Gargoyle Supremacy

Carn stood in silence, watching the rift vanish before his eyes, leaving only faint traces of dark energy dissipating into the air. His prey had escaped. He turned his gaze back to the battlefield, surveying the aftermath of his new subordinate's deed.

The Statue of Liberty, now transformed into a holy gargoyle, stood motionless and held her torch high, which shone with golden light. Her expressionless face gazed at Carn, waiting for his next instruction.

Then, as if summoned by an unseen force, a phenomenon unfolded. The spirits of the victims appeared. At first, there were only a few, but within moments, they multiplied, until a vast sea of ethereal figures surrounded Carn and the statue.

Two million spirits.

The sheer number of them took Carn by surprise as they were far exceeding what he had anticipated. The population of Manhattan had been estimated at 1.5 million before the invasion, and he had assumed many had evacuated. Yet more than two million souls emerged.

Among the spectral crowd, a quarter of them wore medieval armor, peasant tunics, and cloaks from a medieval era. These were not modern New Yorkers but ancient souls.

The realization struck Carn like a hammer blow. Many of these spirits were the undead creatures that he and the statue purified. These spirits had been freed from Kaim and Mordred's brainwashing magic.

As the spirits retained all memories after their death, they gazed at Carn and the Statue of Liberty with respect and gratitude. Their collective thoughts and emotions translated to their relieved smile.

Carn's sharp senses perceived their thoughts as they were whispered directly into his mind.

"Thank you for releasing us."

"Please, protect this world."

"Avenge us. Make them pay."

Gratitude mingled with sorrow. Their voices mixed together. Some asked him to protect or look after their relatives in other cities. Many demanded him to provide for their children or parents.

Carn sighed and silently waved his hand, "I can't grant your wishes, but no one is destroying this world. Ya'll rest assured. As for cash support, well, I'll force the government to compensate. The tax money will return to your family, is that alright?"

All spirits brightly smiled and passed on. However, 1.7 million marks of Aether went to the Statue of Liberty. Only 300,000 marks of Aether entered Carn's arm.

Carn clicked his tongue, realizing that the one purifying and avenging the death was the Statue of Liberty. He only contributed a little when he purified the Hudson River.

The Statue of Liberty continued to glow as she accepted the donation. Her gold body got slightly redder as Aether from spirits left behind small red marks on her skin.

"Oh, well. 300,000 is enough." Carn turned to the Statue of Liberty and instructed her via telepathy, "Resume position and pretend to be lifeless. Also, disable your holy fire. Don't waste the holy power in you."

The Statue of Liberty slightly nodded and got back to her former posture, raising the torch as if nothing had happened. Her gold skin reverted back to green copper.

Carn was satisfied. His job here was done, and the country should resume its normal function. Then, Wong could claim her lottery prize, and everybody would be happy… except for one thing.

He hadn't forgotten about Han. Coincidentally, Han told Carn that he would launch an assault at a nuclear shelter today, and he wondered if Han would be fine alone.

'Next destination, Atlanta, it is.'

Carn turned west and prepared to teleport away. However, a dozen augmented humans leaped over the Hudson River and landed on Manhattan. One of them was looking at Carn, forcing him to stop.

Annoyed, Carn wondered if he should spend some Aether and get away from there or if he should break their necks.

Among the crowd, Sergeant Dan was among the elite units. He was the one with a good pair of eyes, and he locked on to Carn, curious of what the stone statue was.

Unfortunately, his comrades in arms trained their guns on the gargoyle. One of which had implanted a computer chip in his left eye, which accessed the ECD database in real time. The man with augmented computer eyes found Carn's data on the wanted list.

"That's ECD-0173, Carn Yunho! All units, be advised! That ECD entity is classified as HOSTILE, and it can teleport! Keep your distance! DO NOT SHOOT FIRST! WAIT FOR REINFORCEMENT!"

Carn overheard the command and bitterly smiled. Since they deemed him as an enemy, he had no plan to remain here anymore. With a thought, he spent some Aether and vanished from their sight, reappearing on top of the Liberty Statue.

With nobody looking at him, Carn peacefully left, heading to Atlanta to meet up with his father.

.

.

"Huh?"

"Where did it go?!"

