Aurelion and Malgoryth were already moving when Noctis shifted his footing between them, and the difference in scale made even the beginning of the exchange disturb the battlefield around their bodies. Aurelion's surviving foot settled against the broken earth with enough weight to send a low tremor through the terrain, widening older fractures and forcing loose stone to jump along the surface, while Malgoryth's adjustment around Ghorvath displaced the air around the enormous axe in a broad pressure wake. Dust, pulverized rock, and blood that had only partially dried across the battlefield lifted into the turbulent air around their Titan Forms. Noctis remained normal-sized between them, dwarfed by weapons and limbs large enough to cover entire sections of ground whenever either god changed direction.
Aurelion's injuries were impossible to ignore at that scale. The entire left arm was absent, the left wing had vanished from its root, most of the shoulder was gone, and the destruction through the chest, flank, hip, and upper leg left the divine Titan's body visibly uneven around the intact central structures. White-gold reinforcement sealed the surviving edges where Annihilation Trinity had removed flesh and divine structure, and Judicael remained close to Aurelion's right side because the damaged wrist, forearm, collarbone route, and remaining wing could no longer support the same broad movements he had used earlier. Even standing demanded constant adjustment, with the right wing changing angle in small increments while the surviving leg absorbed more of his immense weight whenever the missing side pulled his balance away.
Malgoryth's Titan Form remained more complete, but the loss of his left arm had changed every large movement involving Ghorvath. The severed limb had once controlled the haft from the opposite side while his right hand generated most of the weapon's force, and without that second grip the massive axe wanted to continue rotating whenever the head moved beyond the center of his body. Black-red rift pressure wrapped around the haft and axe head like an external brace, resisting unwanted movement and helping to support the weapon during recovery, though every broad adjustment still pulled hard through Malgoryth's surviving shoulder and the fresh wound beneath the missing arm. The rift seal covering the stump tightened whenever he moved too sharply, slowing the blood that still found narrow paths through the compressed black-red structure.
Noctis did not attempt to answer either Titan by changing his own size. Blood lifted from the battlefield around him in narrow streams, drawn from the material already scattered through the broken ground and from his own available reserves. The first Bloodfang Reapers condensed near his body, but their number continued rising after the familiar groups had already formed, new blades hardening one after another until the air around him began filling with independent blood-forged weapons. His ascension had expanded the number he could control without forcing his physical movements to slow or reducing the precision of the constructs already in motion.
The swarm spread before either Titan could determine its full extent. Some Bloodfang Reapers stayed low and moved toward Aurelion's surviving leg and the damaged lower guard of Judicael, while others climbed toward the right wing-root or circled the reinforced boundary sealing the missing left side. Another group crossed toward Malgoryth's severed shoulder, several more drifted around Ghorvath's haft and surviving hand, and others widened through the air between the Titans so that any broad weapon movement would have to pass through them before reaching Noctis. The constructs did not approach at a shared speed or from a common elevation, leaving the surrounding space filled with overlapping threats rather than a single formation that could be cleared with one attack.
Aurelion responded by bringing Judicael across his body through what would have been a compact motion for something his size. The blade-scepter still displaced enough air to produce a violent horizontal gust that swept dust and loose fragments across the ground before the physical weapon reached the nearest Reapers. Several constructs shattered beneath the strike, their hardened forms bursting back into liquid blood and joining the debris thrown through the weapon's wake, while others curved away before Judicael could reach them. Aurelion's foot shifted beneath the rotation, and the redistributed Titan weight sent another line of cracks racing away from his heel through the already damaged terrain.
Malgoryth cleared his side with rift pressure rather than trying to chase every construct with Ghorvath. Black-red force expanded around the axe head and tore through a cluster approaching the missing-arm side, breaking several Reapers apart while the others separated around the edge of the pressure. The displaced air from the rift burst collided with the wind left by Judicael's movement, creating a chaotic crosscurrent that rolled dust, blood, and fragments between the Titans and briefly obscured the ground beneath them. Noctis used the disruption instead of waiting for visibility to return.
Genesis Step carried him away from the ground before Aurelion finished recovering Judicael. He reappeared beside the enormous length of the weapon while it was still returning toward the divine Titan's surviving side, close enough that another broad correction would require Aurelion to move the entire blade-scepter farther than the distance separating Noctis from the damaged lower guard. The shortened blood-forged sword remained in Noctis's right hand while Nocturne came into his left, and several nearby Reapers changed direction at the same time as he raised the pistol toward the damaged structure.
