All around the clearing where Moyo was to fight Vasanz were different draconic experts, surrounding both their side and his. Even as the master Abraxas, Vasanz and a taller male expert with eyes that literally glowed stepped out of their midst, Moyo stared resolutely at Vasanz who had a wide grin on his face, projecting his full bronze rank power out to intimidate Moyo, he wasn’t sure if he should feel insulted at the perceived strength of the dragon.

He had been told by Ajax that Vasanz was in fact a dragon and not one of the lesser forms such as the Dragonoids, or wyverns and wyrms, but the master was indeed a Dragonoid. Moyo wondered how the hierarchy of power would w9rk among them, not his business, he was just here to beat on some expert.

He had gone through three days of brutal and repetitive training, over and over he had merged Ashe with his intent. Despite the drain on his endurance, despite the mind-numbing migraine, he had forged on, till the rod given to him by master Killian had broken under the intense pressure of his Ashe and intent fused into one. His body, humming with intent, his mantle blazing with aura and his core filled to the brim with dominion by his side, he kept the steady breathing even as the Draconians arrived at the circle carved out for the duel.

Master Abraxas spoke first,

“I see you have some semblance of honor, a pity, you might had bothered to run when you had the chance, not that it would save you though”

Moyo neither replied nor move his gaze from Vasanz who was growing increasingly nervous as his draconic power did nothing to make moyo cower. Apparently his intimidating technique had always produced an effect against his enemies, just not this enemy.

Moyo had been stuck in a tier 50 dungeon from the get go, gone through hardships this little dragon had never faced, got bathed in lava and was resistant to flames of Dragonoids and below, and he wasn’t underestimating Vasanz, far from it, he was just tired of being at the bottom of the power scale. Master Killian stepped forwards,

"As per the agreement, Moyosore titan blade and Vasanz red jaw would duel, the terms?” he said,

“To the death” Abraxas said,

Moyo noticed the sharp flinch from Vasanz, but not from the man next to him, that was the person Moyo’s spirit screamed at him to avoid, the fact that the man had his powers suppressed and was vigilant of their surroundings was warning enough that he wasn’t dealing with just anybody. Master Killian raised an eyebrow at Abraxas,

“are you sure?, house thousand blades would not be responsible for whatever the outcome may be” Killian said,

“The weak deserve to die” Abraxas simply said,

Funny, they thought him weak,

Master Killian nodded,

“So be it, I and Ulsa frozen tiger, expert of house Garuda and disciple of master Urush frozen tiger shall bear witness” he said,

“And where is the death blade and frozen blade themselves?” Abraxas asked,

“they’ll be on their way here, as soon as they make sure Leonora isn’t trying to take what belongs to us back at our camp” Killian said,

Moyo watched Abraxas become unnaturally still,

Bingo,

“You have the child” Abraxas said,

“I see you won’t even bother to deny it, going after a primordial shard without informing the council of collectives, my oh my, I wonder what the other great houses would think of that” Killian said with a smile,

“It rightfully belongs to us” Abraxas growled,

“I bet the expert whose friends you slaughtered would beg to differ, you know the rules as much as I do Abraxas, it belonged to the experts till they hand it over to a higher power, the brigade would not be happy”

“We employed them” the man who screamed danger to Moyo said, his voice quiet and hard like steel,

“true, but it wasn’t done through the brigade now, was it?, Kenuran red jaw of house Dracon, I must admit, I had not thought your mother or ruler would let you out of the nest” Killian said,

“a dragon must not be stifled if he is to grow, my ruler knows this, and he also knows violence is not the answer to everything, let us settle this diplomatically, give us the child and we owe you a favor” Kenuran said,

“Denied,” Killian summarily said,

“Then you leave us no choice” Abraxas said, cutting in as Kenuran froze,

“Vasanz, rip the expert to shreds, then let me show master Killian here the might of house Dracon” he continued,

“you against I, Ajax and Urush?, do you want to throw your life away so needlessly?, no, i'm enough to cut you to size” master Killian said as day became night again, the moon appearing out of nowhere,

Master Abraxas began to laugh, even as his body exploded into fire and his large Dragonoid form took to the air, a large black broad sword in his hand,

“It is you who would die, Vasanz!” he rumbled,

The bronze rank expert dragon blasted forward towards Moyo, aiming to catch him with his guard down, his blade, a black sword careening towards Moyo with a large smile on his face. In that moment, Moyo gathered all his rage, passing it through his body along with his intent. He gathered his Ashe and swung his blade.

