The team were led through the massive ships, ascenders bowing left and right as they passed, this time with what Moyo could clearly see as willingness. Their battles at the tournament were being displayed on every holographic screen they passed, whispers and wide eyes trailing their procession, looks of awe etched on the faces of the bronzes, silvers and even golds. Most of those were directed at Moyo, his explosion deep in the stronghold of the red wraths replayed over and over on loop.
He was embarrassed, the scene making him cringe, walking a bit faster, Ashira matching his steps,
“Hero of the weak” she teased, her voice low,
“Stop it” he replied, ignoring the look she gave him,
“You should be proud, you took out a whole house, you’re probably famous and wanted at the same time” Alvar grumbled from behind,
Moyo glanced at him,
“By all means, take to notoriety, I’ll happily give it to you”
Raina smacked Alvar’s head from behind,
“Ignore my cousin, he has this dream of being the most wanted man in galaxies” she said,
“Wonder how much they’d place on his head” Lothar rumbled from behind them,
“a million plus I’d wager” Gisela said, Moyo glancing at her in shock,
“a million gold coins?, for killing off a projected body?” he asked,
Inge snorted,
“More like diamond coins, and that’s probably the bounty from the clans and families within the house, masters and rulers of red wrath could place legendary relics and weapons for grabs” she said,
“that’s ludicrous” Moyo responded,
“Quite the contrary, at the level of powerful houses, its mostly prestige, coins and weapons mean nothing to them at that stage, their reputations are all that matters to them” Ashira responded,
“So if I had taken out all the members of house Dracon?” he asked,
“they’d probably place a bounty as high as a set of planets on your head, an entire system of planets if you were brought back alive and in chains” Alvar said, still grumbling,
Raina rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head,
“you’re in sufferable” she said,
They arrived at a large blue door, making their way in to see master Ajax hastily packing a few diamond coins into a pouch, master Duval with his hands crossed and master Killian glowering. Moyo eyed his master who had an innocent look on his face,
“You didn’t bet on me doing something irresponsible, did you?” he asked,
“perish that thought!, I simply collected some debts owed me” Ajax replied with a haughty look on his face,
Moyo gave him a dubious look before turning away, bowing to them,
“Sit everyone, your display at the first stage has begun to improve the mindsets of the great council members. Especially you, titan blade” master Duval said,
Moyo bowed again,
“I did my best” he said,
“More than your best, I saw you. It took great determination and willpower to defend against a bloodline attack of house Dracon, few can boast of that” Killian said,
“I heard Raina use that word once, what’s a bloodline attack?” he asked,
“In due time, explain to us how you did it” Ajax asked, a gleam in his eyes,
Moyo dreaded the question they were asking, he clenched his fists,
“I have no idea, if you’re talking about the edict, I have no idea” he replied,
“Explain to us what you felt” Duval asked,
“Rage, anger, I wanted to take out as many as I could before I was taken out in turn, you could say I was pushed to my limit” Moyo replied,
Ajax snapped his fingers at the masters that sighed, depositing another set of diamond coins on the table that Ajax gathered, disappearing into the folds of his clothes with a grin,
“Another set of debts owed?” Moyo asked, sarcasm dripping from his every word,
“of course,” Ajax replied, Moyo simply shook his head,
“To say you surprised the rulers themselves would be an understatement” master Duval said,
“The eyes of the archailect are gradually turning to house thousand blades, both allies and foes” Ajax said,
“Why?” Ashira asked,
“a diamond being able to use an edict without dying is, rare, like can be counted on one hand since the dawn of the archailect rare” Killian replied,
A figure shimmered to life behind Ajax and Killian, the diamonds of house thousand blades bowing at once. It was the same master, the one with a mask on that had attempted to relieve Moyo of his head in the presence of the ruler. Moyo stood and bowed also, Ashira following suit,
“No doubt, you all have met her, but for clarity’s sake, she is simply known as Skatha the silent, master guardian of the patriarch” master Duval said,
They sat back, Moyo staring at the figure that looked like a male,
“She?” he asked
Duval nodded and turned to the master Skatha, the silent woman in black skin tight clothing nodded as a dark shroud encapsulated her, vanishing immediately as her body seemed to wobble, like reality was some television channel that had network issue before stabilizing into the form of a very curvy woman in skin tight black clothing.
