The archailect had been created eons ago, the history lost to all but the sleeping calamities that were too old and too strong to be called rulers any longer, as well as the height of power known as the supreme beings. It was said that the abyss was the other part of the archailect, the dark to its light, but the darkness came with a fundamental force of destruction, a cosmic force of destruction that eroded whatever trace of life it came across, and as commander and master Atreus felt the first fingers of the abyss on his designated galaxy, centuries of training now tuned to reflex actions activated as he blazed to life with orange and red flames, his voice echoing through the halls of the hub,

“Q!” he shouted,

“Initiating cleansing protocol, the universal branch has been notified” the A.i replied,

Atreus tore through the dimensional fabric that separated the hub from planet C-102 where he had felt the touch of the abyss, his body burning bright as his mantle of the sun-burning dragon blazed to life over him in the form of a red-golden dragon that roared, its voice shaking the aether across the milky way galaxy,

“burn” he ordered, channeling the destructive but cleansing power of the sun-burning dragon while honing in on the source of the abyss,

The authority of the sun-burning dragon clashed with an authority so dark and vile it had the strength to resist the all-cleansing power of the Atreus had unleashed. As reality finally stabilized, a hole opened in front of Atreus, like a sore wound filled with pus that finally burst open, and from that hole came a dark figure. Clad in dark armor that was all sharp edges, clawed gauntlets for hands, and a white bone-looking helmet with red eyes that glowed from within it, Atreus produced two silver chakras that glowed in the dark expanse of space,

“Authorization code 00246, requesting permission to go nova against a category two blight,” he said,

The dark figure giggled in a high-pitched voice that seemed to somehow dim the lights coming from the distant stars themselves, Q, the A.i at the hub replied through the communication construct in Atreus’s ear,

“Permission granted from universal branch” it replied,

The mantle of the sun-burning dragon wove itself around Atreus to become a cloak of burning flames with the hazy physique of a dragon around his body, then the commander of the dragon brigade and the entity known as the category two blight clashed in the expanse of space, and the planet C-102 left to its fate.

(*)

Queen Ira who had once been known simply as Ira had been an orphan on the streets of Delhi, with dark brown skin with lush black hair, she had survived the hard way growing up. A fervent worshipper of the goddess kali, she had focused only on the destructive path of the goddess, ignoring that the goddess was both creation and destruction personified, preferring to view her as a holy force of destruction that wiped out any who opposed her. The coming of the archailect was a curse as much as a boon to Ira who had woken up on a field along with over a hundred other Indians, wondering what had happened after the messenger had delivered the dire news to them all.

She had been the first to get a path among them, when a few men had taken it into their hands to have their ways with the women in the camp, Ira had been the first victim of their disgusting attention. As she struggled on the ground while the men tore her clothes, Ira carried and bawled, grabbing a man who was about to put his hands into her underwear. The feeling she had gotten then had been her first taste of the powers the archailect had to offer, or rather, she thought it was. A feeling of numbness came over her in those seconds that seemed like hours, a tingling feeling spreading from her head to her toes as she grabbed the man by the throat, a voice whispering into her mind to pour all her pain into the man. Like a virus that wanted to be unleashed she had followed the bidding of the voice, watching as the man had started to decay from the inside out.

It was a messy affair after, for Ira had lain waste to the men altogether, a simple touch from her destructive power had the men peeling like skins from an onion, shrieks of pain and agony spreading around the encampment as others came out to see what was going on, only to meet men that were slowly liquifying, a product of the uncommon skill touch of destruction, a skill that would later evolve into the terrifying rare skill touch of the abyss. Even after the ordeal, when she had gotten the notification of her creating a destruction-type path, the path of the spear of kali, Ira was not satisfied. Her skin had become a dark blue hue, her eyes gaining a dark kohl line around them and her lips a blood red color.

The religious elderly members of the encampment had seen how she had mercilessly ripped into the men and worshipped her as the reincarnation of the goddess kali herself. Her position as a deity cemented, she had gone on to lead the first set of warriors into an uncommon dungeon, laying waste to the monsters within with just a touch of her fingers, the men using their bodies as shields against the monsters that attacked them. Ira had come out of the dungeon with the blood of the monsters that had broken into dust on her body, in her hands the blue glowing uncommon dungeon core. With the artifact, she had created the stronghold Brahma, a name she used in honor of the supreme deity of creation of the Hindis, the one who would wash away creation after kali had lain waste to the current form and create life anew.

