Humanity's history has been all but erased. Now, with the world in ruins, two factions fought over what remained of their planet. The Mayflies, who trade their life energy for power, and the Titans, who are born with unnaturally long life spans — both a blessing and a curse. 

Here lies before you a tale between enemy soldiers, between enemy nations and between enemy concepts. 

Blood and Iron Above All. That concept was drilled into his head the day he was born and the moment he was sent onto the battlefield. There, through the thick smog of mortar shell impacts and through the hail of machine gun fire, the two factions fought eternally. 

Every soldier was equipped with identical equipment. They wore black masking helmets, thin, mobility focused body armor and carried a pair of weapons combined into one — a machine-axe. It was a bayonet-sword, axe and rifle combination, a weapon that could pierce flesh, swing down on supposedly impenetrable helmets and pump rounds into any soft target. 

They carried it with both hands like a rifle, resting the stock against their shoulders for recoil. When push came to shove, they flipped it up, carried it with both hands like a bat, and pressed the safety release. With that, the axe-head popped out of its sheath, shooting up the barrel of the rifle, bumping against the bayonet blade and nesting itself on the top like a beheading star on a bloody christmas tree. 

Speaking of Christmas, it was a festival Jin dearly missed. With the war raging on for eternity, the sound of gunfire and distant screams became all too common — something everyone grew accustomed to. 

The war raged on endlessly and when too many casualties were sustained, a new shipment of warm bodies would come in through air drops. Flying above the battlefield was a transport ship — a mechanical bird who carried a Titan care package.

Inside the care package were a thousand soldiers, all of them sitting, waiting for the battle to begin. Included among them was Jin — one of a thousand identical souls.

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It was dark and cramped. The only thing that kept the metal rectangular box lively was a glowing screen. Two pairs of five hundred people sat opposite of one another on long benches and with a singular screen to stare out, they turned to see their commander call in — in voice form only, of course. The commanders had no reason to show their faces to lowly cannon fodder like them. 

“Titan soldiers!” their commander cried — his voice distorted through both a bad connection and a set of dirty speakers. “Prepare yourselves for an air deployment! Your parachutes and weapons have all been attached to your bodies for your safety!”

He wasn’t kidding. Attached to their armor — which was essentially an extension of their bodies — were parachutes and on their back was their machine-axe. The parachute was bolted on while the rifle had been magnetically stuck to them. Around their waists rested a skirt of extra magazines. 

They weren’t given any windows to look out to the battlefield, though that wasn’t necessary. All they needed were orders. 

“In T-MINUS 5 minutes, you will all be deployed into Dex Fortress! You are to parachute down and take control of the fortress! You have permission to kill all Mayfly soldiers and non-combatants in your way!” 

Jin felt a click on his armor. A digital lock on his rifle had been undone, allowing the trigger to fire and the axe mechanism to toggle on. 

Then, they felt a thud. Something had hit the side of the airship, though it was nothing to fear. Titan machinery was built to last. The soldiers not so much. 

The commander continued barking orders, and that’s when he heard the sound of gunfire followed by a heavy burst to the side of the ship. 

“Well, it looks like you’ll be landing sooner than expected.” Followed by another shot. 

Machine gun fire ripped into the hold, tearing open the metal walls of their confinement. Blood splattered and soldiers slumped over, dead before they could even touch the ground. 

No one panicked. No one was fearful. They were all too hopped up on ‘medication’ meant to suppress emotions. Jin stared at the lifeless corpses of his fellow soldiers, then stood up. 

“Soldiers! Prepare yourself for immediate combat!” the commander cried, and the doors opened up, wide, revealing the grim battlefield below. 

Anti-air guns, mounted machine guns, snipers and shock troopers. 

It was all in a day for a Titan soldier on the ruined planet. Jin, machine-axe in hand, got to work.