**Chapter 17 – Titanfall**
Smoke coiled through the remains of Sector Seven, rising into a darkened sky like incense offered to an angry god. Kai stood at the center of it all, a lone figure against a canvas of ruin, blood, and twisted steel. His wounded arm had finally stopped burning, the corrupted flesh excised and replaced with raw, regenerated muscle. The Titan Binding Serum was potent—a threat he could no longer ignore.
But threats only made him stronger.
The Leviathan Alpha, his first true Shifter creation, towered beside him, glowing lines pulsing down its body like living circuitry. Behind them, hundreds of Pure Titans stood in ranks, still and quiet, awaiting the signal.
The system pinged.
> **Project Titanfall: Global Deployment Sequence Initiated.**
> **Parameters: Terraforming, Human Elimination, Regional Occupation.**
> **Command Units: 9 Shifters. Sub-units: Unlimited Pure Titans.**
Kai spoke aloud. "Begin with the Eastern Federation. I want their cities swallowed before sunrise."
With that single command, the world changed.
---
**Eastern Federation - City of Neu-Luminaris**
It began as a tremor.
A low, unnatural rumble that rolled through the concrete veins of the city. Then the screams started. A wall of flesh and muscle burst through the ground like a plague of giants. Titans. Dozens. Then hundreds.
In less than two minutes, a quarter of the city had fallen.
The military scrambled. Gunships filled the skies. Drones released nerve gas. High-speed railguns punched holes in buildings trying to pin down the swarm. But it was no use.
A new Shifter dropped from the sky, one of Kai's elite. The **Crucible Titan** – twenty meters tall, fire-coated armor, spines along its shoulders, and a mouth like a furnace.
It opened its jaw and breathed an inferno that swept across ten blocks.
---
**Command Station - United Nations Underground Bunker**
Panic. Reports poured in.
"Multiple Titan-class entities confirmed in every major region. Simultaneous emergence. Civilian casualties in the millions."
"They aren't just mindless. They're coordinated. They… communicate."
President Rana of the Pacific Coalition slammed a fist on the table. "Deploy our Shifters! All of them!"
General Trask looked up, face pale. "Ma'am, our Shifters are being… overwritten."
"What do you mean overwritten?"
He swallowed. "They're turning against us. Some are growing new forms. Kai's system is... hijacking them."
Silence fell.
---
**Kai's Throne, The Citadel of Bone**
Built atop the ruins of old-world skyscrapers, the Citadel was a fortress of titan skeletons and obsidian metal, fused together by his will. From here, he could see the world unraveling.
Lys was still unconscious, suspended in a stasis pod. He hadn't killed her. Yet. Her bravery intrigued him. Her failure fascinated him more.
The system hummed.
> **New Shifter Slot Available. Candidate: Lys Aven. Potential: Apex Shifter.**
"Interesting," Kai mused. "Let's see if the hero can become the monster."
---
**Far West – City of Ironvale**
Not all humans gave up.
A teenage boy named Ezra, once a fan of old-world Titan history, now stood on the rooftop of a hospital. In his trembling hands was a stolen transformation serum. He had hacked a decommissioned injection chamber and stolen an injector from a fallen lab.
He looked up as the sky turned red.
"For my family," he whispered.
Then he stabbed the needle into his arm.
His bones cracked. Skin tore. Light erupted from his spine.
Another Titan was born.
A human one.
---
**End of Chapter 17**