Moyo had collected the beatdown of his life, he was pretty it ranked up there with the beatings he had gotten from Ajax during the early days in the dungeon. Master Killian had broken down every technique he tried, every skill he used, every movement he made was countered effortlessly, and even his ferocity of the beast skill came short as he couldn’t counter master Killian in time to deflect the attacks. So, he lay on the ground, panting as his wrath of the titan skill healed his body, master Killian stood in front of him, staring into the distance,

“You must be wondering why your skills aren't responding as usual in this world,” Killian said,

“The blight” Moyo wheezed as Killian nodded,

“The blight infestation, it affects aether related powers hence the absence, but it also helps keep ascenders in the dark, pushes them to train harder without the sight of their skill growing, now sit up, prepare yourself,” Killian said,

Moyo sat up, gathering his willpower that he had noticed had a new flavor to it, before his willpower of the titan attribute served as his unwavering determination in the face of battle, now it felt like his commands infused with his determination unspoken, and it had taken the continuous battering by the realm of Killian to push him into that state. Killian stared at him,

“The aim of fighting with your various aspects is to fuse them, your aura, willpower, and authority, think of them like individual pieces of strings, individually they may be strong, but together they become an unbendable and unbreakable presence that brings your actual full might down on whomever you’re fighting,” Killian said,

“So, we start with the two simple ones, your authority and your willpower, that reminds me, please tell me you haven’t used cores to boost your attributes?” Killian asked warily,

“At all, I noticed I could but to be honest I haven’t seen a reason to” Moyo replied,

“Good, cores might be a good source of power, but they taint you with the authority of whatever dungeon you took them from. The greater the dungeon the bigger the taint on your willpower, legendary cores would straight up possess the ascender, stealing their will and personalities to be replaced by whatever malevolent being served as the dungeon boss” Killian explained,

“How were we not made aware of this on my planet?” Moyo asked,

“You would have known if a greater power were in charge,” Killian said,

“Cores are good for one thing and one thing only, domain creations, the archailect doesn’t give anything for free, and even at that, the domain goes under an attack as the cores uses that medium to call down its former fellow creatures on the domain in a bid to wipe out any who might contest for the domain, effectively turning it into a dungeon all over again,” Killian said,

“Crisis event,” Moyo said as Killian nodded,

“That is a discussion for later, now this training takes a gradual process to perfect, culmination into an evolution of your willpower, authority, and aura at the stage of a master,” Killian said,

“Envision your authority, then your willpower, fuse them,” Killian said,

Moyo nodded and focused, delving into himself, gathering his willpower and trying to gather his authority along, it felt like a boulder was placed on his shoulder as he grunted,

“that feeling right there?, that’s reality opposing you. Usually, reality has to contend with just either your authority or willpower at a time, it considers the both of them in unison a blasphemy if you will, your goal is to break past that oppression of reality, even for a few moment, that is what separates the experts in the archailect” Killian said,

Moyo grunted under the weight, struggling as the more he tried fusing them, the heavier the weight on his very being, while it did not affect his surroundings, he couldn’t help but feel like a weight had been tied to his feet and he was being drowned,

“Your authority is your command to reality spoken, your willpower is that command unspoken, when both spoken and unspoken come together, they become concepts, concepts that will determine the aspect you embody as you grow stronger in the archailect,” Killian said,

Moyo held unto the feeling of his authority and willpower as they tried their best to fuse, he imagined his authority as a land, solid and ever existing, then his willpower as a mountain, entrenched in the land, a part of it. The very thought alone increased the weight on his shoulder, he groaned as he dimly became aware of Killian removing his realm over him, he had to, the weight of reality on his shoulder was pressing down on him so heavily that he couldn’t even speak,

“Release it” Killian ordered as Moyo gladly did,

He felt reality snap away its presence from him as he groaned in relief, head matted with sweat as he panted,

“During whatever free moment you have, you would repeat this training, and the next one I’m about to teach you. It could very well decide between life and death for you” Killian ordered as Moyo bowed,

“Aura and mantles are simply manifestations of your power, well mantles serve as the final form of your power and grow with your understanding of said power, eventually settling on a form you instinctively decide on, mine is this” Killian said as his eyes blazed silver and a wispy long silk-like sash flowed around him in a sort of serpentine movements, weaving and turning around him,