Ira had considered her position secured, her rule unquestionable as the people had accepted, she was chosen by the deities themselves to rule over stronghold Brahma, and the few who protested found themselves dying in gruesome manners over time as her destruction found its way towards them true her agents who carried it in her body in a suicide form of faith. It was as she had been ascending from initiate to acolyte that she had met the entity whom she called kali. Ira had been so immersed in the act of playing deity, that as she breached an uncommon dungeon during their crisis event, she thought she could handle the chained specter that served as the boss of the dungeon herself.

It had possessed her before the golden chains that bind it hit the ground, her eyes wide as the creature used her own hands to wipe out the initiate warriors that followed her, releasing her only after it had torn the men to chunks of bleeding meat and gore, it had introduced itself to her as kali, the divine goddess of destruction and charged her with a mandate, to find the strongest warrior on the planet to serve as a host for her. The entity had sealed itself back in the dungeon, giving her a spell to use in summoning her when it got the chance. Ira had decided then to serve the entity, its power had been vast, malevolent, but vast, and had dedicated herself to knowing the strongholds that surrounded her

Luck would shine on her as the general message the titan had released a few weeks back had shown her the power he possessed, Ira had decided there and then that he would be the host for her goddess, and so she plotted, patiently waiting for the day she would gain access to the titan blade until her goddess had contacted her again. The entity had given her a crystal she had previously explained was a means to enter their world proper with all its strength, to possess an expert of the titan blade, but it would need a sacrificial lamb, and for the titan blade to be her host, she needed someone foolish enough to cross blades with him in battle. Advocate Taal of the crimson rose had been the sacrifice they had used to get close to the titan blade, and even as Ira felt the hands of the advocate of the hand of Anansi grab her neck and snap her neck, it still never occurred to her that she had doomed her world.

(*)

The moment the advocate of the crimson rose began screaming, Moyo tore the shroud over his core, consequences be damned. When Mrs. Martha had contacted him the day before, explaining that the acolyte Ira of city Brahma was in contact with an unknown entity, he had half the mind to appear at her doorsteps and tear everything to pieces. Whatever dangerous game the woman was playing posed the risk to jeopardize everything he had been building, especially since it went against the rules of non-interference, but Moyo was sure that whatever was eating into the advocate of the crimson rose was worse than the broken rule of non-interference. The darkness had tried to suppress his authority over his domain.

With his full authority, Moyo had summoned his mantle, his eyes blazing and his blade dominion humming, with a roar he pushed back the weak but vile authority. Blasting backward as the body of the advocate formerly known as Taal stood up like a puppet on strings, his formerly red eyes were now inky black with his skin hanging limply on his body. it cocked the head of the now dead advocate, a smile on its lips,

“So full of life, you are- “was all the entity could say before Moyo blitzed forwards the creature,

Grabbing it by the throat he threw it into the sky, wrapping his realm around the creature, Moyo unleashed his blade of the titan on the creature, tearing the body of the advocate to pieces. Lumps of blackened flesh fell from the sky bursting into flames as Samantha cast a spell from a distance, the advocate of the flowing venom trapped in a frozen glass-like state at her side. The ashes fell before swirling and forming the vague outline of a woman, red eyes glowing with what looked like a smile on its face,

“You, you carry a spark in you…titan blade,” it said in a voice that sounded like broken glass,

“Who are you?” Moyo asked,

The creature only gave a loud shriek as it flooded Bastion with a wave of inky darkness that seemed to suck the color and life from the surroundings. People fell to the ground frozen, growing older by the second as their life force was being sucked away. Moyo pushed forward with the strength of an expert, his purple eyes glowing with rage as he blasted toward the creature. With anger in its eyes as he saw the entity slowly destroying Bastion, he wrapped his authority around his blade along with his intent, sharpening it into an edge that warped reality around him. The blade came crashing down with the strength of a titan behind it, tearing into the creature like a hot knife through butter.

