Ether: Pulse of the Forgotten

The world felt like it had slowed to a crawl.

Gorran's roar of agony still rang through the battlefield, his massive frame staggering as blood spilled from his ruined eye. His breaths were like rolling thunder, deep and ragged, fury and pain mixing into something primal. But even blinded, even wounded, the titan refused to fall.

Kai's muscles ached. His body was battered. His breathing was uneven.

But the fight wasn't over.

Not yet.

"Everyone—now!" Grant's voice cut through the chaos, raw and commanding. "Throw everything at him!"

Luca moved first.

The earth answered his call, trembling as his hands slammed against the ground. A second later, massive stone pillars erupted from the soil, latching onto Gorran's legs like unbreakable shackles. The titan grunted, straining against the stone restraints.

But Eryn was already moving.

She raised her staff high, and the air ignited.

Flames surged from her fingertips, twisting into a raging inferno that speared toward Gorran. Fire wrapped around his frame, the heat so intense that the air itself wavered.

Gorran let out a bellowing snarl, his one good eye blazing with fury. His muscles flexed, his sheer strength cracking the stone holding him down.

Kai's pulse pounded. He's still fighting.

Then—a second explosion.

Sasha fired.

Her arrow pierced through the swirling fire, wind magic feeding the flames, fueling them, turning them into a blazing comet that struck Gorran's exposed side—

BOOM.

The explosion rippled across his armor, embers licking at the exposed gaps in the metal.

And still—he endured.

Kai could feel it.

The gravity field hadn't weakened. The weight pressing down on them was just as strong. Even with his wounds, even with the fire consuming him, Gorran wasn't going down.

We need more.

Grant must have realized it at the same time.

He threw his shattered shield aside and rushed forward, armor scraping against the dirt as he barreled straight toward Gorran's legs.

Kai barely had time to register it—until Grant's body collided with the titan's knee like a wrecking ball.

CRACK.

A sickening snap echoed through the battlefield.

Gorran's leg buckled.

The titan let out a deep, guttural sound, half-snarl, half-growl, as his massive frame lurched forward, forced down to one knee.

Grant didn't hesitate.

His fingers clenched around something in the dirt—something massive, something jagged, something made for giants.

Gorran's own battle-axe.

It was nearly twice Grant's size, the handle alone too thick for a normal man to lift—but he lifted it anyway.

"Luca! Help me!"

The earth mage darted forward, grabbing hold of the handle beside him.

"You better have a plan!" Luca shouted, muscles straining as they hoisted the massive weapon.

Grant's breath came hard and fast, his arms burning under the weight. But his grin was bloodied and wild.

"Yeah. We give it back to him."

Kai's eyes widened.

They're gonna use his own weapon against him.

With a battle cry that tore through the night, Grant and Luca swung Gorran's axe.

The blade whistled through the air, gaining terrifying speed—

And then, with a sickening crunch, it buried itself deep in Gorran's chest.

For the first time—Gorran made a sound that wasn't rage.

It was shock.

The titan's fingers tensed, his massive arms quaking. His entire body jerked violently, his one eye wide with disbelief as he looked down—as if he couldn't comprehend the blade lodged in his own torso.

Blood poured from the wound, a deep crimson gash running from his shoulder to his ribs. The axe had cut through flesh, through armor, through the unbreakable mountain itself.

But it wasn't deep enough.

Kai's stomach twisted. It wasn't enough.

Even with the force of two men, even with all their strength, the blade had only buried halfway in.

Gorran's hand lifted, shaking but still strong, reaching toward Grant and Luca—

He was still going to fight back.

No. No, you don't.

Kai moved before he could think.

His feet tore against the dirt, his entire body surging forward.

He didn't care about exhaustion.

He didn't care about the burning in his muscles.

He didn't care about the risk.

This was it.

"Stay. Down."

Kai's palms snapped forward—

Air Palm.

A blast of compressed force erupted from his hands—

And slammed into the handle of Gorran's axe.

BOOM.

The force drove the blade deeper—

And deeper—

And all the way through.

A wet, ripping sound filled the battlefield as the axe's tip exploded out of Gorran's back.

