Moyo laughed hard as he stared at the message from the death blade, Ashira grinning beside him with the full moon shining down on them, birds flying in the air. Mantle glowing and Digi Aye raging in his eyes, he stared at the skies as diamond rankers battled the birds, Ashira transformed into her golden state, clawed gauntlet in one hand and her blade in another. Moyo took one step forward and blazed his realm out around him, gripping his katana with one hand he spoke,

“Told you” He murmured,

She nodded,

“While master Ajax was predictable, our mission is now clear, we need to escape this place. The kingdoms converge” she replied,

They had survived into the night after Moyo had sent his message to the kingdoms. The whole dungeon had been thrown into a frenzy as the kingdoms launched a full scale attack on the denizens of the dungeon. All around them Moyo and Ashira had watched as diamond rankers blazed to life, Moyo had witnessed manifested realms in reality, space warping as different realms turned domains were imposed on reality and for the first time in a long time, since the early days of his induction in the archailect,

He hungered for such power,

They had laid low, moving along with the destruction of the diamonds and the gold clearing teams that attempted to pick up after them. Together they had seen the absolute destruction that a bunch of diamonds could wreak, Moyo had subtly sympathized with the world of Duhiri, for they were sure to go through a period of turmoil. Ashira had noted that there had been no signs of the blight infestation, Moyo even wondered if the overseer was actually still around. Ashira’s gaze had darkened with that train of thought,

“The brigade is not so lenient when it comes to blight infestations, I pray this gets resolved before they call in the armada, for once it steps into the vicinity of this planet, the glassing will begin” she said,

Moyo had nodded, then calamity had struck, from the main island came a cry so loud it had driven Moyo to his knees in pure power and agony,

Notice: the matriarch of the sonic avians Strux has awoken, woe unto any who beholds her gaze or hears her voice!

“Well, that’s not ominous” Moyo said sarcastically as the entire landscape became blue,

Ashira grunted as she stood,

“a sentient dungeon boss, not going to be easy” she said,

“Faced their kinds before, life or death situation, best to leave it to the diamonds” Moyo replied,

“Typical day for you then” she said as he chuckled darkly,

He glanced around with his Digi Aye, his purple sight now bleached a dark blue,

“The aether and aura in the air, it’s different, oppressive” he said,

“Welcome to the realm of diamonds and masters, where one ascender can dictate the manner of aether in their surroundings” she replied,

A large golden bell appeared in the air with a diamond ranker standing above it, with each pulse of the bell the blue soaked aether that surrounded them receded a little,

“I choose one form for my realm manifestation and it’s a giant bell?” Moyo said,

The bell echoed as hundreds of multiple lesser bells appeared and filled the air, Ashira glanced at him smirking,

“I take back my words”

A loud cry echoed again as the blue aether threatened to crash on them again, the bells echoed loudly, driving back the aether but barely. A large armored humanoid appeared in the air next, cannons and different projectile weapons behind him, Moyo shivered at the diamond ranked strength each weapon exuded.

The middle island that glowed with all the power of an enraged heart and the point from where Strux the matriarch of the birds cried spewed out hundreds of diamond ranked birds, filling the air. Moyo finally saw king Biyo take to the skies, a man in red armor with his gauntlet covered arms glowing a silver shining light, the name dazzling fists earned. One by one other diamond rankers appeared in the air and crashed against the onslaught of avian birds.

Peals of thunder and lightning crashed through the air, winds howled as the islands vibrated at the attacks of the diamonds. Moyo’s HUD had lit up at the message from Ajax, he had paused and opened the message, his eyes scanning through it as he chuckled at the simple but short message. Ashira had seen the message also as he sent it to her,

“Well, guess we stop playing hide and seek and just take them out” she said,

“the golds?, definitely” he responded,

Coming out from the closure of the trees to see the golds in the distance, hunkered down as they waited out the inevitable result of the diamond duels. Unleashing his realm had gotten the attention of the golds who glanced back at them as they mobilized, under each of the kingdom’s banners, Moyo had sighted Davin in the distance, gipping his broad sword so hard he could feel the hatred all way from the island he and Ashira stood on. Ashira drew her green bow, taking aim and then firing rapidly.

