Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

Samuel walked through the darkening sky, starlight bathing his silvery body, when he suddenly smelled a bloody stench.

"Stab-boom!"

A loud bang came from afar. He looked toward the source of the sound and saw a fiercely burning fire. The closer he got, the more the stench of blood began to carry the smell of burning. Samuel recognized the smell; it was the same smell when Gob and Batz fought to the death on Earth—a sweet fragrance mixed with the burnt smell of lightning, the smell of Batz's blood.

He accelerated rapidly toward the ball of fire, which was so dazzling in the night. The white of the flames also indicated its extremely high temperature. The fire wind rolled in, and the shockwaves swept through the trees. The flames clung to the outer edges, and lightning bolts were as dense as a torrential rain. A Batz roared in the center of the lightning serpent inferno.

“What is this…” Samuel’s heart sank slowly, plunging into an icy sea.

Above the settlement of the Bats was the very spatial passage that Samuel had wanted to solidify. Now it was in a tattered state, with turbulent currents and dark substances seeping out. The Bats walking below was the first to be affected. It was covered with a black shell that seemed to have a life of its own, with a fleshy texture and red "veins" crawling all over its surface, occasionally pulsating, as if there were really fresh, hot blood inside.

Samuel had seen this posture before. The "Celestial" machine was like this. It was supposed to be a mechanical creation with a smooth metal surface, but after absorbing the "resentment" of ancient creatures, it was covered with a similar outer skin. Thus, the metal machinery was gone, replaced by bulging lumps of flesh.

Hitomi Onodera once cursed who gave "Celestial Realm" full power. Now, Bats is obviously in "full power" state. Its figure is blurry in Razer's Inferno, yet it is like a demon god descending to earth.

Samuel had no idea what was going on with it. It slowly made its way from the periphery of its habitat toward the center, with mangled and charred corpses lying behind it, some with teeth marks on their bodies. A Batz rushed in through the lightning on the outside, only to be stunned by the black and red Batz's tail whip.

"boom!"

The black and red Bats pounced on its kind, tearing open its skin like a gluttonous beast, gnawing at its contents. The bones were no match for its teeth, snapping almost as soon as it bit down.

Samuel quickly snapped out of his daze, and a silver streak of light pierced through the long night and into the thunderstorm!

Chapter Seventy-Six: The Root of Destruction

The silver light collided with the black and red Bats, pushing it dozens of meters away. Its kind, which it had pounced on and was tearing and gnawing at, cried out and tried to stand up, but it was already unable to move.

Samuel stood between it and the black-and-red Batz, his armor materializing, and a surge of starlight, carrying a massive waterfall of energy, poured into its wound.

"Get out of here as soon as you can move." Samuel left these words in his mind. He didn't have time to see if the creature understood. The black and red Bats was already charging towards them like an out-of-control plane with its gaping maw.

Snowstorms raged between the two, the starry sky was replaced by a pale dome, the scorched ground turned into a snow-covered ice surface, and the monsters that tore through the wind and thunder crashed into the soft silver light.

The giant stopped its charge, and when its palm touched the "flesh" of the creature's skin, it felt a sticky, cold sensation, like touching the skin of a reptile.

Bats' brute strength became immense, and Samuel almost slipped out of its grasp when it broke free. But he reacted immediately, took a step forward, and instead of grabbing the other's arm, he hugged its body. The armor shell pressed against the dark flesh, and the net-like "vessels" seemed to want to climb up. A silver light swept across, but they were blown away by an invisible airflow.

"What happened? Could there be the grudge of ancient creatures here as well?" Samuel asked in a low voice. Bats summoned lightning with his horns and then used his sharp...

Its teeth and claws struggled, trying to break free of the grip.

But in his armored form, Samuel sacrificed speed and agility, but his defense and strength were much greater than before. He held Batz tightly, the silver light constantly seeping into the other's body, and thunderstorms roaming his skin.

He seemed to think this was too slow, and the light extended into threads. These threads, as lustrous as diamonds, cut into the outer layer of dark flesh, like countless extremely fine blades, incredibly tough. They passed through the outer layer and wrapped around Batss's original skin, and the dark flesh began to boil.

They looked as if they had been boiled, with bulges rising and falling inside, like uneasy shadows beneath the radiance.

"It's alright, it's alright." Samuel couldn't free his fist to wake it up, but he could restrict its movements and unleash the full power of the purification energy. The things that were entangled on the monster were driven away from its body by the silver light, rising into the air and swirling around, seemingly trying to escape.

Samuel looked up at those things and, in a daze, seemed to see the dragons swimming in the River of Oblivion.

Is it really just "the resentment of ancient creatures"?

