Creeeak—

With the scream of an old hinge, a massive iron door swung open, revealing a hulking man. Various torture instruments could be glimpsed between the door's crevice.

The man wiped the blood splattered on his face with his arm. The smeared blood made his face look ghastly.

"Haah…."

What a beautiful world it is.

He truly thought so. Having lived a life full of insults and disdain while wandering through back alleys, he now felt like he was part of the upper class, enjoying such ‘special’ hobbies.

He waddled forward, his substantial belly jiggling with each step.

Having had enough fun, it was now time to work. He headed outside toward the watch post.

Thud thud.

Weighing over 140 kg, even his ordinary steps produced a heavy vibration.

"Kraah! Spit."

He made his way through the towering wall piled high with zombies, heading to a post where he had to stand guard for three hours. Although it was called a post, could one expect anything intact in a crumbling world?

Sitting atop a dilapidated building, that was all there was to it.

"Yawn. Hey, you two, fight it out. You know mixed martial arts, right?"

"Cough."

"…."

Fortunately, the post had a 'toy' prepared as a welfare measure to alleviate the boredom of the guards.

"Hey? Does what I'm saying make sense?"

At the hulking man's fierce voice, two blood-soaked men trembled in fear.

"Hehe. Of course, there should be a reward. The winner between you two will be exempt from 'punishment' today."

Two men, barely dressed, who were brothers, exchanged complicated glances.

If they could avoid the ‘punishment time’ that felt akin to torture, what wouldn’t they do?

However.

They both shared the same resolution.

‘I have to lose.’

As they grit their teeth and struggled to rise.

"Do I look like some kind of weakling?"

The hulking man swung his fist at them.

"Krack!"
"Cough…!"

The two young men flew from the awakening's metal-like fist.

"You two are definitely confirmed for double punishment time today. Or should I send the one who can’t endure it to the disposal site?"

One young man spat blood and couldn't regain his senses, while the other watched his brother in tears, biting his lips.

How did it come to this?

While he felt deep despair at the zombie outbreak, it wasn’t as hopeless as being captured by the Slaughter Group.

‘Given the circumstances, being alive might be….’

For so long, they couldn’t carelessly end their lives for each other as hostages. However, now they realized it held no meaning.

‘A world worse than hell.’

It was at that moment when the older brother made a resolute decision.

The hulking man's eyes gleamed.

Had this happened once or twice? Of course, he expected the same old tricks from them.

"Hmph."

There were plenty of toys. With the recent cleanup of nearby zombies, survivors had started to crawl out.

So losing a toy or two wasn't a concern.

"Hehe."

As the hulking man approached to strike them down, something caught his eye.

"Huh?"

It was something soaring smoothly above the headquarters of the Slaughter Group, ‘Ecstasy’.

"Is that… a fighter jet?"

The hulking man rubbed his eyes and gaped.

"What the hell is that?"

The object he was curiously watching seemed to freeze in midair, moving in a strange and unsettling manner.

Whooooosh—

Yellow and red particles began to gather around the fighter jet. It looked as if tens of thousands of glowing fireballs were flying toward the aircraft.

It was a sight visible even from a distance. Perhaps having confirmed this from the headquarters, people began to emerge from the buildings. Everyone was looking up, mouths agape.

"What is that?"

It seemed as if all the sunlight in the world was converging around the fighter.

Whooooosh—

The atmosphere was stirred by the shimmering particles, even causing a slight breeze.

The hulking awakener seemed to have an idea but couldn’t quite grasp it.

Ah, he thought he heard a rumor about something a while back…

Wasn’t there a plane that went around cleaning up zombies?

But why was it there? In the sky above the camp?

It didn’t look like it was there for a good reason…

Just as he was suspiciously watching, the particles surrounding the fighter jet stopped moving.

For some reason, goosebumps prickled his skin. For a moment, it felt like time had stopped in the world.

Panels on the fighter jet opened up.

Clank.

No sound was heard.

However.

Vrooom—

With a crackle of electricity, a total of 128 beams of light fell to the ground.

Boom!

"Eh? Huh?"

The 128 red lines extending toward the ground did not remain still. Like psychedelic lights in a club, they moved busily here and there.

"Ah…."

He couldn’t tear his gaze away from the splendidly burning spectacle. The 128 red lines dancing in the sky looked beautiful.

However, to the humans on the ground, they were no different from death rays. The beams swept past only the Slaughter members.

