The masters of house thousand blades suddenly found themselves left with the crimson knight who staggered to his feet, his armour glowing with barely restrained power of his ancient’s aspect. Killian tested his sword swing, taking a deep breath as he stared at the knight who rumbled a deep chuckle,
“To think a child, an infant master, would disgrace me in the sight of the blood king, perhaps I do not deserve penance” he said,
Then he turned to them, blood congealing around him from nothing to reform itself back into its blade,
“Or perhaps I shall bathe in the blood of three masters, that should be sufficient enough to appease the blood king”
Duval blazed to life, summoning his core realm, the fire of his brother, the sol blade, bearing greater strength with its assimilation of the elemental flames of Ina. Killian for the life of him, couldn’t understand how Moyo seemed to be drawn to every major shift in situations around him. If he didn’t know better, he would assume the child was some magnet, a focal point for the fate of the archailect like the primordials of old.
Still, he should be grateful to the titan blade, never in his existence did he think he would come across not just any shard, but a primordial aspect shard, the greater form of a primordial shard. Primordial shards like the one Ashira had found almost a lifetime ago in Duhiri, simply carried the imprint of the path of a primordial, it did nothing more than show you a blueprint of what that path looked like and left it to you to either accept the path or simply siphon the power from the shard.
Primordial aspect shards on the other hand, carried the raw power of a primordial, the very aspect of the primordial itself, it was guaranteed for a master to reach the rank of ruler. And just like that, simply by being around the titan blade, all three masters of house thousand blades were now guaranteed rulers. While it would take intense meditation and training to draw out the entire latent power from the shard, infusing their paths with it and gradually evolving their paths into a mythical class, Killian was determined to see it through.
He still winced at the foe they faced, as much as the titan blade came with a lot of boons, he also came with a lot of cataclysmic problems, like the one they were about to face. This dungeon run was to be a simple one, go in, kill monsters and maybe take out a master or two to further the goals of house thousand blades. Now, out of the over one hundred masters of an entire armada, less than thirty were left judging by the count he could see on his HUD.
The knight moved like a blur, Killian activating his sphere of moonlight, feeling the lightning aspect running through his body as he tracked the movement of the crimson knight,
“Brave one you are” the knight said,
“shimmer” Killian replied, his edict ringing out.
Reality twisted, disorienting the knight who bent along with it, dodging the blade of the stellar blade,
“pierce” the knight called out,
Spikes of blood manifested, hundreds as they shot at Killian despite the lingering effects of shimmer still affecting reality. Fire blazed all around, burning the spikes before Duval entered the fray, exchanging blows with the knight who easily matched the speed and ferocity of the sol blade, matching his every move. Killian entered the battle, keenly aware of his brothers moves and complementing them wherever they might had fallen short, showing just how well they synergized together in battle, the two sons of the thousand blades.
The knight shot backwards, seeking to create space between himself and the brothers when he somehow jerked to the side, a shield made of blood manifesting to stop the attack of Skatha who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, shimmering into existence. The silent blade was, well, silent, but not invisible, this new skill, evidence to the boon of the thunder aspect shard. The blood aura in the air simply repressed their powers, hence the masters fighting with what seemed like their mere skills, Killian manifested his moon core,
“Moon lance” he commanded,
“Suns touch” Duval said,
Skatha swung her blade, the intent attack disappearing,
The knight stamped its leg, the blood aura quivering in the air as doppelgangers made of blood manifested around him, taking the attacks and exploding. The knight placed his bastard blade made of blood on his shoulders,
“You all are good, but if that is the height of your strength, then I must apologize for your deaths will come swift” it said,
“I grow tired of this same speech” Killian said, stepping forwards as he drew from the three aspects within him,
The ancient aspect of his father hummed around him in a blue haze,
“You call us weak, you think us beneath your feet simply because you toil like a slavering slave beneath the feet of an ancient or a primordial, I could care less” he continued, his stellar aspect of white light layering the aspect of the thousand blades, albeit weak, for he was still a master,
“But so do we, we serve the thousand blades, an ancient on the path of the thousand blades” Duval picked up, the same blue aspect covering his body along with a weak fire aura,
Skatha stepped forwards too, blue and silver aspects layering over her body, silence from her,
“And we will take no further insults from a dead and soon to be obliterated being like you” Killian finished, coaxing the lightning aspect to the forefront and wincing as he hid the way the aspect taxed his core,
The other masters blazed to life with their respective bestowed aspects, their core realms synchronizing into one large realm of a myriad of aspects and powers, pushing back the aspect of blood. The knight pointed his blade at them with one hand,
“Good, let us give a battle befitting of masters” he said and then attacked,
The battle was a blur, blades clashed, masters screamed in rage and aspects clashed. The entire room was torn asunder as quickly as it healed back, but the powers of masters clashing are like natural disasters, for nothing could stand in their paths when they decide to go all out, and going all out they did.
