Tokyo, Ward 1.
Byakuya's main body had temporarily left Ward 1, but he'd left a Wood Clone behind.
Not that it mattered—even if his Wood Clone did nothing but slack off, the American military couldn't take Ward 1 with One-Tail Shukaku guarding it.
Bullets, shells, drone strikes—nothing could harm Shukaku.
Tank wreckage and dismembered corpses littered the surroundings. Tanks with their formidable armor were as fragile as cardboard boxes before Shukaku.
And this was with Shukaku deliberately holding back. It still hadn't used a Tailed Beast Ball, crushing the enemy with just Drilling Air Bullets and sealing jutsu.
But Shukaku could only guard one position, and the enemy had invaded Ward 1 from all directions.
The investigators of Ward 1 were also fighting against the enemy forces.
"Spent half my life fighting ghouls, and this is my first time fighting a human army. Pretty ridiculous, huh..."
As one of the deputy commanders, Marude sat in Ward 1's command center. Seeing the battle situation heavily in their favor, he couldn't help but sigh.
"An enemy is an enemy. There's no distinction between humans and ghouls."
Akira Mado's tone was flat.
This principle was easy to say, but without personally experiencing certain things, it was hard to truly understand.
It was like how... the ones who'd persecuted ghouls the most were the Washuu Clan, a ghoul family themselves. And the ones persecuting the CCG were the human forces of America.
Though in America, there had long been no conflict between humans and ghouls, because with America's military might, suppressing ghouls by force was trivially easy.
Unlike Tokyo under the Washuu Clan's control, where things had been like children playing house. The most powerful weapons ever seen there, aside from Quinques, were firearms—missiles, tanks, and bombers had never made an appearance.
Except for Arima and Warden Haisaki Shinme, all other Special Class investigators were stationed in Ward 1.
Each Special Class investigator led a team of investigators and bureau staff, defending multiple defensive lines.
Special ammunition made from kagune allowed even bureau staff armed only with firearms to potentially pierce tank armor with a single shot.
In this regard, they had the Washuu Clan to thank for developing various weapons to maintain balance between humans and ghouls. By contrast, ghouls on American soil had been nearly extinct for many years, so their tech tree was completely different from the CCG's.
But America's weapons definitely had a higher ceiling. Nuclear weapons alone were something Quinques could never surpass, not to mention the various high-tech weapons of their army, navy, and air force.
The CCG's biggest weakness was that whether it was specialized firearms or Quinques, both were only suited for medium to close-range combat. They could be kited to death by America's air force and aircraft carriers.
"The side effects of Dr. Chigyou's modified New Proto are much lower now. Even fully releasing its power won't cause backlash anymore."
Koori Ui was now wearing the koukaku Quinque "New Proto" that Dr. Chigyou Kouitsu had custom-made for him. It could be called impervious to weapons—in a hail of bullets, he had nothing to fear.
"It's mainly thanks to Mr. Kirishima's cooperation. He helped us improve the New Proto. Dr. Kanou also participated in the research—otherwise, the side effect problems would have been very difficult to overcome."
Dr. Chigyou responded through the communicator.
Arata Kirishima had been rescued by Byakuya before the fall of the Washuu Clan. Now, thanks to Byakuya, Arata had reconciled with the CCG.
Arata's personality had always been too gentle—that was why he'd been persecuted by his human neighbors and captured alive by investigators back then.
"Mm, please thank Mr. Kirishima for me when you get back, Dr. Chigyou."
With that, Koori Ui focused entirely on the battle.
The situation at their defensive line wasn't particularly optimistic, because the enemy were human beings, not robots. They wouldn't just send ground troops to die mindlessly.
Instead, they leveraged the advantages of modern information warfare, delivering precise long-range strikes against the CCG.
Ui's team had to constantly watch for bombers, drones, and carrier-based aircraft overhead, as well as missiles that could fly in at any moment.
At the same time, they had to deal with the steel tide on the ground. The easiest targets were only the infantry coordinating with the tanks.
