The world was a blue-tinged blur for Kafka Hibino. The ruined streets of Yokohama streaked past him, a smudge of grey and despair. His powerful, transformed legs pistoned against the asphalt, each stride cracking the ground beneath him, propelling him forward with a speed that was both terrifying and exhilarating. He wasn't thinking, only feeling—chasing the fading, psychic echo of the Kaiju No. 9's teleportation, a cold thread of malice that led away from the square. Akira's last command was a drumbeat in his skull: Protect them.
He was a monster running to save his friends.
Elsewhere, the world reformed.
Akira's senses snapped back into focus with a nauseating lurch. The air was different here—colder, heavy with the smell of salt, rust, and stagnant water. He stood in the center of a vast, decaying space. skeletal gantries reached for a twilight sky, and the husks of rusted shipping containers were piled like forgotten toys. The old Northern District shipping yards.
Before him stood the horned Kaiju No. 9 variant, its multifaceted eyes observing him with cold, analytical interest.
[Ravan: Spatial translocation complete. Host integrity: 100%. Target integrity: 100%. Environment: Isolated. No civilian presence detected. Threat level: Catastrophic. Host suppression protocol disengaged. Full combat readiness advised.]
Akira's grip tightened on his sword. He let his rifle hang on its sling, but his free hand rested on the pistol at his hip. The calm facade was gone, stripped away by the gravity of the situation. This was no longer a test he could afford to fail.
"What do you want?" Akira's voice was low, a blade being drawn from its sheath. "Why bring me here?"
The kaiju's stitched mouth didn't move, but its voice rasped directly into Akira's mind, dry and devoid of emotion. "Assessment is required. Your energy signature is… anomalous. Inconsistent with your displayed potential. I wish to test my newly integrated strength. You are the most eligible subject."
Its head tilted. "I will absorb you after I defeat you. Your data will be invaluable."
Akira's lips curled into a fierce, predatory grin that held no humor. "We'll see who absorbs whom."
He didn't wait. He moved.
This wasn't the controlled 63%. This was the true 99% liberation he'd shown only once before. The Defense Force suit's internal systems whined in protest for a split second before stabilizing, glowing lines of energy tracing the contours of his body. The air cracked as he closed the distance, his blade aimed not at the body, but at the complex joint of the kaiju's horn.
CLANG!
The kaiju's arm, moving faster than should be possible, intercepted the strike. The impact wasn't just metal on chitin; it was a shockwave of pure force that rattled the shipping containers around them.
[Ravan: Impact force analyzed. Target durability exceeds initial projections by 17%. This unit is stronger than baseline Kaiju No. 9 data from host's ancillary memories.]
It's stronger, Akira realized, leaping back from a retaliatory swipe that gouged a trench in the concrete where he'd stood. My being here… I've already changed things. This isn't a story. This is reality. One mistake, and I'm just another piece of its collection.
He could feel it, a faint but distinct pressure a few thousand meters away—the other presence. Reno and Kikoru. A cold knot of worry tightened in his stomach, but he forced it down. Kafka. You'd better be running fast.
He focused. This was a fight for survival.
[Ravan: Activating assimilated abilities: Tiger Beetle Charge Acceleration. Hardened Carapace reinforcement.]
Akira's next charge was a blur. He didn't run; he shot forward, using the absorbed kinetic energy of the Beetle variant. He feinted high, then dropped, his leg sweeping out with the crushing force of the absorbed Carapace ability, aiming to buckle the kaiju's knee.
The creature anticipated, leaping back with an uncanny grace. "Interesting. You are not merely human. You are a thief of essence. A curious specimen."
It lunged, and the real fight began.
A few kilometers away, in the shadow of a half-collapsed chemical plant, the world similarly reformed for Reno and Kikoru.
They stumbled, disoriented. The slender, humanoid Kaiju No. 9 stood before them, its single red eye blinking slowly, regarding them not as threats, but as specimens.
"W-What is this place?" Reno stammered, raising his rifle.
"Doesn't matter!" Kikoru snapped, her axe already in her hands. "It's just us. We have to hold out!" Her pride was a brittle shield against her fear.
The kaiju moved. It didn't charge; it flowed, appearing in front of Kikoru in an instant. A blade-like limb extended from its arm, parrying her axe swing with a casual flick. The force of the impact numbed her arms.
Reno fired—BUDUDUDU-DUN!—a full burst aimed at its head. The kaiju didn't even look. It raised its other hand, and the plasma rounds dissipated against an invisible barrier inches from its skin.
