Somewhere in the milky way galaxy,

Designated abode 02644

Code name: The Hub

Every designated overseer of the dragon brigade had a home that served also as a mini base, with access to near unlimited funds, the brigade could afford to give their members the life of luxury their tedious jobs demanded. A large oval-shaped construct that floated in space and drew energy from the burning stars, the abode of the overseers was a work of art as much as a fortress, with a heavily reinforced metal body that was forged in the headquarters of the brigade on the planet Orbio, an array of reflective and duplicate force fields that hummed silently and invisible around the abode, an array of the latest and most sophisticated weapons created by the technological arm of the brigade, as well as any confiscated relics the overseers of each abode had acquired, it also boasted of long rage galaxy-spanning sensors, truly the abode was near invulnerable.

In truth, only a suicidal idiot would have the idea to assault or infiltrate an abode of an overseer of the brigade, with their reputation in the universes, the unfortunate soul who would dare such would find themselves dead at the hands of the overseer before the structure itself could decide to retaliate as it came with an A. I system in place. Commander Atreus had named his, the hub, forced to choose a name on the spot as he had been designated one, he went for simplicity despite the looks his colleagues had given him. Atreus didn’t know what the fuss was about getting an abode, while most of his colleagues treated theirs like a prized vehicle and gave theirs atrocious names such as hell bringer, the all-consuming destruction, deaths smile, Atreus wanted a name that sounded formal and not like some crazy galactic emperor on his large warship on his way to destroy a gentle civilization.

With a hum and a hop to his steps, commander Atreus straightened his casual clothes, which to none of his colleagues’ dismay were a set of dragon brigade uniforms, he placed the teacups and snacks he had gotten from a world in his galaxy after he had sneezed on their land and wiped out half the life forms on the continent he had stood on. Thinking they would hate him for it, the life forms whose names were too long and filled with sounds that seemed like a cross between choking to death and high-pitched screaming had given him resources with smiles on their faces and shaky legs, urging him to get ongoing.

Atreus had a sneaking suspicion that they were terrified of him and wanted him off their planet, but what sort of species gave you food after you wiped out half their continent?, perhaps he should go check back on them after some time, see If they were doing well as their king had just broken into the realm of an initiate, seeing as the accords in place had banned any outside influence on his galaxy. To be honest, it was getting a bit boring tending to the locals, except for the planet C-102, that planet seemed to be slowly portraying itself as the gem of his domain, and it was for that reason alone that he had invited a guest over, that and his blatant attempt at romance.

A soft female voice came from the walls around him,

“Incoming spatial transfer from the andromeda galaxy, subject bears the molecular structure of commander Sabine, the subject requires permission to open spatial pathway into the hub, permit request?” the A. I named Q asked,

Again, Atreus had named his A. I a simple designated name, ignoring the atrocious display of names his colleagues had used that his mouth would not allow him utter. He nodded in reply

“Permission acknowledged, subject is opening spatial pathway now” Q replied as a violet-tinged spatial rip opened in front of him,

Out stepped a blue humanoid female, looking exactly like a human, except her green hair floated in the air around her in sporadic manners, twisting and turning. She wore a black glossy spandex-looking material over her busty and slim shape, red painted nails adorned the fingers that Atreus had once seen rip a giant as tall as a mountain in two just because she had been throwing a tantrum at that moment. Commander Sabine, a higher-leveled master than him also on the path of the sun-burning dragon was a sight to behold. The running story in the brigade was she had turned down numerous proposals from rulers’ intent on marrying her to their kids or tying her to their clans and organizations.

During their training phase as inductees into the brigade, Atreus had watched as pompous sons and heirs of rulers dropped gifts after gifts for her at the camp as a way to get her attention seeing the mind-numbing and scarring regiment that left a lot of them shaking as vegetables. The amusing thing was, Sabine had not been broken by the ordeal, her pasts were clouded in mystery, but there was a rumor circulating then that she had risen to prominence in a world battling the scourge invasion and had been saved by one of the generals of the brigade who had been astonished to find a lone expert on the verge of getting to the realm of master fighting back an invasion that would have required an entire sect of the top tier rulers to handle.

She was known as a genius, an enigma, and had been part of the triumvirate, a trio of prospective students that the brigade had thought to be stars. It consisted of Atreus himself, Sabine, and a golden-haired bastard that was named Ajax that had dropped out after finally passing the Bootcamp and they were to be awarded the sun-burning path. Atreus didn’t hate the man, it was just his nonchalant attitude to life that got on his nerves, also the fact that Sabine seemed to have misplaced admiration for the wandering hobo.

