The next island they arrived on was a desolate landscape, broken trees and smoldering roots filled the entire broken island. Scorch marks and fizzling intents, aura and mana dotted the landscape, the after effects of diamonds battling it out on the island. Moyo was surprised the island still stood anyway, with the results he was seeing, he doubted anything was left on the island. He crouched to the ground, touching the almost glassy surface of the island,

“Seems like no more forests for us then” he said,

“I doubt anything survived this destruction, perhaps we might need to go to close by islands?” she replied,

“Maybe, anything on a straight line of sight for the diamonds spells total destruction, but I doubt the diamonds would let the rest of the birds go, probably sent their golds after it with a diamond to protect them, give them a few more levels” he said as he stood,

He glanced in the direction of the islands opposite of them, roiling aether and aura still in the air. He pointed at the one with the thickest of auras,

“Bet you a thousand diamond coins that’s where the golds and probably a diamond are situated” he said,

“We could pick another island, I’d hate to cross blades with golds while fighting the avians at the same time” Ashira replied as he nodded,

“True, but I also doubt they’d send their golds to islands where avians aren’t situated”

Ashira ran her hand through her hair,

“Are we about to steal the kills of the other kingdoms?” she asked,

“Most viable path forward, we steal a kill or two and jump to the next island, with less than 10 islands on a straight line to the matriarch who still has that swirling storm over her abode, you should hopefully be able to break through to diamond” he said,

“You don’t think you could make it?” she asked with a raised eyebrow,

“it’ll be close, but with one of us at diamond, our odds are significantly better” he replied,

“can’t argue that” Ashira said and took to the air,

Since the advent of the diamonds waging their wars in the air, the skies had become free of swooping avian ambushes, most of the birds hunkering down on the islands or retreating to the abode of their matriarch. Moyo with his purple sight gazed at the islands, noting the distinct auras,

“I say we start from this one, few gold ranked auras. Five islands ahead of that and I’m pretty sure that’s a diamond ranked aura” he said,

“Reduces the risks of getting pummeled by a diamond to paste, good choice” she replied and blasted forward towards the island he had indicated,

Sounds of what Ashira had explained to him were plasma fire resounded from the golds fighting the birds, Moyo crashed onto the position like a fist from the hand of a god. Rising from his crater, he dodged a plasma shot from a hand-held gun looking weapon of a gold ranker. The gold in the traditional gold color of the glowing sun kingdom wore a coat with a black mask on his face,

“Kairos servant!” the gold growled, his voice sounding like it came from a gas mask,

“Actually, it’s titan blade” Moyo replied and blinked towards the gold who wisely dodged the attack of the titan blade, trying his best to create distance between them,

“I have no quarrel with you, killer” the gold said again,

“a bit rich coming from those who actually hunted me” Moyo replied,

The gold dodged an arrow that same from Ashira, pushing himself to another tree when the cry of the diamond bird he had been hunting shattered the air,

“a bit too presumptuous for a lone gold to be hunting a diamond creature, don’t you think?” Ashira asked the gold,

The eyes of the gold crinkled in a smile,

“Whoever said I was alone?” he asked,

Immediately five gold auras unveiled themselves, crashing into their location,

“Now that’s more like it” Moyo said with a smile,

They all held projectile weapons, some looking to be forged from metal while the rest were pure intent and mana constructs,

“we’ve been awaiting your arrival Kairos spawn” a man said as he stepped out of the midst of the golds that surrounded them,

Moyo narrowed his eyes at the him, the aura and aether tingling in his mind,

“haven’t we met before?” he asked,

“Lirun, commander of the armies of the glowing sun kingdom” the man named Lirun replied,

“Ah, yes, one of the commanders that showed up during the blight incident” Ashira said,

“I am honored that a member of house Kairos remembers my face” Lirun replied,

“Sure, thank the lady and not the guy that actually remembered you, oh and by the way, my name is the titan blade” Moyo said,

Lirun raised an eyebrow,

“I thought the kingdom of red dust taught its ascenders to respect authority, but seeing as even your own kingdom has rejected you, perhaps I should do so” Lirun said,

