Leaks—the grotesque monsters created by Severin—had dark mana coursing through their veins, making them easy for Sade to control, unlike the virtuous Vergants of Primus. The beasts came in all forms—some running on all fours, others slithering like snakes—and their eyes glowed a haunting violet under Sade’s command. They had one directive which was to kill anything that wasn’t him or his allies.

  Tee and Saeda were forced to fight through the horde, not just to continue their hunt for the fragment but to stay alive. The creatures were fast, relentless, attacking from every angle with snapping jaws and clawed limbs.

  Fortunately, the ground was riddled with massive trenches that plunged thousands of feet into the abyss. Tee and Saeda used them to their advantage, dodging bites and sending monsters tumbling into the darkness with powerful kicks, thumps, and sword strikes.

  “Go!” Tee shouted to Saeda. She wanted the freak—Sade—all to herself.

  Saeda slipped past Sade and the snarling beasts, only to find herself staring at two crossed swords forming an X. One was hers and the other belonged to the woman before her—Lilith, with eyes black as tar.

  Lilith’s tongue shot from her mouth like an arrow aimed straight for Saeda’s skull. Saeda tilted her head just in time, the slick projectile grazing past. Before Lilith could retract it, Saeda summoned another sword and swung at Lilith’s head.

  She quickly abandoned any thought of using her visions—touching Lilith to gain insight was suicide. Her mind switched to fight-or-die mode when sparks erupted where her sword clashed against Lilith’s hand.

  Lilith had stopped the blade—the same sword capable of slicing through metal pillars—with her bare hand. Before the shattered fragments hit the ground, Saeda was hurled backward by the impact, crashing and rolling across the cracked earth.

  Lilith stepped forward to finish her off but was suddenly intercepted by a red-eyed, mini-beast charging with twin swords—Kie.

  He’d recovered from the burns on his hand after slicing Lilith’s tongue earlier and had taken advantage of her distraction to attack.

  Flames engulfed Lilith’s sword, painting the air with searing orange light. She swung it repeatedly, clashing against Kie’s blades in bursts of fire and sparks. Each blow shattered his swords. Still, he kept summoning new ones, alternating hands with every counter. Lilith’s expression remained cold, unimpressed—her blackened eyes watching him like a mother scolding a child.

  Step by step, he was pushed backward, fully aware that she was leagues beyond him. But he refused to stop. After all, it was his bare neck that had shattered her sword not long ago.

  Nearby, Saeda rolled to a stop at Sade’s feet. He was busy maintaining control of his Leak minions while Tee kept cutting them down, sending more plummeting into the trenches. His right eye twitched in irritation as another beast fell. Why wouldn’t that human stay down?

  The Sentinels of the planet were becoming too troublesome. Still, it wasn’t the right time to pass on a message to the vessel, Tee, so he pretended not to recognize her.

  Feeling the tremors intensify beneath him, Sade debated whether to conserve energy for breaking the Sealed Bond or use it to crush their foes. He raised his hands, and a massive slab of earth surged upward, slamming into Tee with bone-rattling force. She was flung back, gasping as she felt something crack inside her ribs.

  Above, the fragment continued its ascent toward the archway. Legion noticed the swift-moving mortal below.

  Miko hated facing Legion again. That fiery grin beneath his hood was just as terrifying as before. Her plan was simple—run around him so fast that she would drain the oxygen from his surroundings, suffocating him before driving her sword through his hood.

  She bolted at full speed. The air spun into a mini-tornado around him. Legion laughed, his voice echoing in a thousand overlapping tones.

  It wasn’t working.

  Weakened, Miko tried to pull away—but a sudden blow smashed into her, sending her tumbling violently across the ground.

  Saeda had just gotten to her feet when a burst of purple lightning ripped past her. She barely dodged in time. The blast missed—but still hurled her backward, convulsing with shock. A direct hit would’ve knocked her unconscious, forcing a premature healing state—game over.

  Zod arrived at the scene just as the redirected lightning struck him. He instinctively raised his sword to block it—realizing too late what he’d done.

  The current tore down the metal blade in a violent surge. When it reached the insulated handle, the material detonated with a deafening crack.

