The Colossus staggered but refused to fall. Thick shadow bled from the fractures Dorian had torn through its chest, spilling over slabs of stone, exposed bone, and strips of dead bark in slow black streams. Every step sent tremors through the clearing while its pressure aura returned in uneven pulses, crushing against skulls one second and fading the next. Survivors swayed whenever the force surged, but nobody broke. They regrouped without being told, closing gaps and falling naturally into the roles the last several waves had beaten into them. Lena attacked first. Fire poured from her in a sustained torrent aimed directly into the cracks Dorian had opened. She abandoned careful bursts and fed continuous heat into the damaged core, blackening stone and curling dead wood away from the wound. Sweat streamed down her face as she held the spell steady.
Helena followed by driving shadows through the fractured armor and anchoring them inside. Instead of trying to restrain the entire Colossus, she pulled against the damaged sections and forced the creature to fight its own collapsing structure every time it moved. Its next step dragged. The one after that came slower. Jenn never stopped moving. Golden wings carried her through smoke and debris as she dove repeatedly against joints already weakened by Dorian's attack. Her halberd struck a knee and fractured more stone. Another pass tore through one shoulder. Each impact added another failure point to something that had seemed indestructible moments earlier.
Wilhelm raised both hands. The remnants of his undead army surged across the clearing and climbed the Colossus wherever they could find purchase. They clawed at cracks, wrapped themselves around limbs, and dragged on exposed sections until the creature crushed or scattered them. Wilhelm never called them back. The battlefield collapsed into chaos around them. Smoke, ash, and pulverized stone reduced visibility to a few body lengths while every survivor fought close enough to hear the others breathing. The Colossus swept one enormous arm across the ground. Earth and shattered rock lifted with it in a violent wave. One student disappeared beneath falling debris before anyone could reach them.
Another tried to escape the collapse and was struck by a broken tree coming down behind him. The impact killed him instantly. Nobody stopped. The line tightened. Dorian forced one foot beneath himself and tried to stand. His body rejected the command. He tried again, muscles trembling beneath his own weight while empty mana channels burned through him. He still leaned forward, preparing to return to the fight because every part of him had been conditioned to believe that if he stopped moving, someone else would die. Wilhelm's hand settled firmly on his shoulder. "Don't." Dorian looked up at him. Wilhelm's expression remained calm despite the battle raging around them. "Trust them. Trust your brothers and sisters in arms. This is our fight too." Dorian almost argued.
Then he looked past Wilhelm and actually saw them. Lena stood half-collapsed beneath the strain of her own fire and kept casting. Helena's shadows trembled around her, but she held every anchor in place. Jenn's wings flickered with exhaustion while she continued diving into attacks that could kill her if she mistimed one. The remaining survivors fought wherever they could still contribute, wounded and terrified but refusing to leave. Dorian had spent the entire Tutorial stepping between danger and everyone around him because control felt safer than trust. Now there was nothing left for him to control. He nodded. The Colossus reared back and gathered itself for one final advance. Its fractured chest pulsed around the damaged core while the pressure aura surged hard enough to make the clearing groan beneath it. Nobody retreated.
Lena pushed both hands forward and drove fire deeper into the opening, heat expanding the fractures until stone began splitting under its own tension. Helena tightened every shadow embedded inside the creature and pulled in opposite directions, preventing the damaged armor from closing around the core. Jenn climbed high above the smoke, folded her wings, and dropped. Golden light condensed around her halberd as she struck directly into the weakened chest. The impact drove through layers Dorian had already broken and sent another network of fractures through the core. Everyone else attacked at once. Blades hit exposed seams.
Magic poured into openings. Force struck anything that looked unstable. The Colossus tried to move and failed. Its chest plating gave way. The creature did not explode. It folded inward. Stone collapsed toward the shattered core while bark tore free in massive strips. The fused torsos trapped inside its body shuddered as the structure around them caved in. Dozens of mouths opened in one final scream before the sound abruptly died. The Colossus toppled. Its body struck the clearing with enough force to shake the surrounding forest. Roots ripped from the earth, loose dirt jumped beneath their feet, and a rolling vibration traveled outward through the trees before slowly fading. Then the pressure disappeared. The crushing weight vanished from everyone's skulls so suddenly that several survivors stumbled. Balance returned. Breathing became easier.
Silence settled over the clearing as dust and ash drifted down across the fallen Colossus. Nobody celebrated. They stared at the corpse and waited, almost afraid that moving too soon would somehow make it stand again. Dorian remained on one knee with Wilhelm's hand still on his shoulder while the others slowly lowered their weapons. The System finally answered. A bright pane appeared above the ruined boss, pristine and almost offensively cheerful against the devastation surrounding it.
[YOU DID IT!]
YOU COMPLETED THE TUTORIAL!
[MASSIVE REWARDS INCOMING BASED ON PERFORMANCE!]
TIME REMAINING: 10:00