Ajax watched the master on the path of the Plaguepath pick his way through the dead bodies of the Wyrmguard, most charred to cinders, few pieces of flesh hung around the charred surface of the moon fortress. He turned his eyes to the large behemoth of power house Dracon proudly showed through their vessel, its side guns trying to repel shots from the scythe as its capital weapons were brought to bear on the nest itself. Ajax flicked hiss gaze to the nest itself, the culmination of his revenge and if the rumors were true, his father.
He tried to make himself feel something, some measure of anger or excitement at least about his reunion with his long-lost father, but all felt was a cold dark feeling, like his heart had been replaced by some dark entity within it. Even now he could feel it, the cold-like numb feeling of drawing from his new aspect suffusing his very being, steeling his willpower, he pushed it back into his core, sealing it there. Taking comfort in holding his blade, Krial, the warmth of his handle drawing his attention back to the situation around him, he spoke to Virethrax,
“How long will this take?” he asked, careful to mask his impatient nature,
“I need a few more samples, then we can leave, do you even have a way through the defenses of the planet?, the nest is one of the most heavily defended planets in the archailect, some of its runes predate anything we know” Virethrax said, his voice a hoarse and teeth grating tone,
Ajax turned from the plague master,
“Let me bother about that, you finish up what we’ll need, you have less than five minutes” Ajax replied before marching towards the distance, eyes on the Dracon’s fury that held his star fortress at bay,
He needed his ship for what he had planned for the planet, and the Dracon’s fury was simply in his way, he needed the vessel dead in space and he needed it now. Krial sang with a tune of oblivion, its power bleaching reality of aether and the raw aspect of life itself as he swung it, his power roaring through the expanse of space towards the ship before crashing on its runic barrier, shattering it and with a glance at the plague master whose head whipped up in alarm,
“Stay here” he ordered,
One step, his cloak mantle covering his body like an oily sheen and he shot towards the ship like a black streak of comet.
Ω
Vaelin staggered as an attack hit his ship, explosions coming from the lower deck as sparks exploded around the command deck,
“What was that?” he snarled, eyes glowing as he began reading the scans from the ship’s log,
“An attack from the other side my lord” an ascender shouted,
“Another ship?” he snarled,
He knew it was impossible the moment the words left his mouth, no ship would had been stupid to try flanking the Dracothorn fortress of the moon, nothing lay at that side, so what was it?. Another alarm blared as he glanced at the auspex screens,
“Breach from the third armory entrance!, we’ve been boarded!’ another ascender shouted,
Vaelin snarled as he got off his throne, his bionic implant already waking up the ship’s guardians as he marched towards the elevator taking him to the floor,
“Summon all available forces aboard the ship, call all walking war constructs, slave them to hone in on my direction, maintain firepower towards that star fortress and for the love of Lotes, get someone on the nest to answer our hails!” the elder dragon snarled,
His mantle, a burning armor of pure authority and interlocking pieces of aether slid around his body, a spiked mace in one hand and a staff in the other, he scanned the readings coming as he pushed through the elevator, a cold feeling settling in his body that something truly terrible had entered his vessel. He appeared at the armory level, the ascenders gathered, a mixture of lower housed nobles and mercenaries hired by house Dracon to bolster their forces, the rest actual warriors from the different vassal planets under the empire.
A mage, crouched and projecting the inside of the sealed armory entrance itself where a red blip casually stood, as if aware that they were right outside the large metal doors itself. They saluted when they saw him, some bowing while others gave nods of heads,
“a single enemy?” he asked,
The mage nodded,
“Physically ripped through the mithril body of the ship despite the coldness of space no doubt numbing their bodies” the mage replied,
“Then we deal with a master or s a really powerful diamond, but I refuse to believe a single enemy had the power to tear through our shields” he ordered,
The large bulky ascenders with defensive paths marched to the front, clad in heavy mithril armor, they stood alert as heavy weapons rolled in from behind them, Vaelin using his path of the ethereal strategist to try and discern just what manner of foe had deposited themselves within his vessel. Immediately his forces were completed, he ordered the doors opened, weapons trained on the enemy when he froze, cursing to himself as he realized just who it was. Ajax omega blade being here could only mean one thing,
The Dracothorn fortress had fallen,
Vaelin could only roar, spilling draconic flames from his jaws as his forces attacked, sending distress calls to the aegis citadel, trying to get them to turn their guns to the Dracon’s fury itself. Then he went to battle, adding every member of his forces into a party and began to give directions, if they were to subdue this aberration of creation, he would need to give everything that he had.
