The city and headquarters of the order of the titan was built right in the middle of the continent that was home to all the dungeons. Situated right in the middle of the dungeons itself, it ensured that the city would be plagued by monsters of different tiers assaulting the walls of the city itself, its dome of titan aspect repelling the monsters effortlessly, even the diamond ranked monsters could do nothing against its defences.
The kingdoms had been set up on the same day, ten in all with each of the guard anointed its patron and sovereign with the royal families indirectly answering to them, Moyo oversaw it all, from the construction of the city of order, the name given by pontiff Mathew to the headquarters of the order itself, the citadel right in the middle of the city where the ascenders who had followed the pontiff now called home.
As Moyo learnt, they were the strongest of the order, mid bronze rankers who would champion the cause of the order on the planet itself, already many of the offsprings of the royalties were already petitioning to join the order itself. Moyo however washed his hands clean of the affairs of the order after a brief speech to the order, reminding them of the fact that they represented him and this world was now under their protection. Soon enough his planetary forces had swelled from the twelve thousand they had been at the beginning of the invasion to a whooping twenty thousand.
He had lost over a thousand ascenders from the invasion of the planet, a number that had darkened his mood as Idris relayed it to him. Arms folded behind him, he stood on one of his transport ships built by the androids of his force, a section in his planetary force he had given partial autonomy and all the information and blueprints about the sort of war machines used on Gaia pre-archailect days. They had done well enough with the tanks and fighter jets, going farther to create a flat circular transport and battle ship that would serve as the base for the majority of his forces. As he stood on one, watching ascenders march into it, arms crossed, his HUD lit up, opening it to see Ashira smiling at him,
“So, I heard you got gifted a planet” she said as greeting,
He smiled subtly,
“Apparently I performed above expectation” he replied,
“The powers that be are really happy, well dad’s faction anyways, heard the other side had a lot of friction with the jades” she said,
He frowned,
“What were the jades looking for on irrelevant planets anyways?’ he asked,
As far as he knew, the jades would be a part of the forces used when they got closer to the prime system, something that was far of, millions of light years away currently. Ashira nodded,
“And they aren’t, however some houses and clans whose allegiances lay with the jades clashed those of the celestials, the council is looking into it, but it seems issues will be forthcoming with the fleets tasked with invading the Remhu system” she explained,
“I could care less, let them solve it” he replied dismissively,
“That reminds me, what sort of rewards did you obtain?” he asked,
“The usual, dungeon cores, mithril and coins, why?” she asked,
He shook his head,
“Nothing, just curious” he replied,
So, the system giving him Divinum hadn’t been a mistake, he wondered what games were afoot, he wasn’t a celestial and shouldn’t be privy to the metal, so unless one of the supreme beings, probably Lotes if you asked him was moving, then he had to be careful. He had locked away the metal in his vault, he had a better type and one more attuned to him anyways, he was in no hurry to use it.
“How fares your conquest of the Vusal system?’ he asked,
Ashira and her house had been sent to a system far away from his, the system of the abyssal lord Vusal the conqueror, each system having been named after each of the abyssal lords were being assaulted simultaneously. They had seen great success on all fronts, but Moyo had stared at the tally of the dead and felt his heart break, it had been a jarring reminder of what he was fighting for. The chimera frowned,
“We won, but at great costs, my ship had to literal continuously bomb the planet just to give my forces space to press the enemy, one of my diamond commanders died to the category five swarm leader guarding the spire. I’d had lost the rest had I not stepped in” she responded, bitterness tainting her voice,
“I’m sorry, I more than anyone else understand how that feels, but I believe I have a solution to our problems” he responded,
Sending a text through his HUD, he watched as an android covered in bulky armour with guns and launchers adorning its armour land next to him, going to a knee,
“Lord master” it said in its metallic voice,
