The Starlit Arena continued to fall apart around them as Forgotten Titan swung its arms through the open air and smashed the stone platforms into dust.

Giant chunks of the temple dropped past Kai and vanished into the bottomless void.

He stood on a slippery piece of black ice while his chest burned from his broken ribs.

Meriel leaped across a widening gap and landed heavily a few feet away. The guy was bleeding profusely from the wounds Kai gave him, but he still held his broadsword tight. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Both of them were exactly twenty-one years old, but the toll of the deadly world made them look much older and far more tired.

"We are both going to die down here if you keep throwing ice at my head," Meriel yelled over the roar of the monster.

"That sounds like a perfect trade to me," Kai shouted back.

He gripped his dagger tightly as the urge to stab the man right in the throat was almost overwhelming.

"I can’t reach its weak spots from the ground," Meriel grunted, dodging a chunk of falling stone.

"Build me a path to its shoulder, and I will drain the star magic holding its joints together."

’I really hate working with this bastard,’ Kai thought to himself, wiping a layer of sweat and blood from his eyes.

’But I can’t kill the giant rock monster alone, and I refuse to die in the same grave as him.’

"You better not miss," Kai warned him harshly.

He slammed his foot onto the crumbling floor and forced his freezing mana outward.

A wide bridge of solid ice shot up into the air and angled directly toward the Titan’s towering chest.

Meriel did not wait for an invitation and ran straight up the slippery ramp with his sword drawn.

The Titan raised its giant hand to swat the annoying humans away.

"Do your job," Kai yelled, pumping more magic into the bridge to keep it stable under the heavy footsteps.

Meriel leaped from the top of the ice ramp and grabbed onto the Titan’s rocky collarbone.

He pressed his bare hand against the glowing star-flesh.

A pulse of bright red energy flared out as Meriel activated his energy drain.

The celestial magic holding the Titan’s shoulder together flickered and dimmed instantly.

Kai took the opening without a second thought.

He hurled a concentrated spear of freezing water straight into the weakened joint.

The ice expanded rapidly inside the cracks and shattered the rock completely. The Titan roared in pain and dropped its left arm uselessly to its side.

But the beast twisted its heavy body and swung its remaining hand toward Meriel.

Meriel lost his grip on the slippery stone and fell through the empty air right into the path of the crushing palm.

’Fuck.’

Kai cursed loudly and created a slanted slide of ice right under Meriel.

The older boy hit the frozen surface and slid out of the way just as the giant hand clapped space with a booming crash.

"Don’t think I did that because I like you," Kai spat as Meriel rolled onto a safe platform beside him.

"You are still mine to kill. I am just saving your life so I can cut you to pieces slowly later."

"You are far too sentimental for your own good," Meriel laughed harshly, coughing up a splash of bright red blood.

"Keep your eyes on the giant monster trying to smash us."

A giant stone pillar broke loose from the high ceiling directly above Kai’s head.

He didn’t see the rock falling as he was too busy glaring at his enemy.

Meriel swung his broadsword upward in a fast arc and cut the falling pillar clean in half.

The two heavy pieces crashed onto the floor on either side of Kai.

"Now we are even," Meriel said with a bloody smile.

"Go to hell," Kai replied.

As they planned their next attack, the gravity inside the room suddenly twisted.

The floor tilted sideways, and Kai felt his stomach drop as he started to float upward. The Titan’s ancient magic was breaking the basic rules of reality.

They were no longer standing on a flat arena.

The world felt like a spinning carnival ride, making it extremely hard to find a solid footing.

"The exit is up there," Kai pointed toward a spiraling stone staircase clinging to the far wall.

"Then build another bridge before this gravity drops us into the pit," Meriel ordered, struggling to keep his boots on the tilted ice.

Kai ignored the bossiness.

He threw a wave of water ahead of them and froze it into a floating pathway.

They ran side by side across the shifting gravity pockets.

Sometimes their steps felt terribly uneven, and sometimes they felt lighter than air.

Kai tripped when the gravity pulled sideways, but he caught himself before sliding off the edge.

His deep cuts burned with every sudden movement. Meriel was limping badly beside him, leaving a trail of red blood on the white ice.

They leaped from the end of the frozen path and landed hard on the bottom steps of the spiral staircase.

Kai grabbed his bleeding side and took a deep breath. His broken ribs screamed in protest, but the exit was finally right in front of them.

He looked back down into the chaotic room.

The giant beast lunged forward and smashed its fist directly into the bottom of the staircase.

’This stupid thing just will not quit,’ Kai thought, feeling the stone tremble beneath his boots.

The destruction raced up the staircase right behind them.

Entire sections of the spiraling path crumbled away as the Titan reached its giant hands up to tear the ancient architecture apart.

"Keep climbing," Meriel yelled, pushing past Kai to run up the shaking steps.

"I swear I will push you off this ledge myself," Kai promised loudly, forcing his tired legs to run up the steep stairs.

"If we actually survive this stupid staircase, I am going to rip your head off and put it in that same burlap sack," Kai continued, jumping over a missing step.

"You talk too much," Meriel grunted, dodging a flying piece of debris.

"Save your breath for the running."

"I have plenty of breath left to tell you what a pathetic coward you are," Kai shot back.

The giant hands crashed into the stone walls right below them, and the terrible chase continued upward toward the surface while the world fell apart.