Chapter 14: Queen Crimson

A fire would be the last thing the titan wants. Space is a very important part of battle, and losing it to flames would be highly disadvantageous.

That changes if you can defeat your opponent by losing space. That was why Lu knows that the titan would follow through with its unmaker because it was confident it would hit. It no longer mattered if it would cause a fire or not.

Desperate moments call for desperate decisions. Lu yelled as he did his best to painfully and forcefully wriggle a small hole for his hand to squeeze through and sustained a cut on his forearm in the process. He generated his small golden blade and carefully yet quickly cut through the vines that held him.

Just in time he was able to break free before the beam of light pierced a hole through the ground where he was supposed to be. The vines that cleared a path for the attack had closed up again and it was too late before Lu could take advantage of the opportunity but he did not mind. Lu could only imagine what would have happened to him had he stayed there any longer.

Mana is of course limited. From his experience with being held up by vines helped him understand that the durability would cost him a chunk of his mana before he could cut through a root. He estimates that it would cost him all his mana to remove the roots covering the titan's eye. Disabling the titan by cutting at its weak points until it drols also is a risk. If the titan can pretend to be so weak it couldn't stand, it can flank him later in the most unexpected timing and end their lives then and there. He couldn't wait out until all its energy leaks from its wounds either. Autumn still needs help and it would be nighttime before he could exhaust all the energy inside the titan by leaking it.

He has to remove the root barrier without using much mana before he could proceed to do anything else. The energy powering the titans are highly volatile and reacts with any element that comes into contact with it, which is why there is a special casing inside the titans so that it does not react with its own body, and the core regulates it constantly. If Lu had an actual animus he could use this knowledge to his advantage, but unfortunately he's not even sure what his animus does or if it does anything at all aside from blocking sight.

Lu thought he would settle for a tactical retreat. Naturally, the sustenance of titans is energy, and it was very convenient for them that they can transform it into its purest form from any form for their consumption. But they need to open its core akin opening its mouth, which would mean no roots on its face. When eating a soul, the titan would have to leave its core exposed the same way. That was why they damage their prey first but a little careful that they do not beat them to death. Lu had to decoy using his own life for an opening.

He scaled up a nearby cliff and threw a feather ahead when he was near the top. He was about to use a trick he learned playing Monitum.

He faced the titan that was coming forth and it shot six slow homing bullets to try to shake him off climbing but he easily blocked it with his shield. Seeing that the projectiles do not affect him, it judged that it was time for an unmaker. Lu then used his animus and the golden smoke covered him from its sight. Regardless, the titan followed through even with hindered vision. Lu did not even have to mind the laser beam as it did not go anywhere near him at all due to his trusty concealment.

He then continued to climb the wall after the attack and used the carvings left by the onslaught to get to his goal faster.

The titan, seeing that it doesnt work as well after the cloud had disappeared, approached slowly at its usual pace, stomping hard against the soil. Lu had already ascended to the top of the wall when the titan was near enough, and then it punched a hole unto the wall, and roots spawned from the center of impact.

Lu jumped away from the cliff and left the roots trailing behind him as he went back down faster than it traveled. He landed onto the titan's head and started ripping apart the thick branches with his pained hands because he needed to reserve his depleting mana. However, he was not able to remove them fast enough and land a feather into the core before the titan grabbed him by the limbs and held on tight, crushing his right wrist in the process. His legs were luckily only painful and would not be destroyed anytime soon. His left hand was fortunately put into a spot where it's not crushed, but nonetheless it cannot move. Lu felt his right hand cracking under the pressure and he screamed in pain. He thinks that it's already broken but adrenaline is helping him feel less pain.

Hands are the only place where one can create feathers from, and albeit broken hands can still control feathers, it could not create them. This leaves Lu with only his left hand as the only weapon he couldn't utilize.

The vines from its eye moved away like little obedient snakes and left the core exposed showing Lu a spinning gear and a ball with electricity arcing out from it randomly.

