The ground cracked and splintered beneath the weight of the fallen lava giant. Red clenched her fists, her face twisted with fury.
She roared, and the molten titan pushed itself upright, magma oozing from its wounds.
Without hesitation, I poured more of my will into the lightning construct. The golden giant pulsed with blinding light, its form crackling and reforming sharper, fiercer.
The lava giant slammed its fists together, molten boulders forming in its hands. With a thunderous roar, it hurled them toward my lightning giant.
I extended my will.
The golden titan raised its arms, and the air itself bent.
The boulders exploded midair as arcs of lightning tore them apart.
Before Red could react, I ordered my construct forward. It blurred ahead, electricity weaving around its limbs, and delivered a spinning backhand across the lava giant's jaw.
The impact sent molten shards of rock flying across the battlefield as its body was hurled backward, sliding across the ground.
Red shrieked and summoned more molten rivers from the ground, reforging her giant's damaged form.
The lava giant charged, its entire right arm morphing into a molten sword as long as a mountain. It swung down with brutal force, aiming to cleave my giant in half. I responded instantly.
I commanded and the golden titan's eyes flared with energy. It opened its mouth wide, and a low, rumbling roar echoed from deep within its chest.
In an instant, a blinding beam of lightning, thick as a mountain and crackling with pure energy, erupted from its mouth. The beam shot forward like a roaring dragon, arcing through the air toward the molten sword.
The sword, mid-swing, met the lightning with an earth-shattering crack.
The force of the impact split the blade in two, sending molten rock flying in all directions.
The lava giant staggered back, its arm now reduced to nothing more than a glowing stump. The golden beam continued to surge forward, searing through the battlefield, leaving a trail of scorched earth behind it.
Above, the black sky pulsed. Thunder rolled in endless waves. I could feel it, the entire memory world bending to my will now.
I could see Red's body trembling, her will weakening.
I didn't give her time to recover.
With a thought, I sent the golden giant soaring upward. Its hands twisted, pulling the swirling thunderclouds down like a lasso.
A colossal spear formed, a weapon of pure lightning, humming with unstoppable force. At the same time, Red's giant roared and hurled magma chains toward my titan, trying to drag it down. The chains wrapped around the golden construct's legs, sizzling on contact.
But I bared my teeth and forced my will harder. The chains melted into harmless steam.
The lightning giant spun once, gathering terrifying momentum, then hurled the colossal spear straight at the lava giant's chest. It struck dead center.
Boom!
The lava giant's entire torso erupted in a brilliant white flash. Its limbs crumbled into molten rivers, washing helplessly across the battlefield. Red screamed in rage, her control slipping.
Before she could retreat, I moved. Faster than thought, the lightning titan's enormous hand shot forward. It bypassed the wreckage, bypassed the falling magma and closed its fingers around Red's tiny figure.
Lightning coiled around her, forming a shimmering cage.
I floated above, glaring down as she struggled uselessly inside the giant's fist.
Her eyes widened, wild with disbelief. I could feel her will crumbling, her influence on the memory tearing apart like paper under a storm.
The black sludge that represented her control barely remained, now no larger than a fist, in my world of memory.
I stared down at her, trapped and trembling inside the golden giant's lightning cage.
Fear flickered in her eyes. She hugged her arms around herself, trying to make herself smaller, but there was nowhere left to run.
I floated down slowly, until I was eye to eye with her.
She forced a smile, her lips trembling.
"Hey, kid," she said, voice shaky. "I can work for you. I can tell you everything. About the base, about that Holt kid, about the Holt family. I know things you don't."
I said nothing. Her words didn't even reach me properly. My mind was focused on something much bigger.
This place, this world around us, was my mind. Or at least, it used to be. She had twisted it, invaded it. But to do that, she must have first touched my memories, taken pieces of them, and then woven herself into the gaps.
Which meant only one thing: She had linked her mind to mine.
I floated there in silence, my thoughts racing.
If she could enter my mind, if she could shape it like this...
Then why couldn't I do the same to her?
After all, her hand was still placed on my real head, back in the real world. That physical contact must have acted like a bridge—a two-way door between us.
She had forced her way into my memories, but now that I had shattered her hold inside my mind, the path between us was open.
I clenched my hand slowly, feeling the lightning titan's fingers tighten around her little cage of energy.
Finally, I met her eyes, and in that moment, I understood why she was so afraid.
It wasn't because I could kill her. That was pointless, she could revive instantly inside this place. No, her fear was something deeper. She was terrified that I would invade her mind.
If not, there was no reason for her to tremble like that. And the fact that she hadn't broken the connection yet... that told me even more. There must be some restriction, something stopping her from pulling away.
I floated there, thinking hard. How should I invade her mind?
There wasn't some door I could walk through, no clear path leading me inside.
My eyes narrowed as I stared deeper into hers.
'If this body is her representation in my world... then maybe this is the way,' I thought.
I made my decision.
Lightning flared in the giant's palm. The cage lit up like a second sun, tendrils of golden electricity coiling around her small, struggling body.
She tried to move, tried to scream, but I didn't let her. I slammed my will into her, a solid, brutal force.
I pinned her down with my mind, not letting her even twitch. I stopped her from harming herself, from reshaping the world, from ending the connection.
Inside that cage, I controlled everything.
She was completely at my mercy now.
I floated closer, my expression calm, almost cold.
Then, I began.
I didn't rush. I didn't tear her apart with force.
The lightning tightened around her, digging into her like a thousand burning claws. It coiled around her arms, her legs, her neck — burrowing into her very bones.
Red screamed.
The sound tore through the air, raw and broken. The golden lightning wasn't just binding her — it was eating her from the inside out.
Her skin split open under the pressure, blood pouring from her mouth, her eyes, even her fingertips. Every part of her body shuddered violently as the lightning corroded her piece by piece.
I watched without blinking.
This was my punishment to her.
She tried to speak, to beg, but another surge of lightning ripped through her, cutting her words into a howl of agony. Her body flickered and glitched, breaking apart and stitching back together in the same instant, like reality itself was trying to erase her.
But I didn't let her fade away.
I tightened the lightning more, wrapping her tighter in the golden storm. Every time she thought it couldn't get worse, I pushed harder, deeper, forcing her to endure.
I saw the pure terror in her eyes. She clung to what little strength she had left, shaking, twitching, trying to hold herself together.
But it was useless.
This was my world now. My will ruled here.
When she finally sagged in the giant's hand, her body barely holding shape, I floated down in front of her.
Slowly, I reached out.
My fingers glowed with golden sparks as I touched her forehead, my will slamming into her mind like a hammer. She tried to pull away, but she didn't even have the strength to flinch anymore.
And then I felt it — the flood. A rush of memories, images, and emotions that weren't mine burst open. Her mind started unraveling, piece by piece, like a broken dam trying to hold back a tidal wave.
I closed my eyes and pushed deeper.