Nadya's fight club is mostly underground, but attached to it is an old, creaky hotel. It wasn't anything fancy—just a place where her top fighters could crash during planned events, and where she kept her own living quarters.
Right now, she couldn't care less about the building itself.
Most of the town was already flattened.
But inside that old hotel... were most of the remaining survivors. Isaac. Amina. Some townsfolk they'd managed to dig out from the rubble. The only people clinging to life in the middle of a warzone.
And Isaac… he couldn't be relied on.
Nadya had noticed it. His powers were useless. Or at least, he couldn't seem to use them anymore. The man who used to walk through walls like they were air, who never touched a handle or button if he could help it, now dragged himself along like a ghost of who he'd been. Deflated. Lost.
Even if he could still use his ability, could he save all those people? It was a stretch. There were too many of them and not enough time.
'Damn it. No. I can't lose them, too - especially not Amina. I swore I'd protect her.' Nadya gritted her teeth, fury and fear coiling in her gut.
Too many lives had already been lost today.
She was bruised, battered, and running on fumes, but she wasn't about to lie down and let this monster stomp out the last flickers of life in her town.
"We have to stop it now, otherwise-" she shouted, but she didn't need to finish.
Kai and Takeshi had already stopped running.
They knew.
There was no other option.
If they didn't halt the Juggernaut's charge here, everything would be lost.
The three of them turned in unison, skidding to a halt in the cracked street. Rubble shifted underfoot as the monster loomed ahead - its massive body still lumbering forward, each step shaking the ground.
No signs of slowing. No signs of stopping.
Kai stared up at it, jaw tight. His heart pounded, not from fear, but frustration.
Because right now? He couldn't see how the hell he was supposed to help.
His blood blades, his bullets, his close combat - none of it would make a dent.
And yet, here he was. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the others, facing down a walking apocalypse.
With no plan.
No backup.
Only the grim, shared understanding that if they didn't stop this monster… no one else would.
-
Kai ducked under a shadow that blotted out the sky, barely avoiding the monster's crushing step as the ground exploded beside him. Debris rained around his head as he twisted, landing hard and skidding across the cracked pavement.
'Gotta slow it down somehow.'
Blood pulsed from his fingertips as he extended his arms, drawing on the deep wells of blood scattered across the battlefield - monster gore, human remains, and his own reserves. Chains erupted from the puddles, thick and crimson, slithering across the ground like vipers before shooting up around the monster's legs.
He gritted his teeth, focusing hard as the chains surged upward, coiling and tightening with brutal force to bind the titan in place.
For a moment, it looked like it might actually work.
Then the juggernaut moved.
With one thunderous step, the chains snapped apart like they were string, blood exploding outward as it shrugged off the attempt like a minor inconvenience.
Kai staggered, clutching his head, a wave of exhaustion crashing over him from the sheer strain.
'Dammit…'
Meanwhile, Nadya was unleashing hell.
One after another, she hurled explosive orbs with both palms - each detonation lighting up the monster's hide in bursts of flame and shockwaves. But the beast didn't stop. Not for a second. It roared and pressed forward, sonic screams tearing from its maw.
The next cry hit her mid-air. A concentrated shockwave slammed into her chest, blasting her backwards like a ragdoll. She crashed through a crumbled wall with a pained grunt, rolling across the ground, smoke and rubble trailing her.
"Tch. It's still not enough."
Only one among them was managing to actually hurt the thing.
Takeshi.
The blindfolded swordsman moved like lightning, slicing and vanishing, hacking into the monster's massive frame at impossible angles. Flesh wounds appeared across its legs and sides, thin red lines opening up even on its thick hide. But they were shallow. Surface damage.
Barely enough to slow it.
The monster growled and swung one arm backwards, aiming to swat the swordsman like a fly.
But Takeshi spun in the air, landing on the back of its hand as if it were solid ground. He absorbed the force with fluid grace, then ran up the creature's arm - his katana a blur in the air. Step after step, he scaled the mountainous limb with impossible precision.
Then he leapt, launching himself toward its head.
Kai watched in awe and couldn't even count the number of slashes.
Takeshi's blade moved so fast it looked like a storm of steel, carving across the monster's face in a dazzling, precise flurry. One strike ripped into the monster's eye, dark fluid spurting as the giant creature let out a deafening, guttural roar.
The air warped.
Another sonic scream burst from its mouth - this one stronger. More violent. The sheer force of it shredded what was left of a nearby block and tore clean through the side of the fight club.
"No!" Nadya screamed, dragging herself to her feet, panic bleeding in her voice.
But the juggernaut wasn't done.
It hunched, its massive form curling in, and then it jumped.
The air and ground beneath its feet cracked under the pressure of its launch, as it dived forward like a living missile. Its twisted, hulking body cast a monstrous shadow as it sailed through the air, aiming to crush the fight club beneath its enormous bulk.
There was no stopping it.
It wasn't just rage guiding it now - it was something deeper. Something twisted and instinctual.
The urge to destroy everything in sight, and no number of insect-like mutants were going to get in its way...