Meanwhile, at the eastern pillar, a storm of divine fury raged. Thunderous waves, tall as mountains, clashed against the jagged rocks below. At the pillar's peak, Koios and Atlas stood unfazed, their figures stark against the tempest.
Suddenly, a massive whirlpool churned the ocean's surface, a monstrous shadow coiling in the depths below.
Atlas cracked his knuckles, the sound like splitting stone. His gaze was locked on the looming shadow. "They have arrived."
With a titanic splash, the surface burst open. The massive water serpent, Leviathan, its body a map of unhealed scars from past battles, surged upward and lunged for the pillar.
Koios simply waved his hand. Axis change.
The world tilted. Leviathan, the sea spray, and the very rocks themselves began to fall backward, defying gravity.
"ROAARRR!!!" The beast roared, struggling against the inverted pull.
Poseidon leapt from Leviathan's head, a silver trident held high. Atlas met his charge, launching himself from the peak. As they crossed, Leviathan, adapting with brutal will, ignored the reversed gravity and fired a concentrated blue energy beam from its maw at Koios.
Koios's hand flicked again. Topography shift. The air shimmered, and a great wall of mountain rock erupted from nothing, swallowing the energy beam with a deafening impact.
In the sky, Poseidon's trident met Atlas's gauntlet. The collision was not a clash but a detonation. The shockwave shattered the surrounding cliffs and tore the storm clouds apart.
Leviathan stabilised, its serpentine eyes burning with primal fury. It learned, adapting to the axis-changing trickery. With sheer bestial will, it forced its head forward, massive jaws snapping at Koios despite the unnatural gravity pulling it back. Koios danced aside, the wind from the bite whipping his hair. His mind, a calm map of probabilities, was flooded with chaotic, bestial impulses from the creature.
He couldn't find a coherent thought to manipulate—only raw, stubborn will. A cold dread settled in his stomach. This is a terrible match for me.
His one good eye flicked to the clashing titans. An idea sparked. "Atlas!" he shouted.
Atlas stole a glimpse, catching the desperate gesture. He dodged a piercing thrust from the trident and smashed his fist into the ground. A cloud of dust and rubble erupted. Then, he brought his golden gauntlets together in a thunderous clap.
The sound was not mere noise, but a physical wave of force. It hit Poseidon like a physical blow. Poseidon screamed, stumbling back as liquid gold streamed from his ruptured eardrums. He clamped his hands over his ears, his face a mask of agony.
Atlas didn't hesitate. Divine energy concentrated in his gauntlet, making it shine with solar radiance. He drove a fist into Poseidon's torso before the god could recover.
"Heuk!" Poseidon vomited a torrent of shimmering, golden blood, hurtling backward to crash against the mountain wall Koios had created.
Position exchange. Koios snapped his fingers.
Atlas and Koios vanished, swapping places in an instant. Atlas now stood where Koios was, his fist already in motion, meeting Leviathan's descending jaw.
CRACK!
The punch shattered a fang the size of a pillar. The serpent recoiled, roaring, blood pouring from its maw. Its serpentine eyes locked onto Atlas with cold, calculating hatred. As Atlas lunged again, Leviathan didn't meet him head-on. It waited, then whipped its massive tail with shocking speed, catching Atlas and sending him soaring upward. It didn't stop. A blue energy beam erupted from its throat, aimed at the free-falling Titan.
Atlas twisted in midair. He tucked his body, crossing his arms, and enveloped himself in a dense shell of divine energy. The beam hit him, but he became a meteor, piercing through the azure fire, descending relentlessly. He crashed onto Leviathan's head with the force of a falling star, driving the colossal serpent down into the mountainside.
Meanwhile, Poseidon rose slowly from the rubble, seawater streaming from his cracked armour. His trident pulsed with an unstable silver light, feeding on his fury. Golden ichor painted a path down his chin; his eyes, twin abyssal tempests, fixed on the Titans.
