Gaston arrived at Roppongi’s helipad and saw the helicopter waiting for them. It was an HH-60 Pave Hawk with a mobile command base module. Gaston had seen a lot of hawk variants, but this was quite a heavily modified one. He took a glance at the in-light refueling probe. The .50-caliber machine guns and a cargo hook. It probably had a lot of systems installed.

“Secretary Nara!” the pilot called. He bowed and introduced himself. “I am Hiroyoshi Nishizawa and this is my co-pilot who goes by the name Kaname Harada. Mr. Kaname Harada isn’t fluent in English so let me do the talking. We were called to come here immediately. This must be Adjutant Hardy?”

Gaston gave Mr. Hiroyoshi a tight handshake. “Thank you for taking the time to be our pilot. You speak good English, Captain.”

“No need to thank me,” he waved his hand. “This is the duty of the JSDF!”

Ayumi typed in her mobile pad and looked at the supply cache that was on the side. “Adjutant Gaston, please gear up. We’ll be up in five minutes.”

Her tone of voice was different from before. Gaston didn’t comment about it out loud and geared himself with a webbing, took fourteen mags which he carried in front and behind. He didn’t wear any plate vest since he was already wearing his exosuit under his suit that he was still paying the loans for. He also took the belt pouches that had special ammo meant to suppress Type-4’s natural bioshield and wore it around his waist. He did keep the shield generator that produced a bioshield.

Gaston’s eyes then landed in the FN-SCAR variant that was in the supply cache. “Most of the ammunition are tracer rounds nowadays,” Gaston thought. “Hmm, tracer rounds and incendiary rounds.”

It was common to carry these rounds now because of how tough some of the Type-3 are and how they need to pinpoint their shots. Their scales are harder than rock and rounds these days would need to have a penetrability to just peel their scale off. After gearing up, he checked the holo sights and put the safety back on. He slung the rifle on his shoulder and walked to Ayumi’s side. The pilots already started their pre-light routines and told them they would be ready for take-off.

“We’re going to be taking off as you command, Secretary Nara!” they called on the earpieces.

Ayumi already wore her T3 gear so she monitored the situation first, keeping her eyes and ears on the situation report. No one could complain about Ayumi’s professionalism. Gaston could see that she had military training. Then again, who wasn’t in the Consortium who didn’t have training? He heard that it was a minimum requirement for them to have firearms training and self-defense courses before being approved and even they would still be on probation. It was a dangerous job and many dangers come with it. Ordinary civilians couldn’t handle daily stressors, one would have to be mentally ready to take jobs like this.

“We should take off,” Ayumi boarded the helicopter and sat on the seat. The security officer that accompanied them manned one of the machine guns and radioed something in Japanese that he couldn’t understand. Sometimes the translator module he had installed couldn’t catch up to their discussions. Not to mention he didn’t know anything about their jargon here either.

“We’re Oscar mike,” the pilots echoed. That was something he at least knew, Gaston thought. The helicopter started to take off and took the skies within seventy-two seconds. Gaston looked at the towering high-rise buildings and the bright lights that shone all over Neo-Tokyo. Although some of the districts were intact, the destruction caused by the type-5 they called Mega Kaiju still scarred Neo-Tokyo.

Gaston turned towards the tracer lights lighting up Tokyo Bay. Five hundred feet away from the ground. Most of the coastlines were being lit up and from the flares that had been thrown up. It was clear that the Type-3’s had started to crawl out of the split-realms and into the direction of the lighthouse in the Miura Area. Company-sized monsters usually consisted of about sixty to three hundred monsters. Battalion-sized numbered about one thousand creatures. From the looks of how many started to crowd in the bay. It was a brigade-sized raid, which means that they would have to face five thousand creatures this night.

“Birds are going in, the Big Boys are taking a position. Lancer Regiment is holding the line. Snipers are taking care of strugglers, over.”

The helicopter started to monitor the Cape Tsurugi area on the southeastern extremity of the outskirts of Miura City. They elevated for another six hundred feet while using the cameras attached to the nose of the bird to monitor the area. He saw Lancers, Suppressers, and Grunts on the bay taking a position between the mechanized infantry. The power frame suit operators or the Lancers wore heavy powered frame armor, boosters on their backs, and carried kinetic shields on their left hand and hand-Gatling that carried 7.62 mm rounds that were on their backpack frame on their right. They were heavy and slow, but they compensated by having light mortars on their shoulders and seeker missiles pummeling on the Type-3’s that were closing in and the Gatling shredding any of them to bits.

A K-21A Hound and Type-10 Tanks appeared, laying down artillery fire on the bigger-sized creatures. The Suppressers moved alongside the Grunts, cleaning anything that tried to enter the main roads. From what he could gather from the communication chatter, the forces trying to neutralize the Type-3’s were the JSDF and the Yamato Forces who are aggressively raining tracer fire on every creature that comes out of the Tokyo Bay.