“that’s rich coming from a gold ranker” Ashira replied,

Lirun smiled and with a look of grim determination on his face, unleashed his power and apparently his shrouded core. Moyo’s knees buckled under the weight of a diamond ranked aura, fighting with every shred of his Ashe to not crash to the ground, Ashira doing likewise. Lirun raised an eyebrow at the look of solid determination on their faces,

“Impressive, very impressive” the diamond said,

Moyo gripped dominion tighter, Oro appearing in his second hand as Lirun glanced at the blade,

“Ah, the core forged blade golds were sent after, I must confess, it is a work of beauty” Lirun said,

“Thanks, it’s mine, so fuck off” Moyo growled,

Lirun tsked,

“You know, I had the intention of withdrawing my golds and letting you go, the Kairos girl walks free anyways, but you titan blade” Lirun said pausing,

“You need to die for the glowing sun to get that blade”

“you’re willing to condemn the entirety of your golds to death?, they don’t pluck them on trees you know. Besides, I thought your kings would be wise enough to avoid the ire of house Kairos?” Ashira asked as she took one step forward,

“King Alsius and the rest of the diamonds have gone on to engage the matriarch as you very well know” Lirun said,

“Pity you couldn’t be there, perhaps you didn’t meet the standards of the diamonds?” Moyo responded,

Lirun smiled at him, his eyes promising pain for the insolence Moyo spoke,

“I could care less about some primordial beast, there are bigger things at hand, like getting that blade from you, house Kairos be damned” Lirun replied,

The golds murmured as they stepped backwards, clearly this had not been part of the plan,

“Whoever among you takes another step backwards dies” Lirun uttered quietly as the golds froze,

“Think about this carefully” Ashira growled,

“oh I did, golds!, the first among you who pries the core forged blade from the cold dead hands of the titan blade would be gifted a city to rule” Lirun said,

Moyo so desperately wanted the golds to see reason,

“Should you decide to follow through with what he said, realize you would become fodder for my ascension. He doesn’t care about you all, stand down” he growled,

“We don’t have a choice” a gold responded,

Moyo nodded and took his stance,

“Then I’m truly sorry for what’s about to happen, come” he said and steeled his heart to the incoming carnage,

Lirun pointed at Moyo and Ashira,

“Waste them” he said,

Immediately gold ranked intent plasma energies shredded the position they had been standing, ten complete gold ranked realms slammed into their position. The titan flexed his Ashe and titans might as the realms shattered, dominion was suddenly lodged in the throat of a gold ranker, slicing his head off. Ashira had her claw buried in the chest of another gold and used his body to protect herself against the plasma shots that scorched the body of the now dead gold.

Two golds had been taken out of the fight just like that, Moyo swung dominion, Ashe screaming through the air as golds with defensive mantles stepped forwards to take the brunt of the attack. Had it been body cultivator golds, they could had weathered the biting edge of the attack, but weapon users couldn’t. They had expected the attack to carry half the strength of gold rank, something they could easily defend against, they were sorely mistaken.

The attack sliced cleanly through their mantles and cut into flesh, the attack catching them off-guard and leaving them open for Ashira who stabbed one through the head with her blade, her claw in another and smashed their heads together, crushing the golds to death. Moyo dodged an aura made hammer that smashed his potion on a tree, a gold warrior coming after him with the hammer as he roared,

“HOLD!”

Moyo felt the command of the gold constricting him, but a command could no sooner constrict a titan,

“NO” Moyo replied as he broke the command,

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The gold didn’t wince from the backlash of the attack, the hammer coming at him faster with ferocity of Oshosi his saving grace. Eventually even his precognitive ability couldn’t prevent him from taking a hit from the numerous swings, a dull ache spreading on his arm he had used to weather the attack and smashing him into the ground. Leaving wrath of Oya to do its thing, Moyo flipped to his feet and rotated the arm, the gold growling in surprise,

“What are you” the gold said,

“a gold ranker” Moyo simply replied,

“No gold can do what you just did, taking a blow from my hammer that way” the gold replied,

“I might had gotten a few upgrades” Moyo said,

“Good, this is a battle worthy of my hammer” the gold said as he attacked,

Moyo moved with his step of Ogun and blink, the combination of the movement skills catching the hammer wielding gold off-guard and taking his head off,

