Deep in the archailect,

Universes away,

Planet Erta,

The planet Erta was a giant rocky world, mostly filled with red sands that blew all year long. Giant dunes raged away as the winds of Erta seemed never-ending, the inhabitants of this world were used to it, evolution their saving grace as their bodies developed thick dry skins that needed little moisture to keep healthy and their thin reptilian eyes developed a second vertical membrane to protect against the blowing sands. The inhabitants of Erta had lived a relatively peaceful existence since the coming of the archailect centuries ago, their race being one of peaceful and meek cohabitation saw no reason to ascend higher in rank through the archailect, and as such most of the specie stayed at the initiate level with a few making it to acolyte, preferring to mine the spices their world was known for and selling it to the collective worlds in the archailect at large.

That was until a single member of their race somehow decided that mining was not for him, ascending to the rank of expert, akar son of abar obtained the path of the raging blade, swearing his fealty and that of his planet to the master assigned to him and its ruler in extension, as was the custom, except in this instance it was a grave mistake,

This universe was in the territory of the ruler on the path of a thousand blades.

Suddenly the citizens of the planet of Erta found themselves in the middle of a cosmic battle, thunder and lightning raged in their skies as the experts of both the factions of a thousand blades and the raging blade clashed overhead. The Ertanians found themselves staring up in terror as countless bodies after bodies fell from the sky, burning up in the hot Ertanian air, shattering like crystals that shone. The sadly amusing fact was that even above the experts, outside of Erta itself in space, another battle had broken out, one of the individuals who had gotten to the rank of masters, whose single skills and techniques could permanently damage the planet should they fight on its surface.

It was in this particular expanse of space the real battle happened, masters of different schools and sects belonging to the two different paths of the rulers twisted and bent reality to their will, sending commands after commands at each other with the absolute attention to wipe out the opposition. The army of the raging blade was sure of their victory, for some reason the ruler of the thousand blades had not deemed it fit to send the bulk of the masters he had under his authority to come to defend this valuable planet, and the army of the raging blade fully intended to take advantage of it.

On and on both sides raged in battle, the masters of a thousand blades slowly retreating as the opposition gloated in delight, spurring their experts doing battle on the surface to press on their attacks, nothing could stop the planet and its universe from falling into their hands.

That was until he came stepping out of a portal,

Golden locked hair with golden eyes that glowed, a gauntlet that radiated the ever-chilling pressure of death, an armor that seemed to suck in space with its inky darkness, and a golden blade that radiated the very concept of death, to take the very life of existence.

To reap,

Ajax death blade, supposedly the sole master and user on the path of the reaping katana stepped out of a spatial rift. The entire host of masters on the battlefield felt his presence, there had been rumors of a master whom a ruler had bestowed his mantle upon, a sort of portion of their will, authority, and power molded into a weapon. There were a thousand masters or more in the archailect at large, but less than a hundred emissaries of a ruler and for good reasons at that. The master from the faction of a raging blade immediately began forging barrier after barrier of pure willpower, mentally urging their experts that were left to flee the universe they were currently in with the spatial ways they had opened up while also trying to connect with their ruler tp inform him of the deadly situation. Still, death, as they say, waits for no man.

With a brief wave of his willpower infused with the very nature of death, ajax closed off all spatial ways to and from the universe, all forms of communication dying out. Eyes gleaming in barely suppressed battle lust, ajax waited till the masters had weaved their willpower into defensive barriers that layered over each other, a strong will that could stop a meteor or even possibly a dying star from obliterating them,

A futile gesture,

With the power of his mantle infused with his very understanding of the concept of death and his overwhelming willpower, ajax uttered a single word,

“die”

With that command that went out like a reaper’s scythe, hundreds of experts from the faction of the raging blade seized to exist, no blood, no flesh, no shattering like crystals, nothing. The opposing master caught in the blast had no idea they were dead when they did, willpowers snapped, minds shut down and the bodies of over twenty masters, each on different paths that had toiled to get close to the peak of power in the archailect were suddenly snuffed out like a candlelight in the wind. The few that remained, whose willpowers or concepts of their paths had provided a brief respite against death itself found themselves breathing hard, their bodies in no capacity to provide any assistance should the emissary decide to fight stared on as they prepared for their imminent deaths.

