It had never occurred to Ajax just how terrible or in this case, powerful his father must had been to hold down primordials on the battlefield even as a mere master or was it ruler?. He wasn’t too clear on the details, all he knew, was that the grim had wreaked havoc across the Archailect, and it had taken the combined might of numerous rulers, masters and primordials to bring him down. Now that he had been reborn as chaos incarnate, Ajax wasn’t sure what to classify him as, watching as he fended off not just two harbingers imbued with the powers of messengers, literal wings behind them, but the servant of Eses as he found out before, Xandros wielding terrible cosmic blistering energies.

And then there was him, wielding the same aspect of chaos his father did, except he could feel it, the waning of the aspect, resisting his will to lay harm to Azael, his father. Zane true blade was a maniac, wild crazy grin etched on his face as he clashed repeatedly with Azael, sword skills unseen for close to an eon unleashed with every move. Reality rented to ribbons in an instant before sealing back itself, only to feel the weight of every punch thrown by Grimswolf, the Fenrai a raging feral creature on the battlefield.

The literal claws of the harbinger of Draulr could rip space vessels apart, of that, Ajax had no doubt, his howls were restricting enough and if it weren’t for his level of strength, he’d either be soiling himself or flat out dead. To Azael though, they were merely an inconvenience, restricting his movements and attempting to end him despite them all feeling the ticking time bomb that was the planet. In all his time, Ajax could say it had never heard of it being done so effortlessly, moving a planet across the entire cosmos without the power of the Archailect.

But as he thought of it, he began to see the similarities, Azael was in fact channeling the full power of chaos, pushing the vessel further and further into oblivion as it broke down around them and reshaped into horrible and mind scarring shapes. Xandros, protected by the power of his patron, struggled endlessly to hold back the planet, runic circle after runic circles flickering to life only to shatter from the overwhelming power of chaos around him. Still, it kept them all sane, for even despite the powers of their supreme beings fueling them, Ajax could see signs of chaos eating at the edges of the actions of the harbingers.

Xandros apparently gave up, growling as his full mantle which he had discarded a few seconds ago to concentrate on finding a way to slow down the planet pushing his way through the void itself. Runes dancing all over him, Zane snarled as the flickering image of a blade appeared above him, pure and singular in purpose, aweing even Ajax himself,

The true blade,

It fell like an executioner’s blade, it fell on Azael, the reaper’s scythe crashing into the manifested authority of Alastor himself. The explosion twisted reality, pummeling the planet and warping space around them, Grimswolf didn’t let it stop him though. The Fenrai tore towards the point of the explosion, fist cocked and releasing a roar even as he punched his fist forwards. Ajax had heard rumors about the call of the wild, something even the jungle king, ancient that he was, respected.

Its power was enough to explode even rulers from the inside, ancients injured to an almost fatal level, for masters and below though, it meant complete obliteration. To the reaper of chaos himself, it fluttered his tattered cape even as the punch landed on the shaft of the scythe, Azael grunting. Ajax was at his side in a flash, Voidbringer arcing down in a deadly swing to sever the skull of his father off his neck, hope in his eyes. It was quashed in a flash, a wraith like figure clamping down on Voidbringer from the robe of his father.

The creature exploded though, shattering like glass as it sought to defend against the blade of Ajax, but it had bought Azael valuable time to move away from the attacks. Rolling out of the paths of the combined attacks, he swiveled to stop a chop from Zane whose blade was literally simply arcs of lightning looking light, like visible veins running through the skin of a human, its power branching out in deadly arcs, seeking a target.

Azael laughed, Ajax cursing as he joined the fray again, realization dawning on him that his father was enjoying this. The battle was simply a way for him to while away time, to push towards whatever destination he had in mind, and it was something Ajax couldn’t quite figure out. Where exactly did his father have in mind?, where could he be carrying a planet so steeped in the powers of chaos to strike a deadly blow to the forces of the Archailect?.

Ajax hated himself for caring, he had given up on the Archailect as a whole, he could care less what they did or if they even survived, but he found himself moving in tandem with the harbingers and vassal of Eses, he found himself deflecting attacks with such brutal speed and concentration that any slip up could very well mean his death. Rolling away, he raised Voidbringer to bring it crashing down when Azael spoke with a sigh, as if tired of their games,

“STOP” he said.

Ajax found his limbs locked up, arms raised and gripping Voidbringer. If the grunts he could hear all around him were signs, then that meant the harbingers as well were frozen, a terrifying realization. Azael floated closer.

“How mere worms struggle” he said, his voice echoing around the planet.

Once again, pathways opened as caricatures of lifelike creatures began to slither through, a thousand voices shrieking and speaking as one, a cacophony of madness spreading across the planet as entire mountains looking like hardened smoking rocks glitched in and out of existence. Ajax could had sworn that in the distance, he saw a larger than life terrible creature, but the next second it was gone, its position in the horizon vanished.