“My mantle can negate any attack that carries willpower and authority and that also comes from another mantle,” Killian said as Moyo stared in astonishment,

“how’s that fair?, you’re literally untouchable that way, mine’s just writings on my body with glowing eyes,” Moyo complained,

“at first glance, you’d think so, but it actually only defends against other mantles, willpowers, and authorities weaker than me, against those stronger than I?, it could take a hit or two before I have to rebuild it and that takes a lot of concentration. Oh, and the more you use it in battle, the stronger they get, you will need to push your mantle to the extreme for it to grow” Killian explained,

“Still, as a master, there can’t be too many mantles that can defend against you now, can there?” Moyo asked,

“The archailect is large young one, there are monsters although in limited numbers over the millions of planets in the archailect, besides, your mantle is a very peculiar one,” Killian said,

Moyo brought up the information about his mantle again,

Rune of the draconic slaying titan:

This mantle has been bestowed upon you due to your consecutive victories over the draconic race before reaching expert. It affects both your vision and vitality, you now have the eyes worthy of the draconic specie and a body worthy of one, and your mantle manifests as runes in your eyes and written on your skin.

“It holds an aspect of the draconic specie, a fact I’m sure any draconian species would despise you for” Killian observed,

“Nevertheless, it’s in its infant stage, seems it increases your eyesight and your health, too early to take a form more than mere inscriptions on your body, but with the infusing of aura, we should see some changes,” Killian said,

“Now, what did I tell you about auras?” Killian asked,

“They are physical manifestations of my power, along with authorities,” Moyo said,

“Good, now for intent and sword users like us, auras are a foreign concept to us during our early stages, but as you no doubt have observed, as your perception increases, so does your ability to subtly add your aura into it. That feeling people get around you when you flare your power from your core, usually as intent but in a nonhostile manner?, that is your aura” Killian explained,

“For body cultivators, they learn to focus said aura, sharpen it into intent in their latter stages, for mana users, they grasp the concept of aura pretty quickly between acolyte and advocate, left with intent when they finally ascend to expert,” Killian said,

“And do we intent users gain the concept of mana?” Moyo asked,

“Mana is the trickiest of all to grasp once it wasn’t gotten at fledgling,” Killian said,

“For intent users like us, born to the sword, it’s almost impossible, but sometimes some sword users gain affinities for elements, the process is bizarre enough to be random, however, I doubt you have that issue seeing as you have one already,” Killian said,

“I do?” Moyo asked sheepishly,

“Honestly, it’s like Ajax just handed a sword to you, beat into you a few skills, and sent you on your merry way,” Killian said,

“Is that a rhetorical question?” Moyo asked innocently, shutting up as he saw the glare Killian sent his way,

“Your path of the crushing blade has an innate understanding of gravity, your realm has been using that affinity for a long time and if you weren’t such an empty head as your master, you would realize that gravity translates into force, a fundamental concept, and affinity that every single being utilizes in one way or another. Enough force and even flames or water can be defended or utilized” Killian said,

Moyo just stared mutely, wondering why he hadn’t noticed that fact a long time ago, Killian saw the look on his face and nodded,

“There it is, the spark of realization,” he said,

“I believe I can incorporate it into my fighting style,” Moyo said,

“Good, thinking like a true ascender, every little advantage is to be maximized. You can indeed add it into your fighting style, but firstly, we need to incorporate your mantle and aura into one, a fusion” Killian said,

“Summon your mantle” Killian ordered,

Moyo did, his eyes glowing purple with runes written all over them, the runic inscriptions on his body blazed to life,

“Interesting, I must confess my knowledge of runes is a bit lacking but I can with a bit of confidence say that the runes on your eyes are not your average runes, advanced if I’m guessing and speak of stability and strength if I’m not mistaken” Killian murmured,

“As for the ones on your body,” he said as he glanced down to the body of the titan blade,

“Those are too scattered and broken for me to understand, or guess rather, but with your infusion of aura, we should get an idea of what they mean,” Killian said,

“Anyways, project your power out as you usually do, but this time try fusing it to your mantle, use the same method you implemented when trying to fuse your authority and willpower,” Killian said,

Moyo once again focused on his mantle, like a weapon, but that didn’t feel right, he could feel it instinctively. Rather he began to think of it as a shield and something clicked within him, he heard Killian give a quick intake of breath but was too far gone down the line of concentration to bother with finding out the reason for it, the feeling he had currently was too strong to release. Then he added the feel of his power into it and this time the strain he felt was of a different type, it came from the inside and it felt like he was wearing armor of unimaginable protection,

