Flying through the air on their own powers, Moyo paused as he arrived over the camp of his legion, watching the different banners of the different cohorts waving around the town that had been set up for them, glancing at Idris who spoke,

“Each clan has been given the right to create a city, we decided to stick with a town for now, can’t afford to waste dungeon cores on structures we might later abandon” he said,

All eyes turned up as a hush fell across the legion, before a roar followed, the ascenders and forces of the legion celebrating at the return of their leader. Ten figures appeared next to him,

“Lord titan blade” Tomasa said, the commander of the Zhiyuans said in greeting,

“We leave you for a moment and you end up unconscious” Marcel said with a smirk,

Moyo chuckled, descending slowly with his guard around him, he spotted commander Ahib of the artillery division walking towards him,

“Lord titan blade, it is good to see you alive and hearty” he said,

“And you too commander Ahib, any issues I should know about?” he asked,

“None my lord, while we lost a few Ijas and some battle suits, we were relatively safe in battle” he reported,

“And the ascenders within said suits?” Moyo asked,

“Grievously injured but on the path to full recovery” he said with a nod of his metallic head,

“Good, come along” Moyo replied,

Clapping some of the ascenders on the shoulders and moving through the throngs that wanted to see him, he entered the makeshift castle that served as their headquarters, ascenders around running with messages or shouting into their HUDs, Moyo wondered what the fuss was about till he saw Urne standing near a large screen, conversing with someone. She glanced behind at him, raising her voice before Moyo could stop her,

“Lord commander titan blade!” she said as she saluted, the entire workforce grounded to a halt, all ascenders pausing as they bowed in reverence,

“At ease, go about your duties” he said,

The ascenders nodded and the rush continued,

“What in the archailects name is going on here?” Moyo asked,

“The great push, or whatever the powers that be are calling it” Amiya said,

“The great push?’ Moyo asked,

Romulus nodded,

“all fleets of armada Molrik are being tasked with preparing for the final push into the space of planet Molrik, as we speak, jade and brigade forces have linked up to clear the surrounding planets to create a barricade, apparently they want to catch the lord of the abyss” he rumbled,

Moyo shuddered at the thought of coming face to face with the creature that was Molrik,

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea” he whispered,

His guard turned to him inquisitively but he said nothing, the memory of Molrik’s attention on him too strong to even explain. He paused, turning to Idris,

“The masters I was with, any news about them?” he asked,

“Nothing of such” Idris said,

Nodding to himself, he brought up his HUD, glancing through his updates, all his skills had gone up by a whooping fifty points, he had even gone up to level 580, showing just how the archailect had considered his fight against the creature. He got Urne who bowed,

“Lord titan blade, welcome back” she said,

He nodded, turning to the big screen,

“Get me up to speed” he said,

She nodded,

“The defiance suffered no damages or casualties to its crew, we glassed the planet along with the ships of each cohort before commander general Idris deployed the entirety of the ten cohorts at once, dropping on the three continents of the planet, the cohorts were divided into groups of threes’ with the cohort of the claws staying behind to act as reinforcements for any of the cohort groups” she reported,

“And the battle?” Moyo asked,

“Commander Idris led the revenants, Zhiyuans and the Aegis cohorts towards the abyssal spire that was protected by a group of Devigians, slaughtering them while the cohorts tore through the mutated monsters, they were able to take down the spire, a master of the sect green shrikes who accompanied us but didn’t participate in the battle planting the aether spire” she said,

“Unfortunately, we lost over hundred ascenders from all the cohorts combined” she said,

“Record their names, send it back to Amathos, their names should be ingrained into the pillar itself” he said,

Urne nodded,

“Now, what the hell is the great push?” he asked,

********************************

Getting up to speed with his legion, Moyo received a summons through his HUD, Altair requiring his presence at the fleet headquarters, the only current city on the planet that had been claimed by clan thousand blades. As he left his guard with the orders to see to the legion and any other issues he might be required for personally, Moyo strolled out of the town, hands inside the folds of his robes as he walked briskly across the terraformed landscape.

