"Eh?! A new giant ?!"
"Yep! We saw him in action earlier this day. The giant destroyed the stray Kouma in one shot, so cool!"
"But, he doesn't look like how Commander Yoneda described him though."
The Three Daughters of Imperial Theater eagerly retold the story to the young actresses in the Grand Imperial Theater, who were unable to dispatch due to the ongoing theatrical play. Sakura Shinguji was the newest member of the secret 'Imperial Assault Troop' (Teikoku Kagekidan, Teigeki for short) and she had heard tales of the Silver Giant from her late father, Kazuma, so she attentively listened to one of the Daughters, Yuri Sakakibara.
"Hmph, what is 'Giant of Light'? He may have saved Teito before but now it's Koubu's turn to shine. His presence is totally unneeded!"
Heir of Kanzaki Heavy Industries, Sumire Kanzaki, huffed and declared proudly. Her grandfather was finalizing the reconstruction of Spirit Armor Oobu's evolution, Koubu, and being his granddaughter, Sumire obviously put his work above all else, even the resurfaced Giant.
"Iris… Iris is scared…"
Iris Chateaubriand, the youngest member of the Teigeki, whispered in fear while hugging her teddy bear Jean Paul. Maria Tachibana, the acting captain of the team, contemplated this news. Considering Iris' violent burst of spiritual energy this afternoon, she immediately deduced that it had something to do with this Giant of Light. Iris was very sensitive to supernatural beings, especially the evil types.
"...I wouldn't say that he is a giant of light." Kasumi Fujii, eldest of the Daughters, voiced her opinion. "From the footage of the Kouma War, the giant at the time was silver in color and less menacing-looking. The new giant looks drastically different and his presence invokes a very creepy feeling, at least in my case."
Yoneda sat in the corner of the dining hall, observing his 'daughters' speak up their minds. As expected, the new giant was less received than Shin had been back then. Of course, the military council wanted a piece of this new player and issued a Kill/Capture on the giant, demanding Yoneda to cooperate with the army. His superior, Count Hanakoji of Teito, used his authority as one of the leaders of Sage Council to stall that order for the time being.
'I need to officially announce the existence of the Teigeki and fully secure the trust of Sage Council. Otherwise, the Minister of Defense would cross the line and do the unthinkable…'
The next day, the black-clad young man exited the homeless area after resting there for the night. The people were friendly enough to let him stay so the young man repaid their kindness by hypnotizing the owner of a big local restaurant and taking their food to feed the homeless. Not the most noble method but he had long abandoned the notion of 'honorable'.
"Shin-chan, this place will always be your home."
An elderly woman living in the suburb area near the homeless district said to him, giving him the name 'Shingo', Shin for short. Shin bid her farewell and went to downtown Teito, hoping to find some clues about why he ended up in this city.
Due to his black clothes attracting unwanted attention yesterday, Shin borrowed a ragged coat and wrapped it around his body. The rich citizens sneered at a bum like him but he paid them no mind, as he would have done the same had he been in their position. Despite his amnesia, Shin still retained the same person he had been before: he never judged people for their actions or personalities, he merely accepted it as part of this diverse and wonderful world.
"Watch your steps, garbage. You nearly dirtied my expensive shoes!"
A man lashed out at a young girl for a petty reason. She looked horrified as the cup of liquid she was holding had spilled on the ground. She fearfully apologized to the man and attempted to salvage the liquid but the man trampled on the earth, causing the girl to cry. Shin held the wand forward and concentrated. A ball of energy appeared on the wand's tip and was launched into the cruel man, right through his chest. The man was frozen in place, unable to comprehend his situation.
"I normally ignore the trifles between humans, but this is way too out of line." Shin approached the man, who tried to run away but his body refused to obey him. The wand on his hand shone as Shin thrust it into the man's forehead, spreading the green energy across his entire body. The young girl gasped in horror at what was transpiring. Soon, the man stopped twitching and stood still, like a puppet.
"Now, give the girl all of your money and apologize to her, properly."
"Yes…Master…"
The man took out a large stack of cash, his golden watch and other valuable goods before handing them over to the shaking girl. He then groveled to her and did as told. Shin smiled kindly at the girl.
"I assume the cup was some kind of expensive herbs, no?"
"I-It was for my mother. She was very sick, and I spent my whole savings to buy the medicine for her…"
"Then take the money from this…filth and get every medicine you can to treat your mother's illness."
The girl stammered out, trying to say something. Shin patted her head twice.
"Oh, and please forget what happened. It would be very inconvenient for both of us if someone caught wind of this."
And with that, Shin disappeared into the busy streets of Teito.
