Meriel climbed the frozen giant like an absolute madman, using the jagged edges as footholds to pull himself higher.

The beast noticed the human scaling its body and tried to swat him away, but Meriel was too fast and too agile for the slowed monster.

Kai needed to keep the Titan distracted so Meriel could reach the top.

He pulled his right hand back and formed a barrage of sharp ice spears in the freezing air above his head.

"Hey, ugly," Kai shouted, drawing the monster’s attention back to the ground.

"Look down here."

He launched the icy projectiles directly at the monster’s swinging arms.

The spears struck the glowing star-flesh hiding in the elbow joints, exploding on impact and sending sharp shards flying everywhere. The freezing water seeped into the cracks of the stone armor and expanded, crippling the beast’s mobility even further.

The distraction worked perfectly as Meriel reached the top of the frozen torso without taking a single hit.

He stood right on the monster’s collarbone and looked down at the pulsing celestial core.

"Let’s see what’s inside this thing," Meriel yelled, pulling his broadsword back over his shoulder.

He drove the steel blade entirely up to the hilt straight into the glowing core on the Titan’s chest.

Stab.

Meriel held onto the weapon with both hands and pushed his energy drain to its absolute limit.

A bright red glow pulsed from his body into the blade, fighting right against the freezing blue magic Kai was still holding on the floor below.

The clash of opposing elements caused an immediate reaction. The Titan convulsed wildly as heavy stone armor plating its chest began to crack and splinter apart.

Searing green void energy leaked from the fresh wounds, sizzling loudly as it hit the cold air.

’This is actually going to work,’ Kai thought, feeling a sudden surge of triumph mixed with exhaustion.

’We are going to kill a literal god today.’

[System Event: Weakness Exploited]

[Critical Damage dealt to Ancient Entity]

Kai read the text and pushed even more mana into his Domain skill.

The black ice climbed higher, reaching the blade buried in the monster’s chest to lock it firmly in place.

"Keep draining it," Kai shouted, sweat freezing on his forehead the second it appeared.

"The core is breaking."

"I am pulling everything it has," Meriel grunted loudly. His muscles strained visibly under his torn armor.

"But this thing has too much juice. My arms are burning."

"Then push harder," Kai demanded.

"If you let go now, we both die."

Meriel let out a furious scream and forced more red magic into his sword.

"GAHHHHHHH!"

The Titan let out another roaring sound, but this one sounded completely different.

It was a sound of pure agony and terminal system failure.

The void energy stopped leaking and started spraying wildly across the room in erratic, dangerous arcs as the stone floor melted into slag wherever the strange energy touched it.

[System Scan Complete]

[Titan Core Integrity: 23%]

"Get off of it," Kai yelled, sensing the sudden shift in the air pressure.

"It is going to blow up right in your face."

"I’m not done yet," Meriel argued stubbornly, refusing to let go of his sword despite the warning. "I almost have it."

"Fucker just jump," Kai snapped back.

He dropped his freezing spell so he could run toward the exit tunnel.

The sudden release of the ice magic caused the red energy to surge uncontrollably as the monster’s glowing core in its chest pulsed with blinding white light.

The light expanded rapidly, swallowing the steel blade and creeping right up Meriel’s arms.

Meriel finally realized the extreme danger and ripped his weapon free from the collapsing flesh.

He pushed off the beast’s chest and fell backward through the empty air to escape the blast radius.

[System Alert: Catastrophic Reaction Detected] 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

[Warning: Overwhelming energy backlash incoming]

Kai reached the edge of the room and looked back over his shoulder.

The Titan’s chest cavity caved in completely as its blinding white light consumed the beast’s head and started expanding outward like a rising sun.

The ancient core had finally reached its limit, and the explosion began to tear the entire room apart piece by piece.

White light swallowed the room completely.

Kai threw his arms over his face just as the celestial core finally detonated.

A terrifying wave of void energy and blinding starlight ripped right through the ancient temple. The explosion tore the Titan apart from the inside out, sending huge chunks of glowing star-flesh flying across the collapsing chamber.

Kai flew backward through the air as the shockwave hit him like a charging bull.

He crashed hard against a stone pillar and dropped to his hands and knees.

’Fuck.’

Pain flared through his broken ribs, but he forced himself to breathe.

Meriel hit the ground a few yards away, rolling several times before his steel armor scraped to a painful halt.

’I am definitely going to feel that tomorrow,’ Kai thought, wiping blood from his chin.

’If I actually survive the next five minutes.’

Stone cracked loudly all around them.

Entire sections of the floor disintegrated and vanished into the bottomless abyss below. They had completely run out of solid ground to stand on.

Kai grabbed the burlap sack holding Sera and tied it securely to his belt so he could keep his hands free.

"Get moving," Kai shouted over the deafening noise.

He slammed his palms onto the breaking floor and pushed his freezing mana forward.

A wide ramp of smooth blue ice erupted from his hands, spiraling steeply upward toward the nearest exit tunnel.

Kai leaped onto the frozen path and started sliding at a terrifying speed.

Meriel jumped right behind him, using his broadsword to keep his balance on the slick surface.

Ceiling stones rained down around them like deadly hail.

Focusing on keeping the ice slide stable and angled toward the highest corridors took all of Kai’s attention.

He needed a clear path, so he relied on his worst enemy to handle the falling rocks.

Meriel swung his blade in wide arcs, shattering the falling debris into harmless pebbles before they could crush their skulls.