Chapter: 62
The smoke of battle still lingered over Tokyo like a second sky, thick and black, blotting out the moon. From the air, helicopters swarmed in desperate patterns, their spotlights cutting through clouds of ash and dust. The once-living heart of the city now looked like a battlefield: skyscrapers torn open, entire districts reduced to rubble, streets littered with twisted cars, blood, and bodies.
Sirens blared in every direction. The wailing of ambulances mixed with the screams of the living. Hospitals overflowed triage centers spilled into the streets, doctors kneeling on bloodstained pavement as they tried to keep survivors breathing. Stretchers carried both the living and the dead, sometimes indistinguishable until a sheet was drawn over their faces.
"Another one here! We need blood bags immediately!"
"God, there's no space move them to St. Luke's, NOW!"
"—mother? Please, someone help her!—"
Reporters flooded the city like ants swarming sugar. Cameras rolled non-stop, broadcasting Tokyo's nightmare to every corner of Japan, and soon, the world. The faces of civilians—mothers clutching their children, men holding limp loved ones in their arms—were plastered across live screens.
The words repeated endlessly:
TOKYO UNDER SIEGE. THOUSANDS DEAD. UNKNOWN CREATURES ERUPT FROM GATES.
In one clip, a bloodied man screamed into the camera, rage mixing with despair. "Where were the Hunters?! Where were the Saviors they promised us?!"
Another showed a reporter choking on dust as she shouted into her microphone: "The streets are flooded with bodies—police and medics are completely overwhelmed—the scale of destruction is something not seen since the Cataclysm of 20 years ago!"
The world was watching.
The Hunter Bureau – Besieged
The Hunter Bureau's headquarters in Tokyo was surrounded. Not by monsters this time, but by people. Hundreds of survivors had fled there during the chaos, believing it to be the safest place in the city. Now they clustered outside, crying, shouting, demanding answers. Bureau guards held the line, their rifles raised, shouting back orders to hold the gates.
Inside, the lobby was a mess. Civilians huddled against the walls, bloodied and terrified. Some cried silently, others begged the Bureau staff for word of missing family. Children whimpered in the arms of strangers.
And standing at the center of it all, blade drawn but sheathed in calm authority, was Arisa.
The S-rank hunter had refused to leave her post when the chaos began. While others rushed to the field, she had chosen to remain, defending the Bureau itself as waves of mid-tier beasts had swarmed the city center. Her blade was still wet with blood, her uniform torn, but she stood tall, her long black hair streaked with ash, eyes steady.
"Stay calm. You're safe here." Her voice was even, commanding, and though exhausted, it carried conviction. "As long as I stand, nothing enters these walls. Trust me."
Civilians clung to her words like lifelines. For many of them, she was the only reason they were still alive.
The President's Fury
The convoy approached under heavy guard, headlights piercing the smoke-filled streets. Black cars, armored escorts, soldiers clearing the path. At the center, in the back of a sleek armored limousine, sat President Kenzō Matsuda, flanked by his closest advisors and generals.
His face was pale, but his eyes burned with fury.
"How could this happen?" he growled, his voice shaking with contained rage. "We had technology detectors, mana sensors, entire divisions of analysts. You told me there would be warnings!"
An advisor stammered. "Sir, the mana spikes were...
"Don't you dare tell me about mana spikes!" Matsuda slammed his fist against the armrest, the sharp sound silencing the car. "Thousands are dead. Thousands! I gave the Bureau billions to prevent this exact scenario. What did we get for it? Ash. Corpses. Blood in the streets of my capital!"
His military general, General Ishikawa, bowed his head. "Mr. President, the scale of the phenomenon—"
Matsuda cut him off, voice low and dangerous. "Save it. Save every excuse for the Bureau. They will answer me directly. Tonight."
The car fell silent, only the hum of the engine and the occasional rumble of distant explosions filling the void.
When the convoy arrived, the President stepped out to a storm of flashing cameras. Reporters shoved microphones toward his face, shouting questions over each other.
"Mr. President! Is it true over ten thousand are dead?!"
"Do you hold the Bureau responsible for the failure?!"
