Breach Protocol: Titanfall
1308 Words
[Location: Developer HQ]
Corven: ‘Quick! Activate a global quest alert. Have the players provide support in order to defeat the breach-titan_03 and save Graviel outpost from getting deleted. We can tell them it was a “surprise chain event” after the battle ends.’
All developers: ‘Yes, sir!’ (loudly)
[Location: Game world]
[SYSTEM GLOBAL ALERT]
- Emergency Raid Quest Generated
Quest: “Anchor the Rift”
Objective: Prevent Breach-Titan_03 from crossing into Graviel.
Failure Condition: Safe Zone Collapse - Shard Termination
Rewards: Distributed according to Contribution Ranking.
Priority Target Anchor: Kaien Rook
(voice-over) All across the game world, transparent quest windows popped into existence. From novice players grinding in the outskirts nearby to high-ranked guilds lounging in Graviel’s taverns, the notification struck like a thunderclap.
[Player Chat Logs]
Xx_fgdns: ‘What the hell is a Breach-Titan_03?’
Pirate_king: ‘Who the hell is this Kaien Rook, who has been referred to as a target anchor? Is he an NPC that we need to protect?'
Spongebob: ‘Global quest? Didn’t devs swear these were disabled after the patch?’
xxGr1mL0rdxx: ‘Contribution ranking means loot! MOVE TO NORTH GATE!’
Candy_king: ‘Wait! Failure condition says shard termination?! That’s not funny! Where are the beginners going to start if this gets deleted?’
[T//N: ‘Shard’ refers to a part of the game world. This part is indicating to graviel outpost only.]
(voice-over) Graviel, once a bustling city of trading and duels, erupted into motion. Adventurers poured into streets, sprinting toward the North Gate. Blacksmiths abandoned forges. Tavern-goers spilled drinks mid-toast. Even merchants bolted, greed outweighing fear; if the world ended, coins were worthless.
[Location: Rift Zone - North Gate]
(voice-over) Kaien blinked as his UI bloomed with system pop-ups. His name, highlighted in crimson, pulsed beneath the header as “Anchor Candidate”.
(Kaien’s Pov) (inner thought) … No. Nope. Nuh-uh. Why does my name look like a raid boss health bar?!
Nyra: ‘It has chosen.’ (her voice steady, gaze fixed on the Rift)
(Kaien’s Pov) Great. Love that. Absolutely adore being “chosen”. Because clearly, this is what healers ** for; playing bumper cars with glitched nightmare noodles. (mutters)
(voice-over) The Rift roared wider, glitching light splitting air like tearing paper. From its broken maw crawled segmented limbs too long to belong to anything sane. They scratched across cobblestones, leaving fragmented scars that refused to heal. The outline of a colossal thorax loomed behind, textures flickering like corrupted video.
[SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION]
Entity: Breach-Titan_03 (Phase 1 Render)
HP: ???
Special Traits: Dimensional Drag, Spawn Rifts, Unstable Reality
[SYSTEM WARNING]
Instability Index: 86%
Environment Safety: (NULL)
(inner thought) Perfect. Because fighting bugged insect kaiju with reality-hacking features sounds totally balanced.
(voice-over) Nyra lifted her blade, its resonance faint compared to the tidal wave of data tearing reality apart. Kaien’s hands twitched over his hotbar, eyes scanning skills like a condemned man reviewing last meals.
[Location: Developer HQ]
(voice-over) Alarms layered like a symphony of panic. Every monitor reflected the same impossible image: the Titan clawing into existence.
Riko: ‘It’s… it’s not fully rendering. The model is resisting bind protocols!’
Ava (snapping): ‘Keep the stabilizers running. If Kaien is the anchor, we need his bug alive long enough to connect this thing.’
Mara: ‘Or long enough for it to consume him…’ (whispers)
Corven (firm and iron-willed): ‘No speculation. Adapt. Deploy fallback raid packets; if the shard’s going down, it won’t be for free.’
[Location: Graviel Streets]
(voice-over) The first wave of players arrived at the North Gate. Their armor gleamed, their weapons polished, banners of guilds fluttering in fractured light. Some came seeking glory, some came screaming in fear, others came simply because the system offered rewards too grand to ignore.
Players (Shouts):
- ‘Push forward! Guild Vanguard, with me!’
- ‘Don’t get greedy; this isn’t scripted!’
- ‘Where the hell’s the boss HP bar?!’
