[Your name ’Titan’s Reckoning’ has been corrupted]
[Corruption is spreading rapidly and tracing its root to the depths of your soul]
Northern’s eyes widened.
[Omniform is purging corruption]
[Unwriting is rewriting the corruption]
[Failed]
[Failed]
[Failed]
[Failed]
Northern’s eyes trembled as he stared at the relentless red table with exclamation marks that kept hammering the air before his eyes.
[Unwritten is unwriting the name]
[The name will cease to exist]
[Unwriting name...]
[Failed]
[Level of Corruption is too high. You need to reach close proximity with Titan’s Reckoning to physically Unwrite the True Name]
’Hell... no.’
Northern was shaken to his very core. He lost focus for a moment, and Titan crashed down on him with the weight of a mountain, unleashing a vicious seismic wave that rippled outward in a perfect circle—ground and stone debris erupting along with it, instantly carving a deep crater into the earth.
Clouds of dust shrouded everything, and for a minute, all was impossible to peer through. Meanwhile, Chaos Prince descended from the sky with an army of black javelins that multiplied into hundreds as he plunged down from the crimson sand-filled heavens, his face twisted with demented glee.
The dust clouds cleared beneath Northern. As they did, Northern could be seen on one knee, holding Titan’s massive foot above his head with dark, furious calm.
He muttered:
"That name... meant everything to me..."
[Corrupted Name Titan has been Unwritten.]
Even though the name had been unwritten, the corrupted and maddened clone still remained—his eyes blazing with red and vicious light, veins of black threading across his face, and razor-sharp fangs jutting out where his teeth had been knocked out earlier. Even the Molten Vein armor was riddled with those irritating black veins.
Northern saw it and immediately understood why Chaos Prince had warned him to avoid that thing at all costs. This was how Kryos filled people with the corruption of madness and blood, breeding a demented version of Chaos within them.
It was similar to the kind of Chaos Northern had felt with the Chaos Dragon—that one had been mild. This one was so... vile. An irritating, gut-wrenching abomination that should not exist.
Northern slowly stood. Now that the name was unwritten, the clone was just an ordinary clone—the overwhelming strength it had wielded moments ago was completely gone.
Northern levitated slightly and crashed down on the clone with a devastating headbutt that sent it skidding across the landscape.
The clone was quite resilient—of course it was. It possessed eighty percent of Northern’s own body.
He flew with blurring speed, grabbed the clone by its armor’s collar, and rocketed through the powdered ground away from Kryos just as Chaos Prince collided with the earth, unleashing an entire army of javelins that blotted out the sky.
"I will deal with you personally."
Northern dropped the maddened clone, causing it to tumble across the landscape. The clone scrambled to its feet, snarling like a rabid beast.
Looking at himself with this disturbing, twisted face and behavior made Northern feel sick and furious.
The clone lunged at him with frightening speed, taking to the air as well. Northern’s feet erupted in flames, and as the clone flew toward him, he arched a blazing kick down on the corrupted thing, smashing it into the ground with devastating force and an explosion of fire.
The corrupted clone erupted from the crater like a feral predator, black veins pulsing across its distorted features. It moved with unnatural, jerky movements—Northern’s own combat instincts warped into something bestial.
Northern’s fists ignited, twin blue flames wreathing his knuckles and flowing skyward as he met the clone’s charge head-on.
Their collision sent shockwaves rippling through the air, blue flames spiraling outward as Northern drove an uppercut into the clone’s jaw.
The impact should have shattered bone, but Northern’s body was strong, of course, and the corruption only added to it, making the thing unnaturally resilient. It absorbed the blow and retaliated with claws that had grown where fingernails should be, raking across Northern’s cheek.
Blood sprayed, hissing as it met the flames surrounding Northern’s body. He twisted away from the clone’s follow-up strike and spun into a devastating elbow that caught it in the temple. Fire exploded from the point of contact, but the clone barely staggered—instead, it grabbed Northern’s arm and used his own momentum to hurl him across the wasteland.
Northern flipped mid-flight, his feet igniting like twin rockets as he corrected his trajectory. He shot back toward the clone like a comet, flames trailing behind him in a brilliant arc. The corrupted version of himself tried to dodge, but Northern was faster—his flame-wreathed knee connected with its ribs, the impact creating a thunderclap that shattered nearby stones.
The clone skidded backward, leaving deep gouges in the earth, but it was already moving again. It lunged forward with inhuman speed, snapping its maw of vicious fangs. Northern caught its throat with one hand, flames immediately searing the blackened flesh, while his other fist hammered into its solar plexus in a rapid-fire combination. Each punch exploded with fire, illuminating the twisted landscape in strobing orange light.
But the clone felt no pain. It grabbed Northern’s wrist and twisted viciously, forcing him to release his grip. Before Northern could react, it drove its forehead into his nose with a wet crunch. Stars exploded across Northern’s vision as he stumbled backward, blood streaming down his face.
The clone pressed its advantage, launching into a flurry of strikes that Northern barely managed to deflect. Where his arms blocked, flames burst forth, creating a defensive barrier of fire that forced the clone to retreat momentarily. Northern spat blood and wiped his nose, his eyes burning with cold fury.
Northern growled, his entire body beginning to glow with inner fire.
"You’re wearing my face wrong, and still daring to beat up the right one."
He exploded forward, feinting left before pivoting into a right hook that caught the clone across the jaw. As its head snapped to the side, Northern followed up with a left uppercut that lifted it off its feet, flames wreathing around both combatants as they rose into the air. At the apex of their ascent, Northern grabbed the clone by its corrupted armor and drove his knee into its spine while simultaneously igniting his leg in a pillar of fire.
The clone screamed like a monster as they plummeted earthward. Northern spun them both, positioning the clone beneath him as they crashed into the ground with earth-shaking force. The impact crater glowed molten red from the heat of Northern’s flames.
Smoke and dust swirled around them as they separated. The clone rolled to its feet, its movements more erratic now, black veins spreading further across its body like infection. It charged again.
Northern twisted his face in irritation.
"Good stars, why is he so persistent? Is this how persistent I am?"
Northern sidestepped and caught the clone’s arm, using its momentum to swing it in a wide arc before releasing it to crash into a jagged outcropping of stone.
Rock shattered and dust billowed, but the clone was already emerging, more beast than man now. It bounded toward Northern on all fours, moving with predatory grace.
Northern was struck by an even sharper pang of disgust.
"I wouldn’t do that!"
He planted his feet and waited, flames building around his hands like miniature suns.
When the clone leaped, Northern caught it mid-air by the throat and slammed it down into the ground with volcanic force. Blue fire erupted from the point of impact, creating a pillar of flame that reached toward the crimson sky. Within that inferno, Northern rained down blow after blow, each punch accompanied by explosions of heat and light that turned the surrounding sand to glass.