Chapter 159 Friend OR Foe?

With the phantom completely eradicated, the three Giants canceled their transformations, touching down on the street beside Vane.

Zero and Ibuki Mitsuishi (Teo’s human host) stared in utter bewilderment at Vane, the Emperor, the rest of the squad, and the massive, glowing dimensional portal lingering behind them.

“Who are you people? And how did you open a dimensional tear like that?” Zero demanded, crossing his arms.

“Just a Traveler passing through this universe. You can call me an Outlander,” Vane said, looking at the child-sized human form of Zero with deep amusement. “As for why I opened the portal? For my dream, obviously.”

Zero blinked, completely thrown off. “Your dream?”

“Yes. My dream to become the King of the Monsters,” Vane declared, raising a hand to the sky with a look of absolute theatrical devotion. “I will crush every powerful being across the multiverse until I stand at the absolute apex, the freest, most glorious King of the Monsters.” Vane put a hand over his heart. “At the end of the day, I’m just an ambitious young man trying to achieve his dreams.”

Zero’s eye twitched violently.

What kind of completely deranged dream is that?! King of the Monsters?!

Are you basically telling me to my face that my fists aren’t fast enough or hard enough?! Do you want me to call the Ultimate Force Zero down here right now and show you exactly what happens to monsters who get too cocky?!

“Seriously, who are you people?” Zero sighed, shifting his gaze to the Emperor. This guy, at least, looked somewhat sane.

“I am the servant of the Traveler passing through this universe. You may call me the Servant of the Outlander—”

“Stop.” Zero held up a hand, completely cutting the Emperor off. He turned his desperate gaze to Daigo. “Please. Can you just answer the question normally?”

“I am the disciple of the Traveler passing through this universe. My name is Mado—”

Zero facepalmed. Are they all completely insane?! How the hell did a bunch of lunatics manage to secure the power of the Giants of Light?!

“Alright, alright, I’m messing with you,” Vane chuckled, dropping the act as his tone shifted into dead-serious professionalism.

“We’re from Dimension B-17. We’re the Vanguard of the Earth Federation. We’re here to formally annex C-10 Earth and place it under the absolute protection of the Federation.”

“Hold on. You’re here to conquer this world?” Zero’s posture instantly shifted, going on high alert.

“You can’t do that!” Ibuki stepped forward, looking furious. “The power of Ultraman is meant to protect peace! It’s not a tool for military expansion and planetary conquest!”

“I absolutely forbid you from abusing the Light to invade other worlds!”

Vane looked at Zero and Ibuki, his expression perfectly calm.

“Look, regardless of how you spin it, this is an internal Earth matter. Both of you are extraterrestrials, correct?”

“If the Earth of Dimension B-17 wants to form a political and military alliance with the Earth of Dimension C-10 to combat universal threats, why do a couple of alien refugees think they have the right to intervene?”

Zero and Ibuki completely froze.

When he put it like that… they really didn’t have an argument.

“Besides, we’re not here to wage war,” Vane continued smoothly. “This Earth is currently being ravaged by kaiju. The second we officially declare our presence and offer total military protection, the governments of this world will willingly sign the treaty to join the Federation.”

Zero and Ibuki were completely speechless.

Seeing them cornered, Vane ruthlessly pressed his advantage. “Honestly, you two should probably be figuring out how to convince me not to immediately deport both of you.”

“Humanity is fragile. Your massive brawls with these monsters in the middle of populated cities are causing catastrophic collateral damage and directly threatening civilian safety.”

“We didn’t bring the monsters here! We’re trying to protect this world!” Ibuki immediately panicked. His home planet was gone. If he got exiled from Earth, he literally had nowhere else to go. He had just started making friends in the astronomy club. He didn’t want to lose everything all over again.

“The monsters showed up exactly when you arrived on C-10 Earth,” Vane pointed out coldly. “For all we know, they followed you here. Maybe they destroyed your planet and tracked you down to finish the job. Which makes you the liability.”

“That’s not true!” Ibuki argued desperately. “Those monsters are naturally aggressive! They’ve been destroying planets long before I got here! My planet was just one of their victims! I’ve been investigating, and there’s a massive, terrifying conspiracy behind their attacks—”

“None of which is humanity’s problem,” Vane cut him off sharply. “The only verified fact is that when you showed up, the monsters followed.”

Watching Ibuki completely flustered and unable to defend himself, Vane laughed internally. Honest, righteous Ultramen were so incredibly easy to bully.

“However… the Earth Federation isn’t completely heartless. Our core directive is to protect humanity and any peaceful extraterrestrials willing to coexist under our laws.”

Vane offered an olive branch. “How about this: you join the Earth Defense Force. You fight alongside us to exterminate any invading threats. In exchange, I will personally guarantee your Federation citizenship.”

Ibuki hesitated for a long moment, struggling with the decision, before finally nodding in defeat. “Alright. I agree.”

Vane then shifted his gaze to Zero. “As for you…”

“I only came to this dimension to hunt down Bodyroba,” Zero interrupted, crossing his arms. “Now that the target is neutralized, and it’s obvious you guys don’t need my help, I’ll just be on my way.”

“Hold on.” Vane shook his head. “I wasn’t going to ask you to stay. I’m going to need you to do me a favor. I need an audience with Ultraman King.”

“You? You want to meet the King?!” Zero’s jaw dropped. It was like Vane had just casually asked for a tour of the afterlife.

Vane nodded, dead serious. “I do. We need to have a very important discussion regarding the schematics for the Plasma Spark Tower.”

“We already have the technology to convert humans into Giants of Light, but your Plasma Spark method is infinitely more efficient.”

Ultraman King was the absolute ruler of the Ultra race, one of the legendary Mysterious Four, and one of the core architects behind the Plasma Spark Tower.

Two hundred and seventy thousand years ago, when the sun of the Land of Light collapsed, Ultraman King—then a revered elder—led their top scientists to construct the artificial sun known as the Plasma Spark Tower. Due to a completely unforeseen anomaly, the radiation emitted by the artificial sun didn’t just provide warmth; it triggered an evolutionary mutation that caused the entire population of the planet to gigantify, creating the modern Ultra Warriors.

Gigantification tech wasn’t rare in the cosmos. Any space-faring civilization could eventually figure it out. Even Teo’s destroyed home world was populated entirely by Ultramen and had their own version of the tech. But the warriors forged by the Land of Light’s Plasma Spark were objectively stronger than any other species in the universe.

Because of this, when the system tasked Vane with acquiring gigantification technology for Big E, the Plasma Spark Tower was the only acceptable choice.

“Are you insane?” Zero stared at Vane, completely convinced the human had lost his mind. “The King isn’t going to give you the time of day.”

“If Ultraman King refuses to cooperate, then I guess I’ll just have to go pay a visit to the Absolutians,” Vane shrugged casually. “I’m sure they’d be more than happy to trade their Spark Tower schematics in exchange for a powerful multiversal ally.”

The Absolutian race was an incredibly dominant, ultimate-evolution species that possessed their own version of the Spark Tower. They were also the absolute sworn enemies of the Land of Light.

“You…” Zero’s face flushed with genuine anger. “Those bastards are pure evil! If you ally with them, you’re going to drag all of humanity into an apocalyptic meat grinder!”

“Humanity has more than enough firepower to sit at the negotiating table with the Absolutians,” Vane countered smoothly. “The Land of Light only has two choices here: become humanity’s friend, or become our enemy.”

—

OR