The burning giant sat atop the armored wyvern like a warlord and flames crawled along the edge of his colossal greatsword, spilling sparks across the shattered courtyard beneath him. Around the two of them, the remains of dead giants burned among broken siege weapons and rivers of blackened blood.

Arthur floated a few feet above the ruined stone, his glowing violet eyes met the giant’s burning gaze.

Then Arthur spoke.

"State your name, giant."

The wyvern snarled beneath its rider, smoke pouring from its jaws as the giant slowly raised his sword and pointed it directly at Arthur.

"I am Malith," he declared, voice echoing through the fortress. "One of the loyal servants of the Monarch of Beginning."

The flames around his blade intensified violently.

"And you, Monarch of Shadows... are an enemy of my Monarch that must be destroyed."

Arthur’s expression barely changed.

"Quite the ambition."

His voice remained calm.

"But before I kill you... do you know where your monarch is?"

Malith said nothing.

Arthur tilted his head slightly.

"Or if he is even alive."

The answer came in the form of violence.

The wyvern exploded forward with a deafening roar, wings tearing through the air as Malith brought the burning greatsword down toward Arthur’s skull.

Arthur moved casually.

The blade crashed into the courtyard.

BOOM.

Flames erupted across the battlefield.

Stone shattered for hundreds of meters outward.

Arthur was already somewhere else.

Floating calmly beside the wyvern’s head.

"...No answer," Arthur noted.

Malith roared and swung again.

Arthur leaned backward slightly.

The massive blade passed inches from his face.

The pressure alone tore apart distant walls behind him.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed faintly.

"Are you bound by the Rulers?" he asked while dodging another strike. "Shackled here?"

The giant answered with another furious attack.

Arthur vanished into shadow.

The greatsword struck empty air.

He reappeared above Malith.

"There are so many of you here, giant folk."

Arthur avoided a blast of flame from the wyvern beneath him before continuing almost conversationally.

"Are you part of a larger defeated army?"

Another strike.

Another effortless dodge from Arthur.

"Did the Rulers capture all of you alongside your monarch?"

Malith’s attacks became heavier, more violent.

The flames around him surged hotter with every word Arthur spoke.

"Or..." Arthur said quietly, appearing directly in front of him mid-air, "does your new monarch care little about you?"

Malith roared in fury.

"We are loyal to the Giant Monarch and we can.."

His voice distorted violently.

The words broke apart unnaturally, like invisible chains tightening around his throat.

Arthur saw it immediately.

The glowing symbols appearing briefly beneath Malith’s skin.

A curse. Arthur smiled faintly.

"Of course."

The wyvern lunged again, and Arthur grabbed its upper jaw mid-charge.

The entire battlefield shook and the beast’s momentum stopped instantly.

Its massive eyes widened.

Arthur’s violet gaze glowed brighter.

"You’re cursed as well," Arthur said softly. "You can’t share what you know."

The wyvern tried to pull away.

Arthur’s hand tightened.

CRACK.

The upper half of the wyvern’s skull shattered in his grip.

Before the corpse could even fall, Arthur swung his sword once.

A line of violet light crossed the sky.

The wyvern split cleanly in half.

Malith leapt from the collapsing beast with monstrous speed, bringing his flaming blade down toward Arthur with enough force to flatten everything beneath him.

This time Arthur drew his own sword fully.

Their blades collided, the shockwave obliterated the remaining towers nearby.

Flames and shadows erupted outward together.

Malith’s eyes widened slightly.

Arthur hadn’t moved an inch.

Then Arthur smiled.

"So be it."

The Shadow Monarch’s voice lowered.

"Your shadow will speak instead."

Arthur pushed forward.

And the fight truly began, Malith roared and attacked relentlessly.

For a giant, his swordsmanship was absurdly refined.

He was not wild or clumsy with his attacks, every strike carried centuries of warfare behind it. Sweeping flame arcs carved through the battlefield while his movements shook the ground beneath them.

But Arthur... he looked like he was enjoying himself.

He flowed around every strike effortlessly, one moment standing before Malith.

The next already behind him, their swords collided dozens of times in seconds, black-violet sparks erupting through the air with every impact.

Malith swung horizontally.

Arthur ducked beneath it.

The burning blade passed over his head close enough to distort the air.

Arthur stepped forward inside the giant’s guard and slashed upward.

Malith barely blocked in time,

BOOM.

The impact forced the giant backward across the courtyard.

Arthur pursued instantly and their swords collided again.

Every strike was faster and sharper.

The courtyard collapsed around them under the pressure of their battle.

From a distance, the Titans could only stare.

Robin’s eyes tracked the impossible exchange below.

"...He’s playing with him."

Cyborg looked stunned.

"That giant’s strong as hell too..."

Raven floated silently, cloak shifting in the violent winds created by the battle.

"Arthur is not using even ten percent of his actual strength," she murmured.

