Moyo became aware of the masters as they blinked into existence beside him where he was sitting in a lotus style, trying to merge his authority and willpower with the weight of reality hanging down on him. Snapping the connection lose, he glanced at them, standing up. Master Killian glanced into the horizon as he spoke while Ajax hopped unto a tree,

“Your realm” Killian started, Moyo checking to see it was still active, sighing in relief,

“you’ve learned to keep it stable, good, the situation of things has changed, however,” Killian said,

“Changed?” Moyo asked,

“The serpent and their allies are on this world,” Ajax said,

“Serpent?” he asked again,

“House Dracon” Killian answered,

Moyo felt his eyebrows rise,

“House Dracon?, the house Dracon? the same house that leads the factions in support of sacrificing tier 1 galaxies? the same house that may or may not had endangered me and planted a dragon on my world?” he said,

“Indeed, you’re catching up,” Ajax said with a yawn,

Moyo glanced around, spreading his realm out as he felt the blight sizzle on his realm, eating at it faster as he extended it,

“Stay yourself, we have an accord, they won’t come for us if we don’t come for them,” Killian said as Ajax snorted,

“Since when do serpents honor their oaths?” he said,

“They would this time, there is more at stake than their petty feud with the other great houses” Killian replied,

Moyo just watched the two masters talk about the house that seemed to have overwhelming power,

“On the bright side, they sent a master we haven’t heard of, had they sent the red jaw, then I might have taken them seriously,” Ajax said,

“Nevertheless, a new master from their house is news, had they been keeping him quiet?” Killian said,

“Enough hypothesis, Moyo, we’re about to get visitors from an allied house time to meet a fellow expert participating in the tournament,” Ajax said, Moyo noticed his master sounded a bit disgruntled, even master Killian hid a smile,

“an allied house here also?, is there something about this world?” Moyo asked,

“apart from the fact that it’s on the verge of transitioning to a full blighted world?, not that I know of, but then again, it’s a good place for houses to train their experts, perhaps I need to send word to the house, might as well seize It,” Killian said,

“and draw the ire of the jungle king?, no thank you. We tell them after we’ve left, let the ruler take it up with the jungle king” Ajax said,

Moyo felt space twist as two figures dropped in their front, a tall humanoid feline with a close semblance to a tiger and a female one that looked younger, and curvier, Moyo wasn’t sure where the allure was coming from, but he was seriously reconsidering his taste in women, that or the love for the color blue. The female feline bowed at the waist and her voice sounded feminine without any sound of what he thought a female cat would have, not that he had anything to base it off,

“Greeting honored masters, I am Ulsa on the path of the frozen tiger,” she said,

“Greetings expert, may your way to power be filled with obstacles and power” Killian responded, Ajax merely nodded,

Killian glanced at Moyo who stepped forward, bare-chested, bowing at the waist,

“Greetings honored master, I am Moyo on the path of the crushing blade,” he said to the master behind the girl,

“crushing blade?, I haven’t heard of that path, but may your way to power be filled with obstacles and power” the master replied,

“Moyo, meet master Urush, the creator of the sword-style path of the frozen tiger and his daughter Ulsa,” Killian said,

That explained the blue color they both had, he turned to the female feline and bowed,

“Greetings fellow expert, I am Moyosore titan blade,” he said,

He felt her stiffen up, like he had made an error but bowed nonetheless,

“Greetings expert, I am Ulsa frozen tiger” she replied, her voice somewhat subdued,

Moyo stood straight back as Killian led master Urush away, leaving him with Ajax his master who had a suspicious smile on his face, and a stoic-faced Ulsa who kept her eyes straightforward, Moyo didn’t have a good feeling about his master,

“So, Ulsa, what level are you now?” Ajax asked,

She bowed again,

“If it pleases the master, level 200, my mantle has undergone its first evolution thanks to master Urush,” she said,

Moyo was curious to know the difference between a level 200 and level 152 expert, he tried seeing her stat table but he felt his mind hit a wall of frozen ice, stumbling back in shock, he heard Ulsa growl as ice began to spread from the tip of her realm that began to slowly expand out. His master Ajax laughed as he raised his hand placatingly, Ulsa snapping her realm close to her immediately and bowing,

“Apologies master, I never meant to threaten your expert,” Ulsa said,

Moyo was pretty sure she meant to, and the feeling of intent and frozen pain he felt from the realm was so potent, that his realm couldn’t match, a level 200 expert was a long mile from a level 152 expert. Ajax scratched his head,

“I apologize for my expert, he’s from a tier 1 world you see, he doesn’t understand the intricacies of etiquettes in the greater archailect, perhaps you can help?” Ajax said,

