The Monolith had once been massive and indestructible. Now it lay shattered across the ground, its pieces piled every which way. It was hard not to feel a little sad looking at it.
Luckily, nobody really lived around the Monolith. The whole area was empty, so the explosion and collapse hadn't caused any extra casualties. That was one small blessing in all this.
"How long do you think it'll take to get the Monolith back up?"
Gojo looked down at the ruins below him and asked Betty casually, without the slightest hint of urgency.
"Who knows," Betty said with a shrug, sounding unsure. "Probably not a short time. A project this big needs tons of materials and manpower, and they'll have to watch out for Gastrea attacks the whole time. It's going to be really hard."
"So I'll have to stick around here for a while?"
Gojo scratched his head, sounding resigned and a little unwilling. He'd been hoping to enjoy some free time, and now he was stuck here again.
"You're the one who volunteered. Nobody forced you to stay," Betty said, pursing her lips and teasing him. "If you don't want to stay, you can leave right now. It's not like this place falls apart without you."
"That's not really the point," Gojo said with a smile, sounding resigned but also gentle. "I can't just watch these ugly guys charge into Tokyo and hurt innocent people, right?"
He complained a lot, but he'd never actually thought about giving up. Protecting innocent people wasn't his responsibility, but he couldn't just stand by and watch them get slaughtered by Gastrea.
As he spoke, he pointed into the distance, his voice turning serious.
Betty looked where he was pointing, and her expression immediately turned grave. On the distant horizon, countless Gastrea were packed together like a tide, charging wildly toward the gap left by the fallen Monolith.
They screeched and roared, their eyes full of bloodlust. They were incredibly fast and were already near the gap in no time, like they'd burst into Tokyo and start slaughtering people any second.
"They sure got here fast. Not even a moment's rest."
Gojo said it calmly, without a trace of panic. To him, the swarm of Gastrea in front of him was nothing more than a bunch of insignificant ants.
The moment he finished speaking, his cursed energy surged. Pale blue cursed energy wrapped around his body, giving off a powerful presence, and the air across the whole sky grew turbulent.
Then, one snow-white Rabbit Escape after another emerged from his cursed energy. They appeared beneath his feet in huge numbers, and more and more kept coming until they'd formed a massive rabbit army.
But that wasn't the end of it. Once they landed, the rabbits began to change in a strange way.
Black patterns rose out of their bodies and wrapped around their limbs and torsos. The rabbits had looked cute, harmless, and completely non-threatening, but now two sharp fangs stretched from their mouths. Their eyes turned vicious, and they gave off a bloodthirsty aura.
Tiger Funeral! This was the rabbits' shikigami form, and one of Gojo's most-used shikigami combinations. It had both speed and attack power, which was more than enough for ordinary Gastrea.
There were already a huge number of rabbits, and with the attack power of the Tiger Funeral form on top of that, Gojo's shikigami army was fully formed in just a few seconds.
They stood in neat rows beneath him, heads lowered, letting out low growls. Their fierce eyes locked onto the charging Gastrea, ready to attack at any moment.
"Go," Gojo said, lifting his hand and giving a light wave. His tone was casual but firm. "Take care of all of them. Don't let them get one step closer to the gap, and keep the people of Tokyo safe."
As soon as he finished, the shikigami let out a unified roar and charged fiercely toward the distant Gastrea.
They were incredibly fast, like bolts of white lightning. They crossed the empty ground in an instant and rushed at the wave of Gastrea.
In the next moment, the shikigami army and the Gastrea tide slammed into each other.
Roars, screams, and the sound of fangs tearing into flesh filled the air. The smell of blood spread everywhere, and it was chilling.
But the moment the two sides met, the outcome was already decided.
Gojo's shikigami army far outclassed these ordinary Gastrea in both numbers and attack power. They cut the Gastrea down like harvesting wheat, and not a single one could get even one step closer to the gap.
Gojo hovered in midair with his hands in his pockets, lazily watching the battle below. His face showed no reaction at all, as if the bloody fight was just an unimportant game.
Betty stood beside him, watching the battle closely.
"Looks like we don't need to worry too much," Betty said with a soft sigh, sounding relieved. "With you here, these Gastrea can't cause any real trouble."
Gojo smiled and didn't say anything.
There was no way to cover up the news of the Monolith's collapse.
The Monolith was enormous. It stood on the edge of Tokyo like a gray barrier stretching between heaven and earth. Even from over ten kilometers away, anyone who looked up could clearly see it break, tilt, and finally come crashing down to the ground. It was a sight both grand and terrifying.
Right away, someone who happened to be filming the skyline with their phone accidentally recorded the entire collapse. The unedited video, with all its raw impact, spread like crazy across social media.
The news spread through Tokyo fast. It swept every corner of the city like an invisible gale, from the busy streets of Ginza to remote residential areas, from office workers in their buildings to students at school. In just over ten minutes, almost everyone had heard news that could turn their lives upside down.
Everyone who heard it was gripped by panic and fear. That fear didn't come from a sudden accident. It came from memories carved into their bones, a terror of the Gastrea that ran deep.
After living for so many years in a world surrounded by Gastrea, where only a few cities were left barely hanging on, everyone knew exactly what the Monolith's collapse meant.
