Moyo and Ashira marveled at the camp the black swords had made for themselves right in the middle of the island. Tracing the route the black sword gold rankers had used to get to them had taken some time, but they had eventually done so, arriving at a large clearing. The presence of three diamond rankers had put a grinding halt to whatever idea Moyo had of running rampant on the black sword ascenders.
Ashira, moved a bit, tapping Moyo as they crawled backwards on their bellies,
“Three diamonds and six golds aren’t odds we can deal with” she said,
“I agree, however we need to get past them to the next island, besides, what are those runes being etched into the ground?” he asked,
“they’re known as delving bait runes, draw dungeon creatures slowly to their position, a more competent albeit slow form of farming dungeon creatures, ingenious if you ask me” Ashira replied,
“they’ve been growing stronger by staying on one spot?, talk about convenient” Moyo murmured,
A loud cry broke through the air as a level 520 sonic avian bird screeched out of the clouds, descending on the position of the black swords. Two diamond rankers moved forwards, one conjuring a set of thick black heavy chains that carried the feeling of weights with them, the second diamond ranker conjuring a ball of darkness that enveloped the beast, killing all light and sound from passing through the globe, therefore rendering the skill of the beast inept.
Immediately the king of the black swords, now a diamond ranker himself withdrew a long blade from his shadow and with one swing, sliced the shadow orb that imprisoned the beast in two. The orb dispersed into mist as the two halves of the beast fell apart, blood spiling before dispersing into aether and essence that got absorbed by the three diamond rankers. The gold rankers and silvers around them began to applaud politely,
“Yeah, there’s no way we’re taking them on” Moyo said,
“they’d wonder where their members went to, assuming they didn’t report our presence” Ashira replied,
“Then we find a way to pick them off one by one” Moyo replied darkly,
“That or we circumvent the camp entirely, not like they did us any harm” Ashira said,
“True, but we’re technically red dust ascenders, and I’m not in the habit of leaving enemies behind me” Moyo noted,
“The moment we start picking on the silver rankers, the golds will come after us, and if the golds stop reporting back, the diamonds will come after us, coupled with this crazy dungeon, you sure you want that?” Ashira asked,
Moyo grunted in annoyance, running his hand through his dreads, noting how rough they would seem now. Together they agreed to circumvent the camp entirely and go around them, that way they could stay far away from the array and make haste towards the stronger islands,
“Ever wondered what diamond rank strength would feel like?” Moyo asked,
“don’t we all?, but diamond rank is the end of normal ascension and I’m not in a rush to get there” Ashira said,
“What do you mean normal ascension?” Moyo asked,
“Moyo, I hate to break it to you, but not everyone who gets to diamond becomes a master” Ashira started,
“Masters are the literal top existence of the archailect, chosen by rulers. Now while I too don’t know how masters are made, what I’ve been able to glean out from being a member of a great house is that they are somehow the product of rulers interfering with diamonds” she said,
“Interfering?” moyo asked,
Ashira nodded,
“Yeah, out of 10 diamonds, less than five become masters and most times they just disappear for a while and return as masters, lips locked about how they did it” she said,
Moyo remembered his master tutoring him at level 499, then returning as a master,
“level 500 is diamond right?, and also the start of master, how does that work?” he asked,
Ashira shrugged,
“The realm of masters and rulers is a weird one, and until we get there, pretty sure we won’t know” she replied,
Moyo wondered perhaps if he would stop ascending at diamond, go back to his world and just live out the rest of his pretty long existence in peace. Then again, once someone on his world did break through to master, inevitably sometime in the far future, alliances could change. They could come after him if they weren’t allies or just subject the whole world to their rule, he had been benevolent to a degree, but whoever took over next may not have the same inclination.
