Even as the Moyo and Kenuran clashed above, Ashira directed the golds below, the entire battle turning into a full-scale war. Of the ten strongholds that had been set up for the ten houses, three had been captured. House thousand blades, Dracon and Garuda had sealed their strongholds tight, their defenders repelling the other houses. Silvers and golds turned to light as they were eliminated from the battle itself.
Ashira deflected the attack of a red wrath diamond, her toxin ability screaming through her blade talon as she phased around the diamond who summoned his realm of red mists, invoking the rage ability inherent to his clan and sharpening the mists to intent that rampaged around her, creating gouges on her mantle. Talon blazed as her golden form took dominance, bathing the entire area in light, her sword swinging even as her intent roar shook the air in front of the red wrath diamond.
It battered at his realm of mist, destabilizing it before her jungle realm slammed into place, poison dripping down on the diamond whose foot were locked deep into the soil of the realm. The red wrath barely had a moment to curse before talon took his head off. Bursting into motes of light, she made her way with diamond ranked speed to the gold battle field below, slamming into the very earth. The rampaging golds separated, the blue colors of house thousand blades turning to her even as they fended off attacks from the Dracons.
She slammed her realm over the golds of house Dracon, watching them crash to the ground and struggle under the power of her presence. Some genuinely pitted their authorities against hers, but they were no titan, golds were specks to diamond ranked power. She pointed her blade to the thousand blades stronghold that blazed to life with the crest of the house,
“To the fortress!” she shouted,
The golds complied like clockwork, grabbing onto the lagging silvers and hauling themselves in the direction of the stronghold. A diamond ranked aura blazed above, carrying with it the domineering ability of fire,
“BREAK” the voice said,
Ashira’s realm fractured, the golds of house Dracon struggling to their feet even as a figure blazed to life above them. Ashira had no idea who she was, but the female dragon with green eyes and green flames that enveloped her raised her blade at Ashira, a strike imminent,
“Keep going!” she shouted even as she got ready to defend the golds and silvers from the incoming attacks.
They had been told that the golds and below would be participating, apparently their rewards would be based on how well they contributed to the first stage. No one expected them to surpass the first stage, it also made Ashira wonder what would had happened had they not advanced to diamond. The dragon had almost swung her blade when the searing cry of a bird echoed through the air, painting the entire skies above, red and gold with the swirling flames that sprung out of nowhere. The female dragon barely had time to defend against the attack before she was enveloped in gold and red flames.
Her cries of pain roared from the flames as the dragon transformed into her base form, a long serpentine Asian looking dragon form with green scales charred from the flames themselves. Sonya red quill, the ember lady herself appeared midair as red flaming feathers forged from the flames around her whistled through the air towards the dragon who roared, flames coalescing into a shield appearing in front of her to defend against the attack of the Garuda.
Curtis eclipse blade appeared behind her, his midnight blade swinging with the entire area enveloped in darkness. The female dragon could had defended against the Garuda princess just fine, but not with the jackal behind her, the blade of the jackal parting her head from her shoulders with a shocked expression on her face. The jackal vanished, the princess eyeing Ashira before sniffing and vanishing.
Ashira’s face darkened at the pompous brat, a gold in the colors of house thousand blades appearing at her side,
“Honored diamond, we have reached the fortress” he said,
Ashira nodded,
“Seal the gates” she responded,
His eyes widened, curved scimitar in hand,
“But honored diamond, the titan blade and sol blade battle above” he said,
“Just do it, they can handle themselves, I go to j- “she said before a diamond ranked attack tore through the air, almost cutting the gold in two before she intercepted it, talon breaking the attack,
The gold stumbled backwards in shock,
“Go!” she shouted, the gold blinking away as fast as his gold ranked strength could carry him,
She turned to the diamond in the color of house storm razor that casually walked up to her, blade out with a relaxed look on his face,
“I will repay you back for the disgrace you inflicted on- “the diamond said, eyes wide as Ashira blitzed towards him, talon screaming through the air,
Blocking her attack, she slammed her realm over him, gauntlet claw appearing on her arm and driving it like a rod straight through his chest. Without so much as a second thought, she eviscerated the diamond, even as he gathered his intent to attack. Turning back to the skies above, she noticed the battle was winding down, mostly in part to the Garuda princess interfering in the fight of the titan blade and the red jaw.
