The planetary force of the titan made all haste for their next target, across the expanse of the Molrik system, the usual blight defenses they usually faced lay broken, burning even as they tried opening more abyssal pathways, the forces of fleet thousand blades laying waste to them easily. The sky fortress of Ajax which he had named the scythe had made all haste for their intended target, burning their path through the forces of the abyss like a tsunami. Moyo watched from his command deck, the ship pushing forward with all speed, while aboard the battle ships of his forces, the troops prepared, Ija tanks prepped, Asha fighter constructs thrumming with power, for a battle was close to them.
The planet came into horizon, a large black ball of roiling clouds that had Moyo grinning, he brought up his HUD, checking his items
Vault coins:
* 500,000,000 diamond coins
* 1,000,000,000 gold coins
The rest of his financial numbers were entering quite impossible numbers, but this was one of the reasons he had been accumulating funds, albeit indirectly, to spend on acquiring things for his clan. Putting a bid for the planet without even clearing it yet, he stood up as he frowned, staring at the planet closely,
“Altair was right” he murmured,
“Urne, all ships are free to fire at will” he ordered,
Urne bowed and turned to her communication personnel, whatever the titan saw, she knew enough to respect. The meeting with Altair had taken a turn when he informed all the commanders under the fleet about the possibilities of meeting actual cult forces on the planet and not the usual abyssal forces they knew. It had not come as a surprise to Moyo when he had heard that his forces would actually be facing close worlds that lay in the path of the prime planet of Molrik in the system. Afterall as they had drawn ever closer to the planet itself, and he could feel it, the growing sub-aspect of mutation itself, the power of lord Molrik the mutator.
So as the defiance edged ever closer to the planet, his master ranked eyes could make out the defensive constructs that surrounded the planet, he could make out the ground batteries turning their cannons skywards, waiting for the defiance to come into range. Moyo felt the defiance shudder as lances of aether fired towards the planet, the battle ships behind it responding in kind. He saw both the planet’s atmosphere and ground construct defences come to life,
“Initiate shield protocol!” he called out,
Urne nodded as she turned to shola who nodded as well, the aspect core of the ship flaring to life, the same shield that had been employed during the siege of the sky fortress coming into play as it took the brunt of the first set of attacks, the defiance shuddering but coming out unscathed,
“Urne?” Moyo called out,
“Shields are holding at 98%, ship integrity is at a 100%, no ships were incapacitated, aspect core is at 89%” she reported,
Moyo nodded satisfactorily, turning to her as his HUD fizzled out,
“You know the drill” he said as she saluted,
Moyo rolled his shoulders as his communication construct came to life, transmitting his voice to the other battle ships,
“We are here, our first engagement as the legion of the titan, we face a foe that has grown stronger, we face not abyssal creatures but cult members of the undying hands, we face our first real human engagement” he started,
“but I could care less, these ascenders have decided to throw their lots with the abyss, or maybe they were born there, it matters not, what matters is our victory, what matters is our ridding this world of the abyssal taint, so fight well and let us bring the light of the archailect to this world as well!” he finished,
Turning as Idris appeared from his quarters, conquerors gauntlet in both arms as they blazed with linings of purple, channelling his aspect,
“My lord” he said, Moyo nodded,
Drawing dominion, he tore the air, feeling the aspect of the abyss push back, fighting his authority. Moyo grinned as his eyes blazed, tier 2 aspect empowering him as he pushed back,
“open” he commanded, pouring his aspect into it as the pathway tore open,
“The troops?” he asked,
“They will be going first to drop artilleries, the ships will cover for them as they carpet bomb the world” Idris reported,
“good, have the ten hone in on my location and drop close to us, we can’t afford to be separated this time, we fight humans” he replied as Idris nodded and summoned his communication construct,
“Join me down below when you’re ready” he said before jumping through,
The pathway opened up into a dark planet with black rocky surface, he could feel the mutation in the air, he could feel it push back on him, he could feel it trying to seep into his body. Moyo invoked his aspect more, blazing like a comet, he came out of the pathway right in the middle of the air, free falling towards one of the surface batteries. His eyes could make out cult members, he could see their dark robes and black eyes, he could see giant creatures that looked like the guardian of the pods on the sky fortress and he could see Nethertaurs as well.