To Gaston, it felt like a loud and expensive laser show. Of course, there were some of these creatures that got near the infantry even though there was a curtain of gunfire and artillery barring their path. Most of the Lancers would transform their gatlings into lances and create a shield wall to stop the Type-3’s trying to get past them. While the Suppressers who carried an AA-12 Shotgun Variant would blow a hole through the thick layers that the Type-3’s had.

The Grunts compensated by laying down continuous fire on the approaching monsters. If he hadn’t been used to gunfire like this. He would have gotten deaf by now. Gaston couldn’t follow most of the radio chatter because of the mix of Japanese and English that was being used. Ayumi was too busy acquiring information from the JSDF and Yamato’s Armed Forces. From the looks of it, she seems to change her expression when the YAF is mentioned in the comms chatter.

The Yamato’s Armed Forces had dubious origins. Rumors had said that they were sponsored by the Japanese Yakuza and the Triads. Most of its members were Japanese, Korean, and Chinese who normally shouldn't even be able to stand one another because of their inherent regional relations. Not to mention that most of the activities of YAF had been focused on countryside villages. It was only later that they were rebranded into what they are. A government-contracted PMC that helps the JSDF.

Most of their gear was a lesser and inferior version of the JSDF’s gear.

Gaston kept his ears on the chatter and eyes on the bay. It was then that he saw a red and black creature rising from the bay. “Type-4 on the bay, I repeat Type-4 approaching!”

The chatter went wild as every gun and weaponry immediately was pointed at the creature. The Type-4 creature however opened up its skin and produced a transparent layer of shield around its body. When the smoke cleared the creature was unharmed, another burst of fire came, but this time the creature didn’t let up, it hopped from the water, landed on a rock formation, and swiped its front legs on the Lancers.

The Lancers managed to defend themselves barely by defending with their Kinetic Shields. There was a huge dent on their reflectors and four strikes were all it was going to take for the Lancer to have their arms broken or being thrown away.

“Lancers retreat, I repeat do not engage the Type-4’s!” Ayumi commanded. “Suppressers, and Mechanized Infantry, hold down the Type-4 while Aerial Command lays down suppression fire over.”

“Copy that, retreating, Sparrow can lay down fire.”

The Lancers activated their jump boosters and retreated. The helicopter command positioned itself within firing range and suppressed the enemy. The Type-4 shielded itself with its bioshield and its single eye pointed at the heli-command.

“Enemy incoming, evasive maneuvers,” Captain Hiroyoshi radioed as he lifted the bird far from the attack range. Gaston focused his sight on the Type-4 and loaded a special round on the barrel below his weapon. It was an anti-shield round that could produce a single hole in their bioshield. One round costs about forty thousand dollars and just now he had ten of them wrapped in his belt.

“I could sell this all, but then I’ll just be charged,” Gaston thought as he trained his sight on the enemy and took a pot shot. The anti-shield round cracked a manhole size opening, but it regenerated before he could fire another. “It looks like it needs to be followed up with a burst fire or multiple shots focused on one spot.”

He was just too poor to even afford to use one unless the situation allows it.

It was meant to be fired with a whole squad. Not to mention that most of the squads these days have Breakers who could do the job for them. Type 1-3’s could be handled with conventional weaponry, but when they have Type-4’s like this. They have to rely on the Breakers since they had an affinity to carry weapons that were meant to handle them. Of course, the last resort had always been aerial bombing. That would level the area around so it was avoided unless there is a need for flyers to come and take down the Type-4’s. Don’t even mention Type-5’s and Type-6’s that needed more work.

“Sparrow, retreat, for now, we are cooking the anti-shield rounds.”

The Hounds and the Type-10 tanks pushed the creature back to the bay as they fired continuous shots. The Lancer unit that jump-boosted loaded their rounds and stayed in range while firing their light mortar to deter the Type-4 creature.

“This is Base Command, detecting multiple split-realm openings, I repeat, detecting multiple split-realm openings!”

He could hear a sonic boom. It was a phenomenon that was at least similar to it. The continuous boom and the pouring Type-2’s and Type-3’s were beyond what they had expected.

“It’s the first wave,” Gaston commented loudly. “I saw this happen in Georgia once. Ayumi, call the Breakers, and all Consortium-licensed Companies and PMC’s you could gather right now! It looks like there is another split-realm anomaly occurring here!”

“I thought we would have time!”

“Yeah, but this isn’t what CERN had reported about. Split-realms are volatile in the first place, they are like earthquakes, almost impossible to truly predict even with studied patterns.”

Ayumi narrowed her gaze. She focused on her mobile pad and started issuing and sending out requests. Gaston also got the request for reinforcement but swiped it to the side. All the units in the vicinity went loud and drowned the enemies with tracer and incendiary rounds. Gaston kept his finger hovering above the trigger and watched for any flying types coming out.