(voice-over) Fireballs, arrows, and bolts of holy light streaked skyward, colliding with the Titan’s flickering form. The damage numbers appeared erratic: some hits landed, others dissolved mid-render as if striking mist.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
Contribution Rating Initialized.
Top Anchor Priority: Kaien Rook
(Kaien’s Pov) (inner thought) The others barely scratch it, but every move I make paints a target on my back. The system isn’t treating me like support; it’s marking me as prey.
(voice-over) A Rift-crawler lunged from a newborn tear beside the Titan, aiming at Kaien. Reflex took over. His hand slammed Touch of Restoration on himself.
(casts) “Heal”
[BUG INVERSION]
Heal → Damage Output: 360 True Damage
- Effect: Corrupted Burst triggered nearby (75 splash)
(voice-over) The crawler detonated mid-air, breaking into glitch-shards that spread like a virus. The Titan twitched, its textures stuttering, as if the inverted heal had brushed its coding.
Nyra: ‘Again.’
(Kaien’s Pov) (snaps) ‘Do you even understand what ‘again’ does to me?!’
(inner thought) Ugh, fine. If the only way forward is to bleed myself dry, then so be it; pain is just the price of power.
(voice-over) More adventurers surged forward. A guild shield-bearer slammed his tower shield into place near Kaien, barking orders.
Shield-bearer: ‘Anchor marked red, protect the glitch! If he drops, the quest fails!’
(Kaien’s Pov) (mutters) … If the system had a trash folder, that’s where it would have filed me.
[Location: Developer HQ]
Riko: ‘His inverted heals… they’re not just damaging mobs. They’re destabilizing the Titan’s render cycle. Look!’
(voice-over) On-screen, every burst Kaien triggered rippled through the Titan’s incomplete body like static. The monster’s textures warped, frozen for seconds before resuming.
Ava: ‘He’s not just an anchor. He’s a counterweight.’
Corven: ‘… Then keep him firing.’
[Back to Graviel]
(voice-over) The Titan shrieked; though no sound carried, only the vibration of corrupted audio, like grinding files. Its colossal limb slammed into the ground, scattering players like dolls. HP bars drained in waves. Panic filled the air.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
Subphase Triggered: Dimensional Drag
Effect:
- All movement speed: 40%
- Pull Force toward Rift increased
(Kaien’s Pov) (inner thought) … Great. Sticky floor mechanics, just what we needed. Who designs this garbage?!
(voice-over) Kaien stumbled, nearly pulled into a forming c***k, before Nyra’s hand steadied him. Her scarf flickered wildly, syncing with the Mystery Trinket pulsing in his inventory.
Nyra: ‘It’s feeding on instability. So must you.’
(Kaien’s Pov) (deadpan) Of course… the healer’s always the easiest target.
(voice-over) With a grunt, he cast Touch of restoration again. Light inverted, surging into the Titan’s nearest limb. For a moment, its colossal frame faltered; half its leg vanished into wireframe before textures reloaded.
Damage Log: 1,120 TRUE DAMAGE (Environment Anchor Effect Applied)
(inner thought) … That worked? That actually worked?! (shocked)
(voice-over) Players nearby erupted in shouts.
‘The bugged healer’s nuking it!’
‘Protect him, he’s destabilizing the boss!’
‘Glitch-boy’s our raid cannon!’
(mutters) Oh yeah. Real confidence-inspiring title. “Glitch-boy”. Someone carve that title on a cape.
(voice-over) The Titan reared; its shadow falling over hundreds of players. Segmented limbs slammed again, but this time adventurers moved in unison, guild formations braced, spells chained, arrows volleyed. For a brief moment, chaos became coordination. And in the center, Kaien, sweating, muttering, spamming inverted heals like a man whose very existence was patch notes gone wrong.
[SYSTEM GLOBAL NOTICE]
Raid Phase Progress: 12%
Anchor Stability: Maintained
Instability Index: 78% (decreasing)
(inner thought) … Victory is within reach, but so is annihilation. The line between the two has never felt thinner.
(voice-over) As Graviel’s walls shook with the Titan’s fury, Kaien’s trinket pulsed louder, syncing with the Rift itself. Nyra’s gaze turned toward him, unreadable.
Nyra: (softly) ‘The Anchor holds… for now.’
(Kaien’s Pov) (inner thought) Every second counts; if I falter, the entire shard could collapse.
- Writer
