As the ship settled atop the pantheon, Idris and the sentinels went before Moyo and Luke, Natasha trailing sullenly behind them. Moyo had no idea what Luke had said to her through his HUD, but it had been enough to douse the woman in a cold feeling that her averting her gaze from him. He overlooked it, there was nothing he could currently do to solve that and Idris remained silent, eyeing the vice leader of the explorer’s society with a look akin to a stink eye. Whatever feud was between the clan and the explorers was obviously a limited thing and didn’t affect both factions as a whole, it was something that could wait till the end of this summit.

He noticed a small construct that looked more like a drone than anything else floating around him high up in this sky,

“Is this event being recorded?” he asked,

Luke nodded,

“The leaders of the world came together to meet and you think the world wouldn’t want to watch?” Luke asked incredulously,

Moyo scratched his head,

“figures” he replied,

“Besides, this is the first shot the world would have of you barring blink shots as you moved around Asa” Luke said,

Moyo glanced up to the camera and nodded before making his way up the white and gold steps that had literal hanging trees floating at both sides. Luke had really prepared for this event, milking it for all he could with the aesthetics. The structure was a circular building with white and gold columns raised skywards, etched with different drawings of battles detailing each of the leaders of the factions and their achievements.

Moyo spotted himself standing above multitudes of ascenders, the time when he gathered most of the world’s population of ascenders to Asa to do a series of ascensions. He smiled at the memory before turning his gaze to the brazier that burned with purple flames and two bronze rankers in dark suits, arms folded and a cold look on their face. He paused, a man in a long robe carrying a scroll appearing as he shouted,

“Arriving lastly, the lord and ruler of the entirety of the continent of Asa, patriarch and lord of clan titan blade and all its domain, ascender on the path of the crushing blade, master ascender of Gaia and defender of Gaia as a whole, lord Moyosore titan blade!” the man said,

The brazier burned brighter as the two men bowed before parting to allow him through, the announcer bowing before speaking with reverence,

“Lord titan blade, in your benevolence, please, we beseech you to take only one person with you to stand as your guard, the rules of the summit lord master” he said,

Moyo had wanted to point out his path had evolved to a mythical one and now the path of the titan blade, but there had been enough veneration today and he was sincerely tired of the treatment he was getting. He nodded and glanced at Idris who nodded and followed him, his sentinels standing firmly with their eyes on the men in black who eyed them amusingly, bronze rank against a majority of irons.

As he climbed up the steps, the winds somehow reduced than they should be at the top of a mountain, he saw a large sculpture of earth being held by eight figures, the eight current leaders of the world. He got to the top to see eight stone thrones set in a circle, each with different colors and having six different individuals on six of them. His eyes went straight to the man in a golden armor, golden hair tied behind him and resting his hands on a golden ornate blade that gleamed, inscriptions in an ancient language written on it in blue that glowed.

King William the first of his name, lord protector of the entirety of Avalon and all his domain sat with a smile etched on his face, blue eyes glowing as he gazed at Moyo. Behind him was a woman in silver female knight attire, dark hair with brown eyes and holding a broad sword strapped to her waist. William spoke, his voice sounding all regal,

“By the supreme beings, do my eyes deceive me?” he said,

Moyo smiled and nodded,

“king William, it is great to see you again” he replied,

“it’ll take more than some space ascenders to bring down the titan” a Nordish voice rumbled,

Moyo glanced at the man next to him, red hair tussled but also tied behind him, also bright blue eyes and with a beard so large and rough, it gave him the look of a stereotypical barbarian. High chief Perun of the federation had grown bigger, bulging muscles revealed even beneath the styled animal skin cloak he wore that had a beautiful look to it. Tailored to his shape, it gave him the look of a barely constrained berserker.