Nocturne fired into the lower guard. The shot struck white-gold reinforcement that had only recently stabilized after Trinity disappeared, breaking through the outer layer and throwing fragments of divine structure away from Judicael before the surrounding sanctity could settle them. Aurelion shifted the weapon reflexively, and Noctis fired again before the correction completed, changing target from the guard to the right wrist carrying the weapon. The second impact burst through part of the reinforcement around the joint and made the enormous hand move several degrees away from the line Aurelion had intended.
Those few degrees gave the Bloodfang swarm enough room to close. Several blades attacked the lower guard from different elevations while another group converged on the wrist and forearm, forcing Aurelion to protect the weapon and the hand supporting it at the same time. Other Reapers remained near the wing-root and the reinforced edge of the missing side, preventing him from concentrating every defense around Judicael. Aurelion pulled the god weapon closer to his body and opened the remaining wing enough to move away from the densest concentration, sending another gust through the Reapers as the wing displaced the air.
Noctis stopped firing rather than wasting shots into the shifting defense and moved with Aurelion's retreat. Malgoryth entered from the opposite side and brought Ghorvath through a one-handed horizontal sweep, rift pressure tightening along the haft as the enormous axe accelerated. The motion shoved a broad wall of air ahead of the blade, scattering several Reapers before the physical edge shattered others, while Noctis remained close to Aurelion's side. He saw the axe approaching from his rear quarter and used the divine Titan's body rather than fleeing into open space.
Genesis Step placed him near the reinforced boundary where Aurelion's missing left shoulder had once connected to the upper torso. From Malgoryth's angle, the divine Titan now occupied the entire region immediately behind Noctis, and continuing the Ghorvath swing at full force would allow the smaller target to disappear and leave the axe traveling directly into Aurelion. Malgoryth began dragging the weapon away from its original line after much of the momentum had already been committed, his right hand tightening along the haft while rift pressure compressed around the axe head to arrest the rotation. The correction pulled through the surviving shoulder and reopened strain beneath the missing arm, forcing the rift seal there to flare as it compensated.
Noctis used the interruption to attack Aurelion. The shortened sword cut through the outer white-gold layer sealing the missing shoulder and changed angle immediately, opening another line lower along the surviving chest before Aurelion could shift away. Bloodfang Reapers attacked around him simultaneously, some moving toward Judicael's damaged lower guard while others converged on the wing-root, wrist, exposed flank, and surviving leg. Aurelion could not safely bring the full length of Judicael across his own body with Noctis already standing against the damaged side, so he rotated the Titan body itself.
The turn displaced the surrounding air before Noctis felt the movement through the surface beneath him. Aurelion's right foot struck the ruined battlefield with enough force to collapse a broad section of ground, sending fractures radiating outward while slabs of stone buckled beneath the Titan's weight. Dust and debris exploded upward around the impact, followed by a rolling tremor that reached beyond the immediate fight and shook loose rock from already damaged ridges. Noctis tightened Aegis around himself and allowed the first pressure wave to carry him away from Aurelion's torso rather than spending Genesis Step immediately.
The surviving wing opened before the debris could settle. Aurelion drove it outward and downward, turning the already disturbed air into a violent gust that caught broken stone, dust, and suspended blood and hurled them away from the Titan in a spreading storm. Several Reapers were scattered through the current and others broke apart against larger fragments of stone, but Noctis remained behind Aegis through the first portion of the displacement. The combined stomp and wingbeat finally pushed him far enough from Aurelion's body that Judicael could be used without threatening the Titan himself.
The blade-scepter was already moving through the region into which the wind had carried him. Aurelion drove Judicael forward and upward from below, using the environmental displacement to create the attack rather than trying to track Noctis with the weapon alone. The enormous point occupied enough space that ordinary flight would not clear it in time, and the pressure ahead of the weapon reached Aegis before the physical structure itself arrived. Noctis let that force touch the defense for only a moment before Genesis Step carried him above the attack line.
Malgoryth had anticipated that movement into open space. Ghorvath rose from the opposite direction through a one-handed upward sweep, the rift brace around the haft tightening as the axe accelerated against gravity. Noctis dropped instead of rising farther, passing beneath the weapon while the displaced air from Ghorvath's ascent tore through the dust cloud around him and pushed the remnants of Aurelion's wingbeat higher into the sky. Several Bloodfang Reapers flowed around the axe's wake and attacked the rift reinforcement along the haft while others continued toward Malgoryth's severed side.
