In just one day, the United States suffered losses beyond imagination.
Military strongholds were uprooted one after another. Fleets in naval ports were disabled one after another.
And the enemy was only a single machine.
No, that was not quite right. There had to be some kind of high-speed transport aircraft as well. Otherwise, it could never have moved from base to base so quickly within a single day.
But with beams that struck with near-perfect accuracy, shells that could instantly reduce steel to molten iron, and other such weapons, there was simply no way to resist.
There were even rumors that some people had launched nuclear missiles directly at it. Yet no one knew what had happened—whether the nukes themselves had malfunctioned, or whether that machine had done something. In the end, they had failed to detonate and turned into duds.
Faced with attacks like this, surrender should have been the normal response.
The United States had said as much. It was willing to hand over everyone involved in the incident and pay compensation.
Kōzuki Yuuko's reply was simple. If they wanted her to stop striking their military power, there was only one condition: unconditional surrender.
The United States would hand over all of its military forces and place them under United Nations control.
Put simply, it would have to strip away all of its armed power. Its national military-industrial plants and related assets would all be taken over by the United Nations.
Would the United States agree to those terms?
Absolutely not.
Then the attacks would continue until the entire nation's military power was paralyzed.
As for trying to hold her hostage with morality—saying this behavior was destroying human unity and would have disastrous consequences for the defense against the BETA—Yuuko refused to accept that kind of moral blackmail.
As for the other nations, how would they react?
Originally, some had been inclined to advise her not to go too far. But once Yuuko proposed unconditional surrender, most countries simply pretended not to see anything.
The countries that had lost their homelands were especially eager for Yuuko to press harder, because all of them coveted the United States' military assets.
Even the allied nations that had previously stood with the United States were wavering now.
After all, even if its armed forces were crippled, its arsenals, factories, production lines, and similar assets were not within the attack range.
When the time came, the United Nations could send troops to take them over.
Wouldn't they worry that Sado Island might go back on its word?
On that point, they were more inclined to trust her. She really had made a great deal of technology public, so they believed she would let them carve up the United States.
One of those technologies was nuclear fusion. That breakthrough alone greatly increased their trust.
With that energy breakthrough, humanity would advance by leaps and bounds.
For that reason, spies planted inside the United States by various nations were activated one after another. They began secretly feeding intelligence to Yuuko to help her destroy the nation's power faster and more efficiently.
"I hereby condemn Dr. Kōzuki Yuuko and the forces behind her. Their actions are anti-human, and—"
A press conference was taking place on the other side of the broadcast. On the screen, the Secretary of Defense was so furious he was practically roaring.
Yuuko, meanwhile, was trimming her nails.
"Yuuko, are you really going to destroy the United States' strength completely?" Jinguji Marimo asked, worry in her voice.
"They either accept my terms, or I beat them until they're useless."
Seeing Yuuko answer without even raising her head, Marimo could only sigh.
"What about those stubborn old fossils in the Empire?"
"They haven't replied yet."
"Oh. Then ignore them."
Marimo's lips moved, but in the end, she gave up on saying anything.
During the invasion of Sado Island, part of the Empire's forces had helped cover it up.
Once the United States had been dealt with, the Empire would probably be next.
Suddenly, a commotion broke out on the live broadcast, drawing Marimo's attention.
The scene descended into chaos. Gunshots rang out. As the camera shifted, it showed soldiers attacking three figures clad head to toe in bizarre armor.
Five seconds later, the security forces had been cut down and slaughtered.
Yes—cut down. The attackers did not use firearms. They relied purely on short blades, and their reaction speed completely surpassed human limits.
Even more absurdly, they used those short blades to split incoming bullets.
Now, the Secretary of Defense was only one step away from them. He had been forced back against the wall with nowhere left to run.
One of the figures seemed to flick his short blade once, then turned and left, leaving the Secretary of Defense standing motionless in place.
They let him go?
But the moment the Secretary of Defense suddenly took a step, his head fell from his shoulders.
To charge in and assassinate someone so openly, in front of a live broadcast to the entire world—this could no longer be described as mere audacity.
Marimo looked toward Yuuko. She still said nothing and simply continued trimming her nails, which only deepened the gloom on Marimo's face.
In the blink of an eye, time advanced to the seventh day after Sado Island had been attacked by G-bombs.
The White House was the presidential residence of a nation.
Now, however, that presidential residence had almost become an empty shell.
No one dared to move back in.
The Senate, the Speaker of the House, the Secretary of State, and other important officials were all trying to shirk responsibility or avoid appearing publicly. None of them dared show their faces before the media.
Nearly seventy percent of the leadership had been killed. Those positions in particular now had an extremely high death rate.
At first, whenever someone was announced as the new Secretary of Defense or appointed to some other important post, they would be killed in less than ten minutes. Their teams were wiped out along with them.
Beyond those officials, more than half of the people connected to the G-bomb destruction of Sado Island had also been killed.
This involved not only high-ranking officials, but also people from financial groups and similar circles.
By now, the previous newly formed government had lasted only eleven hours before its tenure was forcibly ended.
In a secret nuclear bunker, a newly reorganized administration had gathered.
The remaining people connected to the G-bomb destruction of Sado Island were also hiding here.
"Are we ready?"
"We are."
They were about to broadcast to the world once more and denounce the other side's atrocities.
Not only that, they also intended to use three threats.
And so, after contact was established with that female demon—
"Kōzuki Yuuko, if you don't make that monster stop, don't blame us for activating North America's Absolute Defense Line—RedShift."
"Then activate it."
"You don't know what that is, do you? I'll tell you. We buried a hydrogen-bomb buffer mine belt through Alaska, connecting the Gulf of Alaska to the Arctic Ocean. Once we detonate it, Alaska will be blasted apart from the American continent, creating an artificial strait more than one hundred kilometers wide."
After saying this, the new Secretary of Defense knew the entire world had heard him, because whenever that woman established contact, she broadcast it directly to the whole world.
In other words, the whole world now knew how insane the United States had become.
But at this point, this was the only way they could threaten Yuuko and threaten the world.
Once detonated, the destructive force would affect more than half the planet.
"Oh."
What did that mean? Did she not believe him?
They had sent the data over as well. Had she not looked at it?
"You don't believe me?"
"I believe you. So go ahead and activate it."
Her tone made it clear she did not care in the slightest.
"Very well. You'll believe it soon enough!"
After hanging up, the Secretary of Defense and the rest of the new leadership stared at the device before them.
It was the detonation device.
Of course, they would not detonate everything at once. The shock from that explosion would produce terrifying earthquakes across the American continent, and the losses would be catastrophic.
For now, they only needed to make her realize they were telling the truth. They would detonate part of it first and create a gap.
Three people each held a key and inserted them into the device at the same time. A window popped up, filled with dense rows of red dots.
They selected several red dots near the Arctic Ocean, drew a deep breath, and activated them in an instant.
At that moment, everyone in the bunker tensed. Even here, they would feel the vibration from the explosion.
BOOM!
A sudden thunderous crash rang out. The entire nuclear bunker lurched violently, and everyone inside felt their skulls buzzing.
"What happened?"
"Don't tell me everything activated?"
"How is that possible?"
The commotion was far too great. One by one, their faces turned deathly pale.
Then a communication came in, and their faces went even paler.
It was not the shock wave from the hydrogen bombs.
It was the monster's pursuit, arriving one step ahead of the detonation.
This secret bunker had been exposed after all.
And the entrance to the nuclear bunker had already been blasted open.
Because the right side had been invaded.
This time, the Grim Reaper's scythe had finally come here to harvest.
(End of Chapter)
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