Chapter Nine: A Conversation in Secret

The colossal extraterrestrial hauled itself up from the ground, its furious gaze fixed on the giant that had appeared before it. Rage seemed to swell in its chest beyond restraint, and a savage voice thundered in Jin’s ears.

“Who in the world are you, to dare stand in the way of my great spacetime life-form, Garukimes!”

Yet the giant did not answer. At that moment, a strange scene flashed through Jin’s mind.

It was in the deep, lightless sea, where a massive explosion stirred up endless waves. A tremendous surge of energy swallowed one giant whole, and in that instant, even his consciousness seemed to falter for a breath.

“Could it be... am I one of those giants?”

Jin murmured in confusion, while also feeling a deep helplessness. Giants, too, could perish...

“Then I want even greater power!”

Within the giant’s body, a faint consciousness seemed to speak: “I grant it to you!”

And then the same voice sounded again, as though it rang through heaven and earth.

“I grant it to you!”

In Jin’s mind, an answer seemed to have already taken shape. His gaze lifted toward Garukimes in the distance. Immense power coursed through the giant’s body, and within those solid muscles lay explosive force and astonishing might.

It felt as though no matter how many obstacles stood before him, he could destroy them all.

“The power of Seven X...”

Without meaning to, he spoke the giant’s name, and then his whole body trembled.

“Seven X!”

Seven X straightened slightly. There was not the slightest trace of doubt or hesitation in Jin’s eyes; they were unwavering, filled with absolute conviction and unshakable confidence.

Above, inside the flying craft, a middle-aged man and the short-haired white-haired woman behind him stared at Seven X on the screen. The sudden appearance of the giant had struck them with overwhelming shock.

Neither of them spoke. They only watched in silence, though the faint tremor in the middle-aged man’s hand betrayed a calm far less complete than it appeared.

And somewhere in this world, perhaps in a place no one had ever understood, perhaps in a place no one had ever reached.

There, it looked like a garden, yet also like a graveyard.

But the whole place was eerily silent and strange. The sky held a faint red glow, and farther away there was a vast white radiance, too blinding to reveal what lay beyond.

It seemed wholly separate from the rest of the world.

Within that garden stood a man in a tailored suit. Sharp-browed and bright-eyed, he always seemed to carry a blade’s edge in his gaze. His build was perfectly proportioned; though not especially muscular in appearance, he looked alert and capable, his body possessing formidable explosive strength.

He seemed to be a man who had received military training.

Yet none of that was important. What mattered was that he looked strikingly similar to Jin.

Only his eyes were a little more shadowed.

Around him stood two others, expressionless as though they possessed no emotions at all. Their faces were wooden and lifeless, far less human than this man.

Or perhaps... it would be more fitting to say that, unlike this man, they were less like people.

“That power... and yet it did not choose me!”

The man spoke, his tone thick with dissatisfaction and anger.

The other two were a middle-aged woman and a middle-aged man, both with rigid, eerie expressions.

“His appearance may disrupt our control over this world.”

“Control?” The man sneered.

“That sounds nice enough, but in truth it is nothing more than invasion.”

“Invasion? We do not possess such vulgar intent!” said the middle-aged man. He had a crew-cut, his hair streaked with faint white.

“Just as the atmosphere envelops the Earth, we exist here.”

His voice held not the slightest fluctuation, as though he were merely stating an ordinary fact.

“Say whatever excuses you like. I have no interest in entangling myself in such meaningless things.” The man gave a cold laugh, then asked, “How is the plan for that ‘ship’ progressing?”

“...”

“Please do not speak to us in such a commanding tone,” the woman said.

“You have seized and occupied a portion of our consciousness in order to exist. We have not yet settled that matter with you.”

“You call that consciousness?” The man scoffed.

“The consciousness you have evolved into today was still formed through my guidance.” He said this much, then waved a hand with obvious boredom. “Enough. I am not going to discuss this with you. Seven X’s appearance is an unforeseen turn; it may well create an irreparable flaw in our control over this world. Therefore, by whatever means necessary, he must be sent away from here.”

“The existence of another world is inevitable. A world parallel to this one. The will of Ultraman Seven has come to this world, and we cannot obstruct it,” the woman said.

“You are exactly like the humans you control—stiff and incapable of resistance.” The man curled his lip. Among the three, only his face carried any expression.

“That is why the ‘ship’ plan exists. Before that fellow has truly accepted this world, we must use the ship to make him realize that this is not a real world. Once he leaves it, he will be like a bird breaking free of its cage, soaring into the sky.”

He looked up at the heavens with longing, clicked his tongue, and sighed.

“How I miss the power of the giant... But in order to stand apart and free myself from that fellow, I lost the power of Gilogas. What a pity.”

“If he boards the ship, will we kill him?”

The man paused, then said helplessly, “We cannot. The Gaia consciousness of this world has already fused with his consciousness. In this world, his power will continue to grow during the stage of self-awakening. What he desires, Gaia will realize for him; what he possesses, Gaia will strengthen for him.”

He paused, and his tone turned chill and angry.

“Just like that woman who can never die, just like that laser gun that always ends up in his hand!”

“Then what is the point?” The middle-aged man’s voice rang out.

The man was nearly driven mad on the spot by these two wooden fools. He shouted furiously,

“How can you be so stupid? So dim? You truly are a loathsome subterranean race! Even the collective unconscious of your race, formed under my guidance, is the same!”

“How did the collective unconscious of humankind disappear? Was it not by being suppressed and gradually lulled into slumber by you? Then why can’t the same method be used on him?!”

“So long as he enters the ship of his own accord, he can be put into a deep sleep. Once his own consciousness falls asleep, Gaia’s consciousness will naturally be unable to aid him!”

“And then... at that time...”

He smiled with a twisted, ferocious delight, and silently said to himself,

“By then, I will inherit the light of Seven within him at once, and Seven X, enhanced by Gaia’s consciousness, will possess even greater power!”

“After all... Tetsuya, we are one and the same!!!”