She streaked across the skies towards the battle, floating close to the Moyo who gripped dominion in one hand, his robes torn with his mantle cracked. Kenuran on the other hand rearranged his dislocated jaw and broken arms, a grin on his face,
“You need two other diamonds to take me on titan? He asked,
Moyo simply gripped dominion tighter, eyes glowing. Ashira noticed Kenuran didn’t step into the realm of the titan blade, probably aware of the titans’ ability to siphon aether and essence. Kenuran stretched his hands wide,
“Enough playing around, let us begin” the dragon said,
Immediately three more dragons appeared beside Kenuran,
“kaida?,” Kenuran asked,
“dead” a male dragon behind Kenuran said,
“Slain by the red quill”
Kenuran stared at Sonya, a cold smile on his face,
“I will take one of yours in return” he said,
“And would you take one of mine, worm?” Curtis said, appearing close to them,
Ashira wondered how many battlefields the jackal had visited, the dragon turned to the jackal,
“You are barely worth my time, but I see a fight here would be fruitless” Kenuran replied,
“Oh I’d hardly say that, seeing as your allies have sealed their strongholds tight, might do us good to take you out of the fight” Titus pure blade said as he appeared close to them,
Kenuran smiled,
“Good, we shall meet in the next stage, if you all survive till then anyways” he said,
Together the Draconians streaked away towards their stronghold, no doubt to have a delicate issue with their allies on teamwork.
Ashira watched Moyo wince a little, most wouldn’t had noticed it, but she had been with him the longest. He eyes strayed to his side where a deep gouge had been carved into his side by what looked like claw marks. Eyes widening, she floated to his side, using her body to shield the Injury, glancing at him as he nodded at her in appreciation, what could had damaged the titan so much that even his healing abilities were finding it hard to heal?.
******************
Moyo felt the ache in his side bite at him savagely, even as his wrath of Oya slowly purged the burn marks the claws of Kenuran had inflicted on his body. He had pulverized the dragon, breaking each bone in the body of Kenuran almost continuously, his gravity ability laying devastating damage even as Digi Aye and his realm siphoned the aether and essence from the dragon.
Still Kenuran shrugged off the damages like he hadn’t felt a thing, hitting back blow for blow regardless of whatever Moyo threw his way. Moyo winced, biting back the smile that slowly etched its way across his face even as the sore wound blistered like hot coals spread across his body, wrath of Oya healing him slowly. The titan had finally met his match, he met a wall of claws and scales that refused to buckle under his onslaught, the thought excited him to no ends.
They made it to the stronghold of house thousand blades, golds opening the large rocklike gates for them, a blue swirling portal in front of them. They passed through and got transported to a room, Moyo removed his hand from the injury as wrath of Oya healed the rest,
“Hurts?” Ashira asked,
“Not any longer” he replied, dominion vanishing to his vault.