Moyo glanced at his master in question who blatantly ignored him, Moyo saw Ulsas’ tail swish as if in anxiety,

“I would never replace the teachings of a master,” she said,

Ajax sighed, saying something about kids, and turned to where master Killian and Urush were conversing in low voices,

“hey!, so an idea, why not let Ulsa take over rudimentary training for Moyo, then we can drill both of them when they’re up to speed?” he said, Ulsa jerked like she had been electrocuted,

Master Urush glanced at Killian who shrugged as if tired of his fellow masters’ antics,

“a good idea, however, Ulsa would need to hold back the titan blade whom I’ve heard a lot off might not survive against her,” Urush said,

“You might eat your word dear master, this disciple of ours is quite...formidable” Ajax said,

“Really?” Urush said glancing at Urush,

“Indeed, I can vouch for that” Killian said,

“Then a duel is in order I believe?” Urush said, his eyes lighting up,

“Agreed, I believe no blades?” Ajax said,

Moyo was gradually beginning to believe his master was as sadistic as they can get, but he felt the beginning of a smile on his face, he glanced at Ulsa who kept eyeing him in pity, he was going to make her eat that look,

‘I agree” Urush said,

“Oh, and one little thing, Ulsa dear, if you can beat him into unconsciousness, as his master I hand him over to you in marriage,” Ajax said,

Moyo sputtered, Ulsa suddenly found the ground interesting as she kicked it, the red color on her whiskered cheeks, master Urush roared in laughter and master Killian face palmed himself, groaning at the childish behavior of his fellow master,

“Agreed!” Urush said,

“Father!” Ulsa said,

Moyo just stared at his master with a look of betrayal,

“You lost against one expert, unless you want to lose against a second and become what will surely be a harem, you best win this duel” Ajax simply said,

“Master Urush, if you would,” Killian said,

The feline master nodded and tapped his foot as a wide ring of solid ice surrounded both him and Ulsa, Moyo was about to protest the unfair advantage of the ice surrounding them when master Urush spoke up,

“Have no fear expert, she can no more wield my ice than she would move a mountain” he said,

With that assurance, Moyo took a fighting stance, the first step on the dance of Ijakadi, but he was wiser this time, his realm expanded an inch in front of him, coating his skin like a second layer,

“Oh, and mantles are allowed” Ajax called out,

Ulsa took a step as she stretched out her hand and a frozen claw formed on her hands, extending to her shoulders to end in an armor that covered her head like a helmet, she waited for him. Moyo summoned his mantle, infused with his aura as it became his runic robe. He heard both his master and Urush make sounds of interest,

“Begin,” master Killian said,

Moyo only heard Ulsa move, the feline clashed against him so hard he was blasted backward a few meters. Grunting in surprise he retaliated with a kick that she blocked with her arms crossed, the force driving her to a knee as she gasped in surprise, Ulsa gripped his leg, tapping the ground with a finger as a lance of ice shot up towards his knee only to meet his fist smashing into it with all the force he could muster, quite enough as it smashed the ice and sent out a concussive wave she had to guide against, releasing his leg. Moyo didn’t let her get stable, dashing towards her, gripping one arm and with a movement, he copied from Latasha, he flicked her arm forward, drawing on her momentum to land a hit on her ribs, blasting the expert backward into the ice wall that suddenly appeared in place to stop her momentum.

Ulsa landed with a surprised look on her face, Moyo noticed he hadn’t been able to harm her though, her body was as hard as steel,

“It seemed like I underestimated you Moyo, apologies,” she said,

“Everyone does” Moyo replied as he watched her,

“Let me make amends and show you the gap between our levels,” she said her head armor began to glow and she released a roar that battered at his mantle, his aura specifically, dispelling it and along with it, his runic armor. With no small surprise, Moyo watched his mantle armor shatter into aether, and then Ulsa was in front of him, ice claw digging into his shoulder blades, Moyo’s ferocity of the beast skill somehow activating to grip the clawed hand before it cost him more damage and tore into the muscles in his arm,

“Impressive, people don’t usually catch my blizzard palm, but enough, freeze,” she said with a command,

Moyo felt his body begin to freeze and constrict, shivering from the cold, he stared at her with determination, what was ice to a mountain?, what was a blizzard to a mountain,

“no” he growled, breaking the command as his willpower touched his command for a moment, cracking the command like a hammer on ice, Ulsa staring astonishingly at him. With one move he unleashed his realm over her, with eyes of anger he said,

“hold”

