Master Abraxas stood on the edge of the mountain he had taken over in the name of house Dracon, the air steamed with the fiery power of his bloodline skill, the house Dracon had been blessed, well, rumored to be blessed by the true dragon herself, the supreme being of aether Lotes, their control of aether second only to the great house of mages, house Nebula, and even at that, the gap was minuscule when the draconic skin, toughness, and bloodthirst were factored into it.
To his left, in a cocoon of blue fire sat a true dragon, master Abraxas had countlessly cursed his luck to be born a Dragonoid, a race beneath the dragons that ruled house Dracon, but he had taken his luck in life, fought teeth and claws from the slums of his village deep in the planet, an inconsequential ball of lava and rock where his talent had been found by the red jaw, master Anala, the descendant of their ruler Azar scorching claw. His path to master was filled with both the blood of allies and enemies, for Abraxas did whatever was necessary to get to the top, he was one of the draconic species and ruthlessness was the sacred code they followed.
However, in life, some were born with luck so good, that it placed them above others, no matter the position or power, and in house Dracon, lineage was everything. It was why the dragon in human form that sat in the blue ball of fire was everything Abraxas wanted but really couldn’t get, he bit his lip as he glanced at the dragon that gave off the power of a gold-ranked expert, Kenuran red jaw, a hatchling of Anala red jaw and great grand hatchling of Azar scorching claw and the named scion of house Dracon.
Kenuran had been born from the union of his mother Anala and some dragon, never a lower caste of the draconian specie, but at birth, the child had been born with the true bloodline of Azar, and in less than a year had been named the heir to the ruler should Azar decide to go into the eon long hibernation that all dragons who had gotten to the peak of ruler eventually did.
His mother had been proud, even prouder when Kenuran had gotten of age, at 100 years, the age of maturity for dragons and when they decide to choose their path in the archailect and decided to walk the path of the blade like his great grandfather the ruler.
He had been given a scale shed from the body of Azar himself, an honor, not even his mother Anala had attained, a scale used in forging a blade of blood-red sharpness that hummed with all the bloodthirstiness of the dragon and the power that came along with it. Abraxas wouldn’t deny that the thought of executing Kenuran hadn’t come to mind but he knew full well how protected the child was, even now, just outside of point one, the grand ship of Anala sat, awaiting the return of her child, both her children, and that drew Abraxas to the second hatchling Vasanz.
If Kenuran was the chosen one, then Vasanz was the runt of the whole house, born under the seemingly small but long shadow of his older sibling, he was forever doomed to walk under the shadow of Kenuran, and while he had also chosen the path of the blade, he was no genius like his elder brother, but he did have his strong suits.
Vasanz had all the brutality that Kenuran had exchanged for cunning, a true monster on the battlefield, he had clawed his way up to bronze rank expert by sheer determination and ruthlessness also, same as Abraxas, and while everyone favored his elder brother, he had to prove his worth, not to Anala but the greater factions within house Dracon.
Favored also by Abraxas, he had dragged the dragon along on the mission to obtain the shard. A closely kept secret, house Dracon had learned of the shard through sources even Abraxas wasn’t privy to, and that was saying a lot seeing as he was one of the three masters in the whole house, but Anala had said he was to operate on a need-to-know basis, but Abraxas could see it for what it truly was, his specie.
They considered themselves better than him, he who had fought tooth and claw to be respected by house Dracon, had gone on missions even Anala wouldn’t dare, he was slowly becoming a wanted man in more than three galaxies belonging to three different houses, the only reason his infamy wasn’t pronounced yet was his relatively early ascension to master a few years back and the houses unwilling to admit the shame of a new master committing such atrocities in their domains, but he was under no illusion that the moment he was introduced to the greater archailect during the swordsmanship tournament, the houses would come gunning for him.
It was the reason he wanted the primordial shard, he had no aim of handing it over to either of the rulers of house Dracon, he would rather hand it over to his allies, and they were much scarier than house Dracon. So scary in fact that only the brigade had fought them and survived, more like they fought to the point of realizing that should they go on, they would both face mutually assured destruction.
Even saying the name out would flag the archailect to the speech and in less than an hour, a fleet of generals from the brigade would pound this world to dust, their masters scouring the world clean of any life and even though the aether in the air was getting sparse, he wouldn’t risk it.
It was why he was infuriated at the escape of the girl who had worked with the gold-ranked expert who had led the expedition, on inquiry from the experts who had switched sides to his and whose bodies now littered the base of the mountain, no one knew of her origins and even that of the gold ranker.
They had appeared on the distant machine world of the construct empire, asking quietly about the way to the tier 1 nexus point and gathering a team to go after a really important relic. The information had been passed along a still unknown means to house Dracon and Abraxas had only learned of the reality of what they were chasing, a primordial shard when he got to Agabod, bitter that even his own house didn’t trust him enough to tell him what they were chasing.
