The sun never came up that morning.
The sky was a bruise — black and swollen — lit only by fire trails from the east.
From orbit, it looked like the world was bleeding.
From the ground, it was.
War Machine Rollout
The first wave moved before the politicians could even finish their coffee.
2,00,000 AI-powered ground soldiers. Fast. Tireless. 800 battlefield algorithms running in their synthetic brains. They didn't breathe, didn't blink, didn't care.
Behind them, the 10,000 Mega Mechs. Walking mountains of steel, each loaded with rocket pods, anti-gravity lifts, and plasma blades long enough to split a destroyer in half.
Then came the 2,000 Ultra Mechs — the "Rakshaks." Fifteen stories tall. Designed to crush aircraft with their fists. Walking death gods, painted black, red lights glowing in their chests.
In the west, 75,000 AI Vehicles — hover tanks, pulse cannons, railgun carriers, stealth bots — rumbled into formation.
Above, the sky filled with 1,00,000 AI Fighter Jets. Supersonic, stealth-enabled, rewriting target lists mid-flight like they were thinking on their own.
And in the middle of it all, inside the cockpit of a black prototype fighter, sat Shoonya.
Helmet on. Oxygen mask tight. Eyes locked.
Shoonya (on comm): "Delta fleets, check in."
Wing Commander: "Ground AI is green. All weapons hot."
Tank Division: "Hover tanks on line. Pulse cannons primed."
Mech Command: "Rakshaks hungry. Orders?"
Shoonya's lips curled."Eat."
First Contact: China Front
The Himalayan border lit up first. Chinese railguns fired arcs of molten metal into the clouds. Shoonya's HUD counted 176 enemy camps spread across 3,000 kilometers.
Shoonya: "Jet swarm, break into attack chains. Keep them guessing."
Three squadrons peeled away.The AI jets didn't just follow orders — they adapted mid-air, weaving through missile storms like snakes through grass.
On the ground, AI soldiers tore through enemy trenches. Blades whirred. Rail rifles spat molten tungsten. Blood soaked into the snow, steaming.
Ground Unit AI #4419: "Target: Alive. Probability of surrender: 3%. Execute?"
Shoonya: "Don't ask me again."
Enemy soldiers didn't even get time to scream before their spines were separated from their bodies. Limbs came off clean, like someone was carving meat for dinner.
The Rakshaks Unleashed
At sector Z-41, the first Ultra Mech engaged.
A 150-foot Rakshak slammed its plasma blade through a Chinese artillery line. Five tanks split open. Crew roasted alive before they could even climb out.
Rakshak #07 (AI-voice): "Obstacle removed."
Another Rakshak grabbed a low-flying gunship and crushed it in its hand. Steel squealed. Human bones popped. Then it threw the wreckage into another formation.
Shoonya (over comm): "Push them back. Leave no hill standing."
Shoonya's Run
He banked his fighter into a vertical climb, plasma afterburners ripping the air apart. His HUD lit up with target boxes — 176 of them.
One by one, they went black.
Missiles streaked out in swarms — AI-controlled micro warheads that hunted heat signatures like bloodhounds.
Shoonya: "Camp 22 destroyed. Moving west."
Control: "You just lit up half their border radar."
Shoonya: "Good. Let them look at me instead of my army."
Twenty-two minutes later, 176 Chinese camps were gone. Flattened. Some still burning. Others just… erased.
The air was thick with smoke and the stink of burnt metal.
Close Combat
On the ground, Shoonya's forces didn't just kill. They unmade. AI soldiers waded into trenches, ripped rifles from hands, and used them to cave in skulls. Mega Mechs stomped down into bunkers, collapsing entire rooms full of screaming men.
Blood mist hung in the air. Steam hissed from mech hydraulics.
Enemy Officer (on open channel): "We… we need reinforcements! They're not human! They're not—"
Shoonya (cutting in): "You're right. They're mine."
End of Day One
By nightfall, the Chinese line was broken. The survivors ran. Some dropped weapons. Some dropped to their knees. Most just dropped dead.
Shoonya landed his jet on a makeshift strip, walked through the wreckage without looking left or right.
One AI soldier approached.
AI #773: "Victory confirmed?"
Shoonya looked at the battlefield — the burning mountains, the rivers of red — and laughed under his breath.
"Victory? This is just the warm-up."