Shin reached the Tokyo Station, feeling that this place gave off a more familiar feeling to him. The station was crowded with people so he chose a seat outside the ticket booth and watched the busy but peaceful atmosphere. It seemed that yesterday's attack was a rarity in Teito these days. If this city was safe, what was his purpose? An Ultra was someone who appeared to save the innocent and protect the peace after all.
'Am I even an Ultra?' Shin wondered to himself, as the Ultra Warriors he knew would never have the ability to manipulate people like what he had done earlier. They did possess such ability, but an Ultra never resorted to such a cowardly method to resolve a problem.
"Onii-chan, are you lost?"
A young boy holding a cotton candy asked him curiously, seeing his melancholic face. Shin shook his head to shoo away the thoughts and rubbed his hair playfully.
"Don't worry about me. I was just…thinking about stuff."
"Okaaay. Here, I will share my candy with you!"
"Ahaha, no need no need." Shin laughed and stood up. "Thanks to you, I'm feeling better now. See ya around."
"Ehehe, bye bye Onii-chan!"
Shin looked at the back of the boy who gradually disappeared into the crowds. He might not know the reason why he ended up in Teito, however perhaps he had found one of the motivations to stay here. He wanted to protect innocent souls like the boy's.
"Such a heartwarming sight. It makes me want to crush that innocence right now."
A dark voice spoke behind Shin. A hooded man wearing a sadistic smile was staring at him like a wolf to its prey.
""This sensation… You are the same as me, yet very different at the same time."
"Indeed. I'm the more complete You, a Dark Ultra who was tricked into believing the abominable Light. My name is Faust."
"Faust, the character from the play with the same name." Shin narrowed his eyes, moving his hand to the wand in his jacket. "Do you fancy yourself as a foolish man dealing with the Devil?"
"Correct. I made a deal with the Darkness to gain power. In this crappy world, a powerless noble man is nothing compared to a mighty demon! You should have been on our side, but you betrayed your own creator and led the deceiver to lead you to this place. How pitiful of you, Mephisto."
"So you know my identity. In that case, I will beat you to a pulp first, and get the information from your mouth later."
"Ohohoho, you are speaking my language."
Shin glanced at his surroundings; there were too many people to safely transform without compromises. He pulled up his own hood, hiding his face enough for most people to only see a dark shadow covering his face. Faust smirked at Shin and showed his transformation device, a rod with exotic golden engravings.
"Let us enjoy the carnage!"
"UWAAAAH!"
An explosion shook the station as the light energy radiated from Shin's transformation clashed against the dark aura unleashed by the rob in Faust's hand. The police guards quickly evacuated the citizens as the pillars separated and revealed the two giants, one of light and the other from darkness.
"How disgusting. The amount of Light coming from you is making me sick!"
Faust pointed his palm at the crowds and fired a barrage of green blasts, causing Mephisto to rush to their rescue and raise a blue barrier to block the attacks. Using this opening, Faust slammed his foot at the Light Ultra's back, knocking him away.
"As expected, you of the Light always put the others before yourself. Such a critical weakness, Mephisto!"
"Kuh!"
Shin grunted as he returned the sneak attack with two Particle Feathers from each of his bracers, gazing Faust's neck and leg and causing sparks to damage the Dark entity. Faust became enraged and started destroying the buildings around him. Unable to let his enemy take more lives, Mephisto flew in and grabbed Faust from behind to get both of them to a safer place. He chose the forest near the Fuji Mountain.
"Hmph! You may have prevented the deaths of humans, but you cannot stop your demise! SURYYAAAH!"
Faust crossed his arms and gathered strings of lightning into his fists. Mephisto mimicked the action but spread his arms to show the concentrated darker light energy.
"Scatter and die!"
"TEYAAAH!"
Faust thrust his hands forward to send the Dark-Ray Jabirom energy blast that clashed against Mephisto's + style Dark-Ray Schtrom beam. The beam-of-war lasted for a while, draining energy from both sides. Faust laughed in delight as he added more blasts to make the original bigger and slowly overwhelm the opposing beam.
"Guuuuh…!"
The blue color of Mephisto's energy core began to blink red but he refused to falter and gather more energy into his hands. The reddish beam glowed brighter as a result.
"Just a little more and you will be out of energy. The Light is so feeble, while my Darkness is unlimited!"
Finally, the energy clash concluded with a powerful backlash sending both giants away. While Mephisto clutched his chest in pain, Faust seemed unscathed and was preparing to resume his assault.
"THAT IS ENOUGH!"
