Aren stared at the giant standing in the distance.

There was no point in summoning any more shadows. None of them could keep up. Even Riker, his strongest, could barely take a single hit from the giant.

Yet rather than looking like someone in despair or at a loss, Aren wore a faint smile.

He lifted the Ancient Devourer, holding it in front of him. Right there on the blade was a single drop of blood.

It was dark.

Dark in color, definitely not Aren's blood.

Aren smiled and spoke.

"All I needed was one drop of blood."

As those words left his mouth, the runes on the Ancient Devourer lit up. The soul within the weapon activated, twisting and expanding into its true form.

A metallic dragon skeleton head roared into the sky as a spinal body extended from it, connecting back to the base of the sword in Aren's hand.

"I wondered what the blood of someone connected to a god would do if it touched this blade," Aren said calmly. "All I needed was one drop, and you gave it to me."

According to the description of the Ancient Devourer, it grew infinitely stronger the more blood it consumed, and the more potent that blood was.

And as far as potency went, this giant had the most potent blood possible, pure divinity flowing through its veins.

"I've got a few minutes before it wants my own blood," Aren continued, "and in that time, I'll make sure I get more of yours."

He launched forward.

His speed cracked the ground beneath him, a small crater forming where he pushed off.

The giant seemed to sense the change immediately. For the first time, it didn't remain passive.

It took a stance, one leg forward, one leg back, hammer held to the side, eyes locked onto Aren.

Aren swung.

The dragon head of the sword twisted forward, surging ahead at full speed.

The giant swung its hammer at the same time.

Boom!

Hammer and dragon head collided. A massive explosion rippled outward as both weapons were knocked back.

This was the first time Aren's attack actually looked like it affected the giant.

Still, Aren took the brunt of the impact.

Even with the sword's flexible soul form, the shock traveled through it and into his arms, rattling his entire body. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth as he gritted his teeth and planted his feet.

He attacked again.

The dragon head lashed out repeatedly, striking in a rapid barrage, but the giant blocked each blow. Then it stepped forward and stomped.

The ground erupted.

Spikes of earth shot upward, racing toward Aren.

He dodged quickly, but one spike pierced straight through his shoulder, punching through his dark armor as if it wasn't there.

Blood ran down the spike.

Aren didn't hesitate.

He released one hand from the sword and punched downward, shattering the earth spike. With a deep grunt, he ripped the remaining piece out of his shoulder and tossed it aside.

Blood dripped freely as his armor began to repair itself, though the wound remained.

He looked up at the giant.

It was taking him seriously now.

"You can feel it, right?" Aren said, smirking. "The pressure. Just one more drop of your blood, and things will start changing even more."

The giant understood.

And it hated it.

A puny insect was challenging its pride.

It let out a deep groan and gripped the hammer with both hands, lifting it high above its head.

Aren knew instantly, this wasn't something he could tank.

He retreated fast as the hammer came down.

The impact shattered the ground. A massive wave of destruction surged forward, cracks, ruptures, and torn earth far worse than anything the giant had done before, all concentrated on Aren.

At the last moment, Aren summoned tendrils.

They wrapped around him and hurled him into the air as the devastation tore through the ground beneath.

Even from above, he felt the force ripple through his body. If he'd been caught down there, it would have been over.

In midair, the giant locked onto him and hurled the hammer.

The weapon whirled through the sky, runes blazing, slamming into Aren with terrifying speed.

BAM!

The impact sent Aren flying. He coughed up blood as several ribs shattered under the blow.

His vision went blank for a second.

Then he snapped back.

Clutching his sword tightly, Aren swung again.

The giant was momentarily unarmed, the hammer still pushing Aren upward.

The Ancient Devourer extended even further, lunging toward the giant.

The giant reacted instantly, grabbing the dragon head by the neck before it could reach his face.

But the dragon twisted.

It snapped down onto the giant's arm.

It didn't bite deep, but a single drop of blood spilled onto its metallic teeth.

That was enough.

The sword's power surged violently, more than doubling in strength.

Aren retracted the blade as the giant recalled his hammer.

He fell from the sky, crashing into the ground and forming a small crater.

When he stood up, bloodied and broken, there was still a smile on his face.

"Second drop," Aren said, laughing softly. "Now my blade's even stronger."

Ignoring the pain tearing through his body, he launched forward again.

He had seen a path to victory.

As long as the Ancient Devourer remained in his hand, one of two things would happen.

He would win.

Or he would die before the blade reached the power it needed.

Either way, Aren wasn't stopping.

The giant seemed to understand that Aren was getting stronger. It decided to take things fully seriously. It gripped the handle of its hammer even tighter. The runes on it glowed brighter, and soul energy swirled around it before changing into something else.

It turned into divine energy. It wasn't much, but the little that surrounded the hammer changed the power around it.

Aren noticed this, but he had come too far to back down, too far to stop, and with a chance in sight, it was do or die.

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