Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

"Beep beep..." The phone vibrated.

A phone call early this morning—had training started earlier? No, Captain Kazuki always communicates through Bereger. Komon Kazuki opened the call and found it was from an unfamiliar number.

"Hello? May I ask who this is...?"

“Sakuma Jun, Komon, I discovered an important piece of information while investigating the Dark Giants. Although it’s hard to accept, I have to tell you.”

"How did you get my phone number..." Kazuki Komon asked, "Is it hard for you to accept?"

"You don't read newspapers often, do you? I found a report from a few months ago and sent it to your phone, um..."

The voice on the other end hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "Please remain calm."

"Uh, thanks." The young Night Raid team member, unaware of what he was about to face, readily opened the information sent by the other party.

It's a very simple picture.

It was a newspaper clipping from a few months ago, with a picture in it, and he was very familiar with the person in the picture.

"Lizi..."

He found his voice to be hoarse and unpleasant.

The image grew larger and larger in his field of vision, and Riko's eyes seemed to be looking directly at him.

An overwhelming chill seeped into him from every crack in the window and door, everywhere he looked.

Like a fish struggling in a cold current, like grass facing the wind on a cliff, like the hem of Death's robe fluttering as he turns away, the blade of the scythe flashes a cold, gleaming light as it deflects.

He zoomed in on the picture in disbelief, trying to make sure the face of the woman in the report who was being lamented was slightly different from Riko's.

But how could he possibly admit his mistake?

He stood up, feeling his legs had nowhere to go, unable to feel the ground beneath him, unable to feel the cool morning air. His hands frantically searched the table for his car keys, even though his eyes caught sight of them.

"pat".

The sudden sound made him look toward its source. With his heart pounding and his veins throbbing in his temples, he saw what had fallen to the ground.

It was a carefully prepared amulet, intended as a return gift for Riko.

He bent down to pick it up, and a picture suddenly appeared in his mind: himself holding this amulet and gently placing it on a skeleton.

"Riko, Riko!"

He finally regained his voice, and without even changing out of his Night Raid uniform, he grabbed his car keys and rushed out the door.

Chapter Seventeen: The Dream of Truth

Kazuki Komon only verbally informed Eiji Wakura through Bereger before hurriedly driving to Riko's apartment.

Upon discovering the "suspicious target," Shudo Saya naturally launched her own operation.

When no suspicious points are found, many things are simply ignored, but once an anomaly is discovered, those ignored things are often easily uncovered in clusters.

For example, the "reports" filed by the people in Riko's apartment building.

To be precise, it should be IPs with very similar addresses sharing their strange experiences on sections like "Urban Ghost Stories" or by submitting articles to newspapers.

Without exception, they all mentioned Riko's "resurrection".

Riko would go out to sketch at dawn and return quietly alone at dusk. At first, the residents thought they were seeing things, but later they whispered among themselves about the light coming on in her room.

It wasn't that no one had called the police, but when the police entered the house, they only found a lifeless living room, with pots and pans completely untouched. He complained, "What a waste of time," and then, amidst the residents' bewildered stares, rushed off to handle the next call.

If one person's vision is blurred, it's an illusion, but many people are experiencing "vision blurring"?

As Shudo Saya filtered out the descriptions of these IPs, she became increasingly alarmed.

Amidst the resentful gazes of his colleagues buried in files, Jun Sakuma and Shintaro Hirata set off with Saya Shudo, carrying a memory eraser.

"Jun-senpai," Hirata Shintaro finally addressed him more intimately, "are we going to erase memories 'other than those related to the alien beasts'?"

Shudo Saya turned to look at him: "Her situation is still unclear, but you've seen the R7 factor data, and this isn't something completely unrelated to the alien beasts."

"Ah, yes! I didn't notice, I'm sorry!" The respectful newcomer, who was driving, quickly admitted his mistake.

Jun Sakuma's feelings were complicated at this moment. He thought of something even more terrifying than "Riko might be a monster now".

"Commander Shudo, I remember the principle behind the memory eraser is to clear memories using 'keywords', right?"

This time, Shudo Saya didn't turn her head; she just looked straight ahead and nodded.