Auras exchanged hands, intent flashed, commands and edicts were uttered and blades burned with authorities. The knight shot backwards, one part of his armour shattered as he fought off a literally burning Duval who was on fire, his blade nothing more than an inferno of attacks that sought to burn the crimson knight to a crisp. A blood shield manifested and shattered the moment Killian also appeared at the other side of the knight, his body a glowing luminous humanoid figure of pure power, eyes blazing both white and crackling with barely restrained electricity.
Kicking the stellar blade but summarily getting the limb dismembered, the knight barely fended off the sol blade as well when pure instincts no doubt honed by previous centuries of warfare, allowed the knight to manifest triple shields above his head as the silent blade appeared, swinging her blade with precision. The attack split reality in two, effectively separating the knight from the blood aspect on a fundamental level, reducing his speed and rate of healing. The knight exploded in a shower of gore, reforming somewhere else only to see the three masters appearing there as well,
“burn”
“shimmer”
“scorch”
“strike”
Shing!
Edicts upon edicts were unleashed, their strengths threatening reality around them as it cracked, shattered and reformed back from its pieces, all attacks sent the way of the knight,
“Congeal!” the knight commanded the moment the masters unleashed their edicts,
The command sought to hold him together, but the aspect of the blood king, while that of a primordial, was dealing with edicts coming from three masters with ancient aspects as well as individual aspects. The knight exploded and begun to burn up into mists, screams of agony coming from his voice that echoed around,
“no!, master!, lord!, save me!, take my essence, fashion me into a weapon of pure carnage!” he shouted as a ding echoed around them,
Notice: crimson knight has evolved into crimson destroyer!
All around the room, the pitiful faces of the beings that made up the walls of the room were sucked into a vortex as the crimson knight was born anew,
“Witness the might of-urk!” the knight said, pausing,
The masters were there, blades stabbed into the vortex as they pumped their aspects into it, powers wreaking havoc within the vortex,
“what are you doing?, stop!” the crimson knight shouted in terror,
“die” Killian, Duval and Skatha who internalized it commanded,
All three masters gave everything they had into that command, every bit of authority, willpower, aura, intent and aspect poured into that single attack. The vortex of blood began to glow brighter, the screams of the crimson knight coming from within it as the powers burned away his essence and pure lifeforce,
When the smoke settled, three forms beneath a bright dome of golden light swirling with runes moved a fraction, clearly weakened and covered in soot. Killian coughed as he sat up, shaking his head to clear his eyesight as he struggled to his feet, glancing around. The entire room was no more, the three of them standing in a section of the blown-out castle, staring at the dungeon where destruction lay.
He turned to the two other masters who climbed to their feet, looking every bit as battered as he did,
Killian moved to reply when his HUD blinked,
Notice: crimson knight turn crimson destroyer has been killed, congratulations!. For this, you get:
* 50,000 diamond coins
* 100,000 gold coins
* 200,000 silver coins
* 500,000 bronze coins
* 5 legendary aether shards
* 5 legendary dungeon cores
* Title: blood slayer: +50% to all attributes when facing beings made of blood.
“I guess he is” Killian muttered,
From the spot of the explosion came white light, shooting to the skies, and from it shot out wisps of bright lights that swirled around the masters,
“Thank you” a hundred voices said as one,
“Are those?” Duval asked, unable to complete the sentence as he stared in awe,
“souls, huh, is that really a thing?, thought we all die and just, you know, cease to exist” Killian said as he sat back down on the ashes wearily,
“We learn something new every day I guess” Duval said as he followed suit, Skatha as well,
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Killian sighed,
“Weird things really do happen around Moyo” he said,
Duval snorted as he and Skatha nodded in affirmation,
“I’ve had enough dungeon delving to last a lifetime” the sol blade said,
Killian chuckled as he shook his head, laying on the ground as the mastered did as well,
“Wow, we really are tired” he murmured, feeling drowsy, his core completely empty,
“Told you it was a good idea to buy that legendary defensive artifact” Duval said yawning,
Killian mumbled something, then his eyes shot wide open, struggling to seat up,
“By the archailect, Moyo!” he said, in shock,
He couldn’t believe he had completely forgotten the predicament of the titan blade, stuck with the blood king. Duval turned his head to him, lazily waving his hand,
“What about him?” he asked wearily,
“The blood king, he’s with the blood king!” Killian said,
“He may be in trouble” Killian said slowly,
“Are you seriously thinking he wouldn’t be able to handle some primordial high on blood?” Duval asked,
Killian paused,
“Actually, now that I think about it” he said as he gingerly laid back down,
“I’m sure he’ll be fine, might as well rest our weary bones and leave such excitements to the young ones” Killian said,
“Good man, I’m sure he’s having the time of his life, finally facing someone that could give him a bit of a challenge” Duval said,
“Dibs on that rascal gaining some ability or skill” Killian said,
The other masters grunted in acceptance, lazily staring at the blood red skies,
“Hey, did anyone bring anything to snack on?” Killian asked,
“With Moyo” Duval sleepily replied,
Killian sighed.
