Episode-1031
Chapter : 2061
"Hold the line!" a voice roared over the tactical comms channel. "Do not let them reach the inner wall!"
Ren, known by his callsign "Rook," stood at the center of the shattered main gate. He was piloting his Aegis Mark II suit, a twelve-foot titan of matte-grey steel. But right now, the suit looked like it had been through a grinder. The armor was scorched black in places, and deep gouges marred the chest plate where a demon had tried to carve its way in.
Ren didn't care about the paint job. He cared about the heat gauge on his HUD (Heads-Up Display).
Warning: Railgun barrel temperature critical, the onboard computer flashed in angry red text. Cooling systems at maximum.
"I don't care about the heat!" Ren shouted, his voice rough. "Keep firing!"
He pulled the trigger. The massive railgun on his shoulder kicked back with a sound like a thunderclap. A solid slug of Star-Metal flew at Mach speeds, hitting a cybernetic ogre square in the chest. The monster didn't just fall; it disintegrated. The top half of its body turned into a red mist, while the mechanical parts sparked and short-circuited.
It was a kill. But it wasn't enough.
For every monster Ren turned into paste, two more drop-pods slammed into the ground behind it. The sky was choked with smoke, turning the rising sun into a bloody smear. Ash fell like grey snow, coating the armor of the Titan Squad.
"Valkyrie!" Ren shouted. "Left flank! You've got three runners!"
Vala, in her lighter, faster Aegis suit, was a blur of motion. She didn't use guns. She used twin vibro-blades—swords that vibrated so fast they could cut through tank armor like it was butter. She sprinted across the broken cobblestones, dodging a blast of green fel-fire from a demon mage.
She slid under the swing of a massive axe, her suit’s thrusters flaring blue, and brought her blades up in a cross-slash. The demon’s legs were severed instantly. It collapsed, howling, only to be silenced by a stomp from Vala’s steel boot.
"I see them, Rook!" Vala yelled back, her breath heavy over the radio. "But there are too many! Where is the air support? Where are the estate wards?"
That was the question everyone was asking. The Ferrum Estate was supposed to be a fortress. It had magical barriers that had stood for three hundred years.
Then, the answer came from the sky.
One of the hovering ships released a pulse. It wasn't a bomb. It was a silent, invisible wave of energy called an EMP—an Electro-Magnetic Pulse, but modified by magic.
The wave hit the estate’s invisible dome.
CRACK.
The sound was like a glass mountain shattering. The magical wards, which usually shimmered like a golden curtain, flared bright white for a split second and then exploded. Shards of raw mana rained down, dissolving before they hit the ground. The estate was naked.
"Wards are down!" Kaito, the sniper known as "Ghost," reported from his perch on the roof of the manor. "Repeat, the shield is gone. They are dropping right into the courtyard!"
The panic was immediate. The "Wraiths," Lloyd’s elite assassin unit, were moving like shadows through the smoke, slitting throats and planting explosives, but they were overwhelmed. They were spies and killers, not soldiers meant to hold a defensive line against heavy infantry.
Inside the manor, the servants were screaming. Guards were trying to barricade the heavy oak doors, but everyone knew wood wouldn't stop a cyborg demon.
Ren fired again, his barrel glowing white-hot. "We can't hold them here! We need to fall back to the inner keep!"
"No retreat!" Vala screamed, decapitating another monster. "If we fall back, they get into the house! The Duchess is in there! The baby is in there!"
The mention of the baby, Lloyd’s son, steeled their resolve. They couldn't run. They were the Titan Squad. They were the wall.
But the wall was cracking.
Just then, the ground near the stables erupted. A tunnel collapsed, and a figure pulled himself out of the dirt.
It was Lloyd Ferrum.
He was covered in the dust of the underworld, his coat torn, his face pale from the ordeal he had just survived deep underground. He had just traded his own potential to save a soul, and he was exhausted. He had expected to come home to a celebration, or at least a bed.