Ruin replaced Nocturne in Noctis's left hand as he descended through the inside of Ghorvath's recovering arc. He fired upward into Malgoryth's torso, striking beneath the missing arm where Oblivion Rend and the earlier sword attacks had already damaged the Titan body. The black-red protection buckled and burst outward under the shot, exposing the wound beneath long enough for the impact to open it farther and release another stream of dark blood into the turbulent air. The scent reached Noctis through the dust and rift pressure, sharp enough that his attention registered it even while Ghorvath remained above him.
A second shot followed before Malgoryth could close the defense. The Titan rotated his body away and brought the axe downward through the space beneath him, forcing Noctis to leave before he could continue firing at the same wound. Genesis Step removed him from the descending path and placed him behind Aurelion, where Nocturne returned to his left hand before the divine Titan could complete another turn. Two shots struck the surviving wing-root in rapid succession, damaging the reinforcement enough to make Aurelion fold the wing closer to the body.
Noctis did not remain for a third shot. Genesis Step changed his position before Judicael completed its correction, leaving the divine weapon moving through empty air while Malgoryth answered the new location with a compressed rift burst instead of trying to turn Ghorvath through another enormous arc. Noctis moved through ordinary flight and allowed the black-red attack to pass beside him, saving Genesis Step while several Reapers entered the space Malgoryth had exposed. The demon Titan turned Ghorvath toward those constructs, and Noctis changed direction again before either god could determine which weapon would become the next immediate threat.
The overlapping nature of his offense made the exchange increasingly difficult to contain. He could keep the shortened blood-forged sword ready in one hand while Nocturne or Ruin occupied the other, fire while moving through the air, and direct dozens of Bloodfang Reapers toward different targets without reducing the precision of his own attacks. Genesis Step did not replace those options but rearranged them, allowing the same collection of weapons to arrive from another angle before either Titan finished responding to the previous combination. Destroying a group of Reapers did not stop the pistols, forcing Noctis out of sword range did not stop the swarm, and protecting one damaged region did not guarantee he would attack it again.
Aurelion began adapting around the body he still possessed. Judicael remained closer to the surviving center, reducing the leverage demanded from the injured wrist while the right wing and leg handled more of the changes in orientation. The divine Titan stopped trying to chase Noctis with the full weapon whenever the vampire moved too close, using shorter corrections and body rotation instead while the wing created broad pressure around regions Judicael could not safely cover. Each movement continued disturbing the environment, his foot placements deepening cracks below while wingbeats sent rolling gusts through the dust-heavy air.
Malgoryth changed Ghorvath's handling at the same time. His surviving hand shifted closer to the weapon's new balance point while rift pressure tightened around the haft and axe head, allowing shorter one-handed motions without letting the enormous weapon drag his torso through every recovery. The missing arm still mattered whenever he tried to stop or reverse a committed swing, but the external support reduced enough instability that he could keep Ghorvath nearer his body and defend the severed side more quickly.
Noctis watched both adjustments through Crimson Omen Sight and changed the battlefield before either could become a reliable answer. The scattered Reapers began joining broader paths around the Titans, but the motion never became uniform enough to create a single wall. Some blades rotated clockwise around Aurelion while others moved in the opposite direction around Malgoryth, and separate groups crossed through different elevations, tightened toward vulnerable regions, then widened again before either Titan could clear them all at once. The circulation expanded until hundreds of blood-forged edges occupied the battlefield.
Aurelion brought Judicael through one side of the formation. The weapon displaced a violent wake of air before its edge reached the swarm, scattering lighter constructs and then breaking dozens of Reapers apart when the blade passed through them. Liquid blood sprayed across the turbulent space around the Titan and mingled with dust and fragments of divine reinforcement, but Noctis kept control of the material and drew it back into the circulating formation. New blades hardened before most of the blood could fall.
Malgoryth tore another opening through the opposite side with Ghorvath and a broad expansion of rift pressure. The black-red force shredded a dense cluster and pushed the surviving blades away from his body, but Noctis altered the circulation before the cleared region became useful. Reapers that had been moving around Aurelion crossed toward Malgoryth's side while another group descended toward Ghorvath from above, and the blades shattered within the rift burst reformed farther away once the pressure weakened.
The battlefield filled with moving blood, dust, stone fragments, and weapon-generated wind until visibility near the ground changed from moment to moment. Noctis moved inside that disturbance without remaining tied to one portion of the formation. Aurelion caught sight of him near Judicael and started bringing the weapon inward, only for Genesis Step to remove him before the correction finished, while Malgoryth detected him beneath Ghorvath moments later and found the next attack arriving from Nocturne at range instead of from the sword.
