It stood there, distant and away yet by no means far enough; bipedal and towering tall in front of that gargantuan corridor whence it had so chargingly arrived.

  Faint snow-dusty radiance wisped and smoked from its being as if frosted steam. Like nerves and roots, veins of that pinkish exoticism stretched all over its structure and body, all connected and sourced from its single pulsating heart—that glowing radiant core of that same hollow pinkish glim. The veins of pinkish essence imbued within the crystalline rock around radiated strongly from its presence, as if an extension of it itself.

  “Gods’ sacred toilet… That’s a thing alright…” the wagoneer mumbled aloud from his overwatching position, frozen in a stun…

  This colossus golem was humanoid and ‘armored’ in appearance, as if a knight yet composed of exotic composites and arcane crystalline compounds all held together as if its entrapped essence were an adhesive; extending from its helmet-head were two pointy ear-like protrusions, likewise. In its crystalline hands was an equally gargantuan sword—equally crystalline though perhaps of a slightly different materialization.

  The adventurers, huddling, were frozen still by dread and fear as they just stared it down as it too stared them down, motionless. Unreactive and almost trembling in their positions, they were utterly exposed and at its mercy.

  The foreigner, however, was attentive and calm; that cold inhibiting grip had taken its hold, and all she could do was analyze what she could of this…towering…thing, within the limited time she had…

  Hm… It was, of course, very large and towering, yet it was shorter than she had first surmised from her extrapolations, especially with respect to the the size of that stupidly gigantic rectangular corridor.

  On a technical basis, she somewhat knew what this thing was. It was most likely some kind of arcane puppet, although one whose strings were being pulled…not from a source somewhere else, but from within it itself, judging from… Indeed, the roots of essence were…sourced from that…heart, that core. And its structure was slightly translucent, allowing some evaluation of its internal structuring; it had form of…skeleton that held the thing together, and…

  Hmm… Indeed, in some ways, there was something awfully…mechanical about the way it had moved, and its eyes did not seem to be glowing purely because it was ‘magical’.

  More concerning, however, was the fact that too many seconds had now passed since its arrival, yet it remained standing there, attentive and staring… This, to her, implied that it was hardly mindless, because it was certainly thinking.

  Its eyes’ pinkish glowing lenses contracted as if zooming, focusing…on that one particular soul amongst them all, surrounding whom was a potency it could sense, an aura that was unlike any of its prior prey… Dangerous, indeed. Yet, it could also…detect another presence, one cloudy and vague…yet still there, spectating… As if a haunting specter eating its heart but not its soul.

  Was it fear it felt in this moment? Perhaps. Though, the crystalline colossus was not one to let such interfere with its game any longer than such already had so.

  It finally began to slowly march forward, menacingly dragging its blade against the ground, with each thudding step shaking the pulsing veins imbued below. It raised its free hand, clenching the armored fingers as roots of weaving essence threaded out from its being, the radiant veins of the chamber around reacting as if synapsing nerves.

  Suddenly, from the walls and the ground, dozens and dozens of crystalline materials were torn off, ‘levitating’ visually though in reality strung astiched by its essence’s roots. These snatched crystalline rocks and chunks orbited around it as if trapped by its pull, pulsating and radiating increasingly virulent, steaming in volatile snow-dusty exoticism; changing shape and taking new form, they were reforged into a legion of dust-wispy spikes and lances that circled along its slow march.

  Yet the surviving adventurers remained paralyzed, even their anointed leader. A dread and fear far too absolute and all-consuming, their brains struggled to process and struggled to cogitate…what to even do…as impending doom just tauntingly approached; doom that moved intentionally slow and passive as to trick the sense of intentions.

  The foreigner, however, had seen this sort of…freeze ages before. She took a breath, her mask-obscured ignited eyes brightening as inhibition enacted its will… Before, without any delay, she unholstered her revolving pistol and immediately dashed into action; starting with a run before becoming lancing stride, she headed straight for that towering golem.

