Bastion held a celebratory feast that same night as was earlier planned, the streets were lit up and the people filled it, temporary food stalls and establishments were opened up. Music, dancing and a replay of the fights filled the whole of Bastion and even the capital Ife itself, a sort of aristocracy had slowly been emerging from the powerful ascenders surrounding the clan, most of them from the sects, peak acolytes who were hoping to break through to advocate and a few who had broken through. Moyo had seen the signs, but as usual he paid no heed to it, so long as they didn’t treat those under them wrongfully or threatened the peace and sovereignty of the clan and Bastion as a whole, he was fine with it. The sect leaders had all returned back to their separate zones for the night and would reconvene the next day, Moyo had a feeling it was to make sure their advocates who would be fighting were ready. The two previous coliseums had been demolished and the land had been returned to its previous state, only the last coliseum which would hold the advocate match was left standing.

Moyo sat lotus style on the walls of bastion, the sentries who were on patrol and were observing him from the corner of his eyes as he drew dominion from his vault, eyes roaming the result of the evolution his blade had gone through. He called up its information, staring intently at its new info,

Name: Dominion

Type: Katana (sword)

Tier: Rare

Evolution: Rare (5% to legendary)

Attributes:

Unbreakable (II): this blade has been dipped in draconic blood and bone, nothing short of the full might of a master rank and higher can cause damage to it. Drainer II): dominion can absorb a portion of a foes’ might, authority and willpower to ingest towards its evolution Presence (II): dominion true to its name can channel the realm of the titan to manipulate gravity in the realm to devastating effects as well as passively absorbing the strength of any foe within the realm to replenish the titan, ignores rank.

The katana had evolved from a mere weapon to a semi-sentient one with its attributes evolved, it seemed like as its tier increases, so would the deadliness of its attributes, now Moyo didn’t need to even activate his greed of the titan skill before he took from his foes. He could feel the blade in his mind, sharing its emotions to him, it was always hungry. With a sigh he stood up and stared into the distance, one of the downsides of leveling with such speed as he did was the fact that no one was a match for him to hone his skills with, keeping him in a point of stagnation. He couldn’t wait for the tournament to end and his proposed means of transport to arrive for him to leave the planet. While he was a bit bothered about the return of the sects from the archailect, he had done his best for humanity to survive, it was left to the factions to defend their territories as they saw fit.

Stepping over the wall, he landed inside Bastion and with the speed of an expert, moved so fast it practically seemed like time had come to a stop. He appeared near a food kiosk, mask back on his face and his core shrouded down to advocate level, that would be enough to avoid any fights that might break out as no one wanted to fight with an advocate. Sitting outside at an open table, he ordered a plate of the steaming steak he could see being roasted over a spit and watched the festivities. His HUD blazed to life with a call, his eyebrows raising up as he saw the name and without a second thought he covered his table with his realm, effectively killing any sound from coming in and leaving his realm. Glancing around, he picked the call,

The face of a man wearing a black crystal mask with no facial expression popped up, a golden braided hair falling behind him.

“Greetings…. expert, I am Ajax death blade, emissary of house thousand blade, seeing as this is a formal meeting, it is imperative we address ourselves formally” the man said,

Moyo caught on immediately, schooling his face into a cold but interested mask.

“Greetings sir death blade, to what do I owe this call?” Moyo said,

“I come representing house thousand blade, I would be your liaison for the duration of the tournament” the man said,

“Then excuse my manners, greetings master death blade, what does the house require of me?” Moyo asked,

“The house wishes to inform you that for the duration of the tournament, your domain would be under our protection, therefore you are free to devote your full attention on the tournament” death blade said,

Moyo had a thoughtful look on his face,

“Just my domain and not the whole planet?” he asked,

“The house it not responsible for the entire planet of the contestant, only the territory the contestant hails from, you are therefore asked to prepare for the one month and a week of the tournament, that will be all” death blade said,

“Then I accept said terms” Moyo replied,

“Good, a week from now master Killian would arrive to transport you to where you would be needed, for now, stay alive and keep training” Ajax said as the transmission cut off,

Moyo removed the realm as he smiled, sipping from the cup of wine brought before him. Ajax was a master, he had heard it from the overseer, but to see his master in person?, that brought back memories and the very stark realization that he had a long mile to go to even reach the height of his master. Standing up, he opened a spatial rip and stepped through in the blink of an eye, the rip closing up before anyone could notice.

