Moyo sat with his entire team and master Skatha silent blade at his side, calmly listening to the retelling of the events during the time he had missed while unconscious. The forces of the titan had been held back by an arcane general that had coincidentally appeared as he battled Vesh, somehow tapping into the teleportational sequence of all the ships of force titan blade and getting the entirety of said force off the planet just in time to prevent their demise from the shockwaves of he and Vesh’s battle. Then the arcane general had kept them restricted to their ships, making them watch as Moyo fought the phantom scourge, getting grievously wounded before vanquishing the elite of Molrik.
Idris also reported that the arcane general has been the one to give him the potion he now knew to be a mythical rank elixir of regeneration, wiping out his attack as well as kickstarting the consecration of the planet to the archailect. Moyo supposed he should be grateful to the arcane general, whoever he was for saving him and his guard who he no doubt knew would had come to his defence and eventual demise against the phantom scourge. The forces of the titan blade had then consolidated their forces on the planet, counted their losses and tried all they could to heal their lord before the ship of the silent blade had broken through a pathway, appearing before the world with her personal forces to lend aid to the titan.
Moyo knew there was more to the story, but he allowed himself a few minutes of silence as everyone stared at him. Finally he opened his eyes, fingers stapled together,
“How many did we lose?’ he asked,
“Over a thousand, mostly iron and bronze rankers, twenty silvers and ten golds” Idris reported gravely,
“Honour their deaths, a memorial will be held for them, they are the foundation on which the legion would rise, the ones whose blood were shed for the legion to survive, they did not die in vain” Moyo ordered as Idris nodded, a gold ranker at his back typing what was no doubt typing the order,
“also, try and find out if they had any close relatives, children or the likes, we’ll pay them each a thousand diamond coins from our war loots, and if those are not enough, I’ll add to it from my personal coins” he said,
Moyo saw the looks of shock on the faces of those ascenders around him, a look that changed to gratitude and then burning determination. Skatha sat upright,
“If there’s one thing to be said about you” she started, her words being typed out on his HUD,
“it’s the fact that you’re not the average ascender”
“Let me guess, other rulers don’t do such” he said with a sigh,
“Admittedly a few, but no master would deem it fit to even consider those that died, a fact I’m ashamed I haven’t considered” she admitted,
Moyo nodded,
“While they knew the risks of coming to war, they all had reasons for doing so, I won’t let it die with them” he said,
Idris nodded as he turned to the silent blade again,
“I don’t think it blind luck that an arcane general suddenly appeared out of nowhere, or that the thousand blades was conveniently battling what was another vessel of Vesh on another world, unable to come help” he stated bluntly,
Skatha nodded,
“Neither does lord thousand blades, besides, the speed at which the arcane general appeared, despite the brigade claiming they had none of them on standby for the invasion of the sky fortress rings alarm bells all over” she replied,
“Someone on the council definitely knew, the three times I’ve faced elites now, two of those have seen no higher power come to my rescue, merely disposable warriors of two different factions coming to somehow test me” Moyo pointed out,
” Are you saying you think someone wants you dead?” Skatha asked, the guard sat up as the message filtered across their HUD,
They had been included in the conversation and Moyo still saw the shame and anger in their gazes. The thought they had failed him, that they weren’t there to lay down their lives in his defence, a fact Moyo still considered ludicrous seeing that Vesh had managed to cut right through his defence like it was nothing, they wouldn’t had lasted a minute and that was the elite being unserious. Moyo nodded,
“Kill might be an overstatement, but someone definitely wants me out of this war, and I’m willing to bet the person didn’t consider an arcane general would be coming to my rescue” Moyo noted,
“The sun-burner?” Skatha asked,
