The reaping had begun in earnest, all around the sandy dessert different skills and powers flashed, illuminating the landscape with raw energy that blazed like sparks of lightning. Screams and roars filled the air, bronze rankers swooping down and clashing with their counterparts as they struggled to save those who called out to be saved lest they fall to the attack of their enemies. Despite the valiant efforts of the bronze rankers, the white sands of the dessert began to run red as ascenders fell in their thousands.

Far away, floating in the air was Moyo, hand gripping dominion tightly as he stopped himself from moving. Far below, Ashira coordinated with the bronze rankers, directing them to the ever-changing landscape of the battle, he hungered to move. Taking a deep breath as he removed his hand from dominion, he heard a voice,

“a wise choice”

He whirled to see a man behind him, silver hair tied in a knot, silver beards with intricate tattoos running across his arms that bulged with muscles. Silver eyes watched Moyo warily,

“Who are you?” Moyo asked,

“one of the five guardians of king Biyo” the man replied,

“Your name?’

“irrelevant” the man replied,

“Nice to meet you irrelevant, I’m Moyo”

The man narrowed his eyes,

“you’ve got courage, don’t bite above your level” the man said,

“am I?, you are silver, are you not?” Moyo replied,

“Peak silver, you’re barely into the realm of silvers” the man said,

Moyo gave him a large grin, gripping dominion hard,

“I adapt fast”

“So, I heard, perhaps we started off on the wrong foot, I was sent by the king to ensure you don’t do anything rash”

Moyo raised an eyebrow,

“Rash?” he asked,

The man waved at the battle,

“Indeed, rash, like trying to interfere in the squabbles of iron rankers” he said,

“You call ascenders dying squabbles?” Moyo growled,

He was beginning to dislike the guardian,

“People die every day, to ascend is to take risks, even a child knows that” the man said,

“They weren’t forced to participate, they willingly decided to participate, whatever they face is their choice”

“Still, the strong should protect the weak” Moyo said,

The man snorted,

“I don’t know what backwater world you grew up in, but If that’s how ascenders think there, not sure you all would go far in the archailect”

Moyo kept quiet, then turned away from the man without an answer and simply watched. The man coughed as Moyo turned back to him,

“May I help you?” he said, voice cold as steel,

“Oh, wow, really hit a sore spot, my apologies” he said, trying a little smile to ease the tension,

Moyo simply stared,

“I’m Heron raving wind, silver guardian and one of the 5 guardians of king Biyo dazzling fists” the man named Heron said,

Moyo nodded,

“I’m aware of the kings wishes and will obey them as best as I can” Moyo replied,

“As best as you can?”

“indeed”

Heron nodded and disappeared in a gust of wind, Ashira floated up to him,

“Problem?” she asked,

“You just missed the presence of one of the kings’ guardians” he replied,

“one of the 5?” she said,

“Yeah, some Heron of the raving wind”

“You sound like he doesn’t live up to the reputation” Ashira said as he chuckled,

“I could care less; eyes are on us”

Ashira nodded,

“We proceed as planned?” she asked,

He grinned, looking into the distance as he flexed his realm, suddenly Heron and Mira became visible as they stared in surprise,

“indeed” he replied,

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

King Biyo sat in his floating war base, a construct that utilized antigravitational technologies to float on a spot. It was situated deep behind the base of operations of the red dust kingdom. The full scale of the planning the kingdom had made became apparent as temporary structures had been set up numbering in their hundreds. From emergency smith forges to elixir shops and even emergency healing centers, even a store to sell loots and relic quickly for a moderate fee in order to allow an ascender rid himself of the loots before it got forcibly obtained from them was available.

The kingdom had so far been making a modest fortune, albeit steadily draining the coffers of the kingdom, the amount of relics and loots and even dungeon cores that were steadily been accumulated would be enough to push most of the soldiers of the kingdom into hopefully silver rank or peak bronze. With enough soldiers at that stage, Biyo could finally initiate the conquest in which he had obtained the blessings of clan Azartes.

He would be a fool to think he would have been the only one to obtain such a blessing, clan Azartes was fond of their intricate games and as he had learnt from his father, back when the desserts were broken up into various isolated factions, only a fool trusts the words of someone stronger than them, the promises of the strong to the weak were futile and subject to their whims. Calmly watching the battles unfold, he felt Heron and Mira appear close to the third guardian in red heavy armor with a broad sword that protected him.

The king merely swirled the liquid in his glass container,

“Well?” he asked,

“he’s strong, really strong” Heron said,

“As I suspected, and the Kairos girl?”

