Once the pattern became visible, dismantling eventually followed, but the titan did not remain a passive fortress after losing one of its lower arms. The collapse of the sword arm had changed the entire balance of its body, and the construct reacted to that loss with the same mechanical intelligence it had shown throughout the battle. Its remaining limbs no longer extended freely in wide overlapping arcs that risked striking its own body. The spear stayed higher, the club moved closer to the torso before descending, the bow arms shifted behind the upper frame whenever Rengar moved too close, and the staff no longer released frost waves in broad wasteful rings unless the terrain had already been prepared to trap him. The titan had registered the danger of exposed mini-cores, and its fighting rhythm tightened around that knowledge.
Rengar continued moving through the damaged battlefield with crimson lightning flowing through his legs and blood aura sealed around both daggers. His earlier attacks had been aimed at creating damage wherever he could reach, but now every movement carried a more exact purpose. A severed limb was no longer the result he wanted. A cracked plate was not enough. The titan's body could endure damage for as long as the mini-cores remained intact, and the brief weakening that followed the destruction of one subsystem was the only window large enough to cut meaningfully into the deeper torso defenses. That meant each exchange now had two goals layered together: expose a mini-core, then exploit the titan's temporary instability before the defensive network recovered.
The spear came first again, though its angle had changed. Instead of stabbing straight toward his position, it pierced into the floor ahead of his movement path, forcing him to either stop or curve toward the staff's frost field. Rengar did neither. He pushed lightning through his legs and stepped onto a patch of frost he shaped beneath his foot, using it as a sliding pivot to rotate inside the spear's line rather than around it. The staff released cold through the floor a heartbeat later, freezing the surface behind him, but he had already passed the expansion point and moved beneath the titan's lower side.
The club arm shifted downward with restrained force, no longer overcommitting into a collision path against its own body. Rengar recognized the correction and changed his goal mid-motion. If the titan would no longer strike itself carelessly, then he had to create angles where protecting one limb forced exposure in another. He slashed across the damaged lower torso with both daggers, the contained blood aura leaving sharp red lines along the armor, then moved away before the club could descend. The strikes were not deep enough to matter alone, but they drew the titan's remaining lower weapon toward the damaged section to guard it.
The bow arms responded to the movement with a frost arrow aimed not at Rengar's body but at the route his speed would naturally take if he continued circling. The projectile released, and freezing energy bloomed across the floor before he reached it. Rengar felt the trap forming as the frost spread, so he shifted upward instead, using the spear shaft still embedded in the floor as a slanted path. His claws struck the frozen metal-like surface, lightning pushed through his muscles, and he ran along the spear for several steps before launching toward the titan's upper body.
The staff arm moved to intercept.
That was what he wanted.
Rengar crossed both daggers and released Twin Wolf Fang Slash toward the staff-side shoulder, not because he expected to cut through it immediately, but because the attack forced the staff arm to rotate inward and reinforce that side. The crossed crescents flew with better stability than before, their edges cleaner, the intersecting point denser, and when they struck the shoulder plating, they carved deep enough to force the titan's upper body to shift. The bow arms pulled back to avoid the crossing energy, and that recoil briefly exposed the elbow structure of one bow arm.
Rengar moved toward it instantly.
The titan tried to close the opening by sweeping the club upward from below, using the remaining lower arm to cut off his descent path, while the spear tore free from the floor and lifted to stab at him from the side. The combined pressure narrowed the air around him, but Rengar let the momentum carry him deeper instead of retreating. He twisted between the rising club and the spearhead, using lightning to accelerate the rotation of his body while both daggers cut along the bow arm's outer armor. The blood aura did not reach the mini-core yet, but the cuts exposed the first inner layer and left red-lit grooves across the limb.
The titan responded by withdrawing the bow arm behind the torso and firing with the other middle arm. The frost arrow formed quickly and released at close range, not with the same full draw as before but with enough force to explode directly in Rengar's path. He planted one foot against the titan's armor, formed a frost foothold for half a breath, and kicked away before the arrow detonated. The explosion coated part of the titan's own side in frost, but the construct's armor absorbed most of the effect without exposing another core.
The staff arm swept downward, releasing a dense frost field that spread beneath him as he landed. The cold tried to lock the floor and slow his movement. Rengar used the same element against itself, not by attacking the titan with ice, but by shaping the upper surface beneath his feet into narrow traction lines. Instead of resisting the frost field, he rode across it, letting lightning turn each step into a short burst of direction change. The titan's attacks chased him across the frozen floor, spear thrusting, club hammering, bow releasing predictive shots that broke the terrain ahead of him.
Noctis watched from beyond the shattered barrier without speaking. His attention followed the adjustment in Rengar's movement, not with surprise but with interest. Rengar was no longer merely avoiding attacks. He was beginning to make the titan answer him. Each slash on a joint, each false entry toward the torso, each sudden rise along a weapon shaft forced the construct to shift its defensive priority, and those priorities revealed more about the internal structure than any direct explanation could have.
