Step one—naturally—was to transform into Ultraman Tiga.
A radiant burst of light erupted, and in the next moment, a giant of light, standing fifty meters tall, towered above the battlefield.
There was no longer any need to maintain the defensive spell. Neither storm nor thunder could breach the defences of Ultraman Tiga.
What followed was the most crucial step.
"Come forth, for the sake of victory!
Immortal Sun, bestow upon me thy blazing steed.
Spirit-horse of divine swiftness—bring with thee the solar wheel of thy master!"
Su Mo chanted the incantation—the divine words of summoning—to call forth the power of the White Horse incarnation.
This solar aspect was originally a gift from Mithra, the god of the sun, to his loyal warrior, Verethragna. Now, Su Mo wielded it as his own authority.
Ordinarily, such a powerful Authority—the White Horse—would be reserved as a trump card to end the battle.
But here and now, at the very beginning of the clash, Su Mo chose to unleash it.
"He's using that kind of power right at the start?!"
Melqart was visibly stunned.
It wasn't the sheer might of the White Horse that surprised him—but the recklessness of the move.
Even for a god, an ability of that magnitude couldn't be used again so easily in a short span. If he managed to evade this strike, Su Mo would essentially be sacrificing one of his strongest assets for nothing.
This wasn't the act of a seasoned warrior.
Smirking inwardly, Melqart was just about to dismiss the fledgling god-slayer as a naive upstart… when something caught his attention.
In the sky above—shining like a second sun—was the radiant trail of the descending White Horse.
But… something was off.
Its trajectory didn't seem aimed at Melqart at all.
In fact… it looked like it was heading straight for—
—Ultraman Tiga?!
"Am I watching him attack himself?!"
Indeed, from Su Mo's side, the blazing steed cloaked in solar flames descended from the heavens, charging straight toward the giant of light—Tiga.
At that precise moment, Su Mo activated a power he had once possessed when Ultraman Tiga existed in his dark form:
Absorption of Attacks.
In the movie canon, Dark Tiga had absorbed the powers of his former companions—Darramb and Hudra—gaining access to both Sky Type and Power Type transformations. Eventually, he even absorbed Camearra's strength, and through a reversal of darkness to light, became the Ultraman Tiga we know.
This innate ability—to absorb the powers of his foes—was one that had always belonged to Tiga from the very beginning.
Su Mo had not been able to use it before. But ever since undergoing the Godslayer Ritual and becoming a Campione, this latent ability had finally been awakened.
And it seemed that Ultraman Tiga still had many mysteries left for him to uncover.
But that could wait.
Right now, as the Absorption ability activated, the giant of light drew in the entire solar wheel symbolized by the White Horse.
Every trace of that burning flare—the embodiment of solar might—was consumed and absorbed.
And then, within Tiga's body, that divine flame was imprinted—recorded as a new elemental force.
Just like acquiring Sky Type and Power Type, this marked a new transformation.
Su Mo raised both hands above his head, then brought them down in a sharp arc.
The crystal on Tiga's forehead shimmered with blinding golden brilliance.
And then—
The blue and red giant of light underwent a complete metamorphosis.
Ultraman Tiga: Solar Corona Form!
The new form emerged—a towering figure of gold and crimson. Like a solar inferno made manifest, it blazed with majesty and danger.
A form regal as the sun… and just as deadly.
Compared to his earlier composite form, the current Corona Mode of Tiga Ultraman radiated a far more dangerous and oppressive aura. Just being stared at by him made Melqart feel a pressure that was difficult to put into words.
"So this Corona Mode actually grants even more light-based abilities?"
Feeling the surge of new power coursing through his body, Su Mo was very pleased with the transformation. If the red Power Type form was one that maximized his strength and physical defense, then Corona Mode was a form specialized in drastically amplifying the destructive heat and light of his energy beams.
The destructive power of heat-based beam attacks in this form was magnified severalfold.
Having gained a basic grasp of corona Mode's potential, Su Mo turned his focus back to his opponent — Melqart.
In this world, there was nothing better than an uncompromising god as a test subject for new techniques.
On the other side, Melqart now stood in a fully defensive stance.
Though he had earlier underestimated this novice god-slayer, the sheer might displayed by the golden giant of light had shaken him to the core.
Only a fool who couldn't grasp the situation would dare look down on such power.
But despite the odds, Melqart did not back down — if anything, his fighting spirit burned even fiercer.
"No wonder even Verethragna fell to him... So, this is the level of power he commands!"
The God-King of the Mediterranean let out a booming laugh, battle-lust blazing in his eyes. Then he began chanting an ancient divine incantation:
"Hunters! Banishers! My twin divine arms — become my claws and pursue the enemy! Show this giant the wrath of a god-king!"
Responding to his call, two divine weapons wrapped in wind and thunder howled toward Tiga Ultraman. These two wooden staff-like artifacts, true to their names, possessed the powers of pursuit and banishment.
It was these very weapons that had previously scattered the war god Verethragna — fragmenting him into ten avatars spread across the land.
Now, they were coming for the giant of light.
But faced with such an attack, the golden giant moved unhurriedly, calmly forming an "L" shape with his arms.
"Burst Ray!"
This was Corona Mode's ultimate technique — also known as the Nebast Ray.
A dazzling golden beam wreathed in prismatic brilliance shot out, directly piercing through the two divine weapons. In a single instant, they were shattered to dust.
But the ray didn't stop there.
It continued forward, slamming full force into Melqart.
Boom!
The destructive might of Corona Mode's ultimate skill was far beyond what Melqart could withstand.
In less than the time it took to draw a breath, the God-King of the Mediterranean exploded into radiant fragments — utterly annihilated and returned to the annals of myth.