Captain Aldric Stonefist of the Shieldborne tore his way through the passageway where he had found himself, rune shield and Warhammer in both hands, the captain of the first division of the Shieldborne was a blur unto himself. Blowing away scores of abyssal creatures before they even knew he had passed them by, the diamond ranked creatures who managed to catch sight of his arrival immediately smashed to a pulp as he channeled the entirety of his aether to boosting his speed.

With each passageway he went through, he left a ping, a sort of in-ship signal communicator, allowing those within the command deck to track the movements of the defenders of the Defiance. With a flick of his wrist, he twirled his Warhammer whose weight would had left a gold ranker grunting and swearing, deflecting projectile attacks from the diamond ranked abyssal creatures. And then he was in their midst, bones and flesh exploding with each swing, his mind and body moving subconsciously as he cut them down with cold feeling of detachment.

He almost snorted at their weakness and slowness, they weren’t even as fast as the Valoris himself and that was saying a lot as the titan blade had been nothing but a blur to them, leaving them wondering how any being could move that fast. A lucky punch to his armor saw a blood berserker’s entire arm explode from contact, the Aserite within the armor and force aura field around his body leaving the berserker torn in half. Finishing them off, he stood straight, dropping another ping before watching as the Defiance lit up,

“Stonefist here, forge passageway secure” he said,

“Acknowledged, proceed to the next objective” the voice of Shola, the sentience of the ship echoed around him,

With a burst of power, he was down the hallway, burning aether and aura in equal quantities, shield in front to stop any projectile and hammer cocked behind him to strike should the need so much as arise. Shouts and bursts of projectile weapons came in the distance as the diamond ranked ascenders of the different cohorts left on the Defiance when the abyssal creatures tore through made their stand, screams and roars coming from their location.

Aldric had often wondered idly if the other diamond rankers thought of the Shieldborne as petulant or just lucky, considering everyone thought of diamond rank as being equal, a fresh start to ascend to diamond, should you see a ruler to take interest in you. He envied them, it was easy to aspire to join the Shieldborne, it was another thing entirely to train with but a portion of the titan blade’s aspect and authority bearing down on you like a mountain on an ant. It had broken his soul and reforged him into an shield of mithril, but Aldric wouldn’t wish it for another soul.

Rounding into the corner to see an ascender with one of the random paths often acquired by those from Gaia, a gun path, and this one was impressively an anti-tank turret, its rounds blowing literal holes into hundreds of the creatures coming before exploding. The rest were mostly intent and elemental users, one of them seemingly using a tactician’s path, calling put commands as they did their best against the hordes bearing down on them,

Then Aldric was there,

The tactician pausing as no doubt his calculations fizzled away, the Shieldborne tended to have that effect on ascenders. The look of pure awe and startled shock around him turned into full blown stupefaction as he cocked his hand with his hammer and released a command,

“DESTROY”

The entire force coming against him exploded away into gore, painting the walls of the ship and quickly burning away into essence on contact with the Aserite. He stood straight, staring at a literal glowing line in the air where the creatures passed through, and with distaste, he produced a modified gun. He was loathe to use it, preferring the feel of a skull crushing with every blow of his hammer, but that wasn’t ideal in this situation.

The Aetherblaster, a gun forged by the Forgelord of clan hammers of Ogun himself, each piece a legendary weapon in its own right. Using a fusion of raw aether and aura from the Shieldborne themselves, each of this marvel of archailect and technological wonder was as devastatingly powerful as it was sleek. One shot into the pathway and it exploded the rupture, sealing it back and leaving nothing but burning essence and gore around the ship. He turned to see a diamond ranker salute him,

“Sergeant Thomas of the third division, Kaminaris reporting” the ascender said,

Physique aside, the armor of the Shieldborne cut an imposing figure as against the regular robe wearing ascender who seemed to shrink into himself as he stood next to Gromm,

“Well met sergeant, proceed to your next objective” the Stonefist ordered,

The sergeant saluted again, turning to his fellow diamonds as he jogged to them, his posture somehow rigid and controlling, no doubt, he had taken the fact that a Shieldborne had spoken to him as the highest of honors. Aldric turned back as he felt his synchronicity with the vessel itself hum in alarm, with one powerful burst of step, his shield placed in front him, blasting aside a creature that appeared. Pushing it away in time before its scythe-like hands could reap the lives of the entire fighting force, it had taken the head of Thomas though, the diamond ranker dead before he even realized it.

Biting away his anger before it consumed him, he barked a command even as his realm tore into existence around him, he’d need it for what he was about to face. it was more than diamond rank but not master rank, at least, that was what he could feel coming from its body. It stumbled back, roaring at him before its scythe-like arms tore back at him,

“Accursed protectors of the anathema” it bit out, its voice echoing like glass being grated upon the ground,

With the upper body of a preying mantis and the lower half of a scorpion coupled with a stinger that literally dripped abyssal fluids, its head an horrific creation of mismatched paths all with sharp canines. Aldric sorely missed his Hud, wishing to at least know just what it was he was facing, and with his realm built to utilize gravity to its fullest potential, the creature grunted as Aldric tuned it to a quarter of its fullest strength, ten times earth’s gravity.

