Bastion was flourishing, well as much as a domain that occupied a zone where monsters fused together from the stuffs of nightmare resided. The monsters had learnt to give the domain a wide berth, not since a few of their numbers tried to invade the dark crystal walls of the domain and found themselves locked to the ground with the authority that seemed feral and drove terror through their bones while people called down lightning and fire and broke their bones to a pulp while also increasing in power.

Bastion was now home to over a thousand people, made up of the elites of each sect, a few upcoming geniuses from the sects, and a multitude of initiates that were going through a program Mrs. Martha had designed. Inside the walls of Ife that served as the capital of the domain, a chamber resided where an aura unlike any other emanated from. The guards at the door who were acolytes in their strength tried their best to shut themselves from the power that loomed over them, like a giant fist waiting to crush them like an egg. Inside the chamber stood Moyo titan blade, lord of Bastion, and clan titan blade, standing around him in a circle were the sect leaders that represented their respective sects.

Annika panted as sweat dripped down her dark skin, right hand holding her blue spear in a tight grip, Idris removing himself from a crater in the ground that visibly repaired itself while cradling his seemingly injured ribs, Ayo resting on a pillar as she took deep breaths, Boyle throwing down his aether launchers that glowed red from rapid overuse and a Mrs. Martha who stood on a platform above them, hands folded as she smiled. Moyo grinned as he held the wooden sword in his grip, watching them all with eyes that twinkled, not a drop of sweat on his body,

“And you’re sure he’s scaled down to advocate?” Annika asked, glancing up at Mrs. Martha,

“The shrouding technique as I learned from research is a technique commonly used by ascenders in the archailect, ascenders being people like you and me who grow in power through the archailect. An ascender who uses the shroud has used raw aether to temporarily lock their current aether levels, therefore reducing their level to one they prefer, more research is needed seeing as we’re learning on our own but once a shroud is on, it can’t be removed without you all visibly realizing it” Mrs. Martha replied,

“All that explanation to tell us he can still whoop us all at an equal level of advancement” Idris muttered as his bones visibly popped back into position,

“To be frank, you all never stood a chance, his body has been tempered in all sorts of elements. It’ll take more than advocate rank weapons and attacks to pierce that skin, advocate level or not” Mrs. Martha said,

“Then are we being tossed around like a doll again?” Ayo asked,

“To show you what it’s like to face opponents with better skills and abilities than yours, well at least, that’s how I learned,” Moyo said as he twirled the blade in his hand,

“each faction coming in will be bringing a single advocate right?, with our combined might on this continent, I doubt any advocate could survive,” Boyle said as he tapped his constructs, watching as they neatly folded up despite smoking after being battered by Moyo,

“Again true, however, we have to assume anything is possible at this point. For all, we knew Atreus could have reported my existence and we could see experts swooping into our world” Moyo said,

“a valid argument, however, I don’t see what using your authority as an advocate which in itself is a cheat to bash around a bunch of advocates,” Mrs. Martha said as Annika whipped her head to a smiling Moyo,

“How did you do it?” she asked,

“My shining personality” Moyo replied as Ayo snorted in laughter,

Raising his hands in protest as Annika growled at him,

“to be honest? I couldn’t explain it. I learned it while under…. serious duress from the person who trained me, and while I did try training you all in the same fashion, some brutalities are best left not replicated” he explained,

“You mean to tell me your advocate trainer whose name you refuse to tell us till now, whopped your ass around as an advocate also to cheat run you into gaining the perks of an expert?” Idris asked,

“Try a peak level expert teacher whooping an acolyte student into obtaining the base of such authority before leaving the said student to grow the power himself” Moyo replied as they stared at him in obvious shock,

“Oh, the horrors,” Mrs. Martha said,

“Poor child, the brutality” Ayo continued,

“Explains why he’s addicted to training, the trauma” Annika said while smiling at him,