The elite team scanned the perimeter, but they could no longer find Carn. Dan lowered his M4 and let out a long sigh of relief. He fought enough, and he wanted to go home already.

Among the crew members was Captain Leroy. He also came out unharmed after the meteor shockwaves earlier as he was also a cyborg. He walked toward Dan and patted his shoulder from the back.

"Sergeant, head back to the 2nd line of defense and restore the barricades."

Dan wanted to stay and survey the leveled land with the others, but he had no choice. He thought of Private Tong, who might need help at the moment.

"Yes, sir."

Quietly and nimbly, Dan leaped over the Hudson River like a superman. He landed next to his comrades and began helping the injured.

While bringing his friends to the base's infirmary, Dan thought of Carn. He wondered if the entity was really hostile. Then, he gazed at the Statue of Liberty, which had already returned to normal.

"Are statues… messengers of god?" Dan had a wild theory, but he kept it to himself for now.

Little did he know that spectators in New Jersey also had a similar idea. They uploaded their video clips to the internet.

.

.

The news stations reacted with unprecedented speed. Within minutes of the first clips appearing on social media, they were broadcast across major networks. Footage of the battle spread like wildfire, capturing the world's attention. Experts in various fields, either legitimate or self-proclaimed, dissected the events and offered their theories about what had transpired.

Meanwhile, in a rundown motel on the outskirts of Las Vegas, another self-proclaimed anime character hid there. Arthur, a man of secrets and ambition, sipped a lukewarm beer from a can as he flipped through TV channels. Next to him, an angelic figure rested on his arm, exposing her vulnerable bare body after the forbidden deed.

Arthur's thoughts drifted as he pressed the remote, switching channels aimlessly. His angelic partner had already briefed him about the invasion in New York, and he had anticipated the eastern front's inevitable defeat. In his mind, the fall of Manhattan was merely the opening act of a much larger play.

He had a plan. Arthur always had a plan.

When civilization crumbled under the relentless tide of undead, he and his angel, along with other incarnations stationed around the globe, would emerge as humanity's saviors. They would organize the survivors, rally the remnants of society, and drive back the undead menace. In doing so, they would close the dimensional rifts and establish themselves as the new rulers of the post-apocalyptic world.

As for the current governments and their efforts, Arthur viewed them as disposable pawns. Every failed countermeasure, every botched operation, would become evidence to rally public sentiment and secure his ascent. The blame for the catastrophe would be laid squarely at the feet of the old regimes, paving the way for his new order.

Arthur sipped his beer as his mind wandered through visions of conquest and glory.

But his idle daydreaming came to an abrupt halt when the TV caught his attention. A breaking news segment displayed footage that seemed otherworldly. The Statue of Liberty, glowing like a celestial being, launched golden fireballs from her torch. Moments later, meteors rained down on Manhattan in a spectacle that rivaled the destructive beauty of a nuclear strike.

Arthur sat up. His angelic companion turned her gaze toward the screen for a moment. She then widened her eyes in disbelief.

The video clip replayed. Meteors of golden fire obliterated the undead hordes, disintegrating them into ash. Entire swaths of the city were consumed in the gold inferno, yet there was no mushroom cloud, no fallout, no radiation. The gold flames extinguished themselves almost immediately after the last monster vanished into dust, leaving behind a strange and unnatural calm.

Arthur frowned. This wasn't part of the script he had envisioned. The sheer scale and precision of the event defied explanation, and the implications unsettled him. Someone had intervened in a way that surpassed even his lofty expectations.

"Who did that?! WHO THE F-CK DID THAT?!"

He turned up the volume, and the room filled with the voice of a breathless anchor trying to describe the inexplicable.

The angel sat up as well. She glared at the TV and mumbled to herself, communicating with the other divine spirits and incarnations. A minute later, she got an answer.

"Demon Lord Pebble… It was him."

"THAT KIDDY CARN YUNHO?! AGAIN?!"

At the mention of Carn's name, various emotions stirred inside Arthur. Jealousy, anger, and other negative emotions mixed into a blend, intensifying his hatred of this entity.

Frustrated, Arthur bellowed, "IT WAS ALWAYS YOU, KIRAAAAA!! WHY IS IT YOU, BUT NOT ME?!"