Chapter 020: Humanity's Greatest Trial

A few days later, Antarctica.

Local time, eleven o'clock at night.

A monster that had been sleeping, without any warning, suddenly awoke. The monster opened its eyes within the massive ice layer.

"Who am I? Where am I? Am I Kaworu Nagisa, or Ghidorah?"

The monster opened its enormous eyes, but a trace of confusion showed in them. Because it could not distinguish who it really was.

Was it the last Angel, or an alien monster from beyond the stars?

It thought it was Kaworu Nagisa, but also thought it was Ghidorah—a very contradictory consciousness.

Yet amid this contradiction, it discovered one thing: whether it was the last Angel or an alien monster, its purpose from beginning to end was only one.

That was...

to destroy humanity and rebuild civilization.

And so at that moment, the contradiction eased, and consensus was reached.

The next second, an invisible force radiated outward from the monster as its center.

AT Field, full power!!!!

The invisible force vibrated; the thick ice layer, under the influence of this field, shattered like paper, large chunks of ice falling layer by layer.

Great masses of white snowflakes danced in the air; cold air currents howled, emitting sharp tearing sounds.

A scene as if heaven and earth were being destroyed occurred in a corner no one knew about.

No, not that no one knew.

At a distant Antarctic research station, a group of people were drinking coffee and chatting inside the station when they suddenly felt the earth beneath their feet violently shaking.

Everyone's expression changed; they quickly got up and walked to the windows.

Through the windows, they could clearly see that on the Antarctic land at the horizon, some earth-shattering anomaly seemed to be occurring: massive snowstorms rising into the air, the earth trembling, shaking, and collapsing.

"What? What's happening?"

"An earthquake? Is it an earthquake in Antarctica?"

"I don't know."

"We should go out and take a look," suggested a petite woman. After some discussion, they left two people to watch the station while the others drove snow off-road vehicles toward the source of the tremors.

The snow vehicles sped along. As they gradually approached the vibration source, they suddenly noticed the sky beginning to change.

Clouds lowered, snowflakes danced, and it seemed as if bolts of lightning rampaged endlessly within the clouds.

The closer the man driving got to the vibration source, the more suffocated he felt, as if an invisible pressure had pierced his chest, pressing down on him, making him breathless, palpitated, and panicked.

Instinctively, he stepped on the brake.

The off-road vehicle left a long track on the snow before finally stopping. The others inside looked at the driver. The man pursed his lips and said, "Maybe we should go back."

Instantly, the vehicle fell into a deathly silence.

No one spoke.

The driver, clutching his chest, said, "I don't know why, but I always feel there's great danger ahead. My breathing has become difficult. Maybe we shouldn't... take the risk."

After a long while, the petite woman who had suggested going out said, "We've come all this way. Maybe we should take a look, just one look."

The others didn't speak, caught between continuing forward and turning back.

The petite woman continued, "Don't you think we should at least find out what's happening ahead?"

The driver hesitated for a moment, nodded, and started the engine, moving forward again.

But before they had gone much further...

Roar!

A heaven-shaking roar came, the atmosphere trembled, the air wailed, invisible pressure surged like a tide, snowflakes flew wildly, and golden lightning in the clouds tore through the void.

Everything seemed to portend something.

The driver stepped on the brake again; this time he didn't hesitate and began to reverse.

"I want to go back. I want to go back right now. We shouldn't have come here." To relieve the heavy pressure in his heart, he complained incessantly.

No one blamed him, because that roar just now was too terrifying. Just hearing the sound gave one a feeling of invincibility. The same thought arose in everyone's mind simultaneously.

The one who made that roar was a monster, a natural disaster, an enemy humanity could not defeat.

Though they had a spirit of scientific inquiry, they had no death wish.

Fear was only natural; retreating was only human. So no one blamed the driver.

Even the petite woman felt the same.

But just as they were about to retreat, a fierce wind suddenly descended. An invisible storm tore through the air, whipping up masses of snowflakes that obscured the windows and everyone's view.

When the car's wipers cleared the snow from the windshield, what they saw was not the pitch-black night sky.

But a giant eye.

A huge, ferocious, terrifying, incredible golden eye stared at the few people in the car, as if observing something amusing. The petite woman fainted without a sound.

The driver's heart clenched; his mind exploded in an instant. Instinctively, he floored the accelerator.

The off-road vehicle sped across the snow at breakneck speed, quickly leaving the giant eye behind. The man drove like the wind and instinctively glanced at the rearview mirror.

Through the mirror, he finally saw the owner of that eye.

It was a dragon's head.

No, no. As the distance stretched, the man gradually glimpsed the dragon's full form through the mirror.

It wasn't one dragon, but three-headed dragon.

Or rather, it was a monster with three dragon-like heads, featuring long necks supporting the heads, two tails, and other characteristics. Its body was covered in golden scales, and a pair of huge wings replaced its arms.

That was a natural disaster from an ancient civilization, the monster of monsters.

Roar!!!!!!

At the same time, the three-headed dragon let out another tremendous roar. Clouds churned, thunder rumbled; amid the lightning and thunder, the monster flapped its wings and gradually took flight.

But as the three-headed dragon flapped its wings, it instantly stirred up violent air currents, forming a hurricane.

Ravaged by the hurricane, the off-road vehicle that had been speeding was flipped into the air.

Then, the three-headed dragon soared into the sky, carrying thunder and storms, quickly breaking into the stratosphere. It surged forward through the stratosphere, crossing thousands of miles, leaving the cold Antarctic behind, heading toward the birthplace of human civilization.

Its purpose was simple: to completely destroy human civilization and establish its own.

It was both Angel and monster, humanity's greatest trial in this world.