More than imagination.
Who has Ian ever been afraid of?
He turned around to face the shadow of Cthulhu's will, which was sluggish due to the disorder of its core nodes but still exuded terrifying malice and was about to pounce again.
Then, under the completely unexpected gazes of Lina and Saruman and Karg outside, Ian raised his right hand, his face displaying an extremely rare and vivid expression that mixed mischief with absolute confidence.
"Watch my amazing transformation!"
He shouted with great force, and then, his right hand in the air... made an extremely standard, powerful and beautiful gesture, as if he were about to grasp something.
Then raise it high!
Accompanying this movement.
His "imagination," his immense Mental Power, and the will empowered by his " Raven " status, were like a brushstroke of creation, crashing into the spatial rules of this dream world!
Buzz!!!
A blinding, pure, and warm golden light suddenly erupted from his raised right palm! The light was so intense, so sacred, so... incongruous with the surrounding madness, blasphemy, and damp chill of the Cthulhu dreamscape, like a small sun igniting in this dark abyss! The light rapidly condensed and shaped, transforming into a slender, flowing, technologically advanced yet divinely beautiful... silvery-white... tubular object with gold and purple stripes?
One end of the object was firmly held in Ian's raised right hand.
Ian looked down at the " Sparklence " in his hand, a product of pure imagination that was exactly the same as the transformation device of a certain tokusatsu hero in his memory, and a wanton smile appeared on his lips.
His gaze was like lightning, locking onto the shadowy will of Cthulhu ahead, which seemed to have been somewhat "shut down" by this sudden, terrifying energy and cognitive shock of completely opposite nature.
He declared in an incredibly clear, even somewhat passionate, voice:
" Tiga!!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he forcefully spread the " Sparklence " in his hand to both sides!
A golden beam of light, billions of times more intense, shot into the sky! It instantly engulfed Ian's figure and illuminated the entire collapsing dream space of the plaza! The light contained pure "light," "hope," "protection," and "gigantic growth"—contrary to Cthulhu's madness—and originated from the most positive and powerful fantasy concepts in the collective unconscious of humanity!
Under the violent onslaught of this pure "imagination," the shadowy will of Cthulhu emitted a silent, sharp shriek, as if it were being drenched in molten lava.
The shadows began to twist, evaporate, and retreat violently! The rules of dreams, at this moment, were forcibly overridden by even more irrational "imagination"!
This is so absurd that it could only happen in a dream.
" Tiga!!!" That declaration, like the words of a creator god, carried the passionate tone unique to a young man, yet contained incredible power and conviction!
A golden beam of light shot into the sky, instantly engulfing Ian's figure completely!
The light was so pure, so intense, so... "righteous"! It stood in stark contrast to the omnipresent dimness of R'lyeh, the dark purple of the Cthulhu Dream, and the aura of madness and blasphemy, as if light itself were issuing the most direct challenge to darkness! The light expanded, stretched, and shaped rapidly!
A massive, slender, perfectly proportioned, and powerfully divine silver-white body rapidly coalesced within the pillar of light! Flowing stripes of red, purple, and gold, like living beings, outlined mysterious patterns on the silver-white surface, while the diamond-shaped energy core on its chest, radiating a deep blue light, shone as brightly as a lighthouse!
"I knew it. As long as there is light, even if it's just light coming from his mouth, Tiga will come to my side." Imagination combined with unwavering belief is practically invincible in the dream world.
In just a few seconds, a Giant of light, over fifty meters tall and adorned with silver, red, purple, and gold, stood majestically on this dream plaza on the verge of collapse!
Chi lowered his head slightly, his milky-white oval eyes silently gazing down at the dream space below, distorted by "logical conflict" and utterly "stuck" by this sudden upheaval, as well as the shadow of Cthulhu's will, writhing in agony and evaporating under the scorching golden flames. Ultraman Tiga - Multi Type!
Driven by Ian Prince's boundless imagination, powerful Mental Power, and understanding of positive concepts such as "light," "hope," and "protection," mixed with a touch of his own childhood longing for "heroes" that he himself may not have been aware of, violence materializes in this mad dream!
