Ashira stopped a good distance away from where Moyo was battling with the rock hybrids, she still marveled at the insane strength and power of the titan blade. For a bronze ranker, he had no reason to hit the way he did, it was like she was fighting a mid-silver ranker and despite all his fears about fighting a silver ranker, Ashira was sure when push came to shove, he would find a way.
The same could be said for her though, she had been sent out of house Kairos for that same reason, well, technically. And the powers of house Kairos had made it clear to her that she and her gold-ranked expert companion were on their own from that point onward, just the very way she wanted it, so it was with budding irritation and a tinge of anger that she turned to Eogan, eyes glowing as she asked,
“It has barely been up to a year, and already they send one of the plantsmen, have they no shame?” she growled,
Eogan had a confused look on his face,
“Who?” he asked,
Ashira growled, whipped out her blade forged for her by the famed blacksmith of house Kairos, the master vardant, whose works were the iconized weapons of the three rulers of house Kairos, and with silver ranked speed brought it down on Eogan whose eyes widened for a split second. Immediately, like a veil had been lifted, Eogan suddenly became silver ranked, his staff catching the blow of the blade as he chuckled,
“you’ve grown princess,” he said,
“Call me that name again and I swear by all the heads of the 3 families that I would burn your garden to the ground” she growled,
Eogan staggered backward in horror, the gardens of the plantsmen were famous all over galaxies held by house Kairos for their beauty as well as deadliness,
“Have you no pity?, has your cruelty only grown?” he said in mock horror,
Ashira sheathed her blade, crossing her arms as she tapped her foot expectantly. Eogan smoothed his cloth and grinned,
“Well then, lady Ashira, it is my honor to gaze upon the famed beast of the threefold style,” he said,
“Although, I must ask where that gold ranked- “
“he’s dead,” Ashira said, her voice tinged with pain and finality, cutting Eogan halfway through,
Eogan paused, the smile wiped off his face in a flash as he ripped his staff tighter,
“So, the rumors were true then, my condolences lady Ashira, his family will be notified and his offsprings given the full support of house Kairos and the plantsmen, he was one of us after all,” he said as Ashira nodded,
“Did they send you?” she asked quietly, her voice no doubt portraying the defeat and tiredness in her voice,
“I was sent at the behest of the sage” he replied as her eyes lit up a little, a smirk on her face,
“Trying to get me to come back?” she asked,
“The sage merely wanted to confirm the safety of his favorite…ascender so to speak,” Eogan said as Ashira snorted in doubt,
“Also, to see if you’d consider coming back, he promises to place you under his direct sphere of influence, that way the two, ah, meddling obstacles as he called them, forgive me lady Ashira wouldn’t bother you” Eogan completed,
Ashira sighed, a wide smile on her face as she gripped her blade tighter. The sage, one of the rulers of house Kairos had been the one to commission master Vardant to forge a blade of the legendary rank for her, she had still failed to give it a name, even now, over a year after. She turned back to Eogan,
“let’s go, we need to find shelter for the night,” she said,
Eogan merely tapped his staff on the ground, his core shrouded back to bronze rank. The ground in front of them caved in, soil and rock giving way in a large circle around them even as it formed a shallow hole, deep enough for them to sit in. Then smooth rectangular-shaped stones made their way out of the ground, three in all at three corners. Ashira glanced at Eogan,
“How am I expected to explain these to him when he shows up?” she asked,
Eogan stared at her, then down to the hole, and then back at her,
“Oh!, did you see that?, what’s a perfectly made campsite doing in the middle of a dungeon?’ he asked,
Ashira sighed, rolling her eyes,
“you’re bad at acting,” she said,
“I beg your pardon, I’ll have you know I’m considered a prodigy when it comes to my superb acting skills,” he said, flustered,
“I suspected you immediately Moyo drew my attention to you, seriously, what were you thinking charging up his core with your plantsmen mana tricks?” she said as she shook her head,
“The goal wasn’t to be invisible lady Ashira, it was to test your senses,” he said smugly, despite the obvious lie,
“And when the rock hybrid died, I came close to you and felt the essence and aether just floating around you, you’re not silver ranked are you?” she said,
“a plantsman must always keep his secrets” he replied, a twinkle in his eyes,
“And that disguise, please, you looked out of place, plus horrible fashion sense” she noted,
“Pity, I loved the hat though, went along with the mysterious brooding personality that I intended to portray,” he said,
“All it did was make you look like a wandering farmer looking for his lost livestock,” she said dryly,
“I see the sharp tongue of yours hasn’t abated since leaving home” Eogan replied even as they both smiled,
Ashira folded her legs, even as Eogan began dumping branches of trees into the middle of the campsite, a clap as it lit on fire, the warmth spreading around them,
“I needed this journey, I had to,” she said, Eogan silent and listening,
“Back at the house, the pressure, the eyes of the family heads were slowly driving me insane” she continued,
“And the marriage proposition,” Eogan said with a chuckle as Ashira smiled, staring into the flames,
“how’s Durant?” she asked,
“Still sulking, wanted to come after you, then the sage heard what had happened and let’s just say we all lived in fear of his wrath for close to a month, Durant ran back to the protection of his family,” Eogan said,
Durant had been a nice person, never pushed, never disturbed her peace and rejection of his love for her. She hoped he met someone who genuinely loved him, but Ashira felt nothing for him then and now.
