CHAPTER 54: INTO THE 8TH FLOOR FINAL PART - FINAL WAVE

I surged forward with a flicker step. The Titan struck down, and I weaved under it, planting a palm into its side.

Burn Stack: 3

I followed up with two more hits—ribs, hip, lower spine.

Its movements slowed—trying to calculate what changed.

’Too late.’

"Your copy’s outdated now."

I backflipped, flared my core, and shifted.

Explosive Ember.

The fire burst from beneath me like a jet engine. My limbs thickened with flame as every strike now carried momentum and detonation.

I shot forward.

BOOM!

One strike to the chest.

BOOM!

Another to the jaw.

Then a spinning heel—straight into the mana core glowing beneath its sternum.

KRAKOOOM!

Its body shuddered—cracks spidering out like glass.

I landed, one hand bracing against the floor, smoke rising off my shoulders.

"You’re not copying me anymore."

The Null-Titan staggered back, molten cracks webbing across its plated chest. For the first time... it bled.

Not real blood—but threads of raw, leaking mana. Twisting, recoiling—its core destabilizing.

It stared at me with empty sockets, then—

Shifted.

A ripple surged through its frame.

Its limbs compressed. Its stance narrowed.

"No way..."

The Titan dropped into Precision Flame.

I saw my own stance, mimicked in seconds. The same arcs. The same form. The same blazing aura.

It lunged three strikes, perfectly spaced, each aiming for pressure points I didn’t even know I was exposing.

I barely ducked. Its fist whistled past my head and scorched the air.

I rolled, pivoted into my stance—Explosive Ember—but before I could launch, it counter-shifted.

BOOOM

A blast of fire met mine mid-air, cancelling both.

"Shit... it’s copying the Crimson Recast."

I gritted my teeth, sliding backward. The Titan’s core glowed a deeper red now—like it was evolving with me.

It roared.

-

[Warning: Adaptive Entity Sync at 63%.]

[Exclusive Kill Condition Triggered.]

-

My breath hitched. That system message wasn’t normal.

[You have unlocked a Style-Specific Finisher: Crimson Recast - Final Bloom.]

[Condition: Must have executed both stances at Mastery level in combat within the last 60 seconds.]

[Current Status: VALID.]

[Final Bloom - Ready.]

-

My heart surged. This was it.

I stepped in. Precision Flame first—Strike after strike—sharp, focused, deliberate.

My fingers, knuckles, knees—they became flame-coated needles stabbing exact points.

The Titan reeled, reacting slower now. Cracks in its form glowed with unstable magic.

I shifted.

Explosive Ember.

I twisted my core, channeling all the burn buildup into a series of devastating haymakers.

Every hit echoed like thunder, launching shockwaves into the place.

[Burn Stack: 15 / MAXED]

The Titan roared in pain—but it couldn’t react fast enough.

"Final Bloom—execute."

I launched skyward.

Flames surged around me—wrapping my arms, chest, legs in radiant coils of inferno. I was no longer attacking—I was detonating.

Time compressed as I drove downward like a comet—

BOOOOOM!!!

The ground cratered. Flame erupted upward in a pillar of light, swallowing the Titan whole.

Dust and heat blinded the world for a second.

I staggered back, panting hard, skin scorched at the edges. My body trembled.

Then I heard a low low growl.

I froze because I see the Titan still standing, tho barely.

Its arms were melted stumps. Its armor plates shattered, hanging loosely by threads of seared sinew and mana wiring. One leg was dragging, burned to the bone-like core beneath.

But it breathed.

It looked up with one remaining eye—bloodied, but glowing with raw hatred and primal will.

"Still... not enough?" I whispered.

[System Notice: Target HP Critically Low — Core Exposed]

It stumbled, aura flickering wildly, like a dying star. "Then I’ll burn you down with my next move."

The Titan’s body lurched, its form twitching unnaturally—then it raised both mutilated arms to the sky.

A low, guttural hum resonated from deep within its chest—followed by an eerie stillness across the entire battlefield.

[Warning: Apex Entity Initiating Self-Destruct.]

[Estimated Time to Detonation: 12 Seconds.]

Mana bled from its wounds, thick and black like corrupted oil igniting in the air.

It wasn’t just trying to kill me. It was trying to take everything down with it.

The world around us screamed—the air twisted, the ground fractured, the very laws of space buckled from the impending magical overload.

Then it roared.

I clenched my fists. My heart thundered.

My instincts begged me to run, but I didn’t.

I took a single step forward.

"You want to drag me down with you? Then let’s BURN TOGETHER!!"

I poured out everything.

Blank Protocol – Erasure Pulse: Triggered.

Reality around me snapped back—canceling enchantments, suppressing the wild chaos that surged too close. But it wasn’t enough.

Emberfang Style – Full Combustion Form.

My arms ignited, coated in kinetic heat.

Each skill layered, clashing, containing the detonation.

And still—it grew.

Mana tore through the environment in violent arcs. The very world blurred, and my vision frayed.

I felt blood leak from my nose, my mouth, even my ears.

But I didn’t stop. I wouldn’t.

I opened my mouth and screamed, voice echoing against the walls of the collapsing arena.

"EVERYTHING I’VE GOT—TAKE IT!!"

Its core cracked from within.

The heat of my own mana began eating away at my insides. I could feel my arms starting to disintegrate at the edges—mana-burn backlash scorching bone.

But the light—was pushing it back.

The vortex slowed.

The Titan, now just a hollow vessel of unstable power, trembled.

I took my final stance, and with no hesitation, I charged.

"YOU THINK I’D LET YOU DECIDE WHEN THIS ENDS?!"

My feet slammed against the broken ground—craters exploded under every step. Flames coiled from my arms like serpents made of raw combustion.

My heart thundered like a war drum. I wasn’t running from the explosion. I was running into it.

Mana surged through me, no longer flowing—it was erupting.

Reality itself wavered in my wake.

"EVERY OUNCE I HAVE—EVERY DROP OF MANA—TAKE IT!!!"

Emberfang Style – Crimson Recast: Explosive Ember Form.

Burn stacks flared out of control as my fists lit the air ablaze—each swing sent shockwaves, rupturing the space around the Titan’s detonation core.

I clenched my fists and struck its core with everything.

Burn Stack: 11

Burn Stack: 12

Burn Stack: 13

Burn Stack: 14

BURN STACK: 15 – MAX STACK REACHED

Fifteen burn stacks detonated in perfect synchronicity.

"This ends... with me standing."

BOOOOOOM!!!

The world disappeared as the white-hot void swallowed the battlefield.

Silence came, and then-

[System Notice: Apex Entity Terminated.]

[Self-Destruct Sequence Interrupted.]

[Survivor Count: 1]

Smoke rose from the shattered floor as I fell to one knee, coughing up thick black blood, barely conscious, trembling from head to toe.

My breath came in ragged gasps. My body was beyond broken. But—

"Still standing," I muttered. A grin tugged at my lips. "And you’re dead."