Rohan had shielded himself the moment he found the system, it was quite odd that the very domain of the titan lay just a system or two away from where Araman had cemented the domain of his now unified abyss. The thought still brought a bitter taste to his mouth, and in hindsight, he really should had played his cards closer to his chest. He thought he was leading the lord of destruction by the nose, that he could deliver him safely into the hands of Azael, that one abyssal lord couldn’t be too much of a problem. Now, he was on the run, from both sides, unable to face Araman in a straight duel and unwilling to return to Azael without any results.

His entire cult, wiped clean, a plan he had been building for centuries, all gone in the blink of an eye, simply because of one existence he hadn’t factored in, the titan blade. He had taken a while to think on it, to try and piece together the movements of the child, from his meteoric rise back in his home world, some backwater planet Rohan would remember to pay a visit to, to wipe it out of existence. To his performance at the swordsmanship tournament, to his rise to a self-made master and then pseudo primordial. Every step of the way, he had been there, somehow messing up things.

From Duhiri, to the planet of the true blade, to his plans for the now destroyed Dracon empire whose downfall had really started when Moyo had shown the whole Archailect the weakness of Kenuran. It was all old news, nothing he could do about that, he had started the cult of the undying hands from nothing, and he could do it again, build his power slowly as he leeched from Azael who was of wiping out the domains of a supreme being. The thought boggled his mind, the sheer scope of an entire galaxy and then some, being wiped clean from existence, the power of chaos was unexplainable and Rohan had found himself wanting it as well.

He ideally couldn’t go after Azael, that was death, but he could go after Araman, the pseudo prime abyssal lord hadn’t attained his full strength, from what he had found out, the last rune was in the possession of the house of the titan, another deciding factor that Rohan somehow found to be comfortably situated in the hands of the titan blade. The titan was dead, that much he knew, and yet, even as he breached the system of the titan and had seen the world literally gushing with aether, he marvelled at the raw aspect of the titan that bit at his existence, forcing him out.

It went against everything he knew, when a power died, for example, a primordial, their aspect begins to wane at an accelerated pace, weakening those they left behind, unless by some miracle, their vassals were rulers who could defend the holdings of their empires, and even at that, it bore the risk of destruction if they had accumulated numerous foes over their lifetime. A very good example of that was the Dracon empire, with the downfall of their two rulers, both ancients. Azar was dead, slain by Ajax and Hagan was rumored to had gone down with the destruction of their empire, probably slain by Ajax again.

The whereabouts of the omega blade was a mystery as well, he doubted he had gone to defend the last citadel, Xerxes or the harbingers would put him down immediately, although they had worked together to survive Azael, so that was something. Wherever Ajax was, no doubt, he was recuperating his strength, now that the both of them were in the same proverbial shoes, lost and without a place to call home. All he had wanted, was to carve out a place for the lost souls of the Archailect, to depose the so called powers of the Archailect that had allowed things to rot to the current stage that it was in. his methods had been less than clean, but you had to get your hands dirty if you wanted to get things done, his only mistake had been not putting the titan down when he had the chance, and even in death, he still haunted him, like the burst of power he had felt running through reality a while back. It felt like the titan and more, and for a brief second, Rohan had almost whimpered like a child afraid of the darkness.

Almost.

Did the house have some powerful weapon imbued with the aspect of the titan?, had they unleashed a protective artifact?, so many factors to consider really. And then, there was the ship that was so powerful, it warped reality simply by its passage, the Defiance, if he was correct, the flagship of the titan blade himself. It was more than a ship, it was a moving war planet on aether pump, its very body made of some metal Rohan had never seen before. It brought into question why Moyo hadn’t simply bombed the entire system of the abyss into smithereens, perhaps the full scope of what he wielded wasn’t understood by him and his retinue.

The ship had drawn closer to the system, it was how he had found the system of the titan blade, following it till it entered, and then, oddly enough, accelerated in another direction while few of the other ships had made their way to the large moon made of the same metal the ship had been made of that served as the first point of defense against outside forces. There, a total of five large war vessels had disgorged what looked like refugees, and it was there Rohan, with his shrouded core had joined, melting into the hundreds who awaited their chance to be dispersed into the numerous worlds of the house.

He watched as they were given food and clothing, the children taken to a safe space where what looked like toys were dumped in their hundreds to allow the parents to rest. Perhaps not everything in the Archailect was bad, but he had to start from somewhere, few of those kids could turn out to be tyrants tomorrow. That was his justification for his former plans, but there was nothing he could do about that for now, he simply sat in a corner, taking note of the different forces of the house and their ranks, seeing an unusual number of golds and diamonds, nothing was right about house titan blade.

