The titan blade, lord planetary commander of the titan forces, master and pseudo primordial, patriarch of clan titan blade and draconic slayer stood silently in the falling snow of the planet formerly known as blade -2. Now given the future name of Ogun by Boyle himself in anticipation of its calamity event, Moyo watched as his forces were slowly being recalled back to their transport ships that stood sentinel above the planet, taking smaller ships in groups they had divided themselves into and heading for space. Pontiff Matthew had taken a transport ship from blade-1 in the first ring of planets, coming over to create an alter from which Moyo had done the same procedure of acquiring a mythical scroll of the dungeon rune, confining all dungeons to the second continent of the planet that had only two massive continents.

Ahib, the now defunct commander of his mechanized forces had immediately set to acquiring the facilities needed for a continental scale production program. Using the funds given to Moyo from consecrating and acquiring the planet, they had bought what was known as a ‘mithril seed’ to gradually transform all metals within the planets body into pure mithril. It had cost a staggering amount of money from the system vault, something Ahib had protested could be better used into setting up the civilizations that would spring up on the planet as refugee ships came from the archailect itself.

Moyo had paid him no heed, moving mechanically as he bought it along with every other thing on the long list given to him by Ahib. Soon enough as the transport ships ferrying the refugees began to land, dropping them in their thousands, Moyo watched the weather slowly settle into one of snow on one half of the planet and sun on the other half of the planet, its ecosystem gradually forming. Matthew had informed him that blade-1 had settled to be a slightly drizzling planet most of the time with bouts of sunshine between them. He had asked how long they had been gone from blade-1 and Matthew told him two weeks had passed.

It solidified his theory that something in the abyssal control of the galaxy made time seem fast to them, but slow to those outside its grasp. Those weren’t the reason why he was quiet though, his mind slowly sorting out the jumbles of thoughts that plagued him. He drew dominion from its sheath, staring at the purple and black blade that hummed softly to him as he awaited his next mission. Immediately he had been sent back to the planet after the meeting with the harbingers, Altair had arrived with the bulk of his fleet in an attempt to intercede for him. Apparently the information had gotten to them late simply for the novel fact that the council had actually stealthily trailed them from behind, Moyo’s fleet in particular to observe his actions.

Sealing off information from the planet to the rest of the fleet thousand blades, they had ensured that no leaking of what had transpired with the jades had gotten to the ears of the ancient till a good while after. Altair had been furious when the information got to him, rage in his eyes as Moyo was summoned to his court within his large ship, the rest of the masters around as well,

“We have never had a smooth relationship with the jades” Duval had said after Moyo had narrated the event,

“Their way of life is brutal and barbaric at best, a culture that grew from constantly having to fight for their very existence almost every day” Killian said,

“It gave them no cause to attack an ally like that, what did you call this jade’s name again?” Ajax had asked mildly, an undertone of threat in his voice,

“The jade order had been repeatedly warned by the primordials to behave, if this is how they disrespect me and my allies, then I might need to have a word with whoever leads them within the archailect itself” Altair said,

“Still, it would be prudent to realize that they represent a significant number of our fighting force my liege” Skatha had said calmly,

Ajax turned to her,

“Less than a hundred jades and the bulk of them hailing from the third order were dispatched” he said with a deadpanned voice,

“Like I said, a significant number, they are our lethal weapons against the abyss, their paths literally evolved around combating the abyss” Skatha said again,

“So, you would have us overlook such insult?’ Duval asked,

“No, what she meant was we will bid out time, wait till after the war before doing whatever I decide on” Altair had said with a finality to his voice,

Moyo had kept silent throughout the conversation, his eyes glazing over as he tried to settle his mind. Eventually the meeting had ended as Altair was being called to discuss the next line of action, the war still raging in the second ring of planets in some parts. Embers of a dying war was closing up in the first ring, an abyssal core fortress hidden within a spatial fold by the abyss had been detected and the brigade had moved in to extinguish the threat. It had caused high command to declare a sweep of the entire first and second rings, to check if any core fortresses were hidden around.