"What the residents saw was the sudden appearance of the deceased 'Riko Saida'. Should our memory eraser be used with 'Riko Saida' as the keyword?"

“That’s right,” Shudo Saya’s voice was devoid of emotion, only displaying the composure she always showed when giving instructions: “The permission to adjust keywords has been granted, and the memory eraser can no longer perform more detailed screening. We can only make the residents forget everything about her.”

“Then the living, the real Riko Saida, will also forget!” Jun Sakuma said. “You saw the report, didn’t you? Her whole family died in that ‘accident.’ Her parents and younger brother still have friends who go to pay their respects, but her… If we do this, ‘Riko Saida’ will really disappear!”

“I know, but there’s no better way,” Shudo Saya’s voice was completely flat: “This is a necessary ‘sacrifice’.”

Some say that a person dies three times in their life: biologically, when the heart stops beating; socially, when relatives and friends mourn at the funeral; and spiritually, when the last person who remembers you also passes away.

The Memory Police's current actions are undoubtedly causing the woman named "Riko Saito" to be completely "dead" in this world.

Ah, perhaps a few people will be lucky enough to still remember her:

The memory police who carry out the erasure mission, and Kazuki Komon.

……

Kazuki Komon wishes he were dreaming.

When the dream ends,

Riko was still the same good girl who lowered her head and smiled gently, carefully drawing the soft fur of animals with charcoal pencil in the warm breeze, and occasionally worried about graduating.

He felt like he was dreaming.

otherwise……

Why does this dark giant say that Riko is his doll?

He looked up at those eyes, as black as jade.

Dark Faust lowered his head, quite satisfied with his performance; the more confused this human's mind was, the smoother the plan would proceed.

This kid happens to be on good terms with Jun Himeya? That's perfect!

Drag everything related to the candidate into hell! Eradicate all ties around him!

Where will that so-called light reach then?

Kazuki Komon, completely unaware of the darkness licking its fangs at him menacingly, spoke with a mixture of anger and bewilderment to the colossal dark giant:

"Where is Riko? Give Riko back to me!"

This stupid kid probably doesn't understand. He already said that Riko is a doll and has been dead for a long time. How can he repay her?

“If we go to Hell, perhaps we can see her,” the dark giant said, bowing slightly in an inviting gesture: “Would you like to go?”

"Crack!"

The firelight shone on his chin, and wisps of smoke dissipated into the air in the blink of an eye.

Kazuki Komon gripped the guns with both hands, the muzzles pointing directly at him.

"Riko...where is she?!"

Dark Faust gently wiped away non-existent wounds from his face and straightened up again: "This woman is about to disappear." In every sense of the word.

"...What exactly does that mean?!"

"It means, why don't you just disappear too?"

Without warning, he raised his hand, and a purple light instantly struck the young man who dared to stand brazenly in front of him in human form.

Doing this will definitely force that guy to come out.

"boom--!"

Komon Kazuki only had time to shield his head with his arm. "There's no way to dodge it," he thought. But a deafening collision rang out in front of him, and the purple light did not hit him.

Pale blue shards of light brushed past the corners of my eyes.

Komon Kazuki looked up and saw that a shield of light had blocked the fatal attack for him.

Dark Faust shifted his gaze to a slightly farther location, where a man wielding a shockwave gun was frowning and staring at him.

"Mr. Himiya!"

Kazuki Komon was overjoyed by Jun Himeya's arrival, but the latter had no intention of greeting him casually: "Hurry up, Faust is the enemy I need to deal with."

“Hahahaha,” Dark Faust was delighted that his prey had come to him willingly, especially since the prey was still dragging its wounded body: “We meet again, Ultra Warrior.”

As Nexus pulled him into Metamorphosis, Dark Faust remained unperturbed: "Want to be turned upside down by darkness again? You'll lose your life if you don't learn your lesson!"

On the other side, at Riko Saida's residence.

Shintaro Hirata's hand trembled as he gripped the memory eraser: "Jun-Jun-senpai..."

He kept turning his head until his neck could no longer bear the strain.

This is Riko Saito's small studio, with walls covered with works of all sizes. There's also a painting stretched on a canvas, clearly a recent work.

Everyone was stunned by the painting they saw.

Is this something drawn by that seemingly quiet woman?