Battle instincts alone saved Vasanz from being cut in two different parts as he dodged the blade with wide eyes, growling only to see Moyo in front of him, a cold look of indifference on his face. Vasanz caught dominion on his blade and pushed back before the two of them began exchanging blows, blades raging with intents that glowed purple and red respectively clashed, the entirety of both factions watching withheld breaths.

Moyo took a step of the titan, keenly aware of the few seconds interval before the skill activated, the aether in the air getting sparser as it took time to respond to his skill, nevertheless he dodged a swipe of the blade of Vasanz, appeared behind him and brought dominion crashing down when a large flaming dragon burst forth behind Vasanz and stopped the blade.

Moyo twisted and slammed Vasanz with his leg, catching him on the arm he used to guard the blow and blasting him away to the side. He felt his leg sizzling, the spot that had touched the dragon smoking, but his skin now layered with the shimmering purple scales of a true dragon refused to burn from the flames of Vasanz,

“You hit like a dragon, good, let me show you one!” Vasanz roared as flames covered him, clearing away to show his head covered with a red dragon like helmet,

His body glowing with a red armor that set the temperature around him to a blazing inferno, the aether in the air pulsing with pure hot energy, his black blade covered in flames,

“Cower before the power of a true dragon!” Vasanz roared,

Moyo blinked at him,

“Power?” he asked,

Vasanz frowned, then understood as he growled,

“oooh, you meant your mantle?, understood, let’s do that” Moyo replied and summoned his mantle,

The moment his runic mantle began to form, Moyo saw the rage peel off the face of Vasanz, even as the aether in the air began to rumble, going from blazing hot to cool. Everyone felt the power in the air, the taste of overwhelming power,

“Vasanz!” the dragon named Kenuran called,

Vasanz shook the fear off his body and charged at Moyo, his realm of fire and intent encapsulating both of them as he tried ripping Moyo to shreds with it. The intent sparked off the runic mantle and his skin, not making a simple cut and not distracting Moyo who breathed in and spoke a single word infused with Ashe,

“BREAK”

The realm of Vasanz red jaw shattered like glass, the flames extinguishing with that word and Vasanz blown backwards, his mantle protecting his body. Moyo glanced at the shocked Kenuran, then the speechless master Abraxas and the other experts that hung in the air, then he turned to master Killian who smiled at him,

“Is he supposed to be this weak?” he asked,

For the first time, master Killian began to laugh…...

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

As Leonora appeared at the camp of the thousand blades, she masked her power immediately, her grey blade drawn as she walked silently across the tents, searching for the girl. She had lost her fellow master and friend to the death blade, and while she was no match for Ajax.

Here, in the desolate world she would cripple their power, she would take the shard from the girl she was sure that had it. After all, if it wasn’t with her, why didn’t they go after it seeing as the portal back to the nexus point would be opened today by high noon or whatever passed for that in this grey bleak world?.

With the shard, not even the death blade, stellar blade and the frozen tiger would be her match combined. Perhaps if she had been better focused on her surroundings, she would had noticed the runes etched on the ground around the camp that flared to life as she got to the middle.

The moment she noticed the runes, her eyes widened as she recognized and she tore the veil off her power, attempting to spatial walk away by blinking when she felt space around her lock and her movement restricted by ice that froze her legs.

Master Urush appeared in front of her, a good distance away with his blade drawn that emitted a chill unlike any other,

“Master Leonora, what do you want?” Urush growled,

Leonora raised her blade, attempting to strike when she felt her core seize up and she spat out blood,

“Oath, remember?” Urush said,

She coughed, and with a flex of power broke the ice on her feet before retreating, her hand coming up again to grip her blade when she felt a hand clamp down on hers, surprise on her face to see Ajax staring at her,

“You…why are you here?” she whispered,

“Thought you might be foolish enough to come here looking for something…or someone” Ajax said with a smile,

Leonora realized at that point, they knew, about the shard,

“You will not survive when the great houses hear of the shard!” she hissed,

“And I’m guessing you think you would?” Ajax said with a snort,

“It belongs to house Dracon” she said,

“Leo, can I call you Leo?, I would anyway. Don’t pretend like you wouldn’t take it for yourself, last I heard, house storm razor’s been trying desperately trying to solidify their power for a push into the 10 great houses. A bit foolish and early but what do I care?, you think I’d believe you’d willingly hand over the shard to the serpents?” Ajax said,

She only stared at him with eyes filled with hatred, Ajax leapt back from her as the rune completed its job and she was frozen at the spot. A boundary and suppression field for diamond ranked experts, Ajax and Urush had depended on her veiling or shrouding her power to infiltrate their base and she had fallen for it hook, line and sinker. So, Leonora stared on, the sounds of battle revibrating around her as flames blasted in the distance,

“Your expert stands no chance against Vasanz, a dragon” Leonora spat,

Ajax only smiled at her, then Leonora felt it, the hum that filled the air, the taste and strength of an expert no doubt, but with a depth to it, like an almost tangible feel to it. Sharply looking at Ajax who only kept up the infuriating smile,

“who’s that?” she asked,

“The titan blade” Ajax simply replied,

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

Moyo clashed with Vasanz in a shower of sparks, easily deflecting blow after blow from Vasanz with a mild look of concentration on his face as he studied the movements of the young dragon. Vasanz was slowly tiring out, his movements getting sloppy till Moyo sighed, dodged a cut and punched him to the ground where Vasanz wheezed in exhaustion.

