Chapter 60 – The Ruin That Breathes

The explosion tore through the Forsaken stronghold, sending shockwaves rippling across the battlefield. Dust and debris shot into the air, momentarily obscuring the fight between Cain and the Titan Hunters. The force of the blast was not from any known weapon—it carried weight, an unnatural presence that sent a chill through the air.

Cain's limbs were still sluggish, the Titan Suppression Field pressing against his nerves like invisible chains, restricting his every movement. The Titan Hunters remained locked in their coordinated formation, but now, their attention was split.

The battlefield had changed.

The commander's voice cut through the smoke. "What the hell was that?"

The answer came before anyone could speak.

The ruins of the Forsaken stronghold shifted.

Cain felt it first—not through his eyes, not through sound, but in his bones. The ground beneath him vibrated, a deep, almost breathing pulse that reverberated through the broken city.

Then he saw it.

The rubble from the explosion was moving—not collapsing, not shifting due to impact, but rising, as if something beneath it had just woken up.

The Titan Hunters froze.

Cain exhaled, steadying himself despite the suppression field still dragging at his body. His Titan Core pulsed—not in response to his will, but to something else entirely.

The commander's visor flickered with data as he scanned the ruins. "This isn't possible," he muttered. "There's nothing beneath—"

A low, guttural sound rolled through the ruins, something neither mechanical nor human. The Forsaken warriors still within the stronghold cried out in terror, scrambling away from the epicenter of the explosion.

And then—the ground caved inward.

A massive sinkhole swallowed part of the ruins, the land collapsing into itself with a deafening roar. The soldiers and Forsaken near the edge barely had time to react before they were pulled downward, disappearing into the abyss.

Cain gritted his teeth, his body fighting against the suppression field as he tried to move toward the edge. The air felt different now, the same way it had when he first unlocked his Titan Core.

Like something ancient had just taken a breath.

Then, it emerged.

From the depths of the sinkhole, a colossal form began to rise. At first, it was impossible to tell if it was a machine, a corpse, or something worse. The jagged remains of the stronghold peeled away like decayed flesh, revealing something beneath the ruins, something that had been buried for far too long.

Titanic bones surfaced, wrapped in what remained of ancient armor plating, massive structures of metal and stone cracking as they shifted for the first time in centuries.

Cain's breath hitched.

This wasn't just a ruin.

It was a tomb.

And whatever was buried here was no longer dead.

The Titan Hunters reacted instantly, their years of training overriding any fear. The commander barked orders, and the surrounding forces pivoted their formation, their rifles snapping toward the emerging entity.

"Full firepower!" the commander shouted. "Do not let that thing rise!"

The warships above adjusted their targeting systems, their cannons realigning, priming for a full-force bombardment.

Cain felt it before it happened.

The tomb-thing moved.

A pulse of force—not heat, not sound, but something far deeper—burst outward from the sinkhole. The energy sent waves through the ground, disrupting the suppression field instantly. Cain's body jerked forward, no longer restrained, but now overwhelmed by something else.

And then the voice came.

It wasn't speech, not in the way humans spoke. It was raw, absolute presence, something that bypassed the ears and burned itself directly into the mind.

"You have awakened me."

The Titan Hunters staggered, their visors flickering, their weapons trembling in their hands. Even the warships above hesitated, their systems flickering under the sheer weight of the presence now pressing against the battlefield.

Cain felt his Titan Core respond violently, surging as if trying to resist whatever had just risen.

He had spent so long trying to remember the past.

Now, it had come to meet him.

The ground cracked beneath his feet, and from the abyss, a hand of impossible scale began to rise.

Cain's heartbeat thundered in his ears.

This wasn't just a buried Titan.

It was something older.

Something that should have stayed forgotten.