On Oceanus Star, nearly all the land had long been swallowed by the sea. Only a few scattered mountain peaks still managed to break above the surface, serving as the last refuges for its people.
One by one, lonely signal beacons lit up on those distant peaks, transmitting faint glimmers of hope to each other across the endless waters.
But that hope was dwindling.
Just like the ancient god-colossi that towered on every peak, they were vanishing at a terrifying pace.
Only a month ago, there had still been twelve of them. Now, only eight remained.
Four had fallen in just thirty days. At this rate, the remaining eight would not survive another two months.
Inside a room within one of the refuges, a sharp-featured woman stood at the window, gazing at the silhouette of the Nuwa Colossus against the night.
Suddenly, a streak of crimson lightning tore across the heavens, dyeing the night sky a blood-red hue.
The outline of the Fuxi Colossus wavered in the distance, while the woman's reflection shone scarlet upon the glass.
Her eyes, within that reflection, were already clouded with doubt.
"Lady Nuwa! Hera City has fallen!"
A female soldier burst into the room, breathless, her voice trembling with the weight of the dire news.
The fall of Hera City meant the Hera Colossus had been destroyed as well.
Only seven colossi remained.
Nuwa turned sharply, masking the confusion in her gaze, and replied in her usual steady, resolute tone:
"Raise the refuge to First-Class Combat Readiness. Fuxi Colossus will remain on defense. Nuwa Colossus will take the offensive!"
The soldier froze in shock, for this was not the first time Nuwa had given such an order.
At this point, the planet had only six refuges left and seven colossi. Pangeae City alone still held two.
If Pangeae City refused to strike out and draw away the enemy's forces, the remaining five refuges would never withstand the monsters' growing assaults.
Passive defense was already stretched thin; to go on the offensive was nothing short of suicide.
The Pangu Colossus itself had been lost in the last such offensive.
Striding past the stunned soldier, Nuwa left her quarters. She was not only commander of Pangeae City's refuge—she was also the chief pilot of the Nuwa Colossus.
And when someone had to risk their life for humanity's survival, she wanted that someone to be her—and only her.
"If we are fated to be destroyed, then let me go first… and wrest whatever hope I can for the rest of you."
Just as the fallen Pangu had done.
By the time she entered the command hall, Fuxi was already there to meet her.
"Nuwa, let me go instead! You stay and command!" he shouted.
Nuwa gave no reply, striding toward the Nuwa Colossus access corridor.
Desperate, Fuxi seized her arm and roared, almost choking on the words:
"You're still the commander of Pangeae City! You can't just go off to—"
To die.
But the word stuck in his throat, for fear it would become prophecy.
Nuwa finally stopped and spoke, each word firm as steel:
"Execute the order. Once I'm gone, you'll assume command. Hold out for as long as you can."
With that, she turned and entered the corridor without looking back, leaving Fuxi and his pilots behind.
"Salute!"
Every officer and soldier in the hall, eyes brimming with tears, raised their hands as the Nuwa Colossus pilots marched into the passageway.
Nuwa gathered with eleven fellow pilots before the spinal ingress.
"I'm sorry," she whispered silently, "for leading you all to your deaths, my sisters."
She stepped into her cockpit. The others followed.
Twelve cockpits, led by Nuwa's, slid one after another into the channel, seating themselves in the colossus's cranial chamber and eleven vertebrae.
Cold fluid filled the capsules, rising swiftly. A familiar ethereal sensation overwhelmed their senses as consciousness fused.
Nuwa's mind surged, piercing some unseen threshold, until her awareness blended with the other eleven. Their spirits merged with the nerves of the titan itself.
They became the Ancient God Nuwa.
Nuwa opened her eyes. Beneath her feet lay Pangeae City, battered by furious waves.
Beneath those waves lurked countless monsters, their grotesque forms pressing ever closer, hungering for the lives within the city.
With a sharp cry, Nuwa snapped her luminous whip and hurled herself headlong into the abyssal sea.
And in those depths, two monsters were already waiting.
The instant their quarry appeared, the beasts surged upward, bodies propelled like arrows.
Each bore a long, spindle-shaped horn jutting from its skull, cleaving the water as they swam at blinding speed.
Nuwa was still suspended in midair, with nothing to brace against, when they broke the surface.
Their horns angled inward, aiming to impale her flanks in a deadly pincer strike.
But Nuwa was prepared. This was not her first ambush; she had long anticipated it.
With a cry, she twisted her colossal body with impossible agility, flipping backward as twin azure whips materialized in her hands.
They lashed downward—two strokes of blinding light—each whip carving effortlessly through a monster's skull, splitting their massive heads like butter under a hot blade.
Nuwa spun again, planting a foot on one collapsing carcass and using its upward momentum to propel herself sideways through the air.
For she knew these beasts never hunted alone.
Sure enough, even as she leapt aside, the sea erupted behind her with a shadow even larger than the rest.
It was a giant, one hundred and fifty meters tall, with two grotesquely muscled, stunted arms locked together in a crushing embrace.
Had Nuwa not dodged, that embrace would have closed around her—not the seawater it now churned.
"Ridgeback Turtle!"
Nuwa almost cried out in shock. For among the endless species of monsters, this was one of the strongest—a true king among beasts.
And now, one of these kings had lain in wait beneath Pangeae City.
A chill surged through Nuwa's heart.
For Ridgeback Turtles never appeared alone. Whenever they struck, another king always fought beside them.
And then she heard it: the hiss of cleaving air from behind.
She didn't need to look to know what it was—
a barbed, spear-like tail whipping upward in a venomous strike, aiming straight for her spine.
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