Ω
Ajax stabbed Krial through the first skull of the defender that came for him, Krial smoothly punching through the mithril covered helm of the ascender like hot knife through butter. Effectively lobbing the head of the dragonoid, he twisted, easing his way through firepower that came from large walking creatures behind the attackers. He moved again, grabbing a mage who was in the process of conjuring a well of lava above him, not that the lava would do any damage to him, but he simply wanted the mage dead, the bright glows coming from his body was beginning to irk Ajax. His mantle covered him in a cocoon as a summoned hand of blistering intent that spun in a vortex clashed with him, attempting to push him backwards.
Ajax was a ruler, something he believed those attacking him had forgotten, and with a mental command, unfurled his aspect. Reality bleached into black and white, save a lone figure that burned with ethereal blue fire from behind the lines of defenders, that was who he was after. Even as the mithril armor and weapons the defenders had brought to bear against him began to rust, turning to deformed and useless pieces of weapons, Ajax moved slowly towards the burning figure. He could see it clearly, the dragon that was not a dragon.
The staff in its left hand screamed of arcane power and the mace on the right was a terrible weapon wrought from the forges of the dragons, the dragon was literally wielding planet killing weapons in both hands. Aether pressed in from outside conjured by the command of the burning dragon who watched him with cold dead but burning blue eyes,
“You shouldn’t have come here Ajax, not to the seat of our power” the man said, his voice laden with power and authority, it honed in on him like a beacon, a maelstrom of aether, intent, mana, aura and aspect,
“Do I know you?” Ajax asked, smiling widely,
“No, but your insolence screams across the archailect, your brazenness to dare bare your fangs against house Dracon has awoken the sleeping monsters, your fate would be worse than death” the man replied,
Ajax chuckled flicked Krial and shot towards the dragon, his aspect invoking the chilling bite of cold into him, Krial sung through the air as the dragon moved. Staff clashed with blade as the explosion rocked the ship, aether and oblivion, clashing in blows of tectonic powers that threatened to tear the ship asunder. The mage was blasted backwards, staff cracked and mantle blinking in and out of existence, the dragon master roared and Ajax was admittedly impressed. Masters rarely lasted against a ruler, and yet, here was one, not only still standing but slugging blows with him, an evolved being,
Ajax frowned,
That thought had come unbidden to him, he wasn’t some evolved being, he was still Ajax, just with a few grudges to settle, and with that affirmation, he turned back to the master who slammed the cracked staff into the ground,
“From the burning ashes of Azar, I summon you, keepers of the fang” he intoned,
Ajax whistled,
“Not up to a year and you’re already adding his name to summonings, that’s evil even for you” he said drily,
Burning runes burned from the air around as life began to return to the room, the defenders clattering to the ground in pieces of flesh and gore, the runes spat out burning dragons, eyes razing with blue flames as they shot for Ajax. His mantle went before him, like wings they protected him from the worst of the attacks, hissing as he actually felt pain, whatever those summonses were had the strength to hurt him, albeit not to a devastating extent, but it hurt nonetheless.
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Shifting backwards, the mage pushed forwards, mace swinging with the very aspect of strength imbued into it, most probably a borrowed weapon, for the strength it contained could not had come from the fledgeling aspect of a master, even if he had access to a greater aspect. Ajax shifted his stance and with breaking the sound barrier, tore through the summons as he literally caught fire, fighting the sting as he clashed with Vaelin who got pummelled, bones cracking and the dragon roaring. The mace crashed into Ajax though and he felt the force run through his body, staggering but pushing on towards the mage who rolled away, mouth open as he breathed dragon fire all over Ajax,
That was pure heated agony,
Ajax roared, slamming Krial into the metal ground of the ship as he pumped his aspect through it, destroying everything it touched, the ship’s explosion ringing around him. The doors to the armory opened and large hulking constructs marched in, towering over twelve feet, they looked like floating humanoid constructs with large weapons attached to their frames.