“Which brings me to the issue of that ascender friend of yours, are you sure he’s not some diamond or gold ranked expert shrouded and ordered to watch you?” Eogan asked,
Ashira shook her head,
“he’s with house thousand blades,” Ashira said and then narrated her journeys to Eogan whose face darkened as the story progressed,
“House Dracon, they’ve gone too far this time,” he said as the plant life around him began to twist and curl, trees creaking as they doubled their heights from the mere taste of his displeasure, power coursing through them, Ashira could feel the power in the ground being pumped from him,
Eogan was no mere silver, she doubted he was even gold for that matter,
“Calm yourself!” she hissed,
Immediately, like a switch, the power cut off,
“Apologies lady Ashira, those damned serpents had been pushing at our borders for months now, if this news gets to the family heads, an all-out war would break out, plus we could push for harsher sanctions against them with the games they played with the primordial shard,” Eogan said,
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“that’s why that portion of the story should never get to them unless you want innocent worlds embroiled in this conflict and billions perishing. That makes me wonder how you knew of my location, there was no way to know where I went after leaving the construct empire” she said,
“The sage sent out thousands of plantsmen like me to different tier 3 worlds, we figured that was where you would most likely have gone to further your ascension” Eogan replied,
“But there are hundreds of tier 3 worlds, how could you possibly hope to have found me?” she protested,
Eogan shrugged,
“We simply obeyed the sage with the directions he gave, I’d chalk it up to ruler abilities if I were you”
Ashira nodded,
“so this titan blade, an iron ranker whose core has undergone an inspiration to bronze rank, with the shear endurance and tenacity of notable monsters at expert rank, and also a draconic slayer?, you come back with him alone and the fact that you now own a planet as a mere silver ranker and not even the family heads would dare push you around,” Eogan said with a smile,
“Plus, are we to expect some union from the both of you?” Eogan asked,
Ashira’s eyes widened as her cheeks became red,
“no!, do not even think of such!, he’s just a fellow ascender,” she said even as Eogan chuckled,
“You do know how to pick them,” he said as Ashira threw a stone at him even as he laughed.
****************
The problem began when he encountered a level 310 rock hybrid, Moyo had blitzed his way through levels 300-309, he had finally broken through to bronze proper, his core condensing in a wave of dizziness that left him stumped, watching as all the aether in his mountain core and landscape condensed into one giant ball that floated above the mountain before somehow transfusing into a blue liquid that seeped back into his landscape.
Despite his inspiration then to bronze rank, he had just now seen the proper transformation of the aether in his core. All the inspiration had allowed him to do was absorb a greater amount of aether into his core, giving him the strength of a bronze ranker, now he could feel the purer form of aether coursing through him, empowering every swing of his blade.
At level 205, Moyo had been a walking blade of destruction till he encountered a level 310 rock hybrid. The higher-ranked monster was a deeper blue in color compared to the whitish color of its lesser peers, the blue veins on its body a deep dark hue, and a sort of crystal sitting on its back that pulsed with power.
