Machina Arcanis: Two Worlds Collided
Chapter 104. Broken. Lost. Forlorn.

Jack’s Armatus surged across the horizon. Death and destruction were evident in this area — smoke rose hundreds of metres into the air. The ecosystem had shifted, and the terrain had been reshaped into multiple craters. No signs of life for a kilometre in any direction.

A dreadful sight. Yet beneath the devastation unfolding before his eyes, the strange mana-fall descended — hauntingly mesmerising.

“What is this?” Jack’s eyes lingered on the battlefield. At its centre stood a vast black dome, the size of a football field.

“Please... Lupy, Frain... Where are you?” His heart pounded with fear at the thought of losing them, but his mind refused to accept it. He couldn’t give up, not yet.

He activated the scanner for heat signatures, but the smouldering terrain interfered with the sensor.

Then, by sheer luck, he spotted a golden metal protruding from the earth.

“Oh no... Those are her legs, the ones I saw in the footage.” Jack’s voice cracked. His lips trembled as the harsh reality gnawed at his soul.

He brought his Armatus down gently, landing beside Lupus’s arc boots.

With care and trembling hands, he manoeuvred the machine to excavate her remains. But he couldn’t find anything else. The rest of her must have been obliterated.

A numbing dread twisted his expression.

“They... they’re gone...” he whispered, barely believing the words that left his lips.

His eyes locked on the arc boot resting in his Armatus’s giant hand. He couldn’t look away. Memories surged back like a flood from another life — unreal, dreamlike.

Her cunning smile, showing those small fangs.

Her dazzling golden eyes, brimming with warmth and affection.

Her sun-kissed hair that smelled like heaven.

Her wit. Her boundless energy. Her kindness that always captured his heart.

Now, all that remained was her severed leg.

In agony, his heart cried out, but no tears came. Something unexplainable tore him apart inside.

Broken. Lost. Forlorn.

His silver Armatus stood frozen in place, a monument to despair. Jack was consumed by sorrow, unaware of the danger—

Until a condensed energy beam sliced through his mech.

The upper body of the Armatus spun mid-air before crashing violently into the dirt.

A thunderous impact, and Jack’s body was thrown sideways, slamming into the console.

“Ahhh!” he gasped, lungs constricting painfully.

War was unfolding, but all he could think about was the status report. His Armatus was severed from the waist down.

“Damn it—ah!” he groaned, clutching his side as alarms blared around him. A cacophony of danger and urgency.

Suddenly, Rhok appeared on the screen. His expression darkened.

“Jack... I want you to know, this is nothing personal.”

But Jack saw it again, that hesitation in Rhok’s eyes. He could feel it in his bones, even as pain wracked his body.

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“You coward!” Jack roared through the pain, his hand reaching for the lever.

“Stay down. You don’t have to fight anymore,” Rhok said, his gaze lingering on Jack, as if he wanted to remember this moment.

Smoke seeped into the cockpit. Jack’s eyes widened in panic.

Summoning the last of his strength, he yanked the release bar. The torso hatch hissed open. Blinding light poured in.

With a desperate boost, Jack launched himself from the ruined Armatus. His body arced through the air—

“Ugh!” he hit the ground hard, tumbling across the dirt.

His body screamed in pain. His mind teetered on the edge of unconsciousness. But he wouldn’t give in.

Scrambling to his feet, he ripped the broken helmet from his head.

An Armatus landed in front of him — the one he had built with his own sweat and blood.

“RHOK WAGNER!” Jack screamed, voice hoarse and ragged.

The hatch opened.

Rhok stood within, clad in dark armour, towering over Jack. In that moment, Jack couldn’t tell whether Rhok felt regret... or guilt.

Disgust twisted his gut.

“You have no honour!” Jack shouted, voice thunderous and cutting.

But Rhok didn’t reply. He simply twirled his finger and stepped back.

“Fight me! With stick and stone, I shall never surrender!” Jack bellowed, seething with rage.

“This is goodbye, Jack...” Rhok’s voice echoed from his Armatus speaker.

Bzzzzzzzzst—Whack!

A green flash. Too fast to register.

One moment, Jack was standing. The next, he was on the ground, facedown.

Adrenaline surged. Burning pain and creeping numbness spread through every inch of him.

“I... I can’t feel my legs... or my right arm...” Jack mumbled, blood filling his mouth. He coughed, using his left arm to prop himself up.

It was no use. His legs were nowhere to be seen.

They were gone. Along with his right arm. The blast had sheared through him.

His thoughts raced, trying to hold onto consciousness. And then—

He saw it.

Lupus’s other boot.

The one he’d searched for earlier and failed to find.

Just a metre away.

“Lu... Lupus — cough! Cough!” he gasped, fingers digging into the dirt as he clawed forward.

“Please... let me be with you... One last time...” His vision blurred. Sound faded into silence.

The last thing he heard... was his own voice, his vow:

I, Jack Squire, swear this undying oath.

With my might, my heart, my soul—

That I will never let you regret holding your essence,

And declaring your love for me,

Lupus Hoffmann.

Even in his final breath, his fingers couldn't reach her — the one he loved most in the world.

***

The loud crackling echoed through the air as the dome shattered into countless shards.

Two figures emerged from the Night Abyss — one barely standing, the other sprawled on the solid ground.

Injured, Ignius scrambled forward, one arm limp at his side. Blood streamed down his face, obscuring one of his golden eyes.

With the last remnants of strength, his knees gave way, and Ignius collapsed.

“Hades’ hell… Jovian…” he rasped, choking on his own blood. The dark liquid splattered against the ground.

Across the field, Jovian Xan Zepharion slowly rose to his feet, his body sullied with ash and blood.

His vision blurred. His legs trembled, barely able to hold him upright.

But Jovian had a mission and he intended to fulfil it.

He reached for a kunai, coating it with arc poison.

Suddenly, the wind shifted. A subtle disturbance.

Ignius glanced over his shoulder, spotting a dark, demonic silhouette in the distance.

“How is he alive?” he wondered, pure awe flickering in his eyes.

With a swift motion, he swept his palm through the air, opening a portal beneath his feet — a last desperate bid for escape.

“Ignius!” Jovian bellowed as he hurled the blade.

It sliced through the air with deadly precision, striking Ignius squarely in the back.

“Ah!” Ignius cried out in pain, stumbling forward and falling into the portal.

“Nooooo!” Jovian screamed, scrambling after him, but it was too late. His opponent had escaped.

Exhausted beyond measure, Jovian’s body gave out. He collapsed to the ground, his breaths shallow and ragged.

His consciousness began to slip, drifting slowly into the abyss.

“I failed again…”