If left unchecked, they could become the next house Dracon, with the titan blade not there to put them in line, and with the firepower they boasted of, five masters he could see walking around along with the news that each of the clan heads of the house was a master in their own right and powerful ones at that, it was a walking disaster. He had changed his features, into that of a bland looking man, bald headed and droopy figure, a perfect look for a refugee, perfect for what he intended after all.

Ω

Ajax chaffed as he stood at the entrance of the refugee space, watching the thousands as they shuffled around, at his side stood the master and head of the guardians of Moyo, the man known as Josh mithril warden, the Valoris, as he was called by others. Both stood, tensed at the presence of each other, unwilling to be the first to break the ice and Ajax grew weary of that. The news that Moyo was somehow alive and had summoned his vessel was something of joy and trepidation, he wasn’t sure he was ready to face him yet, and the order from the infuriating woman that for no better word was Moyo’s right hand woman had somehow eased and infuriated him. she had ordered him to stay behind and follow the vessels that were coming to defend the world from the eventual arrival of Azael, saying she had ‘seen something that would require his expertise’.

Whatever the thing was, she had been unwilling to explain, and she had held him down with her next words.

“You want to prove your loyalty to Moyo and to me?” she started.

“Then do as I say and stop asking questions”

Ajax had stared at the now cut off holographic image with shock, he could snap her spine without even trying!, to talk to him that way, but he had followed nonetheless as she knew he would. He hated oracles, the few interactions he had with the one he had met a few years ago still remained clear in his mind. he had been a wandering diamond then, trying to break his way through to master on his own strength. The best way was to keep battling powerful ascenders, trying to resonate with your aspect to get it to explode in power, and he had fought his way through an entire system in the fringes of the Archailect.

It had been known as the wastelands, a place where rogue diamonds and experts went to create fiefdoms, far from the eyes of the brigade who didn’t bother to police the system as it offered nothing to the Archailect. He had been stranded there, with nothing but a few diamond coins to his name and his blade, he had set about finding and killing anything that so much looked at him wrongly, quickly eating his way through the creatures on the world as dungeon outbreaks were a norm. He had come across a small hut, smack right in the middle of the creature infested forests.

He had wondered what unfortunate soul had been left there, a normal occurrence in these sorts of worlds when a relatively young woman came out, staring at him with eyes that glittered like stars, smiling at him and telling him he was late. Ajax’s first thought was to cut her head off, some creatures were known to disguise themselves with illusions, her next words however, caused him to pause though. She had told him he’d receive a job soon, something that would change his life either for good or bad, and he should follow his heart. It was weird he was remembering it now, perhaps he should had remembered just when he had released the bastard called Azael from prison.

He had gone on to protect her despite her saying she didn’t need it, and it was true, as for some reason, the creatures of the forest ignored her little patch of ground, baleful eyes staring at them from the darkness, he had killed off most of them after that. Even as he stood at the entrance, most of the refugees bowing when they glimpsed the Valoris, his armor reflecting that he was someone important. Josh was bristling, the command from Martha to stay behind had sat wrongly with him, and all of Ajax’s attempts at small talk had fallen silent, Ajax realizing the man wasn’t in a good mood.

The Valoris had sent the three remaining of his Shieldborne with the forces going to Moyo’s location, ordering them to bring him back alive, Ajax had seen the looks on their faces, they’d die before they see Moyo die again. To inspire such loyalty from his people had cause a slight ache in Ajax’s chest, even the short while the cult of the reaping katana he had created again, Ajax didn’t feel such for them. They were a means to an end for him, and that was all he saw them as, disposables to be discarded or to be left to fend for themselves. They had all met their ends when the harbingers came, he was sure of that, they’d had found him if they were still alive. The took a deep breathe, feeling Josh move at his side.

“I heard you’re a good swordsman” he said.

It took Ajax a while to know how to respond to that.

“Depends on who you ask” he said.

Josh glanced at him wordlessly.

“who’d win in a fight between you and Moyo?” he asked.

“I thought you’d call him my lord or something along those lines” Ajax said.

Josh merely blinked at him, Ajax rolling his eyes.

“I cannot say” he finally responded.

“Why?” Josh asked.

“People grow stronger, I watched Moyo tap into Anshara, a concept even rulers and ancients battle to attain as a mere diamond, I can’t say what level of strength and understanding of the blade he’s obtained currently” Ajax explained.

“As expected of our lord” Josh murmured.

Ajax cursed.

“Are all of you this way?” he asked.

Josh glanced at him.

“What way?” he replied.

“Totally oblivious to the way things work in the Archailect, totally desensitised to the natural order of things?” Ajax said.

Josh shrugged.

