Specium Ray!

Natsuki had already noticed something unusual about the kaiju's blood.

But he wasn't sure which component was harmful to humans. He still knew too little about this world's kaiju.

He stepped toward the kaiju thrashing in the ruins, studying it closely as he considered how to deal with it.

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out behind him.

"Hey!"

"Natsu!"

"Hold on!"

Raleigh sprinted toward him. The earlier battle had ravaged the ground, sweeping away the snow and leaving several deep pits in the dirt where the giant's feet had landed. He nearly tripped, shouting as he ran.

His expression was anxious, and the grime from his work still clung to his face, mingled with sweat.

When the giant turned his head and glanced toward him, Raleigh's eyes lit up.

"That kaiju's blood is toxic!"

Knowing he had no time to waste, he got straight to the point.

"Throw it into the sea! Kill it in the water!"

"The seawater's alkalinity can neutralize the acid in its blood! It won't cause much pollution!"

Cupping his hands around his mouth, Raleigh shouted the information as loudly as he could.

As soon as he finished, he braced his hands on his knees and gasped for breath.

Sprinting at full speed, then screaming at the top of his lungs, had nearly drained every last bit of his strength.

After taking a couple of breaths and drawing the cold air into his lungs, he finally raised his head to look at the giant.

He hoped the giant had understood what he meant.

Under his hopeful gaze, the giant gave a slight nod.

He knew his gamble had paid off!

After hearing Raleigh's words, the giant approached Leatherback. Facing a massive kaiju eighty meters tall and over a hundred meters long, he showed no fear whatsoever, as though it were merely a lamb awaiting slaughter.

"ROOOAR!"

Leatherback's arm was broken, and a deep footprint marked its chest. Its life was slipping away, but even now, it wanted to tear at least one chunk of flesh from the giant before it.

Its hind legs shifted amid the ruins of the Wall of Life. The EMP organ on its back glowed blue, apparently charging up to unleash a vicious blast at the giant.

As far as it knew, all these enormous humanoid enemies were machines.

Yet the instant its EMP attack began charging, the giant moved, seizing its head!

In a flash, he flexed his arm and hurled the enormous creature away!

The rush of displaced air followed immediately. Something so massive flying backward over the sea caused no small disturbance.

Like a meteor, it was flung high into the air, then came crashing down with tremendous force onto an uninhabited island in the Gulf of Alaska, splitting rock and earth and sending trees flying!

The kaiju died on impact.

But the giant didn't stop.

As a warrior who had lived for nineteen thousand years, he understood all too well the importance of making sure an enemy was dead.

Soon afterward.

Shatterdome Base.

"Wait, these readings...!" Cai Tiantong had only just breathed a sigh of relief when the readings on the translucent panel before him began skyrocketing. He immediately realized something was wrong.

These readings... were already beyond anything a conventional missile explosion could produce!

He hurriedly called Marshal Stacker over the comms. "Marshal! We've detected another high-energy reaction!"

"What's happening over there?"

Another technician added, "This energy is generating temperatures above a hundred thousand degrees... a hundred and fifty thousand... three hundred thousand... it just shot up to five hundred thousand degrees!"

"This is well beyond the range of conventional missiles!"

"We haven't received any reports of a nuclear launch either. Marshal, what's happening at the scene?"

At the scene.

Marshal Stacker held his phone, staring unwaveringly at the distant giant without answering their questions.

He simply watched with complete concentration, unwilling to miss a single detail.

A moment earlier, the giant had leaned forward slightly, steadying his stance as white light appeared at both wrists.

He had no idea what the giant intended to do.

All he saw was the giant bringing his arms together in the shape of a cross.

In an instant, a pale blue beam erupted from the edge of the giant's hand, unleashing a powerful shock wave and gale!

The beam moved too fast for the naked eye to follow. It streaked from the edge of the giant's hand across the sea, its tremendous force driving the water apart in churning waves. Its extreme heat even evaporated the surface water before it struck the kaiju's corpse on the uninhabited island with pinpoint accuracy!

Heat continued to build within Leatherback's corpse. This was the energy Shatterdome Base had detected!

BOOM!

The kaiju's corpse could not withstand the destructive power of that strike. Within a second, the accumulated energy exploded, blasting both the corpse and the entire uninhabited island to pieces!

Earth and stone flew everywhere. The fiery blast melted the falling snow overhead, and the entire island sank into the sea amid the explosion!

Only then did the giant cease firing and slowly lower his arms, the beam vanishing with them.

But along the beam's path, even the air had been turned into plasma by the extreme heat, warping and crackling with electrical arcs.

The blast's aftershock swept across the sea with the wind, carrying scattered snowflakes and dust from the ruins onto the shore.

With the heat still lingering, a warm gust swept past the giant's body and washed over Marshal Stacker's face and those of countless workers.

It told them the battle was over.

"What on earth was that...?"

"That guy looks... nothing like a Jaeger, but he's so much stronger than one."

"Quick, record it on your phone!"

"I can't! My phone's stopped working!"

"What a shame!"

"He's practically a god..."

With a single strike, the distant giant had sunk both the kaiju and an entire island, utterly surpassing anything they could comprehend!

This was the Specium Ray!

The Specium Ray, with a temperature of five hundred thousand degrees and destructive power of five hundred thousand horsepower!

When Ultraman broke free of a special-effects show's budget constraints and entered reality, this was the destructive power he displayed!

His every movement could wreak tremendous havoc on his surroundings!

This was Ultraman's true power!

The scene Marshal Stacker had witnessed firsthand was certain to leave a deep imprint on his mind.

At the same time, he couldn't help wondering.

What kind of kaiju could possibly withstand that strike?

Or rather, what kind of being could stand against him?

Could all the Jaegers combined last even a second against that beam?

He forcibly restrained his thoughts, refusing to imagine the giant turning his attacks on humanity.

Relief filled his heart.

Thank goodness.

From beginning to end, the giant had shown us nothing but goodwill.

He... saved our lives.

But beyond the Breach in the Pacific, the transmigrators hiding among the Precursors and among humanity still had no idea what kind of hunter they were about to face.