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"Has the thing that disappeared from satellite monitoring still not been found?"
A monitoring room packed with display screens. A middle-aged man in a suit and frameless glasses walked in , stubble on his chin, looked to be in his fifties, Japanese. His English was fluent.
"Not yet."
A woman in a white research uniform turned from her workstation and reported.
About three hours ago, their satellite had detected a massive energy signature near Earth's orbit. The imagery showed a spherical object radiating red light. It approached Earth, then vanished in an instant.
That enormous energy signature had simply ceased to exist. No trail. No explanation. Completely beyond their comprehension.
"Order all Titan outposts worldwide to begin a search."
"We must find it."
"A mysterious luminous body arriving from space..." The man's brow tightened. "I hope it's not another Zero Kaiju."
The technicians and researchers in the monitoring room immediately sprang into action.
Something from space. The thought made him think of a terrifying creature. Monarch was already divided internally, and outside forces were still out there, working to throw the world into chaos.
He had already come to terms with it. This world was approaching an extinction-level crisis. Every unexpected variable, no matter how small, demanded his full attention.
"I hope this world doesn't become what we've predicted..."
...
San Francisco Wasteland New District.
Titan Tavern.
"I don't think this counts as trouble I caused."
"They're here for you, after all." Natsuki took the whiskey glass without turning around. He'd already sensed two men moving toward them from behind. He took a sip of the ice-cold whiskey and gestured toward Jared with the glass.
God, this stuff is awful. Nothing like the special brew from Planet Litorena.
On Earth, fruit juice is honestly the way to go.
"Me?"
"I'm just a homeless drifter. Why would anyone be targeting me?" Jared shook his head and knocked back the rest of his whiskey in one go.
Right on cue, two tall men in civilian clothes stepped up behind them.
"Mr. Jared, and this gentleman — please come with us."
Jared: "..."
Not even a little respect.
"Get lost."
"Don't come messing with my life." He didn't bother turning around.
Just as Natsuki had guessed. Jared had once been a member of Monarch. After leaving the organization, he'd been under constant surveillance.
Today, that quiet life cracked open. A mysterious stranger dropped out of the sky, and Monarch's watchers saw every second of it. In a climate this tense, they'd decided they had no choice.
They needed to bring Jared and this unknown man in for questioning.
"Apologies. The situation is what it is. We're taking you in today."
Three more men rose from their seats across the tavern, all of them turning toward the bar.
The atmosphere shifted. Unrelated patrons instinctively edged back , this was clearly not their business. The men had already pulled stun guns from their pockets, and in that same motion, the pistols holstered at their waists came into view.
The bartender took one look and quietly made himself scarce.
"If you can handle them, we'll call the house debt even." Jared's brow creased slightly as he looked at the men, then at Natsuki. "What do you say?"
He hadn't expected them to be this determined. Had his goodwill within the organization really run dry?
He had zero interest in going back. And taking on five trained, armed men by himself wasn't something he could pull off.
He was hoping this alien had something up his sleeve.
That strange light that had calmed him down earlier , maybe that could actually come in handy here.
"And here I thought you were about to show me what you've got." Natsuki glanced at Jared's drifter getup and chuckled.
Then he turned around.
The organization members were already moving.
"Is this really how Monarch operates?" Natsuki asked, perfectly reasonable. "Can't we just sit down and talk this through?"
As someone who'd been around a long time, he had no love for fighting. Talking things out was always the better option.
ZAP!
The sparking stun gun was his only answer.
Apparently, Natsuki's status didn't quite qualify him for a sit-down.
"Use that move." In the split second before things went sideways, Jared caught Natsuki's eye and mimed a gesture , the same technique that had purified him earlier.
Natsuki got it immediately.
Both hands came up, one forward, one angled above, pressed together.
ZAP!!
A torrent of water exploded from his palms like a high-pressure cannon. The two nearest men were blasted clean off their feet.
BOOM. They hit the tavern wall hard, tables and chairs scattering in their wake. Cheap beer bottles shattered across the floor.
The pressure dropped. Both men slid down the wall and crumpled to the ground, mouths open, eyes closed.
It happened so fast that no one else in the tavern had time to react.
"What?"
"Is that fucking MAGIC!?"
The bar erupted. Patrons rubbed their eyes, genuinely unsure whether they'd drunk too much or hadn't slept enough.
Who just claps their hands together and fires a high-pressure water cannon?
This had to be magic.
"I was actually thinking you should use the other move." Jared looked at the two men on the floor.
"Eh, it's fine." Natsuki shook the water droplets off his hands. "Same result either way."
The three remaining organization members stared at the scene.
Good news: something was definitely off about this guy.
Bad news: the something was way too big.
"Don't move!"
All three drew their pistols, safeties off, aimed at the man in the floral shirt. Their expressions were tight.
In this world, Titans existed , colossal creatures with impossible size and stranger powers. But a humanoid capable of supernatural force? That was a first. Not just for outer members like them. Even the core members had never reported anything like this walking around on Earth.
The gap between them was close. Seven steps, give or take.
The classic question. Within seven steps — which is faster, the gun or the man?
Natsuki answered it.
ZAP!! BOOM!
One sweep of high-pressure water. The last three went down the same way as the first two , mouths open, eyes shut.
Within seven steps, an Ultraman is genuinely fast.
Natsuki surveyed the wreckage of the tavern, then casually wiped his wet hands on Jared's jacket.
"By the way," he said. "That Kaiju egg underground — did they not find it, or did someone deliberately hide it?"
When he'd extended his psychic awareness earlier, he'd caught something beneath this old battlefield. Quite a few somethings, actually.
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