There was a way for Syllis to quickly dispatch the titan. But it was risky. She was not entirely sure whether or not she would be able to continue to stay in the fight. It was rather simple to understand. She could manifest a large, sharp block of ice high above in the air. It would need to be immensely high to incur the speed needed to kill the titan though. This would leave her with little to no sanity left. She would either need to retreat or be a hindrance for the rest of her group.

‘It probably wouldn’t work…’ Syllis dismissed the thought swiftly. The creature had a sort of absurd adaptability. If it sensed the ice above in any sort of way then it could simply move rendering the attack void.

‘Knowing this dastardly creature it’s probably learned to feel the slightest cold in the air.’ Syllis thought, cursing out the creature. “Wait a minute. After spending so much time under the threat of the suns’ flame… Wouldn’t a creature certainly learn to discern the changes in temperature?’

Syllis had already dismissed the idea, but now she was disappointed in herself for even thinking it had the possibility of working in the first place.

The titan she was standing atop yelled. This was apparently to the approaching second, smaller titan. The second titan ‘responded’ with a roar of its own and began approaching even faster.

The body of the gargantuan titan began to shake violently and with much vigor.

“Woah!” Syllis latched onto a couple teeth. She had grown complacent atop the giant monster. Comfortable under the assumption that it did not wish to shatter its ‘armor’ any further. This was merely another deception though as a hand crashed down above.

Aura’s ephemeral dragon suddenly flew in. The gust of wind that its wings provided was unusual. The wings were solely made of bone with no light material to create such wind. This creature shared the same property as her crows. The void between its bones held a ‘semblance’ of flesh. The properties were similar.

‘Thank you!’ Syllis cheered internally. She pushed off of several teeth, far away from the hand that had clashed against a few dozen only a few feet above her head.

Her nearly bare hand—littered with razor thin cuts—wrapped around one of the ephemeral dragons legs. It was jerked slightly. Syllis felt that she was about to fall, tumbling towards the ground. Thankfully the bone creature recovered.

‘Thank the lord that these green flames are no hotter than warm.’ Syllis thought. She had not noticed the lackluster temperature of the flames when they had first arrived within the fable due to the already scorching hot, burning skies. ‘Can she manipulate the temperature?’

The bone dragon swerved a couple of sweeps from the titans lofty arms. They were much too swift for their thickness. Fables did not follow logic though and this naturally extended to their creatures.

The titan lost focus. Its gaze fell away from the bone dragon and Syllis. It looked beyond them, towards Aura. No emotions were able to be discerned on its face. Perhaps it had none at all. Only the will to survive the burning skies.

The bone dragon set Syllis down against the familiar floor. It was bumpy and rugged. Sections of it were slippery and nearly caused those who walked above to trip and fall. This was likely due to taran guts mixed in with the dirt.

The walls that had encased Syllis and the titan fell. The amplified taran that previously clawed away against the icy-blue barrier were nowhere to be found. At least in a single piece. They were assuredly strung out across the floor, courtesy of Clyde and the rest of Syllis’ companions.

“Clyde,” Syllis said. “I can’t deal with this thing. At least not within completely taking myself out of the fight.”

“Alright,” Clyde responded. “Simple enough. We’re just going to need multiple people.”

“Not that simple,” The secare nymph said, concisely. “This damned thing is probably more resilient and stalwart than Anahita.”

“Impossible!” Clyde said. He chuckled after it came out.

“Seriously.”

Clyde was silent. Anahita had many anathema transfigured within. She was the most powerful and influential kindred in Asanoch. For this titan to best in any aspect was an unholy feat.

“Seriously?”

Syllis nodded in response. She turned back to face the titan which exuded an air of what could only be thought to be bloodlust. It stomped, shaking the ground under its immense weight.

The secare nymph was thrown off balance, toppling over. This was along with everyone else, but the nymph was the titan’s target. A colossal wing slammed against the dark ground. It only narrowly missed Syllis by a couple meters.

“It might be faster too,” Syllis said. She did not dare turn her head away from the monster now. “How fast could she cross Asanoch?”

