Inside the cockpit of Ghost, the world had turned into a cold, dark ocean. Xavier could hear his own heartbeat—a frantic, uneven drumming—but the sounds of the battlefield felt like they were coming from a thousand miles underwater. Muffled. Distant.
I'm going to die," his mind whispered, repeating the phrase like a broken record. "I'm going to die here, and I don't even have the System to tell me how."
The holographic displays in front of him flickered with a violent, pulsing red.
[CRITICAL: NEURAL LINK DEGRADING – 15%]
[WARNING: PILOT VITALS UNSTABLE]
Ghost had collapsed against a half-shattered tenement building, its black-and-white armor covered in soot and dust. As Xavier's panic attack reached its peak, the titan's eyes dimmed. The connection was too weak to even keep the machine standing.
Directly in front of him, a massive, four-legged shadow detached itself from the ruins. It was a level Kaiju, a beast with jagged obsidian horns and a face so twisted it looked like melted wax. It moved toward the downed Ghost slowly, savoring the scent of a predator that had lost its teeth.
Xavier watched it through blurry eyes. "That... looks like a Kaiju," he thought numbly. "I should do something. But I can't. I'm just a Zero."
***
Miles away, the atmosphere in the main junior squad was even more suffocating. They were moving deeper into the high-density zone, the towering ruins of the city closing in on them.
Trevor, piloting Bolt, suddenly broke the silence. His voice was low, vibrating with a threat that made the speakers crackle. "Hey, Finn. You ever talk to my teammates like that again, I'll make you regret it. Do I make myself clear?"
Finn, tucked inside his bulky, knight-like titan, couldn't see Trevor's face, but he felt a cold chill run down his spine. The intimidation coming from the 5th Garrison Lieutenant was a physical weight.
"Whatever," Finn muttered, though his hands shook on his controls. He wanted to prove he was better. He wanted to show this "trash" garrison how a real prodigy fought.
Suddenly, the ground ahead of them buckled. Two massive, 90-foot silhouettes erupted from the rubble—Rank 3 Kaijus. These weren't the "weak" Rank 6s. They were the real deal, armored in scales that reflected the grey sky and carrying the stench of ancient rot.
Finn, blinded by pride and the need to silence Trevor, roared and charged. He grabbed the nearest Rank 3 by its horns, his thrusters screaming as he shoved its face into the pavement. "See?! This is how a Kingdom Come pilot handles business!"
He drew a massive heat-sword, intending to decapitate the beast while his foot was on its neck. But the Rank 3 wasn't dazed. It let out a vibrating hiss, snapped its head up with terrifying strength, and sent Finn's titan flying through the air like a discarded toy.
"Finn!" Kiko shouted. She jumped in, Astra performing a mid-air spin. She landed two brutal kicks to the monster's face, the impact echoing like thunder. As she went for a third, the beast's jaw snapped shut, catching her leg. With a violent toss, it hurled her against a skyscraper, the glass shattering in a rain of diamonds.
"Hey, ugly!" Trevor's voice boomed. "Bolt prides itself on speed. Try and keep up!"
Trevor was a whirlwind. He didn't use a sword; he used his fists. He punched and punched, his yellow titan moving so fast it looked like a flickering strobe light. The Rank 3 couldn't track him. Trevor charged a plasma blast in his fist and delivered a "Plasma Punch" that vaporized one of the creature's forearms.
The beast roared in agony, spinning its massive tail. The impact caught Bolt squarely, slamming him into the building right on top of Kiko.
Before Finn could recover, the second Rank 3 tackled him, driving him through three city blocks of asphalt. Trevor tried to intervene, grabbing the beast's tail and digging his titan's feet into the ground to stop the momentum. But the power difference was too great. The Rank 3 flicked its tail, flinging Bolt into the air.
"Commander! We're under heavy fire!" Trevor's comms were distorted, filled with the fuzz of damage. "Two Rank 3s! We're losing bad!"
Will Rogers' voice came through the static, raw with desperation. "Run, goddamn it! You hear me, Trevor? Winning this mission isn't worth it if any of you die! Retre—"
The audio cut out.
***
Back in the ruins, the Rank 4 Kaiju stood over the slumped Ghost. It opened its maw, a ball of shimmering, sickly red energy beginning to form in its throat.
Xavier watched the light grow. "It's okay," he thought. "I deserve this."
BOOM.
Two bright blue bolts of plasma hammered into the monster's side, knocking its head back. Out of the dust, Blue roared into view. Mikhail didn't stop to aim; he just charged, his output spiking so hard from pure rage that his punch sent the monster tumbling fifty yards away.
Mikhail spun Blue around, standing over Xavier's cockpit. "Snap out of it, Xavier! We need you! I don't know what's wrong, but you can do this!"
"No," Xavier's voice was a whisper over the link. "I'm useless. I don't have... I don't have the help anymore. Just let me die, Mik."
The Rank 4 regained its footing, snarling. It ignored the blue titan and charged back toward the black one, sensing the weakness. Mikhail stepped in the way, but he was focused on Xavier. The monster rammed into Blue, sending the titan staggering.
Inside Ghost, Xavier saw his friend taking hits for him. He tried to pull the lever. Ghost's arm twitched, rising a few inches before falling back into the dirt.
"I'm sorry, Mikhail," Xavier cried, tears blurring his vision. "I wish I wasn't so damn useless."
The Kaiju prepared to finish the job. It opened its mouth again, the energy ball twice as large this time, aimed directly at Ghost's exposed chest plate. Mikhail scrambled to get in front of it.
"Shut the fuck up, you idiot!" Mikhail screamed into his mic. "If you think I'd risk my life just so you can feel sorry for yourself, you're wrong! I'm doing this because I believe in you! I believe in the guy who fought Kiko bare-handed!"
Mikhail planted Blue's feet. He didn't use a weapon. He tapped into that same instinct from the wasteland. Blue's chest glowed, and a massive, flickering mana-shield erupted in front of both titans.
The Kaiju fired.
KRA-KOOM!
A massive cloud of smoke and fire engulfed them. When it cleared, Blue was down on one knee, the shield shattered, the titan's arms smoking and scorched.
The Kaiju didn't stop. It began gathering energy for a second blast, the ball of light glowing in its throat. Blue looked up, helpless, the pilot exhausted.
Suddenly, a black-and-white hand shot out of the smoke.
Ghost hadn't just stood up; it had moved with a burst of "Kid Dynamite" speed. Before the Kaiju could release the blast, Ghost grabbed the monster's upper and lower jaws, forcing them shut with a metallic clang.
The energy blast had nowhere to go. It exploded inside the Kaiju's head.
The monster's eyes turned to steam. Its skull expanded and then imploded. Ghost shoved the smoking corpse to the side, where it fell with a wet thud.
Ghost fell to one knee next to Blue, its red visor flickering back to a steady, bright glow.
"Don't worry, buddy," Xavier's voice came through the comms—steady, clear, and focused. "I'm not letting you die."
[NEURAL LINK: 80% AND CLIMBING]
Xavier looked at his hands. He didn't have the System, but he had the memory of the training. He had the 10.5% output. And he had a friend who was willing to die for him. That was enough.
The two fallen titans looked at each other amidst the ruins. Slowly, they raised their massive metal hands and shared a heavy, resonant fistbump.