Moyo rolled his eyes at them, used to the usual jibe at him,

“my…condition is special, anyone noticed I don’t have a class yet? just two paths that shouldn’t even be possible”, he said,

“Noticed it, always skipped my mind, been wondering about your classless situation,” Annika asked as Mrs. Martha nodded along,

Mist formed at her side as the first hand of the sect of Anansi appeared at her side, whispering in her ears, he turned to the rest of the sect leaders, bowed, and disappeared again. Mrs. Martha grinned at them,

“The sects have full control of the green zone; strongholds have been placed and one acolyte left in charge,” she said as the room broke out in hushed celebration

Moyo nodded, eyes gleaming

“And the strongholds not allied with us?” he asked

“Left to their devices but informed who now owns the territory” she explained as a loud gong reverberated in the air,

Global Notice:

Congratulations!, clan titan blade has cemented their domain on continent 5, as the first to accomplish this on planet C-102, clan titan blade receives:

100,000 diamond coins 500,000 gold coins 1,000,000 silver coins 10,000,000 bronze coins 10 legendary dungeon cores 100 rare dungeon cores 1000 uncommon dungeon cores 10,000 common dungeon cores Grand Archailect library

Sects allied under clan titan blade receive:

10,000 diamond coins 100,000 gold coins 500,000 silver coins 1,000,000 bronze coins

Stronghold allied under clan titan blade receive:

1,000 diamond coins 10,000 gold coins 100,000 silver coins 500,000 bronze coins

BONUS:

Communication has been opened between strongholds on continent 5 and domain bastion All strongholds allied to domain Bastion have been granted increased aether potency around the stronghold + 10 rare dungeon cores Additional land mass Continent naming rune

Long may the reign of clan titan blade hold!

Everyone was quiet in the room, staring at the notice that had been broadcasted worldwide. Moyo tapped a hand on his shoulder as he seemed lost in thought, he felt startled as something within him resonated with the very aether around, the pulse flowing from him outwards in a ring that moved swiftly, till Moyo felt the very aether over Bastion hum with his oppressive authority. Blue holographic screens popped to life around the room as faces began to appear. On the left were the faces of the vice sect leaders who bowed briefly in a show of deference, while on the right were over ten faces of people Moyo had never seen before, except a smiling William that he winked at.

Clearing his throat, Moyo stepped forward,

“without jumping to conclusions, I believe I’m in the presence of all the leaders of the strongholds in the green zone? good. I am Moyosore titan blade, lord of clan titan blade and its allied sects” he started,

“We know who you are,” a blue-skinned woman said,

With a red dot on her head and black smooth hair that fell behind her, red lips with brown skin, Moyo guessed she was Indian,

“You are the one who wants to rule over us all because I didn’t bend the knee to you,” she said, her voice cold as ice and hard as steel,

Moyo stared on, his gaze unflinching,

“We lost everything, I found myself in a foreign land and built stronghold Brahma with my sweat and those loyal to me, where were you when I lost men just trying to obtain a common dungeon core?” she said,

A man to her right snorted,

“What I find most astonishing is how an acolyte was able to accomplish this, I may not know much of this new reality we have found ourselves, but I do know such a feat should be impossible, the monster ranks alone would rip you to shreds” a man who very much looked Asian said,

It hadn’t escaped Moyo that it seemed like almost every race was being represented in this continent, perhaps for the best. A man in an elaborate silver gown cleared his throat, yellow hair with eyes that glowed gold, he sat up,

“I am arc bishop Matthew, of the stronghold of Lumino. I am not against this move by the lord of Bastion; however, his motives are what I want to know” archbishop Mathew said,

The rest of the leaders of each stronghold began to murmur as more and more holographic images popped up, Moyo calmly assessed the images, watching as they bickered among themselves. With one swipe of his hand, he tore open a spatial rip as the leaders slowly became aware of the act, the audience growing quiet at such a blatant display of power. Moyo drew dominion from the black spatial rip, letting it settle on his shoulders, he felt a chair appear behind him as he sat on it, eyes glued to the images of the leaders who shuffled uncomfortably at the awkward silence.

