Fallen One

{PLEIADES POV)

A cold shiver ran down my back, and my breath came in ragged, short bursts. I clenched my fists until Pain Nullification warned me that my body was being damaged.

Cutting the connection with the raven, I sat down and tried to calm myself. Through our link, I sensed Sunny's faint concern, but I didn't have time to focus on that right now.

Regis paused and glanced at me. For a moment, it looked like he wanted to say something—then almost frowned, likely remembering that I had him slaving away collecting soul shards.

Unable to focus in my current state, I bit my fingernail and chewed on it.

[Sunny, I'll stay in my Soul Sea… to think about something. Alert me when he's done.]

Before he could respond, I dove into my Soul Sea. I was met by the familiar sight of the glassy lake that reflected the stars shinning from above. Standing up, I looked at the two shining soul cores and observed them, my mind mostly blank.

Letting time pass normally outside, I sat down and tapped my foot on the ground nervously.

"A Cursed Titan" I said aloud, exhaling slowly to regain focus. Then, with a thought, I once more observed the Cursed Titan from my raven's view.

Still terrified by its rank, I studied its form, feeling myself drift further and further from reality as I stared. I anchored my mind to the Soul Sea, grounding myself in the rhythm of my foot tapping against the glassy surface.

The Titan's head towered over the clouds—and even higher. It had five monstrous legs connected to a body that resembled a seal's, complete with a dragging tail that merged into a torso of rolling muscle, each bulge larger than a suburban house.

Its front legs stretched nearly half a kilometer and looked like massive elephant feet. From these extended tentacles, each one nearly fifty meters long, writhing in slow, deliberate movements.

The legs extended from various points on its body—one from lower near the tail, shorter, spanning about three hundred meters. The front legs were the tallest, connected to broad, mountainous shoulders. The final set of legs protruded from its side—though one was clearly missing, replaced by a gnarled stump.

I didn't dare look directly at its head, which remained obscured above the clouds. I just noted that its long neck stretched upward, much like a giraffe's.

Its hide was like that of an elephant, but darker, a shade of grey so deep it seemed to absorb light.

Stopping the connection, I lay on the surface of the waters and looked up at the shining stars hovering around the shape of Precaution.

Scratching my head, I reconnected to the raven and resumed studying the Titan. I watched it for ten minutes as it moved—covering less than fifty meters in that time. I carefully noted all the characteristics it displayed. It took nearly two minutes to move each of its monstrous legs.

Its massive body swayed now and then, causing it to pause for short periods. After another twenty minutes, one of its legs got stuck in a pit. It took another two minutes just to free itself and resume moving.

Judging by its current distance and calculating the time it would take to reach the Dark City, I came to a grim conclusion. The Titan was following the ravine created by my World Slash, likely drawn by the nearly thousand Sleepers who still carried the Flame and remained untouched by corruption.

Clenching my fist, I studied it a bit longer and finally came to a conclusion.

"A week and a half... well, less actually."

Swallowing hard, I considered a plan. I located a large boulder approximately one hundred and fifty kilometers away with Distant Stalking. Then, focusing on the raven, I split my vision in two and swapped the places of the Titan and the boulder. Just as I did so, my world turned black.

***********************************

After lingering in unconsciousness, I felt Pain Nullification alert me to damage. Slowly waking, I turned my head side to side—then to the right, where I saw a pair of shadowy hind legs.

Groggily looking up, I spotted the upper half of Regis. He was giddily lolling his tongue, seemingly having the time of his life. Then, without warning, he reared up and pressed his legs on my stomach.

Though I was awake, he seemed oblivious to that fact, clearly still enjoying himself.

Biting my lower lip, I clenched my teeth and boosted my strength with Load Amplifier.

"Whatcha doing buddy?"

He paused mid-pounce, his paws still planted on my stomach. Retracting his tongue, he gave me a pair of wide, puppy-dog eyes.

"Oh, nothin' much. Just… waking you up."

Not looking even the tiniest bit ashamed, I smiled sweetly.

"Oh, my faithful companion… Let me thank you."

He tilted his head—and then noticed my hand reeling back.

'Too late.'

My fist connected cleanly with his underbelly, and he sailed through the air with a whimper, crashing hard and sending ripples across the glassy surface of my Soul Sea.

I rose to my feet and watched Regis roll across the ground before shakily standing on his paws. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, brow furrowed.

"Seems like you're all fine and dandy. Yep, abusing your most loyal companion, definitely a clear sign of recovery. Good to see you're well and ready to oppress again."

Tilting my head, I scoffed and looked down at him.

"Was it not you who thoroughly enjoyed himself while bringing harm to me... while I was unconscious, mind you?"

He tottered closer. "Well, maybe. But it's not like you could feel any of it. Pain Nullification, remember?"

I scoffed again and rubbed my stomach. "So that gives you the right to pounce on me like an overexcited puppy?"

"For the one trillionth time—wolf. At least have the brain cells to say 'cub.'"

Deciding not to further the pointless conversation, I sat down and gave him a look.

"So, all the soul shards have been collected?"

Regis perked up and wagged his tail excitedly.

"Yep. You're welcome, by the way. Also, I had a snack or ten—but don't worry, I only ate the Awakened ones, so don't get your metaphysical or phantom panties in a bunch."

Grinning at his joke, I leaned back and nodded.

"Yes, yes, that's fine. I was going to give you some of the Ascended ones, but if you're satisfied with just that, very well."

