The disaster that had descended upon Tokyo immediately spread across the entire country.
Because the earlier civilian evacuation from Tokyo had already stirred rumors, all of Japan was paying close attention to Tokyo's situation.
Not only were there official large-screen projections, but also many death-defying, hype-seeking media outlets that had stayed in Tokyo alongside the CCG investigators.
Through various methods, they presented the appearance of the "Dragon" to the world.
"Is this for real?! I thought it was just an earthquake, how could such a terrifying monster emerge from beneath Tokyo?!"
"Is this the end of the world? Who could possibly stop such a huge monster? It's practically the size of all of Tokyo! Even the CCG probably can't do anything..."
"We're screwed! Totally screwed! That giant creature looks like it can move, it'll destroy all of Japan in no time!"
"Screw you! Quit fearmongering already. We have to trust in our country."
"..."
With the emergence of the "Dragon," all of Japan instantly plunged into chaos.
Especially those who had just evacuated from Tokyo in the past few days, they were particularly shaken.
Thankfully, they had obediently left at the time. Otherwise, they'd be dead by now.
In the original story, after Kaneki Ken "dragonized," he devoured countless humans and ghouls alike all across the Tokyo area.
"W-Wait! What are those pink things?! What kind of monsters are those?"
"Ghouls? No, no ghoul looks like that..."
"They look so disgusting! And they're wreaking havoc everywhere, it feels like they're even scarier than ghouls!"
"..."
Many people had already noticed the large number of monsters appearing on the screen.
They were all identical humanoid creatures, roughly the size of normal humans, but grotesque in appearance.
Their entire bodies were pink, with bulging muscles. Their faces had nothing but a mouth full of hideous teeth and no other facial features.
These children of the Dragon.
They possessed monstrous strength like ghouls but seemed to lack intelligence, doing nothing but destroying everything in sight on the streets.
However, according to what's known from the original story, the "Children of the Dragon" go through constant generational alternation and rapid evolution.
Not only do they become increasingly human-like in appearance, but their intelligence also continuously increases.
In the original work, within just a few years, some among the Dragon Orphans had already developed intelligence comparable to that of a five-year-old human child, capable of leading other "Orphans."
This even led to a certain hypothesis; that perhaps a "Dragon War" had occurred long ago. When the parent body died, the "Children of the Dragon" became "Dragon Orphans."
Then, after hundreds or even thousands of years of relentless evolution, these "Abandoned Children" became ghouls who shared the same appearance as humans.
That might also be why humans who inhale too much of the Dragon's toxic gas end up turning into ghouls.
"What terrifying monsters... Byakuya-nii and Eto-nee won't be in danger, will they?"
Seeing such horrifying scenes on the television, Kirishima Touka immediately spoke with concern.
The Kirishima family and the little Mayu had been relocated to a certain place. Although it was cramped, it was just barely livable.
"Papa... Mama..."
Besides Kirishima Touka, Mayu was also very worried about her "Papa and Mama."
"They'll be fine. Byakuya and Eto are both really strong, they definitely won't be in danger."
In truth, Kirishima Hikari wasn't all that confident either, but she absolutely couldn't let Touka and the others worry too much about this.
She knew very well how strong Byakuya and Eto were, but this time, the "Dragon" was something utterly unprecedented, she had no idea whether Byakuya and Eto would actually be able to handle it.
Touka and Mayu immediately felt much more at ease.
Washuu Estate.
Washuu Tsuneyoshi and Washuu Yoshitoki also understood what had happened the moment the ground began to tremble violently.
They were both seated calmly in the study, along with Nimura.
The "Dragon," with their clansmen at its core, should still retain a certain degree of rationality and wouldn't actively attack the Washuu estate. The only real variable was the "Children of the Dragon" flooding the streets.
Washuu Tsuneyoshi and Washuu Yoshitoki were staying here to protect Nimura.
"What's going on outside? Why is there so much commotion?"
Nimura wanted to go out and see what was happening.
There was no way this kind of upheaval was just a normal earthquake!
But Washuu Tsuneyoshi wouldn't let him go out.
"It's extremely dangerous out there. You can't just go out as you please."
"But... Byakuya-nii and the others..."
Nimura immediately spoke in worry.
"He's the enemy of our Washuu clan. As the 'King of Washuu,' are you really concerned about the enemy?"
Washuu Tsuneyoshi said.
"No. Byakuya-nii is my benefactor, he's also the person I admire the most."
Nimura immediately refuted.
"Well, I suppose that makes sense, given how long you've been around him."
Washuu Tsuneyoshi could understand his son's mindset. "However, from this moment on, it is once again our Washuu clan's time to rule. Those people like Byakuya won't be able to defeat a monster like that."
Upon hearing that, Nimura figured that something truly unusual must be going on outside. "I believe Byakuya-nii will win!"
"Then we'll just have to wait and see..."
Washuu Tsuneyoshi said indifferently, "If our Washuu clan ends up losing, you can kill me or do whatever you want. You'll then rebuild a new Washuu clan from scratch."
"Otherwise, I will continue to prioritize the interests of the clan."
Washuu Tsuneyoshi wasn't so confident as to believe they would definitely win, after all, the Dragon held many uncontrollable variables.
It's just that, from his perspective, the odds of victory were still fairly high.
"Mm..."
Nimura nodded slightly.
Though he said aloud that he believed in Byakuya-nii, deep down he wasn't entirely sure either.
All he could do was sit here anxiously and wait.
The appearance of the Dragon and it's children caused a widespread panic to erupt across all of Japan within just a few minutes.
The Japanese government, under pressure from the public, had to deploy the military to suppress the "Dragon," but in reality, it was completely ineffective.
The military wasn't even as useful as the CCG.
Perhaps a full-scale nuclear bombardment would be the only way but whether Japan even possessed nuclear weapons was another matter altogether.
However, very soon, something happened that gave people a spark of hope.
That was the news that the CCG's ghoul investigators had joined forces with a ghoul organization called "Aogiri Tree."
The media outlets that had stayed behind at the CCG scrambled to report on this development.
Sure enough, it instantly triggered a nationwide sensation.
"Aogiri Tree? I heard they're supposed to be the strongest ghoul force over in Tokyo, right?"
"Seriously? I remember Tokyo was already the place most overrun with ghouls, just how strong must the strongest ghoul force be?"
"In any case, this is good news, at least there's still some hope for us!"
"There are rumors that the newly appointed Chairman of the CCG is the most mysterious and powerful person in all of Tokyo. Why haven't we seen him yet?"