All signs of battle had been wiped clean, all evidence of the taint that had once possessed the planet had been scrubbed clean, but not by simply the aether spire, no, Moyo felt his aspect touch on something underneath it all as he grounded to a halt. Eyes flicking around, he released a soft pulse of aura around the area, feeling it brush across the same subtle power he had been feeling. Then the perception of a powerful person locked on him, his hand straying to the hilt of dominion as Digi aye manifested, breaking the light hold of whoever it was and letting him get the general direction of the being.

One step of Ogun and he was atop the roof of a building, wind blowing at his robe lightly, drawing the attentions of two guards of some clan who levelled weapons at him, glowing with intent and mana. Letting them feel his aura and raising one hand to his lip in a sign of silence, he touched the ground, feeling the light thrum of power,

“Whoever it was, they were here” he thought lightly,

Again, the perception locked on him and Moyo whipped his head skywards, eyes glowing as the aura of the titan tried to seize the power, holding it down till Moyo could locate the person. Again, like a slippery fish it escaped his grasp, Moyo glancing around in growing frustration,

“Who are you?” he asked, his voice echoing around, glancing at the guards who were still bowed in reverence,

Another step of Ogun and he was floating higher in the skies, glancing around and seeing nothing,

“Your aura is quite sloppy Mr titan blade” a voice said next to him,

Oshosi had given him no warning, his battle instinct trained through constant battles hadn’t even itched, but yet the instincts of a master prevailed as he turned with the speed of a whip, dominion appearing in his hands during that fraction of a second, cutting into nothing as he stared,

“tsk tsk tsk, still moving with your eyes and not your body and mind” the voice repeated, chuckling,

Moyo flared his aspect out around him, finally feeling it come in contact with a body, a fraction of a second later, he was there, hand clamping down on a body that materialized for a brief second wearing a smiling mask before disappearing completely, vanishing from even his aspect. No voice or perception locked in on him any longer, sheathing dominion, he opened a pathway to the city itself.

A crystalline structure of blue glass forged into the shaped of renaissance buildings similar to those of the gothic era back on old earth, he stepped through the pathway and stepped out right in front of the gates of the city, blue glowing crystal shaped constructs with the crest of the thousand blades on it. Manning the gates itself were two gold ranked guards, both with swords strapped to their waists, donning the robes of house thousand blades.

They turned to him, perceptions and aura dropping on him like a boulder before summarily being crushed in reflex by his aura in turn. Bowing immediately,

“We ask the master for forgiveness” they intoned, their voices carrying a well practised tone, no doubt they had done this over and over,

Moyo nodded at them,

“I’m here to meet with lord thousand blades” he said,

“This way” one said, the crystalline doors opening seamless to reveal a city filled with ascenders, magnificent buildings and high rising towers that gleamed in the golden sun of the planet. Ascenders of all ranks and sects, clans and houses flying around or within flying constructs, fabled creatures and some he had never even heard of or seen before filled the very skies. He shrouded his core to diamond and began making his way through the crowd towards the town square itself, fading through the multitudes like a wraith, he finally got to the town square.

Taking a deep breath, he savoured the stalls and markets that had opened up, elixirs of different kinds being sold for cheaper prices than those found in the system vaults, different dishes, some looking enticing and others like things to serve during a torture procedure. Moyo inwardly sighed, he missed the days of reckless dungeon delving, of running through dungeons with Ashira with no care in the world other than his ascension and rank.

Now though, he was saddled with responsibilities he couldn’t say he was too happy with. Sure, he loved his legion, he cherished his clan, and woe be unto anyone who touched his worlds or friends. However nothing could be compared to the joys of fighting with your life on the edge, feeling dominion cut down his foes as they aligned themselves in his sight. Perhaps during the closing of this war, he might get to experience that again, although he wouldn’t get to enjoy it with those friends and allies he had made along the way.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Ashira far away on another system, leading the forces of her family, Ulsa frozen tiger, no doubt close to being a master now would be somewhere also, and Ajax. The thought of his now errant master drove a pang of regret through his mind, Ajax omega blade would return one day, and may the supreme beings help them all. Dragging himself out of his thoughts, he sighed and continued his walk towards the place where he could feel the powers congregated.

