Raven, still reeling from the connections, focused his mind back on the immediate mystery. Uncertainty shadowed his features as he spoke. "But you still haven't answered my most important question! Who are you, exactly?"
The resonant voice offered no reply. Instead, the temple began to shake with terrifying, violent force. The illusion shattered; the pristine walls and gleaming altar violently fractured and warped, rapidly reverting to their original, scattered and ruined appearance—a discarded, decaying structure once more.
Raven found himself suddenly back in the familiar darkness of the abandoned temple. He immediately spotted Evelyn slumped on the cold ground, leaning against the unyielding stone door, her face buried in her hands, crying out of sheer terror and emotional exhaustion from being left alone in the overwhelming darkness.
"Evelyn!" Raven exclaimed, genuine shock replacing his awe. He quickly directed the beam of his pistol flashlight toward her and rushed to her side.
"Evelyn! What happened? Are you alright?" he asked, his voice thick with concern.
Evelyn slowly halted her crying, attempting to catch her breath. Her initial words were choked with sobs, her voice barely a stutter. "I... I was so scared! W-where did you go? How could you just vanish and leave me all alone in this horrible temple?" she asked, the question a rush of frightened frustration layered over her tears.
"I don't think this is the time for explanations, Evelyn," he stated firmly, cutting straight to the present danger. "We need to prepare for the arrival of those two monsters. We have to move, now!"
He immediately went to the sealed door and began pulling on the heavy slab, urging her to action. Evelyn, momentarily dumbfounded but driven by a survival instinct, quickly rose from the ground and joined him, adding her strength to the effort.
Still speaking through lingering sobs, she warned him, "Okay, Raven, but you absolutely owe me a full explanation for your sudden disappearance!"
They strained against the massive door. With a final surge of effort—or perhaps the end of the temple's strange power—the door suddenly yielded with surprising ease. They wasted no time, sprinting out of the dark temple and immediately starting their rapid descent down the mountain track toward the landing zone.
When they finally reached the cleared area where Raptor #1 and Raptor #2 were secured, Officer Zhen was the first to spot them. He rushed forward, concern etched on his face, observing Evelyn's state and Raven's urgency.
"What took you two so long?" Zhen demanded. "We finished the evacuation ages ago! What exactly happened up there?"
Raven inhaled sharply, attempting to gather his thoughts and deliver a concise explanation, but he was silenced by the earth itself.
The ground beneath their feet began to shudder violently.
With a horrifying groan, one of the nearby mountains suddenly fractured, shattering and crumbling inward. A massive, gaping hole appeared, and from the dust and debris, Giranha, the Gaping Maw, erupted—the sixty-meter beast roaring its emergence. Simultaneously, in the sky above, Stormwing, the Sky-Piercing Beast, swooped down and landed heavily on a peak near where the temple was perched.
"Holy crap!" Officer Zhen yelled, horrified by the immediate, overwhelming confrontation. "How are they here already? They came too soon!"
Lieutenant Dos, driven by instinct, immediately seized control. "Squad! Get to the Raptors! Now!"
All four officers responded instantly, their previous conversation forgotten in the face of the towering monsters. Raven vaulted into the cockpit of Raptor #1. Zhen and Evelyn scrambled into Raptor #2 with Lieutenant Dos, securing their positions.
Engines howling, both aircraft immediately launched skyward, rapidly achieving a stable hover position a safe distance from the two colossal threats to conduct a swift analysis.
Giranha immediately began moving, its massive, low-slung body lumbering toward the mountain where the temple had been. It focused its immense strength, striking the mountainside repeatedly with powerful, raking claws. The stone shattered and crumbled piece by piece, the ancient temple vanishing entirely under the relentless assault.
The destruction served its purpose, revealing the mountain's core secret: a glowing, gigantic golden cube buried deep inside the rock. The cube, standing at an estimated eighty meters tall, acted as a protective casing for whatever lay within.
Giranha ceased its clawing. It opened its massive, expanded lower jaw and unleashed a focused beam of searing energy toward the cube. The golden structure instantly began to dissolve and vaporize, the fragments flying away as smoke.
Finally, the cube was gone, exposing the figure it had contained: a colossal titan, massive and silent, encased entirely in stone.
Both monsters recognized their target. Giranha and Stormwing let out a thunderous, dual roar of victory, celebrating the discovery of the Shadow Titan in its vulnerable, millennia-long slumbering form.
Inside the cockpit of Raptor #1, Raven was consumed by a protective fury. "Stop it!" he roared, pushing the Raptor into an immediate attack run toward Giranha. He slammed the firing button on the control stick, unleashing a searing plasma beam from the jet's twin barrels. The energy blast struck Giranha directly in the face.
The colossal monster staggered backward from the unexpected impact, raising a limb to shield its wounded face. Raven skillfully flew over the reeling beast to avoid a collision. Simultaneously, Stormwing executed its own attack: it violently slammed its massive body into the stone titan, sending the petrified figure toppling heavily onto the ground.
On the comms, Lieutenant Dos's voice was sharp with warning: "Raven! Pull back! That was a scratch! Don't act hastily; those attacks won't be enough to budge it!"
Raven ignored the warning, executing a tight turnaround to deliver another burst. He managed to land a second hit on Giranha's damaged face, but his luck ran out. Stormwing retaliated instantly, firing a focused beam of energy from its eye that struck the Raptor #1's exhaust nozzle. The jet shuddered violently, and the cockpit immediately began filling with thick, choking black smoke.
Dos and Zhen simultaneously screamed over the comms: "Raven! Eject! Eject now!"
"I can't!" Raven gasped, struggling to control the stick. "It's malfunctioned!"
The officers in Raptor #2 watched in stunned horror as Raven's jet spiraled wildly, broken and flying mindlessly toward the ground. "Raven!" they cried out in unison.
As Raptor #1 plummeted, black smoke billowed around him, and Raven began to choke. Then, just as the aircraft neared impact, a surge of dark, swirling shadow aura erupted, completely enveloping Raven's body. The aura transformed him into a streak of pure light, violently pulling him clear of the cockpit. The empty jet slammed into the earth a moment later, exploding on impact.