When masters fought, the world trembled and the seas wail in fright, those were words Moyo had heard well enough among the lower ranks, mostly among the golds who sang the praises of the higher ranks, and the silvers who viewed their fights with such reverence that Moyo sometimes wondered if he had been starry eyed like that as well. Thankfully there were no golds or silvers around when he launched his attack, the diamonds knew better than to stick around when he had walked out, taking to their heels in terror, knowing well enough that no form of defence or spot they could hide could from the exchange of skills from masters that could totally ensure their safety.

The masters though stood up to the challenge from Moyo with the speed and strength of masters as well and some part of him shivered at the thrill of a battle. Digi aye immediately called upon, the masters avoided his surrounding like a plague, aware of the skill he had activated. It didn’t stop them from casting their long-range attacks though, the very skies of the dungeon rumbling and the ground shaking with their powers. Dominion swung once, his other hand gathering titan’s might that smashed aside a rock attack imbued with the aura of a master and the authority of a ruler. The black hole attack of the titan exploded with a bang, revealing a man glowing in golden aura shaped in the visage of a feline beast he wasn’t familiar with.

Urcar primal claw, a master with golden eyes and huge hulk like body and apparently no weapons. He stood behind, along with a master who looked too sickly to even be in the battle. Elongated limbs with black soggy hair covering his facial features, in his hands however, some sort of weapon that weaved around lazily on its own, an aura of pure poison around it.

His attention got dragged back to the five masters that accosted him at once, a lance of black light, a whip covered with intent thorns, a hammer imbued with a bloodthirsty aura around it, a hand covered with death aura and a man with a large cannon shooting intent and aura projectiles.

Digi aye went to work with ferocity of oshosi as the masters got close to him at the same time, a grin creeping its way to his face as he settled in, his titan’s agility catching up to their every moves. Dominion slashed the whip apart, dispelling both the intent and power of the whip that stood no chance against an arcane weapon.

His body dispelled the lance of black light that he realized was some necromantic power, his fist crashing into the master’s chest, shattering his mantle and blasting his body away. Oshosi commanded and he dipped his head, the intent projectile shot by the missile passing over his head and into another master with the hammer who had to defend himself or get his mantle severely damaged, leaving him open to Moyo.

A kick to the masters’ neck had him crashing to the ground below, finally grabbing the man with a death aura around his hand imbued with deathly aura, his aura infused with titan aspect crushed it to a pulp, slamming his head on the masters and sending him crashing to the ground below.

Usually, he should be in a worn out position as well, his mantle either damaged and needing willpower to hold together, but with his aspect constantly feeding into his deific scales of the titan, keeping the already near mythical ranked mantle into an unbreakable bulwark of power.

Glancing up to see the two main masters of the fang blade house fighting desperately against a combination of three masters of house thousand blades. Silently wishing he could had participated, he had another job however, wielding his gravitational power, he dropped like a comet, straight into the chest of the bloodthirsty wielding hammer master, crushing his already healed ribs as he spat out blood in shock,

“The map to the mini-boss, now” he growled,

Master Skatha had overheard the diamonds in the camp talking about a map that they had acquired when fighting an elemental lizard, it held the ability to take through a straight route to the mini-bosses as soon as the dungeon opened up.

The master growled, his aura boiling before Moyo waved his hand, his aura crushing and absorbing the aura of the master through Esu’s greed. Eyes wide, the master struggled as Moyo gripped him by the throat, slamming a hand into his core, releasing a pulse of his authority that disrupted the flow of aether and aura in the man’s body, living him limp,

“now” he commanded, fusing his titan’s aspect with the words,

The master pitted his authority against the titan, pushing with a willpower that had been fused with authority that had been honed through countless battles, a bloody hazy mist wafting from the man in rage, spittle forming in his mouth,

“diamonds” the man coughed out, in time for the other masters to converge on Moyo,

Throwing the master away, he flipped through the air as he felt the authorities of the masters somehow fuse together to create a greater authority, the authority of a ruler,

“Ah crap” Moyo cursed as he landed, already fortifying reality around him with his aspect,

“SHRED!” they shouted,

Moyo winced as the authority of a master descended on him, infused with the individual powers of said masters, they ran rampage around him, the area had crumbled into a place worthy of a destroyed zone. The very earth below him crumbling as all sorts of powers ran rampage, Moyo briefly wondered if the diamonds ever made it to safety, the area around them a maelstrom of pure destruction. Nothing short of a diamond decked in legendary ranked protections from head to toe could even dare to enter the zone, lest they were instantly wiped out before they could even flee.

