The full moon shone over Bastion with its rays illuminating the already lit kingdom, on the dark crystal walls that surrounded the kingdom stood five individuals, each wearing the different colors of each of the sects that Bastion contained, eyes vigilant as they watched the surroundings for any signs of danger. Over at every watchtower, the same was happening, down in Bastion proper, the town was in high gear, every battle-ready member of each sect was arming themselves to the teeth, on the orders of their vice commanders who had given the proclamation that had come out of Ife itself, from the home of the titan.

Inside Ife, the large round table was lit up with maps of the continent they resided on, markers glowing as everyone in the room moved around at urgent speed. Moyo stood at the giant map display, Annika at his side,

“To be honest, I’m surprised you took a move as bold as this,” she said, glancing at him

Moyos’ mind was dissecting different issues at the same time, he glanced at her and smiled before turning back to the map, his sight on the little red portion of the map that was a representation of the red zone,

“Indeed, what happened to holding down our fort and preparing for the landing?” Ayo asked, Charles the one-eyed vice commandant of the dawn archer sect appearing at her side and whispering in her ears before fading away the same way he came.

Moyo sighed, massaging his shoulders that popped, he noticed Mrs. Martha standing near a woman with brown hair and freckles on her cheeks, she wore a long robe that hid her body and carried a bronze-looking staff with inscriptions on it along with a silver large book that floated by her side. Mrs. Martha had introduced the woman to him as Samantha, the woman in charge of the warehouse and keeper of artifacts. She was a gentle-looking woman who Moyo had seen destroy three rucar drones herself during the crisis with nothing but her staff and her spells that gave her access to a plethora of elements without tying herself to one, in particular, she followed the path of the six-sided mage.

He took his attention back to the question Boyle had asked him, clapping his hands to get the attention of everyone in the room as the whole hall became quiet,

“By now you’re probably wondering why I initiated this plan” Moyo started, eyes roaming the room to look at both sect leaders and vice commanders alike,

“The main reason I decided to hold back and hold Bastion alone was to hide away from prying eyes of the archailect”

“See, our planet is considered a tier 1 planet, a backwater swamp not even fit for tourism to the archailect at large, doubt many sects and clans would fight for a piece of it anyways”

He turned back to the map and continued,

“You see, that’s my fear. What happens when certain groups realize most eyes wouldn’t be looking at the planet?” he asked,

“You get clans or sects who want to use it for nefarious purposes or a sort of base to cover up activities” Mrs. Martha answered, her face scrunching up as she began to think,

“Exactly, we’re not attracting the movers and shakers of the archailect, maybe not now, but our people would become nothing but fodder for any potential mafia or weird ruler to use,” he said,

“While I can’t protect the whole world, obviously, I intend to create a staging ground to both protect and train humanity to the best of my abilities”

“you’re not looking to make Bastion the staging ground, you want an entire continent as a staging ground for your assault when they arrive,” Samantha said, eyes widening in realization as everyone else in the room save Mrs. Martha looked surprised, she had probably guessed the truth

“Our world isn’t supposed to have anything more than initiates, maybe some prodigy acolytes here and there, but here I am, an expert in a room full of acolytes and a bunch of advocates. It was the reason the overseer of our galaxy showed up and trashed me like a day-old babe, I’m guessing the news that there’s an expert on a world without outside influence could spread soon, in which case there’s no need to hold back, we dominate this continent and invite humanity to make it our home, not much left of us anyways” Moyo finished,

“that’s quite a large undertaking but feasible, I’m guessing you’re sending the sects into the green zones?” Idris asked as Josh who stood by his side whispered something to another sentinel who nodded, saluted, and bounded off towards the large doors,

“Indeed, the vice commanders would lead their sects into the green zone to create numerous strongholds in all its sectors, hold it with few acolytes, and initiates for the mass of refugees that would arrive. I need your sect leaders with me to subjugate the entire yellow zone and possibly the red zone” Moyo replied,

Again, murmurs filled the room,

“It seems you took my words into consideration,” Mrs. Martha said with a smile,

“Indeed, if Bastion is to live up to its name, it has to reside in the most brutal zone” Moyo replied as his eyes glowed purple,

“Why do I feel like you just want to take out your anger on those creatures?” Annika asked glancing at him,