**************************
Moyo found his aspect a comfortable match for the blood king, what he didn’t find however, was the speed with which the king wielded his scythe, the weapon seemingly expanding and elongating at will, making it hard for him to gauge its reach.
Whistling through the air like a deadly projectile, sage’s eyes burnt with power as Moyo dodged another strike of the weapon, activating step of Ogun to appear next to Vayne, dominion going for his head. Oshosi screamed at him and he quickly retreated, thorns of blood blasting out of the ground, tearing into reality itself as Vayne pressed into his attack, scythe shooting towards Moyo like a spear tip,
“Da pa da!” Moyo commanded, the weapon quivering in the air as the titan aspect pressed into the blade’s will,
Vayne stretched his other hand out,
“Bleed!” he commanded,
Moyo felt the working of power slam into him with force as he grunted, his titan aspect repelling the power of the attack with its tier 2 strength. It gave the scythe a moment of respite, and the blood king took full advantage of the moment, driving his scythe into the position Moyo stood, the spot exploding into bits of craters, but no flesh. Vayne chuckled as the weapon retracted, shimmering back into a mace,
“I must say I’m surprised, a master with the powers of a primordial aspect, just what lengths did your primordial go to in order to bestow such upon a measly mortal?” he said,
As the dust settled, dominion shot out at blinding speed, aiming straight for the skull of Vayne who hissed a curse and brought his mace up to block the attack. Moyo had been counting on it, appearing next to the blood king with his fist cocked, he channelled his entire titan’s might into his fist as Vayne’s eyes widened in shock in that fraction of a second,
“break” Moyo commanded, throwing the punch,
The blood king managed to bring his hands up to block the attack, no doubt thinking he could deflect it. His arms shattered, bones and muscles pounded and scrunched together in a grotesque manner as the titan’s fist slammed both hands and skull together, driving the body of the blood king straight into the floor of the blood hall.
Oshosi warned him and he phased away from the spot as spikes and tentacles of blood suddenly shattered where he had previously stood. Stretching his hand out, dominion flew back into it, gripping his blade and staring at the spot where the battered form of Vayne lay, bloody mist and aura bubbling from it.
He could sense it, it would take more than that to dispose of this ancient, despite the fact that this was simply an echo of what had once existed, a remnant so to speak. It also showed Moyo just how far the ladder went on the scale of power if he was having issues dealing with echoes of former primordials. The blood aura in the room suddenly exploded in strength, Moyo activating his core realm again, shielding himself from the aura that sizzled at the edges of his realm,
“Death will be too lenient for you” the voice of Vayne Nox said, echoing around him,
He watched as the body exploded into chunks of blood and flesh before pausing in the air and like fusing back together to become a perfect image of Vayne again. Rage bubbling in the eyes of the blood king,
“I will find your world when I finally possess your body” he hissed,
“I will let whatever remnant of you still exist within me watch as I tear down everything you have built, stone by bloody stone” he continued,
“then I will bathe your world in a river of blood, every single woman and child will beg for mercy but will see-“was all Vayne said as he paused, feeling the bubbling aura invade his realm,
All Moyo could see was red, rage, burning deep inside him as he took one step forwards, finally letting his aspect escape its leash as his body glowed purple. Vayne stood petrified before shaking it off with a snarl,
“You shouldn’t have said that” Moyo said silently,
Vayne grinned,
“What- “he replied before summarily getting smashed into the ground,
Moyo’s foot directly on his smashed skull, actively burning veneration, he didn’t care at the rate with which he lit the fuse. This was why he was venerated, to protect the people under him, the people of his world and here was some echo of a long forgotten echo of a primordial seeking to wipe everything he had built,
That, he took very personal,
Even as he burnt his veneration, he could feel it now, he could feel the aspect of the blood king, and right now, he knew where Vayne would reform. Turning in the direction, he swung dominion,
“Black hole” he said,
The attack tore towards the direction where the aspect of blood began to recreate a new form for Vayne, smashing into the spot and obliterating everything in its part. It exploded in a concussive wave that tore the blood hall apart, leaving only the blood aspect that made up its walls in place. Moyo felt the veneration lick the walls and burn up the blood a bit, releasing what he realized was a tortured soul in a wisp of white light.
