In the dilapidated old house, time itself seemed to have stagnated.
The curtains were torn, bloodstains scattered everywhere.
A gruesome mess of flesh and bone lay strewn across the dining room table and chairs; wind whistled through the wooden window frames, causing them to rattle incessantly.
The television in the living room still emitted a steady static hum, alongside the daily 7 PM news interview.
Dim, eerie light pervaded the room. The interview between Dr. Edward, an Entity-ologist, and a reporter droned on in the deathly silence, punctuated by a strange, wet chewing sound.
"A horrifying truth was recently announced by The Divine Order, one of the world's largest Entity defense organizations, regarding the cause of the incident in 2055. This information has caused considerable panic among the populace. Professor, could you perhaps explain it in simpler terms?"
"According to the information released by The Divine Order, we now know that Entities – or beings from dimensions other than Earth – were first detected around the beginning of World War I, during a period of intense global conflict. However, it appears this species has coexisted with Earth since its formation, for hundreds of thousands of years."
– A gaunt man in a gray suit with a dark blue tie appeared on the television after the reporter's question. His eyes, deeply shadowed beneath thick-rimmed glasses, made his face look even more ashen.
Despite this, his voice was strong, carrying a seriousness that compelled a respectful attention.
"Does this mean, Professor, that Entities have actually appeared and existed alongside humanity throughout history?"
"Precisely. Connections have also been found between various mythologies and identified Entity forms. For example, the demon Baal from the Bible, or Daemon Hound Entities like Cerberus in Greek mythology, and Fenrir in Norse mythology… And verifications have shown that most mythological creatures, gods, monsters… existing in folklore or the Bible, have existed or currently exist, developing in parallel with humanity over hundreds of millions of years."
The interviewer clasped his hands together, his expression growing more serious as he posed his next question.
"Then, Professor, is there any satisfactory explanation as to why Entities, despite coexisting with human history – even assisting humans as mentioned in myths and legends – would attack Italy and launch a large-scale invasion of Earth in 2055?"
"Regrettably, the reason for the Entity attack in 2055 remains an unsolved mystery. Although there are many speculations, the hypothesis closest to the truth is perhaps that Entities 'sensed' humanity's rapidly accelerating development. As we know from general knowledge disseminated by various organizations, Entities are beings from other dimensions possessing terrifying powers, which is why they were once worshipped and feared as creator gods described in legends and myths. Biologist Dr. Daniel D. Anderson suggests that Entity species paid no mind to humanity for a long time because we were too weak, not important enough to warrant their attention. However, when humans discovered Entities and identified them as a potential threat to Earth's existence, governments worldwide deemed it necessary to establish organizations to study and develop countermeasures against this species.
Subsequently, the event of proactively attacking and completely destroying the private 'dimension' of the Arc Greyan – a fairly powerful Entity species – in 2008 became a milestone, not only for humanity but also alerting Entities to mankind's intellectual prowess.
Furthermore, the successful prevention of a large-scale retaliatory attack – later known as the Second Apocalypse – also demonstrated that human firepower had far surpassed the Entities' imagination, showing them that humanity was approaching their level."
"This is also considered one of the reasons for the 2055 attack."
"So, does that mean global Entity defense organizations like The Divine Order, Shield and Sword, T3, The ZONEs… are capable enough to counter the Entity invasion and will end this war quickly, Professor?"
"Hmm… It's still too early to conclude that."
– The professor, with his balding head, rubbed his palms together. "Some colleagues and I believe that these government and non-government organizations, besides acting as shields and weapons against Entities, also intend to exploit their research and understanding of this species to develop military capabilities for world domination.
Therefore, this war becomes even more convoluted and chaotic as humanity fights not only against extraterrestrial invaders but also against itself."
The chewing sound in the house stopped, replaced by a guttural chuckle. The television continued to cast a bluish-gray light over more than half the room. It seemed an owl was hooting mournfully outside. The interviewer's voice cut through the static from the old TV.
"So, we are in a chaotic war, both foreign and civil.
On what basis do you make such an assertion, Professor?"
– The MC leaned forward, looking agitated. Perhaps his expressive face also made most of the audience feel they needed to pay closer attention to this special report.
"As we know, anti-Entity organizations have long since demarcated their operational zones and developed independently, much like a division of territories.
