"Report," Mina Ashiro commanded.
Her voice, usually a blade of honed steel, was frayed with exhaustion. She stood before the main holo-table in the Third Division's command center, a steaming mug of black coffee, her third of the hour, clutched in her hand. The time was 04:30. No one in the command staff had slept.
The room was a hum of controlled chaos. Data analysts typed furiously, their faces illuminated by cascades of code and topographical maps. Intelligence officers spoke in hushed, urgent tones on encrypted channels.
"Ma'am," Operations Chief Koriumi reported, his own face a grim mask of fatigue. "At 00:07, multiple seismic and energy sensors registered a major incident at the abandoned Umizu industrial complex. The readings were… anomalous."
On the holo-table, a 3D map of the waterfront complex shimmered to life. Red icons pulsed all over the area.
"We registered thirteen distinct Yoju-class energy signatures appearing almost simultaneously," Koriumi continued, zooming in on the map. "Before any response team could be dispatched, a fourteenth, much stronger signature appeared. This new one matched the chaotic, high-output biological energy of the entity codenamed 'Jumper'."
Kikoru Shinomiya and Soshiro Hoshina, standing beside Mina, leaned in. Hoshina idly spun one of his short blades on his fingertip, his eyes narrowed in intense concentration.
"So the Jumper was there," Kikoru stated, her voice tight. "Did he kill the Yoju?"
"That's where it gets strange, Shinomiya," Koriumi said, shaking his head. "Moments after the Jumper's arrival, the thirteen Yoju signatures… vanished. Not one by one. All at once. Extinguished, like flipping a switch. There was no corresponding energy release. No sign of a fight. They were just… gone."
Hoshina stopped spinning his blade. "Impossible. To kill thirteen Yoju, even weak ones, would create a massive energy spike. Even our janitorial clean-up crews leave a bigger residue signature than that."
"That's not all," Koriumi said, his expression darkening. He pulled up a new set of data—a line graph that spiked so violently it was almost a vertical line. "Thirty seconds after the Yoju vanished, we registered a brief, earth-shattering energy clash. We have two new signatures from it. Signature A," he pointed to a pulsing violet line, "is a perfect match for the anomaly in Yokohama. Sovereign."
A collective intake of breath swept through the command center. Sovereign was there, too.
Hoshina's eyes gleamed with a predatory light. "The void and the inferno. So they finally met face-to-face."
"And Signature B?" Mina asked, her gaze fixed on a jagged, crimson line on the graph. "That isn't Jumper's."
"No, Ma'am. It is not," Koriumi confirmed grimly. "It's something entirely new. Synthetic. Controlled. We registered bio-fission, rapid cellular regeneration, and a spatial-warping energy profile we've never encountered. We have preliminarily codenamed this new entity 'Architect'."
The name hung in the air, heavy with unspoken implications.
"The clash lasted four minutes and fifty-two seconds," Koriumi continued. "It was… immense. The energy output dwarfed the Yokohama Juggernaut incident. And then… it just stopped. Signature B—the Architect—fled the scene at sub-sonic speeds before vanishing completely. Sovereign's signature disappeared a moment later."
Mina took a long sip of her coffee, her mind working at a furious pace. "And the Jumper? Where was his signature during all this?"
"That is the biggest mystery of all, Commander," the Chief replied, his face a canvas of pure confusion. "Jumper's signature was present throughout the entire event, but it was completely static. He was on-site, but according to our readings, he didn't participate. He just… watched."
Hoshina let out a short, sharp laugh. It was a humorless sound.
"So let me get this straight," he began, walking around the holo-table. "Thirteen Kaiju appear. Jumper shows up to fight them. But before he can, Sovereign arrives. He doesn't fight the Jumper. Instead, a third entity, the Architect, shows up and fights Sovereign in a battle that nearly breaks our sensors. The Architect escapes. Sovereign vanishes. And the Jumper, our supposed chaotic furnace of power, plays the part of a terrified spectator, then slips away in the confusion."
He stopped and looked at the faces of his colleagues. "This is not a simple turf war between monsters. This is a chessboard, and we are not even a piece. We are the ants crawling between the squares."
The brutal honesty of his analogy settled over the room like a shroud.
Kikoru clenched her fists. "So what do we do? We have three unclassified, S-Class threats operating in our jurisdiction, two of which can apparently appear and disappear at will, and one of which can jump over buildings while holding a cat. What's the protocol for that?"
The sarcasm in her voice did little to hide her profound frustration. She felt useless. She was the Defense Force's prized prodigy, armed with a Numbers Weapon forged from her own mother, and yet the real war was being fought in shadows she couldn't even enter.
Mina Ashiro finally spoke, her voice regaining its sharp edge of command. Her brief moment of fatigue was gone, replaced by a steely resolve.
"We change the protocol," she declared.
All eyes turned to her.
"Standard operating procedure is obsolete. Our mission is no longer to simply react to Kaiju appearances. We are now conducting a counter-intelligence operation against three distinct, parahuman entities. Hoshina," she said, her eyes locking with her Vice-Commander's.
"Ma'am?"
"You are to head a new task force: the Anomaly Tracking Unit, or ATU. Hand-pick your best. Fast, quiet, and discreet. Your unit's sole purpose is to hunt these three. No engagement unless absolutely necessary. Your job is to shadow, gather data, and find their weaknesses. Find where they sleep, find what they eat, and find out what they want."
Hoshina's grim expression was replaced by a slow, dangerous smile. This was the kind of hunt he was born for. "A pleasure, Commander."
"Kikoru," Mina continued, turning to her star rookie.
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"You are the only one of us who has been in close proximity to both Sovereign and the Jumper. Your senses are our best barometer for their energy signatures. You will be Hoshina's lead field agent. But your primary focus will be the Jumper. He is the only one who has shown a remotely human form and human-like eccentricities. He is our most likely candidate for communication, or capture."
Kikoru's eyes widened slightly. A specific, high-priority target. A tangible mission. A chance to confront the ridiculous man who had baffled her. A spark of her old fire returned. "Understood, Commander."
"And me?" Mina said, looking at the stunned faces of her command staff. "I will be handling the political fallout and expediting the release of Isao Shinomiya's final project."
A gasp came from Koriumi. "Commander… you mean that? But it's not stable! The prototypes caused…"
"I don't care what they caused," Mina cut him off, her voice absolute. "We are outgunned and outclassed. We are fighting ghosts with cannons. We need our own ghost. I'm authorizing the fast-track development and deployment of the Numbers Weapon 10 combat suit. It's time we fought these new monsters with a monster of our own."
The decision was made. The Third Division was adapting. The old rules were being burned, and from the ashes, a new, more dangerous hunt was about to begin. The echoes of the fight in the Umizu complex were already spreading, forcing humanity's hand and changing the shape of the war forever.