Chapter One Hundred Eleven: Combat and an Acquaintance

Kagami Hakudō, driving at high speed toward the combat zone, tilted his head to glance at the car’s built-in television beside him.

This newly beached integrated Godzilla was truly unlike anything seen in Tokyo.

Its skin was smooth yet resilient, and its body bore lines filled with a sense of power.

Both the texture of its skin and the structure of its teeth appeared orderly and precise.

Its robust frame exuded a natural, biological beauty, starkly different from the absurd terror evoked by the silent Godzilla.

Even as it strode through the relentless barrage of artillery from the United States forces, its pair of reptilian vertical pupils carried an imposing dignity.

No mistake about it... Kagami was certain that in the eyes of this monster, he saw “dignity.”

“Probably the difference between a rabid person and a sane one,” he mused.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, Kagami recalled Yagami’s account from Ganryū Island.

He deeply understood just how accurate and vivid Joe Brody’s description of the difference between the two was.

When Kagami and his two companions arrived at the combat area, an officer holding a tablet conducted a brief registration check before allowing them through.

In this battle, the enemy was the monster; human screenings were not particularly stringent.

As they proceeded, they reached the command platform.

This was the rooftop of a building, with numerous armed guards stationed below.

On the platform stood a figure in a protective suit, clearly the highest-ranking individual, commanding a large number of drones, which were launched in waves toward the silent Godzilla!

“Zii-”

The reconnaissance organs inside Godzilla responded immediately; its dorsal fins instantly turned a pale violet, emitting a high-energy radiation beam that vibrated the air with a piercing shriek.

“Bang----”

In an instant, an entire squadron of military drones was blasted apart midair!

Another wave of drones surged forward.

According to the battle plan, the process of draining Godzilla’s internal energy via drones had already commenced, even before the pump units were in place in this urgent moment.

“Hey! You guys!” A man in a protective suit, beneath which camouflage clothing was clearly visible, approached the three with a sour expression.

A creature the size of a skyscraper, spewing energy and obliterating military hardware, would shock any human witness with its terrifying violence.

Kagami and his companions were no exception.

“The escort team, huh? If you’re just here to pad your records, don’t get in the way—go stand over there quietly! Got it?”

He pointed to a corner away from the command platform, where some people had already gathered.

The man in camouflage knew the escort team for this operation was filled with people assigned because the role was easy and unimportant.

Based on his past experience, these were all well-connected insiders.

As a member of the Self-Defense Forces from the start of the monster response team, he naturally looked down on those trying to boost their credentials at the last moment.

After speaking to Kagami and his group, he muttered insults like “traitors” and “trash” as he turned away.

When he returned to Rantō Shikuchi’s side, who had just finished using the walkie-talkie, the latter frowned and asked, “Where did you just go?”

“Just a few more new arrivals from the escort team,” the man in camouflage replied respectfully.

“Those bastards! Let them stay put—no one’s allowed to go anywhere!”

Although himself from a political family, now in a high position, Rantō Shikuchi deeply disliked having people stuffed into his command.

It meant his control weakened and the department’s efficiency dropped.

Especially at such a critical moment of life and death, some were still thinking about padding their records!

His tone was harsh.

“Yes! I’ve already told them,” the man in camouflage bowed again and returned to the ranks.

Meanwhile, in the escort team’s area,

a group of people of various heights and builds shared only one thing in common: fierce fighting spirit.

“...Kagami, your stature?”

Takeshi Wakatsuki, also clad in standard protective gear, first nodded at his comrades Hisayasu Takemoto and Saeko, then turned to look up at the boy who, in just ten days, had grown half a head taller than him.

If not for seeing that face through the protective mask—still handsome with defined features despite losing some youthful plumpness—he wouldn’t dare greet him.

“I’m still growing, you know. Men at this age change day by day,” Kagami shrugged, facing his old acquaintance.

Wakatsuki, who had personally delivered Godzilla’s blood and flesh to him, pursed his lips with a complicated expression and said no more.

Perhaps compared to “a high schooler accomplishing what the global pharmaceutical groups couldn’t,” the explanation “young people grow fast” was easier to accept.

“Hey! Kaneda, you’re here too!”

Kagami warmly greeted Sueyoshi Kaneda, who seemed even smaller beside Kagami’s current stature.

Behind the protective mask, Kaneda’s eyes narrowed, but he showed none of the “madness” Wakatsuki had mentioned.

Instead, his expression was as friendly as ever.

Yet, it was precisely this calm that made the little man’s inner menace all the more chilling.

“You’re all safe, that’s good, Kagami,” Kaneda waved his hand, smiling with narrowed eyes. “Quite a few familiar faces here.”

“Jun Sekibayashi, Oniyama, Okubo, Himuro, Kuroki Gensai…”

Kagami lost interest after Kaneda mentioned the last name.

“Kuroki?” He crossed his sturdy, muscular arms over his chest, a proud yet defiant smile on his handsome face. “Has that guy recovered from his injuries?”

Back then, he’d nearly broken half of Kuroki’s bones with a single blow.

“Who knows? Besides...” Kaneda’s narrowed eyes smiled, but his words were as sharp as a chisel.

“To witness this power, who the hell cares about ‘injuries’—such a weak thing?!”

Kaneda spoke with a fervor he neither concealed nor intended to hide.

That expression, blending madness and hope, was exactly as Wakatsuki said—only “madness” could describe it.

He turned to look behind at Godzilla, still relentlessly firing radiation beams that destroyed drone after drone.

“The power of destruction! The power of a god! Godzilla, with such power...”

Sueyoshi Kaneda, known as the “Giant Slayer,” voiced the collective sentiment of all the warriors present.

“I really want to kill it with my own hands!”

Unlike the “monster cultists” who bowed before Godzilla’s overwhelming strength, the warriors present rejoiced simply at the prospect of combat.

Kaneda’s outburst stirred some commotion among those outside the escort team.

They looked on, puzzled by the little man’s frenzy.

Inside the escort team, however, the members remained expressionless, each choosing a good vantage point to observe the form and power of this “God of Destruction.”

Takeshi Wakatsuki approached Kagami, looked up, and met his gaze.

“I advise you not to try talking to Kuroki Gensai,” he said, awkwardly twisting his neck. Wakatsuki had been half a head taller than Kagami just ten days before.

“As Kaneda said, in front of Godzilla, no one has other thoughts. Everyone is just focused on admiring this ‘power.’”

Kagami smiled and nodded.

“It’s indeed rude to disturb others when they’re concentrating.”

Just then, Godzilla’s continuous radiation beam from its mouth began to falter.

First, it dissipated into a column of fire, then thick smoke, and finally, even the smoke ceased.

The sharp shriek of the high-energy beam vanished.

“It’s exhausted!” shouted Rantō Shikuchi from the command platform.

“Now’s the time! Launch the missiles! Missiles!”