March of the Colossus

The wind howled across the Colossus's shoulder. For several seconds, no one moved.

Deep violet Pulse crawled across Nino's blade, spreading through the black metal like living veins. The pressure surrounding him grew heavier with every passing heartbeat, until thin cracks began to spread beneath his boots.

The Shadows knew that presence. They had fought beside it. Followed it into battle. Watched enemies surrender simply because the man standing before them had arrived.

Number One's smile slowly widened.

"There you are." He disappeared.

CLANG!

Steel collided. The impact sent a shock wave across the Colossus's shoulder, scattering fragments of stone into the clouds below. One's sword pressed against Nino's, Pulse burning along both blades.

Seven attacked from behind.

His bladed chain swept toward Nino's legs while Six charged from the opposite side, hammer already descending. Nino broke away from One, stepped over the chain and twisted his sword upward. The hammer struck the flat of his blade.

Nino redirected it. Six's weapon crashed into the Colossus instead, shattering stone beneath them. Before the debris could settle, Four's segmented spear pierced through the cloud of dust.

Nino tilted aside. The blade passed his throat by inches.

Five's wrist flicked. Three small black blades curved through the air from different directions, each wrapped in a thin layer of Pulse. Nino struck the first aside, ducked beneath the second and caught the third against his sword.

One was already there. Their blades collided again. This time, Nino pushed.

One's boots left the ground. He flew backward across the enormous shoulder, landed hard and dragged his sword through the stone to stop himself.

His smile disappeared. Nino barely had time to straighten. The entire battlefield tilted.

THOOOOOM.

The Colossus took another step.

Clouds tore apart around its body as the ancient giant continued its march. Far below, every footfall crushed entire sections of forest beneath mountains of stone, leaving a trail of destruction stretching toward the horizon.

Seven stumbled. Six lowered his center of gravity. Five drove one blade into the stone to keep herself from sliding.

Nino remained standing as Three looked beyond them. Her expression changed.

Arvendel!

The village was no longer a distant collection of rooftops hidden among the trees. She could distinguish streets now. Fields. Houses. And beyond it, rising between the mountains, stood the ancient passage into Solvar.

"Enough!"

No one stopped. One rushed Nino again. Three clenched her jaw.

"One!"

Their swords crashed together.

"Look where we're going!"

One ignored her. Nino caught his next strike, but Seven's chain wrapped around the lower half of his blade. Four attacked immediately, forcing Nino to release one hand from the hilt and knock the spear aside with his forearm.

Three pointed toward the horizon.

"That thing is going straight through Arvendel! And after that, it reaches the Solvar passage."

One pulled his sword free and attacked again.

"So?"

Three stared at him.

"So?! We're Shadows of Mezi! If that Colossus reaches Solvar and anyone sees us fighting on top of it, what do you think they're going to believe?"

Five released another volley. Nino deflected two blades while the third disappeared into the clouds. Three continued.

"We could start a war!"

One's sword slammed against Nino's.

"I don't care." The words were almost lost beneath the wind. One pushed harder, his face twisting with anger.

"My mission is to bring Zero back to Mezi for judgment. Dead or alive."

Nino's eyes narrowed.

"And if Mezi needs an executioner..." One smiled. "I'll gladly become one."

Three stared at him. For the first time, she seemed to understand that there was nothing left to argue.

One stepped back.

"Stop wasting time. Bring him down now, and we'll deal with the Colossus afterward."

The Shadows moved all at once. Seven's chain came first, but Nino caught it against his blade and dragged him forward, forcing him directly into Six's path. The massive man stopped his hammer inches before crushing his ally, giving Four just enough time to appear behind Nino. Nino spun and met the segmented spear with his sword as Five attacked from above, sending a rain of black blades across the Colossus's shoulder.

Nino slipped between them, his coat twisting through the wind as each blade struck the stone where he had been only a fraction of a second earlier.

One immediately exploited the opening and came at him from the front, but Nino caught his sword and redirected it aside just as Seven recovered and sent his chain whipping toward him. His blade moved in one continuous motion, knocking the chain away before turning behind him to meet Four's spear.

Six's hammer came crashing down next, forcing Nino to shift his footing and deflect the massive weapon past his shoulder, while Five's blades curved back through the air from opposite directions. A rapid sweep of his sword sent both spinning away.

One appeared again before the last blade had even left the air.

CLANG!

Nino was pushed half a step backward when an enormous shadow swept across the battlefield. His eyes lifted instinctively, following it toward the sky, and immediately understood what was happening.

One of the Colossus's enormous arms rose through the clouds, its hand opening as it reached toward its own shoulder. Each finger dwarfed the trees far below, and as the colossal palm descended, it resembled a moving wall of stone sweeping across the sky to tear them from its body.

"Move!" Three shouted.

The battle broke apart.

Six and Seven leaped in opposite directions while Five launched herself toward the Colossus's neck. Four drove his spear into the stone and used it to swing clear. One jumped onto one of the descending fingers, ran several steps along its surface, then pushed away before the hand struck.

Nino remained where he was. The colossal palm came down.

