Daniel inhaled the chilling air, his lungs filling with the acrid scent of rot and cold iron. "I had a feeling today wouldn't be my lucky day," he muttered bitterly. Before the sentence could leave his lips, the marble floor beneath him dissolved into a void of pitch-black, as if the temple itself were devouring the very light.
He snapped his head up, pupils dilating in an instant; the colossus's stone hand was hurtling down like a meteor cast from the depths of hell. Whoosh! Daniel threw his body forward, but his instincts screamed at him: Speed alone won't save your bones this time!
With a reflexive flick of his wrists, durable black threads surged from his grey gauntlets, anchoring to the temple ceiling with a sharp Tck! In a fraction of a second, he hauled himself upward, soaring through the air just as the floor shattered beneath the giant's palm, leaving a thunderous roar that shook the very foundation of the sanctuary.
The behemoth let out a guttural roar that rattled the chandeliers. Suddenly, its back split open, unleashing thousands of distorted, serpentine hands that lashed out with a singular purpose: Daniel.
Releasing his threads, Daniel used the momentum of his fall to land atop one of the beast's massive arms. He sprinted across it with frantic speed, but a treacherous glint appeared behind him; another gargantuan hand was closing in to crush his skull. Without a second thought, he threw himself backward, sliding flat on his back beneath the hand that swept past his face—the rush of wind so cold it bit his skin. Bracing himself, he leaped with the agility of a panther onto another limb.
"Damn it, I won't last long at this rate... I need raw power!"
With a flicker of his gaze, he summoned the System window. The list scrolled past his eyes like a high-speed reel until it halted at a weapon radiating an aura of pure misfortune: [The Twin Cursed Axe].
He pulled the axe from the void; it was massive, with double-edged blades that shimmered with a cold, ghostly light.
"Power Activation: 20%!" Daniel bellowed, the veins in his arms bulging like taut cables.
At that moment, the colossus's fist lunged at him in a direct strike. This time, Daniel didn't run. He raised the Cursed Axe to meet the blow head-on.
BOOM! The sheer force of the impact sent Daniel hurtling into the wall, carving a deep crater as dust choked the air. Yet, thanks to the "Automated Defense" embedded within the axe, his bones remained intact.
Daniel emerged from the rubble, blood trickling down his forehead, his eyes burning with a manic intensity.
"You've become a real nuisance... To hell with you, and to hell with the day I first laid eyes on you! Truly... who said everyone with wings was an angel?"
He launched himself like an arrow, gripping the axe with both hands, and performed a legendary leap. He brought the axe down with everything he had onto one of the monster's primary arms. CHAAAK! The limb severed and crashed to the floor, forcing the beast to let out a shriek that tore its maw from ear to ear: "KKKKKKKK!"
Daniel landed firmly on the ground, resting the axe over his shoulder with a provocative chill. "There's still a long way to go before you should start screaming, sweetheart. We've only just begun."
He rushed toward the creature's foot to end it, but suddenly froze; the giant's foot seemed to be a black hole, absorbing every bit of matter that drew near. He retreated instantly, but a smaller hand emerged from the shadows behind him, gripping his ankle and dragging him violently across the stone floor. Daniel tried to strike it, but it was too late; he slammed into a massive marble pillar. BOOM!
Dazed and covered in blood, Daniel struggled to rise, but the monster gave him no quarter. It summoned thousands of black daggers from thin air, all aimed directly at Daniel's heart.
"System! Death Wall!"
A translucent, blackened barrier flickered into existence before him. It absorbed the daggers and redirected them toward the monster, but the colossus was prepared—it merged its many hands into a single, colossal fist and lunged to pulverize the wall and the man behind it.
"You cursed System! Don't you have a solution for this mess?!"
The System screen flashed a deep, bloody crimson:
[WARNING: A forbidden skill exists... but the price will be heavy. Do you accept?]
Daniel flashed a blood-drenched grin. "I'll pay any price... just give me the power to tear him apart!"
In that instant, everything shifted.
His eyes turned entirely crimson, and his hair glowed the color of fresh blood. On his neck, a black tattoo of a skull with crow wings materialized. The axe vanished, the metal melting and fusing to his skin as if it were part of his very being.
Daniel looked at the giant with a gaze that was no longer human, his voice calm and terrifying:
"Now... it's time to get serious