I stared at the Corrupted Titan known as the Winter Beast.
And it stared at something I couldn't quite make out.
It looked to be focused on something, it's attention unwavering.
Curious and slightly uneasy, I decided to speak up.
"what's the matter?"
An answer didn't come, but the Titan did start moving.
Just not in our original direction.
Dammit all!
Cursing inwardly about half a hundred times, I remained helpless on top of the Beast as it ignored my words and actions.
After another ten minutes of trying to snap it back to reality, I gave up.
It's fine, really, its all good.
This totally might not just get me killed, or take up enough time for the war to start.
Letting out a sigh, I sat down.
Dismissing the mask I grabbed my face in both of my hands.
I would need to go alone if the battle did start.
But how would I even stop two armies?
Flipping the space is viable, on a single house.
Not an entire fucking battlefield!
Rubbing at my blank eyes, I continued pondering.
I could teleport the Titan to the battlefield, it would be extremely taxing, but I should have around two full cores left.
Able to support in a crisis. Not to mention my dear companions.
But I doubt the Titan himself would like that.
And I would have no way of knowing it anyways.
Hell, it might just turn on me if I did.
And then what?
I teleported an unstoppable creature in the middle of the battlefield and ran away?
No. I would need to talk to it while it fought.
And if I'm lucky, the Awakened and Masters would vacate the area entirely.
Hopefully, no Saints would be present.
Especially not Saint Tyris.
She would be troublesome, and she's a good person.
I'd hate to take part in her death in any way.
For now, it didn't matter. There was still time.
Besides, I am more curious what got the Titan's attention.
Before my eyes widened in shock.
[Spectral] the ever present attribute that allowed me to see souls and soul cores, finally caught a glimpse of something very, very far away.
My entire body shuddered violently, the soul so disgusting it nearly made me puke.
Pushing away the mask to the side, I clamped a gloved hand over my mouth.
I didn't dare puke on the Titan below me, nor teleport, for all I knew, it could make it worse.
Trying to ignore the soul of the creature as best I could, a hand covering my mouth, and kneeling on the alive ice sculpture.
It began.
I was only surprised it took so long.
My thoughts blurred into a single giant convoluted bubble in my mind, slowly darkening with black and crimson.
My vision turned black at the edges, only the thing I stared at being visible.
My muscles started twitching, as if static was being run through them.
And oh my heart, it slowed bit by bit, yet the beats grew louder and louder, until suddenly it was the only thing audible to my undoubtedly bleeding ears.
And yet, the heart only twitched every other minute.
My fingers and toes grew numb, as if starting to freeze.
I fought desperately to keep supplying the dagger for the vision I so desperately required, losing focus every passing moment.
I couldn't lose it, it was the only thing keeping me together at this current moment.
I felt Mirage manifest close by through our connection as well as the essence he began dumping into his hexes.
Alas, it was too late. The process had already started. Now, I was the only thing keeping myself me.
*
"So the Winter Beast changed direction once again, this time, heading straight for the only thing capable of opposing it?"
A cold yet soft voice asked.
"Indeed my lady."
The young man replied, not daring to lift his eyes and stare into the threatening eyes of the Saint.
She hummed softly, sipping at her drink slowly.
There was only one possibility in her mind.
The Corrupted Titan was certain of it's victory.
It couldn't be that the other Titan had been weakened, no such reports were present, not to mention the lack of anyone or anything capable of doing such.
So if neither of them had weakened, and neither of them had grown in power.
There was only one possibility.
Her tea suddenly forgotten and dropped to the ground, she shot up from her chair and through the door of her office.
Her speed, one of the things she was loved and feared for, was now her greatest asset, as she blitzed through the entire large government building, searching for one of two individuals.
A minute later, she found her second option.
It being none other than the beautiful woman named Jet.
Sky Tide stopped just in front of the soul reaper, the dark haired woman's hand nearly dropping her cup of coffee as the wind slammed into her and blasted her hair backwards.
A slight huff escaped her, before she politely coughed and raised a delicate eyebrow.
"What may I help you with?"
She asked, her tone easily conveying her annoyance as well as the intrigue she felt.
Not mentioning the sudden glimmer of amusement that had entered her gaze.
The master could imagine at what speeds the Saint had to be moving for the wind pressure to be so strong.
And she bet some unlucky Awakened had been carrying papers in her path.
The mere thought of the possibility nearly made her let out a chuckle.
After a moment of composing herself and fixing her hair, the Saint finally replied to the question.
"I need to contact Sunless. Now."
She all but commanded Jet.
To which the Master only rose an eyebrow once more.
But nonetheless, she took out her communicator with her free arm.
"Privately."
Tyris added before Jet could press the call button.
A few minutes later, they stood in an empty office room, belonging to Jet.
The woman stared at the very unusual sight of Tyris being so… energetically serious?
She coughed to hide her amusement at the thought.
Soon enough, the young yet respected captain of the shadow cohort answered the call.
"Jet?"
Was his greeting.
She waved but didn't talk, turning the device towards Tyris.
"Oh hello Saint Tyris."
