A thundering roar that shook the earth.
Hikari got up. She could feel the earth shaking below her.
She senses a sudden surge in mana from the fortress ahead.
"Meow! What's going on?"
"Camilia. Run. Tell everyone to run."
"Huh? Hey, we ain't gonna leave you here!"
"Run!" The usually playful beastkin was taken aback by the force of her voice.
Without another word, she climbed down the tree.
She channeled her mana.
Roar! The ground shook.
A gigantic arm, several times her height emerged from the fortress and landed outside, crushing a siege ramp whole.
The beast emerged from the depths of the fallen city.
It was the size of a city itself.
Boom! Boom! A broad side from the sky fortress. The titan was unphased.
Boom! Boom! Another volley from the cannons on the ground. Not a scratch either.
Troops rushed out from the breaches in the carla wall.
Soon, flesh abominations crawled out after them.
There was chaos below.
Hikari pulled out her hand cannon and loaded a bullet.
She focused in, channeling her mana.
The searing bullet leaves the barrel at the speed of sound.
It pierced into the titan's flesh.
She could sense the RazenHeir flames burning inside. But just that wouldn't be enough to slay a titan.
She loads another bullet.
And another.
And another.
The titan is unfazed.
She fired another bullet.
Another.
Another.
The flames start building up.
Another.
Another.
The sound of musket fire down below as the horde of flesh abominations crashed into the infantry lines.
Bullet after bullet pierced into the titan.
It barely flinched.
Boom. Boom. The cannons on the back of the titan fired upwards.
The cannon shots hit the barrier of the sky fortress.
Cannon ports on its belly opened up, unleashing a barrage on the infantry line below.
"No you don't."
Hikari aimed her handcannon towards its belly.
Shot after shot pierced the flesh titan.
She sensed a small explosion within the titan.
The gun fell silent.
She kept firing at the belly.
The powder magazines have to be close to the cannons.
One by one, she knocked out the cannons. The gunports closed.
The ground shook as the titan took a step.
Roar!
Hikari's senses tingled.
The titan had sensed her.
Cannons ports on the side opened.
A volley was fired on Hikari's position.
Splitters flew as the steel hit the mangrove.
Hikari stood her ground unfazed.
The steel bounced off her wyvern skin armour.
She returned fire.
Her shots pierced without sound into the titan's flesh.
The powder magazines exploded.
She kept loading and firing into the titan's main body.
She could sense the presence of golem cores, so she just kept firing in their direction, hoping to burn through the flesh.
Boom! The titan moved its massive arm. Another set of gun ports opened towards Hikari.
Pierce. Pierce. The powder magazines exploded.
Hikari tried to load another bullet.
The steel ball dropped to the ground as the barrel had melted.
"Ivory berries."
She discarded the hand cannons and jumped off the mangrove.
Flesh abominations and golems stood in her way.
She unleashed her flaming glaive to carve a way through.
Musket shots and aether fire bolts pelted her from all directions.
She just powered through them.
Her glaive ran straight into a golem, causing it to spin out of control and crash into the ground into pieces.
It did its job. She drew her claw more and cut off the golem's arm, clearing the way to the walls.
She jumped for a breach point. Using the strength of both legs, she kicked an opening into the city.
It was a hellspace behind the walls.
Vines everywhere. Tortured flesh and mucus covered the buildings.
Cages littered the place, most were open. The unprocessed prisoners died starving, their arms hanging out of the cages.
A horde of flesh abominations rose from the ground as Hikari landed.
She ignored them and jumped up the walls.
The titan's belly loomed overhead.
Hatches opened up, releasing a wave of flesh abominations.
She grabbed three musket balls in between her fingers, set them alight and threw them at the hatches.
The Titan rumbled. Vines started growing out of the Titan's underbelly at a mass enough to fill a maze.
She drew her claymore. The massive blade flared with RazenHeir flare.
The mass of vines sprouted towards her, attempting to smother her.
She spun her claymore, releasing a circle of flame.
The mass of vines swallowed her.
They burned.
They burned.
The flames on the vines grew stronger and stronger.
The vines started wiltering. The tips of the tendrils turned to ash.
Hikari emerged. The wyvern skin on her left hand disintegrated with the intensity of her mana.
The flames burned up the vines onto the titan's belly.
She drew a throwing dagger, channeling mana until the dagger was burning brilliant purple.
The flames were building up. Bit by bit, the damage stacks.
She tossed the dagger. It pierced into the titan's belly. Feeding the flames.
One by one she tossed her flaming daggers.
They acted as a medium to deliver her flames onto the titan's flesh.
The titan roared in pain.
The RazenHeir flames do not burn fast. But they burn long.
Vines emerged from its side and wrapped around its belly, attempting to smother the flames.
But the RazenHeir flames do not need air, they do not need fuel.
They can ignite cold steel as well as dry hay.
More plants appeared from the titan's side.
A barrage of acid barreled towards Hikari's position.
She moved, dodging the barrage.
Huge tendrils appeared, large enough to swallow a flesh golem whole.
Hikari senses a massive mana build.
She kept her claymore and ran as fast as she could.
The heads unleashed a breath of aether flame comparable to that of a dragon, incinerating the ground below.
Hikari landed on the battlement. The head follows her.
At the last moment, she leapt high into the air, emerging between its legs above the titan.
She does not want to mess with the dragon head tendrils as they do pack enough power to burn through her armour and barrier.
She sank her claymore into the titan and grabbed on.
The titan tilted to the left and right, trying to shake Hikari off.
The latter anchored herself on her claymore stuck in the titan's flesh.
Boom! Boom! A volley of cannons landed all around her.
The fortress cannons atop the titan's back fired back towards the sky fortress.
Hikari glanced at the skyfortress in the distance. It wasn't doing well against the titan.
Its barrier at some places had been pierced. Smoke was rising out of several compartments.
She has herself to worry about.
Pulling out a flaming dagger, she hurled it at the base of the fortress cannon.
An explosion caused a splatter of fluids.
The titan roared and rocked in pain.
Vines appeared around Hikari.
She drew her short sword and threw it in a boomerang cutting the vines down.
She looked around. She had exactly the number of daggers left for the number of fortress cannons.
Pop. Pop. She tossed them one by one, saturating each of them with RazenHeir flame.
Her short sword circles her, culling through the vines that attempt to grab her.
As the last magazine exploded, she felt an immense mana presence just below her.
"The core."
The titan rocked violently. Hikari stabbed both her claymore and short sword to hold on.
That was all the weapons she had left. Her left hand was numb from casting enough RazenHeir flame to burn a titan.
"Just die."
She channeled a burst of flames through her claymore.
She was tossed into the air as the burnt flesh could no longer anchor her.
Holding her claymore in both hands, she stabbed the claymore as deep as she could into the titan.
Incinerate. Hikari poured mana from both arms into the claymore.
The searing claymore burned through the titan's flesh on contact, causing her to slide down.
She landed on one of its legs.
Only the handle of her claymore remained in her hands.
The titan collapsed onto the ground as the flames burned through to its core.
She landed atop the titan's core. It pulsed with power. It was now her prize.
Boom! A deafening explosion that could be heard for miles.
She looked up and saw the sky fortress going down in a smoking spiral.
Boom! Another series of deafening explosions as it hits the ground.
As the sky fortress burned, she kept her last remaining weapon.
"Time to go home. I wonder how Ria's doing."
— Hikari —
[Mind : 755 -> 765]
[Martial proficiency : 270 -> 273]
[Firearms proficiency : 112 -> 118]
[Dark flames of the RazenHeir house potency : 158 -> 164]