In his hands was a large Viking battle axe, its blade glowing red, its handle an ornately crafted gold work of art with Gaelic runes carved into it. Moyo smiled at the high chief of the tribes that made up the federation and spoke,

“Indeed old friend, it would take more than that to bring down any one of us”

Perun nodded and Moyo’s eyes strayed to Cassandra, leader of the union and ascender on the path of the raging fusion. The brutal but efficient woman looked a tad bit older, but in a good way. Moyo could see the glow of the power in her veins and felt the aspect of fusion she could someday tap into, for once he smiled at the future prospect of the monsters Gaia would produce. She nodded at him,

“An honor to have you back on this dusty world” she said, her southern accent coming out,

“No place like home” he replied,

Making his way to his throne, he passed Ba Ji and Devesh who both nodded at him respectfully and he in return. His issues with the empire probably made the former hesitate and he hadn’t been close to the latter in any way or form and that went for his clan as well. He had purposely passed the woman who sat on the golden throne of the Luminian theocracy without so much as a glance in her direction and the rest had noticed as well, a clear message,

She wasn’t welcomed.

A bit petty, but Moyo had all the patience of a boulder rolling down a hill when it came to the intricate game of politics, those that knew him well enough knew this. Sitting on the dark purple throne that had the crest of the clan carved into it, Moyo idly wondered how they had gotten the crystal to fashion such a throne. Glancing around as Luke Finn sat on his bland reflective crystal throne, he smiled at the hand the explorer society leader was taking.

Apart from the clan, the society was arguable the second strongest body on the planet, irrespective of the fact that it had been set up late. With its thousands of members squarely focused on the art of ascension, Moyo had also wondered why there were no silver rankers among them. Not that it would have been easy to get to silver, the monsters becoming terribly faster and brutal the closer you got to gold, but at least one wouldn’t be off the table.

He pushed the thought of thrones and colors with ascenders out of his mind and focused on the gathering. Luke Finn speaking up from his throne at the end of the circle,

“Lords, ascenders and leaders of the powers of Gaia” he started,

“We gather here today, for two reasons. First of which is the return of the only master on Gaia, the titan blade and to discuss the issue of the growing number of dungeons” he said,

Glancing at Moyo, he spoke,

“I hereby open this meeting with the first speech going to the titan blade” he completed,

With a snap of his fingers, Luke activated constructs lying around the pantheon, a forcefield of pure energy that cut off any noise or words from entering or leaving its area activating. Moyo nodded and turned to everyone gathered,

“It feels good to be back, to old faces and new” he said, finally glancing at the woman on the Luminian throne who stared back with a cold smile,

“While the news I bring back is less than savory, the archailect a bloody place of war, I am glad to see I left the world in stable hands”

“You make it sound, and excuse my assumptions, that you employed us to protect our own people” the lady finally spoke,

Moyo glanced at her and activated his Digi Aye, frowning as he saw the golden thread that linked her with something in the distance, definitely the master in seclusion. He spoke without missing a beat,

“Nothing of such, lady?” he asked,

“Cardinal, Elita, acting head of the theocracy” she replied,

“Cardinal Elita, my apologies, and where, pray tell, is the pontiff, my friend Matthew?” he asked again,

“The holy father and saint is currently in seclusion, meditating and absolving himself of past sins” she replied,

“Past sins?” William spoke up, an eyebrow raised,

“The ways of the devout are sometimes a mystery to those of simple mind who prefer to swing around toys” she bit back,

“Lady Elita, be aware that you are in my domain and subject to my hospitality, I would have none of that” Luke said with a frown, eyes flashing,

“of course, apologies” Elita said in response,

Moyo stared at her,

“Like I said, no, we were and continue to be allies and brothers in the protection of Gaia, something I’m not sure Matthew informed you about if he left the entire theocracy in your hands” he replied,

“you’ll find that the theocracy has grown from a simple movement of priests into a faction dedicated to following the tenets of purity and justice” she said,

“And yet you persecute those who wouldn’t follow your path, restricting the growth of those on Lumia to just the path of Lumia” Perun spoke up,

“In the past few weeks, I have received more refugees running from your orders who were supposedly hunting them. Whatever would drive families with children to run into the ice-cold wilderness of the federation is something I do not want within my domain, cardinal Elita” he spat,

