The first day of the year 006 of the 31st millennium.
After Mundus Occulum, Mars's largest Foundry, was destroyed, earth-shaking explosions erupted across Syria Planum on the other side of the Labyrinth of Eternal Night.
Mondus Gamma burned fiercely, black smoke rising into the sky.
At the same time, Aquila Ignis, the Emperor-class Titan of the Death Skull Titan Legion, stepped onto the slopes of the northern crater of Ulysses Mons.
Great Sage Ipluvien Maximal was one of Mars's most senior Magi. He had established countless furnace reactors scattered across the Tharsis Highlands.
In the centuries before the Treaty of Olympus was signed, he had used ancient agreements to bind together the various clans and Foundries, ensuring the harmonious coexistence of groups with conflicting needs.
He also provided supplies and earned the loyalty of numerous warrior orders, including the powerful Titan Legions.
Among the many Titan Legions, the strongest and most closely connected was the Legio Tempestus.
Storm Lord Indians Cavaliero's Warmaster-class Titan, Storm God, swept its Gatling guns across the War Hound Titans charging into the refinery.
The devastating barrage knocked the War Hounds to the ground. Flames burst from their cracked armored shells, while building debris tumbled around them.
Cavaliero fired again and again, explosions blossoming across the steel bodies as black smoke surged into the sky.
Suddenly, searing pain stabbed into his body. He felt his legs, submerged in amniotic fluid, seeming to boil.
His consciousness rapidly expanded its scanning range, and he saw a Reaver smash through the high wall, black smoke continuously erupting from its plasma cannon.
"Your shields have overloaded." Arkan Land's voice sounded through Thought Space.
After Cavaliero arrived to defend Maxima's forge-city, the Titan's military communications system had been connected to the Thought Space network.
He rotated his arm, aiming the Melta