Alain threw himself sideways, Raido flaring beneath his boots, giving him that extra burst of mobility to avoid the attack.
The Aberrant's blow slammed into the summit where he'd been standing a heartbeat earlier. The impact had shattered stone, spraying red crystal shards across the snow.
He hit the ground shoulder-first and skidded across the slanted sheet of frost, barely catching himself on a jutting rock.
Behind him, the crystal pillar he'd been using as cover took the brunt of the blow, a massive crack split down its center.
Theo's voice rang out, raw and frantic.
"Keep moving, don't let it pin you!"
Alain didn't answer. There was no breath to spare.
The Aberrant dragged its colossal limb free of the crater, every movement accompanied by the grinding, grating cry of crystal against stone
Alain took the opportunity and darted in. Reaching into his storage ring, he found his hand around the Abyssal Sword.
Laevateinn's edge hissed through the air, as soon as he had infused his ether into it, years of rust on the sword just…disappeared, like the sword was made just yesterday.
His familiarity with Raido allowed him to perfectly close the gap as the 'arm' retracted. With a quick motion, he plunged the blade into the crystallized arm, blade barely making it through a few centimeters.
No reaction. The monster hadn't even noticed.
Gritting his teeth, Alain pivoted and struck again, angling the edge toward the underside of the limb. A thin sliver of red crystal chipped free, tumbling across the frost like a scrap of glass.
Still nothing.
The Aberrant's colossal head lowered slightly—as if annoyed by a buzzing insect. It tried to swat Alain away like a fly, gigantic arm moving in a wide horizontal arc.
However, Alain caught a red gleam. Its joints were thin, glowing tendrils, which ran along its limb like exposed nerves, tightening and relaxing with each movement.
ᛝ — Ingwaz (Velocity)
He didn't get the chance to study it—Theo yanked him aside just as a tendril whipped past.
"What're you doing?! Get your head together!" Theo yelled.
Alain barely heard him over the roar of the Aberrant's next movement. The monster's arm crashed into the ground where he'd been standing seconds earlier, sending a shockwave that rattled the entire peak.
He tumbled down the tilted slope, dodging debris that was rolling down for dear life.
"Shit! Isa!"
The Ice Rune flared, creating a platform that he could barely use to stand on. Alain sucked in a sharp breath, boots scraping against the thin ice platform as it groaned beneath his weight.
The slope was steeper than before—if Isa hadn't caught him, he would've gone straight into the abyss.
Above him, the Crystal Titan shifted again.
It's arm descended again, faster this time— a blunt, unstoppable arc of crimson crystal that would squash him like a fly, if it had landed.
He braced himself for the impact, just for it to narrowly miss him by a few centimeters. Theo had moved the arm's trajectory off course with his Rune.
"I owe you another one!" Alain yelled.
Those strings. Those exposed, glowing tendrils—if anything was vulnerable, it had to be them.
But he needed a better angle.
Before the Aberrant could fully recover from Theo's redirected strike, Alain made his move.
He sprinted straight toward the monster's limb as it lay half-buried in the slope, the massive arm still struggling to pull itself free from the impact.
Snow and fragments of red crystal were still rolling off its surface.
Theo saw where Alain was headed.
"Alain—what are you—?!"
No time to explain.
Isa flashed beneath Alain's soles.
Frost spread over the Aberrant's arm in a thin, gleaming sheet—just enough traction to keep from sliding.
Alain vaulted upward, running up the Aberrant's arm, sprinting along the massive limb as the monster tried to wrench it out of the ground.
Shards of crystal shook loose with each movement.
The Aberrant roared, the sound vibrating through its entire frame. Its limb spasmed, trying to throw him off.
Alain nearly slipped—but barely had enough time to create a foothold to catch him.
He kept climbing.
Glowing strings along the elbow joint pulsed wildly at his approach, tightening to stabilize the limb.
Perfect.
"Kindle!"
Strength entered his body, glowing veins of molten gold crawled up his arm and through his whole body.
Alain drew Laevateinn back, ether surging along the blade in flickering, unstable arcs of heat.
The Aberrant finally ripped its arm free—and Alain jumped. Straight toward his target.
CRACK—!!
The blade carved through two of the glowing tendrils, sparks bursting in a violent spray of red light. The strings recoiled like severed nerves, snapping back with a sharp, elastic whiplash.
For the first time, the Aberrant lurched.
