The planet that played base to the planetary force of the titan blade or now known as the legion of the titan was a large world with a single continent. Dry humid atmosphere with little to no rain, it somehow maintained the coolness of a world meant to be blistering hot. It wasn’t like it would had affected the ascenders though, their bodies tempered in war and ascensions, they paid it no heed save for those few minute numbers among them who were peak advocates or early iron rankers.
The legion of the titan had immediately settled into a routine of weapon productions, maintenance and training. Moyo himself had overhauled the entire legion, creating and cementing the ten cohorts into full fighting forces of their own as against the previous designation of troops. Leaving his guard members, the ten commanders of each of their cohorts to organize their chain of commands, Moyo stared at the full legion arrangement.
PLANETARY FORCE TITAN BLADE PARTS:
* Ship mistress: Urne
* First brother captain: Idris Geb hand
* Artillery division commander: Ahib
LEGION TITAN BLADE COMMAND CHAIN
* Lord: moyosore titan blade
* Commander general: Idris Geb hand
* Cohort commanders
* Division captains
COHORTS OF LEGIO TITAN BLADE
1. FIRST COHORT: KAMINARIS
* Commander: Hajin lightning eater
* Battleship: Senkan
1. SECOND COHORT: CLAWS
* Commander: Romulus beast walker
* Battleship: The Fang
* THIRD COHORT: LANCES
* Commander: Wutan piercing spear
* Battleship: The Razor
1. FOURTH COHORT: ZHIYUANS
* Commander: Tomasa golden staff
* Battleship: The Sage
1. FIFTH COHORT: BRAWLERS
* Commander: Yemi rune brawler
* Battleship: Igboya
1. SIXTH COHORT: Aegis
* Commander: Vaughn assault piercer
* Battleship: The Judgement
* SEVENTH COHORT: DIABLOS
* Commander: Marcel devil touch
* Battleship: Purgatory
* EIGHT COHORT: REVENANTS
* Commander: Amiya sound screamer
* Battleship: The Banshee
1. NINTH COHORT: SPADAS
* Commander: Lucina blade rain
* Battleship: The Executioner
1. TENTH COHORT: STEEL GUARDS
* Commander: Fern steel champion
* Battleship: The Behemoth
the display opened right before his eyes on the holographic display at the stronghold he had transformed to a city, he folded his arms satisfactorily, at his side stood Idris dressed in a simple purple robe, silent as Moyo pondered over the new arrangement of the legion. Five hundred of each of the cohorts, fifty from each of the ten divisions within each cohort were currently being trained by the artillery division to serve as warriors as well as field technicians for their divisions and cohort as a whole. The artillery division had worked all day and night, pumping out new tanks, fighter crafts and battle suits for each of the ten cohorts, each painted in the unique colour chosen by their commander.
Moyo had spent the last two days overseeing the strengthening of his forces as well as catching up on all that had been happening while he waged war on this system. Ajax had sent a message back to fleet thousand blades, apparently not even the scythe, the sky fortress owned by Ajax nor his personal abilities could simply bulldoze his way through the forces of the cult and abyss. Hence, he was simply locked in a stalemate battle at the last ring, slowly eating his way in a battle of attrition between him and the cult forces of Mortas crane lance. Knowing fully well that no reinforcements were coming from either the fleet of the thousand blades nor any of the other fleets that were within the system of Molrik. Killian informed Moyo that Ajax had merely smiled,
“I’d had preferred it no other way” he said,
It was a tough nut to swallow, but Moyo was coming to the realization that whatever chapter he had in his life where he meant something to Ajax was slowly coming to a close, the omega blade didn’t need him, not with Moyo not buying into his dream of wholesale slaughter. Trusting in Ajax to take care of himself, he shifted his attention to where Ashira was, the system of Vusal the conqueror, where she led the bulk of house Kairos and the lesser houses and clans allied to them. The war had progressed in that system as expected, none of the dangerous and terrifying surprises Moyo currently experienced in his campaign.