  The explosion shredded through his palm, splitting skin and muscle as molten metal fused into the flesh. His fingers curled grotesquely, some snapping backward at unnatural angles while others clung half-melted to the hilt. The stench of scorched flesh filled the air as he screamed, collapsing and rolling across the ground, leaving smears of blood and charred skin behind.

  “Zod!” Miko shouted, forcing herself upright.

  Tee, still aching from Legion’s earlier kick, staggered up with fury burning in her chest.

  “That freak. No one uses my body as a stepping stone!”

  The tremors beneath her feet grew stronger, shaking the ground until even the pebbles bounced in rhythm. Her eyes widened in horror.

  She turned toward the distant opening they’d entered through—and froze.

  The titan was coming.

  A massive boulder crashed through the top of the archway, flying across the chamber before tumbling with a deafening impact. Dust and rock erupted in waves. Tee didn’t need to wait for it to settle—she could already see the colossal figure emerging from the haze.

  The giant ax came first, tearing through the dust cloud, followed by one of its four enormous legs. The creature Lilith had once shattered was whole again—its upper and lower halves fused seamlessly.

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  Its four legs weren’t attached by bone or muscle but suspended by some invisible force. Its head bore no face—only flat, maze-like surfaces twisting in impossible geometry.

  It wasn’t truly alive, she realized. Like the flying monsters before, it was another of the fragment’s defenses. And it wanted the same thing they did.

  How were they supposed to fight the Harbingers and the fragment’s guardian at the same time? They couldn’t side with it either. Anything unlinked to the fragment was considered an enemy.

  The ground trembled as it stomped forward, sculpting a giant arrow from the earth. It placed it onto its bow and fired—like a missile loose from a god’s hands. Its target was the closest “ant” near the fragment.

  Tee watched as the arrow cut through the air, realization dawning—its three weapons were designed for different ranges.

  The ax for close combat, the fiery whip for mid-range, and the bow for long distance.

  Its four arms made perfect sense—each weapon demanded full control. Its upper body rotated freely, untethered from its lower half by that strange invisible force.

  The arrow flew past the fragment, which was still being drawn toward the titan’s head. It streaked toward Legion—but exploded into sand before impact.

  The titan didn’t stop to inspect its work. It kept charging, each footfall a small earthquake.

  When the dust cleared, Legion stood unscathed inside an orb-shaped barrier made of bones and skulls. The arrow had detonated harmlessly against it.

  The titan raised its whip arm next. Legion braced behind his barrier as the creature lashed out, sending a blazing wave of fire that scorched everything in its path.

  Riven, the black bird, flew higher to escape the inferno.

  Sid, in the midst of electrocuting Tee where she floated trapped in his sorcery, switched focus to shield himself from the wave—leaving her to fall while outside his protection.

  Tee dove flat, feeling the heat sear over her back, burning the bun from her hair.

  It didn’t matter. Lilith intervened. Her sword elongated threefold, and she unleashed a mighty slash that sent a wind burst powerful enough to extinguish the Titan’s firestorm.

  Tee glared in disbelief.

  Of course. Everyone else got a taste of Lilith’s saving grace—everyone except her. All she got was the faint breeze that cooled the steam from her scorched hair.

  Who was to blame? Legion, for kicking her halfway across the field. If she had a mirror, she’d shatter it from sheer frustration.

  Sade lifted Tee again, steam rising from her, ready to continue what he had started—but he miscalculated. Tee seized the moment, driving a fierce kick straight into his groin. Pain cracked through his barrier, shattering it, and she sprinted free.

  The fragment hovered just shy of the titan’s head when Riven swooped down, snatching it mid-air. The connection to the titan broke instantly.

  The bird tried to escape through a vortex—but had to turn intangible again to dodge a spinning sword hurled by Kie.

  Lilith, still facing the opposite direction, didn’t notice as Kie sprinted and launched the attack. The fragment fell—and Miko, ignoring the agony in her legs, darted forward and kicked it toward Kie.

  He caught it just as Sade manipulated the ground beneath Miko, trapping her feet. The bones in her legs tore through her skin from the force of her speed. She crashed, rolling in a trail of blood.

