The night sky burned with muzzle flashes, streaks of tracer fire, and the shudder of artillery pounding against the black iron walls of Anubis' fortress. What was once desert was now a cratered battlefield, the earth scorched by energy blasts and the blood of men and machines. Soldiers huddled behind shattered barricades, shouting over the cacophony. Medics rushed through mud and sand to drag the wounded back before another volley tore the ground apart.
The fortress loomed, its obsidian spires gleaming with a sickly red glow, like veins filled with molten iron. The eye at its crown never blinked, sweeping the battlefield with its crimson light. Every time it passed over the human ranks, morale shivered as though the eye could see through flesh and bone and straight into the soul.
Shawn Rose knelt in the muck, his katana driven into the ground beside him as he pressed a trembling hand against the chest of a wounded soldier. Vital Synch surged, transferring a hole of cauterized plasma burns from the soldier's torso into his own flesh. The man gasped, alive again, while Shawn's breath hitched as agony spread across his ribs.
"Go," Shawn rasped, pulling the soldier upright. "Fight another minute."
The man nodded and stumbled toward the line. In the hours that made up the night, they had successfully eradicated all the Titans coming from the sea. However, the obelisks proved to be quite the challenge to take down, as five still remained. So, the forces came and helped relieve Shawn's team with handling them.
Which was great, because as the key factor in taking down the obelisks, Shawn had consumed a lot of his power. This lengthened battle with resilient and durable enemies was taking its toll on him. With more firepower assisting, Shawn could take a break and start recovering.
S3bastian loomed behind Shawn, his metallic frame streaked with scorch marks, one arm barely attached after repeated clashes with Titan cannons. His voice crackled, still sardonic despite the chaos:
"You're going to end up bleeding out long before sunrise, sir. Though I must say, it does add a certain tragic flair to your reputation."
Shawn coughed, forcing himself to stand. "Not yet. Not until that fortress falls."
Suddenly, the battlefield hushed. The artillery paused mid-volley. The omnics ceased their march. Even the air itself seemed to hold its breath.
Then came the voice. Deep, resonant, metallic, emanating from hidden speakers embedded across the walls, rolling over the dunes like thunder. Shawn and S3bastian heard his voice before, but to others, it was a first.
"Humanity…" Anubis' tone was calm, almost gentle. "Do you think yourselves clever? You march against my fortress with sticks and flesh, believing victory lies here. But you are fools. While you waste your armies in the sands of Egypt… my will spreads across the globe."
A hum filled the air, followed by static-laced images flickering across projections cast from the fortress itself. Across the dunes, holograms burst to life: Tokyo in flames, Paris shrouded in smoke, the Amazon burning again, New York under siege. Entire legions of Bastions and Orisa's were shown storming every continent.
"Every country," Anubis whispered. "Every border. Every city. My armies march. Even now, your homes burn. Your children scream. Your leaders, fail you."
The words were not meant for soldiers alone. They pierced through the command lines.
Within the Overwatch command tent, linked leaders from dozens of nations erupted into chaos. The holotable blinked alive with reports: omnic signatures rising across the globe, alarms spilling into comms. The Italian representative slammed his fist on the table.
"We cannot remain here! If Rome falls, Europe is lost!"
A Turkish general barked back. "Our homelands come first! Withdraw our forces immediately!"
"Pull our fleets from the Mediterranean!"
"Recall the Canadian battalion before they're cut off..."
Voices overlapped, the air thick with panic. Discipline crumbled as men thought of wives, sons, and daughters thousands of miles away now staring down omnic barrels.
Adawe stood at the center, fists clenched, face pale. She shouted over the storm, "If we retreat now, we lose everything! Anubis will pick us apart piecemeal, country by country! This fortress is the key!"
But fear had already wormed its way in. Out in the trenches, soldiers heard the transmissions. The line faltered. Guns lowered. A collective tremor swept through the human ranks as the realization sank in, home was burning.
Shawn staggered toward a fallen ridge, hearing the panic ripple through comms. "So, this was his plan all along. Distract us here while he ravages the rest of the world. Even if we were to find victory here, there wouldn't be anyone to come home to. But if they withdraw, they'll never make it home in time to save their countries…" he muttered, "then it's over."
S3bastian looked around, seeing the fear within everyone. Even in Shawn, who he knew to be the one person who was fearless even in the face of death countless times. Humanity needed one last hurrah, one last push of hope. S3bastian moved to his side, his optic flaring faint blue. "Then we make certain they cannot."
"What are you saying?" Shawn turned, blood smearing his cheek.
