The strongholds were silent, the entire continent fashioned for the first stage had gone dead cold as the timer ticked down to the beginning of the second round of the first stage. Moyo, Ashira and Alvar prepared themselves, their gazes honed in on the gates of their strongholds and the lands in the distance. He noticed the gazes of the other diamonds on him, after the display of power he had shown, the diamonds were becoming subconsciously wary of him.

He paid it no mind though, used to the experience, his focus however was on Kenuran and trying his best to get him out of the tournament early. House thousand blades fielded a cumulative of seven diamonds, most houses fielding nine or ten in total, and while they had done exceedingly well at the beginning, taking out few diamonds from their opposing houses, in the grand scheme of things, it mattered little. Flexing his will, dominion appeared in his hand, gripping the blade tightly,

“Stick to the plan” Alvar said,

Moyo nodded, aware Ashira glanced at him. He bit back a smile,

“Ever wondered what life would be like had you stayed home?” he asked Ashira,

She shrugged,

“Probably lording over a planet or something, typical Kairos royalty” she replied,

Alvar glanced at her,

“Royalty?” he asked,

“she’s quite popular, some big shot in house Kairos” Moyo replied as Ashira rolled her eyes,

“How big of a shot?” Alvar asked,

“Yeah, how big of a shot?” Moyo echoed, glancing at Ashira,

She bit her lips, holding back the laughter,

“Quite big, like know the sage big” she said,

“There you have it” Moyo replied, looking at Alvar,

The sol blade diamond scrunched his eyebrows together,

“The sage doesn’t have any known heir” he said,

Moyo after spending a while with Ashira had his own theories concerning her biological parents. Of the three rulers that controlled house Kairos, he had the suspicion Kairos himself was probably her ancestor, her parents descended from his line. Either that or the scary thought Ashira was in fact the direct child of Kairos himself, not that it mattered, not to him anyways.

A gong resounded, the gates opening and the diamonds moved, the golds behind them. The plan was simple, they would head for the main opposition itself, Dracon. Partly because Moyo wouldn’t be denied his fight with the dragon, and because he had to body to withstand the attacks. However as they stepped out of the stronghold, a large rune flared to life in the air in the distance. A large working of blue intent that painted the air around it in a haze.

Moyo activated his Digi Aye, watching the rune take shape, its arcane letters imprinting themselves into his mind before the translation clicked. With a snarl he pointed at the rune,

“Take it down!’ he shouted,

Ashira trusting his words blasted towards the rune, a loud cry of a bird rang through the air, Sonya floating the air as she gathered flame intent in the air above her in the form of a large bird before sending it towards the rune that was slowly taking shape. A diamond in the pale-yellow colors of house lights bane appeared in the path of the attack, her sword clashing with it, a haze of murky light covering the entire area like a fog. It prevented the rest of them seeing past the fog, Moyo could however, Digi Aye granting him the sight.

With a step of Ogun, he appeared close to the diamond who cursed as he was startled, bringing his blade up in defense against the titan blade. Dominion crashed into the ascender, the diamond weathering the blow, his pale-yellow blade glowing as it fought against the force of dominion. He lost, his blade shattering and dominion tearing into his shoulder before gravity compressed the insides of the ascender, turning him to mush before he could so much as scream.

The fog cleared; however, the rune had been completed and a large blue dome shimmered to being, restricting the diamonds, or rather, the allied diamonds of house thousand blades. Moyo struggled against the control, Digi Aye blazing as he began siphoning the aether at work into his core, dragging every piece of it straight into himself. He broke out in time for ferocity of Oshosi to scream at him in warning, bringing dominion up in time to block a storm razor who attacked him, the diamond Hurd.

