resolutely as his construct blazed with the voice of Urne,

“my lord, we are above planet!, immediate deployment is necessary to return to barricade!” she shouted urgently,

“Deploy me first, the rest five seconds after” he growled,

“I comply” she replied,

Moyo felt a flash of light, a displacement of power and suddenly his feet were on a cold hard ground, the skies black and filled with blights and all around him, buried up to his knees were creatures of the abyss, his presence drawing a million screeches as all attention fell on him. He raised his blade up, gathered the power he had been brewing and released with a roar that echoed around,

Intent, aura, Ashe and aspect blasted out in a wave of power so tectonic, he felt the very earth beneath him shake from the force, his power tearing through the continent like a tsunami, eliminating everything in its path, ripping away the disease and blights all around him in a cleansing blast of power. The moment it was done, he glanced up and frowned, his forces nowhere to be found, already black pathways could be seen reforming slowly, opening up as he called the ship above,

“Urne, where are my forces?” he asked,

“r-right away my lord” she replied sounding flustered,

All around him thousands of beams of light descended, deploying his forces, first were the androids bringing in the heavy artilleries he had designed for them. Ija meaning battle, the name he gave to the large battle tanks with three main battle guns on a rotating circular turret, each firing intent, mana and aura laced beams respectively. As hundreds of Ijas appeared, conjured by the androids, fighter jets he had also designed for them, also made from mithril bought with his funds appeared over the air, firing nonstop into the opening pathways, laying suppression fire to hold back the waves of abyssal monsters and blight already pouring through as his ascenders roared, going into the attack.

A gold ranker saluted as he approached the titan with reverence,

“squad commander here sir!, all forces are accounted for, orders from troop commander Amiya indicated hold and suppression” he reported,

Moyo saw no reason why he needed to know that, but he nodded, feeling his guard fighting all around him as he brought his communication construct to bare,

“All forces hold this continent, spread out and take hold down any pathways you come across, standard plan will hold, commence!” he ordered,

Hie pushed his perception into the next continent, snarling as he felt the absence of the aspect and the continent devoid of life except that of blights. Using his step of Ogun, he appeared next to Idris, gripping him while he tore the head of a squid like category 4 monster, a peak advocate bordering on expert rank. He glanced at the titan whose very presence repelled the blights, the troops roaring as they pressed on, already he could see the bodies of ascenders fading to motes of aether but removed his eyes, there was nothing he could do.

Tearing open a pathway on this planet felt like hammering at a concrete wall, his willpower the hammer, and the titan smashed through the entire wall once. The pathway of swirling purple opened up to the next continent as he growled,

“We need to move” he said,

Idris turned to his entire troop,

“With me!” he shouted, the Ijas laying suppression fire as the main forces passed through the pathway, firing at the incoming hordes of monsters, the fighter jets passing through as he enlarged it, fighting the flying monsters that filled the air, reducing them from picking up ascenders and ripping them limb from limb. The moment the Ijas were through, Moyo and Idris stepped through, the titan blazing to the sky in a comet of power, dominion in hand, he swung it with all the force of a master,

“Da pa da!” the edict roaring from his mouth,

Reality formed a wall that pushed back the blights, giving the ascender space to push into the tide with roars, cutting, shooting, stabbing and blasting at the forces of the ravaging powers. Moyo grabbed a flying horror, its body exploding as it came in contact with his Ashe, his communication construct coming to life,

“Lord, planetary forces death blade, stellar blade and sol blade are breaking off to their respective planets!” she shouted,

“we’re left to protect this world, the blights will overwhelm us in less than an hour” she said,

“Noted, we don’t need up to that” Moyo replied as he tore open his vault, bringing out a rod he had been given,

All planetary lords had been supplied with the rods, filled with the powers of each of the supreme beings, coalesced together. They were instructed to find whatever spire was on the world, destroy it and replace it with the rod lest the planet fades back into the abyss itself and along with it every life on that planet.

Even as his forces, a speck in a literal sea of monster pushed back at the wall of monsters, Moyo felt Idris lead them on, blazing as he drew from his near infinite aspect, wielding the weapon of the titan in hand as monsters burned up in smoke. He focused on the next continent, finally sighting the spire, feeling it push at his presence.

