The jungle still burned with echoes of the atomic roar.
The leaves trembled as if Amazonia's very heart had felt the blow of a long-contained truth. The dim sunlight, hidden behind clouds and smoke, seemed softer now, as if even the light itself had stopped to watch.
In the middle of the torn field, Godric staggered.
His body covered in blood, mud, and glory. His arm hanging weakly, his breathing ragged like the final echo of a war drum. His legs no longer responded. His blinks were slow. Gravity, stronger.
One step.
Another.
And his knees began to give.
But before falling…
A black flame danced before him.
Garreth Fitzgerald, the original bastard, his spectral figure still wrapped in dark fire, looked at him with ancestral pride. The smoke of his silhouette billowed as if the past's very soul embraced him.
"I will give you my power…" his voice rumbled like an echo. "But receiving it is not enough. You must make it yours. Only then will it shine in all its splendor."
Godric's chest heaved with a shudder. Between pain and fatigue, a flash of fire crossed his pupils, a brief instant where his soul seemed to awaken.
Sofia, still trembling, raised her face.
Garreth gave her one last soft smile, faded but firm. Warm.
"See you, my girl…" he whispered.
The fire enveloped him.
And he disappeared.
As if he had never been there.
But Sofia knew he had.
Knew he always would be.
"See you soon, old man," she murmured with a barely broken smile, eyes moist, heart beating with eternal gratitude.
Both had looked at each other. And that moment… was sacred.
…
Godric, staggering, took one more step.
He fell.
But he didn't touch the ground.
Two arms caught him.
One on each side.
Brenda, on the left. Sofia, on the right. As if the universe had planned that his fall would never be in solitude.
"Are you okay? Your wounds…" Brenda gasped, her voice still trembling.
"Relax, it's over…" Sofia whispered, as she held him as if she could carry him with the love she couldn't give before.
Godric, barely conscious, smiled with difficulty.
"Damn…" he growled through his teeth. "I feel like an imperial ship ran me over…"
The three laughs mixed, tremulous. Tired. Alive.
Brenda observed him for a second. And then… she frowned.
"Wait…" she said, her voice rising slightly. "Your eyes…"
Sofia looked at him too. She opened her eyes, surprised.
"Oh… it's true!" she exclaimed.
Godric blinked, confused.
"What's wrong with my eyes?"
Both looked at him open-mouthed. Brenda raised her hand, pointing.
"They're violet!"
Sofia nodded, gently touching his cheek.
"You have them too!"
Godric, bewildered, lowered his gaze toward a piece of imperial armor fallen nearby. His distorted reflection in the metal… showed him the truth.
Violet eyes.
Intense. Luminous.
Like Sofia's.
Like Brenda's.
Like those marked by the purest lineage.
His breathing stopped.
A new awareness ignited within him.
"What?" he murmured, voice broken. "How is this possible?"
Brenda and Sofia didn't respond. They only hugged him tightly.
Because they knew this wasn't a simple mutation.
It was an evolution. A sign.
Godric Fitzgerald… was no longer the cruel and arrogant relative. Nor the redeemed traitor. Not even the savior brother.
He was something else.
A living spark in the storm.
An awakened force.
A new star in the titans' constellation.
And while smoke still rose in Amazonia…
A truth was written, without need for words:
Godric had awakened.
Though he was gravely wounded, he resisted firmly, held up only by the conviction to protect his sisters, who needed him more than ever.
His aura changed. His posture. His silence. He was no longer the same wounded boy as before. Something had awakened.
Then, Sofia wrapped him in a tight embrace, as if the world could swallow him if she let go.
"Thank you for protecting my life, big brother…" she whispered against his chest with tears wanting to escape her eyes. "Thank you for carrying our hatred, for not giving up, for… for still being there, even when we believed you had abandoned us."
Godric closed his eyes. He allowed himself to breathe. He allowed himself to heal.
And in his mind, childhood memory danced softly: he, stroking his little sister's hair, murmuring to her quietly: "I'll always protect you, Sofia… because you're my treasure."
The same promise… now fulfilled.
A figure approached, breaking the instant with the light of her smile. Makia among the fallen leaves and battle remains. Her eyes shone with emotion and pride.
"Makiaaaaaa!" Sofia shouted, releasing Godric to run and hug her joyfully. "Thank you! Thank you for saving me!"
"What are you saying?" Makia laughed, hugging her back. "I wasn't going to let that jerk hurt you, remember I'm also your family, don't forget it."
Then, one step back… Ian appeared.
With a tired face, covered in dust and sweat smiling, but with his aura still sparking like young fire. His clear eyes met Sofia's.
And she…
Froze.
Color rose to her face like an unexpected flame.
"I… I-I… A… A-An…" she stuttered, clumsily hiding behind Brenda.
Brenda and Godric burst into laughter.
Makia, crossing her arms, raised an eyebrow and asked mischievously:
"Why do you always get so weird when Ian appears? You live with him, I don't understand why you act like this, you're strange."
Sofia hid her face even more, red as a summer fruit.
Ian frowned, innocent and confused.
