The morning air in the Blood Hound sector was heavy with the smell of scorched earth and recycled oxygen. In the command office, Will Rogers sat behind a desk cluttered with mission reports and half-empty coffee mugs.
"How was it?" Will asked, his voice gravelly.
Spector, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, let out a dry, appreciative chuckle. "Entertaining."
"And the recruits?"
Spector's smirk widened into a grin. "I don't want to sound like Trevor, but I have to say... badass. They didn't just survive; they dismantled a Juggernaut Alpha with nothing but suit-boosted fisticuffs."
Will let out a rare, genuine smirk. "Good."
"I know why you did this little test run, Commander," Spector added, his tone softening with respect. "All I have to say is these two are here to stay. Don't worry about the draft numbers. They're Blood Hounds through and through."
Xavier woke up with a groan that felt like it rattled his ribcage. He blinked, checking his internal clock. 12:00 PM. He rolled over and looked at the bottom bunk. Mikhail was still a ball of blankets, snoring softly. Xavier grinned, reached down, and yanked the entire sheet set—along with Mikhail—straight onto the floor.
"GAH! What?! Attack?!" Mikhail scrambled, tangled in his duvet. He glared up at Xavier, his hair a bird's nest. "Hey! That's not nice! I was having a nice dream!"
Xavier sat on the edge of the bed, chuckling. "What were you dreaming about? Rainbows and kittens?"
Mikhail responded by holding up a very deliberate middle finger. "Fuck you, Xavier."
"Love you too, buddy. Come on, Trevor's probably got food."
Downstairs, the smell of sizzling protein filled the common area. Trevor was at the stove, flipping synthetic bacon with the focus of a scientist.
"Morning, wonder kids," Trevor chirped. "Eat up, then get to the hangar. We've got some new toys for you."
As they ate, the adrenaline from the night before finally began to settle. Mikhail poked at his eggs. "Xavier... are you really okay? That Juggernaut hit you pretty hard."
Xavier waved a hand dismissively, though his chest still throbbed. "I'm fine. Mostly. By the way, what was that shockwave thing you did? The shield?"
Mikhail looked down, blushing slightly. "I... I don't know. I just didn't want you to die. My output spiked, I guess."
"It was pretty cool," Xavier said, nudging him. "Look at you, pretty boy. Saving my life."
Mikhail's blush deepened into a dark red. "Stop it."
Xavier leaned in, grinning like a shark. "Whoa, relax. I'm into girls, Mik."
"I hate you so much," Mikhail muttered, though he couldn't hide his small smile as he stood up and walked toward the hangar.
Inside the hangar, the atmosphere was different. The silver "base" Titans they had seen earlier had been moved to the primary bays.
"Follow me," Spector said, leading them toward the towering machines. "As a reward for yesterday... you finally earned the right to these. They're synced to your neural signatures now."
He stopped between the two giants. They were blank canvases of steel and polymesh.
"What are you gonna name them?"
Xavier didn't even blink. He'd known the answer since he was seven. "Ghost."
Mikhail took a long time, looking at the blue accents on his armor. "Um... Blue."
Xavier let out a loud snort. "Blue? Really? You're naming a multi-million dollar war machine after a color? Why not 'Sky' or 'Azure'?"
"I'll kill you, Xavier!" Mikhail snapped, though he was smiling.
"That's enough," Spector interrupted. "Go write your mission reports. When you get back, the techs will have finished the initial decals and hardware mounting."
When they returned two hours later, the transformation was staggering.
Ghost had been given a sleek, matte black paint job with sharp white accents that looked like bones against the dark armor. A singular, menacing red visor glowed from its head unit. It had been modded for raw agility; the legs were reinforced with extra shock absorbers for high-impact jumping, and the arms had been stripped of bulk to increase punching speed. Small plasma emitters were mounted on the tops of the wrists—perfect for the "Kid Dynamite" style.
"Spector told me you like to get close," Trevor said, appearing from under Ghost's foot. "So we gave him high-torque actuators. He's built to hit and move."