"You dare to stain me with your tricks," he whispered, and the entire ocean stirred in response.
The waves themselves became his rage. Columns of water spiraled into the sky, twisting into serpents of liquid thunder. The storm's roar deepened into a divine battle cry.
Atlas turned, sensing the cataclysmic surge of power. He leapt forward, but Poseidon was a blur of water and motion. He reappeared before Atlas, trident swinging in a devastating arc. Atlas blocked with his gauntlet, but the force was immense, hurling him backward through a half-mile of shattered cliff face.
Koios's good eye flickered with silver light.
Thought link — Atlas.
A faint, psychic channel sparked to life between their minds. Atlas's voice echoed in his head, strained.
"He's faster. The water carries him."
"Then stop chasing the wave. Make it crash against the shore."
Poseidon struck again, his trident splitting the air with a sonic boom. Atlas met him, golden gauntlet colliding with silver steel. Sparks and concussive force exploded outward. The impact cracked the continental shelf, releasing geysers of boiling water.
Suddenly, Leviathan roared, its vast shadow rising behind Atlas. The wounded serpent coiled, its scales glowing with desperate blue energy. Before Atlas could pivot, Leviathan wrapped its colossal body around him, squeezing.
CRACK.
The sound of shattering ribs was sickening. Atlas gasped, a spray of crimson and gold bursting from his lips. The light in his gauntlets flickered.
Koios's mind blazed in their link.
"He'll crush him! Swap now!"
He raised his trembling hand.
Position exchange — Atlas with that cliff fragment!
In an instant, Atlas vanished. Where he stood, a giant slab of rock appeared and was immediately pulverised to dust in Leviathan's coils. Atlas reappeared beside Koios, clutching his mangled chest, his breathing a wet, gurgling thing.
Koios exhaled, a flicker of relief on his face. It vanished as Poseidon materialised behind him, moving with the silent, inevitable speed of a tidal surge.
"Your mind games end here."
Koios's mind flared, reading the intent—a clear, sharp image of a downward trident slash aimed at his skull. He twisted the axis instinctively to deflect it. But Poseidon altered his thought midway, a deliberate feint.
"You read minds, Koios. Then read this—"
The trident turned mid-swing, slashing horizontally. Koios was overcommitted. The silver tines tore across his face.
"AAAGHHH!"
The world exploded in white agony. Golden ichor sprayed as his left eye was utterly destroyed.
Atlas turned, horror choking his voice. "Koios!"
Poseidon followed without mercy, driving his trident forward. The points punched through Koios's chest with a wet crunch, pinning him to the broken ground. He coughed, blood trickling down his chin. Poseidon stood over him, a victorious chill in his gaze. "Your mind games end here."
Koios grinned weakly through the pain.
"They already have."
His ring glowed. A faint, disorienting ripple passed through the air. Poseidon blinked, his certainty faltering for a split second as a fragment of his own hesitation echoed back into his mind.
Atlas seized that single, fractured instant. He roared, lunging forward with his good arm, golden light blazing around his fist. The gauntlet, fueled by rage and pain, slammed into Poseidon's ribs. The god's armour shattered under the impact, and he was sent crashing backward into the churning surf.
The sea exploded with his landing.
Koios forced himself onto one elbow, half-blind, one hand pressed to the ruin of his eye.
"He's too adaptive. He learns from every move."
"Then we break his partner. Leviathan dies now."
Atlas turned his bloody gaze toward the serpent, which was coiling again, blue energy building in its wounded throat. Koios lifted his trembling, blood-slicked arm.
Axis distortion — fold direction inward!
The serpent's beam lanced out—and curved violently back upon itself. The beast flinched, roaring in confusion and pain as its own attack scorched its scales. Atlas used that instant. He leapt, a golden comet, landing on Leviathan's snout and driving a fist downward with all his weight.