They all fired at once, blasting whatever powers steeped in the abyss at him, he could feel it, the strongest of them not being more than early diamond and even those were retreating, eyes wide as they somehow recognized him. Then the cannons fired, throwing black dust in the air and shaking the ground, all these attacks coming for a single target. Moyo raised dominion as it sang through the air, he thought of using an edict and shook his head, not for small fries like these,
The attacks were wiped clean as dominion released a line of intent infused with aspect, clearing the space between him and the attacks before crashing into the platforms and wiping everything alive or not around the area, sanitizing the very grounds that steamed as he landed. Beams of light exploded in the air above the planet as the defiance came into view, his communication construct flared to life,
“Commander, we come” Idris’s voice said through the device,
Lances of light crashed into the ground, revealing thousands upon thousands of forces of the titan blade, from Ijas to Ashas and the thousands of ascenders with one weapon or the other, the banners waving the crest of the titan flapping in the air. In front of them stood the guard, ten in all with Idris, the guard captain and commander in front, channelling the aspect of the titan that had infused his conquerors might, transforming it into a full body armor complete with a metallic head gear.
Moyo watched as from all corners of the planet, abyssal powers flared, diamond rank and lances of black light shot through the air, converging above the position of the titan before falling. Moyo moved to draw his blade when all his guard shot past him,
“No way” Romulus growled,
“Our turn!” Marcel said laughing,
Moyo watched with amusement as even Idris joined, and together they unleashed a power so great, that despite the abyssal aspect seeking to wipe out their attacks, it lit the cloudy skies like daylight. The black clouds were wiped away, revealing a landscape of black lands and a city in the distance. Soon it was over and they landed back on the ground grinning from ear to ear, their forces behind them roaring, Moyo glanced at the forces, seeing as each wore a different color of arm strip, coinciding with each of the colors of his different ten guard, Moyo raised an eyebrow at Idris who rolled his eyes,
“Titan legion!” he shouted, his voice echoing through the landscape as abyssal pathways opened up in the distance, unleashing untold horrors and cult members in their thousands who rode them,
“Present your troops!” he ordered,
Moyo watched as the cohesive legion separated into ten different troop forces, one gold stepping forwards from each of the troops, their captains he would guess, answering only to their commanders being each of the ten,
“Kaminaris, troops of commander Hajin!” the first said, the rest following suit,
“Claws, troops of commander Romulus!”
“Lances, troops of commander Wutan!”
“Zhiyuans, troops of commander Tomasa!”
“Steel guard, troops of commander Fern!”
“Brawlers, troops of commander Yemi!”
“Aegis, troops of commander Vaughn!”
“Diablos, troops of commander Marcel!”
“Revenants, troops of commander Amiya!”
“Spadas, troops of commander Lucina!”
Moyo stared at each of the troops with their own banners now being raised, he glanced at Idris who looked embarrassed,
“They wanted to keep it as a surprise” he said,
Moyo nodded, a soft smile on his face, he turned to his forces, not considering the forces bearing down on them,
“You are my legion!” he started,
“you may be separated by troop forces of ascension ranks, but you all belong to one force, you belong to my force, we will go forth and eradicate all taints on this world, make your commanders proud, make me proud, and by the will of the supreme beings, we will come out triumphant!” he finished, pointing his blade at the incoming foes,
Hundreds of Ijas answered his call, blasting out attacks of mana, intent and aura in waves that cut down the ground troops of the cult in the horizon, Ashas took to the air, screaming past as Moyo watched the skies above become a slaughter house. For the first time, Moyo watched his forces become a cohesive unit, fighting not as a ramshackle of different ascenders intent on pursuing their own ascensions but as one army, one legion,
The legion of the titan,
He marched forward to his guard who stood in a circle around him,
“Come, let us bring this world to its knees” he growled,
Idris nodded as a map of the planet appeared,
“thanks to the defiance, we know where the forces of the cult are situated, one continent, one absurdly large continent with five cities surrounding the spire of the abyss” he said,
“Then it’s good we have ten troop forces to handle them, don’t we?” he said as he smiled grimly,
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The diamond cult member in charge of this fortress where he held back the main forces under him watched as the horizon lightened, he could feel the intruders as vice lord Vesh had informed them. Shaking his head as a sharp pain bit through his skull, he staggered as his gold rankers came close to him, waving them off with one hand as he growled. His nose leaked black fluid, a side effect of the transfusion with a category 5 swarm leader, he had been one of the first generation of the experiment.
