Planet X was a dying world long before it was obliterated by the entity its inhabitants knew simply as "Zero."

A race of intelligent pale hominids had ravaged the planet with pollution, deforestation, excessive hunting, and other forms of ecological destruction. It eventually became clear that their world was dying, and a radical change of course was needed to preserve their race. Their government had by then been replaced with intelligent computers who made all of the important decisions in their society. When given this particular problem, the computers came up with the solution of strict limits on consumption.

Initially, many resisted these instructions. Even without a standing government, the Xiliens were a highly stratified society, and those in positions of power continued to hoard and gorge while the rest did without and the planet continued to deteriorate. This resulted in countless deaths from starvation and did nothing to assuage the problem. The computers then took over by force, manipulating the brainwaves of their makers to force them into obedience. The brainwashed masses no longer had individual identities nor even names; those were replaced with serial numbers. The Xiliens survived at the cost of their free will and any semblance of culture, but even then it was too late.

When the Xilien population dropped below one million, the computers commanded them to construct war machines to invade other planets and acquire more resources. This, too, proved insufficient. In Planet X time, it took six years of exploration and plundering to return with enough food and fuel to last four years. The second excursion lasted seven years and earned them resources enough for three years. Supplies were being depleted faster than they could be replenished, even with consumption reduced to the bare minimum. The Xiliens took a risk in putting all of their remaining fuel into the robots for a third mission. However, before they could be dispatched, Zero arrived.

As previously mentioned, the computers had deprived everything and everyone on Planet X of their names. Zero was given this designation because of its great power and wrath; it had the capacity to reduce an entire planet to nothingness. This was to be the fate of Planet X, for the people of this dying world were becoming a threat to the galaxy around them with their plundering, and so a terrible power was sent to intervene. The robots were deployed to fight Zero, but they were easily defeated. A few of them managed to escape the destruction of Planet X, bringing the collective records and knowledge of the Xiliens to elsewhere in the universe. Zero hunted them down one by one with the intent of preventing other worlds from suffering the same fate.


Thousands of years later and thousands of lightyears away, in the Earth year of 1965 AD, World War III had broken out. The human race was spared the horrors of nuclear war, but for how long, no one could say.

The war was brought about, ironically, by the end of the Great Monster War, as it had come to be known. For a decade, the nations of the Earth put aside their differences to fight in unity against a common enemy - or so it seemed. In reality, the old grudges, quarrels, and rivalries had persisted, with many nations continuing to fight amongst themselves. The superpowers suspended their mutual squabbling because they each saw the war as an opportunity to advance their own standing in the world. Once the monster threat was deemed over, there was no more incentive for them not to pursue their own agendas.

The Great Monster War had also seen an unprecedented escalation in weapons technology, particularly during the final two years. The Soviet inventor Arkoff and the Chinese scientist Fang had been arrested for creating giant robots and hybrid monsters to be sold for warfighting. Once the organization employing them both was shut down, Arkoff and Fang were not tried for their crimes, but rather compelled into the service of their respective nations. Japan and the United States of America joined forces in creating their own fighting robots. Other nations such as India, Saradia, Great Britain, and the Koreas joined in the fighting, using either monsters under their control or fighting machines originally built to combat the monsters.

The first city to play host to a full-scale battle in this war was also the first to be attacked by a giant monster ten years prior: Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. China had sought to reclaim Taiwan for years, the Soviet Union wanted to establish a base there, and American-Japanese forces believed it was in their own interest to prevent either. As a result, Taipei would become the site of a protracted three-way battle that lasted for most of September.

The Chinese deployed a swarm of monsters called the Dragma designed by Fang; their heads and bodies resembled those of ceratopsid dinosaurs, their legs and tails appeared more insectoid, and they had powerful batlike wings. The Soviets unleashed the monsters Kong and Titanosaurus, once dead but now revived with extensive mechanical augmentations including onboard weapons and cybernetically enhanced brains. Finally, the American-Japanese forces had three mechs at their disposal: the android Jet Jaguar, the arachnid All-Terraintula, and Cybersaur, a thinly-disguised rebuild of MechaGodzilla.

The battle between these behemoths did not directly involve any human soldiers, but civilians were still present and in harm's way. It all began too suddenly for a proper evacuation, and the more chaotic it became, the harder it was for people to leave the city, so thousands remained trapped for the duration of the battle.

