When the Monster Died, It Wasn't Whole (Ace's Approval)

"Hey, Ah Hong! Look ahead!" Hibiki Gousuke, having regained his composure, shouted a warning.

On the detector and within their line of sight, a black cloud mass was rapidly approaching the GUTS Wing 1 like a predator closing in on its prey.

Zhou Hong yanked the control stick, sending the GUTS Wing 1 into a vertical climb, but the cloud mass followed closely behind.

He steered the craft toward headquarters, yet the cloud mass remained in hot pursuit.

The distance between them slowly narrowed; the GUTS Wing 1's engines were screaming at their limit, but it still could not shake off the pursuer.

"How should I put this? I'd love to leave the follow-up work to you all, but the situation right now is a bit unfavorable." Zhou Hong maintained a light smile, as if the crisis didn't weigh on his mind at all.

Megumi Iruma, however, felt quite the opposite. She replied, "Daigo and Shinjoh are already on their way."

Yet, no sooner had she finished speaking than the communication system went dead.

If this were a standard fighter jet, it would have been equipped with flares or similar countermeasures to deal with enemies on its tail, but the non-standard light fighter—the GUTS Wing 1—had nothing of the sort.

Every time he glanced at the detector, the distance between the eerie cloud and the GUTS Wing 1 had shrunk further, making Hibiki Gousuke's heart tremble with fear.

"The communication system is down. If the black cloud gets any closer, our fighter might lose control."

Zhou Hong remained unhurried, casually delivering a hand-blade strike to Hibiki Gousuke in front of him.

The hand-blade strike, learned from the rigorous training of Joneus, did not cause Hibiki Gousuke a shred of pain.

In an instant, it rendered Hibiki Gousuke unconscious without causing any physical harm.

"Captain, it gets boring beating you guys up all day." After confirming the fuel levels were sufficient, he casually engaged the fighter's autopilot mode.

Zhou Hong looked back at the black cloud behind him, a crimson radiance flickering upon the Ultra Heart. "Let's use Gazort to test the waters."

A crimson ball of light blocked the path between the black cloud and the GUTS Wing 1, its five fingers clenching into a fist wreathed in crimson flames.

With a loud bang, it slammed into the black cloud.

What was supposedly an intangible cloud was sent flying backward by the heavy punch; calling it a cocoon would be more accurate than calling it a cloud now.

Eerie cries wailed in constant sorrow as the front of the cocoon-like object tore open, spiderweb-like cracks spreading across its surface.

The cocoon's defensive power was not high—it was even somewhat fragile—and it began to shed as it flew through the air.

From within the cocoon, a massive body emerged, hovering vertically in mid-air.

It was an inverted triangle, its front opening up like a cobra, featuring markings that resembled eyes. It was hard to tell who this massive creature could still intimidate.

Its wide-open mouth was filled with sharp teeth, and its eyes glinted with a cruel light. Amidst the distortion of the air, a cerulean ball of light shot out.

Jostar felt no sense of danger; his right fist, still burning with flames, casually struck the ball of light from top to bottom.

The explosion tore apart only a few sparks and currents of electricity. Amidst the chaotic electric snakes and scorching embers, his eyes flickered with cold, icy light and exhilaration.

"Feeble."

Jostar kept his hands casually at his sides, yet his body darted forward at high speed.

Gazort, having transformed from the Lightning People, knew nothing of danger. Its fin-like hands slid through the air as it charged head-on toward Jostar.

The front of its inverted-triangular body opened wide, resembling a predatory fish, albeit one that was slightly too large.

Jostar was actually taken aback by this seemingly slender but reckless little brother who was even more aggressive than himself. He silently accelerated, and under the surge of energy, his body seemed to ignite.

Just as they were about to collide, Jostar performed an emergency ascent, dodging Gazort's body, and threw out a Lambda Light Blade he had prepared in his hands toward its rear.

Gazort, which spent its time eating and drifting in the ionosphere and occasionally playing dead to trick its friends, had no experience with such tricks. The Lambda Light Blade swirled, showering its back with a massive spray of sparks.

The impact and the pain hit simultaneously, causing it to lose control of its body and plummet straight downward.

This was likely the first time the Lightning People living in the ionosphere had experienced the sensation of weightlessness, though the consequences were likely quite severe.

Dust billowed into the sky, and the scattered rocks and wood debris acted like bullets, tearing the surroundings to shreds.

Just then, the GUTS Wing 1 piloted by Daigo and Shinjoh arrived. In their line of sight, Gazort remained motionless, standing perfectly upright as if Sir Isaac Newton's laws of physics had no effect on it.

Behind it, on the ground, was a crater shaped exactly like Gazort.

It let out a hideous cry, appearing to be in great pain, but its attacks did not cease; from its wide-open mouth, it fired a crescent-shaped ion light ball.

Jostar, descending from the sky in a pose reminiscent of a Leo Kick, moved with such speed that his toes flickered with crimson flames.

Without any intention of dodging, Jostar collided with the blue ball of light. The impact and electricity did not alter Jostar's trajectory in the slightest, and the sole of his foot slammed fiercely into Gazort's chest.

The immense power erupting from his leg drove Gazort right back into the crater.

The ion light ball's destructive power, while sufficient to cause significant damage to the fragile, aerial-type Tiga, was ineffective against someone who was not fragile.

The muscular physique shielded him from the "scratch-damage," and the ion light ball felt as soothing as a lover's massage, prompting Jostar to roll his shoulders.

Although he had no lover, not even a girlfriend, and didn't know what that felt like, he could imagine it a little.

Gazort, lying in the original crater, no longer emitted its noisy cries. The light in its eyes extinguished, and its constantly twitching fins stopped moving, as if it were dead.

But Jostar didn't believe it. If a monster died, didn't it usually explode into smithereens? Didn't it turn into pieces?

Who had ever heard of a monster dying in one piece?

Crossed currents of electricity danced wildly on his arms, and as Jostar moved, the pure white lightning transformed into a beam of light that struck the Gazort lying on the ground.

The moment the beam hit, its eyes lit up for a split second before it dissolved into scattered light particles.

Jostar did not possess a beam as powerful as Tiga's, capable of blowing a monster into fragments. What he had learned from Nexus was merely how to reduce an enemy into scattered light particles.

In other words, it was a "weak" beam that could only reduce enemies to a molecular level.