"What... what is this?! What is that? Giant?" Lina, who had just regained consciousness, stared up at the almost towering Giant of light, her mouth agape in an "O" shape, her mind completely blank. Her limited knowledge of adventure and worldview made it utterly incomprehensible to what she was seeing. It didn't seem like a traditional Giant at all!
This is a gigantic... humanoid luminous body!!
A deity? Some kind of Legend magical creation she had never seen before? The pressure and light emanating from that enormous body, though completely different in nature from Cthulhu's madness, still made her soul tremble, and even... a strange sense of security? Because although the light was intense, it contained no malice, but rather had a strange power to dispel gloom and bring warmth.
"Ahhhhh"
Under the scorching heat of pure light energy, the shadow of Cthulhu's will, like snow encountering boiling oil, emitted a silent, shrill scream, rapidly shrinking and fading, eventually turning into a wisp of unwilling, purplish-black smoke, temporarily dissipating in the intense light.
Clearly, this concept of pure "light" and "positive fantasy" has a strong restraining effect on this fragment of will composed of madness and chaos.
"I never imagined that one day I would be Ultraman." Ian, in Ian Tiga form, moved his enormous hands, making a slight, metallic scraping sound.
He nodded in satisfaction, feeling the seemingly endless energy of light flowing within this body constructed from imagination, and the immense power that seemed capable of shaking space with every gesture.
His dreams gave him power.
He is now Ultraman Tiga Ian Tiga.
"It works well."
A grand, deep voice, yet still carrying Ian's characteristic calm tone, resounded directly in Lina's mind, "Much more interesting than struggling with those dream loopholes."
He lowered his head.
Looking at Lina, who was as small as an ant on the ground and still in a daze, his milky white eyes seemed to soften a little.
"Don't just stand there, hurry up." Tiga stretched out a huge hand, palm up, and offered it to Lina, moving it carefully, as if afraid that the wind he generated would hurt her. "Maintaining this form requires my... well, I guess you could call it Mental Power. We need to get out of this hellhole quickly." Although Ian was unreliable, Tiga did seem to possess divinity.
"Oh, oh, okay!" Lina snapped out of her daze, looking at the enormous hand that seemed to be forged from light. Gritting her teeth, she no longer hesitated and scrambled up onto it. The hand's touch wasn't hard metal or rock, but a warm, solid, and strangely tangible sensation, as if composed of pure energy. Once Lina was steady, Tiga slowly clenched his fingers, protecting her in his palm. Then, he raised his head, his milky-white eyes scanning the surrounding dream plaza, which had become extremely unstable due to the core node disorder and the impact of his transformation. The pulsating, cortical-like material on the fleshy surface was withering and peeling away.
The rotting, visceral clouds in the sky were dispersed by the golden light; the screaming, human-faced stone monument in the center was riddled with cracks, and the dark purple light at its top had long since extinguished. "A mere Cthulhu dream dares to trap me Ian Tiga? Don't you know this is my specialty?!"
"The core structure of the dream is still there, but it has been severely weakened," Ian analyzed, making a judgment. He now appeared more powerful and confident than ever before. "I can break through it directly and return to the previous level, or... simply tear a path to reality!" He was about to act!
He held Lina in his left hand, while his right hand, fingers together, formed a knife-like shape, and a dazzling golden light rapidly gathered on his arm and hand! "Don't be afraid!" he said to the nervous Lina in his palm, "I am Tiga, the embodiment of light, who can subdue all kinds of disobedience, especially these eerie dreams."
"You don't have the means to watch Ultraman these days, but if you lend me your light, you'll understand the peace of mind I bring." Before he finished speaking, he suddenly swung his right arm forward!
"Just!"
A sleek and powerful Ultra Hand Chop, carrying a golden blade of light that seemed to tear through space, slashed fiercely at the distorted and fluctuating dream "boundary" in front of him, composed of countless abstract color blocks and mad whispers!
"Sizzle!!!"
A sound like cloth being torn apart by immense force rang out! The resilient boundary of the dream was actually ripped open by this violent strike driven purely by "the imagination of light," creating a huge rift tens of meters long, burning with golden flames!
Behind the crack, there was no longer a deeper nightmare, but... a relatively "calm" torrent of information belonging to the previous shallow dream! "Effective!" Ian's spirits lifted.