He felt his realm battling at her realm of ice and wind with blades, trying to enforce his command over her, Moyo was pretty sure if his mantle was activated, he would had felt the drain on his endurance double. Ulsa buckled for a second in shock at the weight of his command, a second was all he needed as he wrenched his shoulder from her claw and kicked her backward, his skin knitting immediately,

“a body that strong for a swordsman?” she said,

Moyo grinned as he gathered his entire authority and willpower, feeling reality slowly begin to settle on his shoulder, then he activated his mantle and felt the drain on his endurance increase, but he weathered it with a grunt. Ulsa took that moment to attack, clawed hand coming for him, but with his authority in full swing, he saw her when she moved and he moved in tandem, his fist moving with a roar as he clashed with her in a hail of force so strong it tore at the barrier of the master Urush, but he was a master and the force of two experts fighting was nothing to the barrier of a master, a rock would have had a better chance at breaking it. The force pushed Ulsa backward, Moyo growling as he followed after her, he could feel his strength waning and gripped her arm, Ulsa bringing her second arm with its claw towards him, a move he had been anticipating.

Dodging the arm in the last second, she sliced herself and Moyo grinned, gripping the arm in a flash, siphoning her stamina to power his endurance. Ulsa felt herself weakening as Moyo used his greed of the titan skill and slammed her full realm on him, blasting him backward with such rage that Moyo felt a rib crack, groaning in pain, he lost control of the skill and his body, not seeing or feeling the moment a kick slammed into his side blasting him into the barrier, the kick passing through his mantle and strong body to hurt him. He lost his breath as he slammed into the barrier, his sight going hazy, but his skill ferocity of the beast screaming at him to block a hit from Ulsa for his chest.

With his willpower barely hanging on he snatched her clawed hands coming for his chest and with a shout, gathering his authority as much as he could, feeling reality twist around him as he felt something dripping from his nose and barely realizing it was blood, he screamed,

“Kneel!”

The surprise on the face of Ulsa lasted a full second before she was thrown to the ground with such force that it cracked, Moyo blasting towards her, squeezing every drop of his mantle and aura fused together to create his runic armor to smash through every ice projectile that came for him carrying the heavy intent of Ulsa to lay his punches on the expert that used an ice shield to protect herself. Moyo had lost all sense of reasoning at this point, filled with determination, rage, and shame. He had left his world the top dog, a protector and he had lost his first duel with a fledgling expert, he didn’t consider it a win and neither did Ajax,

Overwhelming might,

That was his mantra, what was the use of his inflated attributes if they didn’t give him that edge? He had lost a legendary skill he had created himself, he had taken the lessons handed to him, he had watched the pieces of training of Amat and Latasha over and over till he had gotten a few moves from them, but still, here he was, struggling with a level 200 expert, no, he wouldn’t lose, if he had to lose consciousness, he would prove his point. He carried that thought as a lance of ice speared his stomach, he broke the ice with a roar, slamming back into her ice shield even as master Urush moved into the ring and safely withdrew Ulsa away from the ring, his mind kept on hammering the ice shield that shattered into pieces.

Dimly becoming aware of his surroundings, he saw master Urush staring at him with dead cold eyes, ready to end him at a moment’s notice while Ulsa stared at him like a rabid animal. He blinked in shock, his body shaking as he had no endurance left, collapsing to the ground but meeting himself in the hands of Ajax, throat locked with tiredness, he felt shame again as he passed out.

*********

“What is he?” Ulsa muttered after Moyo had passed out,

No one replied her, master Urush walked close to the body of the expert known as titan blade, master Killian had produced an elixir from his spatial vault and was dribbling it into the mouth of the passed-out expert,

“His body is in shock, not sure giving him an endurance elixir would help it,” master Urush said,

“Just a bit to help his body jumpstart his recovery, he has a skill that’ll help it heal faster” master Killian replied,

“Now we can discuss why your expert almost went berserk on his superior expert, a level 152 expert has no right holding out and pushing a level 200 expert into that position, Ulsa is right, what monster are you breeding?, and how could his body withstand that ice lance?” Urush asked,

“I daresay that lance drove him into that state,” Ajax said quietly, boiling with what was beginning to look like pent-up frustration,

“We both know the rage of his came from somewhere else” Urush replied,

Ajax moved to talk but the look master Killian flashed him stopped the other master from speaking and drove another kind of chill through Ulsa, master Killian was known in some circles as the stellar starlight of judgment, rumors said he had subdued a whole planet with beams of moonlight that destroyed continent after continent when they were discovered to be finding ways to channel abyssal energies. He had wiped them out before the dragons’ brigade arrived, ensuring his house was absolved of the crimes, but it solidified his position as a master so ruthless, that his name became famous, the master Ajax was also the emissary of one of their rulers, Ulsa had a sneaking suspicion that master Killian was the emissary of the other ruler that held house thousand blades, but she wasn’t foolish enough to ask, besides it wasn’t the concern of an expert like her. What was her concern was the expert on the ground whose very skin had begun to heal right in front of her from the dead grey-like look it had gotten to his dark smooth form.

