Chapter 104: Durin arrives
The silence that followed the Giga Full Counter was heavier than the explosion itself.
The plaza, once a bustling center of commerce, was now a crater of glassified stone. The air smelled of ozone and sulfur.
The Bone Dragon, a construct that had terrified the capital only moments ago, was gone.
It hadn’t just been defeated; it had been erased, reduced to shimmering particles of light drifting in the wind.
Inside the Titan’s cockpit, the red warning lights were finally dimming, but the heat remained.
"Cough!"
Damien doubled over, his hands trembling as he released the control spheres. A puff of black smoke escaped the vents of his mask.
His chest felt like it had been hammered by an anvil. The Giga Full Counter hadn’t just drained his Core; it had siphoned his own stamina to stabilize the output.
’Warning: Suit integrity at 12%. Shadow Core entering hibernation mode. Estimated recharge time: 6 hours.’
"Six hours without the suit," Damien wheezed, wiping soot from his visor. "If I don’t leave in the next two minutes, I’m dead."
He looked at the external monitor. The civilians were starting to rise from their crouched positions, staring at the Steam Titan with eyes wide with religious awe. But Damien’s attention wasn’t on them.
It was on a small, broken figure crawling near the epicentre of the blast.