Chapter 104: King of Monsters

Miyabe Kuniaki had always lived in the shadow of his older brother.

By the time he became self-aware, his brother was already beloved by his classmates and nicknamed “Mamono-kun.”

He was called that because of his deep knowledge of monsters—mamono.

Mamono-kun was great at drawing monsters. He was always in charge of monster-related things at school.
In elementary school, he always got perfect scores on “Monster” tests. In middle school, perfect scores in “Monster Studies.” In high school, perfect in “Beast Studies.”

For his university entrance exam, he wrote an original fieldwork-based column in the margins of his answer sheet, scoring 110 out of 100 and setting a historical high.

Up until Kuniaki was in elementary school, he was proud of his brother.

That was around the time a local newspaper featured him with the headline: “Heroic Junior High Student! Discovers Cause of Illness in Pouched Sparrows!”
Kuniaki genuinely admired his brother and boasted about him with pride. “My big bro’s amazing, isn’t he?” he’d say, swelling with pride like it was his own accomplishment.

But by the time he entered middle school, his brother became a burden.

Kuniaki was no longer “Kuniaki”—he became “Mamono-kun’s little brother.”

Overflowing with love for monsters, his brother became increasingly famous.
Not that he was actively seeking media attention. In fact, his popularity dipped temporarily when he started wearing a kappa mask in public.

But he was so talented that even the weird mask couldn’t overshadow him.

His brother was a Majin—a magic-wielding elite. Success was almost guaranteed.
He was chasing his passion and producing real results as a student. Naturally, people gravitated toward him.

And Kuniaki? He was nothing special.

Neither Majin nor Transcendent. Just a regular human.

He trained his magical power up to 6K. That’s above average, but not enough to brag about.

Average in sports, decent in academics.

When he was a kid, he used to smile sincerely while chasing bugs with his brother at their grandfather’s place in the countryside.

In middle school, he managed a strained smile.

By high school, even faking it became hard.

Kuniaki was a reasonably capable person.
With honest effort, he could achieve results.

But in the overwhelming presence of his exceptional brother, all his efforts felt meaningless.

“As expected from Mamono-kun’s brother.”
“Did your brother teach you that?”
“Can you ask your brother if I can talk to him sometime?”
“I wish I had a big brother like Mamono-kun.”
“How true are the rumors about Mamono-kun?”

These innocent words from teachers and classmates, spoken with no ill intent, pierced Kuniaki like sharp knives.

They never meant to hurt him. That made it even worse.

It was as if he didn’t exist—only his status as Mamono-kun’s little brother did.

He wished they’d just made him hate his brother.

If only his brother had flaunted his Majin status, his monster knowledge, his charisma, and his fame—looked down on him just a little.

Then Kuniaki could’ve hated him. Resented him. Rejected him.

But his brother was always kind.
If Kuniaki got sick, his brother would cancel fieldwork to take care of him.
If he did poorly on a test and lost allowance money, his brother would sneak him out to the movies.

Sensing the weight Kuniaki silently carried, his brother would take off his mask at home and just be Miyabe Masakuni, not Mamono-kun.

Even their parents never compared them. They always saw Kuniaki for who he was and tried to help him discover his own talents and passions.

But still—the curse was heavy.

Even that warmth couldn’t shield him from the unintentional blades others threw.

So, with internal anguish, Kuniaki chose to pursue animal husbandry.

It would’ve been better if he’d gone in a completely different direction from his brother.
Ironically, he too had a natural aptitude for monsters, just like his brother.
He could’ve ignored it and pursued music or theater, but he couldn’t abandon his pride in wanting to be a brother his elder could be proud of.

After graduating from university, Kuniaki got a job at Kuranom, a company on Oshima, one of Tokyo’s outlying islands.

Kuranom was a foreign firm, and its research facility on Oshima was established to study native Japanese monsters in a safe environment.

Oshima was a remote island, over 20 km away from the mainland Izu Peninsula.
Kuranom had bought up all the land on the island—company housing, shops, everything was under corporate control.

This setup, designed to prevent any incident from leaking outside, ironically hinted at how dangerous the subject of their research truly was.

Kuranom was conducting research on Class-A1 monsters.

It was illegal.

Kuniaki had thought it was just a regular foreign company.
About a year after joining, he discovered why the confidentiality agreement had been so strict.

The Four-Headed Dragon, Tiamat. A true Class-A1 monster, it lay dormant in the crater of Mt. Mihara at the island’s center.

It wasn’t that monster research was being done on the island.
The island was chosen because Tiamat was already there.

Tiamat controlled gravity.
Unusual gravity patterns were observed around the crater, and even its shed scales held gravitational powers.

If it awoke, it would spell disaster. But as long as it remained asleep, it became a treasure trove of research, immensely benefiting humanity.
In fact, its scales and blood had already led to several technological breakthroughs in Kuranom’s home country.

Though now an unwilling participant in illegal research, Kuniaki forced himself to ignore the moral implications.

Research on Class-A1 monsters was almost impossible to come by—even his brother would cry with envy at the opportunity.

