Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 346, Section 93: Humanoid Disaster

Leon decided that no matter how hard or tiring it was, he would stay in Japan and not leave.

Even if Kurosaki predicts that black rain in Japan may become the norm from now on, and that Japan will gradually return to the era of demons, he will still stubbornly refuse to leave.

His reputation as the Grim Reaper Leon has quietly spread in certain circles in Washington, with people saying he's like a jinx, bringing the most troublesome supernatural disasters wherever he goes.

If he applies to be transferred back to China right now, and then a large-scale supernatural event breaks out in China, then he will never be able to get rid of the label of "mobile natural disaster"!

He just wanted to slack off; he didn't really want to be sidelined.

Staying in Japan, a known fire pit, is actually "safer" than returning to an unknown powder keg that might suddenly explode because of him.

"I have some news to share, it comes from Hirosue." Leon considered it carefully. If Kurosaki's prediction came true, combined with the information Hirosue had just sent back, then the location of the next black rain would almost certainly include Kyoto.

"Could the remains of the Kyoto Giant attract these monsters?" Kurosaki's voice trailed off, as if he were discussing something with Taira no Ryu. A reply came after a while. "Moving the remains is definitely too late now. Even the officials who just endured the Black Rain probably couldn't move the people from Kyoto. Muramasa should be back in Tokyo soon, right? Perhaps we could ask her what she thinks. Didn't she also study those remains?"

"My advice is that if we really can't hold out, we should destroy all the skeletons rather than leave them for those monsters."

"Nobody knows if they'll eat another giant."

Leon's thoughts were similar to Kurosaki's: a black rainstorm had shattered Japan, severely damaging its grassroots governance capabilities, making it difficult to reorganize in a short period of time.

The Prime Minister is still adrift in Tokyo Bay and doesn't dare to come back immediately.

Only the main force might still be able to carry out some organized deployment.

However, the news coming back from various places made him a little uneasy. The morale of many troops had collapsed, and he estimated that they could not be relied on.

At this point, having the prime minister or emperor give a speech would be completely ineffective, and might even have the opposite effect.

The US military stationed in Japan is more likely to be protecting itself than actually shedding blood and sacrificing themselves for the people of another country.

Even if that black rain from the sky were really oil, it wouldn't make sense!
After hanging up the phone, Leon quickly compiled the intelligence and his own assessment and reported it directly to the president in Washington.

"Treat it as normal." The wait for a reply was exceptionally long, but the president only replied with this one sentence.

Leon was taken aback by what he heard, repeatedly pondering those four words, his brows slowly furrowing.

Should we treat it normally?

In other words, we don't need to pay too much attention to it?

But this disaster is more or less different from the past; there were no prior warnings from the game, and it's also possible that these demons will spill over from Japan.
A bold idea suddenly flashed through Leon's mind.

But he wasn't entirely sure.

It's October now, and the general election is about to begin.

The president's chances of re-election are only fifty-fifty. Supporters believe that the president has upheld human dignity with his extraordinary toughness and handled the Florida incident quite well.

Compared to Japan and the United Kingdom.

Opponents, on the other hand, have many reasons, but the main one is that they dislike the current president and are therefore the ones whose interests are harmed.

Interestingly, historically, whenever war broke out in the US, the public tended to support the incumbent president's re-election, and even the silent voters would cast their votes.

If this were any other time, it wouldn't be a big deal; it's not worth taking this kind of risk.

However, being born extraordinary and standing at the pinnacle of power means being able to access more extraordinary information and obtain more slim chances.

The president is absolutely unwilling to let go.

If we temporarily suppress the events in Japan, then find a breaking point to manipulate, set the agenda, and place Ami in the role of a beacon and guardian of human civilization in its fight against the torrent of demons, and launch a passionate and inspiring speech, formally declaring war on demons and monsters, we can stir up public sentiment regarding grand narratives and a sense of crisis.
The chances are actually quite good.

"It seems the President hasn't made up his mind yet, otherwise he wouldn't be so subtle." Leon shook his head. It's only because the poll numbers are similar; if he were trailing by a significant margin, the President would definitely give a very simple hint.

"What a headache," Leon sighed, starting to ponder how to handle things subtly.

Around this time, a plane that had been parked in the South for several hours landed at Yokota Air Base.

Hayato couldn't wait a moment after getting off the plane. He hurriedly started the engine, and with a roar, headed straight for Mount Fuji. He wanted to see if he could find anything there.