Then he felt the being, an ant-like creature with six hands holding blades literally forged from the abyss itself standing sentinel. It felt his intrusion and screeched, a sound that seemed to empower all the forces of the abyss planet wide into a frenzy,

“Idris!” he shouted as his champion blazed towards him, not before the jets dropped bombs after bombs of mana, clearing a space for the androids to push their Ijas forward, encircling their forces and laying suppression fire,

Moyo knew that had minutes at best to destroy the spire or Idris losr his entire troop force, and so he grabbed his champion, tearing open a pathway and pushing through towards the monster, ignoring the hordes of monsters in their paths. A category five, a diamond ranker for no better explanation and the titan for no better words had a suicidal plan in mind. Summoning his realm took great effort and concentration, but he accomplished it, feeling the immense draw on his aspect as he crash landed beside his mountain that stood next to the spire.

He could feel the corrosive aspect of the abyss eating away at his core realm, but it would hold for as long as he wanted it to. The creature spoke, its tone garbled like a bad transmission from a radio,

“You will all die here” it said,

Moyo smiled and with a brief flex of his authority, sealed the power of the abyss from eating through his realm, cutting off the power feeding the creature. Idris blazed to life with his borrowed aspect, activating his titan skin as he roared and charged at the monster, blade in hand.

Leaving his gold ranker who hit with the force of a diamond with his aspect, he cleared the waves of the monster around before turning to the spire and shooting towards it. The closer he got, the more he felt its power slowly strip away at his protection, an ordinary gold ranker could be dead at this point, but Moyo wielded his aspect,

He was the titan blade, he was ready.

Gripping the spire, he bent his Ashe into the next command as his spiritual form appeared, swinging its blade down on the spire made of some unknown crystal even as the diamond ranked monster screeched, its body impaled by the weapon of the titan that ate into it like a corrosive acid,

“BREAK!” he commanded, Ashe and aspect slamming at the spire,

The spire shattered with all the force of a nuclear explosion, but the titan contained the force, displacing it as the abyss lost its hold on the planet, reality twisting as the planet began to fade. The titan blade slammed the rod into the ground as it hummed, then exploded in a wave of power that brought soothing relief to his very existence, washing away any blight and infection still on the planets surface.

Abyssal pathways closed up, blights screeched as they burnt up into oblivion, leaving the planet devoid of taint but brimming with life as plant life of different colours and shapes began to bloom into existence, suddenly the dark skies parted as a beam of combined intent, aether, mana and aura shot skywards clearing it to reveal a bright blue sun in the skies above. Roars of victory began to echo all around the planet as the remaining forces still alive shouted in victory, they had done it.

The archailect cemented its hold on the planet and his HUD blazed up with notifications pouring in,

GLOBAL NOTICE: this planet has been consecrated to the archailect!, congratulations, you get:

- 1 ingot of Divinum

- 1000 ingots of mithril

- 1,000,000 diamond coins

- 10,000,000 gold coins

- 100,000,000 silver coins,

- 1,000,000,000 bronze coins

- 1 mythic dungeon core

- 10 legendary dungeon cores

- 100 rare dungeon cores

- 1000 uncommon dungeon cores

Moyo groaned as he checked his table, no single level from all he had gone through, but all around him he could feel ascenders gaining levels and even breaking though ranks. Advocates to iron, irons to bronze all the way to golds breaking through to diamond, Idris being part also as he trembled, his core enlarging the same way titans’ core did as well. Even as his champion came down from his high, Moyo felt his communication construct come to life, the image of Urne appearing with no distortion as a small smile filtered across her face,

“Congratulations my lord, the space above the planet is devoid of blights, this planet is now a bastion” she replied,

Already Moyo could feel ascenders setting up strongholds around, he idly passed a legendary diamond dungeon core to Idris who held it with reverence before activating it, turning and activating it, turning the entire continent into the domain of the titan,

“The other fleets, how well are they doing?” he asked,

“We are the third behind masters death blade and stellar blade to consecrate our planets my lord” she replied,

“Beat me to it, what are our orders?” he asked again,

“Main ship has requested we hold the planets till relief forces and the rest of the armadas make planet fall, we are then to move on to the next planet already designated, more reinforcements of iron and bronze rankers are enroute to form up with our planetary troops” she said with a wince,

Moyo nodded in understanding, they would continue being the spear tip, but he had no issues with it, more creatures to kill after all.