Bright orange light illuminated the night skies above New York City. It would have been a beautiful set of fireworks if not for those being bombs sent by the U.S military. All surviving citizens of New York City looked up to the sky. The thundering roar of those explosions kept on coming yet they couldn’t see any of the bright light from above their heads. As if something was blocking their view.

Jason who was waiting for his imminent death was surprised, it took so long to feel the pain of death. Minutes passed by and nothing happens. Only the cascading sounds of the explosion kept on ringing in the air. He opened his eyes and noticed he was embracing Maria a bit too tight. But then he glanced upwards and noticed why it was so dark. Something was blocking the sky. He was about to be surprised as he traced his eyes back to the Scarlet Rex.

It’s blocking the airstrike but…

He was rendered speechless, he didn’t have anything else to say. His sight told of how Scarlet Rex saved his life from the brink of being bomb into pieces. The scaly wings of the Scarlet Rex enlarged to a frightening degree encompassing the whole sky of New York. Something that shouldn’t be possible unless it too harbors a skill.

“We’re still alive, am I right?” Maria spoke those words as she turned her head to the Scarlet Rex. Jason saw the look on her face and she wasn't surprised, even for one bit. It begged the question.

“How did you know?”

“Identify. I saw the red glow surrounding the Scarlet Rex and used identify. It showed me,” she paused, making Jason who was waiting for the answer to grew impatient.

“So. You’re not going to tell me?” his impatient won him over.

“An aura,” she replied.

Both of his eyebrows raised as Jason was clueless. Aura could mean a lot of things, if it related to games then it opened up a whole lot of different possibilities. But his question was answered as Maria continued.

“Hmm, I don’t know how to explain this but it says here that it’s a terrain type aura and one of its effects is rendering all firearm and explosive type damage into zero,” that explanation was enough to clear every doubt that Jason had. Now he knew why the military couldn't do a thing against these things.

But a terrain type? Does it mean its aura encompassed the whole city?

Once more he stared at the Scarlet Rex in shock. That single notion alone told Jason how powerful this monster really was. In a way, what he was looking at is none other than the final big boss kind of monster. The type of big boss that can easily decimate low-level people like him with a single swing of its tail. Yet a question flashed by.

Then why does it spread its wings and defended the whole city?

Looking up at the sky, a possibility came into mind. The terrain aura might have a height limit. A single possibility that might be the only chance human had in fighting back against these monsters from another world.

“Jason, it’s doing something,” Maria's voice brought him back to reality.

Turning back to the Scarlet Rex, he saw the scale wings being retracted back into its original form. It cocked its head upwards and opened its jaw wide.

It can’t be.

Jason had an inkling of what it might do. It was something he only saw in the movies, dragons breathing out fire and his eyes hadn't glanced away. He saw for himself the glowing yellow light, concentrating within its open jaw.

“Why is it glowing?” Maria was too clueless in regard to this type of things but Jason knew it well. He tightened his embrace over Maria as he remained vigilant.

Then a bright pillar of light emerged from within the jaws of the Scarlet Rex. Firing straight into the sky as if attacking the empty air. The sudden release of that blast released a powerful shock wave. Jason braced for himself as he held on to Maria, their clothes flapped violently by the powerful wind brought forth by the shock wave.

Maria was dumbfounded seeing a ludicrous scene like this and she wasn’t alone. Those who were still surviving within this chaotic city looked up into the sky as they witnessed the powerful ray. Then it died down. The blast was like the bright sun giving light throughout this dark night as it dispersed, the night cloaked the sky once more.

Jason saw the aftermath of the blast. His eyes were shaking staring at the sight of the Scarlet Rex standing on barren land. Just a few seconds ago, Central Park was brimming with life and greenery. The shock wave and the residual heat coming from the blast were enough to turn Central Park into ashen barren land. Then Maria pointed up to the sky.

“Something is falling,” she said.

Jason tilted upwards and saw flaming fireballs falling from the sky. One of them fell close to the hotel building and he knew what it was. The char remains of a stealth bomber plane.

It was shooting down the bomber planes. Then it wasn’t a random blast.

“are those military planes?” Maria had to ask.

Jason nodded in response. He was still fearful about that blast. If the Scarlet Rex targeted the blast at the whole city then within seconds it could level down the whole city in a single swoop. His eyes couldn’t leave the sight of that kaiju-size creature. They survived the airstrike but surviving him was another matter. Then something happened.

“Everyone, watch out,” he shouted out of fear as he saw Scarlet Rex disappearing from sight. He ducked down while grabbing Maria as both of them were close to the floor. He didn’t know why he did it, but his instinct was yelling strongly at him.

People who were on the roof were confused but a second later a huge shadow dropped from above. The ground shook like an earthquake going above 9 Richter in scale. The whole hotel building was shaking and swaying from left to right. People started to scream once more as they were wobbling on their feet while some already rolling on the floor.

A second later, a shock wave of wind hit them, blasting them off their feet. The powerful wind was beyond comparison to the flapping wings of the ebony pterodactyl. Jason and Maria were swept off the ground. At the last second, Jason grabbed on to the railing of the roof while Maria was hanging there by the link of their arms.

But then Jason saw what was coming and he knew he couldn’t survive this. A huge tail slammed the whole hotel building as everything started to broke apart. The whole roof crumbled. Pieces of the roof were thrown in the air by the might of this tail swing. He lost his grip and everything flew apart.

“ROAR.”

The Scarlet Rex roared once more as both its twin tail knocked down every building within proximity. A single random huge debris knocked Jason in the air pushing him across the night sky like a baseball being hit for a home run.

His hand was still grabbing on to Maria but the knock against that huge debris took a hard toll to both his mind and body. He was already in a weakened state and that knock was like the last straw. His consciousness was fading with his vision slowly turning dark.

“Jason,” Maria’s voice was fading.

Her voice goes furthered away as the grip on her hand loosened.

Then, he blacked out.

--

“Good morning, this is Robin Stinson bringing you live the most leading news of the hours.”

“We begin today, giving our deepest condolences and our heartfelt prayers for the lost souls from the devastating attack that struck a few of our major cities. Again, this is a repeated message coming from the authorities, warning all Americans to stay away from these major cities. I repeat, major cities that include San Francisco, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Miami….. and last but not least New York City.”

It was the news coming from a television mounted on the white wall.

In the background, people were busy. Moving around outside the room with a few people in white robes attending to their patients. Meanwhile in a double bed shared room close to the nurse's counters, a man lay on the bed. There was no chatter in the room nor voice of any men, except for the beeping machine by the side of the bed indicating his heart was still beating.

Above the bed held a sign regarding his condition.

‘Coma’

But then, his index finger started to move.