Those who were brushed by the light were inevitably engulfed in flames, turning to ashes. Whether D-rank or B-rank, death was delivered equally.

"Dodge!!"
"Shit!!"
"What is that!"
"Ahhh!"
"My abilities won’t work! I can’t stop it!"

Chaos filled the ground. Despite unleashing all sorts of powers, they had to run around like mad, with the death rays burning them down effortlessly, like slicing through tofu.

"Ahhhh!"
"Ugh?!"

There were occasionally slaves captured, but,

"Huh?"
"What is this?"
"Are they… alive?"
"Ughh."

The beams were like ghosts, avoiding them.

At that point, the hulking Slaughter member realized something was seriously wrong.

"What the fuck… what’s happening?"

His eyes shook with anxiety.

His heart raced at the overwhelming power he had never witnessed before.

"Shit."

Yet, at the same time, relief washed over him.

"If we hadn’t shown up, we would’ve been fucked, right?"

Then he had another thought. If all the executives were dead, wouldn’t he rise to a higher position?

However, his foolish thoughts ended there.

As twelve barrels emerged from the top of the fighter, he could no longer think straight, his body becoming incapable of movement. No, it would be more accurate to say he was obliterated without even leaving a corpse.

***

"Ahhh!!"
"Run!"
"Get out of the way, you fucker!"

Profanity and screams filled the headquarters of ‘Ecstasy’.

Whether awakeners or ordinary people, they were all darting around like rabbits, but one man over two meters tall stood out, gazing up at the sky with a sunken expression.

Having established ‘Ecstasy’ and led countless Slaughters, earning the moniker of the Blue Reaper, he gripped his large sword, trying to quell his sense of futility.

Over the past three years, he had toppled countless enemies, building his own small kingdom. Yet that kingdom he had worked so hard to erect was turning to ashes in an instant.

All because of some unidentified fucking aircraft.

Is this even possible?

It had firepower so overwhelming that even an A-rank awakener couldn’t endure it.

Of course, it had briefly grazed him too.

But he was an S-rank awakener. He possessed the ability to transform his body into a diamond-hard blue crystal.

As soon as the red beam touched him, it scattered, causing little damage. Realizing it had little utility against him, the red beam changed its target.

So he could consider himself safe.

Even so.

"Ahhh! My arm! My arm!"
"Get out of the way!"
"Dodge!"
"Ahhh!"
"Gather toward the chief!"

Beyond that, no one could stand against it. There were no clear strategies. Did they have to let this empty-handed assault destroy the kingdom they had built over three years?

Some attempted to escape, but while dodging the red beams, they were gradually herded toward the center.

It was intelligent and thoroughly ravaging.

At that moment, something caught his eye.

"Look! It doesn’t seem to be targeting us!"
"What is this? Is it coming to rescue us?"

Seeing that it posed no threat to the captured slaves, his eyes sparkled.

"Everyone, use the hostages to block the attacks!"

At his lion-like roar, the panicked Slaughter members began to regain their senses.

"Follow the chief's orders!"
"It’s real! It’s real! It’s not targeting slaves!"

In that instant, everyone hurriedly began to use the slaves as shields to hide their bodies.

"Ahhh!"
"Help me!"
"Cough!"

They raised the hostages' necks roughly to evade the attacks.

Sizz— vroom— sizz—

Indeed, it seemed to pause its attacks once it had hostages in hand.

"It works!"
"Everyone, follow the chief’s orders!"

Of course, not everyone could hold hostages. It was impossible for everyone to share hostages, as the sneaky little rats had vanished somewhere.

"Get out of the way! You rat!"
"Cough! What about me?!"
"You can look for another one!"
"Uh? Ah, got it."

Thus, naturally, only the strong survived.

As the remaining members held hostages, the death rays withdrew.

The blue specter, his eyes glinting, hastily

 shouted.

"It’s now our turn! Those capable of long-range attacks, begin intercepting immediately!"

The leader of Ecstasy, the blue specter, looked up at the fighter jet and smiled grimly.

"Are you trying to put on a show of righteous justice in front of us? Not a chance…."

Just as he was about to say something, he shut his mouth.

Clank— creeeak— clank—

The armored exterior of the fighter began to change with mechanical sounds.

Clank— screech— clank clank.

"…."

The magnificence of the fighter jet revealing its numerous barrels left the blue specter trembling.

No, could it even be called a fighter jet?

At the very least, he didn’t think so.