Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

Amatsuki thanked him, and Tetsuo Kuze, his eyes shining, leaned closer: "Can we simulate it now?" As he spoke, he took the capsule and turned to run to his workbench.

Estend was amused by his eager look and laughed out loud: "Of course, the network has been reinforced, so there's no need to worry about encountering another berserk event like Zetton."

Upon hearing this, Teppei Kuze excitedly rubbed his hands together, activated the combat simulation system, connected the capsule, and Mikulas's figure appeared on the wasteland on the screen.

Estend handed the headset to Amamiya Kinoshita and said, "The new ultimate move is called 'Thunder Pool'."

The latter nodded, his eyes fixed on Mikula's energetic figure: "Mikula, Thunder Pool!"

The somewhat goofy-looking monster stood with its short arms on its hips with an air of seriousness, its two horns on its head gathering electricity until they turned amber. When the electricity was released, a giant net of lightning formed within ten meters of Mikulas, truly resembling a "pool of lightning" from a distance.

"Amazing—!" Teppei Kuze stared at the fluctuating energy data and let out a long exclamation.

“This data is even higher than what we tested ourselves. Mikulas really has a good understanding with Tian Gu,” Estend leaned closer to take a look and said, “Also, Uindam is being modified. We plan to equip it with armor-piercing Specium missiles. You’ll have to test it then.”

Teppei Kuze laughed so hard his mouth stretched to his ears.

"However, the missile is not yet fully developed."

Her smile froze instantly.

"But the material problem has been solved, and there will be good news soon."

Teppei Kuze felt his facial muscles come alive again: "Seriously, don't breathe so heavily..."

Ikaruga Sadaharu turned his gaze away from Mikula, who was being directed to practice a new special move on the screen, and asked, "Speaking of which, have you found Samuel?"

“Not found,” Eistend shook his head. “However, missing is better than being caught. No news is probably the best news.”

On the moon, those who have been asleep for so long finally awaken.

The sunlight felt wonderful, like soaking in hot water. He shifted his position to make himself more comfortable against the rock.

He turned his head and glanced at the blue planet half-hidden in the shadows.

As the winds and clouds gather, the blue waters resemble tanzanite, and a thin atmosphere casts a soft halo around them. The aurora disappears and reappears at the poles, its bands of light swirling like snakes, making this "sapphire" even more ethereal and picturesque.

I hadn't noticed before, but it turns out this planet really is as beautiful as Estend described.

Samuel stared at her, unable to look away for a long time.

But he was unable to fully enjoy the beautiful scenery, as the "illusion" turned it into a pitch-black void.

Samuel turned his head in annoyance, and sure enough, even the lead-gray lunar soil looked like the scorched earth prison he had seen countless times before.

He looked down and saw himself in the "illusion"—a silver body, not covered in black patterns.

He thought for a moment, then suddenly ignored the sharp alarm in his mind, and a thin blade of light condensed at the tip of his right finger, slicing open his left forearm.

There should be something here...

He touched a sturdy pipe and gently hooked it up—a simple action that caused his left arm to twitch slightly involuntarily.

The "illusion" changed for the first time; the flawless silver on the left arm disappeared, revealing the true situation.

His skin split open, scattering golden particles of light. A black tube was embedded in the wound, which Samuel was now hooking at his fingertip.

The tubing had an uneven surface near his palm, making it thinner than the rest of the tubing. He remembered that spot as the one that had almost been blown apart during his battle with EX Belokorn. It seemed that after all these days, it had only just managed to reconnect itself.

The alarm from the "fly" had become a noise that could almost pierce through one's head, but inexplicably, Samuel suddenly felt a sense of pleasure—the thing that had been bothering him was getting anxious, which meant that he must have done something right.

Yes, this is the Yabo man, and the implanted "combat support system" that Omarment specifically developed for him.

Ha, "combat support".

Samuel felt his actions were slowing down, but if "flies" couldn't stop him from destroying the temporary base on the far side of the moon, how could they stop him from trying to remove a "tiny" cable?

The extremely thin light blade continued to slash, and the scattered light particles changed from two or three "fireflies" to a swarm of "fireflies." Before long, a pitch-black pipe was thrown into the dust.

Before leaving the body, it extended tiny, needle-like tentacles, trying to cling to the surrounding body tissues, but Samuel flicked them away.

It rolled around in the gray lunar soil a few times, even struggling and twisting a few times. The originally soft material gradually hardened and became brittle until cracks appeared and it broke into several pieces.

Samuel stared blankly at the pipes that looked like living things, feeling a chill run down his spine.

He looked down at his arm, which was twitching in pain, gritted his teeth, and with a slash of the light blade, lifted up another pipe.

Even skinning and pulling tendons is probably no more complicated than this. It was just cleaning the tubing on one forearm, and Samuel had to stop and rest several times to continue when he felt better.

But the effect was something he had never expected. He tentatively clenched his fist and felt a sense of relief.