Malith roared and unleashed a massive wave of flame from his sword.

Arthur raised his hand.

The Shadow Lantern Ring ignited.

Darkness condensed instantly and A colossal black shield formed before him, swallowing the flames whole.

Then the shield transformed.

Into chains, dozens of shadow chains burst outward and wrapped around Malith’s arm mid-swing.

The giant roared and tore free through sheer strength, but Arthur was already there.

One slash and Malith’s shoulder armor exploded apart.

Second slash, his knee buckled.

Third strike, Arthur’s blade pierced cleanly through the giant’s chest.

Malith staggered backward.

His burning greatsword slipped from his hand.

Arthur stood before him calmly, sword lowered at his side.

The giant looked down at the blade through his chest.

Then back at Arthur.

"...Such...strength...."

Arthur’s eyes glowed brighter and then he ripped the sword free.

Then moved once more.

A single clean slash crossed Malith’s neck.

The giant commander froze.

And his head fell, the massive body collapsed moments later and silence spread across the battlefield. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Then darkness moved.

Shadows pooled beneath the corpses littering the courtyard.

Arthur’s violet eyes burned like twin stars in that darkness.

"Arise." he muttered.

The battlefield answered him.

One by one,

Shadows peeled themselves from the broken corpses of the giants.

Massive dark forms emerged from beneath the ground itself.

Dozens, hundreds all kneeling instantly before him.

Among them...

Malith rose once more.

Now clad in black-violet shadow armor, eyes glowing with absolute loyalty.

The former commander knelt deeply.

"My King..."

.

.

.

The battlefield outside had become absolute chaos, the corpses of giants littered the ground, Wyverns screamed overhead, only to be dragged out of the sky by Kamish or blasted apart by Starfire’s emerald bolts.

And somewhere in the middle of it all, Blue Beetle was screaming.

"WHY AM I UPSIDE DOWN?!"

Galatea flew through the battlefield holding him casually by one ankle.

Upside down, like luggage.

The shadow marshal looked entirely unbothered by it.

Below them, a giant charged through the smoke carrying a massive axe larger than a bus.

Blue Beetle pointed wildly.

"BIG GUY! BIG GUY! BIG GUY!"

"I see him idiot," Galatea replied flatly.

The giant roared and swung.

Galatea moved so fast the air cracked.

One moment she was holding Jaime upside down.

The next, A violet streak crossed the battlefield.

The giant froze mid-swing.

Then its head slid off its shoulders.

The massive corpse collapsed backward, flattening part of the ruined wall behind it.

Galatea returned to hovering casually like nothing happened.

Blue Beetle blinked upside down.

"...Okay that was kinda awesome."

"You are remarkably fragile," Galatea observed. "My King told me to keep you alive. You people make that task unnecessarily difficult."

"Could you at least hold me normally?!"

"No."

Nearby, Beast Boy, still in his massive wyvern form landed heavily on the shattered stone while laughing loudly while turning back into his human form.

"Dude! You look like a bag of groceries!"

"Shut up!"

Robin landed beside them, staff spinning once before collapsing back into its compact form.

"Focus up," he warned, though even he sounded distracted.

Because all of them felt it.

That familiar pressure.

Raven slowly turned toward the center of the fortress.

Far in the distance, darkness erupted upward like a wave.

The shadows of the dead giants stretched unnaturally across the battlefield.

Then they began to rise.

One after another, every giant Arthur killed and every giant the Titans defeated.

Even the corpses scattered across distant walls and ruined towers began moving.

Black-violet shadows peeled themselves free from the dead like souls answering a king’s call.

Cyborg stared.

"...Nah, this is still very eerie, I can never get used to it."

A giant they had defeated earlier slowly stood back up, now clad in dark shadow armor with glowing violet eyes.

Then another.

Then another.

Dozens to hundreds.

An entire army of shadow giants began kneeling across the battlefield toward the same direction.

Toward Arthur.

Beast Boy was back in human form atop the ruined wall, breathing heavily.

"...I’m never getting used to that new form of mine either..."

Starfire floated silently beside Raven, eyes reflecting the massive army of shadows below.

"It is both beautiful... and terrifying."

Robin exhaled slowly.

"An entire S-rank dungeon."

He looked toward the kneeling army.

"Converted into his in less than an hour."

Even Galatea smiled faintly at the sight.

"There is our king."

Far below them, Arthur stood in the middle of the ruined courtyard surrounded by kneeling shadow giants.

The fortress-city that once belonged to the giant army now looked conquered.

Claimed, while Malith knelt before him in his new shadow form.

The giant commander’s burning arrogance was gone.

Only loyalty remained.

Arthur’s violet eyes glowed brighter as he looked down at him.

"Tell me everything you know about the Giant Monarch."

His voice echoed calmly through the ruined battlefield.

"Including the Rulers... or the other Monarchs, if you know anything."

Malith lowered his head further immediately.

"As you command, my King."

/-\

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