Caelus tried to recover, lightning spiraling back into his hands, but Mike was already there. His claws tore across the stormbringer's chest, tearing through flesh and bone as though it were paper. Sparks exploded, the sky screaming with thunder.
Caelus coughed blood, eyes wide, and for a moment his hand still clutched the forming spear of light. Mike grinned and bit down on it, teeth shattering the weapon like brittle glass. The surge of current tore through his jaw, but he chewed it anyway, molten sparks dripping between his fangs.
"You taste like static," Mike hissed, before plunging his claws into Caelus's ribcage. With one savage pull, he ripped the man in half, tossing the pieces to the dirt like scraps of meat. Lightning arced wild, then died, the sky above suddenly calm.
Lysander staggered out of the wreckage of the hut, blood running from his mouth, his golden glow dimming. "Michael wait," he choked, voice trembling as he reached a hand out. "Love binds us…you don't have to—"
Mike was on him before the words finished. His claws closed around Lysander's throat, lifting him in the air. He snarled into the chosen's face, firelight dancing in his eyes.
"My hate for the gods and desire to protect the only one who matters, is what binds me."
He slammed Lysander into the ground so hard the dirt cratered, the man's body convulsing. Mike's teeth closed on his neck, and with one savage rip, his head came free. He tossed it into the burning hut behind them, where it rolled to rest among the flames.
Blood coated Mike's face, dripping down his scales. He stood tall in the firelit ruins of the village, chest heaving with exhilaration, his grin feral and unrestrained.
The square was silent now, save for the crackling of flames and the pounding of his heart.
At the edge, Amara and Norn still hadn't moved. Gaia's chosen stood solid as stone, unflinching even as the others' blood ran through the dirt. Her eyes were heavy with judgment, like the slow grinding of tectonic plates.
Norn, Erebus's chosen, exhaled softly. Smoke drifted from his form, obscuring his faint red eyes. He had not flinched, had not broken his calm, even as his companions were torn apart.
Mike wiped blood from his jaw with the back of his hand, then licked it clean. His grin widened.
"Good. You two finally done watching?"
The air grew heavier. Roots stirred beneath the earth. Shadows lengthened unnaturally across the flames.
The ground split open under Mike's feet, jagged spears of stone thrusting upward like the fangs of the earth itself. Entire huts collapsed into the newly opened fissures as Amara raised her arms, her voice a low, thunderous command that shook the valley.
"Earth will bury you, beast!"
Columns of stone hammered into Mike's torso, shards tearing across his scales with deafening impact. The ground quaked, roots coiled around his legs, jagged walls rose to box him in. From above, boulders tore free of the cliffside, crashing down with enough force to crater the soil.
Dust and debris swallowed him whole. The villagers who remained cowered at the edges of the valley, too terrified to flee, too bound by the weight of the Chosen's presence.
But from within the ruin, fire surged.
Mike burst through a wall of stone, claws rending it apart like dry wood. His scales smoked from the impacts, shallow cracks glowed with molten fire where the rocks had hit deepest, but his grin was gone. His eyes burned with something far darker.
He stalked forward, slow and deliberate, stone spears and collapsing earth hammering into him from every direction. His body jolted with each strike, his skin split in shallow gashes, but none of it slowed him. None of it mattered.
"Is this it?" Mike snarled, his voice booming through the chaos. "Chosen of a primordial, and you throw fucking rocks?"
Amara's jaw tightened, but she didn't answer. She raised her arms again, the ground beneath him erupting, a forest of sharpened stone impaling his torso and arms. His blood hissed where it struck the spears.
Mike's head turned slowly, crimson eyes locked on her through the storm. His grin returned, twisted and humorless.
"You're pathetic."
He wrenched himself free, tearing the spears apart in a spray of dust. Then he turned his back on her.
His steps carried him to the broken corpses of Caelus and Lysander. Without hesitation, he dropped to the ground, claws carving into their ruined bodies as his teeth sank deep. He devoured them piece by piece, tearing muscle and bone into ash and fire inside his gut. The glow of his wounds dimmed, flesh knitting back together, the cracks in his scales vanishing as his body drank the remnants of their power.
Amara's composure cracked. For the first time, her voice rose in fear.
"Stay back!" she screamed, stomping hard, the entire valley lurching as new walls of stone surged between them.
But Mike only kept walking, his silhouette looming larger with every step, each wall he tore through like wet clay.
From the edges of the firelight, Norn finally moved. The chosen of Erebus raised his arms, and shadows thickened, pouring outward like a tide. They swallowed huts, smothered flames, a darkness that bled into the air itself. The shadows lashed forward like tendrils, twisting to strangle the dragon.
Mike didn't even slow down. His chest swelled. Fire roared from his throat, with a short focused blast he hit Norn with the black and crimson flames.
The darkness screamed.
Norn staggered back, staring down at his body as fire clung to him. The realization spread too late across his face. "Smoke cannot—"
His words broke off in a shriek as his shadow-form burned, flesh blistering and melting in the impossible fire. His body collapsed to the dirt, writhing, the flames consuming him whole.
Mike looked down at him, barely sparing the effort of thought. "Weaklings…"
Then he turned back to Amara.
Her eyes widened, her hands trembling even as she raised another wall of stone between them. Her scream split the night, desperate, futile. "Stay back!"
Mike's claws tore through the wall. His head burst through the rubble, his fangs snapping forward.
He clamped down on her torso, teeth ripping through flesh and bone as if she were nothing but soft fruit. With one savage wrench, her upper body tore free, blood and viscera spraying across the earth. Her legs staggered one step before collapsing lifeless into the dirt.
Mike tilted his head back, swallowing half her body in one gulp. The rest followed, bones cracking between his teeth, until nothing of Amara remained but bloodstains and scattered stone.
The square was silent. Only the sound of Mike's breathing filled it, heavy, ragged, but triumphant.
He wiped blood from his jaw, his grin returning as his body pulsed with new strength. His eyes shifted up to Binyai, still perched silently on his shoulder.
"Why the fuck did I have to come here if they're this weak?" Mike growled, his voice low and edged with disappointment. "I would have rather fought another titan."
The flames of the burning huts reflected in his eyes as he stepped over the remains of the destroyed village, already searching for the next thing worth killing.