The attack blasting him backwards through the air, stabilizing himself quickly as he dodged the blade of the storm razor that followed him as quickly as lightning. Moyo saw the arcs of lighting that ran through the edges of the blue blade,

“Titan blade” Hurd said,

“We have no quarrels” Moyo replied,

“Maybe, but you disgraced a master of storm razor, mater Leora was my mother, you will pay” the ascender said,

Moyo stepped forward, bringing the full might of his gravity ability down on his surroundings, increasing the weight of his very surroundings. Hurd appeared over him, bringing his blade crashing down on Moyo, his weight suddenly increasing due to the influence of gravity Moyo controlled. Eyes widening, the storm razor managed to shift his posture midair before Moyo brought dominion bearing into him with an upward swing.

Hurd shot away with a broken arm, his gaze concentrated, Moyo felt a thunderstorm gathering above him to late. Arcs of lighting blasted down, decimating the landscape as they struck with all the force of bombs, and on a single ascender. A flash of white light followed the display, blinding everyone before receding after a few seconds to show Moyo, blade raised, realm snapping in place.

Staggering a bit, purple eyes glowing, he glanced at Hurd whose eyes were opened wide. The attack had created a crater, burning rocks steaming, and still the titan stood, mantle shimmering on his body, he grinned,

“My turn” he whispered,

With a step of Ogun, he appeared close to Hurd, dominion glowing as intent and Ashe blazed through it, with his gravity coming to bear. Hurd summoned every iota of power he had, thunder rumbled through the air as a gale shook the landscape, gathering on the diamond. A green armor covered his body,

“PROTECT” Hurd rumbled, eyes glowing,

“BREAK” Moyo echoed,

The two clashed, reality warping as it fought to stabilize, mountains were crushed, the sigils that protected the strongholds held on, but they blazed to life in full defiance of the powers that clashed. The rune in the air shook at the powers that clashed, two dragons appeared from their strongholds, barreling towards the battle of the titan blade when two diamonds from Garuda clashed with them, the runes’ power reduced at the clash of the titan and Hurd gale blade before shattering. A loud shattering echoed as Hurd fell through the air, critically injured, Moyo panting as his injuries healed up, deep gashes on his skin that bit deep to his bones.

Hurd had critically injured the titan blade, the full strength of a diamond ever a threat despite his strength also,

“Now!” Hurd shouted,

Moyo glanced up in alarm, a red line flashed in the horizon and a straight beam of intent was fired, tearing through the air and carrying with it all the rage of a diamond. Moyo’s eyes widened, ferocity of Oshosi screamed at him, he gathered Ashe, holding his blade close even as he felt the force of the looming attack. It came not from one diamond, but a culmination, the titan might not survive the hit.

a bright light blazed like the sun from his right, another from his left, Alvar and Ashira appearing at his sides as they clashed with the power. Moyo shut his eyes as light exploded around him, grunting at the intent that rampaged around him, he opened his eyes to see Ashira with talon in her hand, Alvar with his blade and a golden armor on his body. Together Ashira and Alvar swung their blades,

a conjured sun blazed on his left, carrying with it the full majesty of the blazing star, his right was a conjured feline, roaring with all the rage Ashira gathered,

“PIERCE!” they echoed together,

Their attacks decimated the landscape more, turning the already broken lands to what looked close to an apocalyptic setting. Moyo pitied the golds that had to navigate their ways around the battle field while fighting at the same time, his attention however was dragged to a loud roar as the image of a blazing dragon manifested, Kenuran finally appearing. He watched as the heir of Azar calmly glanced at the attack, drawing his blade and uttering the command that turned the entire continent into a full image of an apocalyptic state,

“BURN”

Fire covered as far as the eyes could see, golds screaming on both sides as they went up in flames, Moyo watching in horror at the brutality. This was no longer a battle to destroy strongholds, this was a pure heartless warfare. The Garudas went on the attack, Sonya leading them, five in all as roars came from the stronghold Dracon, four dragons and one Dragonoid appearing and clashing with the Garudas, Sonya going straight for Kenuran.

