Bonus Chapter : Side story 1.

The radio kept transmitting messages, over and over again.

"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! "

"Don't slow down! "

"We are eternal! "

" Argh! I- boom!"

"For the republic of Athena! "

"I...I want to p - parasite - mouri... -parasite-"

"Don't stop! If we falter, the whole front will be lost! "

It never stopped. Between cries of agony, patriotic howls, terror and resignation, there was never silence in the cockpit.

The man in the cockpit turned off his radio, but it made no difference. Instead of screams, explosions filled his cockpit.

In front of him, destruction stretched out. Hundreds of mechanical titans. Their movement was sometimes heavy, sometimes light. Several models were fighting together, between white humanoids resembling immaculate paladins and war machines whose metal and raw appearance could make the most stoic tremble, there were a few more recent machines. Their armor was reduced to a minimum, leaving room for a sword and equally light weapons. But nothing helped. The next instant, what had been a hundred machines resisting with all their souls were reduced to ashes.

"Metal doesn't burn, does it?

said the man observing the scene. He too was in one of these machines. One of the most armored, the most brutal, the most intimidating. One of the most easily destroyed of all those he observed, due to its lack of mobility. Armor seemed unnecessary.

"Pilot, your cognitive activity is unstable. Think parasite detect. "

The man chuckled at the metallic voice addressing him.

"Is it really worth fighting? "

In answer to his question, all the machines on either side of him opened fire, pouring an astronomical amount of bullet and plasma spray towards a few silhouettes emerging from the ashes and sand. The place where other titans had once stood. No doubt the order had been given to attack, but he hadn't heard it.

His machine also pointed its weapon at the enemy, then fired. However, all action seemed useless. Every projectile aimed at the shapeless, pristine-white silhouette now visible to all, stopped in front of him. Or at least, almost. The few that didn't hit his scarred skin were stopped by a barrier, leaving his unbroken form to continue its relentless advance. Strangely enough, an imposing necklace seemed to be affixed to his neck.

Crack

A short mechanical screech and a tiny ball of bloody compressed metal. This was all that remained of the titan to the man's right.

Phew

The infinitesimal sound of the wind had sounded, cutting in two the titan just behind him, barely off to his right. A scratch had appeared on his machine.

Booom

Flames from hell had reduced the titan on his left to a carcass.

Chiiiiii

An acid more corrosive than anything this planet had ever created had just turned the titan in front of him into a puddle of metal.

"It's true that we don't melt. "

The man sneered.

"We don't have time for that. "

"Pilot, come to your senses. Estimated destruction in 5 - 4 - 3"

"Yeah yeah, I know. "

He replied in a resigned voice. His arms had just gripped the controls of his machine even more firmly, and it had just taken a leap backwards. Its imposing legs had lit up, revealing the imposing thrusters that had enabled it to maneuver. It had just avoided a huge agglomeration of sand that had taken the shape of the sharpest of stones. If it had stayed, it would have ended up like the few other titans that hadn't yet moved. Empty shells whose electronics crackled as blood poured from the multitudes of holes in their machines.

Disregarding this, he picked up the imposing mortar at his back, firing a single shell before discarding his weapon like trash. He wouldn't have time to reload. Instead, he picked up the firearm that hadn't yet hit the ground. The one he'd just dropped for his mortar. Then, with a pinpoint movement, a projectile mixing plasma and shot penetrated the barrier of one of the now numerous silhouettes facing him, all wearing the same collar. It had just shredded the lower part of his body.

[ It's...amazing. ]

Replied the figure whose body could barely be made out.Despite his condition, he was stoic, a soft green glow healing him.His scars didn't seem to be healing, but his body was.The shell the man had fired had just landed, leaving only a crater where the silhouettes had resided.All other forms of life had been blown away, or at least a few feet away. And the one that had just been hit had been reduced to a small piece of burnt flesh.At least, that's what his eyes showed him, before what he'd targeted turned into the carcass of another titan, and the same voice echoed in his mind.

[ Truly astonishing.This is the first time a machine like this has threatened to kill me. ]

The man reflexively turned his machine, trying to determine where the voice was coming from. But when he looked behind him, only the ashes of his allies entered his vision.He was alone. Alone again.He shot mechanically at one of the silhouettes that had not yet risen, reducing its body to ashes.

" 9. "

came the robotic voice."Only nine..."

sneered the man. However, the mechanical voice interrupted him.

"Non-operational thruster. 5 seconds to reload com-"

Perform maneuver.

"Integrity threatened.Machine risks destruction of its lower part- "

"Done.

The machine leaped again, this time to the left.His right leg had just been frosted, and he hadn't been able to avoid the attack properly this time.

When the leg hit the ground, it went up in smoke, shattering the machine's balance. She collapsed to the ground, staring at the flames, the frost, the acid, the static electricity that still seemed to exist, the carcasses and the sand.

"Power cut in progress.Protocol 3.Option with best chance of survival adopted." 

The man tried to move his machine, but nothing responded.Instead, his entire cockpit went dark, and only the screen in front of him continued to transmit an image.An image in which the carcasses of the few titans in decent condition rose up, joining the single, abysmal black silhouette. Then it was the turn of the pilots to emerge from the other machines, regardless of the deplorable state of their remains. They too joined the figure.Yet they seemed dead. At least, no living being could survive the severity of their wounds, unless having their lower body severed, or their head reduced to mush as it crashed to the ground, was a mere detail of survival.

A voice suddenly rang out, as a mouth appeared on the face of the single jet-black silhouette.

"Well, I wasn't needed after all. It's rare that I'm sent unnecessarily."

With a wave of his hand he threw one of the steel balls that was a titan at the young man, continuing his sentence with a simple word.

"All dead."

A tiny smile appeared on his mouth before it disappeared. He seemed to be staring straight at the man inside his titan, even though he couldn't see him. Then, with the other silhouettes seemingly contemptuous of him, he disappeared, along with his pilot consciousness.His head was bleeding.