Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

"Hahahaha..." From a distant rooftop, someone burst into wild laughter: "It really is ancient genes! To be able to utilize them to this extent is amazing! Fantastic! Ultraman Tiga—you would never have imagined this day would come! Your human form..."

"What happened to his human form?" a voice suddenly interrupted.

The man who had been laughing wildly just moments before was by the railing, but the next second he had leaped to the top of the attic, his feet firmly planted on the slippery tin roof. He assumed a wary stance, staring at the sudden appearance like a tiger whose den had been disturbed.

Lightning flashed like a snake or a dragon, illuminating the TPC logo on the other person's chest.

“The possessed alien, either come out yourself, or I’ll beat you out,” Aiba Yu said.

"Ha, why don't you give it a try?" The creature covering the Earthling laughed again in an unpleasant tone, and in a flash, it jumped straight down from a height of more than ten stories.

Yu Aiba followed closely behind, the two figures moving through the city in the pouring night rain. The rain was smashed open by the impact of their high-speed movement as they approached. The residents on the top floor heard a dull "thump" sound on each side, assuming that some clumsy repairman had dropped his toolbox.

Compared to that, what's even more worrying is the giant and the monster—lightning seems to be helping the monster, as they've seen lightning strike the giant more than once, and the GUTS planes are forcibly taking off in the harsh weather conditions, trying to disperse the troublesome rain clouds.

A childlike laugh came from the clouds, and the possessed alien laughed along: "Hey, which planet are you from? If it's all for the ancient genes, there's no need to follow me like this, is there? Or have you fallen in love with me?"

“That monster is dead. You awakened it,” Aiba Yu raised his hand, light particles swirling and gathering in his palm. “The GUTS hoisting operation shouldn’t have failed. The rope was severed by an ‘unknown’ force.”

"Hey, hey, hey, do you want to kill this Earthling?" The other person ran to a narrow alley next to the main street and finally stopped running around aimlessly. He stopped panting and made a stop gesture: "I hate people who have good eyesight and can run fast. Okay, I give up. Stop following me. If you like this Earthling shell, I'll give it to you."

"Your purpose." Ignoring his fancy words, Aiba Yu threw two light blades behind his opponent, and a thin barrier rose up, a semi-transparent "wall" separating the inside from the outside.

The alien clicked his tongue and said, "Disgusting light... Hey, you wouldn't happen to be a human host, would you? The information I bought didn't say that two Giants of Light were resurrected."

"Guess?" Aiba Yu waved his hand and decided to summon the Meta Domain. No matter where the alien came from, locking him up for questioning was the best course of action.

Raindrops fell, gradually turning into snow. The alien chuckled dryly, his body bursting with deep purple mist. He turned and slammed into the curtain of light blades, muttering, "Guess if I guess? The Giant of Light is the most disgusting person in the world, I'm not guessing! I'll keep my body for later use. Selling this information will make me at least a fortune!"

Yu Aiba took off after him. Outside the alley was a busy street. The people evacuated by TPC had to pass through this main road to get away from the battlefield. The alien crashed through the light barrier with a "whoosh" and continued on its way, carrying the Earthling's body into the traffic.

The screeching sound of brakes pierced the rain. The driver, who was about to hit someone, slammed on his foot. For a moment, the unfortunate thought of having to pay compensation and being rear-ended flashed through his mind.

But the car miraculously stopped, thanks to the exceptional performance of the brake pads! The cars behind it didn't crash into it, barely stopping behind it, thus avoiding a chain-reaction accident.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed by peeking out of the window?!" the driver yelled angrily, sticking his head out of the car window, but there was no reply from in front of the car.

"You dare to stage an accident?!" The driver cursed as he opened the door, only to find that the other party wasn't striking the classic pose for an accident, but instead staring at him with wide, dumbfounded eyes as if trying to see something out of the front of his car.

The driver was angry

The thought that came to mind was: "I have a dashcam, and there's a whole bunch of people behind me trying to escape. Are you trying to scam me now? You're asking for trouble!"

"Ah..." The simpleton was stunned for a moment before he finally spoke: "How did I get here?"

