The legion pressed tighter, spears glinting, shields locking into a wall of bronze and iron. Their discipline was undeniable, their formation unbroken. For a moment, they looked less like giants and more like an inexorable machine of war, advancing step by step through blood and ash.
Mike's lips curled back into a snarl. His chest swelled, molten light spilling through the cracks of his throat as fire built in his lungs.
"Enough."
The roar ripped out of him with the force of an earthquake, and the dunes shook as his wings spread wide, blotting the sky. Then he exhaled.
The firestorm that followed was a river of annihilation, black and red fire with wisps of gold, a torrent that swept across the entire front line. Shields melted like wax. Spears crumbled and melted under the terrifying heat. Giants screamed as their flesh and bone dissolved to ash, their formations breaking under the consuming tide of living flame.
Mike did not relent. He advanced as he breathed, fire scouring the sand to glass beneath his claws. His tail swept through stragglers, his talons ripping giants apart as he barreled his way through formations. Where his breath did not reach, his violent torrent of destruction wrecked the giants.
The disciplined machine of war shattered. The chant that had once shaken the desert fell into chaos and silence. What remained of the legion scattered in panicked flight, their order consumed in a single inferno.
When the firestorm finally died, the dunes were a wasteland of glass and smoldering corpses. Mike stood in the center, chest heaving, crimson-gold eyes burning through the smoke. The power coursing through him felt limitless, his scales radiant and unyielding, his body dripping with the essence of destruction.
Bahamut's voice echoed with grim satisfaction.
"Yes, hatchling. This is what it means to bear divinity. Let the world see, let the gods tremble."
But then came an eerie silence.
The desert wind stilled. The smoke curled upward as though drawn away by unseen hands. The air itself grew heavy, suffocating, pressing against Mike's chest until even his dragon form felt suddenly small.
From the horizon, a figure emerged.
A towering silhouette walked through the haze, each step sinking the sand as though it bowed to his presence. His frame was draped in shadows and starlight, his body carved of stone and void. His eyes were two endless wells of cold light fixed upon Mike, burning with intelligence and malice.
Koios.
The Titan of the North. The Keeper of the Axis of Heaven. General of the old wars.
His voice was low, resonant, the sound of earth cracking and mountains shifting.
"So. The little devourer arrives."
The ruined battlefield, once echoing with the screams of giants, now felt as silent as a tomb.
Mike bared his teeth, fire dripping between them. "I didn't come for your soldiers. I came for you."
Koios smiled faintly, though it carried no warmth.
"Then you shall have me, hatchling. And you will learn why Titans do not fall to dragons."
The ground buckled as Koios raised his arm. Pillars of stone erupted around Mike, shooting skyward like the spines of the earth itself. The air filled with the grinding roar of rock tearing apart, forming a cage of jagged towers meant to crush him.
Mike beat his wings once, shattering half the spires with the force of the gale. His body ignited, scales gleaming crimson-gold as he burst through the collapsing stone with a roar. Fire poured from his throat, an endless torrent that split the desert in two.
But Koios did not move.
The fire washed over him, flames clinging to his body like water over obsidian. When the inferno subsided, he stood untouched, his skin marked only by faint cracks that glowed like molten veins. His vast frame pulsed with ancient power, essence older than Olympus, older than anything Mike had devoured.
"You burn bright," Koios said, voice calm, steady, almost mocking. "But brightness is not eternity. Fire fades. Stone endures."
Mike lunged, claws outstretched, his bulk tearing through the desert like a meteor. His talons closed around Koios' torso only for the Titan's hand to catch his wrist as though stopping a child.
The desert shuddered with the force of their collision.
Koios twisted, dragging Mike's massive dragon body downward, slamming him into the ground with a shockwave that split the dunes for miles. Rock beneath the sand shattered from the impact, shards erupting skyward. Mike roared, wings thrashing, his tail whipping forward like a spear. The strike landed, hurling Koios back a dozen paces, but even that seemed little more than an inconvenience.
Mike rose, fury boiling, essence coursing through his veins in molten waves. He spread his wings wide and launched himself skyward, fire and shadow streaking behind him. From above, he descended in a storm, claws, fangs, and flame raining down with relentless violence.
Koios met him with a wall of earth that surged upward like a mountain birthing itself from the sand. The collision split the night sky with a loud crack of stone against scale. The impact tore apart straggling giant soldiers. Limbs and chunks of flesh scattered across the sand.
For the first time since consuming divinity, Mike felt resistance. True resistance. His fire carved rivers into the Titan's armor of earth, but the wounds sealed as quickly as they formed, as if the world itself rushed to repair its champion.
Koios' hand shot forward, seizing Mike's neck mid-flight. His grip was iron, crushing, pressing against the dragon's scales until even they groaned under the pressure.
"Your kind," Koios said, voice low and merciless, "has always been hunters. But Titans are not your prey."
Mike's body writhed, flame leaking from his jaws as his essence surged, straining against the Titan's crushing grip. For a moment, the battlefield felt still one force unyielding, the other unstoppable.
Then Mike's eyes blazed with a sharper red hue, the crimson searing brighter than before. His claws locked on Koios' arm, talons digging deep enough to pierce even Titan flesh. And Koios bled for the first time.
The Titan's expression shifted, faint, but there. Surprise.
Mike's roar split the desert as he felt his claws sink into flesh. The smell of the titan blood made his mind race. Hunger filled his senses as Koios shook him off.
"Devour him!!" Bahamut roared. Mike launched forward, drool dripping from his jaws. He smashed through a barrier of earth Koios tried to use for defense against the fury of claws and teeth.
Mike felt his teeth sink into the titan's arm. The blood filling his mouth made the essence erupt from his body. The faint surprise from Koios was now a look of uncertainty on his face.