Chapter 65

　　Five.`

　　Streaks of bluish-white and crimson energy cut through the amassed forces, each target in Kal`s HUD accurately reduced to burning debris. Speeding purple railgun projectiles tore through Mechs until they slammed into one of the Corsair Starships.

　　The vessel hung in the black momentarily with a gaping hole in its bow before exploding in a ball of iridescent light.

　　Kal laughed at the carnage, his emotions running wild with Atlas as the Mech slaughtered its enemies. Unnoticed by him, his control was loosening as his health deteriorated. His left arm had gone numb. The limb twisted as the muscles cramped. His fingers were clenched oddly, like a claw as it spasmed.

　　Jack managed to dodge the barrage of energy weapons, the attack grazing his Odin`s shield, leaving a trail of white on the barrier that quickly faded.

　　I need to get closer!` Jack thought, accelerating the Odin forward.

　　Six.`

　　The Neural Distortion field pulsated, sending out another shockwave of energy. Hundreds more Mechs powered down from the burden on their Pilots, and worse still, the Engines of the Starships began to fail, refusing to spool for the Jump.

　　If Kal even noticed, he was beyond caring. Only a small part of his reasoning remained, a tiny portion of who he had been. The Atlas was quickly wearing away his mind, taking his memories and emotions unnoticed and leaving nothing behind.

　　The Neural Link between them was a grindstone, and his psyche was eroding under its friction. His right eye had gone white, leaving him blind. Kal didn`t perceive its loss as he was too busy seeing` through Atlas.

　　On board Kal`s flagship, the artificial gravity had deactivated again with the Engine`s loss. Talha desperately tried to coordinate their retreat while Samuel attempted to reach Kal, but Atlas blocked all communications.

　　Seven.`

　　The Odin burned through space, its thrusters carrying it forward as it spun and dodged through the beams of destructive energy. It wasn`t unscathed. The relentless attacks had damaged its right leg, vaporizing everything below the knee` of the Mech.

　　Still, it had reached the shield of the Atlas. Thrusting out Odin`s clawed hand, an energy weapon extended from its wrist. A monomolecular blade coated in blinding orange energy, Jack pushed it into the Atlas` shield. The barrier rippled as the force was absorbed, and the shield glowed an even brighter blue in response.

　　By this time, Kal`s entire body was numb, the agony a distant memory. He could barely remember what he was doing, acting on instinct rather than purpose. As his mind wavered, he stared at the glowing shield, mesmerized for a second by the lights.

　　There were very few functional Mechs after the Atlas` onslaught. The scarce handful that remained operative were following Odin`s lead in assaulting the Titan`s shield or fleeing to the Starships. The Neural Burden of the distortion field was crippling, and most drifted harmlessly in space, their Pilots incapacitated.

　　Friend or foe, the Titan didn`t differentiate. In its bloodlust, everything was an enemy.

　　Eight.`

　　Kal was losing control. The faint piece of rationality in his mind screamed at the Titan to finish what it was doing so he could shut it off. But a much larger part rebelled. He was finally free of the shackles he had worn since his imprisonment. He could release his anger at the universe for his unfair treatment with no fear of being trapped.

　　The Engine within the Atlas began to spin, building power until it was visible to the naked eye. A shimmering haze of energy surrounded it, and lines of light and heat spread across its body. Its white armour pieces glowed with an alabaster radiance. The red sections blazed like fire while the black became an endless void of darkness.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

　　Kal`s body was being crushed by the forces contained within the Mech. Unlike a Starship that harnessed the Engines power for Artificial Gravity, the Atlas required a knowledgeable Pilot to redirect those forces to protect themselves. In his ignorance, Kal was allowing the Titan to kill him.

　　Nine.`

　　The Atlas compelled its Pilot to act, and Kal was helpless against the Titan. The gravitational forces pulled at the surrounding space, drawing in the Odin and all other Mechs. Even the Starships, distant from the fighting, were drawn in.

　　Jack watched in horror as the Atlas spread its arms wide, discarding its weapons to float uselessly around it. The energy it was displaying was frightening, its figure blinding with light. The Odin`s limbs strained as Jack struggled to retreat from the increasing gravity the Titan was generating.