“She wasn’t intimidated by our presence” Mira said,

“Nor should she, you play dangerous games Biyo” a presence said as shadows coalesced behind the king,

The guardian with the broad sword extended him realm, blade drawn, only to have it crushed like a piece of glass. The man who announced the start of the reaping for house Azartes stepped out, glancing around the room with his silver eyes that glowed, he honed in on the silver ranked guardian whose realm had extended towards him,

“petulant” he said as the guardian began to fold in on himself with the sounds of broken bones and ripped flesh,

He didn’t have time to let out a scream before he was a lump of flesh on the ground, compressed into a perfect red cube shape. King Biyo had been too stunned to speak, the other silver ranked guardians frozen on their feet,

“That was unnecessary lord Renul, he only moved to protect his king” Biyo said stiffly,

The man named Renul glanced around the room, falling on both the guardians that were still standing, frozen in terror. A raised eyebrow had them dropping to their knees, bowing. Renul sat on the chair opposite the king,

“he’s alive, in a tortured existence though, but alive. Let him take in the lessons of attacking a gold ranker and a member of clan Azartes” Renul said,

Biyo kept quiet at that, any more pressing and the grandchild of Jager Azartes could do worse,

“You never did like me Biyo, sad really” Renul said,

Biyo doubted even Renul had the love of his parents, his quick temper and sadistic lifestyle apart, but it was not his place to say. Clan Azartes had for no better sense of words, grown lax and drunk with power, due to the plain fact that they had the highest number of gold rankers on the planet, and with their patriarch now a master, he was guessing more than a few diamond rankers.

Renul was a different; issue all together, as the only direct descendant of Jager from his actual son, Renul was destined to lead the main branch of the family in the far future. Other branches of clan Azartes were not allowed to carry the name Azartes, forbidden by Jager himself, Biyo hadn’t seen them, but he doubt they’d make their presence known with the like of Renul.

Biyo glanced at his still bowing guardians and back at Renul,

“It is not my place to like or dislike a member of the clan Azartes, merely to follow the directives given to me” Biyo replied,

“True true, those beneath us should always listen to the words of their betters” Renul said, nodding along,

Biyo neither showed any reaction to the insult nor said a word, he was sure he could beat the Azartes in his front in a duel, kill him even. Not that he had any evidence to back it up, but he was more than willing to test out that theory, the only issue being the retribution of clan Azartes coming down on his kingdom like a hammer from on high. Renul grinned, seeing his words having no effect on the king,

“Bah, enough of the pleasantries, I’m here on official patriarch business” he said,

“Then my ears are opened to receive the words of the great Azartes himself” Biyo replied,

“You should, grandfather isn’t happy with you for withholding vital information from him”

“the blight?, I tabled a report immediately after the incident got to me, perhaps-“

“The member of house Kairos on our continent” Renul cut in, all traces of mirth leaving his voice,

“Ah, that” Biyo simply said,

“So, you admit to withholding information from clan Azartes?”

“I wasn’t given permission to speak of it” Biyo said,

“Permission that supersedes that of the clan?” Renul asked, a dangerous tone in his voice,

Biyo so desperately wanted to smile, to goad Renul into attacking him first, but he reined in his emotions and continued with a blank face,

“The permission of the overseer Iveph” Biyo said as a master ranked presence suffused the room, probing before retreating,

Renul had winced at the obvious display of power,

“Dropping names now, are we?” Renul said,

Biyo shrugged, eyeing the gold ranker,

“Would you had believed me if I had no evidence?’

Renul stared hard before nodding, not even him would be stupid enough to challenge the authority of a brigade member, Biyo prayed he did, let the overseer take care of this particular thorn in his flesh. Renul stood up,

“We require the names of the girl and her accomplice” he said,

“Again, I want to comply, I honestly do, but it is not my place to divulge such delicate information. Perhaps lord Azartes himself, could inquire of the overseer, that would be more favorable” Biyo replied,

Renul stared at him with cold eyes,

“The continent of Vistea also have a master now, clan Endora’s patriarch, the silver tiger has ascended to master, hence you know what this means” he said,

“war” Biyo replied as Renul nodded,

“The overseer would leave as soon as this issue with the blight is over, the master of Ironash would be leaving also as his tenure has come to a close with masters on this planet, you will ultimately answer to clan Azartes king Biyo, I’d be careful if I were you” Renul finished as he opened up a spatial pathway.

As it closed behind him, the cube that was Davin begin to undo itself, leaving a broken and disfigured Davin that was in agony as his silver ranked body struggled to heal him. Biyo brought out a gold ranked healing elixir from the folds of his inner cloth, pouring it over Davin and watching him heal, with a brief effort of power his realm enveloped the entire room.

