Ultraman cubs begin to wreak havoc.

This ability was developed with the help of Kira Sawa, who, as a psychic, offered many constructive suggestions based on Gen Subaru's vibration waves. However, Gen Subaru has only managed to summon Evolution Trusters and Energy Burst Guns out of thin air so far.

"Nexus!"

Subaru drew his Evolution Trust, transforming into a giant the size of himself. He used his telekinesis to emit light energy that enveloped him, turning him into a sphere of light. He flew through space at faster-than-light speed, arriving at the scene almost instantly. At the same time, he deactivated his transformation, gripping the Energy Burst Gun and cautiously surveying his surroundings.

"Is that you?"

"Um!?"

Just as Gen Subaru realized something was wrong, a deep voice sounded beside the boy. Without thinking, he unleashed a vacuum shockwave, but it was easily deflected by the man.

"What a nostalgic sight, blinded by light, a self-proclaimed righteous hero. Hmph, how does it feel to revel in the name of a hero?"

"You are...Shunichi Maki?"

As the aftershocks of the vacuum shockwave subsided, Gen Subaru finally saw the man's true face. The face wasn't unfamiliar to Gen Subaru, because although they had never actually met, as fellow apex users, the boy had studied footage of his past battles.

That's right, he is the previous host, the giant who faced the Founding Alien Beast in Shinjuku, Shunichi Maki!

But the appearance of this face instantly ignited Gen Subaru's anger. The boy's face was tense as he raised the Energy Burst Gun and fired bullets continuously, suppressing 'Shunichi Maki's' movements. After closing the distance, Gen Subaru took a deep breath, his arm flicked, and a specially made dagger slashed out from his sleeve. He gripped it tightly, and then a cold light flashed as he stabbed towards 'Shunichi Maki's' temple, but it was blocked by an invisible psychic screen.

Maki Shunichi looked at Gen Subaru, whose face was full of anger, sneered, and said in a low voice:

"What? You think I'm a fake? You idiot..."

013 Ultraman!

"You bastard who toyed with the dead, don't give me your sweet talk!"

Yuan Mao frowned, and the Evolution Trustee in his arms instantly flew out. The soft light now seemed to possess immense power, forcefully shoving Maki Shunichi away. The boy grabbed him, transforming into a life-sized giant. Maki Shunichi, on the other hand, calmly raised the corners of his mouth, stood up, and reached out to grab the front of his shirt, saying:

"Who's the one manipulating the dead? You can ask Matsunaga Yoichiro. Ask him where my body is. My successor, you'd better watch out. After all, I'm your cautionary tale. Don't blame me for not warning you when you're strapped to the lab table someday. But..."

Maki Shunichi coldly dodged the giant's hand chop, instantly creating distance, and continued in a sinister tone:

"No matter how much you struggle, the result will be the same: all light will eventually turn to darkness, and you will become me sooner or later!!"

As the final, soaring sound rang out, darkness enveloped Maki Shunichi, and the pervasive mist instantly obscured all of Gen Subaru's vision. However, his keen senses allowed him to pinpoint Maki Shunichi's location accurately, and he habitually launched a Particle Feather attack to probe the enemy's strength.

To Gen Subaru's surprise, a similar particle feather was launched from within the mist, neutralizing his attack. As the energy collision dispersed the mist, an evil figure appeared before the boy—

Beneath its pure black eyes were black and red tear stains, and the three horns on its head resembled the hat of a circus clown. The black and red spots on its body were also pieced together like a clown costume, and its whole body exuded an evil aura.

"I am Dark Faust, both the shadow of Nexus and the boundless darkness that devours light. My successor, watch closely, for my present form is what you will be like tomorrow."

'Gah!!'

At the same time, strange noises came from a nearby tunnel. Then, a deformed alien beast grew to a gigantic size and burst through the mountain, waving its tentacles and roaring as it charged toward the nearest human settlement.

Do you think you can make things difficult for me? You've really underestimated me!

Gen Subaru glanced coldly at Dark Faust, quickly calculated the distance in his mind, and then shot a Phase Shift Wave Ray into the air. As the golden rain of light fell, both Dark Faust and the alien beasts were enveloped in Meta Domain.

"Sparashi, to think he could do that."

