CHAPTER 1

The blue sky is clear, adorned by a flock of birds chirping cheerfully while flying across the white clouds. The sunlight illuminates all over New York.

Situation went on as usual in the big city on the Island of Manhattan. Pedestrians heading to their respective workplaces. Highways are filled with various vehicles that are passing by.

Just an ordinary day in this metropolis of the United States. All residents doing their own daily activities.

It did not last long…

The serenity is broken by the sudden appearance of something from the sky. A blue light descended in a very great speed into the Times Square area, causing a powerful explosion.

People are shocked. Their panic is inevitable.

Sirens begin to sound over loudspeakers at the top of public address system's pole that can be heard throughout the city.

"This is an emergency alert. The city is under attack. All residents please evacuate immediately," the PA system also sounded precarious announcements repeatedly. "This is an emergency alert. The city is under attack."

The entire people at that 'Crossroads of the World', including the ones who are still inside the buildings, scream in fear. Traffics become chaotic. Many cars get crashed with each other.

At a time like this, saving their own lives is the only thing in people's thoughts. All of them run as far as they can from the explosion point, looking for a safe place.

Plume of smoke where the beam had landed is thinning, revealing a crater that had been formed by the explosion earlier.

And in the middle of it, stood a big humanoid figure.

The creature's height almost exceeds utility pole. It has bright yellow eyes, a pair of horns on the forehead, and sharp teeth with a pair of long fangs on the lower jaw. Its blue body is glowing.

Then, both of the blue creature's hands are enveloped by a bluish-white light energy.

It spreads its hands to the front. The energy immediately turned into a powerful beam emission that being shot from each of its palms.

The creature shoots its beam to all the buildings around it. Parts of the buildings that get hit by that beam explodes, which then also make the buildings torn down entirely. Not only buildings, every facilities in the whole area are destroyed by that creature's destructive beam as well.

In a short time, the scenery of Times Square has changed. Like has been relentlessly bombarded, the entire area was engulfed in flames and destruction.

Above the ravaged Times Square, three military helicopters appeared in response to this monster attack.

"Target acquired!" said a pilot of one of the helicopters to the others.

Without lingering, they immediately attack the creature. Many missiles are fired from the turrets on the left and right sides of each helicopters. They also use machine gun turrets on the helicopter's lower side, shooting the monster non-stop.

The missiles explode as they hit its body. Machine gun bullets that are known to be strong enough to penetrate stone and steel also hit that creature insistently at the same time.

Pilots keep firing, until their eyes widened in fear at what they found.

All of the bullets bounce when they hit the creature, falling scattered to the ground. Not even the barrage of missiles can give its body a scratch.

That monster stared at them, who were still firing the helicopter's weapons at it, without flinching a bit.

"Insects."

It speaks. Its voice is deep and evil.

It aims its left palm at one of the helicopters, shooting out a destructive beam emission.

The attack shot faster than the speed of sound. None of the pilots of the three helicopters have time to dodge. The rotor of one of the helicopters gets hit by the beam and explodes, before the blue monster moves its aim to the other two helicopters' rotors.

The pilots screamed as their helicopters are in smoke and spiralling out of control while falling down, then crashed onto the city streets one by one.

Four armored cars arrive on the other side. They stopped a few meters behind the blue monster.

Troops of soldiers with full combat equipment out of the back door of each cars. After taking up a defensive position together behind their vehicles, they raised their rifles. Aiming at the big creature.

"Fire!"

Right after hearing their captain's command, the armed forces shoot the evil creature simultaneously.

The result is still same. None of their firearms are able to injure its powerful body. Every bullets that hit the creature bounced and fall to the ground. The soldiers' fear becomes higher upon realizing this.

The creature looks down on them, and starting to fed up.

It lifts its right foot slightly, then stomps the ground hard. Not only did it make the ground crack, the stomp also creates a wave of energy that moves fast and expanding like waves, simultaneously destroying the path it hits.

