You Think I'll Let You Go?

The operations command room was bustling with activity, filled with the hurried footsteps and indistinct shadows of personnel working frantically. No one complained—this was a life-and-death moment. If they failed to eliminate the target, they could face a catastrophic counterattack. If a large-scale spatial quake were to occur, not only would the city be at risk, but possibly all of Japan as well.

"All units, are you prepared?" A portly commander clutched his microphone, his eyes filled with steely resolve. He was none other than Nakaya Motoharu, whom we'd seen before.

"Army, ready and standing by!"

"Navy, ready and standing by!"

"Air Force, ready and standing by!"

"Good," Nakaya Motoharu nodded in satisfaction, then added, "And what's the status of DEM Corp's airships?"

"DEM Corp's forces and airships have reached their designated positions. They should be fully prepped for combat by now," reported a soldier, saluting respectfully.

"Hm, keep monitoring. If any trace of the Spirit is detected, report to me immediately," Nakaya Motoharu ordered with a stern voice.

"Yes, sir."

At that moment, another soldier approached, hesitating as he spoke. "There are reports that traces of a Spirit's energy were detected near the former AST headquarters. It's speculated that a Spirit may be hiding there."

"Oh?" Nakaya Motoharu responded noncommittally. "Ignore that for now. Our priority is to eliminate the Spirit that's about to appear. Once we do, the others won't pose a threat."

"But—" The soldier seemed to want to say more.

"No 'buts'!" Nakaya Motoharu interrupted, visibly displeased. "This is not your place to make suggestions. Do your duty, soldier."

"Yes, sir."

Turning back to the screen, Nakaya Motoharu's eyes gleamed with a peculiar intensity. Just then, a soldier suddenly shouted, "She's here, she's here!"

The atmosphere in the command room grew tense as everyone held their breath, staring intently at the images on the monitor. On the massive screen, a silver-haired girl appeared. She seemed like an ordinary girl, no different from any civilian, save for her extraordinary beauty.

She strolled toward the designated target area, showing no signs of alarm—she appeared as relaxed as if she were merely out for a casual walk, entirely unaware of the impending danger.

"Commander, Commander!" Seeing Nakaya Motoharu unresponsive, the deputy commander quickly spoke up.

"Hm?" Nakaya Motoharu replied, unfazed.

"Shouldn't we initiate the plan now? If she gets close enough to realize there's no one inside, she'll figure out it's a trap," the deputy commander said anxiously. "If that happens, she might detect our plan, and then—"

Before he could finish, Nakaya Motoharu cut him off.

"Do you think I need you to tell me that?" Nakaya Motoharu turned to him, his expression dark.

"Right, I'm... I'm sorry." The deputy commander's legs wobbled under Nakaya Motoharu's glare, cold sweat trickling down his back. The aura of authority from the Minister of Defense had grown even more intimidating.

Without further word, Nakaya Motoharu turned back and spoke into the microphone, "Commence the operation."

"Yes, sir!"

Upon his command, the communications officers in the room sprang into action, relaying orders as the army, navy, and air force assumed combat readiness.

The battle was about to erupt.

Kaguya, as if sensing something, smirked with a faintly wicked grin.

In the distance, a thunderous roar approached, growing louder with each passing second. Finally, through a rising cloud of smoke and dust, a dozen Type-10 main battle tanks burst through the barricades, rolling over obstacles as they advanced.

These Type-10 tanks had undergone special modifications, boasting firepower superior to that of even the American M1 main battle tank. They roared forward like fierce, iron behemoths, though a few of them were less reliable than they appeared, with two of the tanks soon stalling due to tread malfunctions.

Despite this, the remaining tanks pressed on undeterred, their turrets rotating to aim at their target. With a deafening rumble, their cannons fired, and countless shells streaked through the sky like meteors, raining down on Kaguya's position.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Explosions erupted in blinding flashes, one after another, sending debris flying. Dense smoke billowed upward as shockwaves kicked up thick clouds of dust, obscuring visibility.