Alvar, Gisela, Inge and Lothar stood around a large table, their robes looking burnt and shredded. They glanced up at them as they entered,
“You survived, thank the patriarch” Gisela said, her blue eyes scanning Moyo,
Moyo nodded at her,
“it’ll take more than Kenuran to bring me down, where do we stand?” he asked,
“Of the fifty golds and hundred silvers that led the vanguard, we have twenty golds and fifty silvers left” Alvar said grimly,
Moyo nodded,
“On the bright side, none of us were taken out” Ashira said,
“True, but our allies were hit badly, ghost wind and jackal lost two of their diamonds” Alvar said,
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Moyo motioned to talk when the image of Sigmar true blade appeared on the large table, hands folded as usual,
“Congratulations on surviving to this phase of stage 1, the real event will begin now” he stated,
“In an hour, the gates of the strongholds will be thrown open and the battle will begin, when 64 diamonds are left, the stage will be called off. The entire island will be saturated in diamond, gold and silver ranked dungeon monsters also, good luck” the master finished before the image disappeared,
Moyo spoke,
“We push immediately the gates open; we don’t give them a chance to siege us” he said
“Agreed, I’ll get in touch with the other houses” Raina said,
Moyo walked to the opening of the stronghold, they were far above ground level. The strongholds were spaced out, but with diamond ranked eyes, Moyo could see they were arranged in a circle, the entire island as he suspected were in a circle. He sat lotus style on the bare ground, shut his eyes to the strategies Ashira and the rest of the diamonds discussed. With deep breaths he visualized the battle between him and Kenuran, replaying how the dragon had matched him blow for blow.
Moyo neither retreated nor faltered, still the dragon had been the superior opponent if he was being honest with himself. Slowly he saw his mistakes, like a third party watching a duel he saw where he went wrong. The body of Kenuran, the body of a dragon, the body of the descendant of Azar himself had been baptized in whatever elixirs and runes nameable, Moyo had been trying to wear down a dragon,
No,
He should had gone for the killing blow, dragons weren’t beings that thrived in battles of immediate execution, and if he was being honest with each other, a part of him had wanted to see what Kenuran was fully capable of. He glanced skywards, in the direction of their earlier battle. The skies above the battle filled shimmered with the heat of kenurans’ flames, the intensity of the power the dragon had brought to bear still warped reality around that area, a silver or below that were foolish enough to go investigating would be cooked to death in seconds.
However, the peculiar thing was the work of his aura around that area, Moyo activated his Digi Aye, watching his aura interact with its surrounding. The purple wisps of aura coagulating together, somehow holding back the aura of Kenuran, preventing it from spreading. It was with alarm he realized the aura could had cooked quite a number of golds and silvers had they strayed to that zone.
Watching his aura slowly dissipate, Moyo floated out of the stronghold,
“Where are you going?” Ashira asked,
“I’ll be back, just checking something out” he replied,
“Be careful” she replied,
He nodded and with a step of Ogun appeared in the spot of the battle, he traced his fingers across his aura, watching as the barrier it had erected began to weaken. He crossed his legs in the air, closing his eyes as he willed the aura to hold, to absorb energy from whatever source it could manage to grab a hold on. He felt his aura latch on to him, siphoning intent and Ashe from him, with a firm clap of his willpower he stopped it from feeding off him.
Gently coaxing it, he willed It to take from any energy source outside of his body. it started as a bit, his aura taking a bite from the aura of Kenuran that floated. Moyo felt a jolt go through him, opening his eyes wide as a grin began to split his lips. Clamping down on the feeling, he began to absorb it, watching as his aura began to ravenously devour the aura of Kenuran.
A large roar got his attention as a dragon broke out from the stronghold of the Dracons, barreling towards him with diamond ranked aura. Pissed at the interruption, Moyo produced dominion, mantle locked in place as he took a step of Ogun and appeared behind the dragon. It twirled to bare its gleaming fangs at him, aura blasting out as it attempted to slam its realm over him.
With a thought he activated his aura, blanketing the entire area in a purple haze, his aura enveloping the both of them. The siphoning began, slowly at first as Moyo battered the dragon with hit after hit, its claws scratching his draconic skin and mantle, trying to tear out his flesh but doing nothing than a scratch on him. While it pressed home the fact that Kenuran either had an evolved strength attribute or he was in fact cheating somehow.
The dragon began to notice her weakening aura slowly, even as she savagely tore into the titan blade with no result, her dominance of the entire area beginning to reduce. Confusion carved itself all over the face of the dragon, it lasted a few brief seconds, and then like every other ascender, its realm slammed into place over the titan. Moyo loved when dragons had the typical idea to intimidate him with their realms, and in all reality, it was indeed a scary thing for the average ascender.