“And is this true, cardinal?” Moyo asked softly,

The cardinal glanced at him and whatever she saw in his eyes dropped her smile entirely, a palpable fear and anger blossoming within her as she spoke,

“What goes on in my domain remains under the jurisdiction of the theocracy, emperor Ba Ji here rules with an iron fist, Devesh not faring any better in ruling than the old nation of India with its rich benefitting more than its poor, so why turn on me?” she growled, eyes flashing,

Moyo rested back on his throne,

“My?” he said,

“What?” she asked, caught off guard,

“You said my continent, almost like you think you have a right to it and everything within it belongs to you” he replied,

“You call us dictators, but you wouldn’t see us supposedly laying waste to our people now, would you?” Ba Ji spoke up,

Elita waved her hands dismissively,

“Irrelevant, there are more ways than one to be a dictator, especially in this new reality we find ourselves” she uttered,

Moyo sighed,

“you know, I had no plans of revealing what I know about your theocracy, but it seems you are adamant on not playing nice with the rest” Moyo said softly,

Elita cocked her head arrogantly to the side,

“oh?, and what have you heard of the theocracy, great heretic?” she spat,

“Another insult from you and the theocracy would be banned in its entirety from Rimor and access to the services of the society, your priests already make a nuisance of themselves on my streets and that’s annoying enough” Luke growled,

Moyo noticed the priest in golden robes behind Elita, a golden-haired man with what looked like modified guns at his waist twitch and glanced at him,

“KNEEL” he ordered, Ashe flowing through his words,

The man crashed to his knees frozen, unable to even move a nerve, cardinal Elita turning to Moyo, rage in her eyes as a large golden book appeared at her shoulders, its pages fluttering open. Moyo moved a finger and his aura slammed the book shut, Digi Aye absorbing the essence and aether that powered the book as it fell to the floor a husk of a book. Elita froze in fear,

“I believe you see now that I could care less for the games you play, one in which even you are a puppet” Moyo said,

“’puppet?” Cassandra asked from where she sat calmly, watching the proceedings,

Perun was busy idly looking at the blade of his axe, but Moyo could see the lethality in which his muscles were coiled, ready to spring. He nodded at her,

“Watch and observe what rules the theocracy” he replied,

Turning to Elita, he spoke,

“I’ll only say this once, call your master”

Elita snarled,

“What are you bla- “was all she could say as Moyo uttered another command,

“REVEAL” he said,

Reality twisted and warped violently as the thread attached to Elita shook like a force, the titan aspect Moyo infused into the command threatened to unravel it, Digi Aye slowly absorbing the power that had Moyo’s eyes rising up in surprise. The mere power attached to it ensured whatever and wherever that being were, it could end Elita in a blink should she go against its orders whenever it wanted.

He felt a pathway opening up and a golden hand grabbing Elita and her accomplice before dragging them through the pathway, no doubt back to Lumia. What stepped out however was perfection in every sense, a golden angel with golden wings and golden skin, all parts of him golden. Moyo felt the aura the master ranked being was trying to exude, an aura of pure adoration to itself which would no doubt leave the vulnerable bronze rankers here in his awe and it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

With a tight snap of his fingers, he flooded the area with his aura, dispelling the aura of the being as Digi Aye ate it up, the being reeling back in a flash too fast for anything but a master to witness before calming himself. The leaders all brandished their weapons, much to the amusement of the being who could end them all without so much as twitching, only wary of Moyo who remained seated and calm.

After a long period of fighting, Moyo had this instinctive feel to fellow warriors and threats, ferocity of Oshosi finely tuned to his sixth senses to give him preemptive warnings about issues like that. However, it came up with nothing here, not even a blip and that told him all he needed to know about the master in front of him. The being was no fighter, probably a glorified messenger with access to the aspect laced authority of the bright scourge, Moyo even doubted he was the emissary.