Takii didn't go with them. Based on Leon's intelligence, she boarded a military plane, transferred directly to Kyoto, retrieved a copy of the Kyoto Giant's skeleton, and began studying it again.

She needs to know why this thing attracts those monsters to eat it.

And could we find a way to deal with those monsters from this?

Upon arriving in Kyoto, she immediately began her research on the skeleton, making sure everyone could see her presence.

This can more or less boost confidence and morale.

At least the Self-Defense Forces that were dispatched did quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

"This is the first time I've ever seen the Ninth Muramasa in person."

"This is still without makeup. I always thought those fan photos were heavily photoshopped, but I didn't expect her to be so beautiful in real life."

Takii was already used to these discussions, and they had no effect on her. She pondered these thoughts until the next day.

“A marvelous property.” Taki opened his eyes, showing no signs of fatigue. In his hand was a katana made from the bones of a giant.

This is not a simple process of directly shaping a samurai sword from bones. Instead, the bones are first ground into powder, then kneaded and shaped by hand, bit by bit, to form the samurai sword. This process is extremely time-consuming and laborious.

In about a day, she made three imperfect experimental knives.

After this processing step, the energy that could have been absorbed by demons will have its properties reversed, and it will instead be able to harm demons. (Note 1)

However, this reaction is irreversible, like gunpowder; once ignited, it's gone. So theoretically, if this knife is used to cut demons, it will shrink and become smaller with each cut.

"If we make them into bullets," Taki thought of a more suitable use case. Since these ashes were destined to be disposable, they could be used on disposable weapons.

For example, if the bullet doesn't need to be retrieved after being fired, then by controlling the amount of reaction, the most bullets can be made with the least amount of ashes.

This will certainly result in some waste.

However, this means that even ordinary soldiers can pose a significant threat to demons.

If they were to use knives to chop, they wouldn't have her strength and skill.

Scattering ashes directly is not impossible, but it requires the demon to have a wound, and the ashes would have to be inserted, which is too wasteful in terms of efficiency.

She also discovered a clever use for these bones.

That is, this thing can sense the concentration of negative emotions accumulating nearby.

When the concentration increases, the grayish-white bones will turn slightly black, acting like a natural monitor for emotional pollution.

Such as now.

".Um?"

Taki's gaze fell on the bone knife in his hand. He saw that the originally grayish-white bone knife was now covered with wisps of ink.

She also caught a whiff of decay. Looking up, she saw that the once clear sky above Kyoto was now clouded with dark clouds again.

The communicator in the buzzing earpiece stopped working. Communication, which had been restored briefly, was interrupted again. The Self-Defense Forces, which had been painstakingly organized, became restless, and the few pedestrians on the street ran in panic to the nearest shelter.

Taki remained expressionless as he stood at the highest point, gazing at the distant sky where a faint white light shone through.

The dark clouds did not completely cover the area, meaning that this impending black rain would not affect the entire country like the previous one.

Perhaps she could use the giant's remains to create "weather bottles," placing one in each county, so that every place could be prepared in advance.

If they also use ash bullets, Japan, by gritting its teeth, can at least survive in this era of resurrected demons.

It's ridiculous that the country with the most players is also the one that's suffering the most.

However, the cause and effect should be reversed: it is because they are having a miserable time that there are so many players.

Pitter-patter, black rain began to fall from the sky onto the earth.

Muramasa Takii composed himself and stood with his sword in hand.

The ground was covered by black water again in no time.

In every dark corner of the city, the various demons that had been lying dormant for a while once again revealed their ferocious forms as if crawling out of the cracks of hell.

People could feel those gazes, filled with greed, hatred, and covetousness.

On the circular defensive position built around the remains of the giant, the so-called elite Self-Defense Force soldiers, looking at the reappearing darkness and the ghostly figures swaying in the rain, instantly lost the last trace of color that had returned to their faces, and their morale visibly slid to the brink of collapse.

"Gentlemen, we have no way out but to fight to the death! Countless heroic spirits protect us!"

The commander gave a bitter smile and shouted encouragement to the soldiers whose morale was already wavering from the very beginning.

Morale +3
The battle is about to break out.

Gunfire raged within the defensive line built around the remains of the giant.

Holding the ash-covered sword, Muramasa Takii moved with the agility of smoke, charging alone into the most densely packed and surging tide of demons. Spinning like a top, he instantly sliced ​​the nearest demons in two.

