“You live quite the exciting lifestyle Mr. titan blade” overseer Atreus said, pouring himself a glass of wine from the complimentary drink the hotel had delivered. A few weeks ago, an aged man had gotten a wine path, opening up his business in the market district and realizing that humanity desperately needed their alcohol back. The business boomed with more demand than supply, more businesses demanded his products and even when Moyo went visiting Idris at the citadel, a crate was stocked in the city itself.

Moyo sat straight, aware that the man in front of him literally held the keys to the existence of the planet itself. Carefully watching the commander of the dragon brigade, he answered,

“I try my best to stay out of the spotlight recently”

“you mean before or after you disgraced the sects and sent a message to their sponsors about how this planet was yours?, you, a mere acolyte?” Atreus replied,

“They were coming to enslave us, they didn’t look like peaceful neighbors” Moyo said,

“Granted the sects were the backwater shady types, still, what you did has placed your world in the eye of a few…. let’s say powerful factions, and I’ve been getting requests after requests for colonization” Atreus said,

Moyo narrowed his eyes,

“they’re coming again to conquer us?” Moyo asked,

“Depends on the factions, some see you as an upstart who hasn’t even opened his eyes to the archailect at large and has begun to bare his fangs, they want to crush you like a bug” Atreus said,

“While those constitute the majority of the factions, a few genuinely do want to come and stay, learn from people who had grown that strong in their first year with the archailect”

“Which factions do you support then?” Moyo asked,

“Mr. titan blade, I believe you’ve mistaken my giving you this information for being partisan. Let me be clear, the only reason I’m here, right now, well two reasons actually” Atreus started,

“Is because you have somehow drawn too much attention from your world to my duties, the mere fact that a blight was found on your world from the abyss alone is subject to a containment protocol of your galaxy, till we are sure the blight effects are gone. The only reason your world isn’t swarming with experts from the dragon brigade is because of the incredulous nature of a tier 1 world even meeting with the brigade” Atreus said,

“Tier 1 world?” Moyo asked,

“All these questions were meant to be solved by the sects that were meant to arrive, but now that they have at least two weeks before arriving in this arm of the universe, it has fallen to me, an overseer of an entire universe to explain to you, cause you are the strongest on your planet right now” Atreus said, gently dropping the glass cup and crossing his legs,

“Apologies lord overseer, it was not my intent to trouble you so” Moyo replied, barely keeping his cool,

“Hmm, anyways world tiers are based on how much aether resides in your world and how potent it is, potency dictates how high the monster levels would be, an increase in potency comes after your world faces a calamity level event” Atreus said,

“Calamity?” Moyo asked alarmed,

“Not of any concern of yours for now, it’s still a year away” Atreus replied,

“Worlds like yours are left for minor sects and individual powerful ascenders to take charge” Atreus said,

“doesn’t mean we won’t become slaves to them” Moyo countered,

“For a time, eventually the worlds inhabitants can throw off their masters when they get strong enough, besides that wasn’t the point. The point is with a force protecting you, they can shield you from any invading forces or better still the calamity on its way, seeing as they are better trained and superior to whatever form of advocates you have been able to hastily scramble, I suppose congratulations are in order” Atreus said,

“Thank you, but I believe we can do well on our own” Moyo said,

“Normally I’d let you believe such blasphemy, but I really see how it’s not your fault, you don’t know how big the archailect really is and the powerful people in it. In most tier 2 worlds and above, an ascender is not of worth till they become experts, most top tier worlds use experts the same way you use your sects here, while fledgling and initiates are ranks for children” Atreus said,

“The prominent houses, clans and sects of the uncountable multitudes of planets that are called the collective of the archailect have advocates that would and will trash all your advocates combined, your world isn’t even worth their attention should a full-scale blight invasion occur” Atreus said,

“What are these blights?” Moyo asked,

“Nothing you should bother your head with till you reach master, if you do reach master” Atreus said,

“Which brings me to the second question of how a blight managed to infiltrate your galaxy” he said,

Moyo stared at Atreus with a puzzled expression,

“I thought you already took Ira away for questioning?” Moyo asked,

“Indeed, however at the point of her confession, she sort of rotted away” Atreus said,