The fortresses large battle stations made of corrosive black metal and resilient to attacks, often needing the use of entire battleships to take down and in the worst cases, an arcane general of the brigade coming around to knock the entire structure out. It wasn’t the structure a much as the weapons they wielded, fueled by pure abyssal aspect, its large cannons and defensive artilleries able to wipe out entire fleets if caught unawares, rusting, decaying or even unravelling whatever archailect machinery it came across. Living beings were not spared the same gruesome death as well as it decayed or unraveled them as well in the process. The fortress found was just coming online when the forces of the archailect, mostly the brigade had pounded it to kingdom come along with the category five diamond swarm lord that controlled the station.

It had been a wakeup call to everyone that nowhere was safe as long as abyssal monsters still roamed the galaxy itself, it was also a wake up call to him as well, pressing in the point that there was little to nothing he knew about the archailect apart from the power plays and rudimentary knowledge available to all. Moyo had taken calls from both Ashira and his clan as the news of his battling an elite and living to tell the tale began to filter out, they had been brief and Moyo with his thoughts scattered merely replied casually, Ashira pursing her lips,

“You do know you can tell me anything right?” she had asked,

He gave a faint smile,

“of course, just tired” he replied,

She didn’t believe the lie, it was obvious on her facial expression, but she nodded and said goodbye, cutting off the transmission. The very thought of Kairos playing him had run in his head over and over, somehow orchestrating his meeting with Ashira. He however argued that theory, he was a nobody when she had met him, some random low tier expert who had been way over his head thinking he could take on the world at large. It made no sense that Kairos knew of him even then, surely he wasn’t worthy of the notice of a primordial then as well. He had grunted in irritation, tearing open a pathway to the continent where the dungeons had been confined, watching as the monsters that broke through their lower tiered dungeons ran in a stampede in all directions away from him in terror, afraid of whatever he might do to them. Moyo needed to think, shrouding his core down to as low as silver and wading into the hordes of monsters as he casually began to kill them, focusing on the movements of the path of the titan blade. If he was being played was of no consequences to him currently, there was nothing he could do about it anyways.

He would train, he would get stronger, and he would reach the heights of the likes of Kairos,

No he thought as he shook his head, casually slapping a monster and watching the monsters around it explode along with it from the concussive wave of the power,

He would reach the heights of the cosmic dragon herself, Eses,

Moyo wasn’t sure why he thought so, but he could feel a subtle difference in their powers, nothing an average ascender of the archailect would notice and he suspected it was only due to his aspect that he could sense it at all. She could take on Kairos and even though she could and most definitely would come out of that fight a broken mess with hundreds of planets wiped out in the process, she would be in a better state than Kairos himself. His talk with Kairos had just been a brief update of his trial with the harbingers and Kairos reassuring him of his protection.

He visibly held back the question on his tongue, resolving to simply watch events play out around him in the coming period, he couldn’t afford to lose an ally like Kairos, not when the eyes on him had significantly grown, held back by the ire of the king of monsters, and if the rumors he had been hearing were right as well, the cosmic dragon as well. His attention was drawn back to the present as he felt the aura of Idris step out of the pathway he had opened, bowing to him at the waist. Now a diamond ranker himself, he had confirmed that Idris along with the other members of his guard had been given the option to ascend to master rank.

Moyo assumed it was something that came naturally, seeing as they were at the peak of diamond rank, level 500 and wielding the aspect of a greater being. Apparently those already having a link to aspect based powers before reaching diamond rank were given the option to ascend to master. The guard had declined unanimously, stating that as long as the titan blade was a master, they would remain diamonds as well. Moyo wasn’t sure that was logical, they needed all the power they could get, especially during a war like this, but seeing as whenever they used his aspect, they were technically masters as well, he had relented.