If he could surpass his brother through this work, he would no longer be called “Mamono-kun’s little brother.”

Instead, his brother would be introduced as “Miyabe Kuniaki’s older brother.”

Kuniaki quickly rose through the ranks at Kuranom, gaining access to confidential data and deepening his understanding of Tiamat.

Excluding Demon Lords, Tiamat was the strongest known monster.
That it allowed humans to study it while sleeping was due to a near-fatal wound it had suffered long ago.

There were still legends on Oshima from the chaotic aftermath of the Gremlin Disaster. Physical evidence remained.

It was said that the monstrous beast that turned Tokyo into a sea of fire and killed countless historical heroes was born on Oshima.

One day, Tiamat came from across the sea and attacked the giant monster.
They fought so fiercely the landscape itself changed.
The battle ended in a draw, and Tiamat fell dormant in the crater.

Tiamat had been gravely injured and forced into deep slumber.
The other monster, though less wounded, fled the island and disappeared into the sea, avoiding a rematch.

In short, Tiamat’s power rivaled that of the giant monster.
Though wounded, it had claimed the territory.

Three enchanted metal stakes were embedded deep in Tiamat’s old wounds, suppressing its ability to fully heal and awaken.

The research was progressing well.

With sharp insight and deep knowledge, Kuniaki gained favor from upper management and rocketed through the ranks.

Then, one early summer day, something changed.

The temperature was high from the morning. On that unseasonably warm day, Kuniaki loosened his tie as he entered the crater-top research facility.

There, he noticed the resident Pouched Sparrows acting restlessly.

They paced their cages, anxiously placing and removing nesting material from their pouches.

Kuniaki stopped and furrowed his brows, observing them.

If an earthquake were coming, the birds would completely abandon their nests.
But this wasn’t migration season either.

What was going on? he wondered—until a voice brought him back.

“Good morning, Miyabe-kun.”

“Good morning, Dr. Ashizawa.”

“Something wrong? Feeding time?”

“No. The Pouched Sparrows are acting strangely…”

When he said that, Dr. Ashizawa stood beside Kuniaki and observed the bag sparrow.

After watching the restless bag sparrow for a while, Dr. Ashizawa extended his finger into the gap in the cage. The bag sparrow gave his finger a single, obligatory gentle bite, then returned to arranging its nesting materials. Seeing this, Dr. Ashizawa’s expression turned grave.

“Something is about to happen. Not an earthquake. But something close—something massive accompanied by tremors with a foreboding…”

“Volcanic activity!?”

“That’s what I suspect too. We have to warn Maintenance.”

Dr. Ashizawa and Kuniaki, who had both realized the cause of the bag sparrow’s abnormal behavior almost simultaneously, hurried to take action.

A shrill alarm echoed through the research facility, and employees dashed about in a frenzy. Soon after, the ground began to rumble, and chaos turned into sheer madness.

As screams and commands filled the air, and the scent of burning and sulfur spread, Kuniaki was pulled along by Dr. Ashizawa, who had grabbed his file folder and was running.

“Max out the output of the Monster Clamps!”

“What’s the point!? That’s like throwing water on a forest fire! Just shut up and cast your freezing spells—that’s your job!”

“Tiamat is activating! Second and third watchtowers have collapsed!”

“Hey, Tiamat just opened its eyes! It’s over!”

“We haven’t received the evacuation order! Hold your ground—do not flee! I said don’t run!”

With each passing moment, despair deepened. Amid the rumble of volcanic activity, something massive began to stir beneath the earth, and the vibrations shook the ground.

Turning their backs on it all, Dr. Ashizawa reached the airport. He thrust the documents into Kuniaki’s hands, threw off his clothes, and began chanting a spell.

“Upon the rainbow, Gyodowaso—playful Yarlf, spew fire Nite-tette-tate, even the lizard becomes the dragon Naz-Nazgu-Eniyenshoa!”

“Unleash heat and passion Elifa-Noispa, Raanlu—bloodline of the clan, Deeni!”

Dr. Ashizawa recited transformation and self-enhancement incantations and turned into a small dragon, about one meter in length.

There was no time left. From the crater, a dazzling golden beam shot upward like a twisted flame, and a metallic roar made the air tremble.

The crater collapsed. Cracks split the airport.

Before all of Oshima Island was reduced to nothing, Dr. Ashizawa took flight with Kuniaki clinging to his leg.

Just barely managing to cling to the little dragon and take off, Kuniaki looked back in terror.

From the smoldering crater of Mt. Mihara, the golden, four-headed dragon Tiamat emerged—roaring with a spine-chilling cry, spewing strange golden flames, announcing its monstrous rebirth.

“Dr. Ashizawa! Where are we going!? We can’t just leave Tiamat behind…!”

Yelling to be heard over the rushing wind, Dr. Ashizawa shouted back.

“The Oshima research facility is finished! We’re heading to Tokyo!”

“Tokyo!? Why? For what?”

