⫸ [ TIME: +14 DAYS SINCE THE SKY WAR ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: BASE CAMP ALPHA – THE FOUNDRY SECTOR ]
⫸ [ STATUS: MASS PRODUCTION ]
The crater was no longer a ruin. It was a city of fire and steel.
The noise was constant. The rhythmic thud-thud-thud of hydraulic presses echoed off the blast walls. The hiss of steam vented from the cooling towers. The chanting of the Deep-Kin smiths merged with the electronic hum of the Fabricator.
Elian stood on the catwalk overlooking the main assembly line.
Below him hundreds of workers moved with the organized chaos of an ant colony.
The Deep-Kin operated the smelters. They poured molten Void-Steel into massive molds.
The Golden Crow prisoners—now stripped of their robes and wearing grey jumpsuits—stood at the cooling racks. They didn't hammer the metal. They sang to it.
They were Spirit-Smiths. They channeled their ambient Qi into the cooling alloy aligning the grain structure at a molecular level.
"Efficiency," Elian noted.
He looked at the readout on his HUD.
◤ PRODUCTION REPORT ◢
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
⬢ Output: 12 Suits / Day
⬢ Defect Rate: 0.05%
⬢ Alloy Quality: Tier 2 (Enchanted Void-Steel)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"The hybridization is working," Elian said. "We print the shape. They infuse the durability."
He walked down the stairs to the floor. The heat was intense but his Iron-Skin absorbed it comfortably. He didn't even sweat.
A former Golden Crow Elder named Kaelen stood by the quality control station. He held a finished chest plate. He looked tired but there was a begrudging respect in his eyes as he examined the metal.
"It is... unnatural," Kaelen muttered. "No hammer touched this. Yet the metal is denser than anything forged in the Sun-Spire."
"It's called sintering," Elian said. "We use lasers to melt the powder. You just keep the spirits happy."
"The spirits scream when they touch this metal," Kaelen said. "It is cold. It is hungry."
"It's Void-Steel," Elian corrected. "It's supposed to be hungry."
Elian took the chest plate. It was matte black massive and heavy. It was sized for a Giant.
"Keep the line moving," Elian ordered. "I want fifty units ready by sunset."
He walked out of the foundry into the sunlight.
⬡ ─── ⬡ ─── ⬡
⫸ [ TIME: 14:30 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: PERIMETER TRAINING GROUND ]
⫸ [ STATUS: DRILL ]
The ground shook.
"FORWARD!" Grom roared.
Fifty Giants marched in unison.
They were no longer the ragged survivors of the jungle. They were monsters of war.
Each Giant wore a suit of Mark-II Infantry Armor.
It was a partial exo-skeleton. Heavy plates covered their chests, shoulders, and shins. Hydraulic actuators hissed at their joints amplifying their already immense strength.
On their backs they carried Capacitor Bricks. Glowing blue blocks that powered the servos.
But it was their weapons that terrified the eye.
They didn't carry swords. They carried Rail-Pikes.
Four-meter long spears made of tungsten. The tip was not just sharp. It was a shaped-charge explosive driven by a pneumatic piston.
"Halt!" Grom commanded.
The line of steel stopped. Dust settled around their armored boots.
Elian walked onto the field. He looked small next to the armored titans.
"Target practice," Elian said.
He pointed to a row of massive boulders set up at the far end of the field. They were granite blocks the size of tanks.
"Phalanx formation!" Grom shouted.
The Giants locked their shields together. A wall of black metal formed instantly.
Then the second rank lowered their pikes over the shields of the first rank.
"Charge!"
The ground thundered.
The Giants didn't run. They advanced with the unstoppable momentum of a glacier.
They hit the boulders.
KER-CHUNK.
The pneumatic pistons fired.
Fifty tungsten spikes slammed into the granite simultaneously.
The sound was like a thunderclap.
The boulders didn't crack. They shattered. They exploded into gravel. The kinetic force of the Rail-Pikes turned solid rock into dust.
"Reset!" Grom roared.
The pistons retracted with a sharp hiss. The Giants stepped back ready to strike again.
Elian nodded.
"Physics lesson number nine," he whispered. "Impulse."
Disciple Lin walked up to him. She was holding a datapad. She looked pale.
"The scouts are back," Lin said.
"Federation?" Elian asked.
"No," Lin shook her head. "Beasts. The Sun-Spire is gone. The Grand Array is down. The shield that kept the deep jungle out... it has vanished."
She pointed to the East.
"The Beast Tide is coming. They smell the fresh territory. They smell the meat."
Elian looked at the eastern treeline.
He could see the birds fleeing. He could hear the distant snapping of trees. Something massive was moving through the jungle.
"How many?"
"Thousands," Lin said. "A migration. Tier 1 and Tier 2 beasts. Maybe a Tier 3 Alpha leading them."
Elian looked at his new army.
He looked at Grom. He looked at the smoking tips of the Rail-Pikes.
"Good," Elian said. "We need to test the batteries."
⬡ ─── ⬡ ─── ⬡
⫸ [ TIME: 18:45 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: EASTERN DEFENSE LINE ]
⫸ [ STATUS: CONTACT ]
The suns set. The jungle turned black.
The floodlights of the base clicked on. They cut harsh white cones through the mist.
The trenches were manned.
Three hundred Deep-Kin crossbowmen lined the rear wall. Their weapons were upgraded with explosive bolts printed by the Fabricator.
In the front trench stood the Iron Legion.
Fifty armored Giants. Statues in the dark.
Elian stood on top of the command bunker. He wore a simple headset. He was not in his suit. He wanted to see this with his own eyes.
