That night was not only dark it was heavy. Wind from the Red River swept through the ruined outskirts of Hoa Lac, carrying the acrid stench of scorched metal, burning plastic, and the raw odor of fear.
Above, military drones circled. Red warning lights blinked, slashing the night like wounds that refused to close. Then the emergency signal blared from the defense grid:
"Alarm Code 02! Mechanicalized creature detected, Type B, unidentified code! Approaching from Bắc Hoa Lac Bridge!"
General Dự rose instantly, hand on the electronic map:
"Priority one civilians! Seal civilian roads, open evacuation corridor west! Mobile Unit 3, coordinate with police to block at Hòa Xuân industrial line!"
Sirens. Floodlights. Armored vehicles tore through the night toward the alarm. In residential blocks, loudspeakers barked:
"Citizens, remain calm, leave your homes immediately. Bring identification. Do not push or panic!"
The elderly trembled, clutching grandchildren. A mother dragged a suitcase, urging, "Hurry, hurry, my child!"
Children cried, but the roar of engines and soldiers' boots drowned them out.
District 5, edge of the red zone.
A squad of riot police advanced into a dead-end alley. Helmets, black armor. Their radios crackled with static:
"zzzt… can't hear clearly…"
"Squad 2 reporting! Thermal imaging lost! Something is jamming the signal!"
Then, from the street's end KENG KENG KENG!
Gigantic shadows emerged not full robots, but creatures fused with steel into flesh. Eyes blazing red. Joints creaking like rusted frames.
"Fire warning shots!" the commander barked.
"No! Civilians behind!" another soldier shouted.
The monsters smashed glass, toppled billboards, lifted a taxi and hurled it aside. A woman collapsed, clutching her child:
"Help! Someone help!"
And then the azure light appeared.
It flared a streak of blue carved across the night sky. Not military flares. Not fire rounds. But light… from a man.
A figure stepped from smoke. Tall, lean, clothes scorched, one shoulder stained with dried blood. No one recognized him. A soldier stammered:
"Who is that? No military insignia!"
"Not on our mechanized roster!"
He gave no answer. He walked past the soldiers slowly, unnervingly calm. A little girl screamed as a creature lunged and in that instant, he transformed. The moment of summoning the Lac Hồn Armor.
BOOM!
No wind. No thunder. No cannon. Only azure light surging from his spine, rivers of brilliance flowing along metal sinew.
Fragments of steel scales rose from air, from his hands, from the very energy veins within him spinning, clashing, fusing.
A deep resonance thundered like bronze drums from the earth:
"BOOOOM…"
The Lac Hồn Armor appeared. Chest engraved with Đông Sơn sun motifs. Shoulders carved into tiger masks, steel fangs ready to bite darkness. Plates along his spine gleamed like dragon scales.
A boy whispered: "Mister… are you a god?"
A soldier murmured into radio: "Commander… we see an unidentified entity. Not machine. Not human."
Trung did not answer. He stepped forward. Facing the steel-flesh hybrids shrieking in the night. For the first time, amid smoke, fire, and fleeing crowds, Lac Hồn revealed itself to mankind.
The first creature lunged like an iron arrow, jaws wide, sawblade teeth flashing.
KENG! The Lac Hồn Armor manifested a crescent shield on his left arm, blocking the strike. Steel beneath his feet cracked like rotten wood. He spun, plasma spear igniting from his wrist SLASH! severing the monster's neck. Sparks burst.
"My God… he cut it down!" a policeman gasped.
The second creature roared louder four mechanical arms, plasma cannons sprouting from its back. It fired into the ground.
BOOM! Concrete shattered. A young soldier was thrown aside.
"Soldier down! Medic!"
"Smoke rounds! Cover civilian retreat!"
A mother slipped, her son clinging to her sleeve. The beast swung CRASH! Trung intercepted, standing between them and the claws. His armor shrieked like war drums echoing from ancient mountains.
"Go."
He did not look at them, but his voice was firm. The mother pulled her child, sobbing, nodding.
WHIRR! Three UAVs swooped, suppressive fire raining. Flares streaked red across the sky. Radios crackled:
"Artillery Unit 3, prepare to fire slowing barrage!"
"Civilians still in zone! Hold fire!"
"Special forces evacuating to western shelter need five more minutes!"
A lieutenant shouted:
"No time! If we don't stop it here, it'll reach the children's dormitory!"
At the crossroads, Trung stood. Three creatures encircled him. Dust, blood, chemicals thick in the air.
"Full-body fusion mode."
Armor system responded in his mind:
"Lac Hồn, Combat Form ready."
BOOM!
Auxiliary plates unfolded behind him into Đông Sơn motifs, spinning like shields. Plasma spear extended into a lance, blade etched with drum patterns, glowing azure like thunder.
He charged. The armor did not screech like steel it resonated like bronze drums struck beneath the heavens.
He pierced the chest of the first creature. Countered, shield emitting shockwaves, breaking mechanical legs. Another beast lunged toward the children's shelter, mouth charging red plasma.
Trung leapt, shielding the roof. Armor expanded into a blue dome. BOOM! Red plasma slammed. Fire and light engulfed the shelter.
The children trembled but none were harmed.
"Mister… are you a god?" one whispered.
In command, General Dự ordered:
"It's stationary! Focus artillery! Defensive missiles lock onto the creature's heat signature!"
"But what about that man?"
"If he is ally, he will understand."
Below, Trung heard the artillery shift. He tightened his lance.
"Alright… again." he muttered.
He taunted the final beast: "Come!"
It roared, abandoning civilians, chasing him. He led it to an open junction no civilians, no one else. Only him, the monster, and the sky.
Radio: "Coordinates locked! Requesting fire authorization!"
"FIRE!"
WHOOSH! Two missiles streaked upward. Trung planted his lance, activating drum-frequency resonance. He did not defend. He stood still.
The missiles struck the creature's chest exactly where his lance had cracked its armor.
BOOM!!!
White fire tore the night. Shockwaves swept the city. The monster exploded into a storm of metal rain. Smoke cleared.
Trung knelt amid rubble. Armor dissolved, merging into blue veins beneath his skin. His breath heavy. Soldiers, police, medics rushed but none dared touch. Only one young soldier lowered his rifle, murmuring:
"If… that is a monster… then it is a monster that protects us."
Morning. Headlines erupted: "Lac Hồn Warrior Man or Machine?"
A leaked clip of him shielding the children's shelter spread over ten million views. National television said only: "We are verifying."
In the Ministry of Defense council room, Colonel Hạo whispered:
"Sir… if this escalates into full scale war… do we stand with him, or against him?"
General Dự gave no reply. He only stared at the screen Van Sinh satellites shifting orbit, infrared locks tightening on Vietnam.