Eventually, all three sides withdrew toward the end of September, having accomplished nothing for themselves but cost the city of Taipei and its people much. Similarly fruitless yet destructive battles took place on the Pacific Coasts of Russia and the United States as well as throughout Oceania. There was a sense of collective trauma among many who had convinced themselves that this scale of armed conflict would never happen again. Amidst the turmoil, they found themselves wishing for the return of a hero who had given them hope since 1960…


Godzilla lay on the shore of the red sand island, sleeping deeply and calmly in the warm sunlight. After years of traveling the world just to fight, he now had an opportunity to relax. Granted, the circumstances that led to his early retirement were less than ideal, but that could not be helped. For the time being, it was refreshing to be rid of all the violence he was unfortunately accustomed to.

Little did the sleeping monster know that his tranquility was about to be broken.

Three other monsters crept slowly toward him, crawling low to the ground. They gnashed their teeth and flexed their claws, intent on ambushing Godzilla and overpowering him in his sleep.

As they closed in, one of them slipped just enough to disturb a mound of red sand, creating a low rustling sound.

Godzilla's eyes snapped open!

In an instant, the three assailants were upon him, clawing and biting. Godzilla reared upright, trying to throw them off, but they clung to him with tremendous strength, one to his left leg, another to his right arm, and the third to his tail. They were so vicious and so powerful!

Godzilla staggered toward the center of the island, desperate to escape his opponents before they tore him to pieces. Each step was more laborious than the last, and it seemed that after many years he had finally met his match. He sank to his knees and collapsed onto his face, overwhelmed by the relentless assault.

As he lay motionless, Godzilla's attackers watched him closely in confusion. Had they, of all the mighty monsters in the world, felled the mightiest monster of them all? One of them stepped closer and poked Godzilla in the side, prompting from him a snorting growl - a kind of chuckle.

Godzilla's three grandchildren pounced on him again, and the big beasties rolled about playfully in the red sand, foregoing play fighting this time altogether in favor of poking and tickling.

The young monsters were the offspring of Godzilla's partial clone Zilla and Zilla's mate Komodithrax. As a result of Godzilla's unstable genes, each of the juvenile creatures had significantly different appearances. Gojirin was the spitting image of her grandfather save for her pink scales and rounded red dorsal plates, while Minilla had a rounder and stumpier build, his own spines little more than barely visible bumps against his smooth blue-grey skin. The bright green Godzooky had his grandfather's face, his father's conical spines, his mother's overall build, and one trait unique among his lineage: membranous wings on his forelimbs! They were not developed well enough yet to carry him far or fast, but he could glide well enough.

Godzilla and the little ones rolled playfully about, while the Seatopian Royal Dragons, Baragon and Mogu, watched in amusement. They had both helped in the raising of the young Godzillas, with Mogu giving Godzooky flying lessons while Baragon taught Gojirin and Minilla how to burrow. The most important lessons, of course, came from their grandfather. Their play fights were in preparation for real battle should they ever encounter it, although he hoped that need would never arise.

Far beneath the surface, Kumi Honda was also watching the Godzilla clan play through what the Seatopians called a Gem of Sight, a translucent orb of Muite crystal which allowed her to see wherever she wished. She chuckled at seeing the family patriarch pretend to be felled by his adorably feisty little hellspawn.

Minilla suddenly began to cough, and the rest of his family stopped playing to watch. The little grey lump of a beastie caught his breath, inhaled deeply, and opened his mouth wide. A ring of white smoke shot out of his mouth, traveling about the length of his arm before dissipating out of sight.

Godzilla seized Minilla in his arms and gave him the biggest bear hug the world had ever seen, and his siblings joined in enthusiastically, celebrating Minilla's first successful use of his atomic breath. Gojirin could emit a crimson spiral ray, while Godzooky had his father's green flame. Minilla had been much slower to gain this ability than either of them, and now his family was so very proud of him for making some clear progress. Minilla hiccupped and smiled bashfully.

Honda smiled, too, but the pride she felt was soon replaced by the same sense of dread that had dominated her thoughts ever since she was forced to flee the surface world several months earlier. She had kept watch over the doings of mankind above and the carnage wrought by this new world war. She had observed the terrible outcome of the Taipei battle through a Gem of Sight, and on this day, Honda requested an audience with Queen Salno and her advisors.

