<h2>CHAPTER 96 – TITANFALL</h2>


    The dark lord trampled the countryside as King Axion and his company tried to keep the giant distracted. Malinor’s chains came barreling by and caught both Anilithion and Mortikahn’s blindsides, knocking them out. Humbler flew back around on his chrome-faced condor as the juggernaut swung its one remaining hammer at Mitakahn and the Phoenix. Kunezar left Axion’s side as Eberlyn got there, and flew for the giant, low to the ground.


    Humbler came down hard on the giant’s head with his hammer in one fluid dip and made for Anilithion. It shook its massive head. Anilithion plummeted to the floor when his cloak stiffened around the edges and parachuted. Humbler caught one brother and could see the other brother’s condor steering him level. Mitakahn covered the juggernaut''s face in the Phoenix’s fire, keeping it busy.


    Axion rubbed his head, Eberlyn was still guarding him as he came-to. The sight before them was catastrophic and unbelievable as Axion tried to make sense of what was happening. But the war was over? Right now, they should be sitting back and celebrating, not witnessing an unstoppable terror ravage their countryside. All this ran through Axion’s mind as he watched the Phoenix blowing its fire onto the gigantic juggernaut, and his friends flying around it.


    Bridger snuck up on the giant. He flew his condor under it unnoticed, and up its chest. The giant had its head down and covered with its arms from the Phoenix’s fury. Bridger loaded three arrows at once, pulled the bow back into place, aiming straight up. He fired the arrows and barely flew out of the way in time. All three arrows hit it in the eye, rendering it blind on the right side.


    Malinor took it out on the Phoenix and Mitakahn included. It roared in pain but was only momentarily incapacitated. The juggernaut threw its hammer directly into the sunbird, sending both it and Mitakahn spiraling through the air.


    From within, Excelsior cut through the lungs of the juggernaut. Looking at his intestinal surroundings, and the foul smell of death, Excelsior could swear he was in the NetherRealm. His own personal nightmare. Nothing could be more grotesque. He squirmed through the organs, using his knives to break open the undead muscular valves. Excelsior searched for its heart.


    Meanwhile outside, Tron moved in to take a run at the colossal beast. He flew toward the juggernaut wielding his sword and golden shield. Tron got around behind its head and came across its neck. He carved his sword into the creature’s thick flesh, slitting its throat. But no blood ran from the wound. Malinor flinched briefly before head-butting Tron. The brave warrior tried to block the blow with his gold shield but failed. The giant knocked Tron off of his condor.


    From the sideline, Axion looked at his new sword. The FireSword was nearly out. His nerves spiked and he jumped to his feet. Upon the rapid movement the sword dialed up. The ruby vents opened, and the fire once again covered Axion. He jumped into the air and flew back for the juggernaut. Eberlyn rallied her spirits and followed behind him.


    They attacked its hands and Axion made his way for the other sledge hammer. He would take it down piece by piece if he had to, starting with its weapons. Axion rode up the giant’s arm as it was rising. Eberlyn flew over to catch Tron, after getting knocked off his bird.


    Malinor’s arm came down for the strike and there was Axion behind the hammer. Eberlyn caught Tron and got him out of the way. The Crucifire Sword blew the hammer to pieces and the juggernaut missed his target. Axion flew back around to finish the beast off but was hit by the chains across the face. He rolled away as the others countered the giant.


    After getting knocked off the Phoenix by the juggernaut, Mitakahn landed next to the shoreline of Lake Niobi. The sand cushioned his blow, but he still found it hard to move. He finally got himself up. He registered the current status. Lake Niobi no longer looked like a lake. Mitakahn searched for the Phoenix. The radiant sunbird landed next to him. The prince couldn’t help but notice that Lorde Alphatross was beginning to fade away. He looked down at the abyss. The lake pulsed black ooze that was gradually spreading over onto the land past the beach, almost to the foundations of the Citadel itself.


    Mitakahn looked back at the battle. He was not far from his friends. Eberlyn rushed over with Tron. Bridger covered Axion as he shook off the chains’ fury. The spreading algae stuck itself onto Mitakahn’s foot, but the Phoenix burned it off with its fiery gaze. Mitakahn looked right at it.


    “That was easy for you, huh?”


    The Phoenix nodded without physically moving. A slight chill of panic shot through Mitakahn as he confirmed the sunbird fading in and out of the atmosphere. What were they going to do without it?