Moyo shook his head, Xerxes had no issues he suspected with him, merely an urge to see the archailect working the way it should. Tapping his fingers on the table, he spoke,
“Does anyone else have control over the brigade?” he asked,
“Apart from Xerxes and Tanya?, no one” Skatha replied,
“Then that means the order came from either of them, and I don’t believe Tania would jeopardize the happiness of her sister for some political game” Moyo noted,
“If you live as long as I have, you learn not to underestimate anybody” Skatha warned,
“Xerxes would gain nothing from setting me up to be mortally wounded, in fact, he’s one of those people who would employ every weapon in his arsenal to get the job done, then go after them” Moyo replied,
“so you think something else is at foot?, perhaps he was coerced?’ Tomasa asked,
Moyo shrugged,
“that’s the only plausible answer, but we could get to that some other time, what of…. Ajax?” Moyo asked,
Skatha seemed to pause,
“he’s gone” she replied,
Moyo scrunched his face in confusion,
“What do you mean gone?” he asked,
“The last we heard of the scythe, it had torn a path straight for the prime planet of Molrik despite all commands to stand down” she said,
Ajax had gone after Vesh and Molrik himself, Moyo felt his fists tighten in anger, for once feeling a deep fear for Ajax as well as disappointment. He shut his eyes,
“Can we follow the trail?” he asked after a few seconds,
“No, and even if we could, you’d be stupid to do so” Skatha stated,
“he’ll die” Moyo said softly,
“then let him, too long had Ajax been cuddled by the thousand blades, he thinks he’s invisible with his new found aspect and strength?, then let him prove himself” she said,
Moyo didn’t agree with her, Ajax was being driven by the need for revenge, but Moyo was sure not even revenge could help him against the lord mutator.
Skatha waved her hands,
“Besides, if our reports are right, he won’t make it to the prime planet easily, he faces mortas crane lance, fifth brother of the cult of the undying hand” she said,
“Who?” Moyo asked,
“As Rohan stole the galaxy a few months back, certain influential ascenders, masters really along with their clans switched to the side of the cult” she said,
“We could all ponder why they would do such, but we can only guess they had been working hand in hand with the cult for a long time” she finished,
“And this mortas is a brother of the cult, a high ranking member if I’m correct?” he asked,
Skatha nodded,
“We had no idea till a few days back, but the scythes had managed to get that information from a failed attack against the elite of Vusal in the Vusal system. There it was revealed a former member of the reaping katana sect, Eidolon crystal eye was in fact one of the brothers of the cult” she said,
“Eidolon escaped, not before killing two members and grievously injuring the captain of the squad, a certain mother dragon you and I are familiar with” she said,
Moyo nodded, Anala red jaw, whoever that eidolon was, to kill two masters and seriously injure the red jaw proved he was a warrior though and through. She continued,
“He however left behind a construct recording of the meeting between the other masters who we thought had gone missing prior to the war as members of the brotherhood”
“Who keeps tabs on the masters?” he asked suspiciously,
“The archailect is not so flush with masters as to not know the status of each of them, the brigade keeps a tally of masters, not active monitoring. Besides all masters were to report for the war and when they didn’t it was assumed they had gone deeper into the archailect on some self-project or the other” she explained,
Moyo nodded as he turned back to the display showing the thousands of his forces arrayed, the artillery division were repairing broken battle tanks and Ashas, the construct armour division also saw the ascenders in the heavy armour provide maintenance for their armour as well. He saw ships entering the planet as he frowned,
“Idris, aren’t those ours?” he asked,
His champion nodded,
“Indeed, the hammers of Ogun have arrived” he replied,
Moyo glanced up at him,
“weren’t they meant to go colonize the planet Ogun?” he asked,
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“the clan were immediately notified of your…injuries, sect leader Boyle along with pontiff Matthew of the order dispatched sect and order forces to this planet to ascertain the situation and if possible extract you back to Titan, the planet of the order” he said,
Glancing at Skatha who nodded,
