Chapter 16: The truth is revealed; he is no aggressor—Nexus alone guards the myriad lights of ten thousand homes!

Silence.

Deathly silence.

When the silver giant, already judged as 'dead,' propped itself against the ground with its dim arms, slowly rising, the myriad heavens seemed to have been paused.

He once again stood in front of Golgoth!

This scene, transcending all civilized understanding, left countless self-proclaimed gods' minds blank.

Divine Realm.

Tang Shan's smug smile on his face, like a frozen cheap mask, cracked inch by inch, then collapsed with a bang.

He sprang up from the divine throne, his divine power uncontrolledly spilling, shaking the luxurious table beside him into powder.

"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

His roar was filled with jealousy and incomprehensible fury.

"He's already dead! His energy core is extinguished! How can he still rise?! What kind of lowly trick is this?!"

He stared fixedly at the sky curtain; those eyes, which should have been divine and majestic, now held only resentment.

"How can this cosmic bandit achieve something even I, the Divine King, cannot comprehend?!"

"Shan ge..." the pink rabbit beside him trembled with fear.

"Shut up, you Divine King!" Tang Shan shoved her aside, pointing at Nexus in the sky curtain, cursing wildly, "Kill him! That soul beast! Quickly kill him for the Divine King! Tear him to pieces!"

……

Cybertron, Autobot base.

Optimus Prime's massive frame emitted a faint metallic screech due to the extreme shock.

He gazed at the giant fighting after the lights went out; in his blue optical lenses, data streams flickered wildly, trying to analyze this illogical scene.

But soon, his keen battlefield intuition caught a detail everyone overlooked.

"Incorrect..." Optimus Prime's low electronic voice sounded, heavy with solemnity.

"From the start of battle, that beast's movements had a clear direction. And this Ultraman, each of his attacks, each block, was not to kill the opponent, but to... stop its advance."

He reconstructed the battlefield map from the sky curtain in his mind; a clear route emerged.

"He has been blocking its advance toward a certain direction."

Optimus Prime's frame trembled again due to this discovery.

"What is it worth, that you would go to such lengths? Extinguished light, exhausted energy, yet you still stubbornly rise, continuing to fight..."

……

Titan

Tony Stark gazed at the lonely, resolute silhouette in the sky curtain.

From that lonely, resolute silhouette, he saw a familiar shadow.

That was the shadow of them all when facing Thanos wielding the Infinity Gauntlet.

Despair, helpless, yet they had to rise, using flesh and blood to grasp that one-in-a-billion chance of life.

"This gaze," Tony muttered, "I've seen it countless times... it's the look of having calculated all outcomes, finding only one path forward, even if that path leads to destruction, one must walk it."

A strange empathy rose in his heart.

Yet he retained his last shred of rationality.

"But, is your victory for protection, or for destruction?"

……

Three-Body Fleet Command Center.

The Hawk Faction Elder's thought waves turned into the sharpest spikes, filled with impatience and intolerance.

"Madman! Utter madman! For aggression, they don't even fear death! Such an extremist civilization is nothing but a cosmic tumor!"

"Leader! We can't wait any longer! This Ultraman is already at the end of his strength, but this spirit is too terrifying!"

"This civilization is also terrifying! They dare to defy the Dark Forest Law! We must immediately broadcast their coordinates to the whole universe!"

"We must have a higher-level civilization strike them immediately, to eliminate future trouble!"

This time, the Leader did not, as usual, use a cold order to silence him.

The Leader's thought form hovered silently at the top of the command center.

He, like Optimus Prime, noticed that strange point.

That giant beast, persistently heading toward a certain direction.

And that giant, with his life, forged an impassable wall, refusing to let the beast cross.

"What exactly lies there...?"

The Leader's thought first gave rise to strong curiosity.

He wanted to know what the giant's belief in fighting after the lights went out was ultimately for.

……

Above the sky curtain, the video continued.

The dimmed Nexus slowly straightened his body.

His originally bright eyes were now pitch black, yet they exuded a determination and indomitability more gripping than light.

"Roar—!"

Golgoth seemed also enraged by this indestructible opponent, roaring, taking another heavy step, trying to go around Nexus.

However, Nexus moved.

He exerted his last ounce of strength, his legs stomped hard on the cracked earth, his whole body becoming a blur, tightly hugging Golgoth's massive form!

No light, no energy.

Only the purest, the strength wrung out by willpower, the final strength!

Naikesis exerted force from his waist, his muscles bulging to the limit,

He actually managed to lift that mountain-like giant beast outright,

Then with a shoulder throw, he slammed it hard toward the other side!

"Boom!!!"

The earth shuddered violently, dust and smoke shooting up into the sky.

After doing all that, Naikesis could no longer support himself, staggering back a few steps and dropping to one knee.

But he did not fall.

He pushed himself up from the ground with his hands, again struggling to stand, striking a pose that teetered on the brink of collapse,

yet with an unyielding fighting stance!

Hey ya!

He, still wants to fight!

At this moment, the camera on the canopy began to slowly lift upward.

As the camera rose,

a truth overlooked by everyone,

finally appeared before the myriad worlds.

Behind Naikesis' tattered silhouette,

was not a desolate battlefield.

There, scattered in orderly fashion, were countless buildings.

The camera continued to rise and pull back.

Those buildings coalesced into a forest of steel.

It was a prosperous city!

Under the night sky, every window in the city glowed with warm light.

Countless points of light linked together, forming a brilliant river of stars,

a sea of…… myriad lights!

And Naikesis, the giant regarded as an aggressor, a butcher, a battle maniac,

stood alone and silent at the city's forefront.

Using his body on the verge of collapse,

he erected the first and last line of defense for the myriad lights behind him!

At this moment, sounds other than battle finally appeared in the scene.

It was the wind.

and…… human voices.

The camera cut into the city.

Countless people were peering out from building windows and street corners.

They were not panicking or fleeing in all directions.

Their faces were filled with worry, anxiety, and something called hope.

A little girl with twin pigtails, held in her mother's arms,

she clutched her favorite cloth doll tightly, crying out in a childish voice:

"Giant! Don't fall down!"

An old man with white hair, leaning on a cane, his cloudy eyes brimming with tears.

"Stand up! Please! Stand up!"

Countless voices rose from every corner of the city.

Because of the memory police in Naikesis' worldview,

these people do not recognize the Naikesis before them,

nor do they know how many times this giant before them has protected them.

Their memories have been lost,

but

at this critical moment of survival crisis, they still shouted their most sincere pleas to the giant!

And the object of their plea is precisely that giant despised, misunderstood, and scorned by countless civilizations.

The truth is now revealed to all under heaven.

He is not an aggressor.

He is a guardian.

He fought to the death bloodied, he dissipated after defeat, he gathered himself again with all his strength, he even battled on after exhausting all vitality, extinguishing his lights……

All this, not for glory, not for conquest.

Only to protect the fragile yet beautiful myriad lights behind him.

For the happiness and peace of the countless people behind him, he sacrificed everything he had!

The canopy's image finally froze.

The black giant stood upon the earth, behind him a city brilliant as a sea of stars.

Before him, the ferocious beast had clambered back up, unleashing an angry roar.

Light and darkness, protection and destruction, at this moment formed the ultimate opposition.