The rubble seemed to slather the land with its cold, broken, and hardened paste. In it, a tiny portion seemed to shake as fingers seemed to rise from the ground. Suddenly, a hand jolted out, battered and bruised as it desperately fought its way out, digging out its own body. Luke then springs, pulling out, as his heavy breath seemed to exhaust him, his entire body covered in blood and grimy dirt with sweat. He looked down as he grimaced, getting to the top of the surface, he looked down, seeing the reptilian arm clenching onto his own. He sighed as he tugged on the arm tightly, pulling with all his might, until Iron's monstrous form and Sari, gripping onto everyone's battered and cut-up bodies, were pulled up. Luke stumbled back, somersaulting backwards until he hit a boulder, coughing up a bit of blood, "fuck y'all…y'all are fat asses." Everyone seemed to be out of breath, as they rightfully were, considering they fought hordes upon hordes of rats while buried under ground, with only short pockets of air that seemingly were a lot larger than they should have been. Luke sighed as he looked around the barren wasteland, quickly spotting a warming sight.
Noa was seen carrying Andre, the duo seemed to be such a stark contrast with each other, and they largely seemed to be unscathed. Luke hissed in jealousy as Noa finally approached him. "I don't know what to call it, luck that Andre isn't dead or terrifying, y'all were fine even after the crushing." Noa shrugged as he put down Andre, who Steph immediately caught in a hurry, carrying him to Sari. "I mean, it wasn't that bad, climbing was a pain, but most of the rocks moved out of our way, so" he shrugged, still as indifferent as ever. Luke looked at him, confused. As he sighed, shaking his head, he looked to everyone who was on his team. It seemed that everyone was in good shape, and the dungeon collapsed in on itself, most likely due to Noa now that he realized it was he who was fighting the boss, but something was off. It couldn't be that easy; it never was that easy for them.
Iron sighed as he helped patch up Andre, looking to Luke, "You know, for being a dungeon, I'm surprised there isn't even a chest, and now that I think about it…where did all the gold go?" Andre hissed as he looked to Kirin, "They use the gold in the dungeon to regenerate, but I'm sure you know that, and the one that Noa and I fought used gold to get stronger, so either A we are really fucked or B-"Suddenly, a tremor could be heard. Kirin sighed as he looked into he distance, grimacing, "You just had to say something dumbass." Luke turned to where Kirin was looking, as his expression became a weird mix of glee and grimace, he chuckled, "Oh, you've gotta be fucking with me, of course, the dungeon became a giant, or heck, some might say that might be a titan."
In the distant, barren land, a giant golden skeleton, with a crown, a ruby engraved in the center, and wrapped in rags of rats' pelts, rumbled its way to the town.
.........….
Cam looked in shock as she let go of the guard's hand. Ariana looked at her with horror, as she looked out "a….a giant, no that can't be, giants are usually spotted in flat surface plains, what is a giant doing here…." Cam looked down, immobilized on what to do. She knew the cohort was strong, stronger than a lot of people, but…a giant, that was beyond anything they had faced. However, Noa and Luke had never lost a fight, and she didn't think this would be the first. Sadly, she could only trust her intuition, not her logic.
Cam looked to Ariana deeply, thinking, she wanted to help the others, but at the same time, she had to protect Ariana. The weight of responsibility and desire was very heavy to bear; however, she knew Ariana deeply. She knew no matter what, she would want Cam and herself to save them.
They rushed past the gates as Ariana jumped onto Cam's back. Cam instantly opened a door out of nowhere, as she hopped through the void, magical items, tables, shelves filled with magical books, and other miscellaneous items whizzed passed them. Cam opened another door as she vaulted many meters ahead of where she initially was, Ariana desperately clinging onto her. This repeated as they flew past miles upon miles, until they reached where the cohort was. There, they could see them discussing, as Ariana looked worried and fearful, due to the image in the distance. The giant's figure was slowly approaching them with its crimson-blazed eyes. It seemed that not only the dungeon, but the gold that was bountiful past the dungeon's mountain was also consumed and absorbed to make the towering figure.
Cam finally teleported them, as she could see Andre's horrid state. Steph always took good care of him, but he was pretty beaten up, as a hint of jealousy seemed to appear on Cam's face. She let go of Ariana, who went to speak to Luke, as she crouched down to Andre, who looked at her, stunned. "C-Cam, what are you doing here? I t-though-" Cam sighed as she shut him up, covering his mouth with her palm. "Quite, don't ask questions, you're in a bad shape, so just let the proper adults take care of you, okay?" she said as she assisted Steph, who was healing him with her gift.