Two beings of flames clashed, their auras super heating the landscape and although the diamonds were immune, the only golds that had survived were those of house Dracon and Garuda. The rest had been burnt to a crisp to the horror of Moyo, he knew those were not their real bodies, but still, the thought had anger running through his body.

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Fists clenched, he snarled, his mantle blazed, if he couldn’t protect even the golds under him, then what use was he?. Ashira glanced at him,

“Kenuran goes down now!” he bit out,

She nodded, eyes blazing as wisps of green toxic intent took form all around her, shaping themselves into blades,

“I’ll coordinate the destruction of the strongholds, make the dragon pay” Alvar said,

Moyo blasted off towards Kenuran with pin straight precision, rage coursing through his veins. A storm razor and fang blade appeared in his path, aiming to intercept him, the titan crashed into them with all his rage, dominion flashed, Ashe rumbled, aura flashed and gravity cracked the air around him. Two bodies floated down below, turning to motes of light as they perished, still, without his speed faltering, he blasted his way towards the battle.

The Garudas and dragons wisely kept out of his way, his sight solely on Kenuran who spied him coming, dodged a cut by Sonya, blasted backwards and caught the attack of the titan. The skies parted, the dome of the training field that covered the entire continent that diamonds flew and flashed around like a single piece of land shivered. Kenuran snarled, blasting Moyo with the full force of his flames, an attack Moyo dodged, the intensity of the flames superheating the air itself.

They both crashed to the ground, another crater formed, Moyos’ fist slammed into the spot where Kenuran’s’ head had been previously, the dragon dodging it with alarm written all over his face. Moyo flipped backwards, dodging the claws of the dragon that blazed with intent, hissing at it scraped him.

Kenuran stood up, his body going up in flames as a draconic tail took form behind him, his skin becoming interlockings of scales and Moyo felt something change with the dragon, a presence looming over him that brough caution to him,

“I will derive pleasure from this” Kenuran growled,

“Moyo run!” Ashira screamed at him,

He didn’t see Kenuran move, he didn’t see the claw pierce through his chest, ferocity of Oshosi cried out too late, or maybe it hadn’t evolved enough, he could never tell. All he knew was Kenuran retreating before he could end him, Ashira, in a form he hadn’t seen her use before an almost feline form with her green tail lashing through the air at Kenuran who snarled. Eyesight blurry, he gritted his teeth in pain as intent and flames ravaged his insides, staggering he activated step of Ogun and appeared close to the stronghold of house thousand blades, just in time to see a notification,

Notice: stronghold fang blade has fallen, all its ascenders have been eliminated, therefore the house has been eliminated!

The pain raging through him prevented him from reading the rest, crashing to the ground, he screamed in pain as the intent burned through him. He was confused, he was immune to most attacks of the draconic specie, so why?. Someone landed close to him, the pain however prevented him from realizing the identity, his entire thought channeled to his skill wrath of the titan that attempted to heal him.

He felt his body being carried, into the stronghold and laid on the floor. He cracked his eyes open to see Raina over him,

“fight it!, it’s a bloodline attack!” she shouted desperately,

“Raina!, they come!” a voice shouted,

A figure standing over him, Lothar,

“Protect the stronghold, I’ll watch the titan blade” the man rumbled, for the first time Moyo heard his voice,

He felt the same red wrath beam attack coming straight for the stronghold, and with rage, pain and anger in his voice Moyo dragged himself up. The thoughts that drove his body despite the mind-numbing pain that came along with it were the thoughts of loss. He couldn’t afford to lose, not here, not now, he would rest when he died.

He appeared outside the stronghold, running and stumbling, dodging the beam and trusting the diamonds to protect the stronghold. He focused his aura, despite the agony of doing so at the source of the red beam. Step of Ogun carried him to the spot, dominion with intent and Ashe, the command to break echoing out of his lips even as he bled to crash through the doors of their stronghold, shattering it before the diamonds even had a chance to realize he had done so.

