The Growth of a Titan

A God looking down at an insignificant bug.

The feeling Sol had felt while looking at the ant returned once more. But this time the feeling was more intense, and the creature he was looking down at wasn't an ant, but a human.

This sensation of being able to dictate another's life was extremely intoxicating.

It was similar to the euphoria Sol always felt when he took off a bracelet, but this time the feeling was amplified.

Everything was amplified.

Sol's body continued to overflow with power causing steam to pour out from his pores. Through this steam, the crescent moon tattoo could be seen flickering on Sol's forehead. It was much clearer than before.

In the midst of this suffusing intoxicating feeling of power, Sol raised his hand towards the paled face Adalhard.

At the same time, Adalhard saw the being in the sky raise its hand, and an extremely archaic aura engulfed the whole battlefield.

This was the Hand of a God-like being, nothing in creation could oppose its might.

Seeing this scene and feeling this archaic aura, Adalhard's scalp immediately went numb and his heart rate increased; filling his ears with loud thumping noises.

If this didn't convince Adalhard that this projection was of Sol, then the crescent moon tattoo that was on the projection's forehead would clear all the doubt he had.

"J-Just who are you?! What kind of power is this?!!"

Adalhard howled in panic, rage, and fear. If felt like he was going to go crazy.

But as Sol raised his hand, the feeling of death engulfed him and caused chills to seep into his bones.

"No! Impossible! I refuse to accept this!!!"

Adalhard released a mad howl as his hand started to form continuous hand seals. However, as his hand created shadows moving from one seal to another, a crazy look appeared in his eyes.

He seemed to have gone completely mad in the face of his eminent death.

Suddenly, a hand formed at his stump from his Holy Energy. This newly formed hand then began weaving hand seals as well.

After each dozen hand seals Adalhard weaved, a strange and profound aura slowly began to form around him. Meanwhile, blood was continuously dripping from his lips.

With a final hand seal, the aura around Adalhard actually became archaic, similar to the aura Sol's projection was releasing.

Although this took a while to explain, from Adalhard starting his hand seals and completing his final one, it actually happened extremely fast. Adalhard must have weaved hundreds, if not thousands of hand seals in mere moments.

After he finished weaving hand seals, Adalhard then slammed his palms on the ground.

"LORD GA-ON, GIVE ME STRENGTH!!!"

Adalhard roared out, the mad look in his eyes increasing to new heights.

BANG!!

The archaic aura around Adalhard exploded, but he also coughed out a mouth full of blood before listlessly falling onto the ground.

The battlefield that was engulfed by Sol's projection's archaic air now had two powers clashing on equal footing.

The only way to stop a God was to become one!

A thirty-meter Divine Projection of a figure appeared above Adalhard. This figure was golden and had indistinguishable features, but he seem to resemble a man.

When this figure appeared, his mere presence caused the world to become deathly silent. He was the manifestation of Adalhard's beliefs and faith. An incarnation of Lord Ga-On, one of the seven followers of the Goddess of death and destruction, Keres.

At this time, Adalhard's body shook, and his appearance visible age while his hair turned gray. Looking at him at this moment, he seemed to have aged about a hundred years.

And indeed he had.

To summon Lord Ga-On's incarnation, Adalhard had to use a forbidden technique of his Church. This technique was only exclusive to the Cardinals, but he had managed to learn a part of it.

However, this power was simply beyond anything the current him could handle, so he directly lost a large portion of his vitality as a consequence of using this forbidden technique.

But Adalhard seemed not to care for his condition and he slowly raised while he glared at Sol who had stopped some distance away.

When the Divine Projection of Lord Ga-On appeared, not only Sol but the hand of his projection in the sky paused due to the power from this golden figure.

However, something strange happened. Lord Ga-On's projection suddenly looked up at Sol's projection in the sky.

The projection Adalhard summon seemed to only be a manifestation of his faith, so the projection held no sentience and merely had a blank look in its eyes.

However, when its gaze met Sol's projection, a light flickered in its eyes as if it had gained consciousness.

Lord Ga-On's projection then looked away from Sol's projection and onto Sol himself.

"Thou art a Child of the Titans?"

An archaic voice suddenly reverberated across the battlefield. ｂｅ𝚍𝚗ｏｖｅ𝚕．𝚗𝚎𝚝

The power in this voice was terrifying and it gave one the feeling that if they did not bow down and worship this figure immediately it would be blasphemous.

Sol's hand dropped to his side and he looked at this figure silently.

This didn't seem like Sol.

He was different like his body was being controlled by power acting in self-defense.

But this power seemed to loath Lord Ga-On as Sol's face suddenly contorted into a grim look. The disgust his eyes contained was indescribable.

Adalhard, who was no longer in control of his projection was first stunned, but upon hearing the voice, his body shook and he instinctively bowed and cried out.

"Praise Lord Ga-On!"

As Adalhard knelt on the ground his body began to tremble uncontrollably. He didn't understand what was going on. Did he actually summon his Lord Ga-On? Or was it because of that brat?

Lord Ga-On ignored Adalhard and acted as if he didn't exist. He instead cast a cursory glance at Sol before lifting his hand.

"Merely a child of the Titans but thou dare show such contemptuousness toward me?"

Lord Ga-On then grasped at Sol's projection in the sky and the world seemed to contort with a sudden twist of his wrist.

The Heavenly Laws in the area were immediately forced to bend to his Will. This was power beyond one's imagination, the power comparable to a God.

Inside Sol's body, a loud bang echoed out and he then stumbled several steps back while blood spurted from his mouth.

In the sky, his projection slowly dissipated while the aura around him began to wain.

With another grasp of Lord Ga-On's hand, Sol's body stiffen before he rose into the air.

Lord Ga-On then glanced at the crescent moon on Sol's forehead and his eyes showed immense greed.

Swoosh!

Sol's body flew through the air to stop in front of Lord Ga-On, and without hesitation, his large finger tapped Sol's forehead.

Sol immediately released a cry of agony.

The pain was worse than the backlash he received before.

It was pain no human should feel. But it was only getting stronger and stronger as the crescent moon was being torn from his very soul.

Adalhard looked up from his knelt position at this and he couldn't understand what was going on. Everything was happening too fast.

As Lord Ga-On extracted Sol's crescent moon, the greed in his eyes continue to increase by the second. It seemed as if he was about to receive a Heavenly Treasure the likes of which he could only dream of obtaining.

But who would have thought he would stumble upon a defenseless child Titan through one of his followers' manifestations?

Lord Ga-On didn't want to waste time and he moved fast to retrieve the crescent moon.

However, as Lord Ga-On was on the verge of ripping the crescent moon from a screaming Sol's soul, a golden light suddenly burst from Sol's forehead that had Lord Ga-On stumbling back several steps.

Shock filled Lord Ga-On's eyes as he looked at Sol floating in the air with golden rays emanating from his body. Meanwhile, on his forehead, the tattoo of a small sun appeared between his crescent moon.

"This-This is Holy Power!"