Rengar targeted the staff arm next because the frost fields were making the battlefield increasingly restrictive. The bow was more immediately lethal, but the staff created the conditions that made the bow harder to avoid. Removing the staff would restore movement freedom; damaging the bow first would only reduce one pressure source while the terrain continued worsening. That thought did not form as words in his mind. It emerged as instinctive prioritization shaped by the fight itself.
He moved low toward the titan's left side, deliberately allowing the staff to begin another frost release. The titan lowered the staff toward the floor, and Rengar cut across the ground beneath it, using lightning acceleration to reach the arm before the frost fully spread. The spear came down to intercept, but he shifted his weight at the final instant, letting the spear pierce the floor close enough that the impact cracked the staff-side footing beneath the titan. The club rose to punish the angle, yet because the staff was already extended, the titan could not bring the club down without crossing near its own arm.
Rengar forced the issue by slashing into the staff arm's wrist joint.
The titan pulled the staff back, but the movement exposed a faint glow within the forearm where the outer armor had cracked during earlier exchanges. It was not the full mini-core exposed yet, only the first sign of it beneath dense layers. Rengar crossed his daggers and released Twin Wolf Fang Slash at close range. The crescents struck the damaged forearm and cut deeper than his ordinary slashes, but the core remained protected.
The titan reacted by withdrawing the staff arm behind its torso and using the bow and spear together to force him away. Three frost arrows released in succession, each one detonating at a slightly different distance, while the spear swept horizontally to prevent a direct advance. Rengar retreated only far enough to keep space, then ran along the fractured terrain created by the explosions. Broken ice rose in jagged formations, and he used them as stepping points, crossing from one shard to another while crimson lightning carried him faster than the titan's aim could settle.
The staff arm began moving again, this time more defensively, staying close to the body. Rengar saw the change and attacked the other side. He feinted toward the staff, then burst across the titan's front toward the bow arm he had damaged earlier. The titan shifted the spear to block, and the club moved to cover the lower route, but that left the bow arm responsible for protecting itself. The middle arm pulled back, attempting to tuck the damaged section behind the shoulder, but Rengar reached it before the motion completed.
Both daggers struck in quick succession, not as random cuts but along the same weakened grooves he had left earlier. The first slash opened the outer layer again. The second deepened the channel. The third, reinforced by a pulse of lightning through his arm, cracked the armor near the elbow. The mini-core glow appeared for a fraction of a moment, half-covered by regenerating frost.
The titan tried to close the armor immediately.
Rengar did not allow it.
Twin Wolf Fang Slash formed from both daggers in a tighter crossing motion than before. The crescents were smaller than his earlier ranged attempts but denser, shaped for penetration rather than distance. They struck the exposed section before the armor sealed and crossed through the glowing sphere inside.
The bow-arm mini-core shattered.
The entire middle arm holding the bow collapsed at once, frost bow included. The weapon fell from the titan's grip and struck the floor with enough force to crack the chamber surface. The titan's body staggered again, and the defensive pressure across its armor weakened for the brief window Rengar had come to recognize. This time he was prepared before the weakening fully began.
He was already moving toward the torso.
Crimson lightning carried him into the damaged chest section while both daggers remained fully charged. He did not waste the window on broad cuts. He struck the same deep wound created in the previous chapter, each slash landing along the existing fractures and driving them wider. The contained blood aura cut much deeper during the destabilization, and the red streaks did not scatter. They carved into the inner plating in repeated angled lines while Rengar used every second of the weakening to widen the path toward the deeper core.
The titan recovered before he could reach the main core, and when its defensive aura surged back, the remaining bow arm fired from the opposite side at near point-blank range. Rengar crossed his daggers and shifted away, but the explosion caught the edge of his movement and sent freezing pressure across his side. The frost did not pierce his armor, yet it slowed one step, and that small delay allowed the club to descend dangerously close. He twisted out of the direct hit, but the shockwave from the club's impact threw him across the battlefield and forced him to drag both daggers through the floor to stabilize his slide.
The titan advanced with heavier pressure after losing the bow arm. Its attacks were no longer as balanced, but they became more violent. The remaining bow arm fired less frequently but with more power. The spear moved faster, now acting as both pressure and protection. The staff guarded itself carefully while continuing to alter terrain. The club became the main close-range punishment tool, striking with enough force to collapse sections of the chamber floor.
Rengar rose without rushing back in blindly. His breathing remained controlled. The fight had proven that the subsystem strategy worked, but each mini-core destruction made the titan more defensive and more aggressive. The second destruction had opened a deeper wound in the torso, but the main core remained out of reach. He needed more weakening windows.
The staff remained the next priority.
He moved again, this time forcing the titan to defend the exposed chest wound. Repeated blood-charged slashes and short Twin Wolf Fang releases struck the damaged torso from different angles, not to break through immediately but to keep the titan's attention centered there. The spear and club both shifted to protect the wound. The remaining bow arm drew another arrow. The staff arm began raising to freeze the ground around him.
Rengar changed direction during that exact overlap.