The creature gave an unholy screech that pierced the air, its dark attack fading to mist immediately. It flew backward as the line where Moyo had torn its misty body refused to heal, it stared at Moyo with such hate in its eyes that Moyo felt sweat pool around his head. He had noticed that his HUD had stopped working and he couldn’t bring up any info concerning the creature. Mrs. Martha appeared by his side,

“Whatever you do, don’t let that creature use its attack again,” she said,

“What are we dealing with?” he asked as he activated his step of the titan skill, appearing beside the creature while swinging dominion to tear into the creature again,

The creature used a portion of its misty body into a dark blade that stopped the edge of dominion from reaching its body,

“Abyssal creature!” she replied, her eyes glowing silver as webs of aether somehow wrapped around the creature,

It turned its head towards Mrs. Martha, Moyo noticed it was starting to lose its color,

“You know of us,” it said in its grating voice,

Mrs. Martha squeezed her hand in a fist as the webs grew tighter, Moyo didn’t waste the opportunity to use dominion with his authority and intent around it to cut into the creature. It exploded to dust that blew apart and swirled in the air before focusing on Moyo and blasting towards him with the strength of an advocate. Moyo was prepared to gather his authority again to defend against whatever attack it wanted to deploy when the dark sky suddenly blazed to life with flames burning away the inky darkness. A loud voice reverberated around the world,

“Burn,” it said,

The entity went up in flames with a screech, nothing but cinders in a second. Moyo reeled back from the explosive power of the attack as Atreus appeared in front of him. Normally he would be prepared to defend himself, but some deep survival instinct screamed at him not to move. The commander of the dragon brigade emitted heat like a solar flare, his body glowed red with barely contained fiery energy and a form of burning energy covered his body in the likeness of a dragon, his eyes glowing orange as he glanced around, his gaze settling on Moyo,

“Who?” the commander simply asked, his voice dripping with authority so potent, it took all of Moyos’ willpower not to go crashing to the ground from the weight of it, Moyo pointed to the fallen Ira who spasmed where she lay from the effect of whatever Mrs. Martha had done to her.

All around him the taint from the attack of the creature burnt away along with whatever surface it touched, from the walls of Bastion to the trees, the grass, and finally the unfortunate acolytes that had been unable to escape the taint. Moyo burned with anger as their bodies burnt away,

“Either that or watch your world grow infected,” Atreus said as he sensed the growing anger in Moyo,

The titan could only keep mute, nodding his head in understanding while he gripped dominion tighter. Again, he had failed those he had sworn to protect, their corpses that had become dust floating away. Atreus teleported to the front of the falling Ira, grabbing her by the hair as he dragged her across the floor towards the spatial rip he had opened, Moyo felt no ounce of pity for whatever fate was about to befall her. As the commander passed his side, he stopped and glanced at Moyo, eyes staring at him with all the intensity of a master,

“You stood against one of the blighted, this will not be forgotten,” Atreus said,

“Blighted?” he asked,

Atreus pointed to a panting Mrs. Martha,

“That one has an idea of what they are, such knowledge is not for ascenders of advocate and below, however, due to certain circumstances that occurred here, I believe you are privy to the information she holds,” Atreus said,

With that, the commander passed through the spatial rip and closed it behind him, all around Asa the sounds of battle had ceased since the explosive power of the commander had appeared. Moyo glanced at the advocate of the cleaving rain that stared at him with wide eyes,

“ex- “was all he said as Moyo activated his step of the titan skill and cleanly relieved his shoulders of his head,

The body crystallizing and turning to pure aether and fading away, Moyo frowned as he realized the death of the advocate wasn’t enough to push him to level 151. The tele hub blazed to life as Annika, Ayo, Idris and Boyle stepped out, looking around the broken and smoldering domain of Bastion,

“Moyo, what happened here” Annika whispered with obvious shock in her voice,

Moyo could feel the ships that brought the sects’ power up to life, preparing to leave his world in haste, with a step of the titan he tore through space and distance, appearing in front of the ships with his expert power blazing in full glory. Four of the advocates that survived stepped out of their ships knowing fully well that if Moyo wanted to wreak their spatial ships, he would. The grey-skinned man who looked like a desiccated mummy who was the advocate on the path of the whispering darkness pointed at Moyo with trepidation in his eyes,

