Chapter : 1673

  A harpy dropped out of the sky, a hole in its chest.

  "Gotcha," Kaito said. "House wins."

  And then there was Ren.

  Ren, the clockmaker, the man who had spent his life working with microscopic gears in silence, fell in love with the noise. He fell in love with the recoil.

  He didn't use the rifle. He dual-wielded the rotary cannons. He was the heavy weapons specialist. He stood his ground like a turret, bracing his massive metal legs, and unleashed hell.

  "Hahahaha!" Ren’s laughter was a constant background noise on the comms. "Look at it shred! Look at the physics engine crumble! I am the god of bullets!"

  He treated the battlefield like a clock that needed to be disassembled. The enemy formation was a mechanism, and he was the wrench thrown into the gears.

  "Rook," Lloyd muttered, watching Ren hold off an entire wave of orcs by himself. "We'll call him Rook. He's a castle. He moves straight, and he hits hard."

  The simulation shifted. Lloyd spawned a Boss Monster—a massive, armored Hydra with three heads.

  "Boss fight!" Lloyd announced. "Pattern recognition. It has three heads. They attack in sequence. Fire, Ice, Acid. Figure it out or die."

  The Hydra roared, shaking the digital ground.

  "Scatter!" Vala ordered instantly. "Kaito, target the eyes! Ren, draw its aggro! Keep it looking at you! Support team, aim for the legs!"

  "With pleasure!" Ren roared, stepping forward and unleashing a torrent of lead into the Hydra's chest. The monster roared and focused on him, spewing fire. Ren raised his arm shield, tanking the blast.

  "Now!" Vala screamed. "Flank it!"

  The other suits moved in. They didn't just hack at it. They targeted the joints. They targeted the necks.

  It was messy. Two suits got melted by acid because they didn't dodge fast enough. One got frozen. But they brought it down.

  As the Hydra dissolved into pixels, Lloyd finally relaxed his shoulders.

  "Simulation End," he commanded.

  The red world vanished. The pilots found themselves back in the dark hangars, staring at the inside of their helmets.

  "Neural Link Disengaged."

  The hiss of steam filled the room as the cockpits opened.

  The pilots crawled out. They were soaked in sweat. Some vomited over the side of the catwalks. Some just lay on the metal grating, gasping for air.

  Lloyd walked out onto the catwalk, looking down at them.

  "You died forty-seven times today," Lloyd said. "You killed each other twelve times. You missed seventy percent of your shots."

  He paused.

  "But in the last run... you killed a Hydra. And only three of you died."

  He smiled.

  "That is acceptable. Get some food. Sleep. Tomorrow, we leave the basement."

  "Where are we going?" Vala asked, wiping vomit from her chin.

  "The Badlands," Lloyd said. "No more video games. Tomorrow, we use live ammo. And the targets shoot back."

  ________________________________________

  The Badlands were a desolate scar on the face of the North. It was a region of jagged canyons, red dust, and howling winds that stripped the paint off metal. It was a place where nothing lived unless it was made of stone or spite.

  Lloyd stood on a high ridge, the wind whipping his coat around him. He wore his white mask, the persona of the White Mask blending with the Commander. Below him, in the canyon floor, the ten Aegis suits stood in a loose formation. They looked small against the towering cliff walls. The wind howled through their sensors, creating a constant, eerie moan.

  "Comms check," Lloyd said into his headset.

  "Valkyrie, online," Vala’s voice crackled.

  "Rook, online," Ren reported.

  "Ghost, online," Kaito whispered.

  The others checked in. They sounded nervous. This wasn't a simulation. The wind pushing against their sensors was real. The dust clogging their intakes was real. If they fell here, they would break something expensive.

  "Today is the final exam," Lloyd announced. "You have learned how to walk. You have learned how to shoot. You have learned how to listen."

  He raised his hand.

  "Now, you learn how to survive against something that is faster, stronger, and smarter than you. You have fought goblins and hydras. Big, dumb targets. Today, you fight intelligence."

  Lloyd activated his [Automated Harvesting Protocol]. But he didn't summon a harvester. He summoned the [Echoes of Will].

  The air in the canyon shimmered. Ten figures materialized from the dust. They were spectral, translucent, glowing with a faint blue light. They were exact copies of Lloyd himself.