The titan's body seized, his entire frame twitching violently—

Then, finally—

The mountain collapsed.

Gorran's massive frame toppled, crashing into the ground with a thunderous impact that sent a shockwave through the earth.

Everything went silent.

The weight pressing down on them vanished.

The gravity field was gone.

For a moment, no one moved.

No one spoke.

Then—

The sound of cracking stone.

Kai's eyes snapped to Gorran's body.

It was moving.

Or rather—it was breaking.

The titan's massive form began to crumble inward, chunks of rock-like flesh splintering apart. The weight of his body imploded, as if his entire being was unraveling—

And at the center of the collapse, something shifted.

A new form emerged.

Kai barely had time to process it before the dust cleared.

Where Gorran's massive body had once been, a much smaller figure stood.

He wasn't a titan anymore. He wasn't hulking and slow.

This new form was lean, his frame sculpted from obsidian stone, his armor reduced to a sleek, jagged exoskeleton. The weight of his presence didn't diminish—it concentrated.

And at the center of his chest, embedded like a beating heart—

A glowing crystal.

A cold, guttural voice rumbled from the new form.

"Impressive."

Then, in an instant—

Gorran vanished.

One moment, he stood in the ruins of his own colossal corpse, obsidian armor gleaming under the fading sunlight. The next—

He was right in front of Kai.

Kai's instincts screamed, but his body couldn't keep up.

A fist of pure stone drove into his stomach.

WHAM.

The impact felt like getting hit by a war hammer. Kai's body folded around the punch, breath ripped from his lungs as he was sent hurtling back. The world blurred, his ribs screaming in protest as he crashed through the dirt, rolling like a broken doll.

He barely managed to stop himself, his palms digging into the ground, breath ragged.

Fast.

Too fast.

This wasn't the same Gorran.

The others barely had time to react before Gorran moved again, his new sleek, compact form carrying him forward with terrifying speed.

The entire battlefield shifted.

Before, he had been a slow-moving juggernaut, crushing everything with sheer weight and presence. Now—

Now he was a storm.

A blur of blackened stone and raw destruction, tearing through the battlefield with inhuman agility.

Luca was the next target.

The earth mage tried to react, raising his hands, but Gorran was already there. A blade of obsidian grew from his forearm, cleaving through Luca's chest like paper.

Blood splattered across the dirt.

Luca collapsed, eyes wide in shock, mouth opening—no words came out. Only a wet, rasping sound.

Then he was still.

Gorran didn't even look down.

He was already moving again.

"LUCA!" Grant roared, his voice raw with fury.

The massive warrior charged, but Gorran sidestepped effortlessly, slipping behind him—

And drove his fist through Grant's back.

For a moment, everything froze.

Grant's body went rigid, his broad shoulders shuddering as the massive stone arm burst out through his chest, coated in blood.

His shield fell from his grip.

The leader of the raid dropped to his knees.

Gorran let him slide off his arm, his body crumpling into the dirt.

Just like that, two of their strongest were gone.

Kai's vision was still swimming, but he forced himself up, heart pounding.

Talia and Sasha were backpedaling, weapons raised. The other fighters—what was left of them—were stunned, frozen by the sheer brutality of the transformation.

This wasn't a fight anymore.

This was a massacre.

Eryn threw a fire spell in desperation, a flaming spear of molten energy lancing toward Gorran's head.

He tilted slightly, letting the attack scrape past his shoulder. The flames flickered harmlessly against his new form.

Then he appeared in front of her.

Eryn had no time to scream.

Gorran's hand crushed her skull like glass.

Kai gritted his teeth.

No. No, no, no!

They were getting wiped out.

They needed to end this. Now.

His gaze snapped to Gorran's chest.

The crystal.

It pulsed faintly, a rhythmic, slow heartbeat of light.

That's it.

That was his core—his true weak point.

Kai's fingers tightened into fists.

There wouldn't be another chance.

He had to finish it.

Now.

Time stretched thin.

Kai could feel every aching breath, every muscle screaming for relief, every wound pulsing with fire beneath his skin. His body wanted to stop. His mind wanted to keep moving.