Gold ranked powers blazed, and arcs of energy flew through the air like rain in retaliation before crashing onto their position like hails of lightning. Moyo and Ashira danced through the bombardment, realm expanded as gold rankers landed on the island, ten in all excluding Davin. Some from the black swords and the rest from the glowing suns, Moyo was about to speak when five realms crashed on his position trying to subdue him in time for the golds on the fields to get close to him.

Moyo grinned as he flicked blood off his blade,

“come” he growled as the five swordsmen among them blitzed forward to attack him,

Dodging within a hair’s breath with ferocity of Oshosi, Moyo danced an intricate dance of death with them. Weapons clanged on his draconic skin, failing to graze him and those he felt could harm him met the hard cold edge of dominion as he deflected them away. Ashira had abandoned her bow for her blade and claw, laying into the golds with all the ferocity of a Kairos, her body blazing intermittently with the combination of gold, green and brown. An arm flew away, screams of agony echoed around him as dominion bared its metaphorical fang.

Kicking a headless gold away, Moyo grabbed another and with a flick of his hand, switched dominion for Oro, burying the blade inside the chest cavity of the gold before dodging another swordsman that went for his head. Flipping through the air, Oshosi screamed danger to him as he dodged a deadly orb that sought to incinerate him with its violet energy,

“HOLD” he shouted,

“NO” various gold voices replied, shattering his command as he laughed and landed,

This was more like it, the thrill of the battle flowed through him, lighting up his nerves like never before. Swordless, he continued the dance now with the three swordsmen, two black swords, and one sun, ducking under a swipe of the sun, he let his mantle take the brunt force of the two black sword golds, watching their expression of confusion, wondering why their blades didn’t pierce his mantle.

The glowing sun reversed his grip, seeking to draw his blade up in an arc to catch Moyo unawares, with a grin Moyo activated Digi Aye, the aether around them vibrating as he siphoned aether and essence from his opponents into himself, effectively dispersing their attacks as their eyes widened in alarm. Moving with precision he broke bones, knees, and joints, slamming them to the ground with bone crunching punches that shook his vicinity.

Ashira had danced around her opponents like a feral beast, maimed body parts littered her surrounding with the mages and body cultivators ganging up on her. The gold weapon users had attacked from a distance, trusting the mages and body cultivators to effectively cover them, a most futile effort when fighting a Kairos.

She had been trained by experts who excelled at ranged combat, and the first thing that had been drilled into her was the simple fact not to present a clear target to ranged attackers. Using the flare of the mages’ attacks to cover her steps, she had dodged between the attacks of the mages to send arrows from her bow sailing towards the weapon users from their blind spot, watching as one toxin filled arrow pierced the skull of the first gold. The second moved with speed only a gold ranker could use to dodge the attack.

One dealt with, Ashira focused back on her battle as her golden armored mantle was clipped by a punch that hit with the rage of a gold ranker, sending her flipping through the air to reorient herself, she landed, a command echoing from her lips,

“ROAR”

The aether in front of her vibrated, sound and intent racing towards the mages and body cultivators known as warriors. The mages were quick to erect a barrier that shattered the faster they replaced it, the residual echoes of their shields shattering adding to the power of her attack. The warriors were quick enough to interpose their bodies between the attack and their mages. Ashira grinned as they buckled to their knees, blood spurting from their mouths in shock.