***************

The fourth and final day of the tournament arrived with the coliseum filled to the brim, the announcer, now in a green attire appeared on a floating platform, his voice once again echoing around the coliseum,

“Welcome everyone, to the final and most anticipated round of the tournament, the advocate round!” he shouted as the crowd roared in reply,

“the factions are ready!, the advocates are ready!, let the pairings be announced!” he said as a large screen appeared in the air,

ADVOCATE FIRST BRACKET

I.F: independent Factions

BR: Brahma

LU: Luminian Theocracy

IM: Imperial Empire

EM: Glorious Empire

U: Union

F: Federation

C: Clan Titan Blade

C VS U

LU VS EM

F VS IM

BH VS I.F

C VS I.F

LU VS IM

EM VS F

C VS BH

U VS I.F

LU VS F

C VS F

U VS F

LU VS I.F

EM VS BH

U VS BH

IM VS EM

C VS IM

LU VS BH

I.F VS EM

U VS IM

There were 40 advocates as agreed between the factions, 5 from each faction who represented the best the sects had to offer. The pairing had been done in a way that the factions would fight at least once against each other. The announcer floated back up into the sky as his voice echoed around the coliseum,

“and now, for the first round!, Julius of the storm bringers, chosen of the Moyosore titan blade versus James of the union, chosen of frank heather!” he announced,

**********

In the secluded platform belonging to clan titan blade, Moyo watched attentively, Annika sat up as her vice sect leader stepped unto the platform, this was the moment that decided the immediate power of the clan and would decide the political landscape of the world for decades to come. Moyo glanced at the advocate of the union, then back at Julius with a smile playing on his lips.

*************

Julius stood opposite the man in combat fatigue who wore shades, a smile on his lips,

“let’s see what the vice sect leader of the clan can do” he taunted, Julius gave no reply, simply adjusting his glasses on his face as he stared stoically. The announcers voice telling them to begin was what broke the ice as Julius flipped into the air, a spear suddenly in his hand as he floated in the air, below him James had become a cyborg of steel and blade, thrusters appearing from his feet as he blasted towards Julius,

“Mine is the cry of the cloud, heed my call, bolt!” Julius chanted,

The whole coliseum flashed with a bright light as thunder boomed and a giant arc of lightning flashed down to strike at James whose machinery somehow ignored the current running through it. Julius narrowed his eyes, no, it didn’t ignore it, it absorbed it. James laughed,

“is that all you’ve got?, flashy bolts?, thanks for the recharge!” he shouted as behind him, tiny missiles formed hovering in the air,

“No, actually” Julius replied as he flashed away from the position he was in, dodging the missiles and appearing behind the soldier who turned a fraction to late as he got slammed with a kick covered in lightning that sent him crashing into the ground.

A fraction of a second later, Julius had descended like a bolt, the butt of his spear coming down on James with all the force of an advocate. James rolled out of the way, his cyborg armor squealing as he rolled and produced a mini sub machine gun from his hand and began to shoot Julius who blitzed out of the path of the bullets. Creating space between him and James, twirling his spear in his hand he moved again, flashing across the stage as James released small miniature drones that floated in the air,

“Union jack!” he growled,

The drones released a high frequency shrill before shooting tiny concussive exploding missiles that honed in on Julius. The vice sect leader smiled, dodged concussive wave after wave as they battered the very air around him before blitzing right in front of James, eyes crackling with lightning. The very air around him grew cold as lightning struck Julius expanding before exploding like a bomb right on the body of James. His armor was ripped, exploding out as Julius kicked him straight into the protective dome that flashed with light at the force. Julius raised his hand up to the thunder cloud that rumbled above him,

“Lance of annihilation” he said softly,

The thunder cloud flashed as a straight beam of lightning, thicker than any before it struck straight down from above, straight into James whose eyes widened before rolling up, his body jerking intermittently from the after effect. The advocate stayed down, already passed out. Julius turned away and began walking towards the exit,

“Ascenders one and all, the first victor of the advocate brackets, Julius of the storm bringers!” the announcers voice boomed out,

**************

Up in Moyo’s secluded chamber, he glanced at the opposite chamber that belonged to the union, a smile on his lips,

**************

The next consecutive fights were as brutal as the first one, the clan won all five of their battles , moving on to the next round of 20, Josh totally pulverizing his independent faction opponent with a metal path, Charles went up against a similar archer from the Brahma empire and after a few minutes of back and forth, his barrage of a thousand shafts of dawn skill won the battle. Tanya went up against the federation and her steam golem soldiers were up to the task of breaking through the ice summons the advocate summoned, effectively ending the fight. The most puzzling fight was the first hand of Anansi against a knight advocate of the round table representing the imperial empire. The hand danced around the knight, effectively driving him to frustration before the knight realized he had been entangling himself in intricate webs and therefore ending up in a constricted position.

