Vale stood beneath the five black suns, his eyes widening with a shock so sharp it stole the breath from his lungs. He didn't know what astonished him more, the fact that the chained man was finally preparing to fight an enemy other than Vale himself… or the abomination that now lumbered toward them.
Far beyond the obsidian mountains, a colossus towered over the jagged peaks. The mountains, massive enough to dwarf castles, barely reached its knees. And still, the creature walked, crossing them as easily as a man might step over scattered stones.
It was humanoid in shape, but nothing about it was truly human.
Its pale flesh was covered in countless hungry mouths, each crowded with serrated fangs that opened and closed in restless hunger. Between the mouths, unblinking blood-red eyes stared forward, fixed solely on the chained man.
Twenty mighty arms protruded from its torso, each formed of three elongated bones bound by thick, ropelike ligaments. The limbs rippled with unnatural muscle, twitching with power as it advanced. Everything about it radiated raw, uncontrollable strength.
This thing, this walking nightmare, was by far the largest and most terrifying creature Vale had seen in this realm.
Vale tore his gaze from the titan, looking instead at the chained man.
The man stood calm, spear in hand, the bloody sea still rippling from his earlier touch as if remembering him.
Then the man slowly raised his right arm to his shoulder and stretched, his movements strangely elegant for someone preparing to confront a god like monster.
"Then…" he said, voice low but resonant enough to vibrate in Vale's bones.
"Shall we begin?"
A heartbeat passed.
The blades impaled into his back, those ancient, torturous spikes, suddenly flared with blinding white light. And then, before Vale could blink, they crumbled into dust and vanished.
Vale stared in disbelief as the wounds healed instantly, the man's armor and skin mending as though reversing centuries of damage. But something about it felt… wrong.
He looked up.
The five black suns were trembling, no, thrashing, as if trying to break free from invisible restraints. And then, with a sound like stone cracking across the heavens, each sun split in half. Ten identical black suns now hovered above, perfectly mirroring the number of blades that had once pierced the man's back.
'Copies,' Vale realized. Replacements.
The three small creatures the cat, lizard, and centipede, suddenly snapped awake. Their gazes locked onto the pale man, and their bodies shivered with instinctive recognition. Without hesitation, all three leapt from the counter and plunged into the bloody sea.
Vale, overwhelmed by everything unfolding, didn't even notice them go.
A moment later, the ocean erupted.
A titanic white tiger, its fur shimmering like starlight, rose from the depths, shaking crimson water from its colossal frame. Beside it, a serpentine metal dragon uncoiled, scales reflecting the black suns, while an enormous metal centipede climbed from the waves, its segmented armor clattering like a dozen swords.
They had transformed, revealed their true forms.
Yet they did not prepare for battle.
Instead, all three bowed.
Not to the monster.
But to the chained man.
Vale nearly forgot to breathe.
'They're… showing respect? To him.'
Creator, Ruler. Something far greater than he'd ever dared assume.
And then Vale's right arm pulsed.
A bright flare of orange and purple light bled through the cracks and seams of the metallic limb. The glow traveled up his arm like fire racing through veins. His eyes widened in realization.
He had always suspected the chained man had forged this arm…
But now he was certain.
The colossal monster reached the last of the obsidian peaks, stepping over them effortlessly. Each footfall shook the sea itself.
The chained man shifted again.
He lowered the spear, letting its tip touch the surface of the blood.
This time, the sea did not part.
It rose.
In an instant, the crimson water surged upward, engulfing the weapon. It spiraled around the spear in violent coils, climbing higher and higher until the entire weapon was encased in a swirling mass of blood. The liquid hardened, shaped, transformed.
When the last drop settled, the weapon that remained was no mere spear.
It was a lance, long and regal, the kind wielded by kings in the age before gods. Its surface gleamed with layered crimson and bone-white patterns, shifting like living metal under the faint glow of the now ten black suns.
The chained man's mask shimmered faintly in that eerie light as he stepped forward.