Alvar unconsciously whistled before realizing where he was, hastily bowing an apology as Ajax laughed, Killian rolling his eyes. Moyo looked dumbfounded, shutting his mouth and narrowing his eyes. He activated Digi Aye, seeing the aether around her maintain a stable sequence of motions,
“I’m guessing you’re using your Digi Aye sight?” Duval asked,
Moyo nodded,
“You can’t see a difference, she uses pure authority and mantle, her skills need not interact with the aether of her surroundings” master Duval said again,
Moyo glanced at the master and then back at Skatha that kept staring at him in eerie silence, unnerving him, and that was saying a lot. Moyo looked away from the woman with a dark look, his gaze curiously on the masters,
“As per the request of the patriarch, she would be in charge of your training” Duval said,
“Seeing as she hasn’t been bested in over three centuries as a master, plus her proficient use of mantles and authority has her holding her own against masters like the red jaw and burning princess “
Alvar, Moyo, Ashira, Raina and Lothar turned as one to the master and then at Skatha. The female master nodded, a silver blade shimmering to life in her hand,
“Oh, and she wields two mantles, her armor and the blade ‘edge’” Killian said,
Again, they looked at him and back to her,
“how is that even possible?” Moyo asked,
“specific clan related ability” master Duval replied,
“Perhaps this isn’t a good idea” Alvar said,
“I agree” Raina said nodding along,
“Plus, the master probably has her time filled, protecting the patriarch and all that” Lothar hastily said,
Moyo simply eyed the master who pointed her blade at them, he could feel a certain vibration coming from her,
“The best part however” Ajax said as Moyo stood up, the rest watching him incredulously as he produced dominion,
“Is the fact that she can attain the state of Anshara in battle, at least for a long duration of time”
The diamonds turned to Ajax, eyes wide open, Ashira smacking her face in resignation as she no doubt knew what Moyo attempted to do. Standing in front of Skatha the silent, blade drawn, his mantle locking in place, the master cocked her head to one side, her body loose. Moyo knew well enough that it was a ruse, she could spring in a millisecond, blade whistling through the air to take his head off his shoulders before he could even blink.
She glanced at master Duval who nodded,
“By all means, educate our eager disciple” he said,
Moyo watched as she dramatically raised her sword arm and slowly began to bring it down, the blade humming with no sense of intent. He raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was aiming to accomplish. His mantle shattered like fragile glass, his Ashe dispersed like the wind and his knees buckled under the onslaught of her mantle and authority that felt like hot coal on his body, driving him to his knees and crashing into the floor of the room, unable to move.
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He sputtered, gathering his authority and feeling it disperse again,
“The authority of the silent clan, quite the specialty, right?” Ajax asked as Moyo groaned,
Moyo began to understand how others felt when he activated his Digi Aye ability, the presence left him, his Ashe and strength flooding his limbs back as he bolted straight to his feet, giving himself some distance from the silent master whose blade had vanished just as quickly as it appeared,
“She will strip you of every ounce of power you all have and train you as she sees fit for the round of 32” Killian said,
Moyo stared for a few seconds, nodded and spoke,
“When do we start?” he asked,
The diamonds turned to him, Alvar beginning to piece together was what going to no doubt be a series of questions doubting the sanity of Moyo when Ashira placed a hand on his shoulder,
“don’t, just don’t, you just get used to his masochistic tendencies” she said, shaking her head,
Moyo protested weakly at the label, master Ajax grinning as he cleared his throat,
“Also, a message came from clan true blade” he said, tossing another of the same circular message constructs that hummed to life,
A pre-recorded image of the master Sigmar true blade appeared, his hands folded behind him as usual,
“congratulations experts, you have moved on to the round of 64. Ideally, this would be the stage where the individual bouts would begin. However, your performances have impressed Zane himself, he in his infinite knowledge, has decreed that the next round will continue in its usual fashion as a group battle” he said,
They all paid attention,
“The next round will see the teams fight for 32 pieces of orbs that will randomly manifest around the entire continent, ascenders need only manage to acquire a single piece to qualify. Those without orbs would be automatically disqualified, orbs will appear intermittently. Also, your primordial essence would be delivered immediately after this message” Sigmar said as the message went out,
A blue box hovered out of nowhere, a mechanical voice speaking,
“Greetings ascenders, your rewards for going through to the round of 64” it started,
“Ascender titan blade, for your steadfastness in battle and unwavering bravery, you have been given a level 550 diamond crystal king golem essence”
Moyo stared wide eyed at Ashira as she nodded,
“Well, there goes your search for a golem essence” she said,
It had been part of the list of essences he had inquired about, albeit he hadn’t hoped to acquire such this quickly. Thanking his luck, he picked up the crystal shard that had the essence within it, the shard glowing gold, the rest had gotten essences also. Ashira had gotten a great elder vine essence, tossing it to Moyo, apparently, vine monsters were surplus enough for her to dispose of the one given to her. The greedy monster in Moyo gladly collected it, storing it with the other shard he acquired. Alvar was given a shard of a storm bird, Raina a queen siren, Inge a blade salamander, Gisela a lava ape and Lothar a wave Kraken.