  The colossus immediately locked its eyes onto her as if actually being caught by some surprise, halting its march. Yet moving faster than its usual prey, the foreigner rapid-fired two precise shots once in range, aiming for its eyes though struck around; none of the shots penetrated, though they certainly irritated, for the colossus immediately pulled its head away before grasping the shot sites with its hand, staggered a little.

  Her object in her actions was very simple: snap the others out of their paralysis by taking decisive action and distract this crystalline abomination with her relentless buzzing, buying the others time.

  And indeed, it worked.

  “Shit! This is happening so fast!” The wagoneer shook his head, snapping himself out of his paralyzing stun.

  He sharpened focus and immediately began to open fire, loading each following shot as fast as he feasibly could. However, not even his ‘enchanted’ shots could pierce through the hardened and thick crystalline armor… But, at the very least, they were at least distracting… For, indeed, the colossus was certainly distracted; it had completely missed his presence.

  With the wagoneer’s fire from above, the foreigner could save her own shots and simply be that fly that circled so very annoyingly. Rapidly closing the distance, she began to buzz around and about in a faint cyanic snow-dusty trail, her superior reflexes and agility making her particularly frustrating for the more cumbersome colossus to simply swat and crush.

  With the sounds of sudden action and piercing discharges, the adventurers were finally snapped out of their frozen paralysis.

  “Fuck! WHAT ARE WE DOING?!” the shield adventurer growled, shaking his head. He swiftly snapped his eyes to the handgunner; “YOU!” he pointed, “START SHOOTING! NOW!”

  Breathing in and out, the gunner nodded his head; “Right… RIGHT! ON IT!” He immediately departed into action.

  The shield adventurer’s sight then came flinging to the mage behind; “YOU!” he again pointed, “SAVE YOUR MANA AND WAIT!”

  The mage too breathed in and out, snapping back into the situation at hand. “R-right!” she nodded; “Reserve as always!”

  “AND YOU!” His eyes then finally came flinging to that last frozen soul, whose faith had shielded her not from panic’s freeze; “START PRAYING FOR YOUR FATHER’S SAKE! WE NEED THAT BARRIER UP! NOW!”

  The priestess’s teeth chattered, yet she inhaled with a nod; “R-R-RIGHT! UNDERSTOOD! OF COURSE!” she shouted, before tightly clenching her holy staff, affixed atop which was that star-like heavenly cross. Closing her eyes, she inhaled and exhaled, focusing her mind and clearing her soul; she gently lifted her staff up…

  “Audias precem mendicam meam, o Rex Filius in Regno sancto. Audias me, servum sanctum tuum in terra, o Pater in Caelo superno imperans…”

  With these soft breaths, she began to utter in almost song, calling out to her god, to whom her very soul was so affixed.

  Interim

  The gunner had relocated to what was seemingly some kind of toppled over crystalline column or pillar, crouching against it for cover. He rested his firearm atop it, closing his eyes as his mind focused, concentrating in absolute. His lips and tongue began to motion in synchrony as if words and phrases were being murmured, yet nothing truly spoken… Before, suddenly, his eyes opened as a radiant yellowy-green outline ignited around his irises—partial-activation of his essence, not ‘full’ or ‘total’; not necessarily ‘awake’ nor ‘asleep’, somehow both at once though not really.

  He was casting no spell or magic, at least from his point-of-view. Instead, he was activating his so-called adventurer ‘skills’. Yet owing to his experience and…extensive repetitive usage of these specific ‘skills’, he did not need to engage in the complete activation procedures; instead, his essence had been conditioned enough such that he could simply…cogitate their enaction within his mind.

  Nevertheless, his eyes partially ignited, he aimed his strange and awfully advanced pump-action repeater. In this moment, his senses felt sharper, his breaths more efficient, his fine motor reflexes more attuned, his dexterity more responsive; his ability to process environmental details, to deduce projectile trajectories and velocities, all suddenly seemed more precise as time seemed more…slow.

  Ranger ‘class’ skills, indeed, that softly augmented certain cognitive processes and relevant brain functions, seemingly; though, not permanently of course.