　　Abandoning his attempt to pierce the shield, the Odin was propping itself against it, every ounce of its strength used to keep from being crushed.

　　Kal was almost lost, his mind a hazy cloud of memories and forgotten thoughts. Atlas was draining him dry, leaving nothing behind. He was becoming a vessel for the machine, a conduit for the Titan`s violence.

　　Ten.`

　　Through battered lips and a mouthful of blood, Kal whispered the command the Titan longed to hear.

　　"Celestial Desolation."

　　The Engine within Atlas spun wildly, creating gravitational waves radiating from its frame. Despite the protections within the Mech, Kal was subjected to intense forces that tore through his batter body.

　　As the gravity increased, distortions rippled through space, growing stronger as they travelled. The Odin was spared the worse with its proximity to the epicentre. Its figure twisted and tore in the intense gravity. Further out, hundreds of Mechs cracked and warped, their thick armour barely holding against the attack.

　　The Starships, already battered by Atlas` arrival, shook violently. The people in the fragile vessels floated above the frame as the ship crumbled around them, barely keeping from being crushed by changes in gravity the Atlas was producing. Their crews were saved because the artificial gravity had failed during Atlas` assault.

　　As the gravity waves expanded, they intensified, defying all logic. They were strong enough to affect the entire surface when they reached the Icy Planet. Vast rents and cracks appeared, the ice crumbled and sunk, while new mountains rose into the sky from the changes in the surface.

　　The waves eventually calmed once they extended past the planet. The gravity returned to normal as they ebbed. But the Atlas, seeking to destroy everything around it, wasn`t done.

　　Celestial Desolation` was its ultimate attack, designed to destroy everything that opposed it and leave nothing behind. Wave after wave formed as the Engine didn`t stop generating the tidal waves of gravity.

　　Kal was senseless to the destruction, his mind nearly blank. The Atlas was killing him, destroying both mind and body. His time limit had arrived, the ten seconds he had allotted to defeating his opponents had elapsed, but he had no intention of stopping.

　　Eleven.`

　　Samuel knew that Kal had reached his physical and mental limits, that even ten seconds in the Titan was too much for the young man to handle. But when he showed no sign of stopping, that he had unleashed the Atlas` wrath on everyone, Samuel knew he had to intervene.

　　Communication with the Mech hadn`t been working, but Samuel forced a connection over the universal communication band. It would only work one way, but it must be enough.

　　"Kal!" Samuel shouted, hoping the Baron wasn`t too far gone to hear him.

　　Through the haze of pain and the Neural Burden, Kal was oddly detached from everything around him. He had no awareness of his surroundings, simply responding to the Atlas` demands without considering them. He was lost in a world of anger, bloodlust, pain, and pleasure from the onslaught he was releasing.

　　But through it all, that small voice inside him screamed to stop it, to see reason and deny Atlas what it wanted. But with each second, that voice was stifled.

　　"Kal!" A voice cut through the haze, and for the first time since he had boarded the Titan, Kal could think again. Blind, his body numb and mind in shambles, he still had the foresight to know what needed to be done.

　　With a scream, he wrenched control from the Titan, chaining the Engine within to his will for a moment.

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　　Jack struggled to free himself as the cockpit creaked and groaned around him. The Odin was rattling from the gravitational pressure. Even this close to the Titan, his Assault Mech could barely tolerate it. Worse, it was growing stronger.

　　The Starships behind him were crumbling, their structures failing. With a curse, Jack fed more power from the reactor into Odin`s thrusters, pushing it well beyond its safe operating limits when the gravity suddenly shifted.

　　With a lurch, the pressure paused, and gravity returned to normal. The undulations from Atlas ceased, the rattling of the Odin silenced, and the Icy Planet below stopped its rumblings. Confused, Jack stared at the Atlas, only to see a portal open behind the Mech.

　　Massive, more extensive than anything he had ever seen, the portal stretched the distance of the battlefield, quickly engulfing everyone, even the Starships. In a blink of an eye, nothing was left in the space above the unnamed planet.