That was behind him by the way, Vasanz was his ticket to getting the other prize he coveted. He had to admit, turning the young dragon to his side had been a slow and arduous process, a step he painstakingly took with precision, but at the end of the day, the kid had his issues with house Dracon and the young blood was willing to prove himself also.
So, the young dragon had agreed to the plan also, while his elder brother, Kenuran, still under the impression that he was about to retrieve the reality shard and hand it over to the ruler Azar had remained impassive as house thousand blades appeared in this world with an expert who apparently climbed a rank by pure inspiration.
Inspirations were fickle and too far in between to be used as a stable method of ascension, inspirations were enlightenments on some part of the path the individual followed, and diamond-ranked experts who got it broke into the stage of a master without the help of a ruler.
However, what bothered him was the fact that an iron-ranked expert had gotten an inspiration to break into bronze rank, which was scary in itself seeing as every ascender who had ever gotten an enlightenment had grown to become a ruler or master at least.
The diamond warrior of house Garuda, the maw wolf of house Wolftide, the bright eye of house Nebula, and many other prodigies had all gotten to the tier of a ruler and were powerhouses in their own rights, even house Dracon had produced a master in the form of Anala through enlightenment, and hopes were being placed on Kenuran to achieve such also.
Abraxas had wanted to view the path and table of the expert when the stellar blade and the death blade had blocked him off. The presence of the emissary of the ruler of house thousand blade had shaken him to the core, Ajax death blade, the pariah, disciple of the grim, the same grim house Dracon had locked away, sealed in a location only known to both the rulers of house Dracon and permitted by the dragon brigade themselves.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The force of pure annihilation that was Ajax was an existence Abraxas was loathe to face, seeing as the disciple of the grim had not just his own mantle but the burrowed mantle of the ruler of house thousand blades. Abraxas gave a quiet growl of frustration, the plan was going according to schedule, even house storm razor, the lower house that supported house Dracon had sent two of their masters with a score of their experts to act as protection in Agabod as a sign of goodwill.
An almost laughable gesture seeing as Kenuran was stronger than the two gold-ranked experts that came along with them and Vasanz who was a peak tiered bronze ranked expert could beat their bronze rankers into submission, and now they had lost one of their masters to the death blade himself.
Abraxas took a deep breath, he would have patience, the kid who had became a draconic slayer would die at the hand of Vasanz, he probably killed a wyrm or wyvern and had never faced a Dragonoid not to talk of a true dragon, but then his mind had gone to the world C-102, and Abraxas felt a cold feeling running through his body, the world he had contacted behind the backs of the powers of house Dracon.
A world whom he had granted one of its inhabitants the way to get the path of a dragon, effectively mutating the individual into becoming an abomination, something his allies had taught to him, showing him that the archailect was full of holes he could exploit, holes he could use with the access house Dracon had to the allocation of dungeons.
It had been ridiculously easy to travel to the nest and access the A. I that allocated the dungeons into setting up different parameters for dungeons, increasing the odds of the dungeons spawning monsters that were above the rank of the respective dungeons but scaled down to a level just right that his servant on that world could kill and get stronger.
He admitted he hadn’t been focusing on the world recently, afraid of drawing too much attention to why a master was paying his time to a tier 1 world in a new galaxy, but he had begun to have his suspicions that his allies had taken advantage of his plot to also plant something on the world, the blight attack that was rumored to had occurred on the world was most likely from his allies, but he had dismissed it. If a blight had attacked a tier 1 world, all life would be scoured off the world by the brigade immediately.
Shaking his head from his long tirade of thoughts, he turned to Vasanz who had kept swinging his blade, one he had forged himself in the ever-burning flames of their second rulers forge, an honor granted to him when had gotten none.
Vasanz kept swinging the blade with a single dedicated mindset, and to be frank, Abraxas admired him for it, he played to his strengths with no shame, knowing that he had not the mind of his brother who was currently working towards getting his enlightenment to break into the diamond rank after failing to kill the silver ranked girl that had run away with the location of the shard, it had shocked Kenuran to the core, no one had ever survived his attack and Abraxas was secretly glad, the dragon needed a knock to his ego, a pity he would be dead soon anyways.
The crackle of lightning announced the arrival of the sole surviving master of house storm blade, Abraxas turning rigidly watching the sorrow in the eyes of Leonora and sneered. This was why he detested working with lesser beings, their emotions took the best of them, and the only reason the master had died was his stupidity in going after the location of the members of house thousand blades before they could move together.
The idiot had hopes of taking the head of the stellar blade or the death blade, forgetting that those two masters had a history longer than his existence and their mere names drove fear into the heart of most masters, there was a reason house thousand blades had risen to become one of the great houses so quickly.
“I lost a master today, how does house Dracon wish to repay me?"
