[Stone Throne Hall — The Final Conflict]
Time didn't stop. I didn't become a god. But when my vision was tinted a cold blue, the "flow" of the world shifted in my mind. [Eyes of Sin: Level Three — Expanded Perception.] The giants didn't become slow; my mind simply began processing information at a manic speed. I saw the contraction of "stony fibers" in the fifth giant's arm before he even raised his axe. I heard the friction of the magical gears inside his knee. I knew where he would strike before he struck.
"Two remaining..." I whispered, sweat masking my face. This ability consumes my mental energy like wildfire. I must end this quickly.
The fifth giant lunged. He wasn't afraid; he was enraged. He swung his axe in a massive horizontal sweep to cover every possible escape route. If I jumped, he would swat me with his other hand. If I retreated, the air pressure alone would crush me. The only solution was to move forward.
I sprinted. Not away from the axe, but toward it. The moment the massive blade approached my neck, I slid across the glass-like floor. The blade passed millimeters above my nose. The wind shear cut my cheek, but I had cleared the "death circle."
I was now beneath his feet. The giant tried to lift his leg to stomp me. I saw it clearly. Through the blue eye, I saw that his entire center of gravity rested on his right heel. I didn't attack the striking leg. I plunged the Void Fang into the fixed heel—the pivot point. "CRACK!" The dagger didn't cut rock; it severed the "magical current" maintaining his balance. The giant suddenly lost his footing while lifting his other leg. He staggered and crashed to his knee.
"One chance." I leapt onto his leg and sprinted up his thigh as he struggled to rise. The giant's hand swiped at me like he was swatting a fly. I saw it coming. I didn't block it—that would have shattered my bones. I jumped over the incoming palm, using it as a secondary launchpad to reach his chest. I reached the core. He tried to cover it with his other hand, but I was faster by a fraction of a second. I slipped between his stony fingers and buried the dagger into the red light. "BZZZZT!" The fifth giant died as he lived: on his knees.
I fell to the ground, gasping. My head throbbed as if it were about to explode. The blue eye puts immense pressure on the nerves. "Only... one left."
I turned to the sixth and final giant. But this one... was different. He didn't attack. He had seen how his comrades died by exposing their chests. He retreated, planting his massive stone shield in front of his torso, holding his axe in a purely defensive stance. He had turned himself into a closed fortress. "Smart..." I spat blood. "He won't open a gap."
I walked toward him. The sixth giant didn't move. He was waiting for me to get close enough for a guaranteed strike. He was protecting the core—his only weakness—perfectly. How could I reach his chest when it was covered by a shield the size of a building?
I looked around. I saw the fifth giant's fallen axe lying on the ground. Fifteen meters long. Weighing hundreds of tons. Impossible for me to carry. But... I didn't need to carry it. I only needed to push it.
I activated [Gravity Cube] on the fallen axe. The weapon's weight dropped to zero for ten seconds. I kicked the floating axe with all my strength toward the sixth giant. The axe took off like a massive projectile.
The sixth giant was caught off guard by the flying weapon. He was forced to raise his shield to block his comrade's axe. "BOOOOOOM!" The collision was violent. The momentum shattered the sixth giant's shield and knocked him off balance, forcing him back two steps and exposing his chest for a single second.
"Now!" I launched myself at top speed, draining the last drop of energy in my muscles. The giant regained his balance with terrifying speed and saw my attack. Knowing he couldn't cover his chest in time, he decided to attack. He dropped his axe and shield, opening his arms to grab me and crush me—a bear hug. It was a mutual trap. Either I stabbed him, or he caught me.
I leapt toward his chest. The giant's arms closed around me. I felt the stone press against my sides. "CRRRK!" My ribs—only recently healed—snapped again. The pain was unbearable. I was pinned between his arms, centimeters from his chest. If he squeezed any harder, I would burst. My right hand, holding the dagger, was jammed at my side. I couldn't move it.
"Did you think... you caught me?" I whispered through clenched teeth. I let the dagger fall from my right hand... and caught it with my left, which was partially free near his shoulder. It was a move his primitive combat system didn't expect. With a desperate, reverse motion... I stabbed backward. Not directly into the core—it was too far—but into the neck. I severed the golden power cables transmitting commands from the head to the body.
The giant's arms stopped squeezing. He froze. Exploiting the temporary paralysis, I pulled myself from his grip and climbed onto his now-exposed chest. I looked into the giant's hollow "eye." "Checkmate." I drove the dagger into the red core. "BZZZZZZZT..."
The last light flickered out. The sixth giant collapsed slowly, and I fell with him. We hit the ground hard. I rolled away from his corpse and stayed flat on my back for several minutes, staring at the dark cavern ceiling. I couldn't move a single finger. Every muscle was torn. Every bone groaned. Blood clouded my vision. But... I was alive.
The Core and the Secret
After a long time, I forced my exhausted body to rise. Regeneration was working at a snail's pace due to lack of energy. I walked with a limp toward the center of the hall, where the destruction hadn't reached. Toward the white table.
The Core... the mesmerizing blue crystal... floated there calmly, indifferent to the massacre that had occurred around it. I approached. The gravity surrounding it was strange; it made me feel light, as if I would fly away if I didn't hold onto the table.
I looked at the surface of the white table. There were fine carvings etched into it that began to glow as I neared. [Activation: Linguistic of Existence.] My mind translated the ancient words.
I expected to read a magical incantation, a way to nullify gravity, or even a warning. But what I read... was something else entirely.
[Translated Text:] "To the one who reaches this place... Congratulations, you have passed the defensive system." "This core is not for reversing gravity... it is a [Key to the Shackles]." "The underworld is not a refuge... it is a prison. And we were not locking ourselves away from the surface..." "We were locking the [Surface] away from us." "If you take the core... the chains will break. The dwarves will not ascend to the sky... rather, the sky will fall upon them."
I stopped reading. The meaning sank in. King Gorath wants this core to free his people and invade the surface. But he doesn't know that this core is the "lock" preventing a catastrophe from descending. If I move it... I will destroy this world, and perhaps the others.
I looked at the blue crystal. I could leave it and walk away. Or I could take it... and fulfill the "wish" I came for, even if the world burned.
A slow, bloody smile spread across my lips. I didn't feel fear. I didn't feel hesitation. I felt excitement. Chaos is my playground. I wiped my hand across the cold surface of the table.
"A falling sky?.." I whispered hoarsely, my eyes glimmering with a faint blue light. "Oh..." I laughed softly. "...This is actually interesting."