BOOOOOOM!

Stone erupted across the shoulder. The impact tore away an entire section of the ancient surface and sent debris tumbling thousands of feet toward the forest.

Nino emerged through the dust, running along the back of the Colossus's hand.

One saw him coming. Nino jumped from one of the massive knuckles and brought his sword down. One barely raised his own blade in time.

CLANG!

The force drove him back across the shoulder just as the Colossus pulled its hand away.

For a brief moment, the six Shadows and Zero found themselves scattered across the moving giant, separated by fractures left behind by its own attack. And still, the Colossus kept walking.

THOOOOOM.

Nino's eyes shifted toward the horizon. Arvendel was closer.

He could see people now. Tiny figures moving between the buildings. And for just a moment, he remembered Cael standing before him in the forest, wounded and exhausted.

Please...

Darien hiding inside the Vulkar's nest. Lahna. Rentarou.

All of them had homes down there. Nino clenched his teeth, but a whistle reached his ear before he could turn his attention back to the battle. Too late. A black blade grazed his side, slicing through his coat and leaving a thin line of blood before curving through the air and returning to Five's hand. She caught it between two fingers and smiled as Nino glanced at the wound.

“Got you.”

Nino turned back toward One just as the next attack came and raised his sword to meet it.

CLANG!

Something felt wrong. His arm had moved slower than expected, only slightly, but it was enough for One to notice and for Five's smile to widen. Before Nino could understand what had changed, Six charged with his hammer already swinging. Nino slipped past the strike and drove an elbow into his ribs, sending the enormous man stumbling sideways, only for Four's segmented spear to coil around his arm before he could fully recover.

He tore himself free. Seven's chain struck his back. Blood sprayed into the wind.

Nino staggered.

Pulse surged through his arm, but the response came a fraction too late. The violet veins beneath his skin flickered.

Five rolled one of the black blades between her fingers.

"Now the battle has changed."

Nino looked at her and understood. Poison — not one meant to stop his heart, but something far worse. He could already feel it spreading through his body, interfering with the channels through which Pulse flowed and turning something as instinctive as breathing into an effort.

One saw the realization in his eyes.

"Attack."

Six's hammer struck Nino's sword. This time, Nino slid backward. Four followed. A cut opened across his shoulder. Seven's chain wrapped around his ankle and pulled. Nino struck the stone with one hand, flipped before his back could hit the ground and severed the chain's path with his sword.

Five's blades were already there. One struck from the front. Nino blocked both. Barely.

Three stood several meters away, watching as the battle unfolded. Something wasn't right, and not just with Nino. Her attention drifted back toward Arvendel, where the village seemed to grow larger with every passing second as the Colossus carried them toward it at a terrifying pace.

THOOOOOM.

The shoulder lurched beneath them, and Three's gaze shifted toward the Colossus's enormous head, settling on the hollow eye where the children were hiding. In that moment, she understood what needed to be done. Before anyone could notice, she disappeared.

Inside the cavity, the children clung tightly to the twisted roots as every step of the Colossus sent tremors through the hollow. Alicia remained near the entrance, listening to the distant clash of steel and explosions of Pulse from the battle outside, until a violet streak suddenly crossed the opening and Three landed before them. The children immediately recoiled, with Cael instinctively stepping in front of Darien.

"Stay back!"

"We're leaving."

"What?"

"Now."

Darien shook his head.

"No. Nino told us to stay here."

"Nino?! I don't care what Zero told you." Three reached for him.

Darien stepped away.

"We're waiting for him!"

Three stopped. For a moment, she seemed ready to drag them out by force. Instead, she reached up and pulled away the cloth covering the lower half of her face, then pushed back her hood.

"I'm trying to save you."

The children stared at the ruby-eyed woman standing before them.

"We don't know you," Cael said.

"No. You don't."

Alicia turned toward Three's voice.

"We can trust her."

Everyone looked at Alicia. Even Three. Darien frowned.

"How do you know?"

Alicia paused. That question again.

She couldn't explain the strange certainty inside her. The same feeling that had told her Nino was alive inside the cavern. The same feeling that had told her the children were safe before she had any way of knowing.

"I just do."

Three studied her. Alicia extended both arms toward her.

"Come on."

For the first time since entering the hollow, Three smiled.

"You're a strange kid." She turned around and crouched. Alicia climbed onto her back and wrapped her arms around her shoulders.

Three looked at the others.

"All of you. Grab on."

"What?"

"You heard me."

Cael, Darien, Lahna and Rentarou hesitantly crowded around her. Three secured Alicia against her back, hooked one arm around two children and pulled the others close with the other. Her expression immediately changed.

"God, you're heavy."

"This was your idea," Darien muttered.

Three almost laughed. Pulse surged through her legs, its violet glow intensifying as she adjusted her grip around the children and lowered her stance.

“Hold on.”

She pushed off. The twisted roots beneath her feet snapped from the force as she launched herself out of the hollow, carrying all five of them with her. A violet streak shot across the Colossus's head before plunging down along its enormous body.

Far below, Arvendel was already frighteningly close.