Xia Yan resisted the urge to absorb all the light specks. At this moment, he felt the smartphone in his hand growing slightly warm and couldn't help but lower his gaze to the screen.
[Please Choose Growth Path]
[All-Ultraman Mastery Evolution: Absorb light from Ultramen or humans, raise life tier, and be able to transform into corresponding forms.]
[Monster Plunder Evolution: Become a monster, able to plunder any other living being into oneself, thereby raising life tier and gaining access to all abilities of the plundered beings.]
[Darkness Devour Evolution: Lose self. Absorb all darkness and devour everything.]
Looking up at the time-frozen surroundings, Xia Yan had a vague understanding of the origins of these three growth paths.
The golden light specks probably represented Ultramen, the black ones darkness, and monsters… well, that went without saying.
The two black and red Giras were standing right behind him.
Sensing the aura emanating from those light specks, Xia Yan guessed something.
It was well-known that for humans to evolve into Ultramen, Plasma Spark energy was needed. The Land of Light had come about exactly that way.
But this evolution method had two sides. The Land of Light had gone over a hundred thousand years without crime, theoretically a non-existent utopia.
A heart of justice amplified by Plasma Spark energy naturally resulted in Ultramen who were all good-natured folks; conversely, it could lead to corruption and destruction of everything.
Who knows what that meddling alien back then was thinking. The folks in the Land of Light were just minding their own business building a sun at home, not bothering anyone, yet it just had to stick its nose in.
And look how that turned out—they created an unprecedented, overwhelmingly powerful entity.
Now, they'd even established the Inter-Galactic Defense Force. Whenever any injustice was spotted in the universe, the Land of Light would send Ultramen to intervene.
Probably the dark forces in the universe now absolutely despised that meddling alien from back then.
Reining in his wandering thoughts, Xia Yan, playing it safe, pressed the option for [All-Ultraman Mastery Evolution]!
While it was said that corruption brought a threefold power boost and purification weakened one by thirds, if the price of corruption was losing oneself, then it wasn't within his consideration.
As for monsters being too ugly…
Just based on the trait of being powered by will, an Ultraman's potential had no ceiling. Moreover, since it was 'Ultraman Mastery,' even Dark Ultramen should be possible.
Contemplating his growth path, Xia Yan saw his smartphone emit light, finally transforming into a ball of light that merged into his chest!
At the same time, those tiny golden light specks began converging towards him!
Just as Xia Yan, following his instinct, was about to strike a pose similar to Hikari's transformation…
A young man in a MAC team uniform swished into the area, suddenly intruding upon this space!
The 'east wind' Xia Yan had set up earlier at Minami Gymnasium had finally arrived. But Gen's arrival at this moment was not a good thing.
The light energy on the verge of erupting from Gen to transform instantly shattered the time-frozen environment.
The massive wave crashed down, buildings continued collapsing to the ground, and the monsters roared as they drew closer.
Currently in a special state, Xia Yan easily saw through the light energy within Gen and also spotted the raised Leo Ring.
Realizing the frozen time had been broken, Xia Yan's face darkened.
Before he could say anything, he was slammed into the water by the wave!
The sudden, heavy blow stunned him.
His eyes quickly rolled back, and his last thought before losing consciousness was:
Gen, you goddamn screw-up…
Swept back and forth by the surging seawater, Xia Yan gradually sank deeper.
Fortunately, on his chest, a fist-sized ball of light flickered incessantly. Even though the transformation process was interrupted, golden light specks continued to gather!
On the sea surface.
Having completed his transformation, Leo swooped down from the sky, smacking both feet into the chests of the twin monsters!
But the force, divided between the two monsters, wasn't concentrated. This resulted in Black Giras and Red Giras merely staggering back a step before steadying themselves, then ferociously pouncing towards the newly-landed Leo!
Seeing the twin monsters attack, Leo, with no time to ponder the earlier strangeness of the frozen environment, immediately launched a series of kicks at the two Giras!
But his attack intentions were far too obvious, mostly dodged by the twin monsters.
Seeing the two monsters trying to surround him, Leo suddenly kicked Black Giras in the side, then leapt into a backflip over to Red Giras' back, delivering several solid kicks!
Yet his attacks seemed to barely faze the twin monsters. The two Giras only paused momentarily before attempting to encircle him again!
Noticing this, Leo flipped again, trying to repeat his earlier tactic.
However, the same move might work wonders the first time, but once the enemy is prepared, using it a second time is bound to backfire.
Sure enough, Black Giras of the twin monsters, seeing Leo try to flip away, simply slammed its body into him, instantly intercepting Leo!
Then, spreading its arms, it tightly locked Leo in a bear hug from behind.
By the time Leo realized what was happening, his arms were pinned by Black Giras. Unable to use his upper body strength, a sense of dread washed over him.
Before he could find a chance to counterattack, Red Giras swiftly pounced over!
The two monsters instantly sandwiched Leo between them!
The twin monsters locked arms tightly and abruptly began spinning at high speed!
Blue energy erupted from their bodies, forming a semi-circular energy barrier. Simultaneously, lightning continuously shot from the horns on the twin monsters' heads, bombarding Leo trapped in the middle!
His stamina and energy drained rapidly. The color timer on his chest ding-dong, ding-dong, flashed red incessantly!
Leo just felt his entire being going numb…
Clearly, at this point, he hadn't yet been trained and disciplined by Dan Moroboshi, and was very prone to impulsive recklessness.
It epitomized one word: Brash.
Unfortunately, brashness only made him fail faster.
When the twin monsters' Giras Spin stopped, Leo's head lolled to the side, and his body splatted into the water.
Youth is great—passes out as soon as he hits the ground.
On the distant rocky beach, Dan Moroboshi, leaning on his crutch and rushing as fast as he could, finally reached the battle site just in time to see Leo unconscious and lying down.
"Damn it!"
Dan Moroboshi instinctively pulled out his Ultra Eye, but noticing the burnt-out transformation device, he remembered he could no longer transform into Seven.
At the same time, Magma Seijin, lurking in the shadows observing everything, seeing Leo knocked down by the twin monsters, could no longer resist and leapt out from the clouds!
A spear extended from its wrist as it landed before the unconscious, sleeping Leo, intending to seize the chance to stab him to death personally!
Witnessing this, Dan Moroboshi's gaze sharpened, his face changing in alarm. He immediately threw aside his crutch.
Just as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, preparing to use his Ultra Psychic power, he suddenly sensed something.
Dan Moroboshi sharply turned his gaze towards the turbulent sea:
"Who is that!?"
Within his perception, a surge of unfamiliar energy in the seawater was visibly growing stronger and stronger!