Bastion was burning, a portion of bastion rather, moyo landed on what remained of the crystal wall and surveyed the destruction, his notifications could wait. The sentinels and storm bringers working hand in hand to help the wounded to safety in the walls of Ife proper where the battle hadn’t touched, the maze was destroyed, frozen bits of stone and rock littered the landscape. Watching as Annika flew over along with Mrs Martha that suddenly appeared by his side,

“How many?” moyo asked silently, still coming down from the rush of power he was feeling,

“None dead, half of the entire ragtag army we have injured, mostly from the sentinel corps” Mrs Martha said,

Moyo nodded grimly, clenching his fists,

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t get here on time” moyo said apologizing, if only he had the strength he had right now,

“Earlier he said” Annika replied scoffing,

“You were gone for less than two hours, you defeated a level 80 wave boss and came back looking high on whatever power up you got Mr.…. shit…advocate…he’s a bloody advocate” Annika said with her eyes wide open

“What?’ moyo said as he called his full stat screen up

Name: Moyosore

Path: crushing blade

Body: Draconic Body (+50% defense against mental attacks)

Race: human

Level: 85(260) (Advocate)

Title: bane of the hive, draconic slayer

Skills:

Greed of the titan(L) 50 Titans’ wrath(r)420 Blade of the titan(r)450 Realm of the titan(r)400 Dimension step(r)410 Spatial control(r)370

attributes:

STR: 2050 END: 2612 Will of the titan: 2200 CNS: 1940 DEX: 1850 INT: 1605

“I really am an advocate” moyo said astonished,

“Congratulations are in order I suppose” Mrs Martha said,

Moyo shook his head,

“Not tonight, tonight we heal everyone and raise our walls back up, we have a lot to discuss” he replied

“In that case I’ll gather the council, the healing elixirs” she stated as she threw a vial to him with a green glowing liquid inside,

“It would cost us a bit to buy in bulk, but I believe it’ll be worth every coin” she finished as she disappeared,

“I’ll go coordinate with the storm bringers, see you in the halls of Ife?” Annika asked,

Moyo nodded absently, his mind already analyzing what he just went through. Glancing at the broken barracks, moyo opened his spatial rip, it tore open like wet tissue, needing little to no concentration or gathering of willpower, raising his eyebrows in surprise he walked through and came out in front of the barracks to the shock of the sentinels who stood guard. They snapped at attention despite their injuries,

“Go rest, there will be no attacks on bastion today, not while I’m here” he ordered,

The looks of relief in their eyes drove another lance of pain through his heart, this people were meant to be in the green zone, he should had been adamant about it. They had neither his physique or his luck with the body and path he had gotten, they were ordinary people who were trying to survive,

“you’re doing that thing again” Idris said as he came out from the black tall building with broken parts,

“What thing?” moyo replied,

“The one where you think any bad thing that happens is your fault, news flash, it isn’t boss, you’ve done the best you can for us, the rest is up to everyone to survive, or you thought we all together could take on whatever monstrosity you fought in the temporary dungeon?” Idris explained,

Moyo sighed, watching as the cleric healers arrived with boxes of the elixirs, handing them out to the sentinels that leaned on each other as they came out of the building,

“doesn’t make it any easier” he replied,

“Welcome to the burden of ruling, now if you’ll excuse me your worriness, I’ll meet you in Ife?” Idris asked as moyo nodded again,

Watching Idris go, moyo walked among the twenty plus men, patting them and thanking them, watching as they nodded with resolve. A few moments later he came out to see a big bonfire burning with one of the mutated cows roasting atop the fire, apparently even the threats of ice wyverns couldn’t stop people from having a good meal. With a thought he tore open space again, still reveling in the feeling of his easier command over it, he pictured the core room and appeared there, stepping out of his space as Mrs Martha lead everyone in,

“Handy skill” Ayo observed,

“Not unless you want to get squished to a pulp the first time you try it” moyo replied grinning,