The Queen's meeting chamber was not particularly ornate, at least not compared to the lavish ornamentation that was standard throughout Seatopia. It could not even be truthfully called a throne room due to the lack of anything that rose above the level of merely a rather nice chair; the Queen's seat was no higher than anyone else's, and the table around which the chairs were placed was perfectly round to avoid placing any one individual at its head, emphasizing the belief that every person's contribution to discussion was equally valued.

To either side of her majesty sat her advisers Suton and Malmez; the former possessed an empathic connection to humanity at large, the latter clairvoyance and a more cynical outlook on the rest of the world. Also in attendance were two more denizens of the surface world, Nelliyattu and Coogler, former followers of the dark fairy Belvera who had led them to commit deeds for which they would not be easily forgiven by those above. Nelliyattu, like Honda, longed to return to the world they knew, but was less optimistic that doing so would ever be possible. Coogler was even more pessimistic and favored remaining hidden.

Queen Salno introduced the meeting herself. "Today, we meet to discuss the issue of the ongoing war between the nations of Earth. Honda, it is by your request that we have convened here. Please, begin."

Honda nodded and addressed the others. "As we have observed using the Gems of Sight, this war is rapidly escalating. Millions have already been killed, mostly civilians, and at this rate, tens of millions more will perish - unless nuclear weapons are used, in which case civilization as we know it may come to an end."

"As you know it," Malmez interjected. "This surface war poses no more threat to Seatopia than any previous one has."

Honda glared at him. "And what about the death and destruction caused above? Does their anguish mean nothing to you?"

Suton chimed in. "I must side with Honda. I can feel the fear that grips the world every night. I have never felt it so strongly before, even in that deadly conflict twenty years ago. I cannot bear to listen and do nothing. If we do not intervene…"

"Life will go on," said Malmez. "It always does. We have seen countless bloody conflicts throughout the millennia, and never have their losses been too grave for them to recover. China has been the site of wars leaving millions dead every five hundred years or so, but the nation has endured."

Nelliyattu now spoke. "But those deaths were not inevitable, and even now, we can take action to stop the carnage occurring."

Coogler grumbled something to himself.

"Speak up," said Salno. "I want to hear what you have to say."

Coogler groaned. "I really don't see what can be done. People are just violent. If we intervene now, there will just be more and more wars on into infinity. It makes no difference."

Nelliyattu scolded him. "That's easy for you to say! My parents were in Taipei during the battle, and now they're gone, along with most of the city!"

"My parents died, too. Twelve years ago. They were standing outside after dark when a cop saw them and went straight for his gun without a word. They weren't killed by giant monsters or enemy troops. No, shot by a cop ten feet from their own porch for no reason. He literally gave no reason. And that shit happens all the time! Do you think a world that works like that is going to learn? I say screw 'em all! I have nothing left to lose!"

Malmez nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Our efforts would be wasted on an ungrateful and stubborn world."

Honda clenched her fists. "And what about you? Wasn't it war that led to Seatopia's creation?"

"That it was," Suton concurred enthusiastically. "We learned our lesson, but only after suffering the grief of war ourselves. Even now, we are not so different from the rest of the world."

Malmez shook a disapproving finger. "All the more reason not to get involved. If we join in the fighting, we will simply be dragged back into the fray and again become a part of the scourge."

Nelliyattu was losing patience. "Fine! If not for their sake, do it for ours and yours. Nuclear weapons might still be used, and if they are, the oceans you still depend upon for water and sustenance will be poisoned by fallout. As long as we share the same planet, we will share the same fate."

Malmez chuckled. "We need not fear the nuclear fire. I have foreseen no such outcome."

Suton countered defiantly, "Then tell us what you do see, soothsayer! Well? Speak! Has your tongue turned to stone? Ah, yes, that's right. Shall I tell our new friends what your powers are really good for, or would you prefer to do the honors yourself?"

Malmez cleared his throat. "What dear Suton means is that my foresight is based on projected probability based on all known factors."

"Known to you, that is," Suton clarified for him. "The Gems of Sight and my telepathy allow us to see much, but there is no accounting for the unknown."

"Suton, have I ever made a prediction that was wrong before?"

"Strictly speaking, no, but you have failed more than once to foresee the real outcome. Maybe this won't end in nuclear war, but you can't tell us for certain that the surface dwellers won't find some other means of scarring the Earth."

Malmez folded his arms. "Let them. Maybe we can take it back from them once they've self-destructed."