He used his aspect to burn away the gore from his body,

“Is it time?” he asked Idris who nodded,

“Yes, Urne sent a transmission down to use, all forces have been accounted for along with the latest batch of recruits into the planet force, we number over thirty thousand currently” Idris reported,

“And how many did we lose this time?” he asked,

“Over two thousand, mostly iron rankers and bronzes” Idris replied,

Moyo nodded stiffly, casualties were inevitable, but those were a thousand souls he had led to their doom, it wouldn’t fade away for some time. Passing through the pathway back to the large town that had sprung up around and served as the base of the production fleet, Moyo watched as hundreds of Ija battle tanks were packed into large ships provided by the brigade. An entire fleet of transport ships were waiting above the planet, carrying weapons and artilleries newly created to the various warfronts. Moyo checked his HUD, seeing the obscene amount of money that was flowing into his account, suffice to say funds would never be his issue again. He watched Ahib floating in the air, his body growing an additional pair of four arms as he worked simultaneously, typing, scribbling and passing info around.

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He cleared his throat as the android paused, turning to see the titan blade and closing everything he had been doing before floating down to him,

“Lord titan blade, commander Idris, is it time?’ he asked reluctantly,

Moyo smiled, he had watched as Ahib had thrown himself into the project, coordinating everything with an almost fanatical efficiency and in less than two hours, tanks were already rolling out of the factories, clogging the entire landscape for as far as his eyes could see till eventually the brigade had stepped in, helping transporting the ships and fighter crafts to warfronts they were urgently needed in, he nodded,

“We have our orders, although you can stay behind to watch over your project” Moyo replied,

Ahib shook his head resolutely,

“No, my place is beside you lord titan blade, I can put someone just as efficient as me in charge till your clan gets to the planet” he responded,

Boyle and his sect were already enroute from Gaia, protected by a single diamond ranked brigade member to ensure their safety to the planet, they were scheduled to arrive in a few weeks’ time. Moyo turned, opening a pathway as he, Idris and Ahib made their way into the defiance itself, its security protocols recognizing him and letting him through into the ship itself through his pathway. Everyone on deck snapped to attention as he appeared, the titan waving with one hand. Images of each of his guard on their own transport ships that had been remodelled and refitted quickly by Ahib into their own personal battleship appeared,

“Are all troop commanders accounted for?” he asked as he stared at the ten images,

“present” they all replied,

He nodded,

“Good, Urne, if you please?” he said,

The commander of the defiance bowed at the waist, tapping something on her wrist as an image of the galaxy came up. The parts now consecrated by the archailect shone blue and the parts still within the grip of the abyss were pitch black, Moyo frowning as he saw the blues glowing around the dark like circular dots. The forces of the archailect had developed the strategy of punching through each of the rings of planets defending the system, they had quite a number of planets still left not consecrated. Usually going for the strongest of the planets across the ring, they had left the ones with simply a mild amount of blight infestations for the rest of the fleets coming behind fleet thousand blades.

Urne zoomed in on a glowing red dot that separated the third ring from the second ring they currently held,

“That right there is our next target, an abyssal core fortress, one that is reportedly three times the size of the planet blade-2 we just conquered” she said,

Idris whistled at the immense implication of that,

“I’m guessing the entirety of fleet thousand blades will be needed for this?” Moyo asked,

“Precisely my lord, the ship of the thousand blades himself will lead the charge, along with a contingent of brigade members, all diamond rank as well” she replied,

“don’t fortresses like this require at least one of their higher powers?, a master or an arcane general?” Idris asked,

Urne nodded,

“Indeed, however they’ve been redeployed urgently to another system, the Vusal system” she said,

Moyo nodded, glancing at his guard and troop commanders, he spoke,

“I have half a mind to restrict our troops, this is going to be bloody, only the strongest among us would apparently survive” he said,

“While that is noteworthy, we also need to consider the fact that this could be a way to push the strength of the ascenders higher” Hajin argued,

“More bronzes, silvers and even golds” Tomasa said as well,

“The lives to be lost must also be put into consideration as well” Amiya said,

“we’d lose more if we finally break into the third ring and we meet a stronger planet, we barely managed to make planetfall at blade-2, the sacrifice and quick thinking of lord titan blade ensured our casualty rated were in the low thousands, other planetary forces suffered worse” Vaughn stated bluntly,

That explained why their recruitment rates were going higher, more ascenders picking the planetary force of the titan blade due to their low casualty rates. Moyo nodded and glanced at Idris,