He could clearly feel the chaotic and chilling aura above. Countless people's negative memories of alien beasts were like this; once touched by even a little, it was as if they had seen a corner of hell. On that day, Komon Kazuki was almost turned into an idiot with a fried brain by these things, and only Nexus, or rather, Noah's light, protected him.

This Batsus, naturally without protection, became a machine that only knew how to destroy and eat after its mind was invaded by these things, like a walking corpse driven by instinct.

Combined with the "ancient creatures" still buzzing in his head—active and talkative, their pronouncements revolving around hatred for Earth—Samuel let it go in one ear and out the other, treating it like a self-playing megaphone next to him. He just had to restrain himself and not want to punch Pito every time he saw him.

The dark things were still flying around, escaping from Bats' body, trailing long tails, as if they had parasitized Bats' entire body. Occasionally, snowflakes would land on them and disappear with a "whoosh".

"Don't even think about going out." Samuel did the same thing he did when dealing with the "heavenly realm" that day. If they landed on him, he could slowly "assimilate" them over time. If they landed on Bats outside, they would only create a bunch of things that were not much better than zombies. So it seemed that it was safest to stay with him.

Under deliberate guidance, the rising black snakes all turned abruptly, emerging from the monster's body and surging into the giant's timer.

Batz's crimson eyes seemed to flow with molten lava. Just before the last plumes of smoke rose into the air, they suddenly turned towards the giant, accompanied by a thunderous roar that sounded like a thousand people singing in unison:

"Was the gift alright?"

Samuel froze, and time seemed to slow to a crawl.

Crimson eyes pierce through the wind and snow, burning on the vast white ice plain, like fire sealed within solid ice, a solitary star suspended in the cold desolation. Only such unwavering and persistent faith can transcend the barriers of time and space, seeping in from the distorted turbulence.

This time, the voice not only came from Bats, but also rang directly in Samuel's mind: "You saved it, why don't you listen to what it has to say?"

His words seemed to have a magical power, compelling people to follow his guidance involuntarily. In fact, Samuel did not need to do so; Batts' own will had become clearer with His departure.

“The root cause of destruction,” Samuel said, “whether that’s what it’s called or not, stop your tricks.”

He chuckled softly: "The Root of Destruction, the Source of Destruction, what a vague name... You don't know who I am?"

Samuel didn't care about his cryptic explanations; he only cared about Batts's state: "Not interested, now—get off it!"

"Okay, okay, I'll go with you even if you don't yell at me so fiercely. Curiosity is the essence of evolution," His voice was light and airy, like the mist rising from the mountains during a light rain: "A vessel as excellent as you is very attractive to me. Could you be a little gentler when you're 'assimil' me?"

How do you know about 'assimilation'?

Samuel was suddenly struck by a term he had only mentioned once to Pitot and Kinoshita Kei. His already high level of alertness became even more tense. He replied casually, "If you know, you know. Anyway, this consciousness will disappear after enough time has passed. Don't be nervous... Little brat, 'Tatsumi,' Samuel, Great Yokai, Fos-001, Aiba Yu."

The name He uttered connected a thread, linking the distant past with the present at that moment.

It's happening again! It's happening again! Dark Lucifer, holding his book, casually recounted the fates of others, flipping through the pages. The words that held great significance for him were like signs he'd glanced at while walking down the street. Especially some names, Samuel didn't believe could be casually called out by a passing stranger.

“You’re angry.” He seemed to sense Samuel’s feelings.

"Oh, you're so boring, I'm not joking with you anymore." He was silent for a while, and when he spoke again, it was a chant of ten thousand people, as if there really was a group of people or life, who, in the storm that darkened the world, in the despair of facing true destruction, spread their arms like crows spreading their wings.

Before the hopeless end, their curse flowed across the seas and engulfed the stars:

"We are endless hatred, ghosts that transcend time and space, mountains and mists, countless storms and rains, living and dying, and countless mortals. We come from both heaven and hell."

. "

"We are the fruit of humankind's seed—and also the children of stardust."

Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Wandering Beast

After being completely absorbed by the new vessel, it fell silent, and its last words were a greeting to the "resentment" of the ancient creature.

"Oh, you're still here?" After saying this, He disappeared. Samuel knew that "assimilation" had not erased His consciousness, just as he was temporarily unable to control the "resentment" of the ancient creatures that was having a tea party in his mind.

Did He want to restrain His own actions? Samuel withdrew the Meta Realm, and the last snowflake vanished into the world.

Batsus regained his senses and heard the giant say to him, "It's alright now."

Bats didn't know why he could understand. Their race communicated through body language and sound waves, and the language spoken by the giants was completely outside his comprehension, yet it was as if he should understand its meaning.