    Meanwhile, back inside the juggernaut, Excelsior crawled further into the giant’s chest. He came to its beating heart, and did not hesitate, seeping his two swords directly into the heart like a viper’s bite. He pulled them out and his balance was stirred by a giant’s rumble. Slow dark blood came leaking out of the giant heart onto Excelsior, covering him.


    In the air outside, Mortikahn awakened, still on his condor. He flew around the giant, the bird auto-piloting him to safety. He looked around for his brother, but Anilithion was gone. Across the field Mortikahn could see Anilithion lying beside Humbler and Kunezar. Only the juggernaut stood in between him and his brother, while it was currently entangled with Bridger. Anilithion began to get himself up. Bridger did not attack the giant but flew around it, keeping it occupied while his allies recovered.


    “Time to do something daring.” Mortikahn said to himself.


    Mortikahn jolted down and under the giant, in between its legs. He swept underneath the juggernaut and sliced the inside of its ankle with his sword, before making a run for Anilithion.


    Bridger could no longer stay out of the giant’s reach. The juggernaut grabbed a hold of him. Bridger’s Chrome Faced Condor was dead. Bridger watched it fade away into thin air as he continued to plummet.


    Back on the beach, the Phoenix cried out and Mitakahn got back on it. It pushed off lightly into the air and flew for the sky way above the ensuing battle. The Phoenix basked in the sun’s brilliance and warmth. Mitakahn had never flown this close to the sun before. He expected it to burn his skin, but he was impervious.


    He stared at it through the lens of the Phoenix and felt its power as a being in itself. Mitakahn’s preconceived notions of life were shattered and forever lifted. The sun sent him flashes of the past, present, and future.


    Mitakahn swam in the lake with Theomitus. He looked into the Carbon Terra. He faced the Wolfe in the Forgotten Forest. He played in the gardens with Raja. He pulled the Crucifire Sword from the Flame Eterna. He dueled beside Epiphany in the Senate. He fought the basilisk in the Sacred Lands. The moon eclipsed the sun. Theomitus took his last breath.


    Mitakahn, wake up!


    He still remained upon the Phoenix, high in the sky. It was refueled with the revitalizing cosmic rays of the sun. The Phoenix returned from the sun and flew over the black abyss. It was the spawn of this sinister manifestation of Malinor, perhaps it could be its bane as well.


    Excelsior jumped back up onto the heart and pulled himself to the connecting tissue. He had severed the heart from the juggernaut’s body, but it continued to live on. Excelsior exhausted all his options. It didn’t kill the colossal beast, but it did do something to it. The giant wobbled around, as if winded, and dropped Bridger and his condor.


    Excelsior looked around at the enclosed organic chamber he was stuck in. The air was tight and damp. He was covered in bloody lethal sludge. Excelsior began to feel trapped. He jumped back through the way he carved out and crawled over to the lungs. Excelsior attempted to climb out of the giant’s throat. He threw himself forward and caught a hold with his swords every jump. He used his knives to slowly ascend up the inside of the juggernaut.


    As he climbed higher and higher, the room got tighter and tighter. Soon there was no more elbow room to pull out his swords. His arms were stuck, and the swords lodged in. The moist tissue surrounded him. It was dark and damp, only spotted light came in from up top.


    Everything was fluid and tough, like tunneling through quicksand. The future was looking grim for Excelsior. He missed his pup. He wondered if he would ever see him again if he would ever get out of this tomb alive. Excelsior regretted ever sending him away. The walls were closing in, and Excelsior was running low on nerves.


    Outside on the ridge, Mitakahn could not figure out any other solutions besides the one. It felt like the Phoenix already knew. Mitakahn felt the mystical bird’s embrace. This was a spiritual connection forming into words he understood.


    “If I stay he will kill me. I have the power to cure the shadow lake. This is the only viable solution.”


    In an extended flash, the Phoenix transported him back to Eberlyn and Kunezar before it took off for the Abyss on its own. Mitakahn watched from the ridge, next to his kin and comrades, as Albatross, the Phoenix God, used the full capacity of its immense power.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Mortikahn and Anilithion helped Eberlyn get Tron back up. Humbler flew low, under the giant and caught Bridger. Anilithion got onto his brother’s condor; their roles now reversed since the beginning of the fight, and they took off along with Kunezar, and Tron. Eberlyn returned to Axion who was reengaging the enemy and together, they flew along with everyone in yet another united charge against the unstoppable giant force.


    Mitakahn watched from the floor as the Phoenix flew into the abyss. They also watched the Phoenix from the Citadel as it arched over and into the black lake. Humbler and Bridger along with Mortikahn and Anilithion flew around the giant, confusing it. Kunezar and Tron dove down from above, both firing arrows. Anilithion gestured to Mortikahn and as they flew high around after Axion, Anilithion came up with a plan. He only hoped that his kingly cousin could keep up. Anilithion pulled out his whip.