“It wasn’t worth mine” he responded,

Ashira landed close to him, rolling to a stop and using her claw to steady herself, Moyo expanded his realm as golds stepped into it and with his Digi Aye skill began to siphon their aether and essence. The gold staggered in surprise as their attacks fizzled out, leaving them at the mercy of Moyo and Ashira,

“Last chance, look around. A mere five of you are left, scram” Moyo said with steel in his voice,

He was in actuality buying time for the aura and essence from the golds killed to settle in their bodies. Ashira stood straight and rigid as it settled into her body also,

“470, 10 levels, 2 levels per gold” Ashira whispered subtly to him,

“440” Moyo responded,

A gold gave 2 levels per kill, and Moyo with Ashira had killed a cumulative of 5 golds, the system seemingly sharing the aether and essence equally among them. The golds hesitated,

“I told you not to hesitate” Lirun said as he appeared in the midst of the golds and with moves that seemed like a blur, slapped their heads into explosion, killing the golds.

Moyo and Ashira stepped backwards as Moyo retracted his realm, a plan formulating in his head,

“You killed your own golds” Moyo accused,

Lirun flicked the gore and blood off his fingers, a smile on his face,

“No, you killed the golds, I merely had arrived too late to stop you, hence I had to kill you both” Lirun replied,

Moyo was sincerely getting tired of the politics of this world,

“What do you gain by killing the golds of your kingdom, you’ve only weakened the kingdom against attacks from the other two kingdoms” Ashira said,

Lirun shrugged,

“I could care less about the glowing sun kingdom, I serve a higher purpose” he replied,

“What higher purpose?” Moyo asked warily,

Lirun smiled,

“I could try enlightening you, but I fear a spawn of one of the great houses and her man servant would had been brainwashed with the propagandas of the brigade and rulers” Lirun said,

“Oh no” Ashira said as she took a step back,

“What?” Moyo asked, turning to her,

“Ah, the Kairos understands, truly a smart one” Lirun said,

Moyo held his blade in front of him, aware they were in front of a diamond, even his very presence baring down on them shook him to his core,

“Cult, cult member” Ashira whispered,

Moyo understood immediately, eyes going wide as he turned to Lirun and felt reality warp as a realm physically manifested, a realm of burning light,

“We can’t have you mentioning the name and that pesky overseer turning up now, can we?” Lirun said,

Moyo calmed himself,

“So, it was you all along” Moyo said even as Ashira gripped her blade tight, her mantle phasing in and out of existence, her fear written all over her face,

“Maybe, maybe not, but the plan will go on” Lirun said,

“What plan?” Moyo asked dreading the answer,

Moyo didn’t see the hit coming, ferocity of Oshosi his saving grace as it brought his arm up in time to block the leg of Lirun that came crashing down on him, draconian skin tore, muscles as well and bones broke as Moyo was blasted backwards at sonic speed into a tree. Moyo lost consciousness for a second before getting rudely jarred back to life, his throat steadily being crushed in the hand of Lirun.

He gripped the hand of the diamond, fighting desperately to release the iron clamped grip on his throat. The hand shifted a little as Lirun frowned,

“Your strength is…. remarkable for a gold, truly worthy of house Kairos” Lirun said,

Moyo glanced Ashira at the side of his eyes fighting under the realm of Lirun that had lances of burning light attacking her, trying her best to even move under the power of the oppressive realm. Lirun stared into the sky,

“Amazing what a little greed can do, don’t you think?” Lirun said,

Moyo subtly began to weave his realm around his body inch by inch, maintaining eye contact with Lirun who smiled,

“you’ll doom us all” Moyo croaked,

“The archailect is a cesspit of ambition, people will always be doomed in one form or the other” Lirun replied,

“We were here before your precious supreme beings, we were here when the universe was without form, we are the void, the primordial arcane power” Lirun continued as his voice became warbled like a dozen voices spoke through him,

“Something wrong in the voice department?” Moyo croaked with a smile,

Lirun frowned and smashed him into the ground, breaking his shoulder blades while taking his breath away. Moyo groaned in pain,

“Incessant fly that you are, for some reason you irritate me, to give you a quick death would be mercy, no, I’ll let you watch as I kill your mistress before rending you to pieces and throwing you into the abyss” Lirun said with a chuckle that sounded like broken glass grating on the ground,

