Moyo couldn’t talk, couldn’t twitch, couldn’t even pass a signal along to Idris who had watched him fall quickly under the trance of pure mental attack. It had happened at the exact moment he had been talking with Urne, the ships of his legion assembled to launch their attacks against the forces of the mutator spilling out of the pathway. He was immune to mental attacks, at least, to a respectable extent, if you could call a ninety percent resistance against mental attacks respectable. Still, it felt like a sledgehammer driven straight through his brain, and it hurt like crazy.
A direct assault by the forces of the abyss through his defenses had almost caught him off-guard, but Moyo had been able to immediately isolate the attack, master ranked cognitive speed quickly crushing the initial salvo before projecting his spiritual form outside the ship, materializing alongside the spiritual forms of the arcane generals wreathed in a red and gold fiery column of fire. Altair and Mardar, ancient and jade respectively materialized also in their spiritual form, evidently, they were also attacked.
Altair burning in a soft white and blue light, Mardar wreathed in runes that burned with white flames. Together the forces of the archailect stood, staring at the planet and at the unseen foe who had managed to strike at them at the heart of their power,
“They grow ever stronger” the voice of Altair echoed in his head,
“Then we shall repay their attack in kind” the form of the male arcane general said,
Stretching his hand out, a large shield of fire formed alongside a large blade, both burning with the power of Lotes. The female general followed suit, fire orbs of burning aether appeared around her, spinning so fast that they left trails of fire that formed a runic circle. Continuously going through the same sequence of movements to maintain the circle, she chanted a spell at the exact moment her fellow general prepared to attack,
“Ash is to fire, destruction the path of the purifying flames, immolate!” she chanted,
Flames blossomed around the arcane general, blistering aura of flames burning red and gold flames of fire burning brightly in a beacon of pure exulting power, seeking to burn whatever force stupid enough to hold back the power of the dragon's brigade. Abyssal shield and the power of the aether dragon clashed, lighting up the expanse of space, pulses of devastating power ripping apart the very fabric of reality as life and death clashed. Moyo’s spiritual form moved, blade glowing with his barely suppressed aura. The shield flickered as the essence of the titan blade drew ever closer to it, authorities from the beings doing battle threatening to tear apart the very planet, or at least it looked that way from afar.
They all felt it when whatever force was keeping the shield up relented, like a wisp of psychic denial, it powered down and the runic abyssal shield shattered like fragile glass. Moyo was sure that in time, they would had eventually shattered the shield, but now that he had felt it, what they had all felt, he was definitely sure this was a trap. It was not like they had a choice though, with the open pathways spilling hordes of abyssal forces that assaulted their ships, the best they could hope for was to deploy their forces down below to the planet, allowing the ships to wage void to their satisfaction. The moment the shields fell, the planet was open to the mental probes, and Moyo recoiled in horror and anger, the other beings doing the same as they realized just what horror was going on in the planet.
His consciousness flowed back into his body, his eyes opening with a jolt as he got up in one fell swoop, glancing around towards Idris who turned to him from where he had been discussing with ship mistress Urne, something about a means of getting down to the planet without the use of their teleportation arrays. Moyo would had suggested ramming the lesser battleships into the planet, but that was when his forces were new to the war and the ships held no value to him value to him. Now though, they were the mobile home of entire cohorts of his legion, a sort of bond had been built between his forces still alive and their respective ships. There was no need for that though, for while he had been battling whatever it was that had attacked his mind from the planet, the same consciousness that powered the shield, his physical form had been listening in to the conversation between Idris, Urne and Ahib.