    Inside the juggernaut, Excelsior gave up climbing the giant throat. And Mitakahn stood alone on the ridge, bidding farewell to the ancient god when he saw something flying in from the city.


    At the Citadel, Adyána looked on with her dying brothers in the face of the Phoenix’s light. After all they had been through together, Adyána would not let him suffer alone. Compelled to risk, a sister put her own well-being aside and embraced her highly infectious brothers in their final moments, holding them close.


    The Phoenix burned its final light fiercely and dove into the Black Abyss.


    Mortikahn and Anilithion approached head-on from the right side, as Axion and Eberlyn did the same from the left. Anilithion threw his whip out before the giant’s neck and Axion caught it, letting it wrap around his sword. The whip lit on fire all the way back down the line to Anilithion’s hand.


    The Phoenix hit the black abyss and a flash blew out of the black hole. The blast wave passed through the juggernaut as the emblazon whip carved into the juggernaut’s neck, beheading Malinor.


    Out from his open throat stuck the white hand of Excelsior. Tron tried to rescue him but was repelled by the flailing chains. The black algae was sucked back in. Anilithyìstad and Paxikahn screamed ferociously, as if their insides were being torn out of them.


    A fur-covered warrior ran up the hide of the dying giant. Kunezar flew by for Excelsior’s hand but was caught off balance by the giant’s lumbering body. It was Orion, champion among canines that reached his master, but he could not jump high enough to pull Excelsior free.


    Only Orion could hear the call from the skies.


    The pup closed his eyes and jumped as high as he could. The Silver-tailed hawk, Chronis swooped down, back in his larger form, and bound himself to Orion’s back. The illustrious silver swirled around the dog like a coat of armor, Chronis’ sank into Orion’s back and his metal tail extended up over the dog’s head to make a helmet. Orion used the aerial upgrade to pull his master out of the esophagus sarcophagus.


    Excelsior’s hand felt the familiar sensation of his pup’s fur and grabbed a hold, coughing and panting uncontrollably.


    “Orion! Is that you?” he gasped, “You came for me… even when… I… pushed you away. And look at you!”


    Excelsior would swear, from that day forth, under all that metal, he saw his dog smile upon his praise. Orion flew off the collapsing giant’s carcass as he carried Excelsior safely back to the Citadel.


    Once the infection was extracted from Anilithyìstad and Paxikahn, the suspended ooze floated down into the imploding Abyss. Anilithyìstad and Paxikahn gasped for air on the floor, clenching at the invisible wounds on their abdomens. The pain soon subsided, and they slowly recovered.


    The headless juggernaut stumbled back but did not fall over. The retracting death pool succumbed to the fire magic of the Phoenix. The primordial power of the sun banished the shadow magic as the abyss vanished. Lake Niobi became clear water once again.


    Two horses rode up on Mitakahn still standing on the ridge. Uncle Nestor was on a very white and very dirty northern horse and to Mitakahn’s joy, Cipher and Kara mounted a Shorelander stallion from the west.


    This surprise also explained what he had seen before as Fathom the dragon flying low and landing perfectly beside Mitakahn on the hill. Zora jumped off the dragon before Fathom came to a full stop. She was in a hurry.


    “That won’t kill it!” she told them.


    “Then what will?” asked Mitakahn.


    “I don’t know.”


    “The cor!” Kara proclaimed.


    Cipher furthered her idea. “If that monster out there really did consume Magnanimous and his power…” He said, “They may now share a link with the Cor like the Lion Lorde did.”


    “How do we take advantage of the link?”


    “We need to draw the lion''s power into the cor.”


    Mercinestor said, “Burn it to the ground. We have enough firepower here to accomplish such a feat.”


    “We burn it up with the Cor at the center…”


    Zora finally found her opportunity to speak. “There are color temperatures hot enough to trigger such an exchange.”


    Cipher smiled and nodded at Mitakahn.


    Mitakahn rubbed his bearded chin with his silver gauntleted fingers and smiled. “I’m glad to see you Cipher.”


    “Shall we inform the King of our plan?” asked Mercinestor.


    “As you wish uncle,” said Mitakahn as he whistled.