“How did you survive it” Boyle asked as he entered the room,

“I’m me” was all moyo said as everyone chuckled,

As they sat down, Mrs Martha took them through the losses of the battle. The repairs to bastion cost a steep two hundred thousand coins, minus the elixirs that went for a hundred silver per bottle, but with the somewhat vast amount of wealth bastion had, the cost was covered, even now the cheers of the people rang out as a bright light suffused bastion and fixed everything. With that out of the way, moyo explained all he went through, as he finished the room was silent, till josh spoke up,

“So, what you’re saying is this wyvern, Urguth, didn’t feel like a level 80 foe?” he asked,

“The info supplied by the archailect said capped at 80, plus he kept mentioning the name Xerxes” moyo replied,

“It is as I suspected” Mrs Martha said as she sent an info to their Hud,

Urguth the ice wyvern

Sobriquet: frozen destruction

Path: freezing existence

Status: dead

Level: 950 (archailect restriction – 80)

Urguth led a rebellion against the sovereign beings by seizing a nexus point, after the plot was crushed by Xerxes world burner, Urguth was sentenced to a life of servitude by serving as a wave boss till he eventually met his death recently.

Moyos’ eyes widened, that wyvern was a fucking level 950 monster, a master so close to being a ruler, and he had just killed it due to sheer luck and tenacity. Everyone sat up,

“What the ever living fuck” Annika exclaimed,

“Urguth was not meant to be a wave boss for us, he was meant to be a wave boss for whatever advocate or faction landed in the yellow zone, we were just unlucky enough to face him” Mrs Martha explained,

“In any case, if the next wave is anything like this one, we’re screwed” Idris said,

“What levels are the people in?” moyo asked

“The average levels are between levels 30 to 52, the highest in the room here being Annika at 52, Idris, Ayo and josh at levels 51, 50 and 49 respectively” Mrs.. Martha said,

“Welcome to the big leagues, and in the green zones?” he asked again as Annika smiled,

“The range is between levels 5-30, the few strongholds are overpopulated and strained” Mrs Martha said again,

“My point is to show the good and bad sides of the yellow zone” moyo started,

“On one hand the monsters are higher, the waves keep increasing in strength and therefore allowing our limited numbers to increase in strength, the bad side is that casualties might soon start compounding up” moyo explained,

“Casualties are a part of any war sir, and we’re in one” josh said,

‘True, but what moyo is asking” Annika said,

“Is if the people can hold on till the last wave, we have two waves left and they won’t be any easier, the only way to cut them short is if I go kill the boss immediately and I can’t guarantee that result as quick as possible to save lives” moyo explained,

“Then we’ll just have to live with it” Ayo said,

“she’s right, everyone’s survival is ultimately in their own hands, we could be dead by now if we were still with the xerrans” Boyle said,

Moyo just nodded mutely, he agreed with the point but he didn’t have to like it. With a gesture he opened a rip and dropped the entire skeleton of Urguth in the middle of the room. Eyes widened as Idris whistled,

“Somehow I feel pity for Urguth” Idris remarked,

Moyo turned to Boyle, gesturing at the bones,

“I was hoping something could come out of the bones of a powerful creature such as Urguth” he said to the blacksmith who was already enraptured by the shining bones,

“Oh, I will make something out of it” he said cackling,

“Mixed in metal these bones could increase the tier of any weapon created, hell we could outfit the whole sentinel corps with swords of rare or legendary quality!” Boyle exclaimed,

Moyo chuckled,

“Well knock yourself out” he replied as Boyle began muttering to himself, walking to the door to try finding volunteers to help move the bones.

Moyo sat back down,

“I guess tomorrow isn’t far away, get some rest, prepare yourselves, hopefully we don’t get another overly powerful foe” moyo muttered darkly,

“And if we do, bastion would face it with all its might knowing our advocate was beating the ever living shit out of the wave boss” Annika said boldly

Moyo could only hope…

That same night moyo meditated atop the roof of Ife, all its injured citizens were either recuperating in the care of the cleric healers or well enough to sleep in their respective homes. He supposed he should be grateful no one was dead, but for how long?. Moyo had no illusions about the fourth wave coming, it would be far deadlier than the last wave and even though the small people of bastion were advancing at a steady rate, the gap between them and their enemies was steadily increasing.