  The gunner proceeded to fire and pump, fire and pump, over and over; the firearm’s muzzle flashed in strange fiery lightish-purple, the seemingly magical rounds trailing in a similarly colored glimmer. He too had strange bullets, and these could do actual damage to the colossus, even if only…somewhat. He tried to aim for whatever weakspots he could deduce, yet…none truly existed.

  Nevertheless, the colossus was now being shot at in two different directions from two very different angles, all while way that very annoying fly continued to harass and buzz. And she was, indeed, quite annoying. The foreigner’s speed and reflex advantages made her bold, having even gone way up close to climb atop it only to hop off as it tried to smack her off, making it smack itself instead—a classic tactic, indeed, when so small against something so large…

  Truly, the nimble foreigner was its worst match. However, she lacked the firepower to do anything more than be such a buzzing pest, and she wanted to save her shots. Even more concerning, this thing was, as she had surmised, intelligent. The colossus was adapting to her tactics and behavior; the effects of her actions lessened with each doing.

  However, oddly… Despite its apparent intelligence and ability to…think, it was rather…mindlessly fixated onto the foreigner specifically. And it was not just because she was so annoying with her harassment… Indeed, the colossus was still being shot at, now by rounds that did some damage to its armoring, but it still nevertheless was trying to swat her with its oversized sword or squish her with its hand, as if…infatuated with her. Either way, such played to her advantage, because that was precisely what she wanted…

  However, then, all so abruptly, it just stopped. Static and motionless, the colossus stood high and tall in place, its lenses sharpening and focusing…on something else. The foreigner, herself confused, distanced herself before halting in kind; she gazed in that same direction, noticing…down ahead…a sudden emergence.

  “…et adveniat imperium vestrum ut det mihi scutum sanctum lucis…” the priestess continued to pray in almost song; her aura began to faintly flare…and even ignite itself into partial visibility, a wispy and dusty field of eminence flowing about.

  Yet such was not hers exclusively…

  For indeed, threading roots and strings of such heavenly yellowish-white radiance, ever-so faint and hard-to-see yet increasingly present, were weaving into her as much as weaving out; a connection between her and something else. It was as if the threads of Heaven’s spirit were replying to her calling her voice, that prayful song; as if Trinity was allowing her to draw from its omnipresent spirit, her essence synchronizing as if an extension of Father’s almighty will.

  The foreigner could not help but stare as if being taken out of the immediate moment… She knew when someone was simply ‘casting’ as spell, therefore utilizing their own essence and aura, and she knew when something was augmenting and…synchronizing with someone’s essence and aura… This was both. Some kind of…advanced ritual, one not merely arcane.

  The yellowy-whitish color that she could make out was…alarmingly similar to that of something else she was…unfortunately familiar with. However, its composition… Weirdly ‘refined’, ‘silky’, and ‘cloudy’ visually, yet still ‘dusty’, ‘choppy’, and riddled with distinguishable ‘noise’. Indeed, this emerging essence was not only the same ‘second-rate’ imperfect type as her own and most others in general, it was also the same alignment—her essence could tell. However, such would only add to the…peculiarity.

  For, as the priestess continued, it became increasingly evident that whatever was responding to her, the source of the threading essence entering this chamber, was something…inhuman; it had to be some kind of entity. Though, such could only ponder yet another why.

  After all, if this whole place was merely a product of a certain it—that presence always felt—, then this too had to be a product of that it… But why would it…make something as bizarre as that? Whatever…that even was.

  Regardless, the Trinitarian cross on the priestess’s staff began to radiate heavenly, her essence synchronizing further with the flowing touch of her would-be god.

  “ALRIGHT!” the shield adventurer shouted, hailing; “SHE’S ALMOST DONE! BOTH OF YOU! GET BACK HERE! NOW!”

  The gunner, having emptied his firearm by now, immediately withdrew from that crystal column, heading back.

  However, the foreigner remained where she was… Her focused locked onto that colossus who remained static and motionless yet with clearly moving thoughts… One thing that was vexing her this entire time was that…at no point throughout this engagement had that colossus bothered to use any of its… Oh shit.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  “Et detis lucem sanctam vestram ut praetegatis nos a malo nef—HEH!?” All so suddenly, a fury of crystalline spikes and lances pulsed and came bombarding, striking and piercing the ground around, bursting upon impact.