Noctis appeared beside Aurelion's wing-root, cut once, and disappeared before Judicael could be brought close enough to threaten him. Two Nocturne rounds then struck the damaged wrist from farther away, forcing Aurelion to shift reinforcement toward the hand immediately after losing sight of Noctis near his shoulder. Ruin fired from below before the divine god could complete that redistribution and struck the reinforced boundary sealing the missing side, bursting part of the white-gold structure outward.
Aurelion moved away from the shot, but Noctis did not follow the opening from the same direction. Malgoryth had already strengthened the protection around his severed shoulder after several Reapers drifted there, so Noctis abandoned the region and sent dozens of constructs toward Ghorvath's haft, the right hand, the knees, and the lower torso instead. Ruin struck the demon Titan's abdomen while he shifted the axe to clear them, and Genesis Step then placed Noctis above Malgoryth's healthy right shoulder rather than anywhere near the missing arm.
The shortened sword cut into Titan armor before Malgoryth could turn Ghorvath back. Rift pressure burst outward around his upper body and forced nearby Reapers away, but Noctis had already used Genesis Step again before the expansion reached him. Malgoryth followed the disappearing figure with growing irritation as the next cluster of Bloodfangs arrived from another direction, and when Noctis reappeared briefly near Aurelion's damaged side before shifting again, the demon god's frustration finally reached his voice.
"Stop hiding behind him."
Noctis heard the words while moving past Aurelion's enormous torso, and his attention stayed on Ghorvath rather than turning toward Malgoryth's face. The divine Titan remained directly behind him from the demon god's angle, exactly where Noctis had chosen to place him once Malgoryth began preparing another heavy swing. Noctis let the blood-forged sword turn once in his hand while the nearby Reapers altered their paths around Judicael, then answered without changing the pace of his movement.
"Then hit him."
Malgoryth's expression hardened, but he did not commit the axe through Aurelion's body. Noctis used the hesitation immediately, leaving the protected line through Genesis Step and appearing above the divine Titan's surviving wing before Malgoryth could change the attack into another route. The exchange gave Noctis the confirmation he wanted without forcing him to ask for it: Malgoryth still needed Aurelion alive badly enough that the divine Titan could be used as an obstacle even while both remained his enemies.
The Bloodfang circulation accelerated as the three gods moved across the battlefield. Hundreds of Reapers formed a broad rotating column around them, though its internal motion remained uneven enough that entire sections could reverse, collapse inward, or widen independently. The mass of moving blood interacted constantly with the environmental turbulence generated by the Titans, blades being shoved aside by wing pressure or dragged through the wakes behind Ghorvath and Judicael before Noctis corrected their paths.
Aurelion opened the surviving wing and beat it through the nearest concentration. The resulting gust tore a large section of the formation apart and rolled across the battlefield with enough force to push dust and loose debris outward in expanding waves. Judicael followed through another region and destroyed additional Reapers, opening enough space around the divine Titan that the rotating swarm no longer pressed immediately against his body.
Malgoryth created a similar opening with Ghorvath. The axe cut through a wide arc while rift pressure expanded around the blade and shredded the constructs surviving the physical passage. The weapon's movement produced another wall of displaced air that collided with Aurelion's wing-generated currents, sending chaotic gusts through the center of the battlefield and lifting blood, stone, and dust higher than before.
Aurelion used the temporary opening to leave the ground. The surviving wing opened fully and drove downward, striking the ruined terrain beneath him with a pressure wave that flattened loose debris, widened cracks, and threw a huge column of dust upward as the Titan body lifted. The absence of the left wing made the ascent uneven, forcing Aurelion to rotate slightly around the surviving side while Judicael remained close enough to act as another point of balance.
Malgoryth followed from another angle. Black-red rift pressure thickened around the Titan body and pulled him upward while his right hand kept Ghorvath near the new balance point, the departure dragging another plume of dust and blood after him as the axe's weight shifted beneath the rising body. Their combined ascent churned the air over the battlefield until the dust columns bent into one another and spread outward beneath them like the beginning of a storm.
Noctis remained below for only a moment. Nocthyrael changed around his back, the blood armor opening as the wings unfolded and caught the violent currents left by the two Titans. He launched upward while hundreds of Bloodfang Reapers rose with him, their rotating paths stretching vertically until the formation became a moving column linking the ruined battlefield below to the ascending gods.