“The thousand blades approved of the plan, you were purposely left in the dark as we knew what your reply would be” she said,
Moyo sighed,
“Inform the ship that I am fine, no, hail them and let me speak to who’s in charge” he ordered,
Idris nodded and sent a message through his HUD as the display screen in front of them divided into two, the faces of Sonya and a man dressed in the blue and purple robes of the order. Their gazes lit up at the sight of him, bowing respectively,
“We greet the lord” they said,
Moyo nodded,
“Rise, I hear you were sent on behalf of the clan?” he asked,
“indeed, lord titan blade, our orders were to transport you back should your situation prove dire, but I believe we were mistaken” Sonya said,
Moyo nodded,
“It is as you see, I am hale and hearty, return to your sect leader and planet titan respectively, they need you all more than we do here” he ordered,
“Apologies lord titan blade, but I come bearing more Prometheus battle suits, schematics for the a certain artillery division commander Ahib?” Sonya asked,
Moyo nodded, glancing at Idris,
“where’s Ahib?” he asked,
“With the artillery division overseeing the maintenance of all our weapons and constructs” he reported,
“Fine, land nearby, perhaps you can meet the artillery commander” Moyo said, Sonya bowing,
He turned to the man in the robe,
“And you are?” he asked,
“Battle priest mark, lord titan blade, one of the ten battle priests of the ten cities on planet titan, we are of the patron Vaughn” the man named mark said,
“I see, and do you have any reason to personally meet with me?” he asked,
“Pontiff Matthew gave the implicit instruction to ensure you are in perfect condition before returning to titan. I’m afraid I’m under sworn archailect oath to verify this personally, failure to do this could result in my excommunication from the brotherhood of the battle priests” mark said with no small trepidation in his voice,
Moyo sighed,
“Fine, land, verify and get back on that ship towards titan, they need you there more than I need you on the frontlines” he ordered,
Battle priest mark bowed,
“As you will it lord” he replied,
Skatha stood up,
“My task here is done, I was to ascertain your status, ensure you were either sent back to your nearest planet to recuperate or to ensure the safety of your force, I see none is needed” she said,
Moyo stood up as well,
“Extend my gratitude to the thousand blades, I am fine, what is our next move however?” he asked,
“All fleets comprising of armada system Molrik have grinded to a halt, we have reached the last ring before the ring of planets protecting the prime planet of Molrik” she said,
“The council has decreed this all over the galaxy of dire, our losses are mounting and we need time to fortify our holdings as well as get reinforcements from the archailect, I daresay the real war has just begun” she said,
Moyo nodded grimly,
“we’ve been having it easy, haven’t we?” he asked softly,
She nodded,
“This is the stage where we might begin to lose masters in war, the main powers of the abyss will begin to rise and Ajax has blown open the way for our enemies to spot our approaching army” she said, Moyo noticed there was a bit more anger in her voice,
“Then I will take this time to reorganize and prepare” he said solemnly,
“see that you do, I return to my planet, the sole one I claimed for my clan, the forces of fleet thousand blades are predominantly located on this angle of the ring, our planets secure behind the strength of our ships” she said,
“We shall meet soon enough, master titan blade” she said as Moyo shook her hand,
“And you too master silent blade” he finished as she nodded, a pathway opening up for her to pass through,
Moyo watched it close up behind him before turning to his guard,
“Alright, we have a lot of work to do, and reorganizing” he said,
***********************************
Stepping out of the building, Moyo stared at the stronghold that had been raised around the spot where he had fallen, right next to the spire of aether that continually pumped aether into the planet. For hundreds of miles as he could see, thousands of ascenders moved around. Whether in flying constructs or running with the speed of their respective ranks, the entire area was a hive of activities, his guard fell into position around him as they made their way towards a hastily prepared landing bay that had been needed for the transport ships of each of the troops battle ships.