Ui himself wore the New Proto, so even if he took a missile hit—as long as it wasn't a direct center-mass strike—he'd be fine.
But his squadmates didn't have such excellent equipment.
"Keep your eyes on the sky at all times. Be ready to relocate your position at any moment."
After leaving these words for his teammates, Ui charged directly into the tank formation.
His koukaku Quinque could ignore tank shells and infantry bullets. His hand-held Quinque could forcibly dismantle tanks. In this situation, he had to step up.
Besides Ui's position, the other defensive lines were in similar situations.
Well-equipped investigators actively engaged the enemy, while the other investigators and bureau staff provided covering fire from the rear.
...
Aogiri Tree's executives and ghouls had been distributed across multiple districts of Tokyo, coordinating with investigators to repel the enemy.
Among Aogiri Tree, only Eto Yoshimura remained in Ward 20. Besides her, Anteiku's members were also defending the district.
The enemy hadn't deployed many troops to Ward 20, since it had little strategic value. They also knew there were some tough opponents here.
"Hello there, Suzuya-kun. We meet again."
Facing the approaching army, Eto appeared quite relaxed, even having the leisure to greet Suzuya across the way.
Suzuya was still an investigator of Ward 20. After Byakuya became Bureau Director, the position of Ward 20 Branch Director had been given to Suzuya.
So for this Battle of Tokyo, he was primarily responsible for leading Ward 20's investigators and bureau staff in defending the district.
"Yoshimura-san."
Though Suzuya knew the seemingly harmless and beautiful girl before him was the One-Eyed Owl, he showed no hostility.
Not only because Shinohara-san's condition had improved tremendously, but also because of Eto's relationship with Byakuya—which had led him to choose to let go of that hatred.
"I never had the chance before, but next time, please let me accompany you to the hospital to visit Shinohara-san."
Eto smiled, her tone sounding quite sincere.
"...Alright."
Suzuya was momentarily surprised.
Eto continued: "Well, I did go too far before. Byakuya gave me quite the scolding too. That night he bullied me so much I almost cried. I've done some very deep reflection."
As she spoke, the topic started going off-track.
"Oh, okay."
But Suzuya clearly didn't catch the implication and just nodded without much reaction.
Touka, standing nearby, couldn't hold back. "Eto-san, you're saying those easily misunderstood things again."
"Am I? I don't think it's that bad."
Eto smiled faintly. "That guy's movements were so rough—am I not allowed to talk about it? Though I didn't dislike it."
"Who says? He wasn't rough at all."
Touka immediately retorted.
Eto was about to continue joking with Touka when she suddenly realized something, her eyes shifting slightly. "Wait... little Touka, don't tell me you've already..."
Touka realized she'd let something slip and instinctively tried to cover her mouth, but it was far too late.
Seeing Touka's flustered expression, Eto's suspicions were confirmed.
"I really didn't expect this. Little Touka was actually so proactive~"
Eto covered her mouth, teasing in a low voice.
Touka's pretty face flushed red, but she wasn't so embarrassed that she couldn't respond.
Instead, she frankly admitted it. "Yeah, I love Byakuya, and I did it with him. So what?"
"Nothing, just feeling a bit emotional..."
Eto didn't continue teasing. "Also, those must be the so-called tanks over there."
They were hiding inside a tall building, observing the distant movements through binoculars. They could also use Hinami's abilities to sense enemies within a certain range.
Now Eto could see the tank formation appearing, and the sound of reconnaissance aircraft flying overhead. Many drones were also surveying Ward 20.
"I'll take point."
With that, Eto burst through the window.
She transformed into the One-Eyed Owl in mid-air, her powerful ukaku propelling her massive body toward the distance.
During flight, she used her kagune arms to slice through several enemy drones. Some kamikaze drones exploded on contact, but even point-blank explosions couldn't breach the One-Eyed Owl's shell. Those shrapnel fragments embedded in her body felt like nothing more than a tickle.