Dark Faust clapped his hands and strolled leisurely, saying:

"Truly remarkable. As your senior, I'll give you a compliment. But watch closely: before darkness, light is utterly useless! Dark Field Deployment!"

Dark Faust crossed his arms in front of his chest, then paused and extended them upwards. Gen Subaru saw the dark aura eroding the golden Meta Domain from bottom to top. In no time, the entire Meta Domain was eroded and covered, turning into a dark domain that was advantageous to the enemy. In this domain, Gen Subaru felt that Nexus's power was suppressed like never before, and its strength was reduced by about half.

"Hmph, I see, this is the power of darkness."

Dark Faust opened his arms to Nexus and said with a light laugh:

"Everything will be swallowed by darkness, my successor, remember that, hahahaha!!!"

Having said that, Dark Faust let out a hearty laugh. Then, before Gen Subaru could react, he and the alien beast vanished from sight. At the same time, the ominous domain began to dissipate, and everything returned to reality. Gen Subaru looked at the Night Raid team fighters that had just arrived to provide support, paused for a moment, then transformed into a beam of light and flew into the cockpit behind Eisuke Kagura. After deactivating his transformation, he whispered:

"Let's go back, there are no more enemies here."

"okay."

Eisuke Wakura noticed that Subaru's mood was not quite right, but he didn't say anything. He immediately ordered a return flight, and after returning to TLT-J headquarters, the boy immediately ran to Yoichiro Matsunaga's office.

"Shunichi Maki is indeed dead!"

After hearing what Minamoto Subaru had to say, Matsunaga Yoichiro hurriedly stood up, made way for the boy to sit down, and said repeatedly:

"There's no doubt about that. Although his body is indeed missing, unless TLT-J, and even TLT headquarters, have completely erred in their data, otherwise..."

At this point, Matsunaga Yoichiro suddenly fell silent. In the past, he could have confidently finished saying this, but after the 'Ishibori Mitsuhiko' incident, TLT's previous data might not be able to guarantee that it hadn't been tampered with by Zagi.

"Mr. Matsunaga, you're focusing on the wrong thing!"

Subaru frowned, stood up, pressed Matsunaga Yōichirō back into the chair, and said in a low voice:

"The key issue is that Meta Realm has been eroded! Nexus's power has been weakened! Now, in addition to the Alien Beasts and Zagi, there's a new enemy—Dark Faust. We need to hurry, or we might really run out of time!"

After saying that, Gen Subaru anxiously bit his thumbnail and spun around twice on the spot. Then, his eyes lit up, and he braced himself on the table with both hands, suggesting:

"Why don't we create a giant artificial human too? With the experience of the visitors and me as a living sample, the one we create shouldn't be too bad."

“…”

Matsunaga Yoichiro paused for a moment, then raised his chin, gesturing for Gen Subaru to sit down opposite him. Although the boy was puzzled, he obediently sat down. Then, he saw the supervisor tap something on his watch, and their seats sank down like an elevator. After gliding for about five minutes, Gen Subaru arrived at a huge space where countless mechanical arms were operating efficiently on a tall mechanical skeleton.

"Actually, we had a plan back when Maki Shunichi was the right person, but it was put on hold because of his death. Now it has been picked up again because of your appearance. This is... the 'Gundam Project'!"

"Manager Matsunaga, your nomination has already been rejected, so don't say it to mislead Gen Subaru."

At that moment, Kirasawa Yu's projection appeared beside Gen Subaru, looking at Matsunaga Yoichiro, who was acting out of his chuunibyou phase, and said:

"Please don't let your personal feelings get in the way of the plan, Gen Subaru. Let me formally introduce you to the 'Ultraman' plan, which we hope will one day fight alongside you!"

014 Mr. Jugglus Juggler, have you ever been betrayed?

Gen Subaru stared blankly at the waving mechanical arms, thought for a moment, and then said with some unease:

"Is this thing safe?"

"In terms of performance, the materials used are all the latest alloy formulas provided by the visitors," Matsunaga Yoichiro said, pushing up his glasses and looking bright. "In terms of design structure and auxiliary AI, the Earth side took the lead in design, and the visitors assisted in the review, which eliminated the possibility of being directly corrupted by Zagi's program. Other means will be used to ensure the safety of the mobile Ultraman in the future."

"That's good."

