The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1284 - 941

Chapter 1284: 941

Chapter 1284: 941

August 29, 1937, 7:30 AM.

For the Northern Hemisphere, it had already been light for over an hour.

The scene shifts to a district in Tokyo, the capital of the Island Nation, where a large number of the Island Nation’s government officials had gathered, led by the Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro.

At this moment, Konoe Fumimaro looked serious, followed by upper echelons from the government and senior military officers.

What could bring together these absolute upper echelons of the Island Nation? It was, of course, a visit to the revered Yasukuni Shrine.

The Yasukuni Shrine was originally built by the Island Nation Emperor for soldiers who had died in war, once known as “The Shrine to Summon Souls,” clearly indicating its purpose.

This visit to Yasukuni Shrine was also purpose-driven for Konoe Fumimaro.

After the bombing of Hiroshima, morale in the Island Nation’s military had plummeted dramatically.

That was unavoidable considering the enemy possessed weapons that could easily destroy a city. How could they continue fighting such a war?

To boost the military and morale, Konoe Fumimaro planned this visit and organized the attendance of most high-ranking officials from the government and military, and even invited numerous media outlets to demonstrate the government’s concern.

In Konoe Fumimaro’s plan, after visiting Yasukuni Shrine, he would hold a war mobilization rally in the square outside the shrine and announce the Emperor’s new orders.

Gathering of the government’s high officials for the visit to Yasukuni Shrine was smooth, with newspaper cameras continuously capturing the scene.

The unexpected occurred after the visit.

First, there came a strange whooshing sound from the sky, as if something was swiftly moving through the air.

But looking up, the sky was clear blue; there was no sign of the mysterious object, not even an airplane.

After observing carefully for a while, and confirming the absence of any planes in the sky, Konoe Fumimaro finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as there were no enemy planes present, it at least confirmed that Tokyo was still very safe. As for the eerie sound, although it was chilling, they could only treat it as if nothing had happened.

Of course, for Konoe Fumimaro, this strange sound could indeed serve as a catalyst to further his plans.

While others were still puzzled and frightened, Konoe Fumimaro suddenly stepped forward, his tone full of surprise, and excitedly said, “Gentlemen, our request has been granted! Isn’t this strange sound a response from our heroes?”

Hearing Konoe Fumimaro’s explanation, the upper echelons of the government quickly caught on and pretended to be excited, echoing his sentiment.

Seeing the Prime Minister and government officials affirming that the request had been answered, the onlooking public and the media from the newspapers largely chose to believe them too.

After all, apart from this explanation, there seemed to be no other reasonable explanation for what this strange sound was.

It surely couldn’t be a new weapon from Australasia? Looking at the clear blue and empty sky, both the Islander public and the media from the newspapers found it unlikely.

If Australasia truly had such a weapon that could strike from a distance without the need for airplanes, why wouldn’t the enemy have used it before?

“Amaterasu Omikami will protect us—this battle, our Island Nation will surely win!” Konoe Fumimaro successfully used this strange sound to turn the square at Yasukuni Shrine into his own personal stage.

The sound continued, and so did Konoe Fumimaro’s mobilization speech.

However, while he was speaking, Konoe Fumimaro noticed that something was off with the crowd of public and newspaper reporters gathered around. He was supposed to be the center of attention, but why were all these people incessantly looking up into the sky?

What could be there in the sky? Apart from the clear blue sky, it was just that strange sound, right?

Huh?

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Strange sound?

Konoe Fumimaro’s heartbeat suddenly skipped, and a dreadful idea slowly formed, sending a chill down his spine.

He abruptly looked up at the sky, only to see a long, white trail of smoke. One end of the smoke connected to the endless horizon, and the other was linked to a black object rapidly plummeting toward the ground.

“What is this?” The question flashed through Konoe Fumimaro’s mind, but before he could respond, the Army Secretary’s face suddenly twisted, stuttering in fright, “It’s an Australasian weapon!”

At this, the curiosity in the eyes of the reporters and public turned into fear, and as if on cue, they instantly ran toward the exit of the Yasukuni Shrine.

The whole process completed in a few seconds, and before Konoe Fumimaro could grasp what was happening, only a small fraction of the gathered crowd remained.

“General Sugiyama, what exactly is the enemy’s weapon?” Konoe Fumimaro took a deep breath, trying to suppress his own nervousness, then looked towards Secretary of Army Sugiyama Hajime who had just spoken.

“It should be an Australasian Air Force weapon. They used this type of weapon on the battlefield in Kyushu Island and each time it precisely hit our turrets and military fortresses,” Sugiyama Hajime quickly replied.

“Damn it! I’m asking you how powerful this weapon is, is it the same type they used in Hiroshima?” Konoe Fumimaro still didn’t get the answer he wanted and couldn’t help but feel an impotent rage.

