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Chapter 25 - X THE HUNTER S2 E15

SEASON 2 — EPISODE 15: THE TITAN KING'S ARENA

Cold Open — The Planet That Roars

The gas giant filled the forward viewport like an eye opening in the void. Lightning veins pulsed across its storm-choked surface, branching and merging as though directed by something alive. The entire planet shuddered—not with tectonic force, but in a slow, steady rhythm.

Kai leaned forward over the console, his voice a low murmur.

"That's not weather… that's breathing."

The dropship's scanners chirped a warning. Six hostile signatures had already been acquired on the surface, each separated just far enough to form a trap.

The Tribunal Six were waiting.

Act One — Descent into the Maw

The dropship plunged into the roiling storms. Plasma lightning arced so close the hull plating glowed white, and continent-sized whirlwinds yawed open beneath them. Kai threaded a path between atmospheric chasms, guiding the vessel down toward something darker—an endless ridge of black metal rising through the clouds.

It wasn't rock. It wasn't land.

It was the Titan King's shell.

And it stretched so far that the horizon simply gave up trying to contain it.

The Six stood ahead on the vast plain, armored and motionless. And behind them, the Titan King rose—four titanic legs supporting a body that could have swallowed cities whole. Two horns curled from its skull, so massive they split the clouds when it moved, each sweep leaving shockwaves rolling for kilometers.

HUD ALERT:

Hostile Detected: Titan King — Threat Level 50,000

Hostiles Detected: Tribunal Six — Threat Level 3,500–4,000 each

Combined Threat: Exceeds survivability index.

Act Two — The First Exchange

The Six broke formation first, sprinting forward with impossible speed. The Titan King lowered one massive horn, sweeping it across the plain like a battering ram the size of a city block. The impact carved a trench in the metal shell, throwing shockwaves that rolled beneath Xavier's boots.

Lightning vortices tore open in the distance, sucking debris—and anything foolish enough to step too close—into incandescent oblivion.

Xavier's world narrowed to three simultaneous evasions: dodge the assassins, evade the Titan King's blows, and keep out of the lightning's hungry spirals. Every motion burned through stamina like a fuse on dry powder. Even with the Phantom Step he'd earned in the Sixfold Siege, his new speed wasn't enough.

Minutes bled into hours. Every breath tasted like molten copper.

Act Three — The Collapse Point

By the fourth hour, his legs should have given out. His muscles should have been nothing but torn fiber and screaming nerves. But then… something changed.

His breathing slowed. His heartbeat steadied. The burning fatigue simply stopped building.

HUD ALERT:

PERMANENT ATTRIBUTE EVOLUTION

Endurance +1000% (Permanent)

Energy Recovery ×3

Immunity to combat fatigue for up to 72 hours continuous fighting.

Xavier rolled his shoulders, flexed his hands, and grinned through the static-torn air.

"Now," he said, "we fight on my schedule."

Act Four — Turning the Battlefield

He stopped fighting to end it quickly. Instead, he fought to outlast them.

Every time the Six retreated, he drove them back toward the Titan King's kill range. The behemoth's horns crashed through the battlefield again—this time obliterating two of the Six in a single sweep.

When their snipers tried to reposition, Xavier used Phantom Step to lure the Titan King's lightning into their nests, vaporizing them in arcs of white-blue plasma.

By the eighth hour, only three of the Six remained. The Titan King, finally recognizing which prey refused to die, shifted its massive attention toward Xavier alone.

Act Five — The Exit Strategy

The dropship roared in low, its mana cannons thundering into the Titan King's face. The behemoth reeled, storms peeling away from its horns in molten ribbons.

Kai's voice cracked through comms.

"You're actually smiling… that's disturbing."

"This?" Xavier vaulted into the dropship's bay without looking back. "This was just the warm-up."

As the hatch sealed, he locked eyes with the remaining Three on the plain below. They didn't follow. They only watched, their shapes shrinking in the storm as the ship climbed.

HUD UPDATE:

Level Up — 2,525 → 2,530

New Passive: Iron Will Engine — Movement speed unaffected by low stamina.

Ending Cliffhanger

EXT. DEEP SPACE — TRIBUNAL FLAGSHIP

The Tribunal Master sat in darkness, only the ghostly projection of the Titan King illuminating his features. The image shifted. Another silhouette appeared—larger, its shape too vast to comprehend in a single glance.

The Master's voice was a whisper of command.

"Release the World Breaker."

INT. DROPSHIP — DEEP SPACE

Xavier stood at the viewport, stars spilling out into infinity. His breath fogged the glass.

"Whatever's next…" he murmured, "it won't be enough."

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