The giant turned, slowly, his bulk shifting like a storm given flesh. Smoke clung to the clearing, curling through the trees, hiding everything from his sight."…Clever," he muttered, his voice rolling low through the forest, heavy as thunder.
"So this is your scheme?"
The wind answered with a howl, scattering ash and snow.
No reply. Only silence.
His mouth twisted into a smile. "I expected as much."
A twig snapped behind him.
Lightning surged to life between his palms. Blue fire crawled across his skin, painting the forest in a ghostly glow.
Then—
BOOM!
The bolt ripped forward, tearing through the smoke. Rock shattered, fragments raining across the clearing.
Nothing. No scream. No blood. Only a ruined boulder.
"…Hmph."
Pain erupted across his back.
SLASH!
The giant staggered, his hand flying to the wound. Warm blood coated his fingers. Another cut. Another trick. His jaw tightened.
"FACE ME!"
His roar shook snow from the branches.
"Come forth, boy! Face me as a man instead of gnawing at my heels like some frightened cur!"
Silence.
The smoke drifted. The woods remained still. Something inside him snapped.
"So be it."
Lightning crawled over his body, racing through his beard, threading his hair, until his single eye blazed white. The air trembled.
Then—
Power erupted.
A deafening blast burst outward, lightning exploding in every direction. Trees splintered, snow vanished, earth blackened. Trunks ignited and collapsed. The smoke was gone in an instant. The forest became clear again... for now.
For one brief second, everything was visible.
Everything—
Except Xavier.
The giant's chest heaved, his muscles aching from the surge. His eye darted across the clearing, frantic, searching. "…Where—" The giant's chest heaved, muscles trembling from the surge of power he had unleashed. His single eye swept the clearing, desperate to catch a glimpse of the boy. Nothing. The smoke had been torn away, yet Xavier remained hidden.
Slowly, bit by bit, the fog began to creep back, thickening as if the forest itself conspired to conceal his enemy. The giant turned in place, scanning every shadow, every broken trunk, hoping for the slightest movement that would betray the boy's position.
Then—something.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed a distortion on the ground. A shadow. His gaze narrowed, locking onto it. For a heartbeat he stared, uncertain, until realization struck like a hammer.
Above me.
He jerked his head upward just as Xavier dropped from the darkness, blade gripped in both hands, descending with lethal speed.
The giant threw up his hand.
THUNK!
Steel drove through his palm. Blood burst from both sides, hot and violent. The blade halted inches from his face.
Agony flared, but he grinned through it. "…Found you."
The words caught in his throat. His voice faltered, choked by what he saw.
Moonlight spilled across Xavier's form, outlining him in silver. He looked like a silhouette carved from shadow, his emerald eyes burning with a light that pierced the night. They weren't the eyes of a frightened boy. They weren't desperate. They were merciless.
Murder.
The giant's grin faltered.
Xavier's face was set, his intent carved into every line. The giant swung his arm, hurling Xavier aside. The boy hit the ground hard, rolled, and rose in one fluid motion, blade still in hand.
He leveled it at the giant, his voice cutting through the silence.
"Does my presence amuse you now?"
The giant's eye narrowed. His gaze shifted to Xavier's arm. There, gleaming faintly in the moonlight, was the bone wrapped tight against his flesh.
A Soul Bone.
The giant's breath caught. His body stiffened.
And then, before he could move, the fog rose back again, swallowing Xavier once more.
Gone.
"You think…"
Xavier's voice came low, steady, carrying through the fog.
"…because you're stronger…"
"…you get to decide who lives?"
The He appeared once again from the fog. Using the giant's own arm as footing, he kicked off—one step, two—and landed on the massive shoulder.
The giant's eye widened.
"…Impossible—"
Xavier's fingers shot forward.
CRUNCH!
His hand buried itself into the giant's eye.
For a heartbeat, the forest froze.
Then—
Blood erupted.
The giant's scream shattered the night.
"AAAAAAARGH!"
Xavier ripped backward. Something wet tore free. He landed several metres away, crouched low, blade gleaming in his grip. "I'm truly sorry for what happened to your people, but it gives you no right to hurt people like this."
The giant collapsed to one knee, clutching the ruined socket as blood streamed between his fingers. His roar echoed through the mountains, raw and broken.
"SHUT UP...I'LL KILL YOU!"
"I SWEAR IT!"
"I SHALL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!, DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO US, WHAT THEY STILL DO IN THE SHADOWS?!!! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO LOSE PEOPLE!!."
Rage drowned reason. Lightning exploded wildly around him, arcs snapping through the air, scorching earth and snow alike.
"I KNOW HOW IT FEELS, ." Xavier walking slowly toward him "I LOST SO MANY GOOD PEOPLE IN MY LIFE!!!... and I...we couldnt do anything, but watch."