“Well?’ he asked,

Idris pursed,

“Perhaps we can go about this delicately” he started,

“We punch into the ship, what defenses does it have?” he asked Urne,

“Apart from its offensive weapons we need the diamond brigade rankers to deal with, the ship has an abyssal barrier field that strongly nullifies the abilities of the of those from the archailect” she stated,

“The stronger you are the more it seeks to nullify abilities, hence the brigade usually employs its neophytes to infiltrate the ship while their stronger members pound its offensive weapons from outside till the infiltration forces could destroy the infernal machines keeping the barrier up” she said,

“Then it’s resolved, we punch into the fortress and push the experts into the ship, are there schematics of the fortress?” Idris asked,

Urne nodded as a large image of the fortress appeared in front of them all, it was a large blocky figure of irregular angles and shapes, like a child playing a game of Tetris and failing woefully. All sharp angles and sides, it looked like a shabbily built structure, with large weapons mounted all over its body and on all sides and angles, ensuring the fortress could shoot at any perceived blind spot, protecting itself. Moyo frowned,

“that’s one weird looking craft” he noted,

“This is known as a star abyssal fortress, they come in sizes and this is one of the largest ever recorded, they are usually in the employ of one of the lords of the abyss” she said,

“we were told the abyss was a place of chaos and destruction, how come they have constructs as large as this?, who even builds them?” Wutan asked,

That was one in a long line of questions Moyo needed answers to, but he shelved it to one side,

“we’ll get to that later, any plan by fleet command?” Moyo asked,

“Yes, overwhelming bombardment” Urne stated,

“The plan is for all ships to bombard the offensive weapons, managing to destroy a significant portion for us to somehow blow a hole in the barrier that would rapidly heal, giving us time to drop our forces on its body and make their way into the fortress itself” Urne stated,

“You said lords of the abyss usually own one of these, are we expecting something strong, really strong?’ he asked,

“a possibility the brigade accounted for, therefore the reason they deployed five brigade diamonds alongside the masters and ruler with us, there are also talks of the high council sending a jade but fleet command debunked said rumors” she said,

More like Altair refused to deal with one of them any longer Moyo thought,

He considered it a mistake though; they needed overwhelming power to deal with the behemoth in front of them and the jades while brutes were specifically made for such battles. He nodded, sure Altair would do the right thing as he felt the defiance powering up, a loud siren echoing through the ship as its inhabitants scrambled to their stations, shola appearing next to him,

“All systems are at optimum condition and ready to travel, all weapons are primed and at maximum working conditions, the defiance is ready to go to war” she stated,

Moyo reclined on his throne,

“Good, all battleships follow close behind, usual V formation, we ride with the strength of the entire fleet” he stated,

His guard nodded and cut off their transmissions, Urne turned to him,

“On your order lord titan blade” she said,

“Take the defiance out of orbit, we go to battle” he ordered,

“I comply” she stated, saluting with a fist to her chest before turning to the crew of the bridge,

“Communicator, put me on planetary ship wide frequency” she ordered,

“Done commander” a man sitting at a console said,

“This is commander Urne of the defiance, all ships under force titan blade are to follow strictly behind the defiance, all weapons are to be ready to fire at a moment’s notice, our job is done here, bigger prey awaits us, may the supreme beings be with us all” she said, gesturing for the communicator to cut of transmission,

“How long till we reach the star fortress?” Moyo asked,

“Approximately an hour, we are close to the edge of the system at light speed” she said,

“Good, I’ll leave the rest to you, inform me when we get close to the fortress” Moyo said,

Urne bowed to him as Moyo left the deck, making his way to his quarters. There he had meditated for the duration of the travel time, calming his mind and body with dominion floating in front of him serenely till his HUD glowed with a message from Idris,

“It is time” it said,

Standing up calmly as dominion floated to his hand, he made his way to the bridge where he observed the bulk of the fleet pulling up on the large structure that dwarfed all their ships,

“No signs of the fortress noticing us” Urne said,

The communicator turned to Urne,

“Incoming transmission from prime ship” he said,

“Pass it through” Urne ordered,

The message played,

“All ships prepare to execute bombardment” a voice said clearly,

Urne turned to Moyo,

“Let them loose” he ordered,

Standing up, he turned to Idris,

“you’re in charge of the forces "he said as he opened a pathway, appearing outside the ship as the bulk of the fleets pulled up,

