Giant of Light

The two Jaegers moved swiftly, striding across the seabed under immense water pressure. Soon, they reached the deepest point on Earth, the Mariana Trench.

The temperature and oxygen levels here were extremely low, and almost no marine life could be seen.

"There it is."

"The Breach," Old Hansen said.

The two Jaegers leaped off the seabed and saw the Breach ahead, glowing red like an underwater volcano.

It was not an actual underwater volcano. The light radiating from the wormhole at its base merely made it look like an active one.

"No Kaiju intercepted us."

"Maybe... they're all waiting for us on the other side of the Breach," Old Hansen reported to command. "We're... going in!"

Then, carrying the Abomination as it clung to its last breath, they plunged into the Breach.

The red wormhole below shone with blinding brilliance.

As they drew closer to it, a surge of energy emerged, sweeping across them like an electric arc.

Seemingly detecting the Abomination in their grasp, the wormhole instantly expanded, as though welcoming their arrival.

In an instant.

The two Jaegers and the Kaiju vanished from the seabed, disappearing from Earth.

Inside Shatterdome Base's command center.

Everyone watched the screens monitoring their vital signs. When the feeds disconnected, every face grew grim, and tension spread throughout the command center.

"May you... return victorious," Marshal Stacker said softly.

Perhaps he should have been down on that seabed at this moment.

Perhaps he would have been inside Eureka Striker's cockpit at this moment.

Perhaps he would already have become the spark that ignited the nuclear bomb.

He... they might already have been dead by now.

But now, death would no longer come chasing after them.

Because a ray of light had pulled them back from their destined journey to the underworld.

They passed through the Breach.

A red space suffused with strange energy immediately filled their vision. Purple buildings resembled rocks, and countless unfinished Kaiju formed eerie rings around each structure. Bolts of energy flashed endlessly throughout the space.

It seemed to be the interior of some planet, oppressive and chaotic.

A dead planet, hollowed out and transformed into a colony by the Precursors. A red vortex glowed on one side of the space, illuminating it like a sun.

Countless Kaiju Factories and Precursor structures stood throughout this boundless expanse.

"They really came."

The moment the two Jaegers passed through the Breach overhead, large numbers of Precursors emerged from the buildings.

They maintained a strict hierarchy, with countless followers surrounding every Archbishop-Class Precursor.

They watched the two Jaegers slowly descend into this world, their minds calm as the plan proceeded exactly as intended.

Nothing unexpected had happened. These foolish humans had fallen into the trap after all.

"ROAAAR!"

"ROAAAR!"

"ROAAAR!"

At that moment, countless enormous beasts roared, standing atop the structures throughout the space like an orderly army.

Knifehead... Trespasser... Knifehead... Virus... Otachi... every breed of Kaiju that had ever appeared on Earth could be found here, packed together in vast numbers.

Among them were plenty of enormous beasts flying through the air on massive wings.

They had been waiting here for a long time.

Their earthshaking roars brought a suffocating sense of death, as though the two Jaegers would be engulfed and devoured the instant they landed.

"Shit!"

"How are there so many?!" The sight of all the Kaiju in this space made Old Hansen's scalp prickle.

"There's no time! We have to detonate the nuclear bomb!"

He could worry about nothing else. Before these Kaiju overwhelmed them, he had to activate this devastating weapon, even if it left them no time to escape.

He could not imagine the despair humanity would face if, given enough time, all these Kaiju poured onto Earth.

"Human toys have their flaws, after all."

The Archbishop-Class Precursor standing in front of Yochi watched Eureka Striker begin activating the nuclear bomb and spoke with contempt.

The next second.

"ROAAAR!"

Several Leatherbacks unleashed EMP attacks at the two falling Jaegers, sending surging arcs of electricity spreading outward in wave after wave!

"Damn it!"

"We were so close!" With nothing to push against in midair, neither Jaeger escaped the incoming EMP attacks. Hansen and his son stared at the disabled systems and angrily pounded the control panels.

Then.

"SKREEE!"

A vast swarm of Kaiju beat their wings and descended on the two Jaegers like locusts, ready to tear them apart in midair.

Throughout this space, countless Precursors watched, ready to savor the misery of these inferior creatures.

However.

Just as the Kaiju surged toward them, just as Hansen and his son fell into despair, a thunderous sound exploded through this crimson space teeming with Kaiju!

A dazzling light suddenly burst from the one-armed Jaeger, resembling both a cross and a ring.

In that instant, no one could comprehend what had happened!

But the next second!

BOOOOM-!!!

Under the light of the red vortex, all they could see were countless Kaiju surrounding the Jaegers, dark and indistinct against the glow.

Suddenly, the bodies of the first wave of Kaiju lunging at the two Jaegers erupted in violent explosions, as though some energy had detonated inside them!

Amid the flames filling the air, a massive wheel of light edged with sharp teeth swept through the Kaiju.

The slightest brush against a Kaiju's body sent blood and entrails spraying!

Countless fragments of Kaiju corpses rained from the sky in a staggering spectacle!

After clearing out the nearest Kaiju, the wheel of light, utterly beyond the Precursors' comprehension, swept into the beasts farther away in midair.

Then it descended among the Kaiju atop the Precursor structures below. Wherever it passed, buildings collapsed and corpses littered the ground!

"Wh-what is that?"

"The giant... the giant that killed Leatherback before?"

"What kind of power is this?!"

Every Kaiju caught by the wheel of light wailed, their agonized cries a stark contrast to their earlier threatening roars.

Why couldn't a single Kaiju stop this wheel shining with white light?!

Before the uncomprehending eyes of the Precursors.

Layers of Kaiju corpses fell from the air, finally revealing the figure responsible for it all.

Backlit by the red vortex.

They could make out only a slender red-and-silver body in the shadows, and a round crystal glowing blue.

And a pair of eyes... brighter than the sun.

The giant hovered at the center of the vast space, his divine gaze devoid of even a trace of mercy.

Like a god about to unleash divine punishment upon them!