Moyo gestured to the being,

“This right here, is what rules the theocracy, an intruder from outside our world, a messenger to a higher being that preys on worlds” he started,

The leaders were now in full battle mode, Luke speaking silently into his HUD as Moyo could feel the same cannons that protected the continent of Rimor turn and lock in on their position. Not that they would do anything more than irritate both he and the master, but it was a nice gesture and Moyo appreciated it. The being looked more irritated than amused now, Moyo glancing up at the sky as he typed into his HUD, a pathway of burning flames opening up as overseer Atreus stepped out.

His eyes immediately honing in on the master ranked being,

“I see you were right titan, a master of that being” he said,

They weren’t at liberty to discuss the games of primordials to lesser ascenders and Moyo was keenly aware of this fact, so he chose his words carefully. Nodding to Atreus,

“Indeed, I believe this is enough evidence to isolate the continent?” he asked,

Atreus nodded as the messenger frowned,

“Your brigade has no jurisdiction here, you have no right to interfere in the happenings on a planet except it be the infestation of blights and you have more than enough of that to deal with currently, don’t you?” the being said,

Atreus shrugged,

“Depends, it is within the jurisdiction of the brigade to deal with infestations of any kind and believe me you and your excuse of a ruler are high up there on the list of infestations, besides, I’m merely cordoning off your area of influence and leaving it to the inhabitants on how best to deal with you” Atreus explained,

The being growled in a most undignified voice,

“Your world is nothing but a tiny blip in the grand scheme of things, nothing for me to take over” the being said,

“You never did tell us your name, Mr. pinky and the brain” Moyo said, cutting off its tirade,

Moyo felt the rage in its eyes at being taken for granted, even as Cassandra snorted at the name Moyo addressed it as,

“I am Akriel, beta herald of the great one, a name you all would soon enough venerate” he growled,

“That word again” Moyo said with a sigh as step of Ogun activated and he appeared in front of the being, his aura and Ashe locking down space around him in a flash before he gripped the being by the throat,

“Overseer Atreus?” he asked,

The brigade commander snapped his fingers,

“done” he replied,

A loud gong echoed around the entirety of Gaia, HUD’s flashing as a message was displayed,

NOTICE: the continent of Lumia has been infested by the corruptive nature of a being, the Luminian theocracy is now under its control, all ascenders and inhabitants are advised to avoid the continent for the time being.

“Do you know why we call you the great heretic?” the being spoke as it became calm,

Moyo couldn’t help but think they had just played into its hands, it smiled as its eyes flashed and a pulse of aura detonated from it, Moyo instinctively wrapping himself and all the bronze rankers in bubbles of his aura, Atreus merely wrinkling his nose as the aura burned away around him. Moyo settled the ascenders as he drew dominion, Idris calmly shepherding them to the back of the titan.

Akriel smoothened his golden robes, his wings fluttering in the air,

“You go against the order of things, your blasphemy at master rank is a spit in the eyes of the beings whose position you sought to reach as nothing but a neophyte” Akriel said,

“it’s not my fault you all lacked the imagination to do what I did” Moyo replied,

Akriel smiled disdainfully,

“Pride, doesn’t look so good on you” he said,

“Not if you have the power to back it up, more than I can say for you, Mr. messenger of a great one” Moyo retorted,

Moyo saw the flash of terrible anger in the eyes of Akriel and knew he had touched a nerve, but it was gone as fast as it had appeared. Akriel composed himself,

“This is pointless, the overseer can’t touch me, not while I’m on this planet and you wouldn’t dare start a fight here, not with so many…...casualties, it would be a pity if the factions lost their leaders, auspiciously as the same time the titan returned, don’t you think?” Akriel said with a smile,

Moyo gripped dominion tighter,

“you’re removing the fact that there is the nethervoid” Atreus said calmly,

Moyo glanced at the overseer,

“Nethervoid?” he asked,

Akriel laughed,

“See?, the whelp stumbles blindly in a realm meant for elders and monsters and you think you have a chance of defeating me?” Akriel said harshly,

“When your world was simply a barren rock I had existed, when your galaxy was just forming, I had attained the rank of diamond” he said, eyes flashing,

“And here you are at the mercy of the titan blade and the overseer, a bit of a letdown, isn’t it?” Luke spoke up,