Suton gawked at him in disgust. Nelliyattu shouted, "Those are our loved ones you're talking about, you monster!"

Malmez jumped to his feet. "Call me 'monster,' will you? Well, I see in you a foolish child! A naive idiot!"

Honda had more that she yearned to say, but did not get a chance. Queen Salno raised her hands and called for silence. "That is enough. I expected that emotions would run high, but I had not expected this meeting to be so counterproductive. I propose that we close this meeting for today, allow a night's rest to cool our tempers, and reconvene tomorrow to discuss this matter with the maturity and objectivity it requires."

The assembly responded with reluctant sighs and displeased murmurs, but none argued in favor of continuing. The meeting ended with plenty of resentment but no indications of progress having been made.

After leaving the meeting, Honda decided to visit her friend Keiko, whose psychic visions she placed slightly more faith in than the dubious prophecies of Malmez. Indeed, Honda had wanted to bring that up in the meeting but was reluctant to lead with it. Despite how welcoming the Seatopians had been, it was clear that many of them were more concerned with maintaining their nation's autonomy than the survival of the outside world. Even the kind and thoughtful queen saw the war as so far removed that addressing it could wait until another day.

Honda had not yet reached Keiko's chamber when she felt a powerful psychic disturbance. She sometimes felt it when Keiko entered one of her trances and saw visions, but judging by its intensity, Honda knew that it was something frightening for her. She raced to the chamber and saw her young friend writhing on the floor. Honda placed her right hand over her tear-shaped Muite pendant and held her left out toward Keiko, channeling calming psychic energy. As Keiko's breathing slowed and her spasms subsided, Honda leaned close and whispered, "It's okay. I'm here. Calm down."

Keiko opened her eyes, trembling and sobbing. "Something's coming! I don't know what it is, but something's coming!"

"Shh, shh. It's okay. What happened?"

"I saw…I saw cities burning, people screaming, black clouds…and something golden soaring across the sky!"

Keiko was overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of her vision. Honda laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You need to rest. You can tell me about it later."

As she watched Keiko drift off to sleep from the exhaustion of her ordeal, Honda thought back to the argument over Malmez's prediction. Was he wrong and this was an impending nuclear holocaust? Or was this something else, like Belvera up to her usual old tricks again?


Meanwhile, something was very wrong on Infant Island.

For months, the people of the island had waited excitedly for the cocoons of the Mothra twins, Ame and Take, to burst open and reveal the beautiful imagoes within. However, during the final days of pupation, one of them began showing strange signs. The powdery white silk strands of the male Take's cocoon flaked away bit by bit, replaced by black scales and violet crystal shards. While his sister Ame seemed to be developing normally and giving off warm energy, Take gave off tremendous, pulsating power, but no psychic reading, as if his mind was gone.

After watching the process for months, Lora confronted her sister Mona. "You know something about this, don't you?"

"About what?"

"About Mothra Take! Something has taken over him. A disease or a curse, it seems. All eyes are on the cocoons…all but yours. You know. Tell me."

Mona sighed and sat down in her meditation spot at the apex of the pyramid. "Belvera has infused Take with the power of her Batorite crystals."

Lora gasped. "Mothra protect us! What are they doing to him?"

"Belvera's will is changing his form, turning him into something else. A new line of Mothra to bring balance to this world."

"Balance? You mean destruction! What has gotten into you?"

"Lora, my lovely sister, surely you can't be blind to what is happening. The world is sick and dying from the plague of war. We cannot allow the Earth to die. The Great Moths will go out into the world to secure our future. Ame will be the light of peace, and Take will bring swift justice to those who willfully violate that peace."

Lora backed away slowly, shaking her head in disbelief. "Mona…this isn't you! You're talking just like Belvera!"

"No, no! Belvera is overzealous; I know that much. But she is not mad, and we ought to recognize the truth in what she says. We should stop trying to deter Belvera's rage and instead give it direction. We have a chance to make up for all the times we did nothing while the humans…"

Their argument was interrupted by a deafening rumble. The Wise Ones looked from their perch to the ledge whereupon the cocoons sat. Take's was crumbling apart, unleashing streams of white fire as it did so. From out of the burning mess flew Take, nearly unrecognizable as a Great Moth. His body was covered not by soft white fuzz but with a hard black exoskeleton reminiscent of obsidian. His eyes were not baby blue but a burning red, glaring above jagged mandibles and below a crown of golden horns. His wings bore the same red and yellow patterns as his mother's, yet these too had a jaggedness to them and appeared almost reptilian.

