"Tell them to stay away from that black monolith," Yu Zhou said, eyes fixed on the massive stone that radiated a faint, ominous energy.
"Understood."
Cain nodded and quickly used his communicator to contact the two Defence Force submarines nearby. Moments later, the two vessels backed off, keeping a safe distance from the monolith.
"Should we attack it?" Cain asked. Even with his limited experience, the aura seeping from the stone made him uneasy—it pulsed with unmistakable darkness.
Yu Zhou shook his head. "I'll go take a look first."
He drew out the Dark Sparklence, pressing it against his chest. In an instant, the black sigils on his wings flared to life, spreading across his entire body. His form changed—his silver armour now laced with flowing black lines, his eyes glowing a cold, milky white.
He had transformed—into a human-sized Dark Tiga.
"Master?!" Cain exclaimed in shock. He had seen Tiga's giant form before, but this smaller, humanoid transformation left him completely stunned.
That cold, steel body, the sapphire-blue colour timer glowing at the centre of his chest—he wasn't human, yet he radiated an overwhelming sense of power and poise.
"Cool…" Cain muttered under his breath.
Yu Zhou gave him a sharp nod—the kind of gesture only an Ultraman could make—before his body flashed with dark light and vanished from the ship, reappearing deep beneath the sea.
––
In the other submarines, Defence Force members suddenly spotted a silver-and-black figure moving through the water.
"Wait—is that… Tiga?!"
"It really is! That's Ultraman Tiga!"
"My God, he's here—underwater! But… he's our size?!"
"So, the giant can shrink too?!"
The crew broke into excited chatter, immediately reporting the sighting to Commander Yuzare.
"Tiga appeared in the ocean? At human size?" Yuzare repeated in disbelief.
She knew he'd joined the dive, but she hadn't expected this.
Then she remembered something. "Right… I almost forgot. On his registration form during the assessment, didn't he write his address as 'Orion's Belt'?"
She exhaled softly, shaking her head. "So that's what an alien from Orion looks like, huh."
––
Yu Zhou floated before the monolith. To him, its so-called "dark energy" felt weak—insignificant, even. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't the true source of darkness they were seeking.
He jabbed his knuckles lightly against the surface. No response.
He scanned the surrounding seabed—quiet, lifeless. Even the fish avoided this place. Perhaps the dark aura was repelling them.
A stream of bubbles rose from beneath the stone. Peering down, Yu Zhou noticed the seabed below wasn't normal—it glowed faintly red.
"…Lava?"
He descended closer but kept his distance, feeling the temperature rise rapidly. After a quick assessment, he understood—the monolith was absorbing energy from the magma below.
"So that's how it's staying active."
Raising one hand, he fired a ray of dark energy at the molten layer beneath the monolith. The beam struck the lava—and instantly, the glowing red sea floor froze solid into dull grey rock.
"Instantly solidified molten magma…" one Defence Force operator gasped, staring at the feed. "Tiga's beam must be freezing cold!"
The entire command hall aboard the Defence Force vessels erupted in awe. No human-made weapon could achieve such a feat—unless, perhaps, Keshiva's next-generation photon cannon prototype was completed.
––
Then—rumble…
The moment the magma hardened, the monolith began to tremble.
The surrounding ocean shook violently. Inside the submarines, alarms blared as the ships rocked back and forth. Crewmembers strapped themselves to their seats as water currents battered the hull.
Even Cain clung to his seat aboard Yu Zhou's ship, gritting his teeth against the swaying.
"The 'stone monkey' might be waking up," Yu Zhou muttered, backing away from the monolith to avoid the blast zone.
Up above, Yuzare felt the sea itself begin to boil. Waves surged and crashed violently, forcing her to lift the surface ships into the sky to avoid capsizing.
BOOM!!!
The sound of the explosion thundered through the ocean like a living thing.
The black monolith shattered, fragments scattering like glass in a storm of dark light.
Reacting instantly, Yu Zhou summoned three dark energy shields, each forming a protective dome around the nearby Defence Force submarines.
He then turned his gaze toward the seafloor, where dust and sediment billowed like underwater smoke.
A deep, heavy thud echoed. The seabed shook.
Then another—closer this time. Something massive was moving.
As the murky water cleared, its shape came into view—a hulking, dinosaur-like creature nearly sixty meters tall.
"Golza…" Yu Zhou murmured. "No—Flame Golza."
But something was wrong. Unlike the usual fire variant, this one's body was streaked with black markings, each one pulsing with dark energy. Its eyes gleamed an eerie crimson.
"Commander," one of the submarine crews reported urgently, "a monster's appeared at the seafloor! Transmitting live visuals now!"
The video feed reached Yuzare within seconds. She stared grimly at the towering creature stomping across the seabed, its every step cracking the ocean floor and spewing molten rock.
"A monster that can fracture the earth itself…" she muttered. "This won't be easy."
––
"Just how strong is a Golza tainted by darkness and magma?" Yu Zhou wondered aloud, clenching his fists.
He pulled one arm back, then thrust both upward in a smooth motion. His body expanded, growing from human size to a towering fifty-meter-tall Dark Tiga.
Facing the blackened monster, Yu Zhou dropped into a fighting stance.
The Dark Golza didn't move—it simply glared at him, smoke and heat radiating from its body.
Yu Zhou smirked beneath his mask.
He wasn't angry. He wasn't afraid.
He was curious.
He wanted to see just how powerful this Dark Golza truly was.