“No, that was mine!” the choice of Vayne trembled around as a large shadow began to darken the skies,
He could see the masters now, battling the crimson knight as they blazed with power, they were fine, he however had to deal with Vayne. The collateral damage from their battle could in fact wipe out the dungeon, an ancient and a primordial battling it out were nothing to laugh at. So he willed his veneration to burn like a wild fire, catching on the blood aspect around him and lighting it up on fire, cutting Vayne off from his aspect. It took no small feat of willpower and authority, seeing as the aspect battered against his shield in anger, but he had seen the weak spot of the blood king,
He had no veneration,
He was simply an echo and whatever venerations he had accumulated during his past life was either gone or no linger accessible to him. A critical blow Moyo was about to exploit, he watched as Vayne reformed into a large giant looking creature of leathery wings and needle-like teeth, black claws and dripping blood,
“I’ve got to say, your spiritual form is as ugly as you are” Moyo commented,
The blood king gave a guttural roar that shook the dungeon, Moyo seizing on that moment with his aspect as he called on the nethervoid, reality shattering and twisting as both combatants were transported to the void. Dominion shot up within the grip of Moyo to block the gigantic mace that slammed into him, driving him into the sands below with an explosion. Shooting out of the sand with force, he stared at the blood king who looked around in shock,
“The nethervoid” Vayne said in shock,
“How?” he whispered,
Moyo began burning veneration again as he marched forwards, unleashing his spiritual form in a haze of purple and gold, veneration infusing along with it,
“I grow tired of telling you” Moyo said,
“That is because he is indeed a primordial, Vayne Nox of house Nox” a voice said as Moyo smiled,
“Who dares utter my name?” Vayne bellowed as he surged with his blood aspect, moyo cursing silently,
he had relented on his veneration cutting off the access of the blood king to his aspect, not that it mattered in the nethervoid though. Here they would fight as equals, and no ancient was ever an equal to a primordial, ruler or not. The sands around them began to blow into a vortex as a being made of sand with golden eyes stepped out of the vortex,
“don’t you remember me again, oh blood king?” the smiling face of Viaris said as he manifested,
“Lord Viaris” Moyo said in greeting,
“Lord titan blade, I must say, we need to work on your habit of showing up unannounced” the slumbering sands replied,
“Only if you tell me how you got a domain in the nethervoid” Moyo quipped back as Vayne chuckled,
The blood king swung his mace at the primordial of sands, Viaris chuckled, a large hand made of sand catching the blow. The blood king bellowed,
“Another primordial” he growled,
“Honestly, I’m offended that you have forgotten me so quickly Vayne, was my rampage through your galaxy so little? Viaris said,
Moyo stared at Vayne who stumbled back,
“You!” he said in shock,
“Oh yes, me” Viaris replied,
“You have history with this guy?” Moyo asked the primordial,
“Oh yes, this excuse for an ascender took my entire world and turned it to a slaughter house, I tore up his systems as revenge” Viaris replied,
Moyo could feel the rage bubbling within the slumbering sands, the docile and gentle primordial now barely holding on an avalanche of power Moyo didn’t want to get hit by. Viaris glanced at Moyo,
“I must thank you for this boon, I am in your debt young primordial” he replied,
Moyo hid his surprise well enough, to have a primordial owe you a debt was almost unthinkable, just the scale of the resources the slumbering sands could bring to bear alone were staggering. Vayne growled,
“I caught you; I imprisoned you, you were to be killed on my return!” he roared,
“Oh yes, funny story there” Viaris replied,
Folding his arms behind him with no iota of fear for the blood king, for why should a primordial fear an another primodial, an echo at that?,
“You see, after you died back during the war, other rulers came for your galaxy. Without you nor that pesky crimson knight of yours, all hell literally broke loose. My rise was nothing short of explosive with the abundant relics and loots house vox left in their wake” Viaris continued,
“I tore through your house like fire through dry wood, I razed everything to the ground, and in your spot, I became what I am today. So I must thank you, Vayne of house Nox” Viaris said as Vayne roared with rage, unable to tear his grip from the hand of sand that gripped his weapon,
Viaris turned to Moyo,
“Titan blade, do me a favour and I will be in your debt again” he said,
“done” Moyo replied immediately, Viaris chuckling,
“Leave some part of him alive when you’re done, I have so many things to discuss with him” he said,
Moyo grinned,
“Anything for my newest favourite primordial” Moyo replied as Viaris laughed,
“Kairos would be jealous” the slumbering sands said,
“Kairos?, the great maw?” Vayne said in shock,
‘that’s enough out of you” Moyo replied and swung his blade, his spiritual form following suit,
The sand hand released the blade of Vayne who brought his weapon up in time to block the attack, the blade of the titan tore through that of the blood king, tearing into his skin as Vayne roared in pain. Driving for the titan blade that lashed with the talons on the other hand, the both of them exchanging deadly blows after blows. Moyo could feel the aspect of the blood king shudder each time it came in contact with his now.