Lora and Mona called to Take, but he could not hear them. He only heard the voice of Belvera, calling to him from afar. "Rise, Battra! Fly to your mistress! The time has come for you to fight!"

The black moth's wings made a humming sound like steel beams swung through the air as he flew straight up and took off like a shot, creating powerful wind gusts that knocked all the onlookers below off their feet.

Lora dropped to her knees and wept at the sight of the beautiful moth corrupted into a monster. Mona only watched with silent apprehension. She reasoned that Belvera must not have intended total destruction due to her having left Ame's cocoon to develop normally. This was not the end of the world, but a new beginning.


An unnamed island midway between mainland China and Taiwan was the site of the operational headquarters for the Garuda Alliance, the army of several allied Asian countries led by China. No troops had yet been deployed; the war was still being fought almost exclusively by monsters and machines. Therefore, the main purpose of Garuda HQ was to monitor and direct the activity of the Dragma.

Professor Fang was the one responsible for creating these monsters, but they were unable to control them using the same devices that Fang had used during her time working with Mister Arkoff; he had sabotaged the technology so that only the Russians could use it. Instead, they had found a different means to control the Dragma: Derrick Cramer, a former follower of Belvera who left her out of fear and was now working with the Garuda for profit. The Dragma had been engineered to have negligible willpower or self-preservation instincts, allowing them to be easily controlled by Cramer, who retained his Batorite pendant and with it the psychic powers Belvera had bestowed upon him.

Little did any of them know, however, that Cramer's betrayal had in fact played right into Belvera's hands. She could read his mind without his knowing and thus had learned how to decimate Garuda with one fell swoop.

A radar monitor called out to General Wu, "Unidentified flying object approaching from the East. Distance: 400 kilometers. Speed: 3000 kilometers per hour."

"Size?" asked Wu.

"100 meters wide. Movement pattern suggests a creature. Speed increasing to 3500 kilometers per hour."

Wu looked to Fang and Cramer. "You know what to do."

Fang nodded. "Units 11 through 15. Mister Cramer?"

"On it." Cramer tapped his Batorite pendant, and far away, five Dragma took formation and made a beeline for the approaching threat.

Battra, however, was no ordinary opponent. He sensed the Dragma before he saw them. His eyes lit up purple, emitting beams of Batorite energy that traveled faster than light. Even from such a long distance, Battra could target the Dragma with perfect accuracy, and the speed of the energy attacks made them impossible to avoid.

The foes were 100 kilometers apart when they began their advance on each other. That distance had shrunk to just over 50 when the first Dragma was cut to ribbons by Batorite beams. Fang had designed them to regenerate, but Battra's attacks completely destroyed their target. The remaining Dragma had barely realized what was happening when the second attack came and another of their number fell. Then a third, then a fourth. The fifth had finally come close enough to see its quarry and opened its mouth to unleash an energy attack of its own, but a Batorite bolt when straight down its throat, burning the monster to a crisp from the inside out.

Cramer felt their lives end, but still did not realize just what had killed them. "General, I…they're all gone! The Dragma, they're dead!"

Fang gawked at him. "How could that be? Our enemies haven't killed a single one of them so far!"

Wu inquired, "Did you see it? What was it? Jet Jaguar? Another monster?"

"I saw it, but…" Cramer shuddered. "But I didn't recognize it. It was like a giant black moth."

"General!" the radar monitor called out. "Target is 100 kilometers out and still heading directly toward us!"

Wu hid his fear with a defiant glare. "Activate all plasma cannon and prepare to fire as soon as the target is in range!"

The order had barely left his lips when the first Batorite bolt found it mark. The gun batteries were wiped out before they could fire. The rest of the base followed suit.

Battra arrived over the island once it was already charred beyond recognition. Only a handful of survivors remained amongst the wreckage of the base, including Fang and Cramer. The latter looked up in horror as three figures, one small but to him intensely frightening, floated down from atop Battra and straight toward him.

Belvera grinned maliciously at her apostate from the back of her new steed, a winged cat-like creature composed of pure Batorite. "Hello, Derrick. I see you found your own use for the powers I gave you."

Cramer fell to his weakened knees and grovelled before the dark fairy. "Please, Belvera! I was afraid! I didn't mean to-"

"Oh, spare me! Even Mavia didn't make such a miserable little display of herself before I snuffed her out. You served your purpose, and now I am done with you. Krystalak!"