The round ended with the 20 advocates left, the clan leading with 5, followed by the imperial knights at 3, the unions soldiers at 3 also, the independent faction putting up a valiant fight and coming out with 2, the theocracy’s bishop advocates coming up with 2 also, the federations advocate also with 2 left, the artists of the empire with 2 and the Brahma empire left with 1 in the tournament. The stage was being set for the second round of the competition with the screen coming. The advocates were all arrayed under their banners, staring up at the viewing screen

ADVOCATE BRACKET SECOND ROUND

C VS U

C VS IM

C VS I.F

C VS F

C VS EM

LU VS U

IM VS BH

I.F VS EM

U VS F

LU VS IM

*********

William sat in his secluded chamber, a golden broad sword at his side with a woman in a silver armor by his side,

“Lancelot has been in contact, the empire is secure, the advocate of the federation has been in contact, they are read y also, the bishop of order representing the theocracy has conveyed the stand of their faction, they’re in support” the woman said,

“Perfect then, contact the clan lady Bedivere” William said as the woman with silver armor bowed,

William stapled his fingers together, the world, it seems, was about to go through another schism.

********************

Julius, given the name of the thunderer held the smoking advocate of the union by his throat, the advocate passed out as he dropped the body, the advocate with a fighter jet path, he didn’t even want to know how that worked, mentally shaking his head at the straight thinking of the union. They had relied on what they knew best, fire arms and it was coming back to bite them. With a nod to Josh who nodded back with a stoic look, they had come up on this stage to pass a message to the factions and the world in general, and they had done that flawlessly. As Josh took the stage against an advocate of the independent faction with what he heard was a magma path, Julius looked up at the secluded room that held the powers of the clan and saw a message pop up on his HUD from his sect leader, he smiled and cracked his neck, he couldn’t wait for the next round.

*************

President frank was in his secluded room when lieutenant Dylan entered in a rush,

“Sir, our sleeper agents in the federation, imperial empire and the Luminian theocracy’s bodies have been found dead this morning, news just got to the union sir” he said,

President frank froze up, his mind running through different scenarios of what could had happened and came to the same realization,

“shit” he said,

With deftness he brought up his HUD to call Han, the face of the emperor popping up,

“president Han, can you see- “

“Forget the tournament, they are aware” president frank said, cutting off the emperor who froze,

“Who?” he asked,

“All of them” frank replied,

Han cursed in native mandarin but frank got the gist, with a snap at Dylan he gave orders,

“Initiate exodus, all personnel that aren’t in the competition should start evacuating through the ship, the advocates would catch up with the ship in the green zone” he said as Dylan saluted and scurried off,

“won’t running alert them?” Han said,

“You can stay here and face the titan blade emperor Han, I do not like my chances against that expert” frank replied,

“Actually, you both are staying behind,” a voice said as Mrs. Martha shimmered to being right in the room with frank,

To his credit he reacted with advocate speed, a pistol that glowed silver appeared in his hand in a flash and before he could shoot, he felt his body being restricted, like he was stuck in a web, with his eyes wide he stared at Mrs. Martha who visibly winced,

“Apologies president frank, I’m not used to it yet, however the titan blade on the other hand” she said as she flared her power and frank to his horror felt the presence of the titan blade suffuse the room, he wasn’t there but it felt like the blade of the titan was placed directly on his neck, he froze in place. Mrs. Martha relaxed and frank felt the stickiness on his body disappear but still didn’t move, for he knew the titan could get into the room from wherever he was before he could pull the trigger, he glanced at the woman who had a wide smile on her face,

“President frank, emperor Han, apologies for the rude treatment, but the titan blade and the other rulers would like a word” she said and frank felt his shoulders drop.

***************************

Like chess pieces they fell before the clan, the imperial knights proved their worth, the imperials blazing to victory, the federation with their predominantly ice path followed and the last two factions that survived were the independent faction and the theocracy. Julius of the storm bringers, Josh of the sentinels and Charles of the dawn archers were the last of the clan in the competition. The knight advocates were sir Gawain, Percival and lady Mordred. The federation had Igor of the frozen claw path and lev of the raining frost path, the independent faction had Luke of the freezing bow path and the Luminian theocracy had bishop Luca of the path of the radiant spears left.