Resolving to find a way to handle it, moyo closed his eyes and felt the aether around him, he could feel the raw energy that made up the archailect now, feeling as it infused everything from the grass to even the stones. He couldn’t explain the process, but it felt like the aether was breathing life into its surroundings, with a thought he began absorbing the aether into his body, frowning as he realized something different about the aether, it felt heavy. Opening his eyes and bringing out two aether shards, one uncommon and rare, first he crushed the uncommon shard and absorbed its stored aether, noting if felt exactly like the aether in the air, heavy. Then he broke the rare aether shard and felt a significant difference, the aether was lighter, more easy to wield and absorb into his core.

Taking in this new discovery, moyo began to deduce a few things, testing a theory again, he summoned dominion whose evolution now sat at 10%, channeling the aether in the air through his body and transforming it into intent blades that he wrapped around his katana. With a flick he sent it out and watched the heavy but potent attack cut through the air, repeating the same process with the rare aether shard moyo sent an attack out, this time it had little or no resistance at all. Astonished by the fact that he hadn’t noticed such vital discovery, moyo attempted to one of the few legendary crystals with him but thought against it, that would be a gross waste of the aether shard. Instead, he held it in his hand and tried sending his willpower into it, trying to see what made it tick.

Moyo stared at what his mind was sending back as info and was stumped, all he could see was the now volatile aether inside the shard rampage around as the crystal housing the shard seemed to withstand the volatile nature of the shard while maintaining its integrity. Moyo frowned, no, the crystal was absorbing something from the aether that strengthened its structure, like it kept a delicate balance between weakening the aether from destroying its container and ensuring it didn’t lose its stored aether. Deciding to look at it later, he continued channeling the heavy aether in the atmosphere through his body and into his core where it was refined into battle intent. Feeling his core that never seemed to fill up gradually reach its full capabilities, moyo opened his eyes and thought of his fight with Urguth.

The wyvern had seemed to control him for a minute there, if not for his somewhat strong willpower, he would probably told the wyvern everything, and who was the Xerxes the beast had mentioned?, the name world burner sent chills down his spine, perhaps he should look into that fact also later. Staring at a dead torch on the stone walls of Ife, moyo decided to test the command,

“burn” he said,

Nothing, not a wisp of smoke, snorting to himself, if it were that easy everyone would be laying commands up and down. Gathering himself again he reflected on that moment, the essence of Urguth he fought said he was also inheriting the authority of the monster along with all he got, could that beast mean intent?. Trying again he channeled his intent from his core, leaving it as raw intent and fusing it with his will of the titan,

“burn” he ordered, feeling the difference in his voice,

Immediately the flame burst to life, along with the most splitting, agonizing headache moyo had every experienced. Holding his head in abject pain, his breath coming out in rough gasps, moyo folded himself in a fetal position, waiting as the pain slowly ebbed away. When he finally had enough strength to open his eyes, it was to a notification,

Congratulations! Few in the archailect know of the use of authority, even fewer know how to command it, you have acquired the skill: voice of the titan(r)!

Voice of the titan(r)

You have taken another step on the road to becoming a titan, you have realized that the words of a titan is law, grow stronger and hone your authority!.