  “SHIT!” The shield adventurer had immediately lunged in front, raising his exotic shield as his eyes flared in partial ignition, adventure-green radiance channeling into the shield’s central core which glowed and throbbed; instantly conjured out was a strange and exotic…barrier of sorts that stretched and extended, faint hexagonic impressions within its transparent energized structure, shielding all those behind.

  However, the gunner was not so lucky, having been still retreating back. As soon as those crystalline spikes and lances came bombarding, he was immediately ripped into; the bursting impacts created enough energy and heat to chain-detonate all of the magically augmented powder and shots carried on him, tearing further him asunder… He was dead before he could even realize what just happened.

  And thus, by accident had the colossus so claimed its first prey. Yet reforging and resynthesizing crystalline rock ripped from the chamber around into more pulsing spears, spikes, and lances, it maintained an utterly relentless onslaught…as it simply began to march towards them, slowly.

  ? Merda… ? the foreigner blurted out; shit! Immediately, she lanced back into action, attempting to distract it with her buzzing. The wagoneer recontinued firing his volleys likewise, this time even faster, she herself even taking pot shots at it.

  But nothing worked.

  The colossus was fixated, lenses targeting. It paid no mind to neither that frustrating fly nor that other shooter, priorities having changed. It knew exactly what that priestess was trying to do, and it seemingly took quite the offense.

  The foreigner fired and fired, trying to distract, trying to halt, until her pistol’s canister was empty; unable to reload, she went close, kicking at it, hopping and climbing to bash the butt of her pistol into its hardened being yet to no avail. For it continued to just march, ripping more and more crystal from the chamber around.

  “Fuck…” The wagoneer fired one last shot, frustrated; “This shit ain’t working…” Breathing in and out, his eyes proceeded to glance at his second ammunition carry-box, one demarking more specialized munitions… “Hagh, fuck…” He really hoped to not need to resort to this, for these were very expensive, yet… “Don’t have a choice, now don’t I? The fuck did I buy these for if not for times like now…”

  He begrudgingly opened it and took out these girthier red-marked paper cartridges, loading one into his long-rifle’s breech while keeping several others in between his left-hand’s fingers.

  Interim

  “SHIT GODS’ SHIT-BREAD FUCKED SACRED ASSHOLE! NOT THIS AGAIN!” the shield adventurer shouted, yet held firm as the relentless battering so smacked and cracked.

  His shield barrier absorbed and absorbed impact after impact; the energy of the bursts and kinetic impact were transferred from the barrier to the shield’s generating core, though his arm and body could certainly also feel the kinetic beating.

  However, in spite of this transfer, with each impact the energized exotic barrier only became more volatile and unstable, requiring more and more energy to keep generated—more than what was being absorbed, and more than his ‘mana’ could so provide. And, indeed, the shield barrier was already starting to change color.

  “FINISH THE FUCKING PRAYER! NOW!” he shouted to the priestess, glancing behind and at her.

  Yet… “He’s dead, he’s dead… Heaven…” The priestess was in staggered shock, gunner’s death still fresh in mind. This sudden onslaught had completely ruined her prayer.

  The mage, in reserve, began to panic. “Hey, hey!” She immediately shook the priestess; “Focus! Focus! FOCUS! WE NEED THAT BARRIER OR WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!” And she seriously did not want to die… None of them did.

  Inhaling shuddering breaths and shaking her head, priestess snapped out of it; “B-b-but—But I’ll have to start all over from the beginning!”

  “THEN DO IT! FAST!” the shield adventurer shouted, imploring as he continued to receive that beating. “SHITTY FUCKING SHIELD! IT WON’T STAY HOLDING!”

  Suddenly: boom.

  The colossus staggered, its crystalline lances faltering with it as many simply flung aimlessly, shattering into the walls and ground… Its head had been struck by a small, yet volatile, detonation, chunks and pieces of its knightly helmet falling down.

