Militech leads the world in robots and high-strength materials, so what they were seeing stunned them even more.
Even their most advanced, special-issue combat robots shouldn't be able to stand up to saturation fire from that many missile trucks. The mass-production models they field in numbers would turn into scrap if you let missiles plow a lane through them.
"Launch the fighter group."
The commander couldn't accept what he was seeing. He ordered carrier wings into the air, hoping heavier bombing would erase those robots.
Bombers lifted in waves from the deck and arrowed toward the battlefield.
Arasaka's carriers stayed quiet on any other day that might count as good news. Tonight, the silence made Militech panic. If Arasaka didn't need to lift a finger to deal with Militech's jets, the answer had to be that ship in the sky.
The commander locked his eyes on the massive warship hanging above the plain. The moment his fighters launched, the ship moved.
Robots poured out of open hatches.
Flames jetted from palms and feet as they accelerated, climbing fast. They matched Militech fighters for speed and beat them several times over for agility.
Contact came quickly. The fighter wing tried to swat them down with air-to-air missiles. The robots slipped on every track.
Then the robots fired back. High-energy beams drilled cleanly through fuselages. Fighters dropped from the sky one after another until the command room went very quiet.
From the first sight of the ship to the robots' performance, Militech's confidence began to crack. Nothing they tried worked on Ascension Technology, not the ground column and not the carrier group overhead. This war wasn't matching any plan they'd written.
Only now did they understand why Ascension would be the central defender here.
Inside Militech's combat command center, the staff boiled over. Some argued for a temporary retreat. Others pushed to keep fighting.
The commander in the main seat said nothing. He stared at the screen. The picture changed again.
While Militech focused on the robot army up front, a black shape dropped out of the clouds and slammed into the middle of their formation.
The shock rolled across the earth. Smoke took a long time to clear. When it did, the thing's shape came through.
A humanoid mecha stood on the wreck of a Militech alloy tank, its treads crushed under steel feet.
The room hadn't recovered from the last few shocks. The machine on the feed delivered a new one.
The battlefield's real killer had arrived. A Vanguard-class Titan.
The first Titan hit dirt. More shadows fell in quick succession. Ten giants were deployed in total.
Blue optics on their heads flared. The sweep finished in a blink, and every hostile on the field was tagged.
"Protocol Two. Hold to the mission.
Objective. Eliminate all Militech units on this battlefield."
The mechanical voice confirmed it. The Titans were in their first war.
Militech's elite ground troops had no way to resist them. Ten Titans, each fitted with a different loadout, began cutting the field to pieces. The robot army behind them pushed forward to finish what the Titans opened.
Under absolute force, Militech's line broke fast. They'd come in with momentum. They didn't even touch Night City's gate. Ascension killed the push cold.
The noise of the firefight filled the plain and then died out.
The battle didn't last long. As expected, Militech's army ended up destroyed.
Field.
Militech command.
Every commander stared at a dead screen. The moment the Titans appeared, they issued a retreat order. They could see the outcome already. It didn't matter. Orders meant nothing now.
Even if the army wanted out, there was no way to escape Ascension.
This time, Militech had sent the real main force. The losses from a total wipe would be terrible. They didn't have time to care.
What they had to worry about now was the consequences.
What would Ascension do next, and how should Militech answer?
"Do we launch a tactical nuclear device…"
Heads snapped toward the voice. How was this guy even sitting at this table?
"After everything you just saw, do you still think Ascension doesn't have nuclear tech and anti-nuke defenses? Even if, for the sake of argument, they didn't, Arasaka is still watching without moving. If you want this war to spiral until Militech disappears from the map, go ahead. Launch it," the commander said, cold.
Only now did he grasp Ascension's actual weight. One Ascension might be enough to deal with Militech. With Arasaka in the wings, there was nothing to discuss.
"This isn't a war Militech can win. Report up the chain."
Under that order, Militech's war plan was terminated. No more troops or equipment would be fed into the grinder.
Militech wanted a ceasefire. Rocky didn't give it to them.
As soon as the border force was dealt with, Titans began airdropping into Militech bases across the Americas. One Titan was enough to roam a base, destroying and killing nonstop.
Militech's top brass received the front-line reports and the base-attack alerts and went numb. It felt impossible. The data and battlefield feeds said it was real.
Every minute Ascension's anger burned would cost Militech an even more terrifying price.