They once again stood together on the arena as the announcer descended,

“again we have arrived at the last 10, the top advocates of the new world we’ve found ourselves!, no matter the results here, their names would spread far and wide!” the said as the crowd cheered,

“Behold the pairings!” he shouted

ADVOCATE BRACKET THIRD ROUND

C VS IM

C VS F

IM VS F

C VS I.F

IM VS LU

“Julius of clan titan blade, you fight Sir Gawain of the imperial empire!, Josh of clan titan blade, you fight advocate Igor of the federation!, sir Percival of the imperial empire, you fight advocate lev of the federation!, Charles of the clan titan blade, you fight advocate Luke of the independent faction! And finally, lady Mordred of the imperial empire, you face bishop Luca of the Luminian theocracy!” the announcer recited,

The crowd cheered, the advocates stepped out of the arena for Julius and sir Gawain to begin the first of the last matches to decide the tournament.

**********

Up in the secluded chambers of the faction leaders, Moyo stood, arms crossed as he used his very realm to hold down both president frank and emperor Han, by their sides, held down were their two second in commands, Samantha had a wide grin on her face as she used runes to bind Dylan and lady Bedivere had a thin rapier poised at the throat of a female martial artist. The advocate assistants could battle both Samantha and lady Bedivere, but the very presence of the titan blade had them shaking in terror, is realm tightly binding the room and the furious look on his face informed them that should they make any careless moves, their paths would end right here and now in the room.

Moyo crouched as he used his hand to raise the head of frank,

“what gave you the right?, you thought yourself wise?” he said softly,

Turning to Han he stared coldly at the stoic faced but sweating man,

“And to think I trusted you” he said,

“We refuse to be under the thumb of a dictator” Han said,

“And us, what made you try to undermine our rule also?” William said as he glared down at the bound emperor,

“You all are nothing but pawns to the titan blade, too blind to see it” frank spat out,

Emperor Devesh just stared on stoically, aware that he had been shown this scene to show him the result of planning against the titan blade,

“So, what now, you kill them?” he asked,

“no, doing that would make them martyrs, they think I want to rule them?, fine, I hereby speak with the authority of the clan, the clan and continent Asa hereby cuts off all ties with the union and the empire, its territories and continents and from henceforth, no citizen of those territories are permitted on the continent” Moyo said as frank and Han’s eyes widened,

Moyo turned to Mrs. Martha,

“Did you get that?” he asked,

“Yes, but you might need them to confess to their crimes though” she said with a smile,

He nodded and turned back to them, wrapping them tightly in his realm,

“President frank, emperor Han, you stand accused of placing agents in the territories and continents of the clan, the imperial empire, the Luminian theocracy and the federation, possibly the Bharat empire, do you swear to the archailect that these charges are false or true?” he said,

Everyone felt the attention of something…. powerful settle on the room as they all shivered, including Moyo,

“true” they both muttered,

“Perfect, copies are being sent to their continents as we speak” Mrs. Martha said,

“You move quick” archbishop Matthew said to Moyo,

“Best we root it out now before the next landing” Moyo said softly,

Standing up, he grabbed both bound rulers, tore open a spatial rip and turned to the rest of the rulers in the room,

“I’m about to show you all the difference in power, you all are invited to come view, a little disorientation should follow if you pass through my rip” he said as he took them through,

The rest stared on in amazement as he left,

“He really is angry, isn’t he?” Devesh said,

William nodded and stepped through the rip, the rest followed quietly,

**********

Julius exchanged hits with sir Gawain who followed the path of the unbreakable shield, spear in hand he struck continuously against the shield with sir Gawain wielding a broad sword to devastating effects as he clashed with the storm bringer. All across the coliseum the audience were enraptured, all around the world the people of earth saw the top ten advocates of the world do battle and deep down a fire was lit, the human desire to grow stronger, and in the years to come it would be known as the great surge…

**********

Depositing the bodies of frank and Han on the ground, Moyo released them as they stood up, eyeing him warily,

“What are you doing?’ Han asked,

“you think me a bully?, let me show you what overwhelming power feels like. My core has been shrouded to advocate, same as my realm, now come, show me the strength you thought would save you from my wrath” Moyo growled,

The other leaders stood behind Moyo in the distance, the wind blowing as they stood in the lands surrounding city trellis whose people were unaware of what was happening outside their walls. Frank spat on the ground,

“Do you really think us that weak?” he growled,

“No, stupid really, that you would intentionally want to reduce the strength of the world for your selfish needs, now come” he said and produced dominion that hummed with glee in his mind,

Like the crack of thunder, frank produced an advocate rank rifle, putting Moyo in his sight, all to feel a slight breeze and Moyos’ leg connecting with his body, sending him flying into the distance. Han with his hands blazing blue roared as he came for Moyo in a flurry of kicks and punches, all to find himself inside the advocate ranked realm of Moyo and falling to his knees in a crash. Moyo threw dominion back into his spatial rip,

“You aren’t worthy of my blade” he said and with a kick sent Han flying too into the distance,

