Chapter 33 - The Other Side of the Coin

The Undead Titan roared and smashed its feet down on the remnants of the burning village, scattering the entire party to each side due to the shockwave. Griff managed to hold on to the ground by grabbing a pole and sticking it into the earth, stabilizing his stance.

As the monstrosity stopped to see the dust settle, Griff ignited his right arm with his black flames and used the pole he had used for balance as a javelin, throwing a flaming spear right at the kneecap of the Titan.

Due to being undead, the being showed no pain. The flames had managed to impact a significant amount of damage... yet the monstrosity simply regenerated its flesh.

Waving its large hand it tossed down several undead to keep Griff and the others at bay as it slowly turned around and started walking in the direction of Alfrum.

Reiner, who had crashed into a random house, had slowly stood up and watched as the undead spawned from the sky.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to put a dent on something so large with only martial arts and strengthening magic. Griff, Selena! Both of you can use flame magic to at least slow that thing down. Me and Rin can keep these undead at bay together."

Rin, who stood from where she had fallen nodded.

"If I push myself to my limits I can use the spell "Gust of Wind" to speed myself up as well. I can definitely run much faster than that thing. I can get help from several adventurers on the way. You two, go!"

Selena, who was surprisingly uninjured, presumably because of the glowing stone necklace around her neck, nodded and ran towards Griff.

"Damn Griff. That's one badass spell."

She commented on how Griff's black flames were covering the entirety of his body. The intensity of the flames prevented her from seeing that his hair had turned charcoal black and his eyes had a different glint in them, but that was not a concern as of the moment.

Griff, with a slightly sharper tone in his voice, most probably a side effect of... his magic's intensity, merely said:

"I don't think that should be our focus now. You're supposed to be a professional, right? Focus on the target."

Selena slowly blushed with a baffled expression as she felt her authority as his senior had just been shattered. He was a cheerful and laidback person... this wasn't exactly like him. Muttering a couple things, she grabbed her bow and started running, dodging the slow undead.

Following suit, Griff started running after her, but he was burning anything that came near him.

'Ẅ̸̢h̸̦͐ȃ̵̢ẗ̵̯ ̴̡̂h̷̥̐a̸̞̔p̸͎͘p̴̥̿e̶̖̅n̸̲͒s̴̼͆ ̸͕̕w̴̙͆h̵͎̄e̷̲͆n̸͚͝ ̴͔̉ŷ̶̠ő̷̯u̷̝͝ ̶͍̕c̶̙̿o̷͇͊ǹ̵̤d̴͍̔e̵͉̅n̸̼͠s̶͇̀e̷̡͊ ̷͈̔f̷̬̂i̷̡͂ŗ̴̌é̴̼?̷̬̐ ̵͙͝C̷̳̋ọ̶͝n̸̼̂d̴̯͝e̶̺͊n̷͖͝s̴̬̕ě̶̜ ̸̤̎ï̸̥ṫ̸̩ ̸̨͒u̴͆͜n̶̫̑ṫ̵͈i̸̫̋ĺ̶͎ ̶͉͊i̶͈̋t̸̟̏ ̸̦̉c̸̛̥a̸̛͖n̶̗̈́ ̸̭̀c̸̲̏r̸̃͜ȩ̴͂å̸̻ţ̴̑ė̸̦ ̸̯́ạ̴̾ ̶̖̾s̶̫̏h̶̄͜ȯ̶͔č̵̩k̶̹̅w̵̮̅ạ̷̑v̴̞͛e̷̡̅.̸̤͆.̸͒͜.̴̠̒ ̴̟̕ṕ̶̭r̷̭̓ȯ̶͖p̷̰̒e̴͚̊l̵͘͜ ̸̼̊y̶̗͋ŏ̵̺u̷͍̐r̵̮͑s̴̖̋e̸̤̓ľ̶͎f̵̪̿ ̸̬͛w̴͕͑í̸̞t̴͛ͅh̵̯̃ ̵̞͐t̶̬̂h̴̘͆è̶̻ ̶̬͊ẽ̶̦x̵̢̿p̵̠̃l̵̽͜o̴̩̊s̸̟͘ǐ̴̖o̶̻͋n̶̻͂!̷̠̀'

A voice that Griff wasn't exactly sure that belonged to his subconsciousness spoke in his head. No, more like pre-determined knowledge. Something you could see in magic text books, but he never read something like this...

