As the blast doors softly hissed shut, the sounds of chaos and screams of the frightened quieted down immediately. It was as if James had stepped into another world entirely, where everything was exactly as it had been before they left.

Before whatever the fuck is happening started happening.

His teammates were all sitting around the TV, fiddling with the remote to get it to a news channel that might explain what exactly was going on.

Things had started veering off plan after defeating Callum Wright, and nothing had made sense since. That the Radiant Guild Leader had known about their ambush and had prepared a counter, he could still somewhat understand - it was the reason why he had been so glad multiple teams were ready to be deployed once it was confirmed that their operation was successful.

But what happened after… Seemingly without rhyme or reason, explosions had started going off all around the city, and considering the extremely high alert the HQ was on, James believed it was impossible that it was not a result of deliberate action.

“The Mayor’s Office has sent out an alert to everyone to shelter in place, until the Awakeners’ Association and the National Guard can establish order and, hopefully, capture or terminate whoever was responsible for the string of attacks.” The presenter said in an apathetic voice, as if this was just another Tuesday night.

Considering his age, the man might have been already working in the early years after the Apocalypse, meaning that this much chaos wouldn’t faze him at all.

“What do they think?” James asked, eyes glued to the titles passing below the presenter’s face.

“Terrorist attack on the infrastructure necessary to support our humanitarian operations in other countries.” Daniel replied distractedly from where he was sitting with his phone in hand, scrolling through social media.

“Is that an official thing or just more speculation?” Ezekiel rightly questioned. It was all too common, in the early hours after a disaster, for conspiracies of all kinds to spread unchecked. It wouldn’t be surprising if some had already started circulating.

“Nah, there is an official statement and everything.” The Tank replied, and at that exact moment, the presenter showed them a press release, with an official symbol and all, from the Kashmiri Liberation Force.

Despite the name, the organization was known to all as a terrorist group interested only in creating as much chaos as possible to prevent outside countries from entering the mess that the namesake region had become after the Apocalypse.

They would try and discourage military action by creating internal problems, from hiding dungeons to outright attacks, forcing countries to put resources into solving those issues before they could start thinking about sending India or Pakistan help.

Of course, that kind of behavior, in the old world that existed before the Apocalypse, would have meant swift and brutal retribution from all affected states.

In the new reality they lived in, however, where shipping lanes were often subject to monster attacks, and the people were much less interested in the outside world and more in internal problems, it was surprisingly effective.

“The Kashmiri Liberation Force declared that these attacks were in response to an accumulation of resources meant to aid the Indian Armed Forces in retaking control of the wayward province. This, they say, is unforgivable and required immediate and brutal intervention.” The anchor explained, finally showing some emotion. More than anything, the man looked put out and annoyed, which was something James could agree on.

The United States had long since renounced its most overt foreign intervention policies, but it still maintained some aid programs for countries in difficult situations, especially for food and medicine.

It was well known to everyone that New York would not be used to house ammunition or weapons. For that kind of thing, military ports in the rest of the country were much more useful. Expensive resources like that would also not be left out in the open, undefended.

Which made it much more likely that the things the KLF had targeted and destroyed were truly just stockpiles of food and meds meant for refugees.

“We can now confirm.” The anchor said as the TV showed an aerial view from a helicopter hovering above a destroyed hangar. “That at least some of the targeted supplies were, in fact, just civilian aid. This disproves the legitimacy of the KLF’s claims and puts in serious question the veracity of the entire statement.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

That’s putting it lightly. They just terror bombed New York to destroy MREs and blankets.

James sat down heavily as the weight of the situation finally became too much. He didn’t know all the facts, and he was sure things would become clearer with time, but he didn’t need them to understand one thing: the United States would not stand idly and take this kind of attack without a powerful reaction.

“We’re going to war, aren’t we?” He asked out loud, unsure who he wanted to answer. Or if he wanted an answer at all.

Maria sharply turned to face him, paling in fear. “Do you think that’s what's going to happen?”

James was silent for a moment before he forced his brain to start working again. “I’m not sure we can justify not reacting at all. People will be furious if it turns out it was really just civilian aid that made them attack us.”

Then, thinking about the history lessons he had about the world before mana, he added. “Also, an attack on New York of this size will bring back terrible memories for many people.”

“It depends on how many dead there are.” Daniel interjected, still reading from his phone. “I don’t want to sound callous, but if only a handful of people got hurt, this might still blow over with just a few drone strikes. Maybe we’ll send a few A-rankers to destroy one of their bases.”