Xavier's words hung in the air, sharp and defiant.
The giant chuckled. A low, bitter sound escaped his throat, rising into a short laugh that carried through the clearing. His massive hand pressed against the bleeding socket, shoulders trembling with the effort.
Before Xavier could react in time, lightning flared.
A bolt struck him square in the chest.
BOOM!
The force hurled him backward, his body smashing into the ground. Snow burst upward, trees shook, the forest itself seemed to recoil.
The giant staggered, his hand still clamped over the ruined bloody eye. He straightened a little, and his voice rolled out like thunder, In anger.
"Your people HAD IT COMING!!!."
His words dripped with venom.
"You think their lives—your people's lives, your families lives—are enough to compare with the number I have lost? With a race like them, and a curse like you at their side, it is no wonder they died."
Xavier's eyes snapped open, blazing with fury. He pushed himself upright the best can overpowering the paralysis after the shock, blade in hand, and charged.
But the giant was faster.
Another bolt ripped through the clearing.
It struck Xavier square in the chest.
BOOM!
His body became a blur, flung deep into the forest. He smashed through one tree, then another, then another. Wood splintered, trunks split, snow exploded into the air.
And then—
Silence.
The forest fell still once more.
Only the giant remained standing. Blood poured endlessly from the empty socket where his eye had once been. His breathing came ragged, uneven. His massive hands trembled.
"I'll kill him…"
He laughed. Then growled. Then laughed again, the sound fractured, half-mad.
"I shall kill that boy…"
"Even if I must scour every inch of this cursed forest…"
***
Xavier lay half-buried beneath the shattered trunk, his chest heaving as paralysis gripped his limbs. The blast had numbed him, left his body trembling, but his mind burned with defiance. He clawed at the earth, forcing his arms to obey, dragging himself free from the splinters and snow.
The forest was silent except for the heavy crunch of footsteps.
The giant stood before him, towering, his silhouette blotting out the pale light that filtered through the broken canopy. Blood streamed from his ruined eye, but his stance was unyielding, his presence suffocating.
Xavier's breath came ragged, his vision swimming, yet he lifted his head. His fingers curled into fists, his body shaking as he tried to rise.
The giant's voice rolled over him, deep and merciless.
"You still stand? Even after all this?"
Lightning flickered across the giant's hands, crawling like serpents over his skin. He stepped closer, each stride shaking the ground, until his shadow fell directly over Xavier.
Pinned beneath the weight of pain and exhaustion, Xavier forced his body upright. His knees buckled, but his eyes blazed with fury.
"I'm here," he whispered, his voice hoarse but unbroken.
The giant sneered, lowering his hand, sparks dancing at his fingertips.
"Then die here." The giant grabbed Xavier, picked him up, and hurled him back to where they fought. Xavier landed with a thud, rolling through the snow until his body stopped. The giant walked over slowly with tears and anger.
His vision blurred as he lay sprawled on the snowy ground. The giant's words echoed in his ears, each syllable a knife. And then, the giant stepped closer.
"You think a sinner like you can fathom the suffering I've known, THE SUFFERING I'VE SEEN?" he snarled.
With one swift motion, the giant ripped away the ragged cloth covering his chest. Beneath, deep scars etched a cruel pattern into his skin—marks of searing iron branding, the kind once used on slaves, a brutal reminder of torment.
"This," the giant growled, voice shaking with rage, "this is what your people did to me and mine!"
Without warning, his fist came down like a hammer. It struck Xavier's chest with a thunderous boom, sending a spray of snow into the air. The forest trembled as if sharing in his fury.
Xavier gasped, the wind knocked from his lungs. But the giant did not stop. He loomed over Xavier and then paused, shaking his head.
"No," the giant muttered, his eyes burning with a twisted grief. "Ending you too quickly would be mercy. It isn't enough."
He raised his arm, letting lightning dance across his fingers. He pointed at Xavier, and a searing bolt lanced down, making Xavier's body jerk as he cried out, a raw scream of pain torn from his throat. "AHHHhhHHhhhH!!!!"
The giant struck him again. And again. And again. Each blow came with a litany of anguish.
"This is the pain I've known at the hands of your kind!" the giant roared, tears streaming down his face, mingling with rage. "My family, my wife, my friends—gone, all because of your cursed existence!"
He lost all restraint, consumed by grief and fury. He hauled Xavier up, punched him hard in the gut, slammed him into the ground, and then stomped over and over. Tears flowed down the giant's cheeks as he unleashed everything he had bottled inside..
From a distance, Xylo crouched deep inside a cave, hands pressed over his ears to muffle Xavier's screams. Fear held him frozen; he dared not move, too terrified to intervene.