Steel Heart

A Light Novel Adaptation by Aaku

Prologue: 1935 – The Capture

Snow blanketed the forest in silence, but Joseph Krusovev’s heart thundered like a war drum. He was only twenty-one, a soldier in the wrong place at the wrong time. His unit had been ambushed; smoke still curled from burning vehicles behind him. He ran through the white wilderness, but heavy boots and steel hands caught him.

“You will serve the future,” a voice said in Russian, cold as the snow.

“No! Let me go!” Joseph shouted, fighting uselessly.

They dragged him into the underground lab. There, in sterile halls filled with humming machines, the experiments began. Days blurred into screams and sparks. Metal replaced bone. Wires laced into veins. His heart was caged in steel.

Joseph Krusovev was no longer a man—he was the USSR’s first living weapon.

Chapter One: The Cyborg Soldier

Years passed. He was unleashed onto the battlefield like a storm. His body was faster, stronger, more durable than any human. Bullets ricocheted from his chest. Tanks fell to his fists. Nations trembled at the whisper of “the Steel Heart.”

But inside, Joseph was still human. Every life he took haunted his nights. Every mission drained his soul.

One day, after another bloody victory, he whispered to himself:

“I don’t want this anymore… I just want to live.”

Chapter Two: Escape to Austin

After years of war service, Joseph disappeared. Rumors spread: the USSR’s weapon had gone rogue.

In truth, he fled across oceans, hunted by shadows, until he reached the United States. In Austin, Texas, he found something he hadn’t felt in decades: warmth.

He worked quietly at a mechanic’s shop, fixing engines with hands too strong for ordinary work. Neighbors thought he was just another immigrant veteran. Some nights, he even laughed with the people at the diner on 6th Street. For the first time since 1935, he felt human.

But shadows never forget.

Chapter Three: The Hunters Arrive

Moscow was furious. To them, Joseph was property, not a man. They dispatched soldiers to retrieve him—but worse, they sent Nitika Vladimir, another experiment. Unlike Joseph, Nitika had embraced the machine within. She was cruel, cunning, and burned with the desire to prove herself the superior cyborg.

“Bring me the Steel Heart,” she said, her voice dripping with venom.

And so, the hunt began.

Chapter Four: The Last Flight

Austin slept, but Joseph’s instincts stirred. The night was too quiet. Then—explosions. Black-clad soldiers stormed the streets. Civilians screamed and scattered.

Joseph stood in the middle of the road, his mechanical frame gleaming beneath his coat.

“I won’t let you take this life from me.”

The soldiers opened fire. Bullets sparked against his chest, but Joseph moved like a storm. He tore through rifles, flipped armored trucks, and sent enemies crashing into walls. Yet more kept coming.

Then, from the smoke, Nitika emerged. Her body was sleeker, faster, and her eyes glowed red.

Nitika: “Joseph Krusovev. You were the first. But I am the perfected. You cannot win.”

Joseph: clenching his fists “I don’t need to win. I just need to live.”

The duel shook the city. Sparks flew as steel clashed against steel. Nitika’s blades slashed through the air, Joseph countering with crushing punches. They leapt across rooftops, their strikes lighting the skyline like thunder.

Finally, atop the burning remains of a soldier transport, Nitika pinned Joseph, her blade inches from his throat.

Nitika: “You are obsolete.”

Joseph: straining, whispering “…Maybe. But I’m still human.”

With a final surge, Joseph ripped free, driving his fist through Nitika’s chest. Her eyes widened. Sparks sputtered. She collapsed, whispering one last word:

“Impossible…”

She fell silent.

Chapter Five: A New Dawn

The remaining soldiers fled. Sirens wailed as Austin police and fire crews arrived. Joseph stood amidst the wreckage, chest heaving, metal body dented, but his human heart still beating.

For a moment, he feared the townsfolk would see him as a monster. But a little boy, hiding behind his mother, stepped forward.

Boy: “Mister… are you a hero?”

Joseph froze. Slowly, he smiled—a tired, human smile.

Joseph: “…No. Just someone who wants to live.”

The people of Austin didn’t turn him in. They kept his secret. They let him stay.

And for the first time in years, Joseph Krusovev—the Steel Heart—was free.

Epilogue

The USSR would never forget him. The shadows would come again. But for now, in the quiet streets of Austin, Joseph finally had what he had always fought for.

A life worth living.

✨ END of “Steel Heart” (First Movie / Light Novel Adaptation)

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