CHAPTER 39: CRASH OF THE TITANS

The dimension trembled, groaned, and wailed as though it were a living thing being split apart. Fissures stretched across the air like jagged lightning bolts, exposing fleeting glimpses of the world beyond.

"Big Bonky!" Thane called out the item he had marked, and from above, a gigantic club began to fall, creating a great tremor as he pressed forward.

Dimensional tears appeared around them, and even began to cause wounds on Libra, limiting his movements.

A power began to push back at the arrow, but Thane roared again, his muscles trembling with the strain. He forced the arrow even deeper, until its light became a spear of radiance inside Libra’s chest.

"Spirit Piercing Explosive Strike!" Thane roared as his Spirit erupted on the arrow and sacrificed his body to pierce the Holy in!

BOOM!

The core was broken, and a powerful dimensional energy erupted from the core of Libra.

The being that had left his habitation to possess the giant skeleton body was now being forced out!

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Thane saw the dimension collapsing and quickly withdrew all his items back into Storage.

"Must... Get... Big Bonky!" Thane willed it, and with a quicker speed, the items were quickly withdrawn, adding the pressure that broke the very limits of that dimension.

All of a sudden, the surrounding environment shattered like glass. Mist dissolved into shards, shadows fractured, and the heartbeat of the dimension went silent.

Back outside, the platform where Libra was sealed was trembling, and a strange black hole was appearing above it.

Not knowing what it was, Vayne and Sayla desperately led the Cyclops there.

"Run!" Vayne roared as he struggled to push Sayla.

Seraphina and Stratus were far from the two, but the gigantic Cyclops had already restored its eyes and rushed in anger to kill the two who ran towards the platform.

And then—

WARP!

Thane felt his stomach drop as if the world itself had collapsed beneath him. They were falling. Both he and Libra tumbled as the mist-dimension broke apart.

CRASH!

Libra’s massive, skeletal frame smashed down onto the Cyclops. The beast shrieked, a deafening howl of rage and pain, as it stumbled.

Thane, coughing blood, barely managed to roll free before Libra’s claws could snatch him. He hit the dirt hard, his burned arms trembling.

"Perfect timing!" Seraphina’s voice rang out, filled with both exhaustion and triumph.

"Move!" Vayne used all of his strength to hurl Sayla and kicked Thane as he ran out.

"Do it!" Vayne shouted.

Seraphina raised her hands, her hair glowing in the radiance of her channeling. A brilliant column of light erupted from the heavens, piercing through the mist and striking Libra and the Cyclops both.

"Judgement Ray!"

"Earth Scorcher!" Stratus bellowed on the other side.

She raised her staff, and above her, an immense orb of flame, as bright as a miniature sun, coalesced. The burning sphere shot downward, colliding with Seraphina’s holy beam.

BOOOOOOM!

The impact was apocalyptic. Holy fire and divine flame intertwined, exploding outward in a tidal wave of purging brilliance. The Cyclops bellowed in torment, its flesh melting and eyes bursting as holy energy scorched its regenerating body. Libra shrieked, an ear-splitting screech that rattled bone and soul alike, as his cracked form was seared by divine judgment.

Thane, who was kicked by Vayne to be outside of the explosion’s range, was now thrown aside by the explosion. He found the strength to scramble weakly across the ground, every muscle screaming in pain. He shielded his face as embers and fragments of scorched stone fell around him.

He rolled away until the light dimmed, and smoke and dust smothered the battlefield.

Stratus and Seraphina stood.

"I... I can’t... Princess...!" Stratus could barely hold her staff.

When the flames subsided, the silence was broken only by ragged breaths.

Seraphina collapsed to one knee, pale and drenched in sweat. Stratus fell flat on her rear, her staff clattering to the floor. Both women trembled, their mana utterly drained.

Sayla stumbled forward and began to lift her body as Vayne could only stand in front of Seraphina with sword drawn towards the flames and the light.

Sayla approached Seraphina, clutching her own bleeding side. Her armor was cracked, but her face carried only grim determination. She reached Seraphina and pressed a vial into her hands.

"Princess... drink this," she whispered, her voice hoarse.

Thane blinked through the haze.

He saw his allies all battered, all bleeding, their clothes torn, their faces streaked with blood and grime.

Vayne could barely stand, his sword planted into the ground like a crutch. His knuckles were white, and his jaw was clenched so tight it looked as if it would break.

Only Seraphina bore little physical damage, her divine protection shielding her body. Yet her lips moved with faint prayers, her eyes distant as if she were already beyond herself, touching the heavens with her words.

Holy energy gathered around her once more.

"...Focus on healing, Princess. They are dead," Thane rasped.

His body was broken, his skin blistered, but his eyes were steady as he lay on the floor.

The fiery, skeletal corpse of Libra crumbled nearby. From its bones, faint wisps of mist leaked, curling upward like black smoke.

Thane coughed and, with subtle effort, drew the Cyclops’ charred body into his inventory. It vanished in a shimmer of light, hidden from the others. But when he tried the same with Libra’s corpse, nothing happened. The body resisted, as though something eternal still lingered in its frame.

Seraphina’s voice grew stronger. Her prayers changed, no longer an invocation of destruction, but of mercy. Golden warmth spread across the field, washing over them all.

"They... are dead? Are you sure, Master Expert?" Vayne asked, his voice trembling with disbelief.

"Yes," Thane muttered. "And you don’t have to call me—"

THUD!

Vayne collapsed. Sayla followed, her legs giving out as she fell beside him.

"I can’t stand anymore... You have GOT to be sure... master expert..."

"I’m sure..." Thane chuckled.

But even as their bodies hit the floor, a radiant glow surged around them. Seraphina’s healing burst outward, covering the fallen knights. The golden tide washed over Thane as well, knitting burned flesh, soothing blisters, cooling seared skin. He gasped as strength returned to his body.

His eyes traced the streams of light as they rose skyward, as if heaven itself was drinking the prayers.

"We... did it..." Stratus chuckled, though her hands trembled uncontrollably. She forced herself to drink the last potion she had.

"...How do we get out of here?"

"There." Thane pointed weakly at a staircase revealed amid the rubble.

"It should lead us out. You can see the magic escaping, right? That path will guide us."

Seraphina smiled and turned to Thane, still muttering her prayers that were answered in healing magic

But her eyes locked onto his, and Thane’s wounds felt light. But his innocent, Christian heart was trembling and pounding, louder than an Exckson GP-4300s printer-scanner that got a paper jammed.