He resolved there and then to at least make an effort to get to master, ruler was another world entirely and he was sure the climb to such loft position wasn’t just based on ascension. They had spent close to an hour, weaving through the trees on the island, Moyo using his Digi Aye sight to steer them away from the serpents and avians that flew overhead in the direction of the black sword camp. Moyo had seen the tremor in the aether around his surroundings after sometime, pausing Ashira on her tracks as she turned to him inquisitively,
“What?” she asked,
“there’s something here” he replied,
“Something strange”
“Like dungeon creature strange?” she asked again as he shook his head,
“No, it’s like the aether is bending around a structure” he replied,
Summoning dominion, he swung the blade with intent, watching it crash against something in front of them that rippled the aether around before revealing itself to be a structure in the shape of a door,
“a camp zone” Ashira breathed, blade in hand the next moment,
Moyo paused in asking her what that was as the door swung open, two humanoid shapes appearing from it and with the strength of aether coming from them, gold rank,
“This is-, oh, it’s you guys” the voice said, a voice Moyo was familiar with,
“Heron” Moyo said,
“Moyo” Heron replied,
Moyo was unfamiliar with the man next to him who drew a large broad sword,
“I must confess, I’m surprised you survived, the Kairos girl would not be a big deal, but you?, perhaps she protected you, must be worthwhile to her” Heron said,
Ashira took a step forward, blade drawn, Heron unleashed his full realm on them as Moyo paused, gauging the level of strength of the realm that pulsed with the power of a tornado. Heron must had taken it for shock because he spoke next,
“Yes, gold rank, now kneel before your betters, house Kairos protection or not, silver rankers shouldn’t stand in front of golds” Heron said,
“Silver”’ Moyo asked,
Heron hadn’t bothered to feel the power coming from Moyo seeing as he bound it tightly to himself due to them moving stealthily through the forest of trees,
“I am loathe to shed the blood of fellow ascenders, but I must back my fellow guardian, kneel and let us get done with these formalities, our king depends on us to protect this camp” the ascender who was apparently a guardian next to him said,
Moyo turned to him, totally ignoring Heron who pulsed with anger, his full realm crashing on Moyo,
“Our king?” Moyo asked,
“We bow to no king” Ashira replied,
The man placed one hand on his sword,
“Be careful how you speak of the king silvers” he said,
“Before I cut you down, we are your superiors and you are under our control for the duration of this dungeon run”
“Can you hear yourselves?” Moyo asked,
“No care for how we survived, Afterall we were just meant to be disposable silvers used in accumulating loots and relics right?”,
“And you are still disposable, we could always come up with a story on hos the Kairos girl died, and no one would even remember you titan blade” the man said,
“Enough of this!” Heron growled and with gold rank speed attacked Moyo, two short knives flashing for his throat.
Moyo caught him with his hand on his face, stopping his momentum before smashing him into the ground, gold rank power unleashed. He heard some part of Heron crack as his body created a crater in the ground,
“The titan bows to no one” he said,
“Gold rank?” the guardian said in shock,
Heron out of commission, Moyo whipped dominion in an arc, clashing with the broad sword of the other guardian,
“Let it be known that I guardian Davin iron hands witnessed the rebellion of the two gold ranked ascenders” the guardian growled, twisting away from the blade of Ashira coming down to cleave him in two.
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Two metal arms floated in the air at both sides as they manifested energy blades made of pure intent, Moyo unleashed his realm and activated the siphoning ability of Digi Aye. The arms wavered in the air as Davin stared in confusion, blitzing forward again, Moyo unleashed his full might on the guardian, Ashira right beside him. Davin fought with the steadfastness of iron, but Moyo hit with all the strength of a mountain and Ashira danced fluidly to get into his weak points. The guardian a bloody mess, he attempted to exit the fight as he unleashed a burst of intent within Moyo’s realm.
