The battlefield felt alive. Not with fire, not with light—alive with something older, darker. Threads hummed in the air, vibrating like the strings of a violin pulled too tight. Every heartbeat Clara took resonated with the colossus. Every flicker of thought tempted her to speak.
And Damien stood in front of her, fists ablaze, eyes torn between fury and grief.
"Clara." His voice cracked, raw with desperation. "Don't do this. Don't let it pull you under."
She shook her head, tears stinging her eyes. "You don't understand… I can't stop it. It's inside me. If I resist, it'll break me."
"Then let it break!" His words were fire, searing. "I'd rather lose you to death than lose you to this."
Her breath caught. The flames around him surged brighter, but the words cut deeper than fire.
Evelyn clapped mockingly, smirk wide. "A love confession and a death threat in the same breath. Damien, you're really setting the bar high for toxic relationships."
Yurin stood apart, hands folded behind his back, threads orbiting him lazily like a predator waiting for its prey to stumble. His gaze never wavered from Clara. "You hesitate because you're afraid of the answer. But you already know it. Power like this doesn't knock politely—it consumes. If you're strong enough, you guide it. If not, it guides you."
Her lips trembled. "Why do you sound like you want me to fall?"
"Because," Yurin said softly, "only when you fall do we see whether you can rise again."
Damien's flames roared, his fury boiling over. "Stop poisoning her!" He shot forward, fire coiling around his arm like a spear. He aimed straight for Yurin's chest.
The colossus moved.
Its titanic hand slammed into the earth between them with an earth-splitting crash, threads spiraling violently as it shielded Yurin from Damien's strike. The fire spear shattered against the colossus' crimson hide.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Clara stumbled backward, horrified. "I—I didn't—"
But the bond pulsed inside her, undeniable. Her fear had shaped it. Her dread had spoken for her.
Yurin's lips curved faintly. "There it is. The third word."
"No." Clara shook her head violently, clutching her skull as the whispers grew louder, pressing against her thoughts. "I didn't command it. I didn't say anything—"
"You didn't need to," Yurin interrupted. His voice was calm, surgical. "The bond has deepened. It's no longer about words—it's about intent. Your fear told it what to do."
Damien's flames guttered, his face stricken. "So that's it, then. It's already inside you, Clara. You're losing yourself."
She dropped to her knees, shaking. The colossus loomed behind her like a shadow of her will, threads laced into her veins. The whispers grew clearer now, forming words instead of noise.
Architect. Command. Devour.
Her eyes blurred with tears. "Damien… please… help me—"
But Damien didn't move forward. His flames burned brighter, his face twisted with pain. "I don't know if I can anymore."
Evelyn's laughter sliced through the despair. "Oh, I could watch this forever. A monster becoming a god, a knight breaking apart, and dear Yurin pulling every string without ever lifting a finger. This is art."
Clara turned her eyes toward Yurin, her voice breaking. "Tell me the truth. Did you know this would happen to me?"
For a long moment, silence. His threads drifted in the air like patient snakes.
"Yes."
Her heart froze.
Damien snarled, fire flaring violently. "You bastard! You set her up!"
Yurin's eyes gleamed faintly in the crimson glow. "No. I revealed her truth. This bond didn't appear because of me—it appeared because it recognized her. Because she was always meant to bear it."
The whispers in Clara's head crescendoed, drowning her breath, her thoughts, her very name. The colossus leaned closer, threads pulling taut as though waiting for a final verdict.
And Clara realized, with bone-deep horror, that Yurin was right.
She wasn't just commanding the colossus anymore. She was becoming it.