Starting from the destruction of the Land of Light

"You bastard!"

Vice Captain Yan Su slammed his hand on the table. No, he should be the captain now.

He stared at the news on the big screen, at the various headlines, and at the most prominent photo of Seven and Ultraman Aegis, his expression incredibly tense.

"This is fooling the public! That's not Ultraman Seven at all; it's an alien imposter!"

The public may not know Seven's background, but the Earth Defense Force does. In particular, Tang Yu discovered Seven's background the moment he appeared, and the concentration of that negative energy was definitely not the power of light that symbolizes hope.

That's why Yan Su was so angry, especially when he saw Seven patting Ultraman Eggs on the shoulder in the photo, looking like he was caring for a junior. This instantly brought back memories of the Wang Kui incident.

Having just experienced a major incident involving an alien traitor, the members of the Earth Defense Force are, if not paranoid, extremely sensitive to such matters.

Looking at that photo, the expressions on everyone's faces during the battle were very complex.

"No, we can't let this go on like this!" Yan Su suddenly stood up.

But Commander-in-Chief Tatsuta immediately raised his hand to stop him. "What are you planning to do?"

Yan Su paused, his brows furrowing. "Of course, we need to reveal this guy's identity, let everyone know that this Seven isn't Ultraman, but a monster transformed from an alien!"

"Really... Have you considered the consequences of doing this?"

"And then, the consequences?" Yan Su looked around, seeing everyone else silent, and looked at Long Tian with some confusion. "Commander-in-Chief, if the people really believe this Seven is the real Seven, then what if he does something..."

Longtian shook his head slightly and said, "Yan Su, I know you can't tolerate injustice, but given the current situation, how do you plan to announce this?"

"Yes, Captain Yan," Tang Yu couldn't help but whisper. "For the first time in so long, the Ultra Brothers from the Land of Light have reappeared on Earth. People have rekindled their hope and firmly believe that Ultraman Seven will defeat all invaders. If we were to tell them now that Ultraman Seven is fake, the public would probably find it hard to believe, and might even think that we are maliciously suppressing them."

"There is no shortage of conspiracy theorists online right now, especially since there has just been a traitor in our Earth Defense Force. People who are unaware of the truth may think that our high-ranking officials have been taken over by aliens and are trying to get rid of Ultraman Seven."

"That's true," Yang Tianyu chimed in. "This is even without us using the monster capsules. If Windom had joined the battle, there would likely have been even more members of the Non-Congress. They would have thought we were targeting Ultraman Seven and had stolen his capsule monsters."

"..." Yan Su frowned, then suddenly thought of something. "What if Windom were to deal with the delusional Seven? He was trained by Ultraman Seven, so he should be able to distinguish his master, right?"

"It's no use. If it were Mikula and Akira, it would be somewhat convincing, but Windom is a cyborg monster. They'll say we modified Windom's program." Chen Mo shrugged.

"If that's the case, then we really can't deal with this delusional Seven!?"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the operations room looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

"It's all my fault," Chu Huai sighed. "If I hadn't been so close to him, or if I had realized then that he was putting on an act for the audience, none of this would have happened."

"Don't blame yourself, Chu Huai, it's not your fault." Tang Yu moved her chair next to Chu Huai and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You were exhausted and almost at your limit. He took the opportunity to get close to you, but you didn't have a chance."

"So what should we do now?" Yan Su looked at Commander-in-Chief Long Tian. "Pretend it's the real Ultraman Seven and then act like we know nothing?"

To his surprise, Longtian became serious upon hearing this and nodded, saying, "Hmm, Yan Su, your suggestion is excellent. Let's pretend we know nothing."

"Huh?" The group was taken aback, and even Chu Huai raised his head.

Then Longtian continued.

"Actually, I don't think this is a big deal."

"Whether it's the real Seven or the fake Seven, the premise for us to take action against the delusional Seven is that he actively destroys the city and tears off his mask in front of everyone to reveal his cunning and ugly face."

"But as you can see, the other side has taken the initiative to put us in a difficult position, making it impossible for us to openly target him. However, this move also means that he is at least on our side on the surface. In other words, if he wants this charade to continue, he must actually act like Ultraman Seven."

"Commander-in-Chief, do you mean that guy will reappear, and that he'll be on our side, fighting alongside us against the aliens?" Tang Yu asked, somewhat incredulous.

Ryuta didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly.

Upon seeing this, the people present reacted in different ways, but most found it hard to believe, even though the unknown entity had indeed been helping them throughout the events involving Bogaru.

But the 'unknown' is itself a terrifying thing.

First came the powerful Black King, then the Eleking King hidden in the river, and now the opponent can even summon a delusional Seven. This terrifying combat power is like a heavy pressure pressing down on everyone's shoulders.

Most importantly, they still have absolutely no clue about this guy.

Whether the other party is male or female, an individual or an organization, and whether they have any other trump cards besides the monsters they have shown, they have no idea.

"What we can confirm at the moment is that the opponent's delusional Seven is most likely the plastic Seven Ultraman doll in the cargo being transported. Team member Yang Tianyu has already confirmed this." Tang Yu said, glancing at Yang Tianyu.

Yang Tianyu nodded. "According to the records, after Ultraman Ace purified it, it was contained by UGM. It was studied in various countries along with other objects, but no special energy was found. Then, during the attack on Bogaru, the doll was confirmed to be missing. In addition, the presence of the Black King aura there can prove that this thing was taken away by the controller of the Black King."

Chen Mo sighed and rubbed his temples. "So that guy didn't actually intend to return the Capsule Monster to us. He just didn't care about it. His real goal was the Seven Doll, which was ignored by scholars from various countries."

"Does this mean that some of the items we've received possess special abilities that just haven't been discovered yet?"

"I think it's unlikely. Scientists from other countries aren't entirely useless; if they don't have the ability to discover it, we might not be able to detect it either," Chen Mo continued. "And even if it did exist, do you think the controller of King Black would leave it to us?"

"That's true..." Tang Yu lowered her head.

Seeing that everyone had fallen silent again and their faces were not good, Commander-in-Chief Tatsuta coughed lightly, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"Don't be too discouraged. Next, I'll announce the next phase of the work."

Everyone instinctively sat up straight and listened attentively.

"Tang Yu, you and Tian Yu will be in charge of the capsule monster Windom. Get it ready for real combat as soon as possible. Facing the increasingly complex situation, we need more and stronger combat power."

"Yes," Tang Yu and Yang Tianyu replied simultaneously.

"Then it's Chen Mo and Chu Huai. Chen Mo, you lead the team to track down King Elek. The way that thing disappeared is different from King Black. I suspect that there should be Pitt aliens behind that guy. You guys follow this line of investigation."

"Understood," Chen Mo replied, patting Chu Huai on the shoulder.

Finally, Longtian looked at Yan Su.

"Go and look up information about the delusional Seven. I want to know how that guy managed to reawaken a doll that had been purified by Ultraman Ace, and what the source of his negative energy is."

Yan Su nodded seriously upon hearing this.

"Understood, Commander-in-Chief."

...