The skies over planet C-102 became a dark miasma of roiling clouds that boomed with thunder and lightning. It had been that way for over a week and all factions were prepared, or as prepared as they could be for the calamity. Mrs. Martha stood atop the palace of dominion, overlooking Bastion itself. Throngs of refugees had been brought over to the domain of the titan himself, mothers, fathers and children who clung tightly to the robes of their parents, wondering why they looked terrified.
She held her signature cup of steaming coffee, enjoying the acrid bitter taste without milk, her signature drink. They had found a merchant whose path was that of the roasted bean, a posh word for an ascender who produced coffee beans. Immediately she had pushed to give him a town in her territory, tying him to Trellis and clan titan blade in general. Soon enough the news of an ascender with one of the planets most sought-after beverage had gone viral and clan titan blade acquired a new source of income.
Those days were a few weeks past that seemed like ages now, ever since the titan had sent back a message, explaining the deadly nature of expert ranks, it felt like the archailect itself had listened. Dungeons broke more often, dungeon bosses rampaged across the continents and planet. The factions had met the odd occurrences with their combined might, knowing fully well that the calamity was on its way, deploying acolytes and a peak advocate to combat the hordes of monsters in order to get as many to advocate as they could.
Then the titan had once again cemented the superiority of the clan by the relics he bestowed on the clan members. Ayo had gotten a bow, supposedly of diamond rank, although the clan were dubious of such power. A single shot from Ayo had decimated an entire landscape, turning a whole mountain region to a flat land with not as much as a single hill in sight.
The news had spread like wildfire, videos of the incident being shared as entire factions marveled at the power a single relic held. Mrs. Martha was especially giddy seeing as the glorious empire to the far east had been raising their military power, broadcasting it for all to see through their HUDs and testing the might of the clan. The power of the dawn bringer sect had put a stop to that, Ayo wiping her entire domain of monsters in a single day and getting all her acolytes to advocates.
Then came the third bestowment from the titan to Idris, sect leader of the titans’ sentinels. A unique set of golden gauntlets and greaves known as conquerors might, a devastating weapon in the hands of the body aura user. Idris and his sentinels had rampaged across their domain, wiping out monsters here and there with the artifact that got stronger the more it was used in battle.
Mrs. Martha had initiated the exodus of the continent that had exploded in number, drawing them all to the red zone where the advocates held back the tides of monsters that sought to assault the moving refugees. With the sect leaders battling the worst of the monsters, they had reduced casualties to the double digits with the hundreds of thousands that fled from all over the continent. A good situation considering the assorted monsters that attempted to wipe them out.
Then the countdown had been emblazoned in the sky above, counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to the calamity. Things had been shifted into overdrive at that point, the entire world had hunkered down, advocates patrolling their entire lands in preparation of the coming battle. In the imperial empire, king William and his knights along with their army of advocates, each flying the banner of their respective knight stood watch over their continent, the capital Avalon a beacon of light that repelled all monsters that were drawn to it.
Like the fabled king Arthur of old, William led the battle with his knights, advocate power thundering through the air as he slayed monster after monster in an infinite battle of attrition, advocates struggling to ensure the continent didn’t fall to the hordes. The Bharat empire saw their Rajan, advocate Devesh gather his advocate warriors as he held down the borders of his kingdom. The same went for the other powers that held planet C-102, Mrs. Martha narrowed her eyes at the horizon, humming to herself as a large level 100 flying horror shot towards the refugees below.
At once dozens of advocates flared to life, lightning, flaming arrows, runes and other paths blasted the horror to oblivion, the creature didn’t even have chance to let out a squawk. She tutted as she turned around to where Annika meditated, the spear given to her by the titan in her hands. Occasionally she would release a jolt of lightning through its body, face scrunched up in either puzzlement or confusion.
She walked closer to the sect leader of the storm bringers, watching as lightning danced through her hair, a very large chest taking deep breaths as she tried unlocking the secrets to a spear fabled masters had tried and failed. The face of the clan herself, Annika storm maiden was a work of art, ascension had sculpted her into a goddess, and with the rumored overhaul expert rank would bring, Mrs. Martha would not be surprised if a literal cult grew from her. Mrs. Martha had shed ages, looking as she would in her early thirties as an advocate, she had retained her strands of white hair though, sentimental as she was about it being a mark of her age and experience in life.
