The fortress gates were long behind them, but the silence that followed felt heavier than any wall.The sky hung low, yellow-gray — the kind of color that made even demons feel small.
Kaiden led the squad through the dead forest — Sylen, Rav, Kess, Velra, and the chained scientist, Jojun.Every few minutes, Jojun muttered to himself. Equations, theories, fragments of thought. His chains clinked in rhythm with his words.
"Mana dispersal through metallic veins… yes, yes… still stable, still alive, still mine…"
Kaiden glanced back at him."You always talk to yourself like that?"
"Talk?" Jojun laughed — a sharp, unbalanced sound. "No, Sergeant. I rehearse. Greatness doesn't happen by accident."
Velra snorted. "You call this greatness?"
Jojun's grin was wild, almost feverish.
"A man who died and yet walks again, breathes again, kills again? What else would you call it?"
Kaiden frowned. "An accident."
Jojun's eyes glowed faintly in the fading light — not with magic, but mania.
"Accidents don't bleed mana through veins of steel, Kaiden. You are the Emperor's proof that even death bends to command."
Sylen cut in sharply. "He's not your damn experiment."
"No," Jojun murmured, smile twitching. "He's my masterpiece."
Kaiden's jaw tightened. "You call me that again, and I'll show you what your masterpiece can do to your skull."
"Ah," Jojun said dreamily. "Threats. Emotion. Anger. So alive."
Kaiden turned away before he did something he'd regret.But his chest felt heavier — the faint hum of his heart-core louder, harsher.
The wind shifted.The smell hit first — metal, smoke, and the faint tang of ozone.
Sylen stopped mid-step. "Kaiden."He already felt it. The air was wrong.
"Spread out," Trok barked. "Check the flanks."
Too late.
The first shot came from the ridge. A mana bolt tore past Kess's head, burning a line through the dirt. Then came the second — and the third.
An ambush.Rebels.
They swarmed from the ruins and treeline, howling their war cries — armor cracked, weapons glowing with unstable crimson mana.The Old Empire's sigil, painted in blood, still clung to their rags.
"Take cover!" Rav bellowed.
Kaiden shoved Sylen behind a collapsed wall, then turned — too slow to dodge a bolt that struck his shoulder. Sparks flared, metal hissed.
"Damn it—"
Another hit his thigh. His leg locked, gears whining. He ripped the bolt free, growling.
Velra was already casting, violet circles spinning under her hands."There's too many!" she snapped.
"Then make less!" Kaiden shouted back, charging forward.
The rebels split, half focusing on Trok, the rest closing in on Kaiden — like they somehow knew he was the other commander.
He met them head-on.
A rebel swung low; Kaiden blocked with his arm, caught the blade, and snapped it in half. He drove his knee into the man's gut, sending him flying.The next tried a spear thrust — Kaiden parried, grabbed the shaft, and impaled the attacker with his own weapon.
But the damage was adding up. His systems lagged; movements came half a second too late.
[HEAT LIMIT: 91%][CORE PRESSURE UNSTABLE]
Then something jammed into his side — a pronged device, humming with mana.A shocker.
Blue energy arced through his body, straight into the heart-core.
For a second, he could've ripped it free. He could've stopped it.
But he didn't.
He let it happen.
If this body was built to suffer, then let it burn.
The world detonated.
Steam blasted from his back, arms, neck — a howling, shrill whistle like a boiler about to burst.Every vein in his body lit up — red from blood, blue from mana — twisting into violent violet where the corruption bled through.
The air around him warped with heat.
Kaiden moved.
He wasn't fast — not graceful — but each motion carried enough force to crater stone. Rebels shattered under his strikes. Armor caved. Blood sprayed in arcs that steamed against his body.
He tore through them like a furnace given flesh.Each step left a hiss of vapor and the shriek of overworked pistons.His face twisted — not with rage, but raw survival.
He roared — the sound scraping through steel.Not entirely human. Not entirely machine.
Velra stopped casting, staring in horror.Sylen didn't — she rushed forward, covering his flank, blades flashing, cutting down anyone that came too close.
"Unbroken," Kaiden growled, his voice grinding through static."Until my core breaks!"
He smashed his fist through another man's skull, the impact echoing like an anvil strike.The last rebel swung desperately; Kaiden caught him mid-strike, slammed his head against a rock — once, twice — until everything went still.
The forest echoed with steam and death.
Then the overclock gave out.
The vents screamed one last whistle before falling silent. Kaiden staggered, heavy and uneven — a machine losing pressure.He dropped to one knee, clutching his chest as his systems dimmed. The violet glow beneath his skin faded, leaving behind faint, bruised streaks across his veins.
He gasped, steam curling from his mouth, body trembling under its own weight.
Then he saw Jojun.
The scientist lay a few feet away, half his chest caved in, burned through by stray mana fire. But his expression… it wasn't pain. It was joy.
He was smiling.
"Heh…" Jojun wheezed. "Magnificent… ha… even death can evolve…"
He reached out, trembling fingers streaked with soot and blood.
"Kaiden… you… are proof…"
Kaiden stared down at him. His own body trembled, a chunk of plating missing from his side — gears exposed, leaking light and smoke.
"Proof of what?" he rasped.
"Perfection…" Jojun whispered, eyes going still. "Rust… reborn…"
His hand fell limp.
Kaiden stood over him for a long moment, chest heaving, the metallic rasp of his breath uneven.
Sylen came up beside him, eyes wide with worry. "Kaiden… you're leaking. Badly."
He glanced down. A jagged hole along his torso hissed faintly, releasing violet steam with each exhale.
He laughed weakly — a hollow, metallic sound.
"Still alive. Still rusting."
Velra sneered from behind, clutching her arm. "Barely. You're falling apart."
Kaiden looked at her — eyes half-lit, something not entirely human flickering in them.
"Aren't we all."
He turned back to Jojun's body. The madman's final smile lingered — serene, proud, insane.
Kaiden muttered, voice quiet, almost lost to the hiss of his vents.
"From death comes life… sure, Doc. But not the kind worth keeping."
He stared at the corpse for a long, unblinking second.
Then — crack.
A wet, hollow sound split the silence.
Jojun's skull shattered beneath Kaiden's metal foot.Steam drifted from his frame like smoke from a dying forge.The violet light beneath his skin pulsed once more — slow, faint — then dimmed to nothing.