The Soldiers pressed forward, rifles blazing, but the hive still loomed impossibly far away — a living monolith scraping the sky. For every meter gained, Typonians pushed them back. UNE soldiers screamed, stim shots were rationed, and the line looked ready to break.
Then the sky opened.
⸻
The Mechs Arrive
From orbit, streaks of fire fell like a meteor storm — not bombs, but 15-meter UNE mechs dropping in by the millions. Their frames hit the ground with earth-shaking thuds, alloy feet crushing Typonians beneath them.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
The battlefield trembled as the machines powered up, their cores glowing with Quantum Cosmic Drive reactors.
Then they opened fire.
• Mini plasma cannons blazed at FTL+ speeds, beams cutting through swarms in seconds.
• Kinetic bomb launchers roared, detonating entire clusters of Typonians in chain-fire explosions.
• Every mech moved like lightning, their sheer size masking the impossible speed their frames carried.
Typonian lines crumbled instantly under the onslaught.
⸻
The Steel Storm
Carla ducked as a mech's barrage tore through the horde in front of them. "Wha— they deployed the big guns!"
Hunter laughed through the chaos. "Now this is a war!"
Hudson simply nodded, visor glowing faint. "...The line holds."
Woo stared up in awe as one of the massive mechs stomped past, its shadow engulfing him. "That's... so many of them."
Jerome's voice cracked. "We're fighting beside giants."
⸻
The Machines of War
And the mechs weren't alone.
• Advanced tanks rolled in behind them, firing cosmic rail rounds that detonated entire enemy platoons with each shot.
• Battle droids deployed in synchronized waves, their movements flawless, each one programmed with tactics of a hundred veteran soldiers.
• Overhead, AI assistant drones hovered like mechanical guardians — floating orbs projecting tactical displays, firing micro-lasers, and feeding Marines real-time targeting intel.
One zipped past Woo's shoulder, its synthetic voice calm.
"Rust Wolves identified. Tracking threat levels. Advising cover left flank."
A beam of plasma sizzled past his head — Woo ducked instantly. The AI's warning had saved him.
"Thanks, uh... little guy," Woo muttered.
The drone beeped once. "Acknowledged."
⸻
The Push Forward
The battlefield shifted in minutes. Where UNE soldiers had been outnumbered ten-to-one, now the tide was reversed. Typonians fell in waves, their numbers burning in the face of the iron storm.
Carla raised her rifle, pointing toward the hive.
"This is our window! The hive won't stay stunned forever — MOVE!"
The Wolves sprinted forward with the UNE tide, the sky filled with the roar of mechs and the fire of tanks.
And above them, the hive pulsed brighter, the queen stirring within.
-
The battlefield shook with the roar of mechs and the screams of Typonians. The Wolves pushed forward, their rifles hot, their armor scarred. For every hive that bled, Marines cheered — but the war was far from done.
Then every soldier's helmet comm lit up at once. Monarch's voice echoed across the battlefield, calm and steady — but carrying the weight of eternity.
"UNE soldiers. Hear this."
"Your mission does not end with the hive queens. Once they are destroyed, you will march on the central hive."
Woo Jin froze, eyes darting upward. Around him, Marines glanced at one another nervously.
Monarch's voice grew deeper, reverberating through their helmets like thunder.
"This hive is not like the others. It is the heart. Bigger than all others combined. It towers from the surface of this world into the heavens — its peak lies in the shadow of its moon."
⸻
The Reveal
Through the smoke and fire, the Wolves caught sight of it at last.
Far beyond the frontlines, past burning cities and shattered landscapes, the central hive rose.
It was monstrous — so vast it dwarfed mountains, so tall it pierced the clouds, its spires clawing toward space itself. Its sides pulsed with glowing veins of alien energy, each beat echoing like a heartbeat across the land.
Raul's visor flickered as he whispered, "...Dios mío... it touches the sky."
Jerome's voice cracked. "That thing... it's almost to the damn moon."
Marco muttered, half in awe, half in terror. "That's not a hive. That's a god."
Carla gritted her teeth, chambering her rifle. "Doesn't matter how tall it is. If Pandora says it dies, it dies."
Hunter chuckled, shaking his head. "Guess we're climbing a stairway to hell."
Hudson's voice was flat, cold. "Then we climb."
Reaper tilted his hooded helm, his blue eyes glowing brighter. "And we cut the heart."