Still, the stinger was a blur, Gromm, grateful to the ascenders that no doubt knew they were way in over their heads should they so much as attempt to take it down. Leaving sharp dents in his mithril shield that stupefied him, seeing as its density and size alone should had prevented that. He spared it no response, parrying another strike of its tail and rolling away from its scythe hands, all these happening in the two seconds upon contact. Shield raised to deflect the stinger striking down from above, he tore towards the beast, hammer striking at its midsection, marvelling at its resilience.

Rage almost blinded him, his failure at the first code of the Shieldborne order,

Shield: This is the primary duty of the Shieldborne—to shield and protect those in need. This emphasizes their role as defenders and guardians. It is our commitment to standing between danger and the vulnerable.

He had broken the first code, and he would take it out on the creature, Thomas would be avenged in the most brutal of manners. With a flick of his wrist, the hammer vanished into his vault, a part of the armor forged for them, the runic vault forged into the armor glowing. His hand freed, he blurred behind the creature, one hand griping its stinger as it twisted with prenatural speed even as Aldric stood calmly.

One minute he was there, hand gripping the stinger in a vice-like grip, and the next he had vanished, the scythe hand of the creature bearing down on his former position, slicing off its own stinger before it could stop. Gromm grabbed the stinger the second the creature shaved it off, punching it straight through the skull of the creature the moment it opened its mouth to give a shriek of pure agony.

It crashed to the ground, convulsing in agony, then his hammer was back in hand, crashing down on its skull and decimating it to paste. Standing straight and connecting with the ship, he felt the passageway now scoured clean of any abyssal influence, the diamonds staring at him in part awe and one part terror. They were all diamonds, but the Shieldborne were forged of something else, turning to them, he spoke,

“Submit his name when this is done, and any info necessary for the house to know, he was worthy to be a member of the legion” he said,

The diamonds nodded mutely before glancing at the position of their fallen comrade, grief stricken in their eyes,

“lord” one said hesitantly,

“captain” Aldric replied,

“I am no lord, the titan alone is worthy of such” Aldric replied,

The diamond nodded,

“We would accompany you, and should we fall, we do for a better cause” he said,

Aldric stared at the diamond silently,

“Then your lives are better served fighting where you’re valuable, against the denizens of the abyss” he said,

“The deeper I go, the stronger they get, I would never sacrifice a life needlessly” he said,

“we’re diamonds too you know” an ascender within them said,

The rest turned in alarm to the ascender in question, a squat but muscular man, Aldric nodded,

“Aye, but you know why, don’t you?” he asked,

The man swallowed, nodding and picking up the weapons of Thomas, two berretta’s forged of infused metal and pieces of mithril, custom made from what he could observe,

“Hold fast captain Shieldborne” he said,

“And you all, Kaminaris of the legion” Aldric replied, beating one hand to his chest in salute,

They replied in same, Aldric turning as he spoke again,

“Third passageway to sanctum secured, one ascender lost” he said, his voice echoing with the steel he forcibly fused into it,

The reply from Shola paused, as if sensing the muted pain within him,

“Acknowledged captain Stonefist, sergeant Thomas will be remembered” she replied softly

“Proceed to next objective” she said softly,

“In his name” Aldric replied before powering away.

∞

Moyo opened his eyes the moment they were past the green clouds, staring at the world and wondering just what horror they stared at. It was a world of ironical creations, buildings fading in and out of existence as aspects clashed together, shrouding his core the more, even to silver, he gathered the aspect within his body, easing his descent as Ashira spoke,

“By the supreme beings” she said, horrified,

It was a world of abyssal creatures, hundreds of thousands filling the landscape, battling and marching all as one, tall ziggurat creations powered by each aspect of the abyss still functioning came together in a runic circle, powering the defensive runes that prevented the primordials from getting through into the planet. Simply staring at it caused a migraine and left a sour taste in his mouth, turning away, he glanced at Idris who gripped his spear tighter, staring below him.

The champion pointed at the distance,

“There, whatever base they have, its that structure” he said,

Moyo nodded,

“I know, I can feel the call” he replied,

Whatever power was on the world, its strength rivalled that of a ancient, the startling fact was enough to drive home that caution and stealth was of the utmost priority. Turning towards a deserted landscape filled with what seemed to be dark sands, Moyo and his team blazed like a comet, crashing into the sands with an audible puff before shooting out of the sands, weapons in hand. The skies above had turned dark, a storm cloud coming in the horizon.

