Gaston Hardy is my friend. He was a monster that has been with her ever since they were young. Janna call him a monster because only monsters would crawl to cheat death multiple times.

Gaston Hardy, was her friend and partner. They were inseparable from the beginning. Gaston was always the weakest. But he was always the most persistent bastard that she had known.

He was driven by something that Janna didn’t have. It was a drive that she would have desperately desired during those times. She recalled the young, malnourished young girl who found it easier to leap off a cliff than keep her powers under control when she became an exemplar.

Gaston had seen her at her worst but kept himself steady, for he knew that the only thing worse than her not being able to control herself, emotionally and mentally was him not being there to serve as a balance to her raging emotions. He had seen Janna break down countless times, only for him to talk some sense into her and get her on her feet lest they both paid for it. The breaking of the world and the revealing of the ichor that runs the world made them always on their feet. Relying on one another for better or worse.

He was sure that Janna did not appreciate his attitude but what he didn't know was that his ability to calm her down was well appreciated by her, even if she refused to tell him sometimes.

The two of them gave each other something about themselves.

Gaston’s flimsy stoicism and calmness when they were in trouble.

Janna’s raw emotions and passions.

Gaston channeled Janna’s passion while she projected his emotions to him. The one relied on another even now. Janna wondered what would happen if they truly became apart. She couldn’t stomach the thought. She was willing to do anything to keep him. She only hoped that he felt the same.

The last time a behemoth appeared on earth. It causes the destruction of many nations and the lives of many.

She stands on the VTOL with Gaston. Their eyes on the behemoth that have begun moving.

“Every nation on earth is watching.”

Gaston adjusts his rebreather mask. The mask leaked out electricity from his mouth and his eyes released electricity. She held her buster sword that was on her back.

The behemoth that was big as a city was visibly moving. From the sensors and the radar that they were monitoring. The behemoth was moving faster than they had anticipated.

The space was poked and holes were made. Split-realms from all over the world appeared and deployed their shielding while keeping their weapons on the target.

There was a loud sound that came from the heavens as well. It was a flying air carrier. It broke the clouds. It appeared above the nation of Japan while deploying planes and VTOL. The shielding around the air carrier was layered. There wasn’t only one air carrier that appeared.

USS Sable, the air carrier that helped in the storming event appeared as well. The gigantuan work of art shadowed the nation. But for the beast it seemed like they were nothing more than an obstacle that it could go through.

On the radio there were many lines and messages congesting the traffic. But in the secured lines there were clear movements coming from the military. It was then that they saw a sudden beam of lightning ten times faster than the speed of sound.

The blast tore through the water and when it came into contact with the beast. The one thing that they feared the most happened. On top of the carapace and shell of the beast was a layer of shielding. Seeing this there was loud chatter in the radio as they advised on how to deal with a monstrosity.

But for Gaston he heard two words coming from the .

And the words were ‘open fire’.

It was eerily quiet.

Then the rumble of earth’s artillery and cannons rained down on the shell of the beast. The beast roared mightily. Its cry seemed to affect everyone who heard it as if they were struck by sound waves.

She saw one of the soldiers bleeding from their ears. Gaston checked on the pilot and was thankful that the pilot was breathing. He pats the pilot on the shoulder and stares at the behemoth who was looking at the flying carriers.

Gaston felt his stomach churn at the sight of the beast gathering particles of energy in its mouth. The beast’s body was glowing lines as it acted like a cooling system. Gaston wanted to throw his gut feeling and warn the others.

But It was too late for them to avoid the attack of the behemoth.

The beam of light tore the clouds. The planes that were near the beam of light were shot down. The superheated plasma carved a path for the beast. It didn’t stop here. The beast continued moving to the mainland with a much faster approach when it suddenly sped up and threw a charged searing laser that broke the defenses on the shores of japan.

The beast raised its turtle-like head and called out. It was a deafening sound that made Gaston feel like he was going to go deaf. And with that call he saw a terrifying scene of split-realms opening near the behemoth. From type-4 biomass entities to type-5’s.

It wasn army that came straight from hell. The worst part was that as the behemoth crawled on land. It trampled a town and superheated its surroundings. Even far from the beast, it made Gaston think of his training. The beast was cornered and was trying to run. They were making it much more anxious. Although the hunters were ready. The breakers in the premise began to focus their eyes on the beast that was taller than a skyscraper and was like a moving mountain.

Each step was an earthquake.

And even as the artillery, mortars, and cannons were pointed at the building. The beast that everyone was fighting was still unscarred.

Behold a beast of the end.

The guns of every nation pummeled the backs of the beast. The beast behaved as if it was invincible as its protective shielding easily blocked the attack. On the back of the turtle-like creature were pockets of ichorium that were firing focused lasers against the flyers.