It was weak, nothing was left of the once deadly aspect that terrorized an entire galaxy, and Moyo finally felt Esu’s greed rear its head in delight. Slamming Vayne backwards, he cancelled his spiritual form, shooting towards the blood king before slamming into him, driving him into the ground. Binding him with both aspect and veneration that literally burnt his skin, Moyo placed one hand on the body of Vayne and activated both Esu’s greed and Digi aye at once.
The blood king convulsed, shaking and trying to fight off the titan blade in futility as he shuddered,
“what are you doing to me?, what are you?” he said, his voice growing weaker and fainter with every word,
“What I do to upstarts like you, getting stronger” he replied,
He saw his notification ping as both skills took vital parts of the blood king, right before his eyes, Vayne began to grow thinner, looking emaciated, almost like a vampire deprived of blood. His body lost its sheen and muscles, eye sinking into their sockets and hair falling off. His wings disintegrated and nothing ever glorious was left of the once powerful primordial, Moyo final relented, slapping away a tendril of blood aspect that tried stealing from him, the bloody tentacle exploding away.
He turned to Viaris who stood calmly, watching him with perfectly cold face,
“he’s all yours” Moyo said,
“You make for a very undesirable foe, titan blade” Viaris replied,
“that’s the point” Moyo said as he smiled,
Friend or not, Viaris was still a primordial, to show weakness was to call the wolves to his home like the scent of blood. The slumbering sands nodded, walking forwards to a barely existing Vayne who breathed like he was in his death throes,
“The great blood king” he goaded, staring at Vayne,
Moyo could see the terror in the eyes of the blood king, Vayne glancing at him with great difficulty, his eyes pleading,
He wants me to kill him Moyo realized,
Whatever fate he would have in the hands of the slumbering sands, it would not be a good one and Moyo pitied him just a little. The bastard deserved it though, so he said nothing, merely watching as Viaris snapped his fingers and a bright golden light manifested into a woman, wrapped in golden silk and holding a staff in her hand with a bright yellow gem at its top.
She glanced at Moyo, bowed,
“Lord titan blade” she said, golden eyes flashing as she bowed,
“Do I know you?” Moyo asked,
“My child, from long ago when I was mortal, now an ancient” Viaris replied,
“Oh, nice to meet you” Moyo replied awkwardly,
“My child, you remember him, don’t you?” Viaris asked,
Turning to the blood king, Viaris spoke,
“Tried as you did to end my bloodline, one of my heirs survived, and she has been praying for this day” Viaris said,
“Can I have him, father?’ the voice of the woman said, Moyo glancing at her,
“Such hatred” he thought as he stared at her,
“Yes, take him to Khemet, await my return” he ordered,
The girl bowed and slammed her staff to the ground, the sands around Vayne churned, the blood king managing to raise one hand towards the titan blade as the sand cut it off, solidifying into a rectangular sarcophagus in the image of the pleading blood king. Moyo watched as the coffin floated up before passing through a pathway that opened up with the swirl of the golden sands from Viaris, revealing a lush oasis with large pyramids and beautiful coloured birds flying around. The girl passed through as it closed, leaving Viaris with Moyo.
The titan blade turned to the slumbering sands,
“Apologies if my question sounds pertinent, but, you wouldn’t have known any ruler named Ra, did you? He asked,
Viaris raised one sandy eyebrow,
“a primordial of old, a father to me, died during a war of old, why?” Viaris asked,
“Your home world looks like an old civilization from my world, jarring I guess” Moyo mumbled,
“The echo of the sun primordial went far in the universe, your world was indeed blessed to feel it’s power” Viaris replied,
“indeed” Moyo said,
Viaris picked up the limb of Vayne,
“You just rid the universe of a great evil titan blade, the archailect is in your debt” he said,
“If we survive this war” Moyo replied,
“Ah, the war, I best get back to it, till we meet again, lord titan blade” Viaris said as he blew away,
Moyo picked up the limb and coaxed his aspect to return him to reality proper.