Glancing down at the sands, he pushed his hand through, feeling it,

“this isn’t sand” he whispered,

“it’s ash” a voice said, echoing around them,

Gegun twisted as Moyo put his body in between Ashira and the attack he felt coming for them, a spear of ash. His core unshrouded to diamond, titan body in place, the spear sought a point to pierce through his body, it found none, blasting harmlessly away. Oshosi’s ferocity was a blistering wave of awareness, sage’s sight opening him up to the absence of aether in the entire planet, it was like a barren wasteland, nothing but abyssal essence and aura floating around.

This brought two concerns for him,

“we’re walking beacons” Ashira hissed as she produced her bow, Moyo nodding,

With each wave of power they unleashed, they might as well signify their location for the untold thousands of being situated on the planet. Idris nodded, powering forward on his master ranked speed alone, Agbala Agbaye blocking a lance of abyssal light from a creature that bore out through the ground, one movement of the spear and the creatures head exploded off its body, but not before it gave a death throe. Moyo shot forwards, unleashing Shango's resonance, feeling the repulsive power of hundreds of creatures coming for him,

All diamond rank,

He unshrouded his core to full master rank, empowering his limbs with his aspect, taking care to keep his aura to himself,

“Hundreds, north of our location” he said to Ashira,

The Chimera drew her bow back, green glowing arrows manifesting on them and in the air around them, the tell-tale signs of her arcane archery skill infused into them,

Arcane Archery (R): Ashira's skill with the bow transcends mortal limitations. She can imbue her arrows with elemental forces, unleashing devastating arcane projectiles that pierce through defenses and unleash havoc upon her foes.

Releasing said projectile, they shot through the air like missiles, honing in on the coming creatures before detonating among them like bombs, wiping them out with both intent and bomb-like explosions. They died in waves,

“Move!” he hissed,

They boomed with force, tearing through the air like missiles till Oshosi’s ferocity screamed at him again, dominion flashing to block an attack that shot at him from the ash again. Pushing him off course, he twisted, staring down at a face that formed from the ash,

“Moyosore titan blade” it said,

“Who are you?” Moyo asked,

All around him flying creatures came in their hundreds, all diamond rank as well, the face gave a soft chuckle,

“Amazing what a little rune and thousands of those wretches screaming anathema can do” the face said, ignoring the question,

Ashira floated close to him,

“that’s no abyssal creature” she said,

“Quite astute of the daughter of Kairos, a pleasure meeting you, tell me, what lengths would your father go to when it means securing your life?” he asked,

“Most people pray not to get the attention of Kairos” she replied,

“I could care less about that fossil of a primordial” the face replied,

Ashira bit back a retort, it turned to Moyo,

“It has occurred to me that the reason for your fame has been simple” it said,

“Oh?” Moyo replied,

“Indeed, you’ve been facing chaff, mere abyssal creatures whose very nature your aspect somehow makes useless, no, what you need to face are true threats to your existence” it said,

“And those would be?” Moyo asked,

A great cry came from the distance as Moyo felt presences lock on to them, Idris and Ashira going on guard, Moyo simply stared down at the face below,

“Mortas was a disgrace to our order, and I apologize” it said,

“a brother of the undying hand then?” Moyo replied,

“I bring the finest of our orders, I am more than enough to put you down dear titan blade” the man replied,

“Oh, and Rohan sends his regards” the voice finished, fading away into the ash,

The presences unshrouded their strengths to reveal master rank power, Oshosi’s ferocity screamed in warning as the abyss empowered the attacks coming. The first was a slew of gnat-like presences, each enough to wipe out a diamond ranker, and a swarm shot his way.

The second was a wave of abyssal attack infused with the unholy version of abyssal intent, the power, enough to sunder an entire continent. The third was an empowered punch, infused with commands of the abyss, intent to turn his insides to mush, killing him slowly.

The third was a rain of cursed power, its sole purpose to leech him of his strength, and also corrupt him, all these he felt the moment they began their workings to descend on him. Gegun blazed to life as Moyo infused veneration, intent, Ashe and aspect within the blade, raising it up the moment they unleashed the attacks,

“Leave it to me” he hastily said as his eyes blazed purple and golden,

Ashira nodded, Idris moving to his side in reply, he watched as the attacks grew stronger the second they left their points, each coming from a different angle. The unleashed his realm, the island flickering to life like a burning light, blazing with power and the prime aspect of the sun. He took a deep breath, gathering the edict, he knew well enough to conserve strength, but a message was to be sent to them, to this brother of the undying hand.

The moment they crossed into his realm, the attacks staggered, the connections to the abyssal realm flickering but pushing on, their aim true. Moyo moved, swinging Gegun once,

“DA PA DA” he said,

The attacks blasted back with such force, the core ream shook, tearing through the skies in a second like a comet, crashing into each position they came from with such force, the light of their explosions flared for miles. Moyo dragged his hand down, staring into the distance,

“Come then” he said,

“See what I’m made of”

There was no reply.