The change in elevation did not reduce the environmental violence. Aurelion's wingbeats rolled through the sky in broad pressure waves that pushed entire portions of the Bloodfang swarm off course before Noctis corrected them, while Malgoryth's rift-assisted movement produced turbulent black-red wakes around the Titan body and Ghorvath. Dust, blood, and smaller fragments of stone were dragged hundreds of meters upward before gravity and conflicting currents began separating them through the open air.
Noctis gained more freedom than either Titan from the three-dimensional battlefield. Genesis Step could now place him above a shoulder, beneath a wing, behind a head, close to a weapon hand, below a weapon arc, or far enough away for Ruin and Nocturne to become the immediate threat instead of the sword. The larger their bodies and weapons remained, the more unused space existed around them that Noctis could occupy without repeating the same target or approach.
Aurelion climbed above him and drove Judicael downward through the column of Reapers. The blade-scepter split the air with enough force to scatter constructs before its edge reached them, and the Titan kept his surviving body behind the attack rather than exposing the missing side. Noctis moved toward the descending weapon and used Genesis Step before the point reached him, emerging beneath Judicael and close to the haft where the immense cutting surfaces were less useful against something his size.
Several Reapers attacked the lower guard immediately. Nocturne fired into the right wrist and disrupted reinforcement around the joint before Aurelion pulled Judicael back toward the surviving center. Instead of forcing another painful wrist correction, the divine Titan opened the wing and rolled his entire body through the air to change the weapon's orientation, sending another rolling gust through the swarm as the enormous wing displaced the atmosphere around him.
Noctis used Genesis Step before the movement completed and appeared above the surviving wing. The blood-forged sword cut toward the injured root, but Aurelion folded the wing and continued rotating, denying Noctis a stable surface while Judicael returned toward the body. Noctis released the attack and dropped away before the weapon could enter the same space.
Ghorvath rose beneath him. Malgoryth had climbed through a lower angle and drove the axe upward with rift pressure stabilizing the one-handed swing. Noctis shifted his flight path and allowed the blade to pass beside him while the enormous weapon continued into recovery, and Ruin appeared in his left hand as he dropped along the outside of Malgoryth's body.
Two shots struck the Titan torso. The first hit the reinforced region beneath the missing arm and damaged the black-red structure covering the earlier wound, while the second struck farther across the abdomen and drove Malgoryth sideways through the air. The demon Titan answered with a localized rift eruption instead of trying to reverse Ghorvath immediately, and the expanding pressure forced nearby Reapers away as Noctis used Genesis Step to escape above it.
He reappeared behind Ghorvath's healthy side and replaced Ruin with Nocturne. The pistol fired into the right hand gripping the haft, breaking through part of the reinforcement across the fingers and palm before Malgoryth could close them more tightly around the weapon. Noctis followed with the shortened sword and cut across the wrist, opening another line through the rift support before Malgoryth answered with a second pressure burst around the hand.
Genesis Step removed Noctis before the counter reached him.
Aurelion attacked across the region into which he might have retreated. Judicael crossed the aerial battlefield laterally, its enormous length occupying enough volume that ordinary flight around the edge would have taken too long. Noctis used Genesis Step to appear above the blade-scepter, but Aurelion anticipated another attack near the surviving wing and opened it through the same region.
Noctis emerged farther behind the Titan instead.
Ruin fired into the reinforced boundary of the missing left side. The shot struck deeply enough to tear through part of the white-gold structure and open the wound beneath it, allowing divine blood to escape into the disturbed air.
The scent reached Noctis through the mixture of dust, blood, sanctity, and turbulent wind.
His fangs extended farther without disturbing anything else he was controlling. The repaired blood regulation remained stable while Genesis Vessel continued handling the physical demands of the battle, leaving the reaction as something more basic than the instability that had once accompanied feeding. The blood carried a quality his body recognized immediately, and the fact that it belonged to a god sharpened the attraction rather than clouding his judgment.
Aurelion turned toward the attack, and Noctis used Genesis Step to leave before the wound could be sealed around him. He reappeared beneath the surviving right leg while several Reapers converged on the lower body and Nocturne fired upward. Judicael descended after him, but Noctis changed position before the weapon reached the same elevation, forcing Aurelion to redistribute his defense again.
