The War Wolves

Rowan was recognized by the guards at the door and let through and led towards a separate area. The building was amazing, it sat in the corner of New Ark city but there was a massive elevator that led to a separate base that was on the top of the ship that had a wide open view of space and acted as the command center for the entire Ark. The building he initially walked into was a massive military installation made of sleek metal panels that reflected the sunlight. It was complete with a training area and all types of normal forces. There was enough space in the building for strategy meetings, among other things, but the barracks that belonged to expert cultivators were the one atop the ark.

It was known as the Omega base and Rowan was currently in the elevator, headed towards it. He reached the top quickly, and another middle-aged man in some type of military uniform was waiting for him to escort him to the designated meeting area of his unit. Each unit had an entire wing thanks to space runes that were used in the construction of the building. From the outside, the Omega base was not even big enough to be fully seen on the massive hull of the ark. On the inside it was bigger than a continent. Rowan could only marvel at the genius way the space runes had been used here. Regius could deploy millions of soldiers in an instant because they were all just right on the top of the ship.

The man handed Rowan a badge and a keycard and pointed down a hallway before heading back down the hallway from where they came. Rowan stood smiling and walked down the hall towards the sound of voices. He clipped the badge to his shirt and scanned his badge and the door opened while the sounds from the room stopped as the door opened and he walked through. The room looked like a lounge complete with a fridge and other amenities but in the middle of the room was a small cylinder that came up to about Rowan's knees. It activated the moment he stepped into the room. A holographic image of Regius came to life above the cylinder and he surveyed the room with a smile before he began to speak.

"All of you are the best of the best, demigods, all with the ability to fight gods in open combat. Most of you hail from some of the most prestigious families." He looked at each of the people in turn and called them one by one. Alaric Sol, rising star of a new line of dragons and the shining star of the sun clan. Chase winters, of the rising winters family and top graduate of the royal academy of the first layer. Minos, orphan of the monster race and their chosen champion. Fjell thundershaker, of the giant royal family and star of the arena. Last but not least is your leader, Rowan Raid, disciple of the king." The rest seemed to all know each other, but hearing that Rowan would be their leader brought different looks to each of their faces. Something that caused the holographic Regius to snicker before hiding it away, causing the others to turn back at him and wonder what had just happened, while Rowan could only shake his head.

"Now your unit is composed of the five of you, while each of you has proven capable of fighting gods to a certain degree. Your unit is freshly composed and has a single purpose in the ongoing war effort. Your objective will be to invade enemy worlds and, by any means necessary, destroy the world cores or, if you so choose, bring them back to be rewarded with extra military merit. Your unit is composed of five powerful combatants that make up a full party, but it will also allow you to stay under the radar while you invade planets and remove their cores, kill anyone that would stand in your way. They all nodded their heads except one person, Rowan. "Why?" The rest looked at him, stunned that he had just questioned the king, but Regius knew that Rowan would ask. He nodded and explained. People followed his orders without question but he never had a problem with being questioned when it was a good one.

"In the myriad realms, powers are massive batteries of mana, in my homeland they were even capable of choosing their own champions and bolstering them, but in the true myriad realms they instead empower whoever gains control of them, it would take too much time to sway the consciousness of planets older than all of us who have been nurturing their native races for eons so I would rather see them destroyed or of course them brought back to the Ark to further bolster our power. The Ark was originally built on these world cores and they continued to evolve by consuming others, further boosting the denizens of the ark. Even in pieces, they have value." The last line was said with a wink towards Rowan, why he had no clue.

"Your first mission will be the day after tomorrow. Your quarters have everything you will each need. Each of you has a custom mech that has been bestowed upon you that can be repaired by the mechanics if need be. Your wing of the facility has its own healing quarters and you each have your own rooms. Your squad has been designated the War wolves. You answer directly to Rowan, who will answer directly to me. All rules of the army still apply. If you want his position, then prove that you are worthy of it and beat him and take it in a duel." Rowan already knew the headache was coming the moment Regius finished speaking because the quiet room instantly spoke up, or at least one person did. Chase winters looked at Regius and bowed, "Your majesty while it may be presumptuous of me, why are we being led by someone with no name for himself other than being his disciple, any one of us have proved themselves more than he, it is only right that he should have to challenge us."