The rest deposited their shards with the masters, the forges of house thousand blades would be requested to forge weapons worthy of their statuses. Moyo however had ideas for the weapons he would attempt to forge, with the matter dealt with, the issue of training with Skatha came up. Moyo and the rest retired to their rooms, he and Ashira entered their quarters, the green life in their room waving slowly to some wind Moyo had no idea its source. Collapsing on the chair, he stared upwards,
“What is a bloodline ability?” he asked,
“I’m surprised you’re just hearing of it” she replied,
“Not really, just the first time seeing it in action, not a fan of having my innards almost spilled, projected body or not”
She turned to him,
“Certain families in the archailect, most of the great houses really, have certain abilities that are hereditary to that particular line. The dragon form, the one Kenuran used is the main bloodline ability of house Dracon, restricted to only pure-blood dragons of course, Dragonoids and the rest don’t have access to it” she said,
Moyo snorted,
“Typical of house Dracon” he said,
“Not really, the great houses avoid having their abilities diluted through spreading it too much, so they restrict it. House Garuda only have three users of the Garuda ability, with Sonya wielding both the phoenix and Garuda abilities, same as their matriarch herself, the phoenix” she replied,
“and house Kairos?, can’t believe you’ve been holding back on such an ability” he said,
She hesitated before speaking,
“it’s not the usual bloodline abilities of house Kairos” she started,
“House Kairos holds three bloodline abilities, the lethal blood of Kairos, the wrath of monsters and the might of the sage” she explained,
“I am an oddity, I wield all three” she said,
Moyo’s eyes widened, Ashira nodding,
“How?” he asked softly,
She bit her lip,
“The first two were by birth and the last was bestowed upon me by the sage himself” she replied,
“Using them before the rank of master places a serious strain on my core”
He nodded after a while, his theory being affirmed,
“Related to two rulers of house Kairos, with a third as a god parent, explains why you are top priority” he said,
“that’s one way to put it” she replied,
“The fact is that bloodline abilities are very deadly, they ignore defenses like wet clothes, the stronger the bloodline ability the stronger and more powerful they are, house Dracon ranks up there with the rest” she said,
“How do you go about avoiding the inevitable doom of the ability?” he asked,
Ashira shrugged,
“best I’ve heard?, have your own bloodline ability or a stronger authority, but seeing as your authority is absolutely monstrous, you just need to get used to avoiding the attacks and laying the devastating attacks” she said,
He kept quiet, sighing as he stood,
“I’ll be in my vault, call me if anything comes up” he said,
She nodded, watching as his deific vault of the titan appeared, its doors swinging open. It closed behind him, Moyo walking through the arranged racks of clothes and coins that filled an entire corner of his forge. Subtle changes were beginning to take place in the vault, his rack had changed to a large reflective chamber with the entirety of his funds sitting pretty there, his forge itself had expanded, the stone slab now larger and spotting diamonds on its edges, its surface glossy and gleaming.
He placed the golem shard on the forge, watching as his intent began to dissolve it into the clay form, this time with a golden glow. Picking up his hammer, the personification of his mantle, he began the process of forging the piece that was displayed clearly in his mind. His next forge piece would go to Idris, leader of the sentinels, the body aura user who would soon be thrown into the world of experts and all the chaos that came along with it.
His hammer furiously poured his will into the essence watching as it took shape, Moyo willing the shape into being even as sweat beaded on his forehead. Slowly the four parts came into being,
Notice: primordial essence of a crystal king golem has been forged into a set of gauntlets and greaves, to complete the process, Ashe and a name must be bestowed on the weapon.
The golden gauntlets and greaves glowed with diamond-ranked power, pulsing with barely contained energy. Moyo gathered his Ashe and began to infuse the items with it, the items humming as they settled on the forge table,
Notice: gauntlets and greaves have been infused with Ashe and given the name conquerors might
Conquerors might: this set of gauntlets and greaves were forged from the primordial essence of a crystal king golem, one of the most durable monsters found in the archailect. With its devastating use of aura, the wielder would be infused with both the protection and aura shattering power of the king golem, channeling both earth affinity and its evolved form of crystal. Ignores defenses of gold rank and below, subject to diamond rank depending on the foe's strength.
Note: Made for Idris Geb’s hand, it can only be wielded by the hand and the titan blade alone.