“Close your eyes” Xandros growled out with a struggle.

“Fat lot it’s going to do to you guys” Azael said with a chuckle.

“I’ve been thinking, if two harbingers, a whelp of Eses and the bastard of my loins are here, does that mean the others have taken refuge at the last citadel?” he asked, almost to himself.

The last citadel?.

Ajax frozen, could only listen on to the ramblings of his father as he bent his willpower and authority into releasing himself from his shackles. Azael continued his musings even as he floated right in front of them.

“The brigade, the jades, the primordials, all the powers of the Archailect, bent into one single place, amusing” he said.

“Too bad they’ll have to wait a while, I intend to take my time” he continued.

Ajax had a lurch, where exactly were they currently going?, the looks must had been evident on their faces as Azael laughed.

“You thought I’d simply go straight for the citadel?, no, not yet, even now, the great lord has finally found a way to let his children into the Archailect, pathways tearing to life all over the cosmos, but it is not enough, not yet” Azael said.

“One by one, I shall tear out the roots of your supreme beings, one by one your precious nexus worlds will fall, entire galaxies, thousands upon thousands of systems cut off from the Archailect, cleansed of the taint of your masters, then and only then, when no hope is forthcoming any longer, will I head for your citadel” he completed.

Xandros vibrated, light emanating from his body as the command of Azael weakened around him.

“But for now, I have a mission to complete for my lord, and as such, you all will be imprisoned here, in this nightmare of a reality” Azael whispered.

“NO” the voice of Xandros echoed, eyes alight as a large coiling dragon made of pure white energy manifested behind him.

Instantly, Ajax felt the bonds around him loosen as he swung Voidbringer, invoking one of its abilities immediately.

Chaos Embodiment: In moments of dire need or when the wielder taps into their true potential, the Voidbringer undergoes a temporary transformation. The blade morphs into an ever-shifting form, becoming an extension of the wielder's arm. It manifests wicked barbs and tendrils that lash out independently, seeking out foes with unerring accuracy. This form amplifies the wielder's combat prowess and chaos-based abilities, enabling them to become a whirlwind of destruction on the battlefield.

Tendrils of dark energy spilled from Voidbringer, the weapon expanding into black tentacles that wrapped Ajax, covering him in an armor of pulsing chaos energy, tearing the distance towards Azael who readied his scythe. The moment the reaper unleashed his attack, time seemed to stop for Ajax, something unlocking in his mind, something that had been repressed and buried behind the years of hatred and pain, something alien to him.

He found himself watching the deadly arc of the scythe with interest, moving towards the weapon whose intent was to end his existence, but he felt calm as well. He found himself in front of the blade, found himself reaching out with one hand as whatever arcane weapon that was tore effortlessly through his body.

“No, what is this?” a serpentine voice hissed at the back of his skull.

Ajax felt the presence of Apophis try to latch on to him, to stop whatever was going on with him, but it hissed back in shock, as if burnt by the presence of whatever that tiny little ball of light that was in his chest was. The scythe continued its trajectory, tearing through his body and towards his heart as he felt it slice his core in half, still, a smile was on his face.

Peace.

Amidst the terrible situation around him, he was at peace, that ball of light, whatever it was, it promised him release. Release from all the terrible things around him, release even as he felt himself grinning, the weapon cutting him into two halves. And then the ball of light broke, fusing with the two parts of him, threading through his broken body even as he took a shuddering breathe.

Epiphany.

Rare, absurdly rare, but he had heard it happen to one other being in the entire Archailect.

The cosmic dragon.

Unsure of what was happening, he saw himself floating above his bisected body that began to fuse together into a semi liquid state. He felt his core form together again, but this time, losing the essence of chaos, its powers were still there, but it somehow felt disconnected from Apophis itself, like it lacked sentience.

“you’re welcome” a voice he would never forget rang within his soul.

Eses cosmic dragon.

Whatever she had done, when she had done it, it had served to split him from the control of the chaos being itself. He would accept the boon for now, not like he could say no and watch himself fade into oblivion, but he would seek out the overpowered worm and find out just what she was aiming towards. His core was an amalgamation of light and darkness, but keeping each other in check, a perfect harmony of what he could only call cosmic and chaotic might.

Voidbringer began to quiver, lances of light shooting from its form as it began to reshape itself again, light and darkness intertwining together even as he watched himself gain control of his body, with the ability to make a few changes. He gave a chuckle, feeling the depth of his powers as well as the enlightenment, it brought along.

Primordial rank.

