Chapter 13: Ultraman’s Defiance of Common Sense

The older one gets, the more cunning they become—let alone someone like Noah, that living relic. Something that appears beneficial on the surface can hide an endless depth of calculation.

The old mystic had examined it closely. The dark power within Qiao Zhe was woven with all manner of his own chaotic memories. If these were excised, he would inevitably become incomplete.

Would he still be Qiao Zhe then?

At Noah’s level, light and darkness are merely forms of power; what truly matters is the will within one’s heart.

So his intent was to guide Qiao Zhe onto the right path.

One becomes red by being close to cinnabar, and black by being near ink. Having an Ultraman as a companion, that bond forged in battle would naturally form.

At present, Qiao Zhe’s talent for combat was indeed extraordinary.

The old mystic now considered that perhaps he needed to devise some training methods.

Meanwhile, Apatite’s body, having lost the control of its life force, erupted with unbridled energy.

Boom!

A burst of fire exploded across the desert, eventually dissipating into nothing but fine dust.

Qiao Zhe twisted his waist left and right, the ripple energy dispelling the last traces of discomfort.

When Ultramen fight at giant size, of course their bodies have bones—no one knows this better than Seven, whose leg was once broken.

That last move was only possible thanks to Ripple Overdrive, which greatly reduces pain and even has a healing mechanism.

Combined with the subjective power of light, as long as one dares to imagine and act, there’s no shortage of strange and unique skills.

As for the usual limitation that Ripple requires a specific breathing pattern—this holds true in human form. But after transforming into an Ultraman, perhaps due to the power of light, this restriction disappears entirely.

It’s worth mentioning that Ultraman’s breathing is itself a vague concept. They don’t need to breathe, yet some monster gases can harm them, and when their necks are squeezed by an enemy, they clearly suffer from lack of air.

Yet when fighting in space or the deep sea, breathing isn’t an issue at all.

In short, it’s impossible to pin down.

XIG Air Base.

With Apatite defeated, both Qiao Ji and Atsuko cheered, marveling at the silver giant’s remarkable waist rotation a moment ago.

“That was amazing! I can barely bend my waist at all without feeling like it’ll break,” said Qiao Ji, the tall Spaniard who occasionally practiced Tokyo-style kendo.

Atsuko watched the silver Ultraman, whose style was so different from Gaia, her face full of curiosity. “This Ultraman can speak our language. I wonder what his name is.”

On the broadcast screen, the silver giant who had just destroyed the monster still hadn’t left.

Ishimuro pondered for a moment, then gave an order through the comm channel: “Director Tsutsumi, try to communicate with Ultraman.”

So far, both Gaia and this new Ultraman had helped humanity by defeating monsters and hadn’t attacked humans.

Judging by their actions, Ultraman should be on the side of good.

Ishimuro’s deduction was sound, though he hadn’t yet met Agul.

“Understood,” replied Makoto Tsutsumi from the Peace, and quickly issued instructions: “Lightning One, stay alert. We’re going in.”

“Roger!” Kajio piloted the fighter, keeping Lightning One close to the Peace.

As the two jets drew closer, they caught Qiao Zhe’s attention. The Ultra’s head turned slightly, his lamp-like eyes fixing on the Peace.

More precisely, he was looking at My Dream inside the Peace.

Sensing that gaze, My Dream immediately felt a kinship—like discovering a fellow of his kind.

Excitement welled up inside him. He volunteered, “Let me try! I have a way to transmit my voice over.”

In truth, there was no need for such theatrics. Having transformed into Gaia before, My Dream knew that an Ultraman’s senses are heightened.

He spoke up only out of caution—just in case something unexpected happened.

Tsutsumi considered this and did not object.

My Dream made a show of adjusting parameters on the computer, glancing sidelong at Tsutsumi. He figured there would be no problem—after all, Director Tsutsumi wouldn’t understand the technical details.

Through the cockpit window, My Dream looked at the silver giant. “Hello, what is your name? Are you our friend, or our enemy?”

Qiao Zhe’s lamp-like eyes took all this in, easily seeing through My Dream’s little ruse.

He had stayed behind partly to converse with the other party.

But with others present, and knowing the XIG Air Base was surely listening in, he couldn’t reveal My Dream’s identity or say much.

Unfortunately, as a novice Ultraman, Qiao Zhe hadn’t yet mastered psychic communication for private conversations.

After a moment’s thought, he simply turned around, presenting the back of his head to the XIG crew, and waved a hand in a casual gesture.

“Oh-le-wa jojo, Ultraman JOJO.”

With those words, he leapt into the sky, easily breaking the sound barrier and vanishing in the blink of an eye.

As the Light of the Sky, he possessed an absolute advantage in speed.

“Ultraman JOJO, huh,” Kajio muttered, gazing in the direction where the silver giant had disappeared. “He seems to care a lot about his name.”

Of course Qiao Zhe cared. If he didn’t introduce himself to the XIG personnel, who knows what kind of name they’d give him someday?

A normal name would be fine, but if they came up with something like “Giant Mountain Super Power King,” he wouldn’t be able to accept it.

While the others focused on that, My Dream was more astonished by the silver giant’s speed. “So fast!” he thought.

It had been only a split second, yet the Ultraman had broken the sound barrier and vanished from sight.

My Dream knew well that he could never achieve that as Gaia.

Surprised, he called over to the Air Base, “Atsuko, could you send me the footage just now?”

“The part where Ultraman JOJO took off into the sky.”

“What do you want it for?” Atsuko asked, puzzled, but she returned to the data console and sent the auto-captured video to the Peace.

Receiving the video, My Dream immediately began analyzing it in slow motion.

“JOJO’s flight speed is extremely fast. I want to calculate it.”

As a scientist, even if he couldn’t judge by eye, he could rely on technology.

Tsutsumi, curious, looked over. “What’s the matter? Is there a problem?”

“No, I’m just curious how fast JOJO really is. It might be useful in the future.”

The calculation finished quickly. Staring at the numbers on the screen, My Dream’s jaw dropped. “It’s thirty Mach!”

And that was only a rough estimate—since JOJO’s flight had seemed so casual, My Dream conservatively guessed he could probably reach forty Mach.

Stunned, he felt a pang of inadequacy. Gaia’s top speed was only twenty Mach at best.