Boom boom boom boom!
Thunderous detonations rang out as thick smoke billowed. The burning branches layered over Surtr's body shattered and peeled away one after another, scattering in every direction. His body, which stretched like a mountain range and stood hundreds of meters tall, rapidly shrank.
"Burn here, perish here!"
Yet just as the King of the Giants was about to be blasted to pieces beneath the fierce bombardment, the living computational core within his chest cavity—wrapped layer upon layer in cocoon-like branches—let out a desperate final struggle and roar. His remaining half of a left arm slammed violently into the ground.
At once, spiderweb-like cracks spread across the earth, instantly tearing open enormous fissures thousands of meters deep and several kilometers long. Golden-red magma erupted from the crust and poured over Surtr's body, causing the Fire Giant on the verge of extinction to blaze fiercely once more.
The hour of corruption had come. Let the Song of Despair be played, let the final chapter of all things begin, let Ragnarok descend—this was the Burning of the Star!
Under the scorching blast of wind like a stellar eruption, the Heroic Spirits who had come to intercept him were sent flying one after another.
"Die, die, die, die! Kill them all!"
The King of the Giants crawled out from the infernal sea of fire, supporting his broken, branch-like body. He raised his half-arm wildly and let out a hysterical roar filled with venomous curses, charging stubbornly toward the distant figure. He was willing to burn away even his final remaining radiance for one last assault.
At that moment, Samael had evaded the flowing magma and retreated to a low slope nearby. Amid the trembling earth, he watched the King of the Giants stride forward step by step, burning the world as