In enemy stronghold, Moyo let loose, should he perish, he would go down with them all, he would blaze so bright the rulers and masters of the archailect would recognize his worth, would leave his world be. And even as all the red wraths, a culmination of six diamonds left attacked at the same time, he shouted, his native tongue blurring out in a command so strong time paused,

“DA PA DA!”

*********************

Time paused, however, the titan would never know, for it hadn’t been by his doing, at least not directly. For in the upper realities, the supreme beings turned as one to glance at the source of the echo that rang through the archailect itself. They saw the titan blade, their attentions were however overshadowed by Lotes who spread her wings, the magnificent appendages sealing even the gazes of the rest of her siblings, and with great effort too, blocking the weaves of fate they could peer through,

“No, not yet” she echoed,

Wincing at the gazes of her siblings, she wasn’t bothered, they simply took note of him as a harbinger, for harbingers could utter commands infused with the aspects of the archailect, at least once in their existence. However Lotes knew better, the aspect of the titan was finally taking root in the child,

“Too soon” she thought,

“Too soon, for you risk rousing the beast”

And with a flex of her will power, diluted extremely through the spires of the archailect, the six spires that held the archailect together, she tapped into the spire of intent on altera, willing it to pierce through the created island. It hovered over the titan blade and clamped down on the command, Lotes marveled at the power. The command would wipe out every being on the island, wipe out their real bodies hovering in space and proceed to shake the archailect so bad, her foe in the abyss would rouse.

The scary part was the fact that the titan would had ceased to exist, the aspect doomed to float around the archailect and reality for another eon, till someone worthy enough was chosen. Lotes couldn’t allow that, for she had seen the future, the streams of fate her siblings had refused to acknowledge,

The future where the abyss rose again, for another cataclysmic war was at hand,

No, she couldn’t allow such, not now,

With regret she reduced the potency of the aspect command, the power normally granted for those who finally crossed over to the rank of master, where they began to dig deep into their respective aspects. Until the titan became a ruler, having the full scope of that power would be cataclysmic, the power to unravel was a power the titan at the beginning of time had wielded, the power she saw hold back chaos till she formed.

She would let the power hold sway for the rank of diamond and not more,

“Good child” she whispered,

“Keep moving, my titan”

**********************

The rulers all sat up at once, their gaze sharpening at the abnormality happening before their eyes, the dragon Azar snarled, the blade Altair sent a pulse of warning to the dragon, should he so much as raise a finger, they would come to blows, Raye the phoenix followed suit, the excitement etched in her voice as she assented the blade. Altair glanced at Ajax who had a crazed grin on his face, Killian who was shocked and Duval who froze, his eyes glowed,

“An edict” he said as his masters turned to him, the master in the dark, his protector also,

The thousand blades smiled; a smile most sharp as a blade.

**************

Moyo felt the command he had never uttered before blast out of his body, a command that shook him to his core, that connected with a vital aspect of what made him the titan. Before he could contemplate it, the command took shape, it blasted out, decimated the stronghold, wiping out the diamonds and kept on going, everything in its path being decimated before it fizzled away. Moyo laid on the ground, unable to move, his entire strength spent, glancing up skywards.

His Ashe was spent, his core felt absurdly empty, his intent was gone and his body felt like a limp noodle. He was however propped up on a stone, and he could see into the distance where every battle had ended, the diamonds staring at him in terror, Ashira in a feline form with dark brown scales covering her body holding down Kenuran while Sonya, in half human and half bird form a feather that hummed with intent over the dragon, about to pierce straight through the dragon when Moyo’s command had taken hold.

A loud gong echoed,

Notice: strongholds ghost wind and red wrath have fallen, their ascenders have also been eliminated,

* 64 ascenders remain, cease all attacks,

* congratulations on passing the first stage!

