Moyo had no idea how time passed in this artificial world, but night had come and dawn had risen the next day with the titan opening his eyes. The soft mild sunlight hit his face and he gave a little groan, shutting his eyes as he turned, a soft sound at his side with a body pressed to his. His eyes snapped open at the realization of where he was and what had happened, turning to see a still sleeping Ashira next to him, a smile dancing on his lips as he quietly stood up, stretching like a lazy cat.

Ascended beings like him and Ashira had no need for mortal needs like hunger and sleep, ingrained habits however became precedence after a long night of work, and work he did.

Chuckling to himself as he padded his way into another room that twisted and morphed into a large bathroom filled with a large shower and other amenities, again he had no need for such but habits prevailed. Staring at himself in the mirror, his purple eyes glowing along with the runes etched all over his body, Moyo took a deep breath and released it, ever vigilant that the barrier between the galaxy of dire and the archailect came ever closer to crumbling.

Spending some time in silence, he left the bathroom, opening the door down to the large living room where apparently his guard had taken residence, conversing with themselves in hushed whispers. They became silent as they saw him coming, hushed smiles on their faces as they stared at him mischievously, Moyo rolling his eyes. Idris held a steaming cup of what Moyo realized was coffee, narrowing his eyes,

“where did you get that from?” he asked,

Idris shrugged,

“Simply requested for coffee and the servants brought it, I’ve learnt not to question anything in the archailect again” he replied,

Moyo nodded as he sat with a groan, stretching while being aware of the eyes of the guard on him,

“Alright, spit it out” he said,

“Spit what out?” Yemi asked innocently as Amira giggled,

Shaking his head, he stood up and stepped out of his mansion, taking in the environment with hundreds of lower ranked experts moving around, bowing respectfully whenever they came across him. Moyo frowned to himself, things were too peaceful for a bunch of people about to go to war, whatever this fake sense of peace the powers that be were trying to pull, it rubbed off him wrongly. He didn’t hear her sneak up on him, arms around him as he froze and then relaxed, a smile on his face,

“You look tensed” Ashira chimera said softly, Moyo turning to see she had worn a fresh pair of robes, talon strapped to her waist,

He kissed her forehead,

“I’m not sure I’m fine with this sense of peace that’s being portrayed, in a day or two we’ll be neck deep in blights, hundreds of thousands dying around us” he said with a frown,

“All the more reason the primordials want the people to enjoy every spare second they can get, they might not see their loved ones again” she replied,

“Primordials?, I thought the harbingers were in charge?” Moyo asked,

Ashira snorted,

“We wish, if they were in charge the walls would had been forced open, billions pouring through the hole to lay siege to whatever worlds they can lay their hands upon” she said,

“No, the celestials are in charge, the cosmic dragon in particular” she said,

“that’s the second time I’ve heard that name, how are you even aware of the factions between the primordials anyway?” he asked,

She smiled,

“you’re looking at a planetary commander” she said smugly,

“a what now?” he asked,

Ashira scrunched her face up,

“Wait, don’t tell me you aren’t aware of the chain of command for the war” she said,

Moyo shrugged helplessly,

“So you were just expecting to get dumped into the war front and go wild?” she asked,

“Pretty much yeah” he replied as she smacked her face,

“Why am I not surprised” she murmured,

“In my defence no one said anything more than you being assigned to your fleet, something I’m told would get broken up when politics start to play out like it inevitably will” he said,

She nodded,

“Have you checked your HUD this morning?” she asked,

Moyo shook his head, bringing it up as he saw the message from the ‘war council’

“a message from the war council” he said as she nodded,

Sharing it with her, he opened it as they stared at it in silence,

To the master ranked titan blade,

This is to inform you that after numerous critical views of your accomplishments and your unusual state of ascension, you have been given the positions of both planetary and troop commander (optional and can be given to someone below you) of the fleet thousand blades. Barring the time your allotted junior officers would reach the rank of diamond, you will be in charge of the entire troops sent towards the planets allocated to you by your fleet commander.