Syllis only jested. She had deemed such folly unnecessary in the battle, but now it was needed. It was to distract herself from the fact that this being had nearly taken her life from her—several times now. A single misstep could change a possibility to certainty. This is how fickle the bodies of kindred with minimal anathema are.

“I’m going to need to hit it with a well timed javelin on an area void of those horrid teeth. Can you and Hfroht do that?” Syllis asked, worry rang out in her voice. They needed to be able to create an opportunity. Syllis got the feeling that she was possibly one of only a few people on the entirety of the battlefield that could deal a decisive blow.

“You want us to distract that titan?” Hfroht was stunned, more so when nobody answered him. He did not have a choice in the matter.

“Alright,” Clyde said. “Come on now.” He gestured to Hfroht.

Syllis fell back. She had swapped places with both Clyde and Hfroht. This meant that it was now her place to prevent many taran from leaking into the back line of defense. She was left without a weapon to do this with. Her spear had cracked upon being thrust into one of the four colossal arms and only splintered further upon repeated use. It was useless so she returned it to whatever realm she drew Coryzan’s ice from.

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Besides, the spear was dense, taking a larger toll on her sanity than she was comfortable with. Ever since her encounter with the four suns, Syllis had learned she needed to save as much sanity as possible. Losing it all halfway into a battle? It was inevitable that she would meet her end.

A small dagger was manifested in the time between groups of approaching taran. They flowed in like a never-ending flood. The dagger was equally as dense as the spear, only a third of the size meaning a third of the toll on her sanity. It was a good deal, though calling it a dagger was a bit generous… It did not feature a pommel or stunning crossguard. It was closer to just a blade with a lackluster hilt. The appearance did not matter to Syllis though, the ability to cut was enough. She would have made do with anything.

Black tar and purple-pink organs mixed together and were flung around in string. This mixing would have coated Syllis as well if she was not entirely covered already, from head to toe. It was impossible to avoid in a battle so long. It had already dragged on for an hour at the least and was likely to continue for at least one more.

Syllis was tired. She heaved, her breathing was not stable. She stumbled around, her movements less decisive than they had been. Her energy was draining, but she did not have the time to wane.

Every couple seconds, after any taran was cut apart, Syllis glanced over at the titan. Blood streamed down from Hfroht and Clyde looked worse for wear. He was doing better than she thought he would. A part of her wondered if he had held back in any of their spars.

Whatever the case, she was glad. But unease welled up within her, an uncertainty. No opportunity had arisen yet for her to pierce the titan. This was problematic. She could not wait much longer. Under the mounting pressure of her compromised mental faculties and the growing whispers from Coryzan, Syllis felt like she was going to crumble at any moment.

Blood streamed from her arm as she dismissed her primitive form of a bandaid. Her dagger dissolved into the air, leaving nothing behind. In its place she manifested a large javelin.

‘I was gonna need to make this thing eventually… Might as well get some use out of it now.’ Syllis thought. It was important that her judgment remain uncompromised. Dismissing anything unnecessary was the only way she could retain whatever sanity remained.

Gradually, she was pushed backwards, towards Korman and Hfroht’s party members. Together, the five of them worked to protect Aura and the wall from the waves of taran.

“It doesn’t make any sense!” one of Hfroht’s companions said, furiously. “Why do they keep coming… This should have ended long ago!”

Syllis dismissed any of her words. They meant nothing to her. She had not even remembered the man’s name. She never wanted to save these people and now they were just irritating her.

Two amplified taran ran up to her from the side, ambushing Syllis. Only a slight glance of their pitch-black, beady eyes was made before she was knocked over, stumbling and rolling to the side.

‘W-what?’ Syllis was confused. It had happened so gradually that she had not noticed. Her vision was blurry and her sound inconsistent. All of her faculties were gradually being taken over.

“Get up!” The slender elmannise woman she had rescued earlier was standing above her. She held an axe in front of her. It was shorter and thinner than Hfroht’s had been.

‘Ironic…’ Syllis stood, only to be pushed to the ground again. One of the taran stared into her eyes. The slender woman could not protect her, she was being overrun by her own opponent.

