The path of the diamond fist was built for overwhelming strength, it had originated from a master who was a blood member of the divine fist clan. Agad was an advocate from the path of the diamond fist, muscular with lime-tinged skin and green eyes that shone as he weaved the aether that was transformed into body aura to attack, again he questioned his decision to come to this world. In front of him was a man with crystal gauntlets that stared at him stoically as he met whatever attacks Agad threw at him blow for blow. As if the initial shock that a tier one world had a sizeable number of acolytes wasn’t enough, the realization that there were advocates had wiped out whatever illusions he had about this world had cemented his rapidly worrying situation.

Agad stood panting, eyes narrowed as he stared at the man who was an advocate in his front,

“How?” he growled at the man,

“How what?” the man simply asked, staring in confusion at Agad who was close to blowing a fuse,

“How in the archailects name are there advocates on this backwater world!” Agad shouted, drawing his hand back as the diamond gauntlets on his fist hummed,

The path of the diamond fist had two distinct properties, it served as an unbreakable shield against physical attacks and it had an offensive concussive wave attack that had a high chance to break through any defense and lay devastating results on whoever took the full brunt of the attack. With a roar, he blasted forward towards the man who drew his crystallized gauntlet hand back also with advocate strength and met the attacking blow for blow. The point of impact released a concussive wave that blew the advocates backward while devastating the landscape as trees were uprooted and thrown through the air.

Agad twisted in the air with superb reflexes, only to take a red crystal gauntlet to the face, the advocate powered attack slamming him into the ground with precision. Taking a second to let his brain settle back in place, he blasted out of the crater he was stuck in, only to get caught in a gigantic crystal hand that formed behind him, holding him in its grasp. Agad was a level 80 advocate, having just started his training on the use of concepts. Trained personally by an expert on the path of the diamond fist, he had been told that the rate of his growth was a pride to the diamond fist sect, a sect of mercenaries who worked for the highest bidder.

It was with that shock that he could feel the spark of a concept in the crystalized hand that held him as he struggled futilely in its grasp. The man with a trimmed goatee and the red crystallized gauntlet landed nimbly in his front, arms folded with an eyebrow raised,

“you’re an advocate, I thought by now you’d be out of that grip,” he said,

“How? where did you learn concepts from?” Agad growled,

Nothing was making sense at this point, this was a tier one world!, the very idea of advocate, or acolyte for that matter should be like divinity to them, had he gone to another world entirely?. The man sighed in exasperation,

“There you go saying things I have no understanding about, concepts?” the man sighed,

A sonic boom exploded behind the both of them as an acolyte on the path of the diamond fist crashed close to the giant fist that held Agad, his face bloody and battered as he leaked aura,

“He…lp me” the man groaned before passing out,

Agad was terrified, the acolyte had been using the diamond skin skill that was given to acolytes when they ascended to that rank, a rare skill that had cemented the position of the diamond fist in their clan as walls that could soak up damage, to see the skill battered and broken to the point that it blew away like dust sent chills down the spine of Agad. With eyes of trepidation, he turned to the man,

“what sect are you?, who are you?” he asked with trembling lips,

The man with the crystal gauntlets looked shocked as his eyebrows went up on his bald head,

“seriously?, you attack my city from nowhere and you don’t even know who I am or my sect?” he said incredulously,

A figure landed close to the man, carrying a war hammer that vibrated, the dark-haired man turned to the crystal-armed man,

“Hi boss, the sect has been subdued, mostly wiped out, not our fault, stubborn people the lot of them” the acolyte ranked man who dropped beside the crystal gauntlet abuser said,

“Really?, that quickly? its barely been an hour” the gauntlet man said,

“The acolytes put up a fight, we just kept slamming their shiny diamond skin till they broke, plus the idiots kept using the force-based attack on us,” the acolyte said as he chuckled,

“Same here, I wonder if they even bothered to check out our path name,” the gauntlet man said,

Agad for the first time after crashing into the yellow zone actively scanned the ascender in front of him, his face growing pale by the second as he saw the level and path type,

“Idris, a force and earth type path of the hand of Geb, level 90” he whispered,

“Indeed, welcome to titan’s citadel,” Idris said as he channeled a kinetic blast punch that shot Agad into the distance.

