The central plaza of Emerald Castle was packed—steel and light filling every inch of space.
Rows of troops stood in perfect formation, stretching all the way to the far edge of the square.
Every single one of them wore a suit of Powered Combat Armor.
Energy patterns pulsed across the armor surfaces in a spectrum of colors—some glowing with searing crimson, others shimmering in icy blue, and a few flickering with arcs of lightning or veils of shadow.
This was the result of the lab's second wave of upgrades, made possible after acquiring a new batch of advanced metals.
Not only had they achieved true mass production—
Even the original twenty prototype suits had been overhauled, rebuilt with denser alloys and reinforced energy matrices. Their performance had taken a clear leap forward.
They were no longer "experimental units."
They were—
Fully operational war gear, ready for the front lines.
At the center of the plaza, Ethan stood silently.