"AAAH!!" Entire army is thrown while screaming in pain from the attack. Military cars also tossed away and fall upside down.

---

"Unidentified Lifeform Number 587 emerges in Midtown! It's close to our base!" exclaimed Nadia, one of the operators while looking at her computer screen that shows a radar map of Manhattan with a blinking red dot in the area she is referring to.

Atmosphere in the Command Center of UNMC Agency is so rowdy. The monster's appearance in New York sends fourteen operators into panic.

With their respective computers, the operators were busy gathering data about the creature. They also send status reports of the city that is being attacked to other defense organizations.

"How is the destruction status in the city? Have all the residents been evacuated?" Christopher who was standing in the middle of the room asked them in a tone that remained calm but firm.

"Times Square is flattened, sir!" answered Marcus, the operator next to him with task of observing the attacker's activity. "Estimated total destruction of the entirety of Manhattan is less than half an hour!"

"There are still a number of citizens trapped in that area! We don't know their safety status yet!" continued another operator named Randall who serves in the population surveillance section.

"General Pierce, the US Army has fallen!" Barbara reported to Christopher, after seeing the activeness status of armed forces soldiers that had fought at the scene on her computer.

It's the umpteenth time UNMC has been faced with this kind of situation. But in dealing with monsters attacks, especially the ones that have ability to destroy entire cities and above, they can never get used to feel terrorized and overwhelmed.

Christopher is watching the wide monitor that consist of dozens screens with different displays on the wall. From a screen that shows location radar of the monster's whereabouts, data information regarding its body structure in a three-dimensional model and several types of diagrams of its power's damage level, to some screens with live news about a rampaging monster in New York that broadcasted on CNN, BBC, CNBC and other international television channels.

"A very powerful monster, again..." the general muttered while staring at the wall monitor, always with serious expression.

Judging by its abilities, that creature has potential to destroy not only Manhattan, but the entire United States. Christopher has to make quick and correct decisions before the number of innocent lives lost increases, if they can't stop the monster without a single casualty.

"Put this as a national level threat," he ordered. "Send our available squad!"

"Yes, sir!" Barbara accesses the radio system and begins notifying the unit that Christopher requested through her computer's microphone. "DEFCON 2 Alert! Threat Level: National! Requesting twelve personnels to the field right now!"

---

Buildings have collapsed. Many vehicles and public facilities are on fire. Plenty of thick smoke from the destruction has covered the sky, darkened the area.

Not even 15 minutes and all of Midtown has been reduced to a mass of ruins.

"Daaad…! Mooom…!"

A boy not more than 10 years old kneels among debris of buildings all alone, sobbing as he call for his parents.

No one comes to him. Until...

He stops crying for a moment when he heard sound of heavy footsteps coming from ahead. He looks up and see a shadow of large humanoid figure appearing in the smoke.

The shadowy figure walks toward him. Its appearance is starting to clear after it's out of the smoke, which makes the boy's eyes wide in terror.

That blue monster, who has destroyed the central portion of Manhattan, is in front of his own eyes.

It stops near the boy, stands still while glaring at him. Its gaze shows nothing but malicious intent.

The little boy trembles in fear. His heart is pounding fast. He breathes rapidly, and his tears keep flowing.

He watches as the monster raised its clenched fist, preparing to smack him flat. A great sense of dread has consumed the kid which made him feel difficult to move. He couldn't think of anything else. There is nothing he can do but lament his fate.

This is the last moment of his life.

The blue monster begins to throw its punch.

In a sudden, something passes in front of the creature like a gust of wind, moving the kid before its punch reaches him. The ground where the little boy was earlier smashed into pieces by the monster's fist.

The monster's eyes widened realizing that the tiny human before it is no longer there. It turns to its right, the direction where the blurry figure as swift as the wind that had picked the boy up just now moved.

At a dozen feet distance from the blue creature, the boy's savior was kneeling with his back to it.

