"Master, I brought your dinner!"
Cain, standing beside Yuzare, couldn't bear to see his master sitting alone and pitifully fishing on his spaceship. So, he took the initiative to prepare a meal and sent it over.
"Catch this, Master!"
He shouted as a wave of shimmering light energy gathered in his palm, wrapping around the lunchbox and gently levitating it across the open sea toward Yu Zhou's ship.
"You already know how to use light energy?"
Yu Zhou blinked, surprised. It seemed this kid's talent wasn't bad at all—no wonder he would one day become a Giant of Light.
Yu Zhou extended his hand, releasing a strand of dark energy that enveloped the floating box and reeled it in. Setting his fishing rod aside, he started eating his dinner contentedly.
"Hey, Commander Yuzare," he said between bites, glancing toward her on the deck. "You've been searching all day—still no sign of that source of darkness? It's already night."
"Let's rest for tonight and resume in the morning," Yuzare replied. "We'll probably find it tomorrow."
Of course, that was what she said. But inwardly, she couldn't help muttering: I think you're the biggest source of darkness here.
Still, she didn't say that out loud. After all, Tiga had already saved humanity several times—if he truly wanted to destroy the world, he wouldn't bother helping in the first place.
Meanwhile, Yu Zhou turned on a high-powered flashlight and shone it into the water, hoping to use the fish's natural attraction to light to improve his catch.
To his surprise, the method worked—soon, the rod beside him began to tremble violently.
He grabbed it quickly and began pulling back, careful not to snap the line. Despite his immense strength, he reeled slowly and gently.
But the fish had other plans.
Suddenly, a tremendous force yanked the rod out of his hands. Yu Zhou froze.
"…Did I just lose both the fish and the rod?"
He stared blankly at the water for a few seconds, then clenched his fists.
"If you manage to get away from me today," he growled, "I'll eat dung while standing on my head!"
Without another word, he dove straight into the ocean after it.
Underwater, he quickly spotted the fish—it was massive, nearly two meters long, with the rod still hooked in its mouth.
No chance of escape.
A burst of dark energy shot from Yu Zhou's hand, stunning the creature instantly. Moments later, he resurfaced, dragging the huge fish back to his ship—completely drenched from head to toe.
He tossed the catch to Cain. "Handle this for me, would you?"
"Got it, Master!"
With that, Yu Zhou went inside to take a hot shower.
That night passed peacefully.
—The next morning—
The Defence Force resumed operations, detaching their ships and taking off again to continue their search.
"Tiga," Yuzare said suddenly, "why don't you try scanning for dark energy yourself?"
"Wait—hold on."
Yu Zhou rubbed his eyes and sat up groggily. "Why are you… in my ship?"
"You forgot to lock your door this morning," Yuzare explained. "I came in to bring you breakfast, but then your ship took off, and the hatch sealed itself automatically. I couldn't get out."
"Your brother's not worried?" Yu Zhou frowned. "And—uh—aren't we kind of alone in here? Just the two of us?"
He suddenly froze, eyes narrowing. "Wait a second… You didn't do anything weird to me while I was asleep, did you?"
He patted himself down just to be sure.
…All good. Still intact.
"You—! What nonsense are you spouting!" Yuzare stammered, her face flushing bright red.
Before she could retort further, her communicator buzzed sharply.
"Commander! We've detected dark energy beneath the sea. Awaiting your orders!"
"Descend immediately!" she commanded.
Yu Zhou's ship followed suit, lowering to the ocean surface. He then accompanied Yuzare to her ship's command hall, where an emergency meeting was already underway.
Though the other Defence Force members were puzzled to see him there, none objected after hearing from Prince Cain that this man was his teacher.
"Based on the scans, the dark energy is emanating from a large, black stone structure," one of the analysts reported, projecting a holographic map into the room.
"A black stone? What on earth is that supposed to be?" Cain asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"No idea," Yuzare said. "Send two ships to investigate."
"Yes, Commander!"
Two Defence Force vessels detached from the main fleet and descended into the sea.
Yu Zhou watched silently. He knew his own ship was also capable of underwater travel—it was, after all, built by the ancient super-civilization of Earth. It'd be ridiculous if it couldn't submerge.
"I'll go take a look too," he said finally. "Just in case something happens."
As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them.
Why did I just raise a death flag? he thought grimly. Now something's definitely going to go wrong.
"Master, I'll come with you!" Cain said eagerly. His eyes sparkled with excitement—he clearly wanted to test his light powers in action.
"…Alright." Yu Zhou nodded after a moment of hesitation. If anything went wrong, Cain's light energy could prove useful.
They boarded Yu Zhou's ship together. Cain looked around in awe—everything inside was far more advanced than the Defence Force's technology.
"Voice-controlled systems?" he exclaimed as Yu Zhou instructed the AI to dive. "Master, where did you buy this ship?"
He tried issuing voice commands himself, but the system didn't respond—this AI only obeyed Yu Zhou.
The ship sank steadily deeper, the pressure outside growing immense. After what felt like ages, they finally reached the ocean floor.
Through the reinforced glass, Yu Zhou could see the other two Defence Force ships already there, their lights focused on a massive black boulder.
The readings were clear: the monolith radiated dark energy.
"According to the scans, there's… a lifeform signature inside the stone," one of the operators reported back to Yuzare.
"Lifeform signature…?" Yuzare repeated quietly, then suddenly stood up. "Pull the teams back! Evacuate from the seabed immediately!"
Inside Yu Zhou's ship, Cain relayed the news to him.
"A lifeform inside the stone?" Yu Zhou muttered. "Wait—don't tell me it's… Sun Wukong?"
He grimaced. In his world, the Monkey King was famously born from a stone.
But this wasn't mythology—it was the world of Ultraman.
And in this world, a 'living stone' could only mean one thing—
A monster was about to awaken.