“Congratulations on getting to expert, a bit unexpected but still, celebrations are in order,” Ajax said as he sat with his disciple Moyo and the master Killian,

The ship that carried them through space itself was a work of art, subconsciously named “the cigar” by Moyo, it belonged to the master Killian, a personal gift from his house ruler who from what Moyo was beginning to piece together was a big deal when it came to blade users. Moyo had gotten them up to speed on his entire life after his training and separation from Ajax, it had left master Killian blinking, the man who had snow-white eyebrows and eyes seemed lost for words even as Ajax laughed, wiping tears from his eyes,

“Poor Atreus must have been confused as hell,” his master Ajax said,

“Understatement, it’s like he kept on having series of good lucks,” Killian said,

“More or less, but I survived to expert,” Moyo said,

“Which in itself is puzzling, you shouldn’t have been able to ascend to an expert that quickly and easily, not until your first planetary calamity,” Killian said,

“Planetary calamity?” Moyo asked, looking between both of them,

“Yes, see the archailect doesn’t hand out ascension based on a free for all bundle, despite what you all think in the early stages of ascension. When your world begins to see a surplus number of advocates on its surface, the overseers of whatever galaxy they watch over send a message to, well, let’s call them the controlling body of the archailect” Killian said,

“They in turn unleash what is known as a calamity, a wave of powerful abyssal creatures that have the potency to reduce your world to a wasteland in as less as a week” Killian continued,

“Your world would then need to rely on its advocates to help defend it, and the advocates in turn, hopefully after learning about mastering their surroundings and acquiring realms, would be able to handle such creatures, and even then, less than ten percent of advocates survive the calamities” Ajax explained,

“Kill or be killed” Moyo muttered as the two masters nodded in affirmation,

The system had ways of culling the numbers of powerful people within its ranks, this calamity was beginning to turn out to be the same,

“I have to get a message back to my people; they need to know- “

“I would strongly advise against that Moyo, if any faction becomes remotely aware of the nature of the calamity apart from the fact that a calamity was the catalyst to ascend to expert, it could have…let’s just say it’s not a good thing. Too many people knowing and you could see a group of advocates pushing for their acolytes to get stronger too quickly, therefore triggering the calamity too early and the freshly minted advocates dying in droves” Ajax explained,

“Besides, when we landed on your world, I could barely feel enough advocates to trigger the calamity anytime soon, but seeing how your world has left more than a few of us in the archailect stumped at the rate of your ascension, at worst nothing less than six months,” Killian said,

“My…friends are aware of the requirements, I’ve helped them acquire realms, they should be safe right?” he asked,

“That depends on how well they are at deciding not to die, their fates are in their hands, besides, you should be back in time to help with the calamity, which in itself is risky,” Killian said,

“Why?” Moyo asked,

“think about it, the overseers inform the archailect of when to unleash the calamities right? usually scaled a bit higher than what advocates can handle for an effective, well, culling. What happens when he has to factor in two experts on that world?” Ajax asked,

Moyo scrunched up his face in confusion,

“two experts? I’m the only expert on my world” he said,

Ajax and Killian shared a look, Killian sighing,

“I thought as much, those serpents are up to it again,” he said,

“Did that surprise you?, pompous bastards, claim not to meddle with worlds and beings lesser than them and the next minute they begin sowing seeds of domination, doubt even Atreus is aware,” Ajax said,

“Perhaps we might inform him? the brigade should be made aware,” Killian said,

“and they’ll do what? it’s rumored their leader Xerxes is a draconian, possibly even an actual dragon” Ajax said snorting,

“Nevertheless, it’s a situation that should be brought to light,” Killian said,

“Atreus was on the planet with us, pretty sure he felt the presence but ignored it,” Ajax said,

“um, pardon my intrusion, but what’s going on? dragons? brigades? I’m confused” Moyo said,

“Short story, you have a dragon expert on your world, on another continent, probably why you had no idea, but we being masters and all felt it's presence,” Ajax said,

“I don’t understand, if my world indeed had another expert, I would have known, felt it, seen signs, heard something. We had a large battle against factions from the archailect and the dragon didn’t show up?” Moyo asked stupefied,

Whatever human, cause Moyo had no choice but to think some human had indeed gotten a draconic path, had gotten to expert, why didn’t they help out?, what faction could it have been?, were one of his allies plotting behind him?, Bharat maybe? or even the theocracy?