The secare nymph swatted and tried to swing her javelin which had missed its mark. ‘Damn it all.’

The taran clawed away at her side and through her further backwards. Blood oozed from the bottom of her abdomen and met with the dirt ground.

Korman threw the pitiful nymph a scarce glance at her before turning back to his own opponents, two amplified taran.

“Syllis!” Aura—who had been engrossed in manipulating her bone dragon—yelled for her.

This was one fully sane sentence. It was comforting for Syllis to hear a coherent thought from her. She had only heard Aura mutter strange sayings and verses fed to her from whoever her god was since she had swapped places with Clyde and Hfroht.

Syllis blinked her eyes and tried to shift away from the taran. Simultaneously she tried to freeze over her wounded abdomen. The task was simple and she would easily accomplish it normally. In her current situation though… It would be a miracle if she could. She felt the wound freeze over and heaved a sigh of relief.

Then, the taran in front of her ran forward again. The elmannise woman stood in the way. Somehow, she managed to slay her own amplified taran. It was almost like she had an awakening. Amplified took at least several members of a group to deal with. Syllis and her companions had been the exceptions to that rule.

At the same time as the woman stood in between Syllis and the taran, Aura’s bone dragon flapped ahead. It flew overtop Syllis and breathed a hefty breath of ephemeral green flames. It scorched the taran, turning it into something even lower than ash. There was another casualty though… The elmannise woman who had jumped in to protect Syllis cried out.

Her clothing was set aflame and the features on her face gradually melded together until they had become an indiscernible, amorphous mass. Her screams were extinguished once her vocal cords had been melted. What was left was a mere husk.

‘Damn it! Damn it all.’ Syllis thought as she shoveled piles of dirt on top of the flaming woman who clutched at her face.

Both of her male companions called out to her. Passion was evident in one of their voices. They were in love. Syllis wondered how distraught Hfroht would be once he was told the news.

With enough dirt, the flame was put out. Only a few remaining ephemeral embers danced atop her clothing, or what was left of it. The woman’s entire face was charred, even her eyes, gone. Her body was entirely scorched all the way down to her legs. Any clothing was frayed and scarcely held together by thin strings that were desperate to cling to life. Syllis had failed to save this woman. And Aura… She had merely been trying to save her companion. In the heat of battle, the accidental murder of an ally was not inconceivable. It was no less than almost a certainty.

‘Still, she must feel horrible. Just… Just as I do.’ Syllis had saved this woman, just for her to experience a worse death than she would have suffered originally. Where was her god?

There was no time to remain idle though. Syllis looked back to Clyde and Hfroht. Her eyes widened. ‘An opportunity…’

The titan was throwing two of his arms towards his sides. Both nuisances that were distracting him were being targeted. With his attention split between both ‘flies’ there would be no way it could see Syllis’ javelin coming.

It was perfect timing too. The even taller, slower, hulking monstrosity was nearly upon them.

With a deep breath, Syllis held onto her javelin firmly and formed the crashing waves of icy-blue beneath her feet. She spun and threw the javelin, it pierced the very air and shot directly into a void of teeth on the titan’s body.

In its final breath, a harrowing roar, bellowed across the battlefield. The titan had fallen. It was the fourth on the battlefield. But this one had been cleaved by a mere three people. This was a stark contrast to the others which had involved at least twenty.

The hulking titan that was approaching made an equally blood-curdling cry as it watched its ally fall to the ground. It raised one of its six arms and began to form a shape within its palm. The black ball in its palm convulsed and pulsed. Each cycle it grew longer and thicker. It eventually formed into a lengthy spear.

The titanic creature spun and threw the black spear. It was crude, flying through the air instability due to the difference in craftsmanship. The spear splintered under the pressure of the air and became several. Each one a piece of shrapnel that threatened to take a life. The brunt of shards were flying straight towards Syllis.

Syllis remained motionless, merely raising a thick wall in front of her, to shield her from the shards.

A scream. This was not the scream of a taran, but a human instead. It was Aura’s scream.