She had stared with wide eyes as he recounted his fight with Vesh both in the star fortress and on the planet, including his wound and apparent power up. He watched her face grow pale with fear for him, then anger at his brazen attitude towards death and then astonishment at the strength he gained. She sighed when he finished his tale,
“Moyo, half the time I really wonder if you fight for the thrill of it or if to see how far you could push your body to gain more strength” she said,
Moyo shrugged, dropping the arm guard of a battle suit he had been tinkling with, drawing runes of protection against decay and mutation he had suddenly gained when he woke up,
“I merely do it because it is right, usually no one stronger than me are usually around when things like this tend to happen” he replied,
He could feel the fear in her gaze,
“Relax chimera, I’m fine” he said with a soft smile,
“you’re a master now, a master juiced up on that power if you know what I mean” she started, talking about his primordial powers,
“you’re the titan blade, the one who drove the heir of Azar to his knees, who broke the back of the dragons” she said,
“Pretty sure you’re the one that did that” he replied chuckling,
She shook her head,
“Those in power might not really know of you, and I mean those regular rulers and masters of the archailect, not the top dogs themselves, but the oppressed are hearing of you, your name is slowly spreading even within my planetary forces” she said,
He stared at her and then back at the arm guard, watching the rune he drew with his aura glowing softly,
“you’re saying I’m the reason millions if not billions joined this war?” he asked,
“not directly, but as a consequence of your actions in the tournament, your very being revolves around protecting those weaker than you, and if I’m honest, I’d had laughed a few years back if anyone told me it would work in the archailect” she said,
He glanced at her,
“Why?” already knowing the answer but wanting to hear it being said,
“you know as much as I do that power doesn’t work that way in the archailect, it’s a survival of the fittest in this reality” she said,
“The strong create rules to oppress the weak, the weak oppress those weaker than themselves and all are begging for scraps at the tables of those superior to them” she finished, pointing at him,
“You my titan blade, took the rules, scoffed at it and then shattered it into a thousand pieces with every act you’ve done. You gained power initially for revenge and then as a tool to protect those you love and now, now you fight for the archailect, to protect those who the strong won’t protect by beating back the horrors and nightmares that would come for them” she said,
He sighed, feeling his body warm up at the sight of her, clearing his throat at the embarrassment as she chuckled,
“Believe it or not, despite your reservations of not wanting to be venerated, what you stand for itself is something worth modelling after, and I couldn’t love you less for it” she finished,
“I love you too princess scales” he replied as she laughed before her face went dead cold,
“That being said, if you so much as try to play hero again and die, leaving me a heart broken woman, I will find your body, bring you back to life and do everything in my possible best to make your life a living hell, are we clear Moyo?” she said,
“You know, it’s scary how you go from I miss you to I’ll kill you in a second” Moyo replied,
She simply raised an eyebrow, Moyo sighing,
“Fine, I’ll be careful” he said as she nodded,
The war had been progressing well on their part as well, reaching the final barrier of planets before the planet of prime Vusal itself. Already claiming more than four planets for her house, she had been gifted three by her father to serve as the beginning of her very own system of planets, Kairos somehow transporting the entire planets back to Kairos galaxy itself. Moyo had stared slack jawed when he had heard that fact, wondering just how much power, aether and if he suspected, veneration Kairos had employed in doing that.
They had ended their conversation with promises to check back on each other, with that said and done, Moyo turned his attention back to his legion and their cohorts, the rewards he had gotten for consecrating the planet had also been staggering, Moyo pumping it back into the legion itself and its forces as a whole. The battle ships of each cohort had been refitted and redesigned to the tastes of each of his guard, turning the moderately sized crafts into large machines of war, fitted with additional cannons and hundreds of large and small transport ships.
Each cohort came with its own set of tanks, fighter crafts and battle suits, creating an entire city for each of their cohorts, an entire society had grown out of the desolate quietness of the planet. So when the dungeons began spawning, the cohorts delved them with renewed vengeance, entire divisions laying waste to dungeons upon dungeons as fast as the archailect could spawn them, acquiring relics and weapons for their cohorts. The first set of reinforcements followed a behemoth of a transport ship, along with colonizers for the world, Moyo watched as the representative of the council, Ayesha disembarked along with them.
