Even Disaster Brings Fortune! (Revised)

This world's New York was plagued by disaster after disaster. Setting aside the unseen evils lurking in the underworld, or the alien armies that would one day descend, just the two green monsters currently pummeling each other on the streets had already inflicted enough suffering on the nearby New Yorkers.

The cars ripped up and tossed around by the monsters, the flames from exploding fuel tanks, and the high-velocity debris of shattered bricks and stones all dealt fatal blows to ordinary, fragile New Yorkers—touch and you die, graze and you're injured.

In the midst of the crisis, citizens scrambled out of their cars, rolling and crawling in panic, not even bothering to shut the doors behind them.

Faced with two green monsters locked in a brawl, they had no choice but to flee!

Even while running, unlucky souls were occasionally crushed into grotesque shapes by flying lampposts or broken car parts, or impaled by shrapnel from an exploding vehicle, or flattened by a chunk of building debris falling from above. One slow-moving fat man was grabbed by the head by a gaunt, gray-green skeletal giant and casually hurled into the sky. After a frantic scream... "Bam!" He hit the concrete, twitched for a moment, and then lay still.

No one wanted to stay a second longer in this monster battlefield. Even the police and military had started organizing a retreat!

Clearly, their pistols and rifles—light weapons like that—couldn't hurt these monsters at all! And heavy weaponry couldn't be used recklessly in the city unless someone was willing to take responsibility for leveling large swaths of New York. Under these circumstances, the cops and soldiers had no better option than to evacuate the crowd and run for their lives. What was happening here was simply beyond what ordinary humans or the military could handle.

But unlike everyone else scrambling to get away as fast as possible, one shifty man hiding behind a steel dumpster stood out. He wasn't retreating with the fleeing crowd. Instead, he peeked out from behind the dumpster, nervously watching the two monsters fighting nearby, muttering something under his breath.

Paul was a Mexican taxi driver who had been driving in New York for years. He'd sneaked over from Mexico back in the day, so he'd suffered and struggled for a long time. Thanks to his hard work and clean record, he'd only recently managed to scrape together a green card.

Over the years, Paul had worked from dawn till dusk, finally paying off the taxi company's predatory loans—nine in, thirteen out. Now, debt-free, he even owned his own cab. He still had no savings and no house, but life finally seemed to hold a little hope. Maybe one day he could bring his family to America for a better life?

His taxi looked pretty beat-up. It might last another year or half a year before needing a costly overhaul. But where would the money come from? Paul was worried. If he couldn't afford repairs, would he have to go back to driving for those bloodsuckers at the company? Oh, no! Paul swore he never wanted to face those evil capitalists again! Those damned leeches!

Maybe God really was looking out for Paul, because an opportunity to solve his problems had just appeared.

When Paul had just come out of a small burger joint, clutching two paper bags full of burgers and fries, he saw two green monsters fighting! What nearly made his eyes pop out was that they were smashing things! They were tossing cars around like beach balls! And as luck would have it, Paul's beat-up taxi was parked right next to the brawling monsters!

"Oh! God! Praise you!"

Paul's eyes went wide as he crouched behind a metal dumpster, watching the distant fight! His eyes were full of excitement! Only one word echoed in his mind: Insurance! Insurance! Insurance!

If those monsters wrecked his car, he'd have a great chance of getting a big payout—enough to buy a brand-new taxi! In his mind, as long as he could file a claim, that piece-of-junk car without even air conditioning could go to hell! Overhaul? Ha!

"Oh, boy! Step on it already!!"

Paul's car was right next to the two grappling green monsters! But miraculously, it was still untouched!

The gaunt green giant grabbed a car and hurled it at the muscular green giant. The muscular one punched it away, and the car barely sailed over Paul's taxi before smashing into the glass storefront of an ice cream shop in the distance—totaled.

Seeing that, the gaunt giant grabbed another car next to Paul's taxi and threw it again. Once more, it was punched away, landing in the same spot as the first, triggering an explosion! Flames and smoke raged there. Anyone inside was probably doomed.

But Paul didn't care about that. After the gaunt giant failed twice, it reached for Paul's car again—only to be tackled around the waist by the enraged muscular giant, sending both monsters tumbling into the distance. They snapped several lampposts and crushed a few more cars into scrap.

"Oh! No! God! No! You can't do this to me..."

Paul fell to his knees, clutching his head in agony, watching the monsters fight farther and farther away. His car was still sitting there, perfectly fine! Not even a scratch!

Paul knew that trying to file an insurance claim now? Dream on! Don't joke! He wouldn't get a single cent! Those sneaky insurance agents would probably make him pay next year's premium on top of it.

And just like that, the insurance payout Paul thought was in his pocket was gone! The money for a new car was gone! And he still had no idea where the cash for repairs would come from!

"God! What did I do wrong? Why are you doing this to me?"

Paul was in despair! He covered his face with his grimy hands. A fortune in insurance money had been right in front of him, and he thought it was his—only to realize it was just a cruel joke from God.

"Roar~!!!"

A massive roar rang out. Paul looked up from his despair and saw a giant toy bear—half a head taller than the two green monsters, covered in blazing flames—crash down from the sky, stomping Paul's taxi into a pile of scrap metal. The flames leaking from cracks in the toy bear's body even ignited several nearby cars. The heat made the air ripple and warp, something Paul could clearly feel even from a distance! Soon after the cars caught fire, a violent gasoline explosion followed.

"Roar~!!"

After the explosion, the giant flaming toy bear on the ground roared again, then turned its gaze to the two green giants in the distance, who had stopped fighting but were still tangled together. Their green faces stared at the flaming monster bear that had just dropped from the sky. Their rage-filled minds were momentarily confused, unsure what this new, clearly dangerous flame bear was.

Paul, still hiding behind the dumpster, stared blankly at the flaming toy bear for a moment, then blinked and looked at his taxi—now a burning wreck under its foot. Without a second thought, he turned and ran! As he ran, he muttered, "Praise God!!!"

Now Paul felt that God was truly impartial, not treating him differently just because he almost never went to church.

Paul swore that once he got the money and bought a new car, he'd go to church every week! Well, if not every week, then at least once a month?

"Go get 'em, Tibbers! Bite them to death!!!"

A crisp little girl's voice rang out behind him, cutting through the chaos and fear of the battlefield. But no one noticed—including Paul.

Everyone was more focused on getting out of this Asura hell as fast as possible. Every extra second they stayed was another second of danger! Life was precious to New Yorkers, and whether it was two monsters fighting or three didn't make much difference to them!

"Roar~!!!"

After the little girl's voice cut through the explosions, the flaming bear began to roar in fury, and the three monsters clashed into a chaotic melee...