And she was there among them, a whirlwind of ferocity, intent, and poison, ensuring the warriors were either incapacitated or out of the fight in its entirety. The mages gathered their attacks to retaliate when Moyo crashed into them like a truck, sending bodies and audible broken bones flying through the air like pinballs. Ashira left the warriors in agony, glancing at them,

“Come after me and I’ll end your lives, or he does it before I do” she said, gesturing at Moyo who grinned at them,

Nodding as their gold bodies healed, Moyo turned in time to dodge an attack from Davin who suddenly spurted an extra pair of floating gleaming iron hands that gripped blades. Moyo narrowed his eyes as he spoke,

“My issue was with Heron, not you, scram guardian”

“Mira, Heron, Andre, all dead in a span of one week, all somehow linked to you” Davin growled,

Thunder echoed through the dark and roiling skies, the shrills of the birds above and the diamonds that tried to hold back wave after wave the matriarch Strux threw at them. Dominion phased into Moyo’s hand, gripping it hard,

“Mira died for your king, I have no idea who Andre was and Heron fucked with me, you don’t fuck with me Davin” Moyo replied,

“His blood cries out to be avenged, I will have your head Moyo titan blade” Davin said pointing his blades at Moyo,

“won’t be the first to say that, definitely won’t be the last” Moyo replied,

Together they clashed in a shower of sparks, four arms working in tandem to dice the titan blade, Moyo who moved with his dance of Sango and ferocity of Oshosi fueling him on. Dominion kept nicking Davin, absorbing his endurance, unbeknownst to the gold guardian that kept on using his rage infused strength to hammer into Moyo. Ashira had watched in fascination as Moyo absorbed each and every hit like a rock,

No, like a mountain,

Eyes cold, unfeeling and unmoving as he calmly blocked attack after attack, absorbing the force through his body till eventually Davin felt his strength waning, jumping backwards, he narrowed his eyes,

“That explains it, you leech the energy of your opponents, afraid to use your own might?” the softly panting gold guardian asked,

Moyo smiled, drew his hand back and swung dominion with his full strength,

Ashira felt the vibrations in the air through her body, reality fought to stabilize itself as the attack went through the air to explode in the skies above leaving Davin in awe as he crashed to his knees. Ashira stared at Moyo as she realized her theory was true, the titan was a behemoth of strength, his might bordered on diamond, a few inches short but enough to give diamonds pause. She watched him walk close to Davin as rain began to pour down in the dungeon, the warriors had escaped,

“I swear on my name as the titan blade that I gave Heron multiple chances to leave me alone, and didn’t wish to end his life until he almost ended mine” Moyo said softly as the oath resounded with a gong, verifying the claim,

Ashira watched as Davin seemed to age a little, his iron hands dissipating away as his broad sword clanged to the ground in defeat, his strength fading away. Moyo sighed as he crouched to eye level with the man, Ashira watching on in silence,

“Davin, your king is at fault, you were part of the machinations of those stronger than you, same way we all are in the palm of those stronger than us” Moyo started,

“However, you don’t need to let that define you Davin, survive this dungeon, leave this planet, dictate your life and don’t look back”

The guardian merely nodded, looking up to Moyo with regret in his eyes,

“We had no choice, king Biyo promised us glory” he said,

Moyo nodded,

“Such are the ways of powerful people” he replied,

“We need a way off this dungeon Davin” Ashira pleaded,

Davin glanced at her, shaking his head remorsefully,

“it’s impossible, we were converging on the final island, the diamonds from all kingdoms are gathering to defeat the matriarch before dueling each other” Davin explained,

“Even now golds of the different kingdoms do battle, the golds you just wiped the floor with like they were acolytes were emissaries sent by the kingdoms to declare a truce for the duration of time when the diamonds fought the matriarch and her brood”

“Still, there has to be some sort of emergency exit for the king” Moyo asked,

“None that I’m aware of” Davin said,

“Is it possible to trail behind you?” Moyo asked,

the gold ranker attempted to talk when his body exploded as a spear forged from diamond ranked intent tore through his body. Leaning backwards at the sudden death, alarm in his eyes, Moyo slammed his realm down hard around him, Digi Aye blazing.

