Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

Suddenly, Renlong's words echoed in Gaoshan's dream:

"You must become the guardian of the earth, protecting both life and death. Life and death are the way of the world. Even the most beautiful creatures will eventually wither. If you cannot bear to part with them, then you must remember what they looked like when they were born and carry them on your journey."

Kinoshita Kei sensed the unusual atmosphere and whispered, "What's the background of this monster... this big tiger?"

“It is an Aldisian tiger,” Gaia replied. “It was endangered because of human hunting, and now it is truly extinct.”

After saying this, Gaia picked up Izagu's body and flew to some faraway place.

There lies the Aldi Plain, the home of the Aldi tiger.

Kinoshita Kei watched him fly away in silence, then said to Samuel, "Fellow countryman, shall we go help him dig a hole? If we don't bury it deep enough, I'm afraid some researchers with ulterior motives will use its corpse again."

The fellow villager didn't move, and Kinoshita Kei noticed that he slowly clenched his fist.

"...Where did I do something wrong this time?" Kinoshita Kei subconsciously thought he had made some novice move somewhere, but after quickly recalling it, he felt that he had handled it well, reacted quickly, and seized the monster's weakness to subdue it in one blow—could it be because he arrived a little late?

"Fellow villager, let's talk this out. I'll arrive earlier next time. I need to find a reason to leave the workshop."

Before he could finish speaking, the world spun around, and the pale snow blurred everything. As the saying goes, fellow countrymen open up new domains, and Kinoshita Kei knew he was about to get beaten up.

Sure enough, the instant he realized the danger, a burst of molten metal grazed past him, slicing through the ice behind him. A wave of scorching snow mixed with water vapor swished back, and only then could he see what lay beneath the ice.

It wasn't black permafrost, but rather something resembling marble.

Ocean.

Kinoshita Kei couldn't help but think of the Arctic Ocean in the documentary, where ice sheets floated on the deep blue sea, and because the climate was cold enough, the seawater appeared even deeper in color.

If we were to compare them to young women, then the tropical shallow seas would be like lively girls dressed in light fabrics, while the polar oceans would be like elegant women in heavy velvet dresses.

"Why the Arctic Ocean?" Kinoshita Kei had been wanting to ask.

He remembered that the Meta Realm of Nexus was a place with a crimson ground covered in aurora borealis, a dreamlike sky, and a lake of moderate depth. To save money during the TV filming, the Meta Realm appeared in almost every battle, so Kinoshita Kei remembered its scenery.

How did my fellow villagers manage to create such a spectacular view of the polar landscape, turning the land into an ocean? Did they encounter a monster that couldn't swim and transform into a water ghost, dragging it into the water and drowning it, thus gaining home-field advantage?

As he was lost in thought, the flow of molten gold gradually subsided. Samuel said, "You should take advantage of this lull to make your move."

"Huh?" His words brought Kinoshita Kei back to his senses.

"The enemy's use of high-intensity energy attacks is actually your opportunity." Kinoshita Kei thought he would continue teaching how to fight tigers, but instead, he suddenly started teaching how to deal with light.

“By bypassing the attack and striking his main body, the enemy is usually unable to move flexibly, or he can wait for the beam to end and then immediately counterattack. Until he starts charging up again, this is his relatively weak period.”

“What if his beam is aimed at the city?” Kinoshita Kei asked. “Should I stand on the right?”

He heard Samuel laugh: "Gaia and Renlong are here, let them protect the city. Don't forget you have companions."

"What if they're not here?"

"Then you need to work on your defensive skills."

Chapter 142 A Microcosm of Life

After burying Izagu, Takayama Gamu returned to the "Prono Karamos" research institute and continued his investigation into Crisis with Fujimiya Hiroya.

Kyoko Inamori was overjoyed at Hiroya Fujimiya's return. She suppressed her deep emotions and only showed them in the cleaner living space she provided for Lily the hamster.

Persel's research has entered its final crucial stage, and with Hiroya Fujimiya's help, it will only progress faster. However, he now needs to confirm something more important.

He and Takayama Gamu arrived at the body of water where they first met Agul.

The tank full of pure water shone brightly under the surrounding lights, but the lights couldn't penetrate it, making it appear even more mysterious.

"You sensed something was wrong with yourself?" Takayama Gamu asked.

“Right here,” Fujimiya Hiroya recalled the earlier events from the beginning, and a clear thread emerged: “I went to Shiroiwa City first and heard their phone call; it was Mezad’s radio waves.”

“At that time, all I wanted was to see Agul one more time because the timer was injured. The real change started from that moment… Agul gave me his power again, and at the same time, the idea of ​​‘exterminating humanity’ took over until those dark energies left.”

"So you think so now too?" Takayama Gamu nervously observed his expression: "The prophecy may be wrong. If we want to verify it, we can analyze Crisis's operation records from the beginning."

Fujimiya Hiroya shook his head, then laughed self-deprecatingly: "I've already lost my power, so you don't need to worry about Agul awakening the monster again—but are you sure you want me to continue developing Persel? It's a monster controller that can both stop monsters from attacking the city and command them to attack the city."

“It can communicate between humans and monsters, can’t it?” Takayama Gamu said, “Fujimiya, I believe that your original intention in developing it was definitely not to command monsters to destroy cities.”

"...I hope that through it, humanity can hear the voices of these other life forms that also live on Earth."

"You can do it! Humanity can do it too!" Takayama Gamu's affirmation stunned Fujimiya Hiroya for a moment: "The underground penetrating bomb, we successfully stopped it! This proves that humanity's feelings towards monsters are not just hostile emotions like 'fear' and 'repulsion,' at least on Alchemy Planet, on XIG!"

“You really are…” Fujimiya Hiroya thought for a moment before choosing his words: “naive.”