“Well, dragons in the archailect and most draconic species belong to one house, house Dracon, and they are definitely not found on tier 1 planets or systems, at least not until the first calamity where their agents suddenly start popping up to recruit viable experts to their house,” Killian said,

“So, you’re saying a dragon is on my world, isn’t that breaking some rule?’ Moyo asked,

He had heard about an agreement to keep factions out of his world from the start, if one was on his world, shouldn’t Atreus have dealt with it?

“Hence why I doubt it’s a true dragon from the house, probably one of your species found a way to unlock a draconic path, not impossible, stupidly rare, but could happen,” Ajax said,

“But even at that, house Dracon would be immediately aware and could have passed a message along through one of their shady means that flew well below the radar of the brigade, informing the ascender to lay absolutely low,” Killian said,

“doesn’t explain how they became an expert,” Moyo said,

“And how did you become an expert?’ Ajax asked,

“I told you, in a dungeon, against some boss monster, Evon,” Moyo said,

“And for some reason, you think you could have been the only case?” Ajax said,

Moyo paused, realizing that the situation in itself could be plausible,

“What you faced were peak experts and masters, Evon was probably a mid-tier master from the rumors that surfaced before he disappeared after the rebellion, one that was also rumored to have been instigated by house Dracon,” Killian said,

“You mean I faced a master, as an advocate?” Moyo asked shocked, for all reasons he should be dead,

“He makes it sound like facing even experts as an advocate isn’t a death sentence, you have your legendary skill to thank for that by the way, it’s more like a cheat really,” Ajax said,

“My theory is that house Dracon attempted to subtly raise the level of whoever the dragon was, and seeing as they couldn’t tweak the system too much, whatever they used to narrow down the parameters, probably brought forth the two of you as viable candidates, the bulk of the attacks going to you instead of the dragon based on superior strength,” Killian said,

“a house has access to the system? isn’t that cheating?” Moyo asked,

“Not really, they don’t have access to the entire system, no one does, maybe the supreme beings, but we’re going into theories and myths. What we do know was that from time immemorial, house Dracon had always been in charge of dungeon allocations, hence why they could have done so, but they ideally should be under the jurisdiction of the brigade” Killian said,

“So, I stole the resources they carefully cultivated for their agent on my world, well that was a lucky break, I hate to think of what would happen if the dragon had gotten access to the authority and power of Evon,” Moyo said as he shuddered,

“And you should, dragons aren’t known for their benevolence, odds are he would have forcefully ruled your entire planet, giving house Dracon a claim to your entire planet, but thankfully that has been solved,” Ajax said,

“But it has also placed you under the gaze of the dragons, a silent but watchful one, and seeing as they couldn’t touch you on your planet, under the protection of the brigade, out here in the archailect proper though,” Killian said,

“Got it, keep my head down,” Moyo said,

“Well not really, doubt they would want to skirmish with house thousand blades, but one can never say,” Ajax said,

“As such, we need you to get stronger, a whole lot stronger,” Killian said,

Ajax hopped to his feet,

“Good, now we’re getting to the fun path, things we can actually affect, show us your stat table,” Ajax said,

Moyo felt anxiousness and trepidation pass through him, would his master be happy at what he saw? would he be up to the level with the experts in the archailect proper?, without a second thought he opened it up, aware that he hadn’t been paying as much attention to it as he should,

Name: Moyosore

Path: crushing blade

Body: Draconic Titan (+90% defense against mental attacks)

Race: Human

Level: 152 (40) (Expert)

Title: bane of the hive, draconic slayer

Skills:

Greed of the titan(L) 100 Titans dance of Ijakadi(L)500 Realm of the titan(r)500 Step of the titan(r)250 Voice of the titan(r)100

attributes:

STR: 3050 END: 3612 Will of the titan: 3200 CNS: 3200 DEX: 2900 INT: 2105

Ajax and Killian stared at his table with wide eyes before Ajax roared in laughter, tapping his shoulder so forcefully that Moyo fell to his knees, draconic titan body or not, he actually felt an ache in his bones, masters were monsters. Killian glanced at him, then back at the table,

“By the supreme of edges, what sort of stat are these? what’s going on with those attribute numbers?” he cried out in astonishment,

