At exactly 6 AM In the early morning of Tokonosu City, as the first light of dawn barely peeked over the horizon, the Freedom Carrier's New Dawn operation to retake Tokonosu City from the undead's rotten grip immediately commenced with thunderous waves of booming explosions from the bombardment of mortars' high explosive rounds raining down from the sky to the areas where the most zombies are currently gathering in the city, as the noises from the explosions could even be heard as far as the temporary shelter camp and the offshore international airport, which startled many people awake from their beauty sleep.
"Be careful when you are reloading and adjust the angle a little higher, about 5 degrees!"
"Shut up, Larry! We already know what to do without you yapping in our ears!"
At one of the four forward bases, the mortar squad was busy reloading the mortar rounds as fast as they could inside the base while also optimizing the firing angle for maximum destruction on the zombie horde as Larry, Zeno's shadow clone, who was acting like a commander in this base, hovered above their shoulders, annoying the other Freedom Guards with his redundant commands.
"That's some attitude towards your superior! Do you want to be on guard duty instead?!"
"If you're that free, then just go drowning in the river, you bastard!"
The clones started to argue as they kept firing the mortars into the city without slowing down despite the distraction of their self-proclaimed superior.
At the same time, within Tokonosu City, the effect of the citywide bombardment is quite devastating, with buildings, cars, zombies, and some leftover survivors alike being indiscriminately blown to pieces by the mortar rounds, turning the urban landscape into a series of craters and smoldering ruins of rubble and charred mess of gore.
Then, following along with the citywide mortars' bombardment, are the whipping sounds of helicopter blades that took off from the four forward bases, carrying with them multiple teams of freedom guards to be dropped into the inner city, where they will secure the areas around the city as the resupply depots for the main force that will soon follow.
Zeno's plan for the New Dawn operation had divided the city into grids on the map, each with its own specific objectives for the Freedom Guards to follow. The first targets were the known heavily zombie-infested areas, those areas where the undead congregated in large numbers that required a lot of time to exterminate. First the areas will be bombarded with the mortar rounds from the four bases before the helicopters will then go to attack the remaining zombies from the air after dropping off the resupply depot teams and further draw in the zombies to the kill zone in the city center with the sounds of constant gunfire and explosions.
"Finally, something entertaining to see in the morning."
In the Freedom Carrier HQ, Zeno watched the operation unfold from the comfort of his office with a lazy smirk on his lips as he had breakfast while munching on a sausage and fried eggs that White Dream had cooked for him. He is quite enjoying the spectacle of explosions and gunfire in the live feed of what is currently going on in the city as the helicopters flew past the bombarded zombie horde below while the Freedom Guards with miniguns rained down bullets at what was left of the horde from the opened rear ramp of the helicopters.
Zeno watched as a squadron of helicopters did a U-turn after they flew past the horde while raining down bullets on the undead below, and then they came back and mowed down the undead again with the miniguns a couple more times before the helicopters had to return back to the bases for ammunition as the miniguns quickly ran out of bullets, leaving behind the carcasses of the zombies and the one that was still moving despite getting ripped apart by the explosion and bullets. They could be seen wriggling helplessly on the streets like maggots amidst the scattered remains of their kind.
Zeno could almost taste the air from the city behind the hologram screen, which was probably thick with the acrid smell of smoke and the metallic tang of rotting blood, as the Freedom Guards on the helicopters systematically cleared out each city block from the sky without giving the zombies any chance to fight back, while the loud noises also drew in the new zombies that scattered around on the outer part of the city to the slaughter.
After half an hour of the mortars and helicopters wreaking havoc on the zombie population, thousands of standby Freedom Guards in the four bases were finally deployed in the city as Freedom vans and multi-platoons of Freedom Guards poured into the city with the demolition teams following behind them to demolish the buildings and clean up the undesirable things for the city building in the future.
"Ready or not, we're coming in!"
"Knock knock, motherfucker!"
The main force of the Freedom Carrier spread themselves out in the city to exterminate any threat as they broke into the buildings to clear any zombies and hostile survivors with extreme violence. Their enemies were basically helpless, as the Freedom Guards' weapons are all anti-personnel instruments of liberty, such as automatic shotguns, miniguns, and flamethrowers that they generously shoot at any sign of hostility. The shadow clones' efficiency and coordination were unrivaled, and their low-class devil strength made them all a very much impossible threat to overcome by any normal human and zombies in this Highschool of the Dead world.
The streets of Tokonosu City are now a war zone, with zombies and some unfortunate survivors alike caught in the crossfire of the onslaught of Freedom Guards.
While the undead were the primary enemy, the Freedom Guards also had been given orders to eliminate any humans deemed an obstacle to the operation and ignore the rest who were just running away. The scenes of hostile survivors being torn apart by bullets and explosions and some stubborn survivors being forcefully driven out of their hiding places by the demolition teams can still be seen here and there throughout the city.