The blow cracked scales and bone, but Leviathan's tail, whip-fast, swept upward and smashed into him. Atlas flew through the air, another sickening crack echoing from his body.
Koios reacted, despite the darkness encroaching on his vision.
Position switch — Atlas with that falling debris!
Atlas's body vanished, replaced by a massive piece of cliff rock that the serpent's tail obliterated. Atlas reappeared mid-fall, using the redirected momentum to land hard on Leviathan's back.
Poseidon reemerged from the sea, his fury a palpable force. He summoned waves taller than the pillar itself.
I will drown them both.
Koios caught the thought and smiled a bloody, grim smile.
Axis change.
He shifted the axis once more—redirecting the summoned tide downward. Instead of crashing upon the Titans, the mountainous waves imploded, crashing down with apocalyptic force upon the already-wounded Leviathan.
The serpent reeled, its body rupturing in a dozen places, scales tearing away to reveal bleeding flesh beneath.
Atlas saw his chance. He sprinted along the creature's spine, every step a seismic stomp.
"The depths claim you!"
Leviathan snapped its massive jaws at him. Instead of dodging, Atlas dove straight into its mouth. Koios's one good eye widened in horror.
"Atlas! Don't—!"
Inside the beast's maw, Atlas braced his legs against the lower jaw and his arms against the upper. His muscles swelled, divine light burning through his wounds, burning through the pain.
Amplify strength — MAXIMUM OUTPUT!
The golden radiance of his gauntlets flooded his entire body. He became a star contained in flesh.
With a final, world-ending roar, he pushed.
The serpent's jaw cracked, then splintered, the sound a deafening report that silenced the storm for a moment. Atlas drove his gauntlet upward, through the soft palate, punching straight into the creature's brain.
A blinding golden light erupted from Leviathan's eyes and maw. Its final scream tore the soul from the air. Then, silence. The colossal body went limp, crashing into the sea below and sending a tidal wave racing toward the horizon.
Poseidon froze. The rage on his face melted into something colder, more profound: a grief as deep as the trenches.
"You… killed my kin."
Atlas stumbled from the beast's ruined mouth, drenched in viscous, golden blood, his body a testament of broken bones and sheer will. "He fought well," he panted, each word a labour. "But his path ended here."
Poseidon's shattered grief refined into a silent, absolute wrath. He raised his trident. The entire ocean, every drop for a thousand miles, rose with him, a liquid mountain of vengeance poised to scour the world.
Koios, on his knees, clenched his fist. The psychic feedback was overwhelming.
"Atlas... his rage... It's the tide itself! Unfocused, wild... but there's no end to it!"
Atlas rolled his shattered shoulders, bones grinding as they knit just enough to hold. "Then I'll hit the sea until it stills."
Poseidon swung his trident down. The wall of water, miles high, surged forward.
Koios slammed his bloodied hand on the ground, his voice breaking.
Axis inverse!
The tsunami reversed in midair, folding backward upon itself and crashing into the sea with a force that shook the very planet. The entire coastline sank several feet.
Poseidon vanished. He reappeared beside Koios, trident aimed for the heart.
"Koios!"
Atlas threw his broken body forward, his gauntlet intercepting the blow. The impact still blasted him backward, tearing a new chasm through the land.
Poseidon was an unstoppable tide. His strikes were endless, relentless. Atlas met each one, each punch a localised earthquake against divine water and thunder. The ground fractured, and the shockwaves birthed new, smaller storms.
Koios, vision greying, tried once more.
Position shift — Atlas behind him.
Atlas flickered, appearing behind Poseidon mid-swing. His golden fist smashed into the god's already-injured ribs. Poseidon skidded across the shattered shore, his trident screeching against the stone.
Atlas advanced, a limping, bleeding monument of endurance.
Poseidon rose, a grim smile on his face.
"So this is the strength that holds up the sky. Then behold the weight of all the seas!"