  The foreigner distanced herself before pausing in her improvised buzzing, breaths vaguely panting with slightly sparkly sweat as she eyed, ascertaining what just happened…

  “TEHAHA!” Even she could hear that laugh. “GODS ABOVE! THAT WORKED ALRIGHT!” The wagoneer was thrilled; he loaded another explosive shot, firing it straight into the cumbering golem’s right eye, blowing the glowing lens apart, the surrounding socked being left damaged and even…sparking, the strange skull structure underneath now…somewhat exposed.

  The crystalline colossus, of course, staggered was even more; it dropped its sword and nearly fell as it immediately grasped its now destroyed eye…as if in pain, its remaining spikes and lances tumbling down, merging with the chamber around.

  However, it would find no respite, for the wagoneer retained his slow yet constant rate of fire, not wanting to overuse his precious explosive ammunition. Armored chunks being blown off, the colossus shifted to hunkering and prioritized shielding its vital points, particularly its glowing heart-core.

  It was stuck in place and no longer moving. And all the foreigner could do was watch… To think that wagoneer had been keeping shots with explosive properties on him this entire time. Would that she knew earlier…

  Regardless, utterly useless and with nothing more she could do, she opted to finally withdraw back to the others.

  The shield adventurer, meanwhile, was also watching these happenings afar. He deactivated his shield’s energy barrier, wanting to give it some rest… His breaths were panting, and he felt slightly dizzy and light-headed, for that had eaten quite the mana from him.

  Nevertheless, “You!” he pointed his finger to the mage, Thunder it while its stun-locked! Something boomy! Looks likes explosive is its weakness!” he commanded; “But don’t overdo it… Your shock magic’s a mana-eater, and we still need you!”

  “Wait…you want me to…” The mage suppressed her dreadful anxiety, taking a deep breath as she forced a confident smirk… “Heh, alrightly… One or two volleys should do.” Gripping her staff, she swiftly departed.

  His eyes then pointed to the priestess; “Here’s your chance! Now get praying!”

  The priestess immediately nodded, sniffling her nose. “Got it…” Breathing deeply, she raised her holy staff up, closing her eyes…refocusing and reconnecting. “Audias precem mendicam meam, o Rex Filius in Regno Sancto. Audi… Audias me, serv… servum sanctum tuum in terra, o Padr… Pater in Caelo superno imperans…” she thus once again began to recant in almost song… Yet her words were fumbly; her mind was not as clear nor focused as it had been prior.

  Interim

  The colossus remained stagger locked; it was unable to move up or really try to see in the direction of those shots. Having already lost one eye, it could not afford to lose another. Despite the fact it was made of hardened crystal—the hardiest of atomic structures, exotic or not—it was awfully vulnerable to these volatile shots.

  However, the colossus had yet to panic, for there was something…wickedly thrilling about giving its prey a false sense of triumph.

  The mage, having separated from the others, moved herself closer to the colossus, finding a nice and good vantage spot to stand herself atop once in range. Raising her staff, she dispensed five or so electric-purple spellcards from her special holder, taking each into hand before tossing them up into the air, glancing up. Her eyes swiftly ignited into activation as the spellscards dissolved into wisp-dusty glitter, that sigil of the arcane revealing itself as if an eternal brand upon her soul

  Waving her staff in a specific procedural fashion to trigger the enacted spells’ responses, initially faint but increasingly prominent essence of thunderous yellow and purple hue flowed out from her aura and nerves, accumulating and concentrating into four small, almost cloud-like, patches in the air above; her staff’s tip began to radiate with an even greater concentration as she pointed it straight at the colossus.

  Fundamental properties began to adapt and change, essence shifting its physical states of existence. The patches began to throb and pulsate with ever-greater volatility, sparking and flaring with violence as they began to twist and rotate, faster and faster, becoming less cloud-like and more…spiraling vortexes that were becoming increasing energized and electrified—the tip of her staff commanding the most intense of which.

  Intensifying and energizing further and further, these vortexes of shifting essence and its forming composites spun and spun faster and faster, ever-more aggressively… Before, all so suddenly…

  Shock and Boom.