Ps: I’ll be watching you,

War council commander: C.D

“This makes no sense” Ashira murmured,

“I agree” Moyo replied as he opened the additional message sent,

CHAIN OF COMMAND

- War commanders: celestials & harbingers

- Fleet commanders: terrestrials and ancients

- Planetary commanders: rulers & masters

- Troop commander: diamond rankers

- Squad commanders: gold rankers

“Well, on the bright side, Atreus did warn me politics would indeed come into play” Moyo said sighing,

The door to his house opened as his guard came out in a hurry, Idris leading them,

“I believe you’ve all seen the message from the war council?” he asked as Idris nodded,

“We were to report to you for squad placements” Idris replied,

Moyo was about to talk when he noticed the districts began bubbling to life in the distance, hundreds of ascenders moving towards his direction, stopping short of his direct lawn as they knelt and bowed their heads,

“I’m guessing they were all placed under your planetary force” Ashira said,

Moyo couldn’t help but be impressed by the games at play here, his position had been chosen even before the mustering, his troops conveniently placed right along with him on the pseudo planet and their positions chosen,

Moyo could also feel their auras and realized just as quickly, there were no diamonds among them,

He chuckled to himself,

“What?” Ashira sked,

“Feel them with your aura, tell me what’s missing” he said,

Ashira turned to them as a pulse of her aura spread round the still converging crowd that were soon entering the tens of thousands,

“No diamonds” she growled as he nodded,

“What sort of trickery is this?” she asked,

“a test” Moyo replied turning to his guard,

“First other of business, we’re getting you all to peak gold or diamond” he said as Idris nodded,

“I still don’t get, perhaps there was a mistake?” Ashira said, calling up her HUD,

“No, it was deliberate, I need to confirm something” he said as he called up his HUD and sent a message to Kairos,

Almost immediately his message was answered, the image of Kairos popping up as the primordial glanced at his daughter, a light smile on his face before turning to Moyo,

“Lord Kairos” Moyo said nodding,

“Lord Moyo, I see you were the one holding my daughter hostage, quite willingly on her part I assume” he said as Ashira said something under her breath, Kairos smiling,

“I’ve received the deployments, I must say, I’m not happy with the games being played” he said,

“Ah, you’ve noticed, believe me I tried my best, it was either that or you serve under a celestial as a planetary commander, let’s just say you had friends who wouldn’t stand for that” Kairos replied,

“I see, my thanks lord Kairos, and the absence of diamonds in my troops?” he asked,

“The work of the cosmic dragon, she managed to convince the council about seeing your worth on the battlefield despite your position as a primordial” he said with a frown,

“Just who is this cosmic dragon?” Moyo asked,

The attention she was heaping on him was becoming alarming, he had this nagging thought that the reason Xerxes had drawn attention to him at the meeting at muster point Lotes wasn’t due to their familiarity but at the behest of the cosmic dragon. Kairos frowned,

“Suffice to say she is the voice of the celestials, their unelected head and one of the most powerful beings in the archailect” he replied,

“and for some reason, I, a barely known master, has caught her attention?, perhaps this is vendetta for house Dracon?” he said,

Kairos shook his head,

“If there’s one thing I know about the cosmic dragon, she abhors her offsprings and their house, in fact, I have a feeling one of the reasons she’s drawing attention to you is to remind house Dracon of the heights you’ve attained” he said,

“that’s confusing” Moyo replied,

“She rarely does things with a single goal in mind, the question now however is how you can handle your situation” Kairos said,

“can’t house thousand blades deploy diamonds for him?” Ashira asked,

“That will be up to Altair, but I have a feeling he would had been expressly warned from doing such, his new ascension offered him the role of a fleet commander, I doubt he’d do anything to incur the wrath of a woman who could end both his path and his goals” Kairos said,

“so in all I’m on my own with a team of low ranked experts and my only choice is to place my seemingly low ranked guard in charge” Moyo stated,

