The morning of the operation arrived cold and gray.
Ji-hu stood at the front of the command center, a massive warehouse converted into a war room. Maps covered the walls. Screens displayed drone footage from the Osaka zone. Hunters from a dozen guilds filled the space, talking in low voices, checking equipment, waiting for orders.
Director Tanaka stood beside Ji-hu, looking out at the crowd.
Director Tanaka: They're not all going to like this.
Ji-hu: I know.
Director Tanaka: Some of them have been fighting for years. They've lost people to these things. They're not going to take orders from someone they just met without question.
Ji-hu: I know.
Director Tanaka: Can you handle that?
Ji-hu: I handled worse in Nethrar.
Tanaka almost smiled.
---
The meeting began. Ji-hu stepped forward and the room gradually quieted. Not out of respect. Out of curiosity.
Ji-hu: Here's the plan. We're not going in as one massive force. That's what they expect. That's what they've already beaten.
He pointed at the map.
Ji-hu: We're going in as teams. Small units. Each with a specific objective.
Ryu: And who leads which team?
Ji-hu: You lead the fast strike team. Wind blades. Hit their flanks, create chaos, get out before they can respond.
Ryu nodded. That made sense.
Ji-hu: Kenji leads the heavy assault team. Body hardening. You punch through their defensive lines and create openings for the others.
Kenji grunted. Accepting.
Ji-hu: Mika leads the support and rescue team. Healing, buffs, hostage extraction. You move in after the openings are created.
Mika nodded, nervous but determined.
Ji-hu: Kang leads the distraction team. Gravity manipulation. You draw the main force out, make them think you're the real attack.
Kang inclined his head. Calm as always.
Ji-hu: Ara and I lead the infiltration team. We go for the leaders.
A Hunter from the back: And who put you in charge?
The room tensed. Ji-hu looked toward the voice. A mid-ranked hunter from a guild he didn't recognize.
Ji-hu: No one. I'm just the one with a plan.
The Hunter: I've been fighting since year one. Lost my whole squad to those things. And now some guy who claims he spent a year in another world shows up and tells us what to do?
Murmurs of agreement. Some nodded. Others crossed their arms.
Another Hunter: We don't even know if his story is real. Could be NHA propaganda.
Another: Let the S-ranks lead. They've earned it.
Another: The government doesn't command us. We're not soldiers.
The room grew louder. Tanaka stepped forward but Ji-hu raised a hand.
Ji-hu: You want proof?
He walked toward the warehouse doors. Everyone watched. Confused. Curious.
He stepped outside into the open yard. The sky was gray, overcast, heavy with clouds. Dozens of hunters followed, spilling out of the building to see what he would do.
Ji-hu stood in the center of the yard. Looked up at the sky.
Then he moved.
Steam erupted beneath his feet, concentrated and controlled, propelling him upward like a rocket. He shot into the air, ten meters, twenty, thirty, rising faster than anyone could track. Gasps echoed below.
At the apex of his ascent, he raised one hand.
Fire gathered. Not a flame. Not a burst. Something massive, something condensed, something that glowed like the heart of a star. He hurled it downward.
A meteor of fire streaked toward the earth.
Before it could hit, he raised his other hand. Ice gathered, blue and white and screaming cold. He threw it after the fire.
The two meteors collided in mid-air.
The explosion was deafening. Steam erupted in a massive column, rising higher and higher, expanding outward like a rocket launch captured in slow motion. The shockwave rippled across the sky. Clouds scattered. The gray overcast vanished, replaced by clear blue.
Then the ashes began to fall.
Tiny particles, remnants of the collision, rained down across the entire yard. They were hot, glowing faintly, carrying enough heat that hunters flinched when they touched skin. Some covered their faces. Some stumbled back. The ashes fell for a full minute, a warm rain of destruction.
When it ended, silence.
Ji-hu descended slowly, steam cushioning his fall, landing in the center of the yard without a sound.
No one moved. No one spoke.
The ashes still smoked around them.
Ji-hu: That's what I can do.
He walked back toward the warehouse. The crowd parted silently. No one met his eyes. No one questioned.
Inside, he returned to the map.
Ji-hu: Now. Let's talk about how we do this.
---
Ryu was the first to speak.
Ryu: I've seen a lot. Never seen that.
Kenji: You trained that in one year?
Ji-hu: I survived. Training was optional.
Mika: The ashes... they were hot enough to burn. From that far away.
Ji-hu: That was the point. To show you what we're dealing with. Those creatures in Osaka? They've seen things like that. They've survived things like that. This won't be easy.
Kang: But you've made your point.
He looked at the other hunters.
Kang: Anyone else have questions about who's leading?
Silence.
---
Hours passed. Plans were refined. Positions assigned. By midday, thousands of hunters were moving into position around the Osaka zone.
Ji-hu stood at the edge of the perimeter with Ara, watching the distant chaos of the zone. Monsters patrolled. Hostages knelt. The leaders were somewhere inside, directing everything.
Ara: That was dramatic.
Ji-hu: It worked.
Ara: You could have warned me.
Ji-hu: Then it wouldn't have been as dramatic.
She almost smiled.
Ara: You ready for this?
Ji-hu: No. But I'm going anyway.
Ara: That's the same thing.
He almost smiled back.
---
The signal went up.
Thousands of hunters moved as one.
The battle for Osaka had begun.
---
END OF CHAPTER 38