Chapter 119: Who Do You Think You Are?

After briefly saying goodbye to Hiroyuki and his companions, Hiroyuki returned to the Land of Light with Taro, still being carried in the palm of the Ultra’s hand as they flew.

Once there, Hiroyuki completely entrusted himself to the professionals of the Land of Light. As a tiny dwarf who had “stumbled” into the land of giants, he could neither understand the equipment—which defied all logic and cognition, having reached the peak of technological evolution—nor grasp what they were doing. However, Hiroyuki placed his full trust in these Giants of Light; the mere thought that “they couldn’t possibly want to harm me” allowed him to relax, and he eventually drifted off to sleep while lying on a device resembling a brain CT scanner.

Well, in truth, the purpose of that device was to make him fall asleep.

When he woke up again, he found himself lying on a hard, flat surface. It wasn’t cold, as the Land of Light lacked seasons and maintained a constant temperature across the entire planet year-round. Hiroyuki sat up and surveyed his surroundings; he appeared to be on a desk—a magnified version of one.

“You’re awake.”

Hikari noticed the movement on the desk and turned around. Hiroyuki was already looking at a screen on the wall, which displayed a scan of the “Devil Fragment.” A few seconds later, the image shifted to show scans of several pieces of Plasma Soul.

“Did you sleep well?”

“It’s been the best sleep I’ve had in days, and I didn’t have any of those messy, chaotic dreams.”

Hiroyuki felt refreshed, likely because he felt so secure in his environment that he had slept exceptionally soundly.

“We have examined the items you brought back. This Devil Fragment shows very clear energy fluctuations and even displays signs of emotional expression; it says it is very hungry.”

Naturally, it had been placed in a black container that blocked all energy fluctuations, one so dark that not even ordinary light could penetrate it.

“It is larger than other Devil Fragments found in the universe and has evolved simple biological behaviors. Because of its hunger, it seeks to prey on others. Its method of hunting is to pull nearby energy-based objects toward itself and then sustain itself by absorbing their energy.”

It was somewhat like a whale filter-feeding in the ocean; it didn’t need to chase its prey, but simply waited, letting whatever happened to be nearby drift into its mouth. Since it existed on a wandering planet, it “wandered” and filter-fed along the way, causing frequent disappearances wherever it passed.

“Furthermore, it appears someone is deliberately feeding it. This has made it larger than other discovered fragments and increased the scope of its impact.”

After some verification, Hikari and his research team discovered that the fragment could only pull in energy objects with a total energy level not exceeding a certain threshold at any one time. Assuming it could only pull 100 units of energy, if it pulled a Zero, which took up 80 units, it could only pull in small fry for the remainder. Anything more was impossible.

Because of this, Pega was pulled in, but Geed was skipped because his energy level was too high. This solved the mystery of Zero’s disappearance.

“As for this crystal… where did you get it?”

Hikari locked the interface onto the pieces of Plasma Soul and asked Hiroyuki. Hiroyuki briefly explained the parallel universe and the three travelers from another world. Ultraman was, after all, a work of science fiction; when imagination fell short, the concept of a parallel universe—that messy, convenient setting—solved everything.

Hikari clearly accepted this explanation well.

“They have already returned?”

*What are you planning?*

Hiroyuki nodded and said, “They were just passing through; they’ve already left.”

Hearing this, Hikari nodded with a hint of regret.

“This type of mineral crystal is quite special. We actually have them here as well; the core reaction rods of the Plasma Spark Tower are filled with this type of crystal. However, ours are synthesized artificially. You say that in their universe, these crystals form naturally?”

“...”

Hiroyuki thought for a moment and said cautiously, “Actually, I’m not entirely sure. I only know that these crystals are commonly found deep underground, and sometimes they are brought to the surface by subterranean monsters... It is true that these crystals might have originally been distributed on the planet’s surface, only to gradually sink and be buried deep underground due to geological movements.”

“In other words, these could be... the remnants of some ancient ruins.”

For them to be brought up by subterranean monsters, they would have to be at a depth of at least 50 to 100 kilometers. For surface objects to sink to such depths, even with active geological movement, would take tens of billions of years. Thus, it was only theoretically possible that they were surface ruins; without further evidence, it was a toss-up between that and the possibility of them forming naturally in the underground environment.

“...”

Hikari rested his chin on his pen, appearing to be deep in thought. Hiroyuki didn't disturb him and simply sat cross-legged. A few minutes later, the image on the screen changed again.

“The detection results for the restraint device show it is functioning well. How do you feel?”

“Very well.”

Hiroyuki nodded and then said, “However, I discovered something... well, how should I put this? I used Grimdo’s power, and it... it seems to have become weaker?”

Hiroyuki interpreted the decrease in usage counts as Grimdo becoming weaker, though he wasn’t sure if that was the correct way to express it; he was merely probing with a question.

Hikari, however, nodded, looking somewhat surprised. “You noticed? It seems your connection with Grimdo is deeper than I imagined.”

“Let’s put it this way: if you use its power frequently, you will eventually be able to eliminate it completely. As for whether it is ‘sooner’ or ‘later,’ it depends on how much of ‘Grimdo’ is inside you.”

Hiroyuki nodded, understanding. In other words, if he were to expend the remaining charges of Grimdo’s skills in a void without alerting anyone, Grimdo would be eradicated from his body.

“...Was this plan also designed by Tregear?”

“Yes.”

Hikari would never claim another’s research results as his own. “I suspect that when he designed it, he had already planned how to eliminate the sealed spectral monster.”

“...”

He hadn't even crossed the river yet, and he was already planning how to tear down the bridge? It seemed Tregear didn’t entirely trust the Grimdo within him either, having long ago prepared a contingency to destroy it.

Just as Hiroyuki was clicking his tongue at the fact that Tregear had arranged a complete, start-to-finish service for Grimdo, from its introduction to its burial, Hikari moved on to the next topic.

“Now, finally, regarding your medical report.”

On the screen appeared a silhouette of Hiroyuki’s form, alongside some annotations in font too small for him to read. Beside it was the image of the Taiga Spark Lens, recognizable even by its outline.

“Returning to the question, how do you perceive yourself... who exactly are you?”