Ultraman: I am really just a human.

Chapter 685 The Red Ball and Ultraman 2

A horrified crowd gradually gathered around the smoke-filled school ruins.

Because it was after school, there weren't many casualties. Apart from the principal who was taking a break in his office, all the teachers managed to escape when Golza appeared.

The giant's body vanished like the wind, avoiding the crowd and transforming into a streak of light that landed in front of Nanase Risa.

Before he could say anything, Shinseong Mian, who was running with the crowd towards the school, ran back, panting heavily.

"T-Teacher!"

Xin Xingmian was exhausted and almost fainted from excitement. It was only after Xia Chuan inputted a beam of light energy that his breathing gradually calmed down.

There's no need to hide anything in this world; you just need to avoid causing too much of a stir, such as widely exposing your identity or attracting official attention.

One child can't affect him, but he'll need the help of the rising star next.

"We need to find your classmate quickly," Xia Chuan asked, pulling Xin Xing Mian along. "Where do you think he's most likely to go?"

"Xiao You?"

Shinsei Mian racked his brains, counting on his fingers, only to realize that he didn't seem to know his classmates that well.

"Besides going to school, Xiaoyou just goes home to study; it seems like she doesn't have anywhere else to go..."

"Go to his house and take a look first."

Xia Chuan conjured a split-type King's Ring from his fingertips.

"If you see him, silently say 'Lypia'."

"Lypia?"

As if on a pilgrimage, Xinxing reached out to take the ring, but then quickly wiped his hands on his clothes before carefully holding the king's ring.

The transformation device used by Ultraman in real life is completely different from those toy transformation devices.

"The teacher's name is Ultraman Lipia? That's amazing!"

"Whatever you want."

Xia Chuan's eyes twitched slightly. After quickly dismissing Xin Xingmian, he strolled around the town, using his telekinetic abilities to perceive things.

As long as the red ball continues to merge with this world, its aura will never be concealed.

It all depends on whether we can find it in advance.

It would be best to seal off the space directly; if this continues, he might really be unable to contain it.

"You actually know the location of the red ball, right?"

Natsukawa glanced at Nanase Risa, who was following closely behind him, and felt a headache coming on.

He had only spoken the truth, but the child kept staring at him, as if he wanted to see him make a fool of himself.

"Don't you want to change your fate?"

Xia Chuan casually walked into an Ultraman toy store on the roadside.

"I didn't believe in miracles before, but as I've traveled through different worlds, humanity has changed my understanding time and time again. As long as you believe, miracles can happen, and the future can be changed."

“My experience is completely different from yours,” Nanase Risa looked up and turned her face away. “One world after another was destroyed, and I could only watch history repeat itself, continuing an endless journey through time, unable to change anything.”

"Giving up means you can't change anything."

After looking at the wall full of tokusatsu figurines and toys, Xia Chuan's gaze fell on the TV playing "Gaia".

He really wasn't good at dealing with children, especially those with a girlish personality that had been around longer than him.

"Sizzle!"

The TV in the toy store is filled with static.

Perhaps because he possesses the power of the Gaia world, the imagery changed slightly, and a Lipia figure unexpectedly appeared in the opening sequence.

"Um?"

Xia Chuan sensed something was amiss.

Locking onto the television screen with telekinesis.

Immediately afterwards, a bloody red eye appeared, taking up the entire screen after the opening theme, and disappeared in an instant after making eye contact with it.

"Could it be that they're going to bring all the monsters from the Gaia world over?" Xia Chuan's heart sank.

"Hey kid, stop just watching TV, are you going to buy it or not?"

The store manager, still half asleep behind the counter, stood up and was completely stunned when he saw Xia Chuan.

"Um... this place only sells children's toys, and some of them have been taxed."

"Quiet."

Xia Chuan ignored the store manager and stared intently at the television, his consciousness seemingly drawn into an ocean of light, searching for another mental clash with the red-eyed man.

"Whoosh!"

"Lippia!" Her red eyes shifted, transforming into the Destroyer, Queen Mezad, and even the Angel Zog. "Leave this world! There were never any Ultramen here to begin with, and this has nothing to do with you!"

There were no monsters here originally.

Xia Chuan used his telekinetic power to knock out the toy store manager who was still trying to speak, delivering a powerful mental shock to the red-eyed man through the television screen.

An intense light, invisible to the average person, burst forth inside the store, causing Nanase Risa to instinctively step back and shield her eyes.

This light...