Power was a funny thing in the archailect, each rank felt it differently, the powers of rulers and masters were perceived on a different level by each rank of experts. Irons felt absolutely nothing, a void that instinctually drove the fear of the unknown down on them, like a tiny human staring down a bottomless chasm of darkness. Bronze rankers were no different, except this time they knew the chasm wasn’t bottomless and something far deadly resided at the bottom.

Silvers were the rank where their eyes were slowly being opened to the horrors of the archailect, where they realize everything wasn’t about ascension. To them the powers of masters and rulers were a large chasm with the signs of an abomination living within at the depths, only the most idiotic and suicidal of silvers would deign to catch the attention of a master or ruler.

Moyo chuckled at that thought, he was different though, the rank of silver feeling like ages ago to him, getting closer to the building, he activated his Digi aye, feeling the runes that protected the building, feeling the layered runes of a master that shielded the entire structure.

Pausing, he cocked his head sideways,

“cunning” he thought to himself,

Just underneath the runes no doubt drawn by Kimiv were another set of runes, ones he had no idea who manifested them, but he had his guesses. The runes spoke softly, daring any powers of the abyss to touch them, to try and defile the building, if the abyssal powers were akin to demonic powers, then these runes were like the angelic language, even he was impressed. Snapping his fingers with a touch of his aspect, he whispered his edict,

“Shi” he said,

Like a hot knife going through butter, he cleanly sliced a path through the protections so delicately, even he was impressed by his apparent skills with runes. Opening a pathway, he felt it slam shut as another force crushed it so suddenly, he was left reeling in its wake,

“again Mr titan blade” the infuriating voice of the man in a smiling mask echoed around him,

Moyo blinked and he was surrounded by guards, the hidden security of the building, all diamonds and all with tightly controlled auras,

“Elite diamonds” he thought to himself,

Wondering where they had been during the course of the war, he glanced at their robes and furrowed his eyes,

“you guys aren’t house thousand blades” he said softly,

The man in the smiling mask appeared high in the air, dressed in an immaculate silver suit, a white smiling mask with slit eye lines and a tear drop on each side of the eye, clapping with black gloves on that glowed with runes. Moyo eyes the gloves, feeling the power coming from them, legendary relics no doubt,

“it is bad to try sneaking into the abode of a guest, no?’ the man asked,

“I was invited” Moyo replied in a clipped voice,

“And yet you attempted to disable the security” the masked man retorted,

“State your name and clan!” one of the diamonds barked at him,

Moyo glanced at him,

“uh oh” the masked man said as he blitzed backwards,

Moyo managed to reign in his anger,

“Apologies, I am a honoured guest of the thousand blades” he replied,

“That is no name or clan master” another diamond said,

“Titan blade, I am master titan blade of clan titan blade” he replied,

The diamonds froze, eyes wide as Moyo raised one eyebrow,

“perhaps you all might need to go on a break hmm?” the masked man said as the guards glanced up at him, bowing hurriedly before moving away with diamond ranked speeds,

“oh, and spread the news!, the titan blade is a benevolent master!” the masked man shouted after the diamonds who had faded away from their surroundings,

“diamonds, am I right?” the masked man said shaking his head,

Moyo eyed the man,

“Who are you?” he asked,

The masked man looked around,

“Who, me?” he said with faux surprise,

Moyo sighed, sidestepping the man and walking through the doors of the building and into a large room. Glancing back at the doors and the large room he found himself, he saw the masked man step into the room,

“cool right?, spatial magic leading to another location entirely” he said,

Moyo frowned, sending his aura out, only for it to crash into a barrier made of runes that chilled his body through his aura,

“Mardar, it is against protocol to inform even our most trusted allies about the technicalities of this building, how you even did so without triggering the oath you swore is puzzling” the voice of ruler ancient Altair thousand blades said as he floated down from the dome above,

The masked man sighed,

“and there goes my silhouette character plotline” he said as he snapped his fingers and the mask melted away to reveal a very young face,

Blue eyes with runes that bore deep into his very soul as Moyo stared into his eyes, averting his gaze with a shudder, the runes on his body flaring, the very ground beneath his feet cracking as the very gravitational pressure from the titan blade threatened to destroy the structural integrity of the building that shook. The man named Mardar took a step back, eyes wide,