Then they descended on him again, the arms of a ruler’s destruction that were masters, intent on ending him. He understood he needed to dispel their joint attack if he was to get breathing space, however the titan in him wanted to test something out, a theory of his. So with determination, despite the screams of oshosi ringing within his very body, he brought down his protections, watching the authority carrying attacks crash into him with bone biting precision.

Watching as his vulnerable body which in all respect, was as vulnerable as any master’s body could get, he felt his titan’s might fight back against the attacks, his aspect infused body that he actively held at bay struggle under the leash of control he placed on it.

For the first time in a long time, his blood was spilled, his body flopping to the ground as he crashed into it, the attacks sinking into him with all the power of a ruler. Somewhere in the distance the aura of Duval and Killian flared to life as they no longer sensed his aura, his HUD blinking rapidly as the attacks went straight for his core, to effectively end his life for now. Then like a tap being held back forcefully, he unleashed his power, the masters already coming for his body crashed to the ground. His gravitational ability cranked to the maximum as they struggled under the weight of the power.

Within him though, the titan aspect went on a rampage, tier 2 aspect tearing into the attacks in his body with savage like brutality and efficiency. Grinning, he groaned as he sat up, dominion humming next to him as he spat out blood, watching it drill a hole into the ground as the eyes of the masters widened in shock,

“Impossible!, you should be dead!” the master with the intent imbued thorn whip weapon groaned out,

Cracking his neck as he felt Oya’s elixir healed him in the blink of an eye, spitting out phlegm filled with black liquid,

“Yeah, I hear that a lot” Moyo said as he stood up shaking his head,

“What are you?” the master with axe asked,

“Pretty sure mentioning batman would pass over your collective heads” he said with a sigh as they stared at him with anger within their gazes,

“Thought as much” he said as he walked away from them, his mantle locking back in place with dominion floating beside him, the masters trying to fuse their authorities together again to counter him,

His fists crashed into the skulls of two masters at once, effectively knocking them out of commission,

“can’t have that now, can we?” he said as their workings of power shattered with the effective removal of the two masters,

Eyes roaming around the field, looking for the diamonds, his attention was however drawn to the masters who fought above, battling the two masters who had taken serious damage, their eyes widening as they saw the state of their fellow masters. With a wave he blitzed towards where he could feel the diamonds, his aspect suffusing the entire field, honing in on the diamonds who couldn’t move from their positions, no doubt the spiritual pressure of the titan holding them down.

Blinking to their position, he crouched, staring at the diamonds who stared at him with defiance, their body language however showed a quivering mess. Raising one eyebrow, he stared at them, a coy smile on his lips,

“Well?” he drawled,

The one in front, no doubt their leader, a short man with metallic spiky hair and serpentine eyes spoke, growling under the pressure despite Moyo literally feeling his thundering heart,

“You won’t g-” was all he said before another diamond from behind managed to punch him in the head, wincing as he moved under the pressure, a tall lanky woman with hair ending in pointed tips and dripping venom,

“Please, oh great master” she spoke, struggling,

“Spare we lowly diamonds, in your infinite mercy- “

“The map, now” Moyo spoke again as she winced, falling to her knees,

She was trying to buy time, no doubt to either attract the other masters who would no doubt be waking up soon and pitting their combined authorities against his in an attempt to stop him. It was either that or she wanted to draw the attention of another faction to their location. Pushing her hand through her robes, Moyo frowned as slammed his authority down on her with speed, watching as she fell unconscious. She had attempted to feed aether into some construct, a spatial one that sucked in its user and those around them.