He didn't linger. He took huge strides and crossed the rift in one step, returning to the space filled with broken pieces of color and fragments of knowledge.
However, the scene here is different from when he left.
It seems that because of his previous escape and transformation, the entire dream system's "defense mechanism" has been fully activated.
The broken pieces of color no longer drifted aimlessly, but began to frantically aggregate and Transfiguration! Countless "dream monsters" of various shapes, composed of pure malice, madness, and distorted geometry, appeared densely around him, as if "growing" from the walls, the ground, and the void.
It blocked all the way!
Some resembled deep-sea worms magnified a million times, covered in sharp teeth and compound eyes; others looked like fleshy balls pieced together from countless screaming faces, rolling and pressing down; still others were simply a constantly shifting, mentally polluting shadow emitting a piercing noise...
These monsters may not be individually strong, but their numbers are enormous, and the aura they exude is the same as the entire dream world, like the immune cells of this crazy world, determined to eliminate Ian, this "virus"!
"Heh, again?"
Facing this overwhelming sea of monsters, Ian did not back down; instead, he let out a soft laugh. A fighting spirit began to rise in his milky-white eyes.
"Don't you know that I, Tiga, specialize in fighting all kinds of Cthulhu?"
Perfect timing, let's test the fighting ability of this "Imaginary of Light"! He brought his left hand to his chest, clenched his right fist, and placed it at his waist, striking a classic Ultraman starting stance.
" Lina, close your eyes and hold on tight!" he reminded her, then...
"Drink it!"
Tiga's massive body moved! Without using any complex beam Skills, he charged directly into the horde of monsters! His enormous fist, enveloped in dazzling golden light, slammed out like a warhammer!
Tiga is the Happy Form.
Those who know, know.
In fact, the Dharma King's close combat ability is not weak either.
"Boom!!!"
With a single punch, Ian shattered the head of a massive, hill-like worm-like monster charging at the front! Golden light scattered everywhere! The monster's enormous body turned into a shower of black ash! Then, with a swift side kick from his left leg, a golden arc of light flashed, he smashed several fleshy, human-faced figures that lunged at him from the side into pieces!
"Dream monsters feel no pain!" Ian stole a line from another Ultraman, the Dharma King. His movements were incredibly swift and powerful, each strike carrying the light power to purify evil spirits. Wherever he passed, dream monsters were destroyed and purified in droves, as if they were made of paper!
Golden streams of light crisscrossed the dim, shattered dream space, tearing the shadows that represented madness and blasphemy to shreds! So powerful!
Lina kept her eyes tightly shut, nestled in Tiga's warm palm, yet she could clearly feel the violent tremors, energy bursts, and the dying screams of the monsters outside.
She was filled with an indescribable shock.
Barehanded... dismantling monsters?
Can you use the power of light to fight like a legendary Giant in this eerie and terrifying dream?
This was completely beyond her comprehension! Dreams... could they really be "played" with like this?! Just what kind of being was this mysterious boy who saved her?!
Lina was completely baffled.
But this did not diminish her profound shock.
The battle continued, with Tiga like a golden storm, carving out blank spaces in the sea of monsters. However, the number of monsters seemed endless, constantly surging from the depths of the dream, their forms becoming increasingly bizarre, and their attacks beginning to inflict mental pollution and spatial distortion. Tiga's enormous body darted and weaved through the shattered and distorted dream space, sometimes engaging in lightning-fast close combat, shattering the dream monsters that pounced on him with his golden-glowing fists and feet.
Ian would sometimes keep his distance.
They fire low-powered " Hand Light Arrow " or " Ultra Slash " from the diamond-shaped crystal on their foreheads or from their palms, precisely eliminating Alien monsters that attempt to spray acid or launch Mental Shock from a distance.
"What a filthy bunch of shills!"
Ian fought while calmly observing the situation.
He discovered that the "spawn points" of these monsters seemed to be related to certain specific, energy-rich "contaminated nodes" in the dream. Simply killing the monsters was only a temporary solution.
"We need to find and destroy those nodes to stop them from regenerating indefinitely."
Ian had made up his mind.
The battle continued amidst the fierce clash between light and darkness.