“Ashira, meet the commander of my planets artillery unit, diamond ranker Ahib” Moyo said,
“diamond ranker?, an android?’ Ashira asked,
Moyo glanced at the android named Ahib who bowed lower,
“Is there an issue with that?” Moyo asked,
“usually, androids don’t go past gold unless their masters allow them, at least from what I know of the construct empire” she replied,
“And you would be right master Ashira” Ahib replied,
“But one of the reasons the android alliance broke off from the empire is to allow autonomy of our future” he replied,
Banging his armoured chest with his fist,
“I am proud to have ascended to diamond rank under master titan blade, his exemplary leadership and willingness to go head first into the battle has ensured my fellow androids would fight till the bitter end for him” he said,
Moyo scratched his head awkwardly at the praises,
“Anyways, Ahib here has been able to modify some of the weapons used by my planet before the archailect to suit the war we are fighting, intent and mana tanks I call Ija, fighter crafts I call Asha, they could help reduce the pressure on your ground troops” he said,
“interesting, and have you presented these inventions to the council?, you could make quite a fortune from it” Ashira replied,
‘I could?” Moyo asked as Ahib nodded,
“I was about to inform you of such lord titan blade, if and I’m sure the council will approve of such inventions, you would be getting returns on each of the models and future improvements or deviations made to them” he said,
“I believe you should be the one getting such funds” Moyo replied,
Ahib shook his head,
“I humbly decline lord titan blade, merely bestowing upon me the ideas and blueprints for such technology has ensured my name would be etched into the archailect, a sort of broadcasting of the android who created such constructs” he said,
“No doubt powers within the archailect would pay hefty sums to me to build such models and new inventions for them, funds I can push into the alliance to strengthen our forces against the construct empire”
Moyo turned to him, Ashira focusing on the android,
‘I thought the empire and the alliance have an uneasy truce?” she asked,
Moyo had also learnt a little bit from Atreus, something about an android primordial,
“We are subtly at war with the empire, certain systems bordering on each other and far from the eyes emperor and lord Ernesh Crestsun who backs the alliance” he explained,
Moyo glanced at Ashira subtly who nodded,
The omnidroid,
The war was a proxy one between the harbinger of the supreme being of technology and the primordial Iteq omnidroid. He sighed, unable to divulge such information to Ahib, but he had no doubt that should the android make it to master, he would gleam just a bit of what was going on underneath the archailect. He turned back to Ashira,
“Before we submit it to the council, perhaps there are androids on your fleet that could help create the Ijas and Ashas?” he asked,
“My fleet has predominantly androids of the empire, not alliance” she replied,
“It would be better off you submit to the council and then I can buy the models off the system vault, no doubt there would be a high demand for it and Ahib there might practically leave the warfront to begin manufacturing on a large scale” she said,
Moyo rubbed his trimmed beards, thinking it through as an idea came to him, he smiled, turning to Ahib,
“Diamond ranker Ahib, how would you like to work and be affiliated with a sect that uses predominantly constructs?” he asked,
Ashira laughed,
“My mother would definitely love you, your mind is as conniving as hers” she replied,
He laughed,
“Is this sect affiliated with you lord titan blade?’ Ahib asked curiously,
“a part of my clan actually” Moyo replied,
“Then I would be honoured to join them and work with them lord titan blade” Ahib responded as he knelt and bowed,
“I’m guessing you have a plan laid out?” Ashira asked with a smile,
“I’m working on it” Moyo replied,
She laughed,
“Be safe titan blade” she said softly, all traces of mirth wiped from her face,
“I promise, and you also, if you need my help, I’d abandon everything an come running” he responded,
She shook her head with a smile,
“Pretty sure we can both handle ourselves” she said,
“I have to go now, talk later Moyo” she said,
He nodded as the transmission cut off, a frown on his face. He found it had to say the simple words ‘I love you’ to her, perhaps it was because of the ascender next to him?. He knew he was making excuses, but he would deal with the issue later like all other issues he postponed. Ahib stood up as Moyo glanced at the message that filtered in through his HUD,
Stolen novel; please report.