While he had no idea where it would take her and those around her, he needed the map that rolled out of her robes, grabbing it along with the construct and tearing a pathway back to where the masters lay, the remaining two rousing groggily as he slammed his feet back on their skulls again, ensuring they passed out. The other masters stared at him with pure anger now,

“That was no move befitting a master” the axe master said,

Moyo shrugged,

“I’m not the one going night night again” he replied as a pathway opened and he tossed the masters in through it, their bodies flopping down at the other side of the portal which opened up right at the entrance of the dungeon itself.

A loud roar filled the air as Urcar primal claw was stabbed, his aura and authority fighting to push back the power of the sol blade. Unfurling the map, a loud gong echoed,

Dungeon notice: the cavern to the mini-bosses: Ara, Monomono and Ina will open in 10 seconds, those with the map would have a thirty minutes advantage within the cavern!

The map glowed as it disappeared, his HUD updating as a large runic circle flared to life on the ground, a large cavern shimmering to life, made of crystals that glowed with mana in the form of lightning, fire and barely restrained thunderstorms. Oshosi screamed at him, dominion whipping in the air to clash with the serpentine weapon of the second master that had torn his way through Skatha, losing one arm in the process in a bid to stop him.

The weapon he now realized had a sentient serpent head bit into his shoulder as it swerved, pumping venom straight through his veins. Venom that his body countered, his fist punching the skull of the master that crumpled to the ground with a thud, Skatha appeared next to him gripping his shoulder as the sol blade and stellar blade appeared next to him, desperately pushing back the primal claw who came at them. With his gathered aspect he shouted, the air around them darkening to purple,

“Da pa da!” he shouted,

Urcar was thrown back with force, getting to his feet just as quickly, but by then the cavern had closed up and the thirty minutes countdown had begun. With rage, the primal claw roared to the sky, aether and reality glowing a ferocious golden colour as a master was driven to the edges blurring the lines between anger and madness.

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

Stumbling to his knees, Moyo tasted bile in his mouth as his body grew unbearably hot, his skin glowing purple as he groaned,

“The poison” Duval said in alarm,

Raising one hand up to stall whatever efforts they were about to attempt to help him with, he sat on the floor, lotus style, closing his eyes as he felt his aspect swallow up the poison in the same way it had done for the attacks of the other masters as well. Taking in a deep breath, he gathered the entire power within his stomach and let his aspect completely swallow it, his HUD blinking to life as he opened it, exhaling what was left as his body calmed down,

Notice: titan aspect with greed of the titan have absorbed:

Element of death Element of blood Element of necrosis Element of vines Element of sharpness Element of poison

His aspect and Esu’s greed once again proving their worth, he stood up, opening his eyes,

“Sorry, had to deal with those attacks trying to run rampant within my body” he said,

“The question we should be asking is, how did they get within your body in the first place?” Skatha asked as she typed out,

“I brought down my defences” he replied,

Duval cocked his head, clearly not understanding, Killian scrunching his eyebrows together,

“To achieve what?” the stellar blade asked,

“Wanted to test my immunity against master ranked attacks” he replied,

Killian sighed, throwing his hands up,

“That was totally irresponsible of you, you know better” Duval bit out,

Wincing, he scratched his head,

“it was a one-time thing, it won’t happen again” he said as an apology,

“In most cases it won’t, few are masters who rarely get the chance to come back from that” Skatha wrote,

“The attack of the scale viper could had enforced theirs as well had he struck at the same time” Killian said,

“let’s be glad they didn’t, the map has been updated into my HUD, best we start moving now” he said, trying to push the conversation away,

“Just wait till the chimera hears of this” Duval muttered as Moyo froze,

“Now wait just a minute master Duval” Moyo said, pleading as he walked closer to the master, Killian chuckling and Skatha shaking her head,

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

Urcar slapped the blood axe back to life, dumping the master on the ground. Kneeling in front of him were the diamonds, five in all who trembled beneath his gaze,

“You have failed me and house fang blade” he said, staring at the female diamond who had been reserved, her captain and fellow diamond frothing at the mouth as he began to speak,

“Ilana failed you master” he spat out,

“Oh?” Urcar said, folding his arms behind him as the woman froze up, gaze becoming cold,

“she handed over the map and the construct to that master!, she betrayed what our house stood for!” he said,

‘I see” Urcar said as he scratched his large beards,

His fellow emissary, Hilar was busy regrowing his hand the silent blade had removed, lumpy flesh distorting as it regrew rapidly. House fang blade boasted of two emissaries, each of them sharing the aspect of the fang blade. While it reduced the scope of the power they wielded, their ruler not being one of the fabled ancients they so often heard being murmured about, it nonetheless gave them an edge when subduing lesser clans or sects they intended to forcefully bring into their galaxy wide empire.

