Aleph, the will of the Empress, a Shocktrooper shaped by an Empire of blood, hides a flaw as damning as it is human. When the Mechra's cryptic "Ascension Protocols" begin, Aleph must dive into a mystery older than even his forefathers, one that will force him to reckon with the humanity he cannot escape.But as the Vampires pierce toward the heart of the hivemind's experiments, he discovers something that challenges all preconceived notions of what these machines truly want.