  Chapter : 1674

  But they weren't unarmed. Each Echo held a spectral steel chain. Each Echo moved with the fluid, predatory grace of a master assassin. Lloyd had programmed them with his own high-level combat algorithms. They were him, stripped of mercy.

  "Targets acquired," Lloyd said. "Live fire authorized. Do not let them touch you. If an Echo touches your cockpit, you are dead."

  "They're... they're small," one of the support pilots, Unit 5, said. "We can just step on them."

  "Famous last words," Lloyd muttered. "Execute."

  The Echoes moved.

  They didn't run; they blurred. They exploded into motion, scattering like a pack of wolves.

  "Contact!" Vala screamed. "Front! Left! Right! They're everywhere!"

  Unit 5 raised his rotary cannon. "Eat lead, ghosts!"

  He fired. The bullets chewed up the ground. But the Echo wasn't there. It had [Void Stepped]. It appeared on the shoulder of the Aegis suit in a flash of blue light. It wrapped a spectral chain around the suit's primary sensor array and pulled.

  CRUNCH.

  The pilot went blind. "I can't see! My sensors are down! Help!"

  "Man down!" Vala yelled. "Defensive formation! Circle up!"

  But the squad was panicking. The Echoes were too fast. They were weaving between the legs of the giants, slashing at hydraulic lines with chains that cut like vibro-blades.

  Ren tried to track one, but his turret speed was too slow. "I can't get a lock! They're glitching! They move too fast!"

  An Echo leaped off a canyon wall, landing on Ren's back. It began to tear at the power coupling.

  "Get it off me!" Ren roared, spinning his torso.

  It was a massacre. Within thirty seconds, the squad's formation was shattered. They were flailing, shooting at shadows, tripping over each other. They were giants fighting mosquitoes, and the mosquitoes were winning.

  Lloyd watched from the cliff, his expression hidden by the mask. He didn't intervene. He needed them to feel the panic. He needed them to realize that size didn't matter.

  "You are fighting individuals!" Lloyd’s voice cut through their comms, sharp as a whip. "You are big, clumsy giants fighting ninjas. If you fight alone, you die alone! Stop looking at the enemy and look at your squad!"

  Vala heard him. She took a deep breath, forcing her heart rate down. She looked at the radar. It was a mess of red dots.

  "Stop!" Vala commanded, her voice finding a frequency of authority that overrode the panic. "Stop moving! You're just giving them openings! Back-to-back! Phalanx formation! Now!"

  Something in her voice snapped the others out of their terror. They scrambled backward, forming a tight circle, their backs to the center, their guns facing outward. A wall of steel.

  "Rook!" Vala barked. "Don't aim! Suppression! Shred the ground! Deny them movement!"

  "On it!" Ren roared. He lowered his cannons and didn't aim at the Echoes. He aimed at the floor.

  BRRRRRRRRRRRRT.

  The canyon floor exploded. Dust and rock shards filled the air. The smooth ground became a cratered hellscape.

  The Echoes faltered. Their footing was gone. They couldn't dash. They had to jump.

  "Ghost!" Vala yelled. "They're airborne! Pick them off!"

  Kaito, safe in the center of the formation, looked up. He saw the patterns. He saw the arcs of the jumps.

  "Calculating," Kaito whispered. "Trajectory locked."

  BANG. BANG. BANG.

  His rifle cracked three times. Three Echoes shattered into blue sparks in mid-air.

  "Got 'em!" Kaito cheered.

  "Hold the line!" Vala ordered. "They're regrouping!"

  The battle shifted. The Echoes, realizing the direct assault had failed, changed tactics. They merged into a single group and charged one section of the phalanx, using their chains to create a combined shield.

  "Concentrate fire on sector three!" Vala ordered.

  The entire squad turned their guns. A wall of lead met the wall of spectral chains.

  It was a stalemate. The Echoes were fast, but the volume of fire was overwhelming.

  Ren was laughing maniacally. "Come and get some! I have infinite ammo!" (He didn't, but the Golem Heart regenerated mana-bullets quickly).

  One Echo managed to slip through the barrage. It lunged for Vala.

  Vala didn't shoot. She dropped her gun and activated her vibro-blade. She didn't try to block the chain. She stepped into the attack, letting the chain wrap around her armored arm.

  "Got you," she hissed.