Atreus could remember the day like yesterday, Ajax saying no to the head of the brigade himself Xerxes. He had choked on his voice as Ajax confessed that he had needed a place to sleep and food to eat and as such, decided that the training camp which many in the archailect considered nothing more than a death sentence was the best place to find such, the food wasn’t even good!. Pushing away the annoying memories of those days long past, Atreus plastered a smile on his face as he saw Sabine,

“Sabine my dear, it is indeed such a blessed day to see you again, your beauty invigorates my very being,” he said as Sabine rolled her eyes at him,

They had played this game for decades now, Atreus professing his undying love for her and Sabine giving him a resounding no, not like it deterred him in the least, they had all the time in the world. She accepted his hug briefly as she put her hands on her waist,

“So, what was all the fuss about and why did you ask to see me personally?” she asked,

“Tea?” Atreus replied as he pointed to the gold-colored and ornately set table he had prepared,

He nodded and walked briskly to the table, her hips swaying, Atreus admitted to himself as he tore his gaze away that the current determination he used to do so was one of the strongest fights of willpower control he had ever done. Drawing back the chair for her as she sat, hair still moving around, she picked up a cup of steaming tea as she sipped, humming in appreciation of the taste, a blend Atreus himself had come up with. She raised an eyebrow at him and smiled,

“Do you know your eyes glow?” Atreus asked,

“Last I was aware, all our eyes glow” she replied sighing,

“nonetheless you-“

“Atreus, I’m one thought away from using your body to create an impression on the metal walls of your abode” she replied,

Atreus silently thought to himself, if she did touch him, for those brief nanoseconds before his body came in contact with the impenetrable and solid walls of his abode, he would enjoy the feel of her hands on him,

“Commander Sabine, please refrain from damaging properties of the brigade, any such violations would be reported to universe command and the exact cost of repair removed from your monthly stipend as well as a red line on your file,” Q said in her silent but chiding voice,

“Do accept my apologies Q, sometimes your master drives me nuts….and he just translated it the wrong way” Sabine sighed as she saw the wide smile on his face.

Atreus coughed as he wiped away all traces of mirth on his face, waving his hand as a holographic image of Moyo came up, wielding his katana. Atreus pointed to the image,

“This right here is Moyosore titan blade. The lord of a sector domain known as Bastion and clan leader titan blade along with a bunch of sects” Atreus stared,

“Clan leader?” Sabine snorted,

Atreus nodded along in understanding of her reaction, clan leaders were mostly masters, if not rulers. He continues as he crossed his arms,

“he’s a level 150 expert on the path of the crushing blade, from a tier one world, in my galaxy. The same galaxy the accords of no landing and integration was enacted” Atreus said,

Sabine dropped her cup back on its saucer daintily, eyebrow raised,

“Outside influence I presume? no, if so you would have rid the archailect of his presence as well as those of his allies,” Sabine said,

Atreus nodded while maintaining eye contact,

“Indeed, I went down to the planet to confirm myself, he swore on the archailect that he had no outside help, but my intuition told me he was omitting some facts. Seeing as I had no facts, I left him, not after I trashed him, and to be sincere, his body could take quite the beating for a swordsman” Atreus explained,

Sabine hummed to herself, staring at the image of Moyo as she thought,

“Access to his stat please?” she asked,

She could of course bring it up anyways, but etiquette dictated she had to ask the overseer of that place for permission, which Atreus gave with a wave of his finger. Atreus watched with amusement as Sabines’ eyebrows rose in incredulity at what she was reading,

“legendary healing powers, rare skills, attributes to rival those of a high-end expert and bordering on the realm of masters, a body path along with an intent core, a draconic slayer? what in the archailects’ name is this boy?. All these on a tier one backwater planet?” she asked incredulously,

“I had the same look of astonishment as you currently do, however, we’ve heard of bizarre cases such as these before. Commander Xerxes himself was such a case if you remember, once in a while it happens and as such, I’m not willing to kill off a being with such potential” Atreus replied,

“Still, from a tier one world? wow, must be some serious stroke of luck” she muttered,

“that’s not what concerns me the most, take a look at this” Atreus said as he brought up the video of himself fighting Moyo, Sabine winced at the repeated strikes he dealt Moyo,

“Sure, beat the rising talent to an inch of his life don’t you” she muttered

“that’s not the point, watch how he moves, his erratic sword skills, who does it remind you of?” Atreus asked as he sipped his tea, looking at her over the rim of his glass cup

Sabine studied the video for a full minute before something clicked in her eyes, she turned to him as he nodded,

“I had the same thought too when I had time to review the battle,” Atreus said,

“But that’s impossible, sure it looks to have a few movements of the reaping katana, but his path is the crushing blade from what I can see here” she replied,

“True enough, but you can’t help but notice the similarities, the foolish burning look in his eyes as he fights a battle he cannot win, same as Ajax,” Atreus said,

“Last I heard of him, he was now an emissary of the ruler of a thousand blades, besides I doubt Ajax would take a disciple, he couldn’t stand being around people for long, much less some backwater humanoid” Sabine argued,

“Ever wondered what he did to be accepted into the service of that revolutionary ruler? to be made an emissary at that?” Atreus asked,