Ajax paused and let his willpower drop, the spatial ways opening once more,

“scram” he ordered while smiling,

The masters bent the last of their vitalities to escaping the universe, closing their spatial ways immediately after them, not waiting for any experts of their factions to follow them,

Because there were none left.

As the masters from the faction of a thousand blades celebrated, ajax folded his hands in consideration, staring down at Erta with its brown surface in space, his mind on a disciple he may have dragged unwillingly into a very complex situation, it was less than a year of archailect time to the competition. Another spatial way opened up behind the lines of the allied masters and a masked man in a gold and silver robe with a silver sword that hummed stepped through, the masters in the vicinity immediately bowed, and ajax just raised an eyebrow as the man tsked. Looking around the area the man gave a disappointed grunt, turning to ajax,

“You were given specific orders emissary ajax, eliminate the army of the raging blade,” he said,

Ajax glanced around in a second,

“You see any enemy master or experts breathing? or has your intent grown sloppy over the years?” ajax replied as the masters around them took a hasty step back in fear,

“Then why do I feel some of them escaping through the pathways?” the man asked again, totally ignoring the insult,

“Because they weren’t worthy to die by either my blade or the mantle of a reaper” ajax replied,

“that’s not up to you emissary ajax, perhaps if I can’t convince you, our ruler would,” the man said as he brought out a dark-looking orb,

Immediately the object pulsed with power barely contained, a presence suddenly suffusing the expanse of space they were in, a presence so tangible, ajax felt a slight movement from him would cause his body to get shredded to pieces as space itself became the domain of a thousand sharp blades, the presence of the ruler of a thousand blades manifested itself. Everyone knelt immediately, even ajax and the man, all knelt in subservience to their ruler whose attention honed in on ajax with deadly accuracy,

“Why?” the soft steel voice of the ruler ordered from the orb that cracked a little,

Ajax felt himself immediately spilling the thoughts he had carefully arranged in his mind,

“To drive fear into the heart of their faction, ensure other planets they contest with us see a quick withdrawal of their troops,” he said,

The voice became quiet as if ruminating on what ajax said, finally, it spoke again,

“Fine, return” the voice commanded as the orb shattered, the powers of a ruler too much for the transmission hold to contain for long,

The masters all breathed a sigh of relief inwardly, most masters, everyone really, tried to avoid the attention of a ruler, even their subjects. The masked man stood up as they all did,

“You know” ajax started as he dusted imaginary dust from his body,

“You could have just given me a heads up that he was going to be dropping in,” he said,

“The ways of our ruler are not known to us, I hope this reminds you that he sees all,” the man said,

“Doubt it” Ajax retorted,

The man sighed, shaking his head as a spatial rip opened up behind him,

“it’s less than a year to the competition emissary Ajax, I hope your investment does better,” the man said,

Ajax frowned,

“You mean our investment?” he replied,

The man gave a light chuckle,

“The ways of a ruler might not be known to me, but do you think you were the only option he had?” the masked man said as he entered the spatial rip and it closed behind him,

Ajax kept the frown on his face as the other masters began opening rips and exiting in groups, leaving him alone floating in space, staring down at the citizens of Erta who rejoiced despite their only expert being dead, but it was not like they loved him anyways. Ajax stared at the gauntlet on his right arm, the one he used to hold his katana,

“I hope you’re getting stronger monster” he muttered…

Planet C-102,

Yellow Zone,

Sector 1,

The City of Bastion,

“So, what you’re telling me, is that I just fought another nerfed monster of the archailect?” Moyo asked,