If every command came with a head splitting migraine such as the one he just went through, moyo wasn’t sure he was going to use it, authority be damned. He felt like he was going to die for a moment there, like someone had poured molten metal directly into his brain. Gathering himself again he meditated, feeling himself settle, perhaps he was looking at this the wrong way. Wincing as he tried testing another theory, he threw a piece of rock in the air,

“hold” he said,

Immediately the rock hung in the air, and all he could feel was his willpower being drained at a very stupendous rate, no headaches. His mind went into overdrive as he began to suspect a theory, again he picked another rock and gathered his willpower that recovered quickly,

“crush” he ordered,

He felt no drain on his willpower nor intent at an alarming rate, the rock just simply became powder, like his will had simply reduced it to powder with overwhelming strength. He finally understood as he saw the skill move up to level 5, the voice of the titan skill worked in tandem to whatever aspect you wielded. Moyo was simply a force of nature, a titan and that meant overwhelming power, he didn’t freeze things or light things on fire, he’s path was that of the crushing blade, he was built to crush and destroy things, it was why the sentinel corps who wielded a portion of his sobriquet refined aether into force in their core. Allocating his 260 attribute points into his constitution to raise another of his attributes past the two thousand threshold, moyo glanced at his stat and realized they were indeed monstrous, he had no idea what the usual stat for an advocate was, but he was pretty sure he could play tennis with any advocate that came his way, experts?, moyo wasn’t ready to test that theory just yet.

He sat on the rooftop till morning, meditating as he kept giving little commands to things that flew by, freezing a bird in the air, crushing a stalk of a leaf to powder, soon enough he began a habit of freezing himself and fighting against the attack, it did wonders for his new skill, leveling it up to twenty. As daylight broke out and every member of bastion woke and began to prepare for the days battle, moyo could sense the dread in the air. They were somewhat scared, which was understandable, they had been brutalized yesterday and only knew the battle would get tougher from here on out. Watching as Mrs Martha raised the maze back up, the archers and sentinels taking up their positions atop the walls and in the maze respectfully.

Moyo heard the gong that heralded the fourth wave, standing up as Annika appeared beside him in bolt of lightning, moyo raised an eyebrow, she shrugged,

“You have your teleportation thing, I have my step of lightning skill, its even rare tier” she boasted proudly,

Chuckling he watched on as Idris, Mrs Martha, Ayo and josh showed up, staring in the distance as a loud boom announced the opening of the temporary dungeon, and from the already decimated forest came a flying horde of creatures moyo knew well enough,

Rucar hive drones level 80

Moyo began to laugh, a deep sinister laughter as everyone turned to look at him, wondering what was funny,

“everyone” moyo said as he gathered their attention,

A dimension step and moyo at the top of the crystal wall, the rest of the team staring on,

“Yesterday they sent their monsters to wreak bastion, we suffered, but we overcame them” he started as the drones began flying towards bastion,

“Today they send these rucar drones, level 90, let me show you what happens when you persevere and gain power in the archailect” moyo growled,

In a rush of intent moyo unleashed his realm over the coming drones and soldiers as they got closer, and the authority of a titan moyo activated his latest skill,

“hold” he growled,

The entire horde of rucar drones froze in the very air,

The entire bastion stared in awe of what moyo had done, moyo noticing the drain on his willpower in his realm wasn’t as much as it was on the outside, perhaps the laws of nature bending to his will in the realm, but nevertheless he felt the drain, and with another command he lit the fire in the hearts of the people of bastion,

“crush” he commanded,

And like paper the entire horde of flying rucar folded like a tin can, screeching as they were crushed to a paste in a minute, the crushed spherical ball dropping to the ground as moyo saw the notification of leveling up,

Level 90!

With a resounding roar the people of bastion shouted, moyo raised his hand as another set of flying rucar came from the trees,

“we are bastion, we are the wall that stands between them and humanity!, they will serve as steps for advancement just as the wyverns did!, we do not falter!, we do not stay down!, we will crush this very crisis and send a message to the powers that be, that humanity, bastion, Ife, will not lay down!” he shouted,

The sentinels thumped their weapons, the archers knocked their flaming bows, thunder storm gathered on the horizon as the ferocious nature of each and every member of bastion surfaced,

” Crush them!” moyo ordered

And the arrows flew, lightning came down and voices raged beneath the titan on the path of the crushing blade...