"Despicable!"
Dark Lugiel clutched his lower body, shouting furiously at Yu Zhou. It was unclear whether he actually felt pain — but he certainly sounded enraged.
"Careful behind you," Yu Zhou said casually, pointing past Lugiel with a smirk.
"You think I'm going to fall for that again? Do you really take me for a foo—"
Before Lugiel could finish, a blinding red beam slammed into his back like a thunderbolt. The impact sent him crashing into the ground, leaving behind a crater shaped like his body.
Smoke and dust billowed upward, obscuring everything.
"I told you to watch your back," Yu Zhou said, shaking his head helplessly.
Sometimes, good advice was wasted on stubborn ears.
As the smoke cleared, a figure bathed in red light emerged — silver and crimson armour gleaming, his appearance nearly identical to Yu Zhou's. It was Power-Type Tiga.
"Daigo— no, Nagano," Yu Zhou said, recognizing him. "What are you doing here?"
Nagano walked up beside him. "You said you were going after Dark Lugiel. I did some research on that guy. He's dangerous — I came to help."
"He's not that bad," Yu Zhou said nonchalantly. "Though I lost my Shining Barrier because he pulled a dirty trick."
"Curse you!"
Dark Lugiel's furious voice echoed from the crater. The ground trembled as he climbed out, shaking dust and debris from his body.
He glanced down at his hands — his weapon, the Dark Spark Lance, was gone.
Looking around, he spotted it embedded deep into a nearby skyscraper from the earlier impact.
But before he could retrieve it, a massive silver hand wrapped in light gripped the weapon's handle and yanked it free.
"This Dark Spark Lance… not bad," Yu Zhou said, twirling it experimentally. It wasn't especially heavy, but the balance felt excellent.
"It's mine now."
He gave the weapon a few test swings, nodding in satisfaction.
"Damn you! Give that back!" Lugiel roared in anger. The idea that his own weapon had been taken — and claimed — by his opponent was intolerable.
"Give it back? Do you also want me to die just because you asked nicely?" Yu Zhou retorted. "What's with people like you thinking the world revolves around them?"
"…"
For a moment, Lugiel was speechless. As much as he hated to admit it, Tiga did have a point.
But he wasn't here to talk reason — he was here to kill.
With a furious roar, Lugiel's claws sparked with black lightning as he lunged toward Yu Zhou.
"Then let's see how you handle this!"
Yu Zhou spun the Dark Spark Lance, light flaring along its length, and thrust it straight toward Lugiel.
"Hrah!"
Lugiel shouted, blocking the strike with his electrified claws. Black lightning danced up his arms, clashing violently against the energy of the spear.
"Nagano — light beam!" Yu Zhou called evenly, still holding Lugiel in a deadlock.
"Got it!"
Nagano instantly understood. His form shifted, energy building between his hands as he charged his Zeperion Ray.
"Damn you!" Lugiel snarled, sensing danger. Dark electricity surged from his claws and raced up the lance. He released his grip and shot upward into the sky to escape.
"It ran away," Nagano muttered, letting the energy in his hands dissipate.
Yu Zhou looked up, preparing to pursue — but then, something else happened.
From the darkened sky, an eerie sound echoed — neither laughter nor crying, but something in between. It was the wail of a ghost, a sound from the depths of hell itself.
A massive purple sphere of light suddenly materialized above the city, glowing ominously as it hovered in midair.
And then, without warning, bolts of violet lightning cascaded down from it like a deadly rain.
BOOOOOOM!!!
Explosions rocked the city. Entire buildings were vaporized in the storm of energy, flames and debris shooting skyward like volcanic eruptions.
Even the area where Yu Zhou and Nagano stood was caught in the blast — but Yu Zhou reacted instantly, raising a powerful Light Barrier that shielded their immediate surroundings.
When the explosions finally subsided, Nagano stared around in disbelief.
The once-ruined city was now flattened completely — reduced to scorched earth and smoking craters.
The few survivors who had sheltered in the ruins were gone, erased in the blink of an eye.
Even the Tiga duplicates that had been fighting monsters elsewhere were destroyed, disintegrating into dust along with their foes under the relentless lightning.
The ghostly sound echoed again from above. Yu Zhou tightened his grip on the Dark Spark, anger blazing within him.
An entire city — countless lives — wiped out right before his eyes.
"Unforgivable…"
He stomped the ground and shot upward like a streak of light, straight toward the purple sphere in the sky.
The spear crackled with the lingering black lightning left by Lugiel as Yu Zhou swung it down against the sphere.
But the weapon passed straight through — as though striking nothing at all.
A hollow clang echoed. The spear had met no resistance.
"So, it really is Greeza…" Yu Zhou muttered grimly. "No wonder it's this troublesome."
In the series, Greeza had been untouchable before taking on a physical form — no ordinary attack could hurt it.
Only the Xlugger's Rainbow Blade from Ultraman X, and the Belial Dusk (Beliarok) from Ultraman Z, had ever managed to break through its void form.
Yu Zhou clenched his jaw. He hadn't yet figured out a way to force Greeza into solid form.
"Die!"
A sudden burst of energy shot upward — Nagano's Zeperion Ray pierced through Greeza's body, tearing a brief hole through the black clouds above.
But the light quickly vanished, swallowed once again by darkness.
"My beam didn't even touch it!" Nagano said, his voice tense.
Greeza didn't care about his panic. The creature's eerie voice grew louder as its warped, half-transparent form flickered into existence right in front of Nagano.
Before Nagano could react, Greeza's claw slashed downward, smashing into his chest and sending him crashing to the ground in an explosion of rubble and dust.
Meanwhile, in the Global United Council Hall, alarms blared. Reports confirmed that a Japanese city had been completely destroyed.
Through the remaining satellite feed, the council members could see it — the two Ultraman Tigas battling against the void monster, Greeza.
But to the officials, Nagano was merely another Tiga clone — no one realized he was his own separate entity.
As they watched, realizing that neither energy beams nor close combat had any effect on the creature, the entire hall fell into uneasy silence.
Everyone's hearts tightened with dread.