“I’m sorry?, what do you mean she rotted away?” he asked,

“there’s a reason we call it the blight, it feeds on anything it infects and corrodes it away. The advocate Ira had possibly been its point of contact in the archailect, I’m saying too much already. Just keep your eyes peeled out for anything strange, any slight sign of an infection and your world gets purified” Atreus said,

“Purified as in?” Moyo asked, dreading the reply,

“Destroyed, wiped out, cleaned, sanctified, scrubbed clean, need I go on?” Atreus said,

“No, understood overseer” Moyo replied, his body cold at the thought of that,

“Pardon my overstepping here, but is there no way to stop that fate from happening?” Moyo asked,

“Strength, a master with a rare, legendary or even mythic part, which of course there isn’t cause only the supreme beings have mythic parts, that’s if you can call a universe ending skill any tier for that matter” Atreus explained,

“So, in other words, get stronger?” Moyo said,

“Indeed, strength is the only thing respected in the archailect Mr. titan blade” Atreus said as Moyo nodded,

The overseer stood up,

“Oh, by the way, nice realm sensing, I tried reducing the imprint of my mantle when I arrived, I wanted to see if you could feel it, you’re getting along nicely” Atreus complimented as Moyo bowed,

If that was the overseer holding back the strength of his mantle, Moyo didn’t want to see what it would look like unrestrained. It had felt like the sun had burst forth to life in the sky over the hotel, Moyo had been close to panicking when he had felt it talking to William, masking his shock and fear to send the advocate on his way quickly. The overseer opened up a rift, pausing then turning to Moyo,

“Oh, congratulations on the nomination to represent house thousand blades in the tournament of blades, a bit odd why a master such as Killian would want a barely trained and unrefined expert to represent his house, but I could care less about the politics of the different blade factions” Atreus said as Moyo gave a nod and a tight smile,

Atreus stepped into the rift and turned again to Moyo,

“Oh, random question, but you wouldn’t had heard of a master by the name of Ajax death blade, would you?” Atreus asked casually,

It took all of Moyos ’self-control not to look surprised, his body rigid as he raised an eyebrow,

“apologies overseer, but should I be aware of who that is?, you’re the only master I have had the honor of knowing” Moyo replied as he bowed again,

His face down, Moyo schooled his face into a stone mask as he felt the piercing eyes of Atreus weighing down on him,

“I see, well ignore the question, certain aspects of yours such as your fighting style reminds me of you, perhaps I’m just imagining things, well then, goodbye for now, hopefully we don’t see for a long time” Atreus said as he maintained eye contact till the spatial rip closed up.

Moyo sagged to the chair in relief, his mind racing. How had the overseer known about Ajax, and his master was an actual master now?. Moyo was pretty sure the overseer didn’t believe him but for some reason or another, decided to let it go. Whatever end game the overseer was playing, Moyo had no idea, not like he had any chance to do something about it anyways. Lightly tapping his legs as he searched his memories for any instance when he gave away the information, he was lost in thought when he got an incoming call through his HUD, Idris appearing on his screen,

“Boss, the coliseums are complete, want to come check it out?” the leader of the sentinels asked,

“Yeah, I’ll hop right over” Moyo replied as he cancelled the call,

Sighing as he stood, he glanced at the corner where the overseer had opened the rift, extending his realm over the spot and feeling a sort of scar slowly fading away, balling his fists at the thought of all the forces arrayed against him and his planet. The only way forward was to get better and he would do so. With one step of the titan, he blitz through the establishment, appearing outside in the sunny afternoon sun, avoiding the throngs of people who had seen him go up into the establishment. Everyone wanted to see the titan blade in person these days, no small part to Mrs. Martha who had been attributing him to the definition of training and getting stronger. Taking a step again to avoid anyone from noticing him again, he blitzed down the southern part of Bastion, leaving Ife the capital and district of most acolytes staying in Bastion and went farther down, past the farm fields and animal sheds till he appeared on a lone cobbled road with banners hanging at both sides of the road, trailing down to the coliseums themselves. With a hop he lightly jumped in the air, sailing up and above as he got within the distance of the coliseums.

Landing lightly in front of an acolyte guard whose eyes became wide like saucers, Moyo placed a finger to his lips, telling the guard to keep mute as he strolled into the coliseum, eyes taking in the dark and brown colored structure. Moyo had entered the coliseum built for the acolytes, glancing around till he came to the large circular stone ring where the fights would happen themselves. Whistling in appreciation of the craftsmanship. The stones were made of basalt and lime rock, Moyo nodding at the hardness and strength of the ring to withstand acolyte level attributes and skills. Lightly jumping and landing on the field with no sound, he looked around, up to the left where what looked like a commentator’s box hung. Moyo had no idea how that would work seeing as no electronics were working, but then again Boyle could rig something up to work for that.