After the whole room became quiet, Moyo began to talk, softly at first,

“a few weeks behind, I released a video recording detailing what was to come and how to survive it, also my ascension stage, I’m guessing you all ignored it or chose not to believe?” he asked,

“You want us to believe you are now in the realm of an expert?’ the Asian man said dubiously,

“I’ll admit, you were quite convincing in that video” the Indian woman replied,

Moyo nodded, then glanced at them, eyes turning purple as he brought his entire authority to bear into the aether around Bastion. The leaders all whipped their heads behind them, eyes wide open in shock as they all felt the aura as far away as their terror, Moyo tapped dominion on the ground to get their attention back towards him,

“Weeks ago, I thought by releasing that video, humanity would come together to prepare for what was to come. I see that will not be the case, a pity you think I want to rule you all?, no I don’t. advocates are coming, ruthless sects and factions from beyond this world and they would wipe you out should you choose not to become their slaves” he started again,

“you want to hold your own against their might?, fine by me, however not on this continent, this continent is to be a united front against that incursion, you are free to pick up your dungeon cores and leave this continent I would be naming soon, we have less than two days to the planet being open to those forces and I can’t fight two battles at once, scratch that, I can fight it, I just don’t see the use of dragging innocent civilians you are dooming to death by your stubbornness” he growled as his mantle flared and the pressure increased,

From over the video, the howls of wind and vibrations as strongholds shook came through, by now all the acolytes were terrified, the true power of an expert, the pinnacle of strength any mortal world could produce was coming to bear on them. Moyo felt a hand land on his shoulder, glancing to see Annika smiling at him, her eyes telling him to relent, he nodded and sat back on the chair as she stepped forward. At once her eyes shone blue as she slammed the hilt of her spear into the ground as thunder boomed around Bastion, a few of the leaders flinching,

“I am Annika titan blade, battle mage, and advocate on the path of the storm maiden, sect leader of the storm bringers” she introduced herself,

“While my clan leader was close to wiping you all from existence,” she said as Moyo hid a smile, she knew full well that such abilities were beyond him, for now anyway, still, a little fear would go a long way to keeping them in line,

“He has realized there has been a misunderstanding, Clan titan blade does not care to rule over you, we are stronger, better, wealthier, and more equipped than you all to handle what the archailect will throw at us, you all combined can’t” she bluntly stated,

“Quite a statement Annika,” the Asian man said,

“You are?” she asked,

“Lord Han of the stronghold of Raju” the Asian known as Han said

“Han, how many acolytes do you have at stronghold Raju?” Annika asked,

“Two, I and my subordinate, the rest being initiates” Han replied, his eyes narrowing as he sensed where the discussion was going

“Stronghold titans’ storm has over fifty acolytes, and more will soon ascend into that tier,” Annika said,

“So, you have enough acolytes to bring us into submission, you won’t hold that monopoly forever,” the Indian woman said,

Mist flowed as Mrs. Martha appeared at the left-hand side of Moyo, a subtle grin on her face that he recognized as her plotting something,

“You would be the self-proclaimed queen of the stronghold Brahma, am I correct?” she asked the Indian woman as Annika kept on staring at Han, Moyo was sensing some sort of growing tension between them,

“I am queen Ira, queen on the path of the spear of kali, leader, and ruler of stronghold Brahma” Ira the Indian woman said,

“Indeed, it seems you took the lessons we gave out about creating a path suitable for you to heart,” Mrs. Martha said as Moyo saw the queens’ eyes twitch shyly,

“You rule with an iron fist, your people do as you say and only when you say so, and while I haven’t seen signs of maltreatment, your officers and warriors who by the way are just at the peak of initiate are stomping on your people behind your back” Mrs. Martha continued,