One of the primal claws’ mistake was taking the short diamond man for a disciple, he could see the pompous nature and ego in his gaze, believing himself never to be in the wrong simply because he was a disciple of Urcar.

Nodding along to the man, he spoke, watching with silent but growing disgust as the eyes of his disciple Tegan grow large with delight, hoping to see Kasia who was no doubt a threat to his authority at this point either put down or demoted,

“You were given the scroll, weren’t you?” Urcar asked as the man froze,

“I, ah, yes master” he stuttered,

“And correct me if I’m wrong, but you lead this group of diamonds, don’t you?” Urcar pressed again,

“Master Urcar, I- “

“So when the titan blade accosted you, what was your plan?” Urcar asked,

“To defend the scroll with my life, as befitting of any diamond of house fang blade” Tegan said, sensing a way out,

“True, spoken like a true diamond” Urcar said approvingly, the woman still staring with cold eyes,

“Well, Kasia, do you accept your mistake and honour the house by willingly laying down your life for this mistake?” the primal claw asked, noting that Hilar had paused, glancing at him,

House fang blade unlike the other great houses were not so flush with diamonds that they could systematically start wiping them out for every mistake they made, but this was going to be a stain on the honour of clan primal claw and Urcar himself, this Hilar understood. Kasia glanced at him,

“Apologies oh great master, but I believe it was not a mistake” she said,

“Oh?” Urcar said, nodding within himself,

Again he wondered what he saw in Tegan as she continued,

“While the enemy has the scroll, he also took the spatial recall construct, one that would take them right into the flagship of lord fang blade himself, this is an opportunity for us” she said,

While Urcar knew she was saying all this partially to save his own skin, no doubt connecting the same dots Urcar had connected the moment the masters of thousand blades had escaped into the cavern, he applauded her quick thinking, waiting for her to complete the rest or he’d have to end her life, a shame really,

“In what way?” he asked,

“With the construct being possible for me to activate from any distance, we could simply wait for the masters to clear out the mini-bosses, get whatever rewards are down there while we follow behind and when we get the notifications, I send them into the claws of lord fang blade himself” she explained,

“As a side bonus as well, the construct comes with a tracking device, meaning we can actually follow whatever short route they took, except without the trouble of facing whatever creatures are down there as well” she finished,

Urcar stared at her passively, Kasia flinching a little but never backing down,

“Good, to be a cub was to show strength despite the overwhelming possibility of death” he thought,

His hand moved in a flash, too fast for even Tegan to follow whose head was relieved of his body, his diamond senses catching the act to late as the diamond opened his mouth to plead for mercy. The body of the diamond exploded into aether and gore that burned in the very air, the aura of the primal claw ensuring nothing was left. The other diamond bowed immediately, pressing their heads to the ground in submission as they trembled,

“Hear me Kasia thorn point” he started as she stretched her palms out, heard still bowed to the ground,

“Today you have been raised to the position of disciple, your clan would report directly to me, your family will be raised to the position of continental governors and should you prove your worth to me today, will be given the planet that disgrace of a diamond Tegan once ruled” he said,

“The boon of the master will be a law unto my heart, where you go I will go, where your point I will kill, my life is yours to command and to end” she said, reciting the oaths of a disciple of the house,

“However should you fail me, not even the sands or the forests of the great planet where your clan currently resides will remember you and your entire clan by the time I’m done with them” he finished,

Kasia prostrated herself more, trembling on the ground,

“Now lift your head, prepare your team, you are a disciple of the primal claw himself, act like one” he finished,

Kasia stood up, barking orders at the diamonds that scrambled to their feet, running around with all haste.