Turning to the commander of his artillery division, the android bowed quickly,
“My lord-“
“I heard enough; can you get it done as quickly as possible?” Moyo asked,
The other forces would find a way to get their ascenders down to the planet in whatever way they could, Moyo had sensed a presence on the planet, and he intended to fight his way towards that particular target,
Vesh phantom scourge,
The name brought a sour taste to his tongue, like ash, and he fought the feeling to tear his way through the abyssal power and essence that suffused the world to reach wherever she was. He took deep breaths, nodding as Idris explained to him the plan and setting off with him towards the bowels of the ship where Ahib had been building said ‘puncher’ constructs. Walking briskly, the teleportation arrays flared to life as his guard leading their best ten ascenders arrived, marching up to their speed. Vaughn was the first to break the ice,
“How bad is it?’ he asked,
“it’s a cluster fuck down there, the power of the abys is like a flood, we’ve been played” Moyo explained,
“Even if we had chosen to deploy the entirety of the armada Molrik, anything gold and below would had been dead the very second they had touched down. Even golds wouldn’t have it easy” he said,
“Then thank the supreme beings we came with only the diamonds, do the other fleet forces know of this?” Amiya asked,
Moyo frowned, Idris replying for him,
“They should know, they all felt it the same way Moyo had when they fought to break the shield down, if they decide to deploy their golds and below, then their deaths and blood would be on their hands” his champion said,
Moyo glanced at Idris who nodded, unspoken words going between the both of them,
They don’t care, at least, those not belonging to house thousand blades,
They entered a tunnel work, moving briskly towards a chamber whose doors hissed open, shola appearing to him,
“My lord” she said,
“Is this it?” he asked,
“By your will, the puncher” she replied,
“An entire chamber?’ Hajin asked,
“Yes, reinforced with mithril folded ten times over, its blast rate equals that of a rulers punch, or so I estimated” Ahib said as his holographic form appeared,
“If it isn’t enough, then I’ll add my own strength to it” Moyo replied grimly,
Without a second thought, they filed into it, the chamber locking as gravitational locks held their feet in place, knowing that nothing short of a series of mountains crashing on a diamond ranker could even remotely try to shatter their bones. As the chamber sealed its doors with them inside, Urne appeared on a holographic screen as well,
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“My lord, on your orders” she said,
“Launch us” he ordered briskly,
Urne froze for a brief second, her gaze showing the hesitation and terror that was masked behind the zeal she had for her job and loyalty Moyo quietly believed he was undeserving of. She nodded and spoke softly, her words carrying the exact will of the entire force bot on the ship and in the chamber.
“For the legion” she said,
Moyo nodded, understanding the words left unsaid in that statement, even as the chamber shuddered and they felt a force crash into them as the chamber shot out of the bowels of the defiance and the connection fizzled away, Moyo replied, his aura and aspect encompassing the entire vessel that raced for the planet, burning like a fallen star in the cloudy nighttime,
“For the legion” he replied,
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Nightmares and the feeling of terror, of horror and of their skin blistering assaulted them, but they all knew it was the workings of the abyss, of the mutator and of its power to strip them of their very wills. The forces of the titan blade held fast to their belief in the titan blade, their wills sharpened during this long nightmarish crusade that was called a war, their authorities a blade as deadly as any other and their faith a wall of unyielding force.
Moyo felt it all, felt their roaring strength and courage, his aspect bursting out f him in quantities rivalling his assault of the realm of the mutator a few battles back, Gegun appearing in his hand,
“Fight brothers!” he roared,
Aspects glowed from them all, powers of their paths coming from the diamonds themselves, his masters surrounding him,
“We shall wet the grounds of dire with the blood of the mutator, his creatures and abominations” Romulus snarled,
“Their wills will be broken, their weapons shattered, for we march in his name, in the name of the titan blade!” Idris roared,
Their vessel crashed into the planet, the forcing running through their bones, teeth clenched as they felt the forces of the mutator beset them on all sides. Moyo let Gegun blaze to life, its purple flames lighting up the inside of their vessel,
“kill them all” he muttered,
With a brief flex of power, he tore open the doors of the chamber, roaring as he stepped out into the fleshy grounds of the planet itself. Aspect exploding out in a circle around him, incinerating anything and everything it came across, leaving the very ground a charred remain of ash and rock. His forces poured out, weapons blazing in a hail of firepower that brightened the darkened and greenish skies, tearing into flesh and metal body parts of the creatures that sought to assault them.
Creatures swooped from the skies only to meet the blades of Hajin and Romulus, their forces covering their masters in hails of a myriad of attacks. Moyo stabbed Gegun into the very ground as the very air released a wail of agony and a shriek of rage as the very ground began to burn in purple flames, Moyo grinning and grunting, feeling his aspect pour out of him in a torrent, burning away the decay in a wide circle around him, an informal sort of consecration.
Still they came, lumbering figures made of flesh and materials so steeped in the abyss they blighted the very air around them, leaving it toxic, already he could feel his diamonds fighting a battle both externally and internally. With a thought, the consecrated ground suddenly had his core realm over it, the mountain and aura of the titan permeating the very air, relieving his forces of their blighted and toxic air around them and wiping out whatever forces assaulted them as the creatures burned to ash within his realm.