At the alley entrance, raindrops poured down, forming a beaded curtain along the protruding eaves. Aiba sighed softly, gazing at the dark clouds that seemed to spew lightning.

"You got off easy, Kirieloid."

Chapter Thirty-Five Contact

Heavy rain washed over the entire city, and as cars drove by, the puddles on the road reflected the dim yellow streetlights.

Due to the monster's rampage and the unusual thunderstorms, the power supply was extremely unstable. Just as one area regained brightness, the other area was plunged into darkness again amidst uproar. The intense light high in the sky even caused atmospheric ionization, but the giant and the monster Silizan did not release any beams—the intense light came from the densely packed, dark rain clouds.

That's the Lightning Men's lair. They've appeared many times before, attacking TPC planes, and now they've finally landed directly in the city, trying to eliminate the obstacle preventing them from hunting.

Dr. Mizuno's team followed the trail of the Lightning Man. As the childlike screams echoed through the rain-soaked city, Dr. Mizuno said sadly, "Last time we encountered the Lightning Man's cloud, although the drone was destroyed, the last images were transmitted. Horii, do you know what we found?"

Horii was hesitant about using the general language translator. Compared to Gakuma, what the Lightning Man wanted to express intrigued him more. But it had already messed things up once, and he didn't know what the Lightning Man would say—perhaps a declaration of destruction for humanity, or perhaps a warning to everyone to stop using electromagnetic waves.

"What did you discover?" he asked his respected mentor.

"The body tissue of the Lightning People, do you know what it means when fragmented, identifiable body tissue of one's own kind appears in the nest of a species?" The hissing from within the clouds grew increasingly shrill, reaching an unsettling level, but Dr. Mizuno didn't cover his ears like most people: "It means cannibalism. Listen, that's their lament..."

"Perhaps it's a food shortage, perhaps they've been greatly frightened, or perhaps the electromagnetic waves have caused a mutation that has drastically changed their temperament. We've probed the ionosphere environment many times, and it hasn't changed. Yet the Lightning Men's nests have repeatedly descended to the ground and shown signs of aggression. Horii, what do you think has happened to them?"

"I..." Horii looked down at the language translator he was gripping tightly.

Dr. Mizuno said softly, "What is the purpose of developing something like this?"

"I wanted to find a way to coexist. The day I joined the GUTS team, I gained access to a lot of top-secret documents. I learned that there had been so many extraterrestrial visits to Earth, and even direct conflicts involving firearms!" Horii replied, "So, I want to find a way to coexist... The encounter between two different cultures is not just like, like the discovery of the Americas."

Dr. Mizuno nodded to him, and Horii, steeling his resolve, turned on the pan-language translator.

Silizan couldn't "speak"; its throat was merely decorative, ultimately devoid of any vital signs, yet forcibly activated. Daigo knew its weaknesses were light and heat, so he first took advantage of the Lightning Man's thunderstorm pause to use the Zepelion Ray to melt it into a charred mess.

The Lightning Man seemed much happier when he saw the giant flashing red lights. His most immediate reaction was that the giant was finally willing to emerge from the thunderclouds, waving its fin-like arms to face its enemy.

"Gazette should not be a friend of Kirielold!" The pan-language translator finally uttered its first sentence after a brief buzz.

At the same time, Gazot rammed his head into the outside of Tiga's crossed arms, taking the blow head-on, and bit down on Tiga's arm. The bite was swift and vicious; Gazot had clearly observed Tiga's fight with Silizan for a long time and summarized some of the opponent's movement patterns: for example, the position of the arms when the enemy uses a leg attack at close range.

It made a great decision. In the past, every time it encountered Dr. Mizuno's research aircraft, it would run away after sensing Daigo's aura. But this time, it decided to take the initiative.

"Gazort needs to eat more and become stronger so that it won't be friends!" Its words sounded nonsensical to onlookers.

But Dr. Mizuno pursued them for a long time and always felt that this sentence was not so simple: "There are great differences between different civilizations. Just like in some places nodding means 'no' and shaking your head means 'yes', the general language translator only solves the problem on the surface, but cannot truly reflect the expression in the other cultural context... Wait a little longer, Horii, let it say a few more words."

