Night had fallen, and the dark sky concealed every star. The Tokyo Self-Defense Force stood guard at the gap left by the fallen Giant Stone Monolith, their faces tense, countless heavy tanks and artillery pieces lined up in formation.
The night wind rustled through the distant woods like the final music before a great battle. An unsettling atmosphere seeped from the darkness beyond the reach of the lights.
"ROAR!" A monstrous bellow rang out, and countless creatures on eight spiderlike legs surged from the dark forest like a tide.
"Fire! Aim every gun and open fire!" The commander's orders echoed across the battlefield. The artillery crews began adjusting their barrels and checking the wind speed.
"Fire!" The artillery officer waved his signal flag. Howitzers roared in fury, shaking dust from the ground as shells streaked toward the monsters like meteors across the night sky.
The tanks swiveled their turrets, quickly targeting the enormous creatures within the horde. Their barrels lifted slightly, and the tanks shuddered as armor-piercing shells tore through the air toward the Stage IV Gastrea. The shells punched through the monsters' bodies one after another, then erupted into explosions that blazed like torches in the night.
Yet the Gastrea kept advancing on the position like soldiers with no fear of death. As the monsters drew ever closer, the heavy machine gunners shouted furiously and squeezed their triggers. Countless bullets swept through the horde, sending green fluid spraying everywhere as Gastrea were torn to pieces.
Just as the Self-Defense Force seemed about to hold the line, a monster dozens of meters tall emerged from the forest far behind the horde. It resembled a turtle with a snakelike neck and a duck's bill, and its footsteps were ponderous. With another long cry from the creature, even more monsters charged out,