The world collapsed into fire.
The metro tunnels, once a place of shadows and whispers, now blazed like a furnace. Concrete walls cracked under the pressure of molten flame. Steel beams dripped like wax. Screams filled the dark as survivors scattered into the labyrinth.
Rasan advanced like a living mountain, each step shaking the tunnels. His body blazed with heat so fierce that rails curled and melted beneath him.
Captain Kael fired his rifle again and again, bullets sparking harmlessly against the Titan's chest. Soldiers unleashed rockets that only shattered walls around them. Still they fired — because to stop was to surrender.
"Fall back!" Kael roared, dragging a wounded man to his feet. "Move, damn it, MOVE!"
But the Titan was upon them.
With a sweep of his arm, Rasan smashed through a concrete wall, crushing half a squad beneath the rubble. His laugh rumbled like an earthquake.
> "This is resistance? This is the courage of men?"
Dr. Elira clutched the shard to her chest, its glow intensifying as Rasan drew near. The crystal pulsed wildly, as if it feared its maker. She stumbled, falling to her knees, whispering to Kael:
> "It reacts to him… it knows him…"
Kael grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "Then we use it — or we die with it!"
In desperation, Elira thrust the shard toward Rasan. A burst of blinding blue energy erupted, slamming into the Titan's chest. For the first time, he staggered, a roar of fury ripping from his throat. Fire bled from the wound, but it was shallow — a scratch on a god.
Still, hope flickered among the survivors.
> "It hurts him!" someone shouted.
But hope was short-lived.
With a snarl, Rasan unleashed a wave of fire that swept through the tunnel, incinerating men where they stood. Their screams echoed as ash crumbled to the floor. Kael shoved Elira behind a fallen beam, shielding her from the blast.
When the fire cleared, only a handful remained alive.
They were cornered now, pressed against a wall of collapsed debris. The Titan loomed above them, his molten eyes burning with contempt.
He could have ended them with a single breath. Instead, he crouched low, his vast shadow swallowing them whole.
> "So this is mankind's courage," he said softly, almost mockingly. "A spark in the dark… easily snuffed out."
Elira trembled, clutching the shard, expecting death. Kael raised his rifle one last time, even knowing it was useless.
But Rasan only smiled — a cruel, blazing grin.
> "No. Not yet. You will live. You will crawl from these ashes. You will gather more like you, and you will dream of defiance."
He leaned closer, his voice a whisper that filled their bones.
> "And when you come to me again… I will break you."
With that, he turned. Flames collapsed the ceiling behind him, sealing the survivors in the dark.
Rasan was gone, leaving behind fire, ash, and the echo of his laughter.
For the first time since his return, humanity had hurt him. And for the first time, humanity realized he wanted them to fight.
Because for Rasan, slaughter was not enough. He wanted despair.
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