The little boy is in that figure's cuddle, which made him protected from pressure of the speed earlier. He is surprised to find himself, who was originally standing before the monsters, instantly being in a different spot.

The savior is a human.

But, his clothes is weird, covering his entire body. The suit appears to be a pair of jacket and trousers made of some kind of thick fabric.

The boy is put back down by him. For a moment, he still looks at the man with surprised expression. He had seen this person on television several times. Now he meets him in person, right in front of himself.

After the figure stands up, the kid runs away from that place.

The blue monster realizes that the newcomer is no ordinary human, judging by his abilities.

"Who are you?" asked the monster infuriated. Its voice is deep and evil.

Hearing it, the person turned to face the monster and put on an arms folding manner, giving off his entire appearance.

His suit is light gray, with a pair of dark gray gloves and boots. And also a gray mask that completely covers his head. Very plain design.

A man in a costume, typical comic book character.

"Just a guy who's a superhero for fun."

He answered straightforwardly.

Those words makes the monster widen its eyes and gape.

"Fun? What kind of reason is that?!" its bafflement turns to rage.

The creature didn't expect that a human would dare to toy with it.

"I am the embodiment of Earth's atmosphere, Ozone Monster! Humans are nothing but bacteries that are destroying this planet! They have polluted environments with all substances produced by their factory machines, making our layer gets thinner!"

The blue creature that introduced itself as the Ozone Monster explained in an intimidating tone.

Its opponent, that costumed man who claims himself a superhero, just stares at him without showing any reaction.

"And you? You call this "fun"?!" Ozone Monster continued, "How dare you look down on me, you little pest! The likes of you deserve to be perished!"

It gets more wrathful. Its size begins to grow. An even greater and brighter energy of light envelopes its two hands.

The boy who had been rescued by the costumed man is hiding behind rubble at enough distance away from them. He trembles with fear again, seeing Ozone Monster prepares to attack his savior.

While the superhero himself...

Still standing relaxed with both hands already down. In fact, he doesn't seem to care at all. His expression remains flat, as seen from the shape of white eyes on his mask that gives impression of someone who is bored.

"In order to maintain our existence, I will wipe all of you and your civilizations from this planet without a trace! And nothing can stop me!!"

Ozone Monster points both arms forward. Roaring furiously, he shoots a huge beam of destruction right at its opponent.

That energy attack hits the entire body of the man in gray suit. The beam shot from the monster is greatly long and extensive that it emits far past its target. It generates great damages to the environment. All buildings that are swallowed by the energy beam of light immediately disintegrated to ashes, which then disappeared in total.

The boy who watches it from a distance prones behind the rubble and closes his eyes tightly, shielding himself from violent wind gusts created from Ozone Monster's destruction beam emission. He is certain that the man in costume is already dead.

After a few seconds, the blue monster stopped releasing its ability.

He stares at the scene in front of him, which is filled with thick smoke. The ground has been completely destroyed by the shot of energy beam earlier.

Ozone Monster feels satisfied.

However, when the smoke starts to clear, its expression changed drastically.

"What?!"

Ozone Monster surprised. It can't believe what it is seeing.

The little kid in hiding has the same reaction. His eyes and mouth opened wide as he sees what is happening.

Whole area in front of Ozone Monster has indeed become scorched and flattened. But…

That man is still there, as if nothing happened to him.

The energy beam earlier was a very powerful attack. Anything that gets hit can be destroyed without any remainings.

Yet he is still standing calmly at the same spot, in perfect condition. His masked face still shows a deadpan expression towards Ozone Monster. Even the costume remained intact. Even though it's smoky, there's no slightest bit of part that is damaged.

"Impossible! How ca-AAAGH…!!"

Before finished speaking, Ozone Monster explodes into pieces…

...by the gray superhero's fist, who is now standing right in front of it.

At the same time, the entire cloud of smoke that covered the sky also instantly vanished due to very strong wind from that single punch. Midtown is back to being lit up by the sunlight.

