*CRASH*

The ground shook terribly, enough to destabilize anyone's footing.

"Elliott! On your right!"

"Fuuu!"

A massive frozen tail barely missed Elliott as he bent backward. Nylon ran toward the tail as it began to return behind the beast. With both claws, he clanged to it with all is might.

'Damn it! What in the world is this thing!'

Nylon couldn't see very well what was happening due to the tail moving at a very fast speed. All he could see was glints of light, indicating that he repeatedly passed Elliott.

"It's whenever, Nylon!"

With a tired expression, he wanted to scream at Elliott.

'I know, damn it!'

The bright red eyes eyes of an awakened beast stared down at Elliott.

-

The week went by quickly for Nylon and Elliott. The whole journey was pretty easygoing.

Food was abundant, thanks to the constant attacks of the beasts. Water wasn't an issue either, as boiling snow was the way to go to obtain a good supply of drinkable water.

They took turn eliminating threats to avoid lacking stamina, even though Elliott seemed to have a limitless amount of it.

The hordes and more trickier beasts were dispatched by Elliott, while Nylon took care of single, easy to assassinate targets.

With everything planned carefully, the journey into the blizzard became nothing. Only the snow hindering their movement was on their mind.

It was then, on their way south. Elliott had a feeling that they walked a third of the way to what he remembered was the kingdom he lived in.

The difficulty to see any kind of landmark hindered his search greatly. Nothing was spared by the snow.

But while walking aimlessly, both of them stumbled upon what was left of a small village. Nothing found could be useful, as everything was utterly destroyed and frozen.

The most shocking discovery wasn't the city, but the frozen giant overlooking it a hundred meters away.

"Isn't that...?"

"A corrupted giant indeed."

Nylon gulped.

'This thing, isn't it bigger than the bull we fought in the past?'

Looking at it from afar, Elliott nodded.

"I remember this one. This is Spifer."

"Spifer?"

"Father gave a name to each of his creations."

Nylon looked at the massive beast. The lower body of the beast looked like a bird. It was holding a pose where both wings were opened on both sides, almost as if it was about to fly away.

Its head was hidden, as it went past the field Elliott created. The height of this corrupted beast was probably between sixty to seventy meters high.

"It has a tail?!"

With shock, Nylon pointed at the long feathery tail, that looked similar to a seal tail.

"A strange combination, isn't it? That's the magic of corruption."

"The... magic of corruption? It's against nature, so I don't think you should be in awe."

Elliott looked at Nylon.

"I am not. The amount of disgust I have for these things is incomparable to what you can imagine. Killing these things is one of the goal of this little excursion."

'Little... sure.'

Nylon stayed silent, thinking that it was a pretty long journey in his opinion. He gazed in front of him, and asked.

"Are we going to fight it?"

A long silence fell between them. Nylon knew Elliott heard the question, so he waited.

"..."

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"This is where you have a choice. You can turn back now, or you can help me fight the corrupted giants. I can't really ask a stranger to sacrifice himself when it isn't required."

"Turning back?"

Looking behind him, Nylon saw the ice storm outside the border of the barrier.

"There's no way I'm turning back. My duty is to both monitor you, and help you. What am I going to say to Orion if I were to flee a corrupted?"

"No dice, then?"

"Not a chance."

Elliott smiled, before crouching, his hand on Vanitas' hilt.

"Good then. Get ready, as this won't be an easy opponent. Luckily, it shouldn't fly thanks to the blizzard, which is one less headache for us."

"I will keep its attention on me. How you deal with it, that's your choice."

With a nod, Nylon equipped his iron claws and moved away.

"Oh! Also, watch for the tail. Don't let it hit you."

Breaking his stance, Elliott drew his sword out, and in a split moment, created a large dent into the ice encasing the beast.

While Elliott waited thirty meters away, Nylon approached carefully.

*Craaaack*

Ice chunks began to fall down from the beast.

*BOOM*

Snow flew off from the impacts. The giant bird was showing signs of struggle within the ice.

"Here it comes."

Whispered Elliott with a wild smile.

*KEEEEEEEEEEE*

A loud scream echoed around the snowfield, forcing both of them to plug their ears. The last chunks of ice fell, and with it, the grey eagle finally stretched its wings, before retracting them.

The battle began when the tail of the beast, which traveled at an incredible speed, approached Elliott.

-

"Hey, Spifer! Don't you recognize me?"

Elliott said jokingly at the bird. It couldn't care less about who was in front of it, as it was a feral creature created by corruption.

A white slash traveled across the air, in direction of the eagle's leg.

The red eyes followed the attack, before its foot kicked up snow to block it.

"Smart, as always."

His eyes focused on the tail coming at him again. Time froze when he jumped over it, as he saw Nylon climb the tail rapidly.