A large building made of metal had been raised, there the artillery division churned out battle tanks upon battle tanks. The rise of Ashas flying out of the building drew his sight, Moyo paying no notice to how a hush had fallen across the field for miles till a loud roar broke him out of his thoughts, blinking around before smiling at his legion whose hearts had soared with his return. He paused as he raised a hand, a hush falling across the field, with that he floated slowly to upwards, eyes on his legion who stared at him with reverence,
“Today we fought” he started, manipulating the aether to carry his voice far and wide,
“We fought, we bled and we died” he continued,
“But we won, by the sacrifices of our brothers in arms we won, we crushed the foothold of the enemies and we advanced, some of us ascended and no doubt some of us have broken previous ranks” he said,
With a brief flick of his hand, hid deific vault of the titan appeared mid-air, Moyo pushing his hand through and grabbing a piece of his mountain that somehow tore off like wet clay, dragging the heavy stone out of his vault, the rock made of pure Aserite slamming to the ground upright, shaking the ground for miles. The eyes of his forces went from the impossibly hard material to his face back,
“We will immortalize those legion brothers of ours, and all those who have died in any previous engagements” he said,
“We will etch their names on this monument, forever immortalizing those who died so the legion could take its first steps. Every single name will and must be on this monument by sun down, so I implore you all, those of you who knew one person or the other to step forward with their names to your captains, compile them, for tonight, we honour our dead, we drink to their memories and we swear the oath not to let their deaths be in vain” he finished,
The chants of his name began to echo as he floated down to the midst of his guard who nodded at him, Marcel seemingly misty eyed,
“I heard you lost some of your captains” he said,
Marcel nodded,
“Four of my best, thank you lord” he replied,
Moyo nodded,
“Immortalize their names, I have plans for our legion my guard” he said looking at them all,
“But for now let us take stock of what we have and prepare, we will not be caught unawares again” he finished,
They saluted and continued on towards the base of the artillery division, as they got closer, Moyo noticed all work had stopped and Ahib, division commander of the artillery unit stood in front of the building, bowing at the waist the moment Moyo got close to him. The rest of the division followed in their commanders’ gesture, bowing as well,
“Please, rise, we have much to do” Moyo said,
“It brings me no small pleasure to see you hale and hearty lord titan blade, the troops are invigorated with your return” the android said,
“Happy to be back, congratulations on the success of your prototype construct armour I now hear is being called the Prometheus battle suits” Moyo replied,
“It is one of my greatest accomplishments lord, already my skill in weapons forging has evolved into legendary status, and the council has once again approved of the designs and for mass production, the rights assigned to me under your overview of course” Ahib hastily said,
Moyo waved his hands,
“I believe you’d do justice to it; will you have enough mithril to continue production and maintenance here?’ Moyo asked,
“I believe that was one of the reasons sect leader Boyle of the hammers of Ogun sent his second in command” Ahib said, pointing to a Sonya who was engrossed at the sight of the assembling of an Ija battle tank,
Moyo smiled at the silver ranker in question, the sight of her silver and purple robe with the crest of the clan emblazoned on it reminding him of Gaia. It felt like a life time ago when he had left with his guard, fresh for war, now with all he had seen, Moyo secretly wished he could go back to delving master ranked dungeons for the fun of it. As he stopped near the woman, clearing his throat, Sonya turned, eyes wide as she knelt in front of him,
“None of that Sonya, you are family, clan, you know better” he said,
“Sect leader Boyle is a stickler for the rules, he’d have my head if I flaunt it” she said with smile,
Moyo rolled his eyes,
“Where are the battle suits?’ he asked,
Right over there” she replied, pointing at where ascenders in the original prototype of the suits, bland but terribly effective suits now that he noticed, carried out large containers from the back of a transport ship,
Moyo frowned,
“That shop isn’t large enough to carry too many suits” he said out loud,
Sonya grinned at him and turned back to the container,
“Watch, commander Ahib, if you please?” she asked,
Ahib nodded and walked to the container, placing one metal arm on it as it glowed and opened up to reveal a mini vault,
“impressive” Moyo said,