“That’s my disciple, monster!” Ajax said as he moved to slap his shoulder, Moyo dodged, aware his bones could crack from the hit,

He looked at Killian, hesitant to ask,

“Are they good?” he asked,

“Good? good? they are absolutely monstrous!” Killian said as Ajax began laughing again, holding his stomach as he fought to stop,

“Oh, stop your laughter Ajax, you’re a master, what abomination did you train?” Killian asked his master,

“Hey!” Moyo protested,

“Well, it’s true, a level 152 expert with such attributes? is the system glitching?” Killian said, whispering the latter part to himself rhetorically,

Ajax finally calmed down, sighing in relief,

‘well, what did you think would happen when that man gave a fledgling a legendary skill?, under the nose of house Dracon again” Ajax said,

“Perhaps, probably why Dracon made such a move with the dragon on his planet,” Killian said,

Ajax stretched a hand to Moyo who took it and stood up,

“Well disciple, we’ve established you’re more than capable to participate in the tournament bracket for experts,” Ajax said,

“Are my attributes that inflated?” Moyo asked, glancing between the two masters,

“Moyo, the starting attributes for experts in the archailect are around the 1000 baseline, take a look at your attributes again,” Ajax said,

He glanced at it,

“Ooh,” he said,

“oh doesn’t cover it, you have a draconic body, fused with something of your personal design called a titan, your attributes are double and triple the number of a new expert, bordering on the attribute numbers of a mid-tier expert, you have two legendary skills, one of your own makings I presume which is astonishing seeing as you had no formal training, your authority, and mantle manifest with your skills, and do not get me started on the level of your skills which is also an absurdity, your entire path is scary,” Killian said all at once, sighing as he finished and pinched his nose with two fingers to calm down,

“So, what you’re saying is my disciple is very worthy?” Ajax said smugly,

“As expected from the disciple of the walking reaper,” Killian said,

Moyo felt Ajax stiffen beside him, he felt his body become cold and his mind battle against the feeling to run and hide, glancing at Ajax, he saw his master’s eyes stare coldly at Killian,

“I do not like that name,” Ajax said softly,

Killian seemingly oblivious to the look on Ajax’s face nodded,

“My apologies” he simply said,

Ajax nodded, his look of absolute death wiping away from his face,

“That’s by the way, come disciple!, the training zone awaits!” he said,

Moyo suppressed a shiver, one part due to the feeling he had just witnessed from his master and another for the training he was about to go through,

“wouldn’t that be risky? seeing as we’re in a ship?, it could get destroyed,” he said,

“Impossible, this ship was handcrafted by a ruler construct maker, nothing short of numerous attacks by rulers, as absurd as it might sound could dent this ship,” Killian said,

“Oh, well, okay, but be warned master, I’m not the advocate you left behind,” Moyo said with a smile,

“I hope so, cause I’m coming at you with my entire strength, scaled down to expert of course,” Ajax said,

Moyo smiled grimly.

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

The ship as it turns out, was dimensional craft both on the outside and on the inside. Meaning that while it could hop through spatial pathways in space, it also had a lot more rooms and space on the inside than the medium ship looked like on the outside. Moyo had walked across numerous rooms and entire apartments and even at that, they had not yet reached their destination. Eventually, they did get there, a large dome structure with the dome shimmering white, inside was a large lush green field with streams running through it, trees and fruits grown on the inside. Moyo stared in awe,

“This is known as a training zone, used by those who can afford it as it’s a bit expensive,” Killian said,

“How much?” Moyo asked softly,

“Over 500,000 diamond coins” Killian replied,

Moyo glanced at him sharply, his eyes bulging, the amount astonishing,

“When you get to master, you find that currencies mean little at that stage, you can have all the money you want simply taking on tasks for rulers, at ruler, it loses all meaning entirely” Killian explained,

“Well, what does it do?’ Moyo asked,

“It’s a training chamber that slows time down on the inside, helping advocates and experts hone their skills while removing the fear of death,” Ajax said,

“Removing death?’ Moyo asked,

“Yeah, you can’t die in the training zone, seeing as it’s a projection on your body that enters. Everything you see in there is a projection, your bodies are kept in a safe vault inside the zone and your consciousness is downloaded into an avatar in the zone, whatever training you get in there automatically downloads back to your body when you’re done, you can’t gain levels of any kind inside though” Killian explained,