“So, Bastion spies on people now?” Ira challenged,

“No, Bastion ensures the safety of the people within its sphere of control, we wouldn’t want a dictator behind our doorsteps now, would we?” Mrs. Martha challenged as Moyo felt her power begin to bubble,

She glanced at the images of the leaders around them,

“Most of you all were opportune to own strongholds, and save for a few exceptions like lord Han and archbishop Matthew, have turned your strongholds to nothing less than an aristocratic dictatorship, your people are wallowing in poverty because you all try to maintain control over your strongholds while forgetting that the stronger your people, the stronger your stronghold” she continued, her voice hard as steel,

“Bastion by rights given by the archailect now owns continent 5, whose name would be, “she said as she glanced at Moyo,

“Asa, continent 5 will be named Asa, it means culture in my language” Moyo replied softly, his eyes looking for who would challenge him,

Global notice:

Continent 5 has been renamed Asa by rights given to clan titan blade, all hail the clan titan blade!.

“Well, there you have it, Asa belongs to clan titan blade, you all are subject to our rules,” Mrs. Martha said,

“And we don’t have a say in naming the continent?” Ira spoke up, her eyes beginning to glow violet, Moyo snorted inwardly,

“No, might is right in this new world, and like you said, Bastion shed blood and sweat to conquer the yellow zones and red zone, we own this continent” Mrs. Martha clarified,

“You all are bickering like kids when a greater threat is on its way,” Moyo said coming in,

He stood up and took his gaze around the room,

“Let me put your minds at ease, I Moyosore titan blade swear to the archailect that clan Bastion will not rule over you all, so far as you do not threaten the interests of clan titan blade” Moyo swore as a loud gong-filled the room, the leaders staring on as they realized the gravity of what he had done,

“And what are those interests now, lord of Bastion?” archbishop Matthew of Lumino asked,

“Bring in humans fleeing from other continents, few have somehow arrived on ships and boats from distant lands and my sects are transporting them through tele pads to strongholds allied to me” Moyo started,

“Ensure that continent Asa stands together when the planet is opened two days from now, and currently, most of you are in direct violation of that” he finished,

“If that is all, stronghold Lumino has hereby sworn an alliance with the clan titan blade and the domain of Bastion,” archbishop Matthew said,

“Forgive my earlier doubts, a new world with one person expanding his power felt like a dictatorship,” the archbishop said,

“Stronghold Raju also accepts an alliance, perhaps we started on the wrong foot,” Han said smiling at Annika, for some reason Moyo wanted to crush his skull that very minute,

“Stronghold sun valley swears fealty to clan titan blade, we did before, just making it clear,” William said as Moyo smiled while shaking his head,

“You would place the lives of your people under one man?” Ira asked William,

“That man came to liberate my people when they were dying, without wanting any rewards or ulterior motive. I would follow Moyosore into battle if I had the strength too” William replied resolutely,

A few other leaders also accepted the pact of an alliance, not that they had a choice seeing as most of them created strongholds from common dungeon cores and were only afraid of being ruled. Moyo nodded at them all,

“Whosoever does not want to join the pact of the alliance is free to leave the continent, however, should you remain stubborn and stay, if your people lose their lives when the invaders arrive, you better hope you die alone in the battle, for when clan titan blade comes knocking, your fates would not be one you look forward to. Humanity has lost too much for a bunch of selfish people to decide to hoard power” Moyo said with finality,

He glanced at the queen Ira who stared at him with cold eyes before her call vanished as she ended it, one by one those not allied to clan titan blade cut off their communications. The rest were those who had decided to stand by the side of the clan,

“So, what’s the plan?” William asked,

“Send all your elite initiates, you all can come along if you like. I plan to raise your levels to top tier acolytes or advocates, if possible, in the yellow zones being controlled by the sects, your initiates would be acolytes also,” Moyo said,

“In two days?” Han asked,

“Two days is more than enough for such feat, the higher you climb in the archailect the slower your ascension,” Moyo said,

“We don’t have time, the fate of humanity is hanging on our shoulders, we need to be strong enough for what’s to come,” Moyo said,

“We are on our way,” William said logging off,

The rest logged off too, Moyo sat wearily on the ground, feeling the weight of all he had to do settle on his shoulders. He felt hands on his shoulders as Annika sat beside him, Mrs. Martha at his left also sitting beside him as the rest of the sect leaders came close,

“You will not stand alone, we are with you,” Annika said quietly,

“We are clan titan blade, let the archailect throw whatever it wants at us, we will crush it, you will crush it” Mrs. Martha intoned as Moyo’s eyes glowed purple with determination.