A diamond floated in the air above them, blazing with the power that almost had Moyo averting his eyes,

“Zortes” Ashira growled,

The commander of the kingdom had eventually caught up to them, Moyo stared at the now disintegrating body of Davin and then back at the diamond that floated in the air,

“You have tainted the red dust kingdom enough!” the diamond ranker growled as another intent forged spear took shape next to him, blazing with power,

Moyo brought his full power to bear, mantle blazing, realm in place, dominion in one hand and Oro in the other, Digi Aye calmly watching the diamond. Ashira likewise blazed to life next to him, choosing her golden state with her blade in hand, the diamond smirked,

“Stay out of this Kairos, it’s bad enough we have to deal with your house after this” Zortes said,

Ashira froze like ice and moved in a blur, Moyo wincing at the mention of her house, the diamond saw through the speed and brought up his broad sword to block the attack, Ashira crashing into him with all the rage of a gold ranker. Merely shifted the diamond, Moyo moved in tandem, but this time he brought the strength of his entire attack to bare on the diamond.

Intent, aura, mantle and command crashed on the diamond,

“BREAK” he said,

Titian’s might had Zortes blasting back with his eyes wide opened in surprise, Moyo briefly wondered why a sword user had a spear realm but had to dive with critical speed as the spear blitzed through the position he had been a minute ago. Zortes reoriented himself, glaring at Moyo,

“What sort of trickery is this, a gold to a diamond?” he said,

Moyo simply pointed his two blades at Zortes when a cry broke through the air and he dived down to the next island without a second thought, Ashira on his heels. Sonic avian birds had crashed the party and he couldn’t believe he was grateful for that; he had channeled the entirety of his power into that attack, an attack he was sure would leave most golds a pile of broken bones and gore, and all it had did was send a diamond rolling through the air like a balloon with no injuries.

Landing on the island they dashed into the forest, diamonds still fighting in the air above them,

“shroud” Ashira growled as Moyo nodded and slammed a shroud down on his core, driving him back to iron,

Panting, he and Ashira watched as Zortes fought off three diamond birds in the distance,

“To be able to do that” he murmured as Ashira glanced at him,

“You want to get to diamond that fast?” she asked,

Moyo gestured at Zortes,

“I don’t want to beat the mercies of tools like him, besides, you heard Ajax, ascend or die” he replied,

Ashira slumped, tired,

“I know, believe me I know, fighting him for a few seconds felt like an eternity” she replied,

Moyo scrubbed his face,

“How many diamond birds do you think we’d have to face to reach diamond?” he asked,

“a lot, a whole lot” she replied,

Just thinking of it gave him the creeps, but they had no choice, Moyo doubted they could so much as step on that last island without being at least diamond from what he had been observing. Their only source of help was dead and with all the kingdoms actively hunting them, it felt like hell on earth. He glanced his HUD,

“410, you?” he asked,

“440, 1,400 points to add” she replied,

Moyo glanced at her,

“Hoarding attribute points?” he asked with a smile,

She nodded,

“Helps even the odds with my fights, you’re not the only one who finds fights between similar ranks somewhat easy” she replied,

“now’s the time to go full strength” he said as she nodded and turned back to her stat table,

“My table is somewhat balanced, only strength and endurance in the high two thousand, might as well take another attribute to two thousand, you?” she asked,

“Dexterity, only stat lagging apart from intelligence, boosted it up to three thousand” he replied,

Ashira snorted,

“Lagging he says, you are aware that your attributed border on diamond, right?’ she asked,

He nodded,

“I’ve guessed as much, but it lacks the damage of a diamond ranker, like there’s some barrier holding me back”

Ashira nodded also,

“The archailect, while you might get as strong as you want, there are still certain rules and steps to follow, golds have no business posing as threats to diamonds, at least not in small numbers anyways” she replied,

“So, we climb the ladder to diamond, then we break his bones” Moyo replied with a grin, Ashira shaking her head with a smile on her face.