“Moyo, if you can hear me, open your eyes and maintain that feeling,” Killian said,

It was harder said than done, but Moyo did, and what he saw astonished him, around his body, like an armless overall was a purple robe that glowed, made up of what looked like overlapping scales, draconic scales. the robe dispersed as the shock set in, leaving Moyo so tired that he slumped back to the ground, panting,

“Interesting, a defensive mantle, check the description of your mantle now,” Killian said,

Moyo brought it up, and stared at it for a full minute in shock before sharing it with the curious master who stared with his mouth open,

Runic robe of the draconic slaying titan: this evolved form of your mantle has been infused with the aura of a titan. Offering full body protection at the expense of your endurance, it shields the titan effectively from any expert rank authority, willpower, and mantle of lower strength and moderately at the cost of 10 endurance per second for any authority, willpower, and mantle of greater strength.

Ps: mantles of master rank and above can deal sufficient damage to the mantle reverting it to its base form

” And you called mine an overpowered mantle? you’re basically a walking fortress to any expert “Killian said as the beginning of a smile began to form on his lips,

“Drained my endurance quickly though,” Moyo said wincing,

“quickly?, look up to the sky,” Killian said,

Moyo did and saw the sun slowly setting, eyes narrowed in confusion, wasn’t it mid-afternoon?, then the realization dawned on him,

“I’ve been in that state for that long?” he asked,

“Indeed, I decided to test the limit of the state, runic robe seems to give you nigh invulnerability when in that state at the expense of your endurance, a good deal if I say so. It means you can keep tanking in a battle; however, we just need to find a way to keep your endurance up” Killian said before pausing,

“Your legendary skill, greed of the titan, it allows you to absorb the blood and hypothetically endurance of your enemies, right?” Killian asked,

“Literally, I’ve done it before,” Moyo said as he grinned,

“Good, very good. From now on you are to maintain the runic robe state whenever we spar and in your subsequent battles with the creatures of this world” Killian said,

“won’t my absorbing their blood taint me?” Moyo asked,

“Good question, refrain from that, we shall go the hard way then, increase the longevity of the robe under heavy attacks from me shrouded as a peak tier expert,” Killian said,

Master Killian stood up, stretching as he began walking back to the camp,

“when you can walk, meet me back in the camp, I-“he said as Ajax appeared back in front of them, Moyo wondered where he had gone,

“We might have a slight problem, well the disciple has,” Ajax said,

“What do you mean?” Killian asked,

“This continent is brimming with experts, from different factions, allied and foe,” Ajax said,

“You mean,” Killian said pausing,

“Yeah, serpents are here,” Ajax said,

“This presents a unique opportunity,” Killian said,

“I agree, disciple, time to earn your keep,” Ajax said as Moyo stared on in puzzlement,

Killian smiled as he unleashed his full aura over the area and Moyo felt dizzy, it wasn’t an attack, but it carried a portion of the full might of the master, Ajax responded and Moyo felt four more auras of what he guessed was master rank flare off in the distance,

“we’ll be right back,” Killian said as he and Ajax vanished, leaving a disoriented Moyo,

“I’ll just lay down here,” Moyo said as he slumped back to the ground tired.

**********************

The barren landscape in the middle of a blighted forest steamed from the clash of aether and blighted energies that clashed, it served as a buffer between the two zones of the planet, one where aether was plentiful but with tinges of blight in the air and the other side a dark void under abyssal control with the blighting in control. Six lances of energy struck down from the sky onto the steaming landscape, wiping out any form of blighting in the landscape as grass began to grow, beautifying the landscape.

When the lances cleared, five beings stepped out in a circle, masters in all. Killian and Ajax stood together, Killian with his hands folded behind him, Ajax with his arms crossed. To their immediate left was a blue feline, a man with two swords strapped to his back and gave off the feeling of winter at its peak, to their right was a veiled woman, a long rapier in her hand. Then directly in front of them was a red-skinned Dragonoid, arms folded also with yellow serpentine eyes glowing,

“I knew I smelled a burnt serpent,” Ajax said,

“Come close and see what this serpent can do” the Dragonoid rumbled,

“House thousand blade,” the feline man said to Killian,

“House Garuda, I admit, it’s a surprise to meet a fellow allied house in this wasteland” Killian replied in greeting, noticing Ajax wince a little.