“Expert, how?” the man asked in his croaky voice,

The advocate who had half of his skin looking like charred meat and was slowly recovering stared at Moyo with a stoic gaze, the advocate of the piercing blade had wisely kept his blade hidden, not after he had been trampled and burnt by Annika till he retreated with what was left of his acolytes, no initiates had survived,

“Are you here to kill us, expert?” he asked, his voice faint as Moyo could see that it took all of his strength to keep afloat,

“I could, I should, seeing as the first thing you all did was to attack my domain” Moyo replied, arms folded,

“The clans would not stand for this” a woman who red stripes across her skin like a tiger’s body growled at him, beside her hung two floating red orbs, the advocate on the path of the rising blood sect had fought Boyle with his automaton machines, she too had lost all her initiates with a few of her acolytes left alive,

“I do not care what your clans think, you came for me, I responded with force, you come for me or my domain and I would personally take my time to wipe you all off the surface of my world. The archailect might trick you into thinking C-102 is prime land to be grabbed” he started as he drew his katana, the advocates freezing where they were in terror,

“C-102 belongs to us, its inhabitants, not whatever clans or rulers deign to carve a piece of it, I’m letting you go as a gesture of goodwill, the next time you guys come back, you come with manners and a genuine intention to interact with my specie” he finished,

Floating backward as the advocates flew back to their ships,

“We will not forget this insult, titan blade” the advocate of the whispering darkness croaked as the rest looked at him with terror on their faces,

Moyo summoned his mantle that blazed in his eyes, the inscriptions on his skin glowing as he released the full force of his authority on them, the advocates doubling over as they coughed up blood while struggling to stay afloat, their ships vibrating from the pressure that Moyo gave off. All at once, he shut it off, the area devoid of his influence, the advocates rushed into their ships and blasted off, the rest of the ships with no advocates also moving away as they passed through the hemisphere of the planet into space. Moyo floated above the continent, aware of the eyes that were gazing at him from below,

“Victory,” he said with his voice of the titan skill,

From Asa below came a roar that shook the continent, all across the world the various habitats where humanity huddled together shouted for joy, the name of the titan blade on their lips.

(*)

The planet Apot, home planet to the clan of the crimson sun was facing a disaster so great, the whole world could only tremble in silence. The dragon brigade had brought that cruiser class ship to the world, and on that ship, were forces of destruction so great they were individually labeled planet destroyers. All these were just a show of force, it had taken the general of the brigade who had been sent by Xerxes himself nothing less than a few minutes to have the master of the crimson rose beaten to a pulp while bound in chains and in front of the ruler of the crimson sun, his father.

The general who wore a black eye patch ad held a legendary weapon disguised as a walking stick stood in front of the ruler of the crimson sun, despite the general being a peak master but a master nonetheless, he casually stepped on the head of the master of the crimson rose, the ruler of the clan not moving a muscle,

“What does the brigade want with my blood?” the ruler asked, careful to not let the rage infect his voice lest he tear the world apart, the brigade would be fine, but he would lose his own people,

“An advocate of his path summoned a category 2 blight on a tier one world, the planet C-102 of the newly absorbed milky way galaxy, do you have any idea why?” the general asked,

“Are you accusing me of sabotage?” the ruler asked as the sun in the sky flared brighter and all over the world, master-ranked energy blazed to life in response to their rulers’ power,

The general snorted and stamped his staff on the ground, the sound echoing around the planet from that simple gesture, from the ship above the planet, powers blazed to life, dwarfing the combined energy of the entire planet of Apot. The ruler stood up, floating to the sky, the general sighed,

“it doesn’t have to be this way,” he said,

The ruler simply raised a hand towards their burning sun in the distance as it flared brighter, space warped and twisted at the very command of the ruler, till it was locked by a greater authority that had the ruler turning sharply towards the brigades’ ship. A sleepy Xerxes came out, cracking one eye open as he stared at the ruler, daring him to so much as twitch. That same day the sect of the crimson rose was disbanded and their master was taken away in chains.