The survivors that choose to stay in the city despite Zeno's warning can only watch as the Freedom Carrier force tears the city and their homes apart, some with resigned but also hopeful eyes that the zombies will finally be dealt with, while others have fear and anger from having their opinions and human rights disregarded so thoroughly.
They can't really do anything much in this situation, though, since most of them are smart enough to not argue with the unhinged armed men who will happily beat them up or just set those who are particularly annoying on fire to make a point.
As the sun rose high in the sky, the battle grew more chaotic as the Freedom Guards were not only facing the mindless hunger of the zombies but also the occasional group of desperate and armed survivors who, for whatever reasons, had tried to pick a fight with them without caring about their own lives. The sound of gunfire was a constant background noise for those in the city, punctuated by the occasional explosion that rocked the entire city district.
"Such a shame..."
Zeno watched the hopeless struggle of the armed survivors unfold with a sense of detachment, his mind occupied by other thoughts, such as his soon-to-be territory and what he should do next after the city is in his control. He knew that the easy part of purging the undead was about to end and the annoying part about the management of the living and a lot of talking with various people was about to begin.
"Well, at least the people in my camp will definitely know their place after this."
Zeno hummed as he changed the live feed to his shelter camp as the survivors were gathering around the large screen TVs that were set up around the camp for them to see what was going on in the city.
Zeno knew that the survivors in his shelter camp needed to be shown that the Freedom Carrier was not just an idealistic savior but also a ruler to be feared and obeyed. So he allowed the people in his shelter camp to watch the live feed of the city's reclamation, a stark reminder for them of what kind of company the Freedom Carrier is and how ruthlessly decisive it can be in doing things.
"Let's see if anyone will try to stir up trouble after this…"
÷×÷×÷
"Wow, it's just like in the movies~!"
Shizuka, who was gathered with the other people to watch the TV, said with a morbid curiosity as she saw the Freedom van bulldozing through the zombies and stopping at the gas station before the Freedom Guards emerged from the van with various weapons that they used to kill the zombies in the surrounding area behind the TV screen that the Freedom Carrier people set up last night.
"Is this what hell looks like…?"
"Ugh, I can't see this…!"
The shelter camp's survivors watched the TV's screen with a mix of amazement and horror at the sheer grotesqueness and brutal efficiency of the Freedom Carrier force. The TV's screen then switched to another location where a group of armed survivors had made their last stand. They had barricaded themselves in a shopping mall, and a firefight had erupted between them and the Freedom Guards.
But their defiance was short-lived as the Freedom Guards, armed with miniguns, picked off the survivors in the shopping mall one by one as they shot the bullets that pierced through the covers and building walls that the survivors were hiding behind like wet paper. The survivors' bravado quickly turned into panic, and their desperate cries for mercy were drowned out by the distinct sound of miniguns preaching to them about freedom and democracy.
"Ah-ah~, poor bastards, they stood no chance against that kind of firepower."
A beautiful tanned woman with long purple hair tied in a ponytail and red eyes, who was dressed in a black combat suit with an open chest that exposed her white sports bra-covered breasts and a white choker collar, said next to Shizuka, her eyes glued to the screen of the one-sided massacre.
"It's insane how many weapons they managed to bring into Japan... Didn't know a delivery company nowadays had access to all these."
Her voice trailed off as she put her left arm over Shizuka's shoulders in a familiar manner.
"Those poor people... I wonder why they couldn't just accept Zeno-san's help and come live here?"
Shizuka murmured, her eyes reflecting the horror of the scene unfolding before them. It's a mystery to her why they don't want to be rescued.
"Well, who knows? They said that human stupidity is infinite, after all."
Riki Minami, who is Shizuka's close friend who just arrived at the shelter camp days ago from the offshore international airport, shrugged her shoulders as she led Shizuka away from the people gathering around the TV, as there's really nothing to see other than the showcase of extreme violence.
"You know… I heard that someone got herself a crush when I'm not around~. How about you tell me about that, huh?"
Rika decided to change the mood and began to tease Shizuka as they walked, her eyes twinkling with mischief as she pushed her cheek against the dizzy nurse.
"Eh-ehhh~? W-what are you talking about, Rika? I-I don't have any c-crush... or anything~!"
Shizuka's cheeks flushed a deep shade of pink in embarrassment as she stumbled on nothing over Rika's teasing.
"Hoh~? Is that so~? Then the handsome guy who gave you an ice cream last night must be my imagination~?"
"Uuuuuuh~! it's not like that~!"
Shizuka now feels like she was in middle school again as Rika keeps teasing her until she spills anything she knows about Zeno to her friend.