For the remainder of the two days, they trained aggressively, spending the entirety of their time against the masters in brutal combat as they focused on embodying the principles of their paths. Master Duval had taken them on aura training, master Killian on hand-to-hand combat and master Ajax on team coordination. Over and over, they had been crushed to the ground, grinded to a paste against the overwhelming abilities of the masters as they trained.

Soon enough, on the eve of the second day, Moyo had finally begun to see changes to his fighting style and when a messenger from the patriarch himself arrived, the masters bowed in gratitude to the item the mechanical servant brought,

“a time bank” master Duval said,

“One hour becomes a day inside of it, a pocket dimension built by rulers as only they can” master Killian explained,

Another investment from the patriarch himself, and while Moyo wasn’t really bothered, the other diamonds apart from Ashira had tension carved all over their faces. The clans couldn’t afford to fail the patriarch, descendants or not. And so they spent days in the time bank, masters drilling the diamonds to exhaustion as was only possible when masters fought diamonds. Moyo finally having a chance to train with a stronger power, saw his skills assimilate into one complete fighting style.

His realm assimilating his Digi Aye skill seamlessly, Ashe commanding his every move and intent while his aura wreaked havoc with every swing of his blade, infusing it with the silent command to absorb and retaliate with crushing abilities. At the end of their time in the time bank, Moyo felt his diamond aura swell, his very movement echoing the full strength of his titans might he had finally gained full control of.

The alert from clan true blade came an hour after they exited the time bank, informing all contestants to assemble in the stasis chamber provided for them in space. A large circular base that was the size of the moon had popped out of nowhere, a mobile stasis chamber base that would house the bodies of all the contestants, but before that, they had to register their names and class.

This was where Moyos’ supposed plan came into work, master Killian shook his head,

“I’m not sure about this, your entire path could be affected” he said,

Moyo nodded,

“a possibility, but I doubt it, something always felt missing in my path, crushing blade hasn’t been evoked to its full capabilities” he replied,

“Besides, if this works, he’ll be one of the few swordsmen to have such an ability” Ajax said,

Killian turned to master Duval who nodded,

“I admit, it’s quite risky, but the rewards are also quite enticing. Should this work, he’ll become a hybrid swordsman, an edge in this tournament, besides, it won’t take away the skills and techniques he has ingrained in him”

With the consent from master Duval, the plan was approved. Moyo and the diamonds made their way to a small craft specifically built for them by house thousand blades to ferry them to the base. They alighted on the stasis station, next to a red and gold craft shaped like a bird, house Garuda, Ashira drew his attention to Ulsa and Sonya who stepped out. The ember lady locking eyes with Moyo and marched over with a slightly embarrassed Ulsa trailing behind her,

“titan blade, I am Sonya red quill, scion of house Garuda, and I have heard…things about you” she said,

Apart from the straightforwardness of her speech, Moyo was amused by the choice of words,

“oh?, and what type of things?” he asked,

“Like how you somehow climbed from iron to diamond in the space of time since Ulsa frozen tiger saw you last” the lady replied, eyes narrowed,

Moyo shrugged, a smile playing on his lips,

“There are many mysteries in the archailect young miss” he replied,

Sonya tapped her feet impatiently,

“Are you taking this as a joke?” she asked,

Behind the lady were three other diamonds, Moyo noticing Ulsa gave off the power of a gold, it must had come as a surprise to the girl seeing him and Ashira as diamonds. He folded his arms and stood taller,

“Apologies, but I thought as allies we could joke about issues, besides, what does it matter how I got to diamond?” he asked,

“Ulsa trusts you for some reason, she was your superior, and now you could crush her like an ant, and you hail from no notable house I know of” Sonya replied,

Ashira stepped forwards, her eyes blazing,

“The titan blade is an ally of house Kairos, are you insulting my house lady Sonya?” she asked,

Moyo felt the same heat he felt during the standoff between them all, the burning sensation of flames pure and hot that scalded his skin and with swiftness he appeared between them, Sonya blazing with eyes as red as the crimson flames she generated, Ashira glowing as her three-sided path prepared to strike. He released his aura, watching as the diamonds took a step back at the density of his aura.