Moyo gripped the hand hard, shouting in anger as he unleashed it all. Ashe, mantle, titans might and most importantly his Digi Aye as he began to siphon the energy of the diamond ranker that hit him like a train. Lirun’s eyes widened as he flung Moyo away like an infection, exactly what Moyo was hoping for. Dominion arced out, empowered by Ashe and his mantle, a blazing line of energy that went forth with a command from the titan that took the entirety of his strength,

“PIERCE” Moyo shouted,

The blade blitzing towards Lirun who dodged the dangerous weapon, dominion arcing into the distance. The diamond turned to Moyo,

“You missed” he said,

“did i?, cult member of the undying hand?” Moyo growled,

***********

The overseer heard the name mentioned, he felt the taint of the abyss and his body responded before even he remembered doing so. Hand arcing out as a mythical arcane plasma weapon blasted a shot of intense intent straight from orbit into the planet of Duhiri, through the diamond ranked dungeon and straight for the taint,

“initiate lockdown protocol!, undying hand exterminatus!” the overseer growled,

“Acknowledged, informing galactic branch” the A.I attached to the overseer replied,

The overseer stepped through the spatial pathway he carved with his flames, the path of the sun burning dragon wreaking its way through a diamond ranked dungeon

***********

The masters had felt the overseer react as one, they had seen him declare the cult of the undying hand present on the planet and stepped through a spatial pathway. Jager Azartes desperately began to call through his HUD, master Killian had blinked back into his ship to contact the house of thousand blades, they would need reinforcements for what's to come, master Haden blasted his way straight to the planet and Ajax floated in the air arms crossed,

“c'mon Moyo” the master whispered,

***********

Lirun got speared through the chest by an arc of sizzling hot plasma fire, Moyo grinned as the realm cracked from the point where dominion had pierced it. With gold ranked speed he grabbed Ashira who was panting and activated his step of Ogun, appearing on a tree branch. Lirun reeled back from the sizzling hole in his chest that refused to heal up, snarling in pain,

“Treachery!’ he growled,

Moyo with Oro in hand blasted forward again towards the diamond ranker, Lirun turned to him in a blink,

“HOLD!” the diamond ordered,

“BREAK!” two voices echoed as one,

The command of the diamond shattered into pieces, the overseer appearing behind Lirun and gripping him by the neck, starling the diamond, distracting the diamond in time for Moyo to drive Oro straight through his chest. Iveph the overseer flung the diamond away as Moyo rolled clear, struggling to his feet as his body finally began to heal back. Lirun staggered on his feet,

“Ascender Lirun burning light, you stand accused of being a member of the undying hand, how do you plead?” Iveph asked in his mechanical voice,

Lirun laughed a throaty laugh,

“Futile, the will of my master be done!” he roared as he stretched his hand out,

“COME, LORD!” the diamond shouted,

Moyo felt the realm of the overseer lockdown the entire area,

“BURN” the mechanical voice of the overseer shouted,

Gold and red flames engulfed the entire area, Moyo blinking away to see the overseer gripping the diamond on the shoulder where a rune blazed,

“Titan blade!” the overseer shouted,

Moyo understood the call and responded, with all his strength he shot forward, dominion appearing in his hand as he arced like lightning straight for the diamond, the blade piercing straight through the skull of the diamond. Removing Oro that remained buried in the chest of the diamond, he stabbed it also straight through the skull of Lirun, complementing dominion already lodged in there. He felt space distort as Iveph roughly grabbed him and teleported them both far away than he could even try with his step of Ogun.

The area exploded in a haze of burning gold and red light, the heat of the flames reaching even the edge of the island. The overseer teleported them back to the same position they had stood earlier. The charred form of the diamond knelt on the ground, dominion and Oro remained lodged in the bare skull of the diamond that refused to disperse to dust.

