Titan King: Ascension of the Giant

The monster's claws weren't human, either. They were the gnarled, wicked talons of a beast.

At the same time, the ancestor sigil on Orion's forehead blazed with searing heat. A torrent of fragmented images flooded the ancestral soul within, feeding him information in a chaotic rush.

He saw an age lost to time, an era before the first gods were even born.

He saw a tribe of giants, and within it, the birth of twin brothers. Both were prodigies, blessed with the raw power to one day ascend to the rank of deity.

He saw a brutal contest for the title of chieftain. The two brothers met in the final battle, a cataclysmic duel where neither could gain the upper hand, for they knew each other too well. Ultimately, the council of elders named the elder brother the victor.

The younger brother seethed with resentment. For a long time, he defied the new chieftain, fueled by the simple fact that his brother could not defeat him in single combat. With every dispute, the animosity between them festered, growing deeper and darker.

Finally, their hatred erupted into civil war, and the great giant tribe was torn in two.

Ages passed. The elder brother achieved his destiny and became a god. He sought to finally defeat his twin and reunite their people.

But he was too late.

Hearing of his brother's ascension, the younger twin led his followers into the deepest pits of the Abyss, seeking his own path to godhood in the darkness.

They found only damnation. The younger brother and his entire branch of the giant race were irrevocably corrupted, cursed by some unspeakable, nameless entity.

The bloodline of the giants was tainted forever, turning them into a race that preyed upon its own kind.

The elder brother, now a god, used his divine power to suppress the affliction, sealing the worst of the curse within his Divine Kingdom. He saved his people from total self-destruction, but it was not a true cure. The curse of that unknown power still lurked within their blood, waiting. Periodically, it would flare up, transforming a giant into a monstrosity.

An Abyssal Devourer.

The flood of memories subsided, leaving Orion's head throbbing. The visions had told him so much, yet the things he most wanted to know remained shrouded in mystery.

Who was that unspeakable entity? he wondered. And what happened to the younger brother? Did someone finally put him down?

…

More importantly, Orion now understood the creature before him. This was an Abyssal Devourer in a state of heightened curse. The fragmented memories were clear on one thing: the only way to deal with it in this state was to seal it away. Nothing short of a demigigod could kill it.

Orion raised his trident, refusing to believe it.

He licked a drop of blood from the tines, the metallic tang sharp on his tongue as he began an incantation. "From the endless dark, I call to you, spirit of the dragon…"

The Ghost Dragon answered, its immense phantom form materializing behind the still-coalescing pool of blood.

But then, something happened that chilled Orion to the bone.

A colossal hand made of pure, liquid blood shot out from the pool and closed around the Ghost Dragon's head. With a casual squeeze, the massive spectral skull imploded.

Orion couldn't believe it. The Ghost Dragon, a summon that had never failed him, had been annihilated in an instant.

ROAR!

An echo of pure draconic fury seemed to shake his very soul. The remaining body of the Ghost Dragon dissolved, reforming into a single, massive set of draconic claws that lunged at the sanguine hand.

There was no explosion, no shockwave. The moment the claws made contact with the hand of blood, they simply disintegrated into nothing.

The sight sent a wave of cold dread down Orion's spine.

ROAR!

This time, a different roar erupted from the blood pool, a sound that shook the very foundations of the world. An impossibly mighty presence tried to force its way into reality. Countless golden runes suddenly blazed to life within the blood, swarming over the bloody hand like incandescent insects. As the runes glowed, some unseen force seemed to seize the hand from behind and drag it back into the churning depths.

"Devour it… Seal it…"

The two phrases echoed directly in Orion's mind. Before he could even process them, his body moved on its own. He felt the giant bloodline within him surge, his Titan Form activating to its absolute maximum potential. He was a puppet, walking involuntarily toward the bloody mass. His body swelled, growing to a colossal size as he opened his mouth and swallowed the Abyssal Devourer whole.

And just like that, he was back in control.

Orion stood frozen, his mind reeling with sheer terror.

I was controlled!

That was his first thought. He frantically scanned his body, his sea of consciousness, but found no trace of an intruder, no sign of anything amiss.

Before he could make sense of it, a cataclysmic torrent of power erupted from within his stomach, flooding his entire being with raw bloodline energy and faith energy.

The feedback was overwhelming. A roar of pure, untamed power was ripped from his throat as the energy surged through him. His Titan Form skyrocketed in size, reaching a height he'd never before achieved without activating both Blood Sacrifice and his Titan Emblem. He was a tower of muscle and might, soaring over ten hundred feet tall.

Simultaneously, the deluge of faith energy coalesced inside him, forging a second body of faith nearly as substantial as the one in his true body: a four-headed, eight-armed Asura Titan Form.

Yet, this incredible surge of power brought Orion no joy. A profound fear took root in his heart. This wasn't his. He hadn't earned it. This power felt… wrong. Tainted.

Get a grip, he told himself, forcing the terror down. What's done is done. Deal with what's in front of you.

His gaze fell upon the swirling barrier of the vengeful spirits. Inside, Sever and the four Bone brothers—Bone White, Bone Red, Bone Green, and Bone Blue—were still locked in a desperate struggle. The barrier was a clever trap, one that allowed entry but no escape. A detail, Orion was sure, that the Bone brothers had designed intentionally.

With a single, earth-shaking step, Orion's mountain-sized Titan Form crossed the threshold and entered the fray.

"Die!"

He immediately triggered Instant Impact.

The Firelord was his victim. The fiery humanoid had just been blasted backward, sending it flying right into the path of Orion's charging trident.

The weapon in his hands had changed. Normally, the Flame of Will that wreathed it was a swirling combination of lightning, fire, and blood energy. Now, the lightning and fire were suppressed, leaving only a deep, visceral crimson that pulsed with terrifying power.

The Firelord's body erupted in flame, trying to incinerate the trident.

It failed.

To the Firelord's horror, its own intensely hot core flame couldn't even get close to the weapon. A strange, oppressive energy radiated from the trident, actively extinguishing his fire.

"No—!"

A final, agonized howl escaped the Firelord as its body began to wither and melt, a grotesque and terrifying dissolution.

Hssssss!

That was the sound of the bonefire, the remnant of the demigod Arthas that was a native part of the Flame of Will. As the Firelord died its inexplicable death, the coalesced essence of its flame proved to be an irresistible lure for the ancient, hungry fire.