“I have no idea what you mean” he responded.

“of course, you don’t, Moyo just dumped you all in the Archailect with overwhelming power, it’s obvious in the way your people fight” Ajax said.

Josh turned sharply to him.

“You say we’re weak?” he asked.

It sounded like a challenge, and Ajax would love nothing more than to crush the kid, to show him the difference between the both of them, both skill wise and power wise, but he took a deep breathe. Shaking his head, he spoke.

“No, even a blind man can see you have power, an absurd amount for even masters” Ajax started.

“What I’m talking about is your natural skills as a fighter, weapons proficiency and the likes, its like you all just imbue your weapons with power and start hammering away” he said, eyes flicking to the hammer strapped to josh’s back.

“No offense” he said.

Josh ignored it.

“Can you train me?, the Shieldborne by extension?” he asked.

Ajax paused, eyeing him.

“I’m not sure your boss would like that” he replied.

“Moyo?” Josh asked.

“Yes, but not him, the scary woman” Ajax said with a shudder.

“Martha?” Josh said.

“Yes her, I’m strictly here to see Moyo, after that, I have no idea where my journey would take me” Ajax replied.

Josh paused, taking it in.

“Then I would like to contract you” he responded.

Ajax snorted.

“No offense, but you can’t afford me” he replied.

Masters were rich, but Ajax’s fees for training were either favors of absurd amount of money, and with the state of the Archailect, funds were hard to get, he wondered if the gold banks of the Archailect were still even functioning. Josh sighed.

“How much?” he asked.

“What?” Ajax asked, surprised.

“Your fee, how much?” he repeated slowly to Ajax, as if he was slow to hearing.

Ajax paused.

“Coins are useless to masters” Ajax said.

Josh merely raised an eyebrow.

“Legendary or mythical aether shards” Ajax said.

Not that he needed it, but he was tired of the ascender treating him like some roadside master, the Valoris blinked, Ajax satisfied that he had caught him offguard.

“How many?’ he asked.

Now it was Ajax’s time to pause.

“Ten legendary shards per ascender or one mythical” Ajax replied.

Josh had stared at him again, this time it creeped Ajax out.

“Wait a minute” Josh said and turned away, the glazing of his eyes showed he was accessing his Hud.

For a scary second, Ajax nurtured the notion that Moyo was handing out shards of such caliber to his vassals. Josh turned back to him.

“Agreed, but I want you to train me, us, in different weapons proficiency” he said.

Ajax paused.

“So, you guys would just drop shards like that?” he asked.

“One of the perks of a domain realm, you farm them from dungeons” Josh replied.

Ajax blinked at that, the terrifying thought, now he knew why primordials were rich beyond comprehension and why other lesser houses always danced to their tunes. Ajax paused, about to reply when something caught his attention, eyes zoning to a huddled figure at the far corner. He felt something resonate within him, faint, almost ignorable, but with a cold feeling, he realized what it was.

Chaos.

“Josh” he called.

“Clear this place in record time of refugees and I’d train you for free” he said.

Josh paused at that.

“Why?’ he asked.

“Because you have an agent of chaos in your midst” he replied, staring at the man who stared back at him.

Josh spoke into his Hud.

“This is Valoris Josh, override code alpha, by my order, all legion personnel are to obey my commands, all cohort lords are to converge on my location” he said.

“no” Ajax said.

“Me and you, we deal with this alone, show me what you can do” Ajax said with gritted teeth.

Josh nodded without complaints.

“Pause on that, legion lords, gather your forces and surround the orbital station, this is a containment protocol” he commanded.

The legion ascenders in the room moved quickly clearing the area of the thousands in minutes, Ajax walking slowly to the man as he slowly unshrouded his core, his blade in hand. Still the man stared at him with dark eyes, and when he sprung, Voidbringer swung through the air to clash with the chaos blade of the man. Both ascenders staggered under the effect of the aspect of the titan embedded into the metal, Aserite it was called, if Ajax remembered correctly.

Ajax fared better, the cosmic aspect infusing his body as he stared into the hatred filled eyes of Rohan.

“Damn you Ajax” he growled.

“Hello brother” Ajax replied with a dark smile.

Josh was suddenly at the back of Rohan, hammer swinging with all the force he could muster, coated with raw aura and titan aspect. Rohan moved in a blur, slamming Josh away as the Valoris rolled through the air, Ajax tsking, the child was used to fighting monsters. He unleashed a bit of the cosmic aspect, shearing through the blade of Rohan as he cursed before a kick slammed him to the metal ground that didn’t give way, impressing Ajax. Rohan was up, refixing his broken arm, Ajax swinging his blade with a grin on his face.

He was going to enjoy this.