Knight Bastion

After the Titan Adjutant told Li Qinwu how to awaken the Knight Mechs, he strolled back to the Titan Temple.

The Tech-Priests he passed along the way treated him with utmost respect. To them, he was not a man but an organ of the Titan, carrying out its will.

The Titan Adjutant walked to the foot of the enormous Reaver Titan, which stood over forty meters tall, and boarded a lift that rose from its feet toward the cockpit at the top.

As the lift climbed, close-defense guns came into view all over the Titan. Crews were busy maintaining them.

These crew members were ordinary weapons operators. They had no mental link to the Titan, so their standing was nothing special.

There were many others like them inside the Titan. Some operated power conduits, others the engines or the Bird Spectrometer.

They were support personnel, not part of the Titan itself, and received none of the respect accorded to the Titan Adjutant.

With a rumble, the lift reached the top floor. The Titan Adjutant strode inside.

As the Titan's memory module, a part of its body, he had to return as soon as his task was done and slot back into place.

Amid the complex machinery at the Titan's summit, a small hatch stood open, waiting for him.

The Titan Adjutant headed for it, but someone blocked his way: the Iron Skull Archmagos!

The Mechanical Worm-like Iron Skull Archmagos stood before the hatch. Despite his heavily modified body, he looked almost meek.

"My lord, does the Divine Machine have any instructions for me?"

The Titan Adjutant's face showed no expression.

"I am a component. Components operate; they do not think."

The Iron Skull Archmagos clasped his mechanical hands uneasily.

"My lord, I have served the Divine Machine for fifty years.