“We have our next assignment, get moving diamond ranker” he said as Ahib nodded and with a burst of aura filled power, made his way towards his transport ship,
A flash of light teleported Moyo into the command deck, commander Urne saluting as he nodded and sat on his throne, shola his A.I appearing next to him with a bow,
“Lord titan blade” she said in greeting,
He nodded and projected the image on his HUD to the large holographic screen as his guard and Idris made their way to the deck,
“We have our next assignment, as of now all primary worlds known as the first layer have been consecrated” he started,
The map showed the first of three lines of worlds on the Molrik system turn blue,
“In essence we are pushing in the next line and scouts inform us of heavier resistance, this time not from only category one and two blights known as drone and drone heads, but category three using large abyssal creatures to protect this ring in space” he said darkly,
“What this means is that we and the rest of fleet thousand blades would have to clear these defences before we have a shot at landing on the planet” he said grimly,
“meaning there won’t be protection from defiance when we land as they would be coordinating with the rest of the fleet to wipe out the abyssal monsters within the sector of the planets” Idris said as Moyo nodded,
“In essence a bloodier battle” Vaughn said,
“And I’m guessing we’re leading the charge again?” Tomasa asked grimly,
Moyo nodded as the screen changed,
“Fleets thousand blades, green spire and thundering shards are leading this invasion of this sector, however the thousand blades has ensured me that reinforcements would come when we need them” Moyo said dubiously,
“Excuse my ignorance, but wouldn’t we need to make contact with the defiance that would in turn need to make contact with the fleet before reinforcements can be alerted?” Amira asked,
“yes” shola replied,
“But with communications probably cut off from the moment we make planet fall, it would be impossible to call for reinforcements” Urne murmured,
“Yes, and while the defiance might be battling the defences, I intend for the transport ships to punch their way through the line to land on the planet, giving us some sort of stronghold against the already besieged planet” Moyo explained,
If category threes are defending the planets from space, doesn’t that mean we could probably face more category threes and fours on the planet?” Wutan asked,
“Precisely, and it’s for this reason I and Idris would be landing first, to clear out some space for the invasion crew” he replied,
“I must protest that lord” Urne said as the rest broke out also,
Moyo raised one hand, holding their protests at bay,
“I understand your fears, but think this through, we would need to somehow land and immediately create a strong point from which we can lead our invasion of the planet, it won’t be easy for golds to handle” he said,
“Then let the guard come with you, our squad commanders can handle themselves and their teams well enough to get to us” Hajin protested,
Moyo glanced at Idris who nodded,
“Fine, shola, how long till we get to the second ring?’ he asked,
“Ten minutes lord titan blade, all weapons are currently being primed for assault” she replied,
“Good, it’s time” Moyo said with a grim smile as his guards nodded, standing by his side,
************************
The moment they crossed the barrier between the domain of the archailect and the abyss, Moyo felt his HUD die out again,
“it’s time” he replied,
“All communications between battleships of fleet thousand blades have switched to construct communication, signal is weak but barely holding” shola said,
“This is commander Potal of the planetary force death blade, respond defiance” a grim voice said,
Urne stepped forwards as she responded through the voice only construct device,
“This is commander Urne of the defiance, we can hear you somewhat” she responded,
“Our orders still stand, begin bombardments” Potal said,
Moyo was about to ask what they were to bombard when he saw it, the large ships flying towards them, wormlike creatures with red eyes that somehow screamed in the void of space,
“Commencing bombardment” Urne said,
Lances of bright aether shot from hundreds of ships at the same time, illuminating the void of space as lances of dark blight power shot back, slamming into the aura shields of the defiance and the rest of the transport ships that shrugged it off. It had been noted that the aura of the titan blade repelled the attacks of the abyssal creatures almost effortlessly, no doubt through the help of his aspect, but that info was restricted only to the council and ancients, hence it had been attributed to his strong willpower.
Hence planetary force blade led the charge with the ship of the thousand blades, the behemoth right behind them, its titanic cannons slamming shots after shots of aether right into the monsters with e ferocity that the defiance couldn’t dish.