A step of the tian had him catching the both of them in the air before slamming them back down to the ground, he was sure he heard ribs cracking. Grabbing them both as he continued to pummel them, frank managed to point a pistol to his head and pull the trigger, only for the bullet to rebound on his draconic titan skin and tear through his shoulder blades, he screamed in pain only for Moyo to put a punch to his throat, cutting him off. The titan stood and carried their bodies back to the presence of the rest of the rulers who had seen the beating, William eyed their bodies,

“Sure, they’re still alive?” he asked as Moyo nodded,

“Unconscious, it’ll take more than that to kill an advocate” he said,

“Did you just shrug a bullet to the skull?” Perun asked incredulously as Moyo flashed him a brief smile,

Gesturing back to the rip,

“Gentlemen?” he said as they nodded and passed through,

Moyo threw their bodies through the rip and went through also…

******

Up in the hub, Atreus grumbled as he gave a relic to overseer Sabine who grinned wildly at him, watching the live feed of Moyo as he dragged the bodies of the advocates back through the spatial rip,

“Damned kid” he grumbled as Sabine laughed again,

*******

Julius had won, bloody, beaten and broken, but he had broken the shield of sir Gawain who had passed out, Josh had fought tooth and nail, ripping through every barrier even with half of his body frozen and broken to defeat Igor of the federation and had passed out a victor. Charles had engaged in the most exhilarating battle of arrows with Luke, but the freezing bow had proved a match for the vice sect leader and he had lost, to the standing ovation of the crowd, and lady Mordred of the shimmering sword had worn against bishop Luca of the Luminian theocracy. The battles shook the coliseum, the crowd were in a frenzy, sir Percival of the royal edge had lost against lev in the most complicated battle of moves that saw lev hopping on one leg as he roared to the crowd, and now they all awaited the titan blade for the last round…

***********

Moyo dropped the bodies in front of their assistants who saw the result and quaked where they stood,

“Leave my territory, the ascenders who participated in the tournament from your factions would be sent their rewards, now get out and show your people back home what you guys brought upon yourselves” he said as he tossed crystals that stored the recordings of the fights he just had with them,

They nodded in a hurry, carried the bodies of their rulers and scrambled away as fast as their advocate speed could take them. Moyo breathed in as he felt a hand on his shoulder, glancing to his left to see William smiling at him,

“You did well Moyo, but I believe you kept our finalists waiting long enough” he said,

“Indeed, lord Moyo” Mrs. Martha said,

He nodded and with one step of the titan vanished from the room, Mrs. Martha turned to the leaders,

“Faction leaders” she said with a bow,

“Shall we finalize the arrangements?” she said with a smile

*************

The titan blade descended on the arena like a deity, the arena becoming hushed as he landed with a hop. He stared around,

“today” he started,

“Today, the leaders of the union and the glorious empire committed an crime so bad they had to leave, as I’m sure you all would learn during the coming weeks, it was worth their leaving my continent” he said as the crowd began to murmur, he raised a hand and they quietened,

“But today isn’t for that, it’s to show the world the power of our advocates” he shouted,

“the archailect is coming with its dangers and glory!, we are humanity!, we who withstood the landing!, we withstood the troops of the archailect! And we would withstand what is to come!, so which of you advocates would stand on the pinnacle along with me?, who would win this?” he said as he produced a legendary core as the crowed took a collective gasp of breath,

He kept it back in the folds of his cloth, gesturing to them to come,

“Now come, show me your resolve!’ he shouted as he unleashed his realm on the five remaining advocates,

Josh lead the charge as he blazed with force aura, blasting towards Moyo with his hammer swinging, Julius right behind him with the sky inside the dome growing dark and thunder and lightning booming and flashing within it, lev roared as frost flowed on the ground and in the air from him towards the titan blade, an ice spear in his hand as he charged him, lady Mordred with one step blitzed with all her speed towards the titan blade, her blade glowing, Luke drew his bow back, drawing on the frost in the air to forge his arrows, pouring all his being into the arrows and shot it.

All in the second before all their attacks hit, Moyo smiled, arms outstretched he uttered a single word,

“break”

Julius collapsed like a sack, Josh slumped, lev’s ice spear shattered and he too fell unconscious, lady Mordred fell like a sack of grain to the ground, only Luke was left standing, wobbling as all the strength in his body was drained, tethering on slumping before Moyo caught him, raising his hand up as he smiled at the him, the voice of the announcer loud and clear,

“ladies and gentlemen!, ascenders one and all!, stand and celebrate the first winner of the ascenders tournament, Luke Finn of the freezing bow!”

Again, for the last time that day, the coliseum shook with the roar of the crowd…