The light gradually faded.
All around was a desolate "nothingness".
The original dream structure was almost completely destroyed, leaving only some basic, ever-changing abstract information flows that still flowed slowly, like scorched earth after a war.
"Just!"
Under Ian's persistent and dramatic performance, Tiga's massive body swayed slightly, the light from the energy core on his chest dimmed, and the frequency of its flashing slowed down.
Maintaining such a high intensity of combat and ultimate moves does indeed take a toll on his "imaginary creation," but right now it's only three parts real and seven parts fake.
"Ultraman Ian Ultraman Tiga has saved humanity once again, yay!"
Ian slowly lowered his head, looking at his still tightly clenched left hand.
In the palm of her hand, Lina was curled up, her face pale, clearly deeply shocked by the earth-shattering battle that had just taken place, but her eyes were filled with nothing but fear.
More than anything, it was a sense of bewilderment after surviving a catastrophe and... an indescribable mix of emotions towards the Giant of light before them.
Who exactly are you?
Lina completely failed to understand Ian's situation.
"I'm just a passing Ultraman." Tiga carefully opened his palm and gently placed Lina on the relatively "stable" dream wreckage.
With his movements.
The enormous body, reaching a height of fifty meters, began to emit a soft light, rapidly shrinking and fading.
A few seconds later, the light completely subsided, transforming back into the handsome, cold-faced boy in black robes— Ian Prince. His face was paler than before, and his breathing was slightly rapid, but his eyes remained clear and calm.
"Don't be happy yet. Actually, your situation isn't that good. Even I would have to put in some effort." Ian walked up to Lina, squatted down, and carefully examined her condition.
The mutated features on Lina's body—the scales, the gill slits, and the faintly pulsating black lines beneath her skin—did not immediately disappear despite the destruction of the Cthulhu Dream avatar.
They are still there, but their color has become duller, and their movement has slowed down considerably, as if they have lost their vitality and become some kind of stubborn "scar".
The Girl's soul has regained its clarity, but the damage to her soul and body caused by the pollution remains.
Ian looked at the marks on Lina's body, then at her face, which bore a striking resemblance to a character in his memory who had given light to a child in a moment of crisis and whose name also happened to be " Lina." Suddenly, without any apparent reason, he muttered, "Hmm... Lina... that name, no wonder I became Tiga."
He lamented the impermanence of life.
The large intestine encloses the small intestine.
Lina stared blankly at the boy in front of her, completely bewildered by his words. What did he mean by "deserves to become Tiga"? Who was Tiga? Was he the name of the Giant of light from before?
What does it have to do with my own name?
"Don't think."
Seeing her confused expression, Ian waved his hand dismissively.
"You don't need to understand." He stood up, his gaze sharpening again as he looked at the stubborn stains on Lina's body. "You just need to know..."
He paused, a subtle, slightly wicked smile playing at the corners of his lips.
"I am Ian Prince... or rather, I am Ian Ultraman Tiga,"
He emphasized the words " Ultraman Tiga," as if to stress a certain ownership, implying that it wasn't just about "borrowing" light from a dying child.
His gaze deepened, as if he were staring at something deeper, something more essential.
The "darkness" that settles in the hearts of adults... I can "borrow" it too.
As soon as he finished speaking, under Lina's increasingly bewildered and uneasy gaze, Ian raised his right hand again.
But this time, what gathered in his palm was no longer that warm, fiery, hopeful golden light.
Rather, it is a kind of... deep, restrained, pure... darkness that seems to devour all light!
Look at me
Ian gave a low shout, his right hand pointing at the dim, tainted marks on Lina's body, and suddenly made a "grabbing" motion! " Dark Tiga, transform!!!"
Imagination truly is omnipotent.
With Ian's low shout, the pure "darkness" gathered in his palm suddenly seemed to come alive, transforming into countless fine, hair-like, yet incredibly tough black energy threads. Like predators with life and purpose, they shot out instantly, precisely wrapping around every remaining trace of pollution on Lina's Soul Projection!
