To dominate a battlefield, a machine must do more than survive.
It must bend the war around itself.
First Blood
September 28, 1914. Near the shattered town of Soissons.
Typhon Unit-01, the first of its class, was deployed under full combat conditions alongside two Sanglier Mk IVs and a Faucon escort.
The German line included trench entrenchments, two Lupus tanks, and a dozen infantry bunkers.
At 06:03, fog still heavy, Typhon breached the central defense line in under five minutes.
Not by brute force.
By precision.
The Typhon's twin-split treads allowed 360° turns, sidestepping fire.
Its low-angled armor deflected Lupus shells.
And its top-mounted hybrid cannon—assisted by Agnes's new ballistics compensator—hit targets at twice the range of any Allied tank.
The enemy broke.
"It was like watching a lion run through a butcher's shop," Camille reported, cleaning blood from her visor.
"Or a god in armor," Bruno whispered.
A Weapon that Thinks
That night, Emil watched the combat reel—footage from a mounted rear camera in the Typhon.
He slowed the playback, studying movement.
Each turn was instinctual.
Each shot, calculated.
"We didn't build a tank," he said. "We built judgment."
Vera nodded. "And it's watching us back."
The World Reacts
Word of Typhon's debut spread fast.
By the next morning:
The Times of London ran the headline: "France's Iron Messiah"
Berlin's counter-propaganda dubbed it: "The Devil's Chariot"
The New York Herald simply asked: "Is This the End of Trench Warfare?"
Emil ignored the headlines.
But Henriette didn't.
"You've become more than a man now. You're symbolic ordinance."
"I don't care what they call me," he muttered.
"You should. Because symbols are easy to worship… or kill."
The Fenrir Assault Corps
Then came the reports from the Lorraine region.
Emil read them slowly, lips tightening.
"They're adapting."
The Germans had formed a new division: the Fenrir Assault Corps.
Light mechanized infantry outfitted with portable shaped charges
Lupus V2s—faster but lightly armored
Interlocking formations designed to swarm Typhons at close range
New tactic: disembark and flank, using the tank as bait
It wasn't just a military move.
It was personal.
"They're designing a doctrine built on one thing," Vera said. "Killing us."
Faucon Reinforcements
To meet the threat, Vera accelerated the Faucon Mk II project.
Changes included:
Shorter wingspan for tighter turns
Dual-mounted gyro-stabilized machine guns
Internal bomb carriage
Atmospheric data sensors for high-altitude adaptation
Agnes oversaw pilot training while Ilse reinforced the engine to allow short bursts of 270 km/h in dives.
The new squadrons launched under the callsign:
"Fer de Ciel" – Iron of the Sky
Allied Negotiations Turn Cold
While the machines soared, politics dragged.
Emil received notice from the French provisional government:
"Forge Libre is hereby summoned to submit all strategic design records for evaluation. Non-compliance will result in seizure of domestic operations."
Henriette spat on the document.
"They want to ride your back until the war is won, then crucify you as the reason it existed."
Bruno offered an alternative:
"Let's go east. Romania wants us. Greece offered a port. We could build there."
But Vera shook her head.
"Leaving now tells the world we're mercenaries. We're not."
Emil was silent.
Then: "No. We stay. And we build louder."
The Second Field Test: Operation Daggerlight
A week later, Forge Libre launched Operation Daggerlight—a planned assault to intercept a Fenrir Corps convoy moving toward Reims.
2 Typhons
3 Sanglier Mk IVs
1 Faucon support squadron
120 infantry trained in mobile support tactics
At 03:40, they struck under moonlight.
The first ten minutes were a slaughter—for the Germans.
Typhons rolled over Lupus V2s like tin toys.
The shaped charge units couldn't get within range—Faucons strafed the approach paths, cutting down dozens.
But then, a new sound.
A howl.
Mechanical, shrill, full of rage.
And from the smoke emerged a new model:
Lupus Rex
Sleeker. Silent. Wrapped in black steel.
It had active camo netting, thermal reduction panels, and an auto-targeting periscope. In 90 seconds, it took out one Typhon and two Sangliers.
Emil watched it through binoculars.
"That's not just war tech," he whispered. "That's a vendetta in steel."
Learning From Loss
Back at Foundry Echo, the engineers gathered in the hangar beside the destroyed Typhon chassis.
Camille survived—but she'd lost two toes and half a lung.
Bruno stared at the wreckage, jaw clenched.
"We got cocky," he said. "We thought Typhon was the endgame. But war doesn't have an endgame."
Emil placed his hand on the melted hull.
"It has a tempo. And we have to set it."
The Special Project Begins
Emil called a closed session of his design heads.
Vera. Bruno. Ilse. Henriette. Camille.
He drew a rough shape on the blackboard.
It wasn't a tank.
It wasn't a plane.
It looked like both.
"We build something that isn't bound by trench or sky."
"An amphibious assault craft?" Ilse asked.
"No. Something modular. Something that adapts as fast as it's built."
"That's impossible," Bruno muttered.
"Not anymore," Emil replied. "We have everything we need."
He turned and wrote three letters:
V.A.T.
Variable Armor Transvector
"This will be the last thing we build," Emil said. "Or the first thing that ends the war".