The intent hung in the air as Moyo froze both the guardian and his skill, dispelling the intent back to aether before slicing the tendons behind his knee, isolating the spot from the flow of aether around and releasing the guardian that crashed to his knees. Immediately he snapped his realm back up, freezing his entire body but leaving him capable of speech,
“My king will find you” Davin spat,
“Not if we find him first” Moyo replied,
“So, it’s true, you attempted to throw us to our deaths while farming for legendary relics?” Ashira asked,
“Silvers are a dime a dozen” Davin simply replied,
“Just so we’re clear, you have no regrets for almost killing us?” Moyo asked slowly,
“The both of you are dead anyways, you just don’t know it yet” the guardian replied again,
Moyo shrugged,
“Fair enough” he said as he produced Oro and stabbed it straight through his chest,
Davin choked in pain before glancing at them, roaring as he pitted his will against that of Moyo, it barely shook the titan. Moyo felt Ashira turn to block an attack from Heron who had subtly recovered and attacked them. The gold ranker threw something at them as Moyo grabbed Ashira and activated his step of Ogun before it exploded, turning everywhere white. As the flash of light dispersed, Moyo blinked to see Heron and Davin gone, along with his blade.
Frowning he appeared back on the spot, his Digi Aye skill revealing a wisp of toxin that led into the trees,
“They escaped” Ashira said,
“The blade left a trail to follow” Moyo replied,
“Wonder what’s inside this camp zone” she said,
“Camp zone?” Moyo asked
She gestured to the door,
“it’s known as a camp zone, a safe spatial zone where you can hide and recover your strength in a dungeon as it blends into its environment”
“Odds are, without your aether sight skill, we might had just walked past without even knowing it’s there” she said,
“Well then, let’s see what it contains” Moyo said as he pushed the door that resisted him, frowning he turned to Ashira,
“It borrows the authority of its owner, and if the king is now at diamond, you’re pitting you will against that of a diamond ranker” she explained,
Moyo focused on it, gathering his Ashe and spoke,
“OPEN”
The door creaked, cracking open a bit as he strained his concentration hard, he felt Ashira next to him,
“realm” she said as he nodded and the two of them snapped their realm over the door, one of pure unadulterated might and the other of royal ferocity,
“OPEN” they said together as the door groaned under the combined might of two gold rankers,
As the opened a bit more, Moyo peeked into the room and saw the pile of loot on the ground, in a moment of quick thinking he summoned his vault under the loot and watched everything from coins to relics get swallowed up by his vault before closing and vanishing. He snapped his realm away and cancelled his command, the door snapping shut as well with a loud thud as they stumbled backwards,
“That was…tiring” Ashira panted,
“Yes, but it was worth it” he replied,
“How?” she asked again,
With a wave he opened his vault next to him as she saw the loots on the ground, her eyes opening wide, he nodded grinning,
“let’s get out of here before they get back” he said
**************
Heron dragged Davin through the trees hastily as he honed in on the beacon king Biyo had left for him, teeth gritted he channeled his entire gold ranked strength into escaping. His mind scrambled at the strength he had witnessed; Davin of the iron hands was as strong a tank as you could get. Forged on the mountain known as perdition, Davin came from a family of ascenders devoted to the art of forcibly strengthening their bodies with elixirs and runes right from birth. Rumored to selectively choose ascenders to breed with to produce the best offsprings,
And Heron had seen the titan blade crush all that,
Something wasn’t right, ascenders weren’t meant to be that strong, it had felt like Davin had been fighting a giant. He winced at the memory of his own defeat, he hadn’t seen the hand coming, and the way he had been crushed into the ground like an insignificant worm had him doubting his own gold ranked strength, if he didn’t know better, he’d say the titan was a peak gold ranker. The beacon beeped as he got close to the end of the island,
“Hold on Davin!” he grunted as he blasted off, pushing his body with all the strength he had in a straight line for the position of the king,
A loud cry broke through the air that sent terror through him, a large avian had detected his very presence. Heron roared in anger as he pushed his body faster, buffeting his surrounding in his real of wind, it wasn’t supposed to end this way, his legacy couldn’t die in some blasted diamond ranked dungeon. The bird extended its diamond ranked talon to snatch him as Heron prepared to fight to his inevitable death, let it not be said a guardian of the red dust kingdom had gone down a coward.