Perhaps if the dragon hadn’t been accumulating cuts from Moyo who slowly absorbed his endurance to add with his already insane amount, the dragon could had presented a better standing, but Moyo had slowly whittled him down till nothing but a pitiful husk of the formerly strong dragon was left.

The master Abraxas could only stare on with rage and shame as Moyo placed a foot on the chest of Vasanz, staring at the master that floated in the air,

“Have I proven my worth?” he said,

“Or would you have me rip his head from his shoulders?”

The older dragon Kenuran clapped, a wide smile on his face as his eyes were alight,

“Beautiful!, beautiful!, finally!, a swordsman worthy of his titles, and not from any house known!” Kenuran said,

Moyo felt the rising intent from the dragon who raised one finger and he immediately went on guard, unlike the dragon beneath him, this was the real deal, his spirit screaming at him,

“Oh, have no fear, I will respect this duel, however I demand you respect the honor of house Dracon, prince Vasanz over here has fallen short of the standards of house Dracon, he has sullied our name, please, end him, it is only right”

Moyo stepped back, confusion in his eyes,

“Prince?” Killian said, the truth dawning on his face as he turned sharply to Abraxas,

“you bastard, what in the archailect name have you done?” he growled,

Moyo saw the look on the face of Vasanz as he stared up at Kenuran,

“brother” he croaked,

“Silence!” Kenuran barked and Moyo felt everything around he and the dragon freeze, even his body became restricted as a chill fell on him and he could taste the power of Kenuran in the air, an actual gold ranked expert had destabilized him this bad, Ashira was right, this wasn’t a foe he could fight, not anytime soon.

Kenuran walked close to the frozen Vasanz on the ground,

“a waste of ascension you are, tainting the blood of the dragons this way, your filth will not leave this world”

Turning back to Moyo who gripped dominion tight,

“Where were we, ah, titan blade, isn’t it?” Kenuran said as Moyo stiffly nodded,

“The weak do not deserve to live, you have proven that fact here and now, to be honest if it were the other around, he wouldn’t show you mercy, he’s known as the red death to his peers, peers I’m sure you would rip through easily” Kenuran said,

“doesn’t give me the right to kill him” Moyo growled,

Kenuran stared for a few seconds and sighed, then with a move Moyo could barely see stepped on the head of Vasanz and squashed it. Moyo reeled back in shock, even as he could visibly see the entire essence of Vasanz get absorbed by Kenuran, master Abraxas growled,

“Why?” he asked,

Kenuran merely turned to his master with a cold look before smiling,

“Tsk tsk tsk, did you really think lord Azar wouldn’t know of your plot?, really?, and Vasanz of all people as your co-conspirator?, the idiot could barely keep his mouth shut” Kenuran growled,

“Well, what a twist” Ajax said appearing out of nowhere,

Moyo steeled his nerves, even as Ashira appeared close to him, along with Ajax, master Urush and a woman he barely recognized from when the masters clashed. Ashira stood with her blade in hand as her first form was out, the green serpentine form of her blade.

Kenuran smiled,

“ah, the silver ranker who managed to deflect an attack of a gold ranker, another worthy swordsman, perfect!, it is only right the future of the archailect gather, why don’t you be a dear and hand over the shard?” Kenuran said,

“Over my dead body” Ashira growled,

Kenuran smiled and raised his hand when Ajax appeared in front of him and with a flick of his finger sent him flying towards his master who caught him,

“You dare?!” Abraxas growled,

“Oh, shut it Abraxas, you couldn’t even stop him from killing his brother” master Killian shouted,

Kenuran began to laugh in a high-pitched voice,

“always said it, there’s something wrong with that house, crazy serpents the lot of them” Ajax murmured to Moyo,

“kill?, kill?, I did no such thing!, the titan blade killed my brother!, you all bore witness, didn’t you?” Kenuran shouted as the flying wyverns and wyrms nodded along,

Moyo frowned angrily,

“Are your spines that short that you would agree to everything he said?” he shouted as the expert Draconians roared at him for the insult,