Ariana looked only for a second, curiously back at Cam. She seemed to be a bit more comfortable with him, which made Ariana smile softly a bit. She then turned to Noa and Luke as she approached them. She could see their faces, sensing the impending doom they would have to face. Luke then sighed as he turned to Ariana, "You know, I would ask you to leave, but I know I'm not gonna be able to stop you, and honestly, I would run here as well…If the damned giant wasn't heading towards Uru." Ariana chuckled slightly. "You aren't wrong, but it isn't as difficult to kill a giant as you may think. I mean, I don't mean to be overly optimistic, but it actually isn't impossible." Everyone looked to her like she was either a saint or from the insane asylum; even Noa looked at her with a bit of curiosity, well, everyone except Luke. He smiled as he nodded, "Yep, all you really gotta do to kill a giant is just throat it down with a bomb or something." Ariana looked at Luke for a moment, stupefied, not only for the vulgarity in his language… but also the fact that he was correct.
.........….
In the head office, sirens wailed as guards rushed to in and out of the building, grabbing whatever weapons they could find from the disorganized rails. Deep into a document-filled office, with polished wooden planks and walls and floors, sat a middle-aged man, tired and coffee-driven. His grey hair was scattered about his jet-black canvas, and few wrinkles seemed to be present on his toned face. Beside him was a picture of a woman and a boy, hugging the man dearly as they seemed to be in the capital of a city. He sighed as the dark shadows under hi eyes seemed to exemplify how tired he was; he seemed limp and weak from the exhaustion, something he seemed to neglect. "Once I finish this… just maybe I can-" he then jumped scared as he jumped back, a guard suddenly appearing in front of him. The guard was fearful; every cell in his body seemed to jump in agony as he rushed to the armored man. "Officer Warren, are you okay?!" Warren looked to the guard as if he were a puppy or some sort of child. He then sighed as he slapped the guard across the face, sending him flying "holy Saint Aerial, how many times must I say that you should NOT rush into my office, EVEN if the world is ending!....now, what the hell is happening for everyone to be running around like the world is actually ending." The guard looked at him terrified "sir have you not heard, It's because of the titan, we don't know what to do with it, and the mercenaries that the old man hired aren't able to help. Apparently, they are on a mission of their own."
Warren looked at him in shock as he then grimaced. A giant seemed to be the last thing he would want to deal with right now, and to be fair, anybody would rather be fighting anything else but a giant in Uru. In the winter Giants were in their element, meaning their own curses or rarely gifts were exponentially stronger. He rushed out, yelling to the guard, "Make sure everyone is evacuated within a five-mile radius of the mines; I will contact the president."
It only took Warren a few moments to blitz through the city, helping people along the way. Vaulting over buildings, scaling walls, and finally arriving at the main office, he pushed past the frantic crowd until he got to the president's room. He slammed the doors open to meet quite a few people inside; however, they were a stark contrast to the public's reaction to the chaos that was the Giant. There was the president and the Archbishop, simply sipping tea and discussing things, while the other guard leaders, Vani, Clyde, Haru, and Basin, were all leaning against the walls, watching through the window the shadowy figure of the Giant.
Warren grimaced as he slowly paced himself to the table, placing himself a safe distance away but close enough to the president." Sir, I'm sure you have heard the recent news of the giant. We need to evacuate this place immediately, sir." The president, Rodney, smirked as he took a small and pleasant sip of his tea, looking at Warren with a sly expression, "I don't think that will be necessary; we are perfectly fine here." Warren's expression darkened as he seemed disgusted by his utter confidence in him; however, he didn't show it. "…Why do you say that? Do you mean to tell me the mercenaries are actually on standby?" Rodney's smirk widened as he nodded, "Don't worry, the only reason I haven't deployed them is because there are a few rats in the camp, you say, I simply am using this opportunity to clean out the trash." Warren looked to the archbishop, bowing slightly, "What about you, your greatness, are you really sure this is the best course of action?" The bishop only sighed as he looked to him, "while I don't agree with needless murder, one of their leaders' gifts is accursed…they should be erased from this world," he said with the most utter hatred Warren had ever heard.
Warren hissed as he looked to the president, "Sir, they are just kids. I hope you truly don't wish to get rid of them. I know how unruly they could be, but don't you think this is a bit too far?" Rodney sighed as he looked to the window, "It isn't as simple as you may think it is. What that boy has been given the people of this city is hope, and desire to live better. Sure they can't be utterly unmotivated, but the incentive should only apply through me, otherwise the business will crumble, but what he has shown is another way to live than getting through me. That rattles up workers, and that…is just simply poor business." Warren looked to him, sighing, knowing he couldn't really do much about the impending doom that the kids were about to face. He hoped it hadn't come to this…He hoped he wouldn't have to let them go…