Regius had an amused look on his face. "He was chosen because he is the strongest among you and he has proven himself to the only person that matters: me. If you would like to prove me wrong, then go ahead. Just be ready for your mission tomorrow. Rowan, call me from your quarters before the end of the day. Regius out." The hologram blinked out and before any words could be said, chase winters took steady steps towards Rowan. He was about to speak when Rowan held his hand up. "Just lead the way. I don't care for the extra theatrics of some pick me kid, simply lead the way." Chase got red in the face and was about to say something while his mana pulsed around him. "Fine, I'll show you just how undeserving you are, then."

Chase stormed past him, and Rowan followed after him with the other following close behind. Rowan had realized a very important fact already though, and that was that despite being able to battle gods, he could not sense soul force from a single one of them. So ultimately there was no way that they would stand a chance, but Rowan also knew that as the leader of the party he could not have anyone questioning him during a mission, so this was a great opportunity to show them all the difference between them. They reached a private training room that was much like the one Rowan had stayed in the first time he trained with his master. Chase winters stood across the room already. He had short white hair that was gelled back with yellow skin, and sharp facial features complete in a pointy nose. He was wearing the same standard military uniform that Rowan had still not put on and could not decide if he wanted to put on.

The other had gone to stand on the side but Rowan turned to them. "Would you all like to join him? This will be over quickly otherwise. Alaric shook his head. He had long, bright golden hair that he had tied to a bun on his head, which he shook. "If the king says you are the strongest, I'm not inclined to call him a liar. Minos had dark brown skin and bright yellow eyes while two horns came from his head, but he stood taller than even Alaric. "My minotaur race has a strong nose for danger and I think I am going to choose to listen to it leader. Fjell, on the other hand, looked conflicted before he sighed. "Chase has a level of strength that is equal to mine, your fight will show me enough… unless it doesn't, in which case I'll fight Chase and take it from him while he's weak." Rowan nodded his head and smiled "Smart, alright then Chase give me your best shot."

Chase did exactly that. His fingers began to make different hand signs and cold mana blasted around the room, and the image of a moon shimmered into being behind him. His voice seemed to match the cold of the room. "Endless Night." Dark mana poured from the moon and erased the room and eroded all of Rowan's senses, putting him in a world of complete darkness, while at the same time even the mana in the room fell silent. Rowan was amazed at the ability, but unfortunately, while he could not pick out his attunement, he did ascertain his class. Chase winters was a support. Rowan got done marveling right as he felt the threat of death as being of shadow leapt at him with a dagger aimed for his throat. Rowan finally released his soul force, and it blasted around him and dispersed the shadow attacker. He conjured something in his hand and threw it forward with a nonchalant look on his face. "Sun Storm."

Beams of sunlight blasted out in the shape of weapons that blasted into the darkness and destroyed it before focusing all its attention on a single point. The moon reappeared and swept forward to stop the solar storm, wielded in the hand of the reappeared Chase. His face was sweating while he battled the solar storm with the moon image. He was preparing another spell when Rowan summoned the storm glaive and turned it into a javelin. He summoned the Immortal cloud, and it wrapped around the weapon as Rowan threw it. Chase had just dispersed the solar storm when the Javelin reached him and an Astra dagger flew from his chest and defended him before landing in his hand. Rowan appeared next to the javelin the moment it was deflected, caught it and sent a kick directly into his chest. He went flying and before he could recover, Rowan poured his soul force into a mud storm and threw it.

The dagger sliced through it, but it had blocked his vision long enough for the fist of the storm giant to punch him into the ground and then punch him again for good measure. He was laying in a crater in the floor covered in blood, never having used most of his skills. The others had felt that Rowan was using soul force the moment the fight began and knew the outcome. They just did not expect it to be so one sided. Rowan smiled at all of them. "Happy to make your acquaintance, fellow war wolves. Be ready by 0600, I'll see you all tomorrow. Rowan simply walked away after that, leaving the unconscious chase right in the hole he was in.