Kenuran snarled as he broke through the hold of Ashira, blasting backwards while staring at Moyo, the titan managed to smile even as they slowly became motes of golden light,

“Boo!” he coughed,

Kenuran flinched, terror in his eyes as he realized what he had just did, Moyo smiled, turning to motes of light.

************

He woke up in the stasis room, the chamber opening up as he took a deep shuddering breath, checking his core to feel it brimming with intent. He breathed a sigh of relief, the feeling of powerlessness he hadn’t felt since the time he was an initiate or even fledgling. He stared into the distance for a few seconds before sighing, stepping out of the pod. Another unexplained power, and the fact that he had uttered it in his native language,

Da pa da, to return

He had felt every piece of power in him blast out, even the attack of Kenuran had been pushed out of his body in a maelstrom of power that crushed everything in its path, a wall of unrepenting and unforgiving power that cleared everything that opposed the titan. While powerful, it wasn’t something he was willing to use anytime soon,

And where had it come from?,

A pod opened close to him, Ashira stumbling out, her gaze turning to him, eyes widening as she ran close to him,

“you’re alright, by the supreme beings you’re alright” she whispered as she checked him over,

“I’m fine, was just a little weak” he responded,

“of course, you would, that was an edict, who are you titan blade?” Sonya asked as she appeared, gaze on him,

“Sonya, watch your words” Ashira spat out,

“Edict?” Moyo asked startled,

Edicts were in the realm of masters, that devastating ability master Killian had used on him back on Agabod,

“Indeed, titan blade, before your partner bites my head off, that command belongs to the realm of master, where did you, no, how did you use it?” Sonya asked,

“I told you he’s a peculiar one princess” a voice said,

They turned to see Ulsa exiting a pod,

“Ulsa?, the strongholds were wiped out, how did you survive?” Moyo asked,

The Leonid smiled, a shroud dropping off her body to reveal a diamond ranked aura,

“a little trick we pulled to blindside the opposition” she responded,

Moyo turned to Sonya,

“No idea, I’ll be sure to ask, do have a good day” he said,

Turning to Ulsa before Sonya to reply, ignoring her sputtering and leaving Ashira to handle the pompous woman, he walked up to Ulsa and hugged her,

“it’s nice to see you Ulsa, it really is” he said,

“you too titan blade, diamond?, can’t say I’m surprised, seeing as how bizarre your ascensions usually are” she responded,

Ulsa walked up to them,

“The whole team’s been reunited” she said,

“Lady Ashira” Ulsa said,

“Please, just Ashira, we’re past that stage” Ashira replied,

Ulsa glanced at lady Sonya who was speaking with the remaining four diamonds from her house, house Garuda coming out with six diamonds, losing only four was a big deal, not even the Dracons could boast of such. She turned back to them apologetically,

“I’m sorry, but I need to attend to the princess, can’t wait to meet you in the next round!” she said,

They said their goodbyes, watching the Garudas, the white ghosts who had been eliminated, the jackals and pure blades leave. Alvar and the rest of house thousand blades met back,

“Inge got taken out, same with Gisela, Lothar withstood the assault, ensuring the stronghold managed to remain standing” Alvar said,

Moyo nodded at them,

“We still remain strong, with me, you, Ashira, Raina and Lothar left, we can hold on” he said,

They all stared at him expectantly,

“I have no idea how I did it, it was spontaneous” he said, knowing the questions on their lips,

“Well, however you did it, we’re grateful, you took out an entire house, let’s just say watch your back” Raina said,

“They wouldn’t be stupid enough to come after you now, would they?” Lothar asked,

“I doubt it, but still, caution will be needed” Ashira said,

They made their way towards their transport ship, making their way back to their ship where they alighted and entered the docking bay to see rows upon rows of silvers, bronzes and gold lined up. In front of them stood master Duval. Together the experts knelt,

“Hail the blades of Altair, hail the diamonds!” they shouted,

Moyo smiled, walking with the rest into the ship.