Moyo, Mardar and Altair came across where one of the arcane generals had fought and saw destruction wrought on a level almost inconceivable. The Nethervoid had taken an immense beating where they had fought, Moyo crouched as he got close, the fiery nature of the general’s power still leaving a smoldering aura around, enough to incinerate golds and below, to him though, it was simply a change in weather. Altair paused, still topless, intricate runes explaining his blade path adorning his body, his white hair tied behind his head,

“by the supreme beings” he whispered,

Moyo wasn’t sure what surprised him most, the look of pure awe on the face of the ancient, or the look of dread on that of Mardar, in any case, he stared at the glassy ground, the heat evaporating every drop of water around and superheating the very ground till it had turned to glass,

“the main question, is where are the arcane generals?” he asked,

Moyo stood up, unleashing Digi aye as he got a taste of both abyssal and archailect power, and also the staggering aether fire that shook him, pushing him out of the vision. Panting, he realized he was kneeling, and both ancient and jade had given him a wide berth, confused as to why, he stared at his body and realized his skin was blistering hot, like metal just brought out of a forge, burning red and hot. Wrapping his aspect around himself, he let his body cool off before speaking, Mardar beating him to it,

“what in the name of the aether blessed happened to you?” he asked,

“I, I don’t know, I tried absorbing the aether around to see just what sort of battle happened here, to get a clue as to what happened to the general, what I felt was” he said shuddering involuntarily,

“powerful” Altair finished for him as Moyo and Mardar glanced at the ancient,

“wasn’t it?’ Altair asked,

“what do you know?’ the jade asked,

“nothing more than assumptions, that and the rune emblazoned on the ground” Altair replied,

“what r-“ Mardar asked before pausing, eyes wide as he floated up, his words coming soundlessly from his mouth,

Moyo looked confused, getting up and floating up as well, perhaps there was something he had mi-, and there it was, the entire crater of steaming gas and glassy surface, carved into a rune. Moyo pointed at it,

“Mardar, what is that rube?” he asked,

The jade stared at it in silence,

“no idea, I haven’t seen a rune so…primal so…-“

“Fire, in its purest form” Altair whispered,

Jade and primordial master turned to him, eyes searching, waiting for the ancient to speak, Altair however, remained silent. Floating down to the rune in silence, he stared at the rune,

“We need to leave the Nethervoid” he said,

“We haven’t found the two arcane generals, we can’t just leave” Mardar protested,

“I’m not about to face an enraged Xerxes or tania without the location of two of their strongest assets” Moyo said,

Altair waved his hand,

“I have an image of the rune, he’ll understand, besides, if my assumptions are true, and they rarely aren’t, then those arcane generals are far gone, the battle has shifted to the physical realm proper” Altair said,

Moyo wanted to question just what he meant, but he could see the look on Altair’s face, it wasn’t grim, it was terror restrained, whatever Altair knew, it was enough to scare even an ancient. Moyo held back Mardar who was about to protest again, the jade turning to him, surprise on his face,

“Whatever Altair knows, we won’t get an answer, not now, not yet, we go back to our forces” Moyo said,

“Trust me” Altair added,

Mardar turned to the ancient,

“You might not know Xerxes Terrangazer as much as I do, but after the aether blessed, that former jade turn brigade leader is the next person on the list of people not to mess with, I pray you really do have a good reason for this” Mardar said,

Moyo had been in the presence of the true sun-burner, and while he was a force of reality unto himself, Moyo really didn’t see him lashing out, but then his mind took him back to the meeting aboard the abyssal star fortress and he shuddered, the archailect was made up of monsters. Altair nodded, and all three of them bent their authorities to releasing them from the Nethervoid, the realm parting without so much as a resistance. It dropped them back in a zone that Moyo couldn’t realize, he did, but he refused to believe what he was seeing.