The mage pointed at him as runes of burning dragon fire appeared around them and Ajax snarled,
“Fire!” the mage ordered,
Ajax wrapped himself over and over with his aspect, grunting as the hail of attacks crashed into him, destruction personified. He fell to one knee, eyes going fully black as he let the power hold him in its thrall, bubbling wrath of oblivion suffusing him within its embrace before he roared out, exploding with force. The dragon mage exploded in a hail of fire, blue power suffusing the area around the dragon as it transformed into its draconic state. Ajax picked Krial,
“enough” he whispered,
“I grow tired of this” he snarled before drawing on the power of oblivion,
He admitted to himself now, he had indulged himself, he had believed he should feel pain for the thing he was doing, something to ground him in his humanity, but he realized now that it was impossible. None of these ascenders or weapons of constructs could bring him the respite that he wanted,
Nothing could,
The dragon struggled as tendrils of dark power latched unto his frame, struggling as he roared, blasting Ajax with flames, that was before the omega blade lobbed off the head of the dragon with one swing. Its gigantic skull crashed in a meaty pulp to the ground of the ship, its workings of power dying along with it. The giant war engines crashed to the ground with that swipe and Ajax spoke, his voice boiling with power,
“DIE”
Every living thing on the ship died, every single workings of power, every engine, every moving part of the ship shut down, drawn into the cold embrace of death. The ship, a husk of the power it once was groaned as it began to float through space dead in itself, he felt perceptions lock in on him. Pathways of cold death opened up and a tall figure entered, dragging two bodies with him, an eyepatch covering one eye and bleached sleek white hair adorning his head. He exuded the powers of a master and knelt as he threw the bodies towards Ajax,
“Jothas” Ajax said,
The master’s head rose to stare at Ajax, named after the husband of Eses herself, Ajax stared at one of his strongest warriors and the offerings he brought,
“How was Hagan so reckless?” he asked,
Jothas shrugged, the weapon at his waist, a serrated jagged edged blade humming with power,
“Sent him to watch over some agricultural planet, the child followed in his wake, too good an offering to ignore” Jothas replied,
Ajax used the tip of Krial to raise the head of the larger one, staring into the eyes of Mathol, hatchling of Hagan, his lifeless eyes milky in death. Ajax felt a twinge of pity for the dragon and crushed it almost immediately, they deserved whatever agony Jothas had put them through at the edge of his blade. His aspect, manifesting as black oily liquid swallowed the two masters, absorbing them into its realm of infinite darkness. Relishing the feeling with a thrill, he opened his eyes with a certainty,
“Something isn’t right, this close to their seat of power and Hagan keeps throwing menials at us” he said,
“I’m not sure Vaelin Stormscale would be considered a menial” Jothas said,
“let’s find out what they’re hiding, inform the scythe to withdraw, I want to test something” he said,
Jothas bowed as he tapped a communications construct in his ear, soon enough the powerful thrusters of the scythe came to life as it retreated from the dead husk of a ship. Jothas nodded to him and Ajax once again plunged his blade to the hilt into the grounds of the ship, pushing his aspect out with a grunt, the chilling cold biting into him. The oily black manifestation of his aspect began to spread across the ship, covering its insanely large bulk as it began to move by the will of the omega blade himself. Without a groan, the ship faced the nest itself, the super large planet lush with life and began to push towards it, blotting out the sun itself.
Jothas turned to him surprised,
“You seriously don’t intend to crash the ship into the planet, do you?” he asked,
Ajax forced a chuckle as he doubled his concentration, pushing the ship further,
“That and trying to smoke out the rats” he replied,
“Hagan?” Jothas asked,
“No, a bigger one” he replied,
The ship had begun to cast its shadows over the planet when Ajax felt it and his bones trembled,
“Finally,” he groaned,
Ω
Below on the planet, a shrouded figure had been staring calmly at the skies, watching as golden runes burned above, watched as a shadow simply blotted out the bright rays of the sun and despite the pandemonium happening all over the planet, despite the crushing, rumbling sounds of capital weapons being activated from the bottom of the endless seas across the planet, their aim at the behemoth coming for the planet, he watched calmly, arms folded, face covered with a tattered hood as he stood out among the rich opulent citizens of the throne world.
Hundreds of messages poured in through his Hud, messages from his people all over, their missions completed, those needed to be saved now aboard carefully shrouded vessels around the system. And with the proverbial end of the planet looming over him, he waited for the signal,
Calmly waiting to unleash his weapon,
And then it came, a ping around his head, a signal from another plane of existence, and the rune that burned itself into existence right before his eyes,
“Finally,” he thought,
And with a brief push of his willpower and authority honed to the deadliest of edges, he activated the runes carved into the very crust of the planet itself. Runes so ancient, so powerful, that it had taken thousands of years just to charge a single one, kept for a single purpose only, the protection of the planet. Burning columns of light burned to existence all over the planet, blistering power, ice cold as it was fiery shot to the skies above, flashing all over the planet, and then he moved, fading into a wisp of smoke.