“The deal was for the both of you to protect Kenuran and the house Dracon experts, not go hunting after any enemy, especially If the enemy is Killian stellar blade and Ajax fucking death blade, not even the red jaw would lightly take on both of them” Abraxas growled,
“He was chasing your lost child” Leonora spat,
Abraxas had half a mind to rip her head off her shoulders, but with the eyes of Kenuran and Vasanz on him, he couldn’t lose his patience, but when he heard those words, he paused, all thoughts of killing her escaping his mind as he stared hard at her,
“The child with the coordinates to the relic?” Abraxas asked,
“Indeed, she was running in the direction of their location”
“It makes no sense, why would she go towards their house, Killian isn’t known for his mercy and Ajax outright wouldn’t care,” Abraxas muttered,
“protection” the voice of Kenuran rumbled out of his flaming orb as it vanished in a flash,
Kenuran red jaw stood clothed in a red attire, his red blade by his side that gave off a piece of the overwhelming power of the ruler it had been gotten from. Abraxas watched as he drew himself to his full height and had to admit, he was the perfect representation of the draconian race.
Dark blood hair, muscular structure and an eye that gleamed with the cunning of his mother and great grandfather, Kenuran was the pride and joy of house Dracon, and rightly so. His eyes rested on Leonora and he nodded at her, dragons bow to no one, especially the child of the red jaw.
“Master Leonora, accept my apologies on behalf of house Dracon, an unfortunate situation concerning your master, I assure you house Dracon would do its best to support your house,” Kenuran said,
Abraxas bit back a smirk, translation was, house Dracon would absorb house storm razor if they were willing to accept and true the intake of breath that Leonora had taken to clear all forms of reaction on her face, but the air became razor thin as the concept of edges resonated in the air.
Leonora holding the aether around them hostage with a thought, Kenuran neither paid attention nor behaved as he noticed and Abraxas smiled a little, a true dragon. With a thought, Abraxas wrestled control of the aether back, even as Vasanz growled in rage and a look from Kenuran shut him up.
Although house storm razor had four rulers, they only had two masters, one now seeing as one had died at the hands of Ajax, their power had just gotten a serious blow to its standings, their four rulers, one swordsman, one mage and two body cultivators were newly minted rulers and mostly at each other’s throat, and while they presented a united front to the archailect, house Dracon knew well enough what was really going on, after all, they were supposed allies.
“You dare….” Leonora whispered as Abraxas stood in front of Leonora,
“Watch your next words master Leonora, house storm razor won’t fare well should they lose another master” Abraxas growled,
Leonora stared stoically at him for a few seconds before blinking away, Abraxas took in a breath,
“That was a bit reckless,” he said to Kenuran,
“She deserved to be told the truth, their house is weak” Vasanz growled,
“silence” Kenuran said to his brother, Vasanz wisely shutting up.
“We are to assume she has informed them of the shard,” Abraxas said,
“As expected, however, I am more concerned about her identity, not just any silver ranker can withstand the attacks of a gold ranker, that means training and strength found among the elites of that rank,” Kenuran said,
“You think she’d from a house,” Abraxas said,
“I believe so, something about her mantle rubs off me the wrong way” Kenuran muttered then turned to Vasanz,
“Hear me, brother, your orders are absolute” Kenuran started,
Abraxas noticed the flash of anger on the face of Vasanz, luckily, he caught the eye of Abraxas at that moment who stared at him with such a steely gaze he shrank a bit, a move that made Kenuran sneer,
“you end the life of the bronze ranked expert, they are weak, he is weak, what is a human to a dragon? a mortal to a god?” Kenuran said as he stepped closer to his brother who stared with rapt attention,
Vasanz took a knee, head bowed,
“Your wish, my absolute mandate,” he said in the words used for those greater than one in-house Dracon,
Kenuran turned to master Abraxas who crossed his arms,
“Your orders master Abraxas,” he asked,
Abraxas nodded and turned to the mouth of the mountain, took a deep breath, and roared with his master-infused voice, all around them, roars resounded in reply, the experts of house Dracon, the evolved wyrm, wyverns, and Dragonoids flew into the air.
The bodies of the experts that had joined them laid below in the smoldering flames that surrounded the bottom of the mountain. From the north, towards the direction of the house of thousand blades, a silver beam of light shot to the sky,
They were ready,
“Bold of them” Kenuran murmured,
“Let us see what this expert can do against the might of a dragon,” Abraxas said as Kenuran grabbed Vasanz and they began flying in that direction.
*****************
Moyo took a deep breath as he gripped dominion tighter in his hands, the breath came out as a puff, beside him stood Ajax who spoke without glancing at him,
“Steady your heart titan blade,” he said,
“I am steady” Moyo replied, watching the lance of fire flying towards his direction and around it, different experts that exuded auras of silver rank and below,
“Let them roar, what is your goal?” Killian said appearing beside him also,
“To get stronger”
“And how do you do that?” Ajax asked,
“By breaking every foe”
Killian pointed at the incoming Draconians,
“Then there are your foes, your first step on that path, break them,” he said,
The eyes of the titan blade began to glow purple, his mantle covering his body and dominion humming,
He was ready…