(*)

All over Asa, acolytes clashed in numbers, the order Lumino descended on the sect of the whispering darkness, a shadow-type path that dealt in assassination and inflicted disease and poison as their main skills. Archbishop Matthew floated above the acolytes and initiates of his order, golden light flowing out from him in a wave of power that cleansed whatever attack the acolytes of the whispering darkness used against his order while at the same time battling the advocate of the sect who had come to realize this was a bad matchup.

Wave after wave of golden light slammed into the advocate who called shield after shield of darkness in a desperate attempt to get back in the fight. The order had somehow found them immediately they came out of their spatial ship, like they had been prepared for them. Dodging another attack that he was sure carried both physical and spiritual weight, the advocate knew that he had to escape, he couldn’t care less about the acolytes and initiates, more could be made, someone had to inform the clans of this death trap.

(*)

Taal held the dark crystal in his hand as he stared into the distance in the direction of Bastion, all around him he could feel, see and hear the clashes that were happening between the sects that had arrived on planet C-102 and the natives of the planet. He glanced at the woman who knelt beside him, her head bowed, with a brief flex of his mana he sent a lance of flame into the air. Form behind him came acolytes, ten in all with an army of initiates who followed behind them. Taal glanced at the crystal as he placed it in his pocket, with a wave of his hand the acolytes blasted forward, red streaks of burning destruction that blazed a path towards Bastion, despite the fact that it was in a red zone.

As they got close to the domain, silver webs of shining aether appeared in the air as the acolytes found themselves stuck in the webs, their attempts to burn through the skill failing. The skies above the trapped acolytes turned a hazy grey color as an intricately drawn rune manifested, opening up with an attack of frozen ice that somehow neglected the flames coming from the acolytes to spear them to the ground, their bodies fading away to essence. Taal gritted his teeth silently, snapping his fingers again as another set of acolytes appeared behind him.

The crimson rose sect had no shortages of acolytes and initiates, with over ten planets under their thumb, they had an almost infinite amount of fodder to throw around, and Taal had taken a sizeable sum along with him. He turned to the kneeling Ira,

“It seems you speak truthfully servant, how a domain was created by an advocate in a red zone remains to be seen, but nevertheless, you have proven yourself, for now,” he said,

Turning back towards Bastion, he dipped his hand into a dimension bag, a spatial bag that held items in a spatial space. Withdrawing a construct that looked like jagged pieces of crystals fused together, drawing his hand back, he threw it with all the force of a tank and more, the object ripping through the air towards Bastion on the horizon from the stronghold trellis they had taken over. The servant Ira had told him the stronghold belonged to a sect known as the hands of Anansi, a sect allied to a clan named titan blade. Taal had doubted the fact that an expert could be in a tier one world, attributing it to an advocate making alliances to create one, besides, no advocate in the backwater world could match the scion of sect crimson rose.

The forces of crimson rose had taken over the stronghold, meeting it empty and turning it into their base of operations. From there they planned to strike at the heart of the whole issue, taal watching the other advocates struggle against the amateur advocates of this world. The sects that were given access to this world apart from crimson rose were mostly sects that couldn’t move openly in the archailect, sects that thrived on bloodshed and made a living from it. This world was to be a fallback point where the dragon brigade could only watch them and not interfere and with a year to get stabilized, they had hoped to pump out as many experts and advocates from their ranks.

To be honest sect crimson rose was planning a full-scale invasion when they arrived, they had the weapons, the constructs, and definitely the manpower. While the other sects could only spare an advocate and a sizeable number of acolytes with a substantial army of initiates, sect crimson rose could spare a planet-sized force of reinforcement, the only reason they held back was not to draw the attention of an already suspicious dragon brigade. As Taal watched the construct hit the web defense where a number of his acolytes had met their demise, he blasted forward with advocate ranked strength, cocking his hand back as it blazed deep red.

The construct hit the web and tore a spatial hole through the web and right into the heart of Bastion. The acolytes behind taal followed immediately, with Taal ripping into the domain and landing in front of a giant castle made of dark purple crystal, he brought out another construct and slammed it into the ground. It was impressive that the domain of bastion had a shield that prevented it from attacks from the outside, not that it did anything against the disruptor that Taal had used to tear a hole into the domain though, an expert ranked constructed handed to him by his master for his accomplishment at being chosen to pioneer a new world, it had come in handy.