“I heard house thousand blade has a newly minted expert participating in the tournament, a bit foolish don’t you think?” the woman said,

Ajax turned to the woman so quickly she blinked in surprise, her blade whipping up to stop Krial as it hummed close to her throat,

“Careful there woman, a slight against house thousand blade is a slight against its ruler. As his emissary, it is within my rights to end you where you stand” Ajax said,

“Touch a hair on her head and the full might of house Dracon would descend on you, no, I’m enough to end you insignificant mortals” the Dragonoid responded,

“I’ve never had Dragonoid soup before, have you, emissary Urush?” Killian asked the feline man who grinned,

“Not that I remember, but one must start somewhere master Killian” master and emissary Urush responded,

“you disrespect house storm razor, would you want the house coming down on house thousand blades with its two rulers?, we have four rulers you know” the woman said,

“And even with all that firepower you still serve as lapdogs for the Draconians,” master Urush said,

“They chose the winning side, it’s that simple, a fact house Garuda would do well to remember after the tournament,” the Dragonoid said,

“This is taking us nowhere, we are gathered here today to maintain a truce, albeit a reluctant one,” Killian said,

“truce?, no one said anything about a truce,” the Dragonoid said,

“Master- “Killian said as he stared at the Dragonoid,

“Abraxas” the Dragonoid responded,

“Master Abraxas, barring a truce, our respective experts on this world could literally cause irreparable damage to each other” Killian said,

“The weak deserve to die,” the Dragonoid said,

Killian sighed, pinching his nose between his fingers as Ajax laughed, sheathing his katana back,

“That is one point I may agree with you in, except, we aren’t the weak ones,” Ajax said,

“Ajax” Killian said as a warning,

“oh?, are you so sure of that?” the Dragonoid asked,

“I’d rather we don’t come to blows,” Urush said,

“I agree” the woman replied,

“Perhaps a spar, between our respective experts?” the Dragonoid pushed,

“No,” Killian and Urush said together, Ajax shrugging with a provocative smile at Abraxas,

“I heard a rumor you took a disciple death blade, is that true?” Abraxas asked,

“and doom some kid to your factions' incessant hunt to kill him?, Nah, I’d rather do the honors of skinning your hide for a cloak,” Ajax said,

“Hmm, perhaps the latest recruit of house thousand blades isn’t daft enough to take you as a master, interesting” Abraxas said,

Killian just stared on with a stoic look till Abraxas sighed,

“Fine, a truce then, as expected of inferiors,” Abraxas said,

“Then we are in accord, yes?” Urush said to the woman,

“Fine, house storm razor agrees to this farce of a truce,” the woman said,

“Excuse us for not inquiring of your name, master?” Ajax said with a smile to the woman,

“Leora, master Leora” she said,

“Master Leora, I need not explain the terms of a truce, do I?” Killian asked,

“Wait, she’s right, the truce should we agree to it has stipulations,” Abraxas said,

“Such as?” Ajax asked,

“Our experts are informed not to actively go hunting to kill, however, should they happen upon each other in the wild, they have a right to duel each other, masters on watch,” Abraxas said,

Killian glanced at Urush who nodded, Ajax just smiled at Abraxas,

“Then we are in accord, the archailect bears witness to this pact,” Killian said,

“Agreed,” all masters said in unison as a loud gong revibrated around them,

Abraxas and Leora vanished the same way they came, in a lance of light, Killian turned to master Urush,

“While I have questions about why house Garuda would come this far into the tier 1 galaxies, I propose we join forces quickly,” Killian said,

“I agree, Garuda wanted our prime representative to train away from the eyes of the house,” Urush said,

“Plus, I’d rather train my daughter myself” he completed,

“Ulsa is participating?” Killian asked,

“Who else than my star to carry the name of frozen tiger?” Urush said with a smile,

“This is the location of our camp,” Killian said,

Urush nodded as he disappeared in a lance of light,

“They are on to us,” Killian said,

“Doesn’t matter, he would be safe with us till the tournament begins, then no one can touch him with rulers present,” Ajax said,

“And if they try now?” Killian asked,

“Well, they attacked first, didn’t they?” Ajax said with a smile,

Together they disappeared in a lance of light, the lush grassland withering away back to its former state in the absence of the masters.