Its entire arm buckled at the elbow, the massive crystal limb sagging under its own weight as the damaged strings snapped and writhed. A low, stuttering roar rumbled through its chest, the first sign of pain Alain had managed to draw from it.
Theo shouted over the wind, voice raw with surprise.
"It worked! You madman!"
Alain didn't have time to celebrate.
The remaining tendrils tightened violently, pulsing with a furious brightness as they began to reweave themselves. Red energy surged along their length, and new crystalline fibers sprouted from the severed ends like sinew knitting itself back together.
"What—?!" Alain's eyes widened.
A split second later, the ground beneath him bulged.
A tendril shot out from under the snow like a striking serpent and slammed into his ribs, the impact sharp and brutal. Alain's breath exploded from his lungs as he was flung off the Aberrant's arm, airborne before he even realized what had happened.
The world spun. Sky—snow—crystal.
He was going to hit the ground at a killing angle.
"ALAIN!" Theo's voice cracked.
He suddenly felt his speed slowing down. Finally being able to see clearly, he saw Theo's out-stretched hand, desperate as he tried to slow Alain's velocity using his Rune.
His back met a crystal pillar hard. The impact still rattled his bones, but he should've been long dead.
Sliding down the pillar, Alain made a mental note to treat Theo to a nice meal, that's if they survived this whole ordeal.
He forced himself upright, breath ragged, ribs aching with every inhale. The Aberrant's limb was still trembling from his earlier attack, the glowing heartstrings pulsing erratically as they re-knitted.
The strike earlier proved the strings were breakable. However, he had to cut them in one go or they would just knit back to their original state. But any current angle he could get would be impossible.
Unless…the angle itself isn't grounded.
The idea clicked, reckless and stupid — just like every plan that had worked so far.
He looked towards Theo, ether in hand, already drawing the Raido sigil in the air.
"There's no way you're thinking about that. Right?" Theo asked.
Alain didn't answer him.
He didn't need to. The grin spreading across his face said everything.
Theo groaned. "Alain—no. No. That's not a real plan. That's suicide wrapped in an extra layer of stupidity!"
"It'll work," Alain said, slamming the pre-carved Raido sigil until it glowed beneath his heel. "I just need you to launch me. Fast."
"Launch—? I'm not a damn catapult!"
"You're the guy with the Velocity Rune," Alain shot back, grinning.
Another tremor ripped through the peak as the Aberrant dragged itself upright again, its massive torso twisting, strings pulsing with a furious red light. Snow and crystal rained down the slope.
Time was running out.
Alain's voice hardened.
"Theo… please."
Theo stared at him for a long, tense heartbeat—then sighed, stretching his hand outward, Ingwaz glowing a faint blue.
"If you die, that sword's mine."
Alain crouched, lowering his center of gravity. Both hands gripped tightly on Laevateinn's hilt, ready for the launch.
"Deal."
The Aberrant noticed.
Its torso twisted with a grinding shriek as it reoriented toward him, the remaining arm lifting, plates shifting as joint strings pulsed with violent red light. Snow hissed down the slope, dragged by the momentum of the monster's movement.
It knew he was coming.
…
"GO!" Theo shouted.
Alain activated his sigil. What was meant to be a light pushing force suddenly became near bullet speeds as Alain launched through the air straight toward the monster's limb.
The monster reacted instantly, dropping its remaining arm like a falling guillotine. But it was too slow and heavy to reach.
He had become a projectile, aiming straight at the joint strings of the Aberrant.
Alain raised Laevateinn, the edge gleaming as the sun's rays reflected off it.
One chance.
...
He swung.
SHRRRAAAAAK—!!
Blade carved through the entire bundle in one blinding arc. The strings didn't snap — they exploded, red light bursting outward like shattered nerves as the severed fibers recoiled violently in every direction.
A shockwave tore through the Aberrant's massive frame.
The monster screamed—a jagged, crystal-grinding howl that shook the entire summit. Its remaining limb spasmed, plates cracking as the severed arm lurched away from Alain's strike.
Alain shot past the joint, momentum still carrying him forward through the spray of fractured crystal.
Behind him—the entire arm gave way.
It detached in a single, catastrophic break, ripping free from the Aberrant's torso with a thunderous crack that echoed across the mountain.
The colossal limb toppled backward in slow, terrible motion—then tipped over the edge of the peak.
Alain twisted midair, watching it fall.
The Titan's arm, longer than caravans, sheared cleanly from its owner.
Tumbling into the abyss, it vanished without a sound, swallowed by the black water far below.