A realm of never ceasing draconic flames, the presence of the dragon watching you from every angle. Moyos’ eyes blazed, Digi Aye rousing to full strength, his realm materializing as reality warped and clashed, the realm of the titan was a place not even the titan himself fully understood. It gave off the presence of a ravenous beast, a never-ending place of ascension, where intent rode the waves and air, where a forge sought to forge whatever it deemed fit into a weapon fit for the titan.
Digi Aye pulsed in his realm as the aether of the dragons’ realm was siphoned off by his realm, shutting down the realm of the dragon in a minute. Reality stabilized to reveal the titan gripping the monstrous form of the dragon in his hand, its body turning to light as its dead body phased away. Moyo heard the roars of the dragons from their stronghold, their aura spread out above their fortress in the distance. He smiled, eyes blazing purple as he flexed his aura, painting the entire landscape, his very presence dominating the air. He turned to the direction of their stronghold, pointed his blade, keenly aware that Kenuran must be watching, the masters were watching and maybe even the rulers themselves,
“come” he said as his voice echoed,
“See what a weak world can do”
*********************************
Kenuran snarled as his mantle locked itself unto his body, the intricate red armor forged from another scale of Azar himself. He gripped his blade hard, eyes blazing as he took one foot towards the large stone doors of the stronghold. He had seen enough of what the titan blade could do, he had watched as the dragon, a vassal clan of house Dracon, whose name he barely remembered had been disgraced. Somehow the titan had literally sucked the aether from the realm of the dragon, had watched as her aura was suppressed and absorbed by a human no less.
Whatever that skill was, it scared Kenuran on a level he wasn’t willing to admit, and it felt somehow geared towards dragons. Blade drawn, he tapped into the power bestowed upon him by Azar, despite his mothers’ protest, but as he stepped one foot out of the doors, a message appeared across his HUD,
STAND DOWN,
He frowned as he saw the message, till he saw the sender and blanched, freezing in his tracks, hands clenched in anger,
STAND DOWN
The message was written again, dragons hated being told what to do, they hated control, but even dragons knew when to obey the words of a greater dragon. With stillness he bowed low,
“Your will be done” he said and stepped back into the stronghold, the roars of enraged dragons fueling his anger.
*********************
Altair smiled, watching the display through the construct in front of him. Ajax, Duval and Killian at his side. He glanced at Ajax, eyes boring into the master and then back to the titan blade,
A monster,
Forged by he and Ajax, a blade pointed at the necks of their enemies, except one simple fact,
They had different enemies,
He turned back to the screen in silence, things were progressing fine, just fine.
**************************************
On the real continent of altera, its citizens numbered in the millions, a sprawling abode of different life forms called the planet home. While most journeyed to this most holy planet of intent in hopes to attain enlightenment, the rest of those who called the planet home were descendants of those who served clan true blade at its inception centuries ago. Over time some journeyed to this planet, attempting to get closer to the power that was clan true blade and their patriarch, the infallible Zane true blade, slayer of lords of the abyss, banisher of blight incursions and rumored harbinger of Alastor the supreme being of edges.
That wasn’t the reason doom was here though, he had no idea who he was anyways, so figuring why he was on the planet of the true blade himself would be almost impossible to figure out. He had awoken in a building that was close to dilapidation, in a district that for no other words could be described as a market district. With no idea who he had been, only with a command to begin walking towards the large spire in the horizon, the temple and gate to the spatial home clan true blade.
With no other choice than to obey the command that hammered into his head, along with the word doom, he had begun to shuffle towards the spire. Everywhere he glanced, the people were in a festive mood, new shops and stalls were being set up for as far as the eyes could see. Constructs floated around, carrying gigantic blocks of stone towards a large circular dome that was under construction. He had gleaned from pieces of gossips that floated around that these were preparations for a tournament clan true blade was hosting.
