Self-destruction

On a quiet night, Natsuki lay in bed, staring down his bracelet.

The faint knock at the door sounded especially clear in the room.

He had sensed his visitor the moment the man stopped outside his door.

Natsuki slowly sat up in bed, looking puzzled.

Who would come looking for me this late at night?

He slowly raised a hand, and the door opened from a distance, revealing a face wearing silver-rimmed glasses.

At the sight of that face, Natsuki immediately frowned.

Here to pick a fight?

Did he not hear a single word of this morning's warning?

"I remember you're Al... Al-something?" Natsuki spoke first, rubbing his chin as he sat on the bed and tried to recall the man's name.

"Albert."

"Kony Albert."

Albert adjusted his glasses and introduced himself politely. He didn't seem to be there to pick a fight.

"Okay, Albert."

"You didn't come looking for me in the middle of the night just to introduce yourself." Natsuki folded his arms and looked him up and down.

Golden light flickered in his eyes.

The door behind Albert slammed shut with a bang.

Natsuki's first impression of Albert hadn't been good, so he was hardly going to act friendly now.

He could tell at a glance that this man had something lurking in his eyes: ambition.

"I mean no offense, Mr. Natsuki." Albert glanced back at the firmly closed door. A trace of nervousness rose within him, but he kept it off his face and continued speaking politely to Natsuki.

He raised both hands to show that he posed no threat.

"If I intended to offend you in any way, I wouldn't have knocked," he explained calmly.

He knew a little about Ultramen.

He knew they were all terrifyingly powerful, and the best among them even possessed the power to overturn a universe.

But he also had a stereotype about Ultramen: they were bleeding hearts.

In his impression, the vast majority of Ultramen were champions of justice who loved helping others. They would rather suffer themselves than harm fragile humans whenever possible, and a rare few would even forgive humans who had committed grave wrongs.

He had originally assumed that a warrior from the Space Garrison had to be a paragon of virtue.

He could use moral arguments to tie this warrior's hands, thereby securing indirect help for himself.

But he had never imagined that Natsuki would refuse to play by those rules.

He had opened with a three-minute ultimatum.

Moral blackmail? Not a chance.

Albert had no idea how this man had gotten into the Space Garrison. Or perhaps... just what merits had he earned to avoid being expelled despite acting so recklessly out here?

In any case, Natsuki's unforeseen presence had already thrown his original plan into complete disarray.

So he had devised a new plan.

"Mr. Natsuki, I can help you." Meeting Natsuki's interrogating gaze, Albert said something that caught him by surprise.

"I heard about your mission from the marshal. I can help you find whoever caused the abnormal spacetime fluctuations."

The simulated moonlight in the room fell across his face. As he adjusted his glasses, they reflected the light, lending him an air of mystery.

Those words did indeed catch Natsuki's interest.

Killing monsters was easy, but rooting out the true mastermind was no simple matter. The process took a great deal of time and effort, and for a slacker like him, that kind of mission was the biggest headache.

"Why should I believe you?" Natsuki held his chin in one hand and studied Albert, with one leg tucked under him on the bed. He considered the details revealed by the man's every move, judging whether he could be trusted.

Albert also knew that he had made a terrible first impression on Natsuki.

So, at that moment, he chose to do one thing.

Lay everything out.

Since the man was still an Ultraman, there was still room to talk as long as Albert harbored no ulterior motives and honestly showed his sincerity.

"I'll tell you everything I'm allowed to say," Albert said firmly.

At that moment, he wasn't going to speak in riddles. There was no point.

"Oh?" Natsuki narrowed his eyes slightly, realizing that Albert seemed to possess quite a lot of information.

"Let's hear it."

Whether he trusted this man would depend on what came next.

Originally, Natsuki had planned to follow Marshal Stacker and the others all the way through the Breach in the Pacific Ocean, capture a few Precursors, and interrogate them about the abnormal spacetime fluctuations. If Albert could provide useful intelligence now, that would save him considerable effort.

This was practically Natsuki's most efficient mission in recent memory. He had only arrived on this universe's Earth yesterday, and tomorrow he would be attacking the enemy's lair. If the others in the Space Garrison saw him, they would hardly recognize him.

"The [abnormal spacetime fluctuations] you need to investigate are actually the result of changes in [spacetime source energy]."

Albert adjusted his glasses and explained patiently.

"Every world has its own original [destiny]. You can think of it as a line, or a script."

"When outsiders-beings who don't originally belong to a world-arrive there, they change that world's [destiny]. The greater the changes, the more scars appear on that world, and the more opportunities there are to steal [spacetime source energy]."

Hearing this, Natsuki frowned slightly.

This mission... doesn't seem so simple.

If things were really as Albert described, then he would be facing an organization.

It wouldn't be as simple as dealing with invaders.

"What organization do these outsiders belong to, exactly? What are they called?" he asked.

"I can't say."

Albert looked at Natsuki's now-serious gaze and gently shook his head.

"Because I'm one of them. I can only give you some of the relevant intelligence. I can't say any more, or I'll disappear right now."

"We were all originally humans from different worlds. We died in various accidents, then were recruited and sent to different worlds to steal [spacetime source energy] by various means."

"We don't know what kind of being recruited us, or what the purpose of collecting spacetime source energy is."

"All we know is that we have to complete our missions, or those ranked at the bottom will be eliminated."

Natsuki listened.

He felt increasingly that this matter was growing complicated.

The ability to transport people through spacetime... to take people who had died in different worlds and put them to use... anyone capable of even one of those things would be no ordinary figure.

When had a force like this appeared in the Multiverse?

"Go on," Natsuki said.

This was no longer just a problem for this Earth. He didn't know what the mastermind intended to do with this so-called spacetime energy, but he guessed it couldn't be anything good.

Besides, anyone involved with spacetime was bad news. They were usually cooking up something big.

This mission was far less simple than he had imagined. If it were an ordinary mission, he could afford to slack off a little and coast along. But when faced with something this important, Natsuki usually chose to get it settled before properly relaxing.

Who could have imagined there'd be a job this big in such a remote universe!

"For people like us, the world we're in now, and even the Land of Light where you live, were projected into our home worlds in the form of stories. That gives us an inherent intelligence advantage, making it easier for us to change a world's [destiny]."

Albert passed on all the intelligence he was allowed to share with Natsuki, holding nothing back.

There was competition even among world travelers. Once he discovered that Natsuki was a hunter he had no hope of dealing with...

He chose the most rational course.

If you can't beat him, join him.