A loud female voice announced, stopping Faust in his tracks. From above, the flying ship from yesterday was hovering and pointing its cannons toward Faust, as if to say back off from Mephisto. Faust folded his arms arrogantly and waited to see what kind of magic tricks were going to happen.
From the ship, four humanoid machines with distinctive colors dropped down. There were the Koubus, spirit armors running on Spiritual Power.
"Teikoku Kagekidan (Imperial Assault Troop), has arrived!"
"Hmm, so this is the girlish band I have heard recently. I wonder, how long can you last against a giant like me, a Dark Ultraman?"
"Don't be so cocky, villain!" The purple machine stepped forward and raised her naginata at Faust. "This Sumire Kanzaki will be your opponent!"
"All units, enclose him!" The black Koubu with a long rifle issued the order as the others sped up and attacked Faust. The dark giant shielded himself from a hail of bullets and exploding spiritual attacks coming from the yellow and purple mechas. The spiritual aura from the girls converged and became absorbed into Mephisto's blinking Energy Core, gradually restoring it to blue.
"Are you okay?!"
The pink Koubu rushed to Mephisto and asked him in concern. The giant nodded assuredly at her and stood up, running to his foe. Faust was being drop-kicked, causing him to lose his shield and get damaged.
"You pests! I will mangle your bodies bit by bit!"
Faust roared as he raised both of his arms to the sky. Green energy tornados surrounded the battlefield and formed a dark space that isolated all of them from reality. This was the Dark Meta Field, a place that empowered dark beings like Faust and weakened their enemies. Mephisto, for some reasons, felt less restricted in this field while Teigeki's movements became sluggish.
"Kuh… What is happening? My Koubu is getting slower and less responsive!"
Sumire exclaimed from her machine as she struggled to make the Koubu listen to her control. The pilot of the yellow one, one that was much younger than the others if Mephisto's hearing was correct, started crying out loud.
"No, no, no! Iris is scared!"
"Iris, calm down!"
A more mature voice from the black Koubu tried to comfort Iris in vain. Faust laughed in glee as his power increased so rapidly that it was trying to devour the spiritual energy from the girls. Mephisto obviously couldn't let this slide.
"SHUUU…"
He placed his hands next to the Energy Core and drew power from it. The energy streams flowed warmly into the Teikoku Kagekidan, making their machine shine in the process. Faust saw this and fired a large energy blast at Mephisto but it dispersed and was absorbed into the aura in front of the light giant.
"Now! Haja Kensei: Ouka HOUSHIN!"
"Kanzaki Fujin Ryu: Kochou no Mai!"
"Iris won't forgive you! Iris Explosé!"
"Freeze in the eternal ice. Snegurochka!"
The Teigeki unleashed their strongest attacks upon Faust, greatly injuring him while unstabilizing the Dark Meta Field. Mephisto condensed the scattered dark energy from Faust's earlier attack and converted them into light, which gathered into his right bracer. As Mephisto completed charging the Spill-Ray Generade, he hurled it at the dark giant to finish him off, resulting in a massive explosion and shattering the dimensional space for good.
"We got him!"
"My, what an adequate performance there, Sakura-san."
"Mou, Sumire-san, you were panicking too."
"What did you say?!"
The pink and purple pilots exchanged jabs at each other as they celebrated their victory, which was cut short as Faust weakly stood up from his spot. Mephisto rushed to face him and stood protectively before the Koubu group.
"Hmph, even though you needed assistance from a bunch of women, a loss is still a loss." Faust looked at Mephisto. "I will tell you this: you are the first successful specimen of Project U, codenamed Dark Mephisto. I have no idea how the Light got to you but now, you are known to us as Mephisto, Apostle of the abominable Light. That's all you get for now."
Mephisto raised a hand to stop Faust but the dark giant vanished into the air beforehand.
"DARK…MEPHISTO…"
Mephisto repeated the name but couldn't find any meaning beyond what Faust had stated. Hell, even his current one wasn't as significant to him as 'Shingo' was.
"You are…a Giant of Light, aren't you?" Sakura, the pink Koubu's pilot, addressed him with a concerned voice, having heard Faust's explanation. "You are the giant of justice that vanquishes evil and protects everyone, right?"
"I…I DO NOT KNOW." Mephisto replied, not sure how to act next. "ONE THING I KNOW FOR SURE… I'M NOT THE SAME AS HIM. I FIGHT TO PROTECT THE SMILE OF A YOUNG BOY I DO NOT KNOW, AND I FIGHT TO PROTECT THE CITY OF TEITO."
"I see." Maria said simply before a smile rose on her face. "Then I consider you as an ally of us Teikoku Kagekidan."
"...THANK YOU, I GUESS?"