"Is Tokyo under martial law?!"
"Will foreign aid be requested ?"
"Enough!" His roar silenced them instantly. His bodyguards shoved the crowd aside as he stormed up the Bureau steps, his entourage scrambling to follow. The heavy doors slammed shut behind him.
Inside the Bureau – Collision of Worlds
The Bureau's main hall was tense, filled with staff frantically taking calls, writing reports, and trying to calm the growing chaos outside. The arrival of the President froze them all.
Director Hayashi, a stern-faced man in his sixties, stepped forward, bowing deeply. "Mr. President.
"You will explain." Matsuda's voice was cold steel. "Now."
The Director straightened, sweat beading his brow. "The gates… they did not behave as expected. Our sensors detected minor fluctuations, yes, but not on this scale. They.."
"You had one job," Matsuda cut him off. His eyes blazed. "To warn us. To keep my people safe. Instead, thousands are dead. And you call it a fluctuation?!"
Arisa appeared then, stepping from the side. "With respect, Mr. President, the Bureau staff did everything they could. When the gates cracked, there was no time. If I had not been here, the Bureau itself would have fallen."
Her presence silenced the room. Even Matsuda, still furious, looked at her with reluctant acknowledgment.
"You." He pointed. "Arisa. You are one of the highest ranked hunters in this nation. Tell me, then. Was this chaos preventable?"
Arisa hesitated. Her eyes softened, glancing toward the huddled civilians in the lobby. "I do not know. These gates… they were different. Faster. Hungrier. Almost as if they chose their moment."
Matsuda's jaw clenched. "Are you saying this wasn't random?"
"I am saying," Arisa replied steadily, "that something beyond our knowledge is moving. Something that laughs at detectors and technology. Tonight was not a failure of men or machines. It was the arrival of something far worse."
The President stared at her for a long moment. Around them, the air was thick with the weight of her words.
Finally, he turned back to the Director. "Then we are no longer dealing with Hunters and Beasts alone. This is war. A war Japan cannot fight blind."
The World Reacts
News spread like wildfire. Within hours, every major broadcaster worldwide was airing the destruction of Tokyo. CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, even state-controlled channels in rival nations carried the same shocking footage: black smoke, rivers of blood, screams in the night.
Foreign governments issued statements of "support and solidarity," though privately, analysts whispered of fear. If Japan, with its Pillars and its technology, had suffered such devastation in a single night, what hope did anyone else have when the gates spread further?
Social media was a frenzy. Hashtags trended globally:
#PrayForTokyo
#HunterFailure
#TheNewCataclysm
Conspiracy theorists spun tales of gods and curses. Survivors posted shaky videos of dragons soaring above the skyline. One clip, grainy but terrifying, showed Takeda's black holes swallowing entire armies in a single instant. It spread like wildfire.
Who was this man? Who were the Pillars? And what kind of power had humanity truly unleashed?
A Nation in Mourning
By dawn, the scale of the tragedy was undeniable. Emergency workers counted the dead in tens of thousands. Hospitals overflowed, blood shortages declared nationwide. Families wandered the streets clutching photos of loved ones, begging for news.
Tokyo was a city on its knees.
And inside the Hunter Bureau, the President sat in the Director's office, staring at a map of Japan dotted with red—each one a gate.
His voice was quiet now, but heavy. "If what Arisa says is true… then this was only the beginning. And if more gates crack…"
No one answered. The silence was worse than any word.
Finally, Matsuda turned, eyes like fire. "Then tell me. If the technology failed, if our hunters were overwhelmed… if only one Pillar could stand against what came through those gates… then what do we tell the people?"
No one in the room could answer
But an officer in the bearu answerd...
No!!
Two pillars were present sir And the tied changed completely
Marcus steel and Hunter takeda changed the scale of the battle sir—!
The president lowered his gaze Marcus steel isn't that...
Yes the officer responded before the president could finish speaking The second strongest of the 8 pillars
But hunter takeda according to the mana surge and spiking detectors, he was the one who took out all of the monsters in one swoop
The president answerd: Takeda .... He's the strongest pillar for a reason