The construct device crackled to life as another voice spoke,
“Defiance, this is prime ship thousand blades, we’re about to clear a path to the planets, as per the request of your planetary commander, prepare to take advantage, all planetary forces have been informed also, may the archailect be with you” the feminine voice said,
“Thank you prime, we stand ready” Urne replied and turned to Moyo who nodded and stood up,
Along with his guard they made their way to another construct ship next to them, Moyo opening a pathway with great difficult to the ship as the forces on board stared with wide eyes at their commanders,
“Listen up!” Idris said with a loud voice,
“this ship would be the first to land on the planet, planetary commander titan blade and the troop commanders would make their way to the planet proper, your jobs will be to defend this ship with all your might, this ship will be our stronghold against the darkness, it cannot and must not fall!” he shouted as the forces arrayed roared,
“Commander, the way is clear!” the voice of Urne said urgently through his communication device as the ship rocked from the explosions going on outside,
Moyo felt its thrusters fire as everyone held on to something, the navigators of the construct ships pushing the ship with all haste towards the planet,
“we’re on our way, good luck defiance” Moyo responded as he and the guard marched to the navigation deck of the ship where gold rankers nodded once at him before focusing on the large planet that came ever closer,
“Commander!” a gold ranker called out as Moyo turned to the viewing screen and saw hordes of abyssal monsters barricading the planet also,
“The construct ship might not survive collision with the monsters” the gold ranker called out fearfully, the heat of the navigation system permeating the air. Moyo growled and turned to Idris,
“Continue as planned, I go to clear a path” he said,
“that is suicide, you against category fours if I’m not mistaken?, perhaps we can patch a message to the defiance and the fleet” Idris said,
Moyo shook his head even as he strained himself to open a pathway, feeling the abyss press in on him from all angles,
“no time!, just follow the plan!” he growled as he passed through the pathway, the opening spitting him out into the void of space where the gravitational pull of the planet began to draw him,
Immediately he slammed his Ashe all over his body drawing dominion as he raised it high, the blade glowing with unrestrained power, shining like a beacon in the expanse of space before bringing the blade down on the monsters in front of him. The attack burned like an inferno, blasting both light and flames as the attack burnt the category fours in a supernova, the shrieks of the monsters filling the very void of space, clearing a path for the transport ship to pass through. Moyo dove right into the planet along with the construct ship, falling like a comet as he burned with energy.
He felt the diamond rank attack coming, the shriek of a thousand tormented souls wrapped up as an attack and fuelled by the abyss aiming for the construct ship. In a flash he was there, his body trembling as he activated his step of Ogun, fuelling it solely with his aspect as dominion clashed with the attack, shattering it and dispelling it, the construct ship rocking. Suddenly the creature was right in front of him, oily dripping talons that sought to eviscerate the titan, his mantle and bloodline titanic body repelling the attack with no difficulty.
Kicking the monster backwards, he pursued it as dominion slammed into its oily tentacle skull watching it shriek, burning up into smoke and his greed of the titan consuming the aura, of the creature. He had barely landed along with the ship when he felt more diamond ranked category five attacks locking in on the ship, this time his guard had exited this ship, surrounding him as they brought out their legendary weapons, empowering them with their aethers and crushing the attacks with great difficulty. Now all diamond rankers, they could break through to master at any time seeing they wielded the aspect of the titan, but they didn’t in pure respect to the titan blade.
Moyo spread his perception that slammed into the abyssal monsters that began pouring out of the black pathways, shrieking and coming with pure madness in their eyes, wielding weapons that could corrode a silver ranker with a touch. The hull of the construct ship opened up and hundreds of Ijas made their way out, lances of intent, aura and mana blasting their way into the sea of monsters that surrounded them, bearing down on them like a tsunami of ants. Moyo dug deep, channelling his aspect as he glowed bright like a sun and screamed his edict,
“DA PA DA!” the force wave of aspect blasting out like a concussive explosion, pushing into the seas and burning them in their thousands,
All it did was buy a few minutes for the force and the troops took use of it, Ashas taking to the air as they dropped mana bombs after mana bombs, strafing the flying monstrosities with intent as they scythed them down in their hundreds. Soon enough the Ashas were exploding as the wave of monsters became too much, but they had given the invading force enough time to dig in, the very earth trembling from the salvos of attacks coming from the Ijas as they shot blast after blast of firepower in a circle.
Moyo had felt the positions where the diamond attacks were coming from and he pointed in the three directions,
“Three guard to one direction, go!” he shouted as the guard dispersed in threes, leaving Moyo and Idris to shoot their way towards the spire in the distance.
Fate and fortune smiled on them as the spire was on the continent the ship had landed on, and as they made their way like a missile towards the position, Moyo felt it, a roiling in his stomach like a hundred bees stinging him at the same time. The surprise attack caught the both of them off guard as Idris screamed in agony, falling towards the monsters below. He caught the helm of his cloth, ferocity of oshosi screaming at him to deflect an attack, he caught the blade of a putrid sickle on dominion, the weapons clashing in a wave of force attack that blasted both assailants backwards.