Those dull scales, the shrunken gill slits, the writhing black lines beneath the skin... all the "beings" representing Cthulhu Pollution and mutation were now tightly bound by these black energy threads!
"Ugh...!"
Lina groaned, feeling a strange, cold sensation—not pain, but a kind of "peeling" and "sucking"—emanating from the areas that were entangled.
She could see that the black energy threads were glowing faintly, and the pollution traces entangled by them were becoming darker and more "concentrated" at a visible speed, as if some kind of "essence" was being forcibly extracted and stripped away! This was neither purification nor dispelling.
This is... "plunder"!
Yes, Ian is using his incredible imagination and profound understanding of the concept of " Tiga " to forcibly redefine, transform, and then... absorb the negative, insane "polluted energy" originating from Cthulhu within Lina into his own body! He wants to turn this "darkness" into his own power!! Just like Dark Tiga, who can absorb enemy attacks and negative energy to strengthen himself! Of course, this process is extremely dangerous. Cthulhu's pollution is full of madness and uncontrollability; directly absorbing it is tantamount to setting himself on fire. But Ian is not absorbing it blindly.
The "black energy threads" he used to entangle and extract contained his understanding of the " Raven's" power regarding "transformation," "bearing," and " Destiny."
It's more like a sophisticated "filter" and " Time-Turner ".
He did not absorb the original madness, but rather absorbed the relatively "pure" high concentration of negative energy essence after stripping away its harmful "will" and "information".
" Dark Tiga, help me!"
As the contamination was removed, Lina felt a sense of relief. The pain in the areas that had been aching, cold, and twisted quickly subsided, and the strange sensations also lessened.
The shimmering scales on her skin gradually faded and disappeared, the cracks in her cheeks smoothed out, and the black lines faded and vanished as quickly as ink fading...
But at the same time, she also saw that an amazing change was beginning to occur in Ian across from her!
As more and more stripped and transformed "dark" energy flowed into Ian's body through the black threads, his previously pale complexion began to be veiled with a faint, unhealthy gray. Deep within his cold eyes, a dark current seemed to surge. Even more noticeable was his body—a thin but undeniably present layer of dark energy, like a liquid shadow, began to slowly flow and outline across his surface!
His demeanor was also subtly changing. He had lost some of the passion and radiance of " Tiga's " transformation, and gained a profound, seemingly all-consuming silence and... a chilling majesty!
"What's wrong with you?"
Lina quickly asked.
Ian did not answer.
Finally, after the last stubborn trace of pollution was peeled off and absorbed from Lina's body, all the black energy threads suddenly retracted and disappeared into Ian's palm.
"Um?"
Lina staggered, steadied herself, and looked down at herself—her skin was smooth and there was nothing abnormal about it. Except for some weak and cold memories remaining deep in her soul, her "soul" had returned to a completely human form! It even felt "cleaner" than before it was corrupted! As if all the filth had been completely removed.
Ian stood quietly in place, his eyes closed. The thin layer of dark energy on his skin slowly seeped into his body and disappeared. When he opened his eyes again, they had returned to their usual coldness and calmness, but upon closer inspection, they seemed slightly deeper and darker than before.
It seemed to draw people's gaze in.
He slowly exhaled a breath carrying a faint chill, and flexed his wrists.
"Hmm... the quality is alright, but there are too many impurities, making it a bit of a hassle to process." He spoke as if evaluating a piece of food, his tone flat. Lina stared at him, dumbfounded.
Looking at her hands, now completely healed, her voice trembled with shock and gratitude. "You... you absorbed the pollution from my body? You... are you alright?"
"It's nothing." Ian glanced at her. "This level of 'darkness' doesn't affect me. At most, it's just... an extra meal." He paused, looking at Lina's still somewhat weak Soul Projection, and at the complex emotions in her eyes, a mixture of gratitude, confusion, and a hint of worry.
"The contamination has been cleared, but your soul has been weakened as a result, and although the 'connection' with Cthulhu has been severed, 'traces' and 'gaps' remain."