Moving with Idris and a contingent of ascenders from the cohorts, he met the hundreds of transport ships that landed on the planet, pouring out waves of different species both humanoid and otherwise. Ayesha had saluted at him,
“Lord titan blade” she said in greeting,
“Lady Ayesha” he replied,
“Personally, I would love to say congratulations, your feats for a first time war commander have been nothing short of stellar” she praised,
Moyo inclined his head,
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Thank you” he replied,
She turned and gestured to the large gathering that kept on growing larger behind her,
“These are the pioneers of this world, and while you have dropped a proposition to claim this world, the council and war coordinators have deemed it fit to hand this planet over to you, with the condition that you provide security for them” she explained,
“this close to the frontlines, once we breach the final defensive barrier, we expect the forces of the abyss to retaliate in an attack that-“ she said as alarms began to blare, Moyo whipping his head skywards as his master ranked eyes could see the defiance blasting at something in the distance,
“Abyssal counter attack!” he growled,
Turning to Ayesha who stared skywards in fear,
“Order that ship to launch every transport ship within its straight to the planet with everyone on board” he growled,
Not questioning his order, she began shouting into her HUD as she ran, Moyo watching as his guard landed around him,
“Redirect all forces to guide the colonizers to the safety of the cities, whatever was sent from the abyss must not make it there” he growled,
His HUD came to life as Urne’s face appeared on screen,
“Lord, we have picked up abyssal incursions at the edges of the barrier between us and the next barrier, incoming quickly” she reported, her voice calm and collected,
“The fleet?’ Moyo asked,
“Contact has proven that this is happening on every frontline planet, the forces pouring in from abyssal pathways opened up just outside the reach of the archailects aether” she said,
“Order all battleships to concentrate fire on these new enemies, cover the ship with the refugees and reinforcements till they land on the planet, update me as things progress” Moyo ordered,
Idris kept staring at his HUD before speaking,
“All cohorts are ready to deploy” Idris said,
“Order all batteries primed and prepared to blast whatever comes into our atmosphere” Moyo replied,
Idris glanced at him in alarm,
“You don’t think the defiance and the battleships could hold them back?” he asked,
“If I know the abyss, it’s that it has more than enough forces to throw at us, I believe they’d keep doing that till they break through our defence and deploy on this planet” Moyo commented,
“Then what do we do?’ Idris asked,
Moyo glanced at him,
“We take the fight to them” he replied.
************************************
The ten guard members gathered with ten of their division captains, each of them peak gold and soon to cross overt to diamond. Along with Moyo and Idris, they represented the elite forces of the titan legion, and they would be taking the defiance right into the eye of the pathway. Opening his own pathway to the ship, he and his force passed through, appearing on the defiance with shola, the A.I of the ship manifesting,
“Lord titan blade” she greeted,
“Status of the ship” Moyo ordered briskly as he began marching towards the command deck, ascenders saluting him as he passed by,
“All systems are working at optimal speed, all weapons are primed and the aspect crystal is standing at 85%” she reported,
“Good, distance to contact with the abyssal forces?” he asked,
“In less than ten minutes, all battleships of the cohorts have created a barrier protecting the envoy ship of the archailect” she said,
“Then we go to hunt” Moyo said firmly,
On reaching the command deck, Urne glanced at him, saluting briskly before turning back to her screen,
“Long range cannons have managed to destroy a good sum of these…. things” she reported,
“And what are they?” Moyo asked, sitting on his throne,
“it’s better you see for yourself lord” she replied,
Pointing at the screen, Moyo saw huge wormlike creatures swimming through the expanse of space, trailing decay and their form shifting like that of an amoeba, disgorging little worms that trailed in their wake, blotting the distance,
“What are those little worms?” Idris asked softly,
“We believe they are akin to transport ships, ferrying either abyssal or cult forces and headed for our world” Urne replied,
“No doubt some work of the mutator” Wutan spat,
“We might need to deal with those before they reach the planet and begin transforming it into a blighted planet” Lucina said,
“Inform all battle ships to take divisions from planet side and trail behind us, they are to hold back the deluge till we find the pathway and shut it up” Moyo ordered,
The guard all made contact with their ships, giving instructions as quickly as they received response,
“Shola, can you drive us straight through these worms, we need to move and now” he said,
She nodded,
“The ship is powered by your aspect as you well know, it should be able to burn through them with minimal damage to the ship” she said,
he nodded as he stood up,
“Good, take us through, I might wipe out a few worms, whatever they are anyways” he muttered,
Urne saluted as the defiance rumbled to life, its thrusters coming online as they began to move forwards. He turned to his force,
“Prepare yourselves, archailect knows what horrors we would encounter” he said,
Opening a pathway to space itself, Moyo quickly closed it behind him as he stood on the hull of the defiance, the ship making breakneck speed towards the creatures coming. The moment they crossed through into the territory of the archailect, their description came to life on his HUD,
Mutation carrier organisms:
Acting as something akin to transports and battleships of the archailect, these undead sentient beings ferry the forces of the mutator towards their intended targets. Feeding on planets and asteroids to rejuvenate their structures, they are weak to aether attacks in large amounts
Moyo stretched his hand out as dominion materialized in it, his arcane weapon being able to phase in and out of reality without his need to open his vault. Gripping it firmly in his hand, he began floating towards the creatures coming and the little worms they dispelled from their bodies. He had something stronger than just regular aether, he had aspect, and veneration and the rage of a master hell bent on protecting those under him.
