“Necro-Thief,” Vashak’s voice boomed, chilling the very air. “You have stolen from the Abyssal Lords. Return the Titan corpse, or this world shall be consumed.” Olev raised an eyebrow, a flicker of something almost like amusement in his eyes. “A Titan corpse, huh? Bit presumptuous, aren’t we? Last I checked, possession is nine-tenths of the law. And this particular property just happens to have my name etched on its soul-plate.” He gestured vaguely at the mangled officer, still oozing across the broken concrete. Yeva stared, caught between the terrifying majesty of Vashak’s projection and Olev’s utterly casual defiance. The demon warlord was demanding something Olev possessed, something powerful enough to warrant the attention of a cosmic entity. Her earlier assumptions about him, the lazy scrap-hauler, had been shattered. Now, she realized, she knew nothing at all. [ *SYSTEM ALERT: ABYSSAL LORD VASHAK HAS ISSUED A DIRECT CHALLENGE. FAILURE TO RENDER THE TITAN-CLASS CORPSE WITHIN 10 MINUTES WILL RESULT IN: TOTAL PLANETARY SUBJUGATION. GOOD LUCK, REAPER.* ] “Right,” Olev said, rubbing his chin. “Ten minutes. Feels a bit tight for a cosmic negotiation. Time to relocate.” He turned to Yeva, his expression unreadable. “You coming, or are you going to stand here and watch the end of everything from a first-row seat?” Yeva didn’t hesitate. The gate was a death trap, her squad was decimated, and the commander was a puddle. Olev was the only viable option. “Where are we going?” she asked, her voice tight, the adrenaline still singing in her veins. “My place,” Olev replied, a faint, unsettling smirk playing on his lips. He snapped his fingers, and from the bruised-purple sky, an immense shadow detached itself from the permanent twilight. It wasn’t flying, not exactly. It was more like it shifted into phase, a massive, carapaced monstrosity, its once-living form now a hollowed-out fortress, drifting silently towards them. It was easily the size of a district, its shell a mosaic of obsidian and gristle, pitted and scarred, but undeniably stable. The repurposed husk settled with a barely audible thud just beyond the gate's broken perimeter. “That’s… your place?” Yeva whispered. Keeping a dead dreadnought as a mobile bunker within spitting distance of Ostrog-7 explained the carcass Vashak demanded. “It’s cozy,” Olev said, already moving towards a gaping maw in the creature’s flank that served as an entry ramp. “And it has a decent view of the apocalypse.” Grigori, still a pile of reassembling bone fragments, groaned from the ground. “Cozy? It’s a tomb, boss! And the structural integrity is a nightmare after that last asteroid shower. My sacrum still creaks.” “You’ll live,” Olev said, not looking back. “Figuratively speaking, of course.” Inside the hollowed hull, the air was cool, smelling faintly of ozone and ancient decay. The interior was vast, a dizzying labyrinth of chitinous tunnels and cavernous vaults, lit by pulsating biomorphic conduits. Olev led them through a main artery, the floor beneath their feet spongy under their boots. Yeva’s surviving squad members, a handful of battle-scarred veterans, followed cautiously, weapons aimed at the dark. They reached a central flight deck, surprisingly functional with a rough-hewn console and a series of monitors flickering with tactical data. From the screens, Yeva saw the flesh-bridges throbbing with renewed intensity, pushing more horrors toward the crater rim. Then the vessel lurched violently. Not a shudder, but a direct collision. A tearing sound, like wet stone being ripped apart, echoed through the frame. Warning klaxons blared, a harsh, guttural wail. [ *SYSTEM ALERT: HOSTILE BREACH DETECTED. CRAG-MAW SIEGE-BEHEMOTH PLATOON HAS TELEPORTED DIRECTLY ONTO THE CHRONOS SHELL. HULL INTEGRITY AT 67%.