POV 1: REINA MORALES – SOUTHERN COMMAND HUB, USHUAIA

The command hub had gone from a tomb of silence to a storm of shouting. Operators relayed targeting coordinates, analysts scribbled damage reports, and the walls quaked as if they could feel the fury unleashed half a world away.

Reina Morales stood at the center, her gaze fixed on the feeds. The ocean was chaos: Nightborne titans wading forward through infernos, human warships circling like wolves, and Elven spellfire cutting through the smoke.

A young officer shouted over the din. “Confirmed! One of the Nightborne—designation Colossus Seven—down! Repeat, it’s sinking!”

The room erupted. Cheers, fist pumps, even sobs. For the first time, they had proof these monsters could die.

Reina didn’t allow herself that release. She saw the wider picture. For every titan that faltered, two more pressed forward, and the ocean floor itself boiled with fresh arrivals from the Gate. She slammed her palm against the table.

“Tell the fleet there’s no time for celebration. Concentrate fire on the wounded! Hit them again until they don’t get back up. No mercy, no hesitation!”

The cheers died, replaced by grim obedience. Reina’s throat tightened, but she forced the steel back into her voice.

One titan dead isn’t victory. It’s just proof victory isn’t impossible.

POV 2: CAPTAIN NATHANIEL HARKER – USS PROVIDENCE

The destroyer shuddered as the blast wave from Colossus Seven’s fall rolled across the sea. Silver ichor rained down like molten hail, searing holes in the deck plating. Crewmen screamed as they scrambled to cover.

Captain Harker bellowed over the alarms. “Stay on target! Reload tubes two and four! We’re not finished!”

His weapons officer, face blackened with soot, coughed hard but nodded. “Targeting Colossus Nine! She’s limping!”

The Providence banked hard, riding the crest of a wave thrown up by the dying titan. Ahead, Colossus Nine lumbered, one arm sheared away by combined strikes. Blood—if it could be called that—spilled in rivers of light into the sea.

“Fire!” Harker roared.

The missiles leapt from their racks, carving arcs of smoke through the sky. They slammed into the titan’s chest, exploding in a thunderclap that rattled teeth. The beast staggered, roaring, and for the first time Harker dared to think: We can do this.

But then the horizon split with light—lances of moonfire from Elven warships, scything into human vessels. A Japanese cruiser vanished in a single detonation, its crew never even screaming.

The captain’s knuckles whitened on the railing. Victory and annihilation walk side by side.

POV 3: DYUG VON FORESTIA – FLAGSHIP, SOUTHERN PACIFIC

Dyug’s cloak whipped in the wind as the sea shook with another titan’s fall. Even from this distance, he felt the tremor through his bones.

The Nightborne… could die.

His knights cheered, thinking the mortals’ weapons impotent. But Dyug knew better. His heart clenched as he watched Colossus Nine stagger, its silver blood staining the sea.

“Mary,” he muttered, voice low. “They bleed. And the mortals know it.”

Mary stepped to his side, helm under her arm, her face pale but unyielding. “Then we must bleed less. The Knights stand ready. Give the order.”

He looked at her, at the fire in her eyes, and for a heartbeat the world around them faded. She had followed him into shame, into defiance, into this war of worlds. And still, she did not waver.

“Go,” he said at last. “Lead them. Strike where the mortals bite hardest. I will hold the Gate, we shall not let these Titans steal our glory.”

Mary hesitated, then touched his gauntlet briefly—just once, but enough. Then she strode away, voice rising to rally her soldiers.

Dyug turned his gaze back to the horizon, the mortals’ fleet burning and yet unbroken. Ants, wolves, whatever they are… they will not yield easily.

POV 4: MARY – THE ROYAL KNIGHT CORPS

The tide churned silver where Colossus Nine stumbled. Mary led her Knights across the surf, their armor lit by moonfire, shields locked, spears ready.

“Strike the wounds!” she cried. “Where mortal fire has broken them, we finish it!”

They surged forward, their weapons glowing as they hurled them into the titan’s cracked chest. The spears pierced, widening the mortal-inflicted wounds, and the colossus bellowed, staggering into deeper water.

Mary’s heart thundered. She had seen mortals weaken what even elves once feared. And her Knights—commoners, priestesses, outcasts—had delivered the final blow.

The titan toppled, waves rising like walls. Her Knights cheered as the beast sank beneath the foam.

For a moment, triumph soared through her veins. But then she saw the mortal ships, still firing, still dying, still clawing at giants with bare hands.

She whispered, barely audible through the chaos: “Your courage… it’s not so different from ours.”

POV 5: QUEEN ELARA – THRONE OF MOONLIGHT

Elara’s eyes narrowed as her scrying mirrors revealed the fall of not one, but two of her Nightborne. The mortal fleet burned, yes—but they endured. Worse, they adapted. Every strike, every formation shift, showed a learning mind behind the steel.

“They test my patience,” she murmured, her voice cold enough to frost stone.

Her priestesses knelt around her, drained but obedient. Elara spread her hands, silver fire wreathing her arms.

“Prepare the Gate,” she commanded. “The Third Seal will break.”

A priestess dared to speak. “My Queen, the strain—”

“Silence,” Elara snapped. “If the Nightborne falter, then the High Thrones of War shall walk. The mortals think themselves wolves. Let them howl against gods.”

She turned her gaze back to the fleet, to the mortals who dared wound her creations. Her lips curved in something between fury and admiration.

“Impressive,” she whispered. “But still doomed.”

POV 6: REINA MORALES – SOUTHERN COMMAND HUB

The data feeds blurred with frantic reports. Two Nightborne confirmed down. Scores of human ships crippled or sinking. Casualty projections already in the tens of thousands.

Reina’s voice cut through the chaos. “Signal to all fleets: They can die. Stay on them. Don’t stop now.”

She leaned heavily on the console, exhaustion threatening to swamp her. But Alvarez’s voice echoed in her memory—tell them… tell them…—and she straightened again.

Her eyes burned as she whispered, “We will, Sergeant. We’ll tell them with fire.”

CLOSING SCENE – THE SHATTERED WAVES

The Southern Pacific groaned under the weight of battle.

* Reina Morales forged unity from desperation, driving fleets harder with every titan’s fall.

* Captain Harker and men like him learned that gods could bleed, even if the price was their own ships burning.

* Dyug wrestled with the truth of mortals’ will, his pride cracking even as he fought to protect the Gate.

* Mary and her Knights struck alongside mortal fire, proving courage was not bound to one world.

* Queen Elara prepared to escalate, her wrath threatening to unleash even greater horrors.

The sea itself became a graveyard—ships aflame, titans sinking, silver ichor staining the waves red. Above it all, the Gate pulsed, scarred but steady, promising only that worse was yet to come.

The ocean burned, broke, and bled. And still, neither side would yield.