They had gathered in the core room in the walled building of Ife, having one the battle against the rucar swarm Moyo had gathered the entire council once again in what was slowly becoming a daily occurrence. Mrs. Martha nodded at him as she seemed to be going through the info of At’ll the rucar swarm queen,

“It says here that she was a level 400 expert on the path of the merciless thorn, apparently she was a close accomplice of Urguth.” She explained,

“you’re sensing a trend here” Ayo observed,

Moyo nodded, his mind considering different angles,

“Could we assume the archailect may have just deemed you worthy of possessing enough strength to fight a nerfed monster?” Boyle asked,

“It was what I thought at first too, till I began to go through the methods of waves in the archailect, it seems it’s a sort of test,” Mrs. Martha said,

“a test of loyalty” Moyo muttered as she nodded,

“So, what, the archailect is testing your ability to kill?” Idris asked,

“Not exactly, it’s testing if I have the complete loyalty to take out a monster it has deemed an enemy of itself, to see if I will comply or question its orders” Moyo explained,

“Not like you have a choice though, with it being the wave boss and all” Annika said, her blue air glowing as little sparks of lightning danced around them,

“True, but it is how Moyo executes them that matters, does he kill them with mercy or brutally?” Mrs. Martha said in as much as an answer to Annika and an observance to herself,

“From what I’ve seen of the first wave boss Moyo killed, I doubt it would be a mercy kill,” Ayo said as Moyo nodded,

“Then the question is, what happens if it decides Moyo was sympathetic towards its enemies?” Josh said coming into the conversation,

“We can’t afford to make it think that way, we’re in no position to even bite back at the archailect, not until at least most of us are rulers and our peopled masters or experts,” Moyo said with certainty in his tone,

“I agree, Boyle, any update on weapons?” Mrs. Martha asked their primordial forger,

“The entire sentinel corps have been equipped with uncommon weapons, mostly blunt weapons despite their perks with bladed weapons that came from lord Moyo, Josh here even has a rare tier hammer he decided to name titan smasher, go figure” Boyle explained as everyone chuckled at a seemingly blushing Josh,

“Apart from that the mage corps all seem to prefer sharp weapons like spears and swords, the uncommon weapons wielding enough power to channel lightning through them so they’re alright on their ends, the dawn archers have an entire section dedicated to producing arrows for them with the surplus wood we have, all in all, the little army of Bastion is well prepared for the final wave” Boyle finished,

Mrs. Martha nodded, glancing around in case anyone else had questions to ask,

“What about defensive weapons for the whole of Bastion?” Moyo asked,

“It seems those sorts of weapons unlock at a higher domain level than city, I tried crafting a siege tower and a sort of pressure-filled my body and mind like the archailect was warning me against it” Boyle explained,

“Figures, it could be the archailect expecting us to show our mettle by ourselves and not with weapons” Annika grumbled,

“Be that as it may, it just shows that should and when we overcome the final wave, we need to bolster the population of Bastion,” Mrs. Martha said,

“You mean going out of our sector to other sectors?” Idris asked,

“Indeed, while I doubt any human below acolyte could survive in the yellow zone, I believe those in the green zone with little to no protection against the monsters of the archailect or particularly vicious leaders could need our help,” Mrs. Martha said with a frown on her face,

“you’ve seen something,” Moyo said,

“Not exactly, but there are some parts in the green zones where a bunch of people mysteriously die before the advent of a wave attack, I can’t help but suspect foul play” she explained,

“that’s all for after the last wave, for now, let’s get everyone ready to face the last wave, it’s night already, everyone go rest, prepare for battle, and-“ Moyo said as a loud gong revibrated all around Bastion, cutting off his speech as his eyes widened,

Notice! The final wave is about to begin!.