"A.R.C., seismic scan."
[ Contact imminent. ]
[ Multiple signatures detected. Mass range: 500kg to 5 tons. ]
[ Distance: 300 meters. ]
The trees at the edge of the clearing exploded.
The horde broke through.
They were Iron-Hide Boars. Not normal pigs. These were the size of minivans covered in natural chitin armor that could stop a normal bullet. Their tusks glowed red with heat.
Behind them came Wind-Stalker Wolves. Pack hunters that moved like smoke.
They roared. A sound of primal hunger.
They saw the base. They charged.
"Hold fire," Elian ordered.
The tide of muscle and fur rushed across the open ground.
200 meters.
150 meters.
100 meters.
"Deep-Kin," Elian said calmly. "Light them up."
The crossbows twanged.
THWIP. THWIP. THWIP.
Three hundred bolts arced over the trenches.
They hit the front line of the boars.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The chemical warheads detonated.
Blood and armor plating sprayed into the air. The front rank of the charge evaporated in a cloud of red mist.
But the beasts were frenzied. They trampled their dead. They kept coming.
They hit the trench line.
"Legion," Elian commanded. "Engage."
Grom stepped up.
He didn't hide in the trench. He climbed out of it.
The fifty Giants followed him. They formed a line of black steel on the open ground.
The boars slammed into the shields.
CRUNCH.
The impact would have broken a tank.
The Giants slid back a few inches. Their boots carved grooves in the dirt. The servos in their armor whined high and loud.
But the line held.
"PUSH!" Grom bellowed.
The Giants stepped forward. They shoved the multi-ton beasts back with hydraulic force.
Then the spears came down.
KER-CHUNK.
KER-CHUNK.
The Rail-Pikes did their work.
It was a massacre.
The tungsten spikes punched through the iron hide of the boars like paper. They punched through bone. They punched through organs.
Every thrust was a kill.
A Wind-Stalker Wolf leaped over the shield wall. It was fast. A blur of grey motion aimed at a Giant's throat.
The Giant didn't panic.
He backhanded the wolf with his gauntlet.
SMACK.
The power-assisted slap broke the wolf's neck in mid-air. It fell dead instantly.
Elian watched the data scroll on his screen.
[ Battery Levels: 92%. ]
[ Armor Integrity: 98%. ]
[ Casualty Report: Zero. ]
"It works," Elian whispered.
Then the ground shook.
A roar echoed from the deep jungle. It wasn't a boar. It wasn't a wolf.
A tree trunk flew out of the darkness. It smashed into the Giant line knocking two warriors flat.
Something stepped into the light.
It was a Thunder-Ape.
A Tier 3 beast. It stood ten meters tall. Its fur crackled with blue lightning. It beat its chest and the sound was like a sonic boom.
"Tier 3," Lin gasped. "It has a Core. It can shoot lightning."
The Ape opened its mouth. A beam of electricity charged in its throat.
"Grom!" Elian shouted. "Clear the line!"
Grom looked at the monster. He didn't retreat.
He dropped his shield.
He gripped his Rail-Pike with both hands.
"Overcharge the capacitors!" Grom yelled to his squad.
Two other Giants ran up behind Grom. They slammed their hands onto his backplate.
They linked their batteries to his.
Series circuit. Voltage multiplier.
The Ape fired the lightning.
Grom charged.
The lightning hit his armor. The Void-Steel glowed white. The grounding cables sparked.
Grom ignored it. He roared a challenge that drowned out the thunder.
He reached the Ape.
He thrust the pike upward. Into the beast's chest.
"FIRE!"
KER-BOOM.
The piston fired with triple the voltage.
The recoil drove Grom's feet a meter into the ground.
The tungsten spike didn't just penetrate. It exited the Ape's back.
The explosive tip detonated inside the chest cavity.
The Thunder-Ape froze. Its eyes rolled back.
It toppled backward like a felled tower.
THUD.
Silence returned to the battlefield.
The lesser beasts saw their Alpha die. They broke. They turned and fled back into the dark.
Grom stood over the corpse. Smoke rose from his armor. His pike was bent.
He raised his fist.
"IRON!" he roared.
"IRON!" the Legion answered.
Elian turned off the floodlights.
"Dinner is served," Elian said to Alara. "Tell the kitchen we have fresh meat."
⬡ ─── ⬡ ─── ⬡
⫸ [ TIME: 22:00 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: COMMAND CENTER ]
⫸ [ STATUS: STRATEGIC REVIEW ]
The celebration outside was loud. Roast boar and victory songs.
Inside Elian was looking at the map.
The immediate area was secure. The Iron Legion was combat-proven.
"We have the army," Elian said. "Now we need the infrastructure."
He zoomed out on the map.
To the North lay the Obsidian Canyon.
To the South the Acid Swamps.
"A.R.C., scan the horizon."
[ Scanning... ]
[ Long-range sensors picking up an anomaly in the Northern Canyon. ]
[ High concentrations of refined metal. ]
[ And a faint energy signature. Not Federation. Not Cultivation. ]
"What is it?"
[ It matches the frequency of the wreckage found in Sector 7. ]
[ Pre-Federation Tech. ]
Elian's eyes narrowed.
"Ancient tech?"
[ Possibly an old colony ship. Or a forgotten bunker. ]
Elian looked at the countdown clock.
5 Months, 2 Weeks until Harvest.
"We need better weapons," Elian said. "If there is old tech out there I want it."
He turned to the door.
"Prepare the sled," Elian ordered. "Tomorrow we go on an expedition."
[END OF CHAPTER 31]