Instead, he walked into hell.
Chapter : 2062
Lloyd stood up, coughing the dust out of his lungs. He looked around, his eyes widening. He saw his home burning. He saw the beautiful gardens turned into craters. He saw his Titan Squad, the team he had built from nothing, fighting back-to-back against a tide of monsters that shouldn't exist.
"Fire Fly," Lloyd whispered, the name tasting like bile. "They didn't wait."
He felt a surge of rage so hot it almost blinded him. They had attacked his home. They had attacked his family while he was gone.
Lloyd reached for his sword, but stopped. He was drained. His mana was low from the transaction with Satan. He couldn't summon his spirits yet; they were still recovering from the journey. He was just a man standing in the middle of a war zone.
"Master!"
A voice called out from behind him. It was Jasmin. The newly resurrected Spirit Warrior stumbled out of the tunnel. She looked different now—her skin was black diamond(she transformed) , her eyes shining with human warmth—but her face was twisted in horror as she looked at the destruction.
"My... my garden," Jasmin stammered, looking at the burning rosebushes. "They burned the flowers."
"Stay close to me," Lloyd ordered, his voice cold and hard. "We need to get to the main house. We need to find my father."
Lloyd didn't run. He moved with the calculated efficiency of a Major General. He scanned the battlefield, looking for the command unit. This wasn't a random attack. This was coordinated. Someone was pulling the strings.
He saw Ren’s mech take a heavy hit from a rocket-propelled grenade. The machine staggered, armor plating flying off its shoulder.
"Rook!" Lloyd shouted into his comms earpiece, praying it still worked. "Report!"
Ren’s voice crackled in his ear, sounding surprised and relieved. "Commander? You're back! Thank god. We’re getting hammered out here. They have anti-magic rounds. They have jammers. It’s a mess."
"Pull the line back twenty yards," Lloyd commanded. "Funnel them into the chokepoint at the archway. Make them climb over their own dead."
"Copy that," Ren said. The giant mech took a step back, its guns still blazing.
Lloyd moved through the chaos, Jasmin guarding his back. Every time a demon got too close, Jasmin moved. She was a blur of black crystal. Her arm would shift into a blade, and with a single, precise strike, she would shatter the enemy’s core. She was unbreakable. She was angry.
They reached the edge of the inner courtyard. The fighting here was less chaotic, but far more terrifying.
The demons weren't attacking this area. They were standing in a circle, watching.
In the center of the burning courtyard, standing amidst the ruins of the fountain, was a figure.
He wore white armor that gleamed in the firelight. It wasn't medieval armor; it was a high-tech "Command Harness" made of sleek, synthetic plates. It hummed with power. Wires and tubes connected the armor to the man’s skin, pumping glowing purple fluid into his veins.
It was Lucifer.
The Devil King of Pride.
He wasn't fighting. He wasn't shouting orders. He was just standing there, his arms crossed, looking at the burning manor house with a look of utter boredom.
He looked like a god who had come down to inspect an anthill before pouring boiling water on it.
Lloyd froze. He felt the pressure radiating off Lucifer. It wasn't just magical pressure; it was physical. The air around the Devil King was heavy, distorted.
"Gravity," Lloyd realized. "He's using the harness to amplify his gravity well."
Lucifer turned his head slightly. He didn't look at the soldiers dying around him. He looked straight at the spot where Lloyd was standing in the shadows.
A slow, cruel smile spread across Lucifer’s face.
"Finally," Lucifer said. His voice wasn't loud, but it drowned out the explosions. "The rat comes out of his hole."
________________________________________
The presence of Lucifer changed the physics of the battlefield.
Until this moment, the fight had been loud. It was the sound of metal tearing, guns firing, and men screaming. But as Lloyd stepped into the courtyard, the noise seemed to be sucked away. It was replaced by a low, throbbing hum that vibrated in the teeth of every living thing for a mile.
It was the sound of gravity increasing.