Ah, I remember when this "combat support system" was still an external armor, he had removed it during a few breaks between upgrades and replacements, and he had the same feeling then—but a new one was quickly installed, so he didn't get to really appreciate it.

Despite his trembling hand and the continuous dissipation of light particles in the unhealed area, he laughed.

There were no black-striped, silver arms; it wasn't an "illusion."

It's him.

He had realized that the "illusion" was not something delusional or trying to hinder him, but rather a "warning."

What does this serve as a warning?

He looked up at the planet that should have been blue, but was now shrouded in thick black mist in the "illusion".

"It can't turn out like this..."

Subconscious, almost baseless thoughts instantly took over my mind.

The houses along the riverbank were in disarray.

A hand clutching a lollipop amidst the ruins of the collapsed shopping mall.

The rescued girl was shouting in a language he couldn't understand at the time.

The girl with the broken leg was shouting.

He doesn't like to hear these things.

There, countless images of that planet flashed through my mind.

Eisted, who did not consider him a "weapon," but rather a strange Yapo person who saw him as a living individual with independent will.

Hasegawa Hayato, besides the brothel owner, is the first guy who dares to punish him. Earthlings' rules are so complicated, it takes a lot of time to copy them.

As for everyone else…

He was always very noisy, even noisier than the voice that often spoke in his head. Their description of him as "Crow Sora" was actually quite apt.

Mao Sugiyama likes things that are impossible to predict, such as constellations and tarot cards. Samuel had seen some of those stars before, nothing special. A bunch of big fireballs. You could consider throwing any unwanted monsters into that pile of fireballs.

Rikuto Yamashita seems to particularly dislike the word "older sister." Estend calls his personality "melancholy," but Samuel thinks it's alright because he can often shut up the chattering Hara Sora, bringing peace to the world.

Keita Kobayashi's hobby is somewhat similar to Mao Sugiyama's; they both enjoy reading pages filled with dense text—oh, those are called romance novels.

These people are more interesting than the Yabo people from the Seventh Research Institute.

Sora once muttered to him, "Samuel's pattern is really ugly, the other two are more pleasing to the eye." Mao Sugiyama once shouted to him, "Why does this Ultraman covered in black paint always fight his own people? I feel sorry for Mebius."

When this happens, Estend will silently slip a box of maple pudding into his arms while mouthing "calm down".

Samuel didn't feel the need to calm down; he just found the Earthlings' language novel, something the Yapool people he had never encountered before wouldn't say. So he stared at Yonahara Sora and Sugiyama Mao for a while longer, while Estend probably thought he was about to punch them.

...Hmm, maple syrup pudding is better than mustard potato chips.

Life went by in a blur, but, "If only it could stay like this forever." The relaxed atmosphere was unlike anything I'd ever experienced at the research institute; even the air seemed to carry a soft warmth and a sweet scent.

A bit reluctant.

If that place were also shrouded in dark fog, these people probably wouldn't be able to see it anymore.

So many children have died; we may, we may have to say goodbye.

What did he want to say under the vast sky at that time?

……

Don't say "goodbye".

I don't like listening to it.

Chapter Seventy: Inspiration

Leisure time is always limited, especially when you have to work overtime, that feeling is most acute.

Keita Kobayashi stared blankly at the screen that had suddenly gone dark.

He had only written half of the project proposal...

The person at the next table, along with Yuan Kong, slammed their fist on the table: "It's that monster again, isn't it! It's that one, isn't it! Why did it appear again... and again! It blew up the power plant again!!"

It's no wonder he's about to go berserk; in fact, the entire rescue team has been thoroughly disgusted by this monster lately. The monster seems to be attacking factories in the industrial zone to absorb energy, and the power plants have the most abundant fuel reserves in the industrial zone, so every time it appears, there's bound to be a city-wide power outage.

Then a bunch of people could only stare blankly at the half-finished plans and documents, their own faces reflected on the black screen, while waiting for the logistics guy to temporarily generate electricity to restore power.

In other words, the industrial area is deserted at night, so there's no need for them to carry out rescue missions; otherwise, given the frequency of attacks, they would definitely suffer from nervous breakdowns.

"Stop complaining," Hasegawa Hayato appeared at the door, flashlight in hand. "Workers are trapped at the First United Company. All staff are on the move."

"Hey, are you kidding me?" Yonahara Sora said while immediately putting on his equipment, "Didn't we already issue a monster alert? Are they still working like this, risking their lives?"

“They are maintenance workers. A few days ago, their factory’s cooling tower was burned by a monster. If it’s not repaired soon, there might be an even bigger accident.” As he spoke, the backup power was already connected, and the bright white lights came back on. Hasegawa Hayato glanced at Kobayashi Keita: “Leave the project plan here. Go get the car. We’ll need a heavy-duty rescue vehicle this time.”

Day two.

GUYS Research Institute.

"A monster possessing a human?" Estend paced back and forth, seemingly deep in thought, glancing back at the strings of data on the screen every now and then. Beside him, Teppei Kuze turned on the video playback.