Some large organizations that survived until after the Final Apocalypse include The ZONEs in Europe – which later merged with the Vatican to form The Divine Order; Organization 440, or O440, in America; Russia's Sword and Shield, formerly MW from the old Soviet Union; and T3 – now destroyed and replaced by The Peacock Cult in Asia.
After the Entity invasion in 2055, these secret organizations admitted that their weapons technology was actually 70 years ahead of its time.
However, to maintain balance and avoid global panic, the organizations agreed to keep it a military secret and conduct their fight against Entities covertly.
But I believe they merely wanted to develop and hoard that technology for themselves, to use it at an opportune moment to dominate Earth.
Evidence lies in recent events showing the power struggles among these organizations: The Divine Order, founded and developed by the Church, began with the First Attack in 2055. Despite a part of Italy being obliterated, the Vatican in the magnificent capital of Rome stood firm.
Immediately after, the Pope announced the formation of The Divine Order to protect humanity from Entities and disclosed information about them to the world.
After revealing (part of) the truth, the Vatican established The Divine Order in cooperation with The ZONEs, recruiting, training, and deploying legions of individuals with superior abilities, often called Holy Knights, or Strike teams by other organizations.
The Divine Order's move sparked many new conspiracy theories, with many believing the Church had long awaited this opportunity (or that the Church itself orchestrated the "First Apocalypse" in 2055 to execute its plan) to regain religious power and trample on politics as in previous centuries.
However, regardless of the persistent theories, humanity could not deny the truth that they faced annihilation and needed organizations like The Divine Order to protect them.
Leveraging religious power, the Vatican declared its duty to protect humanity before the world.
To this day, The Divine Order is widespread across nearly 200 countries globally.
The strength of The Divine Order is believed to come from the weapons wielded by its Holy Knights.
The origin of these weapons is strictly confidential, though many theories suggest they are "extracted" or "composed" from Entities themselves – a method of "fighting fire with fire" used for this unending war."
The Professor paused slightly, sighed softly, and his expression changed for a moment. His next words were such forceful, persuasive assertions that the MC listened with his mouth agape, no longer concerned about his on-screen appearance.
"Other organizations also rose to contend for command in the battle, notably America with O440 and Russia with Sword and Shield.
These organizations formed a tripartite power structure, dividing the world into three forces, all while aiming for the common goal of fighting the ever-increasing number of Entities appearing on Earth, causing immense global social chaos.
Past disagreements caused O440 and Sword and Shield to continually clash in battles.
Furthermore, O440's top brass also declared no intention of allying with The Divine Order, clearly showing America's determination to seize absolute power.
Not to be outdone, The Divine Order continuously employed tactics to win faith, deliberately leaking information about O440's human experiments during Entity research and condemning the organization, aiming to build its army of faith and elevate its status to the highest.
The leaked information caused Organization 440 to struggle for a time with investigating spies and erasing evidence. They attempted Entity attacks and civilian aid to regain their reputation, but the results thus far have not been very promising.
All these developments, though appearing externally as "minor oversights," are enough to show the authoritarianism and territorial and power grabs of these organizations.
In other words, ordinary, powerless people like us are merely pawns for them to play their game of "War of Thrones" on the grand chessboard that is Earth.
Not to mention, this competition has been ongoing for a long time…"
"For a long time?
What do you mean, Professor? Are all recent events still part of these organizations' struggle for 'territory'?"
"Precisely. As I said, Entities were discovered at the beginning of World War I, and this discovery was the true cause leading to the arms race period after World War I. And in just 31 short years, humanity had virtually caught up to the Entities' power by completely annihilating the dimension of the Grey species, which was rated at 'High Danger' on the Entity threat classification scale.
It's hard to believe that the Cold War was, in fact, a race among organizations to understand and research Entities.
The clandestine war against Entities reached its peak in 1945. An Entity of unidentifiable threat level (based on information gathered from previous Entity types, that this world was created by an extremely powerful Entity, and any Entity forced to reveal clearer information about it was immediately destroyed) attempted to enter humanity's dimension for unknown reasons, causing horrific damage.
However, an unexpected event occurred that greatly surprised the clandestine organizations: another Entity fought against this one, leading to terrible explosions, which history recorded as the two bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima – Japan."
