Talk about a coincidence

"A Category V Kaiju!?"

Inside the command center, Marshal Stacker stared at the waveform indicating the Kaiju's category, his expression instantly turning grave.

The strongest Kaiju they had fought before had only been Category IV, yet now a Category V Kaiju had appeared!?

Otachi, a Category IV Kaiju, had already kept Crimson Typhoon scrambling. Just how powerful would this Category V Kaiju be?

Cherno Alpha had lost its combat capability and had to return to base for repairs.

Now Crimson Typhoon and Shaolin Rogue were the ones holding the front line.

They had just fought a battle. Crimson Typhoon had sustained minor damage, while Shaolin Rogue had lost an arm to that scientifically inexplicable attack.

Could they handle another battle?

Even if they could, how much stamina would Mr. Natsuki burn through?

"Damn it."

"Crimson Typhoon, Shaolin Rogue, avoid engaging the enemy until reinforcements arrive!" Marshal Stacker immediately made his decision and spoke over the comms.

Then he turned to the technicians in the command center and ordered, "Arrange transport aircraft to take Gipsy Danger to the mission site immediately! Have him rendezvous with the two Jaegers alongside Eureka Striker!"

"Roger!" × n

Although Gipsy Danger had also just fought a battle, they could no longer afford to worry about that.

Crimson Typhoon and Gipsy Danger would engage the two Kaiju and buy time for the other two Jaegers, whatever it took.

Having Eureka Striker carry the nuclear bomb into the Breach while Mr. Natsuki entered with as much stamina as possible was, in his estimation, essential to the operation's success.

Soon, several helicopters lifted off from Shatterdome Base and headed to the shallows outside, preparing to secure Gipsy Danger for transport.

Meanwhile, Eureka Striker was already making rapid progress toward the mission site.

Elsewhere, on the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean.

In the base beneath the Kaiju remains in San Francisco.

"Knifehead failed..." Zachary Lyman removed his remote-control helmet, his gaze somewhat grave.

He had been controlling the Knifehead that Gipsy Danger had just killed.

"Besides the one on the Precursors' side, there's at least one on Stacker's side too." He frowned in thought, concluding that there was probably another transmigrator among the forces led by Marshal Stacker.

The Precursors' actions were completely different from what he had expected, confirming that there was at least one transmigrator among them.

Although the Jaeger forces would adjust to changes in the Precursors' actions, their response should not have deviated so drastically. That proved a transmigrator must be involved on their side as well.

"Now this is interesting." At that thought, Lyman suddenly broke into a grin.

The transmigrator in the Precursors' camp was fighting the transmigrator among the Jaeger forces. Whoever won, it would benefit him.

"Go ahead and fight. The fiercer, the better."

"Unfortunately... whichever side is left standing, they won't be able to stop me."

Lyman strode out of the remote-control cockpit and onto a walkway in an enormous underground factory. As he gazed at the multitude of fully assembled white Jaegers inside, an irrepressible smile spread across his face.

"The final winner can only be me."

Half an hour later.

On the ocean battlefield in the western Pacific Ocean.

"Otachi's body should do." Shaolin Rogue had successfully retrieved Otachi's headless corpse from deep underwater and laid it on a nearby reef. Natsuki looked it over as he spoke.

Thinking back, he had made a mistake.

In the middle of the fight, he had forgotten that he still needed a Kaiju's body to pass through the Breach, and had torn Leatherback and Raijin in half. Fortunately, when he had killed Otachi at the start, he had only blown up its head.

Just then, another warning came from Shatterdome Base's command center.

"The Category IV Kaiju codenamed [Abomination] and the Category V Kaiju codenamed [Poison Woman] are approaching!"

"They're less than five kilometers from your position!"

"Avoid engaging them!"

Hearing the warning, Natsuki turned and noticed a change in the water ahead.

Amid the churning waves, two enormous Kaiju had already raised their heads, their appearances utterly terrifying.

One resembled a bull with hornlike growths on its head. Hard armor with a gray-green sheen covered its entire body, and it had one pair of thick, powerful arms and another pair of agile arms.

Abomination, Category IV Kaiju.

The other resembled a cross between a demon and a hammerhead shark. Its dark green body looked thoroughly venomous, and three spiked tails swished behind it. Both creatures dwarfed any Jaeger, standing over a hundred meters tall!

Poison Woman, Category V Kaiju.

"Be careful, Mr. Natsuki!" Tang Wei Hu warned from Crimson Typhoon's cockpit.

He clearly remembered Marshal Stacker's order to avoid engaging the enemy as much as possible.

"Isn't this perfect timing?" Instead, Natsuki's eyes lit up at the sight of the two Kaiju.

The instant Tang Wei Hu heard that, he realized Natsuki was about to fight the Kaiju again.

He hurriedly tried to dissuade him. "Mr. Natsuki, please conserve your stamina. The marshal advised us to avoid engaging them."

"Our reinforcements will be here soon."

As a pilot of Crimson Typhoon, following orders was his first priority. He hoped Mr. Natsuki would listen too.

Unfortunately, if this had been a planet dangerous enough, Natsuki would certainly have listened.

"As you know, we need a Kaiju corpse as our pass if we want to cross the Breach," Natsuki said over the comms with a perfectly straight face.

"But haven't you already retrieved Otachi's body?" Tang Wei Hu froze for a moment, then forced himself to speak.

"It isn't intact. What if it doesn't get us through?" Natsuki countered.

"Well..." Tang Wei Hu faltered again.

Seeing his hesitation,

Natsuki went straight ahead and did something Tang Wei Hu would never forget for the rest of his life.

Boom!

Shaolin Rogue raised his arm slightly and aimed at the reef jutting above the water, where Otachi's enormous corpse lay. A thermite round shot out in an instant and struck Otachi. After an explosion, the body erupted into roaring flames.

Otachi had been cremated.

"Sorry, my hand slipped," Natsuki said without blushing or missing a beat.

"Hmm... now we'll have to find another body."

Then he looked at the two terrifying behemoths looming before them.

"Oh, would you look at that? What a coincidence-there are two fresh ones right here!"

Tang Wei Hu: "..."

Tang Wei Long: "..."

Tang Wei Xiang: "..."

Well, wouldn't you know it. What a coincidence.