Instead of continuing toward the chest, he vanished sideways through a lightning burst and ran up the club's shaft as it passed low across the battlefield. The titan tried to shake him off by lifting the weapon, but Rengar used the rise to launch higher toward the staff arm. The spear stabbed toward him from above, and the bow arrow released toward the same airborne path. He twisted between them, letting the arrow strike close enough to explode against the spear shaft itself. Frost burst across the spear arm, slowing its movement for a moment.
That moment opened the staff arm.
Rengar landed on the staff forearm and drove both daggers into the damaged area he had weakened earlier. The blood aura sank into the armor, but the mini-core was still deeper. The titan tried to pull the arm back, and Rengar rode the motion instead of resisting it, cutting along the length of the forearm as he moved. The staff arm bent inward to protect the core, but that bent angle concentrated stress along the cracked plating. Rengar released Twin Wolf Fang Slash directly into the bend point.
The crossed crescents tore through the weakened armor.
The staff mini-core became visible.
Rengar thrust his right dagger into it before the titan could cover the opening.
The core cracked under the blood-coated blade, and a pulse of lightning followed through the dagger into the sphere. The staff arm lost cohesion, the weapon slipped from its hand, and the entire limb broke apart into dead frozen fragments that would not regenerate.
The titan staggered harder than before.
With the staff destroyed, the frost fields across the floor began weakening, and the defensive drop that followed spread through the titan's armor with visible cracks branching across its torso. Rengar exploited the window immediately, rushing into the chest wound while the armor density fell. His daggers moved in tight repeated arcs, every slash layered over the last, every red streak cutting into the same widening channel. He used a short Twin Wolf Fang Slash at nearly point-blank range, sending crossed crescents directly into the inner plating. The strike broke through another defensive layer, and for the first time, a deeper glow pulsed faintly beneath the titan's chest armor.
The main core was still not exposed, but its presence was no longer hidden completely.
The titan's remaining limbs surged with greater force as the weakening window closed. One bow arm, one spear arm, and one club arm remained, along with the partially damaged torso and the missing sword and staff systems. The construct no longer had the same layered battlefield control, but its remaining attacks became more direct and brutal. The spear thrusts came faster, the club strikes carried more force, and the bow released heavier arrows that created larger freezing explosions despite the loss of one firing arm.
Rengar withdrew from the chest before the defense fully restored, but the titan anticipated the retreat. The spear stabbed behind him, the club crushed the side route, and the bow fired ahead of him, compressing all available movement into a narrowing lane. For the first time in the chapter, the titan's remaining weapons nearly trapped him completely. Rengar used frost to create a foothold against a broken pillar fragment, kicked sideways through lightning, and barely passed between the spear shaft and the expanding frost explosion from the arrow. The edge of the freezing blast washed across his back and slowed his movement for a breath.
The club came down immediately.
Rengar crossed both daggers and released Twin Wolf Fang Slash upward into the descending weapon. The crescents carved into the club arm's wrist area, not enough to destroy the limb, but enough to alter the weapon's angle. The club struck the floor beside him instead of directly on him, and the shockwave threw him away rather than crushing him. He landed hard, slid across the frozen ground, and used one dagger to carve a line into the floor to stop his momentum.
Noctis remained silent beyond the ruined formation. His expression did not show concern, and that lack of concern was itself a form of trust. Rengar was being pressured, but not broken. The titan was adapting, but so was he.
Rengar rose again with blood aura still sealed along both blades. The remaining bow arm had become the most dangerous system now. Without the staff, it no longer layered frost fields across the floor as easily, but each arrow still created huge zones of freezing force, and the titan used those explosions to herd him into spear and club paths. Removing the bow would change the entire fight.
The titan drew another arrow.
Rengar moved before it released, not toward the bow directly, but toward the damaged torso. The titan reacted by protecting the chest, bringing the spear inward and angling the club to guard the lower opening. The bow remained slightly behind the shoulder, ready to fire. Rengar continued toward the chest long enough to make the construct commit, then cut sharply across the battlefield with a lightning burst, using the club's guarded position as a stepping point. He ran along the edge of the club head as it moved, launched upward, and crossed toward the remaining bow arm from above.
The bow released.
Rengar had expected it. He crossed his daggers midair and sent Twin Wolf Fang Slash into the arrow's path. The crossed crescents struck the frost arrow before it fully cleared the bow. The projectile detonated close to the titan's own arm, and the explosion engulfed the bow limb in freezing force and shattered armor. Rengar entered through the blast edge with blood aura compressed tightly around both daggers. The remaining bow arm's mini-core flickered within the damaged structure.
The opening was dangerous because the spear was already turning toward him and the club was rising beneath him. If he committed to the mini-core, he would not fully evade the next exchange. If he retreated, the titan would protect the bow again and restore its ranged pressure. The choice formed inside his body before thought could slow it.
He committed.
Crimson lightning surged through his legs and back as he drove both daggers toward the exposed glow of the bow arm's mini-core, accepting the fact that the titan's counterattack was already closing around him.