Gao Shan Gamu's long speech suddenly stopped: "I'm not much younger than you."

Fujimiya Hiroya originally had a lot more to say, about the destructive behavior during urban development, and his attitude towards Earth's monsters. Undoubtedly, he and Takayama Gamu had disagreements and had even fought over them, but for some reason, he couldn't muster any anger now.

I don't know if it's because of Takayama Gamu's somewhat idealistic remarks, or because her temperament has changed since she fought alongside Agul.

"Never mind," he thought, changing the subject when he spoke again: "The investigation into Crisis requires a lot of computation."

“The Alchemy Star’s equipment can support it,” Takayama Gamu said. “In any case, we will definitely give you a result.”

……

Outside the research institute.

The place was secluded, with a wide lawn surrounded by only a paved dirt road and vast stretches of woodland. A muscular man wielding a long knife and two men in black moved through the woods one after the other.

"If you want to cause trouble for Agul, you'd better ask your Earth father's knife first!" Pito roared.

The swordsman was chasing people rather slowly. Pito realized that the distance between them was getting farther and farther. He leaped up, and the muscular man's body transformed into a fat cat in the light. It was none other than "Snow Peak," the guy who had chased the salted fish to the heavens and the earth in the coffee shop.

Running through the woods

Animals are much more agile than humans. It quickly closed the distance, meowed, and climbed onto a person. The light shone again, and the man in black fell face-first to the ground with a thud. A muscular man nearly two meters tall sat on him, and the smell of a corpse rushed into Pito's nostrils.

"Take care." Pito frowned, and the tip of the knife accurately pierced the other's heart.

He did the same, and the other man in black also reverted to his original form—a bare, white skeleton.

The black smoke rose into the sky, its destination unknown. These intangible things would stick together even if you cut them with a knife, and burning them didn't do much good either. Pito only knew that they couldn't find another target to control anytime soon.

"I really wish I could bring Musa... Samuel here." Pito felt like he was incredibly lucky to have found an outside helper who could handle this kind of troublesome thing, a blessing upon the old planet.

He looked down at the bones at his feet and decided to give them a proper burial. As for the location, he couldn't bury them next to the research institute, so he decided to go to a more distant mountain.

He wrapped the pile of bones in his clothes and picked them up, and with a "thud," it sounded like something had fallen to the ground.

"A notebook?" Pito picked it up.

The notebook was made to be portable; it must have been lying in the man in black's pocket. It was very worn and not very thick, but its owner had clearly read it frequently, as the edges of the first few pages were frayed.

He opened it as if by some strange impulse and saw the neatly arranged...accounts inside.

The writing was quite forceful, suggesting it was male handwriting. It was most likely the owner of the skeleton. Pito saw the name on the title page.

Income and expenses are clearly stated, with dates and reasons provided.

"On October 3, expenses were incurred: Hiroki's entrance fee of 250,000 yen; tuition and equipment fees of 1.2 million yen are pending payment."

"October 4th, Expenses: Food 426 yen; Bicycle bell is broken, will try to fix it myself. Income: Borrowed 200,000 yen from Haneda." The borrowed portion was heavily boxed.

"October 5th, income: found a second job, 7-day short-term, 3000 yen per day."

"..."

The miscellaneous records were long, and Pito gradually pictured a figure who worked at a company during the day and did odd jobs at night. Sometimes, when he was short of cash, he had to borrow money, and every person who lent him a hand was carefully recorded and repaid little by little. Hiroki was probably his son, who was in school, and the expenses were mostly tuition and living expenses.

The record of "cake expenses" was interrupted for a few days, and when it was resumed, it was already filled with entries like "hospital admission fees and medical expenses".

But his neat handwriting gradually became messy. It is said that handwriting records a person's attitude towards a certain thing. Perhaps he no longer liked to record these things in life?

On the last page, the handwriting was so illegible that Pito could only make out the words "cured" and "unable."

Suddenly remembering something, He opened the white bones wrapped in cloth and saw two severed thigh bones. There were no prosthetics or anything like that, yet He clearly hadn't noticed anything unusual while chasing the person!

The man in black moved with incredible speed; He almost couldn't catch up!

The notebook's owner wasn't exactly well-off... Was it "disillusionment" that allowed him to get back on his feet and continue working to support his family?

What he didn't know was that the moment he agreed to sell his body, he was destined to be separated from Hiroki forever.

He simply went from one hell to another.

Now he lies in this forest. How is Hiroki, whom he worries about? Has he finished university?

"My child, rest in peace." Pito wrapped the bones and carefully picked them up.

It is a planet with a lifespan measured in "hundreds of millions of years" and has witnessed countless species extinctions. Compared to the vast number of extinction events, the story of this skeleton is not even a "trivial matter".

His vision should have been focused on broader matters, such as the entities that bring destruction, or monsters and giants, which concerned the fate of the entire planet. But He felt suffocated; He wanted to do something, but it was beyond the capabilities of the planet's consciousness.

He thought for a moment and did not return the notebook to its owner.

His intuition told him that this book, a microcosm of a life, might be better suited to a more suitable person.

Just like Gaia found Takayama Gamu, and Agul found Fujimiya Hiroya.

That person will cherish it and keep it safe, just like its former owner, and even though the impact of "destruction" has made their thinking increasingly extreme, they will never throw it away.

Pito carefully put away the notebook and said to the skeleton in his arms, "Rest in peace."

Chapter 143 Distance

Before Crisis's answer could be circulated, various rumors about the "prophecy of destruction" had already begun to circulate.

Reiko Yoshii saw the parade from her interview vehicle. Men, women, and children were led by people who looked like monks or charlatans, holding religious implements and shouting "Destruction!" as they marched through the streets in a grand procession.