Belvera's steed spewed forth a torrent of crystal energy; on contact with it, Cramer's body shattered into crystalline dust which slowly drifted to the ground, reflecting blood red amongst the fires of the base. Belvera's two remaining followers were present alongside her; one, a man, stepped forward to retrieve Cramer's pendant from amongst the dust.

Fang watched from behind a standing portion of wall and gasped in horror. Belvera, sensing her presence, directed Krystalak to disintegrate the debris between them with another crystal beam. Fang, exposed and vulnerable, froze in place.

"Don't be shy!" said Belvera with a sickly sweet smile. "I know who you are. You sold Antonio the Batorite."

Fang had long since dismissed Antonio and the Seekers as a bunch of crazy cultists. The idea that they were actually onto something seemed so preposterous that her brain simply rejected it. So staggered and stunned was her facial expression already that this final mind-blowing detail elicited only a pronounced blink.

Again Belvera chuckled. "Yes, it's a lot to take in. This is not an everyday encounter, at least not in this world as you've known it. Very well, I'll give you the short version: I'm here to make it all end. War. Nations. Politics. All the forces of division and human strife that you have callously profited by. Don't despair; you may profit by the change I bring, as well, if you only join me."

The male follower approached Fang, holding out the amulet for her to take. Fang looked at the thing with uncertainty. She raised her eyes toward him and saw a face she recognized. At first she thought the smoke, flame, and ash in the air, combined with the confusion of the entire scene, was playing a trick on her vision, but gradually she realized that the man was in fact Doctor Adam Yuma. What was such a renowned philanthropist and pacifist doing in the company of what she could only guess at being a god of destruction?

Deciding that she had to know more, Fang took the pendant between two fingers but did not remove the necklace from Yuma's grasp. As she touched it, her mind was flooded with psychic visions. Fang saw the entirety of Belvera's plan. Though the fairy claimed to have come to end war, this was hardly the case. With the aid of Battra and any other forces she could rally to her side, Belvera would wage the bloodiest war Earth had ever seen, wiping out entire cities or nations if the need came, until every opposing voice had been silenced. That humanity would fight this conquest until they lacked the resources and manpower to fight was accounted for in the plan; it would ensure that everything they had built would be wiped out, sending them back to the stone age. In effect, Belvera meant to revert the world to a blank slate.

Fang released her grip on the pendant with a cry of grief and disgust. Belvera and her followers looked at her in surprise, especially Yuma, who had known her only to be cruel and greedy. However, Belvera soon came to understand; she felt in Fang's soul a love for the world that she occupied. She may have contributed to the chaos of war and gained by it, but in the face of the annihilation of everything she knew, that love in Fang's soul awoke with a defiant scream. The so-called mad scientist would have no part in this scheme.

For a moment, Belvera considered blasting Fang out of existence as she had done to Cramer, but she hesitated. If such love could exist in so black a heart, then was the world in such a dire place as Belvera imagined? Was the violence she planned truly necessary? Was there another way? Yuma's thoughts were similarly captivated, and he began for the first time since his last encounter with Honda to doubt his decided course.

As Belvera tried to reach a decision as to what action to take, she suddenly became aware of a presence far above her, a spacetime disturbance outside the Earth's atmosphere. The nature of the phenomenon dawned on her presently, and she forgot her momentary dilemma. Motioning toward her followers, she told them, "Come with me. We must attend to other matters." She looked toward Professor Fang, still in a state of shock, and decided to let her be, at least for now.

Belvera flew into the sky, followed by Battra and her followers, although Yuma stayed a moment longer than the rest, undone by the depth of real pain in his old enemy's eyes. Even as he took flight, he could not shake the guilt and doubt that had come over him. He missed his friend Kumi and wanted to see her again, to find solace in her company…but was it too late for that?

Yuma and Belvera's other remaining follower, Velázquez, formed energy shields around themselves as they passed through the atmosphere behind their leader and her pet monsters. As the air dissipated and they could see into space, Yuma was shocked to see what was waiting for them just beyond Earth's atmosphere: an interdimensional rift, held open by a glowing energy field, and emerging from it, a multitude of alien spaceships.

Belvera's reaction was one of mere irritation. She had expected this to happen, but had hoped it would not be so soon. Oh, well. Her plans would simply need adjusting to accommodate this turn of events.