The jade moved first, throwing runes after runes skywards as artificial storm clouds formed and a large blue barrier of power sprung out in all directions, shielding them, and their forces that were battered. Moyo summoned Gegun without another thought, blasting it out as he staggered at the carnage he saw,

Diamonds, masters, ascenders, dead,

He saw Hajin and snarled in rage, one step of Ogun and he was next to his guard member on his last legs, held by the throat by a creature Moyo’s mind couldn’t explain, a migraine hitting him the moment he came close. Gegun switched with dominion, his arcane blade flashing as he swung it,

“DA PA DA!” he roared, power flashing out,

It blasted the creature backwards, freeing Hajin from its grasp and letting Moyo grab the lightning eater and with another step of Ogun fled. He fled back to the barrier, crashing through and immediately tearing open his vault, throwing Hajin in whole before sealing it back, ensuring the lightning eater was within his sea, submerged. He shivered, Altair as his side next,

“What is happening?’ the ancient asked,

Moyo filtered the memory of the creature, his mind finally stabilizing to realize what he had seen, Mardar glanced at him, robes smoldering,

“th, there’s something on this planet, something terrifying, I’m not sure, I pray to the archailect I’m wrong” Moyo hastily said,

“he’s here, isn’t he?” Mardar asked quietly,

Altair glanced at the jade, eyes wide as he realized what the jade meant,

“Impossible, it can be, the very planet won’t contain his power, perhaps another servant?” Altair asked,

Moyo had no time to convince the ancient, he summoned his communication construct and poured aether through it, praying to the supreme beings it actually worked. Like his prayer had been answered, it came to life,

“Lord?” the voice of Urne came through,

“Teleport every commander and ascender off the planet now!” he shouted,

“Lord?” her voice came through confused,

“GET EVERY DAMNED ASCENDER OFF THE SURFACE OF THIS PLANET DAMMIT!” he roared,

Perhaps he had put too much authority into his voice, but Urne seemed to had gotten the situation’s delicate situation,

“I comply!” she shouted back,

Moyo waited for no reply, one step of Ogun and he was out of the barrier, phasing around the planet with speed,

Tomasa crumpled, bones broken, he picked and threw into his vault,

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Yemi a mess, unconscious, he picked,

Cursing to himself, he saw his guard and their close to dead division commanders, as if that creature had broken them just to the edges of death but had refrained from ending them in some sick perverse game. He blitzed around, picking his commanders and tagging their captains as lances of teleporting light blasted down continuously, picking them up just as quickly as they happened. Cursing himself, he moved faster, his primordial body now capable of keeping up with his power.

He felt the creature just as it aimed to attack him, eyes wide as dominion flashed out, shutting his eyes lest sage’s eyes burned with the raw power of merely staring into the eyes of such an abomination. Then a fiery comet shot next to him, causing him to hiss as it clashed with the being, a loud shriek coming from the creature. It had almost caused him to pause, the power of the two arcane generals coming from the fiery feeling, but his mind shouted at him, Oshosi screamed at him also and Moyo knew well enough to push forward.

Soon his entire guard, beaten beyond even the regenerative powers of a master could heal had been placed into his vault, and then he saw Idris and his heart stopped. Falling to his knees in shock, he stared at the body, impaled right through the heart on a pike of green crystal, he tore through his core, searching for the link he shared with his champion, thoughts of conveying the news to his pregnant wife driving him close to pure insanity. Then he found the link, a single chord grasping tightly to his core, Moyo moved, blasting forwards as he tore open his vault and grabbed a legendary ranked healing elixir and an endurance elixir also.

pouring both elixirs straight down his mouth, he sliced the pike at the base of Idris’s spine, leaving the pierced part within his chest and gently passing him through into his vault, trusting his sea of aspect and authority to heal his champion. Then he glanced around, seeing hundreds of teleportation lights lancing around, picking up ascenders in their hundreds, no doubt Altair and Mardar had finally seen the sense in what he was doing. He felt the planet shake, felt it shudder from the power manifesting on it, summoning dominion and Gegun to his left and right hands respectively, he prepared himself for the battle.