  “Damn it!” Tee winced, forcing herself to look away. Did Sade really do that? The bastard.

  Whatever agony Miko was in, Tee couldn’t afford distraction. The titan’s thunderous steps still shook the battlefield.

  Kie backed away, clutching the fragment, as the giant closed in. Behind it, Lilith, Sade, and Legion were already converging. He turned and bolted, blood dripping from his hands.

  Where were his dependable teammates? He cursed under his breath, darting between debris.

  Tee sprinted to intercept, hoping Kie could toss the fragment her way before the Harbingers cornered him. Her heart pounded like a war drum. That felt like some twisted version of basketball with lives at stake.

  Then she remembered. The goal wasn’t to escape with the fragment, but to use it—to end the Harbingers there and now.

  Miko and Zod were down. Only she and Saeda could still move.

  Lilith’s tongue shot toward Kie’s skull. Tee hurled a sword just in time, the blade shattering against the tongue midair and Lilith snapping it back.

  She’d wanted to aim for Lilith’s head but Kie’s life came first. Her sword couldn’t kill Lilith anyway. None of them could. Still, she’d be damned if all their pain ended in defeat.

  The Harbingers stepped aside as the titan loomed closer. Its ax lifted high—ready to strike Kie. Sade began tracing glowing purple symbols while the earth under Kie cracked and rose, lifting him fast toward the ax’s path.

  Kie crouched to steady himself, then—realizing the inevitable—hurled the fragment. Tee’s eyes followed it through the air. She ignored the deafening crash as the titan’s ax connected with Kie, erupting in dust.

  Before the fragment could fall far, the fiery whip lashed out, coiling around it and pulling it to the titan’s head.

  A hollow ache spread through Tee’s chest. Her legs buckled.

  “No… Nooo!”

  Lilith, Sade, and Legion stood nearby, watching as the fragment fused to the titan’s forehead. Lilith turned to her companions, telepathically issuing a command. They nodded and departed.

  She’d had enough of seeing that rock monster rise again. That time, she would end it even if it meant risking the fragment’s teleportation to some lost realm. The fragments couldn’t be destroyed individually. But if the titan’s defense was shattered, the fragment would vanish and a reset would come.

  Sade and Legion departed to handle the remaining “bugs”—the two Sentinels still on their feet. Lilith wanted no distractions.

  Tee barely had time to breathe before a powerful force struck her, hurling her into a trench. She stabbed a sword into the wall, halting her fall.

  Looking up, she locked eyes with a pale, grey-haired man dressed in black, staring down at her with a dead calm.

  “You!” she spat, fury flashing across her face.

  His emotionless expression said only one thing. Death.

  Purple symbols glowed around his hands. The walls of the trench slammed together with crushing force with her inside.

  Sid turned away before the dust settled, walking toward Saeda, who was still stabbing at the earth binding her legs. Something under her shirt caught his attention—a dark energy, faintly pulsing. He could sense it even through the fabric.

  So the “bugs” were resilient. They just kept getting up. Perhaps killing them wasn’t the right answer.

  Zod had finally risen, clutching a new sword in his good hand. His vision cleared just in time to see a black hand descend and cover his entire face.

  Legion’s.

  He shoved Zod down so hard that the back of his skull plowed through the dirt like a blade. The agony was unbearable. Zod screamed, blood streaming from his eyes like tears as his body was grated raw against the earth.

  Each fragment mission felt like a nightmare repeating itself. He knew it would all reset soon—that he’d wake up with no visible scars, but that didn’t stop the pain. Every second of it felt real.

  When Legion finally stopped, Zod lay half-buried, as though already in his grave. Legion could’ve shoveled dirt over him and sung him a lullaby.

  Then—a flicker of blue light sparked beneath his hand. But it was too late. His body slipped into a deep sleep. Legion raised his hand slowly, gazing down at the mangled young man beneath him. No heartbeat.

  He didn’t bother finishing it. He’d see the boy again soon, anyway. Anything else would be a waste.

  Legion stepped aside, releasing the slender creature within him. It materialized, its body slowly wrapping in strips of white bandage. He intended to let it devour the corpse—but then Sade’s telepathic voice cut through his mind.

  He had found something… interesting.