He glanced above into the air, watching as hundreds upon hundreds of ships broke through the air of the planet, carrying throngs of people who had come to witness the tournament. Also, he noticed the ten large ships that floated above the continent, gossip said these were the ships of the apparent contestants and their sponsors. He dismissed it, seeing as another gossip said these ships were but a transport ships conveying dignitaries from the sponsors, that the main ships were floating outside the world in space.
Doom could care less, the command kept echoing in his head, and his mouth refused to open, to cry for help, his legs trudging along towards the spire that loomed closer and closer. The spire was a work of art, golden framework held the structure at the bottom, the structure itself gleaming white and extending high into the air, scraping the clouds above and humming silently. It took a while for doom to realize what it did, the aether in the air coalescing around the spire as it was absorbed into the structure. And in a burst intent, pure intent was released through its surface, filling the air with the very power swordsmen needed.
For some reason doom felt repulsed by the structure, something gnawing inside of him, telling him the structure was a perversion of what should be. He felt his legs walk faster, barreling through people who shouted at him. He paid them no mind, his legs pumping as he began to run faster, an almost feral feeling bubbling up from within him, urging him to destroy the structure.
As he got closer, his skin began to rip, much to his horror as a black liquid began to seep out of every pore, his bones elongated with agony as they cracked and reset into an odd shape. Dark black claws forcing themselves out of his fingers, the hair of his head falling away even as he felt a presence taking over his body,
And then he remembered,
He was Antu, father of three, husband to a loving woman, he had been going home when he came across a woman injured. He should had notified the guards, he should had called for help, instead he had attempted to help himself, for she could be dead before help arrived. The woman had turned, so fast for Antu who had been a simple advocate cloth seller to see, stabbing his neck with a piercing weapon.
He had stared into the eyes of the woman who smiled, the last thing he remembered were the words she uttered,
“Grim lives”
Even as Antu felt his very being dissolving away, he shouted, he cried, he banged against the psychic cage he had been sealed within his mind, the meaning of the word he called himself dawning on him.
Doom,
The doom of altera was coming, the doom of the spire was coming, the doom of the archailect,
The Grim was coming,
And Antu seized to exist.
************************
The beast slavered as it ran for the spire, screams broke out around as people ran at the sight of the monster, for they knew just exactly what it was. A creature of the abyss, a foul monster straight from the bowels and cesspit of evil,
A blight,
Even as it roared, propelling itself towards the spire, it heard the scream, the power of intent tearing into its very being, however the power didn’t come from the spire, it came from a man in gold and white cloak that gripped a naginata, a pole with a blade at its tip. The beast dodged the attack, but the man in gold had anticipated it,
“CUT” he said,
The beast was diced into perfect cubes before it had even realized what had happened, however the tenacity of the creatures of the abyss was legendary in itself. The putrefying liquid that was the blight creature began to pull itself together, for its mission wasn’t done, it was to destroy the spire by any means necessary.
It began to swirl quickly, like a whirlpool as it pulled itself together, looking for a way past the man who reeked of aether. The ball of black liquid blasted forwards in a blink, even as the man sliced it in two, cursing as the two halves continued their trajectory towards the spire. A woman appeared out of nowhere, floating in midair,
“NO” she said,
Reality shimmered in front of the woman as orange runes blazed to life in front of the woman, repelling the blight as it screamed in agony, its shrill threatening to ripple reality to shreds, she stretched her arms wide, chanting,
“Mine is the will of mana, the will of Vazyra, burn”
The blight went up in flames as its very being began to burn up, a presence appeared above the burning blight, Sigmar true blade, pure white blade drawn as he stared down at the creature. On sensing the presence of the master, the blight began to laugh, even as it burned up like paper in flames,
“He is coming” it said in its shrill voice,
“And we await him” Sigmar replied,
“The Grim livessss” it hissed before burning away,
Sigmar frowned, nodding to the diamond cult member of Vazyra, she bowed in return, face still hidden. The man in gold robe appeared by his side, bowing,
“Inform the rulers, tell them there has been a blight attack” Sigmar said,
Turning to the spot where the bight had been burned to death,
“Tell them Rohan is coming” Sigmar finished.