The divine Titan concentrated more reinforcement around the missing-left-side boundary after Ruin reopened it. Noctis saw the shift and refused to return there, appearing beyond Judicael instead and firing from range while Reapers attacked the right wrist and wing-root. Aurelion had to spread reinforcement back across the healthier side before Malgoryth entered the next exchange.
Ghorvath descended through a diagonal aerial swing. Noctis flew downward rather than spending Genesis Step immediately, allowing Malgoryth to follow and commit farther into the correction before changing direction. Only then did Genesis Step move him upward, forcing the demon Titan to arrest a weapon whose momentum had already been carried lower.
Malgoryth thickened the defense around the missing-arm side in anticipation of another attack there.
Noctis appeared above the healthy right shoulder.
The shortened sword cut across intact Titan armor while several Reapers attacked Ghorvath from below. Malgoryth could not bring the axe back quickly enough to cover both lines and answered with another rift eruption around the upper body, but Noctis had already left the immediate range before the pressure fully expanded.
Neither Titan was incapable of responding to him. Their perception and combat experience remained high enough to defend individual attacks, adjust damaged movement, and punish approaches that lasted too long, but the responses never became a complete solution because Noctis changed what he was doing as soon as he saw the defense preparing for repetition. If Aurelion strengthened the missing side, Noctis attacked Judicael or the remaining wing, and if Malgoryth protected the severed shoulder, Noctis targeted the healthy weapon hand, torso, legs, or Ghorvath itself.
Their hostility toward each other complicated those defenses further. Noctis appeared beside Aurelion's upper body while Malgoryth began another Ghorvath attack from farther away, the axe entering a diagonal line broad enough to threaten both the vampire and the divine Titan behind him. Noctis remained close to Aurelion long enough to make the continuation increasingly dangerous, and Malgoryth continued farther than he had during the earlier exchanges before finally changing the physical line.
Genesis Step removed Noctis at the last moment.
Malgoryth altered Ghorvath enough to keep the axe from cutting directly through Aurelion's central body, but he allowed the surrounding rift pressure to continue rather than sacrificing the entire attack. The black-red force struck Aurelion's surviving side and drove the divine Titan laterally through the sky, folding the right wing under the impact and disturbing the reinforcement around the torso.
Aurelion's response came as Judicael turned toward Malgoryth. The divine Titan drove the blade-scepter through a retaliatory strike before the demon god fully recovered Ghorvath from the redirected swing, forcing Malgoryth to catch the weapon against the axe head with his right hand and the rift brace supporting the haft. The impact compressed the air between the Titan weapons and sent a shockwave rolling across the sky, while white-gold divine power and black-red rift force burst outward from the contact.
Far below them, the delayed pressure struck the ruined battlefield and sent dust moving across the ground in broad sheets. Loose stone broke from already fractured ridges and collapsed into older craters while cracks widened beneath the areas the Titans had previously damaged through their steps. The aerial clash continued above that devastation without either god showing any sign that their temporary focus on Noctis had erased the hostility between them.
Aurelion pulled Judicael away with visible anger in the set of his surviving side. Malgoryth had preserved him earlier because doing so remained useful, but the divine god had no intention of accepting another attack simply because they shared a more immediate enemy. His remaining wing opened to restore balance while he forced Judicael back toward guard, and his voice carried across the violent air between them.
"Control your weapon, demon."
Malgoryth gave him no answer. Rift pressure tightened around Ghorvath as he pulled the axe back toward his surviving side, and the absence of a response did more to preserve the hostility between them than another exchange of words would have. Noctis moved while both Titans were occupied with the consequences of their collision.
The Bloodfang swarm tightened around them. Reapers attacked Malgoryth's right hand and the rift stabilization supporting Ghorvath, while another concentration moved toward Aurelion's damaged wing-root, wrist, and lower guard. Noctis fired Ruin into Malgoryth's torso, changed position through Genesis Step, and fired Nocturne into Aurelion before either Titan completely separated.
They turned back toward him because allowing the swarm and pistols to continue while they attacked each other would cost both too much. The hostility remained present inside every change of position, however, and Noctis continued using the fact that neither Titan could assume the other would avoid collateral damage simply because he remained the more immediate problem.
The three descended through the sky as the exchange carried them lower. The Bloodfang formation spiraled with them, hundreds of blades moving through the pressure wakes left by the Titan bodies and correcting whenever violent currents shoved them off course. Judicael entered from above while Ghorvath moved from the side, creating attack lines that began converging on the region through which Noctis was descending.