It was a biological fortress that was surviving against everything they could throw at them. Not to mention that the Type-4’s and Type-5’s were pouncing on the ground units.

Lancers were holding the line while keeping a defense wall. The breakers who knew nothing of war against these beasts faltered. That thin thread of delusion that only thought of the breaker profession as glorious was lost amidst their shouts and screams.

Their multi-functional weapons being torn from them. Their bodies cleaved or superheated as the breath of the Type-5’s broke through their shielding. In the VTOL they watched the slaughter.

The familiar sight steeled Gaston and Janna’s heart. It was then that the air carrier of the Babaika Lions pointed a weapon at the creature. The creature who sensed the threat was about to pummel it when a figure holding a two-handed with her reddened hair fluttering landed a devastating blow on the unprotected body of the beast.

The shielding shattered like glasses. Seeing the shielding broken, the forces fighting the beasts tore through the thick scales of the monster. The flyers bombard the shell-like parts of the creature. The Type-5’s were provoked by the screams of the creature. And they rushed like mad to protect the behemoth.

Gaston readied his gauntlet. Both of them clad in this dark-red glow that they share. As they were about to head to battle. The behemoth that was struggling against the attacks suddenly halted. Gaston thought that the creature was stunned, but his instincts screamed at him. He immediately ordered in the comms for every unit near the creature to retreat.

“It’s supercharging.”

The red valkyrie who broke the shielding made a mighty leap while carrying Jakob with him. Gaston caught the two with one arm and pulled them in. Janna watched the two-handed sword before nodding her head at the Red Valkyrie.

The VTOL tried to leave the area of effect. But the Type-5’s guarding the monster seemed like it didn’t care about what may happen to them. As if following the orders of the behemoth. They also started gathering bioenergy and storing them inside their bodies.

When the Type-5’s were finishing their supercharge. They ran from different directions with reckless abandon. The shielders who were maintaining the defense line saw the creatures hug one of the grid systems and started absorbing energy from it.

“It’s taking the power!”

Seeing the actions of the Type-5’s. The ground units tried to defeat the Type-5. But they didn’t have the time to do that as the beast that was supercharging suddenly stood fully on its hind legs. The thick layer of shell that was on the back of the creature was shattered, revealing a sharp spine. With a loud roar the behemoth that was defending itself became the attacker.

Multiple superheated plasma tore through the flying units all over the battlefield. And to everyone’s surprise the behemoth that should have been too large to move so fast started sprinting.

It didn’t matter whatever defense grid that the nation of Japan had setted up. Even the VTOL was barely catching up to the city-like giant moving at fast speed.

Destroying the grid systems. Defeating whatever it was that was trying to attack the creature. The chatter on the radio made Gaston wonder if they were even going to get a fight. They were like a swarm of bees trying to poke a giant made of rock to death. None of their attacks were working and it made him wonder how the country was going to recover from this.

“Warning to all units engaging the behemoth. The Rods of God will be deployed within two minutes. Preparing for the drop.”

On the HUD Gaston saw a countdown timer. The VTOL and every flying unit in the area were starting to retreat. Then the sky was torn as the rods of god that came from orbit tore through the body of the creature, pinning the creature in this chain made of energy that caged the creature.

Gaston saw an awful warning sign on his heads-up display. Without a single thought, the moment that warning was given. Every unit began to flee as if afraid of what may happen.

A flash happened.

The bright menacing flash that irritated the eyes of those who saw it.

After the flash there was the sound that broke the sound barriers. Every unit that saw the explosion was shaken by the blast. The VTOL they were riding was shaken while the other flyers who were in the danger zone outright fell down and crash landed.

Then another flash happened far from the distance.

It’s location was definitely the city of Neo-Tokyo.

Silence came.

As the smoke and dust dispersed. When the red sky that replaced the night returned to normal. They saw on the footage of the drones the behemoth flayed alive by the explosion.

There was no breath left in the body of the carcass.

Only an irradiated corpse.

“Prepare to secure the corpse.”

Lady Romanov ordered.

But before they could approach there was an opening in the split-realm.

It was a creature wearing an exoskeleton armor clad with what seems to be life support devices attacked around it’s spine and the symbol of the qliphoth tree proudly sewn on its shoulder. The eerie glow on it’s eyes made all of Gaston’s instincts scream.

It watched the units for a second before it’s emancipated hand waved.

The split-realm swallowed the creature. Before everyone could reach there was a beast that was bloated with ichorium energy. The bioenergy signatures of the creature raised to a dangerous level.

And before they knew it.

An explosion that rivalled the bomb that was dropped on the behemoth happened. While the bomb that was dropped on the behemoth induced silence. The explosion induced fear.

It was a day where the people of earth learned that they have other enemies other than the bisomass entities.

To be continued...