The little boy who witnessed it is beyond surprised. He had just seen the costumed man, who previously was far from Ozone Monster, suddenly appeared near the blue creature before blinking. Not to mention that man beat the monster with a single blow.

The boy is unable to utter a word, doesn't know how to react other than silent with widened eyes and mouth agape. He never thought that he could see something like this directly.

Pieces of Ozone Monster's body are falling like rain in front of the superhero. Blue liquids which seem to be the monster's blood comes out of all its body parts that lay, inundates the ground.

The gray hero stands in silent for a moment. His right hand fist which filled with smoke still stretched forward.

Then he brings his fist closer, staring at it until the smoke disappear. His face forms an expression that is... Disappointed.

"Bruh... One punch, again."

He grumbled in upset.

"Of course I'm upset! I came all the way here, and what I got? Another weak-ass monster, as usual!"

Don't be mad. This is your debut.

"Debut? I've been doing this for years!"

On the other hand, the boy behind the rubble is really confused seeing the man in costume talking by himself.

The masked hero droops his shoulders and let out a deep breath from his mouth.

"Man… What a waste of time."

Not long after that, police sirens and propellers are heard from behind him.

He turns around, watching as numerous cars of NYPD and another United States Army unit arrives followed by four military helicopters in the air.

After all the cars stopped, squad of military police and soldiers comes out with their rifles.

The doors of three helicopters are opened. Each of them lower long ropes that reached the ground, which are used to descend by a group of soldiers in bright blue uniforms and bluish dark gray bulletproof vests.

Those twelve soldiers' attributes are quite different from any military forces', seem to be more advanced. Apart from chest and back of the vests, their shoulders, elbows, thighs and knees are also attached with dark blue armor plates. Their tactical helmets have thick masks and visors that completely cover their faces from the outside.

And the emblem on their pairs of shoulder armor is a symbol of United Nations with the words 'United Nations Monster Counteractions'. It's obvious that they are the unit sent by General Pierce.

At first, they all intend to aim the man with their weapons. But they immediately stops running after getting a clear look at him.

Edgar, the Captain of UNMC, sighs at the gray superhero, "Again? Seriously?"

All soldiers and military policemen are stunned. Not at the costumed hero, but at the scenery behind him.

The scene where plenty pieces of monster's body scattered, and the ruined city.

They can see that he has handled the situation... More or less.

In an instant, the costumed hero leaves them. His supersonic speed creates a small shock wave in air and left the ground where he had been standing cracked. Very strong blows of wind from the shock wave makes all of NYPD military policemen and the U.S. Army close their eyes while shielding their faces with hands, except for the UNMC soldiers thanks to their masks and visors.

After the wind stopped, the others open their eyes again. The UNMC soldiers take their helmets off. They find the superhero is no longer in the area.

"Well, and there he goes," said Lauren, a UNMC soldier, in a resigned tone.

While the army and policemen are left in surprised, the expression of the UN special forces remains straight. Many people have met the superhero in person several times, but the UNMC troops are the ones who have dealt with him the most. They're already used to witness his various astonishing abilities.

"There's a child over there!" one of the military police pointed at the boy who is still peeking out from behind a pile of rubble.

While all the police and soldiers split up to find the other survivors, two policemen run approaching the little boy. One of them brings a first aid kit.

"You all right, kid? Are you hurt?" the policeman held his shoulder.

The boy just shake his head. He still don't know what to say. His thought is still racing from what happened earlier.

"Poor little one," the other police commented. "Must have seen too much."

Meanwhile, the twelve UNMC soldiers are looking around.

"Damn..." Paul put on a face of discouragement along with his teammates. "I'm so tired of this shit."

Some of them even facepalmed and shake their head in frustration.

Collapsed buildings, overturned and burned cars, all the streets are damaged and scorched... Not a single public facility is still intact.

"How do we calm them this time?" Edgar tries not to imagine the faces of the residents when they see Midtown now.

***