Asura simply stared at the towering hive, calm as always. "...It ends there."
⸻
Monarch's Word
Monarch's voice cut through again, steady and unyielding.
"This is your trial, Marines. This is your judgment. Destroy the queens. Destroy the central hive. Humanity's survival depends on it. Monarch out."
The comms went silent.
The Wolves looked up at the monolith scraping the stars, their breaths heavy, their hearts pounding.
Woo Jin tightened his grip on his rifle, whispering almost to himself.
"Then we climb to the moon."
And the battlefield roared once more.
-
The Wolves were pinned again. Typonians pressed in from every direction, their plasma beams tearing apart cover, their grotesque beasts crawling over burning ruins. Woo fired until his rifle overheated, Raul cursed through clenched teeth, Jerome's hands shook as he tried to reload.
Marco yelled, "We're not gonna make it at this pace!"
Carla slammed a fresh mag into her rifle, eyes sharp. "We push or we die, Wolves!"
But then Reaper moved.
⸻
The Combo
The hooded figure stepped forward into the open battlefield. Plasma fire streaked toward him — and then he was gone.
• His UNE armor speed snapped him forward faster than the eye could follow.
• Then, layered over it, Silent Shadow Tactic Type 2 activated — his body, his cloak, his very weapons shimmering into nothingness.
For a moment, it was as if he had ceased to exist.
Then the slaughter began.
⸻
The Reaper's Dance
Typonian infantry dropped in silence, heads severed before their bodies knew they were dead. Plasma bolts fired wildly into the smoke — but their targets were already corpses.
Reaper reappeared behind a swarm, his rifle spitting FTL+ bursts, then blinked away before their counterfire reached him. He materialized in the heart of a formation, his blade carving through ten soldiers in a single sweep, then vanished again, leaving only corpses in his wake.
To the Wolves' eyes, it was madness:
• One second he was gone.
• The next, enemies fell in dozens.
• Then nothing but silence... before another wave dropped.
It was like watching death itself step onto the battlefield.
⸻
The Wolves' Reactions
Raul's visor flickered as he muttered, "...Oh shit..."
Jerome's hands trembled, his voice breaking. "He—he's just... gone, and then—"
Marco whispered, "Like a ghost... but worse."
Woo's heart pounded. He'd seen Asura's prodigy reveal. Now he was seeing the Reaper's truth.
Asura and John didn't care, they both kept fighting.
Carla's lips tightened, her voice hard. "...That's why they call him Reaper. That's not just a soldier. That's a nightmare."
Hunter chuckled, low and impressed. "Still creepy as hell, but damn effective."
Hudson nodded once, flat. "...Phantom warfare at its finest."
Asura, calm as always, simply said:
"Every hive has its death. He is theirs."
The Path Opens
When Reaper finally reappeared beside them, cloak snapping in the smoke, his visor eyes glowed brighter than before. Around him, hundreds of Typonian corpses smoldered.
He spoke, voice low and distorted, like the grave itself:
"The way is clear. Move."
The Wolves looked at one another, shaken but emboldened. With Asura and Reaper both carving paths no ordinary soldier could, they weren't just surviving anymore.
They were climbing.
And the hive trembled.
-
The battlefield was drowning in blood.
Behind the Wolves, UNE lines pressed forward, but the cost was brutal. Soldiers were torn apart by Typonian plasma, limbs shredded, armor ripped open like paper. Bodies burned in the craters, smoke rising into the choking air. Medics and squadmates jammed stim shots into any survivor they could reach — but even those had to be rationed. The order was clear:
"Save the stims for what you must. The hive will take more from us than the field ever will."
And still, the UNE Marines pushed.
Ten minutes of pure chaos later, the Rust Wolves reached the base of the hive.
⸻
The Hive Face
The hive towered above them like a nightmare. Its walls pulsed with alien light, organic metal shifting as if it were alive. The entrance wasn't on the ground — it was high above, a jagged opening halfway up the tower.
Raul cursed, visor tilted back. "You've gotta be kidding me. That's the door?"
Jerome groaned, "They made their entrances halfway up the damn skyscraper!"
Carla smirked, checking her mags. "Then it's time to climb."
⸻
The Wall Run
One by one, UNE Marines triggered their armor acceleration. Boots hit the hive wall, and suddenly squads of soldiers were sprinting up the vertical surface, rifles slung tight, every stride aided by their enhanced kinetic frames.