Catching on that I was teasing, he whimpered dramatically.

"Such cruelty… I'll call H.R."

Raising a brow, I gave him a furtive look.

"Fighting for Nightmare Creature Rights?"

Nodding solemnly, he put on a mock-serious face.

"Yes. I'll get Effie to make some protest signs and strap them on me."

Enjoying the banter, I made sure to stop the passage of time, now we could spend as long as we wanted here without any time moving in the real world.

Regis seemed to notice my lingering worry and walked closer, sniffing my face without warning. A little surprised, I reeled back, my expression twisting.

"What are you doing?"

He sniffed the air again and gave a thoughtful nod to himself.

"Yep, I think I can faintly smell emotions. Ain't that cool?"

My expression dulled slightly, and I hummed.

"Oh? And what exactly do you smell?"

Getting uncomfortably close, he sniffed a few more times before slowly piecing the words together.

"Anxiety… a pinch of fear… a little melancholy, maybe… oh, and what's this?"

Leaning in, clearly enjoying himself, he grinned.

"Sexual frustration… oh you horny little spaz."

Forcing a smile, I let just a bit of venom drip into my voice.

"You got three right. So, relatively impressive."

Regis barked a laugh and began circling around me.

"No, no—I think I nailed all of it."

Sighing, I shook my head and let out a low chuckle.

"Thankfully, I don't have an ability like that. Otherwise I'd suffer daily, drowning in your lustful and depraved emotions."

He stopped mid-step, looking wounded.

"A gentleman like me would never."

I clenched my fist and put on a fake expression of concern.

"Oh my, seems like I hit you too hard earlier. You're delusional. Let me fix you."

Regis backed away, snarling.

"I'm perfectly fine as I am."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm still my perfect self. Now—what's got you so hot and bothered?"

Letting my hand fall, I exhaled heavily.

"I might've seen something… concerning."

Regis' ears perked up and he kicked his hind legs back like a child hearing gossip.

"Ooooh, do spill the tea."

Taking a long breath, I gathered my thoughts before speaking.

"A Cursed Titan is approaching the Dark City. I managed to teleport it back about a hundred kilometers and bought us a few days. That gives us roughly two weeks to prepare and conquer the Spire. Also, I fainted using Antithesis. Turns out switching positions between a fallen deity and a boulder is a bit... overwhelming."

I turned to my companion. His mouth was hanging open, tongue lolling out like a broken fan. He blinked a few times, processing the information. His mouth closed, then opened again.

"You call that… concerning?"

He looked down, suddenly nervous.

"That's apocalyptic, you buffoon!"

Nodding solemnly at his outburst, I turned to glance at Precaution's form, pulsing steadily with restrained power. From behind me, I heard Regis mumbling to himself before he gave an exaggerated huff and poked my thigh with his snout.

Raising a brow, I made it clear I was waiting for him to speak. He hesitated for a moment, then started.

"So… you know how your main power is 'Absolute Ability Creation'?"

"Yeah. Kinda asked for it. What about it?"

He sat down and tapped a paw against the floor, like he was trying to make some unspoken point obvious.

"So how come your use of Antithesis made you faint? Shouldn't it work in an absolute manner? There should be no repercussions for you switching places with the Titan and the boulder."

Taking in what he said, I rested my chin on my hand and mulled it over.

"Maybe… I subconsciously thought of it happening that way? Maybe it just played out because of what I was thinking during the moment."

Regis nodded along.

"Yeah, maybe. But how come some of your powers work in ways you didn't program them to? Like Grafting giving you those extra hands to connect concepts—you never actually thought of that, right?"

"Right."

"So it's safe to say that the creation process adjusts things, maybe fills in gaps, adds stuff you didn't think of… though it doesn't seem to do anything bad, so far."

I paced in a circle, scratching my head.

'First the Titan, now issues with my abilities. Is my Luck attribute having an existential crisis because of Sunny's Fated?'

Deciding to take things one step at a time, I visualized a piece of paper and a pen and began to jot down what needed to be done.

Regis peeked over my shoulder.

"How can you even read that?"

"Hop off it!" I shoved him away and ignored his discouragement.

Then, I continued writing:

Get Gunlaug to want to fight Nephis as soon as possible

Gather the shard memories

Make sure that those who don't join Nephis are killed

Get the entire army prepared for the siege

Kill the bastard that mimicked my family at the Soul Devouring Tree

Hold off the Titan while the army escapes

Prevent Sunny from being enslaved

I wrote it in English, just in case I needed to recreate the paper in the real world later, none of them could read it anyway.

"Ah, if only it was a great Titan… why a cursed one?" I muttered.

Regis gave me a sympathetic look and nodded.

"Yes, yes, you poor little thing. If only it weren't a fallen god. Don't worry—give me a super strong ability and I'll fly over it and piss down a stream of Destruction to burn it down."

"… I'll think about it."

Before leaving the Soul Sea, I forged the ability I was going to use to fight and maybe even kill the Titan. When I finished, a raging blackish-yellow star descended into the system of abilities orbiting Precaution, blazing like a sun.

Exiting back to the real world, I synced into Sunny's eyes. He was fidgeting idly with a pair of Soul Shards.

[Okay, we're ready to go.]

Sunny perked up, then frowned.

"What happened? What were you doing?"

[Eh… just trying to figure out how to fend off a Cursed Titan from destroying the Dark City and killing everyone in it.]

Sunny dropped the Soul Shards, his face twisting in shock.

"... Are you crazy?"