The demon's neatly cut wounds steamed and emitted painful howls.

Takii clearly felt that with each strike, the weight of the bone knife in his hand decreased slightly, and the blade shortened by a fraction.

“I can still kill,” Muramasa Taki said, looking at the surging demons ahead. He took out two more bone ash swords and gently stroked the blades. “Ten thousand.”

Having said that, he did not shy away from the demons' sharp edge, but instead transformed himself into a blade and plunged into the sea of ​​monsters.

Apart from the one in her hand, she stuck the two remaining ash swords and the Broken Fire Maru into the ground. She transformed into Ashikaga Yoshiteru, sometimes charging in with a single sword as if entering an empty field; sometimes wielding two swords to kill enemies who got close; and sometimes unleashing all three swords at once, sweeping away enemies like a whirlwind.

The so-called "three knives" are not held in the mouth, but rather controlled by the knife, spinning the knife like a top.

Takii suppressed the urge to shout out in pleasure.

She hadn't experienced such a satisfying battle since resolving the Demon Blade Rebellion.

The enemies we encountered afterward were generally not in this number, and even if they were, we couldn't kill them all so easily.

Fighting! So exhilarating!

She was like a tireless machine, killing like crazy.

If these demons still possessed any intelligence, they probably wouldn't have been able to hold on any longer.

Are you the demon or are we the demons?! What human is more bloodthirsty and murderous than us?!

Under Taki's utterly unreasonable and terrifying oppression, the demons instinctively began to focus most of their attention and aggression on her. They even temporarily abandoned their most effective tactics of instilling fear and torturing minds, and simply tried to overwhelm this terrifying enemy with sheer numbers.

However, Takii possesses exceptional stamina, decent defense, and an absurdly high recovery rate. She also has the overpowered ability to parry and detect attacks, making these ordinary demons no match for her at all.

This greatly reduced the pressure on the Self-Defense Forces. The soldiers stared in disbelief at the figure that stood firm like a reef in the black tide, reaping the harvest with madness. The fear that had filled their hearts was gradually replaced by a sense of security.

It seems these demons aren't so scary after all.

By the time Nobi Tomoyoshi arrived to provide support on his unicorn, there were only a handful of demons left.

Hiss!
The unicorn snorted in dissatisfaction, raised its front hooves, and with a thud, kicked a monster that looked like a deformed horse that was trying to slip past it to the ground. It even shook its hooves in disgust, as if it had gotten dirty.

It carried Nobi and slowly approached the figure standing silently in the center of the battlefield, its entire body black, as if it had returned from hell.

At this point, she only had one bone knife left, and it had shrunk to the size of a dagger.

"Hiss... Are you alright?"

"."

Her gaze slowly shifted from the fleeing demons in the distance to Nobita and the unicorn. The previously unseen ferocity in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by reason. The bone knife in her hand drooped slightly at the tip.

"I'm very good."

Nobita always felt that something was off about Takii, as if he might suddenly stab him.

But since the other party had said that, he couldn't press further: "What about the rest?" He pointed to the remaining scattered demons.

"Whatever you want." Taki said succinctly, seemingly having completely lost interest in the remaining small fry.

Nobita nodded and patted the unicorn's neck: "Partner, let's go! Clean up the battlefield!"

The arrival of a man and a horse on the battlefield hastened the demons' defeat.

The black rain gradually stopped.

Perhaps thanks to Taki's frenzied slaughter, the black rain only lasted for two hours this time.

Just enough time to have dinner.

"We win! We win!"

"We survived! We fought them off!"

"Long live! Long live the Ninth Muramasa!"

Someone shouted excitedly.

If we could quantify emotions, we would see the words "morale +3" constantly appearing above the heads of these cheering soldiers.

This battle shattered their indescribable fear of demons; they realized that demons could also die, could also be afraid, and could also be defeated.

Of course, more importantly, with Muramasa Taki, the humanoid Gundam, by his side, mere demons are no match for him!
However, Takii wasn't as optimistic as they were.

In this battle, not a single powerful demon appeared; they were all just ordinary grunts.

Even against elite troops, such a demon cannot be guaranteed to win, let alone against a tank like Taki, who has found a way to counter it.

Overall, it was more like a test.

　Note 1: This is mentioned in Chapter 52 of Volume 2.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)