Blue was... blue. But it was formidable. It was bulkier, designed for strength and stability. It had a heavy-duty blaster rifle mounted to its back and light cannons integrated into the forearms. It was a walking fortress.
"Now listen," Spector said, his voice serious. "Each Titan has a mana core. Your output isn't enough to power them alone, but your mana is the key. The higher your output, the more energy you unlock from the core. It's a bridge."
Trevor looked at Xavier with a slightly apologetic expression. "Reyes... I'll be honest. We used most of our high-end mod parts on Mikhail's 'Blue' because he's a ranged fighter and needs the calibration. We didn't have much left for Ghost."
Xavier looked up at his black-and-white Titan. It looked lean, mean, and hungry. "It's fine, Trevor. Ghost doesn't need a lot of bells and whistles. He's perfect as is."
"Is that so?" Will Rogers' voice boomed as he, Spector, and Trevor moved toward the far end of the hangar to show off their own personal machines.
Xavier and Mikhail stood like children in the shadows of giants.
WOLF (The Alpha): Will's Titan. 80 feet of black and bronze terror. It looked like a predatory beast made of iron.
GRIM (The Reaper): Spector's Titan. 78 feet of dark grey shadows with a bone-white visor. It carried a massive thermal scythe on its back.
BOLT (The Lightning Bolt): Trevor's Titan. 74 feet of vibrant yellow and green, built for extreme speed and electronic warfare.
"So cool!" Xavier beamed. "Do we get nicknames like 'Ghost aka The Phantom' or—"
"No," Will interrupted, the three seniors laughing at them. "You earn those titles in blood, kid. Right now, those are just baby mechs." At 70 feet, Ghost and Blue were significantly smaller than the veterans' machines, but to Xavier, they were everything
That night, the base was quiet. After a heavy dinner, Xavier climbed into his bunk. He felt the weight of his success, but he knew 6.5% output wasn't enough. He closed his eyes and summoned the System.
"System. Dump all 100 stat points into Mana Output."
[PROCESSING...]
[MANA OUTPUT INCREASED: 6.50% -> 10.50%]
Xavier gasped as a violent surge of heat flooded his core. 10%. He had finally hit the double digits. He felt like he could punch through a mountain.
But then, the violet screen turned a blood-curdling red.
[WARNING: CRITICAL SYSTEM UPDATE INITIATED]
[REASON: PLAYER REACHED 10% THRESHOLD]
[STATUS: ENTERING DEEP SLEEP MODE]
"Wait... what?" Xavier whispered.
[NEW QUEST: THE VOID]
[OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE WITHOUT THE SYSTEM]
[TIME LIMIT: UNTIL UPDATE COMPLETE]
[REWARD: 700 STAT POINTS / 1000 SHOP POINTS]
[5... 4... 3... 2... 1...]
The violet screens shattered. The HUD, the stat windows, the shop, the Kid Dynamite guide—everything vanished into a red "CAUTION" sign that flickered once and then died. All that remained was a basic, standard ESDF tracking system for his suit and Titan.
The "cheat code" was gone.
"No... no, no, no," Xavier sat up, his heart hammering. He felt empty. He reached for the System, but there was only silence in his mind.
"Xavier?" Mikhail whispered from the bottom bunk, his voice groggy. "What's wrong? You're breathing like you just ran a marathon."
Xavier stared into the darkness, his hands shaking. He looked at his palms—the palms that had just felt like they could crush stone—and felt... ordinary.
"Nightmare," Xavier managed to rasp.
"But... you're still awake," Mikhail noted.
"Yeah. A day-dreaming nightmare."
Xavier lay back down, staring at the underside of the top bunk. For thirty days, the System had been his crutch, his teacher, and his god. Now, with a mission likely coming soon and his enemies getting stronger, he was alone.
Am I enough without the screens? he wondered.
He closed his eyes, trying to remember the "Vortex Engine" footwork, but without the System's guidance, the memory felt slippery, like trying to catch water with his bare hands.
The update had begun. And the real test of Xavier Reyes was about to start.