Flicking his eyes between the two of them, he spoke,

“If we start fighting, then we might as well have lost to the opposition” he said silently, everyone else watching,

“I agree” a voice said as shadow coalesced in the docking bay, spewing out a tall and dark-skinned male with bright yellow eyes, Curtis eclipse blade, scion of house jackal with his midnight blade that looked like something from an horror anime cartoon.

Serrated with jagged edges in the shape of a monsters’ teeth, it had a red eye on its hilt that eerily enough blinked at all of them. They turned to him as he stepped out of the shadows that turned to wisps and disappeared,

“Our enemies await us, bickering like children is unbefitting of our station” he rumbled,

Moyo stepped backwards, nodding his thanks to the jackal scion. With a terse nod, Sonya stepped backwards, eyes on Moyo, he glanced at Ulsa who waved at him, he sent a message to her through his HUD silently,

Are you alright?

Ulsa jerked as she received it, glancing back at him with a smile on her lips,

I’m fine titan blade, you seem to have fared better

He snorted,

A story for another time, be safe

Ulsa nodded and stepped away with Sonya, the diamonds behind them moving along. Ashira crossed her arms and huffed,

“The nerve of that brat”

Moyo glanced at her,

“History together?” he asked,

“Hardly, the Garudas and Kairos hardly ever meet, no particular reason, but her ego is legendary, plus she and her master are worshiped as royalty in their galaxy” Ashira replied,

“So basically, she’s what you would be if you were spoilt?” he asked as Ashira laughed out,

“Pretty much” she replied,

“We need to move, the opening events start soon” Alvar said from the front of them as he stepped into the base proper,

Moyo nodded and moved, the base while looking small from the outside was a gigantic structure from the inside. Its pure white metallic walls shone as they hummed with power, conduits of electricity or whatever it was that ran the base hummed silently, leaving little vibrations below their feet. They were led through the circular structure into a large space where stasis pods were arranged in rows. The voice of Sigmar true blade echoed through the room,

“Proceed the chambers marked with the crests of your respective houses, transference begins in a few minutes”

Moyo noticed the chambers were marked with only the crests of their allied houses, clan true blade seemingly wise enough to separate the houses from those of their foes. Even as he settled in, Moyo repressed a shiver of excitement, this was it, the culmination of all his efforts, a chapter in his life was about to close. With a grin on the face of the titan blade, the chamber sealed shut.

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

Space around planet altera was shielded against any possible threat, anything ranging from abyssal incursions, to blights and even lords would find it hard to find passage through or into the world. The protection of Zane true blade, a shining sigil visible to only rulers and masters stood as a sentinel and beacon of power. Fueled simply by the authority of the true blade himself whose name for his authority when muttered could literally do damage to the entire planet or even the galaxy altera was situated.

With this express protection, rulers could hardly impose their realms before the true blade wiped them from existence. For harbingers tapped into something greater than the authority that rulers embodied, they wielded the authority of the supreme beings, albeit on a microscopic level, for the authority of supreme beings had no name,

it just is.

Therefore for rulers to convene, the permission of the true blade himself had to be requested, and granted. Altair thousand blades, patriarch of house thousand blades, the ever-swinging edge and wrath of Alastor stepped into the private space carved out of reality by the true blade himself. He found himself in a room of eleven golden chairs, the chairs filled with the presence of the rulers of the respective houses participating.

The eleventh chair had the prodigy himself, the harbinger of Alastor and true blade himself. Altair grinned to himself at the realization that most rulers were oblivious to the fact that Zane was a harbinger. Only those once chosen for the positions themselves and those who had ascended past the average ruler status had any idea and kept it a tightly held secret, rulers mostly speculated and Zane being one of the most active harbingers was a prime topic of discussion.