Lu laughed as he felt his soul being magnetized toward the core. It was this time that he felt closest to death. Brushing a little too close in fact.

A feather fell down from the sky at supersonic speed and shot past under his ear, and directly into the titan's core. The feather he threw earlier had finally returned on his command.

The titan's grip loosened enough for him to drop to the ground and he rolled away screaming in pain as the clearly broken fingers flimsily swayed around his hand.

What he had done required his level of precision, because surely the titan would incapacitate its prey which means no spawning of quills. The only way to do it was to use a return feather, and requires a lot of precision as well, because if the feather would be a little too far left or right it might kill the user, or miss the core.

The titan fell down and Lu was once again victorious. He then gathered nearby leaves and strings using his feathers and tied them up on his injury to immobilize his uncomfortable, painful, broken hand and fingers.

Lu spawned another feather and pierced through the titan's core again to make sure. It was one of the rules he had to learn the hard way back in his days in Monitum, that unless you're sure that something is not a threat anymore, never let your guard down.

The next step was to help Autumn with her batch of monsters. Lu jogged as fast as he could to follow the tracks left by the giants. He grew more anxious with each step as the pattern of the tracks shifted to violent and chaotic marks which indicated that their battle started somewhere nearby, and Lu could still not see where they ended up.

After a few turns following the trail of tempered gigantic footsteps Lu noticed that Autumn led them out in the open intentionally despite being at a disadvantage without the cover of the nearby groves. Lu's guess was so he could follow up soon using the trail, as if she was expecting him to not die and catch up soon.

Lu was not going to let her down with it and sprinted to full speed as soon as he caught a glimpse of a giant rock spike appearing from the ground in the distance.

Lu was about to faint from the lack of air when he arrived at the scene. The area looked like the ruins of an ongoing battle, which it was. All of the nearby isolated trees had their barks and trunks chipped off or destroyed. Lu thinks Autumn must have been using every cover she could without wandering into a thicket of trees.

Brown soil craters dotted the grassy plains in different shapes. Where there was the highest concentration of craters, a titan lay lifelessly on a soft green patch, yet the yellow color on its eye signified it was still alive just unmoving. Two of its limbs were absent from their usual place. Its left leg is seen a little further away while the right arm is nowhere to be found. Gold threads of energy flowed away from the wounds, and it was only a matter of time before it would shut down if left on its own.

Lu approached the titan slowly to end its life. The eye slowly turned to him and Lu stepped back in shock and prepared himself mentally to evade at the first sign of danger. To his surprise, it merely stared at him. A hollow, still figure lay in front if him. If it could blink, it may as well have done so, just to prove Lu it did not have any intention to fight anymore despite part of it still being well enough to move if it tried.

If it was truly hellbent on eating a soul just because, it would not be staring at Lu as if saying it no longer intends to continue its life, not even being bothered to hide its eye by turning around at the very least. It must have been rationalizing the same thing in its mind the same time Lu thought of it.

On the off chance it was successful in consuming Lu's soul, it would only delay its inevitable death by leakage, similar to a vampire dying of bloodloss after sucking blood from a person beause they couldnt fix their chopped limbs.

Lu ended its life as quickly as he could with a plume to the core. Half of the reason was because it was still a potential threat, and the other half was Lu thought of ending its suffering, not that he knows if it was in pain or not. Nevertheless, the thought was there.

The behavior of the recent titans he encountered was starting to make him see them in a light comparable to animals and he was sure he wasn't the only one. However, they were still animals that was forced to compete with his race for survival, which was likely the reason they are not able to coexist.

Lu caught up his breath and turned to the ongoing havoc on his right. One titan was shooting orbs of energy aimed at the tip of a very, very tall, light brown colored rock spike, and another was smashing at its base, trying to take it down.