That was an acceptable drawback as far as Moyo was concerned, two tubes came from a section in the ground, rising up to show a reflective chamber where what looked like a surgical bed lay in both, with a glass pane. Killian gestured for Moyo to enter the first tube, Ajax entering the second, both of them laying down inside, the glass pane slid close back, sealing them both inside the tubes,

“Relax, let it do its work,” Killian said,

In a flash of light, Moyo felt disorientation set in, opening his blinking eyes to see himself inside the dome, touching his skin to confirm if he wasn’t hallucinating and glancing around,

“As Killian said, it’s an avatar, no need to think too much about it,” Ajax said, appearing opposite him, golden katana in hand,

Moyo remembered that blade, he opened a rift to his spatial vault, his mind asking why the body of an avatar could do such, but he shelved it for later. Withdrawing dominion, he saw Ajax’s eyes narrow with a smile on his face,

“You evolved your blade I see”

“Cuts and crushes better now” Moyo replied,

“Show me,” Ajax said and in the usual fashion of his master, blitzed towards Moyo who had been expecting it.

Moyo whipped his sword up in an arc, his katana trailing with his authority to clash with his masters, the force of the crash slammed against Moyo who moved back a step eyes wide, Ajax grinned at him and with a flex of his own authority, pummeled Moyo’s blade. The titan whipped his leg in an arc also, catching Ajax on the ribs who gave a grunt and stepped back, Moyo took the chance and went on the attack, activating his step of the titan to appear behind Ajax who had already been turning. He unleashed his realm over his master, binding him down with both the gravitational properties of his realm and that of his blade before taking a step of the titan back to the front of his vulnerable master.

He supposed he should had been careful, displaying all his skills that quickly had given his master a framework of his capabilities. All it took was a second for his master to take back control of the situation, Moyo suddenly felt his realm shatter to pieces as a stronger, more refined realm encompassed them both, this one with the feeling of doom and death, the cold silent touch of the reaper, Moyo could actually feel his body reacting to the cold. His movements became sluggish, his perception dimmed, and even when he activated his mantle, feeding power to his limbs with the writings on his body glowing purple along with his eyes, he still found that he couldn’t lay a hand on his master.

Moyo reverted to defense, hunkering them and taking damage after damage to his body, his master’s blade somehow feeding necrotic properties into his body, damaging him as he rotted from the inside out. He tried activating his step of the titan but felt him being restricted, then with a growl, he activated his voice of the titan,

“Hold,” he said, feeding his authority into it,

Ajax merely laughed and pressed on his attacks,

“you would order death to hold or try moving freely in its realm?, no, you hold,” Ajax said,

Moyo felt all his limbs lock up, his body barely responding to his orders and his master took advantage of that moment to land a punch on his body, blasting him out of his master’s realm and onto the dome walls that flashed white. Moyo slid to the ground in a groan, swollen eyes and broken ribs with a split lip, already the ribs had popped back in place, his eyes gradually opening back and his lips healed. Ajax merely stared at him with an infuriating smile,

“your fighting style suits you, but it is sloppy and weak, care to let me show you?” Ajax said,

Moyo stood, unleashing his entire core, roaring as his mantle blazed, dominion hummed, infuriated at not getting a taste of his masters blood, his draconic body aching to show Ajax its resilience,

“Good!, come!” Ajax said laughing as Moyo blasted forward,

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

Moyo laid in a heap on the ground, the bloody training dome looking like a hurricane passed through it, Ajax shaking his head with a frown, grabbing his disciple by the hand and dragging him to the edge of the dome. He had been brutalized beyond comprehension, his master despite shrouding himself down to expert had left him broken and healing with his body barely keeping up with the beating. Pressing something on the dome wall, they both flashed out of the dome, Ajax waking up in the tube that held his real body while Moyo was still unconscious. Ajax stepped out of the tube, watching as the tube containing his disciple opened up, depositing Moyo’s body on the ground as he shivered,

“The ruler would not be pleased,” Killian said,

“It’s not that he’s bad at fighting, he’s just…disorganized” Ajax replied, glancing at Killian,

“Would you tell him that?” Killian asked,

“No, he needs a thorough remodeling, being the top dog on a tier one world has made him weak, if he is to go up against the monsters of the tournament, he needs training,” Ajax said,