Altair himself had been requested on the behest of Alastor himself to train under Zane as a harbinger in waiting, for his deadly styles had attracted the attention of the supreme being of edges himself. Of course, Altair had turned it down, he wouldn’t put himself under that type of leverage, and as he stared at the rigid form of the true blade himself, Altair knew he had chosen right.

He glanced around the assembled rulers, tensions brimming at the pure power that enveloped the room itself as allies and bitter foes were gathered alike. The fact that the true blade was around was astonishing in itself, for harbingers were hardly seen, always on some quest for their patrons or the likes. This spoke volume for the threat of the abyss and lords that threatened the archailect, Altair sat on the remaining chair, blue eyes that glowed with barely concealed strength glancing around at his pairs,

Azar scorching claw, the red dragon and ruler of the aether flames,

Jeti storm razor, herald of natures’ storm and lord of storm realm,

Sett lights bane, king of the ever-dimming worlds and lord of all its inhabitants,

Ulric fang blade, exiled beast born and lord of the warring galaxy,

Gunos red wrath, champion of Gunos, a planet named after him and barbarian lord,

Altair glanced to the other side of the table, his allies who had gathered to hold back the forces of the houses that cared naught for the lives of average ascenders,

Anubis jackal, lord of the shadow galaxy and its world of perpetual nights,

Bergan ghost wind, protector of the raining galaxies and chapter leader of the wind sect school,

Raye Garuda, burning empress of the Garudian galaxies, the primordial phoenix herself,

Orlon pure blade, grandchild of Zane himself and progenitor of the pure blade style,

Then there was Altair himself, the patriarch of house thousand blades and hero of the fringe worlds.

Altair was satisfied that should Azar be suicidal enough to try and attack any of them in the presence of Zane himself, Raye could put the dragon in his place, Altair wouldn’t waste his strength on a gigantic worm that considered the entire archailect his birthright simply because of some long lost historical records tracing their house to the supreme being of aether herself Lotes.

And even if it were true, the supreme beings didn’t view family ties the same way they did, they definitely knew of it, but it meant nothing to them unless it served a purpose, Altair would know,

He was a descendant too.

At the assembled rulers, the blade of Zane materialized close to the harbinger and tapped the floor of the space they were in, resounding with a chime. The blade itself, whose name was unknown but was a fully sentient weapon was coveted by all rulers who followed the path of a swordsman. Imbued with the affinity of space itself, it could cut through realities with surgical precision, it marked the true blade himself as a mage swordsman, a fact that few rulers could claim.

In one brief flash of thought, Altair wondered how the titan blade would fare against the true blade, should he make it to ruler at least of course. He kept that thought to himself, it felt almost heretical to think of. An apparition shimmered into being close to Zane, his child and ancient master, Sigmar true blade. Few rulers could claim the honor of besting the child of the true blade, for despite the fact that he maintained his position as a master due to reasons purely known to him, the master trashed rulers should they step out of their bounds.

As ludicrous and mind boggling as it sounded, Altair knew it would take two or more rulers to bring him down, a feat that very few could boast of, in fact, only two masters could claim such, and the second was the reason this meeting was conveyed. Sigmar true blade spoke, his face stern and eyes unyielding even in the presences of rulers,

“I believe you all know why you’ve been summoned” he started,

“The brigade has brought it to the notice of the great houses and notable clans, the cult is on the move, Araman has been sighted and a spire was almost completed deep in the heart of the archailect”

Sigmar continued after moments pause,

“of course, this isn’t news to any of you, but what is hardly known to all the houses is the fact that the nest, the home planet of house Dracon was assaulted by the cult”

The rulers reacted differently, Azar rolled his red glowing eyes, considering the fact that the incursion was named an attack ludicrous, Raye grinned, no doubt wondering if the attack had depleted the forces of house Dracon and eager to swoop in, doing substantial damage to the holdings of house Dracon. Allies and enemies shifted, postures showing excitement, it had been too long the rulers had a reason to rampage through the archailect at large.