The skeleton moved as burning black embers came to life in the eyes of the diamond, Moyo moved with reflex, grabbing both his blades and kicking the diamond backwards, freeing his blade from the abomination coming to life. He flipped backwards, Iveph growling,

“lord” the overseer said,

The skeletal figure of Lirun stood up and without any skin on its body. it surveyed its body as if new to the form, a sign that all wasn’t right with the diamond,

“Finally, a body worthy of a lord” Lirun said,

Iveph spoke and with authority,

“Overseer Iveph requesting permission to go nova, category 7 blight discovered, request armada class nova platoon on position”

Moyo staggered back in fright, the bleached white form of the skeleton began to turn oily black, a glossy form that covered the entire form of the skeleton,

“My name is Araman, lord of the abyss, and I claim this piece of false reality in the name of the ever hungry one” the being known as Araman said,

“Permission granted, armada class platoon moving into galaxy #440, estimated time to position, 10 minutes, vice leader Tania also en route” a voice responded to Iveph’s command,

The skeleton turned to Iveph,

“Tania, I remember that name, dragon brigade” Araman said, his voice sounding like the dead cold of winter,

Moyo stepped backwards, gripping his blades tight,

“Indeed, foul spawn of the abyss, the hand of Xerxes comes for you, if she finds anything left of you anyways” Iveph responded and flashed towards the lord,

The mere force of the two calamity ranked monsters clashing broke the island, Ashira appeared next to Moyo as the island cracked and exploded into pieces. Together the two of them flew with every ounce of energy they had towards the next island. Crashing onto hits sandy beach was they rolled,

“what’s happening?” Ashira cried,

“Overseer, blight, category 7, run!” Moyo shouted,

The explanation seemed enough for Ashira as the two of them bolted, the last island their aim. Moyo crashed to the ground as his HUD lit up, his body convulsing,

Notice: you have killed diamond ranker Lirun (500)

* Ascender Lirun has transformed into blight lord Araman,

* Ascender Lirun has ceased to exist,

* Aether and essence of ascender Lirun has been granted to you

* Protocol (bump) activated,

* “don’t die” – L

Moyo felt light beginning to stream out of his body as he shouted in pain, he felt like he was back in the level 50 dungeon with Ajax pouring lava all over him. Ashira stumbled backwards in confusion,

* Level 500!

* Congratulations, you’ve attained diamond rank!

Moyo felt his body begin to vibrate and like dust his body broke down. His mind remained though, floating in the aethereal space that existed between reality and the oblivion,

Who are you?, who are you?, name, name, name

He could faintly hear the voices that echoed around,

“I’m Moyosore” he whispered back,

Who are you?, who are you!, name!, name!,

The voices shouted back,

“I am the titan blade!” he shouted back,

Why?, why!, why such power!

First came his core, the mountain world of intent spewing as lava, then came his realm, the intangible substance that represented the right of every ascender to hold a position, to call a spot home. These two aspects of the titan blade began to merge into one.

“because I fought for every inch of it!, I bled for every inch of it!, in lava, in blood, in tears and in sweat!” Moyo roared back at the voices,

Like glass the dark world around him shattered, and from the midst his body began to take shape back. First came his eyes, his irises taking a new blend of purple and his pupil a bright silver, his Digi Aye and normal eyesight being restored as Moyo realized he was ascending to diamond. His hair maintained their lush black color, the dreads forging themselves back into existence, his skin became midnight black, the draconic scales blending seamlessly into his body, shimmering softly.

His bones were forged anew, soaked in his very being, every aspect of him coming together to reinforce his body. He could feel his vault hovering in his peripheral of his sight, his body complete appeared on his now fused realm and core. He softly landed on the volcanic ground of his realm, grabbing the ashen soil as he felt the sensation in his hands, power coursed through his very being, Ashe sang in his bones and with every breath Moyo felt the power to take on anything roiling through him.

He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath and released it, Ashe flowed out of the puff of breath, a roiling miasma of power unfurled. With a thought he appeared back on the island with Ashira who stared at him with wide eyes,

“Moyo…you” Ashira said,

He smiled, able to see again, her face filled with soot from the battle,

“Diamond, celebrations later, we need to get you to that rank” he said his voice deeper,

Ashira turned beet red, sputtering before taking a deep breathe,

“How?” she asked,

Moyo attempted to talk when the last island exploded into black flames, bodies flying through the air, with a thought Moyo’s realm materialized over the island they stood on, its purple barrier deflecting the rocks hurled at them Ashira in his hands,

“shit” he growled,

“The cult?” Ashira asked as he nodded,

“We need to get you to diamond and now” Moyo replied,