“That sums it up I presume, remember, once a troop commander is chosen, they cannot be removed till they die, and I don’t need to tell you that saboteurs are among the experts handed to you, right?” Kairos said,

Moyo flicked his eyes to the still bowing experts who were murmuring softly to themselves,

“No, expected that already, I’ll find a way” he replied as Kairos nodded,

“and then I leave you to your preparations, I believe you will be attending the banquet in honor of Altair tonight?, you and Ashira I presume” Kairos asked,

“father” Ashira growled warningly,

“We will” he replied as the transmission cut off,

Moyo turned to Ashira,

“See you tonight?” he asked softly,

She nodded,

“I best get to my district, plans be made, be safe titan blade” she replied kissing his cheek and vanishing,

Moyo turned to the arrayed hosts, his voice echoing as he channelled his aura, letting them feel it,

“Welcome to planetary force titan blade, I am master titan blade and I hereby name this force the planetary blades” he said as the ascenders bowed lower,

“Please, raise your heads, get up, from now on we are family” he said as they stood up,

All eyes were on him as he floated in the air, arms folded behind his back,

“let me make this clear, I know there are spies among you, sent to assess my methods of battle” he started as murmured broke out,

“if you in anyway sabotage my troops, you die, if you undermine my efforts, you die, if you in anyway harm your fellow brothers and sisters in the field, you die” he stated bluntly, eyes searching the aura of the ascenders arranged,

Nodding to himself as his words sank in, the ascenders standing as still as statues, he continued, pointing behind him as his guard stepped forward,

“These will be your commanders, your squad commanders, these ten” he said as loud murmurs broke out,

He raised a hand, silencing them,

“If you have any protests, step out now” he ordered,

A few golds stepped out, Moyo calmly staring at them, resigned to what was about to happen, a few examples had to be made after all. The golds bowed as a bulky one stepped forward, bowing again,

“Lord commander titan blade, we must protest this insult, I mean you no offense master, but to put silvers over we golds is an insult to our reputations” he said,

Moyo stared at the light brown skinned man with pitch black eyes, he nodded,

“I see, you want to know why I picked them over you, right?” he asked,

The gold hesitated and nodded, unsure of what point the titan was about to reveal,

“Squad commander Yemi rune brawler, step out” he ordered as Yemi marched forward silently, already receiving the message Moyo had discreetly sent to all of them through his HUD,

Moyo pointed to Yemi,

“I believe here’s your chance to prove your worth as a gold” Moyo stated to the man,

“Lord, to fight a silver is beneath me” the man protested weakly, glancing at his fellow gold rankers who didn’t meet his eyes,

“you have my blessings, you think I do not care enough for those placed under me?, you think I show favouritism?, well, prove me wrong gold ranker” Moyo replied,

As he floated backwards and stared at the man that unslung a large mace from his back,

“Apologies silver ranker, but it is for the good of the planetary force” the ascender rumbled,

Yemi gave no response staring ahead,

“You may begin” Moyo said,

The gold moved with all the speed of a gold ranker, one minute walking and the next his mace crashing down towards Yemi. The brawler took one step as a runic circle flared beneath his feet, his eyes going from green to purple in a split second as his fists empowered with both his runes and the titan aspect met the mace,

“repel” he murmured,

The mace blew away from the grip of the gold ranker who was caught totally unawares, Yemi gripping him as he unleashed his realm of runes, the entire area dancing with runes that fell from a large runic circle in the air. The punch imbued with the might of the titan crushed the mantle of the gold ranker, shattered his insides and sent him sprawling across the field, body in a twisted heap as he passed out. Yemi relaxed his stance and stepped back, Moyo turning to the crowd that stared in horrified awe,

“well, any other complaints?, I could even change the commander to anyone you’d like to challenge among them” he stated,

