"What in the…"
An old man shot up from his seat. His intuition warned him of something ominous.
Arthur's footsteps echoed — quick, measured, rising with anxiety.
'There it was again.'
Alarm bells rang in his head — he felt a gaze, brimming with malice, hungry to devour them alive.
Standing atop the four-kilometer-high fortress, Arthur roused the energy within.
Far Sight — a magic that extended one's vision across great distances.
Magicules surged through his augmented vision, sweeping across bloodied ice giants and scattered men gambling their lives in a torn landscape.
He wasn't wrong — his senses had picked something up.
Danger was approaching.
Nothing stirred.
No energy.
No heat.
No movement.
The hostility gnawed at his spine — like frostbite chewing into bone.
Something was out there. Hiding. Calculating.
'Something's wrong. I need to trust my judgement.'
"Sound the alarms! All hands on deck, now!"
Soldiers moved with unnerving precision.
In less than thirty seconds, all men were on their stations.
Julius, his second-in-command, gave a sharp nod.
"Fortress Master, everyone is in position."
The wind ceased.
The system sensors went quiet for a split second.
Everyone's ear rang with static from the communications.
The ground shivered and quaked at the weight of its presence — a mountainous deformity walked.
It stood over five kilometers tall. A living anatomy of magma, ore, and jagged quartz, each heave scorching the earth.
The titan's face warped into a grotesque imitation of a man — a provocation carved in stone.
Crimson infernal crystals burned where eyes should have been.
Its senses stretched over hundreds of stimuli, from sound and sight to thermal fluctuations, rivaling myriads of machines.
Fingers formed, then palms — slowly, deliberately.
Then it ripped a gaping mouth into the smooth marbles of its face.
From the gaping chasm, rows of stalactite-like teeth unfurled — grinding, gnashing with insatiable hunger.
Massive jaw-traps burst open, releasing a cacophony of nightmare laughter.
It wanted to savor something.
It wanted them to drown in fear.
[ALERT!]
[Abnormal Energy Fluctuation Detected!]
[Anomaly Detected: Titan - Sentinel Class]
"Dammit! How did it get past our sensors?"
[Initiating Mind-Fortress Synchronization…]
Arthur slammed his fist into the pilot's control panel.
Every second to synchronize was a risk — and he had none to spare.
Aged circuits locked into Arthur's machine frame — his body, once flesh now made out of steel.
Each latch a trigger — each click, a vow.
'To drive away the horrors. That is your purpose.'
'Grandpa! Tell me another story! Just one more.'
He closed his eyes just for a second.
Their voices still echoed through the cables, buried in every wire and circuit.
'Rascals, you all rely on me too much.'
Arthur tightened his grip on the armrest. He knew one thing.
The mobile fortress was not just a weapon — it was home.
It sheltered his comrades and — Cain, the last of his line that still mattered.
Shaking off the weight of memory, he uttered a prayer. A faith that affirmed his belief in mankind.
"Spirit of my fellow men, please watch over us."
[Mind-Fortress Synchronization: 89%]
"I hope this is good enough. Let's go!"
Taking a stance like a runner, the fortress suddenly burst with speed, each step calamitous, tilling the soil asunder.
Forged in the image of man, bearing the visage of a knight — the name of Roosevelt incarnate.
Twin blades unsheathed, shimmering with hues of scorch and ruin.
Mind ready, arms steady, Arthur charged into the fray.
As the fortress drew closer and closer to the entity, it strode forward with the same momentum.
"Men! Brace yourselves!"
Cracks, gouges and trenches enlarged as a colossal fist flew into the fortress.
The Roosevelt Fortress jolted sideways with startling speed.
Like a thunderbolt forged from steel, it slashed — clean, precise, devastating.
The titan retaliated with theatrical swings — wide, slow, full of deliberate openings.
In the eyes of Arthur, each one was a scheme, every motion was layered with traps.
"Keep firing! Empty the armory!"
Four ballistic cannons thundered from the fortress's rear — an unrelenting barrage that hammered the titan's armor.
Piercing rounds and explosive rounds bombarded the nigh impregnable carapace.
'Too hard. I'll draw him in.'
Arthur was not one to look down on the combat skills of his opponent, always treating each one as master or even higher.
The titan blew a guttural breath, the earth ruptured.
Hundreds of golems burst forth, each barely a fraction of the sentinel's size, yet imbued with a frenzied madness.
Misshapen, like malformed human organs, torn from corpses and stitched together, the creatures cackled maniacally as they clawed at the armor like ravenous scavengers.
"Get me two shots from the Borderwall. Now."
With a rapid scroll, Arthur raced through his bookmarked war suppliers.
His forefather once said — in battle, capitalism was always king.
[Order Confirmed]
Arthur shrugged off the malefic pests, but more swarmed in, relentless.
The fortress retreated again and again, dodging destructive blows and the insanity of its spawns, which bit and clawed like rabid beasts.
The billowing freeze thickened as their altitude climbed.
The scarred plains gave way to a new battlefield, a frozen expanse where snow blanketed shattered earth.
Each fighter strike with precision, trying to gain the right foothold between cliffs and plateaus — both literally walking on thin ice.
The wind started whistling from behind.
It was not just a breeze.
The fortress dipped its shoulder and tilted its head to the left.
Sparks flew as a projectile scrapped and whizzed past its left pauldron.
A kinetic slug over two kilometers long suddenly came into view.
Headshot — a perfectly timed suppressive fire from the Borderwall.
Another shell arrived, a cloud of poisonous miasma coated Roosevelt fortress.
The spawns gnawing at the armor dropped one after another.
'Definitely worth every penny.'
"Assist confirmed."
The radio spat static, then a cold automated reply cut through.
"Thank you for using our services."
Its burning eyes pierced the haze, locking onto the silhouette of the Borderwall far across the horizon.
The Borderwall covered the entire northern hemisphere. Today, it saved one forgotten crew — but not without cost.
Arthur pressed forward at full speed, not giving the sentinel any chances.
A sharp twist — its head snapped back into place.
'A bluff? It took no damage at all?!'
"Activate footing, now! We'll crash right into its mouth at this rate!"
[Friction Footing: Engaged]
Snow-adapted cleats blasted from the soles, punching into the ice with a hiss.
Tons of ice and snow burst outward, but the footing mechanism failed to latch.
Beneath its feet, a half-melted glacier began to crack and give way.
The Roosevelt Fortress slid across the ice, spinning out of control.
Lost footing — knees bent, head exposed.
"Shit! Everyone, hold on tight!"
Armor ground against stone and ice as the fortress plunged headlong toward the sentinel — fearless.
"You're mine now, human!"
Caustic saliva oozed, eager to melt steel and flesh alike.
The sentinel lunged, unwilling to waste its perfect kill.
A mountain-sized leg whipped in a devastating arc — a roundhouse aimed to crush.
Bluish flames lit its heels, propelling it faster. Sonic booms formed as it charged straight for the Roosevelt Fortress.
Arthur gave it what it wanted — fear.
His mouth lifted to a mechanical smirk.
The old feint still worked.
'Gotcha.'
"Overclock the core! Now!"
[Initiating Overclocking…]