"What's wrong with her?"
"Nothing…" Makia murmured, shaking her head. "Nothing… yet." With a bitter tone as if noticing something in her heart.
Godric and Brenda kept laughing, tears still on their faces, but now shared with renewed warmth.
Godric could barely stay on his feet. The warmth of his sisters still on his back, the weight of blood and soul still vibrating in his bones. But amid that brief calm, Ian and Makia exchanged glances.
Both nodded.
As if an invisible voice had called them.
"We have to go," they said in unison.
And in a flash, they disappeared.
Godric thanked Ian with a gesture.
A trail of wind, leaves, and energy remained after them, like a sigh of two comets departing toward war's heart. The battlefield felt emptier… and at the same time more prepared.
At that very instant, a hum was heard in the sky.
An imperial drone descended, floating with perfect precision right before Godric. The transmission cameras focused on his face immediately, projecting it on the Celestial Stadium's main screen. Spectators looked up and saw Godric Fitzgerald's violet eyes, shining like the promise of a new era.
In the imperial box, Tiberius stared intently at the image.
His gaze, severe.
Without taking his eyes off the screen, he spoke quietly to one of his assistants:
"Transmit it. Now."
The imperial assistant bowed quickly, bringing his hand to the imperial communicator.
"Immediately, Your Majesty. I will proceed to communicate it to the Supreme Imperial Minister."
The channel opened.
And in Amazonia's depths, among millennial roots and echoes of war, two receivers vibrated.
Zetz and Elena, still fighting among explosions and steel, felt the electric tingle of the imperial code.
A voice emerged from the communicator, wrapped in solemnity and fire:
"Direct order from Grand Emperor Tiberius Noxaurum Blackgold."
Zetz straightened, stopping his spinning spear for an instant. He rose above the battle, with his wings made of energy spread like the sun at dawn.
His eyes settled on Godric, still standing, still alive… still burning.
And with firm voice, amplified for all Amazonia, for the stadium, for the Empire, he proclaimed:
"Godric Fitzgerald!"
An absolute silence.
The beasts fell silent.
The public held its breath.
"The Grand Emperor has just named you Interim Monarch General."
The silence shattered like a wall.
BOOOOM!
The Celestial Stadium erupted in cheers, shouts and applause that made the floating structures vibrate. Names were chanted. It was a rebellion of jubilation.
"Godric!"
"Godric!"
The screens projected his image again and again: the young man who had been marginalized, who carried hatred, who threw himself for his sister, who rose with fire in his eyes.
Brenda smiling through tears.
Sofia wiped her face, smiling through sobs, her heart beating a thousand times.
Godric didn't smile.
But his gaze became firmer. Higher. More dignified.
Because it wasn't just a title.
It was the symbol that, finally…
his sacrifice had been recognized.
The ovations still rumbled when Godric, staggering but upright, raised his gaze to the sky darkened by smoke and glory. His violet eyes shone like destiny's amulets. His breathing was heavy, but his spirit stood higher than ever.
And then, he said it.
Firmly.
With thunder voice that broke the stadium's roar.
"Siege Weapon: Primary Flow! Incorporated Nanotechnology: War Hawks!"
The particles around his body vibrated. The air tore with an electric hum. From his bracers emerged incandescent lines extending toward the sky… like calls of divine command.
And the sky responded.
From the firmament, two warships—large as metal beasts, with spread wings and hanging cannons—descended in perfect formation. One to his left. Another to his right.
They floated like steel birds, with living cores, with their own will.
"What… what the hell…?!" gasped someone from the celestial stadium.
The imperial assistants stood up abruptly. Tiberius narrowed his eyes. Leftraro, from his seat, barely smiled.
Because what was happening wasn't simple technology.
It was legitimate power.
It was activated legacy.
From the stadium screens, the transmission showed Godric Fitzgerald, standing in the middle of the devastated field, with the ships escorting him as if he were a war king.
The Empire's emblems shone on the aircraft's sides. And beneath their wings… compartments loaded with launchers, cannons, and energy shields ready to deploy opened.
The crowd kept silent for a second.
And then exploded again.
"MONARCH GENERAL GODRIC!"
"THE WAR HAWK!"
"GLORY TO THE ASPIRANTS!"
Sofia and Brenda looked at him, open-mouthed, eyes still clouded by tears. But now… those tears were of another kind.
Of pride.
Godric hadn't only saved their lives.
Now he had the power to protect them.
Standing among the field's ruins, with two metal titans spinning above his head, Godric Fitzgerald once more raised his gaze to the sky.
There was no longer fear in his eyes.
Only decision.
And the Empire had recognized it.
But that wasn't all.
Godric raised his arms to the heavens, still gasping, still with blood on his lips… but now with a power even he didn't finish understanding.
"What the hell is happening?" Brenda murmured, still open-mouthed.
"That… isn't the same Godric from a few minutes ago…" Sofia said in a low voice, trembling.
Then, the earth vibrated.
The vital energy in his body ignited like stars awakening after sleeping centuries. The air began to spin around him, wrapping him in a dance of incandescent particles. His voice resonated with a depth that wasn't human.