Meanwhile, on warships several kilometers away, the vertical launch bays opened, and a barrage of Trident missiles soared into the sky, trailing plumes of smoke as they hurtled toward Kaguya's location.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

As the missiles struck, a series of intense flashes illuminated the scene, each explosion louder than the last. Fires raged in every direction, black flames towering skyward as the acrid scent of smoke permeated the air.

"Is... is it over?" The deputy commander swallowed hard, his voice trembling with uncertainty.

The command room fell silent for a moment. Just as they began to believe the Spirit had been destroyed and readied themselves to celebrate, a figure emerged from the thick smoke, walking slowly forward—Kaguya.

The command room went dead quiet. Everyone stared at the screen, dumbfounded. There she stood, completely unharmed, her clothes not even singed. Sensing something, she turned to the monitor and flashed a radiant smile at them.

The people in the command room collectively sucked in their breaths, as if witnessing a ghost. How could she be entirely unscathed after such an assault? Even for a Spirit, this was unbelievable.

Then, the screen showed an even more astonishing sight.

The silver-haired girl moved like a bolt of lightning, her form blurring with afterimages as she almost instantaneously appeared before the tanks. She raised her arm, and as if gripped by an invisible force, a tank began to lift off the ground, floating weightlessly. With a swift, decisive motion of her hand, she clenched her fist.

In response, the tank groaned and creaked, contorting and compressing under the immense pressure. In mere moments, it was crushed into a compact ball of twisted metal.

The command room was silent enough to hear a pin drop, an eerie quiet taking hold as everyone stared wide-eyed at the screen, their work momentarily forgotten.

On the screen, the silver-haired girl turned toward the display and gave a smile, then waved her arm. In an instant, a massive chunk of black metal was hurled out of view, and with a deep "boom," the screen filled with static.

Everyone in the command room jolted in unison, and some even let out muffled gasps. They exchanged nervous glances, faces shadowed by an inescapable dread.

Fortunately, the city was packed with surveillance equipment, and while a few monitors were knocked offline, the remaining ones continued to function. But what happened next on the screens left them even more astounded.

The silver-haired girl gave a slight smile, extending a finger to make a delicate slicing motion. Instantly, the earth began to tremble as if struck by an earthquake, the vibrations so intense that even the operations command room, hundreds of kilometers away, felt it distinctly.

The room shook, lights flickering on and off, with displays and furniture swaying lightly. Luckily, the command room was reinforced and didn't suffer severe damage, avoiding a panic.

But the scene on the screen was something else. Those who hadn't been looking at the monitors now wondered if the feed had been tampered with. How could this be real?

The display showed an entire city block transformed, with enormous trees shooting up from the ground. Towering trunks thicker than skyscrapers created a vast, ancient forest, with dense branches stretching skyward and leaves forming a green canopy overhead.

"What… what in the world is this?"

The deputy commander, transfixed by the screen, muttered in disbelief. Years of combat experience with Spirits had brought him face-to-face with numerous Spirit abilities, but he had never seen anything remotely like this. And certainly not on such a large scale—this phenomenon enveloped the entire city district.

This was Kaguya's "Nativity of a World of Trees" jutsu.

Suddenly, thick vines extended from the towering trees like living creatures, darting down to the ground toward the tanks.

Snapping back to reality, the deputy grabbed his microphone and shouted, "Open fire! Suppressive fire, now!"

But his order was too late—or perhaps orders wouldn't have made any difference. The tanks' 120mm smoothbore cannons fired shells that struck the massive trees, only to leave small dents that looked like mere scratches against their immense trunks. And before long, these wounds healed, leaving no sign of damage.

In the blink of an eye, the vines had wrapped around the tanks like tightly bound dumplings. Despite their frantic maneuvers, the tanks were helpless. The vines constricted, slowly tightening like a vice.

Finally, with a sickening "creak," the tank was crushed into a flat metal disk.