The remaining golds stepped back into the line, properly chastised, Moyo threw a rare elixir to Idris who went over to the gold, feeding it to him as motes of pure power seeped into the gold, reknitting his bones and bringing him back to full health as he gasped back to life, sitting upright. Moyo glanced at him, the gold bowing,

“Please, I beg the forgiveness of the master” he said bowing low,

“There is no forgiveness to be asked” Moyo said,

“you asked a very important question and I for one wouldn’t work with those who don’t think before following commands, go back to your people” Moyo said as the man bowed gratefully,

“Understand that no life is expendable in my army, I will not order you to your deaths, neither will I take each life for granted, so please, understand that whatever decision I make no matter how puzzling it may seem to you is in the best interest of my army” Moyo said,

“You are my family for the duration of this war, and I will do my best to ensure your survivals, together we will ensure we come out of this war stronger. However, if you want to leave, this might as well be your only chance” Moyo stated,

The lines remained quiet as the golds stared resolutely at him, Moyo nodded,

“From my HUD here, I see we’re a measly ten thousand strong” he said as gasps broke out,

Moyo frowned, putting him through the crucible was one thing, but undermining him by placing him at the head of an army a mere ten thousand men strong was an insult to him. He stared on resolutely however, he would show them determination. He raised a hand silencing them,

“Is there anyone of you from a great house or a house in general?” he asked,

Moyo grinned as he realized no hands went up,

“major clans?, sects?, schools?” he asked again as still no hands went up,

“I see your game celestials” he murmured to himself,

“Perfect, I take it you all are independent ascenders who answered the call of your own volition?” he said as choruses of yes replied him,

“I too am something of a lone ascender, but I promise you, before the end of this war, planetary troop blade would rank high up among the most renowned” he said as roars answered him,

“However, a little test to decide your rankings in battle will be taken right now and here, these ten commanders behind me, minus the one beside me, he will in fact act as your replacement diamond ranker in war” he said touching Idris who stood straighter, pride in his stance,

“These ten will be left to your decision, whosoever you want to join, you will go under their banners” he said,

Raising one finger as he smiled,

“however, to reach them, you will have to show your worth, show me the strength of your conviction and if you pass, I promise to lead you to glory” Moyo said as he smiled, watching the fires of determination light up beneath them,

With one snap of his finger he released his aura over them, sparing the iron rankers and bronzes, the silvers and golds however came crashing to their knees,

“Make your way over to their banners before sundown and you will become a member of the force, good luck” he said,

Each of his ten tearing a piece of their cloth and tying it to a rod, they stabbed it into the ground and watched as the ascenders struggled,

“Irons and bronzes, pick a banner and stand beside it, meditate it you will, when I return, tell me what you’ve learnt” he said as they bowed and with one look at their oppressed fellows, hurried to the banners of their choosing to avoid suffering the same fates. Moyo called up his HUD as he sent a message back to the war council,

CHAIN OF COMMAND:

- Planetary commander: moyosore titan blade

- Troop commander: Idris Geb hand

- Squad commander:

i) Hajin lightning eater

ii) Yemi rune brawler

iii) Vaughn assault piercer

iv) Amira sound screamer

v) Wutan piercing spear

vi) Romulus beast walker

vii) Tomasa golden staff

viii) Marcel devil touch

ix) Lucina blade rain

The moment he sent it, a loud gong echoed as a notification appeared on his HUD,

Notice: congratulations, planetary force blade has been created, your force has been recorded and the rules are as follows:

- Name of the planetary force cannot be changed,

- Names of the troop and squad commanders cannot be changed unless they perish in battle,

- Planetary commander cannot be changed unless they perish,

- Fleet commander can override command of the planetary commander at any time,

Note: all other amenities and plans will be sent to the fleet commander and passed to the planetary commanders on the eve of the battle, good luck!.