“Take Davin back to the kingdom, summon the chief mage, full expenses, I need him ready for the third day” Biyo said as Heron nodded and carried the still healing Davin who looked between life and death,

Turning back to the map he had been focused on that relayed information back in real time, the king spoke,

“None of that leaves this room” he said,

“My king, he disrespected you” Mira spat,

“and what would you have me do, hmm?, unleash the entire army on the Azartes clan, lay siege to a literal floating island, or better still, challenge the master ranked patriarch?, no, patience, there are works in progress” king Biyo muttered offhandedly,

Mira moved to talk but a look from the king silenced her,

“In time you will learn that rash actions often do not pay in the archailect, there are those who see farther and better than you, besides, how did the negotiations go?’ Biyo asked,

“The broken swords leader has agreed to participate, along with the mistress of the sisters of the night. Commander Zortes has gathered his top silver rankers, in all we have over 10 ascenders willing to brave the dungeon my king” Mira reported,

“12,” Biyo said,

Mira paused, then spoke,

“I still think it risky to include the child of house Kairos my lord” she said,

“Then be grateful I take the risk, if I’m correct, she could very well break through to gold in this dungeon, or she dies and we pin it on the acquaintance, either way with the overseer having credible evidence, we go scot-free “Biyo said,

“My lord, I don’t believe house Kairos would take that lying down” Mira replied,

“Thank the supreme beings we have a clan lording over us, should let’s say, she dies in a dungeon sanctioned by the clan, I wonder what manner of fury house Kairos would rain upon the clan, probably send the plantsmen or the wardens’ Biyo said with a smile,

‘I do hope it’s the plantsmen though, we could use with some wild life in this accursed dessert’

Mira folded her hands,

“That means option 2 is till on board, my lord?” she asked,

“Indeed, depending on the situation, we could either obtain a boon from house Kairos, or witness the end of the Azartes clan, either way, we win” Biyo nodded, reclining back on his chair,

Mira got a message on her HUD, turning to the king,

“My lord, both of them have shrouded their cores to bronze and are actively saving iron rankers, your orders?” she said,

“Let them be, anything to soothe their conscience, as long as they don’t come to harm” king Biyo said,

Mira nodded and together they watched the map together, the red dots signifying the iron rankers of the red dust kingdom wink out of existence intermittently.

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

Moyo swopped below an iron ranker, grabbing the injured ascender on the ground with his insides hanging out. He casually used his shoulder to deflect an attack from an iron ranker as he flew to safety, dropping the injured ascender and flying back into the midst of battle. They had been doing it all day, he and Ashira, and even though he could faintly sense the kingdoms silver rankers observing them.

They had decided to bend the rules a bit, moving as bronze rankers and not the silver they truly were, in all honestly, he had expected Mira, Heron or one of the guardians to interfere, but Ashira had pointed out the subtle fact that drawing attention to a team of bronze rankers would be a good way to put them on the radar of the other kingdoms.

By evening, when the gong rang, out of the 3-4 million iron rankers that participated in the reaping, a staggering 2 million had been declared dead or missing, 1 million plus had ascended to bronze rank and the kingdoms had an abundance of iron ranked relics overflowing in their markets. Moyo had watched as the multitudes of newly ascended bronze rankers passed through the portals back to their respective kingdoms with dead eyes, Ashira by his side.

In silence they went back to their lodge, Moyo washed off the blood on his body, wearily lying on the couch. Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath as he felt Ashira sitting on the chair next to him,

“Are you alright?’’ she asked softly,

Opening his eyes, he stared at the ceiling made of a dark glass that reflected the night skies outside but wasn’t reflective from the other side. Hence ascenders landed and hopped off without so much as being aware of the two silver rankers glancing at them,

“Back home, I had this subtle mentality to let ascenders do their own thing, let them grow by trials, but I find myself dreading what would happen if they come across a situation such as this” he said,

“Most worlds don’t have things akin to the reaping” Ashira said,

“No, but dungeons break, and most worlds don’t have an array to confine most of the dungeons on one spot, in fact, I dread the array coming to my world” he said,

“Why?”

“Back in the old days, before the archailect, factions fought over almost everything. Resources, food, power, everything. Might was held by those who had the most weapons of global destruction, the weak were trampled upon like dusts beneath their feet and the average individual could do nothing against such might” Moyo explained,

“Now imagine all the dungeons of a continent situated in one spot, anarchy would break loose, it’s a scary scenario”

Ashira nodded,

“I can’t wait to be off this world, but I can’t help but feel something strange is going on” she said,

“What do you mean?” he asked,

“Think about it, of all the tier 3 worlds, why did the masters pick this one?”

