Hawaiian Islands.
A shrill air raid siren shattered the silent night.
Though it was afternoon in Kyoto time, it was deep into the night here in Hawaii.
It was the time when people should have been resting.
The piercing alarms woke everyone, leaving them dazed and at a loss.
Then police officers stationed throughout the streets began directing them to evacuate.
Upon learning that monsters had invaded, everyone quickly snapped awake and fell into panic.
Fortunately, the police had begun guiding them in advance, preventing too much panic from breaking out.
Hawaii also had troops stationed there.
Some of the older generation, hearing the air raid sirens and seeing people fleeing for their lives while the military assembled outside, could not help feeling a sense of familiarity.
Because something similar had happened here before.
Hawaii had a famous harbor.
It was called Pearl Harbor.
The current scene was astonishingly similar to that time.
However, Hawaii was not without defensive forces. During the war, there had once been a large military base here with more than twenty thousand personnel.
It had naval, ground, and air units all in place.
But in peacetime, the military establishment had been drastically reduced, leaving fewer than five thousand personnel.
There were only two destroyers and three fighter jets.
And they had not even been upgraded or replaced.
Still, it was better than nothing. The military's intervention somewhat stabilized the situation.
Even so, the crowds remained noisy, making evacuation efforts far more difficult.
Because this was an archipelago, there were no massive underground shelters like those built in inland coastal regions.
And the population was dense. This vast little island had more than 1.1 million permanent residents alone.
On top of that, as a tourist destination, there were no fewer than three hundred thousand visitors from various countries staying here.
The island's shelter facilities simply could not hold so many people.
The crowds could only rush toward the airport and harbor, hoping to leave Hawaii.
At least, that was what some of them thought.
A group of seven ran alongside the panicked refugees.
They did not know which direction to go, nor did they know where the road ahead led.
They only knew that staying where they were was definitely not a good choice.
"Old Hu! This is all your fault! What kind of team-building trip was this? We finally got two days off, and we could have stayed home, but you just had to drag us out here! If I die, I won't let you off even as a ghost!"
A braided girl dressed in a fiery punk style shouted at a bespectacled middle-aged man.
"Hey, wasn't this a team-building policy the company rolled out to show off its employee benefits? The company reimbursed the trip, and we just wanted you all to relax after working so hard. Who knew something like this would happen!"
The bespectacled middle-aged man spoke with a wronged expression.
The seven of them came from a company in Magic City, Nation Z. They were usually busy with work and belonged to a department that specialized in handling all sorts of miscellaneous headaches.
Their department manager, Old Hu, was a kind man who cared about his subordinates. He had secured a team-building quota from the company and brought his staff out to have fun and unwind.
But no one wanted something like this to happen, okay?
"Oh God, I haven't had the chance to reunite with my chairman father yet! I haven't had the chance to contribute to Myriad Beasts' cause yet!"
A skinny man wailed tearfully, as though those two things were more important than the monsters about to arrive.
"Enough already!"
Even while fleeing in such panic, they did not forget to roast him.
Then again, was the pressure of surviving in Magic City any less than the pressure of a monster attack?
Pretty much the same, okay? Both could eat people alive.
Without a tough and optimistic mindset, no one could last in Magic City.
"Rumble!"
Just as they continued running forward numbly, the distinctive roar of fighter jets reached them.
Because they needed to monitor the monsters, the fighter jets were flying at low altitude.
Though it was nighttime, when Hawaii's searchlights swept across the fighters' tail fins, the people below could clearly see that streak of red.
It was like—
A crimson torrent of steel!
"Those are Nation Z fighter jets! The J-20 series! The country has come to save us!"
A short, skinny man pointed at the fighters and spoke. Though his tone was impassioned and excited, his face remained expressionless.
"No way, A-Jie, you even know that?"
"Of course! Did you think I P'd all those pictures for nothing?"
When the skinny man said that, the Nation Z tourists gathered around them began cheering as well.
Their panicked despair seemed to find a backbone.
Because the country would never abandon any of its compatriots.
Nation Z citizens,
when you encounter danger overseas,
do not give up,
do not despair,
please remember,
behind you,
stands a powerful motherland!