The heavy steel scoop of the sixty-ton bulldozer plunged through the driving rain.
Its jagged metal teeth aimed straight for Kagura Mio’s kneeling body. Mud sprayed in thick sheets from the spinning caterpillar tracks as the diesel engine roared like a wild beast in a narrow alley.
Behind the cracked barrier, five-year-old orphan Kenji buried his face in Grandma Sato’s wet apron, screaming at the top of his lungs. The other children shut their eyes tightly, clutching one another in absolute terror.
Kagura Mio did not flinch. She kept her bleeding arms extended. Her breath was shallow and hot, tasting of copper and smoke.
“Ancestors of the sacred spring,” Mio whispered in a hoarse, fading voice. “Please... protect these children. Do not let these evil men take their home.”
ZAP!
A streak of pure golden lightning ripped down from the boiling storm clouds.
The light did not come with thunder. It came with the deafening hum of a focused energy cannon. The golden beam struck the front of the bulldozer with pinpoint precision.
