Both of the ravens stood poised, their massive forms angled toward a single mountain in the distance. Its surface was jagged and uneven, ash-gray stone layered like the remnants of something long dead, yet aside from its unnatural stillness, it appeared no different from the countless other peaks surrounding them. Still, the tension in the ravens' posture made it clear, this mountain was not ordinary.
They were waiting.
Callum's eyes narrowed as he observed them, instinct sharpening his senses. After a brief pause, he stepped back toward the group, his voice low but firm.
"Caesar… is there anything in that direction?"
Caesar didn't look up immediately, his gaze fixed on the holographic interface flickering from his wrist. After a moment, he shook his head.
"No. My internal sensors aren't detecting any lifeforms or movement."
Yet even as he spoke, something shifted.
His eyes flicked upward, then widened.
From the peak of the ashen mountain, something moved.
A claw, reptilian in form, it was massive and slick with a faint sheen, rose slowly over the ridge, gripping the stone as it pulled itself into view. The creature revealed itself piece by piece, its form unsettling in both scale and structure. It wasn't enormous, roughly comparable in size to the ravens, but its presence carried a weight that pressed against the air itself. Its scales were a deep, murky green, layered like corroded armor. Five eyes blinked independently across its skull, each one twitching with predatory awareness, while three long tongues slid from its mouth, dripping with viscous, acidic saliva that hissed faintly as it touched the stone below.
The group tensed immediately, every gaze locking onto it.
Yuki was the first to break the silence, her voice edged with unease.
"There's only one… why does it feel this dangerous on its own?"
The moment the words left her mouth, the ground answered.
Claws came into view once more.
Dozens of them.
They tore through the surfaces of the surrounding mountains, ripping stone apart as more of the creatures began to emerge. From every direction, jagged peaks split open, revealing identical forms dragging themselves into the open. The realization hit instantly, they were being surrounded.
Evelyn exhaled sharply, already reaching for her weapon.
"You just had to say it out loud, didn't you?"
Yuki shot her a glance, irritation flashing briefly despite the situation.
"My apologies for having a voice."
Her staff shifted in her grip, its structure morphing into a sleek, silver spear as she stepped into position.
Callum and Artoria moved in unison, drawing their blades and forming a defensive circle around the group. The creatures began to spread out, their many eyes glinting with hunger as they closed in, their movements low and deliberate like predators savoring the moment before the kill.
Callum's gaze flicked toward the ravens, tension building in his chest. Before he could speak, the red raven turned its massive head, its jagged beak opening slowly as it forced out broken, strained words.
"The… big… one… is… not… here… yet…"
Callum froze for half a second, the implication striking him immediately.
These were only the weaker ones.
Something worse was coming.
His eyes sharpened, blue light flickering faintly within them despite the suppression of his power.
"Then how are we supposed to beat them?" he demanded.
The red raven turned fully toward him, spreading its bladed wings in a silent display of dominance.
"We… are… not."
And with those words everything moved at once.
The creatures roared, an awful, guttural sound, and surged forward in a coordinated assault.
The ravens answered with piercing shrieks, launching themselves into the fray without hesitation.
Callum's moment of shock vanished instantly, replaced by instinct and discipline. As the nearest creature lunged, he stepped forward, mind already calculating. Even without his abilities, his body, honed through countless battles, moved with precision.
"I can take one," he muttered under his breath, then charged.
Artoria followed without a word, her movements fluid and absolute.
Behind them, Caesar remained still for a brief second, tapping rapidly against the interface on his wrist. As he pressed the final command, his body lit up from within, faint streams of energy coursing beneath his artificial frame. He rolled his shoulders once, as if loosening tension that didn't truly exist, before stepping forward.
"You two, support from the backline," he said sharply.
Then, he leapt.
Mid-air, his arms transformed, metallic structures unfolding seamlessly as a concentrated burst of energy erupted from within, propelling him downward like a missile. He crashed into one of the creatures with devastating force, crushing its torso completely. The sound of breaking bone and rupturing flesh echoed as black blood splattered across the stone.
Before the corpse even hit the ground, two more creatures lunged.
On the opposite side, Artoria glanced briefly at Callum, a faint smile touching her lips even in the chaos.
"Shall I finally see your skill, junior?"
Callum grinned, meeting her gaze for the briefest moment.
"Of course, elder. I wouldn't dare disappoint."
The moment stretched, and shattered only a moment later.
A massive claw came crashing down toward him, obliterating the ground where he had stood. But Callum was already gone.
He reappeared just to the side, blade drawn, his grin sharpening.
"It's rude to interrupt."
His sword flashed.
Once, twice, three times.
The creature's leg split cleanly into segments, collapsing beneath its own weight as black blood spilled outward. Before it could recover, Callum stepped in again, one final strike severing its head completely.
Nearby, Artoria moved with equal efficiency.
A creature lunged at her, its claw descending with crushing force, yet it never landed. In a single, fluid motion, she cut through it, her blade carving the beast into countless fragments that scattered across the battlefield like falling debris.
On the flanks, the ravens tore through their enemies with brutal precision.
The red raven slammed into one creature, its talons driving deep into its abdomen before its bladed wing came down in a clean arc, severing the head instantly. The black raven intercepted another mid-leap, impaling it through the torso with its beak before ripping it apart entirely, scattering its remains across the mountainside.