Was it even possible?, his core kept flickering through the rank and out, a primordial making another primordial?, or was Eses something even greater?. He threw the thought of his mind, the only thing stronger than a primordial was a supreme being, and it was scary enough thinking of her as ascending to one, if that was even possible. He shifted his attention to his body, willing his locked hair to grow white with touches of black at its tips, his eyes transforming into a white ring with pinpricks of darkness within it. His body grew leaner but toned, his senses expanding as he felt the knowledge of runes at a corner of his mind. The Hud bestowed upon him by Apophis fizzled out, in its place was one with weird runic writings he had no understanding of, but that was a problem for later.

The moment he awoke into his body, he stretched his aspect out and watched as the same cosmic power of Eses fused with the raw power of chaos tore through the surrounding area, obliterating every chaotic creature in sight even as they screamed in terror, the very planet quaking. The harbingers were left confused, Xandros stared at him with unflinching anger, no doubt wondering how he got access to the aspect of his patron.

Azael though, shook with all the anger an Ethereal skeleton could muster.

“What is this?” he said, rage in his voice.

“What have you done to the aspect of the lord within you?, what sort of taint is this?” he roared and swung his scythe.

Ajax felt himself calmly catching the blade with Voidbringer, the weapon of light and darkness easily stopping the chaos infused scythe, both weapons ringing. Zane moved with blistering speed, uncaring just what had happened even as he still had the manic look on his face. rings of cosmic runic circles expanded above Azael as they powered up, preparing to unleash their full might on the reaper of chaos.

Grimswolf burned with almost supreme being levels of energy, his form wrapped in so much power that it visibly charged reality around him, and amidst all that, Azael only had eyes for his son.

“I should had killed you at birth” the reaper said.

Ajax found himself not flinching at the proclamation, somehow, deep within him, he had already accepted that this an, Azael, was not the father he remembered, the calm, cool and caring man. He had been warped by chaos a long time ago, and he had made a mistake releasing him from his prison.

A mistake he was about to remedy.

Gripping his blade with both hands, he gave a shrug as he felt the powers of the ascenders around him reach a zenith.

“You were a poor excuse for a father” he replied and swung.

Not at the reaper, but at the pillar of chaos energy.

Azael gave a loud roar of fear and anger, throwing his scythe to clash with the raw power Ajax had swung the way of the pillar. He had felt it then during his transformation, the link between the pillar and the planet, the door to which chaos kept pumping its power into the planet. The scythe clashed with the power, the weapon shattering even as the harbingers and Azael clashed. Pure energy cracked the planet, chaotic and Archailect energies roiled even as Ajax shot towards Azael, weapon ready to deliver judgement.

“BE GONE!” the command echoed through chaos itself.

Spoken by Azael, Ajax felt the presence of Apophis settle on him like a vice even as he grunted, watched as a pathway tore open and an otherworldly force seized him and the harbingers who trashed.

“I’M COMING FOR YOU, AJAX” the serpentine voice said.

Ajax simply grinned.

“That makes two of us” he replied.

And then he was roughly thrown out of the planet, floating in the Nethervoid that he found himself along with the battered harbingers who blinked, staring at their surroundings. Dusting his robes that now had light runes dancing around its tattered frame, he spoke.

“Well, that went badly” he said.

His hand was up in a flash, catching the blade of Zane that went for his throat, one eyebrow raised.

“Odd way of saying thank you” he said.

“Ajax omega blade” Xandros said as Ajax turned to him.

“By the order and authority of the supreme beings and the cosmic dragon, you’re hereby asked to submit yourself to imprisonment” the servant of Eses said, burning with power.

Ajax shrugged, pain in his eyes.

“Yh, I probably deserve that” he said as the rest looked startled.

“But right now, I have a few things to figure out, so could you come back another time?” he asked.

Grimswolf gave a loud roar of anger and came for Ajax, claws swinging, a sphere of power, light and darkness both shielded him from the attack, Grimswolf rebounding.

“Would you look at that, primordial rank” Ajax chuckled.

“Enough of this, what did you do, how did you get the power of the cosmic dragon?” Xandros growled.

Gently lowering the blade of Zane aimed at his throat, he spoke.

“No idea, guess your boss predicted this happening and kept steps in place, now I’m indebted to her” he replied.

“Then come with us to the last citadel to answer for your crimes” Grimswolf said.

“I’m not taking him anywhere near that sacred sight” Zane interjected.

“Fine by me, I also don’t want to go close to that place, lots of powerful beings you know” Ajax replied with a grin.

“Then we’re stuck here” Xandros said.

Ajax grinned.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that now” he replied.

“you’re stuck here, I’m going to make things right” Ajax replied.

He snapped his fingers as a pathway of swirling light and darkness opened up beneath his feet, falling through with a grin even as Zane swung his blade to shatter the pathway. The last thing they saw was the infuriating grin on the face of the omega blade.