The nobles’ desperation was palpable, but Juri Winkler knew better than to let victory breed complacency. The rebellion had scored a decisive win at Ashenbridge Pass, decimating the nobles’ supply routes and crippling their offensive. Yet the nobles still held vast resources, and their recent silence felt ominous—a signal of something brewing in the shadows.

  Inside Ironclad Bastion, Juri stood in the war room, his sharp blue eyes fixed on the map of the region. The room was tense, the air heavy with the weight of what was coming.

  “They’re too quiet,” Kira muttered, pacing near the table. “It’s not like them to sit back and take a beating.”

  “They’re regrouping,” Valeria said, her tone calm but sharp. “Lorian Vehr isn’t a fool. He’s planning something big.”

  Juri tapped the map, his expression unreadable. “We’ve cut off their supplies, hit their key positions, and disrupted their chain of command. They’ll be desperate. That makes them dangerous.”

  Halrick leaned back in his chair, his sword resting against the table. “So, what do we do? Wait for them to make their move?”

  “No,” Juri replied, his gaze hardening. “We prepare. Whatever they’re planning, we need to be ready to counter it.”

  The rebels worked tirelessly to fortify Ironclad and prepare for the next battle. Engineers reinforced the walls and repaired the Dominion-class Mech, which had sustained heavy damage in the last engagement.

  Eren Vas introduced another new invention: Kinetic Absorbers, devices that could absorb and redistribute energy from heavy impacts. These were installed on the Dominion’s legs and shoulders, allowing it to withstand blows from even the most powerful weapons.

  “It won’t make you invincible,” Eren explained to Juri as they tested the system. “But it’ll keep you in the fight longer.”

  “Long enough to win,” Juri replied, his sharp blue eyes gleaming.

  Meanwhile, Kira trained the new recruits, pushing them to their limits. “We don’t know what’s coming,” she told them. “But if you’re not ready to face it, you won’t survive. And this rebellion needs survivors.”

  In the capital, Lorian Vehr stood on the balcony of Castle Vorell, watching as the nobles’ final weapon was prepared for deployment. Below him, engineers and mages swarmed around a massive construct—the culmination of years of research and desperation: Project Ascendant.

  The Ascendant was a towering machine, nearly twice the size of the Dread Colossus, with an angular, predatory design. Its frame was forged from blacksteel infused with mana-reactive alloys, and its core was powered by an experimental Aether Nexus, a device capable of generating near-limitless magical energy.

  The machine bristled with weaponry—plasma cannons, energy blades, and long-range missile systems. But its most terrifying feature was its Aether Displacement Field, a defensive mechanism that could distort mana flows, disrupting enemy machines and magical constructs within a wide radius.

  Lady Alarice Vorell joined Lorian on the balcony, her green eyes fixed on the Ascendant. “This is our last chance,” she said coldly. “If this fails, there will be no recovering from it.”

  “It won’t fail,” Lorian replied. “Winkler has relied on his machines to win. The Ascendant will render them useless. And when his rebellion collapses, we’ll rebuild stronger than before.”

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  Two days later, the first reports reached Ironclad Bastion. Scouts spotted the nobles’ army marching toward the fortress, their numbers bolstered by new war machines and elite soldiers. But it was the Ascendant that left the scouts pale and trembling.

  “It’s enormous,” one scout stammered during the debrief. “Bigger than anything we’ve ever seen. It... it feels alive.”

  Juri’s sharp blue eyes narrowed as he listened. “Describe its capabilities.”

  The scout shook his head. “We didn’t get close enough to see much. But it has some kind of field around it. The drones we sent to scout it out just... stopped working.”

  Valeria frowned. “A disruption field. If that thing can disable mana-based systems, it’s designed specifically to counter your machines.”

  “That’s exactly what it is,” Juri said, his mind already racing.

  The war room was filled with tense energy as Juri laid out his strategy.

  “The Ascendant is their centerpiece,” he said, pointing to a marked position on the map. “If we destroy it, their entire offensive collapses. But we can’t fight it head-on. The disruption field makes that impossible.”

  “So what’s the play?” Halrick asked, his tone serious for once.

  “We separate it from their army,” Juri replied. “The Ascendant is massive. It’s not built for speed. If we lure it away from its support, we can exploit its weaknesses.”

  Kira crossed her arms. “And how do we do that?”

  “With bait,” Juri said. “We send a small team to harass their forces, drawing the Ascendant into an ambush. Once it’s isolated, we hit it with everything we’ve got.”

  Valeria nodded. “It’s a good plan. But what’s the ambush?”

  Juri smirked faintly. “We bury it.”

  The rebels chose Black Hollow Ridge, a narrow valley with steep cliffs and loose rock formations, as the site of the ambush. Eren and his engineers rigged the cliffs with explosives, designed to collapse and trap the Ascendant in the valley.

  Kira and Halrick led the bait team, using Bastion Walkers and drones to harass the nobles’ forces. The Ascendant, drawn by the disturbance, broke off from the main column and lumbered into the valley.

  From atop the cliffs, Juri watched as the massive machine entered the kill zone. The Ascendant’s Aether Displacement Field shimmered faintly, its presence causing nearby drones to falter and fail.

  “Wait for it...” Juri murmured into the comms.

  The Ascendant moved deeper into the valley, its cannons firing at the retreating rebels.

  “Now!” Juri shouted.

  The explosives detonated, sending tons of rock cascading onto the Ascendant. Dust and debris filled the air, obscuring the battlefield.

  For a moment, it seemed as though the plan had worked. But then the Ascendant emerged from the rubble, its Aether Nexus glowing with renewed energy. The disruption field intensified, and the machine’s cannons unleashed a barrage of plasma fire, obliterating a section of the cliffs.

  “Damn it!” Juri growled, piloting the Dominion into the fray.

  The upgraded Dominion’s Kinetic Absorbers absorbed the shockwaves from the Ascendant’s attacks, allowing Juri to close the distance. He fired the Arc Pulse Cannon, aiming for the Ascendant’s legs, but the energy dissipated against its shimmering field.

  “It’s regenerating through the Nexus!” Eren shouted through the comms. “You need to sever the connection!”

  Juri guided the Dominion toward the Ascendant, dodging its attacks as the battle raged around him. The mech’s systems strained against the disruption field, warning lights flashing in the cockpit.

  “Cover me!” Juri shouted to Kira and Halrick.

  The rebels focused their fire on the Ascendant’s weapons, drawing its attention as Juri maneuvered the Dominion onto its back. Using the mech’s plasma cutter, he began slicing through the armor protecting the Nexus.

  The Ascendant thrashed violently, nearly dislodging the Dominion. Juri gritted his teeth, his sharp blue eyes fixed on the glowing core.

  “Almost... there...” he muttered.

  With one final strike, the plasma cutter pierced the Nexus. The Ascendant let out a deafening roar as its systems overloaded, and Juri barely had time to eject before the machine erupted in a massive explosion.

  When the dust settled, the battlefield was silent. The Ascendant lay in ruins, its shattered frame a testament to the rebellion’s resilience. The nobles’ forces, demoralized and leaderless, began a hasty retreat.

  Juri stood amidst the wreckage, his body bruised but his determination unbroken. Kira approached, her expression a mix of relief and exhaustion.

  “You did it,” she said.

  “We did it,” Juri replied, his sharp blue eyes scanning the horizon. “But this war isn’t over. Not yet.”