“It shouldn’t be.” Sugiyama Hajime vigorously scoured his memory and, after confirming that the Australasian Army hadn’t used an excessively powerful weapon in the Kyushu Island’s battlefield, then responded.

Konoe Fumimaro finally took a deep breath of relief, looked at the object that was getting closer rapidly, and quickly ordered, “Quick, take cover inside the Yasukuni Shrine!”

Though the Yasukuni Shrine might not withstand the bombardment from such weapons, in such a situation, it is certainly safer to be inside a building than in an open area.

As long as it was not the type of weapon used on Hiroshima, there was hope that the Yasukuni Shrine building could withstand the first round of attacks.

People hurried back into the interior of the Yasukuni Shrine. Seeing that the government officials and generals chose to take shelter inside the Yasukuni Shrine, many slow-running individuals, including civilians and journalists, also turned back and followed these officials into the Shrine for cover.

The black object in the sky was getting closer, and Konoe Fumimaro could almost make out the rough shape of the object.

It looked like a shell but also had some slight differences, and it was much larger and faster.

“Damn it! How do the Australasians have so many unknown weapons? The United Kingdom and France don’t have them; how did they develop them?” After ensuring his own safety, Konoe Fumimaro raved a bit madly.

This complete helplessness was something that the previous Konoe Fumimaro had never experienced. Even in wars that decided the status of the Powers, like the Island-Russia War, the difference was not this vast against the Powers.

It didn’t feel like fighting a contemporary country at all; it was almost as if the Island Nation was decades behind in terms of military technology.

“Prime Minister, as soon as this special shell from the enemy falls and explodes on the ground, we will be safe,” Secretary of Army Sugiyama Hajime approached and explained, ”

“This weapon has about the same power as a shell, although it has a higher hit ratio, but the lethal range is quite limited… What is th…”

Before Sugiyama Hajime could finish his sentence, his face suddenly turned extremely horrified, pointing his finger at a spot in the sky, apparently at the place where the weapon was.

Konoe Fumimaro quickly looked up, saw nothing but an intense flash of white light, then everything went blank.

Bang!

After the earth-shattering noise, the source of all the fear for the Islanders, the missile, exploded instantly and successfully ignited the nuclear warhead in its tip.

Although it was only a small nuclear bomb, the power was still considerably strong. After all, the core aspect of a nuclear bomb is the nuclear material it carries; this bomb’s plutonium element reached 15 kilograms. If only taking into account the optimal utilization of nuclear material, the explosion’s power was almost 1.5 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Of course, it definitely wouldn’t reach 1.5 times. After all, a complete nuclear bomb and a nuclear warhead have different designs, and this attempt at a nuclear warhead was only the first. Its plutonium utilization rate surely wouldn’t be as high as that of an atomic bomb.

When the missile exploded, almost all the civilians in Tokyo heard this loud sound. Subsequently, those who were relatively closer were fortunate enough to see this white flash, but that, ironically, was their final prelude to death.

Then there was a mushroom cloud reaching high into the sky and a half-circle shaped shockwave that spread at an extremely fast rate.

The terror of the air blast was fully displayed at that moment, the shockwave swept through all of Tokyo at an extremely fast pace, completely destroying the area where the Yasukuni Shrine was located in just a few seconds.

Luckily, the Yasukuni Shrine where Konoe Fumimaro and other high-ranking officials of the Island Nation’s government were located was right at the epicenter of the nuclear warhead’s explosion.

This caused the area within two kilometers radius around the Yasukuni Shrine to instantly turn into a gigantic crater that was several dozen meters deep, with deep soil layers visible.

As for the original Yasukuni Shrine and the Island Nation’s government officials, they were either torn into pieces by the shockwave or instantly vaporized in the terrifying intense heat of the nuclear explosion.

Even more luckily, being at the epicenter of the nuclear explosion, Islanders were instantly vaporized, and the place where their remains lay was quickly destroyed by the shockwave.

Simply put, they achieved a feat nearly impossible for humanity – being completely obliterated, leaving nothing behind.

The Yasukuni Shrine was the first but definitely not the last.

While the Islanders still hadn’t figured out what exactly happened in Tokyo, at other parts of the massive urban city of Tokyo, strange sounds continued to echo in the sky.

Looking up into the sky, four missiles were flying at an extremely fast speed from the sky, then quickly locked onto the previously planned four corners of Tokyo.

To avoid alerting the Island Nation’s government and the civilians of Tokyo, this atomic bombing operation was entirely conducted using missiles carrying nuclear warheads.

While it was unlikely for the Islanders to escape the bombing radius, being a bit cautious was never a bad thing.