“The four-headed dragon Tiamat, awakened after a long slumber, will devour all life on Oshima in an instant.
But that won’t be enough to sate its hunger. The man-eating monster Tiamat will inevitably attack a densely populated area to satisfy its hunger!”

Hearing this prediction, Kuniaki turned pale.

It wasn’t that he’d never considered the possibility of Tiamat awakening. But unconsciously, he had convinced himself that “even in the worst-case scenario, the damage would be contained to Oshima.”

He examined the doctor’s prediction based on his own knowledge and experience—and horrifyingly, he found no grounds to argue against it.

Indeed, Category-1 monsters can be dealt with.

But if tens of thousands of lives are lost before that happens, can we still call it “manageable”?

Within less than an hour, the evacuees from Oshima arrived in Tokyo.

At the harbor, Dr. Ashizawa dropped Kuniaki off and repeated the plan they’d discussed en route.

“I’m heading to the Ministry of Defense. Miyabe, you go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Do your best to minimize the panic—try to suppress the information and make the right connections. If it’s revealed that Tiamat came from the Oshima lab, we’re done for. I’m counting on you!”

“Yes, sir!”

As Kuniaki nodded, Dr. Ashizawa hurriedly took off again.

There was no time to even watch him go. Kuniaki quickly hailed a Tiger Taxi and told the driver to take him to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As he rode on the back of the magical beast, Kuniaki looked at the Tokyo cityscape.

A peaceful city, soon to become a sea of fire, where countless lives would be lost before the monster was defeated.

He had only read about the catastrophic attacks by Category-1 monsters—colossal beasts—in textbooks.

But now, he could vividly imagine that hellish vision.

His repressed conscience began to ache deeply.

They should never have meddled with a Category-1 monster. He should have insisted they stop the research sooner. Reported it. But he hadn’t.

He felt sick with his own shallowness and foolish ambition.

“…Excuse me. Can you change the destination? Take me to Wakaba City instead.”

Unable to bear his guilt any longer, Kuniaki gave the driver his brother’s address.

Clinging to the Tiger as it changed course, Kuniaki silently apologized to his superior. But surely, this was the right thing to do.

Dr. Ashizawa had ordered him to help cover up the incident. While it would be impossible to completely suppress the information, they could at least obscure the cause or arrange some behind-the-scenes damage control.

But was that really the right course of action?

Wasn’t there something more urgent than self-preservation?

This disaster had been caused by Kuranom Corporation—and by Kuniaki himself.

Before worrying about backlash, they had a duty to minimize the damage.

Kuniaki dreaded seeing his brother, but he had no one else to turn to. The Doctor was already at the Ministry of Defense.

And the only person he knew who would believe an unbelievable warning from a mere researcher and take swift, effective action—was his brother.

Paying the express fare to rush there, Kuniaki arrived in front of his brother’s house in relatively little time.

Just as he stepped off the tiger, took a deep breath, and was about to knock on the door of the Kappa House—

—his brother burst out, and they collided head-on.

“Wah!? S-sorry… Kuniaki!?”

“B-big brother…”

Kuniaki replied, teary-eyed, while holding his nose where he had been hit hard.

As usual, his brother wore a kappa mask, but it was now even more lifelike and of higher quality than before.

Kuniaki had many thoughts—far too many—but now was not the time for his personal issues. It was the time to bow his head, even grovel on the ground if necessary, to ask his brother for help.

Just as he was about to beg his brother to help clean up his own mess, his brother, on the verge of tears, pleaded with him first.

“Please, Kuniaki, I need your help! The Gazer I was keeping in the basement—the Class 1 Kaiju—he escaped…!”

“!!?”

Kuniaki was stunned by his brother’s unbelievable words.

He’d been keeping a Class 1 Kaiju? That brother?

He let it escape? That brother?

The brilliant, well-liked brother, so different from his incompetent younger sibling?

It was possibly even more shocking than the awakening of Tiamat.

But seeing his brother, more distraught than ever before and desperately clinging to him, Kuniaki felt all the resentment he’d carried melt away completely.

He had always understood, in his head, that his brother wasn’t perfect—but now, for the first time, he felt it in his heart.

Once the initial shock passed, he even felt a sense of relief. He’d always suspected this day might come.

Just as the older brother could intuit the feelings of the younger, the younger now instinctively grasped what his brother was going through.

Just as Kuniaki had desperately sought help, so too did his brother now.

By strange fate, they both carried burdens related to Class 1 Kaiju.

They were brothers, after all.

Kuniaki took his brother’s hand, and for the first time in a long while, nodded without a single hesitation, even in this doubled crisis.

“I understand. I’ll help you, big bro. But in return, I have one favor to ask.”

“You will!? Haah, thank god! Anything—name it!”

“Actually, I came to talk about a Class 1 Kaiju too. The one from our lab—the ‘Four-Headed Dragon Tiamat’—is heading for Tokyo. I need your help.”

“!!?”

The situation grew even more chaotic.

The Miyabe brothers, now facing double the trouble, set out together to resolve it.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter