The Throne Room was a cage of biological horror.Brick, now a hulking behemoth of bark and muscle, charged. He didn't roar like a man; he roared like a falling oak tree."Brick, stop!" Ethan shouted.He used his suit thrusters to move sideways across the mossy surface. Brick’s huge fist hit the ground exactly where Ethan had just stood, resulting in a concrete slab fracture that extended to the moss area.Elena’s voice echoed throughout the space because she spoke about her wolf who remained invisible to others. The others only perceived the Song.Viper executed her next movement by standing still without charging. She disappeared into the wall vegetation which consisted of foliage.Ethan’s HUD showed a red warning light. PROXIMITY ALERT. BEHIND.Ethan turned his body to face the danger while bringing up his plasma blade.Viper descended from the ceiling while her arms became extended, serrated blades that resembled a praying mantis.The sound of metal colliding produced a CLANG.Etha

The green nightmare was ending.With the connection to the Queen severed, the massive, building-sized flower that had swallowed Qin’s Tower began to wilt. The petals turned from vibrant red to ash-gray in minutes. The thick vines choking the city streets dried up and crumbled into dust, blowing away in the wind.Inside the Throne Room, the silence was heavy.Ethan sat on the steps of the dais, his white nano-suit deactivated. He felt extremely tired. His broken wrist (which the suit had splinted) throbbed with a dull rhythm.His captains were beginning to wake up from their sleep.Brick groaned, pushing himself up from the floor. The bark-armor that had covered his skin flaked off, revealing his human (well, mutant) skin underneath. He examined his enormous hands which were trembling.Brick’s voice rumbled through the room. The shame he felt made his voice thick. "I tried to crush you, Alpha. I saw you... but I saw an enemy."Viper sat in the corner with her mantis-blades closed. Sh

Sector 4: The Verdant Jungle.The border of The Gardener’s territory was a wall of green. Massive trees, woven together with vines thick as suspension cables, blocked the path.But the Iron Legion did not knock."Fire!" General Kael bellowed.A line of fifty Iron-Clad Tanks fired in unison.BOOM-BOOM-BOOM.High-explosive shells slammed into the jungle wall. Wood shattered. Vines disintegrated. The entire area turned into a path of fire which spread immediately through the green hell.The Ark created a giant shadow which hovered above the tanks.Ethan observed the destruction from his position on the bridge.Ethan reported to his superiors that "The outer perimeter has been compromised." "Kael, move your armor in. Burn everything that moves."Kael’s voice crackled over the comms to the Legion to start their military operation while he declared "With pleasure... I will proceed with my mission."The tanks advanced to crush the burning debris which they encountered on their path. The tank

Sector 7: The Undercity.The air in the sewers tasted of copper and ozone. The slime on the walls wasn't green anymore—it was black, pulsating with a faint, oily shimmer.Ethan waded through the knee-deep water, his kinetic rifle raised. The tactical lights on his helmet cut through the darkness.Behind him were Brick and Viper. They had lost their previous plant-monster appearance but still remained in between their two states of existence. Brick’s skin showed evidence of bark developing as natural defense, which created protective patches. Viper’s slit-pupiled eyes maintained the heightened insect-mutation capabilities.Viper hissed that she detected his presence, while her tongue flicked out to taste the air. The odor resembled burning hair combined with static electricity.Ethan whispered the name of "The Phantom" as he confirmed the presence of a shadowy figure in the space below them.Lord Gear’s voice echoed through Ethan’s earpiece when he received a transmission from the orbi

The Ark. Simulation Deck."...Neural Load at 90%..." Lord Gear’s voice announced over the speakers. "...Critical threshold approaching."Five Bio-Mech Titans which stand forty feet tall as war machines constructed from white bio-steel moved with sluggishness throughout the vast holographic training chamber. The tanks were operated by General Kael's top tank commanders.Kael yelled at the observation deck through his headset. "You are moving like mud! Flank the target!"Captain Miller yelled inside Titan-1.Miller gasped "I can't... hold it! I can’t keep the machine quiet in my head!"The Titan fell down because the neural interface carried too much information for Miller who had a human brain but used Progenitor mental design. The system faced an impossible task because it had to process all sensor data along with gyro data and weapon system data.Gear issued a warning that a seizure had been detected.Titan-1 fell down. It tumbled face down on the virtual ground.Ethan shouted "Abort