Chapter 25: The Demon Spirit Becomes Light
The night in Gotham always seemed to arrive earlier than elsewhere. The abandoned Amusement Mile seemed forgotten in a corner of the world, its massive Ferris wheel hanging silently in the air like a slumbering giant beast.
A thick fog permeated the air, obscuring the only road to the Amusement Mile. The fluorescent lights of a distant street corner barely illuminated the dim, stone-paved road. A dreary wind howled past, and the pale moon hung high in the night sky. The rustling of the wind was like the sigh of a devil drifting by one's ear.
Two afterimages shattered the night's silence.
A Demon Spirit spread its fallen angel-like wings, hurtling through the boundless night sky at full speed. A brilliant tail flame followed close behind as a red-and-silver steel battle armor closed the distance between them at a visible rate.
In the Amusement Mile below, eerie green eyes lit up in the darkness, like a flicker of ghostly fire in the night.
"They're here," a Demon Spirit sneered under its breath.
The Demon Spirit leading the group, Usark, sent a message to the Demon Spirit in the air using an ancient sound transmission technique: "Pretend you're losing and lure that detestable Ultraman to the designated location. He'll find we've prepared a surprise for him."
A reply from the Demon Spirit in the air quickly came back.
"Are you guys blind!? I'm *actually* losing, for fuck's sake!" the Demon Spirit shrieked. "Where are my teammates? Teammates! A little help here!?"
But it was too late.
A mechanism on the shoulder of the red-and-silver armor opened, and a small launch rack popped out from its shoulder.
With a piercing whistle that tore through the air, a micro-missile ignited and launched with a roar. The Demon Spirit in mid-air had no way to dodge. After a heart-rending scream, it was struck by the missile and exploded with a boom, turning into a brilliant firework in the night sky.
The Demon Spirits: "..."
The Spacium Warhead was Orin Vale's newest weapon, and this was currently the only prototype available for test-firing.
The inspiration came from the Spacium Warhead developed by the Earth Defense Force's GUYS team in the *Ultraman Mebius* TV series, but its size had been scaled down to be mounted on a single-trooper mecha.
A missile using Specium Matter as its primary damaging element, it possessed the same destructive attributes as the Specium Ray. Its power was weaker than the previously developed Light Energy Cannon, but its advantages were that it had no cooldown, could be fired instantly, and had zero energy cost.
All the ambushing Demon Spirits in the shadows turned their gazes in unison toward their leader, Usark.
"In any case, it already lured the target to the designated location. Its mission is complete," Usark said coldly. "It doesn't matter. I will make a move. Proceed according to the original plan!"
The red-and-silver armor landed in the middle of the Amusement Mile.
The surroundings were empty; there was nothing there. The withered branches and leaves of the trees swayed in the wind, the rustling sound like the whisper of a supernatural entity.
Everything looked normal.
But the instrument display still detected a fluctuation of darkness, and the reading was not low. Orin Vale could also faintly sense a dissonance.
With a thought, his psionic power erupted, and his Ultra Vision activated simultaneously.
As expected, ripples immediately appeared in the seemingly calm darkness around him. He looked around and saw that a large number of Demon Spirits had silently appeared in all directions at some unknown point.
Most of them had dark carapaces and jagged bodies of varying heights. They stared menacingly, like a pack of wolves surrounding their prey.
However, when they were still a few steps away, they all tacitly stopped. They looked at each other, as if waiting for a teammate to go first.
Finally, a wolf-headed Demon Spirit took the lead and shouted, "He's already caught in an illusion! He can't see or hear us right now! Let's finish him off!"
With that, it let out a roar and prepared to lead the charge. But it had barely taken a single step when it saw Orin Vale suddenly turn around. Without any warning, he thrust out a palm. A ball of light energy shot out from his palm and slammed squarely into the wolf-headed Demon Spirit's face with a splat. The Demon Spirit's head was blown clean off on the spot. Its remaining headless corpse continued to rush forward from inertia for a moment before instantly collapsing to the ground, silent.
"He can see!" a Demon Spirit exclaimed in shock.