"I can't wait, teacher!" Horii had already grabbed the panlinguistic translator and rushed out of the tent. Feiyan No. 1 and No. 2, his teammates' fighter jets were like kites swaying in the rain and thunder.

He wasn't just a researcher; he was a member of the GUTS team. Sometimes he had to face danger and do things that cautious researchers wouldn't do—like directly confronting a life form for the first time.

The tiny figure waded across the muddy shore, raindrops pattering against his helmet, flashes of light occasionally casting long shadows. He left the logistical team's cries far behind; his teammates were in the raging Thunder Nest, how could he possibly lag behind?

"Gazort! Your name is Gazort, right?" He had run a long way and found a slightly hard ground to stand on. From this angle, the giant and Gazort's faces were almost invisible.

His voice was clear

The message was transmitted to Gazort's ears via a general language translator. Even in the noisy, rainy environment, hearing a fellow speaker's language in an unfamiliar place was enough to pique Lightning's curiosity and draw him in.

How could such a small, different person utter their own language? Gazot released Tiga's arm, bent down, and bowed his head to Horii: "Who are you?"

Other Titans might have seized this opportunity to attack, but it was Daigo who transformed into Tiga. He knew Horii's insistence, so he simply rubbed his arm, adopting a defensive stance, and waited for their conversation.

“My name is Horii Masami, and I am a human living here, a lightning person. You came down from the ionosphere, no, from your home. Did you run out of food?” Horii tilted his head back, rainwater hitting his mouth, but he had no intention of spitting out the rainwater, which he didn’t know was clean or dirty.

Gazot blinked its orange eyes, first letting out a child's laugh, then said, "We have food, every friend is my food, but a powerful person told me... there's more food on the ground, and if I don't come, he'll take me as... as what? Anyway, something like a friend, and I don't want to be anyone's friend."

Horii was initially stunned by its repeated use of "friend," "friend," and after a moment of confusion, he suddenly widened his eyes: "You, you... friend, is it food?"

Gazort smiled and said, "You seem like a very nice person. Would you like to be my friend?"

Is the general language translator broken?

Horii was skeptical of what the machine was saying, but Gazot put its words into practice—perhaps there are great differences between different species, but the expression of hunger is always the same, which is to open one's mouth towards the food one has identified.

Horii was so terrified by the fanged mouth that suddenly lunged at him that he staggered backward, forgetting to turn and run, until a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him around.

"Dr. Mizuno?!" Horii exclaimed in shock. "It's dangerous here, you can't..."

Dr. Mizuno and his young assistant flanked Horii as they fled to safety, panting as they said, "When you were advising me, you knew to tell me to use a drone, but when it comes to yourself, all you do is blindly rush forward? I don't remember my student having this kind of personality."

Horii was being carried by the two of them and was walking "as fast as lightning." Dr. Mizuno tried to approach the lightning man several times but was rebuffed by him. Now that he finally had a chance, he spoke in a rapid-fire manner: "I told you that different civilizations will definitely have different values. It's just treating friends as food... When I said cannibalism, weren't you ready? If you find something wrong, run away! In this respect, the kid who flies our research plane is more clever."

"So... our negotiations failed, right?"

“No, it’s just that we can’t communicate for the time being,” Dr. Mizuno said. “At least I’m very certain about the mutations caused by electromagnetic waves. The next step is the work of the biological research center—hopefully we can collect biological tissue samples from the Lightning Man during this contact. Since we caused this trouble, it’s our duty to develop corresponding anti-mutation drugs.”

Chapter Thirty-Six: "Miracle"

From a tactical standpoint, the timing of Tiga's attack was perfect. He had just fought Silizan, and with the thunder and rain, his energy was rapidly depleting.

Strategically speaking, however, it is not a wise move for the Lightning Men to strike at this time—they have appeared far too many times before, so much so that the Air Force has compiled a manual specifically for dealing with thunderstorms, and the Special Life Forms Management Regulations have formulated specific provisions based on them.

The equipment development center equipped the Victory Team with powerful warheads to disperse rain clouds.

