Chapter 01 Cracks in the Armor

The walls of the crumbling building seemed ready to give way any second. Dust rained down as another explosion shook the ground. Aria Lock pressed her back against the cold, cracked concrete as she gripped her particle rifle, eyes scanning the ruins outside through a hole in a wall. The sounds of metal being ripped apart echoed in the distance, but for the moment, they were safe.

"How bad is it?" she asked as her eyes glanced at First Seargent Elias beside her.

Elias grunted in pain, leaning heavily against the brick wall. His tactical tank mech suit, a cutting-edge piece of war engineering, was damaged. A large tear along his side was covered in blood, a reminder of the grazing hit he’d taken when the giant mutant attacked. His suit had shielded him from a worse fate, but now, it was little more than dead weight.

"The reactor’s fried. Took a hit right in the core. Vallen particle accelerator insulation? Toast. I’ve got nothing left," Elias said while pulling out the remains of his tactical suit's reactor.

 "Life support’s offline," he muttered, tapping the lifeless console on his forearm. 

"Without it, well, body enhancement is kaput, out of question, and the AI assistant… well, I think it’s taking a nap." He joked while coughing, wincing as the motion jerked his wound.

Aria cursed under her breath.

 "Damn it. Without the suit, you’re a sitting duck. If only life support was still functioning. It would stop the bleeding."

 She glanced out into the rubble-strewn streets, thinking about how to come out of it alive. Combelt IV, their once-mighty battle mech, lay smoking a few blocks away, its giant form twisted and smashed, resting within the rubble of a brick building. Sparks danced from its shattered AI core, and its weapons systems were dead. It was supposed to be humanity’s newest weapon. A machine that could outmaneuver anything in the field, designed to turn the tide in their long war against the mutants. Instead, it was now just another heap of twisted metal littering the ruined city.

Aria’s gaze shifted to the massive footprints that led away from the wreck. Raptor 01 - a Tier 5 mutant, almost twice the size of their mech - had been the one to bring them down. A beast who is faster, smarter, and more vicious. It was a rare sight, even in this endless war, but they’d had the misfortune of crossing its path.

Her fingers tightened on her weapon as she replayed the moment it hit them. Raptor’s roar had torn through the air like thunder, its claws ripping through Combelt IV as if the mech’s reinforced armor was nothing more than paper. 

Only she and Elias had survived. Barely.

Aria clenched her fist. They were supposed to secure the site and test Combelt IV, the new AI-assisted tank mech that was meant to turn the tide of war in their favor. 

Elias’s voice broke the silence. 

 "The whole squad… They didn’t stand a chance. If only Raptor hadn't shown up... Valkys, tier-three mutants, were dangerous enough on their own. But a Raptor - that was a whole different beast. The creature had torn through our elite squad in minutes, shredding mechs left and right, leaving our entire testing mission in ruins."

Aria didn’t respond. She had no time for mourning, not yet. They were still in enemy territory, and the Aegis units, Tier 1 mutants that scouted and hunted for survivors, were sure to come sniffing soon. Twice the size of a normal human, they moved through ruined cities like predators, hunting down anything still alive.

She crouched beside Elias, tapping on the cracked display on her wrist, scanning for any nearby threats.

 "We need to move. If the Aegis scouts find us, we won’t last long. With only a few Vallen particle batteries, we won't be killing many Aegis units with my particle rifle, well, if only yours were operational..."

"But that's not all of our problems, my scanner might be busted, not picking anything on the screen. No mutants, no emergency beacons, no scout drones, nothing. That can't be right."

Elias groaned as he tried to sit up.

 "Yeah, I think you're right, but even if it was working. Move where? Combelt’s toast. My suit’s dead. And we’re in the middle of a warzone. Unless you’ve got a miracle, I’m not seeing how we get out of here..."

"But if you're alone... without me slowing you down. Then maybe you will be able to reach the safety point. I'm half-dead anyway, just leave me. Save yourself. I'm just slowing you down, there is no point for us both to die."

 Combelt IV’s AI was their ace in the hole - meant to be their edge, able to assist or take over for either pilot. It was the newest addition to the tank mech line, designed to replace one of the crew in case of emergency. But now, even that AI was flickering weakly, struggling to stay online.

"Don't talk like that, no one is left behind, we can do this as long as you breathe. There shouldn't be that many mutants left in the zone. We cleared most of them and would be home celebrating if not that damn Raptor 01. Well, at least he's gone for now. How about it, think you can walk while we can?" she asked, though looking at Alias' injury she was losing hope.

"If you insist so much, I guess I’ll have to," Elias muttered, pushing himself upright with a grunt.

 "Not like I’ve got much choice, do I? I took an active nanite shot, that will buy me a few hours."

The distant sounds of mutants echoed through the rubble, sending a chill down Aria’s spine. They were getting closer. Aegis units were relentless once they caught the scent of humans. They were mutants, but they acted like predators, moving in packs, scouring the ruins for any survivors.

"Let’s go. They are closing in. And it would seem I was right, my scanner is broken. Nothing showing on the screen."

 She shouldered her particle rifle, keeping it low as she moved toward the back of the building.

 "We need to get to the safe point. Command’s gonna send another squad to clear the area after this mess. If we’re going to survive, we need to get there as soon as possible. But we can't just jump into a sprint, we will be dead the moment mutants see us."

Elias hobbled after her, using the wall for support.

 "So, any brilliant ideas? Or are we winging it again?"

Aria managed a grim smile. 

"When have we not? But jokes aside, I will throw a few beacons here and there to distract the mutants. Hopefully, they notice their activity and rush toward them while giving us a bit of time to sneak past."

As they moved through the rubble, Aria’s mind couldn’t help but drift to the past. This war had been going on for over a century. No one knew where the mutants had come from. One day, they just started appearing, one by one, in different countries. At first, humanity fought them back with traditional weapons.

But the mutants kept coming. And slowly evolving.

Soon, it wasn’t just small skirmishes - it was war. A world war against an enemy no one could understand. For decades, humans lost ground. Entire continents were overrun, cities crumbled, and billions were killed. It seemed like the end of civilization as they knew it. Less than half the planet remained under human control, and a third of humanity had been wiped out in what would later be called "The Hundred Years War."

Then came the tank mechs known by the name Combelt.

The first tank mechs were clunky, piloted by two people - one for mobility, the other for combat and weapons handling. They were slow and heavy, but effective, and for the first time in decades, humanity started to push back. But the war was still long, the mutants still evolving, and each victory came with heavy losses.

Combelt IV was supposed to be a breakthrough - a smart, AI-assisted mech capable of outmaneuvering the fastest mutants and delivering stronger attacks, equipped with a full Vallen particle reactor that was powering not only the main functions of the tank mech but also the newly added Twin Reactive Vallen Particle Energy Railguns. But today, they learned it wasn’t enough.