What was strategic deterrence?
This was strategic deterrence!
Two B-2 Spirit strategic bombers, which should have been appearing on the global strategic map to carry out top-secret missions, had just put on a fireworks show overhead.
What a surprise, huh? Didn't see that coming, did you?
Several nautical miles away, on the bridge of a sleek gray warship with understated paintwork, Amon slowly raised his right hand.
With elegant fingers, he adjusted the crystal monocle on his eye. His gaze passed through the mist over the sea and the lingering smoke, locking onto the rigid figure by the pier from afar. The corner of his mouth slowly lifted into a faint curve.
The girls' cries and tugging continued, but Inuyama He seemed to be hearing them through frosted glass. The scene before him stood in stark contrast to the reception he had envisioned, one where everything was under control and host and guests appeared equally pleased.
This was no longer a deviation from the plan.
Even his worldview had suffered a bomber-level impact!
Very slowly, he raised a hand to stop the girls' frantic movements. His gaze remained nailed to the gray haze where sea met sky, as though he were a frozen statue.
As the warship cut through the waves and rapidly approached, its outline—which had initially been no more than a tiny black dot on the horizon—swiftly enlarged in Inuyama He's contracted pupils and became clear.
Only then did Inuyama He's mind, still dazed from the explosions, begin turning again with the creak of rusted gears.
He was indeed old, but not so old that he would forget the reception location.
The appearance of those two strategic bombers had not been accidental. It was the first greeting sent across distant waters by that Academy executive he had never