Above Tokyo.
Fighter squadrons that had taken off from the Seventh Carrier Fleet stationed in the Far East streaked across the sky, leaving afterimages in their wake.
Vrrr... vrrr...
The roar of jet engines echoed continuously through the air.
The bone dragon hovering in midair turned its head.
Boom!
At that moment, dozens of missiles trailing long plumes of flame hurtled toward it and exploded nearby.
Boom!
Another deafening blast followed, and several more anti-air missiles struck.
Whoosh—
The bone dragon suddenly beat its wings and shot upward, ascending into the high sky with unimaginable maneuverability and speed, evading the incoming missiles.
Its overwhelming defense relied on consuming magic power within its body to passively activate the various buffs, rune engravings, and magic arrays inscribed upon it.
If its magic power failed to keep up with the rate of recovery and was depleted, its defense would drop drastically.
Under sustained high-intensity attacks, the recovery speed of magic power would fail to keep up with the rate of consumption.
Because its defenses were specially optimized against modern weapons, the bone dragon possessed near-immunity to the kinetic force, atomic energy, shockwaves, and thermal damage of conventional modern weaponry.
In theory, with the current level of modern human military weaponry, it was possible to exhaust the bone dragon's magic power.
In practice, however, it was impossible.
The bone dragon was not a stationary target.
It also had extremely high mobility. The vast majority of attacks were ineffective strikes that barely consumed any magic power at all.
The bone dragon flew above the Seventh Carrier Fleet stationed in the Far East and suddenly dove downward.
It attacked the destroyers first, then the frigates.
The aircraft carrier itself was merely a platform for launching and landing carrier-based aircraft and had little offensive capability. It could be dealt with last.
Seeing the dragon diving toward them, the destroyers unleashed their full firepower.
Immediately after, the naval soldiers aboard felt the hull tremble violently. A cold blue flame appeared at the position of the bridge.
After dealing with the destroyer, the bone dragon repeated the same tactic, successively eliminating the remaining destroyers, frigates, and the aircraft carrier, along with the sailors aboard.
In the end, only the submarines underwater escaped disaster.
Inside one submarine, after attempting to call out several times and confirming that the personnel of the Seventh Fleet on the surface had been completely annihilated, the captain immediately reported to higher command.
From the moment the bone dragon left Tokyo's airspace, the high-level officials of various nations had been monitoring it via satellite, with nuclear weapons placed on standby.
Now that it had flown over an uninhabited stretch of ocean, it was undoubtedly their opportunity to eliminate the dragon.
After holding a secret video conference, a submarine from a powerful Western nation launched a missile armed with a nuclear warhead. It broke through the ocean surface and flew toward the bone dragon.
With a boom, a massive mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
The leaders of various nations stared intently at the screens, watching the satellite footage being transmitted back.
However, after the mushroom cloud dissipated, a scene that shocked everyone appeared.
The bone dragon emerged completely unscathed.
Combat Command Room.
"How is that possible?"
The Far East Prime Minister abruptly stood up from his seat, his face filled with disbelief. Even a nuclear bomb couldn't destroy this dragon?
Was this the most powerful creation of the otherworld goddess?
Even nuclear weapons couldn't eliminate it!
Who else could stop it?
At that moment, a secretary hurried to the Prime Minister's side and whispered, "Prime Minister, the outside world already knows about the otherworld dragon. Public opinion can no longer be suppressed."
The Prime Minister turned his head in a daze. "Didn't I order you to block all information? How did they find out?"
The secretary replied, "Through livestreams."
The Prime Minister let out an angry laugh and slammed both hands on the table. "You idiots! Can't you just ban it across the entire internet?"
The secretary gave a helpless bitter smile. "We tried. It's useless. By now, almost the whole world knows."
At that moment, a military officer suddenly spoke up. "Prime Minister, the dragon is flying back."
"What?"
Hearing this, the Prime Minister looked toward the large screen. The dragon circled once over the ocean, then flew toward Tokyo.
Another officer said, "Our Self-Defense Forces are currently in Tokyo, doing everything they can to seal off and eliminate those zombie monsters. If they encounter the dragon, they're very likely to be wiped out. I propose withdrawing the troops and establishing a blockade in the outer perimeter instead."
"No."
His words were immediately met with opposition from another officer who stood up. "If we withdraw, those monsters will spread throughout Tokyo. There are tens of millions of civilians still in Tokyo. We've paid a huge price to suppress the spread so far. If we retreat now, all our previous efforts will be wasted."