“This is Lotus Company, jumping into subspace, stay clear over.”

There was a split-realm opening and a cruiser-type ship appeared. It then pointed its blasters on the horde of creatures and poured a five-second laser fire. Three more ships appeared and started five hundred feet bombarding run.

“This is Akashi Company, entering the area. Preparing to assist the backline, over.”

An auxiliary-type ship appeared and non-breaker forces appeared. They were heavily equipped and armed to the teeth with anti-biomass entity equipment. They started to tear through the Type 2 and 3’s that climbed on the lanes.

“Acknowledged, Akashi and Lotus, please tango with the Lancer Units, over.”

“Copy that.”

“Solid copy.”

The cruiser ships continued their bombing run. Gaston observed the area around the bay and saw that there was a biokinetic energy gathering. Gaston’s eyes widened, he turned towards Ayumi with a hardened expression. “Incoming Type-5! EVADE NOW!”

“All units around the bay, incoming Type-5! I repeat! Do not engage and retreat!”

But it was too late.

The Type-5 that appeared was like a rock formation with a red and purple glow on its body. It was a four-legged crustacean-like creature that stood about fifteen meters tall in the water. It gave a strange ear-piercing sound and around the pores on its back, Gaston could see bio-kinetic energy starting to gather.

“Captain! Evade now!”

“Deploying chaff and smoke, executing an evasive maneuver, over.”

The aerial command suddenly made an abrupt turn. The cruiser ships deployed their shields and defended themselves from the heated plasma that came out of the back of the Type-5 creature. Gaston held for his dear life as he then adjusted his line of sight, and saw that on the collar area of the creature was another open pore. Most of the Units that were stationed near Tsurugisaki Lighthouse had been annihilated.

From the lighthouse to a shrine called Ikeidanari.

The Type-5 showed why it was a dangerous opponent.

There was a brief silence over the radio before the units started reporting. There was chaos, but there was no despair. These men were professionals and veterans who had been used to this kind of fight.

But even when that voice sounded, it was like a clear voice among a sea of noise.

Gaston heard Jakob Stoll’s voice. “This is the Babaika Company, arriving on the scene, the Black Lions are here. Keep clear of the Type-5, Red Valkyrie is engaging the enemy. Keep your sights out of Type-5, I repeat. Red Valkyrie is engaging.”

Gaston stared at the assault ship that appeared eight hundred feet above the Type-5.

Then a figure came out from the rear cargo door then dropped towards the creature from above like an arrow fired from a bow.

The Red-Haired Slayer and the Valkyrie herself descended, her dragon slayer’s tip pointed at the beast.

Gaston’s expression became dull at the sight of that red-haired slayer. “Goddamn, it's going to be a goddamn mess now.”

***

“And there she goes,” Jakob palmed his face. “Well, cub, you want to follow her and jump without a pack as well?”

The rookie, Yumina Houki, looked at the five hundred feet drop and shook her head.

“I don’t think I will.”

“Good, you’re smarter at least,” Jakob attached his sword sheathe to his powered exoskeleton. “Look here, Rookie, we only have two rules here. Don’t be stupid, and follow any orders that come from the Lady’s mouth. She likes to monitor the situation.”

Houki looked at Hilda Valeria freefalling towards the monster. “And her?”

“She’s an exception to the rule, want to tell her that in front of her face? Feel free.”

Houki was a rookie, but she was experienced in fighting biomass entities ever since she had taken an apprenticeship under Akito-san. They had been roaming the countryside, dealing with monsters, and slaying them as a livelihood. Though she only graduated high school and thus didn’t go into university and instead applied for a Breaker License and was Graded C in her assessment. Joining a Company was tiresome with all of its probation and clauses. But Akito-san offered this chance to let her join a well-paying company with great benefits.

She wasn’t stupid enough to miss this chance. Even the T4 gear she wore was something she would have to take loans and years to pay back if she was in another Breaker Company. And this was their initial gear? The job was dangerous but she knew that high rewards come with high risks.

“No, I’ll follow you, Jakob-san.”

“Good, that’s what I like to hear.”

“You two done?” Lady Romanov said in the line. “Follow Hilda, protect her from the Type-3’s that will try to distract her. Jakob, you handle any Type-4 that might appear, slice and dice until you’re done with them. Little cub, Akito praised you for your abilities, so do not disappoint me with poor results. Do you understand?”

“I understand, Boss.”

“Good, now listen black lions, show them that they made the right choice of giving the jurisdiction of this region to us. Jakob, I’m counting on you this time as well.”

“Affirmative, my lady,” Jakob pressed his hand on his sheath. His high-frequency blade started to hum. “Black Lions Squad, deploying now!”

Jakob revved up their jetpack and got out of the assault ship. Behind them were the soldiers of the Babaika Company, clad in black and red armor. Houki flew next to Jakob as they started their assault!

It was finally time to show their worth!