He respectfully greeted, yet even Jet, now being barely able to see the screen, could see the reluctance of speaking to the woman he apparently had.
"The boy is heading with the Winter Beast to fight Lythos."
Silence.
This time, Jet did drop her cup of coffee, eyes wide.
Sunless on the other hand, looked to be still processing the information.
"He is what?"
"Heading to fight Lythos."
Tyris repeated.
Sunless, now sure that he hadn't misheard, shot up from his seated position.
"Why the hell is he doing that?!"
He shouted out, the worry evident in his tone.
Tyris couldn't give the man an answer, but she did know one thing.
The two corrupted Titan's were forces of nature on the battlefield, equal in power and their abilities being roughly similar.
They had never faced each other, although have met.
Obviously, they thought a fight was pointless.
Their level of power giving them superior instincts, if not even a base level of intelligence.
But now, the Winter Beast was deliberately heading to a fight, changing its path to align itself with Lytho's own.
Tyris knew what would happen of the battle.
The entire section of the continent would be left a crater, if it wouldn't sink entirely.
And she also knew whoever came on top, would be severely weakened.
Perhaps even enough for herself to finish it off.
"When will you return?"
Tyris asked the shadow.
There was a brief pause, as the man in question pondered it.
Nodding to himself, he answered the Saint.
"I should be back by tomorrow evening, definitely before midnight."
Tyris nodded, pleased with the answer.
"You and Jet will take up any matters that would fall on me while I'm gone."
Jet coughed violently, the candy she had just put in her mouth getting stuck in her throat at the absurdity of what she had just heard.
Sunless was in similar disbelief, unsure of how to even respond to that.
Sky Tide didn't give them time to rebuff her words, ending the call and leaving the room before Jet could even say a word.
The Saint didn't have time, she needed to prepare herself and gather supplies.
As well as travel to the battlefield before the battle between the two Corrupted Titans ended.
A slight sliver of excitement entered her heart, one that she slaughtered after a moment.
She wanted to see the battle, the wills of the Titans crashing against each other.
Alas, both of their deaths were more important.
She would strike with all her might if an opening appeared.
*
Sunny stared at his communicator, gobsmacked.
'Had she really just done that?'
He thought, unsure if this was some sort of joke.
But soon enough, he brushed off the on focused on the more important thing.
Tyris had mentioned Apex and the Winter Beast heading towards Lythos.
Sunny knew that those two purposefully avoided each other.
So undoubtedly, a battle was coming.
Sunny groaned, dragging his palms across his face slowly.
After a few minutes of silence, he muttered to himself.
"You're going to be the death of me."
Then he stood up, heading to inform his cohort that they needed to increase their pace.
***
How long has it been? Minutes? Hours? Days? Weeks even?
I couldn't tell.
Hell, I'm afraid of even fueling the dagger for my vision.
An involuntary shudder tore through me, vile rising up my throat.
I've never seen a soul so corrupted, so disgusting.
While the Winter Beast was just the same, it's soul was… relatively normal.
The corruption was obvious, as in all creatures of such rank.
But it wasn't mindless.
It only took me a few minutes to figure out whose soul I gazed upon for the briefest of moments.
Lythos, the damned stone giant.
One that I had approached after clearing the docks of the Terror and Tyrant.
Memories were few of those few days.
I had succumbed to madness from just the sight of the gigantic creature.
And obviously, I hadn't grown used to it.
Finally daring to fuel the dagger with essence, I was surprised at what I saw.
Which was… ice.
An ice dome around me to be precise.
To be even more precise, an ice dome made out of essence.
Sighing in relief, I thanked the Winter Beast for it's help.
Which also showed the intelligence it had was real.
It had to of figured out what happened, and realized that I couldn't see through the soul essence.
I could see souls, soul cores and essence just fine.
But what's beyond them? Nothing.
I couldn't see a soul that stood behind another soul.
Exhaling heavily, I stood up.
A noise was heard, probably heard throughout a third of the continent.
Coughing a few times and summoning the backpack I received what seemed like ages ago, I took out a bottle of water.
Slowly sipping at it and washing down the vile that had been stuck in my mouth and throat for God knows how long, I asked a question outloud.
"You planning to fight?"
A slight concentration on the sentence let the Titan understand it to some degree.
A similar noise to the previous one was heard, being much quieter this time.
I nodded, growing uneasy.
"Help?"
I asked, dreading the noise that would be the answer.
One that solidified in my stomach as the answer was the same as the previous one.
Cursing the damned Spell because it's somehow it's fault inwardly, I stayed silent.
If the ice dome shattered, I would be gone in an instant.
Hopefully the Titans would let me escape.
If not… I would transform into the thing that had taken down the phoenix and fight.
Letting out another groan, I summoned and augmented the bow.
One after another, twenty arrows teleported into the sky and froze.
They weren't even visible, hell, I teleported them halfway to space at least, maybe even further.
I would need all the firepower I have.
And I'm sure, thirteen Transcended and enchanted arrows, as well as seven near Supreme and enchanted arrows would at least shatter one limb. Hopefully.
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