“Maybe a little, but my reasoning is true, from what I’ve seen on the map, the green zone is made up of ten sectors, the yellow zone has five sectors, and the red zone one sector. Each sector is as big as a state judging from former earth calculations” he replied,

“So, the plan is as follows, the sect leaders would each take their red dungeon core and create a stronghold in each of the yellow sectors, one sect per sector, then we proceed to the red zone together where Mrs. Martha would proceed to use a thousand diamond coins to move Bastion over to the only sector there where I and the sect leaders would have cleared out the area of monsters,” he said,

“Once the yellow and red zones are under the control of Bastion, the sect vice commanders and their members would begin the complete subjugation of the green zones. Any stronghold you meet along the way, should they prove hostile to our cause, leave them alone and move on to other strongholds that are allied to us and give them a rare dungeon core to upgrade their strongholds from the uncommon cores they used” he finished,

At once the room became a blur of movement as it once was, Samantha conversing with Mrs. Martha once again,

“can’t help but notice this current sector is one of the five sectors of the yellow zone, who gets to lay claim to the soon-to-be former grounds of Bastion?” Annika asked,

The whole room became quiet as all eyes turned to Moyo expectantly, he smiled a bit, it seemed like a sort of friendly rivalry was growing between the sects, and even Mrs. Martha looked interested. Moyo plastered a look of nonchalance on his face,

“No idea, perhaps the first sect that manages to create their strongholds in the yellow zone after we move to the red zone, which means the red zone takes priority now I guess, all in accord?” Moyo asked,

Everyone muttered their approval, Moyo shaking his head at the ridiculousness of the deal. Mrs. Martha threw a silver-looking box to him,

“that’s a grand teleportation array, once you have cleared a respectable amount of land, drop the box and activate the scripts on its side by pushing pure aether into it, the whole of Bastion would pop right over, walls intact, neat trick costs a lot though, but you’re aware of that already,” she said,

Moyo nodded, producing dominion that hummed with barely restrained fury, it had faced a foe it could not cut, could not crush, and now it thirsted for the blood of a foe, soon, Moyo thought to his sentient blade. With a quick slice, he tore open a rift and hopped through, appearing in the red zone almost immediately, from all corners of the zone he felt perceptions crash unto him as he gave a feral smile. Twirling dominion in his hand, his mantle blazed to life with the full authority of the titan, this time, even though he was loathed to follow it, he used the advice Atreus had given him.

Sending his will of the titan out to the thick aether around him, he felt the raging wave that was the aether, and rather than dominate it with his authority, he coaxed it to resonate with him, to fuse with his intentions. To his surprise it obeyed instinctively, enforcing his real around him as two level 150 shadow monsters crashed into his realm, Moyo willing it to harden into a barrier. Bones crushing as they squealed in a loud pitched voice, Moyo brought dominion crashing down on them, the monsters turning to mush under the full might of dominion that blazed red hot, its gravitational skill activating.

He produced the box and threw it in the air as it hummed, its frequency increasing by the second. With a bright flash of light, a loud hum filled the area, enveloping Moyo also, and right before his eyes, its crystal walls crushing every tree and obstacle on its path as it expanded back to its usual size stood Bastion. Moyo glanced around to find himself on the streets of Bastion, in front of a large statue of him that had been made by a sculptor, with no citizen of Bastion in sight. Then the golden doors of Ife opened with a loud groan as the sect leaders and vice sect leaders poured out.

The sky darkened as Annika floated into the clouds, eyes flashing, streaks of lightning flashed in the clouds along with the thunderous boom of thunder raging as it summoned up a storm. A large red eye glowed in the sky as Ayo drew the strings of her golden bow back, and red blazing arrows formed in the sky as Moyo’s eyebrows went up with a smile, glancing at them to verify they were still advocates and not experts like him. Idris appeared from the halls of Ife, blazing past him with a smile on his face as his red crystal gauntlets began to glow. He jumped to the air in one move and drew his arm back as the air around him buzzed,

“Moyo!, hold the monsters down!” Mrs. Martha shouted as she appeared behind him with a Samantha that was whispering a spell, a gigantic circular script forming behind her as it shifted colors.

