Chapter 60: Retaliation

Chapter 60: Retaliation

Silvia's POV

The morning after the battle was eerily quiet. The air carried the scent of smoke and blood, but no more enemy forces loomed on the horizon—yet. Silvia knew better than to assume Titan was backing off. They never backed off. They regrouped. They retaliated.

She stood at the edge of the outpost, watching the remnants of their victory with a heavy heart. They had survived, but survival was never the end goal. Titan was still out there.

Dragon approached, his hands in his pockets, golden eyes glinting under the pale sunlight. "You're brooding again."

She didn't look at him, but a smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. "Thinking. There's a difference."

"Right. And when I 'think,' you call it 'brooding.'"

She finally turned to him, amused. "Because you do brood. There's a whole aura about it."

Dragon scoffed, but his lips twitched with a suppressed grin. "You have an answer for everything, don't you?"

"That's why I'm the one in charge."

Before he could fire back a response, Tarren jogged up to them, rifle slung over her back, her usual stoic expression more serious than normal. "Scouts returned. We've got a problem."

Silvia straightened. "What is it?"

"Titan forces regrouped faster than expected. They're moving on another key outpost to the south, and they've brought something new." Tarren hesitated. "Something big."

Silvia didn't need more details to know what that meant. Another Titan war machine. Another slaughter waiting to happen.

She inhaled sharply. "We need to move now. We can't let them destroy another resistance stronghold. If they take the south, we lose supply routes."

Dragon cracked his knuckles. "Then let's make sure they don't take it."

The March to War

The resistance moved swiftly, gathering weapons, securing transport, and preparing for another fight before they had even finished licking their wounds from the last one. There was no time to rest—not when Titan was always one step ahead.

Garrik rode alongside Silvia as they pushed forward toward the besieged outpost. "You realize we're heading straight into a trap, right?"

"We don't have a choice," Silvia said. "If we let them take the south, it won't just be one outpost. They'll roll through everything we've fought to hold."

Dragon leaned back slightly on the armored vehicle, arms crossed. "I like it. We take the fight to them before they expect it."

Garrik sighed. "Of course you like it. It's reckless."

Dragon grinned. "I call it 'strategically aggressive.'"

Silvia rolled her eyes but couldn't deny that a part of her felt the same way. It was time to stop running. Time to make Titan bleed.

As they traveled, Silvia noticed the exhaustion on her soldiers' faces. They were running on fumes. The weight of battle after battle was taking its toll, but none of them complained. They knew what was at stake. She walked between the rows of troops, placing a hand on the shoulder of one of the younger fighters, barely out of his teens. "You doing okay?"

The soldier straightened, nodding. "Ready for whatever comes next, Commander."

Silvia forced a reassuring smile, even though she wanted to tell him to run far away from this war. But there was nowhere left to run.

The Battle Begins

As they approached the southern outpost, smoke already rose into the sky. Titan's forces had arrived before them, and from the sounds of gunfire and explosions, the defenders were barely holding on.

Silvia turned to her soldiers. "No hesitation. We push through, split their forces, and take out whatever they've brought before it wipes us all out."

Dragon moved beside her, his expression unusually serious. "I'll take the western flank, clear a path for your advance."

"Be careful," Silvia said, more instinct than command.

Dragon smirked. "Worried about me?"

She rolled her eyes. "More like worried you'll show off too much."

He chuckled. "I make no promises."

As soon as the order was given, the resistance surged forward. Garrik and his warriors took the central approach, firing heavy rounds into Titan's defensive lines. Explosions rocked the ground as grenades detonated, tearing through enemy formations. Tarren's snipers picked off key targets, creating just enough of a gap for Silvia's unit to move in.

Dragon tore through Titan's soldiers with deadly precision, his claws raking through armored exo-suits, his movements a blur of lethal efficiency. The battle was brutal, and for every soldier they cut down, two more seemed to appear. But the resistance refused to be overwhelmed.

Silvia dodged a plasma blast, countering with a fiery explosion that sent Titan troops sprawling. She saw their war machine now—a towering mech, nearly twice the size of the last one they had faced, its cannons glowing ominously.

"We need to take that thing down!" she called through the comms.

Dragon landed beside her, his breathing heavy. "I'll distract it. You find the core and blow it apart."

Silvia hesitated. "You sure?"

Dragon's grin was sharp, wild. "I live for this kind of chaos."

Before she could argue, he launched himself toward the mech, shifting mid-air into his monstrous form. The mech's cannons locked onto him, firing in rapid succession, but Dragon was too fast, weaving between the shots.

Silvia used the distraction to move in, scanning for weak points. There—on the lower spine, where the armor was thinner. She charged a blast of energy, ready to finish this.

"Silvia, now!" Dragon shouted, slamming a Titan soldier into the dirt.

She didn't hesitate. She let the blast loose, striking the mech's weak spot with full force. The explosion rocked the battlefield, flames consuming the machine as it collapsed in on itself. The tide had turned.

The remaining Titan forces hesitated, then began to fall back. They were retreating.

Silvia exhaled, sweat dripping from her brow. They had won. Again. But the war was far from over.

Dragon returned to her side, shifting back into his human form. "Not bad, Commander."

She smirked. "Try to keep up next time."

His grin widened. "Careful. I might take that as a challenge."

Silvia chuckled, turning back to the battlefield. They had fought hard for this victory, but she knew Titan would return stronger.

"We move at first light," she announced to her team. "We're not done yet."