His arms hung heavy, his vision blurred at the edges, but he forced himself to stay upright. Failure wasn't an option.

Gorran's new form was a nightmare—faster, deadlier, more precise. Every movement was a kill shot, every attack meant to erase them from existence. And now, with Grant and Luca gone, their numbers were shrinking. Fast.

Kai had already felt the cold hands of exhaustion clawing at him before this form even emerged. Now, he was standing at the razor's edge of his own limits.

And he was about to go beyond them.

His eyes locked onto the glowing crystal embedded in Gorran's chest.

The heart. The core.

The one true weak point.

It pulsed faintly, slow and deliberate, like the rhythm of something ancient, something never meant to be stopped.

If he failed now, they would all die.

His lungs burned as he inhaled. Steady.

His fingers curled into a fist, the weight of his own exhaustion trying to pull them apart.

Focus.

Every fight before this had been practice. Training. Even when he had fought for survival before, he had never been this close to the line between life and death.

But now? Now there was no room for hesitation.

Gorran twisted toward him, his glowing core flickering, as if sensing what was about to happen.

The titan lunged.

His movements were a blur of obsidian and death, his razor-sharp fist cutting through the air, aimed directly at Kai's heart.

Too fast.

Kai's muscles tensed, his legs instinctively trying to move, but—

No.

He couldn't dodge. He couldn't run.

He had to finish this.

His body screamed as he dug in, dropping into his stance, his feet grinding against the torn battlefield.

The air around him shifted.

He felt it.

That same subtle hum he had noticed before, the way the energy around him reacted

But this wasn't just pushing air.

This wasn't just throwing force.

This was slicing the world itself.

His arm drew back, fingers still clenched tight, his vision narrowing to the core pulsing in Gorran's chest.

Make the cut.

Gorran was right there now, the kill strike inches from landing.

Kai twisted his body, every ounce of power, every last bit of breath, sweat, and will poured into his strike—

A silent scream, the air itself ripping apart as if something had forced reality to give way. There was no explosion, no clash of steel—just a sudden, violent rupture, a force that didn't push or blast but simply erased everything in its path. The wind didn't carry it forward—it was dragged along, twisted and crushed into a single edge that carved straight through the space between them. Kai didn't just unleash the attack—he let it break free. And when it met Gorran's core, the crystal didn't crack from force. It collapsed inward, as if the very essence of the titan had been severed from existence.

Shear Cutter.

The world snapped back into motion.

The air screamed.

Gorran's entire form jerked violently, his attack stopping mid-swing as the crystal in his chest fractured with a piercing, ear-splitting crack.

Kai didn't stop.

He poured everything into it—his rage, his exhaustion, his will to live—forcing the energy through just a little further.

The Shear Cutter ripped through the crystal completely.

A single pulse of light flashed from Gorran's chest.

Then—

He shattered.

The titan's body seized, his limbs twitching violently before, all at once, his entire obsidian frame splintered apart.

A wave of energy burst outward, but this time, there was no force behind it.

No gravity.

No weight.

Just silence.

Kai stumbled forward, the sheer force of the strike draining every last bit of strength from his limbs. His vision swam, his knees threatening to give out, but he forced himself to stand.

The battlefield was still.

Where Gorran had stood, there was now nothing but dust.

Kai's chest heaved, his heart pounding against his ribs, his entire body numb.

For a moment, the only sound was the wind.

Then—

DING!

[BOSS DEFEATED: GORRAN, THE TITAN]TERRITORY CLAIMED – REWARDS GRANTED]

Kai barely registered the notification. His fingers twitched at his sides, his breath ragged.

He had done it.

They had done it.

Slowly, he turned, his gaze scanning the battlefield.

Talia had collapsed to one knee, staring at the spot where Gorran had fallen.

Sasha was still standing, her bow hanging limp in her hands, her face pale.

The others… what remained of them, were still there. Stunned. Silent.

They had killed a legend.

And they were still alive.

Kai let out a shaky breath, then—

He let himself fall to his knees.

The fight was over.