Moyo cast his realm around the entire red zone, realizing it was a bit smaller than the sector Bastion previously held. Just the size of an island, Moyo realized he could encompass the whole zone and with his entire willpower of the titan infused with the skill voice of the titan, he shouted a command over the creatures in this zone,

“HOLD!” he growled,

The very air stilled, the trees stopped swaying, and the monsters all over the zone were frozen. Sweat beaded on his forehead as a migraine threatened to split his head, the monsters here were no pushovers, they were close to obtaining their first taste of sentience and as such had a better self-awareness and control over it. He felt his command snap after a minute, but it was enough for all the attacks the sect leaders were creating, and like a cataclysm of sound and light, they all released their attacks, along with Boyle who had appeared from the hall of Ife, throwing a construct into the air that blazed and opened up to reveal over a hundred constructs

“Dance of the thunder god!”

“Scorching aim of the blazing sun!”

“Fist of Geb!”

“Path of the six-fold attack: annihilation!”

“Gripping webs of Anansi!”

“Hundred constructs of inferno!”

The very skies around Bastion became a myriad of colors as each attack blazed to glory, lightning flashed and danced as it struck the monsters over and over, flaming piercing arrows piercing through the cooked and streaming flesh of the monsters followed by a concussive blast that appeared over the monsters that slammed some to a paste. A dark swirling script appeared over the vast landscape as crystal spears of different colors that had different effects began to slam down into the ground with the force of poles drilled into the monsters that were still alive around Bastion and whatever unfortunate monster that survived that got to taste the white-hot scorching flames encased in metal that poured out of the construct Boyle had released into the sky.

Moyo could faintly see the lines of the web that attached itself to the monsters that had been running towards Bastion with full force, realizing the reason the attacks had landed with such deadly accuracy was because of the homing vibration the webs gave off, Moyo was astonished at the coordination. Individually, the attacks of each sect leader would have done nothing but injure the monsters before they were mauled to death, but with the array of deadly attacks that worked together, they had stood no chance at all.

They all landed beside him, Moyo smiled at them,

“That was…flashy and brutal,” he remarked,

“We figured working together gave us the best chance,” Ayo said as she placed her bow behind her on its strap,

“That aside, who got the highest damage?” Annika asked Mrs. Martha, Moyo gave a confused expression,

“Why does that matter?” he asked,

“Rule of the game for who claims the former site of Bastion has changed, rather than planting a stronghold, it now depends on who had the highest damage in the attacks we just displayed” Idris replied, Moyo shook his head as he already knew the answer,

“Not that it surprised me, but it’s actually sect leader Annika, her continuous bolts of lightning raged on till the end of the battle” Mrs. Martha declared as Moyo saw a subtle Julius pump his hand in the air,

With grumbles going around, gold coins were exchanged till they got to the outstretched hand of Annika who grinned smugly. Mrs. Martha turned and activated the large tele hub that stood in the square of Bastion, turning to Annika,

“In you go, establish your stronghold immediately, the other sect leaders are advised to start moving also,” she remarked,

Annika saluted at him, called Julius who bowed to them and adjusted his glasses as lightning coursed through his body while following his sect leader through the portal. The rest said their short goodbyes and passed through the portal, leaving him, Mrs. Martha, and Samantha who was staring at the smoking remains of the monsters that were ashes now floating in the air,

“My lord? you might want to come see this” she called,

Together, Moyo and Mrs. Samantha walked up to Samantha who pointed towards the distance where trees still stood, a good way away from the scorched grounds that now lay around Bastion. With his clear vision, Moyo saw shadows in the trees that stared with evil malicious eyes toward Bastion,

“Felt blood lust from that direction, was it my imagination or?” Samantha asked waiting for his reply,

“it’s definitely bloodlust, the monsters left around here that survived the onslaught are receding deeper into the trees, it’ll take a while but they’ll be back” Moyo said,

With a focused view at the trees, he gathered intent in the air over the location of the bloodlust, activating his skill blade of the titan, forging it in its hundreds over the area and sent them crashing down into the trees as roars of pain and anger echoed through before disappearing as the monsters went deeper into the shadows. It was enough to seriously injure them, not kill them, Moyo didn’t want additional levels, not yet, not till he heard from Ajax about the competition.