Suddenly king Biyo was at his side, fist cocked back as he punched the bird with a resounding boom, the bird squawking in pert terror and agony as the force of the punch passed through its body and tore out its innards through its back. The king caught the both of them and flew down into the canopy of the trees, eyes blazing silver light,
“Explain yourselves” he growled with anger as sharp as steel in his voice,
Heron pointed to Davin who had the green katana the titan had used to stab him protruding from his body, the king frowned and gripped the blade, ripping it out much to the shouts of Davin and Heron. Heron had attempted to touch the blade but had felt the powerful toxin and had wisely left it alone. King Biyo frowned at the poison on his hand, watching as it sizzled away, his diamond ranked resistance burnt it away,
“Who attacked the both of you, what kingdom deployed a diamond on golds?” the king asked quietly,
Commander Zortes landed close, his pristine gold armor now stained with blood from the birds he had been killing, his eyes widened and frowned at the sight he met. Glancing up, two ascenders suddenly appeared by their sides, along with five silvers, the guild rankers had been found. The king glanced at a diamond,
“Heal him” he said,
The female diamond tapped the spot of the toxin that had spread through his veins in black spiderlike lines, she frowned as it slowly began to heal,
“Nasty poison, what weapon had this much toxin on it?” she asked,
The king gripped the green katana as he raised it up,
“It came from this, even now it takes all my diamond strength to resist the corrosiveness” he said,
The diamond held it as her eyes widened,
“Pure toxin, like the blade had been…no, not possible” she murmured,
“what’s not possible?” Haran the other diamond ranked guild ranker asked,
“There are rumors, of diamond rankers with inbuilt forges that can turn essences into weapons, primordial essences to be exact” she explained,
Heron shook his head as he laughed,
“Not a diamond, that didn’t come from a diamond” he giggled,
King Biyo helped him up, then slapped him so hard the gold stumbled, surprised,
“you’re a gold ranked guardian of the red dust kingdom, speak with the steel of guardians and explain” Biyo said,
Heron nodded, pointing to the weapon,
“That…thing was wielded by a gold ranker, the titan blade” he said,
King Biyo’s eyebrows shot up,
“The servant of the Kairos girl is alive and gold?” he asked,
Haran turned sharply to the gold,
“Impossible, I saw them crash with the ship” he said,
Heron shook his head,
“No, they’re very much alive and gold, I fear close to peak gold, for he wielded the blade without any adverse effect” Heron explained,
Commander Zortes narrowed his eyes,
“And two guardians couldn’t handle two gold rankers?” he asked,
“You weren’t there commander, the way the titan moved, like a force of nature, he pummeled Davin like a plaything” Heron said,
“Perhaps he has been schooled by house Kairos itself, that explains the superiority, you should count yourself lucky the Kairos girl hadn’t fought you herself” the king said,
“Are they working for another kingdom perhaps?” Haran asked,
Heron shrugged,
“No idea, but I doubt it” he said,
The diamond healer lurched backwards as the blade dissipated back into smoke,
“it’s a forged essence weapon alright, they go back to their wielders no matter the distance” she said,
“Then that settles it, some diamond ranker forged it for him, and if we exclude the other kingdoms, a diamond from house Kairos” Zortes said,
“Forges aren’t restricted to diamonds alone, masters also can manifest forges” she said,
“Are you implying a master gave his creation to a mere silver, preposterous” king Biyo said,
The diamond ranker shrugged,
“I simply say it as I see it my lord” she said,
King Biyo went silent for a minute, turning to Zortes,
“Secure the position, ensure no location skills can pin our location, I have a plan” he said,
Zortes nodded and tapped the hilt of his blade as his realm encapsulated them, a low hum resounding around them. King Biyo nodded and opened his HUD before reflecting it out to them as he sent a message to an ascender, the face of the two kings of the black swords and glowing sun appeared immediately. The black sword spoke first,