'I got nothing to lose at this point. A little experimenting will do.'

Griff started condensing the flames in his hands and his feet slowly, feeling the energy build up... the energy was slowly spiraling out of control... the flames heating up to unfamiliar degrees to Griff... and suddenly... it ignited, creating a shockwave, sending Griff flying about a dozen feet!

"I'm FLYING!"

He was shocked, but he was nor going to lose concentration, lest he become paste! He condensed more flames and started propelling himself! And as he did... a new magic spell appeared in his head.

"Unknown Magic: Empyrean Body of the Forge!"

This was... level 4 magic. Master class magic, something Griff had no experience with but by his willpower and conviction created it! No, he FORGED it!

His entire body erupted in black flames but it could also be noticed his skin was turning black as armor like images appeared on his skin, slowly engulfing his body, until nothing could be seen of the man underneath.

A/N: Very similar to the Cover but black flames.

Rin and Reiner were too busy fighting the undead as they failed to notice Griff's breakthrough... but Selena had watched everything unfold and was merely watching mouth agape.

"Am I... even needed here?"

Griff's black flames propelled him up to the torso of the monstrosity, and he grabbed onto the chest of the Titan. Using his flames he burnt the skin of the Titan with his feet, gaining the ability to walk vertically with his creative... yet definitely unethical method.

He started running up the monster's torso, burning any undead that tried to stop him.

"Unknown Magic: Empyrean Blade of Despair!"

His blade once again materialized on his hand, yet it was purely black flames given shape by mana.

Selena was using her arrows to ignite the Titan on fire on several areas to try to support Griff as he moved to the head of the Monster, hoping to divert its attention.

"Come on kid... you got this..."

Griff managed to reach the neck of the Titan and stabbed his blade into it's Adam's Apple!

"Burn... burn burn burn burn burn! Let your very existence become a part of me! Your mana. Your life force. Your strength. A part of my very being!"

As his hair had turned entirely black when Griff reached the top... he had lost control... control to something? To whatever it was... it clearly was not Griff... because Griff did not... have the mana to cause the entire Titan to burst in FLAMES!

Yes, the Titan's entire body was in fire... the smell of burning flesh filling the skies. The undead howled as it felt most of its body burn... but it was not going to fall easily. Not when it had an objective!

The eyes of the Titan glowed as it looked down on 'Griff' who was burning the Titan through it's neck. And suddenly the Titan's eyes shot out beams of condensed necromantic magic! The magic to kill! To resurrect! To reanimate.

'Griff' looked up, his now crimson red eyes coming face to face with the incoming magic attack. He grinned savagely and held out his hand to cast a spell... the same spell that corrodes and broke the spears of the slavers...

"[????] Magic: O̶̯͝p̷̬͠p̸͖̋ȯ̴̻s̶̪͝i̷̠͛t̶͍͐i̶̢̇o̴͉̍n̸̙͆."

A/N: Griff is saying something unintelligible here.

The incoming beam of necromantic magic... suddenly gave life. It healed... it destroyed itself...

The thousands of zombies that made up the Undead Titan started to screech as the lower body was hit with Healing Magic. The anti-thesis to the very existence of the undead. The Titan's lower body started to erode... and this time it was not healing... it didn't have the ability to. No regular undead could make it through being healed... cleansed... purified.

As the Titan corroded and started falling, Griff used the body of the undead to cushion his fall. The entirety of the village was about the get crushed! At least... no, sadly the entirety of the villager population was already dead.

It was a weird sight as the bodies of burning undead rained on top of the area...

The black in his hair had started whitening once more as he sighed before his eyes lost their crimson color.

"Really. You're really a handful..."

———————————————————————

A man was sipping tea as he sat in front of the fire in his room. He grinned as he put the mirror he was holding aside.

"Yes, you seem to really be a handful..."