"It doesn't matter if he can see! There are more of us!"
"There's no need for a code of honor when dealing with a warrior of light! Everyone, attack together!"
As they spoke, several Demon Spirits charged forward, shouting.
Orin Vale lightly sidestepped to dodge a Demon Spirit's sharp claws, then sent a flying kick straight to its forehead, kicking hard enough to shatter its skull and kill it instantly.
He parried a punch with his left arm and followed through with an elbow strike that ruptured the opponent's lungs. At the same time, his right palm opened, and light energy poured out from his palm. Another Demon Spirit was blasted straight through, killed on the spot.
The Demon Spirits surged forward from all sides, shouting, but with a series of muffled thuds, one dark figure after another was sent flying backward. Amidst the horde of monsters, the red-and-silver armor was like an incarnate Steel God of War, slaying gods and devils who stood in its way.
And just as the battle reached its peak, a massive figure suddenly emerged from the darkness behind him. It approached the battlefield silently, until the immense shadow of its huge body loomed over everything.
A gigantic, bloody maw!
The Demon Spirit Usark's form rapidly expanded, transforming into some kind of enormous and ferocious demon creature! Its body was made of a gel-like substance, its eyes burned like ghostly fire, and its giant mouth looked as if it could swallow the very world.
And while Orin Vale was busy fighting his way through the besieging Demon Spirits, that giant mouth launched a sudden sneak attack and swallowed him whole!
Success!
Usark was overjoyed, not expecting it to be so easy.
Its stomach was no ordinary creature's digestive system; it was its most powerful weapon. Inside its body was a special magical space filled with a power that could corrode any substance—even steel would be corroded in an instant. Furthermore, that space had a function that blocked magic, capable of obstructing any spell.
In its view, the hardest part was actually figuring out how to eat the enemy.
Seeing Usark succeed, the scattered and beaten Demon Spirits were all pleasantly surprised. The quicker-witted ones had already hurried over, showering him with sycophantic praise, saying things like, "The boss is awesome! Truly a cadre-level master! We knew you had it the moment you made a move! That guy didn't stand a chance!" and so on.
Usark swelled with pride from all the flattery. He couldn't help but puff out his chest, feeling that this Ultraman was nothing special after all. Before, when the other cadres talked about taking this person down, every one of them was as cowardly as could be. As expected, in the end, it was up to him, Usark, to take action.
He completely ignored the fact that he himself had been one of those cowards.
Just as he was thoroughly enjoying the flattery, a Demon Spirit suddenly raised an inopportune question.
"Hey, Boss, why do I get the feeling you're about to turn into light?"
Usark shot him a vicious glare.
"What nonsense are you spouting? Since ancient times, light and darkness cannot coexist. Are you implying I want to defect to the enemy?"
"N-no, that's not it," the Demon Spirit said, breaking into a nervous sweat. "But Boss, you really do seem to be... glowing."
"Huh?"
Usark paused, stunned, and looked down at himself.
It seemed he really was.
An incandescent, blindingly intense radiance, so powerful that even its thick, pitch-black gelatinous body couldn't contain it, was bursting out from every part of him.
His body felt hot, with a stinging sensation, and a little bit of pain.
Usark was stupefied for a moment as a strange thought surfaced in his mind. *Did I really defect to the enemy? But why don't I remember doing it?*
The next second, all the Demon Spirits present were shocked to their core. With a profound shock to their demonic existence, they witnessed a grotesque and terrifying scene.
Usark split open.
Literally split open, like a plush toy bursting at the seams. His enormous body was stretched apart by the blinding light, creating a rift. The first thing to burst out of that rift was a massive, silver-white fist, followed by a divine radiance as brilliant as the sun.
Following closely behind the fist was a slender, red-and-silver body, which continuously grew taller and larger, until it stood like a pillar holding up the heavens, as if it could reach out and touch the endless stars.
Below, the crowd of Demon Spirits stared up at the Giant that had burst out of the belly and the bisected Usark, all of them frozen stiff.
Their mood was just like the roadside greenery along the streets of Gotham.
Completely fucked.
(end of chapter)