“Agreed, we’re reaching the nexus point in an hour, the house expects us to arrive in two weeks, perhaps Agabod?’ Killian said,

“No other choice, so much potential and wasting it away,” Ajax said as he picked his disciples blade that had followed him out of the dome,

The blade immediately sent a feeling of indomitable loyalty to Ajax, with a blood lust so strong, Ajax smiled. It was a way of informing him that it wouldn’t bow to anyone’s wishes except Moyo’s and it would cut him whatever chance it got. Ajax turned back to his disciples still shivering from,

“He got a second legendary skill too soon, his healing factor had been halved by merging it with another skill,” Ajax said,

“Agreed, the question is if he would want to let it go, the fighting style suits him and I doubt he would want to let go of an accomplishment like that” Killian said,

“He has a long number of years left, probably eternity to accumulate legendary skills, but sacrifices have to be made,” Ajax said,

They turned back to see moyo awake and staring away, staring with a blank gaze at the distance,

“I failed” Moyo simply said,

“You lost, failure is when you stop trying,” Killian said,

“I thought I had gotten to a point where I could hold my own” Moyo said again, barely hearing master Killian,

Ajax crouched in front of his disciple, staring at him in silence before dropping Moyo’s blade close to him, which brought Moyo out of whatever hole he had been going deep into,

“Your blade is a better swordsman than you,” Ajax said,

Moyo glanced at his master’s cold eyes unflinchingly,

“It never hesitated, it never doubted its course of action, it did what all blades were meant to do, to cut. The wielder was what held it back, even now it still wants another go at me” Ajax started,

‘you think because you’re down, the archailect would stop for your sorry self?, no, this reality has no use for the weak, so if you want to get strong, you grab that blade and you enter the dome back with me” Ajax said, glancing at Killian who nodded,

“You said something about my legendary skill,” Moyo said,

“You made the mistake every new expert makes; you hurriedly created a legendary skill. Legendary skills are, well, legendary, but at the end of the day, they’re just that, skills. Unless you have a solid framework for the skills, they would eventually hold you down, like now” Killian said,

“So, I need to lose the legendary skill?” Moyo said, his voice becoming weaker,

“The tier will be dropped, it’s not an easy task, but it Is possible to remove a skill from a legendary skill, legendary skills are made up of three rare skills, we remove one and it goes back to being a rare skill,” Ajax said,

Moyo stared for a few minutes,

“This tournament, what is the reward?’ Moyo asked,

Ajax smiled ferally,

“a mythical path evolution manual,” Killian said,

Moyo glanced at the master,

“What are my odds with my current strength?” he asked,

“Zero, you might survive a few rounds, but when the main sword houses send their scions, you would be left in the dirt,” Ajax said bluntly, master Killian nodding along,

Moyo gradually stood up, taking a deep breath as he wiped a tear from his eyes,

“let’s get started, how do we break a legendary skill?” he asked,

Master Killian opened a spatial rip to his side, apparently, his vault was there. Bringing out a vial of red liquid, he tossed it to Moyo who caught it,

“Drink it and focus on the skill you want to be dissolved, however not that the skill would still be available, just being a rare skill, plus two of the rare skills would still be merged to keep that skill in place, meaning you have to choose the one skill you want removed and placed back on your list” Killian explained,

Moyo nodded and drank the liquid, groaning immediately as he fell to his knees, his body glowing red. He held in the pain and agony, finally breathing deeply as he got released from the agony,

“Disciple?’ Ajax called,

“Wrath of the titan is back” he simply said,

Ajax nodded and raised an eyebrow as he saw his disciple head back to the tube,

“You need rest, skills won’t upgrade in there you know,” his master said,

Moyo simply nodded and entered the tube, laying down as he closed his eyes, and an avatar body formed inside, Killian walked to the control panel and tapped something,

“I’m sending a projection of how to effectively use the dance of Ijakadi, plus a simulation of your master, close it off, and exit the dome whenever you want to,” Killian said,

Ajax glanced at him,

‘you don’t want me inside?” he asked,

“You just trashed him, broke down his confidence, and revealed he had been living in a false reality of strength, you have effectively broken the titan, leaving him for molding,” Killian said,

“Leaving him with the pieces to rebuild himself,” Ajax said,

“Exactly, let’s see what the titan does with that” Killian said as they watched him move through sequence after sequence of moves.