With a pulse of his power, they all reeled back, even the silver ranked among them, Kenuran laughed again,

“see?!, they are not like us, we are the apex predators!, the future, and with me leading you all, I can usher you into power!, countless dungeons await you, planets, riches!, glory!, swear allegiance to me and hand over the shard!” Kenuran said,

Ajax shook his head,

“it’s a little to early, a couple of decades to early for a wee one like you to try doing this, but then again, from a spawn of Azar I would expect no less” Ajax said,

“The shard belongs to Ashira and until the moment she decides to either sell it or hand it over to a greater power, she is under the protection of house thousand blades” master Killian said as the moon shone brighter, pressing down on the Draconians, even Kenuran crashed to the ground at the weight of the power, only master Abraxas still flew in the air and Moyo could see the effort he put into it,

“Kill them all!” master Abraxas roared,

“The silvers are mine!” Ashira said as she blasted into the air, a streaking comet of pure power that collided with the three silvers that attacked her,

Moyo drew dominion as five bronze ranked wyverns flew for him, and with a deep breathe he went on the attack, dominion weaving masterfully as he tapped into his core, intent flowing through his blade as dominion shone. He cleanly removed thr head of a wyvern before it even knew he was there, breaking the jaw of another wyvern before tearing its head off.

Dodging a claw of the third one, he let the fourth one clash against his mantle as it rebounded off in shock. Stabbing dominion down on the third wyvern, Moyo was grateful for the training he had gotten during his time on Agabod.

Bronze ranked experts were proving easy to beat, his overwhelming attributes coming back again into play. He had always been fighting above his rank, but now that he was back in his own level, well, the titan blade was back.

The fourth wyvern tried escaping when Moyo activated his step of the titan and appeared in front of the wyvern, dominion placed perfectly to let the wyvern use the force of his escape to push the blade cleanly through its brain, it still had a shocked look on its face as it slid off the blade, already dead.

The fifth wyvern roared and began to burn bright as it began summoning its mantle made of lava, Moyo paused and laughed, stepped close and with a punch sent his hand straight through the heart of the wyvern, removing the organ from the body of it as it slumped in death. He glanced around to see Ashira sitting on the body of the three silvers,

“you’re slow” she said,

Moyo just stared at her,

“I fought five, you fought three” he said,

“One silver is the equivalent of over 10 bronze rankers, meaning I fought thirty and still finished before you, stop making excuses” she said as Moyo shook his head,

“Oh, how nice, leaving me to fend off the iron ranked wyrms” Ulsa said shouting from where she used her bare hands to slap around the iron ranked wyverns who were half heartedly fighting her, knowing full well that she could end them at any moment, they only attacked due to the order,

Ulsa had enough as she growled,

“scram” she said as the wyrms bolted off in fear,

“Titan blade!” Kenuran shouted as he streaked towards Moyo,

Only to get slapped sideways by Ajax and crashing into the ground,

“too early!, come back when he’s a gold ranked, thank you!” Ajax said laughing,

Moyo had almost died at that moment, not even Ashira who had appeared close to him could had saved him from that attack, he knew that. A vibration drew their attention to the sky where master Abraxas crashed to the ground, smoke pouring from his body, master Killian trailing to the ground as he stood on a conjured star,

“When did they fight?” Moyo asked,

“Masters fight in their realms,” Ashira said,

“We all fight in our realms” Moyo replied,

“No, at the realm of master, it’s an actual realm” Ulsa said as she kicked at the ground, still grumbling about not fighting any expert,

Moyo marveled at that, the realm of master was a long way from his current level of ascension, but if that was what he should expect, then he couldn’t wait. A loud hum filled the air, as the world vibrated,

‘The portal is opening, we need to move now” master Urush said appearing,

Moyo became dizzy as all the essence of the experts he had killed began siphoning into his core, his landscape to be exact, it was exhilarating,

“a rush isn’t it?, just don’t let it push you to go killing without cause, you could end up being absorbed” Ashira said,

Moyo nodded, his core landscape brimming with power, and still it kept absorbing till nothing was left. Steadying himself, he glanced at Kenuran and his master,

“What happens to them?” he asked,

“Abraxas is a master, he would get them out safely before the portal closes in a few hours, we on the other hand need to be out of this world and the nexus point before house Dracon appears to pick them up” Killian said,

With that said they all blinked away as the masters teleported them all back to their camp, packing everything up in a few minutes before blinking towards the ziggurat where they had appeared and passing through. The moment Moyo appeared back in the nexus point, he felt his body vibrating as the system came back in full force and blacked out, not before seeing a large red ship enter their atmosphere and master Urush cursing,

“House Dracon”