Satisfied with the result, he placed it beside his blade rack, exiting the forge and back into the room itself. Ashira had retreated to her quarters and with nothing to do, Moyo made his way out of the room, letting his memory guide him through the large vessel and into the training chamber he had seen earlier. The ship of the patriarch could serve as a space colony considering its size, and with every resource available on the ship, Moyo could honestly see an entire civilization, albeit in small numbers turning this ship to their home.
He arrived at the training chamber, passing the throngs of servants, silvers from the smaller clans of the house and even a few gold experts who petitioned him to take a ward of theirs under his tutelage and in return they’d give him one of their daughters in marriage. Moyo had activated his step of the titan and fled after that, the situation startling him as much as scaring him away.
The extent as to which people would go for power in the archailect was a terrifying prospect, Moyo having been privy to such time and time again. It didn’t however remove the fact that they would do such in any way, he decided to inform Alvar about it whenever they met, at least the diamond had the authority to get the golds off his back.
Arriving at the training chamber, an equally large room separated into large squares known as training rings, Moyo entered the first one he could manage. A stasis pod lay in the corner, connected to the ring itself, he entered and plugged in. He appeared in the ring, looking over his body to ensure the transference was complete, a display appeared in front of him, requiring he choose the rank of his opponent, class, and other options as such. He was about to pick the highest level he could take within diamond rank when the display paused, a red notice appearing over the message,
TRAINING OVERRIDE
Confusion marred his face before he slowly realized the shape taking form right before his eyes. Before the head could manifest in its entirety, Moyo was already whipping a kick into it, Ashe and intent screaming through the air as his mantle locked onto his body. Ever since he left his planet, all skills and attributes that made him godlike had been put to the test, his insane overpowered abilities helping him sparsely and it drilled home his inadequacies.
The hand of the opponent whipped out just as quickly, his leg slamming into the arm and rebounding back with all the force of a rubber ball. Moyo flipped backwards as the fake of master Skatha the silent took shape, landing with dominion in hand, he watched the master who stared at him stoically through her mask,
“Master Skatha” he said in greeting,
The master merely nodded pointing one finger at him as ferocity of Oshosi screamed at him to dodge, he responded without even thinking, rolling to one side as the spot he had been previously on crumbled, the ground cracking as if a force had crashed into it. Digi Aye activated, Moyo stared wide eyed at what he was seeing,
“You can shoot concentrated authority?” he asked incredulously,
The master pointed at a video that began playing at her shoulder, the moment when the titan blade was skewered by Kenuran red jaw. The master opened her palm as dark grey energy coalesced into her palm, Moyo staring at what he now understood as pure authority in the hands of the master,
“You think he used pure authority?” he asked,
The master nodded, Moyo beginning to see words appear on his HUD,
bloodline abilities require authority to summon and keep using the longer they are used, a feat not meant to be used till the stage of master
“But Ashira and Sonya used it” he said,
Only to stop the dragon from ending you
“How do I overcome this?” he asked,
She gestured at him to come close, Moyo warily doing so,
Authority is the only known defense against a bloodline ability, coating your body with it during a fight should reduce the potency of the attacks
Moyo nodded, Ashira already informing him of the use of authority,
“won’t that drain me of authority quickly?” he asked,
She nodded,
Quick, precise, execute
She simply replied, Moyo nodded, he couldn’t allow bloodline users to prolong the battle, seeing as he was the one with a limited amount of authority,
“So how is the dragon cheating?” he asked confused,
Not cheating, bending rules, bloodline abilities are allowed, the authority of a ruler fueling such ability discreetly isn’t allowed.
Moyo growled at the realization, the arm guard he had seen when Kenuran had appeared in space at their arrival to altera, the domineering presence of the relic had placed him on edge. He turned to the master,
“Why don’t the houses and true blades do something about it?” he asked,
No evidence, relic fueling from the inside, must force him to manifest the relic physically
Moyo nodded,
“I can do that, let’s get this over with” he said as he moved backwards,
Authority coating
He nodded and summoned his Ashe, his authority replying him almost immediately, his body having a soft purple coating. He staggered as he felt his Ashe being strained, using so much in so little a time. He shook his head, feeling his core churn out more and more Ashe at a time,
Defend
With the simple word from the master, Moyo saw her take one step, appear close to him and delivering a punch that had his Ashe shattering away, the punch launching him across the ring into the barrier as he grunted and fell to the ground, groaning. He struggled to his feet, seeing her standing there, staring at him stoically,
WEAK
Moyo felt his blood ignite at the pronouncement, easy for her to say seeing as she was master rank,
“again” he uttered and felt his Ashe coating his body,
He clashed with Skatha the silent.