It had spotted Moyo as he decimated its lesser kins, its roar so loud and damaging that Moyo felt the concussive wave hit him like a moving train and slamming him into the ground, dizziness affecting his movements even as he scrambled away from the path it wreaked.
He had gotten his bearing, swinging dominion with all the force of his arm, Ashe and intent in the blade. It had rebounded off its hard rocky body, even coupled with the gravitational ability of dominion coming into play, it barely scratched its skin. Moyo had resorted to channeling the force abilities of his path through his body as master Killian had advised.
He found his punches hitting harder, with a more resonating effect that he was pretty sure would turn the insides of any bronze ranker not on a body cultivating part to mush. The claws of the hybrid were made of a hard crystal-like substance, the same crystal that sat on the back of the monster and pulsed.
Dodging said claws as he didn’t even want to know how they’d held up against him, he layered punch after punch on its body, jumping clear whenever it used its roar and activating his step of Ogun skill to immediately appear in its vicinity.
It took him far longer than he had wanted to kill the monster, its subsequent explosion destroying its surroundings as Moyo channeled the aether and essence into his core. Dusting his body as he stood up, glancing around to be sure none of its kin was slowly making its way to him, Moyo began jogging through the forest. Weaving through trees and ravines as the skies above darkened, his vault had been filled up with loot and various loot items he had gotten from the slain creatures.
It came as a surprise to him when he fell directly into the path of a roar from a rock hybrid, caught completely off guard. The roar and subsequent concussive abilities completely knocking him to the ground, tearing into his body that wasn’t shielded with his mantle. Battle instincts had him snapping his realm into place, his ferocity of Oshosi saving him from having a very nasty claw mark to the face as he dodged it.
The hybrid shimmered into reality, Moyo inwardly groaned, he was facing a level 315 with what was looking like invisibility ability. The creature roared again as he dodged and began weaving his way back in the direction he was coming from, straight towards the clearing he had just left. To fight it in between trees wasn’t ideal, it could come from any angle and Moyo wasn’t about to let it get another edge on him, realm or not.
As he rolled into the clearing, Moyo send intent slashes through the air, sparking off the almost crystal skin of the rock hybrid. His realm extended all around him as a vortex of gravitational pull and intent flowed all around him, it was pretty easy to spot the hybrid even as it went invisible. The intent in his realm clashed continually with the monster who got a mouthful of intent as it opened its mouth in preparation to release its roar.
Moyo ran towards it, diving underneath its belly to drop a punch that hummed with both his gravitational power and intent layered with Ashe, rolling away before he could confirm if it had been devastating enough to actually injure the creature. With a step of Ogun, he appeared a good distance away, dominion raised as he charged it with pure power before bringing it down on the neck of the creature with another step of Ogun to appear close to it.
The blade passed through its neck before getting stuck in the middle, then with one sharp burst of intent he tore through it, the head rolling away. Panting and sitting on the ground, Moyo watched as the dead hybrid faded away to dust, loot dropping all around him. He had accumulated a large number of hybrid rock monster armor from chest pieces to arm bracers and even hammers that would sell for a substantial amount in the dungeon market.
His notification of hitting level 210 made him realize just how far he needed to go, lying back on the grass as the sun in the dungeon began to set, Moyo silently wondered how they were doing back home. Over and over, he had been tempted to send a message through his HUD, Ajax explaining it to him that it would in fact work, but something held him back. Right here, in the larger archailect he was just one ascender among many, toiling their way up the ladder of ascension, the name titan blade meant nothing.
To go back to being the titan blade, clan leader and all-round overpowered ascender left a bad taste in his mouth, especially when he realized he was far from powerful. No doubt with the margin he had on them right now, he could wipe out the planet, save whatever dragon expert was hiding on his world. It would be a lie though, the ruse of power, the intoxication of being on top, and while he had no doubt that clan titan blade was indeed still the top, the amalgamation of all the top advocates in one clan, the rest of the world stood a chance without him being around.
