Prologue

Two years ago, the first Kaiju landed in San Francisco, Nation M.

The Kaiju was codenamed "Axehead," named for its protruding head resembling the blade of an axe.

Axehead stood ninety-two meters tall and weighed over two thousand seven hundred tons.

It was classified as an "Invader" due to its first attack on Earth through a "wormhole."

It first appeared near the Golden Gate Bridge and immediately destroyed it.

Three cities in the San Francisco metropolitan area were annihilated, officially marking the beginning of the Kaiju invasion of Earth.

Planes, tanks, and artillery deployed by Nation M engaged in a six-day bombardment within a fifty-kilometer radius, barely managing to eliminate the Kaiju.

Tens of thousands of lives were lost in the attack.

Later, we would learn that compared to the Kaiju that attacked subsequently, Axehead was merely a minor threat.

Initially, we believed the Kaiju attack was an isolated incident and wouldn't happen again.

However, just six months later, a Kaiju returned to attack Manila.

The Kaiju's acidic blood triggered a peculiar poisoning phenomenon, Kaiju Blue.

The geology and the surrounding marine ecosystem were completely devastated.

The former capital city of Nation F became a wasteland.

Then came the third attack, the fourth, and countless others.

Gradually, we understood that the attacks would not stop.

These were merely the beginning.

We needed a new type of weapon, one capable of confronting hundred-meter-tall Kaiju.

To this end, nations worldwide pooled all their resources to defeat a common enemy.

Setting aside past grievances, they joined forces to fight.

Thus, to counter the Kaiju, we built our own "monsters"!

The "Jaeger Program" was born.

In the beginning, the program repeatedly failed.

This was because a single pilot could not bear the burden of the Jaeger's neural synaptic connection system.

So, they began using two pilots connected via the neural synaptic connection system to share the load.

One controlled the left hemisphere of the brain, and the other controlled the right.

In this way, we gained the ability to fight the Kaiju.

Even to counter-attack.

But gradually, we realized we were wrong again, because there was more than one "wormhole."

The idea of uniting all nations to build a single Jaeger Combat Department was shattered.

Nations were forced to establish their Jaeger Combat Departments separately.

There was no other choice; Kaiju didn't always appear in the same place, and they wouldn't willingly present themselves to the Jaeger pilots' blades.

Consequently, the nations in the Pan-Pacific region had to establish Jaeger Combat Defense Command Centers.

These were collectively managed and regulated by the Pan-Pacific Joint Military Defense Command, abbreviated as PPDC.

The PPDC was led by several major powers, encompassing all countries and regions.

Its headquarters was established in San Francisco, Nation M, despite having suffered Kaiju attacks.

Its placement there served to commemorate the initial resolve to fight the Kaiju.

To remember the pain inflicted by the Kaiju, and to coordinate nations in setting aside past grievances to form a unified front of cooperation.

Despite this, even with each country and region having its own defense line, we were still at a disadvantage.

This was because we had too few Jaegers.

The high cost of construction was one factor, and the stringent requirements for Jaeger neural synaptic connection and pilot compatibility were another.

The synaptic connection rate between the two pilots would determine the Jaeger's actual combat effectiveness.

The higher the synaptic connection rate, the greater the compatibility with the Jaeger, and the more powerful its performance.

If the synaptic connection rate was insufficient, the Jaeger couldn't even be activated normally.

Therefore, the selection of Jaeger pilots was extremely rigorous.

After the Jaeger Program was approved, Nation M, with its substantial funding and advanced industrial production chain, was the first to build two Jaegers.

They were named "Wanderer" and "Explorer."

The birth of the Jaegers gave us a chance to breathe.

We now had the strength to confront Kaiju head-on, instead of the previous situation where one or even multiple cities would be destroyed.

Sometimes, insignificant humans simply cannot contend with gods.

For example, when a storm rages, all you can do is take cover.

But once you become a Jaeger pilot, you can become so powerful that you can simply ignore the storm.

Using this rare breathing room, various nations also began building Jaegers to defend their respective Pan-Pacific Defense Lines.

And so, Z Nation also welcomed its own Jaeger.

A legend, thus, began.