The other tanks suffered the same fate. Armored vehicles, rocket launchers, and even gun-mounted vehicles were all ensnared. Before the enormous vines, these machines were like toys—easily twisted, torn apart, and crushed into useless scrap metal.

With a thunderous boom, the explosions of tank munitions echoed as thick black smoke billowed into the sky.

Those trapped inside, unable to escape, were crushed into pulp, while those who managed to break free met no better fate, as the vines sucked them dry, leaving behind shriveled corpses. The air was filled with pained cries and blood-curdling screams, a cacophony that was nothing short of hellish.

"Save me! Help me!"

One soldier scrambled out of his tank, desperately fleeing. But the entire city was covered by the God Tree's domain, leaving him with nowhere to run. Spotting an open clearing, free of the monstrous vines, he ran toward it frantically, heart pounding in relief.

But as he neared, his eyes widened in horror.

In the clearing stood a beautiful silver-haired girl walking toward him.

Under ordinary circumstances, he might have tried to strike up a conversation with such a beautiful young woman, maybe even asked her out for a drink, hoping for a pleasant evening. But seeing this silver-haired girl now filled him with an overwhelming terror.

His eyes widened, heart hammering as if gripped by an invisible hand, each breath a struggle. He recognized her—she was the Spirit responsible for this nightmare.

All he could do was pray that she wouldn't notice him, that she'd pass by without seeing him.

But he was hoping for too much.

"Oh?" Kaguya turned her head, smiling slightly as she looked at the soldier, who had wet himself in fear. "Looks like there's a straggler."

Just as he braced himself for death, he noticed that the stunning girl had merely glanced at him before walking away, passing by without a second glance.

Realizing he'd been spared, the soldier's eyes widened with disbelief. She hadn't killed him. Even as her silver hair disappeared into the distance, he struggled to process it.

Relief surged through him, his despair flipping into joy as he realized he had narrowly escaped death. His legs trembled, and he shivered, realizing that at some point, he had lost control and wet himself. But he didn't care; all he wanted now was to escape this nightmare.

However, just as he took a few shaky steps toward what he thought was safety, with a triumphant grin on his face, countless vines shot out from the nearby thicket, binding him tightly.

"No, no! Don't kill me, please!" He paled, struggling wildly.

But it was all in vain.

With a brief, agonized scream, his body was crushed into a bloody paste, twisted into a grotesque shape like a smashed tomato. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere, filling the air with the thick stench of iron.

Kaguya, having walked some distance away, didn't even look back, a wicked smile tugging at her lips. "Did you really think I'd let you go? How naïve."

Kaguya walked through the hailstorm of gunfire and missiles, watching the incoming barrage of projectiles like fireworks in the sky. A smirk tugged at her lips as she scoffed, "It seems the military's getting desperate. With a self-defense force like this, how do they expect to protect their country? They're overestimating themselves. Just worthless scrap metal... Let me reduce you to parts."

With a flick of her hand, several black orb-like objects shot out from her palm, rocketing toward the sky.

Inside the command center, things grew tense.

"What… what is she doing?" The operators exchanged nervous glances, baffled by the silver-haired girl's actions, but all of them felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding.

Then suddenly, alarms blared through the command center.

"This is bad, Commander! It's really bad!" a soldier dashed in, his face twisted in fear as if he'd seen something terrifying.

"What's so bad? Explain it clearly!" the deputy commander shouted, grabbing the soldier by the collar.

"There's… there's a large unidentified object falling over the ocean," the soldier stammered.

"A large object?" The deputy furrowed his brow. "What exactly is it?"

"Radar suggests it might be a meteorite," the soldier gulped, "heading directly toward the fleet 150 miles offshore of Japan."

"What?!" A surge of dread overcame the deputy commander as he whipped around, barking orders, "Switch the feed to the fleet in the Sea of Japan!"

"Yes, sir!"

As the screen changed to display the fleet, silence gripped the command room.

