"Protect our city!"

  The Civil Security corps surged forward, using Haruki Aizawa as the tip of their spear. The air was filled with the deafening thunder of gunfire and the guttural shrieks of the Gastrea as the two legions collided.

  But the Promoters quickly noticed something horrifying. Their Varanium-tipped bullets, which usually snuffed out a Gastrea's life in a single shot, were failing. Even when monsters were riddled with holes, they didn't fall. They simply kept charging, their flesh knitting back together around the metal shards.

  "I see... they’ve found a way to neutralize the magnetic field," Haruki observed, his eyes narrowing behind his mask.

  The reason his bde could kill them while bullets couldn't was simple: resistance. These Gastrea had evolved a high biological tolerance to Varanium. A small bullet didn't carry enough mass or surface area to overcome their specialized regeneration. To kill them, you had to physically destroy their vital organs or decapitate them—tasks that required getting within arm's reach of the monsters.

  This expined why the SDF had been annihited. The soldiers cked the courage for close-quarters combat.

  The Promoters, however, were a different breed. Though they were often erratic or even criminal, they possessed a raw, desperate courage. Following Haruki’s lead, they discarded their firearms and drew their bdes and specialized melee weapons.

  While the Initiators held the line with their superhuman strength, Haruki became a whirlwind of sughter. Every time his bde left its sheath, a head rolled. He killed over a hundred Gastrea in the opening minutes, achieving the highest kill count in Tokyo's history.

  As the battle raged, the Gastrea began to do something they had never done before: they began to avoid him. They felt the "vibration" of a predator that was far more dangerous than themselves.

  Haruki didn't let them escape. With Highnd Soul active, he became a blur of violet light, harvesting lives with clinical precision. His bde, Onikiri, was soon coated in so much dark fluid that it shimmered with a sickly, blood-red glow.

  The Promoters watched him, their hearts hammering. Only one word came to mind when they looked at their commander:

  Sword Ghost.

  If hell existed, Haruki Aizawa was the demon guarding the gate.

  Under Haruki’s command, the Civil Security corps cleared the initial wave and pushed the front line back to the ruins of the Monoliths.

  This seemed to draw the ire of the commander.

  Aldebaran, which had been lumbering slowly through the ruins, let out a bone-chilling roar. Suddenly, a blinding energy began to condense in the air above it.

  "What is that?"

  The Promoters looked up. A spear of pure, white light tore through the night sky. It was a high-velocity projectile that moved so fast even Haruki’s senses barely caught the ripple in the air.

  ZAP!

  The light spear pierced through the line, vaporizing several Promoters before they could even scream.

  "My God... what was that?!" Rentaro cried out, his face pale with horror.

  The battlefield was sliced by silver trajectories of death. It was a sight that inspired total despair. Humanity had built the Monoliths because Gastrea cked long-range capabilities; they were supposed to be "dumb" biological tanks. But Aldebaran had brought artillery.

  This was likely why the SDF’s missiles and helicopters had been swatted out of the sky so easily.

  "How do we fight that?" Tamaki whispered, his hands trembling.

  While despair took root in the hearts of his men, Haruki’s gaze remained immovable. He had analyzed the "Light Spear." It wasn't magic; it was a biological weapon from a secondary Gastrea—a specialized sniper-type hidden within Aldebaran’s shell.

  "Keep clearing the small ones," Haruki commanded, his voice cold and steady. "I’m going to kill Aldebaran."

  "What!?"

  The Promoters stared at him. To them, Aldebaran was a mountain. Attacking it alone was a suicide mission.

  Haruki didn't expin. He lunged forward, leaping over the jagged remains of Monolith 32.

  Aldebaran was a nightmare of biology. It was four hundred meters long, with an armadillo-like armored shell and eight massive, pilr-like legs. Hundreds of independent tentacles writhed from the cracks in its armor like a nest of serpents. It had no eyes or nose—only a massive, gaping maw that dripped green, acidic slime.

  Haruki reached the monster in seconds.

  "MOUNTAIN SMASHER!"

  He unleashed his most powerful strike, his bde wreathed in crimson energy and manic intent.

  KABOOM!

  The strike was perfect. It sheared through the monster’s neck, sending its massive head tumbling into the mud. Half of its torso was vaporized by the shockwave.

  But Haruki didn't celebrate. He watched with a grim intensity as the "dead" meat began to bubble.

  Within seconds, the head regrew. The torso knitted back together. Aldebaran wasn't just tough; it was functionally immortal.

  Haruki didn't panic. He had seen this coming. Through his Sense of Fluctuation, he knew that Aldebaran's regeneration was fueled by a specialized "Core" protected deep within its armored body.

  If one strike didn't work, he would use a thousand. He would cut it faster than its cells could divide.

  SHING!

  Haruki unleashed a flurry of blood-red sshes, shaking the very earth beneath the monster's feet. Aldebaran roared in agony, its massive body staggering under the assault.

  The monster retaliated with a whip-like motion of its tail, a strike that moved with the speed of a bullet. Haruki leaped to avoid it, but Aldebaran was waiting. It fred its tentacles, creating a 360-degree cage of shing limbs.

  BOOM!

  Haruki was caught mid-air. He crossed his bdes to block, but the sheer kinetic mass of the monster sent him spiraling back. He hit the ground hard, creating a crater in the mud.

  Far back at the defensive line, the Promoters gasped. They saw their "invincible" commander fall. Even the Seitenshi, watching via satellite, gripped the railing of her balcony until her knuckles turned white.

  The dust began to settle over the crater.

  Haruki stood up. His clothes were shredded and he was covered in soot, but he was physically unharmed. His defense had held.

  However, he felt the crimson energy of his Blood Burst fading. He had used up his primary stamina pool. To finish a Stage IV like this, he couldn't rely on speed and precision alone. He needed to become the very thing the city feared.

  He reached for the massive, five-foot-long Varanium Greatsword strapped to his back—the weapon he had requested for his LV.3 archetype.

  "Kayo. Tina," Haruki whispered into his comms. "Get everyone back. This is going to get loud."

  Haruki gripped the hilt of the greatsword. The demonic violet veins on his right arm began to glow with a blinding intensity. He felt the hunger of the Darkin Bde flooding his mind, demanding a sacrifice.

  "You want to end the world?" Haruki asked the monster, his voice becoming a distorted, dual-toned growl. "I'll show you how it's done."

  "WORLD ENDER!"

  A pilr of dark, infernal energy erupted from Haruki, reaching into the clouds. The Sword Ghost was gone. In his pce stood a winged, armored nightmare of the bde. The Darkin had arrived on the battlefield.

  ***********************************************

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