A dark box to the right with dark black glass that didn’t reflect the inside but was ornately carved with black marble structures of the new map of the world with details to the continents and territories held by each faction sat. Moyo hopped again into the air and landed at the box, opening its mahogany curved wooden door to see dark plush chairs sitting in a semi-circle with a round gold table between them sat. closing the door, Moyo went to the glass, seeing as the whole ring for the fight was clear from any of the chairs. Nodding to himself, he prepared to leave and go check the rest when he saw a figure entering the ring. It was a young dark bald man with two incisions on his face and a bald head while being barefooted.

The man was bare chested with a tight rope tied around both of his biceps, he wore a loose fitting short and around his neck was a red bead. The man stretched for a few minutes before he began hopping from side to side, increasing in speed as he did so. Moyo stood, shocked at seeing another person from what seemed like his tribe after a long time. Without disturbing the man, he moved towards the seat of the audience, casting his realm out as it covered the entire coliseum, sending out a subtle feeling for anyone coming to avoid it. It also made him invincible to the sight and senses of the man. Staring at him as he brought up the visible stat of the man, his eyes widened,

Name: Femi

Path: Fists of Ijakadi

Body: dancing warrior

Race: human

Level: 70 (Acolyte)

It brought memories crashing down on him with a wave, Ijakadi was a traditional fighting style of the Yoruba tribe in western Africa, in land where a country once called Nigeria existed, now it was part of the green zone in Asa. Eyes wide, he took in each step the man took, throwing jabs and kicks that looked almost like he was doing a traditional Yoruba dance. Almost identical to another wrestling style of the same tribe, the gidigbo, Moyo stood transfixed as he suddenly gained enlightenment, staring as he couldn’t believe his luck. The style of Ijakadi was a style of overwhelming strength, it was meant to use both arms, legs and wrist in movements meant to crush your foe into submission, originally a self defense style of the ancient Yoruba tribe.

He had no idea when he stood up, watching as the man threw jabs after jabs that left a hazy imprint in the air, his body twisting and turning as if listening to a beat. Like perfectly timed music, the man stopped with a low roar, throwing a punch into the air as the very air around the man vibrated, all his moves culminating to that moment when he decided to finally put down his foe. The air rumbled and gave a clasp similar to thunder as the attack dissipated,

“Teach me” Moyo uttered, shocking the man who did a flip in the air and landed at a far distance, hands up as he crouched in the fighting style of the fists of Ijakadi. The mans’ eyes widened as he saw it was Moyo and bowed, despite being older than him. Moyo took a step, blurring to appear in front of the man and holding his shoulders up to prevent him from bowing,

“Please, don’t, it has been long since I’ve seen one of my people” Moyo said as Femi’s eyes widened a bit,

“I suspected as much lord, Moyo, it is nice to once again hear our tongue spoken” Femi replied as Moyo frowned, wiping his eyes as it had become blurry,

“I was speaking Yoruba?” he asked Femi,

The man smiled, nodding as he stood straight,

“indeed, ever since the advent of the archailect, everyone could understand and speak each other’s language, the archailect just made it seem like we were all speaking whatever language we intended, but to the recipient?, they could hear their language being spoken” Femi replied,

Moyo was genuinely shocked at the revelation, he had never thought of it that way, that probably meant Han had been speaking Chinese and Perun probably Slavic or whatever tongue he spoke. Hugging the man again, he spoke,

“That style, Ijakadi, where did you learn it from?” Moyo asked,

“It has been passed down my family line, we were of the old royalty from the Oyo empire, sadly I’m all that’s left of my family” Femi replied, his eyes carrying a heaviness to it,

They had all lost people the day the archailect absorbed their world, but they had also made friends and new families. With a firm grasp on the shoulder of Femi, Moyo stared at him intently,

“Then allow me to carry on the path of the fists of Ijakadi, let me use it to bring down those who took from us, this, I beg of you” Moyo said as he bowed low, Femi holding him back,