The construct he slammed into the ground glowed till it changed to a rod and with a hum that gradually became a shriek, the shield over Bastion that glowed purple came crashing down in splinters. With that acolytes and initiates on the path of the crimson rose came pouring in from the skies above, flames dancing in the air above them as the crystal doors of the palace opened up to show a man and two women who flanked him step out.

The woman on the left wore gold rimmed glasses, by her side floated a green crystal book that seemed to change colors and gave of different impressions with the color change, she held a staff in her hand as she stared at him with cold eyes, as if looking down on him, Taal made a note to make her pay for that. On the right of the man stood another woman with grey hair with streaks of black in it, the servant Ira had told him to be careful of that one, she led the hand of Anansi, the same sect Taal had taken over their stronghold.

It was the man that stood in their middle that drew his attention the most, dark skin with braided black hair that had red beads in it. He wore a robe that had the crest of a mountain with a shield and katana running through it, in his hand a red and gold katana that somehow gave off an oppressing aura. The woman had called him Moyosore titan blade, the man who had single handedly gathered the forces of this planet to stage a resistance against the greater archailect, Taal was going to enjoy burning him to a crisp. With a blast of air Ira appeared beside him, kneeling,

“My lord, he is the one” she crooned in that irritating voice to Taal,

“You are not welcome here” the woman in glasses said, advocate power subtly flowing from her,

“Hush little one, your time will come” Taal responded to the woman who raised an eyebrow at him,

“Oh, not you, I’m talking to your lackeys” she said and with a clap of her hand, the acolytes behind her started creaming as her heads exploded like watermelons, taal flaring his aura out to realize she had used a sound attack,

The acolytes and initiates behind Taal had not become dust when another set took their place,

“I have more than enough bodies to keep you busy” Taal said,

“What a coincidence, my boss wanted to have a word with you” the woman replied with a smile that infuriated Taal,

He was about to reply when two more advocate powers flared from outside Bastion and two people dropped by his side. A man with a bushy set of beards that held a large broad sword and a red skinned woman that held a whip, the advocates on the path of the cleaving rain and flowing venom respectively glanced at him.

“So, you found where all our troubles were coming from” the man said, his voice sounding like crushed granite,

“You think I need your helps in subduing a backwater advocate?” Taal asked,

“We don’t want to take any chances the rodent might escape” the woman on his right said,

Taal noticed the trio he faced hadn’t moved from their positions,

“You should bow when in the presence of your betters” he said,

The man known as Moyo titan blade sighed,

“How long is he going to keep doing the villain speech?” he asked the grey-haired woman,

“Perhaps he’s waiting for some background music, the Darth Vader intro perhaps?” she replied as the glasses woman snorted,

The advocate on the path of the cleaving rain growled and blasted forwards the trio, raging at the insult that he didn’t understand. Taal blinked for what happened next as his advocate sight barely caught up, one minute the advocate on the path of the cleaving rain was about to descend on the trio and the next he was somehow stuck in the crystal walls behind them, out of sight. Taal turned to see Moyo dropping his right leg back to the ground as wisps of smoke came from the limb. The titan blade winced,

“Did I do too much?” he asked the grey-haired woman who sighed while patting him like a child,

“You did your best” she said,

The glasses woman fought to keep a straight face as she giggled,

“You had just one job” she said,

“Well excuse me for thinking with his giant muscles he could hold back a kick” the titan blade retorted,

“There there, you didn’t kill him” the grey-haired woman said,

Taal immediately reassessed the threat as he saw the advocate on the path of the cleaving rain fall from the crystal wall he had been embedded, a greater grade elixir in his mouth as he healed. Turning back to the titan blade, Taal produced his spear, an advocate ranked weapon forged by the smiths of sect crimson rose, it seemed he had finally found a worthy opponent, hardly noticing that the advocate of the cleaving rain had killed a number of his acolytes along the path he had been blasted from.

With his full power he blasted forward in a blink of an eye, his spear aiming for the heart of the titan blade as he activated his burning pierce skill, a rare skill that never missed its mark, burning through whatever defense in its way before releasing a blast of scorching blaze of fire. His spear met the flat side of the katana and an overwhelming force slammed Taal into the ground, his reflexes and battle ingrained movements saving him from being crushed into the ground as he instinctively activated his child of flame skill and faded into raw flames that fused back in a distance, his eyes wide.