Steeling his nerves, his communication construct flared to life,

“Lord Moyo, all forces have been withdrawn and are being tended to, artillery division commander Ahib reports a 90% destruction of promethean battle suits as well as Ashas and transport typhoons as well” she reported,

Every word was like a pike driven straight into his chest,

“And the suit riders?” Moyo asked softly,

“dead” she said softly,

Moyo took a deep breath and shuddered at the reply, feeling raw pain going through his body, but he couldn’t let such thoughts weigh him down, not when they were about to face it, him, whatever in the archailect’s name that was. He cleared his thoughts with grim precision,

“Do all that you can for them, try and contact the war council, no, to Xerxes, tell him, tell them that he’s here” he said,

“I comply, and my lord, be safe, please” she added,

“I’ll try” he replied,

The communication construct cutting off the call, Moyo took a dep breathe and with one step of Ogun, appeared next to Altair and Mardar who stared with grim looks at the horizon. Moyo turned to look at what they were staring at and wondered just how in the archailect’s name he had missed it, a large beacon of abyssal energy shooting skywards, tearing into reality itself to reveal a large grey and rusted metallic door, a large construct able to take a giant from what he stared at. Moyo could feel the dread in his very reinforced bones and tightened his grip on his two blades, steeling his nerves and grounding himself in the moment.

A loud shriek tore their attention to the right, where in the air a blazing figure wrapped in white, gold and reddish flames tore into one of the green figures. They watched in part awe and terror as swarms of those same creatures shot towards her, Moyo forced his body to move, swinging dominion through the air, Mardar pushing him out of the barrier lest he shattered it,

“BLACK HOLE!” he roared,

The attack shot towards the creatures who didn’t see it coming, the black hole sucking them through, giving the fiery figure space to escape their grasp and flash towards their direction. She crashed next to them in a crouched position, breathing heavily as she gripped a blade that Moyo couldn’t but stare at in awe. She turned to face him and Moyo stared in shock,

“General?” he asked,

“No, no, not a general” Mardar breathed,

He glanced behind him to see Altair on his knees, head bowed, Mardar followed suit, Moyo wondering just what was happening,

“I was that before young primordial, but no more” the voice of the female general said,

“I have been blessed by the great mother, I have been reborn as an avatar of the flames, her flames, the true flames” she said,

“I, I don’t understand” he stuttered,

“And all will be explained later, now though we fight, for we might not live to even tell the tale “She said grimly,

Moyo felt and saw his blackhole shatter, the creatures crawling out to his abject shock, swarming together and flying towards the great gate in the sky. The fiery woman who was no longer the general pointed her blade to the gate in the sky and spoke with such hatred that she flared to life with white flames,

“The mutator played us like infants, and we fell for it” she spat,

“We do not understand great one” Altair said,

“I am Teisha, not great one, and what I meant, is that we were meant to kill the greatest fighters of Molrik, he wanted us to kill them” she said,

“a sacrifice” Mardar said with building horror,

“Indeed, disciple of Lucirion” Teisha said,

“Sacrifice?’ Moyo asked, still confused,

“a sacrifice of summoning, how could we be so foolish?” Altair said as if realizing,

Moyo ruminated on it for a few seconds, did that mean?, he glanced at the avatar of fire who nodded,

“He sacrificed his greatest warriors, using them to ground his presence in reality long enough for him to manifest” she said,

“But that’s physically impossible, a lord of the abyss on a planet? We’d be nothing but exploded debris floating in space” Altair protested,

“And in any other scenario, I’d agree with you, but with the amount of power he sacrificed to the abyss, plus the ultimate rule we broke albeit without knowing” Teisha said softly,

“Rule?” Moyo asked, getting frustrated at being left out,

“The rule of turns, the lords of the abyss are the de facto equivalent of the supreme beings even if they don’t match up to the supreme beings in strength. By this rule, they are beholden to an intricate cosmic game” Teisha explained,

