Chapter Thirty-Four: A Single Ray of Starlight Is Enough

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It was a monster shrouded in utter darkness, with six bloodshot eyes, a maw full of fangs dripping with purple slime. Hanging from its chest was a blood-red timer, several tubes extending from it into a transparent tank nearby.

All around it stood six massive water tanks.

Inside each tank, the indistinct figure of an Ultrawoman could be seen—female Ultramen, every one of them. Where their chests once rose and fell, there was now a gaping hole, from which light slowly streamed into green liquid, then was channeled into the timer on the monster’s chest.

The monster waved its claws, light gathering beneath the timer, the final stroke of a symbol about to take shape.

“Autepes!”

A roar tore through the air—the monster paused, then saw an Ultraman bathed in radiant glow raise a fist wreathed in flame, driving it through Sarokas’ abdomen, blood and fire entwined. Behind the Ultraman, Seven and Max had fallen still.

“Heh heh... truly remarkable!” came a voice like nails scraping glass. The monster in darkness, unhurried, continued to trace that final stroke, paying Xie Jing no heed.

At the critical moment, Seven and Max unleashed all their strength, severing every claw of the cosmic terror beast Sarokas and exposing its weakest belly to Xie Jing.

But both endured countless blasts of energy from the monster’s maw.

As Xie Jing, using his last reserves, blasted open the monster’s belly and charged at Autepes, the energy signatures of Seven and Max faded away, the lights of their eyes and timers growing dim.

Yet Xie Jing could not turn back.

His fists, enshrouded in furious flames, struck straight at Autepes.

Boom!

A thunderous crash—the shockwave made even the air tremble, the rebound flinging Xie Jing backward.

A massive meteorite had blocked his attack.

The stone cracked open, revealing beneath it a shield-like armor of gleaming silver-white hide.

“Is that... Machina?” Xie Jing instantly thought of the alien girl Saki, whom he had once sent away himself.

Yes! Saki had told him that her homeland had been raided by Autepes’ minions, who took away many Machina beasts!

Autepes’ six eyes curved in a smile, as more and more meteorites gathered around it, forming an impenetrable, 360-degree barrier.

This unfamiliar Ultraman before it—clearly fighting desperately—but so what?

Only the final stroke remained; once completed, the energy field formed by the Ultra Matrix would dissipate. In the endless universe, who could ever find it again?

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“Heh heh heh... Ultraman... such a foolish race!”

Watching Xie Jing attack futilely outside the Machina barrier, Autepes contentedly drew the final point of light.

Just a little more! So close!

Ultra symbols were so troublesome to write! Damn this light energy!

But only one last stroke remained!

All six eyes focused intently—when suddenly, a point of light danced before it.

Up and down the light floated, swaying mischievously—a playful sprite, keeping Autepes from finishing the final stroke.

Explosion! Light flared!

Within Machina’s all-encompassing shield, Xie Jing had already gathered his power into a single point of light at the very start.

While Machina’s defense was still forming and not yet flawless, he circled wide and slipped close to Autepes.

Then—explosion!

The shockwave from the light point caught Autepes completely off guard, blasting its body backward, snapping the tubes at its chest, its blood-red timer instantly darkening without the supply of light.

That final stroke, foiled by Xie Jing’s quick thinking, remained unfinished.

Above, the four Ultra symbols in the sky, deprived of energy, gradually faded. Moreover, because Machina formed a perfect shield to protect Autepes, the explosion of light in the sealed space was even more devastating.

With Machina blocking his view, Xie Jing couldn’t see exactly what happened, but he sensed his light point had detonated successfully, and the Ultra symbols overhead were vanishing.

“Did it work?!” Xie Jing looked up into the darkness, hardly daring to believe.

“Did we succeed?”

A chorus of voices rang out behind him, surging waves of energy brimming with excitement and joy as they charged into the monsters.

“Ha... haha!” Xie Jing could no longer contain his laughter—he took a deep breath and laughed unrestrained.

“We did it! I did it!”

His first battle of this kind, his first time entrusted with such a mission, his first time witnessing the death of an Ultraman.

Xie Jing had not let down Seven and Max, nor the hopes of all Ultramen.

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He had succeeded in stopping Autepes from escaping the blockade!

And it was Autepes’ own arrogance that had sealed its fate!

It never imagined an Ultraman would stealthily discover its location and enter this sector—forced to fight, it could only use its reserve monsters to buy time.

Then, it tried to escape using spatial transfer, only to find this entire space sealed by the Ultra Matrix.

Fortunately for it, it had prepared many contingencies, and even under the Matrix’s blockade, it had ways to cope.

Ultra symbols are a script written with the light energy inside Ultramen’s bodies. It had captured several female Ultramen in advance, and after subjecting them to unspeakable torment, had torn open their timers and placed them in special tanks.

Ultraman blood is light itself, its radiance dissolved into the custom liquid, then fed into a blood-red timer formed from six combined timers.

Autepes already knew the appearance of the symbols, and immediately began to replicate them.

But it hadn’t foreseen its position would be discovered so quickly.

Still, it had one last defense: the protection of over three hundred Machina.

Machina, a wondrous species, possessed a hide capable of reflecting energy and absorbing most physical attacks.

With three hundred Machina shielding it, Autepes could surely finish carving the Ultra symbol and escape through space.

If the Land of Light missed this chance, finding Autepes again would be nearly impossible.

But Xie Jing’s tiny point of light had succeeded in stopping Autepes’ escape.

Joy swept through all the Ultramen—their beams burned hotter, their chopping hands sharper as they struck the monsters.

The once-overwhelming horde, at the cost of over a hundred Ultra warriors, was finally almost cleared.

Every Ultraman was wounded, their chest timers beeping to signal dangerously low energy, few with any reserves remaining.

“Impressive, stranger Ultraman...”

From inside Machina’s protective circle came a shrill voice, tinged with madness.