On top of the rock spike was a girl with purple hair, and a broken arm. Blood was crossing from her head to her chin through her face. He does not know how it got to the point with them but he had no time to think about it. He threw a feather on a course to return to him in a curve, aiming at the shooting titan's exposed core along the way while it was distracted.

It took a few seconds before he heard a metallic clashing of steel that indicated he hit something, but it was only the hand of the titan who was punching the bottom of the spike earlier. It had noticed his attack and decided to obstruct the projectile for its ally.

While the other mech continued to fire golden bullets at Autumn (and keep missing them), the other one shifted its focus to Lu and started making its way toward him.

Lu smiled as his desired results came true. He had learned that titans weren't so easy to defeat in this world so he wasn't actually expecting to kill them with only a return feather.

Lu led the pursuer away so that the titans aren't in range to help each other out, and also because he does not want Autumn to see his golden flashing lights. After they were covered in a fence of trees, Lu skid to a stop and faced his opponent.

He played it safe and dodged and blocked all its attacks. His goal was to make it use its animus to know ehat he can and cannot do. Luckily enough, it summoned a minature tidal wave out of nowhere and it was then and there that the fight was already won.

Only the titans that had no defensive capabilities were his problem so far, and this was not one of them. Lu braced the water's impact because there was no way to dodge it and it was so strong that he couldn't breathe for a few seconds after it crashed his back into a tree.

Despite the tormenting damage he sustained, he laughed as soon as his ability to breathe came back instead of coughing up the small amount of water he caught in his lungs. He sent wave after wave of sharp feathers aimed at the gaps in its armor, just like he did with the titan in the fire ring. It also covered its eyes in a futile attempt to save its core but eventually Lu ended it when its arms could no longer lift themselves. If it works, keep doing it until it no longer works. The battle of tactics was simple enough.

Sighing a breath of victory, Lu hurried back to Autumn again with his failing legs. Thankfully, the fight was over, as the girl had just pierced the core of the last titan with a purple feather. She must have taken advantage of the isolated titan while Lu was gone.

"That's the last of them, right?" Lu said.

Expecting a grin of relief, he was shocked when he received a scowl instead, and her violet talons were up and ready to pierce his vitals the instant she commands them too.

"Woah wait! It's me! Lu! You know, the bounty her working with you? Do you remember me?" Lu introduced himself, thinking she had lost her memory from a traumatic strike to the head, evident from the blood leaking from the top to her chin.

"I didn't hit my head that hard. You never really told me your code either, Lu. It was good to know it before I end you, though", Autumn said, preparing to lunge.

"Wha--What's this!?" Lu exclaimed. "Can you at least tell me the reason why you're acting like you're going to kill me?".

"Your hair...It's black too" she said in a cold tone.

Lu plucked a strand from his head and confirmed it. The powder must have washed away when he took the tidal wave head on.

His eyes widened at the realization and put his hands up. "I swear, I don't have any violent intentions".

"Tell me. Are your feathers gold?" she asked.

Lu couldn't answer and could only stare at her. The silence persisted for a few moments and nobody dared to move. Not until the titan behind Autumn rose up and Lu had to throw a golden plume into its core before it snatched Autumn and quite likely killed her.

Autumn witnessed the color clearly in broad daylight. There were no more lies that could help Lu out anymore. Despite helping her with some trouble, he reminded himself that being an aurum outweighs saving a life.

"If you would listen, I can tell you everything I know, and I swear I don't intend to harm--"

The girl sighed before he could finish. A red scythe appeared and Autumn held it in a stance Lu had seen before. It was the exact same scythe he saw in the underground. He couldn't believe his eyes and was at a loss for words. The color of the feathers should match the color of the manablade, and it goes for everyone. However, this experience was letting Lu know more and more how little he actually knows of the real Monitum despite knowing it all his life, and his next one too.

"I'm sorry, Lu. Goodbye, Aurum" she said and held her weapon of death up, then dashed his way.