He lowered his stance into a spear-thrower's posture, feet grounded, body angled, one arm drawn back, the other guiding the immense lance. Vale watched the man's chest rise as he took in a single deep breath.
Then his grip tightened, every muscle coiling with deadly precision.
The world held its breath with him.
For a single suspended heartbeat, time itself seemed to freeze.
The bloody sea went silent. The ten black suns hung motionless in the sky. Even the air felt tight, as though the entire realm waited in anticipation for the chained man's next movement.
Vale felt his pulse pounding in his ears, not from fear, but from a fierce, raw excitement that coursed through him like lightning. Ember was still sleeping on the distant counter, missing this spectacle entirely. A pity… but Vale could not tear his eyes away long enough to wake him.
Then,
Without warning, without even the whisper of preparation,
the chained man moved.
A single step.
A single breath.
A single motion that tore through reality.
His arm snapped forward, releasing the bloody lance in a devastating throw.
Calling it a throw felt wrong.
Human beings threw weapons.
Giants hurled boulders.
But what the chained man did transcended both.
The moment the lance left his grip, it simply vanished, not through speed, but through sheer erasure, as if the universe could not comprehend the force behind it and chose to hide the evidence.
Vale didn't even see it travel.
What he did see was the result.
The colossal monster, so vast its knees touched the mountain peaks, so powerful its every step shook the blood sea, was there one moment…
and the next, it was gone.
Where the titan once stood remained only its feet, still planted on the obsidian mountains. Severed arms, those monstrous limbs of bone and sinew, tumbled from the sky in slow, horrifying arcs.
And in the center, where its body should have been, was a perfect circle of nothingness. A void carved into reality, as if the lance had annihilated not flesh but existence itself.
The air trembled.
The sea hissed.
Vale nearly lost his balance.
The greatest, most terrifying monster he had ever seen… obliterated in a single instant.
One throw.
One casual motion.
His breath caught. His throat tightened. And when he spoke, it came out as a whisper of awe.
"Incredible…"
The chained man turned, calm as ever. With a small gesture, he extended his hand to the side. Space rippled,
and the crimson lance reappeared in his grasp, whole and untouched.
Behind him, the rain of severed limbs crashed into the bloody sea, sending titanic waves rolling outward. Yet the man didn't so much as glance back. He simply stood there, framed by destruction, as if slaying monsters that immense in size was nothing more than a morning routine.
Vale felt a bead of cold sweat slide down his temple.
Then the weapon began to change.
The bloody lance softened, folding inward like molten metal until the bone-like spear beneath emerged once more. A brilliant beam of light shot from it, and as the radiance died, Vale recognized his own heart-forged blade in the man's hand again.
The chained man tossed it back toward him.
Vale caught it instinctively, still dazed, still replaying the obliteration in his mind.
"So," the chained man said quietly, his tone calm, almost amused,
"are you still up for that rematch?"
Vale stared at him. Then a startled laugh burst from his chest.
"Are you serious?" he said, incredulous. "You just killed… that. And you think I stand a chance against you?"
The chained man chuckled, a deep, warm sound rarely heard through the obsidian mask.
"Well, that is true," he admitted.
As he spoke, brilliant white lights flared across his body. From them, long blades thrust outward, radiant and seamless, as five of the ten black suns dissolved into dust above them.
"But," he continued, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off tension, "I did have to use a small amount of my power on that one."
Vale swallowed, watching the dissipating suns, the swords flickering in and out of existence along the man's limbs.
"A… small amount?" he echoed.
"I won't use that against you," the chained man replied.
"This next battle," he raised a long, jagged sword from the sea, pointing its edge directly at Vale's throat,
",will be a matter of skill, not power."
A thrill ran through Vale's entire body. He lifted his own weapon, heart racing despite the fear still lingering in his veins.
"Well," he said, his smile growing,
"I can't turn down an offer like that… now can I?"
He took his stance.
The chained man mirrored him.
The bloody sea roared behind them.
And the next battle, perhaps their fiercest yet, was about to begin.