Moyo closed it as his guard surrounded him,

“Time to check out those dungeons, it’s time you all ascended to gold, the earlier the better” he said as he tore open a pathway back into the mansion where Idris led him to a chained door,

“We tried breaking the chains to no avail” Idris said,

“Even with my aspect?” he asked,

Idris nodded,

“Although it did buckle under the power” he noted,

Moyo glanced back at it,

“Another test I presume” he murmured,

“Step back” he ordered as they all complied,

Gathering his Ashe and aspect, Moyo placed one hand on the chain and felt an aspect cold and brutal try to invade his body. It was a feeling of cold detachment, of precision and brutal calculating efficiency of a power foreign to him, the titan blinked as his Ashe and aspect slammed back in retaliation, pushing out the aspect with such force that the chain rattled,

“break” Moyo commanded as the chain shattered into pieces,

Flicking his hand, he opened the door into what he suspected was a pocket dimension, standing on a large field with dungeons glowing in front of him,

“Gold rank and above, strong ones at that” he said as the rest entered,

Walking up to the dungeons and seeing the same chains made of aspect he suspected belonged to Iteq hold it shut, he turned to his guard,

“Ready yourselves, I suspect the moment I break open those chains, the dungeon will automatically break open itself” he warned,

“We stand ready” Wutan said as they readied themselves, aspect of the titan intermingling with their paths,

He nodded and shattered the chain as a large fist slammed out of the dungeon into him, it exploded as it came in contact with his body, a loud roar of anguish echoing from within the dungeon. Out came 12 feet tall ogres, bodies of mottled grey that glittered with shards of crystals, they roared as they saw the guard but stumbled back at the sight of the titan who floated serenely backwards,

“Have at it” he said,

Idris moved fest, his step cracking with the force with which he used to propel himself, the large longsword in his hand as he shouted, bringing it crashing down on an ogre that used its bare hands to catch the blade.

A fatal mistake that cost it its life as the weapon of the titan cleanly cut him in two, Idris landing with a roll and avoiding a strike from another ogre who suddenly found itself being baptized in strikes of lightning, cooking its gold ranked flesh slowly as it roared in pain only to get a diamond ranked spear through its skull, effectively ending its existence.

The guard with their weapons and imbued strength of the titan aspect fought on like crazy monsters as more and more ogres poured out of the dungeon, swarming them. Moyo floated and watched passively as they stood back-to-back, Idris leading them on in bloody fights after bloody fights, soaking the entire area with the blood and parts of the ogres that refused to fade into motes of aether. Moyo watched as each of them ascended into gold rank, unaware that they did so seeing as they were lost in the battle frenzy around them.

Soon enough with ogre blood dripping from every part of them, they began to cut short the ogres faster than the dungeon could spit them out, pushing their way directly towards the mouth of the dungeon itself with Idris in front, acting as their shield against the crushing force of the ogres. He watched them step into the dungeon and floated down, eyes closed as he meditated, feeling his link with them, each of them a burning light in his minds eye. Soon enough they stepped out, the head of the dungeon boss stabbed on the spear tip of Wutan as they marched towards him, blood dripping all over the floor.

The bowed at the waist to him,

“Gold rank” Idris said and Moyo could hear the pride in his voice as he said so,

“Well done” Moyo replied,

“Level 450” Moyo said, pride dripping from his voice,

The rest were early gold rankers,

“Well, squad commanders, I believe we have two more gold ranked dungeons and a diamond ranked dungeon to conquer” he said with a smile,

The titan guard dominated the remaining dungeons minus the diamond one, Moyo watching as they decimated the gold ranked dungeons, effectively taking them to the peak of gold. Even as he watched them lay exhausted on the ground, the insane amount of ranking up they did in the space of a day with access to really strong dungeons, he couldn’t help but frown at the unfairness of the situation.

The other ascenders who had no backing were left to forage for scraps while the strong made themselves stronger, he could see how Ashira had made it to 900, house Kairos probably having a bunch of high master ranked dungeons locked away somewhere for their personal use. He stood up as he left them there, his guard totally passed out, he would show the powers that be the strength in the weak, he would leave his mark on this war.