Gen Subaru nodded. To be honest, although it was just a rash suggestion to create another android, the thought of that android turning into an enemy was truly terrifying.

"However, I didn't expect the visitor to actually be willing to help."

The construction of this mobile Ultraman has only just begun, so there's no point in lingering here. As the three were preparing to move out, Subaru suddenly remembered something and said unexpectedly:

“I thought that if we were to do this, the visitors would never agree.”

"That was indeed the case at the beginning."

Kira Sawa said helplessly:

"But now the situation has taken an unexpected turn. The remains of the cosmic monsters that crashed four years ago have undoubtedly fallen into Zaki's hands. Even the visitors cannot judge what kind of horror the combination of the alien beasts and them will create. Therefore, they judge that humanity has reached the edge of life and death, and the scope of assistance to humanity can be expanded further."

"Yes, a cosmic monster. It's really a troublesome thing. I'm a bit tired, so I'll go back and rest first. Remember to call me if you need anything."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work today. Get some rest," Kira Sawa Yu said to Matsunaga Yoichiro as he watched Minamoto Subaru's retreating figure. "He's got something on his mind. Do you know what it is?"

“He’s human too, and it’s normal for people to have their own worries. There’s no need to try to figure out even this,” Matsunaga Yoichiro said calmly. “Besides, so many heavy responsibilities have been piled on his shoulders. Anyone would be like that. Let’s go and meet the visitors. There are still many things waiting for us to deal with.”

Minamoto no Subaru did have something on his mind, but it didn't stem from the strength of the enemy; rather, it was...

The boy placed his hand on his chest, feeling the strong heartbeat within. His face was somewhat gloomy. Although he hoped it was just a hallucination, he truly felt a certain tremor in his heart the moment the Dark Realm opened. It was as if something deep within his soul was echoing this darkness. Could it be... that he, as the chosen one, would truly be corrupted by the light of Nexus?

Yuan Mao felt unusually agitated, tossing and turning in bed. He vaguely realized that he had gotten himself into a dead end, but he also felt that if he didn't figure this out, he might suffer because of it in the upcoming battle.

Subaru's inner turmoil was finally abruptly halted by Gai's call. The ghostly boy emerged from the card, nodded to Gai in greeting, and then looked at Jugglus Juggler, who was now dressed in a stylish suit and leaning against the doorframe looking quite dashing. The devilishly handsome man gave Subaru a disdainful laugh and whispered:

"What an unpleasant attitude, like a ghost. Can't you change?"

"Let me try."

Gen Subaru pondered for a moment, then focused his gaze on Nexus's fusion card. He burrowed inside, and with a soft light, the boy emerged in a different form. It couldn't be called a physical body, but at least he could touch the things around him.

"Hmph, little trick. Come on, time is running out."

Jugglus Juggler seemed surprised by Subaru's obedience. He swallowed the sarcasm that was on the tip of his tongue and expressionlessly gestured for them to leave. But just as Subaru was about to follow, he saw Jugglus Juggler's head suddenly pop out from behind the doorway, a strange smile on his face, and say:

"Oh, right, I forgot to mention, if you want me to lead the way, there's a price to pay. Hand over all the remaining Ultra Fusion cards as well."

"Take it."

Hong Kai didn't hesitate much. He casually tossed all the cards to Jugglus, who grabbed them and rubbed them like he was rubbing money. With that same 'cheerful' smile showing his big white teeth, he disappeared again outside the door frame.

"I'm going out."

Gen Subaru said a few words to Gai Kurenai and then hurriedly caught up with Jugglus Juggler. It has to be said that this guy is really fast. The boy relied on his intuition to chase the whole time and almost chased the wrong person several times.

"Here is the place."

Suddenly, Jugglus stopped in his tracks, and Subaru almost bumped into his back. The bustling surroundings also caused the boy to fall silent. If the real culprit was here, then things could get really troublesome.

"Hmph, you really believe that?"

Seeing Subaru's pensive expression, Jugglus Juggler raised an eyebrow, then a wicked smile spread across his face, a mocking grin spreading across his face. The boy raised an eyebrow, met Jugglus Juggler's gaze, and said softly, as if letting out a sigh of relief:

"Are you kidding me? That's great. If a fight breaks out here, even with Meta Field, there's no guarantee that no one will get hurt."