* ] “He’s not wasting any time,” Olev observed, his voice devoid of alarm. “Efficient. I like that in an enemy.” Another, heavier collision followed, directly above them. The overhead vaulted ribbing groaned, a spiderweb of cracks appearing across the bio-luminescent membrane. Dust and fragments of chitin rained down. A shadow tore through the ruptured roof. “Scatter!” Yeva roared, shoving her remaining squad members back. She braced her shield, though thin steel meant nothing against plating that breached siege hulls. A monstrous, clawed limb, thick as a trench engine, punched through the roof, showering them with debris. It was followed by a grotesque, plated snout, its jaws distended, dripping corrosive ichor. A Crag-Maw, a living siege engine, had ripped its way directly into their sanctuary. Its single cyclopean eye, a hateful crimson orb, fixed on Yeva. The brute roared, a sound that rattled Yeva’s teeth, and brought its gargantuan claw down to flatten her. Yeva braced, her shield arm trembling, knowing this was it. The blow would reduce her to red paste. But the blow never reached her. In a blur of motion, Olev launched himself forward, shoving Yeva violently out of the path of the descending claw. He interposed himself, his body a meager, insignificant shield against the crushing force. Yeva stumbled back, gasping, watching in horror as the Crag-Maw’s claw slammed down where Olev had been. A sickening *CRACK* echoed through the vault. Not the sound of Olev's bones shattering, but something far more fragile. A skeletal *pop*. [ *SYSTEM ALERT: FATAL DAMAGE REDIRECTED. GRIGORI (UNDEAD MINION) HAS ABSORBED LETHAL BLOW. GRIGORI (UNDEAD MINION) HAS TEMPORARILY CEASED TO EXIST. RECONSTITUTING… EVENTUALLY.* ] “OW! My… my everything! Boss, you owe me a new femur! And a sternum! My skull just disintegrated into glitter!” Grigori’s disembodied shriek echoed from the ethereal plane, furious and high-pitched. Olev stood completely unharmed, the dust settling around him. The brute's claw was embedded deep in the deck where Olev had stood, having pulverized nothing but air and Grigori’s spectral form. He turned to Yeva, who stood motionless against the bulkhead. For a fraction of a second, their gazes locked amidst the raining grit. Then, the moment broke. Olev looked up at the Crag-Maw, a predatory glint entering his eyes. “Rude guests,” he murmured. “Always busting up the furniture.” He lifted a hand, and from the shadows pooling beneath him, a legion of Necro-Strikers materialized, their spectral blades shimmering. They swarmed the intruder, a whirlwind of ethereal steel tearing into thick hide. The Crag-Maw thrashed, roaring in pain, but Olev was already moving. He vaulted onto its massive arm, his movements impossibly swift. With a single, brutal punch, imbued with shadowy energy, he tore through the creature’s plated skull, ripping out its glowing core with a wet wrench. The beast shuddered, its crimson eye fading, and then collapsed, its bulk shaking the entire deck. [ *SYSTEM ALERT: CRAG-MAW SIEGE-BEHEMOTH (ELITE ABYSSAL THREAT) DEFEATED. REWARD: 1x CRAG-MAW CORE, 1x SIEGE-MAW CANNON BLUEPRINT. BONUS: EXTREME SADISM DETECTED. CRITICAL HIT TO VITAL ORGANS WHILE TARGET WAS ALREADY FLANKED AND PANICKED. +100% LOOT QUALITY. YOU ARE A MONSTER. GOOD JOB.* ] Olev didn’t even glance at the loot. He placed his hand on the inert skull of the Behemoth. Dark tendrils pulsed from his palm, snaking over the creature’s ruined form. The dead eye of the Crag-Maw snapped open, blazing with a new, eerie blue light. Its massive limbs twitched, then slowly, with a groan of reanimated muscle, it pushed itself up, its gaze now fixed on Olev. “Welcome to the team,” Olev said to his newest minion, patting its armored flank. “You’re on cannon duty.” The Crag-Maw, now a loyal undead construct, swiveled its head, its reanimated eye locking onto the gaping rift in the ceiling it had just created. Through the collapsing tear in reality, beyond the torn fabric of the hull, a familiar, furious face was visible: Vashak the Desolator, his towering projection still raging. But for a split second, before the rift fully buckled, Olev saw it. Beyond Vashak, the Abyssal landscape itself was being consumed. A tendril, impossibly vast and writhing, pulsed with cosmic hunger, tearing apart the very fabric of the demon dimension.

Home Is Where The Hollowed-Out Titan Is