Shattered

Asta, Eliza, Hanna, Jason, Niria, and Mayran dashed over to where they had last seen the high command of Valor Company get vaporized. It was dangerously close to the titan, and every step closer they took resulted in the reverberations getting bigger and bigger.

"Hey." The Niria looked out at the remnants of the command of Valor Company. "Celestial or not, I'm sure you're familiar with the legend of the loyal glaive."

"Like how it returns to your hand after you throw it, right?" Jason asked.

"Yes. Well, that's not the entirety of it. The glaive, after thrown, can bring back what it skewered. At even greater degrees of resonance, which is a fancy way of saying the glaive is bonded to you, there's even a way to teleport the user to the place where the glaive is thrown." She looked at the two. "And because I've had this asked a thousand times, yes, it's as easy to throw as a regular javelin if you're resonance is high." She placed her hands on her face. "Oh god, this is a gamble..."

"Sounds like a sweet weapon. Sure I'm not allowed to use it?" Jason grinned.

"No." Niria replied, instantly. "You're not Elyon, Jason."

"Well, you never know till you try-"

"Iwen, just get the glaive."

"Hold up." Mayran stopped them. "It's too dangerous to have Iwen run over by himself. One of you needs to act as bait for the beast." He turned to Jason. "You're fast, right?"

"Why don't you go?" Hanna rebutted, a hint of annoyance in her face. "Instead of making others do the work you don't want."

"I'd be too slow." Mayran said. "I wouldn't run fast enough to act as bait." Hanna rolled her eyes and groaned.

"You can use aftereffect abilities." Niria said. "My abilities are mostly psychological, but Mayran can use mirages to make hitting him harder. Of course, whether the titan will fall for that is a matter of debate, but everything here is already a gamble, is it not?

"We both go then. Come on." Jason grabbed Mayran's arm.

"Fine. But you better try and keep me safe if you want me to go with you."

"Deal." Jason nodded.

"I can tell the gunners." Niria said calmly. A small bird materialized from her hands, and flew away, up and over the walls. "The titan isn't very well focused yet, a few volleys of cannon, or even arquebus fire distracts it pretty easily. I'll have them coordinate with you as best as I can."

"Thanks Niria. Hanna, Eliza, you two get onto the castle wall. There's an old ballista I see over there that you guys can use. We can distract the thing further using that!"

"On it." Eliza said. "Come on Hanna." She grabbed Hanna's arm.

"Oh bother..." Despite her complaints, Hanna didn't resist as Eliza pulled her towards the direction of the cannon and prepared to run alongside her.

"Alright." Mayran said. "On the count of three, everyone runs. One...two...three!" The group immediately split up, each one running to their respective positions as accurate cannon fire distracted the monster once more.

"Go, go!" Everyone danced across the square. Hanna and Eliza quickly ducked behind the castle wall, but Asta, Jason, and Mayran ran right into the square.

"I see it, I see it!" Jason ran right for the destroyed carriage where Valor Company's command had stored the glaive. He weaved past beams and lashing tendrils, pulling Mayran with him as he dove into the rubble. Mayran grabbed the glowing icon. "It's actually here!"

"Iwen, we've got it! Get over here!"

Just then, the monster let out a massive ray of energy, slicing the ground between Asta and the glaive. A massive explosion occurred as the monster struck the pooled up gunpowder that was now laying on the ground. Jason rapidly leapt out of the way and jumped flat onto the ground, but Mayran was caught in the blast, and was sent flying onto the air.

"Mayran!" Niria yelled out.

"Ugh, I'm fine! The mission. Jason, get me to the glaive!" He grabbed Jason's hand, coughing up blood. His face was severely burned, and his left leg was bent in the wrong direction. "Tell Iwen to get onto one of the walls, I have an idea. Hurry."

"You're hurt..." Jason looked over Mayran's wounds as a volley of cannon fire hit the titan.

"Just listen to me!" Mayran grit his teeth, as a small wet patch of blood on his shirt got larger and larger.

"Alright. I will." As the monster shifted it's attention to the artillery that now hammered it again, Jason picked up Mayran and dragged him to the glaive. "Iwen, onto the wall! Get up onto the wall!"

"Wall Iwen, wall!" Eliza shouted as she and Hanna took cover behind the ballista. "Iwen! Asta!"

"I'm on it!" Dodging a massive tendril out of the air, Asta jumped across the collapsing stairs and onto the castle wall as Mayran grabbed the glaive and applied projection magic to it.

"I can't wield this properly. I don't have resonance. But I can give this a magical lightening trick, temporarily..." Mayran blinked, trying to keep his eyes open as his face turned pale, or about as pale as the burnt skin could get.

"You're dying, hang on!"

"That's not the important part here, so just shut up and let me do this." Mayran grinned. "The thing...urg, can be levitated, huh...Alright, here goes!" The glaive shot out towards the area where Asta roughly stood as blood dribbled down Mayran's chin. Asta ran towards it, no fear of the massive spinning polearm that now barrelled towards him.

"Shit, I shot...too...high..." Asta ran down the castle wall, focused on one thing and one thing alone. When he approached a collapsed section of the wall, he leapt into the air, reaching for the glaive. "Ah, there we go..." Mayran passed out.

Asta grabbed the glaive in his hand. As soon as he made contact, there was a blinding flash of light as Asta's vision went completely white.