Ω
Ajax watched with a grin as the dead ship was inches from the surface of the planet when runes of such power that he felt his aspect tremble from its presence, like a deep buried memory imprinted into its very existence. Jothas covered his eyes as a flash of power burned to life, Ajax, stared into the blinding light despite the searing pain to his eyes, Krial in one hand. The light flashed away just as quickly as it had appeared, and Ajax’s smile vanished,
“What the- “Jothas said as he stared in front of him, his mind uncomprehending what he was staring at,
The planet had simply vanished, like it hadn’t been there, and from around the planets that circled the nest were burning white figures, each a ruler in their own rank. Eyes flicking from one planet to the other, he noticed with grim acceptance, the very muscular and toned figure that floated above the prime forge planet, the Wyrmforge. That could only mean one thing,
Yona was dead,
He pushed the thought into the cold part of his heart, where his aspect ran supreme, and turned his gaze to the figure that floated right where the nest should had been,
“Xerxes sun-burner!” Jothas cried out in alarm,
Ajax frowned, shaking his head as he gripped Krial harder,
“no” he whispered as Jothas’s heard swiveled to him,
“that’s not the sun-burner’ he said,
The figure clad in burning white fire, golden runes burned all over him, deep cold blue eyes burned from his visage and his sleek black hair ended with burning tips of fire. Ajax could had sworn that this was Xerxes, a carbon copy of the leader of the dragons’ brigade, however he noticed the subtle difference, the stance, the burning power in their physique. Where Xerxes was a burning inferno, a raging consuming fire that obliterated everyone and everything in its path, this man looked like a finely honed flame, a burning blade whose attack was precise and clean, a sort of cauterizing flame used for excising taints,
Or perceived taints such as Ajax was in this scenario,
“Withdraw all troops, inform the scythe to target that single Xerxes look alike” Ajax ordered as he began floating towards the front of the dead ship that was being held by powers unseen,
Jothas knew better than to argue, simply nodding and watching, Ajax a few distance from the force arraigned spoke,
“So, you’ve finally shown yourselves?” Ajax said with a grin,
The man didn’t answer, none of them did, they simply stared at him,
“Where is she?” he asked again, grin still on his face,
The man unfurled his hands as a blade appeared at his hips, and then his visage began to change. He still maintained the eerie look with Xerxes, but his skin became a deep blue color, black hair unfurling to his shoulders, the flaming fires dimmed to reveal a silver armor gleaming, its material unknown but echoing with the power of reality itself. Runes burned themselves to life, a cold blue that actually rang with power for every moment they manifested around him. The man pointed one finger at Ajax, a finger that was now sheathed in golden gauntlets that glowed with power, Ajax’s eyes flicking to the figure’s waist where a blade should had been but was gone,
“LEAVE” he said,
Ajax felt reality compress him, willing him away from the spot, and in all his existence, Ajax could swear that hadn’t felt a pressure like this before, so in tune with reality itself, so powerful as it threatened to tear him apart,
“NO” he replied and it took everything within him to resist it,
His aspect pushed and pushed, to swallow the power and authority within the command to oblivion but to no avail, and finally resorted to transferring it somewhere else. The scythe and all its inhabitants, the dead vessel, even some stars glowing in the distance simply disappeared, the same way the planet had as well. Ajax was left, panting softly as all traces of mirth was wiped away,
“Runebearers” Ajax spat with as much venom as possible,
“Indeed, and Xandros is quite the ancient, isn’t he?’ a voice laced with so much power, reality trembled around them,
The Runebearers bowed as one, the man named Xandros as well as a bright light burned to life in space itself, with enough power to rival a sun, it shone in its majesty, coalescing into a single woman, her very body aether itself,
“Eses” Ajax said again, softly,
She smiled at him,
“I suppose I must thank you, wiping out the worst of my descendants, the stains to my name” she started,
“But you have gone too far, chaos wielder” she said,
Ajax merely stared at her,
“Where is my father?” he asked,
“That thing, is sequestered away for the safety of the archailect, hand yourself over” she said,
“a century” Ajax said as he quivered,
Reality screamed with the wrath of his aspect, the Runebearers merely watching, their individual powers holding the darkness at bay,
“a century I have waited, my wrath locked away, not anymore” he said harshly,
“I will burn your very galaxy to the ground, your systems will cease to exist, nothing will remain of the Dracon empire, DIE, ALL OF YOU!” he shouted, command and words mixed together,
Krial was raised, stars died, reality wailed as it cracked in places, and Eses raised one hand, the Runebearers moved, burning as beacons of light clashing with the roiling tides of darkness.