Akhil's black eyes shifted from the fallen Titan to Langdon, who stood frozen atop his massive mechanical creation. For a moment, neither moved. The crowd held its breath, sensing that the true battle was about to begin.
Then Akhil stepped forward.
The blood array moved with him, flowing across the scorched ground like a living shadow. The tendrils writhed and twisted, leaving trails of crimson light in their wake. Each step he took seemed to drain the very air from the battlefield, the suffocating pressure intensifying with every movement.
Langdon's eyes widened. His fingers flew across the control panel inside the bot's cockpit, mechanisms whirring to life.
"Stay back!" Langdon's voice cracked through the speakers, the confidence from earlier completely shattered. "Stay the hell back!"