"Conquest Weapon! Primary Flow! Incorporated Army!"
A metallic echo crossed the battlefield like a celestial trumpet.
The ships floating above him released energy waves that fell like cascades over the jungle. And then… the unthinkable happened.
Amazonia's beasts roared.
Wild felines, steel birds, colossal reptiles, packs of spectral wolves…
All of them.
One by one, they began to cover themselves with living armor plates. Biomechanical helmets formed on their skulls. Obsidian and light armor molded over their bodies. Metallic wings, plasma tails, eyes bright as sensors. They became war creatures, fused with Godric's will, as if they had always been waiting for his command.
The aspirants—previously fearful, scattered, disorganized—stopped. They looked around. They saw how the creatures that once hunted them now roared at their side.
They weren't just a group of fleeing students.
They were no longer aspirants.
They were an army.
"Is this an awakening?!" shouted someone in the celestial stadium, desperate.
"No…" corrected another with eyes fixed on the scene. "This is a true heir."
Godric, without moving from the center, breathed forcefully. Power flowed from him like living lava. And yet… he didn't dominate it. He only let it flow.
"Where does this come from? From Garreth?…" he whispered to himself. "But if this power is now mine… I'll use it to defend them."
Sofia took a step forward, still with tears on her cheeks, but with her chest full of something new.
Pride.
Brenda clenched her fist, smile escaping between tears.
The Celestial Stadium screens projected worldwide the image:
Godric Fitzgerald, surrounded by ships, steel beasts, violet flames and light of rebirth.
A generation finally had its emblem.
A defense finally had its general.
From the jungle's center, with clouded sky, Makia observed the scene with eyes wide open. Amazonia's savage army—now covered in armor—roared as if the planet itself had awakened with thirst for vengeance.
The two floating ships escorting Godric released sonic command waves. Sensors spun, seeking targets. Artillery towers rose on their flanks. And on the ground, creatures beat claws, paws, fangs… ready.
And then, Makia, looking at the jungle with her primordial energy spiraling around her, raised her voice.
It wasn't just a shout.
It was a spiritual roar.
A direct, ancestral order, charged with sacred authority.
"ATTAAAAAAAAACK!!!" she bellowed with a tone that split the sky and shook the jungle's very roots.
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOAAAAAR!
The cry was answered by thousands.
Armored tigers with plasma eyes, giant apes with gleaming exoskeletons, dragon birds with obsidian wings… All charged in unison. Each beast step resonated like war cannons. Each wing beat was a storm. Each roar… a sentence.
Amazonia's army advanced.
The floating ships ignited their thrusters, flanking the advance with salvos of dispersion missiles. The sky shone with crossed fire. Automatic towers began firing containment rays and electromagnetic spheres.
The imperial soldiers, who before pursued aspirants with overwhelming superiority… now ran for their lives.
"What is this?!" shouted an enemy soldier, covering himself while a bear clad in titanochrome brought down his entire squad.
"They're mounting armored beasts! THEY'RE MOUNTING THE DAMN BEASTS!"
From above, Makia extended her arms, spinning on her own axis, wrapped in light and vegetation. Her eyes shone supernaturally. Her connection with Amazonia was absolute.
And now… Amazonia was alive.
"For every drop of blood spilled!" she shouted. "For every broken soul!! FOR EVERY CRY!!"
An explosion shook the enemy line. The ground's very roots rose like gigantic whips, wrapping turrets, bringing down soldiers, destroying barriers.
The counterattack had begun.
Godric, standing amid chaos, slowly turned his head, still staggering… and smiled.
"Well done, girl…"
Ian, at his side, also smiled.
"Now this… looks like a defense."
The jungle burned with power. The earth trembled under Amazonia's army march. The ships roared. The beasts pounced like an unstoppable wave of savage justice. And for an instant—a fleeting respite—hope seemed to have defeated the Empire.
The offensive began…
…but didn't last more than ten seconds.
Because the crack in the sky, that burning fissure that had already birthed Seraphim and high-ranking soldiers, bled light again.
A roar broke the atmosphere. The crack opened with more force, as if a celestial dam had suddenly cracked.
And from there… the second wave began.
They were soldiers.
Thousands.
Archangels.
Hundreds.
Imperial ships.
Dozens.
All deploying black flags with sacred symbols of High Command. Metallic wings, shields with lightning, spears of pure energy.
The Empire's elite descended like divine punishment.
An army to sweep away hope.
Ian frowned.
"They're responding… with everything!"
Zetz gritted his teeth. From the air, he spun his spear furiously.
"It's no longer containment! We're at war!"
Sofia raised her eyes, trembling seeing the skies plagued as if they were an upside-down city. Brenda gripped her rifle. Godric lowered his gaze, and then… raised his face with determination.
"Then…" he murmured. "Let them come."
At the battlefield's center, Makia felt the echo of all Amazonia's will. It wasn't just battle. It was history. It was final judgment.
And the crack roared.
Because the Empire's traitors had responded.
And they were willing to raze everything.