"Roar—" Bats ignored the giant. It knew that the scorched earth beneath its feet was its habitat, which it had destroyed with its own hands. It did not feel "it's okay".

Samuel saw the now-sane Batts walk toward its own kind, the one it had bitten in its frenzy and nearly devoured, flesh and bone.

The creature emitted a deep roar, and an electric current flowed from its horns. It was not lethal, but it could illuminate a small area nearby.

"Roar." Batss, regaining its senses, responded, looking around as its thick tail swept across the scorched ground.

In its rage, it destroyed half of its home. An unknown force granted it destructive power sufficient to annihilate everything, along with a matching destructive urge and a gluttonous appetite. Samuel saw the limbs of Batz lying around him, if these monsters also had their own races and families...

Another bolt of lightning struck, this time from the controlled Bats.

Samuel watched it slowly move away, from here, closer to the center of the settlement, until it reached the outskirts, the boundary of the settlement.

The Bates walked around the boundary once, then turned back, then walked around again, like a lion or tiger in a zoo committing a stereotypical behavior.

The thunder grew brighter and brighter, and a new "star" appeared on the ground. Another Bats called out softly, as if it were talking to it, or as if it were seeing it off.

It was nighttime, and without the three suns shining, Samuel felt a little cold.

But Batz's lightning was intense and passionate. The Batz that had gone far away was completely enveloped in the thunder. Behind it was its home. Although only half of it remained, there were still its kind. However, that Batz looked as lonely as a tiger wandering in the deep mountains.

How could they control the thunder, how were they born on this planet? Nobody knows. There are no paleontologists like Mirai Asano here to meticulously study fossils and carefully trace the evolutionary branches of ancient organisms.

They evolved and grew without realizing it, were led to Earth by the spatial channel without realizing it, and then had their minds invaded by the pitch-black "snake" without realizing it.

Those mysterious "snakes" did something that was neither good nor bad. Just as they said, "You saved it, why don't you listen to its thoughts?" Samuel actually "heard" Batts' thoughts.

The Bats moved slowly, slower and slower. The mosquitoes on this planet were quiet and adept at sensing danger, so apart from its footsteps, the only other sounds were the hissing of the lightning snakes as they swam by. The stars were serene and ethereal, their light flickering in the atmospheric disturbances. The companion's voice grew softer and softer until it fell silent.

It was as if the whole world was asleep, except for that Bats, who was moving around in the sleeping air.

It turned its head to look at the distant mountains and rocky forests, the bones at its feet, and the nearby settlements. Occasionally, its gaze would linger on its silent kin, but it never once lingered on the giants.

"Sizzle—" The air temperature rose higher and higher, starting with the ground beneath Bats' feet, which was rapidly heated and softened, turning a dark reddish color.

Next came Bats' own tail tip, claw tip, and everything on its body that was thin and weak under muscle, which was ignited by the relentless grinding of lightning.

"Why isn't it raining now?" Samuel looked up at the sky. When Batts appeared on Earth, rain clouds gathered, and the torrents of water almost turned Tokyo into Venice. Now, it was drawing lightning from the heavens on this planet, but the clouds above were still thin, and it was difficult for even a single drop of water to fall.

But that Bats seemed to need a rainstorm; it unleashed its power recklessly, and lightning ignited itself.

The Bats didn't seem to need a rain. It found a spot to stand facing the settlement, where many figures emerged, gazing at each other from a distance.

A burst of lightning shot from the ground into the sky, the dense electric grid almost merging into a pillar of light, and the Bats stood at the center of the pillar, its body gradually crumbling away.

Samuel's light healed its wounds and removed the unknown forces affecting its behavior, but it could not erase the abyss torn in its heart.

If I could, I wouldn't want to coexist with you in the same universe.

This is what that Bats thought.

The unknown force that threw it to Earth was clearly targeting humanity. Batz was merely a tool it grabbed at random, like a stone thrown into a fight; Batz was that stone. Therefore, it hated the unknown force that interfered with its life, and it also loathed the humans and giants who had brought it to this undeserved calamity—however, now it hated itself the most.

Samuel could understand it; he never thought of it.

I never imagined I could understand the feelings of a monster that couldn't communicate verbally.

In the previous world, Samuel often fell into brief slumbers, dreaming that "Xun" plunged daggers into the eye sockets, hearts, and any other potentially fatal places of monsters. Then, those bizarre shells would disintegrate, revealing familiar figures.

He would also dream that he was still working as a henchman for the Yapools, traveling from one planet to another, hauling back a whole ship full of experimental materials. He didn't know if Jun Sakuma had seen all of this. When he woke up, Jun Sakuma only asked him if he wanted to light a fire, eat pudding, come out and set off fireworks for Karin, and teach him how to use the power of light.