Once news of the Breach's destruction spread, the entire Shatterdome erupted in celebration.
"Shut down the Battle Clock!"
Tendo stood in the command center, turning back with a laughing shout.
The Battle Clock was a device they used to maintain vigilance. It only reset when a Kaiju appeared. If no Kaiju appeared, it kept counting, reminding them constantly that a Kaiju was about to emerge.
Now, with the Breach closed, this clock installed in the Jaeger bay could finally be retired.
"YEAH!"
All personnel in the Jaeger bay cheered in response.
"This all feels like a dream." Tendo ran his hand through his hair, excited sweat beading on his face as he spoke to Marshal Stacker.
"Thirteen years... the shadow hanging over us all this time just... vanished."
Raleigh had retired for five years, but Tendo had stayed by Marshal Stacker's side the whole time, witnessing this entire apocalypse firsthand.
Now they'd finally seen the light of dawn. How could that not be exciting?
A pleased expression appeared on Marshal Stacker's face too.
"No matter what, we can finally breathe easy."
At the same time, he knew what he should do at this inspiring moment.
He surveyed the command center, smiling. "Deploy all helicopters now. Prepare to welcome our warriors home victorious!"
Those warriors on the front lines were the greatest contributors to this mission.
Soon, Jaegers were transported back to base one after another.
Each pilot was like a general laden with honors, enjoying people's praise.
Natsuki wasn't used to such occasions. He returned to his quarters first.
The moment he entered, he sat on the bed and opened the obsidian-colored bangle on his right wrist.
[Current Hell-Level Mental Space Training Duration: 8 hours]
[Start training? Yes/No]
This damn thing was still reminding him to train.
Was now the time for training?
"Hey, Hikari."
"You left a way to contact you in this damn bangle, right?"
"I've investigated some things about the abnormal space-time fluctuations. It's not as simple as we initially thought. Stop playing dead."
Natsuki spoke to the bangle.
Besides a diamond-shaped crystal, this bangle had no other buttons or anything. Currently it only had three functions: issuing missions, training, and transformation.
But based on Natsuki's understanding of Hikari, this thing definitely wasn't that simple.
Seeing no immediate response from the bangle—
Natsuki's gaze gradually grew dangerous.
"Looks like I need to take some extreme measures."
He held his right wrist before him, staring at the bangle. His left hand formed a blade, fingertips glowing with white energy. The dim room immediately filled with distorted air currents from this energy, demonstrating its power.
Natsuki was preparing to dismantle this damn thing!
Though he didn't know what material it was made from, he figured since it was a tech product, it was probably relatively fragile.
"Still not coming out, Hikari?" Natsuki had already brought his hand blade close to the bangle, but it still showed no response.
So he steeled himself.
"CLINK!"
The energy-wrapped hand blade struck the bangle sharply, producing a clear sound like jade colliding. It raised a small shockwave, toppling decorations in the room and shaking tables and chairs.
"Hm?"
Natsuki stared at the completely undamaged bangle, momentarily stunned.
"This thing's really sturdy."
He'd chopped it with a hand blade, yet not even a scratch appeared.
As far as he knew, even the hardest materials in the Space Science and Technology Bureau should have left slight scratches under that strike. But this bangle showed absolutely no effect.
Where did Hikari get this material?
Crafting this bangle... he'd really spared no expense.
"I told you already... no need to go to such lengths for someone like me who should've retired." Natsuki's brow furrowed, his mood complicated.
One after another—why wouldn't anyone listen?
Natsuki rubbed the bangle with his other hand, memories involuntarily surfacing in his mind.
After a while—
The diamond crystal on the bangle suddenly surged with golden light particles, especially brilliant in this dim room. They gradually coalesced into a human-sized figure.
A well-proportioned blue body decorated with white lines, a chest with V-shaped silver medals arranged in rows, pointed ears and shoulder armor making him look like a blue elf, bright eyes containing wisdom at the universe's apex.
Ultraman Hikari.
This was the director of the Land of Light's Space Science and Technology Bureau—Hikari.
"Lia... No, Natsuki."
"What happened?"
Hikari, far away in the Land of Light in another universe, sensed the bangle's abnormality and initiated contact.
What now appeared before Natsuki was a projection.
"You really came..." Seeing the projection suddenly appear in the room, Natsuki scratched his head. Looked like he'd guessed right—Hikari could indeed initiate contact.
But apparently it wasn't real-time monitoring. He didn't understand the situation here either.
Seeing Natsuki unharmed, apparently uninjured during the mission, Hikari nodded.
"While you've been away, Zero and Mebius have been very worried about you." Hikari looked at Natsuki. "But it seems this universe isn't dangerous. We can all rest easy."
Though Ultra Warriors possessed tremendous power, the multiverse wasn't lacking in even more powerful existences.
In the distant Land of Light, after hearing the Garrison Commander had assigned Natsuki to a remote universe for a mission, many juniors had been very concerned.
Time flowed slightly differently between universes. Only three Earth days had passed for Natsuki, but at least thirty Earth days had passed there.
"I don't need to worry for now. The invaders' power level is very low."
Hearing several juniors still cared about him, Natsuki smiled.
Then his expression gradually grew serious.
"While tracking the abnormal space-time fluctuations, I encountered a group calling themselves Travelers. Their goal is to steal something called Space-Time Source Energy..."
Natsuki relayed all the intelligence he'd gathered to Hikari.
And listening to this intelligence, Hikari's gaze also gradually grew grave.
This mission really wasn't as simple as he'd imagined.
Multiple organizations across the universe flashed through his mind. He was thinking about which faction would do such things.
Could it be that mysterious Tartarus...?
No... Though that individual wielded space-time abilities, given his methods, he wouldn't hide behind the scenes. If these Travelers were really that guy's doing, Natsuki would most likely already be in grave danger.
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