He turned back to the two of them,

“where’s everybody?” he asked

“Left them behind at the former site of Bastion along with the members of the sects, this zone is too tough for just anyone,” Mrs. Martha said

“isn’t that risky?” he replied,

She shrugged, her grey eyes gleaming in the afternoon sun,

“Lots of acolytes to step in should trouble brew,” she said as she folded her arms,

Like mist the first hand of her sect appeared beside her, Moyo had sensed his appearance like dust filtering through the air, the man bowed at the waist down,

“It has begun,” the man said,

Mrs. Martha tossed a few gold coins in the air as they vanished and a large screen appeared in the air. It showed the five different sectors in the yellow zone, sector one was completely engulfed in thunderstorms as a large blue crystalline wall that flashed with lightning appeared where the dark black crystalline walls of Bastion once stood,

“Is it me or Annika took this sect leader of the storm bringers too seriously?” Moyo muttered as Mrs. Martha chuckled,

“Odds are she’s going to name her new stronghold with something related to you,” Samantha said with a twinkle in her eyes,

Moyo glanced at the two women as they suddenly avoided his gaze, fighting back smiles,

“Is there something I’m missing?” Moyo asked the both of them, arms crossed. Ever since he got broke out of his cocoon after his battle with Evon, everyone seemed to be in on some joke he wasn’t aware of concerning him and Annika. He had asked Idris who gave him a deadpanned look and shook his head,

“oh, nothing lord of Bastion,” Samantha said with a suspiciously innocent look on her face,

“men,” Mrs. Martha said as she shook her head with a smile,

Moyo simply shook his head, a notification appeared in the skies above Bastion,

ZONE NOTICE:

Sect leader Annika of the storm bringers has created a stronghold, stronghold has been named titans storm!. Stronghold titans storm has sworn allegiance to the domain of Bastion!, long live the storm bringers sect! long live clan titan blade!.

Moyo did his best to avoid the gazes of Mrs. Martha and Samantha as they snickered at his side, already an idea of what could possibly be happening was forming in his mind, but It couldn’t be possible, could it?. They had just met, not more than a month, the fact that Annika could have interest in him was baffling, but if they were true, he would have to deal with it.

The tele hub flared once again as the residents of Bastion began pouring back into the capital of their domain, Moyo realizing that few to none of the refugees from sun valley were among seeing as they were initiates and fledglings, except those initiates who wore the attire of a sect, and even these were just coming around to help settle the refugees before jumping back through the portal,

“Using the portal must be costing us a fortune,” Moyo remarked,

“Not really, dropped a hundred diamond coins as payment,” Mrs. Martha said

Moyo nodded, another set of gongs followed themselves as more notifications appeared,

ZONE NOTICE:

Sect leader Idris of the titans’ sentinels has created a stronghold, the stronghold has been named titans citadel. Stronghold titans citadel has sworn allegiance to the domain of Bastion!, long live the titans' sentinels sect! long live clan titan blade!.

ZONE NOTICE:

Sect leader Ayo of the dawn archers has created a stronghold, the stronghold has been named Solaris. Stronghold Solaris has sworn allegiance to the domain of Bastion!, long live the dawn archers sect! long live clan titan blade!.

ZONE NOTICE:

Sect leader Boyle of the hammers of Ogun has created a stronghold, the stronghold has been named titans’ forge. Stronghold titans forge has sworn allegiance to the domain of Bastion!, long live the hammers of Ogun sect! long live clan titan blade!.

ZONE NOTICE:

Sect leader Mrs. Martha of the storm hands of Anansi has created a stronghold, the stronghold has been named Trellis. Stronghold Trellis has sworn allegiance to the domain of Bastion!, long live the hands of Anansi sect! long live clan titan blade!.

ZONE NOTICE:

Clan titan blade now controls half of continent 5, due to being the first to accomplish this feat, the clan has been awarded:

10,000 ounces of mithril 2 tele hubs with 5 telepads each General communication array Access to rare tier weapons and schematic from the archailect Access to rare skills from the archailect

Long may the clan titan blade reign!.

Moyo cracked his neck as the live videos from his five sectors showed the banners of the five sects flying high, Moyo could see a copy of Mrs. Martha standing on the silvery glowing walls of her stronghold and shook his head as she muttered clone, not trying to wrap his head around the meaning. With a smile, he looked at his sect leaders and friends as they waited on him to give the order,

“Initiate total green zone inclusion” he ordered,

In the distance, Moyo could see beams of light flare into the sky as the sects of clan titan blade moved upon the orders of their lord.