Your Kaiju — Chapter 320 - Head-On Clash — Steel and Blood

"A wonderful farce."

"What do you think?"

Jefferson had watched the whole thing from inside Mechagodzilla's cockpit, and he said it with a smile.

He hadn't expected much from those people to begin with, but getting taken down by two individuals alone was genuinely funny. He still had no idea how those two had even managed to sneak in.

"I think your outcome will be the same as theirs."

A dazzling light wheel was already forming in Natsuki's hand. His gaze swept across Mechagodzilla's frame, calculating which parts to peel off first.

The wind pressure from the surging energy swept through the surrounding air. The glass on the nearest buildings shattered in cascading waves, and the escaping energy trailed through the wind as ribbons of light. Just from the sheer presence of it, anyone watching could tell this giant was something else entirely.

With no time limit on the fight, he had countless ways to reduce this Mechagodzilla to scrap.

The problem was, even tearing it apart probably wouldn't accomplish much against someone this careful. Given Jefferson's nature, there was a solid chance his real body wasn't anywhere near here.

"Are you that loyal to the people behind you?"

"If you give up now, we can at least guarantee your safety." Natsuki looked straight through Mechagodzilla's outer shell and fixed his gaze on Jefferson inside. "Our Cosmic Prison has gotten fairly humane these days. Depending on your conduct, we can even work on reducing your sentence."

After fighting through several worlds, he'd confirmed that not every Traveler was blindly loyal to the system pulling their strings. As long as they weren't the kind of lunatic who just wanted to watch things burn, there was usually a window to flip them.

Compared to spending a lifetime as someone else's piece on a board, serving time in the Cosmic Prison wasn't a bad deal. At least they fed you. And the aliens from all different races made for surprisingly good company.

"Interesting."

"If I ever had the chance, I'd genuinely love to see the legendary Land of Light."

"But unfortunately, I still have unfinished business." Jefferson didn't surrender the way other Travelers had, but there was no particular anxiety in his voice about his Traveler identity, either.

"That's a real pity." The light wheel in Natsuki's hand had solidified. He aimed it at Mechagodzilla's neck, then stepped forward. The street cracked and dented beneath his foot, though his telekinesis locked the shockwave in place before it could spread.

In the blink of an eye, he was already in front of Mechagodzilla. Light wheel gripped in his right hand, he lunged and drove it at the machine's neck.

Taking Mechagodzilla apart here was non-negotiable.

Jefferson responded in kind. This was the first real exchange between them. Mechagodzilla's systems captured the giant's movement the instant it happened, and the back thrusters fired, blasting the steel colossus sideways just in time to clear the Eight-Section Light Wheel from its throat.

At the same moment, energy surged inward and concentrated at the throat. Red light flared.

"ROOOAAAR——!!"

Mid-dodge, the proton scream erupted from its maw and blasted straight at the giant right in front of it.

"WOOM!!"

Natsuki changed course instantly. He pumped more Spacium energy into the light wheel, released it, and caught it with his telekinesis. The wheel shot to the center of the incoming beam, widened, and split the proton scream apart, spinning the whole thing open before it could land.

He came down in one steady step.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!

The split beam sheered outward in a V, hurling every building on both sides of the giant into the air. The shockwave tore through the streets around the collapsing structures and left nothing but exposed earth. Two massive gouges ran through the city's outer edge. A section of hillside beyond it crumbled and fell.

Fortunately, the blast had gone outward rather than into the city. The destruction, severe as it was, stopped short of catastrophic. Most residents in the area had already been evacuated. Those who hadn't made it out in time had been lifted clear of the danger zone by an invisible force before the fight even started.

Two mushroom clouds climbed from the beam's final impact points. The worst of the shockwave never fully expanded.

"You like humans that much?"

"Ultraman."

Jefferson watched the proton scream fall well short of what it should have done, and he put it together quickly enough. The giant in front of him had something to do with that.

"Does that even need to be said?" Natsuki charged again. Mid-stride, his bracelet flashed, and a sharp spear took shape in his grip.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Mechagodzilla's claws spun up, crackling with blue energy, and launched blast after blast at the approaching giant.

Through the ground-shaking charge, Natsuki raised his free hand and threw up a semi-transparent barrier, catching the energy blasts as he closed the distance. He reached Mechagodzilla, dropped the shield, and drove the spear forward.

"ROOOAAAR—, !!"

Mechagodzilla's tail came with it, stabbing straight ahead. The tail's tip was a spiral spike, angled to meet the Ultra Spear head-on.

ZZZAP!

The result was never in doubt. The Ultra Spear punched straight through Mechagodzilla's tail and buried itself in the mechanical structure beneath. Sparks cascaded. The rotating spike froze dead.

Mechagodzilla's materials had limits. Even laced with Titan bone, they were nowhere close to what the Land of Light's technology produced. The gap between Hollow Earth energy and Spacium energy wasn't a small one.

Mechagodzilla's claws swept in toward the giant. Natsuki was already moving. He drove a front kick straight into Mechagodzilla's chest.

THUD!!

The impact radiated outward. The ground fractured beneath them. A row of buildings folded and came down.

He used the recoil to wrench the Ultra Spear free, already setting up his next move.

Mechagodzilla wasn't going to give him the time. The back thrusters ignited, and it twisted its body hard, swiping at the giant's lower half before he could fully stabilize, trying to lock him in place.

But.

SWISH!

Natsuki abandoned the ground entirely. He launched straight up into the sky, moving in a way that had nothing to do with gravity, and left Mechagodzilla's claws closing on empty air.

There was no point in playing fair with this one.

From above, Mechagodzilla was wide open. Natsuki didn't waste it. He put everything behind his arm.

BOOM!

A sonic crack split the air. The Ultra Spear hit supersonic velocity and drove straight down into Mechagodzilla below. It had no time to move. The spear punched clean through its body, pinned it to the ground, and the force of it blasted the surrounding buildings to pieces.

Natsuki looked down at it from the sky.

Mechagodzilla was still trying to charge a proton scream for an aerial shot. He raised one arm.