He saw the relationship before either weapon reached him and accelerated through the narrowing space rather than escaping immediately. Aurelion adjusted Judicael downward to follow, and Malgoryth altered Ghorvath's line toward the same moving target. Reapers continued attacking around both Titans during the commitment, forcing enough defensive attention elsewhere that neither abandoned the pursuit while Noctis allowed the weapons to come closer.
Judicael gained speed through Aurelion's surviving side. Ghorvath followed through Malgoryth's right hand and the rift brace supporting the haft. Noctis waited until reversing either attack would require an abrupt correction before Genesis Step moved him vertically out of the convergence.
Aurelion tried to pull Judicael away. His damaged wrist changed angle under the enormous momentum while the surviving wing opened to help move the Titan body, but repeated impacts from Nocturne and earlier strain had reduced how quickly the joint could control the weapon. Malgoryth pulled against Ghorvath at the same time, his remaining hand tightening around the haft while black-red pressure compressed violently around the axe head, but the missing left arm and reopened torso prevented him from arresting the swing quickly enough.
Ghorvath struck Judicael.
The collision compressed the air between the god weapons before the force exploded outward in a vast pressure ring. Reapers near the impact shattered or were hurled away, and the shockwave rolled through the surrounding sky before reaching the battlefield below with enough force to shake already broken ground. Dust erupted upward in sheets while loose stone slid from fractured ridges and collapsed into the craters left by earlier Titan movements.
Neither weapon broke.
Aurelion's right wrist buckled farther under the lateral force transmitted through Judicael, and the strain traveled through the forearm into the damaged collarbone route, disturbing part of the divine reinforcement supporting the weapon. His remaining wing flared open to keep the Titan from spinning through the air while Judicael dropped several degrees before he recovered enough control to pull it back.
Malgoryth nearly lost Ghorvath from his right hand. The axe shifted within his grip as the impact dragged it away from the balance point he had rebuilt through rift assistance, and only the black-red structure tightening around the haft prevented the weapon from leaving him completely. The rotational force passed through the surviving shoulder and reopened the wound beneath the missing arm, sending another stream of dark blood into the turbulent air.
Noctis reappeared above them while both Titans were still recovering. The Bloodfang swarm regrouped around the larger bodies, reforming from blood released when the collision shattered nearby constructs. He did not throw himself immediately into sword range while both god weapons remained dangerous, using the injuries created by the collision through the pistols instead.
Nocturne fired into Aurelion's damaged wrist.
Ruin struck Malgoryth's reopened torso.
Both Titans were forced to reinforce those regions before they could finish recovering Judicael and Ghorvath. The Reapers descended at the same time, pressing damaged sides without requiring Noctis to commit his body to either one.
Aurelion drove divine pressure outward through the surviving wing and cleared part of the swarm before the blades reached him. Malgoryth answered with another rift eruption around Ghorvath, tearing through a separate section and scattering blood through the already turbulent air. Noctis withdrew the remaining Reapers rather than feeding them all into the clearing attacks and changed their paths until the formation broke into hundreds of overlapping lines rather than one broad vortex.
He moved among them without repeating the same transition. Aurelion tracked him and began preparing for Genesis Step toward one of the familiar close-range openings, but Noctis remained in ordinary flight long enough that the divine Titan's correction moved ahead of him. Nocturne fired into the resulting gap before Noctis changed direction again.
Malgoryth brought Ghorvath down from above. Noctis dropped beneath the axe while one Reaper struck the haft and another attacked the right hand, forcing Malgoryth to split the rift reinforcement around the weapon. Ruin fired into the shoulder before Genesis Step finally carried Noctis away from the counter.
He reappeared near Aurelion.
The divine Titan had already brought Judicael closer and increased protection around the missing-left-side boundary.
Noctis appeared above the weapon instead.
The shortened sword cut across the upper chest while the Reapers attacked the lower guard and remaining wing. Aurelion turned his body and moved the surviving right hand inward, abandoning part of Judicael's reach so that the enormous hand itself could threaten something moving close to the torso.
Noctis descended along the front of the Titan before the hand reached him.
The missing-left-side wound remained visible farther across the body. Ruin had damaged the seal earlier, and the repeated movement through the aerial battle had prevented the white-gold reinforcement from closing completely. Divine blood still moved through the opening.
Noctis changed direction.
Genesis Step carried him across Aurelion's front and placed him beside the damaged boundary before the divine Titan could bring the remaining hand or Judicael back across his own body. The smell of the blood became stronger at that distance, rich enough that the surrounding scents of dust, sanctity, rift pressure, and ordinary blood receded behind it. His fangs extended completely while his control over the swarm, his weapons, and Genesis Step remained unchanged.