  Four lesser bolts of highly energized exotic plasma thundered straight into the staggered colossus, ripping through the air as if magical lightening, faster than sound could follow. These four reactive lancing bolts penetrated into the colossus’s hardened shell, striking and frying its interiors, before the mother of them all came thundering out from the tip of the mage’s staff; a thunderous bolt even more girthy and unhappy, which slammed into the colossus with whipping explosivity, tearing chunks of its shoulder clean off.

  The colossus came tumbling down to its legs, hands gripping the ground; it was as if it had been completely taken off guard by these strikes.

  “Teha!” The wagoneer had observed; “Now that’s a show alright!” he let out a rallying shout.

  “Heh…” Yet the mage smirked, for this was hardly the end of the spell… For indeed, those vortexes continued to so spiral and spin, faster and faster. This spell was a multiple repeat-series attack. The process repeated as yet another volley came thundering, followed by another and then another.

  With the wagoneer resuming his own explosive firing, the colossus was quickly overwhelmed by this combination of magical thunder and contemporary firepower. However, it seemed most particularly sensitive to the mage’s violently thunderous shock magic, for it seemed that the electrified bolts of plasma did more than just damage its crystalline shell; they were actively messing with its insides, it was as if.

  The foreigner had paused, staring at the scene for a moment as if…almost captivated by the sight, even if her ears were most certainly not enjoying this experience. Snapping out of it, however, she quickly made her way back to the others.

  Interim

  “…” The shield adventurer observed rather blankly at the sight befalling afar yet closer than preferable…

  He had completely underestimated the effectiveness of that mage’s shock magic. However, powerful shock magic might be, it was a so-called ‘mana-eater’ of a school; this was not going to last long, but it should buy time… Although, speaking of time, this was taking too long.

  “There you are! Finally back, Copperslinger?” The shield adventurer, seeing that Copper-ranked foreigner was finally returning, immediately so ‘greeted’; “Aren’t you crazy fucking show-off, sprinting running off like that… You’re fast and nimble, though, stupidly… I’ll give you that” he remarked, giving credit where it was due at least.

  “I was simply doing what I could…” the foreigner replied awfully inhibited, passing him by and standing behind…

  Her breaths were panting, she was slightly sweaty; yet ever-so faint and unnoticeable snow-dusty cyanic flakes wisped from her being, her overworked muscles repairing, her stamina being kept constant, her cells kept cool… Her essence’s automated encoded protocols were doing their work. Awaiting on standby, she simply began to reload her firearm.

  “Hugh…” The shield adventurer’s glared at the priestess behind; “What’s taking this so long? You were able to summon it within less than thirty-seconds the first time!”

  Yet the priestess’s breaths chattered; “I… I cannot do it, I cannot do it… Nothing is happening…” she lamented mellowly; “My head… It is not in the right place… I cannot clear it enough and focus; I am not saying the words correctly…” Her eyes evaded down in shame, figure tensing…

  “Fortune’s fucking luck…” The shield adventurer let out an impatient groan, though he then proceeded to just sigh; “At this point, we may not need it… We might actually—” Yet, with these words said, Fortune had decided to collect.

  For suddenly unleashed upon the whole chamber was a tormented unalive shriek of frustration that pierced ears and spines alike, stunning and freezing everyone besides the foreigner, whose ignited eyes only brightened further as she simply reloaded faster.

  “Yeah! Woah!” The wagoneer jolted up, exhaling with tension; “I don’t like that sound now… I know those sorta sounds…” Indeed, from his high position, he could so clearly see… That the whole chamber was starting to shift, the pulsing pinkish veins…becoming brighter, throbbing as if angry.

  The mage, meanwhile, nearly fumbled from that shriek, nearly falling down from the terror. Yet she remained standing as her spells’ final discharging volley hurled into the crystalline colossus, stumbling it down even more as it pathetically fell onto its stomach, letting out some kind of noise of quasi-pain.

  She tsked with a smirk, grinning. “…what? Hah! What? What was that?” Her terror was morphing into rage; “Oh… Oh… Don’t tell me something like you…is…is sacred? Are you sacred now? Sacred of death…” Her teeth clenched from her seething breaths; “Well… You should be, you butchering atrocity! How do you think they felt, huh?!” She was vindictively enjoying its apparent suffering.