It seemed the servant hadn’t been lying, the titan blade was in a class all by himself, it was time to stop playing around. Even as his ribs protested the earlier attack he had suffered, Taal stood straight and immediately crouched into a spear man position with his spear outstretched. The advocate of the flowing venom was engaged in combat with the glasses woman who had different rune sigils floating around her and intercepting the strikes of the attacking advocate. The advocate on the path of the cleaving rain had finally stood up, his body glowing as he activated a skill that encased his body in pure mithril armor, his blade raised high as he roared, only to take a crushing blow to the face from the titan blade that somehow blitzed towards him to land the devastating attack that sent the advocate once more into the distance.

Taal was struck by indecision, he could see his acolytes and initiates being strung up by the same silvery webs that held the first set that had been speared to death, the grey-haired woman was nowhere to be seen and he suspected she was the one with the skill. The titan blade landed close to him, eyeing him like fodder, Taal would not stand for that. His spear shot forward as it blazed a bright line of fire towards the titan blade who calmly caught the spear in his hand, the blistering flame having no effect on him. Not to be deterred, he followed up with a kick infused with his entire strength, only to feel an arm grab his leg and throw him into the air, the thought going through his mind was how an advocate ranked swordsman who had not even swung his sword yet had such strength.

(*)

Ira had faded away as the battle started, using her flesh mask to fold the air around her till it reflected off her skin like glass, her job was done and with three advocates from stronger sects in the archailect, she was sure they would pressure the titan blade till he revealed his true rank and Taal would be forced to use the power from the crystal. She had vaulted over the wall of Bastion to meet herself right back where she started. She looked around in confusion, watching as the scene where the advocate on the path of the cleaving rain had attacked the titan blade play out. Shaking her head at what was going on, it had happened right before her eyes a few minutes ago, what was going on?.

Again, she bolted and jumped with her advocate strength over the walls of Bastion only to find herself back where she started, panicking as she glanced around, she released her destruction aura around the area, hoping to erode whatever magic was at play as the advocate of the cleaving rain attacked the titan blade in the same sequence. The aura blasted out and met nothing, turning around as she drew her spear out, she tried finding the unseen person that was using the skill,

“You made a very foolish move madam Ira” a feminine voice said as Mrs. Martha shimmered into being in front of Ira,

The queen of Brahma snarled as she sent spears made of destructive mana at Mrs. Martha who became mist as the attacks hit, Ira crying out in pain as she felt something stab her side, turning to see Mrs. Martha digging a knife with inscriptions on it into her side. The blade began to sink into her skin as an agonizing pain passed through her body, she clawed at the blade to try drawing it out but her hands passed through the weapon with no use,

“The sacrificial blade of Anansi, only those sworn to the sect can hold the blade” Mrs. Martha said as she stoically watched the queen writhe on the ground in pure agony,

“what have you done?, what entity did you make a deal with?” Mrs. Martha asked,

Ira began to giggle in a voice tinged with madness, the agony slowly driving her insane as the pain was all she felt,

“she comes!, my lady comes!, kali queen of the abyss!” Ira said as she giggled,

Mrs. Martha’s eyes opened wide,

“Abyss?” she whispered, her gaze turning to Moyo,

“it’s too late!” Ira cackled as Mrs. Martha grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the ground, her neck snapping, it wasn’t enough to kill an advocate, but it would do.

She saw Moyo stab his katana into the body of the crimson rose advocate as she shouted,

“Moyo!, the crystal!”

At once the battling advocates both turned to her, all of them, from Samantha who was battling the advocate of the flowing venom sect, to the cleaving rain advocate that was a mess of bones and gore and finally Moyo and Taal who had paused from their death match. Mrs. Martha watched the crimson rose advocate as he took in his surroundings and his eyes lit up in understanding. She watched the crystal blast out of the pocket of the advocate, Moyo swiping his hand to catch the crystal and watching as it phased from his grasp into the mouth of the waiting crimson rose advocate. Immediately the advocate began to emit deep black light as he screamed in pure terror,

“Oh no” Mrs. Martha said as the skies around the continent of Asa turned pitch black….