She was sure to shed a few more years as an expert, and with the gradual rise in rank over the next few decades, she intended to become as stunning as Annika. The thought of ascension brought a frown to her face, from her research she had learned that diamond rank was the peak of usual ascension and once the world had crossed over to a world capable of handling experts in large amounts, experts from all over the archailect would start swooping in.
The clan, even with the majority of its advocates becoming experts, iron experts as they would inevitably be for the next few months couldn’t hold their territories if a bronze, silver, gold and heavens forbid a diamond ranker sought to wrestle if from their grip, especially if the titan blade wasn’t around to protect them. Mrs. Martha wasn’t like the young and brash who wanted the titan away so as they could move from his proverbial shadow, she had read about the famed great houses and forces of the archailect, and clan titan blade was in no position to defend any territory they might think they have without the titan blade who would no doubt be peak silver by now.
She wanted all their powers in place to defend from any mad rush for power once the world had ascended in its entirety, and then again, there was the case of the dragon in the continent of the glorious empire to deal with, who would no doubt attack when the world had ascended. She sighed as she took a sip from her drink, Annika cracking her eyes open,
“Frowning doesn’t suit you Martha” Annika whispered,
The sect leader of the hands of Anansi smiled, a motherly smile that had been known to be both benevolent and brutal at the same time. She sat next to Annika, the storm maiden scooting over as they silently watched the sects working together to help the still long lines of refugees who had come in air ships the clan had bought from the ware house, splurging hundreds of gold coins and thousands of silver coins. Samantha and her vice sect leader Jide were erecting a barrier rune, the green and red energy shield snapping into place over the aether shield Mr. Boyle had invented, turning Bastion into a fortress in a true sense.
They watched the timer as it ticked down to minutes, both of them getting up as they took deep breaths,
“it’s almost time” Annika murmured,
“indeed” Mrs. Martha replied, her mug fading away to essence,
Idris, Ayo, Boyle and Samantha appeared next to them as they flew over. Idris gleaming in his forged relics, Ayo gripping dawn piercer hard. The skies parted as the overseer they knew to be in charge of their world and galaxy in general appeared, hands folded behind him. Overseer Atreus had been seen last when he came to put an end to the blight incursion on their world and Mrs. Martha usually attributed his coming to bad news.
The overseer who was no doubt visible to the entire world spoke in a voice that reverberated, sending waves of power Mrs. Martha attributed to when the titan blade used one of his commands,
“Inhabitants of planet C-102, I am overseer Atreus, keeper and overseer of the galaxy known as the milky way.” He started,
“As you no doubt know, your time of calamity has arrived, for 7 days you would face a swarm of neophyte expert rank monsters susceptible to attacks of advocates, should you survive the seven days, your world would ascend to a tier 3 or expert world, should you all perish, your world would be eradicated of all lifeform and seeded with new lifeforms.” He said,
Mrs. Martha’s’ gaze darkened, she would be dead twice over before she allowed that sort of reality come to pass,
Atreus continued in his formal voice,
“With your victory, your world would be awarded a name of your choosing, the name voted by the majority of you all would be accepted. However, before we begin, the rulers of the archailect have deemed your world worthy to watch the duels of the swordsmanship tournament, for one of you represents your world, Moyosore, the titan blade” he said,
They all perked up,
“As a diamond ranker, he fights his first match and it was his request that you all observe” Atreus said as he waved to his left and the skies above became one large screen that showed an almost unbelievable coliseum, covering an entire island,
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“did he just say, diamond ranker?, as in diamond rank?, the height of ascension?” Annika whispered,
For the first time in a long time, Mrs. Martha was lost for words, her mind running through different scenarios at the same time. It was impossible, from what she knew, to ascend that fast was sheer impossible, but this was the titan blade they were talking about. She took a deep breath and shushed them all,
“Let us observe” she whispered, a warm feeling in her chest akin to joy,
Pure undiluted joy,
They saw Moyo in blue robes, dominion on his shoulder as he marched into the sandy arena. Roars echoed around Bastion as ascenders shouted as they saw their clan leader, the mountain of a man who marched with all the ease and power of a king into the arena. Mrs. Martha grinned, a grin so pure the rest turned to her as she began to chuckle,
***************************
Moyo sat in the waiting room, staring at the blade in his hand, dominion. The entire team and masters with every servant and ascender of house thousand blades had made their way to the planet proper for the round of 32. The island where the earlier rounds had taken place had been discarded, fizzling to pure aether and the main continent of altera now consisting of a large island at its coast where an absurdly large coliseum had been built for the duels.
