Chapter One: Dreams and Memories

Yozora watched from the treetops, his eyes locked on the guard stationed in the east wing. The guard, oblivious, chatted carelessly on his phone while vaping, the mist from his e-cigarette swirling lazily in the cold air. Yozora’s heightened senses picked up the distant complaints of other guards patrolling the perimeter, grumbling about the biting chill in the air.

Kneeling silently among the trees, his voice calm and steady, Yozora whispered into his comms, "Shadow Team, commence Operation Titan Fall."

In an instant, he launched himself from the treetops, slicing through the air with fluid precision. As he soared, he unsheathed a katana, “Scatter through the endless heavens, Aokumo no Yaiba (Blade of the Azure Clouds).” The Katana’s shimmered with a soft, ethereal cerulean hue, the surface of its blade rippled faintly, like the reflection of clouds on a still lake. “Aokumo no Yaiba Fumi: Form Two, Sochoha (Zenith Surge).”Yozora unleashed a brilliant vertical wave, infused with light Hindo, that erupted from the blade, sending a blinding shockwave across the fortress, obliterating half the structure in a flash, killing a vast number of tangos, while the remaining guards were left disoriented, clutching at their eyes in terror.

"Shadow Team, take out the rest. I'll deal with Titan," Yozora ordered, his voice cold with authority.

With a deft movement, Yozora unleashed another technique, Aokumo no Yaiba Fumi: Form One, Shin’en Giri (Abyssal Slash).” unleashing swift, heavy horizontal strike of compressed Hindo that carved through the ground, splitting the remaining fortress open, revealing its dark, foreboding interior. Yozora descended softly, landing in a shadowy chamber thick with fog, the air heavy with a sense of dread. At its center stood an ominous gateway.

A deep, guttural voice echoed from the portal. "Ahhhh, another worm come to perish before me. How many has it been now? One hundred? Two hundred? And now you… a boy!"

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From the gateway stepped Orgog, the Titan, each of his massive steps causing the earth to freeze beneath him. His breath exhaled as frost, and his towering form reeked with a foul stench. His muscular, scaly body seemed to be rotting and peeling, a grotesque figure from some unknown world beyond the gate. With a thunderous roar that shook the very foundations of the fortress, he spoke again.

"Boy, tonight you will learn your place. You and all your kind belong beneath my feet, under the dirt, feeding the worms. I will return you to the ground for your brethren to feast on. Prepare yourself!"

In the blink of an eye, Orgog disappeared, reappearing behind Yozora with a sadistic grin, convinced the battle was already won. He raised his massive hands overhead, bellowing, Ice Fumi: Frozen Tundra!

He slammed his fists down, and the ground erupted with jagged ice spikes, sharp as blades, freezing the entire chamber. An icy mist enveloped the fortress, turning the surrounding landscape into a frozen wasteland. Orgog stood tall, laughing as the mist began to clear.

"Another worm, unworthy of my power, fallen like the rest!" he sneered, certain of his victory.

But something was wrong. Orgog's arms and legs felt strange. An unsettling sensation crept through his body. Panic set in as he thought, What is this feeling? I must escape!

For the first time, Orgog experienced something he'd never known: FEAR

He tried to run, but his legs gave out beneath him. He fell to the ground, crawling desperately toward the gateway, only to realize—he had no legs, nor arms. His massive body, delusional from blood loss, had been severed by Yozora's blade long before he even noticed.

In the moments before Orgog had unleashed Frozen Tundra, he hadn't realized that the instant he stepped out of the gateway, Yozora's Shin’en Giri had already cut through him. His wounds had sealed his fate long before the fight had truly begun.

As Orgog lay there, bleeding out, he let out a pitiful laugh. "I… I was the worm this day," he croaked, his voice fading as his body shattered into ice shards, dissolving back into the gateway from which he had come.

Yozora stood silently for a moment, watching the last remnants of the Titan vanish into the cold void. He turned and ascended from the chamber, stepping out into the night air. The stars glittered softly above, and the cool breeze brushed against his skin.

His voice came through the comms once more. "Shadow Team, wake up… Tenebris… wake up…"

A distant voice broke through his thoughts.

"Mr. Tenebris, wake up! Class has just started…"

Yozora blinked, the dream fading as he returned to the present.