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

Zortes flung the broken bird he gripped by the neck away, paying no attention to its body as it dissipated into aether and essence that merged with his authority. He felt king Biyo appear next to him, blazing with diamond ranked power,

“You were warned not to go near them” the king said,

Zortes now a diamond ranker knew bodily functions were mute at this point, the ascension to diamond literally reforging the body in aether, but he had to take a deep breath of patience. Turning to the king, he bowed at the waist,

“Apologies my lord, but Davin was close to spilling the extraction plan, I had to end him” he replied,

A lie, Davin had no idea,

“After which you practically goaded them into a fight” Biyo continued,

“Merely to gauge their strengths” Zortes said,

Biyo stared at him for a minute, Zortes never wavering under the gaze of his king,

“We can’t afford house Kairos laying waste to all we’ve built” Biyo said,

Zortes felt his eyebrow twitching at that statement but suppressed the urge, bowing to the king,

“I apologize my lord, they safely retreated under the supposed distraction of the avian attacks”

Zortes found it oddly amusing that the golds had assumed a couple of diamond ranked creatures could distract a diamond ascender, the main reason being the attention of king Biyo slamming down on him from the distance. He could had easily pierced them in the time it took him to engage and execute the birds, however he would be lenient with them, for who could blame golds when it came to understanding diamonds.

They glanced in the distance where all the diamonds were holding back the still pouring waves of avian birds, Zortes idly wondering how close this dungeon came to spilling, for it would had spelt untold catastrophe for Duhiri as a whole. King Biyo pointed at where their banner floated, held aloft by the female diamond ranker who used it as a conduit for spreading healing waves of energy across to the diamonds in the air, Haran close to her as he casually swiped his hands through the air, decapitating monsters left and right. King Biyo spoke,

“We would reach the boss by nightfall tomorrow if we continue in this pace”

Zortes nodded,

“Our silvers have accumulated a few legendary relics that would serve the kingdom well and have ascended to gold, we await the final battle my lord” Zortes replied,

“Protect the last of our golds, the battle for supremacy doesn’t end in this dungeon, and stay off the Kairos girl” Biyo warned,

“Her companion is more of a threat than the girl” Zortes noted as king Biyo nodded,

“All the more reason to live them alone” Biyo replied then vanished,

Zortes stared hard for a few seconds after the king had left, taking in a deep breath he smiled,

“soon” he murmured,

Fists clenched he stared at the diamonds in the distance, he had no patience for this mission. He had attained diamond, the culling was at hand, brigade or not the culling would hold and he would be free of his obligations to his master, but he had to hold on for now, had to keep playing this farce of a role he had been playing for over ten years now. Drawing his broad sword, he swung it through the air, intent ravaging reality in front of him to slice a bird in two as he absorbed the aether and essence, feeling it pool inside of him, adding to his authority seeing as he couldn’t ascend any longer.

He grinned as he saw the brutality of the diamonds, he grinned at the golds who hunkered down below as they picked off the scraps of the diamonds, trying their bests to edge closer to diamond, he grinned as he felt the Kairos girl and the titan blade, watching as they crept closer to the position of the birds, intent on hunting their way to diamond. Something about the titan irked him, like an itch he could ignore but didn’t want to, Zortes attributed it to the annoying ego of the gold and shook him off his mind.

He had bigger things to do, he had bigger plans at play here, and by the master he swore his allegiance to, they would come to pass. A storm was coming for the archailect, one that hadn’t been felt in a long time, for everyone had grown lax. Rulers no longer watched with vigilant eyes and honed their skills; masters indulged their very excesses and experts thought they were the apex predators of planets.

No, it was unacceptable,

It was time the archailect reawakened to bloodshed and war, to the screams of the dying in their billions, to the cries of an infinite number of souls dying as their planets exploded into oblivion, it was time to shake the archailect, it was time for master Rohan to once again bring excitement to the archailect,

It was time for the undying hands to resurface again,

“soon” Zortes said with a grin on his face.