By this point, no one considered the Gijera to be saviors anymore.
Everyone had retreated far away from the battlefield.
Horie and Shinjo were supporting Darram and Hudra respectively. The two of them had just regained consciousness. It was hardly surprising; having been unsealed only recently, their strength was vastly inferior to what it used to be—and that applied to Camilla as well.
Presently, Camilla was roughly on par with the Blinding Tiga from the original timeline.
Looking around, Rena could not find Daigo anywhere, and a wave of anxiety began to wash over her.
"Captain, Daigo is gone. Do you think something happened to him?"
Iruma Megumi’s expression turned grave. The battle moments ago had been far too intense; many people had failed to escape in time and had perished right here. Daigo’s assigned patrol sector happened to be right around the perimeter of the battlefield, which forced Iruma and the others to instinctively fear the worst.
"Don't worry, Daigo will be fine."
Camilla's voice came from behind the group. Her hair was slightly disheveled, yet she retained her characteristic elegance. By now, the others trusted Camilla implicitly. Rena let out a long breath of relief.
Camilla glanced at Rena with a trace of amusement. How could she possibly fail to read Rena's thoughts? However, to her, Daigo was no longer synonymous with Tiga. If she had to describe it, Camilla now viewed Daigo as... Tiga's descendant.
Without giving them much time to converse, the God of Gijeraelod descended from the sky. Its colossal stature forced the two Tigas to look up at it.
The God slowly raised its right hand and extended a single finger.
"JIUUUUUUUU—"
A beam carrying terrifying energy shot rapidly toward Daigo.
Daigo immediately conjured a barrier to intercept it. To his dismay, the barrier held for only a fraction of a second before shattering.
Yin Xi did not stand idly by; he stepped forward and erected his own barrier. The pale golden barrier gradually became suffused with a pale purple hue, and the fractured sections slowly mended.
Yin Xi looked back at Daigo, dropped a single remark, and charged straight at the God.
"You need light, Daigo. You need more light."
Daigo stood frozen in place, mulling over Yin Xi's words.
Utilizing his own massive form, Yin Xi transformed into Dark Tiga and darted nimbly around the God. His energy seemed inexhaustible as various beams continuously fired from his hands, striking the God's gargantuan body and erupting into showers of sparks. Yet, none of it inflicted any substantial damage.
The God raised a hand and swatted at Yin Xi. Yin Xi had initially assumed that despite the creature's size, its speed wouldn't be particularly high, but that massive hand came hurtling down toward him with terrifying velocity. Yin Xi was forced to raise both arms overhead to block.
Seizing the opportunity, the God immediately followed up with its other hand, slamming a heavy blow straight into Yin Xi's stomach and sending him flying thousands of meters away.
Daigo watched in sheer disbelief. Yin Xi, who had easily dispatched two Gijeras, had just been knocked away by the God in a single blow, utterly overwhelmed.
"Light, I need light. Yes, I need light."
By this point, Daigo no longer cared about exposing his identity. He turned his head and locked eyes with Iruma Megumi down on the ground.
Seeing Tiga suddenly turn to stare directly at her, Iruma was momentarily stunned. The next instant, her face was overcome with shock.
Daigo had used telepathy to reveal his identity to Iruma, while simultaneously pleading with her to find a way to generate more light.
Daigo still had his own concerns. Although every member of GUTS was trustworthy, the fewer people who knew he was Tiga, the better. Unlike Yin Xi and Camilla, who were bound by no rules, he was a human being with numerous worries and constraints. Therefore, he had chosen the person he trusted most—the one capable of providing him with the greatest assistance.
Iruma quickly grasped Daigo's intent and managed to school her expression.
"Everyone, find a way to generate light! Tiga needs light!"
With that, she sprinted over to the Guts Wing vehicle, cranked the headlights up to maximum output, and switched them on.
The rest of the team felt a brief moment of confusion before immediately springing into action. Guts Wing 1 and Guts Wing 2 both soared into the sky.
Back at the GUTS base, Mizuno hammered away at his keyboard. The moment he pressed the confirmation key, every operational lighting system in the city surged to maximum power simultaneously.
A blinding torrent of light washed over Daigo.
He couldn't quite describe the sensation, but he knew a profound transformation was taking place deep within his body.
Having raced back from thousands of meters away, Yin Xi paused at the sight and nodded with a look of approval.
*(Not bad, the kid is teachable.)*
The intense radiance evidently infuriated the God. It raised its arm, preparing to unleash another attack to obliterate the city once and for all.
Determined not to let anything interrupt Daigo's evolution, Yin Xi immediately struck a Zeperion Ray starting pose. A Dark Zeperion Ray, churning with immense energy, shot toward the God and collided with its oncoming attack.
The two forces locked in a stalemate. Yin Xi's beam, which had initially been only the length of his arm, grew until it matched his height. The God's attack refused to yield either. Where the two beams met, energy lashed out in all directions, threatening to fracture space itself.
Suddenly, a realization struck Yin Xi, prompting him to mentally curse himself.
"Am I a complete idiot? Doesn't Dark Tiga absorb any and all light-based attacks?"
With that thought, Yin Xi immediately dropped his stance and ceased channeling his beam.
The God's attack struck him square-on. In an instant, everyone stared in wide-eyed disbelief, unable to comprehend why Yin Xi would surrender his defense at such a critical juncture—everyone except for the Dark Trio, whose expressions remained utterly eccentric.
Instead of detonating upon impact, the energy beam seeped directly into the body of the Dark Tiga.
The form of Dark Tiga began to radiate an inky black light, shining with startling brilliance amidst a city illuminated by white incandescent lamps.
Within moments, Yin Xi had absorbed the entirety of the God's attack, and Dark Tiga's aura surged to an entirely new tier.
Turning around, Yin Xi saw that Daigo was still absorbing the surrounding light. Daigo looked slightly strained; he could feel that he was only a hair's breadth away from completing his metamorphosis, yet he just couldn't quite grasp that final feeling.
Yin Xi shook his head helplessly. After all, Daigo had only recently transformed into Tiga; he lacked the rich experience of obtaining the Blinding form from the original timeline.
Suddenly, Rena's voice rang out from the ground below.
"Tiga, you can do it! You guys will definitely pull through!"
Yin Xi felt nothing in particular, but for Daigo, it was a completely different story. The moment he heard Rena's voice, Daigo felt as though he had finally crossed the threshold.
A faint golden radiance gradually began to seep from the surface of Composite Tiga's body, enveloping him completely.
Yin Xi's eyes widened in astonishment.
"Blinding Tiga? No, wait—it's not as dazzling as Blinding Tiga, yet it's brighter than that."
"Could it be that he's entered some kind of idealism-driven state? Good grief, the bond between Ultramans and humans is just utterly absurd."
Blinding Tiga slowly stepped up beside Dark Tiga.
The city's white-hot lights could no longer obscure the radiance they emitted.
One was a dazzling black.
The other, a sacred gold.