Through her fingers, Nanase Risa observed Natsukawa, who was focused on battling his red-eyed mind, with a bewildered look. It was as if she could see miracles unfolding under the convergence of rays of hope, world after world, responding to humanity's call time and time again, brief yet magnificent.

Can fate really be changed?

"call!"

Natsukawa pulled the dazed Nanase Risa behind him to block the mental attack, revealing the outline of Lipia around his body as he launched a full-scale attack.

The red-eyed form on the television rapidly collapsed under the even more intense light radiation. Finally, the television could not withstand the collision of the two great forces and exploded with a bang after a few sparks and smoke.

"Remember this, Lipia!"

"Bang--!"

"What's wrong?"

Hearing the commotion, Shinsei Tsutomu and other passersby gathered outside the toy store. Seeing Natsukawa walking out, he quickly chimed in, "Xiaoyou isn't home. The police are looking for Xiaoyou too, but nobody has seen him."

Xia Chuan was not surprised.

Red-Eyes is the mastermind behind the entire Gaia timeline; hiding a child would be no problem for him.

The good news is that the red-eyed creature's true strength is quite average.

Perhaps due to its separation from the Gaia universe, the opponent's mental strength is only slightly stronger than that of a specialized A-class mental monster.

No wonder she avoids him.

"It's all my fault," Shinsei said, blaming himself. "If I hadn't thrown the red ball around and hadn't told Yuu, Yuu wouldn't have turned out like that, and the school wouldn't have been destroyed... What kind of wish-granting red ball is this? This isn't granting wishes at all. The teacher was right; the red ball really is a monster!"

Risa Nanase's calm expression seemed to be somewhat unable to hold back.

His gaze toward Xia Chuan turned hostile again: "If you don't have evil thoughts in your heart, you won't be affected."

"Risa, what are you saying?" Shinseiki looked at the angry girl, bewildered, not knowing what he had said wrong.

Xia Chuan led the two away from the shopping street that had attracted the police: "The red ball is indeed just a tool. Now it has absorbed too much of the world's desire energy, and the person who made the wish cannot bear the negative impact."

"Huh?" Shinseiki Tsutomu exclaimed in surprise, "So, can you really make a wish with the red ball?"

"You can make a wish, but only material wishes. It's like a manufacturing machine. If it's something non-material, like wanting to know the future, you can't count on it at all."

Xia Chuan returned to the ruins of the elementary school.

The scene has been cordoned off by the police.

The pile of Golza's remains completely disappeared, and even monster cards could not be drawn.

"What if you wish to know about the future?" Shinseiki asked curiously.

"They'll probably just give a false conclusion about the end of the world to fool us," Xia Chuan replied casually.

Risa Nanase opened her mouth, wanting to refute, but realized that Natsukawa was right, so she could only silently sulk.

Never in her long life has she been so doubted.

"The world was destined to be destroyed anyway," Nanase Risa muttered to herself.

"If you wish for the monsters created by the red ball to disappear," Natsukawa continued, "the red ball would definitely say that things that have already taken shape cannot disappear, and changing the fate of the world's destruction is of course impossible..."

"That kind of wish is unrealistic to begin with!"

Nanase Risa turned her head away again and stared at Natsukawa.

"I can tell you where that ball is, but you must have wanted to make a wish related to power, right? That was your initial plan, wasn't it? That's why you came to this world, and that's why you've been searching for the red ball..."

"Risa?" Shinseki Tsutomu wasn't quite sure what was going on, unsure of what to do between his idol Ultraman and Nanase Risa.

Risa doesn't seem to like Ultraman very much.

Xia Chuan did not respond, but simply waited quietly for the girl to lead the way.

So that's how this child sees him.

He doesn't seem to have any reservations about the red ball; if it could really make him stronger, he wouldn't mind making a wish.

Ultraman isn't incapable of relying on external forces, and besides, he's not a normal Ultraman.

Unfortunately, because it is powered by desire, the red ball will eventually cause things to go in a bad direction.

This time, he came to "Super Dimension" only because he was interested in some of the characteristics of the red ball, which he wanted to use to enhance the knight system he created.

"It's inside!"

Near the school, Nanase Risa led the way and pointed to the warehouse that Shinseki Tsutomu used as a secret base.

"What are you going to do next?"

"Right here?"

Shinseki Mian looked bewildered, never expecting that he would come full circle back to where he started.

Recalling Golza's terrifying and ferocious appearance, Xinxing swallowed hard, and the legs that were about to take a big step back retracted, and he looked weakly at Xia Chuan.

"I'm not afraid of anything, it's just that the teacher is even more formidable."

(End of this chapter)