He saw the diamond rankers of the brigade appear alongside the rest of the masters, nodding to them. Altair raised one hand high a pure silver blade glowing with the aspect of the blade itself,

“Ready yourselves” one of the brigadiers said gruffly, as they pointed their weapons as the ship,

Moyo found it peculiar how all the brigade members had a high ego, even those he could beat on easily like the diamonds close to them. He simply ignored it and attributed it to pack mentality, if the alpha was strong, then the pack was strong he guessed. The brigadier who spoke gripped the spear in his hand tighter as it blazed to life, illuminating the area like a mini star. Moyo watched as the weapons of the fortress let lose its devastating attack, a lance of pitch-black energy that weakened reality around them, like a cancerous sore.

Another of the brigadier with a large shield stepped forward immediately, tapping a hand on his shield as it expanded to a gigantic proportion,

“Brace yourselves!” he shouted,

Moyo channeled his aspect, willing reality that buckled to solidify, pitting his aspect behind it, all around him the masters pitting either their authority or growing aspect against the incoming fire power. The attack hit with the same mind bending and reality twisting effects edicts had, attempting to displace them on a molecular level, scatter them into the abyss and it took a considerable amount of concentration from Moyo to withstand the attack,

“Now!” the brigadier with the spear shouted as he hurled the weapon with all the speed of a shooting meteor,

Behind them all ships fired at one, the dark expanse of space illuminated by the lances of energy shot at the fortress. Moyo watched the barrier of pure abyssal power surround the ship and the spear of the brigade diamond piercing through a little hole to detonate on its black metal-like surface. It did minimal damage, same as the attacks that splashed on the barrier of the fortress, but Moyo watched the hole made by the spear struggle to heal. The masters and ruler took immediate advantage, attacks landing on the same spot with devastating damage as they attempted to expand the damage.

Altair stepped forward, blade glowing with his aspect as his spiritual form took shape,

“Cut, edge of extinction” he said,

Reality suddenly grew sharp edges, twisting and turning as the attack detonated on the opening made by the spear. The barrier cracked, buckling under the force of the attack. The master moved, backed by the brigade members, Ajax suddenly appearing at his side, a grin on his face,

“Let it loose titan!” he shouted, aether causing his voice to resonate around Moyo,

Gripping dominion tighter, Moyo raised it, Ajax following suit, the both of them releasing their spiritual form as they swung down at the same time. The aspect of the titan and the deathly intent of the death blade crashed into the hole heading straight for the fortress itself, demolishing an already cracked hull, blasting a hole inward. Master and student landing within the fortress as they grunted, feeling the power of the abyss settle on them. Covering the both of them with his aspect, Moyo threw out the crystal in his hand, watching it explode in space, the signal had been given.

Hundreds upon hundreds of the troop carrier ships began to fly with all haste towards the aperture in the barrier, weaving beneath the lances of energy being exchanged between the ships and the fortress. Moyo turned inwards, towards the blights bearing down on them like hordes of rabid monsters,

“incoming” he said softly to Ajax who glanced in the direction indicated,

“Other side as well” Ajax responded,

The inside of the fortress a shifting wall of black stones glowing with runes that screamed of decay and destruction, of the ever fluid nature of chaos. Moyo pointed one finger at the blights coming,

“break” he commanded,

Reality stabilized for a brief second within the ship and his command took hold, draining the aspect he had gathered as the monsters in his direction shattered into abyssal essence, clearing an entire hallway to reveal hundreds of dark doors and stairs that led to nowhere. Ajax slammed his feet on the ground

“purge” he commanded,

His direction witnessed the abyssal monsters turn to sludges of goo that fizzled away to abyssal essence. Planting a rod on the ground, it pulsed with aether that spread through the area they were in, the archailect grasping a shaky hold in their direct area, Moyo watched as his construct fizzled to life,

“Lord?” the voice of Idris came through,

“we’re in” Moyo replied as the first of the thousands of troop ships from the entire fleet began to make their way through the aperture of the planet sized craft.