The entire coliseum was packed full of spectators who had gathered to watch the tournament, the seats filled with the colors of the different factions, even those who were no longer in the tournament itself. Above in the air floated the abodes of the rulers who had gathered in one place to observe the round, invisible to all but the masters who were also in the abode with them, the y watched silently, the masses below them keenly aware that the rulers were somewhere around them but paying them no mind.
In the middle of the field was a man in immaculate black suit, slick black hair and a wide smile, pinned to his breast was the plain sigil of house true blade, a plain sword, simple and deadly. He raised his hands up,
“welcome everyone!, to the hundred and fifth swordsmanship tournament!” he said, his voice echoing around the arena and the live holographic feed that floated around the coliseum,
A thunderous roar followed the pronouncement, fire sparks and displays adorned the air at the flick of his hand. The noise quietened as the man continued,
“As usual, this is the beginning of the one versus one duels, and we begin this duel with two notable houses who have more than performed this tournament” he announced,
Moyo stood up where he sat, feeling the hum of the training chamber effects that somehow encircled the entire coliseum. His real body was high above in the stasis chamber outside of the planet, his projected body felt the same way his normal body would. Ashira and the rest turned to him, the scion of house Kairos walking up to him, adjusting the collar of his armless blue robe, staring into his eyes. He gave a broad smile, Ashira drew him close by his collar, latching her lips to his, Moyo thinking distinctively that she tasted like mint and summer at the same time.
They stayed that way for a while till they called his name, Ashira finally releasing her grip on his head, staring into his eyes as hers glowed golden,
“Break them” she whispered,
Moyo felt his aura raging as he nodded and turned, walking into the large field as the announcer called his name. He stood in the middle of the coliseum, gripping dominion tight. The announcer turned to the other side of the field,
“And representing house Dracon, the female flame berserker, scourge of the planet Juvin, the roaring Dragonoid herself, the diamond Kilera!” he announced,
The crowd went wild again as the female Dragonoid flew into the sandy field, roaring flames as Moyo quietly watched, eyes following her every movement. She landed in front of him, snapping her teeth together as smoke poured from her nostrils, red scaly skin glowing hot from the flames within her body. the crowd quietened down as the announcer spoke,
“Ascenders, are you ready?” he asked,
“ready” Moyo nodded,
Kileral snarled, Moyo simply raised an eyebrow,
“Begin!” the announcer said,
Two realms moved in tandem, one of roaring flames and burning intent, the typical realm of dragons or their sub types. The second realm however was one of a mountain with intent belching out of its top, of seas of pure Ashe, the air filled with intent with aura and the unmistakable feel of gravity hammering into the world consistently. The realm of the titan crushed the other realm instantly, the aura of the titan enveloped the female dragon who felt her movements restricted.
Then dominion moved, the entire force of the Dragonoid pitting her will against the authority of the titan. Moyo released her, letting her swing her blade with all of her abilities, thundering the air with her intent, flames encapsulating the both of them, intent tearing at the arena like a vicious animal. Moyo raised dominion casually and swung it down,
Dominion tore the Dragonoid into two,
Intent shredded her insides to ribbons,
Gravity crushed what remained of her body to paste,
Ashe wiped her from existence.
Moyo calmly walked away from the devastation one swing of dominion had wreaked on the coliseum, the entire crowd sat in stunned silence as Moyo walked towards the waiting room. He paused, turned and looked directly in the video construct that broadcasted the battles, pointing his blade at the construct, keenly being aware entire planets all around the archailect were watching,
His world was watching him,
“For earth” he said and turned back towards the waiting room,
The crowd broke out in a roar of cheers so loud; the voice of the announcer could hardly be heard beneath it all,
“The winner of the first round, by overwhelming victory, the titan blade himself, Moyosore!”
Moyo walked back to a beaming Ashira, Alvar, Raina and Lothar grinning,
*************
The ascenders of C-102 had seen the battle, the raw intent and power that could no doubt level an entire continent if unleashed. They had watched the flames rampage cross the entire coliseum, threatening to burn through the building and only the protections in place to protect the spectators had constrained the flames. They had watched as the titan blade walked through the flames and ended his opponent with one swing of his blade,
The titan blade had done it as a diamond ranker, Moyosore titan blade, patriarch and leader of clan titan blade had ascended to diamond rank, the peak of normal ascension. He had turned to the camera and uttered the words that drove every ascender into a frenzy,
“For earth”
The advocates of clan titan blade had shouted till their lungs were sore, they raised their voices to the very high heavens, raising their fists skywards in defiance to the overseer who floated in the air as well as the powers of the archailect in general. There was a human, a citizen of earth who had gone out to the archailect at large and had sent a message to the powers that be, that earth was no worthless place.