“Biyo, I must confess it surprises me to see you alive” king Zahil said,
“Funny, I thought just the same thing” king Biyo replied,
“enough of this farce, why have you called us?, do you require our help?, has your ascenders all but died to the meager might of this dungeon?” Alsius asked,
King Biyo folded his hands behind him,
“As much as you might wish it, my sources make me believe we have the most diamonds now, and the most golds by my calculations, but being the benevolent king that I am, I have a proposition for the both of you” king Biyo said,
Heron watched the eyes of both kings darken, both the both of them didn’t refute the fact, it seemed the two kingdoms were indeed lagging behind the red dust kingdom. King Biyo continued, satisfaction edged into his voice,
“And what is this proposition?” Zahil asked,
“There are certain…. errant ascenders of mine, gold rank by the way that have decided to bite the hands that fed them, my gold rankers are preoccupied with other missions, I wondered if your gold rankers are free to hunt these two ascenders” Biyo said,
Alsius frowned deeper,
“and you’re willing to let two of your ascenders die just for fun?, something doesn’t feel right” he said,
King Biyo waved his hand dismissively,
“I have more than enough gold rankers, by the end of this dungeon run gold rankers won’t be a problem for me, so, are you in?” he asked,
“and what do we get in return?, I care not for the machinations of gold rankers now that I’ve ascended past the stage” Zahil said,
“He has a weapon, core forged weapon or vault forged, not sure, deadly poisonous weapon, its stats are locked hence proving its validity” Biyo said,
“now this doesn’t make sense, where did a gold ranker get a core forged weapon?, what aren’t you telling us?” Alsius said,
Biyo sighed,
“I grow bored of these questions, fine, I’ll let a gold ranker of mine to join the hunt, are you in or not?, if my gold ranker kills the welps first, he claims the weapon for my kingdom, agreed?” he said again,
The two kings paused, but Heron could sense the greed coming from them, they couldn’t resist the lure of a weapon that powerful, Heron didn’t want to be anywhere close to the weapon, or the two ascenders in particular. The kings spoke after a while,
“Fine, one gold ranker from each of us respectively should be enough to handle your erstwhile ascenders” Zahil said,
Alsius nodded along,
“Then it is agreed, my gold ranker would get in touch” Biyo said as he cut the call,
“Can we trust the black swords and glowing sun?” Haran the diamond ranker asked,
King Biyo snorted,
“Hardly, they will indeed try to get the weapon for their respective selves, Heron, your mission is simple, track the two ascenders and let loose the golds on them. Infact, I bet the kingdoms send more than one gold ranker” king Biyo said,
“So, I stay off the fight for the weapon?” Heron asked,
“Yes, let them kill the Kairos and get the weapon, when house Kairos comes calling with all their might at the insult, let whoever got the weapon face them” Biyo replied,
Heron nodded,
“Go, meet back with us through the beacon, we’re going for the dungeon boss” Biyo completed,
Heron nodded and turned to a Davin that was finally breathing easily, even if he was still unconscious,
“Davin will remain with us, ensure you return alive” Zortes said,
Heron bowed to the king and vanished in a blink, king Biyo paused before speaking,
“Scramble the beacon after we’ve given the kingdoms his position, I don’t want him bringing back any complications till we’re sure they’re all dead” he said,
Commander Zortes nodded,
“you’re willing to sacrifice a gold?” Haran asked frowning,
“We have enough silvers here to push to gold, one is enough a sacrifice for the plan to work” Biyo replied,
“And you wonder while the guilds don’t dance to your tune” Haran said as Zortes frowned,
“Watch your tongue, diamond or not, I’d put you down” he said,
“You can try” Haran replied,
Enough of this, we’re allies, we can’t afford to fight, not now” king Biyo said,
Zortes backed down before turning away,
“And you’re sure these golds will be up to the task” the female diamond ranker asked,
King Biyo raised an eyebrow,
“they’re just two gold rankers, how hard could it be?” he said.