Sigmar waited for the rulers to become calm before continuing,

“As of this moment, the brigade has cordoned off the entire draconian home world and its neighboring moon settlements” he said,

Altair glanced at Azar who frowned, he was sure that news didn’t settle well with him and the brigade waited till he was off world to enact such a move. Not that the brigade couldn’t bring him to heel, Xerxes the monster of monsters that he was would relish the thought of putting Azar or Hagan herself in their places. The method used was most likely the handwork of Tania, the second in command of the brigade.

“The prison of the Grim mustn’t be breached by all means necessary, we all know what happened the last time the Grim rampaged across the archailect” Sigmar said in a grave voice,

It was a brief moment, less than a second, but Altair had witnessed Zane grip and release his blade in reflex. Altair could understand, he had faced the armies of the Grim as a master then, he had seen the carnage and depravity they had wreaked on the archailect. Sigmar continued,

“This tournament, the continent wide one we know well enough would host the culmination of all our future powers, golds, silvers and bronze would be present, we cannot afford to have the cult show up” he said,

“And your plan?” Azar asked, already bored,

“We are the plan, we hold this world while the brigade holds the nest, besides, I need not tell you why this world is important right?” Sigmar asked,

Altair rested his back on the chair, staring at Sigmar,

So, the rumors were true,

A connection to the archailect was on this world, a link to the main powers that be. Altair shook his head quietly,

Typical of the powers that be to take such a risk.

The rulers nodded, already coming to the same conclusion, it explained the absurd strength of clan true blade. The average ascender from house true blade was a gold, nothing less, a serious feat seeing the trillions upon trillions of ascenders that exist in the archailect itself, Altair stapled his fingers together before speaking,

“We have the majority of our house powers here, excluding the golds and diamonds we have protecting our vassal worlds, it should be enough to hold back the cult” he said,

Sigmar nodded,

“True, but we can’t under estimate the cult, everyone has to been on guard” he said,

“Let them come” Bergan said, his gray beards glowing softly,

“it’s been long the cult has learned to respect us” he said,

“And the other cults?” orlon asked,

Sigmar gestured to the left where six ascenders blurred into being, bowing together,

The first was a grotesque looking bald man with blades jutting out of his arms, his eye brows and hairs all over his body shaved off in its entirety, the master of the cult of blades. The second was a hulking wolf that stood on two legs and rippled with aura, the master of the fist cult who worshiped Draulr, supreme being of force and personification of aura. The third was a simple looking Dragonoid decked in armor and glowed with pure essence, master of the cult of essence who worshiped Lotes the supreme of space and the personification of aether herself.

A crystal humanoid with no facial parts, its hair a smooth looking crystal with the different elements floating around his head like a crown, the master of the mana cult who worshiped Vazyra, the supreme being of element s and personification of mana. The fourth was a man in long flowing robes, white eyes and held a staff that hummed with arcane power, the master of the cult of Filvux, the worshipers of Filvux, the supreme being of the mind and personification of mantles and finally a hunched robot with six arms that hummed, the master of the construct cult who worshiped Liakya, the supreme being of technology and personification of weapons.

Usually the cults were left alone, but with the advent of the rise of the cult of the undying hand, they had been mustered to war against the dark cult. While they weren’t sure of the actual numbers the cult entailed, the fact that they were this brazen about it meant a lot. Altair nodded, maintaining eye contact with Sigmar,

“We are ready?” he asked,

“We are” Sigmar replied,

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

Moyo met himself in a room, an orb floating in front of his face, he raised an eyebrow as letters began to scribble themselves across the air in front of him,

WELCOME ASCENDER TITAN BLADE,

Moyo nodded at the message,

HOUSE: Thousand Blades

CLASS: Absent

PATH: Crushing Blade

ERROR: absence of class, cannot proceed to landing zone without a class, choose a class:

Mage +1000 INT Warrior +1000 STR Swordsman +1000 DEX

Moyo took a deep breath and picked mage, it was a choice he had thought of over and over. Apart from intelligence being his most lacking stat, his path of the crushing blade incorporated force and gravity, an element he had been trying his best to include in his fighting style. It had always been a conscious effort and most times in the heat of battle he hardly remembered to use it, but with his class officially including that of a mage, he had an inkling of what it would evolve to. The orb began to glow as light permeated his body,

Notice: ascender titan blade has chosen mage….class is evolving……ascender uses intent, subclass designated as swordsman…. evolving….class evolution complete!