Ashira was a level 370 silver ranker, she had reasons to relax, Eogan the tagger was just here for the loot and relic, but he had a reason he was fighting. He had seen what being an expert meant in the archailect at large, being under the thumb of masters and other experts higher than you, he didn’t want that for his world. Standing up, he opened his HUD, sent a message to Ashira informing her he wouldn’t be returning to whatever camp she had set up that night, he had hunting to do, one way or another he would make it to silver before leaving this dungeon or die trying.
****************
Dust filled the air, roars tore through the landscape as Ashira and Eogan stood atop a giant tree in the jungle, the sounds and crashes of trees all around them,
“I will say this one thing” Eogan said,
“you’ve met one crazy ascender”
Ashira grinned,
“I’m pretty sure he has it in his head to get to silver before we leave this dungeon, master stellar blade always said he was chasing a goal no one expected him to” Ashira said,
“The sage calls ascenders like him infernos” Eogan said,
“Infernos?” she asked as Eogan nodded,
“Indeed, they blaze sky high, the only issue is, once that blaze has run its initial course, does it still maintain its blaze or die out?” Eogan asked rhetorically,
“Most die out, either due to over ambition or some greater power snuffing them out when they threaten their goals, the ones that do persist despite the odds though, well you get ascenders like the sage himself” Eogan said,
“Great sage, equal of the heavens” Ashira muttered,
“The very words he lived by, an ego so large he came close to being eradicated by the powers that be, except he survived and kept getting stronger” Eogan said,
“You think Moyo’s like that?” Ashira asked,
“an ascender with a seemingly never ending endurance and zeal to keep climbing?, indeed,” Eogan said,
Ashira admitted the truth in the statement, most ascenders stopped at one level or another when they had decided they had enough power to survive. An illusion Ashira knew seeing as the only stage to stop ascending was at the peak itself, that was when you were truly safe and even at that, entities like the brigade could still bring you down. She glanced down, the early morning sun shining in the dungeon as the sounds of battle still broke around Moyo who was wreaking the jungle for all its worth,
“He would be a valuable ally to house Kairos” Eogan said,
“He belongs to the thousand blades” she replied,
Eogan shook his head ruefully,
“you’ll realize with time that ascenders like him rarely bend to power unless it benefits them, and even at that, they would rather die than be anyone’s slave”
Ashira nodded, Moyo was indeed stubborn at times,
“Is he even aware that the path he’s taking leads to the dungeon boss?” Eogan said,
“knowing him?, I doubt it” she said with a smile,
*************
Moyo had fought all night, he had been broken, torn, and crushed by the hybrid creatures as they had gotten progressively stronger the deeper he went into the jungle. His skill, wrath of Oya now sat at level 150, along with all his skills nearing or surpassing the 200 level, save for his voice of Eledumare he rarely used sitting at 120.
He had gotten stronger, progressively stronger to the point that the chime of notifications informing him of his leveling up had faded in hindsight as he fought on. He had passed the level 330 for the hybrids, sitting on the ground as all the essence and aether rolled around in his mountain core, compiling together as his core seemed to have a mind of its own.
At level 290, he could literally taste silver rank, and he wasn’t about to stop now, with him being at 90% to silver. The closer he got to the middle of the jungle, the more an oppressive aura had begun to spread out, the whole area close to it filled with a heavy feral aura, aura Moyo suspected came from the dungeon boss. He had 3,060 points to distribute around his attributes,
“Not yet” he muttered aloud to himself as he got to his feet, his body dirty and filled with splotches of blood left behind from his fights with the hybrids that now had elemental affinities,
He had been lit on fire, drowned, struck by lightning and even almost asphyxiated by lack of oxygen by a level 320 hybrid that could suck the very air from a radius around it. Still, he survived, still he had fought his way to the precipice of silver rank where he would be one step from fighting Kenuran. With a deep breath he blasted his aura around, the indomitable will of a titan claiming his supremacy, except this time a ground shaking roar replied, and a notification sprang up on his HUD,
Notice: the dungeon boss is aware of your location, prepare to fight,
Moyo twirled dominion in his right hand, eyes glowing purple as his mantle snapped in place, his realm expanding to cover a wide area and intent flowing through his body. As the boss monster a giant creature made of pure gold crystal that glowed with deep blue eyes and veins that ran on its crystal body pulsing appeared, Moyo took one step and engaged with a roar.