Dominion swung through the silent expanse of space, like the explosion of a mini star it blazed brightly, the titan glowing along with it as the defiance let lose all its fire power as well. The intent attack empowered with Ashe, aspect and a tinge of veneration tore through the hosts of the abyss like dried paper in an inferno. Turning them to ashes, the path cleared up in front of the defiance as its thrusters prepared to blast forwards, Moyo opened a pathway back into the ship, watching as all eyes turned to him in silence,
“What?’ he asked,
“You just cleared the entire invasion force coming for miles” Idris said drily,
Moyo shrugged,
“Buys more time for our forces to prepare” Moyo replied,
The ship shuddered lightly as they pushed forwards at sub-light speed, making all haste towards the barrier. Moyo received the usual message of the archailect freezing as his HUD winked out of existence, with a thought, the defiance became coated in his aspect, pushing off the deteriorating effect of the abyssal energies. Soon enough they saw it and even Moyo marvelled at the sight,
“By the supreme beings” Urne breathed,
“If this is what is happening all over our territories, then I can see why no help would be forthcoming” Idris said,
In front of them was a pathway as large as anything they had every seen, looking more like a full-fledged black hole, and out of it poured more and more mutation carriers,
“Fire all weapons, send message back to the planet, all available forces converge on this location, leave two divisions of each cohort behind to stand guard” Moyo ordered,
Briskly moving with his guard, they made their way to the transport hulls,
“what’s the plan boss?” Vaughn asked,
“Simple, we punch through the pathway, we destroy whatever is anchoring this pathway as well as cause some ruckus and then we get the hell out of there” he said,
“Amen to that” Fern said,
The entire force entered two large transport ships,
“Prepare for launch” shola’s voice said coming from around them,
“Send us through, and shola?” Moyo called out,
“Yes my lord?”
“Get my ship back home in one piece, if you don’t hear from us in an hour, get the hell out of here and get backup” Moyo ordered,
There was a slight pause before she replied,
“As you wish lord” she said,
Moyo nodded, jerking a little as the gravitational force of the transport ship activated, locking them in place while the transport ship was released from the bowels of the defiance. A large screen appeared from a construct device,
“Approaching pathway in ten seconds” Idris said,
“Activate titan aspects, protect your captains” Moyo ordered as his aspect filled the entirety of both ships,
“Five seconds”
“let’s get this done” Moyo growled,
“Breaching pathway!” Idris barked as they pushed through the pathway,
It gelt like going through a body of bile inducing jelly, but these were veterans of war now, even the captains giving slight grunts as they stood in their battle suit armour, runes of anti-decay and mutation blazing to life,
“By the titan blade, we will be victorious!” a captain of the revenants barked out,
“Amen brother” another from the Aegis replied,
Moyo chuckled,
“let’s go make that a reality” Moyo replied as they crashed somewhere, the ship opening to reveal a nightmare world of thousands of abyssal creatures, reality shattering and coalescing back,
Moyo staggered as he felt the full force of the abyss crash on them,
“By the supreme beings, this isn’t the galaxy anymore” Idris growled as he blazed to life,
Moyo turned with wide eyes to the captains arraigned behind him, watching the runes on their battle suits burning as they expended their power rapidly. Blitzing to them, he shot his aspect around them, cocooning them in his aspect as the runes recharged themselves,
“Lord!” Hajin shouted as Moyo turned,
Pointing into the distance, Moyo saw hundreds of them, Nethertaurs, Devigians and Muttites with scores of creatures he couldn’t name. a sea of abyssal monsters bearing down on them,
“This is somewhere close to the abyss, somewhere on the edges of the abyss” Moyo said as the meaning sank into them,
“then we will fight and die as legionnaires of the titan blade!” a captain of the brawlers boomed , the rest roaring it,
The captains knelt as one, their banners appearing from a compartment on their backs,
“Lord titan blade” Yemi said kneeling as the guard followed suit, his brothers and sisters followed suit,
“guide us, we’re terrified, but we will fight with courage befitting your guard, we will die before we let these creatures coming touch you” he said as the rest echoed it,
Moyo felt his aspect begging to be unleashed, something about this place roiled his aspect into a frenzy and he barely held it down,
“no one dies today” he growled as he began to blaze with power,
Floating skywards as the forces of the abyss paused, staring at this bright burning light that burnt everything it touched, their screeches of agony echoing around,
“Lay waste to the abominations!” he shouted as he swung dominion,
He gave it everything he had, aether, intent, mana, aura, aspect and veneration, echoing it with an edict,
“DA PA DA!”