He struck the ground with his trident. The very moisture in the air screamed, twisting into a thousand razor-sharp blades, flying in from all directions.
Koios threw his arm forward, trembling, his voice a ghost.
Axis compression.
The air warped, bending and shattering the water blades. Some dissolved, others clashed and exploded. The effort was too much. Blood gushed from Koios's nose and his destroyed socket; the silver light in his ring sputtered and died. He collapsed, completely unconscious.
Atlas felt the psychic link snap.
"KOIOS!"
Poseidon blurred again, faster, angrier. He swung downward, his trident glowing with the condensed light of the abyss. Atlas blocked, but the impact shattered his left arm, the bones turning to pulp within the gauntlet.
He roared, a sound of pure agony, and forced a punch with his other arm. The blow cracked against Poseidon's chestplate, sending shards of divine metal flying, but the god only grunted, gripping his trident harder.
Poseidon retaliated with a spinning strike that hurled Atlas into the air. A colossal column of pressurised water rose like a spear to meet him.
With the last dregs of his consciousness, Koios's fingers twitched.
Position… exchange — Atlas… with core stone.
Atlas disappeared. A stone from the pillar's foundation appeared in his place and was vaporised by the water spear.
Axis… shift — gravity toward Poseidon.
Suddenly, the local gravity around the god inverted violently. Waves, rocks, and debris were pulled downward toward him. The sea imploded into a concave bowl.
Atlas, now on the ground, slammed his one good fist down into the earth. Poseidon caught it with both hands, the trident wedged between them. Gold against azure, their powers collided in a silent, expanding sphere of annihilation.
The world tore open at the seams. Mountains were levelled. The sea for miles around vaporised into a superheated fog. Thunder screamed from a clear sky.
From the ground, Koios, barely a whisper of life, formed one final thought.
Exchange… position… Poseidon — with that monolith.
For a single, crucial instant, Poseidon's form flickered, finding himself suspended in the air where a massive stone monolith had been. Atlas reacted on instinct, swinging with every last shred of power in his broken body.
The impact shattered both the rock and what remained of Poseidon's divine armour.
But Poseidon did not fall. He hung in the air, grinning a bloody, terrifying grin.
"You think this is victory, Titan?"
He thrust his trident forward, not as a throw, but as an extension of his will. It crossed the space between them, impaling Atlas through his good shoulder and pinning him to the ground like a specimen. Atlas bellowed, gripping the shaft, his golden energy flaring, his muscles bulging, trying to wrench the divine metal from his flesh.
Poseidon pressed down from afar, his fury a physical force. Atlas roared back, the energy erupting from his wounds, a final, blinding explosion of gold and blue that consumed them both.
When the light faded, the battlefield was a silent, radioactive ruin. Craters steamed with boiling seawater. The air was thick with the smell of ozone, salt, and divine blood.
Poseidon staggered, his chest heaving. His armour was gone, his body a canvas of deep, weeping wounds, but his eyes still burned with abyssal fire.
Koios lay motionless, his ring dark. Atlas stood, barely, the trident still transfixing his shoulder, one arm a ruined mess, his breathing a wet, ragged struggle for air.
Then, an intense, unbearable sunlight tore through the lingering vapours and thunderheads. The atmosphere's temperature skyrocketed. Poseidon looked up, shielding his eyes, and murmured a single, venomous word: "Hyperion..."
His fierce gaze shifted to the crippled Atlas and the unconscious Koios. He was beaten, but not broken. The strategic reality was clear; the sun itself had entered the fray against him.
He pointed a trembling finger at Atlas. "You are lucky the sun favors you today," he snarled, each word costing him. "But the sea does not forget. Nothing will save you next time."
Poseidon raised his hand weakly. A crystal, dark as the deepest trench and glowing with an abyssal light, materialized in his palm. He crushed it. A portal of swirling, silent water opened and swallowed him, leaving only the wreckage and the two wounded Titans behind.