“What did you just do?” Moyo growled, dominion appearing in his hand,

“Titan blade” Altair said, staying his hand,

“So much untapped potential” Mardar whispered, half in awe and the other with pure terror,

“What are you?” he continued,

“You have insulted an honoured ally of my house, Mardar scourge rune, I’ll be sure to inform lord Lucirion of this” Altair said lightly,

That snapped Mardar out of his thoughts, turning his head to the thousand blades, inclining his head in deference, he turned back to Moyo,

“I apologize for my rude behaviour, it does not in any way or form reflect the mandate of the jade order and lord jade Lucirion aether blessed himself” he said formally,

“So, I was right, jades” Moyo said,

Mardar stood straight back, adjusting the hands of his suit,

“Indeed, my name is jade Mardar of the scourge rune family” Mardar replied,

“I thought jades were strictly rulers ?” Moyo asked,

Although thinking back on it, he had face Björn grim rune, who was as Moyo suspected, probably a new ruler and not one of the whispered ancient rulers who had spent centuries beating back the forces of the abyss before Rohan pulled the feat he did. Ingvar grim rune was another matter, a true monster that had made even the titan blade tremble deep to his bones itself. Mardar nodded,

“they are indeed the faces of the jades and we prefer to keep it that way” he said,

“however, there are a new generation of jades rising, those who have grown in the battle forged and tested wastelands of the frontline planets” Mardar said with a grin,

“a generation that includes the upstart Björn grin rune I take it?” Moyo asked, folding his hands,

“you do have my thanks for knocking him down a bit, brat was becoming uncontrollable” Mardar said with a chuckle,

Altair cleared his throat, dragging attention back to himself,

“If we may proceed with why we’re here?” he said,

“Ah, apologies exalted ancient, yes we may” Mardar replied,

Altair turned to the titan blade,

“Moyo, it is good to see you in good health” he said,

Moyo bowed to the ancient,

“It is good to see you too lord thousand blades, the other masters?” he asked,

Altair folded his hands behind his back,

“Masters stellar blade and sol blade are recovering in the care of their clan members who have moved closer” Altair said,

“And the rest?” Moyo asked,

“Keman iron hammer is recovering as well, Kimiv rune touch is actively working in this building, we will meet him at our destination, Kelsi bloodmist has returned to the care of her clan as well to recuperate” he said,

“And Teva singing lance?’ Moyo asked softly,

He remembered the moment vividly, where the creature had shattered a legendary relic and stabbed her own shattered spear through her body, letting her impaled body tumble towards the once fleshy ground below. Altair sighed,

“unknown, she was hanging on to life when representatives of her clan came to recover her body, they have since then locked themselves tightly in a town they had been given, but I believe with time she may yet exist” he said,

Moyo nodded, that was better than outright death in his opinion, they walked towards a circular passage way, Altair waving his hands as passage way rippled opened up into another room. Moyo passing the entrance knew he had been transported to another place entirely. Glancing around the room and the runes that floated around, he turned to the figure chained to the ground. Heavy chains forged with runes that slightly stung his eyes and pure blistering aether held him down, dispelling the abyssal power around him.

Moyo paused, unconsciously drawing dominion to his hands,

“Mortas crane lance” he said,

The man craned his head a bit, as far as the chain collars around his throat allowed him, the runes flaring as they burnt his very skin, the sizzling sound and smell of burning flesh wafting softly around the room. Green baleful eyes staring at them, a slight smile on his face,

“Another guest” Mortas drawled out, head slumping back down to relieve the weight of the iron collar on his neck,

Moyo glanced at the thousand blades,

“I thought you killed him, why risk bringing him here?” he asked perplexed,

“this room was built by the jades themselves, a holding cell to handle any powerful abyssal creature or cult member caught, this very one built by lord Lucirion himself” Altair said,

Moyo could actively see the runes sapping the very abyssal given vitality from Mortas, crouching low, he stared at one of the brother leaders of the cult,