It meant the barrier was broken and the defenses had fallen. It was the signal that countless hungry, vicious Gastrea were about to swarm in.
Against an endless army of Gastrea, even the well-equipped Self-Defense Forces and police couldn't hold out.
If they could, humanity wouldn't have been driven to this point in the first place. They wouldn't have lost so much land, and they wouldn't be huddled inside the "cage" of the Monoliths, living every day in fear, never sure if they'd see tomorrow.
In the past, when a city's Monolith fell, people could pack a few things and flee along prepared routes to another city, looking for a new place to live.
But now, there were only a few cities left in all of Japan, cut off from each other by vast areas full of Gastrea. If the army here couldn't block the gap, if the Gastrea broke through the defenses, then everyone here, old people, children, and adults alike, would have nothing but death waiting for them. There was no way out.
In a situation like that, a lot of people lost all hope.
They gave up struggling and gave up holding on. They let their fear turn into malice and started venting their despair and resentment however they wanted.
Some people rushed into convenience stores and supermarkets and grabbed food like crazy. Others set fire to cars on the street and shops along the road. Flames shot into the sky, and smoke covered half of it.
The reason and restraint people normally had disappeared in the face of despair.
Before, there had been laws to hold them back and order to keep them in line. Now, all the things they hadn't dared to do or weren't allowed to do were fair game. Everyone let loose completely, showing the darkest and ugliest side of human nature.
The Gastrea hadn't gotten in yet. They hadn't even gotten close to the edge of Tokyo. But the whole city had already fallen into chaos like never before.
Crimes kept breaking out everywhere, and the streets were a wreck. Crying, shouting, screaming, and explosions all blended together. It really was like the end of the world, and it was chilling.
While many people were throwing themselves into what they thought was their last wild celebration, trampling order and conscience, Seitenshi's attention was entirely on Gojo.
She sat in her office in the palace. On the big screen in front of her was a live satellite feed of the gap where the Monolith had fallen.
Her hands gripped the edge of her clothes so tightly her knuckles turned white. Her face was pale, without a bit of color, and her eyes were full of worry and anxiety.
Through the satellite, she could see it clearly.
At the gap left by the fallen Monolith, the dust hadn't fully settled yet. A figure in sunglasses stood casually above the gap, tall and straight. He gave off a lazy presence that was still so powerful it was suffocating, and all on his own, he was completely blocking the Gastrea trying to pour into Tokyo.
If the Monolith worked by using special materials and energy to make Gastrea afraid and keep them away, then Gojo standing at the gap was like a tireless meat grinder, one built just for Gastrea.
Small, fast, low-level Gastrea or huge, thick-skinned, high-level ones, it didn't matter. Any of them that took a step toward the gap or dared to get near Gojo ended up torn apart by the shikigami swarming around him, turned into piles of stinking mush.
None of them could cross the line. They couldn't get even a little closer to him.
Cursed energy flowed around him, and a faint blue glow surrounded him. The Gastrea that lunged at him couldn't even touch his clothes before turning to ash. It was both stunning and terrifying to watch.
Seeing this, Seitenshi relaxed a little, but she still couldn't fully calm down.
She called Gojo again. Her fingers were shaking with nerves, and it took her several seconds just to dial.
After two rings, the call connected. Seitenshi's voice trembled, with a faint, barely noticeable sob in it as she spoke carefully.
"Gojo-sensei, you..."
Before she could finish, Gojo cut her off in a relaxed voice. He didn't sound tense or tired at all, like they were talking about something trivial.
"If you're going to tell me to run or something, don't bother. I don't give up that easily."
"Speaking of that, didn't you guys send anyone to hold this spot? You can't just leave me guarding it alone forever. I'm really strong, but I get bored too."
"We did, we did!"
Hearing Gojo sound as relaxed as ever, Seitenshi finally loosened up a little. Her heart trembled, and she answered quickly, sounding relieved and a little guilty.
"They'll be there soon! I've already ordered the Self-Defense Forces and the engineering teams to hurry over. Someone will be there to take over for you very soon and help take some of the pressure off!"
Seitenshi looked at Gojo on the screen. He was standing alone in a sea of blood and a mountain of corpses, still looking completely relaxed, and she had no idea what to say.
Gratitude, guilt, and admiration all mixed together in her chest, and for a moment she couldn't find any words.
There was no doubt about it.
If Gojo hadn't shown up in time, and if he hadn't held the gap by himself, all of Tokyo would have been destroyed in this disaster. The tens of millions of people in the city would have become food for the Gastrea.
Kagetane's attack had been far too sudden. There was no sign and no warning. He'd easily destroyed the Monolith humanity depended on to survive and caught everyone completely off guard.
The moment Seitenshi got word that the Monolith had fallen, she'd called an emergency meeting right away. She'd ordered the army to prepare for battle and rush to the gap to seal the defenses and stop the Gastrea from getting in.
But there still wasn't enough time. Mobilizing the army, preparing supplies, and gathering personnel all took time. At normal speed, they would never have made it. By the time the army arrived, the Gastrea would probably have already broken through the gap completely.
Fortunately, Gojo had stepped in and handled all of it perfectly.
All by himself, he held back countless Gastrea and kept the gap sealed. He bought a lot of precious time for the troops that were coming, and he gave the people of Tokyo a chance to survive.