The missiles launched by the two Flying Swallows exploded in the clouds, turning the torrential rain into a torrential downpour. As the saying goes, accelerating the rainfall is the best way to quickly resolve rain clouds. Compared to the monster's destruction… the GUTS team chose to put the city's drainage system to the ultimate test.

It is unknown how many complaints will be received in the future, but so far the effect is outstanding. Gazort, who found his base had been overturned, has made an unexpected move.

"Waaaaahh ...

Startled, Horii turned on the general language translator again, and the mechanical voice stammered out the words: "Haven't eaten for several meals and now can't eat anymore. Gazot is going to be eaten by Kirieloid when he goes back! Gazot doesn't want to be food!"

Horii recalled the reports he had received about the Lightning Men: either the air force had been attacked but escaped unscathed, or Dr. Mizuno's research plane had encountered them. The Lightning Men's clouds had inexplicably disappeared several times, which his colleagues jokingly attributed to the power of Daigo's roar, the "lucky rookie." The last time was at sea late at night, when they were driven away by a giant monster that appeared out of nowhere.

So it seems like Lightning Man's hunts always end in failure?

Gazort had no idea what Horii was thinking; all it wanted to do was vent all its pent-up frustrations! It was trying to live a peaceful life at home, but then one by one, its kind contracted strange "diseases" and grew into bizarre shapes—this continued for many years until it became "abnormal" to stop mutating. Then, a creature named Kirieloid arrived.

The Lightning Men couldn't defeat them. They said if you didn't want to become test subjects, go hunt on the ground, where there are many "friends." If you encounter a particularly tall giant, you must go all out, as he will compete with you for food.

Gazort to him

They were skeptical, but what could they do besides obey and go to the ground? The other person seemed intent on eating them…

So, Lightning Man kept descending on clouds, only to be scared or beaten back by strange people. The ground was too dangerous, and Gazort wanted to go home! But if he didn't get stronger, he couldn't beat Kirieloid, and going home would be like a lamb entering a tiger's den!

Gazort can't go home, but the giant can't be taken down anytime soon! It's smelled that giant monster again... It came while the giant's red light was flashing, and it carefully observed his battle with the other monster. The cloud surrounding the nest was scattered by the tiny person in their flying vehicle, and rebuilding it will take time...

Not only was Horii stunned, but Lina, sitting on the Flying Swallow II, also craned her neck, peering through the cabin window at the monster rolling around on the ground below. "Is it... cheating?" Lina had an absurd thought.

“A naive yet cruel creature…” Dr. Mizuno sighed.

Daigo was caught off guard by an enemy who suddenly started cheating halfway through the fight, leaving him unsure of what to do. As a member of the GUTS team, he had, of course, carefully read Dr. Mizuno's investigation report on the Lightning Men, and knew that they were a group of mysterious creatures living in the ionosphere and coexisting with humans for many years, and that they were undergoing uncontrollable mutations in groups due to electromagnetic waves.

In a sense, the current situation is caused by humanity itself, which discovered and used electromagnetic waves. Daigo heard its childlike screams and couldn't help but think of Gakuma before... The same simple thinking, the same danger, the same need to be changed due to human activities.

It's Gakuma's instinct to protect food, but the murdered worker was innocent; it's the Lightning Man's instinct to swoop down and prey, but should humans willingly become food? Cutting flesh to feed eagles is something only saints do, while most people in this world are ordinary.

"Is there any way to stop this from happening?" Daigo wouldn't let the monsters harm others, but he also felt that these monsters didn't want to mutate. He still hadn't figured out how Tiga's power worked. If there was any way to stop it... at least to restore the mutated Lightning Man to its original state...

Thinking this, his body suddenly moved before he gave the order.

A radiance, far softer than the light of Zepelion, emanated from his palm, slowly crossing the distance between the two and reaching Gazort's head. Gazort was pondering how to defeat the giant when the beautiful specks of light fell, and his curiosity instantly took over.

When its flipper-like forelimbs lightly touched it, it shrank as if ice and snow were melting away. "Whoa?" Gazot only had time to utter a shout before its massive form "disappeared" into the falling shards of light.