"What?" – The MC covered his mouth, his face utterly horrified. He turned to look directly at the camera and spoke in a grave tone. "This is truly a shocking announcement for the entire world. Professor, could you tell us where you obtained such assertions?"
The Professor silently placed a thick file on the scanner already set up on the interview table. Top-secret documents stamped by Organization O440 were displayed directly on television. Pages containing signed agreements and archived reports were printed on yellowed paper, yet the words were still clearly visible. Very quickly, translated subtitles in various languages, based on the broadcast location, appeared beneath these documents.
"These are documents that my colleagues and I obtained with great difficulty. How we accessed this information is a personal matter.
Here, I will only say that in that historic year, America sent troops to Japan, who were, in fact, members of Organization O440, to study the consequences of the explosion, while also taking responsibility, nominally, for the attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Conversely, Japan used this event to end the state of war, aiming to restore society and focus on allying with O440 to understand the power from the sites of those two cities.
The Japanese Emperor realized that instead of blindly engaging in an unbalanced war with the Allies, cooperating with America in Entity research offered them the greatest long-term profit and covert power.
Japan also knew that the Axis powers could hardly win this world war, and with the horrific damage from the mysterious Entity, they could hardly continue to pursue the war.
Not long after the end of World War I, the secret organizations went to war again.
Although they admitted that World War II was actually ignited by these organizations, they resolutely refused to announce the reason for the war.
These confessions caused a wave of outrage across the world, but with their financial power, the organizations quickly suppressed the protests to focus their efforts on the upcoming war.
This information truly pains me for the millions of souls who died in that catastrophe merely due to the rivalry of these organizations."
"It's horrifying to learn that there was a secret agreement between Japan and the American government at that time based on that First Genocide event.
Nearly ten years have passed since the 'First Apocalypse' occurred.
Every citizen on this planet probably still remembers vividly the day all media outlets worldwide updated the same news: more than a third of Italy had been destroyed by an attack from an extraterrestrial species.
That was also the first news item marking a new era for humanity, fighting against creatures of terrifying power from another dimension.
Within the next five years, a series of Hell Gates appeared in many countries around the world.
Along with them came waves of attacks by Entities, beings wielding incredible power.
Therefore, governments decided to issue a Curfew Hour, to warn people about the times when Entities were most likely to appear.
Now in Albion, where the 12th gate appeared after five years of fighting the invading Entities, The Divine Order has become a new symbol of faith, with the power and responsibility to protect the safety of the people. The world has changed; the scales are tipping to one side.
Balance is broken, and the unimaginable becomes commonplace, while everyday things become distant from the lives of every individual in the world.
Historians assert that this is a 'new chapter' filled with anxiety that all of humanity is forced to enter.
They call it 'The Holy War Era'. Yet now we discover another painful truth: all the catastrophic wars that have taken place until now have only served the purpose of fighting for resources and power from Entities by the very organizations we have trusted and relied upon for decades.
What could be more agonizing than the place we trusted absolutely and placed our hopes in also being the culprit that pushed all of humanity to this desperate point?"
The MC stood up, clenching his fists, looking furious with his powerful declaration. The Professor also stood up, approached the camera, and spoke in a strained voice.
"Look what those organizations have done to us, to this whole world!
Look again at the cause of this Holy War Era! Where did it come from?
All of us have been deceived and become pawns for the world's top leaders. The flesh and blood of our relatives have become trash, fit only to be their experimental animals.
Do these organizations deserve to be trusted? Do they deserve support after indirectly causing millions of deaths of my grandparents, parents, and siblings, of yours, or not?
You all should have the answer!"
The television began to switch to scenes of people rushing into the streets, shouting and protesting against the organizations. In a small inset showing the studio, there was also turmoil as the MC abruptly stood up, yelling amidst the suppression by men in special forces uniforms. In an instant, the gaunt Professor in the suit had vanished, leaving everyone in the studio in bewildered surprise.
The signal was suddenly lost; the screen displayed a technical difficulties apology that everyone knew was just an excuse. In the rapidly darkening room, now filled with the static of the television, a grotesque creature was nibbling on its victim's forearm, chuckling gutturally and spelling out each word in human language.
"The.
Holy.
War. Era. "