  She twisted her torso, using the massive torque of the Aegis to yank the spectral figure off its feet. She slammed the Echo into the canyon wall with a force that shook the ground. The Echo dissipated.

  "Five down!" Kaito reported. "Five remaining!"

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  The remaining Echoes paused. They seemed to communicate silently. Then, they did something unexpected. They vanished.

  Chapter : 1675

  "Where did they go?" a pilot asked.

  "Sensors!" Vala screamed. "Check thermal!"

  "Above us!" Kaito yelled.

  The Echoes were coming down the canyon walls, rappelling with their chains. They were dropping directly onto the heads of the squad.

  "Scatter!" Vala ordered. "Break formation! Rook, anti-air!"

  The squad broke apart, but this time it wasn't a rout. It was a controlled dispersal. They moved in pairs. One providing cover, one moving.

  Ren tilted his cannons straight up. "Rain check!"

  He filled the air with metal. Two Echoes were shredded before they hit the ground.

  The last three landed. They were fast, but the pilots were ready now. They trusted their sensors. They trusted each other.

  Kaito sniped one from across the canyon. Vala engaged another in melee, parrying its chain and kicking it in half. The final Echo was surrounded by three suits and obliterated by a concentrated volley of fire.

  Silence fell over the canyon.

  The dust settled. The ten Aegis suits stood amidst the craters, their armor scratched, their barrels glowing hot. But they were standing.

  "Cease fire," Lloyd’s voice came over the comms.

  Lloyd jumped down from the cliff, using [Void Steps] to land softly in the center of the devastation. He looked at the smoking suits. He looked at the teamwork.

  He saw the way Vala checked on the others. He saw the way Ren kept his guns spun up, covering the perimeter. He saw Kaito scanning the horizon.

  For a moment, the image superimposed over his memories. He saw his old platoon from Earth. He saw the faces of men and women who had died a lifetime ago. The ache in his chest was sharp, but it was also proud.

  "Not bad," Lloyd said. "For a bunch of garbage."

  The cockpits hissed open. The pilots leaned out, gasping for fresh air, their faces grimy with sweat and dust. They looked exhausted. They looked battered.

  But they were smiling.

  "Did we win?" Ren asked, his voice hoarse.

  "You survived," Lloyd said. "In war, that is winning."

  He walked over to Vala’s suit. She was slumped in her seat, trembling.

  "Good call on the phalanx," Lloyd said. "But next time, don't let them get above you."

  "Yes, sir," Vala breathed.

  Lloyd looked at them all.

  "You stopped fighting as individuals," he said. "You fought as a machine. A machine has many parts, but one purpose. Today, you found that purpose."

  He turned back toward the transport carrier.

  "Pack it up. We're going home. You have graduation to attend."

  As the pilots cheered, Lloyd walked away, hiding the small smile on his face. They were ready.

  ________________________________________

  The underground hangar had been transformed. The scorch marks from the training mishaps were painted over. The air smelled of polish and anticipation. The ten Aegis suits stood in a perfect line, their armor gleaming under the spotlights.

  In front of the machines stood the ten graduates.

  They looked different. Gone were the ragged clothes of the slums. Gone were the hunched postures of the defeated. They stood tall, their spines straight, their eyes clear.

  They wore sleek, black bodysuits woven from a strange, matte fabric. It was mana-dampening cloth, designed to protect them from the neural feedback of the Lilith Stones. It hugged their frames, making them look like shadows. On their chests, over their hearts, was a new insignia: a silver shield with a lightning bolt cracking it down the middle.

  Lloyd stood on a raised platform, flanked by Ken Park and Spirit Jasmin. He wore his formal coat, the silver buttons gleaming. He didn't look like a noble today. He looked like a Commander.

  He walked down the line, inspecting them.

  He stopped in front of Vala. She stood at attention, her chin up.

  "Vala," Lloyd said. "You have the eyes of a hawk and the instincts of a survivor. You held the line when it broke. You are the shield-maiden."

  He handed her a patch.

  "Your callsign is Valkyrie. You decide who lives and who dies on the battlefield. Lead them well."

  Vala took the patch, her hands steady. "Thank you, Commander."

  Lloyd moved to Ren. The clockmaker sat in his wheelchair, but his eyes were level with Lloyd’s. He wasn't looking up anymore.