He had been given the honor to lead the new era of fusions between blights and flesh, therefore bypassing the weakness of the flesh, making them stronger, resilient. He could still feel the dying voice of the swarm leader in his head, he could hear its death throes that sent shivers of pleasure through him, even as his hands morphed into a greenish looking monstrosity, he fought the change back,
“Not yet” he crooned,
Soon the forces of this titan blade would reach this fortress and they would realize that not even the powers of the supreme beings could save them, not from death and not from the abyss. He supposed he should be grateful it hadn’t been the obliterator that landed on their planet, for they had all felt his passing, the planet rumbling as the abyss weakened when the sky fortress stolen from vice lord Vesh had rumbled past. He shuddered at the thought of such a being, such an abomination setting foot on the planet, for it irrevocably mean their deaths.
Still he saw the first signs of the sky constructs raining fire down on his cult members who took to the skies along with their abyssal creatures, hoping to hold back the tide of archailect ascenders. He knelt when he felt the presence of Vesh in his mind, the same way the rest of them all would no doubt be feeling her presence as well,
“move” she simply said,
And the diamond ranker stood, feeling his body take on the transformation as it shook off the saggy mortal flesh, revealing a large abomination with green inner flesh and sinews on display like a skinned human, overly large claws and eyes of midnight black, he turned to the cultists behind him who stared in awe and reverence,
“It is time” his voice rumbled as he remembered,
He wasn’t a diamond ranker, the diamond whose flesh this being wore had faded away, only he remained, the swarm leader.
***********************
Romulus and Marcel at the head of the claws and diablos made all haste towards their given city, their forces fighting for every piece of ground they took as they tore through cult members, using their authorities to lock down pathways the faster they moved, artillery forces planting aether resonators around, bolstering their forces and replenishing their aether cores. The golds did battle in their numbers against the strongest of their foes, hulking monstrosities that marched ahead of the regular blight monsters, although not as large as the hulking figures.
The titan called those large ones Nethertaurs, creatures of absurd strength and the two guard members could see for themselves as it took three or more gold or a team of ten silver body aura users per one Nethertaurs just to protect the other ascenders from being squashed like bugs. The forces had been able to put down the Nethertaurs when the Ijas came into play, blasting them to smithereens as they pushed onwards. Romulus bounded forwards with a tight team of gold ranked officers, pushing faster and harder as Marcel did the same as well, scorching the very earth as he unleashed his realm on the land in front of them, corroding whatever cult forces that strayed unto his realm.
The golds surrounding the devil touch were immune to the fires of the realm, protected by Marcel who channelled the aspect of the titan, they riddled the cult members who fired back with all sorts of construct weapons that had been somehow consecrated in the aspect of the abyss, enabling them to work rather than crumble in the decay of the abyss. Pushing forwards with the Ashas dropping mana bombs after mana bombs, the once quiet landscape had become a hellish area, strewn bodies on both sides. Marcel shot a lance of scorching fire at a Nethertaur that raised its hands, intent on crushing a silver ranker whose mantle had shattered.
The attack drilled through its skull, the creature’s head exploding in an instant as a large mecha warrior from the artillery unit, Marcel literally had no name for it seeing as they were the latest additions to the forces of the titan, tested first before being considered for mass production. He briefly had pity for the other archailect fleets spread across the other systems who might not have auxiliary forces of tanks and the rest just yet, the body counts must be astronomical.
However one thing he had learnt was that no matter how high the body count went, the reinforcements from the archailect always kept pouring in, like a never-ending deluge of bodies to throw at the abyss, and the abyss itself wasn’t lacking as well.
The mecha warrior wielding a large axe that glowed with intent shot forwards, axe cleaving a Nethertaurs’ head off its shoulders in a spray of liquid that sizzled on the ground, bathing both ascenders and cultist alike as they screamed, healing skills blooming from behind the troops as ascenders who possessed healing skills helped. Marcel wanted to go help when a gold tapped him,
“Commander!, those batteries need to go down!” he shouted urgently,
That was the main reason why he had picked ten of his best gold rankers, his honour guard so to speak to push forwards and take down the battery instalment that pounded his troops. He stared in the horizon where Romulus had done the same, taking ten golds as well to take down the gates of the fortress, pushing forwards with his ascenders who were protected within his realm, the beastkin lair, as they assassinated cultists in the most brutal ways necessary, arms and body parts flying through the air.