The abyss quaked as it went up in an inferno of purple flames for miles, the aspect of the titan with veneration burning like napalm or Greek fire, turning the very abyssal area around him into hell for the denizens of the abyss. Idris led his forces, screaming with righteous fury, they bore down on the forces of the abyss with coordinated but almost feral abandon, battle suits blasting apart creatures in the dozens, his guard tearing down Nethertaurs and Muttites alike.
The titan blade focused his gaze on the Devigians who despite being on fire were chanting, he could feel what they were doing, calling on a higher power, something that could match him blow for blow. If he had been alone, perhaps he’d had let them complete it, but he had his forces to think about and he’d be damned if he let them die in this literal hell of decay. Dominion swung again and the Devigians chanting fell to the ground in sliced heaps, alive in one moment and dead in the next.
Then he fell like a literal comet, explosion wreaking the bubbling landscape for miles as he stood in front of his troops,
“withdraw to the edges of the pathway!, protect the entrance!” he shouted,
“By your will!” the captains shouted individually as they reluctantly retreated, no doubt still in the frenzy of battle,
“Idris with me, guard, hold the pathway for our return!” he ordered,
The entire ten moved as one, unleashing barrages after barrages on the never-ending forces of the abyss that seemed to push towards them besides falling in scores as the purple flames of the aspect of the titan blade burned hotter, turning the denizens of the abyss to smoking cinders. Moyo felt the conduit feeding the abyssal pathway and with Idris by his side he made a beeline for the conduit, oshosi screamed, mantle, aspect, aura and Ashe slammed into his body as a large rusted axe carrying the full authority and aspect decay slammed into him. Moyo shrugged off its effect like water on oil, but the force repelled him, grounding him to a halt as a large Devigian appeared, a set of burning horns on its head, it bellowed in an almost bullish bray.
All muscles and humanoid in shape, is stood on what looked like feline feet with green glowing eyes and runes of decay and mutation covering its skin,
“Anathema!” it shouted,
“you dare lay your accursed feet in the realm of lord Molrik, your corpse wou-“was all it could say as dominion carved through both speaker and weapon in one move,
The Devigians behind it staring in terror,
“Protect the conduit!” they shouted,
“Offer up your souls for the mutator!” another shouted,
Idris blitzed past Moyo, his broadsword a weapon of absolute slaughter as he tore them in the most gruesome manner with cold efficiency, pushing every closer to the conduit Moyo realized was an orb. One step of Ogun and he was in front of the orb, dominion swinging as his aspect pulsed out of him, turning the creatures about to stop him to burning ash in an instant. Dominion cleaved through the conduit orb as the abyss’s hold on reality wobbled.
Grabbing a battle happy Idris, he shot backwards towards the pathway, already feeling its edges unravelling. Eyes on the pathway, he saw the captains furiously beating back the forces of the abyss despite them losing ground more and more, battle suits battered after what had been no doubt hundreds of attacks, Moyo shouted,
“Back through the pathway!” he roared,
The captains needed no second orders, diving through the pathway with recklessness, Moyo shot through it as well, keenly aware of the denizens of the abyss following them closely behind as the pathway began to close up. They came out through the pathway to see the defiance with the ships of the cohort, battle suit thrusters attacked to their shoulder blades blasted them towards their ships as Moyo brought out his communication construct,
“Urne, turn them to ashes!” he growled without waiting for a reply,
The pathway closed up, but not before unleashing an entire force of the abyss, surely a thousand strong on their path towards the ships,
“We have a better surprise” Urne replied as the ships opened up and ascenders in battle suits poured out, thousands of them from all the cohorts unleashing their fury as they coordinated with their cohort ships to turn space around them to a literal butcher field,
It ended too soon for the ascenders, but it was a victory that was cemented into the minds of the legion, they had closed a pathway directly to the abyss, they had lost not a single ascender and they had done it with the strength of the titan blade. Moyo followed the defiance back to the planet as shouts of victory roared all over, ascenders and citizens alike shouting for joy where a mere hour ago they were looking down the face of death.
Ayesha appeared from a city where the refugees had holed up, decked in battle gear, she stared at the titan in awe, bowing as he approached, Moyo however wasn’t in the mood for greetings,
“Get me an audience with the council” he said,
“No need, they await you already” she said as she brought out a communication device, the faces of the council arrayed before him.