Moyo on reflex opened a spatial rip and stepped through, appearing outside the crystal walls of Bastion where a roar emanated from the red dungeon portal high in the sky, and from it came a majestic red flying humanoid dragon, more following behind it. Dread immediately suffused Moyo, the citizens of Bastion might be strong, but they were in no way prepared to face these creature creatures. The lead monster stopped in the air with the rest forming up behind it,

Raze Dragonoid commander level 95

The Dragonoid specie are wyverns who in their early evolution decided to forsake the big towering form of their dragon rulers and elders in favor of the humanoid form for mobility, this particular horde of dragons along with their commander took part in the rebellion with Urguth to take over a nexus point, destroy them.

The first thing Moyo did was look through his stat table quickly, level 95, 200 attribute points. With no hesitation whatsoever he dumped them all into his willpower of the titan raising it to 2,900 in preparation for the onslaught that was about to happen. Raze the Dragonoid commander opened its mouth as it began to speak in a clear human voice,

“citizens of Bastion!, we are of the revered Dragonoid race, an offspring of the mighty dragon race! our quarrel is not with you but with the archailect itself!. Submit and we would be merciful, to an extent of course” he said as the Dragonoid behind him began to laugh,

Moyo produced dominion and extended his realm over the Drago whose commander’s eyes widened in shock in a flash, the expression disappearing as it disappeared immediately. However, the Dragonoids behind it stepped back in fear, and whispers of “expert” filled the air as their commander raze growled at them to silence. It glanced at Moyo with suspicion,

“How does a tier-one world, have an…advocate? that can use the realm? what sort of joke is this?” raze growled,

“None of your business you overgrown lizard, the question is who are you?” Moyo retorted,

Raze had smoke coming out of his nostrils after that insult, Moyo could feel the army of Bastion at his back now, standing with all the council members, Mrs. Martha included. The Dragonoid commander roared into the air with fire pouring out of its mouth,

“I am raze, Dragonoid commander” he started,

“First and right-hand man to my master evon the Dragonoid on the path of the scorching lava, conqueror of worlds, slayer of thousands, ruler of a hundred worlds, I will eat your flesh and burn your homes, your bones will become will be picked to use in removing your stringy flesh from my teeth” raze finished,

Moyo stepped forward as the sentinel corps began slamming their weapons on the ground like a beat,

“I am Moyosore, son of akinlawon, now known as titan blade” Moyo started as he began subtly infusing his voice of the titan over his realm,

“I who bathed in lava, slew an evolving wyrm, destroyed and absorbed the essence of Urguth, wyvern on the path of the freezing existence, It’ll the swarm queen on the path of the merciless thorn fell before my might, I have slain monsters of the archailects and obtained the draconic body, I am Moyosore titan blade, as those who came before you fell before my will of the titan on the path of the crushing blade, so would you” he finished as the army of Bastion gave a resounding roar, dark clouds booming overhead as lightning danced in them, Annika floating up in the air.

The Dragonoids cast furtive glances at each other as raze boiled with anger, with a roar the Dragonoid pumped its wings as it blasted forward in a beeline at Moyo who summoned dominion. Before clashing with Moyo the Dragonoid unleashed white flames from its mouth in such rage that the very ground around Moyo cracked and caught fire, raze roaring in triumph at the perceived death of the insolent human who had dared stand up to the draconic race, till an arm that shimmered like it had draconic scales shot out of the blinding flames with a voice that commanded and both ordered raze to a spot,

“hold”

The arm grabbed raze by the throat, the power of the command held him like steel as the commander pitted his very willpower against it, but it was a futile gesture, the best raze could do was choke out a squeak. The flames cleared to show an unharmed Moyo, his clothes haven been burned a bit, a sort of maniacal look in his eyes, raze saw him grip his blade tighter and in a flash, the weapon had sunk deep into his chest, his eyes wide open. As raze began taking his dying breath, he heard the voice of the human,

“I told you, I am Moyo, titan blade, draconic slayer,” Moyo said,

And with that raze took his last breath, with a chill he realized his very life force was being siphoned away into the human known as Moyo, and in that brief second, he felt fear and pity for his warriors, for they had no hope of surviving the disaster known as titan blade.