"Irrational. Your output is negligible," its voice whispered in their minds, laced with a chilling condescension.
The blade-limb thrust forward. Kikoru barely dodged, the tip slicing through her uniform sleeve and drawing a thin line of blood. She was outmatched. Completely.
Reno cursed, firing again to draw its attention. The kaiju backhanded the air; a concussive wave of force launched Reno off his feet, slamming him into a chain-link fence. He crumpled, gasping for air, his vision swimming.
"Ichikawa!" Kikoru cried out.
"I-I'm okay…" he groaned, pushing himself up. Shame burned hotter than his pain. He was a liability. Again. "I can't… I can't get through its defenses…"
Kikoru's jaw tightened. She looked from the struggling Reno to the advancing, emotionless kaiju. Despair threatened to choke her. Then, a memory flashed—not of her famous father, but of her mother. A warm smile. A gentle hand on her head. A whisper: "Your strength isn't just for destroying, Kikoru. It's for protecting."
A surge of resolve, hot and fierce, burned through the despair. Her body glowed, the release force meter on her suit's display flickering and climbing.
46%... 47%... 48%... 49%.
It wasn't a massive leap, but it was enough. Her aura sharpened. "Reno! Long-range cover! Now! Don't aim at it, aim at its feet, the debris—distract it!"
Reno, clutching his ribs, didn't argue. He clenched his teeth, pushing his own 22% output to its absolute limit, firing at the ground around the kaiju's feet, kicking up clouds of dust and shards of concrete. "Don't you dare look away from her!" he screamed, his voice cracking with effort.
The kaiju's head twitched slightly, the distraction working for a fraction of a second.
It was all Kikoru needed. With a fierce cry, she charged, her movements sharper, faster, her axe a silvery arc. She still couldn't break its guard, but she was no longer being effortlessly swatted aside. She was holding its attention.
The Kaiju No. 9 variant stopped toying with them. Its single eye narrowed. "A marginal increase in efficacy. Noted. Now, terminate."
The atmosphere around it grew heavier. The fight was about to turn deadly.
Back in the main square, there was no time for shock or confusion.
"Focus!" Mina Ashiro's voice was a whip-crack, pulling every recruit's attention to the monstrous, pulsing amalgamation of kaiju corpses in the center of the square. It had grown to the size of a building, glowing with unstable red energy, missile-like protrusions twitching on its surface.
"That thing is a bomb that will level twenty city blocks!" Hoshina shouted, his usual grin replaced by a battlefield commander's snarl. "Platoon leaders, on me! We're cutting the core out before it goes critical! Nakanoshima, your team suppresses the energy nodes on the western flank! Higarashi, I need your calculations for a synchronized strike on the main core! Everyone else, covering fire! I don't want a single one of those projectile limbs taking aim!"
The recruits, shaken but galvanized by the clear and present danger, scrambled into action. The air filled with the thunder of gunfire and the sizzle of energy weapons as they laid down a suppressive blanket on the horrific bio-bomb.
Iharu fired wildly, his eyes wide. "What even is that thing?!"
"Does it matter? Just shoot it!" Aoi yelled back, hefting his heavy rifle.
Haruichi, calm amidst the storm, provided precise cover fire. "Captain Ashiro and the Vice-Captain will handle the core. Our duty is to create the opening."
On the command channel, the voices of the support staff were a constant stream of data.
"Energy levels still rising!"
"Evacuation of western sectors at 70%!"
"Drones are in position, providing targeting data!"
Mina ignored it all, her world narrowed to the pulsating core of the beast. She raised her massive cannon, its energy whine climbing to a piercing crescendo. Hoshina stood beside her, twin blades drawn, his body a coiled spring.
"Ready, Captain?" he asked, his eyes fixed on the monstrosity.
"Always," she replied, her finger tightening on the trigger.
There was no time to think about the vanished recruits, the mysterious kaiju signature, or the impossible choices. There was only the mission. Protect the city.
And Kafka ran. He was getting closer. He could feel the two battlefields now—the intense, focused pressure of Akira's immense power clashing with a cold, adaptive evil, and the desperate, flickering flames of Reno and Kikoru's struggle against an overwhelming force.
He pushed his legs harder, the blue energy around them blazing brighter. He was almost there.
The trials by fire had begun in earnest, and the cost of failure was annihilation.
This story is inspired from various fanfics i have read from around the world so if you find any similarities please dont mind . Thank you
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T/N :
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