Inside the shimmering barrier, Gadi's smug confidence cracked when his proud shield was shattered as if it were glass. For the first time, his monstrous face contorted into something disturbingly human-like.
It almost seemed to say: "What the hell? How did you just do that?!"
Hilbagon, unlike Gadi, wasn't about tricks or defense—he was raw muscle, a walking mountain of brute strength.
Enraged, Gadi unleashed a red beam straight at Hilbagon. The attack struck clean, yet the hulking beast shrugged it off like a summer breeze. With an arrogant grunt, Hilbagon pounded his chest like a gorilla, as if declaring: "Come on, is that all you've got?"
And so, the two monsters clashed, trading blows in a chaotic brawl.
Victory Team seized the chance. While the beasts were distracted, they rushed into the damaged barrier to rescue the civilians trapped inside. Soon, they had located everyone—two children and an adult—but they were still confined within Hilbagon's rainbow mirage. Without finding the exit, they remained prisoners of the illusion.
Daigo's sharp eyes caught something above the fighting monsters—a rainbow arched across the sky. He immediately realized what it was.
"That's it! The way out!"
Everyone turned toward the rainbow, hope sparking in their eyes. They quickly piled back into the vehicle and sped toward it.
Behind them, the fight raged on. Gadi lashed out, wrapping Hilbagon tightly with his writhing tentacles. For a moment, it seemed Gadi had the upper hand. But Hilbagon roared, muscles bulging, and with a violent heave tore the tentacles apart. Gadi shrieked in agony.
The gorilla-like monster seized his foe's head, opened his massive jaws, and bit down. Within moments, Gadi fell limp, defeated, and dead.
Hilbagon pounded his chest once more in triumph before turning his gaze toward the fleeing vehicle. With a roar, he charged after them.
"Not good! Hilbagon's chasing us!" Horii shouted, his head out the window.
"Stop the cars. Now. Don't move," Yuzhou's calm voice ordered over the comms.
The team instantly understood. Yuzhou had warned them earlier—Hilbagon only attacked moving targets. If they stayed still, they would effectively vanish from his senses.
Sure enough, when the vehicles stopped, Hilbagon froze mid-stride, confusion written all over his brutish face. Where did they go? They were just here…
Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.
"Yuzhou, you stay with the rescued civilians," Captain Megumi instructed. "The rest of us will engage."
Yuzhou nodded without objection. He wasn't armed anyway—better to let the soldiers handle it.
The team fanned out and opened fire with their Victory Hyper Shooters. Bright beams cut across the battlefield, but Hilbagon barely flinched. Their weapons were gnats to him.
Daigo slipped away, clutching the Spark Lens. With a flash of light, Ultraman Tiga descended from the sky, delivering a flying kick that sent Hilbagon sprawling.
Roaring, Hilbagon pounded his chest, challenging the giant warrior.
But Tiga didn't rise to the taunt. Instead, he remembered Yuzhou's advice. After striking, he went completely still.
Hilbagon blinked in confusion. One second his enemy was there, the next—gone. He looked around, bewildered.
Suddenly—BAM! Tiga's fist crashed into his chest, sending him staggering backward. Before Hilbagon could retaliate, Tiga froze again.
It was infuriating. An invisible enemy was hitting him, but he couldn't strike back. Hilbagon bellowed in rage, swinging wildly at nothing.
Inside the car, Yuzhou sighed. "Well, there goes all the tension. I basically gave Daigo a cheat code. Poor Hilbagon doesn't even get to put up a real fight."
One-sided as it was, the battle couldn't last forever. Exhausted and enraged, Hilbagon finally collapsed after Tiga's full-power Zepellion Ray tore through him. Unlike the weaker version seen in the "original story," this complete blast was unstoppable. Hilbagon exploded into fragments, his reign of terror ended.
And for once, Tiga had done it while his chest timer still shone blue. A clean, decisive victory. The kind worthy of the record books.
With the monster gone, the rainbow mirage dissolved. The rescued civilians were freed, and Victory Team regrouped in relief.
Back at TPC headquarters, Horii couldn't hide his admiration. "Yuzhou, that was brilliant! If not for your intel, Hilbagon would've trampled us."
"Exactly," Daigo chimed in, grateful. Without Yuzhou's knowledge, even Tiga might've struggled. After all, Hilbagon had effortlessly overpowered Gadi—yet now, Tiga had dispatched him without even hitting red.
This battle cemented Yuzhou's place within Victory Team. He wasn't just some tag-along—he was their secret strategist, a man with knowledge they could trust.
From then on, Yuzhou didn't accompany them on every mission. Instead, he worked with Megumi and Noroi back at HQ, providing guidance through comms. Monsters were Daigo's job, after all—his role was to make sure they weren't blindsided.
And when the Obic incident approached, Yuzhou quietly warned Daigo. "He's not truly evil. Just clinging to memories of his old village. In the end… he'll choose death. Be careful. Don't make it worse."
He remembered all too well how, in the "original story," Daigo had mistakenly struck Obic down, regretting it forever. This time, Yuzhou wasn't going to let that happen.
It became a pattern: whenever a new monster or alien loomed, Yuzhou had answers. Jombellier. Alien Natans. King Molat. Even the Bizomo symbiote—he advised freezing it before it could mutate, sparing Victory Team from disaster.
Time after time, his foresight saved lives.
Sometimes, Yuzhou chuckled to himself. "At this rate, I should just get a title card: Plot Breaker."
Life grew easier, almost carefree. But soon enough, a new twist appeared—after Daigo's battle with the monster Garura, Yuzhou found himself at a shopping mall in District K.
There, at an outdoor café with a milk tea in hand, he waited.
Because he knew who was about to appear.
A psychic named Kirino.
A man who knew Daigo's secret.
And he was about to change everything.