    Cipher and Kara went with Zora and Fathom. Mercinestor grew more and more confused until he saw who Mitakahn summoned. Chronis flew in still in his larger form. He had detached from Orion, letting the dog keep his own pair of silver wings for the time being. Orion flew on with Excelsior, while Chronis went looking for Mitakahn. The silver-tailed hawk swooped to a landing and allowed Mitakahn and Mercinestor to get on his back. They flew back into the air towards the fight, following Fathom to the headless juggernaut.


    It flailed around mindlessly, the towering body of the Dark Lord. Axion and Eberlyn, along with the chrome faced condors kept it from trampling the city with a tight perimeter. Fathom and Chronis entered the fight with their riders. Chronis hovered close enough to King Axion for Mitakahn to get a word to his brother. Eberlyn flew over to them, and together they came up with a plan. Chronis flew Mitakahn over to Fathom so he could talk to Zora and Cipher.


    “Take a position on the southern flank, and on Axion’s signal, melt that thing with everything Fathom’s got. When the monster gets trapped in the fire, toss the Ignaleos Cor in.”


    They all nodded their heads. Zora moved Fathom around behind the headless titan while Axion and Eberlyn pivoted on both sides in front of it. The condors cleared their path and Axion raised his fire sword. On his signal, Fathom breathed fire out on the titan and Eberlyn flapped her flaming wings together until a stream of molten flame poured out and projected onto the lumbering colossus. King Axion swung the crucifire sword around, gathering up his fury, and then shot flames out of the sword mixing together with the rest.


    The three fires from different fundamental sources combined and mixed together to create a symphony of fire. Axion’s majestic crucifire sword using primordial magic. Eberlyn’s wings of fire born of the Phoenix and the same fires of the sun. Then there was Zora pushing Fathom to climb the color temperature levels, mixing in red, yellow, and blue, and trying to push through to the elite colors.


    What developed from the onslaught of flame was a cyclone of fire swirling around the blazing body. Cipher grabbed Kara’s hand and they opened up two portals. The first portal was small and right in front of Cipher while they straddled the dragon flying through the air. The second portal appeared on the ground beneath the juggernaut. Cipher dropped the Cor through the gem portals. Kara clapped her hands together, closing the portals, leaving the Iganleos Cor inside the inferno. King Axion stopped shooting fire from his sword to regroup when Mitakahn flew up behind him.


    “Cut it down!” he shouted.


    Axion flew low and carved the Crucifire sword through the legs of the titan. He could barely cut into the giant leg with the sword, the proportions were way too unfavorable. Axion flew back and tried to think. He looked at the flames coursing around him, allowing him to fly. It connected perfectly with the fire around the sword. Maybe he could control it.


    He concentrated on the fire bordering the sword. It started to grow. As it did, the vents on the swords engorged, pouring more fire out. The vents increasing in size caused the blade to get bigger as well. The metal got so big and so hot it blended with the flames around the edges. Soon the crucifire sword was almost as big as Axion’s body. He was able to swing it, but by no means swiftly. It didn’t matter. Axion used the enlarged firesword to cut through the juggernaut’s leg to the bone. He bounced off the dense bone in the middle of the leg.


    Axion flew back in and stuck the point of the sword right into the bone, letting it go. He used the fire he possessed to fly back around and pick up enough speed to hit the firesword through the bone, cracking it in twain, and severing the leg from the giant. Axion still had to cut through the rest of the leg before it fell to the ground. The giant tried to take a step and fell onto its own dismembered leg. The fire cyclone collapsed over the fallen titan’s body.


    Cipher tried to look at the Ignaleos Cor getting baked inside the carnage. Before he was able to see it light up like when Kara had it. Now it was nowhere to be found. Cipher wondered what was going on in there. Could this really work, or did they just make a grave mistake?


    Chronis and Orion flew the head of the juggernaut into the fire as Axion went to cut through the other leg so this thing could never walk again. With all its parts on the fire the trinity of flame began again. Now in the clear and warmed up, Zora was able to get Fathom to spill violet flame into the cyclone. This color temperature was hot enough to burn away any magical bindings.


    Explosions from inside the roasting carcass were covered by spinning winds of dust and smoke. It was almost impossible to see through the maelstrom. Something was happening though. Axion and company were able to land all around it as the fires became smaller and smaller.


    The fire continued to rage but then the strangest thing happened. The fire almost stopped moving. It slowed down so much the flame split like a flower opening its petal and out tumbled the Ignaleos Cor.


    It was clear…empty.


    The gem did not light up, it no longer looked blue. The still flames peeled back and down, all around the juggernaut carnage. In the middle was a human figure glowing red. It waved its arm and sent a blast wave forth, knocking back everybody except Axion, absorbing the blow, and Mitakahn, standing behind him.