Colosia, Wake Up!

[Nova Academy – Main Field, Afternoon]

The sirens over Eterna blared across the sky—urgent, unrelenting.This wasn't a drill. This was real.

Deren strolled out of the cafeteria, still chewing on a half-eaten smoked meat sandwich. The holographic bulletin board above flickered red with a warning:

[ALERT: Unidentified attack at Outer Gate Zone. All cadets must return to designated safe sectors immediately.]

He frowned at his sandwich."Two bites. I literally just had two bites."

While chaos erupted around the academy, Deren stood still. One hand holding his sandwich. The other buried in the pocket of his worn-out jacket.

From across the field, two figures rushed toward him.Kael arrived in full sprint like he was training for an obstacle course. Ryn, as always, calm and calculating, followed at a steady pace.

"DEREN!" Kael shouted, waving frantically. "Did you hear? They said the thing's bigger than a regular Metavore!""And apparently, it can absorb direct energy blasts from combat drones," Ryn added, his voice flat.

Deren glanced at them, unimpressed, then looked back at his sandwich."It's my lunch break. Can't it wait till I'm done chewing?"

Kael ignored the sarcasm. "You know what the field commander said? It might be a Hybrid. Like, a 'limited edition premium Metavore' or something!"Ryn muttered dryly, "Or a Metavore with cheat codes installed."

Deren rolled his eyes."If they start giving monsters brand names, I'm dropping out and opening a coffee shop."

Suddenly, Kael turned toward the giant display screen at the end of the field."WHOA—THERE IT IS! THAT THING'S MASSIVE! Look at its arms! It could lift a tank!"

Deren: "I can lift a tank too. A miniature one."

Ryn narrowed his eyes. "That mutation pattern… it's different. And there's something on its back. Looks like... a tech Core plate?""You understand any of this?" Kael asked.Ryn nodded. "Do you?"Kael: "Nope."

Deren finally gave in and looked at the screen.And the moment his eyes landed on the creature's silhouette, his pupils narrowed."That thing isn't just massive… It has a Core plate directly connected to its central nervous system. That's... human-made tech."

Kael, still not getting the gravity of it: "Cool! So we made it stronger!"

Deren stared at him, long and silent."You're like a browser with a hundred tabs open—and none of them are loaded."

Kael blinked, then burst out laughing.Ryn sighed. "If this was built using our tech... then this isn't an attack. This is a field test."

Deren glanced down at his sandwich, appetite gone."Hungry? Sure. Scared? Nah. Just... tired. I just wanted a peaceful lunch. But no. Some monster with pirated firmware had to crash it right at noon."

[Underground Network – Tactical Comms Room]

Clarice tapped into Eidolon's intel feed from the Outer Gate Zone.The image of the creature sharpened: fifteen meters tall, natural Core armor covering its frame, and—embedded along its spine—something that looked suspiciously like a tech panel.

"They're not just tweaking monsters anymore," she muttered. "They're trying to build walking weapons."

The creature's signal was erratic, but its patterns were eerily similar to one of Deren's abandoned experiments—one he'd never even published.She immediately opened the emergency comms channel.

"We need to find out who activated Colosia. Because if I'm right about this..."

[Nova Academy – Emergency Command Bay]

Lieutenant Tessan stood before the control panel alongside Aether Corps' lead technician.

"We're out of time. The outer squads are falling back. This Hybrid... it's smarter than the last ones. Deploy Colosia."

"But it's not fully synced," the technician said, hesitant. "The pilot hasn't completed their training."

Tessan's gaze sharpened like ice."Better Colosia explodes now than let this entire zone turn into a crater."

The order was given.Deep beneath the academy, ancient machinery stirred.The ground trembled as a long-dormant engine roared to life.

For the first time, Colosia—a towering combat mech powered by Core Etherion—was being fully activated.

[Cadet Evacuation Zone – Field Medical Tent]

Deren sat on a foldable bench, watching the military feed.Onscreen, Colosia stepped onto the battlefield—a steel god clad in radiant Core armor.

His eyes narrowed.Something on the mech's right shoulder looked familiar.

"...That's the balancing module I scrapped last year."

He stood up. His face blank."They didn't just steal. They stole a failed prototype."

Ryn blinked. "That's your design?""One I trashed myself. And now it's bolted onto a giant robot with plasma rifles."

Kael, grinning, oblivious: "AWESOME! I wanna try piloting Colosia!"

Deren sighed."Please... universe. Stop dragging me into this mess."

[Outer Gate Zone – Sector 4 Battlefield]

Colosia strode forward—seven stories tall, metal thunder with every step.Its Core armor gleamed under the sun. Its plasma cannons lit up, arms locked in combat readiness.

From the opposite side, the Hybrid Metavore approached. A grotesque fusion of living flesh and mechanical grafts.Core veins glowed like circuitry. Its armor shifted organically, morphing to counter incoming threats.

"Target locked. Initiating Phase One assault," said the operator.

Twin plasma blasts launched.Explosions tore through the air.Dust. Light.Then silence.

But as the smoke cleared...The Hybrid still stood.

The impacted areas had transformed.Armor plates hardened. Absorbed. Reflected excess energy back into the ground—leaving a crater.

"It's adapting to our attack frequency!" shouted an operator."Switch to explosive ordinance!"

Colosia fired shoulder missiles.The Hybrid absorbed one and dodged the rest with disturbing speed.

"It's learning," whispered an analyst.

Colosia lunged for a melee strike——but the Hybrid's claws smashed into its knee.A sharp crack. The mech stumbled.

[Inside Military Transport – En Route to Combat Zone]

Deren sat in the back of a transport, seatbelt hanging loosely, eyes on the onboard monitor.

[Reactor Stabilization: FAILURE. Conflict Source: Balancer Module – Version 1.3]

"...Version 1.3?!""That prototype couldn't even handle a desk fan on medium speed!"

The officer in front turned. "You're the only one who knows how to override the backup system."

Deren deadpanned."I'm also the only one who knows how to disappear during chaos. But I guess you're not giving me that option."

[Inside Colosia's Secondary Hangar]

Deren was practically shoved into the mech's maintenance bay.Sparks flew. Panels fried.Techs panicked. Instructors shouted.

"How do we reset the stabilizer?!""We can't! The original code's missing—this is a modified version with no documentation!"

All eyes turned to Deren.

He glanced once."You're all panicking over this? Jumper B-17 to C-9, reinstall the cooler, and don't plug that cable there. That port's for a rice cooker, genius."

Stunned silence.

"Do what he says!" barked the lead engineer.

[Colosia Awakens]

Colosia's systems surged back to life.Core energy overflowed.Main armor locked back in.

[Override Accepted – Synchronization Reactor Engaged.]

Colosia stood—stable this time.

The Hybrid charged again.Colosia met its strike head-on——then activated Combat Resonance Mode, an experimental feature never used before.

The counterpunch hit dead center.Core resonance pulsed through the Hybrid's body—tuned to its exact frequency.

The creature screamed.Its energy cells destabilized.Overloaded.

Its own power turned against it.And finally... the Hybrid collapsed.

[Emergency Hangar – Runway]

Deren sat on the edge of the landing strip. Dirt on his face. Hair wild. Jacket torn from electrical sparks.

Kael ran over, waving."DUDE! DEREN! YOU'RE A GENIUS! YOU SAVED—""I'm tired," Deren muttered, lying down right there on the floor.

Ryn stood nearby, eyes still fixed on Colosia.

Softly—almost too softly—he said,"If Deren is really that powerful...Then why is he hiding?"