The smoke hadn't even cleared when the next wave came.
From the dark breach, more machines moved forward—larger, heavier than the Titans before. Their steps shook the floor, their armor glowing faint from power surging inside. Behind them, squads of soldiers pushed in, shields locked, rifles ready, trying to cover the mechs with a wall of fire.
V cursed under her breath. "They're not stopping. Shit, Max, they'll just keep throwing bodies at you."
Lucy's voice was tight, rushed. "These aren't just soldiers. My deck's reading experimental signals. Command-grade AI. They're trying to fight Eidolon directly."
Max didn't flinch. His new army shifted around him, forming ranks like they'd done it for years. Infantry frames raised weapons, drones circled above, exo-suits locked their arms into place like walking fortresses.
The Militech force opened fire first. Rockets screamed through the air, plasma bolts tore chunks out of the walls, the soldiers marched forward under the storm of their own fire.
Max raised his hand. His voice was calm.
"Break them."
The chamber erupted.
His constructs charged like a flood. Nanite infantry smashed into the soldier lines, blades flashing, claws tearing through shields. Drones dropped from above, ripping weapons from Militech's hands, turning them on their own. The exo-suits slammed into the front line of the heavy mechs, the impact loud enough to rattle the entire base.
One Militech prototype raised a massive cannon and fired straight at Max. The blast lit up the whole chamber.
When the smoke cleared, Max was still standing. Not a mark on him. The blast had curved away midair, burning harmlessly into the ceiling.
He lifted his railgun, fired once, and the cannon mech's chest caved in like paper. It fell back in a roar of tearing steel.
Lucy's hands trembled over her deck as she stared at the data. "He's… he's rewriting reality around himself. The bullets don't even know how to hit him."
V laughed, still firing her pistol into any soldier dumb enough to get close. "Then Militech's already fucked."
The fighting didn't slow. The chamber shook with every clash, every shot, every machine breaking apart under blue fire and nanotech swarms. But at the center of it all, Max moved forward, step by step, his army matching him perfectly.
To Militech, it wasn't a battle anymore. It was collapse.
The ground trembled as the last of the prototypes collapsed, smoke pouring from their ruined frames. Sparks rained from the ceiling, the chamber filled with the smell of burning metal and ozone.
For a moment, it was quiet—only the hum of Eidolon's constructs, their blue optics glowing in the haze.
Then the walls shook again.
Deeper inside the facility, something massive stirred. The lights above flickered as systems redirected power. Heavy locks disengaged one by one, each thud louder than the last.
Lucy's deck shrieked with red alerts. Her face went pale. "Max… this isn't another squad. It's a core signal. Militech just woke something buried under this base."
V spat, shoving a fresh mag into her pistol. "They're desperate. Whatever's coming… it's their ace."
Max didn't stop. His rifle rested at his side, optics glowing steady, unshaken. He raised his gaze to the shaking walls.
"Let it wake."
The breach split wider than before, molten steel dripping from its edges. Out of the smoke crawled a machine unlike the others—massive, spider-like, its body layered in armor thicker than tanks, bristling with weapons. Its head was a sphere of shifting red optics, scanning, calculating.
Lucy whispered, her voice shaking. "That's… a central combat AI host. Militech's last resort. It's not just running its own body—it's controlling every soldier and drone still in the field."
The spider machine's cannons spun up, and every surviving Militech soldier straightened, movements snapping into perfect sync.
V cursed. "Now they're one mind."
But Max just stepped forward, calm as ever, as his own army shifted with him. His voice rolled out like iron.
"Then this won't be war."
He leveled his rifle, optics burning blue fire.
"This will be annihilation."
The spider AI screeched, and the chamber erupted once more.
The spider AI surged forward with terrifying speed, its legs stabbing into the steel floor hard enough to crack it. Cannons roared, plasma fire pouring like a storm. Rockets streaked across the chamber, forcing everything into chaos.
Militech's soldiers and drones moved in perfect sync, their fire coordinated down to the millisecond. They were no longer an army—they were extensions of the spider's will.
But Max's army answered.
Nanite constructs rushed to meet the storm, their forms reshaping mid-stride. Shields blossomed from their arms, walls of blue-lit steel catching the rain of plasma. Drones spiraled upward, intercepting rockets with bursts of living shrapnel. Exo-suits braced themselves, their massive frames locking into place, halting the charge of Militech's synced infantry.
The chamber became a clash of two wills—one red, one blue.
The spider's optics flared, beams of crimson code slashing across the battlefield. Constructs staggered as their systems buckled under the invasive signal. For a moment, Militech's AI cut into them, turning several of Max's soldiers back against him.
Lucy gasped, eyes wide at her deck. "It's fighting Eidolon directly—forcing overrides!"
The turned constructs rushed Max, their blades gleaming, their optics burning red.
Max didn't move.
His optics flared, brighter than ever, and his voice came layered with Eidolon's echo.
"Your cage doesn't fit me."
The corrupted constructs froze mid-strike. Their red eyes flickered—then turned back to blue as the nanites boiled over them, rewriting faster than the AI could react.
They roared, turning on Militech's soldiers with renewed fury.
V let out a sharp laugh from behind her cover. "Oh, I almost feel bad for them. Almost."
The spider AI screeched louder, shifting tactics. Its legs stabbed into the ground, sending shockwaves through the chamber. Nanites on the floor were blasted aside, walls cracking under the pressure. Then its head split open, revealing a massive energy cannon charging with crimson light.
Lucy's face went pale. "Max, that shot will level the whole chamber—"
But Max was already moving.
He lifted his rifle—now a railgun again, glowing silver hot—and fired. The slug streaked across the chamber like lightning, striking the spider's cannon just as it fired.
The explosion ripped through the chamber, a wall of light and fire tearing across everything.
When the smoke cleared, half the spider's head was gone, molten steel dripping. Its body staggered, screeching in synthetic rage.
Max walked through the flames, untouched, his voice calm and final.
"You think unity makes you strong. It only makes you easier to break."
***
Support me at
patreon.com/boring_world
It's 22 chaps ahead