“I thought they were meant to be stronger than this?” Moyo asked,

Mortas raised his head, staring into the eyes of the titan blade,

“You, you look familiar” he said,

Moyo simply ground his teeth, giving the man a withering stare,

“What is your end goal?” he asked,

“we’ve all tried that, for some reason lord Altair thinks a member of the brotherhood would spill that easily” Mardar said as he stepped into the room,

“That is why the aether blessed sent you, is it not?” Altair asked,

Mardar nodded,

‘true” he Mardar replied as he crouched in front of Mortas,

“he’s supressing his power for a reason” Mardar said frowning,

“Meaning?’ Moyo asked folding his hands,

“Meaning despite how…...valiantly lord Altair fought and capture him, he deliberately came along” Mardar said,

Mortas smiled then cracked his neck, as far as the collar allowed him,

“Finally, thought no one would notice” he said,

Mardar raised his hand, his glove glowing with the icy blue rune etched on it, Mortas shook his head,

“No need for whatever diabolical mind scouring abilities I feel you’re about to unleash” he said,

“While it would no doubt be a waste of time and valuable runes, it would accomplish nothing, besides, I was about to reveal what I know anyway” he said,

“Out of the goodness of your heart?” Altair asked,

Mortas snorted,

“Pure amusement, and the added fact that Rohan intends for you all to know his plans, at least to an extent” Mortas said,

“That makes no sense, why would he want us to know his plans?” Moyo asked,

“Well firstly, it is inevitable, secondly, I believe we both have a factor we didn’t consider throwing issues into our plans, both of our plans if I’m correct” Mortas asked,

The meaning implied was understood,

“Ajax” Altair said,

Mortas nodded,

“Quite the conundrum, don’t you think?’ Mortas asked,

“So let me get this straight” Mardar said,

“Your boss, Rohan or the mutator feels Ajax is doing specifically what we want to do, and you think that by telling us your plans, we’d be inclined to support you?” Mardar finished

Mortas shrugged, hiding a wince as the collar flared,

“To put it lightly, yes, you wouldn’t understand, but see, your bosses, the council would understand, won’t they, oh ancient of the archailect?” Mortas said to Altair,

“what’s he talking about?” Mardar asked,

Moyo turned to Altair also, Altair had a cold look of dissatisfaction on his face,

“There has been a new development” he said softly, Mortas chuckling to himself,

“What development?” Moyo asked,

The runes flared as Mortas shivered, a pathway of blue arcing lightning and flames opening up and Eses, the cosmic dragon stepped through. The runes flared once again as she frowned, snapping her hands, stabilizing the growing power that literally burnt the skin of Mortas who held back the scream, body shaking. Portal closing behind her, she spoke,

“What the thousand blades meant is that the aspect of Ajax taps into something older than even the abyss and archailect, something that if goes unchecked, could potentially wipe both sides out” she said,

“traveling all the way from the Vusal system?, that must had taken quite the aether” Altair said in greeting as he bowed at the waist to her,

Eses waved it away,

“Personal reserves, nothing much” she said,

“it’s chaos, isn’t it?” Moyo asked,

They all turned to him, Moyo noticing Mardar had faded to the side, arms folded in front of him with a calm expression on his face,

“indeed, you were there titan blade, weren’t you?, when your master ascended to the rank of ruler and tapped into primordial chaos itself, the original primordial aspect?’ she asked,

A deadly silence filled the room, Moyo not sure how to respond to the question without affirming that Ajax had indeed been his master,

“Lord Eses” Altair started as she waved her hand dismissively again,

“Oh I care not if he was trained by the omega blade, he turned out better than his master, to me that’s what matters” she replied,

Glancing back to Moyo, she raised one eyebrow,

“Well?” she asked,

He gave a stiff nod,

“did he reveal any of his plans?, anything we should know that would threaten the integrity of the archailect as a whole?” she asked,

The groan of Mortas drew their attentions back to the man shackled to the ground, a green wisp of abyssal power began to pour of him, Eses moved close to him, whispering the command,

“purge” she said,

A lick of her blue flames touched the cult brother and his back arced straight, mouth opened in a wordless scream as the wisp gathered above his head, forming a face most hideous,

“Molrik” Eses said calmly,

“Eses” the lord of the abyss said as Moyo shifted backwards, blade drawn.