Ian said.
At the same time, he raised his hand again.
This time, what shone from his fingertips was no longer golden or black light, but a more restrained, stable, dark silver radiance carrying a faint aura of time and omen—pure Power of the Raven.
"As agreed, and also to prevent you from being targeted by similar things again..." Ian's fingertip gently touched Lina's forehead. "From now on, you are the ' Raven's' prophet."
The dark silver light flowed gently yet firmly into the core of Lina's soul, beginning to build a new, stable cognitive framework and power foundation for her, bearing the mark of the " Raven ".
This time, it's no longer about forcibly awakening and stripping away, but about gently giving and connecting.
Lina felt a cold yet orderly, vast yet not frenzied power surge into her weakened soul, like a clear spring flowing into parched earth. The "blanks" and "scars" left by the cleansing of pollution were quickly filled and smoothed by this power. A new, clear "vision," as if she could vaguely perceive the flow of time and fragments of the future, slowly unfolded in her consciousness. At the same time, she also felt that a stable and strange connection, like that between an apprentice and a mentor, had been established deep within her soul with the mysterious young man before her.
" Raven... Raven??" she murmured, feeling the newfound power within her, her gaze towards Ian filled with awe and an indescribable shock.
Ian withdrew his hand and nodded. "It's basically done. Your soul needs time to adapt and recover. Now, it's time to leave this hellhole completely."
"I'll see you off." He turned and looked at the dream's remnants, which had become extremely unstable due to the successive battles and were now almost entirely devoid of basic information. Then, he stretched out his hands, a pure golden light appearing in his left palm and a deep, dark aura swirling in his right. He slowly brought his hands together.
Light and darkness touched, collided, and then... under the harmonization and control of the power of " Raven," an extremely delicate and dangerous balance was achieved!
A completely new force.
Neither pure light nor pure darkness, but a silvery-gray energy that combined the characteristics of "order," "boundary breaking," and "time guidance" burst forth from his clasped hands!
Guided by light and darkness, steered by Raven... open the dream corridor for me!
As Ian finished speaking...
The silvery-gray energy transformed into a spiraling beam of light, slamming into the weakest point of this dream's remnants—the point most likely to connect with reality!
A stable, clear "portal" exuding a realistic aura slowly opened under the impact of the silver-gray light pillar! The silver-gray energy portal took shape steadily within the dream's wreckage, revealing the scene of the real world outside: the swaying dark silver force field, Karg's anxious face, and Saruman's solemn and weary expression.
now.
Like a beacon of hope, it is clearly visible.
"Walk!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Ian grabbed Lina, who was still immersed in the rebirth of her soul and the perception of power, and leaped towards the portal that shimmered with light!
The feeling of passing through a portal is completely different from traveling through a dream.
It was a distinct sense of "return," like a diver finally breaking the surface and breathing fresh air again. The chaotic energy flow, the frantic whispers, and the distorted scenes quickly receded, replaced by the familiar, still oppressive and dangerous, yet relatively stable "texture" of the real dimension.
A flash of light.
In Cthulhu's territory, Ian and Lina opened their eyes, their consciousness reappearing in the small and fragile dark silver field that the elderly Saruman was struggling to maintain.
" Lina!!"
Karg was the first to react.
He was very happy to see Lina appear unharmed, with all the terrible signs of mutation on her body gone, and even her complexion looking rosier than before.
The man was so excited he almost jumped up. He rushed forward, but then stopped a few steps away, looking at the Girl cautiously.
I fear that this is just a beautiful illusion.
at this time.
"We succeeded! History has been changed!"
Saruman was also invigorated, his eyes gleaming with barely suppressed delight.
He could clearly sense that Lina's soul aura was completely different! It was no longer the weak and chaotic state of being ravaged and on the verge of collapse, but rather a new aura that, though still faint, was exceptionally pure, stable, and carried a strange rhythm of time and Prophecy! History.
It has been rewritten!