"If the dragon comes back, staying is useless. It will only cause more meaningless casualties among our troops. Retreating now can at least reduce losses."
"If we withdraw, casualties will only increase. The monsters might even spread to surrounding regions. I believe we should not retreat."
"Abandon Tokyo. Use bombers and missiles to eliminate the monsters. If necessary, we can even use nuclear weapons."
"What? Are you insane?"
"This is currently the best option."
"And how do you guarantee the dragon won't fly to other cities? If this monster flies to one of our cities, are we supposed to bomb that city too?"
...
Listening to the officers arguing from both sides, the Far East Prime Minister felt his head splitting with pain.
As the dispute remained unresolved and the bone dragon in the sky drew ever closer, the Prime Minister gritted his teeth and shouted, "Enough! First have the Self-Defense Forces evade the dragon's attacks. At the same time, have the negotiation team think of a way to communicate with the otherworld goddess."
"If the conditions aren't too excessive, we can agree to them."
"And this dragon as well. We can send people to try negotiating with it."
Everyone looked at one another.
"What are you waiting for? Go!"
"Yes!"
The bone dragon that had flown back to Tokyo descended at an intersection. It raised its head and glanced at the three armed helicopters flying toward it but did not launch an attack.
The undead around it also collectively ceased their movements.
Seeing this, the female government official sent to negotiate felt a little braver, though she was still afraid the dragon might kill her outright.
"Th-that... can you understand what I'm saying?"
The female official forced a smile onto her pale face.
They had sent a female official because all known otherworld goddesses were female, and their relationships with one another were unusually close. They did not like interacting with men.
If this dragon was related to the goddess, it should be the same.
Afraid that the dragon might not understand the Far East language of this world, the female official repeated herself in a not-so-fluent otherworld language.
"Surrender or die."
The bone dragon opened its mouth, its voice hoarse and heavy.
Hearing this, the female official's face turned deathly pale. Trembling, she replied, "We can cooperate. It doesn't have to be about ruling. What do you want?"
The bone dragon lowered its head, drawing close to the official, and said in a deep voice, "What I want is something you ants cannot provide."
Nearly frightened out of her wits, the official asked in a shaking voice, "Wh-what is it that you want?"
The man following behind her with a camera was livestreaming the entire negotiation process to the high-level officials of various nations.
Upon hearing the demand for surrender, the faces of the global leaders darkened. Surrender was absolutely impossible. At worst, they would fight to mutual destruction.
If they couldn't kill you, couldn't they at least kill the ordinary civilians of the other world?
The bone dragon turned its gaze toward the camera. "My condition is simple. As long as the gods of this world who are hiding come out and surrender to me, everything can end immediately."
"The humans who have died will also be revived."
The leaders of various nations knew and believed that the otherworld goddess could resurrect the dead. But when it came to the claim that their world had gods, they were utterly baffled.
From childhood to adulthood, they had only known myths. Weren't the gods in those myths supposed to be human fabrications?
Why was the otherworld goddess so fixated on making the gods of this world surrender?
"Th-that... is there any possibility that our world doesn't have gods at all?"
"What if the gods in our myths are just human inventions?"
The female official said.
The bone dragon did not respond. Instead, it turned and looked in a certain direction.
The female official and the man carrying the livestream camera followed its gaze. There were only a few scattered undead wandering on the street.
Just as everyone wondered what the dragon was looking at—
Blue light flared.
A towering blue mech appeared out of thin air, stepping forward with a heavy stride. In the midst of everyone's shock, more and more blue light flashed, and more blue mechs materialized around them.
They advanced toward the bone dragon step by step, their heavy footsteps causing the ground to tremble.
Undead that blocked their path were knocked to the ground and crushed beneath their feet.
"You're a bit slow."
The bone dragon glanced at the Titan mechs surrounding it.
"Just Titans? What about your Heavenly Father, Aharato, and your God of War? Haven't you even started building them yet?"
The Titan mechs did not reply. They continued advancing, their heavy steps quickening until they broke into a run.
Sensing something was wrong, the negotiating female official and the cameraman retreated to the armed helicopter. The pilot quickly increased altitude.
Satellites and drones from various nations captured the scene from all angles.
The dragon called these mechs Titans?