In the display, massive orbs loomed overhead, so large they blocked out the sky. Flames roared around them from the friction with the atmosphere as they plummeted toward the fleet.

It was the "Heavenly Obstacle Quaking Star."

Although the fleet had spotted the incoming "meteorites" and fired missiles, shells, and close-in defense guns, they barely made a dent in the gigantic masses. The fragments blasted off by the missiles were mere specks compared to the colossal meteorites, having no meaningful effect.

Finally, in front of the terrified eyes of those in the command room and the fleet, the massive meteors crashed down.

A tremendous explosion rocked the sea, and the command room screens flickered into static. Although they hadn't seen the final moments, everyone understood what it meant—the fleet was gone.

Silence fell upon the command center. None of them had anticipated that Japan's formidable naval force—one of the strongest in Asia—would be obliterated without so much as scratching the enemy.

At this moment, they found themselves unable to believe their own eyes.

Reports of calamity continued pouring in without pause: the entire ground self-defense force was wiped out, the naval fleet annihilated, and even the air force suffered catastrophic losses. The military found itself on the edge of survival. If they couldn't eliminate the Spirit soon, they were doomed.

"Commander," the deputy approached the head officer, his face grim. "Conventional weapons aren't working anymore. To protect the Japanese people and defend the world, I propose we deploy nuclear weapons to annihilate her. Otherwise, we'll all just be sitting ducks."

After a moment of contemplation, the commander finally responded, "Then let's proceed to nuclear strike readiness."

"Yes, sir!"

"Loading fuel for nuclear missiles—complete."

"Nuclear missiles loaded onto launch pad."

"Final calibration of launch systems underway."

"Calibration complete. Target locked. Awaiting final launch authorization."

One by one, commands were executed, and the preparation phase for nuclear weapon deployment was complete. Now, everything depended on the commander pressing the red launch button.

"Commander," the deputy approached him, voice firm, "To eliminate this evil for the sake of the world, sacrifices must be made. If we can destroy this Spirit, the world will finally be free from such disaster, and people can live in peace. Surely those who perish today will understand that."

The command room fell silent, and all eyes turned to the commander.

Everyone understood what this decision meant. By deploying nuclear weapons, they were effectively abandoning the city; the resulting blast would level everything. Not only would the city be destroyed, but the residents would also face catastrophic loss of life. Even those in shelters wouldn't escape the nuclear fallout unscathed.

It was a difficult choice.

But would nuclear weapons even destroy the Spirit? No one felt certain. The previous tactical nukes had proved ineffective. Although this weapon was far stronger, no one could guarantee it would succeed.

But there was no other option left.

The commander stood in silence for a moment, then approached the console, extending his hand toward the red button.

The room held its collective breath, watching intently as his finger hovered over the button. A crimson light flashed ominously in his eyes.

In an airship 20,000 meters above ground, hundreds of kilometers away—

"Ellen, how's it going with Nakaya Motoharu?" Westcott sat at his desk, spinning a pen between his fingers with a smile.

Ellen, standing nearby, didn't respond, her gaze distant and unfocused, as if lost in her thoughts.

"Ellen. Ellen," Westcott's voice hardened.

"Huh?" She snapped out of her trance, her face betraying a slight panic. "Sorry, I… I was a little distracted."

"What's wrong?" Westcott stood up, moving closer with a look of concern. "Are you feeling alright? Maybe you're just overtired?"

"N-no, it's nothing," Ellen waved her hand quickly, forcing a smile. "I probably just didn't sleep well last night, so I'm a bit fatigued."

"Make sure you take care of yourself," Westcott chuckled. "I rely on you, you know. Without you, I'd be lost."

"Understood, thank you." Ellen nodded, her face returning to calm. "According to reports, Nakaya Motoharu has completed preparations for the nuclear launch. The strike should proceed shortly."

But no one knew that her mind was still in turmoil, her thoughts replaying the previous scene over and over again.

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