“no one knows, I’ve tried finding out also” Sabine replied,

“If you’re suggesting that the ruler took in Ajax in exchange for him training that humanoid, that brings up a whole lot of confusing questions,” Sabine said,

“Indeed, like how and why did a ruler take an interest in some backwater tier one planet?” Atreus said,

Sabine sighed and crossed her arms, her plump breasts shooting up as they strained against her clothes,

“To report this or not to report this,” she said,

“If I do report this, we might not see the full scope of whatever plot is being hatched, best to just observe for now,” Atreus remarked,

“Agreed, let’s see how far and lucky he goes,” Sabine said as a loud ping resonated in the room and Atreus waved his hand, a line of scripts appearing right before their eyes,

“Well, what do you know, clan titan blade is now in control of half their continent as well as the red zone where Moyo has decided to move his capital to, bought a teleportation array like it was no nig deal, for a tier one world that is,” Atreus said,

“I can see what you mean now, still not breaking the rules but giving off suspicious reasoning, hmm” she muttered,

‘I’ll keep an eye on him” Atreus said as he waved the scripts away,

“now” he said as he snapped his fingers as the lights in the room dimmed and a sweet swelling scent filled the room where they were in,

“Where were we my sweet?” he said as he grinned

“Be a shame to kill you before your wonder boy blossoms” she warned,

“I’d consider anything you do to me pleasure” Atreus whispered,

Commander and master Sabine sighed…

(*)

All across the various strongholds that belonged to clan titan blade, fighters of the different sects poured into the various tele pads that their strongholds had, coming out through the telepad that was situated in the stronghold of sun valley. Julius, vice sect leader of the storm bringers came through first, adjusting his glasses as he floated up to the sky on a cloud of thunderstorms, over fifty fellow acolytes of the storm bringer sect behind him doing the same. He watched passively as the lord of sun valley named William approached him from below,

“Is this an invasion of the green zone?, should I be worried?” he asked,

“Nothing of such, the clan on the orders of lord Moyo himself are to plant strongholds all across the continent, allies are to be made and if enemies are found, they will be left alone but made aware, continent 5 belongs to clan titan blade” Julius replied as the portal flared and a one-eyed man stepped out in red and orange leather vests, accompanying him were the acolytes of the dawn archer sect,

“Julius, four eyes! your eyesight must be bad for you to need to go that high up in the sky!” Charles, vice sect leader of the dawn archers shouted at Julius who smirked,

“Come up here and repeat that, oh wait, you can’t fly!” Julius replied as Charles laughed,

The portal flared again as Josh led men in silver coats that carried weapons into the valley, glancing around,

“Let me guess, Charles started it?” he said,

“Hey!, not fair” Charles replied as Josh shook his head,

The portal flared as a lithe woman with dark hair who wore gloves and had constructs of metal floating around her came through the portal, gave the other vice sect leaders a look, rolled her eyes, and marched towards a corner along with men who carried what looked like launchers and different long-range weapons that glowed with inscriptions all over them,

“Vice sect leader Maya,” Charles said in greeting,

“Vice sect leader Charles” she replied,

Finally, the portal flared and a man in a beautifully carved spider mask came through, alone, Julius raised an eyebrow,

“Greetings vice sect leaders, I am the second hand of the hands of Anansi, the first is preoccupied at the moment and I will be in charge of communication and espionage on this mission given by the lord,” the man said like an automaton,

The vice sect leaders nodded, eyeing the man. None would voice it out, but it was clear this particular sect spooked them, with almost blind loyalty to Moyo himself and Bastion as a whole, it was obvious the members of this particular sect were made up of people almost fanatical to the cause of Moyo, Julius was pretty sure their young lord wasn’t even aware of that fact.

They stood in a circle, Julius floating to the ground as the vice sect leaders came together, leaving their respective sect members behind. The second hand stretched his right arm forward, and an image of the entire green zone appeared, with as many as ten glowing blue dots spread around it,

“From intel gathered by my sect, there are only ten strongholds that survived their crisis, the rest fell and their citizens are lost to the wild with their crisis dungeon. Our objectives are to clear out the dungeons to effectively end the crisis, gather up any people we meet along the way that survived the crisis, and create strongholds for these people to stay, strongholds that swear allegiance to clan titan blade” the second-hand explained,

He pointed to Julius,

“vice sect leader Julius, the storm bringers are to proceed towards the north, in the direction of strongholds Ash rock and lime road, clear any dungeon along the way and ask if these strongholds would swear allegiance to clan titan blade, if no, depart and create a stronghold away from them and leave an acolyte in charge” the hand started,

And like that, the sects all got their missions, the vice sect leaders separated and moved into action, the fields surrounding stronghold sun valley becoming empty as quickly as it was filled. William stood staring at the area where a few minutes ago, men who he had no hope of defeating even one of them had stood, silently lost in thoughts before he began walking back towards his stronghold.