The shortened blood-forged sword cut through the outer layer sealing Aurelion's wound. White-gold reinforcement split under the strike and exposed divine flesh beneath, releasing another surge of blood as Aurelion began turning his enormous body away from the attack. Noctis moved closer instead of withdrawing and caught one hand against the Titan's body long enough to hold himself in place through the first part of the rotation.
Judicael could not be brought directly against him without cutting through Aurelion's own body, and the surviving hand could not reach cleanly before the Titan completed another turn. Noctis occupied only a small portion of the damaged region compared with Aurelion's massive form, but the scale difference became an advantage once he was physically against the wound. His fangs entered the exposed flesh before Aurelion could dislodge him.
Divine blood entered his mouth.
The concentration of usable power was far beyond anything ordinary blood had provided him before, and Genesis Vessel reacted immediately by drawing the absorbed material into ongoing restoration. Physical injuries that had already been healing tightened faster while additional power moved into the blood structures surrounding him, and Nocthyrael responded more readily to subtle changes in his body as the armor processed the improved supply.
The effect reached the Bloodfang swarm as well. Individual Reapers changed direction with less delay between Noctis's intent and their response, and the blood already circulating through the formation became easier to maintain in hardened shapes despite the turbulent air around the Titans. Genesis Step also felt cleaner before he used it, the connection between decision and displacement sharpening as Genesis Vessel finished distributing the small amount of divine blood he had consumed.
Aurelion reacted violently to the bite. Divine power surged through the wounded region while the Titan twisted his surviving body, displacing a huge volume of air and sending another rolling gust through the surrounding Reapers. The remaining wing opened to add more physical force to the movement, while Judicael remained unusable at that angle without threatening Aurelion himself.
Noctis released the bite after only a small amount of blood and used Genesis Step before the divine pressure closed around the wound. The transition carried him hundreds of meters away into open sky, where Nocthyrael corrected his position against the lingering currents without the slight delay he had felt earlier in the battle. Blood remained at the corners of his mouth while his fangs stayed extended.
Aurelion turned toward him and reinforced the bitten region more heavily, drawing additional white-gold power across the missing-left-side boundary while Judicael returned toward a defensive position. The divine Titan's remaining wing opened enough to stabilize the enormous body after the abrupt rotation, and the air around him continued rolling outward from the movement.
Noctis assessed the changes within himself while keeping Crimson Omen Sight on both Titans. Genesis Vessel had already processed enough of what he had taken to make the improvement unmistakable through his regeneration, the responsiveness of Nocthyrael, the density and control of the Reapers, and the cleaner Genesis Step he had just used. Nothing in the feeding had disturbed his control or revived the older instability that had once accompanied excessive blood intake.
Aurelion's blood had strengthened him.
Noctis wiped the remaining blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his left hand while keeping the shortened sword ready in the other. Aurelion had already begun moving again, the additional reinforcement over the bite proving that he understood exactly what Noctis had done even if he did not yet know the full consequence. Noctis watched the divine Titan for another moment before speaking.
"Your blood is useful."
The words carried across the turbulent air without requiring him to raise his voice. Aurelion's expression tightened, but Noctis had already shifted his attention before the divine god could answer, looking past the white-gold Titan toward Malgoryth approaching from another angle with Ghorvath held close to his surviving side.
Black-red pressure still sealed Malgoryth's missing arm and the reopened wound beneath it, but blood remained visible along the damaged region. Some of it drifted through the air in dark droplets caught inside the disturbed currents, while more continued falling toward the ruined battlefield far below. Malgoryth saw where Noctis was looking and reinforced the injured side more heavily as he approached.
Noctis's fangs remained exposed.
Hundreds of Bloodfang Reapers shifted around him while Nocthyrael's wings held his small form between the two Titan gods. Far below, enormous stretches of broken ground remained stained by the blood spilled throughout the battle, with Aurelion's divine blood and Malgoryth's darker blood scattered among Noctis's own across craters, fractures, and shattered stone.
Noctis raised the sword and brought the pistols back into position while the Bloodfang swarm changed its paths around both approaching Titans. The fight had not slowed, and neither Aurelion nor Malgoryth had become less dangerous because he had discovered what their blood could provide. What had changed was the value of every wound already covering the battlefield, because Noctis now knew that the blood leaving either god could become another source of power in his hands.