“It is not right for the lord of Bastion to bow to me, the fact that you are of the same tribe and understand the nature of the movements from the way you spoke has earned you the right, besides, who says no to the titan blade?” Femi said as Moyo chuckled,

***********

“The path of the fists of Ijakadi” Femi started as he and Moyo stood bare chested, having taken over their tops and with their bare feet on the hot stone arena, Moyo prepared to learn to fighting style. With his core shrouded down to acolyte, Femi would feel more at ease training him. The man took a crouching position as Moyo followed,

“The style is as much a dance as it focuses and destabilizing your enemy, it was built to withstand attacks, drive the force through your body and return it back in movements to crush the physique of your foe, put them out of commission and enable you to finish them at your leisure or escape as the situation demanded” Femi continued,

With the slight hops and kicks that Moyo imitated, they began the intricate dance steps with the occasional lightning quick jabs and kicks. On and on Moyo performed the movements for an hour, stumbling as his strength proved as much of a boon as a distraction. The style perfectly suited the path of the crushing blade, even with no katana in hand, Moyo felt his strength coursing through his body in a way the fighting style of the reaping katana had never provided. The reaping katana had been based on short complete use of power, leaving him slightly disoriented in a way that he had to create space between himself and whatever foe he was fighting to gather momentum again, but with the dance of Ijakadi, his energy was distributed to all parts of his body, ensuring he could keep himself stabilized with every kick that carried a measure of his true strength, and this was just him scaling it down to acolyte. As soon as he could get used to the energy coursing through his body, his body would in fact embody the stability and resilience of the titan he represented.

By evening he had finally gotten it, even as his body shined from sweat and Femi sat on the ground as he beat a drum he had produced from where he packed his clothes. Energy coursed through Moyo as every jab and kick, every twist and turn spelt doom at the final attack he would unleash. On and on he moved around, accumulating energy as his body tingled, absorbing every kinetic force he shot out back into his body as he built up to a crescendo. With one fluid move he raised his palm up in a straight line and tore it down as he activated his blade of the titan skill. The concussive wave shook the ring, the air neatly exploded in front of him as it crushed the chairs and stands before neatly slicing the rubble the coliseum in two in front of him, the attack still slicing ahead before dissipating.

Panting, he received a notification as he began to laugh,

Notice!

You have acquired the skill dance of Ijakadi (R): you have gone back to your roots, finally, a style that was built for the titan himself has been discovered!

Another notification followed,

Notice!

Synergy has been discovered between the skills dance of Ijakadi (R), wrath of the titan (R) and blade of the titan (R), evolution possible!

Note: evolving skills may advance or decrease in tier, evolve?, Y/N

Moyo sat back down on the ground as he breathed in, a smile on his face, whatever skill was about to get through the evolution, Moyo couldn’t help but feel its intimacy to him, another piece of the image he was building of his legacy. A legacy that reflected his past, grounded his present and would blaze as a guiding torch into the future. Opening his spatial vault through his spatial rip, with a Femi looking at the black hole in awe, Moyo produced five legendary aether shards. Since Bastion had been moved to the red zone, he had been methodically saving up the shards he had gotten as loot, five out of the stock of legendary shards was a sizeable sum, but it was necessary for what he was about to do. With his body still glowing purple, Moyo accepted the evolution, crushing all the golden shards in one fist as aether began to swirl around him in a storm, Femi moving away as fast as his acolyte level speed could take him.

Moyo could feel the skills fusing together, absorbing the legendary aether shards he had feed it and draining his large core also. He could feel the hand that gripped the blade that was his core imprint the essence of the titan on his new skill. His body trembled, raw aether transformed to intent that blazed through his body, feeding his bones, making them denser, his eyes glowing a dark purple ring of energy and Moyo felt his authority reach out and imprint his very essence on the skill again. The air cracked, the floor shook and Moyo slowly began to levitate up in the air as the very intent his body now accumulated defied the ground. His core cracked as it shone and Moyos’ eyes widened in alarm, before he realized the hand that gripped the blade that acted as his core began to glow, slowly a humanoid form began to form holding the core, faceless with no distinct facial form, just a blank space for a face.