“When one makes a significant move, they can’t move till the other makes a significant move as well” Mardar said,

“By wiping out a significant strength of the mutator, we have given him the freedom to move once” Altair said,

‘Even if he planned it in the first place?” Moyo asked,

“Even if he planned it in the first place” Teisha confirmed,

“And the supreme beings had no idea?” he asked,

Seeing as they supposedly knew and saw all, shouldn’t they had warned their forces of such a situation,

“The great rule states that neither side shall give their allies or servants any help that interferes in the great game” Teisha said,

Meaning…

“Yes, Vesh and the rest of the Molrik's allies had no idea, probably something he infused into them at their creations” Mardar said,

Moyo pondered the words as a loud gong reverberated and an abyssal power unlike any he had ever faced drove him to his knees in nausea, the feeling of vomiting feeling his senses as he retched, a terrible stink feeling the air. Altair and Mardar weren’t exempted from this, both of them on their knees as well, dry heaving as they groaned in pain, only Teisha wobbled on her feet,

“Great mother protect me” she whispered,

Moyo summoned his aspect pouring it out of his very body in waves of power, seeking to push back the power but with little effect. His eyes began to weep blood as his senses were being submersed by a power he knew well enough to be that of the mutator. He groaned as his mutators resistance grew stronger little by little, soon enough his eyes stopped bleeding and he could see clearly, groaning to his feet in pain.

Altair and Mardar managed as well, a barrier of fire encompassing all of them, pushing back the power,

“What was that?” Moyo groaned, wiping his mouth,

“The pure power of Molrik” Teisha groaned, eyes shut in concentration,

Moyo realized she hadn’t been joking, and what drove terror into him the most, was the fact that Molrik hadn’t even appeared yet. He turned back to the giant doors that began to creak open slowly with a loud groan. Opening up to reveal a chasm of dark green darkness, and from that darkness a being stepped out, the very skies and reality cried in such agony that it drove Moyo to his knees in pure pain. Teisha this time, was not immune to the pure power, crashing to her knees as a flaming dragon appeared above her, coiling as it let out a loud roar. Moyo stared with watered eyes at the being who appeared and almost wept in despair, a large figure, toned and muscular at the same time, grey skin, acid green eyes, arms folded behind him with metallic grey appendages like spider limbs shooting out from somewhere behind his armor.

The armor was made of some unknown metal, but its significance and power echoed throughout reality, dark grey with the faces of different beings, mouth opened in anguish and agony, as if frozen in that state. In his hand was a large weapon that distorted shape, first it was a blade, then the head of some grotesque creature and then it was mist, on and on it changed.

The being glanced at the roaring dragon and smiled, a most terrible sight as reality screamed again, the very planet rippling like flesh and transforming into a vortex of actual flesh and creatures that began to manifest in their millions. From gigantic forms to flying creatures, to wraith like beings and even the elven forms riding frothing beasts, all as one they fell to their knees, bowing in the presence of their master,

“BEGONE” the being said,

The dragon exploded, the flames disappearing, leaving a weakened Teisha panting, gold burning eyes opened in fright, they all turned their gaze skywards, to the being who floated above them, the creatures roaring,

“HAIL LORD MOLRIK, HAIL!” they said,

Moyo stared, Altair stared, Mardar stared and Teisha stared,

Stared at the lord of the abyss,

Molrik, lord mutator of the abyss had arrived.

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

Hidden within the space close to the Molrik system itself, a ship manifested, a man with a reed hat awoke within the ship, silver eyes blinking. He stretched, taking care not to let his core he had shrouded to an initiate’s level reveal itself, his ship disguised as a destroyed vessel bringing on its auxiliary light, showing no signs of life. This being tapped into the strands of fate itself and saw what was revealed to him, he nodded, it was time, a voice echoing in his head,

“GO” it said,

With a nod, he activated his ship’s stealth capabilities, floating past the ongoing battle of the archailect and abyssal forces in space above, like a ghost, getting ever closer to the planet of Molrik itself.