He pushed onwards, Ija tanks behind him returning fire from the forces that protected the batteries that reduced whatever ascender it caught to a puddle of flesh slowly. One of his golds with a large shield made of mithril took a blast to the shield that knocked him backwards as he grunted,
“Large weapons coming into play!” he growled,
“Take it down!” Marcel growled as a gold with a rare weapon, a sort of sniper rifle that fired concentrated intent whipped forwards,
Blue hair flowing, the gold he realized was a woman fired as the recoil jerked her shoulder, the cultists with the large weapon fell straight to the ground below.
The battery sat on a platform higher than the walls of the city itself, again Marcel questioned how the abyssal side had access to things native to the abyss. He wasn’t an expert in the abyssal side, hell, he hadn’t even known they existed till the titan blade took them to space, revealing just how wide the archailect really was.
If the abyssal side were truly creatures of chaos, of decay as he had been told, creation should not be something they were capable of. He put it to the back of his mind as he pushed on, concentrating his fire on the abyssal barrier that protected the batteries, he laid in fire, mecha forces using projectile weapons following suit as they attempted to breach the barrier.
Growling, he spoke to his golds,
“Take cover” he said,
Like a well-oiled machine, barrier of auras went up, realms also mixing together as Marcel brought out his communication construct, placing a call to his battle ship, the purgatory, he admitted his squad commanders had winced at such a bleak name, but he loved it, and in his opinion, it was better than the fang as given by Romulus to his battleship. His communication construct came to life as their makeshift barricade came under heavy fire from the cultists on the walls of the cities and platforms as they realized that whatever Marcel and his ascenders were doing was nothing in their favour.
The communication devices came to life,
“Commander Marcel” a gravelly voice rumbled,
“hone in on my position and rain down fire where I’ll indicate with the beacon!” he commanded,
“I comply” the voice replied,
Marcel stretched his hand out as one of his golds dropped a small device in his hand, a beacon that tossed straight towards the direction of the walls, watching as it hung in the air next to the barrier. Marcel spoke,
“Now!”
From the skies above the battery placement rained down mana bombs of such devastating nature that it left detonated like a bomb blast, buffering them with concussive waves from the attack. When it cleared, the barrier was gone and the forces of the abyss at the battery placements were either badly injured or dead,
“Forward!” Marcel roared as he shot ahead of his golds despite their complaints, they’d catch up,
The moment he got close to the batteries, he felt the concealed presence, his weapon, two pairs of jagged diamond ranked and rare scorching daggers appeared in his hands as his mantle, an armor of scorching stones and lava covered his body as it turned red, his eyes glowing burning red as well. From behind the battery came a hulking creature, by far larger than the Nethertaurs but with sentience gleaming in its eyes gleaming with sentience.
It possessed the same putrid green skin of the creatures Marcel was beginning to see belonged to Molrik. Dragging a great Warhammer like its weight was too much for it on the ground, equally large creatures that look more like the Nethertaurs but with a wider frame and large clubs surrounding it stepped forwards beside it, the same creatures that led the Nethertaurs down below to battle,
“Praise be lord Molrik!” it croaked,
“Praise!” the creatures beside it roared,
“For blessing us with this sacrifice, we dedicate in your honour!” the sentient monstrosity roared,
Battle instincts saved Marcel from being squashed as he flipped, dodging the hammer that suddenly blitzed towards him. Eyes wide, he watched as it grinned, pointing one finger at him,
“rot” it commanded,
He grunted as he felt the aspect of the titan shield him from the attack, the creature frowning as its eyes blazed in anger, it roared,
“child of the anathema!, take his head my Muttites!, we shall dedicate it to Molrik!” it roared,
Marcel winced, irritated at the fact that it could use commands, it possessed authority it seemed. He filed it away to one side to report to the titan blade, flipping his blade in hand, he moved to rip through the gold ranked creatures called Muttites when blasts of intent, mana and aura tore the first three to pieces. Glancing backwards to see his golds had appeared,
“Sorry we’re late boss” one of them growled, a large green skinned man with two axes in both hands,
Marcel nodded as his pointed at the Muttites,
“gold ranked, take them out, leave the diamond to me” he growled,
The large diamond roared, his voice attempted to subdue his golds when Marcel with the aspect of the titan fuelling his abilities he released his aura, its scorching aspect burning away the power of the diamond as he shot towards it. It whipped its hammer Marcel suspected carried the full sub-aspect of mutation towards him as the area around the creature darkened to a greenish hue, the corrosive aura of Marcel battling it, restricting its access from touching his golds who fought ferociously with the Muttites that poured out of a pathway that suddenly opened up. Marcel attempted a feint the creature took, twisting out of its path and shredding its sides with his blades, it roared in agony, the pathway closing up as it lost its concentration.