He felt his intent resonate with the aether around him and the energy that coursed through his body began to leak out of him, transforming to deadly sharp edges that began to tear into his surroundings. Restricting it as best as he could, he opened his vault and produced dominion his katana and began to channel the excess energy into the blade that begun to hum as it glowed and began to turn brown, its color changing, with a roar he held the katana with his two hands and shouted. His realm expanded, carrying with it the authority of the titan blade, ordering everyone else to bow below it. In an instant the realm snapped back into him along with his authority and the wisps of purple energy his blade could not consume as it felt…. full.

Dropping to the ground as he stared at the wreckage that was formerly the acolyte coliseum, eyes wide as notifications popped up on his screen again.

Skill evolving……...calculating tier…. surplus legendary aether shards available…. aether shards absorbed…. access to rare intent core discovered…...intent absorbed…...access to sufficiently advanced authority via rare mantle discovered…. authority assimilated…. calculating…...success!

Notice!: skills dance of Ijakadi (R), wrath of the titan (R) and blade of the titan (R) have evolved into skill titans dance of Ijakadi (L)!

Titans dance of Ijakadi (L) 500

The titan has finally grown into his art, he has stared at the infinite forces arrayed against him and has realized that his path must be forged from his roots. The sword skill was created from the ancestral home of the titan, a fearsome skill that would break, crush and mock his foes before delivering the killing stroke when there is nothing left of the fore to absorb any longer.

Moyo panted as he saw Femi peek out of the rubble where he had hidden, Moyo stood up, throwing his katana that hummed into his vault, he would deal with that later, seeming like his katana was on the verge of evolving also. Appearing next to Femi who coughed and stood,

“Are you alright?” he asked,

“I’m fine lord, what was that?” he asked with a bit of fear in his eyes,

“I acquired my version of the fists of Ijakadi” Moyo replied wincing,

“I’ve acquired skills too lord, that didn’t look like any skill acquisition I’ve seen” Femi whispered,

“that’s because our lord is full of weird occurrences happening around him” a voice said as Mrs. Martha appeared like mist next to them,

Moyo frowned as he hadn’t felt her around him, realizing his connection to his domain had been cut off during the skill acquisition. With a thought he reconnected to his domain through his realm as he saw Mrs. Martha wince and Femi look downright terrified,

“You might need to tamp down on the strength of your realm, lord” Mrs. Martha said,

Moyo immediately retracted his realm, frowning,

“what’s wrong with my realm?” he asked,

“Well before it felt like a domineering presence that assured everyone under it that the titan had absolute control, now it feels like there’s a blade right at our necks should we piss you off” she explained,

Moyo frowned, staring at his palm as he took a deep breathe,

“I’m sure you didn’t do it consciously” she said putting a hand on his shoulder,

“Indeed, I feel nothing but pride for being instrumental in the process of helping the lord acquire a skill as strong as that” Femi said bowing as Moyo stopped him,

“I apologize, but that wasn’t the skill, that was just the effect of it on my realm, I haven’t tested out the legendary skill yet” Moyo replied as Femi stared at him with a dumb struck expression, Mrs. Martha just shaking her head,

Moyo was about to ask what the issue was when a loud voice screeched around them,

“WHAT IN THE HEAVENS HAPPENED TO MY COLISEUM?!” Samantha said as she appeared on a green rune circle, floating above the now destroyed coliseum as Moyo stared sheepishly and Femi slunk to a side, trying his best to avoid the ire of the advocate that floated above,

Lightning flashed through the sky as Annika appeared, hovering over a thundercloud as she took one look around and burst into laughter,

Idris appearing with a boom to land in the rubbles, staring around before turning to Moyo with a raised eyebrow,

“I’m guessing this is your work?” Idris asked,

“Hey!” Moyo protested weakly,

“You did this?” Samantha said softly, a deadly edge to her voice,

“Who else could wreak a coliseum this thoroughly?” Annika said in between bouts of laughter,

“It was not on purpose, I got a skill” Moyo said weakly,

“aha!, I knew it!, pay up folks!” she said gleefully as the rest of the leaders groaned,

“You couldn’t get a skill the normal way now, can you?” Ayo said as she appeared floating on a construct with Mr. Boyle who sighed while shaking his head,

“it’s like his body is made of exploding substances” the leader of the hammers of Ogun said,

“Apologies Samantha, when the rest of you get a legendary skill, let’s see if you all don’t blow things up” Moyo mumbled but their advocate hearing picked it all up,

Silence reigned as they all stared at him with wide eyes, then Annika burst out in laughter,

“called it!, pay up again!” she said as the rest groaned again.