Still, the titan didn’t wake up, but Ulsa was beginning to understand where the name had come from, he had been an unstoppable force that took in whatever damage she dished and laid it back two-fold. The realm of expert was different from the other ascension stages, it was dubbed the real beginning of ascension, it was where one began to slow down from the rapid ascensions as the expert stage took a lot to move from one level to another, especially when one hits the 160s, Ulsa had the sneaky realization that the expert had no idea. Usually, experts of his level that challenged higher-tiered experts usually proceeded with caution, but he had attacked her as peers, with reckless abandonment like her attacks could do him no damage, and indeed it barely could, she had to time her most potent attacks to when his mantle was at its weakest to maximize her damages but still, he powered on, and that body of his.

Ulsa watched as Master Killian collected his body from master Ajax and placed him inside a tent, turning to them,

“I’m not sure you’re aware since few masters or rulers ever pay attention to the happenings on tier 1 worlds, but did you hear of a planet, C-102 that withstood the presence of the first factions to land, a lone member of that world clawing his way to expert while helping his fellow planet members claw their way up to advocate?” master Killian asked Urush,

The feline master stroked his beard,

“I heard rumors of such; however house Garuda had no use for such and even our allied sects and clans did not need a tier 1 universe, it’s aether weak as it is with dungeons not fully strong” master Urush said,

“you’re looking at the expert who stood his ground against factions that came to conquer his planet,” Killian said,

Ulsa stared wide-eyed at Moyo, the level of determination and strength he must had put into that climb, she was beginning to get a hint of where the rage came from, he would rather die than lose, even her father, master Urush stared at the boy with a hint of admiration,

“That and the fact that he has crazy levels for attributes due to him using them over and over and over for practice,” Killian said,

Ulsa was curious about his attributes, but only master could view the attributes of experts, and even at that, they were given a rough outline, not the actual figures, the titan blade would have to be awake to show them should he choose. Ulsa turned to master Ajax who kept staring at the body of the expert, she could see pain in his eyes, perhaps they shared a bond?, bowing as it grabbed the attention of all the masters,

“This expert apologizes for the position she has placed your expert, he performed admirably well for an expert of his level and would have no issues putting experts of his level or a bit higher into the ground, please, forgive me for pushing him to that state,” she said,

She heard master Ajax sigh and scrub his face with his hands,

“You know, I brought up the duel to show him the difference in levels, even at expert, wasn’t even going to go on with the marriage deal, unless you want it?” he said, smiling at her as she blushed and master Killian coughed at him,

“But knowing this bull of a disciple we picked up from the planet, he’d rather go through the pain with the sole mindset to win than cut his losses, wonder where he got that from,” Ajax said,

“Yes, I indeed wonder where he got the die-hard, keep swinging when all hope is lost mentality” Killian retorted,

Ulsa felt master Urush stiffen at her side,

“Did you take a disciple Ajax?” he asked,

Ajax kept quiet for a second, Ulsa wasn’t sure what the big deal was with master Ajax taking a disciple, and if she was being frank, the behaviors of the expert and master in question were a bit similar,

“His path is that of the crushing blade, not the death blade, did you see or feel any aspect of death in his movements?” Ajax asked softly,

“Apologies Ajax, you and I know very well why I asked that question, should you take a disciple, and the factions hear, you could be declaring war, they already whisper of you being the next grim” master Urush said,

Ulsa wanted to ask what was going on and who was a grim, what was a grim, but she could already hear her master and father’s voice in her head telling her to advance further upwards to the rank of master, but she and he knew well enough that those that got to the rank of master were monsters of monsters, they were the things in the closet that scared the monsters under the bed, besides, it took over five hundred years for her father to reach that stage, it was no easy feat. Master Ajax turned to her father,

“my path dies with me and my master, that was made sure of, you can put your mind at rest,” master Ajax said,

Ulsa was aware that it wasn’t a denial, but if her father wouldn’t push the issue, neither would she, a lowly expert, besides, she was beginning to see the advantages of having the titan blade and in proxy, his masters as allies. She noticed a glow coming from his body as the masters did immediately, realizing what it was,

“is he….” She said in astonishment,

“We can’t stop the process of core manifestation, we can only hope he is aware of what he is doing rather than his subconscious doing it for him,” Killian said,

Together they sat in silence, waiting for the expert to wake up.

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