CLASS: Swordmage

You have been awarded the class Swordmage, mana and intent have been fused into a class that has the benefit of both classes, and your blade can now seamlessly carry the power of an affinity!.

AFFINITY: Gravity

The laws that govern planets are now at your fingertips, you have been infused with the power of gravity to wield.

Moyo grinned at his bet paying off, feeling the affinity seep into his body, he barely had time to look at his stat table before the reality before he broke away.

The disorientation lasted a few seconds before Moyo felt solid earth beneath his feet, staggering and reorienting himself, dominion humming in his hands immediately. Ashira appeared beside him, deflecting an intent attack that tore into the landscape around him, carving a new riverbed close to him,

“Get in the game!” she growled,

Moyo moved and felt realms slam into him, driving him to his knees as diamonds from Dracon, storm razor and fang blade assaulted him. He grinned and flexed his titan’s might, loosening the holds of the realms on his body and swinging dominion. Where before, the purple line of intent went out, blazing with Ashe, it went out with a crushing sound, cracking the ground below him and wobbling space around him before slamming into the diamonds that used their blades to deflect the attack successfully, seeing as they were diamonds, but not before their hands became mangled up as gravity crushed their limbs, eliciting screams of pain from them.

Curtis appeared out of nowhere, taking the head of the fang blade as the body flashed away, the jackal winking at him before dodging the flame-intent attack of the draconian and phasing away, the draconian hot on his heels. The storm razor blinked away, dodging Ashira’s attack in time. Moyo grinned, spitting away blood from the realms that crashed into him,

“Do be careful” Ashira said,

“Moment of weakness, where’s the rest?” he asked as the entire landscape was filled with ascenders clashing,

Actually, golds clashed below with silvers, the diamonds were floating above and his appearance had been taken for weakness by the diamonds who had sought to quickly take him out of the fight. Ashira pointed at where Alvar was fighting off an ascender in the blood red colors of house red wrath, flashes of hot yellow intent clashing with blood that floated with the sharpness of intent.

Moyo noticed the rest of the diamonds of house thousand blades flying towards a large stronghold on the horizon and a red streak that trailed close to them,

Kenuran,

Moyo snarled as he shot himself towards the dragon, realizing the draconian scion was going to try and take out the members of house thousand blades. He swung dominion with a roar, watching as the attack decimated the air, warping reality as he ate its way toward Kenuran. The dragon turned at the last minute, his blade catching the attack and breaking it, but not before being hurled off course.

Kenuran roared, his aura expanding and attempting to dominate the landscape, Moyo snarled, Digi Aye blazing as his realm appeared in the air, crashing into the aura of Kenuran before forcefully pushing it backward. The dragon floated in the air, a cold look on his face,

“You owe me” he said,

Moyo floated close to Kenuran,

“Indeed, I should rid the universe of your existence” Moyo replied,

Kenuran smiled, his mantle locking in place, his realm of fire and lava, a world filled with rivers of lava floating in the air materialized around him,

“Come then, try to take the head of a dragon” he said,

Moyo blazed to life, runic mantle covering his entire body like full armor, his realm, a large island with a mountain in the middle that continually spilled intent materialized also, his surroundings darkening to a purple color. The both of them raised their blades up, even as the golds and silvers below paused in rapt attention to watch with morbid fascination of the great powers that clashed above them.

They both swung their blades, reality turning on itself as two behemoths clashed and all hell was let loose.