Xiao Luuo did not let him off lightly either, throwing a direct punch into the Cyriloid's chest that drove him back and gave Gomora a chance to escape.
Pressing his advantage, Xiao Luuo followed up with a spinning kick to the head that knocked the monster flat on the ground.
The Cyriloid was not about to be outdone, quickly springing up into a stable stance and firing an energy blast from his palm straight at Xiao Luuo. Xiao Luuo instantly materialized an Ultra Barrier, blocking the oncoming projectile dead in its tracks.
"Ciri!" the Cyriloid cried out in shock!
Countering instantly, Xiao Luuo hurled a palm blast of his own, striking the Cyriloid and sending him flying backward through the air!
Meanwhile, Daigo had finally recovered his strength and began channeling the Zepellion Ray. Seeing this, Xiao Luuo adopted the exact same stance to form his own Zepellion Ray. Both fired simultaneously at the Cyriloid, and amidst a massive explosion, the Cyriloid dissolved into ashes and vanished completely.
Before the Cyriloid disappeared, a wisp of black vapor dissipated along with him.
Gomora transformed into a golden beam of light and flew straight into the Color Timer of the Tiga that Xiao Luuo had morphed into. The Tiga formed by Xiao Luuo and the Tiga formed by Daigo exchanged a mutual nod before soaring up into the sky together.
Xiao Luuo came running over from a distance, waving at Megumi Iruma and the other.
Megumi Iruma felt a wave of relief seeing that Xiao Luuo was unharmed. At this point, she only knew that Xiao Luuo could summon monsters, not that he was actually another Ultraman.
"You little punk, where the hell did you run off to!" Shinjo asked as he watched Xiao Luuo approach.
"When I saw all of you get knocked down and then that mysterious guy showed up, I got so scared I had to run off to the bathroom," Xiao Luuo casually threw out an excuse.
Megumi Iruma couldn't help but chuckle at his explanation.
Daigo came running over from the opposite direction, waving at the group.
Looking at the two people lying on the ground, Daigo asked, "What happened to them?"
"Knocked out by the Cyriloid, they'll be fine," Megumi Iruma explained.
At that moment, the sound of an engine echoed from afar. It was Vice Captain Munakata arriving in the Sherlock patrol car to provide backup, only to find that the battle was already over by the time he got there.
"Captain, are you all right?" Munakata asked, looking at Megumi Iruma.
"Yes. Let's get them back first to tend to their injuries," she said, glancing down at Hori and Rena, who were still sprawled on the ground.
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The next day.
Inside the GUTS Command Center, both Rena and Hori were wrapped in bandages. Shinjo, being thick-skinned, hadn't suffered wounds as severe as theirs, but his whole body still ached all over.
Only Xiao Luuo sat comfortably in his seat, lively and full of energy.
On the big screen played footage of the newly appeared Ultraman—the very same form Xiao Luuo had taken.
"This new Ultraman seems even stronger than Ultraman Tiga," Hori remarked while staring at the screen, completely unaware of Xiao Luuo's heroic feats since he had been knocked out cold.
"What should we call this new Ultraman? We can't just keep calling him Tiga!" Shinjo said, rubbing his head as he stared at the display.
"How about we call him Mount Great Mighty Overlord!" Munakata suggested once more.
"Vice Captain Munakata, just how much do you love that name?!" Rena teased, setting off a wave of laughter across the control room.
As the laughter subsided, Xiao Luuo slowly spoke up, "How about we call him Noga?"
Just moments earlier, Xiao Luuo had learned through the system that the first Ultraman one acquires becomes their destined primary Ultraman. Transforming into it incorporates the user's Reionics traits and slightly alters the original's appearance, whereas any Ultraman acquired afterward would be restricted to a three-minute time limit, lacking the unlimited duration of the first.
This meant that although it was technically Ultraman Tiga, his own presence had transformed it into a completely new Ultraman, and therefore it deserved a name of its own.
And Noga was the name Xiao Luuo chose.
"Noga. Not bad, it actually sounds pretty good," Hori muttered, pinching his chin with one hand in admiration before adding, "Way better than that 'Overlord' garbage."
"Hahahahaha!" Laughter instantly filled the control room once again.
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Xiao Luuo spent half a month without a single monster sighting.
During this half-month, 14 days were spent upgrading the Battle Niser. The Battle Niser was now identical to the one Re had upgraded, with the sole exception that this version featured a new function allowing spark dolls to be materialized into physical reality.
This reminded Xiao Luuo that the system's monster store indeed contained a spark doll inventory.
At that moment, Xiao Luuo was sitting leisurely in the base, sipping coffee.
Meanwhile, Daigo and Shinjo were on patrol aboard Guts Wing 1.
"Is there still no news about the whereabouts of Jupita 3?" Daigo asked.
"Yeah, we lost contact two months ago ever since that Jupiter exploration mission."
"Sigh, being an astronaut really is a hazardous profession."
Right at that instant, the alarm on Guts Wing 1 blared.
"Headquarters, we've spotted an unidentified flying object," Daigo reported promptly to the base.
"We've picked it up on the monitors here as well. Can you make out what it is?" Megumi Iruma replied.
"Current altitude is twenty thousand meters. The target is descending rapidly at a speed of Mach 4. Calling it a commercial airliner would make it far too massive."
"Can you predict the landing site?"
"Judging by the trajectory, it looks like it's going to land near the Rukai Beach area."
"If I recall correctly, there's a Development Bureau facility located there," Rena noted.
"That's right, they have a high-purity energy reserve base established there for interstellar carrier rockets," Hori explained.
"I'd say that's probably a monster, Muzui," Xiao Luuo said, crossing his legs and sipping his coffee.
"That's right, a lifeform signature has indeed been detected," Muzui nodded, confirming that Xiao Luuo's analysis was spot-on.
"That must be Regalther. It survives as a luminous energy entity, requires a host, strips its victims of their knowledge, and boasts extremely high defense—practically a flesh-and-blood deity," Xiao Luuo explained, deliberately omitting the detail about it parasitizing Jupita 3, knowing full well that guys like Hori or Shinjo probably couldn't stomach the truth.
Megumi Iruma implicitly trusted everything Xiao Luuo said; after all, since he possessed the ability to control monsters, it made perfect sense that he would be deeply knowledgeable about them.
"Does it have any weaknesses?" Megumi Iruma asked.
"It lacks emotions, or else you crush it with absolute power."
Hearing this, Megumi Iruma kept her eyes locked on Xiao Luuo. Knowing instantly what she meant—she was asking whether he could defeat it—Xiao Luuo slowly shook his head and said, "For a guy practically on the verge of becoming a flesh-and-blood deity, I imagine even Ultraman Tiga would struggle to pierce its defenses."
This statement practically spelled out that if Ultraman Tiga couldn't breach its defenses, let alone his own monsters.
Megumi Iruma slowly lowered her head. Xiao Luuo continued, "Perhaps emotion could work. After all, this thing doesn't understand feelings—that might be the only way."
Being sharp and intelligent, Megumi Iruma naturally grasped Xiao Luuo's subtext, figuring that Xiao Luuo perhaps couldn't reveal the full solution for certain reasons, and that they needed to explore and progress on their own.
She returned a gentle smile to Xiao Luuo and gave a slight nod. Xiao Luuo knew she wasn't slow and would definitely understand the meaning behind his words.