Chapter 1623: The Titan’s Ship EIGHTY YEARS AFTER THE BIRTH OF NEW LIGHT. A massive dimensional ship stretching for millions of miles traversed through the void of the Great Darkness, heading towards a distant sixth-dimensional realm. A dimensional ship of this size could hold billions, but within this ship were only a hundred, and these hundred were Titans. Ancient Titans that once walked among Reality were exterminated during the Primordial War, but a hundred sleeping Titans dwelt in this ship. This dimensional ship resembled a colossal cathedral, with a sleek, angular hull adorned with arcane runes that glowed as it cut its way through space and time. The arcane runes caused the ship to appear as if it was fading in and out of Reality, but that was due to the dimensionally forged alloy that plated the ship, which was capable of withstanding dimensional rifts and cosmic forces. The sleeping Titans were in reinforced docking cradles to protect and isolate them from Reality because the Great Darkness was no longer a safe place. If these measures were not taken, it was very likely that these Titans would not reach their destination. All hundred Titans were eighth-dimensional entities, Old Ones of unfathomable power, but in the current state of Reality, they could not be assured of safety if proper care was not taken. In the core of the ship was its spirit, an intelligence nurtured for billions of years to pilot all the Titans’ dimensional ships, more than a hundred of which were under its control. In the last decade alone, a dozen of these ships have been lost, and every loss was a crushing blow to the Titan’s dominion, because they were nearly irreplaceable. Reality was changing, with new and powerful resources being born out of relatively thin air, but not quickly enough to satisfy the endless appetite to produce a single dimensional ship. Hence, resources had to be carefully managed. The ship’s intelligence was surveilling the darkness until it detected suspicious activities ahead. After some quick analysis, it was determined that they had been detected. Readying itself for battle, it sent a quick burst of data to the ship’s captain, the Divine Titan, Ximos. ® Ximos was inside his mental space, dreaming of battle. He was born in an endless war, moulded by it, from the moment he opened his eyes and drew his first breath, slaughter had been his closest companion. His Destiny shivered, and he knew the call of the ship was coming many moments before it happened, and so he pulled out of the slaughter inside his mental space, expecting something much more real, and maybe more disappointing. Not everyone had eight Major Eras to perfect the act of combat, and although Reality was changing fast, and its inhabitants growing more dangerous, there were few things that could beat out the experience that was gained through time. Ximos’s eyes opened, and in them was nothing but darkness. The orbs of his eyes were blacker than night because he was born in the depths of the Abyss before the Primordials stole it from them. Armor made from refined Archon Magic pulsed and groaned around his massive sixteen-kilometer body as he undocked from his cradle. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎 For a being of his size, Ximos moved with supernatural agility. His body did not seem bound by gravity or any external forces. He appeared humanoid, but with his eight arms and broad batlike wings folded behind him, Ximos was a True Titan born from the blood of Xanthul, the Torch Dragon. Connecting his mind to the ship, he boosted his perception to the limit, and like a blooming flower, his mind escaped from the boundaries of the ship, crossing time and space, and saw the source of the disturbance. There was a battle fortress ahead of them that had not existed when the space ahead had been scanned, a few Dimensional Cycles ago. This fortress if compared to their ship was crudely made, but what it lacked in engineering and Arcane ingenuity, it made up with power and a lot of high-level materials. From the brief touch of his perception, Ximos could feel so much energy compacted in the fortress that only a Reality of today could hold. “Like children playing with the first flames,” Ximos growled. Yet this did not mean that whoever was in the fortress was not dangerous; for a warrior like Ximos, it was the opposite. Those with great power who did not know how to use it were more often than not dangerous. Ximos did not crudely push his perception into the fortress; that could have been easily detected. For a Titan of his lineage, he had better tools. With his perception locked onto the fortress, his eyes, which were blacker than night, suddenly changed state, and they blazed brighter than any star in the sky. The fortress seemed to melt before his gaze, and the secrets it held within were revealed. With his connection with the ship’s intelligence, he had a steady update of information on what he was looking at. Using his omniscience alongside his vision would surely trigger those within the fortress, and he had to depend on the ship. It did not take long for the ship to search through the Aether, connecting to various information hubs, and his answers were given to him. The Omicron Berserkers: A new faction that has risen up in the Ascher Quadrants with an ancient history that followed the line of the Hollow Emperor. This faction has risen with the presence of a hundred Primordial Vortices in their domain, and they have gathered a wide variety of races under them. Threat Assessment: Relatively Dangerous. They have a few peak-level powerhouses who remain firmly within their domains, but the presence of a hundred Primordial Vortices in their control has led to the birth of millions of Old Ones. The Hischer Fortress: Built from the core of an Abyssal Champion and a billion-dimensional alloy. This fortress was made to hold back the destruction of a million dimensions. Presently holding a thousand Old Ones and billions of lesser dimensional entities. It is primed for war. Recommendation: We find an alternate route towards Origin. Ximos dwelled on the recommendation of his ship for a moment before he discarded it. His instincts were telling him that the presence of the Hischer Fortress on their route was not a random occurrence. They were not the only ones who desired to reach Origin, and if they wasted time trying to find another route, Ximos feared that they would still encounter other Fotresses who would block them. “Ship, how many Battle Fortresses are controlled by the Omicron Berserkers?” There was barely a pause before a reply came to him, “The Leader of the Omicron Berserker, Ranthul the Builder, is suspected to be a former Celestial Creator of the Old Light, and controls the Supreme Divine Ability, Hollow Forge. Accurate assessment of the number of Fotresses cannot be given, but it is estimated to be within a hundred to three hundred.” Ximos frowned before he made a decision; they had already been detected. Perhaps those in the fortress did not know that this was a Titan’s ship because its signature was extremely low, appearing more like a small frigate than a massive dimensional ship. They would send someone to investigate the anomaly heading towards them soon. The Divine Titan gave his instructions, “Awaken, my brothers, we go through them.” NOTE: Dimensional Cycles would be a new term that would be used for the passage of time in Reality. We are now fully in the multi-dimensional stage of the story, and this is a way to reflect this change.