Within moments, ten of the creatures lay dead.
The battlefield fell into a brief, fragile pause.
The remaining five hesitated.
And then,
The ground trembled.
A deep, violent rumble surged through the mountains, far heavier than anything before it. Stones shifted. Cracks spread. The very air seemed to tighten.
Callum's expression hardened instantly.
The ravens straightened, their posture sharpening as they turned toward the distant peaks.
No words were needed.
The "big one" was coming.
The trembling did not stop, it became more evident.
What had begun as a distant rumble quickly escalated into something far more violent, the very foundation of the mountain range groaning under an immense, approaching weight. Loose stone fractured and slid down jagged slopes, dust rising into the air in thick, choking clouds as something colossal made its presence known.
Then,
It emerged.
From beyond the peak of the mountain, a massive figure rose into view, its form eclipsing the jagged skyline behind it. At first glance, it resembled a lizard no more, but that illusion shattered instantly as its full shape revealed itself.
It was something else entirely.
Its body was an unnatural fusion, a grotesque hybrid between wolf and horse, as though two apex predators had been forcibly merged into a single, aberrant existence. Six powerful legs supported its immense frame, each one thick with coarse fur yet ending in clawed hooves that dug deep into the stone beneath it. Its torso was elongated and muscular, rippling with unnatural strength, while its head, disturbingly equine, was crowned with ten jagged, twisted horns that curved in erratic directions like broken spears.
Its mouth stretched open slightly, revealing rows of fanged, predatory teeth that clashed grotesquely with its horse-like structure, while four glowing eyes scanned the battlefield with cold, calculated malice.
Those eyes locked onto them.
Every single one of them.
Callum felt a immediate shift in pressure, the suffocating weight of its presence. His body tensed instinctively, every sense screaming at him.
This was not something they could fight.
This was a titan.
For a brief, suspended moment, no one moved.
Even the ravens hesitated.
The creature tilted its head slightly, observing them as though deciding how best to tear them apart. Then, without warning, it slammed one of its massive hooves into the mountain beneath it.
The impact detonated outward.
Stone shattered and shockwaves rippled through the terrain. And then it roared, a deafening, monstrous sound that seemed to carry the voices of countless devoured beings within it.
Callum's eyes widened.
The others froze.
And the titan ran.
It didn't charge.
It sprinted forward.
In a single motion, it crossed an immense distance, its massive form blurring as it descended upon them with terrifying speed. The ground exploded beneath each step, entire sections of the mountainside collapsing under the sheer force of its movement.
Callum blinked once,
And it was already almost upon them.
His mind raced, calculations firing instinctively, but every conclusion led to the same result.
They couldn't win.
Caesar had Hachi, but there wasn't enough time. Not even close. At this speed, the titan would reach them before he could fully deploy or stabilize the mech.
They would die.
A cold layer of sweat formed along Callum's skin, his grip tightening around his blade as his body prepared to move regardless of the futility.
Then,
Something changed.
From the side of a distant mountain, just as the titan surged past its edge, the world ignited.
Ivory flames erupted outward in a violent torrent, consuming the mountainside in an instant. Stone didn't simply break, it melted, collapsing inward like wax beneath an unseen heat, the structure of the mountain dissolving as if it had never been solid to begin with.
The titan faltered.
For the briefest moment, its momentum broke.
From within the inferno, a shape moved.
No,
It charged.
A massive silhouette tore through the flames with unrestrained force, its speed rivaling the titan's own. Before the creature could react, a colossal wing, gleaming with pale, radiant light, slammed into its side.
The impact was catastrophic.
One of the titan's six legs tore free instantly, ripped clean from its body as though it were nothing more than fragile bone. The titan let out a shriek, high-pitched, distorted, filled with raw agony, as its balance shattered and its massive body staggered.
It turned, enraged.
Its jaws snapped toward the figure within the flames, teeth closing with enough force to shatter mountains,
But it never connected.
The silhouette moved again.
Faster and stronger then the titan.
In a single, decisive motion, it clamped its jaws around the titan's neck.
There was no struggle.
No prolonged clash.
Just a single, brutal snap, and it was over.
The titan's body went limp instantly, its massive form collapsing lifelessly against the broken mountainside as its remaining legs buckled beneath it. The echo of its death rippled outward, leaving behind a heavy, unnatural silence.
The flames began to recede.
Slowly, the figure stepped forward, emerging from the dissolving inferno.
Ivory scales caught the dim light, reflecting it with an almost ethereal glow. Massive wings folded slightly at its sides, their edges still trailing faint embers. Its body bore the marks of battle, subtle scars etched across its otherwise pristine form, yet it stood tall, unwavering and dominant.
Its eyes burned.
Deep, ember-like, glowing with a controlled, restrained intensity.
It looked down at them.
Not with hunger or rage.
But with something far more unsettling,
Recognition.
Callum's breath caught in his throat, a flicker of something unfamiliar, unease, perhaps even fear, passing through him despite everything he had faced before.
Whatever this being was…
It had just killed a titan as if it were nothing.
A slow, heavy silence settled over the group.
And then,
Evelyn spoke.
Her voice, usually composed and precise, faltered slightly, laced with disbelief as her widened eyes locked onto the creature.
"…Ember…?"