Ken froze as an overwhelming aura bore down on him. It wasn't just fear—it was oppression, raw and absolute. His knees shook, but he remained standing, eyes locked on the hulking figure seated on a distant throne.
Beside him, Sam didn't flinch. The monstrous being radiated terror, yet it passed over Sam like wind around stone—as if it didn't even register him.
The figure stirred.
A soundless tension filled the air as the Titan descended the stairs from its throne. Each step was deliberate, shaking the ground and crushing the air. Ken's body screamed under the weight of its presence. He wanted to fall, to collapse—but he wouldn't. Not with Sam beside him.
He gritted his teeth and stood upright, though his head remained bowed, the pressure unrelenting.
"Run... Titan..." Ken whispered, barely audible.
He coughed blood. Then, louder: "Run away, now!"
Sam's heart pounded. "Titan?" The name wasn't in any of his lessons. It wasn't that he had forgotten—it was that no one knew.
Yet, somehow, his mind calmed. For an instant, the chaos cleared.
And then his blood ignited.
It wasn't fear. It was excitement. His body itched with tension—the thrill of facing something terrifying and beautiful in its power.
The Titan was grotesque: flesh layered where skin should be, red glowing eyes, taller than two men. A walking embodiment of strength. Something only to be told in tales.
It lunged.
Sam was fast—but the Titan was faster. A meaty fist collided with his side. The force threw him like a doll, smashing him into a wall. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he collapsed in a heap, his shirt torn and slick with crimson.
The Titan paused, peering down. Its expression twisted—not in rage, but in disappointment.
A monster... with emotion.
The sight stirred something ugly inside Sam.
Disgust. Rage.
The rage consumed him.
He had lost all control over his body. His mind drifting somewhere else...sowhere far. He moved on instinct, body unheeding the pain. His fists blurred as he struck again and again—uselessly—against the Titan's hardened body. But then, something changed.
A flash of energy, alien yet familiar, surged through him.
He struck.
This time, the Titan was thrown backwards—lifted from the ground. It send a shock down the earth as it crashed into the ground.
Sam collapsed instantly after, drained and unconscious.
But the Titan... changed.
The wound on its chest pulsated. Flesh rippled, reforming, strengthening. Its aura exploded, raw energy cracking the dungeon's walls and warping space itself. The air twisted. Time stuttered. It unleashed a wave of uncontrolled aether sending ripples through the dungeon space including the portal.
Hatred now filled the Titan's eyes.
In a blink, it stood over Sam's limp body, fist raised. Energy gathered at its core. It arched its body with both arms joined. A final strike.
---
[Inside Sam's Mind]
He floated, submerged in a deep ocean of despair. Voices echoed, whispering doubt.
You're a curse...
No one will mourn you.
It's easier to give up.
He heard his old classmates talking and laughing behind his back.
But Sam clenched his fists. He would not fall.
And in that resolve, something opened. A square-shaped construct—like a door—appeared to his side. Desperate, he leapt in.
Now, he stood in the sky.
Below: war.
Armies of monsters clashed with humans. Or so Sam thought at first. But soon he realised "they are not humans". Among the monster ranks were beings like dwarves, elves, and others Lova once described.
And a group of Titans led them. But these Titans were different—cloaked, armored, wielding devices of unknown power.
Sam watched, awestruck, as the gods decimated the battlefield. Unwavering.
Sam had firsthand saw the powers the Titans weilded. Superior technology. Mysterious objects that could turn the landscapes and open up portals tearing through space. But even such strength didn't help the Titans overpower their enemy. They were "gods" somthing Sam had only heard in myths, having enough power to create and destroy worlds.
Even with superior numbers, the monsters fell. The Titans' defenses cracked. Reality itself bent to the gods' will.
Then came the Titan leader.
Towering above all, scarred and solemn, he placed a small black box on the ground.
The gods hesitated.
In fear.
For the first time, they acted—not with superiority—but desperation. They dove into the enemy's core, their attacks shaking the sky.
The Titan raised a curved sword, arched his back... Ready to strike the box.
---
[Back in Reality]
The ripple from the dungeon reached the surface. Civilians outside fainted. Aether became unstable.
Anna, sensing the threat, dropped her pen mid-form and bolted to the dungeon gate. Edward was already there, twin axes in hand. And a shield tied to his back.
Neither spoke.
They dove into the portal.
At the boss room: carnage.
Ken lay unconscious.
Sam—bleeding, still.
The Titan loomed, its fist descending.
Edward struck, intercepting with his shield, holding the Titan back for all he could before he gets knocked back like a toy.
Anna, eyes flaring, threw open her satchel.
"Heal," she chanted. Aether glowed. Sam's wounds stitched, but not fully. His internals seriously damaged from overdue.
BOOM!!!
It was Edward. He had been flinged back to the walls crushing his ribs.
"Annihilation Ray!" Anna roared, hands glowing white.
A beam surged—clean, precise—into the Titan's heart.
Right where Sam had struck earlier.
The beast groaned, staggered... and dropped to its knees.
Dead.
---
[Inside Sam's Mind – Aftermath]
The Titan leader lay dying. His blood pooled into the earth. Above him stood a man with white hair and cold eyes—once a comrade, now a traitor.
The gods looked on, silent and still, before walking into a portal—expressionless, unmoved.
---