  "Ren," Lloyd said. "You found freedom in the machine. You are the anchor. You are the heavy hand that crushes the enemy's hope."

  He handed him a patch.

  "Your callsign is Rook. Like the castle piece. Immovable. Dangerous."

  Ren grinned. "I like it. Checkmate."

  Lloyd moved to Kaito. The gambler was shuffling a single card between his fingers.

  Chapter : 1676

  "Kaito," Lloyd said. "You see the world as numbers. You see the probability of death and you bet against it. You are the eyes that see what others miss."

  He handed him a patch.

  "Your callsign is Ghost. You are there, and then you are not. And then the enemy is dead."

  Kaito nodded. "Odds of success: 100 percent."

  Lloyd continued down the line, assigning names. Hammer. Anvil. Viper. Echo. Each name a badge of honor. Each name a new identity to replace the ones they had lost.

  He returned to the podium. He looked at the ten men and women.

  "Two months ago," Lloyd began, his voice echoing in the silence, "you were nothing. You were the refuse of the capital. You were the people the knights stepped on in the street."

  He paused.

  "The world believes power is a birthright. The nobles believe that because they have magic in their blood, they are better than you. The Devils believe that because they are ancient, they are superior."

  Lloyd’s eyes burned with a cold, fierce light.

  "You are the proof that they are wrong. You are the Titan Squad. You are the steel that does not bend. You are the math that solves the problem of gods."

  He pointed to the suits behind them.

  "Those machines are just metal. You are the soul. When the demons come—and they will come—you will not run. You will not hide. You will be the wall they break against."

  The pilots stood taller. A collective energy seemed to rise from them, a palpable wave of pride and dangerous intent.

  "You are my Titans," Lloyd said. "And today, you are born."

  The silence that followed was heavy with emotion. It wasn't the silence of fear, but of resolve.

  Lloyd stepped down from the podium. He walked among them, not as a superior, but as a peer.

  "There is one final order," Lloyd said, his voice lower, more intimate.

  The squad leaned in.

  "We are ten," Lloyd said. "Ten is not enough. The war that is coming... it will be a tide. We need a dam."

  He looked at each of them.

  "I cannot recruit everyone. I cannot see everyone. But you... you know the streets. You know the look in a person's eye when they have lost everything but the will to live."

  He paced slowly.

  "From today on, you are not just pilots. You are recruiters. You will find your own students. You will find the next generation of Titans."

  He stopped in front of Valkyrie.

  "But remember this," Lloyd said, his voice hardening. "Do not bring me heroes. Do not bring me arrogant fools who want to be famous. People with arrogance cannot operate this machine. The machine will reject them. The machine will kill them."

  He looked at Rook.

  "Bring me the hungry. Bring me the broken. Bring me the ones who have pride, but no ego. The ones who will protect the machine because the machine protects them."

  He looked at Ghost.

  "Teach them what I taught you. Teach them that survival is the only victory. Teach them to be rats."

  Lloyd walked back to the front. He snapped his heels together.

  "Titan Squad. Attention!"

  The ten pilots snapped to attention. It was a sharp, unified crack of discipline that echoed like a gunshot.

  "Dismissed!"

  "SIR, YES, SIR!"

  The scream was primal. It was a release of months of pain, fear, and triumph.

  As the squad broke formation, laughing, hugging, and running to their machines to paint their new callsigns on the armor, Lloyd stood back.

  Ken Park stepped up beside him.

  "You built an army," Ken said quietly.

  "I built a pack of wolves," Lloyd corrected. "And they are starving."

  He watched Ren spin his wheelchair in a circle, high-fiving Kaito. He watched Vala touching the patch on her chest like it was a sacred relic.

  Lloyd felt a weight settle in his chest. He had given them power. He had given them purpose. But he had also given them a death sentence. They would be the first line of defense against monsters that defied reality. Many of them would not survive the year.

  But looking at them now, seeing the fire in their eyes, Lloyd knew one thing for sure.

  They wouldn't die on their knees.

  He turned to Ken. "Prepare the transport. We move the unit to the border in two days. The Devils are getting restless. It's time to introduce them to the future."

  Ken nodded. "Understood."

  Lloyd took one last look at his Titans, then turned and walked into the shadows of the command bunker. The Commander had his army. Now, he just needed a war to fight.