Roar! Roar!
The Titans roared and shrieked as they pursued the humans.
Captain Aegon had blood all over his face from both his dead comrades and Titans as he led the 5 warriors that followed him to escape this ancient cursed city.
Despite the advantage that the Fox Squad and Commander Knock gave to them, dozens of Civilian Titans were still on their heels with a few Warrior Titans.
The Civilian Titans may not be able to run but their walking was equivalent to a human's running, their massive legs ate yards of space with each stomp.
Thousands of Titans lived in this city during its reign as an Empire, with all of them having been woken up by that cursed machine, it meant that despite the different helps that they got, they still had hundreds of Titans that were after them.
Arya had a look of panic on her face as she ran after her squad leader.
As for Ackermann, she was as serious as always as they escaped.
As for the other tribe warriors that decided to escape with the Captain, one of them was Din, the current generation champion of the Drago Celeste tribe while the other 2 were from other tribes.
They had different expressions on their faces as they escaped.
The thudding sounds kept on growing louder.
"The Warrior Titan is closing the distance!" Arya yelled in a panic.
"Shut up and keep on running!" Aegon snapped back at her.
As they ran, he suddenly stopped as he forced his Pugilist energy down to his legs. While the rest escaped, he sprinted at the closest Warrior Titan.
"Pugilist Ability: Floating steps of glory!"
Once his first foot stomped on the ground, he levitated into the skies as with Pugilist energy concentrated on his leg, he sprinted across the air.
Mid-sprint, he brought out his pair of daggers from their sheath.
Unlike Drog and Knock, Aegon was a weapon Pugilist.
His sudden maneuver caught the Warrior Titan off-guard. The massive Titan was unable to react as Aegon sprinted right before its face in an instant.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
3 rapid stabs, one to the left eye, another to the right eye, and the last to the forehead straight at the crystal spelled the end for this Warrior Titan.
Its colossal form fell like a cut tree as Aegon turned to escape.
The other Titans roared angrily but he gave them no heed.
Aegon turned right in time to see his followers running around a bend into another street, he rapidly sprinted after them into the bend.
Just a few seconds later though, they regreted their decision.
This was a dead end.
For some strange reason, this street was cut apart in half and what flowed inside the massive hole left in its middle was extremely hot lava.
Lava was before them, Titans were behind them.
"F*ck!" Aegon cursed as he turned in desperation to look at the Titans.
It was already too late for anything smart, the Titans already flooded the street and cut off all their chances of escaping to take another street.
"We have to fight!" He yelled at his followers.
"Fight and survive!"
All of them braced themselves before clashing with the Titans.
With Aegon leading them with his deadly daggers, they were able to hold their ground, defending themselves while killing a few Titans in the process but this did not last long since there was simply no end to the Titans.
As soon as Aegon was injured, they were screwed.
The leading Warrior Titans slammed their powerful arms in a bid to crush them to pieces and this was where desperation pushed Din to his limits.
In this moment of life and death, he broke his limit.
Din's eyes and body turned red as his body emitted steam.
The next moment, he yelled. "Wan Dragon, release!"
Din's body briefly turned intangible then from his body flew out a massive Red Dragon far powerful than the Berserk Ape that Kamnak once released.
In this moment of life and death, he overcame his limit and learned the release. Instantly after the Red Dragon appeared, it roared and breath fire.
"Roar!"
The red Wan Dragon proved that fire was another bane of the Titans, or perhaps, it was just Dragon fire.
In contact with Dragon fire, the Titans were like dry leaves making contact with fire as they burned to ashes before being blown away by the wind.
In less than a minute, the red Wan Dragon wiped the street of Titans.
Others marched here but for now, they were safe.
Aegon heaved a sigh of relief. "You did it Din! Let's escape".
Whoosh!
Aegon barely turned around to find a shortcut to the nearest street before he heard the familiar sound of a Pugilist's energy punch.
"Ugh…" The warrior coughed blood as his chest caved in completely.
His heart was obliterated and he died.
Aegon turned in shock just in time to see the next murder.
Snap!
Din snapped the head of the next warrior before going for Arya.
Ackermann dodged swiftly but Arya was petrified, perhaps still shocked by the fact that Din just killed 2 of their comrades. Aegon reacted right on time, jumping into the fray to barely save her from Din's deadly fists.
"Why?" Aegon turned to look at him as he asked.
"Hahaha". Din laughed. "Why? You dare ask me why?"
More Titans came, but the red Wan Dragon burned them all with its fire, giving Din all the time in the world to commit his murder and speak.
"I don't need to have a reason to kill, I just do it". He said coldly.
Aegon shook his head as he looked at the 2 dead bodies. "Why?" He asked again as his shoulders shook perhaps from sadness or rage.
This time, Din could no longer give a random answer but his eyes still burned red in rage. "Why? Because of how you all treated me".
His voice turned agitated and tensed up like someone who had a lot of things to vent but was previously holding back. "I lost my parents at a tender age but no one seemed to care".
"They didn't care about how I feel, they abducted me to train and heaped such high expectations on me because I became this generation's champion".
"I can cope with huge expectations on my shoulders, but they just took me as a tool. The champion is supposed to be the next tribe head but I can't, after all, I am not the heir, I am not Draconion's descendant".
"I live all my life and was trained to serve Draconion's useless son".
"I killed those 2 because of how they treated me, I know they always saw me as a good for nothing who got lucky to become a champion".
"What if I became a champion? What's wrong with that? It's not like I even deliberately choose it, why can't I just be me?" Unknowing to himself, tears already started pouring down his eyes as he vent.
"No one ever loved me, the only people who loved me left me when I was a child, I love no one in my tribe nor the other tribes".
Aegon was stunned at first by Din's revelation but he calmed down. "We're comrades, our relationship is even better than the love between families".
Din looked at Aegon and sneered. "I am no longer a naïve kid".
"During the argument to determine the Commander of the Vanguard Squad, you knew that Kamnak already learned the release yet you let me fight him just to humiliate me".
"If I was the one who learned it first, would you have let me fight, beat, and humiliate Kamnak in public just to chose the Commander?"
"You won't". He laughed. "Kamnak is tribe head Kohama's son after all".
He laughed again and shook his head as his eyes shone in conviction. "I can't find love among your likes anymore".
"I think I can only find the love that I am looking for in a free place like the Clown Society, they are free unlike the tribes".
"Like the Black Master said, we live in a stupid system".
"I no longer want to be a part of this stupid system".
"I will present your heads to the Black Master as the ticket for me to join their leaderless system, their system where true freedom is".
Din clenched his fists.
"Din, you don't have to do this…"
"Shut up, you know nothing!"
"Kill them!"
The red Wan Dragon changed its target and breath dragon fire.
Din joined the attack as his Pugilist energy flared powerfully.
Boom!