Camearra didn't hesitate.
The instant the grand doors of the temple opened, she strode straight inside.
Hudra and Darramb followed closely behind, weapons raised and eyes alert, scanning every shadow for danger.
The entrance corridor was lined with ancient murals.
This time, there was no illusionary old man—no trace of Cthulhu's phantom form—to lend them the vision of distant histories.
To the three Dark Giants, the carvings were now nothing more than stone—mute, lifeless, and unremarkable.
No one came to stop them. Without resistance, they pressed on into the temple's deepest chamber—the throne hall where Cthulhu awaited.
As soon as Camearra crossed the threshold, her eyes locked upon the figure standing motionless in the centre of the hall.
A petrified statue of Tiga, bound forever in stone.
Her heart twisted sharply.
"Tiga… what have you done to him!?"
Camearra's voice trembled with fury, but before she could advance, Hudra and Darramb stepped forward to shield her, their gazes fixed on the dark creature seated upon the obsidian throne.
"What have you done to Tiga!?" Darramb roared.
Cthulhu chuckled—a low, distorted sound echoing through the cavernous hall. Rising from his throne, he spread his massive tendrils and sneered.
"As you can see," he said darkly, "Tiga has already been annihilated by me."
"Damn you—!"
Hudra snarled, leaping into the air. He raised his arm, summoning an icy bow of violet energy, and fired several luminous bolts toward Cthulhu.
But with a single casual sweep of his massive hand, the dark god brushed them aside.
Hudra's eyes widened in disbelief.
Even after gaining such immense power, he still couldn't pierce this monster's defence.
"Then let me try!"
Darramb charged, his crimson shield blazing with molten heat. He hurled himself forward, determined to smash through by brute strength alone.
A tentacle lashed out—faster than sight.
It struck the shield with a thunderous crack, and Darramb was sent hurtling backward, crashing into the stone floor.
Boom!
The ground quaked.
"His strength… it's overwhelming."
Grimacing, Darramb forced himself up, glaring at the writhing tentacles that filled the hall like a storm of serpents.
Even so, Camearra ignored them all. Her eyes were only on Tiga's stone form.
She rushed forward, desperate to reach him—to free him, somehow.
But Cthulhu would not allow it. Rising into the air, his monstrous form loomed overhead as he unleashed a beam of purple light—the Petrification Ray—straight toward her.
"Lady Camearra, look out!"
Hudra and Darramb cried out in alarm. In an instant, they combined their powers—one violet, one crimson—and unleashed twin beams of their own, colliding head-on with Cthulhu's ray.
BOOM!
A violent flash filled the temple as the two forces clashed, lightning crackling through the air.
The floor trembled, the walls groaned—the entire hall felt as if it would collapse under the strain.
But Cthulhu's petrifying beam was too strong.
Slowly, inch by inch, the point of collision began to shift toward Hudra and Darramb.
"Lady Camearra, hurry!"
"We can't hold this much longer!"
Their voices echoed through the hall, strained and desperate.
Camearra clenched her teeth and seized the opportunity.
She sprinted to the statue, pulled out her Dark Sparklence, and pressed it against the blue Colour Timer embedded in Tiga's stone chest.
The instant the two touched—
The Sparklence vanished in a flash of light.
A sharp, crystalline crack rang through the air.
The petrified Colour Timer flared with blue light—alive once more.
From that small spark, colour spread rapidly through the statue's body.
The grey stone peeled away like shedding skin, revealing shining silver and black armour beneath.
His eyes—those pale, milky-white eyes—glowed again.
Tiga had returned.
Within his body, Yuzhou's consciousness stirred, surfacing from the long darkness.
He blinked, dazed, and the first sight before him was Camearra—a towering giant of black and gold.
"Ca… Camearra!?"
For a brief, fleeting moment, he thought he was dreaming—back in that distant future where Camearra had been saved, alive and smiling beside him.
But the sight of Cthulhu's purple beam clashing against Hudra and Darramb's combined attack pulled him violently back to reality.
Camearra had done it. She had saved him.
But there was no time for reunion.
"Tiga! Now!"
Camearra shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos.
Tiga nodded, his instincts kicking in. He spread his arms wide, pulling energy to his core before snapping them outward into an L-shaped stance—
and unleashed a beam of shadowed light.
Dark Zeperion Beam!
His attack joined Camearra's, Hudra's, and Darramb's—the four beams merging into one colossal torrent that tore through the hall like a river of stars.
Cthulhu's eyes widened for the first time.
He hadn't expected Tiga to awaken, nor that the four of them could combine their powers so precisely.
Yet he was far from finished.
"Then you can all turn to stone together!"
With a thunderous roar, Cthulhu's petrification ray thickened, growing wider and more violent. Around him, dozens of smaller energy spheres coalesced, each one pulsing with destructive force.
Tiga's Colour Timer blazed bright as black energy orbs formed around him in response—floating like satellites, ready to intercept.
The beams collided once more, the impact shaking heaven and earth.
Shards of unknown particles burst from the point of contact, scattering like meteors across the ground.
The air itself grew hot, trembling under the pressure.
Ding—dong. Ding—dong.
Hudra and Darramb's Colour Timers began flashing red.
It was their first time fighting as Dark Giants; their new forms consumed far more energy than expected.
And they'd been holding their beams the longest.
"Tiga, Camearra! We're… running out of power!"
Their voices cracked with exhaustion.
"Hudra, Darramb—fall back!" Tiga called out.
They obeyed instantly, cutting off their attacks and retreating to the side, gasping for air, their chests heaving with each breath.
They didn't understand how Tiga knew their names, nor why he called them with such familiarity—but there was no time to ask.
The moment their beams ceased, the balance tipped.
Cthulhu's petrification ray surged forward, pressing harder against Tiga and Camearra.
Small orbs around Cthulhu burst, firing streams of purple plasma that rained down like meteors.
In response, the dark energy spheres circling Tiga shot rapid beams of their own, intercepting each attack midair.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions rocked the hall, waves of heat rolling across the battlefield.
Even so, Camearra's Colour Timer began to blink red.
Her energy was nearly depleted.
Tiga glanced at her—and without a word, shoved her aside, taking her place in the centre of the oncoming blast.
"Ti… Tiga!?"
Camearra stumbled, disbelief flashing in her eyes.
But then she understood.
He had done it to protect her.
The petrification ray inched closer and closer, swallowing the light from his beam bit by bit.