With that taken off, he grounded himself, the hammer smashing into his mantle that buckled but didn’t crack, once again thanking the titan blade for his aspect. Gripping the hammer in one hand, his mantle that extended to his hands and fingers in the form of the stone scorching armor of stone that corroded everything it touched suddenly became talons. The creature realized what was about to happen and spat at him as he twisted to the side, forced to release the hammer and rolling backwards.
It stood up, its injury slowly healing at a snail’s speed as it growled,
“I am one of the numerous Devigians, protectors of the pod houses of the most beautiful creations of lord Molrik” it said,
“If I cannot sacrifice you in his most wonderful name, then I will sacrifice you to atone for my sacrilege!” it roared,
“Not in the mood to die, no thank you” Marcel replied as his realm blasted out,
“Come, rivers of perdition!” he shouted,
The ground beneath the Devigian cracked open as a stream of black liquid that corroded even the very air took shape, the creature roaring as it attempted to escape the corrosive nature that ate rapidly into its skin. Marcel staggered as he felt the skill funnel both his internal aether and aspect of the titan making him woozy, it was one of the reasons he restrained himself from using the attack, due to its high aether usage.
It was for that reason he moved a little too late, dodging the hammer throw of the Devigian, the weapon smashing his right arm to a pulp as he groaned, rolling to the ground as he stared at the malicious eyes of the Devigian as it was wiped from existence. His golds, six remaining rushed to his side, one opening a rare elixir of healing and pouring it down his throat as the agony blinded him, attempting to get it all through his system before the abyssal environment robbed it of its potency.
He groaned as his arm regrew, sitting up to stare at the dead bodies of four of his golds, valiant ascenders who had climbed from silver to gold during the war, rage in his eyes,
“They died a warriors death, worthy of their sects, it was how they wanted to go” the sniper female said,
“Not like this” Marcel said softly,
He pointed at the battery, shooting a thin lance of corrosive energy at the large weapon that exploded, he and what remained of his golds and their fallen comrades protected under a barrier of aura he had slammed up with what was left of his powers. Reeling from the effort it took, he felt one of his golds open his mouth, pouring a stamina potion down his throat as he winced, wondering just how strong the creature must had been to exhaust him.
Blinking his eyes, he watched as his troops, his diablos marched forwards along with the bulk of the fangs at their sides, the gates of the city falling with a crash, a flare shooting skywards. Marcel turned to the bodies of his gold, if he was to be their leader, then he would set an example,
“Call in an Asha, ferry their bodies back to the purgatory, they were our brothers, they will be honoured as such” he said softly,
Sighing as they saluted and spread out around him, an aether resonator stabbed into the ground, watching it release pulse after pulse of aether to replenish their dwindled cored. He stared grimly at the distance, at the large spire that rose skywards so far away in another area but visible enough to be seen all the way from this city.
Staggering as he got up, he stared as Romulus howling, in his claws was the impaled body of a Devigian as well. It explained the bloody and battered state he was in, no doubt facing the same powerful foe he did, they locked eyes and shared a nod, admitting the fact that this planet would be a slaughter house. He stretched his hand out,
“Commander?” one of his golds called out,
“The banners, of our lord and our troop” he said softly,
A few minutes later, he held the two in each hand, gathering his strength, he impaled them straight into the walls of the city, and unleashed a cry so loud, the troops of diablos and the fangs heard, and they replied, their roar shaking the walls of the city. They would not be stopped, they would fight on, they would carry their dead and they would press on, till victory was theirs,
Till victory was of the titan blade.