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

Moyo dodged a blow to his skull. Twisting and whipping his punch with his authority imbuing it, sending the metal being of fire crumbling to the side as Killian moved, icy mists freezing the monster even as another one brought a halberd down on the stellar blade. Duval was suddenly there, two weapons of fire clashing with each other as the creature got pushed back, right into the dominion which pierced its metallic head with ease, efficiently ending its life.

They had been following the short cut for a few hours now, bypassing entire squads of creatures that either had lightning or fire affinity, Skatha leading them through the safest path which she scouted, plus the dark misty thunder clouds that filled the entire cavern actually helped them along the way. The masters had first guzzled enough stamina potion to give even Moyo a sugar rush, no doubt in preparation for the battles to come and the battles did come.

The constructs had been lifeless looking statues that lined the walls of a passage, not even registering on his HUD as dungeon creatures, till they had passed a set of lifeless runes also that powered on at their mere presence and the creatures had come to life in that moment,

Armoured guardians of Ina

Level 770

The monsters had moved with all the speed of a master ranked creature, bringing weapons to bear on them in the split second it had taken the masters to draw their weapons and summon their core realms at once, except even that brought a notification to them,

Dungeon notice: as this cavern is under the authority of the three servants of shango, all core realm strengths have been set at half strength

“Oh come on, how’s that even a thing?” Moyo had cried out, protesting,

“a master doesn’t complain of his circumstances” Killian had pointed out,

Right before a hammer covered in fire slammed into his side, smashing him into the wall, thankfully his mantle of moon shard reduced the striking force of the hammer, leaving it as nothing but a glancing hit although it cracked the mantle,

“You were saying?” Moyo asked as he stepped into the guard of the construct, path of the titan disarming the creature before dominion relieved it of its limbs and decapitated its head. The construct crumbling to flames and molten slag,

Killian grumbling, the masters had gone to battle with the other constructs, battling their way steadily while mitigating most of the flames with their core realms, although Duval and Moyo simply waded through the flames, Moyo with Ashe and titan aspect coating his body while Duval barely feeling a thing. It had been quick, it had been brutal, but the master had taken down the constructs when a rumble filled the cavern and the temperature went up, a flaming runic circle in the distance glowing as it exploded, revealing a larger form of the armoured construct,

Armoured warrior of Ina

Level 800

“That isn’t right” Moyo muttered,

“Means we’re probably going to face a level 900 dungeon boss, Alastor have mercy” Skatha typed out,

The creature took one shuddering step after another, the very aether in the air burning, then it spoke, Moyo freezing as he heard the words spoke clearly in his native language,

“Who dares summon the children of fire?” it asked,

“Did you all hear that?” he said,

“Yes, why?” Duval asked,

“No, nothing” he responded,

Sometime he took for granted the fact that the archailect system translated millions upon millions of languages so ascenders could communicate, this was no difference. Duval stepped forward, his robes lighting on fire as he spoke,

“I am also a child of fire, of the flames that burn bright in the skies above” he answered,

The creature gave a deep chuckle,

“You are nothing but a simple glow of the sun in the skies, you are no worthy heir to the flames of shango” it countered,

Duval shrugged, drawing his blade that glowed with fire and heat,

“Let us test that out, shall we?” he asked,

The creature turned to Moyo, feeling the red burning helmet of the creature with runes empowering its flames point one finger at him,

“You, you smell and burn with the lineage of the great father, tell me, where do you hail from?” it asked,

“I am Moyo titan blade, child of the Yoruba clan, I move to the dance of shango, I embody the greed of Esu, I have drunk of the elixir of Oya and step with the feet of Ogun” he completed,

“This I see, this I know, for this alone I give you this choice once, retreat, leave this sacred home of the great father, lest you perish with these ones” it warned,

Moyo shook his head,

“The shango I know would show greater fury at a coward, no, we will reach the end of this cavern” Moyo said,

“Very well” the creature said,

“Let the great father bear witness to this, come then, I shall give you all a worthy death” it said as they attacked as once.