GTAG Chapter 49: No Way Back
Beyond the Workers, Godzilla had no plans to create other monsters—at least not until the undersea temple was completed and the Monster Factory had expanded to a far greater size.
Producing larger monsters would slow the factory's growth. Godzilla wanted to see how immense it could become when its diameter and height reached tens of kilometers.
For now, he returned to his daily routine of searching for other worlds and honing his abilities, which left the surrounding seabed in turmoil.
To avoid disturbing the temple's construction, Godzilla often trained in distant regions. From his battles in other worlds, particularly after unleashing repeated radiation beams, he had developed a deeper understanding of the weapon. These exercises were not wasted.
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The Island Nation.
Ten years had passed since Godzilla first came ashore there. Surprisingly, the country had begun to recover.
Under the rule of the Godzilla Cult, chaos was fading. Except for a few troubled areas, order had been restored—and in some places, society had grown more "civilized" than before.
Other nations marveled at this. Somehow, the cult had revitalized a land once on the verge of collapse.
But not everyone wished to see the island reborn. Among them were its former masters.
Instead of striking directly, they infiltrated the Godzilla Cult with spies.
As a faith that ignored nations, borders, and races, treating all believers equally, the cult was easier to infiltrate than most. Yet reaching the upper ranks was another matter. Countless resources were spent to achieve this.
Their reason was simple: they had learned the cult was experimenting with fusing human beings and G-cells.
These experiments had already advanced further than anything the outsiders had achieved. The failures they themselves had discarded and destroyed had mostly been such attempts. But the cult had reached breakthroughs beyond imagination.
At once, they thought of the man who had foretold Godzilla's arrival. He must have left something behind—knowledge deeper than anyone else possessed. That legacy was surely the foundation of the cult's progress.
Unfortunately, the cult protected its information with near-fanatic zeal. At best, the infiltrators only gathered vague fragments.
They longed to seize the island by force, but they knew the cult too well. If pressed, its fanatics would destroy all research—or release it to the entire world.
That possibility was terrifying.
So they chose another path: apply constant political and economic pressure, while sending spies deeper into the cult.
Finally, after years of work, one agent had risen high enough to gain access to the forbidden research.
Countless hours, lives, and fortunes had been spent to reach this moment.
The spy—Cliff—could hardly believe it. After nearly ten years of infiltration, his mission was nearing its end.
His heart pounded as he walked through a dim underground corridor, a single bulb flickering overhead.
"Excitement before receiving divine blessing is normal," said the man leading him. "When it was my turn, I looked even more pitiful than you."
Cliff stiffened. He couldn't control the tremor in his heartbeat, though he wished he could.
The figure ahead wore a black cloak, hiding his body. Cliff had seen his face earlier, and the memory still chilled him: a smile so false it could not be false, a face so natural it could not be a disguise.
No mask, no prosthetic, no artistry could explain it. The man's smile had not changed once since they met. That was what terrified Cliff most.
He recognized him—Aikawa. His given name was unknown, even to the cult's leader. But everyone knew Aikawa was destined to become the next high priest of the Godzilla Cult.
For such a man to personally escort him meant the cult valued him greatly. It also confirmed what Cliff already suspected: he was being taken to undergo the surgery that would graft G-cells into his body.
He had already confirmed, time and again, that no one who survived the procedure lost their reason. Otherwise, he would have abandoned the mission long ago.
Even so, he understood: his life now hung by a thread.
Soon, they reached the corridor's end. A heavy door loomed before them.
Cliff knew he had no retreat left.
The moment he chose to join the Godzilla Cult, his path had already been sealed.
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