She sat up,

“of course, it feels random, but a world suddenly on the edge of a culling, plus aren’t they meant to show up when you reach silver?”

Moyo kept quiet for a minute,

“You think they anticipated the blight?” he asked softly,

“Oh no, blights are natural disasters in the archailect, that I believe they didn’t anticipate, but I can’t shake off the feeling something’s afoot” she said,

“Then we do our bests, we brave the diamond rank dungeon together, and we don’t trust anyone else” he said,

“I’d consider it foolish if we do, ascenders tend to get greedy when it comes to ascensions” she replied,

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

The bronze and silver ranked reaping took place in the next two days, Moyo and Ashira helped in the same way they did with the iron rankers, only this time as silver rankers. The silver rank reaping went without a hitch, the both of them culling dungeons as they broke, ensuring they didn’t use their full might except when they entered the broken dungeons to kill their bosses.

Rampaging together through dungeons after dungeons and grimly putting down silver rankers that came after them with cold precision, Moyo finished the silver reaping at level 325 and Ashira at 390, ever edging closer to gold rank. Moyo had sold all his relics and loot to the kingdom, wanting nothing to do with them as he considered it stained. The proceeds went to a kingdom treasury dedicated to cater for the children of those ascenders who had perished in the reaping, it was the best he could do.

And so, before dawn of the fourth day, when the gold rankers would gather to brave the diamond ranked dungeon that would be indicated by clan Azartes after they had cleared the gold ranked dungeons that broke, Moyo sat in a lotus position, eyes closed as he delved into his core that was a full scaled world of purple with a single island, his mountain core. Intent flowed through the rolling clouds, the seas that had appeared rumbled with Ashe and his aura and his core itself blazed with pure power that was at his finger tip.

He meditated, dominion appearing by his side as it began to funnel all the powers of his realm through it, glowing and gleaming as the weapon kept absorbing. With a brief tug of his Ashe, he visualized his vault, sweat beading on his forehead as he struggled to manifest his vault. He had considered the theory and since it manifested as a passive skill, he had been curious. He felt the air around him shake as reality tore and a large silver door with golden chains manifested itself in the air above him.

Floating up to the doors of the vault, he tugged at it but frowned as it didn’t bulge. Trying his best proved futile as he slammed his Ashe and intent at it all to no avail, resolving to come back to the issue, he exited his realm when a ping from his HUD grabbed his attention,

Notice: vault of the titan is undergoing a passive evolution, passive evolved form: vault of the deific titan(r) has been locked in the realm of the titan till the rank of gold.

With horror Moyo summoned his vault as it appeared beside him and heaved a sigh of relief as it opened up, the seal only affected its presence in his realm, Moyo wondered why. His ruminations were cut short by Ashira appearing, she had changed her attire to a grey robe, her blade strapped to her waist and her hair tied up with a cord,

“it’s time” she said grimly.

He nodded and stood, his dark armless robe sporting the crest of clan titan blade adorned his back. Together they set out for the gold ring, pausing at the entrance as the peak silver ranked guards waved them through, their arrival already expected. They wove through the sparse populace, making their way through the shimmering streets with lush plant life and clean roads to the tall castle that served as the royal home of the king and his family.

Made of pure gold and shimmering diamond or some sort of precious rock found on the planet, the building screamed of his planet’s Victorian era beauty. Outside the castle itself stood a contingent of the king in red armor that shone, his five guardians, commander Zortes and three other individuals he couldn’t recognize. Bowing to the king together, Ashira spoke,

“We come as requested lord Biyo” Ashira spoke formerly, Moyo kept his sharp eyes on them,

Commander Zortes eyed them with all the disdain of a gold ranker, the guardians watched them in wariness and the others paid them no heed as they spoke between themselves in hushed tones. The king smiled,

“Moyo titan blade and the lady Ashira Kairos, you are welcome” he replied,

Moyo felt Ashira stiffen and narrowed his eyes, slowly beginning to see the game the king was playing, pulling the name Kairos out and revealing her identity. Commander Zortes went from disdain to shock and wariness, the guardians already knew who they were and stared on with a stoic look, the other gold ranked ascenders gave her a healthy space. Moyo itched to draw dominion, point it at the throat of the king and ask what messed up mind games he was playing, but he reined in his impulses.

With a step forward and a smile on his face he spoke,

“Well, shall we, my lord?” he said,

The king glanced at him and turned skywards where a voice spoke, reverberating around them, the voice of the overseer,

“proceed”

The king nodded and the entire contingent moved out towards the portal that would take them to the mustering array point.