Beams of pure power raced skywards as the ascenders blazed with power, all over the planet formerly known as earth, ascenders all blazed to life with power, sending beacons of power skywards in defiance. Allies and enemies of clan titan blade roared in pure encouragement, for the titan had done right by them, he had snarled back at the powers that sought to break earth, to wipe them out and he had done it in as grand a manner as possible.
The overseer snapped his fingers, the sound echoing around the world as all eyes turned to him,
“LET THE CALAMITY BEGIN” he commanded,
All over C-102, HUDs blazed to life as messages appeared,
NOTICE: THE CALAMITY OF PLANET C-102 HAS BEGUN!
* ALL PORTALS INTO THE PLANET HAS BEEN SEALED,
* ALL DUNGEONS HAVE BEEN SEALED SHUT,
* ALL EXTERNAL INFLUENCE ON THE PLANET HAS BEEN CUT OFF
* CALAMITY LASTS FOR ONE DAY
* GOOD LUCK.
The skies above opened up and thousands of blue flying worms that shrieked as they descended fired pure aether energies at everything in sight. The seas roiled, the air shook, the ground trembled and power laced the air. Entire trees were burnt into oblivion, mountains shook and cracked, but the ascenders of C-102, of earth neither moved nor trembled at the appearance of the abominations in the skies above.
Over at Bastion, Annika raised her spear as all sects turned to her and their arrayed leaders who blazed with power,
“Ascenders, members of clan titan blade, we stand here, again, at the precipice of another battle for our very existence” she started,
“We fought and bled to get to where we are, and we will bleed and fight for the next few hours as we ascend to expert, remember what the titan said, remember that what we are about to go through, he went through alone with no help”
“He has paid his due, he laid the foundation and has lit a light for us to blaze through, the titan has shielded us from the worst the archailect could throw our way, and now, even as we stand on the precipice of a calamity so great, the entire world would be embroiled in it” she said,
Raising her spear skywards as thunderclouds rumbled into being, lightning flashing through the air,
“But we are clan titan blade, we are the chosen of the titan, we will lead this charge, we will crush, burn, destroy and sent those abominations back to the cesspit from which they flew from, we will defend our world, we will prevail!” she shouted,
Lightning shattered the very skies, illuminating it as the monsters descended,
“Storm bringers, to battle!” she shouted as the banners of the storm bringers flew high, advocates racing through the air to clash with the creatures,
“Titans sentinels to battle!” Idris Geb’s hand roared,
“Dawn archers to battle!” Ayo crimson huntress shouted,
“Hands of Anansi to battle!” Martha weaver shouted,
“Hammers of Ogun, to battle!” Boyle iron forger shouted,
“Octagram to battle” Samantha six-sided mage shouted,
Clan titan blade went to battle, the skies above Bastion becoming a literal clash of ascenders and monsters. Lightning struck, bodies exploded and blood rained down from the bodies of both ascenders and monsters. Paths clashed with monsters born of dungeons but tinged with abyssal energy.
all over the planet, leaders led their people to the most brutal war seen since the advent of the archailect, the explorer’s guild spread thin as they assisted in any way and form possible, while also inserting their ascenders into where the battle was bloodiest. Luke fin and his cadre of advocates held their continent with a sizeable some of advocate army beating back the invading horde.
*********************
Floating outside of the planer C-102, overseer Atreus folded his hands and watched with amused satisfaction as the planet repelled the calamity, the message from the titan blade as much a driving force. Few of the ascenders were already breaking through to expert and they were all from the clan the titan lorded over. Atreus floated backwards, leaving the space around the planet as he began to head back to his base, the entirety of the brigade had been placed on red alert.
With the advent of the cult of the undying hands, the archailect would once again be thrown into an embroiling battle unseen since the old clash. Already the ten great houses were moving, other notable houses were also moving and masters not seen for centuries were rousing, the scent of battle in the air.
Atreus grinned, it had been so long he had let loose, hurling fledgling stars at foes in space, even his intent blasters, his forged weapons that were forged by a master smith in the heart of an infant sun had collected dust for years, soon its barrels would ring through in battle again. With a deep sigh he floated towards his base leisurely, he couldn’t wait till the war began.