What the Tank said sounded plausible, but something told James it wouldn’t be so easy. An attack on New York was not something the Federal Government could dismiss with just an equivalent retaliation, especially not from an organization as disliked and without international allies as the Kashmiri Liberation Force.

“Don’t these guys have the nuclear bomb?” Lauren asked suddenly.

Before anyone could panic, James stopped that line of thought “No. They have some of the bombs, but not the codes necessary to make them function, nor can they open them to force them to work. It’s been proved beyond reasonable doubt that they have no nuclear capability.”

It had been a big scandal a few years back, and he remembered it clearly because his grandfather had followed the investigations daily until it had been announced that the danger was practically zero.

“They got their hands on some after they took over some of the abandoned military bases, right?” Ezekiel asked.

“Yeah, but again, they have no way of using them. The Indian Armed Forces still have remote control over all the bombs. And the KLF doesn’t have the ability to reverse engineer them.”

Lauren sighed in relief. “Sorry, I just remembered that suddenly and got really scared they might start dropping them.”

“The only reason these guys are even still around.” Daniel interjected. “Is that a massive military and Awakener driven operation is needed to reclaim the Kashmir region, and to do so with how high tensions are in that area… It’s just better for everyone to keep that no-man land in between. Less opportunity for a major war to break out.”

“That, and there is an S-rank dungeon somewhere in the the nearby Himalayas. To poke it means risking opening it up.” James added.

S-rank dungeons were the homes of creatures capable of wiping out a country by themselves, if not immediately met with total commitment from the armed forces.

More than once, in the early days, a nuclear bombardment had to be employed to finally clear one.

Conversely, as humanity’s understanding of mana increased, it became clear that the monsters inside the massive Mana Sinks were not likely to leave. The outside world simply did not provide enough for their sustenance, and they risked death if they ventured too far.

Of course, if one spawned in the middle of a city, like what had happened in Guadalajara, there was not much that could be done. The entire population died in short order, the rescue efforts had been impossible in the face of immensely powerful creatures that emerged from the absurd mana concentrations.

Quarantine and observation were the best that could be done in those cases. It wasn’t always attainable, which then resulted in the mess Northern Mexico was in.

That served as a warning to everyone not to poke an S-rank dungeon, if they weren’t absolutely sure they could completely clear it, because the consequences of its monsters spilling from within were nothing short of a disaster for entire countries.

The KLF used their closeness to one such place to avoid getting bombed into oblivion by the Indian Air Force, and they were not annoying enough to require the effort it would take to take them out in a conventional land operation.

“So what can we even do if they are so difficult to deal with?” Lauren asked and James shrugged.

“It honestly depends on how many casualties there are.” He answered “But I don’t see the President letting this go. He’s been down in approval, and this might just be the ride he needs.”

After all, in America, almost everything was based on politics. Even if he agreed that they should answer in some kind of way, James didn’t doubt that President McArthur would use this situation to his own benefit. It wasn’t often that one was handed such an obviously evil enemy to fight, and considering how the land reclamation efforts against the dungeons had not been keeping up with his campaign promises… He might just need the distraction.

“A first casualty report reads as seventy-two dead and a hundred and fifty injured. Most of the dead come from a Union meeting happening next to the warehouse we showed you earlier. Efforts are still underway to pull people out of the rubble, and we expect the numbers to keep climbing.” The news anchor reported gravely. Even someone such as he could still be affected by the carnage, it seemed.

Despite the world being a terribly violent place, with monsters running around and death standing at every corner, humanity had managed to find a certain sense of safety, thanks to the Awakeners’ efforts. They were not so desensitized that such an attack wouldn’t matter yet, it seemed.

James, curious to know more about what people thought, took a page out of Daniel’s book and went to find his phone from where he had left it in his locker. When I put this here, I thought it might break during the fight with Callum. I had no idea what would happen… Now, my grievances seem a bit petty.

Antares, as always, was a fount of information. The mods had seemingly tried to corral the users into one megathread at the beginning, but they had given up after a while, and the attack on New York was the only thing spoken about on the front page.

People were speculating about the real motives behind the KLF’s action, ranging from suicide by America, to them having received the backing of an enemy country.

The latter was the scariest option, but James didn’t believe it was correct. The KLF had tried to entice everyone, from Russia and China, to Nigeria and the EU. They hadn’t managed to do so for years, and it was unlikely they had finally got it.

No, what scared him the most was the aptly named “Military Intervention” thread. People theorized widely about the strength of the response, but no one doubted that there would be a massive one.

America was going to war.