"There's more to me than humor and good taste. You built me with a plasma core along with my own power cells. If I overload it, there should be sufficient power to destroy the wall, along us to storm and take down Anubis before it's too late." S3bastian explained softly.
Shawn's eyes widened. "No. I won't let you..."
S3bastian cut him off with a metallic chuckle. "Sir, with respect, you don't have a say in this. I was designed to serve, to protect. Tonight, I choose to do so properly."
For once, the sarcasm was gone. The omnic's voice was steady, resolute.
Shawn reached for him weakly, fingers curling around a battered arm. "S3bastian..."
The butler's optic flickered warmly. "Do try not to get yourself killed before the end. You humans do have a habit of ruining my hard work."
Then he was gone, striding forward into the no-man's-land, sparks dripping from his damaged frame. The retreating allied forces ignored the approaching omnic, their worries elsewhere.
"Anubis, you forget your place. Some might call you a God Program, but you didn't take this into consideration. I'm a God!"
His frame glowed, plasma bleeding through cracks in his chassis. The fortress' turrets pivoted, firing beam after beam, but he did not stop. Limbs were torn from him, armor shredded, yet still he advanced with his middle fingers outstretched towards the fortress.
The glow became a blinding white. The hum rose into a scream. And then....
The world erupted.
A wave of plasma burst outward, searing through omnics, blasting a colossal hole in the fortress wall. The iron crumbled, stone and alloy shattering as an entire section of the fortress collapsed inward. For the first time, a wound marred the invincible citadel.
The blast threw soldiers to the ground, sand whipping in searing heat. When the dust cleared, a gaping wound yawned in the fortress' side, smoke and fire pouring from its bowels.
Silence reigned for a heartbeat.
Then cheers erupted.
"He did it!" voices cried. "The wall is down!"
Across the line, despair flipped into fury. Men who seconds before had thought of retreat now roared with renewed purpose. Medics dragged the wounded upright, rifles raised again. Commanders barked orders, their voices no longer trembling.
Morrison's voice boomed across comms:
"All forces CHARGE! Into the breach!"
Reyes bared his teeth in a savage grin. "Finally. Let's gut this machine god."
Reinhardt slammed his hammer into the ground, sparks flying. "FOR EARTH! FOR HUMANITY!"
Even Ana's calm voice carried an edge of fire. "Push forward. End this."
Shawn, tears streaking his grime-caked face, shoved himself to his feet. His body ached, his chest burned where wounds still lingered, but none of it mattered. Not now. Not after S3bastian.
He raised his katana high, electricity arcing along its edge. "Rose's Thorns! With me! We finish this!"
The army surged forward, a tidal wave of men and machines charging into the fire-lit breach. Bullets and shells filled the air once more, but the sound was different now, less desperation, more vengeance.
Anubis' voice returned, colder this time, tinged with fury. "Pathetic… A single sacrifice will not save you. You only hasten your extinction."
But his words no longer carried the same weight. The fortress was wounded, and humanity had found its opening.
The first ranks stormed through the broken wall, cutting down scrambling omnics within the breach. Bastions toppled under coordinated fire, Orisa's were overwhelmed by grenades and rockets. Soldiers poured inside, their war cries echoing through the hollow corridors.
Shawn led his medics behind the first wave, his team carrying rifles in one hand. They moved fast, dragging wounded allies into cover, injecting stims, sending them back to the fight within minutes.
The fortress interior was a labyrinth of steel, glowing conduits, and red-lit corridors that pulsed like veins of a living thing. Every corner was a kill zone, every hallway a gauntlet. But still they pressed on, driven by the sacrifice that had given them this chance.
Reyes' squad carved left, slaughtering any omnic in their path. Morrison's group pushed toward the central power conduits. Reinhardt's hammer shook the walls with every swing as he bulldozed straight down the main hall.
And Shawn? He pushed deeper with his team, his katana cleaving through drones while Vital Synch kept allies alive. His body screamed with every transfer, his vision swimming, but he refused to stop. Not now. Not while S3bastian's last act burned in his memory.
The night was far from over. The fortress still bristled with defenses, and Anubis was not a god to fall so easily. But the tide had shifted. Humanity had clawed its way through despair and into the heart of the storm.
S3bastian's body was gone, vaporized in the blast. Yet in that hole in the wall, in the surge of men who now fought with renewed fire, his presence remained. And Shawn swore, as he drove his katana into another omnic's chest, that the sacrifice would not be in vain.
For the first time in this war, Anubis was on the defensive. And humanity had their momentum.