  The colossus remained down, still staggered from the last shocking volley; it struggled to push itself up, much of its crystalline armoring damaged and broken. Twitching and trembling, yet its veiny roots of tormented essence only grew and brightened… While it was one to so toy around with its prey, this was not what it wanted; it was deriving nothing from this experience…

  The mage’s breaths were terribly fatigued… Her mind was fuzzy and blurry, her stance wobbly as if finding it difficult to stand…disoriented—all signs of so-called ‘mana fatigue’. Yet… “Heh… I have more than enough for round two, lucky you!” With a seething grin, she prepared to dispense five more spellcards to reignite the thunder anew.

  However, immediately, the colossus so bashed its fisted hand into the crystalline ground, shattering through before fusing with regrowing crystalized rock; the nerve-like pulsating roots of pinkish radiance threaded and weaved from its being, spreading out as if glowing cracks, merging with the roots of the chamber. Rapidly, crystalline growths and armoring began to form all over its being as if putrid tumors; it was repairing itself.

  “Oh, no you will not!” The mage immediately tossed her spellcards into the air, glancing up as they swiftly dissolved into that same thunderous yellow and purple hue radiance, as those energizing vortexes began to form once again, her charging staff pointing its tip right at it…

  Yet only to be met with quite the angry glowing eye…which so stared back in kind.

  “…huh…?” Time froze in this moment, her mind only having such few seconds to really process… A tall rod glowing with those pinkish veins…suddenly protruded from crystalline ground underneath, swiftly impaling her from the bottom straight up before lancing all the way to the domed ceiling above, the tip smashing and becoming firmly pierced in place.

  Bloodied gags and choking groans, her impaled body dangled and twitched, her ignited eyes flicking before…dimming, withering with her life which fled away. Gone. Gravity slowly tugging its will, her corpse was destined to eventually slide through the impaling rod and come tumbling back down.

  “…Fertility’s sacred seed-bucket! FUCK! I KNEW THAT SOUND WAS SCREAMING SOMETHING!” The wagoneer immediately opened fire again, yet his explosive shots were…not doing anything anymore…

  The colossus’s armoring had changed; no longer a passive translucence, its crystalline compounds was tinting reddish, throbbing glittery dust imbued within the material… And it was not only it itself, but the entire chamber. Indeed, it ripped its fist out from the ground and stood itself up, its figure even more menacing and spiky.

  The wagoneer fired yet another shot into its helmet-head, only for its brightening eye to look up and straight into him, the lens contracted as the eye expanded; focusing and…targeting, that glaring eye only began to brighten more and more, energizing as if…charging.

  It had tolerated enough of him.

  “Oh shit…” His eyes widening from realization, the wagoneer stood himself up with panicking breaths…

  Zap.

  Faster than lightning; faster than any mind could ever process; speeds matched only by light itself; a highly volatile beam fired straight its from its eye and straight at him. In instant, the exotic beam tore and charred through the wagoneer, detonating all of his remaining enchanted powder and explosive shots, unleashing an absolute boom that ripped through the air as he simply ceased to exist. The entire entry point collapsed immediately, crystalline debris and rocky rubble raining down.

  Threads and veins stretched and waved as a fury so flared, snow-dusty torment flaking and wisping; the colossus twitched as it became more and more reddish, the whole chamber following with it. Crystalline pillars and columns began to spring and forge, pulsating spikes, rods, and lances protruding before being ripped out to circle around it as if another orbiting legion.

  The colossus slowly walked to its dropped sword, picking it up before staring its remaining prey down, tauntingly.

  No place was safe within this chamber, for this chamber was it and it was this chamber; thus, the colossus simply demonstrated. And so easy it was, indeed, to kill its prey… Yet there was no satisfaction, no…stimulation, from merely that. No… It preferred to take its time; to let them squirm and struggle before squeezing them dry.

  However, its glowing lens still could not help but still fixate on that one specific soul…

  An aura so terrifying, and it wanted to know why.

  Indeed… It was curious.

  And it was going to catch that fly.