Eto flew to the rooftop of another tall building, instantly drawing the enemy's attention.
Before long, a missile came flying from the distance.
Treating it like a game, Eto didn't even dodge, letting the missile strike her kakuja body dead-on.
"BOOM!"
The missile exploded against her, damaging her kakuja shell.
Fortunately, her regeneration was extremely powerful. In the blink of an eye, the massive wound had completely healed.
"That power is nothing to scoff at. I'd better not tank missiles from now on..."
Eto murmured to herself.
She'd just wanted to test the missile's power, having only heard about it but never witnessed it firsthand.
Now she knew better than to be careless. And this might not even be their most powerful missile—possibly just one they'd used to probe.
If several missiles hit her directly in succession, she wouldn't be able to handle it.
Of course, that was just hypothetical. In practice, it was nearly impossible—she could react in time once she saw the missiles coming.
Eto then ignored the reconnaissance aircraft and drones, flying directly toward the tank formation.
She landed right on top of one tank, instantly startling the soldiers inside.
The fastest reactor tried to use the tank's cannon to blast the One-Eyed Owl, but the next moment, the entire barrel was severed.
The One-Eyed Owl's kagune arms cut through tanks like butter, dismantling the tank in seconds. The soldiers inside had their heads casually sliced off.
The infantry coordinating with the tanks saw this monster and broke into cold sweats, immediately opening fire.
But countless bullets hitting the monster's body had no effect whatsoever.
"This is the One-Eyed Owl from the intel! We've encountered the One-Eyed Owl! Requesting support!"
"How are we supposed to defeat this thing?!!"
"Use the rocket launchers! Bullets are useless!"
"..."
Soldiers with rocket launchers immediately aimed at the One-Eyed Owl and fired. Tank after tank also opened fire on her.
But what happened next drove them even deeper into despair. The One-Eyed Owl moved so fast she was almost invisible, effortlessly dodging every shell. Even hitting this monster was nothing but a pipe dream.
While dodging, Eto dismantled a tank with her bare hands.
These tanks were like Lego blocks to her—she could tear them apart at will.
Suzuya and his team in the building naturally didn't want to just spectate.
"Enemies have appeared behind us too. We'll handle the rear. Please take care of Yoshimura-san's direction."
After a brief instruction, Suzuya led his squad to engage the enemy.
As for the ordinary investigators and bureau staff with less sophisticated equipment, they hid in various buildings taking potshots. Their only worry was a missile that could fly in at any moment...
...
Since Japan had completely opened its waters to America, the aircraft carriers in Tokyo Bay were attacking without restraint.
The various carrier-based aircraft could easily reach any location in Tokyo, putting significant pressure on the CCG. Carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft could pinpoint their positions precisely, meaning an aircraft could fly overhead and drop a bomb at any moment.
But just as the sailors on the aircraft carrier thought they could safely wait out the end of this war, a massive creature that looked like a turtle suddenly emerged from the sea.
It was Three-Tails Isobu. The water was its home field—and unlike Shukaku, it didn't have to worry about overdoing it and hitting friendly forces...
The warships protecting the aircraft carrier immediately reacted, launching attacks at Isobu. But the shells that struck Isobu's shell-covered body did absolutely no damage.
With nothing to worry about, Isobu couldn't be bothered with pleasantries. It knew the largest vessel—the aircraft carrier—should be the primary target. So it began gathering a Tailed Beast Ball aimed at the nearby carrier...
It concentrated yin and yang chakra into a rapidly spinning black-purple energy sphere. Though this energy sphere was smaller than its head, the compressed high-density energy within was terrifying.
The Tailed Beast Ball formed rapidly. Isobu spat it toward the aircraft carrier.
The Tailed Beast Ball traveled in a straight line at high speed across the ocean surface. The aircraft carrier couldn't possibly evade, and shell interception was useless.
The instant the Tailed Beast Ball struck the aircraft carrier, unbelievably terrifying energy erupted, consuming the entire carrier!
...
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