Moyo swung Idris far away from him into the distance and in the direction of the spire as he steadied himself to stare at the foe in front of him,
“Titan blade” the creature said,
Dressed in torn slimly cloak like a wraith, the creature looked like a zombie come to life, flabby and torn skin hung of its bony frame, dripping green liquids that spawned monsters below. Its face was a mismatch of different skins sewn together roughly and its eyes an inky blackness, its mouth nothing but a black wide smile that looked like one found on a scarecrow and its aura rubbed off Moyo in so many wrong ways,
“Category 6, elite” Moyo said grimly as it laughed, its voice a thousand shrieking voices,
“is that what they call us now?, elites?” it asked, its voice full of scorn,
Moyo gripped dominion tighter, it shrugged,
“Nevertheless, lord Araman requires your head, I will deliver and join the ranks of lords, elevated by the power your death will provide anathema” it said in a singsong voice,
“Anathema?” you know who, what I am” Moyo said grimly,
“Lord Araman bestowed the knowledge on me, and I will repay him with your death anathema, you cannot ascend further” it growled,
The speed it used to move was so close to what Moyo suspected was ruler rank that it took all of his titan might just to deflect the attack, his muscles straining as he clashed with the monster that smiled wider. His aspect touched the elite as it shrieked, shooting backwards with a snarl, Moyo took advantage, one step of Ogun as he appeared behind the monster, bringing his blade crashing down on it. It moved with impossible speed, deflecting the attack as it shot backwards,
“Will of the destroyer, annihilate!” the elite snarled as a large black rune circle appeared, ripping into the area around the titan blade with great power lances,
Moyo blazed brighter, burning with his aspect as he screamed his edict,
“DA PA DA!” again as he felt woozy, the edict drawing an insane amount of aspect from him, he felt it merely deflect the power that sang of destruction and decay, the elite chuckling,
Suddenly the spire in the distance shattered as Moyo realized what Idris had done, the elite sighed,
“Useless lower blights, cutting my fun short” he said,
It glanced at the titan, raising a finger as Moyo prepared to attack,
“Ah ah ah,” it tsked,
“You better save this world or you lose it by playing with me, but I promise, we will meet soon enough, lord Araman sends his regards” it said as a black pathway opened up, oily blackness shimmering as it passed through, its eyes and grin staring at Moyo till it disappeared and the pathway closed up,
Moyo snarled in anger, hissing as he stared at his hand and saw a wound leaking infection, eyes wide, he watched as his body pushed out the infection totally, but the reality of what had just happened caught up to him,
It had wounded him, with both his draconic rune mantle and titan body, it had wounded him,
He shook his head as he felt the planet begin to break, appearing next to Idris and producing another of the crystals, watching as it beamed aether skywards and a spire erected itself in the place of the abyssal spire, clearing the air and stabilizing the planet.
Moyo and Idris watched in silence as all the abyssal blights burned away, his HUD shimmering to life and a call from the defiance passing through,
“Lord commander, thank the supreme beings!” Urne exclaimed,
“The planet has been consecrated” Moyo responded,
“all planets in this sector have been consecrated hours before lord!, a barrier of abyssal energy restricted our access to the planet, prime ship thousand blades and the rest had been hammering away at the barrier, the high council sent a jade to break through the barrier just before it went down” she said,
A pathway tore open and a man stepped through, a large bulky figure with one hand on a war axe almost half his size, shaggy dressed with some sort of animal hide, he sniffed the air as he growled almost animalistically,
“elite” he said,
“You mean him?” Moyo said as he showed Urne the man, watching her wince,
The man turned to Moyo,
“You!, master, where is the elite?” he growled,
Moyo could feel the ruler ranked aura pressing down on him, he growled softly as he used his aspect to push away at the power, feeling somewhat sore from the action. The jade smiled, canine teeth showing as his eyes glowed golden,
“ah, you are the titan blade?, good, I can beat on you a bit” he grinned,
“Excuse me?” Moyo asked, rage boiling through him,
One crack shot later as the jade broke the sound barrier, Moyo whipped his hand out, fist clenched as he landed a blow on the jades face the same moment the jade landed one on him. His vision swam as he was blasted backwards, slamming into the ground and creating a crater. Standing up as he cracked his sore bones, his eyes glowed purple,
“yeah” he said to himself,
“yeah I’m going to enjoy this a lot” he said to himself,