Ultraman: It turns out this is the easy mode.

In the dead of night, Cui Ming's room was quiet. He lay on his side on the bed, his arm tightly wrapped around Camilla beside him, his breathing even, clearly fast asleep. Camilla was curled up in his arms, her long hair spread across the pillow, a contented smile on her face, lost in some sweet dream.

But no one knew that at this moment, Cui Ming's consciousness had fallen into a completely different dream space—a place devoid of light, only boundless darkness, thick as ink that couldn't be dissolved, even the air carrying a bone-chilling cold. Cui Ming stood in the center of the darkness, his eyes sharp as knives, staring intently at the enormous black shadow that slowly emerged before him.

“Gatagnya,” he began, his voice echoing in the empty darkness, carrying a hint of understanding, yet also a subtle sense of gravity.

Even though he couldn't see the whole shadowy figure in front of him, he recognized it instantly—it was Gatanothor, the dark god he had beaten half to death before who had finally chosen to sleep.

“Nexus.” A deep, hoarse voice rang out, with a metallic, abrasive quality—it was Gatanothor’s voice. The shadow gradually came into focus, revealing its signature gigantic body, surrounded by corrosive dark energy. Its crimson eyes were fixed on Cui Ming, filled with resentment and wariness.

"You've actually returned, Nexus." Gatanothor's voice carried complex emotions, a mixture of apprehension and an indescribable helplessness. It knew very well the terrifying power hidden within this human-like being before it—the power belonging to Nexus, the "strongest dark giant," the power that had nearly destroyed it completely back then.

Cui Ming raised an eyebrow slightly, his tone tinged with sarcasm: "I didn't expect you to still be sealed. What, you've been hiding from yourself for so long?" He had long heard the rumors in the universe about "Gatanothor sealing Nexus by himself," but now it seemed that the so-called "seal" was nothing more than a protective shell that Gatanothor had set up for himself to protect himself.

Upon hearing this, Gatanothor's dark energy surged violently, causing the surrounding darkness to fluctuate wildly: "If I don't seal myself away, am I supposed to just wait to be beaten by you?!" These words were almost a roar, filled with long-suppressed anger and resentment. Years ago, in its battle with Nexus, it had been badly beaten, its face literally smashed upside down. If it hadn't used its last strength to seal itself away and retreat into the depths of darkness to recuperate, it wouldn't have died, but the pain would have been unbearable.

"Can you hide forever?" Cui Ming took a step forward, and faint black light patterns began to emanate from his body—a sign that Nexus's power was about to awaken. "Back then, you stirred up the darkness and tried to devour the world. That debt is still unsettled. Now you've sealed yourself away, do you think your strength has returned and you want to come out and cause trouble again?"

Gatanothor's crimson eyes flickered, the dark energy gradually subsided, and his tone became low: "I have no intention of fighting you now, I just want to recuperate. If you want to make a move, go ahead, I am no match for you anyway. But you should know that once my seal is broken, the released dark energy will plunge the entire world into crisis."

It appears to be showing weakness, but in reality it is making a veiled threat—it knows very well that although Triumph (Nexus) is powerful, he always has a bottom line in protecting the world.

Cui Ming stared at Gatanothor for a few seconds, then slowly withdrew the light patterns around him. He could sense that Gatanothor's power had not fully recovered, and his current threat seemed more like a bluff. "Don't worry, I have no interest in dealing with you right now."

"He said calmly, "But you'd better stay in the seal and don't cause any more trouble. If I find out you're trying to break the seal or harm this world, next time it won't be as simple as 'beating you half to death.'" Gatanothor remained silent, offering no response, but the dark energy around him intensified once more, as if he were about to disappear back into the endless darkness. Cui Ming knew that this confrontation in the dream was merely a minor episode in their past grievances. But he was well aware that Gatanothor was always a hidden danger, and as long as it existed, it could bring annihilation to this world at any time.

At that moment, Camilla in his arms seemed to sense his movement and subconsciously snuggled closer to him, muttering in her sleep, "Choi Myung, don't leave." Choi Myung's consciousness returned to reality. He looked down at Camilla, who was fast asleep in his arms, and his eyes instantly softened. He gently patted her back and closed his eyes again.

However, the confrontation with Gatanothor in his dreams kept him tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He knew very well that Gatanothor's self-imposed confinement could not last forever. One day, this unresolved feud would finally come to an end.

After Cui Ming's consciousness left the dream, in that boundless dark space, Gatanothor's massive body remained frozen in place, the dark energy around it fluctuating violently like a frightened tide, and even its scarlet eyes revealed an undisguised panic—its feigned calm threat was nothing but a facade of bravado, and now that Cui Ming was gone, the accumulated fear instantly erupted, wishing it could immediately reinforce its seal by a hundred layers.

"That scared me to death! This Nexus is even more terrifying than before!" Gatanothor's voice trembled unusually, its low tone filled with grievance and fear. It silently sensed the aura emanating from Cui Ming just now, even more chilling than when the two fought back then. That undisguised killing intent was like a cold blade pressed against its throat, making even this "dark god" tremble involuntarily.

Back then, although it was rumored that Nexus beat it "face down," it doesn't mean that Nexus couldn't beat it face up.

Moreover, the aura emanating from Cui Ming, a mixture of darkness and a trace of inexplicable light, instilled fear in it from the depths of its soul—a sense of oppression that said, "If you dare to resist, you will be completely crushed," which was more despairing than mere physical crushing.

"The key point is that he actually gets along well with the Giants of Light?!" Gatanothor found it increasingly absurd, its dark energy even losing its rhythm due to shock. In its understanding, the Giants of Light always emphasized "protection" and "inclusivity," acting with restraint. But the intense bloodlust emanating from Triumph (Nexus) was clearly even more "crazy" than that of a pure Dark Giant. He fought recklessly, with ruthless cruelty. How could such a guy be accepted by the Giants of Light's camp?

"Do you Giants of Light really think such a bloodthirsty thing is normal?!" Gatanothor mentally ranted, even wanting to rush to the Giants of Light's territory to ask, "Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about 'comrades'? This isn't an ally who can fight alongside you; it's clearly a 'humanoid weapon' that could go berserk at any moment!"

The more it thought about it, the more frightened it became. It quickly mobilized its remaining dark energy to reinforce its seal several times over, wishing it could bury itself in the deepest darkness of the universe. "No, I absolutely cannot meet Nexus again. Just getting close to that guy is enough to scare me to tears. I'd better stay in my seal and retire peacefully. I can't afford to mess with him, I really can't!"

Gatanothor shrank its massive body, hiding itself even deeper, deliberately softening its breathing, afraid of attracting Nexus's attention again—in its eyes, Nexus was no longer just "difficult to deal with," it was practically a cosmic-level "unapproachable" threat; staying as far away as possible was the best way to save its life. (End of Chapter)