Eyes glowing, he whipped his head east, feeling the buildup of power that suddenly shot towards his position, Gegun moving in the fraction of second that it took the attack to reach his position, faster than even his masters that had attempted to stop the attack,
“Da pa da!” he roared, Gegun clashing with the attack that pierced even his very core realm, clashing with Gegun and pushing him back a step,
With a roar, he diverted the attack back towards the skies where it pierced a grotesque looking creature of bones and dangling flesh that was coming for them. The creature exploding almost immediately, Moyo growled in the direction of the attack, pointing Gegun towards the figure he was sure could see him,
“I’m coming for you Vesh, can you hear me?” he shouted, his aspect carrying his voice far and wide,
Even as lances of fire burned from space and towards the ground around him, burning the thousands of creatures that were assaulting his position, he spoke even as his masters and diamonds struggled to put up their realms, relying on his aspect to stabilize reality around themselves, even as the remaining forces of armada Molrik landed on the last planet holding them back from the system of Rohan and Araman, the system of dire itself, the air lighting up as the forces of the archailect prepared to make their last stand, either they won or they died,
“I killed Hoshan, I was there when they killed your fellow elites, I will burn your body, Gegun will taste and consecrate your very essence, I come for you Vesh, wait for me” he roared,
In the distance, standing close to a runic circle that glowed ever stronger, Vesh phantom scourge roared and cried out in anguish as reality quaked around her and scores of lesser abyssal creatures simply dissolved into puddles as her very rage killed them, her face a mask of pure hatred.
***************************************
Battles were being fought in small pockets that left devastating damages, the arcane generals a beacon of reassurance as one lit the very skies in a circle of fire while the male general thundered around the battlefield, acting as a very blunt hammer that blew away any force that sought to overwhelm their forces. Moyo and his forces had linked up with Altair, the ancient and his masters in the presence of masters Killian, Duval and Skatha rampaging close to him the very air rising with the ashes of the dead never-ending hordes of forces thrown at them. Moyo marched ever closer, one step at a time at the hordes being thrown at them, Gegun reaping existences left, right, front and center.
Idris was a tornado of skills and weapon, for where one move ended another began, his masters and forces close by, moving under the aura and aspect of the titan blade who had left his core realm behind, a moving anathema that the forces of the mutator soon realized would mean instant death should they stray close to his side. Over and over, they attempted getting ever closer to the glowing column of abyssal energy the arcane generals had sworn was a summoning spell to call it something apocalyptic from the abyss itself.
Moyo shuddered at the thought, pitting his willpower against whatever force was keeping them from getting ever closer and coming up with nothing. Frustrated, he turned to Altair,
“I’ll be back” he said,
“Be careful” Altair replead, gutting a reptilian creature,
Activating a step of Ogun, he appeared at the limit of where the skill could carry him, feeling the same resistance with no reasonable source holding him back. This time though, a creature of metal was standing directly in his path, two hands gripping what was a very long spear, its tip pointed to the ground. Its green glowing eyes hidden behind a helmet stared balefully at him,
“Whatever you are, step aside of die” Moyo spoke harshly swinging Gegun in an arc,
The creature moved with a speed rivalling his, spear tip burning with green fire clashing with Gegun as both weapons rebounded,
“Path of the lance, blessed of Molrik, eviscerations mantle” it said in a sort of techno voice,
Sage’s eyes burned bright, showing him a hundred attacks shooting for him in that fraction of a second, his body reacting accordingly with the prediction. Gegun slapped away those he couldn’t dodge, leaving a trail of burning fire that singed the creature that gave no acknowledgement of the attack hurting it.
Moyo sensed something totally familiar with the creature, but it eluded him, like an itch at the back of his head. Still though, titan and metal lifeform clashed in a hail of weapons, both seeking to end the existence of the other. Moyo calmly dodging the tip of the spear that sought to infect him with what was no doubt the touch of Molrik and Gegun in return seeking to cut deeper into the creature, hoping to burn it from the inside out.
Even the little cut it had suffered was telling on its form, now then then it would falter, calling out commands that always had the term ‘blessed of Molrik’ within it. Moyo summoned his mantle, feeling the spear crash against it, sought to pierce him but failing to sink pass the mantle. He gripped the spear, Gegun going for the kill, hoping to slice its head clean off its neck in that attack. It dodged in the last minute, its neck literally splitting as otherworldly little tentacles shot out, pushing away Gegun just enough for the creature to release its grip on the spear and shoot backwards.
Without giving himself to think about just what kind of abomination the creature was exactly, Moyo shot after the creature immediately, finding to his surprise that he could follow in the exact footsteps of the creature. It tore off its arm that was slowly decaying due to the tou8ch of Gegun, squeezing the metal frame to form another spear, its tip burning with the same green color,
“I failed the last time, my ego got the best of me titan blade” it finally said, speaking,
“But I swear on my path and on lord Molrik, your death will echo through the abyss” it said,
Moyo paused, realization dawning on his eyes,
“Mortas” Moyo whispered,
The crane lance, former diamond of the archailect, brother in the cult of the undying hand, former conduit of the mutator and now a creature whose form Moyo didn’t realize. With this revelation, Moyo went on guard as the creature snapped its fingers, Moyo stepping back and realizing the same force field that prevented him from going forward springing back up. With a resolute look, Moyo prepared to fight the crane lance amidst the chaos happening around.