Akriel turned to the man and spoke, a command,

“DIE”

Moyo pitted his Ashe against it, Digi Aye somehow resonating with his Ashe and eating the command. Akriel whipped back in shock,

“What did you just do?” he asked,

“What every ascender who has an idea of commands do to ones they don’t like, break it, or is your mind also crumbling as well?” Moyo asked,

He had felt what Digi Aye and his Ashe had accomplished, eating a command, that was new even for him. Akriel snarled and raised a finger as a runic circle formed on it,

“On every continent lies an agent of mine with the power to detonate in a populated area, some continents have more than one in the case of the clan” Akriel said with a chilling smile,

“Resulting to terrorist moves, can’t say I’m surprised” Moyo bit back,

Akriel laughed,

“We all do what we must to bring to glory of the bright one into this world” he said,

“You hold me here and you all see your people die in the most holy of fires, a fitting tribute to the great one, informing him of your world’s readiness to accept him” Akriel said,

Moyo gritted his teeth, this was a good chance as any to end the messenger of the scourge once and for all, but the lives of thousands if not millions were on the line and Moyo wouldn’t take that risk. He glanced at Atreus who raised his eyebrows,

“The death of thousands is a justifiable cause for the death of this vermin, are you sure you want to let him go?” he asked,

The callousness of the brigade overseer shocked the leaders, but Moyo was used to it, it was why they were efficient, efficiency however wasn’t what he was after here though. Shaking his head,

“No, I would not doom countless thousands to their deaths, let him go, his time will come” Moyo replied,

Atreus sighed, rolling his eyes,

“Have it your way” he replied and snapped his fingers as a pathway opened up, Akriel smiling,

“No doubt you all would hope to mount an offensive on my continent, do bear in mind though the countless lives that would be needlessly wasted” he said,

Moyo smiled as he flashed over and slammed his fists into the midsection of Akriel, the messenger not instinctively fast enough and having nothing to do with master rank. Even as the messenger doubled over, Moyo spoke loudly for all to hear,

“they’re not coming for you, I’m coming for you, and believe me those I’m bringing along aren’t afraid of a little bloodshed. Till we meet again, Akriel” he said as the messenger of the bright scourge stumbled through the pathway into the golden castle that stood on the horizon,

The pathway closed as the air became lighter, Atreus clapping,

“Alright, that’s my cue to leave, good luck, I’ll be watching for pure entertainment” he said as a pathway opened up and he stepped through,

The pathway closed and they all turned to Moyo,

“Please, seat, we have things to talk about” he said

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

Akriel, herald of Rieus bright scourge stumbled into his chambers, the aura of Rieus suffusing the entire room as it came from the orb that floated in the altar in front of him. A piece of the aspect of the primordial he called his deity, the words of the titan blade bit through his mind,

A power not his own,

He snarled as he spread his wings wide, damn that lowly humanoid who thought himself higher than the other masters simply because he had direct access to an aspect and his own, not even a borrowed one. How he had done it, he had no idea, but he had informed Rieus and was expecting to hear back from his primordial anytime soon.

Such sacrilege and heresy would not go unpunished by the primordials as a whole, however he hadn’t heard back from his primordial and it bothered him to no ends. Still, he was a herald, a step away from being an emissary and he could operate on his own. The titan thought because he had access to an aspect, he knew how it worked, but Akriel had been tapping into the aspect of the scourge for centuries, he had the upper hand.

The pure aspect of Rieus had been left for him in case of emergencies and he bowed once again in veneration to his primordial. He was old enough to absorb the aspect without having a deadline on his existence, however it would push back the time for him to realize his own aspect, if he could any longer.

Too long he had been under the authority of Rieus to even remember how long it was, and all he had to show for it were innumerable years of servitude. Still, he thought with a snarl, he would use such power to end this excuse of an infant primordial, and who knows?, should he get enough of aspect from Rieus and the venerations of millions, he could somehow end the existence of his primordial,

It had been done before anyways,

With steel and pure hatred in his eyes, Akriel began to absorb the aspect of the scourge.