'I knew this would be interesting. Let me see what you can do.'

With a smile on his face, Elliott continued to alternate between attacking and dodging.

...

Ten minutes later, Nylon arrived at the base of the tail.

'This was horrible. I think like throwing up.'

He took a second to calm his raging sickness, before ascending higher on the beast. Its attention was completely drawn to Elliott, not noticing the intruder climbing on his body.

Feather by feather, Nylon moved higher. Picking up the pace, it took only five minutes to climb halfway.

'I'm close to the border of the field. If I want to create an opportunity to fell the beast, I have to go for the head.'

'But past that, it's only blizzard. At this height, can I hold my grip against the wind?'

Worry began to fill his heart.

'What would Orion do?'

*

"What would I do? What kind of question is that?"

"If you have an opportunity, there is no reason to ignore it, am I wrong?"

"What about a little climb in the blizzard? It's not that bad."

*

"Heh."

Nylon smiled and pushed forward. He grabbed the feather leading past the barrier, and braced himself.

*FUUUUUSH*

He held his breath, and continued. He felt the beast move its head slightly, and feared that he had been discovered.

*KEEEEEE*

A cry of pain. Nylon breathed a sigh of relief.

'Elliott managed to injure it. I can't remain behind! I have something to do!'

He still had ten meters to climb before arriving at the top. He couldn't see it, but he felt it. The higher he climb, the more the head moved.

'Don't give up! Don't let go! Don't think!"

Repeating the words his father taught him, he arrived at the top of the eagle's head.

"Ha~! Ha~!"

Finally, his muscles could relax. He still held one feather so he wouldn't fall down, and prepared the next phase.

'What do I do now?'

The strong wind battered his bangs left and right. Miraculously, his hood remained on his head, protecting it against the weather.

'This beast... it is giant, isn't it? What was the saying again?'

-

"The bigger they are-"

-

"The harder they fall!"

Nylon let go of the feather and ran atop the eagle's head. He jumped and gave himself to gravity.

Suddenly, the grey eagle's eyes noticed something falling in front of its eyes. It lost its focus on Elliott, and stared at Nylon.

'Now!'

One of his iron claws flew into its right eye, making a squelching sound as blood began to explode everywhere.

*Ke-KEEEE-*

The beast couldn't even cry properly, as the pain became way too intense.

At the bottom, Elliott smiled and laughed.

"Perfect! My turn now!"

'Vanitas, take its legs!'

Elliott straightened, crouched slightly, and held Vanitas behind his back. He closed his eyes, though the next moment he opened them, Vanitas had already sliced the bottom of the beast in half, and its tail in three parts.

*CRASH*

The lower half of the giant fell first, before the rest followed. The amount of blood that gushed out was incredible, enough to fill a small lake by this point.

Rapidly, the beast fell down. It struggle with its wings, creating strong wing currents that blew everything away.

"Tch!"

This bothered Elliott a lot, so he ran toward the beast before sliding under its left wing.

"I'll be taking this one."

Vanitas pierced the wing and cut it off its body.

The struggling continued, but with less intensity.

"WAAAIT~!"

Nylon, who was still falling toward the ground, screamed.

"Damn it! Damn it all! I don't care anymore!"

This fall would be deadly, but he had a plan. He removed his coat, and used it briefly to alter his landing point.

The fabric ripped after a few seconds, but he had already confirmed the landing point. He was ready.

"If it doesn't work, I'll curse you Elliott!"

The man's laugh echoed in his ears, infuriating him even more.

"RENDING FANG!"

He held his remaining iron claw above his head, and plunged toward the eagle's head. During the split second where he closed on it, he pierced the eagle's head and disappeared inside its skull.

The awful sound of bones shattering and organs ripping echoed across the field. The eagle convulsed slightly, before ending up completely still.

Elliott approached the head of the giant and asked.

"You're good?"

*Squelch*

From the punctured right eyes, Nylon emerged, covered in disgusting fluids.

"No thanks to you. I can't feel my legs..."

Nylon struggled to stand up, but he managed nonetheless. He picked up the claw that was used to pierce its eye, and approached Elliott.

"Are we done?"

Elliott nodded.

"While you were climbing, I destroyed all of its cores. Seems like you destroyed one too."

"Seems like it."

Nylon looked at the claws attached to his arm, and removed the piece of dark crystal stuck on it.

"This is... disgusting. Nylon gagged after removing a piece of brain matter from his shoulder."

"I wouldn't suggest bathing in this weather."

"I know. Fuck... if I had known it would be such a reckless idea, I wouldn't have done it."

Afterward, the two men returned to the destroyed village, found a house that was still barely standing, and took a moment to rest, and clean up.

Though, a surprise was yet to come.