(*)

At the shores of the continent of Asa, a ship docked, looking battered and weary from what was more than the voyage across the seas came to a grinding halt. In the distance the winds blew as a stronghold flying the banner of the titan’s sentinel flapped around in the air of the green zone, this was one of the newly created strongholds held by the sentinel sect. The ship opened up as a procession of initiates from the sentinel sect came out of the stronghold, walking towards the hastily constructed dock where various people were moving supplies and seafood from the depot inland.

Stronghold green shore had grown over time to consist of mostly fishermen and craftsmen who were lucky to have been found by the sentinel sect and given a stronghold, with rumors of the stronghold soon to be upgraded into either a town or a city, it had drawn in more people to see it now bustling with life. The acolyte in charge of the stronghold landed in front of his troops of initiates with a thud, placing his morning star on his shoulder, silver eyes assessing the ship that seemed to emanate a cold not found in this side of the world.

A figure descended from the ship, red hair with a short trim beard, blue eyes, and carrying a broad sword. The figure locked eyes with the acolyte of the sentinel sect who was named Dan, the two of them staring at each other as Dan realized that the man was also an acolyte,

“Greetings traveler, welcome to the continent Asa and stronghold green shore, I am acolyte Dan of the sect of the titan sentinel, you are?” Dan asked,

The man breathed in and out as frost followed his breath, behind him more people in animal fur and leather appeared, some with the same blue eyes as the acolyte that lead them and a few other bearing markings on their faces, all initiates,

“Perun, acolyte on the path of the winter’s rage, is this the territory of the titan blade?” Perun asked,

“It is” dan replied,

“Good,” the man said, and in a flash, with speed, only an acolyte could follow, launched a shot of icicle at Dan who whipped his morning star in a flash to slam the icicle,

With training born only from dueling the best acolytes sect titan sentinel had to offer, Dan slammed his foot on the ground as a force shield came to life in his front, halting the rapid advancement of Perun who slammed into the shield with all his acolyte might,

It didn’t budge one bit,

Dan gathered force aura in his right hand and slammed it into the broad sword Perun used to defend himself, blasting the man back into his ship as the initiates scrambled for the shore, only to face the weapons of the initiates of the titan’s sentinel sect. pulling himself out of the wreckage of the ship that had begun to show signs of frost, Perun laughed, a smile appearing on his face of Dan also as he understood what had just happened, much to the confusion of the initiates on both sides,

“Truly the titan blade has the power to back his words!” Perun boomed in his loud voice as the initiates that were with him groaned, understanding finally showing on their faces,

“Was that enough to convince you?” Dan asked,

“Indeed, it would be an honor to become allies with the titan blade, now where is he so I can prove my strength to him?” Perun said with his loud voice,

“you’d die if you so much as tried fighting him” Dan replied with a smile,

“Still, it would be a glorious battle!” Perun said

Dan just rolled his eyes as he directed the embarrassed initiates towards the stronghold, Perun falling in step beside him,

“Can we survive what’s to come?” the man asked Dan,

“We can only prepare, lord Moyo has been fortifying every stronghold, acolytes are being drawn to the yellow zones to get stronger, we have barely a day left, perhaps you’d join them?” Dan asked the red-haired man,

“Da, whatever we can do to protect humanity” Perun replied,

“indeed” Dan simply said as their minds became lost in thought, at the incoming invasion of their world.