The Wolves followed, their armor's servos roaring. Boots pounded against the pulsing hive wall, their bodies defying gravity as they charged upward.
Woo's heart pounded, his HUD screaming altitude warnings. "We're really doing this—!"
Marco laughed nervously, "Feels like running on a goddamn skyscraper!"
⸻
The Showoff
But then Hunter smirked under his visor.
"Watch and learn, rookies."
Instead of sticking to the wall, he kicked off mid-run, activating Air Step Tactic.
He sprinted up the air itself, climbing like a phantom stairway, faster and smoother than the rest. It's almost like he's running up an invisible stairway!
Jerome gasped. "He's running... on the air?!"
Raul shouted, half in awe, half annoyed. "Show-off bastard!"
Carla barked a laugh. "That's Hunter for you showing off Air Step Tactic"
Hudson shook his head, voice flat. "Waste of energy. But effective."
Reaper tilted his hood slightly. "Style means nothing. Unless it kills."
Asura and John said nothing, calmly wall-running alongside them, his speed unbroken.
Marco was too busy to pay attention.
⸻
The Breach Point
The Wolves reached the jagged entrance at last, boots slamming onto alien stone. The tunnel yawned before them, glowing faintly with sickly organic light. The stench of rot and heat poured out like a breath from hell.
Woo staggered, catching his breath. "We... we made it."
Carla raised her rifle, visor glowing. "Don't get comfortable. This is the easy part."
Hunter chuckled, chambering a fresh mag. "And now we go inside the beast."
The Soldiers exchanged glances, their nerves heavy, their weapons tight in their hands.
The hive had opened its mouth.
And they were stepping inside.
-
The soldiers stepped inside the hive, rifles raised.
The interior was a twisted fusion of organic grotesque and alien technology. Veins of pulsing light ran across the walls like arteries, oozing fluid into channels that glowed faintly. Strange biomechanical conduits hummed, dripping with alien ichor. The floor was slick, alive, and every breath reeked of rot and metal.
Woo whispered, "This place... it's like walking inside a monster."
Jerome's voice cracked. "...A monster with circuits."
Raul muttered, "Dios mío... this is hell."
⸻
The First Encounter
They advanced deeper, weapons ready. The tunnels pulsed, echoing with distant shrieks.
Then a shadow moved.
From the ceiling, a grotesque machine dropped — a tentacle droid, its body a twisted fusion of alien alloy and wet, fleshy sinew. Its limbs writhed, tipped with hooks and blades, dripping acid. Its head was a pulsating orb with glowing red slits.
Before anyone could react, it lashed out.
A nearby UNE Marine screamed as a tentacle wrapped around his torso. The droid lifted him like a ragdoll, and in one horrifying motion — tore him in half. Blood sprayed across the wall, the soldier's scream cutting short in an instant.
"NOOO!" another Marine shouted, raising his rifle.
The Wolves opened fire.
⸻
The Kill
Bullets and plasma tore into the droid's body. It shrieked, thrashing violently, but still lashed out, smashing another Marine into the wall hard enough to break bones.
Carla barked orders, "Keep firing! Take it down!"
Hunter vaulted forward, blasting its orb-head with a point-blank burst. Hudson knelt, placing precise shots into its joints. Reaper blurred forward with Silent Shadow Tactic Type 2, reappearing right behind it and slashing his blade through its core.
The droid spasmed, limbs flailing — then collapsed, twitching in a pool of black ichor and mechanical sparks.
⸻
The Shock
Woo stared at the shredded Marine's remains, bile rising in his throat.
Jerome's hands shook violently. "I... I didn't even see it move..."
Marco whispered, pale. "It just... ripped him apart. Like he was nothing."
Raul spat, anger masking his fear. "Son of a bitch... I'll kill every last one of them."
Carla glanced at the Wolves, her voice sharp but steady.
"Get used to it. Inside the hive, this is normal. These things don't stop. And if you freeze, you die."
Reaper stood still, his glowing visor eyes fixed ahead. "One down. More to come."
Asura calmly reloaded, his voice as steady as ever. "...The hive will not make this easy."
John was disturbed by this but didn't say anything.
⸻
The Wolves tightened their grips on their rifles, hearts pounding.
This was no battlefield.
This was a nightmare labyrinth.
And they had just taken their first step inside.
——————————————
To be continued...