There was also something called Heavenly Father, Aharato, and God of War. Judging by the names, they sounded like extremely powerful weapons.
From the dragon's tone, it seemed it had known of them and encountered them long ago.
A chill ran down the spines of the leaders of various nations.
They felt as though they were coming to understand their modern world anew. Their world also had gods.
And those gods were acquainted with the gods of the other world—perhaps even enemies.
They had investigated the otherworld goddess before. There was no trace of her background at all, and she was completely different from the gods worshipped by the current otherworld inhabitants.
Compared to the otherworld's so-called death apostle loli god, whose strength and regenerative ability were limited, these newly emerged goddesses were far more godlike. They seemed capable of anything.
If their own world had gods and had made contact with the other world earlier, then the opening of the otherworld gate could not have been the first time.
The gods of both worlds had either erased their traces from history or falsified records.
The purpose was to prevent enemy gods from obtaining information about them when the gate opened again.
Many among the global leadership began to speculate wildly.
Back on the battlefield.
Facing the encirclement of the Titans, the bone dragon soared into the sky.
A black mech wielding a katana suddenly appeared and leaped onto its body.
The bone dragon crashed down onto the ground.
Sensing the incoming slash, the bone dragon nimbly rolled aside to evade the blade, then whipped its tail toward the black mech.
The black mech leapt backward and landed steadily.
In the distance, the Thunder Mechs fired blue beams and missiles at the bone dragon, providing long-range fire support.
"Roar!!"
The bone dragon let out a dragon's roar. The undead, as if receiving a command, charged frantically toward the Titan mechs and Thunder Mechs.
Under the assault of the undead, the Titan mechs' movements slowed slightly, but they still resisted stubbornly. They swung their thick mechanical arms, sending approaching undead flying.
The Thunder Mechs continuously adjusted their firing angles to avoid friendly fire.
Unlike the five-meter-tall Titans, the black mech was the more-than-ten-meter-tall Aharato.
The bone dragon took flight once more, spewing a stream of ghostly blue flames toward Aharato.
Aharato swiftly raised its arm, forming an energy shield before it to block the flames.
Seeing its attack blocked, the bone dragon did not waste more magic power. It lunged forward directly, slashing with its reinforced, razor-sharp foreclaws.
Several deep scratches were left across Aharato's chest armor.
Aharato retreated a few steps, raising its superalloy katana to block repeatedly.
The bone dragon suddenly twisted its body and swept its tail.
Its powerful tail lashed out.
The superalloy katana in Aharato's hand was knocked flying, the blade embedding itself into the ground.
Disarmed, Aharato stepped forward, seized the bone dragon's tail, then locked its arms around it and exerted force, smashing it into a nearby skyscraper.
Boom!!
A massive crater was smashed into the building by the bone dragon's body.
Watching the battle between the dragon and the humanoid mech, the Far East leadership felt an indescribable sense of déjà vu.
Ultraman fighting a little monster.
No, it was more like a transforming sentai team combining to pilot a giant robot against a monster.
The bone dragon and Aharato grappled together.
The two sides engaged in the most primitive close-quarters combat, attempting to exhaust one another.
As long as its magic power was not depleted, without the superalloy katana, Aharato found it difficult to inflict effective damage.
Facing Aharato's armor and energy shield, the bone dragon could only deal scraping-level damage with its foreclaws.
But this was, after all, a technological world. Raiden Mei had home-field advantage.
The Titan mechs and Thunder Mechs quickly cleared out the surrounding undead and began besieging the bone dragon.
Massive Electric Agency.
Raiden Mei, wearing red-framed glasses, looked at the data displayed on the tablet in her hands.
After collecting enough data, she spoke in the technology faction chat channel. "Bronya, you can use the Moonlight Throne now."
Little Bronya: "Received."
During the battle, Aharato seized an opportunity, opened the armor on its chest, and fired its chest cannon at the bone dragon.
The bone dragon's internal magic power rapidly converted into other forms of energy and drained away. With its magic depleted, all amplification buffs failed, rune engravings failed, and its defense plummeted.
Finally, Aharato, wielding the superalloy katana, raised it and brought it down in one clean stroke, severing the dragon's head.
The battle ended.
This bone dragon's specialized magical defense against technological kinetic damage had been extremely high.
Without using the Moonlight Throne, the fight would have dragged on for a long time.
Mobius: "Magic really is nice. You can just casually create something this powerful."