**Chapter 18 – Rise of the Tyrant King**
Smoke no longer drifted from Sector Seven—it billowed. Kai, now known to the world as the Tyrant King, stood atop the charred remains of the Eastern Federation's military command dome. Below him, the Leviathan Alpha knelt, a monument of reverence and war. The ground trembled not from battle, but from the ceaseless march of Pure Titans—hundreds of thousands now. He could create them at will. The only limit was his imagination.
> **System Alert: Pure Titan Production Node Beta online. Estimated capacity: 50,000 per hour.**
> **Nine Shifters operational. Global domination: 12% complete.**
"Release Swarm Protocol Gamma," Kai commanded with chilling calm.
From ravaged cityscapes to remote resistance strongholds, portals opened. Titans surged out in droves, each bearing Kai's insignia burned into their foreheads—an ouroboros encircling the wings of freedom, corrupted into chains. With each new region conquered, Kai's mind stretched further, tethered to every Titan he created.
His voice echoed into the neural network his system had established:
"Humanity tried to break me. Now I will break their world."
---
**High Orbit – Global Defense Satellite 'Aegis Prime'**
Inside the sterile core of humanity's last orbital weapon, General Malikov watched a live-feed of collapsing nations. His wrinkled hands trembled.
"We have to fire," he muttered.
"Sir, the Aegis Cannon is capable of vaporizing a city, but there are too many. He's... everywhere."
"We don't aim for the Titans. We aim for him."
Target coordinates: Citadel of Bone.
Lock established.
But before Malikov could give the command, every monitor turned red. One by one, they shut down.
> **SYSTEM COMPROMISED**
> **WELCOME TO THE END**
> **- KAI**
A laugh echoed through the comms. Then silence.
A single massive Titan appeared outside the station window. Unseen, unheard-of. Larger than any satellite. A cosmic horror shaped like a Titan.
"Sir…"
Then the station went dark.
---
**Resistance Zone Epsilon – Ironvale**
Ezra's Titan form had stabilized. He stood twelve meters tall, armored like the old Attack Titan but with wings of hardened plasma bone. His mind was clearer than most Shifters—a miracle, perhaps. A flaw in Kai's system. Or a seed of hope.
He wasn't alone anymore. Others like him—Rogue Shifters, unaffiliated with Kai—had emerged. Rebels. Miracles. Accidents.
Together, they formed the Bastion Protocol.
"We strike at dawn," Ezra growled, his voice vibrating across the land. "Not for victory. For resistance."
---
**Kai's Inner Sanctum**
The Citadel's core pulsed like a living heart. There, inside a chamber of bone and crystal, Kai sat on a throne grown from the spine of a fallen Colossal Titan. Before him stood the remaining three Shifter slots—empty.
> **New Upgrade Unlocked: Eternal Genesis Protocol.**
> **Create Eternal Titans: Immortal, Unkillable, World-Bound. Limitless.**
He smiled. "Bring me the candidates."
Three figures were dragged in. Soldiers. Civilians. One a former general.
"You served your world. Now serve me."
They screamed as the injections began. Bones twisted. Minds fractured. Kai watched, fascinated.
"This is what evolution looks like," he said softly. "Suffering, sharpened into power."
And then he raised his hand.
A field of fifty thousand Pure Titans bowed at once.
---
**End of Chapter 18**