“the moment we landed on Ogun, the system vault opened access to all new kinds of constructs, this is a compression vault, costs us an arm and a leg for each we bought though, but totally worth it” Sonya said,
“How much?” Idris asked,
“Five thousand gold coins per vault lord Idris” Sonya replied awkwardly, no doubt wondering what to address Idris with seeing as josh was the acting leader of the sentinel sect,
“Please, call me Idris” he said with a smile as she nodded,
“And how many of these vaults did the sect buy?” Moyo asked, already feeling chest pain,
Sonya gave a light chuckle as she smiled sweetly,
“a couple” she replied,
Moyo raised an eyebrow,
“Hundred, a couple hundred of them” she finished,
Moyo swooned lightly,
“a couple hundred, just how many is a couple hundred?” he asked again,
“No idea boss, you’d need to take it up with the main man, I’m just a messenger” Sonya replied as Idris snorted,
Ahib walked up to the Prometheus battle suits,
“Your sect leader is truly a man of science” he praised,
“Improving on my existing technology, anti-gravitational armoured legs, gauntlet intent blades not to talk of a few other things. All powered by stored aether batteries in the suits” Ahib said,
“so what happens when they run out of aether?” Moyo asked,
They would be fighting with them at the war front, in worlds steeped in the abyss, he wouldn’t put liabilities in battle, Ahib nodded as if expecting that question,
“The suits are ridiculously light for constructs made of mithril, the metal itself a good protection against attacks. This will ensure the ascender within the suit could either power it with his own aether reserves or simply use it as a mini tank in battle, its hitting force a true weapon of destruction” he said,
Moyo glanced around, saw a gold ranked ascender and beckoned him closer,
“Lord titan blade” the lean but athletic man with large arms said,
“a body aura user I believe?” Moyo asked,
The man nodded as be bowed again,
“Good, punch this suit with your strongest attack” Moyo ordered,
The man froze, unsure of what he had just heard,
“My lord?” he asked again,
“Punch the suit, it’s a simple command” Idris said as the man jolted,
Moyo sighed,
“it’s a test, no need to fret” Moyo put in,
Vaughn stepped forward as the man’s eyes widened, saluting with one arm to his chest,
“commander” he said,
“you’re not going to make the lord repeat himself, will you?” he asked gravely,
The man whirled as Moyo watched motes of aura and aether converge on his arm, shining like a gauntlet as he punched the suit hard, the armour weathering his attack as the armour seemed to absorb the force and aether of the punch. The ascender stared in confusion at his hand and then back at the armour,
“That will be all ascender, you may return back to your duty” Moyo said,
The man snapped to attention, gave a hasty bow and bolted out of their presence, no doubt going to spread the news about a suit of armour that weathered the punch of a body aura gold ranker. Moyo smiled softly at the retreating man, turning to Ahib,
“Do we have enough for the whole legion?” he asked,
Ahib glanced at Idris,
“Commander general, how many ascenders are in each troop of the legion?” he asked
“Roughly two thousand ascenders per troop” Idris replied,
“Hmm, right now we can only arm 500 per troop” Ahib said, glancing at something, no doubt his HUD
“Then train 500 ascenders from each cohort” Moyo said,
“Cohort?” Ahib asked as Idris glanced at Moyo,
“Hmm?’ Moyo said,
“You just said cohort” Idris replied,
“Oh, yes, it’s time I rehaul the whole planetary force thing, I’m tired of playing by the councils rules” Moyo replied,
Raising one finger before they could ask questions, watching as his guard and Ahib came together, muttering, he placed a call through his HUD to Kairos. A few minutes later the king of monsters answered and Moyo explained his plan to him, the primordials eyes growing wider till he laughed,
“One minute, need to run this through the council” he said,
Cutting the call, Moyo turned back to his team, clearing his throat as they turned to him,
“you’re re organizing the legion, aren’t you?” Wutan asked as Amira smacked the back of his head,
Moyo chuckled,
“Something like that” he replied cryptically,
“I sense a massive headache in logistics” Idris muttered as Moyo patted his shoulder,
“oh, it’s nothing much, just the total arrangement and braking down of our forces, lord knows I don’t have the head for such numbers” Moyo said with a smile,
His HUD blinked with a hail from Kairos, he picked it as the primordial stared at him with amusement dancing in his eyes,
“The council approves of this plan of yours, perhaps you’ll teach us something after all titan blade” he said as he cut the call,
Moyo turned back to his team, opening up his HUD as he sent the file he had been working on back at the base after the troops had revealed their names, he sent it to them all as he smiled, enjoying the looks of astonishment on their faces,
“Well, let’s get to work” he said grinning.