The world, once a marble of vibrant blue, was now choked by pulsing veins of smoke and fire. From the high orbit of the GDA satellites, Europe appeared as a sprawling graveyard of burning cities, while the Asian continent flickered with the orange glow of a thousand independent blazes.
At the GDA Headquarters, the wail of sirens was the only music left. John skidded to a halt at the defensive perimeter, his breath hitching at the sight of the total mobilization. It was a wall of iron: ranks of Juggernauts, Golden Juggernauts, and Golden Rangers stood shoulder-to-shoulder with heavy tanks. Yet, looking toward the horizon, John felt a cold pit in his stomach.
"This is not enough..." he whispered.
Standing against the bruised, purple sky was a silhouette taller than the mountains. The Catastrophic. The Calamity Titan didn't move; it simply existed, a living monument to the end of the world.
Deep within the X-Faction stronghold, the air was frantic. Dr. Xenon slammed her fist onto her console, her face twisted with a rare, naked rage. "Seal the gates! Border the perimeter now!" she screamed at her terrified assistants. Outside, her elite Eradicators were being torn apart—not by GDA soldiers, but by swarming entities made of pure shadow and malice.
"Dr. Malory, get to the bunker!" Xenon barked. "I'm manually overriding the neural link to hold the line!" As the heavy vaults groaned open, the Eradicator Mark 2 stepped into the light. Its quadratic miniguns spun into a blur of death, mowing down the shadow entities in a relentless spray of lead.
High in the peaks of the Relics World, the Plague Doctor watched the carnage with a detached curiosity. A Relic Spy materialized from the mist behind him, his voice trembling. "Doctor, the world is at risk. The Awakened Army has deployed the Catastrophic."
The Doctor tilted his head slowly. "Let them deal with it. It is just a puny Calamity Titan."
"But the people?" the Spy gasped.
The Doctor let out a dry, rattling chuckle. "The people? Just wait. I know one of their technologies could actually intrigue me... The Behemoth."
Across the European front, the GDA unleashed its hidden hand. Combat Drones swarmed the sky, lancing through the shadow entities with high-intensity lasers. But the victory was a flicker in the dark. The Catastrophic finally moved. As it leaned its colossal frame down, the very crust of the earth cracked under its weight. It unleashed a roar that shattered glass for miles, and a ring of hellfire erupted around its feet. From the flames, an endless, fresh wave of entities poured forth.
The front lines became a nightmare of black blood and grinding steel. Victoria's hammer fell like a meteor, splashing ichor across the sand, while Laura's gunfire kept the shadows at bay. Then, a mechanical groan shook the earth. The Behemoth Tanks had arrived. Their dual laser cannons roared to life, vaporizing dozens of entities in a single pulse of light.
John realized the ground war was a trap of attrition. He sprinted into the command center, bursting through the doors. "Advisor!"
"Too busy, John! Coordinating drones!" the Advisor shouted.
"The Catastrophic won't stop until the source is dead!" John yelled over the noise. "We need to target the Titan itself!"
The Advisor froze, his eyes scanning the incoming data. "Alright." He slammed a button, his voice booming over every GDA frequency. "Form a two-way division! Second Division, target the Catastrophic directly! First Division, hold the line against the swarm!"
Outside, a thousand engines roared in unison. Five hundred Behemoth tanks pivoted their massive turrets toward the mountain-sized Titan, while the others turned to face the sea of shadows.
TO BE CONTINUED
In the chilling silence of the Relic World, the wind seemed to speak. "Should I help them?" the eldritch voice whispered.
The Plague Doctor looked out over the burning globe. "If you want to."
The voice sighed, a sound like wind through old bones. "I will help them."