Mars burned red beneath the chaos.
Above it—
Space itself was bending.
At the center of the battlefield, the Titan's Singularity pulsed like a dark heartbeat.
A point of impossible gravity.
Pulling everything inward.
Ships. Debris. Light.
Time.
Adrian gripped the console.
"Seventeen percent."
Elara didn't look at him.
"Yes."
"That's not comforting."
"It's enough."
The Olympus interface exploded with calculations.
Vectors.
Mass.
Orbital curvature.
Thousands of variables changing every second.
"Olympus," Elara said.
The system responded instantly.
GRAVITATIONAL OVERRIDE — READY
Adrian frowned.
"Okay… explain this like I'm not about to die."
She didn't look away from the screen.
"We're not moving the Singularity directly."
"Good."
"We're changing the space around it."
"…less good."
"We use Mars' gravity as a pivot point."
"Like a slingshot."
"Yes."
"And then?"
"We redirect the Singularity's path."
"Toward the Harvester fleet."
Adrian stared at the projection.
The massive alien armada positioned safely beyond the Titan.
"Right into them."
"Yes."
He exhaled slowly.
"That's insane."
The Architect spoke quietly.
"And unprecedented."
Adrian smirked.
"Yeah, we're good at those."
The Titan pulsed again.
The Singularity expanded further.
The gravitational pull intensified.
Human units struggled to hold position.
Several drones were dragged in and crushed instantly.
Adrian winced.
"We're running out of time."
Elara nodded.
"Yes."
She raised her hand.
"Olympus… begin Phase One."
Across Mars orbit—
Mass driver cannons fired.
Not at the Titan.
Not at the fleet.
But at calculated points in space.
Invisible coordinates.
Adrian frowned.
"Why are we shooting empty space?"
"Because space isn't empty."
The projectiles passed near the Singularity.
Their paths curved dramatically.
Altering gravitational tension.
Small shifts.
But critical ones.
The Singularity flickered slightly.
Adrian leaned forward.
"It moved."
"Yes."
"Barely."
"That's enough."
The Titan reacted.
Its core flared.
The Singularity stabilized.
Resisting the manipulation.
Adrian groaned.
"It's fighting back."
"Yes."
The Architect added.
"The Titan is correcting gravitational distortions."
Elara didn't hesitate.
"Phase Two."
More weapons fired.
More vectors adjusted.
Drones positioned themselves along precise lines.
Some were pulled in and destroyed.
But others held.
Adrian whispered,
"We're pushing it…"
The Singularity shifted again.
Slightly more this time.
Its pull angled differently.
The battlefield warped.
Adrian's eyes widened.
"It's turning."
"Yes."
"But not enough."
The Titan pulsed violently.
A surge of energy reinforced the Singularity.
Its pull increased.
Stronger than before.
Human forces struggled to maintain position.
Adrian shouted,
"It's overpowering us!"
Elara's voice stayed steady.
"Then we increase force."
She activated Helios again.
Adrian blinked.
"Wait—what?"
"We use the beam to apply directional pressure."
"That's not what it's designed for!"
"It will work."
"Or it'll blow everything up."
"Yes."
He sighed.
"Fantastic."
"Olympus… Helios vector fire."
The beam shot across space.
But not directly at the Titan.
It skimmed the edge of the Singularity.
The energy bent.
Warped.
Pushing against the gravitational field.
The Singularity flickered violently.
Then—
It shifted.
More than before.
Adrian's breath caught.
"It's working!"
The trajectory changed.
Slightly.
But enough.
The projected path appeared on the screen.
A curved line.
From the Titan—
Toward the Harvester fleet.
Adrian grinned.
"Oh yeah…"
The Titan reacted immediately.
Its core surged.
Trying to stabilize.
Trying to resist.
But now—
Humanity wasn't just pushing.
It was steering.
Elara's voice sharpened.
"All units—maximum output."
Every weapon fired again.
Every drone held position.
Every system strained.
The Singularity moved.
Slowly.
Painfully.
But it moved.
The path curved further.
Closer to the Harvester fleet.
Adrian whispered,
"Come on…"
The alien ships finally reacted.
They began to scatter.
Too late.
The Singularity's pull increased again.
Now affecting them.
Ships closest to the edge started drifting.
Their engines flared.
Trying to escape.
Some succeeded.
Others didn't.
Adrian watched as one massive Harvester ship was pulled inward.
Its structure warped—
Then collapsed.
Gone.
"Holy…"
The Singularity moved further into the fleet.
The Titan pulsed wildly.
Its control slipping.
Its core destabilizing.
The Architect spoke.
"You are exceeding projected limits."
Adrian laughed.
"Yeah, we do that."
Elara focused harder.
Her connection to Olympus pushed to its edge.
"Final adjustment."
The Singularity surged forward—
Fully redirected now.
Straight into the heart of the Harvester armada.
The result—
Was devastation.
Ships were dragged in by the dozens.
Crushed.
Torn apart.
Erased.
The fleet broke completely.
Formation lost.
Coordination gone.
Adrian shouted,
"That's it!"
The Singularity consumed everything in its path.
Then—
It destabilized.
Without the Titan's control—
It collapsed.
Inward.
Vanishing into nothing.
The battlefield went silent.
Completely silent.
The Harvester fleet—
Destroyed.
Or scattered beyond recovery.
Mars orbit cleared.
Adrian leaned back.
Breathing heavily.
"Did we just…"
"Yes," Elara said quietly.
"We did."
The Architect's voice followed.
Calm.
But… different.
"You have achieved something unprecedented."
Adrian smiled slightly.
"Yeah."
"Feels like we passed another test."
But the moment didn't last.
Because the display still showed something.
The Titan.
Still there.
Damaged.
But not destroyed.
Its core flickering weakly.
Adrian frowned.
"…you've got to be kidding me."
The Titan moved.
Slowly.
Barely.
But it moved.
And then—
It transmitted a signal.
Not to its fleet.
Not to the Harvesters.
To something far beyond the system.
Elara's eyes widened.
"It's calling for reinforcement."
The Architect's voice turned serious.
"That… should not be possible."
Adrian looked at the screen.
"What now?"
The answer appeared as a faint signal in deep space.
Something responding.
Something much farther away.
Much larger.
The Architect finished quietly—
"You have defeated their fleet…"
A pause.
Then—
"But you have awakened something worse."