A few hours later…
As warm and cold air currents intertwined overhead, rain began to slowly form in the sky.
Eventually, carried by gravity, droplets of rain—laced with the blue serum Orsaga had released—fell into the vast expanse of the ocean.
However, given how infinitesimally small the serum concentration was compared to the sheer size of the sea, it didn't take immediate effect.
It would need time to propagate.
So for now, everything seemed calm. Peaceful, as usual.
Only under a microscope could one faintly detect subtle changes in the cells of various marine organisms.
The most noticeable short-term symptom?
An insatiable appetite.
Digestion speeds had increased tenfold.
But… was that really something to be concerned about?
Probably not—at least, not yet.
---
Three days later.
Raccoon City was no more.
The nuclear detonation had been officially attributed to a "reactor failure" at a nearby nuclear power plant.
Still, the United States erupted into outrage.
Over 100,000 people were killed.
The number of affected families was incalculable.
Protests and riots broke out across the nation.
Demands varied—some wanted all nuclear power abolished; others called for memorials to the Black victims of the explosion.
Feminist groups, human rights organizations, religious activists, health advocates, anti-modernization groups, animal rights organizations—everyone came out swinging.
And how did America respond?
With an old and familiar tactic:
Create an external threat to distract from internal problems.
To that end, the U.S. Pacific Fleet began organizing a major military drill near Hawaii.
Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.
Just like it had so many times over the past few decades.
After all, ever since America established its dominance over the world, this kind of PR maneuver had become routine.
---
USS Nimitz — Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrier
Sitting in the control room, one soldier happily munched on a two-day-old chocolate donut, relaxing in his chair with his feet propped up.
"Mmm… still delicious," he said with a satisfied grin.
He turned to his colleague and asked, "Hey, man, want one?"
The other soldier shook his head. "No thanks. Sugar makes me shit myself."
The donut guy raised an eyebrow. "That's… the first time I've ever heard that problem."
The man could only shrug. "Yeah, I don't get it either."
Just then—
Beep. Beep. Beep.
An alert started flashing on the radar console.
Both men turned to look.
Suddenly, a new signal dot appeared on the screen.
It was moving.
According to the radar, the object was biological.
The donut guy leaned in and frowned.
"Uh… what is that? Over fifty meters long? Is it… a whale?"
The other man's expression changed instantly.
He had studied marine biology in college, and even though it had been years, he still remembered:
The largest whales don't exceed 35 meters.
He stood up and rushed over to inspect the radar more closely.
Within seconds, his face went pale.
"Fifty-five meters long?. Moving at 100 kilometers per hour?
What the hell is that thing?!. How can something like that exist on Earth?!"
Using the creature's trajectory, he quickly calculated that it would reach the fleet in twenty seconds.
A fifty-meter creature smashing into a carrier group?
Total disaster.
Without hesitation, he triggered the control room alarm.
Sirens wailed throughout the fleet.
Sleeping sailors jumped out of their bunks and sprinted to the armory to retrieve their weapons.
The man in the control room picked up the phone and called the captain directly.
"Sir! Something's heading our way!"
Still unaware of the situation, the captain asked, "What is it?"
"A biological entity, over fifty meters long, moving at more than 100 kilometers an hour!"
There was a pause.
"…Are you drinking in the control room?" the captain asked flatly.
No one sane would believe those numbers.
"I swear, sir! I haven't touched a drop! It'll be here in twenty seconds!"
After a short pause, the captain replied:
"…Fine. I'll believe you. But if you're wrong, I'm demoting you to private before the day ends."
Click.
The captain hung up and grabbed the fleetwide comms unit.
"All personnel: we have an unidentified object approaching fast. ETA: 10–15 seconds. All hands to battle stations."
His voice blasted across every vessel in the fleet.
The previously confused sailors now had a clear directive—and a source of reassurance.
Soon after, radars aboard other ships picked up the same biological signal.
"What the hell is that thing…?"
The captain issued a new order:
"We can't let it charge through the fleet. If it gets too close, destroyers will fire warning shots into the water to scare it off. If that fails, proceed to torpedo launch."
"Yes, sir!"
As the entity entered their engagement range, two destroyers opened fire with their deck-mounted machine cannons.
They aimed not at the creature itself, but at the water nearby—to avoid harming a potentially endangered species.
After all, if they killed something unique, they'd never hear the end of it.
Surprisingly, the creature stopped moving.
It looked spooked.
Just like a wild animal after hearing a warning shot.
The sailors began to relax a little.
"At least it's not aliens."
As anyone who'd ever seen a sci-fi movie knew, Earth's first contact squads always got slaughtered.
Some soldiers even started joking around, trying to guess what it could be.
Then—
The signal began to move again.
Faster than before.
The destroyer captain didn't hesitate.
"Fire torpedoes!"
FWOOOM!
Two torpedoes streaked through the water.
BOOM!
Twin columns of water exploded into the air.
For a moment, everyone held their breath.
Reddish water mixed into the waves.
"Did we get it?"
Some began to hope.
No creature on Earth could survive a torpedo, right?
Then—
A chilling, rage-filled roar echoed across the sea.
The radar showed the creature still heading their way.
"Fire again! Full spread!"
This time, over a dozen torpedoes were launched.
Every vessel joined the assault.
But the creature must have sensed the threat.
Instead of charging, it began to rise, from hundreds of meters below the surface, up toward the open sky.
And then, it broke the water.
The soldiers saw it clearly for the first time.
It looked like a whale…
If a whale had rows of jagged fangs, pale bone armor for skin, and three deformed claws growing from its belly.
"Dear God…" the fleet commander muttered.
"It looks like it crawled straight out of hell."
As it soared into the air, its abdomen swelled unnaturally…
And then—split open down the middle.
SPLASH!
A waterfall of blood and organs poured out.
Its bones expanded and twisted, forming translucent skeletal wings.
Using those wings, it shifted its posture mid-air, turning its vertical descent into a terrifying glide.
Its destination?
The nearest destroyer.
"Oh… hell no—"
Before the sailor could finish swearing, the enormous creature—over fifty meters long—crashed into the destroyer like a solid cannonball, propelled by immense inertia.
"Boom!"
With a thunderous impact, the captain and countless crew members were killed instantly.
A gaping hole, several dozen meters in diameter, tore through the side of the ship.
In just a single second, the destroyer sank beneath the waves—vanishing without a trace.
__
T/N:
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