In the realm of darkness, outside the great gates of the temple deep within the abyss—
The stone statue of Tiga stood silently. No miracle occurred.
Unlike Daigo before him, Yu Zhou did not find himself sealed within a crystal after Tiga had turned to stone.
This statue outside the temple contained no crystal inside it—it was nothing but solid, lifeless stone.
Meanwhile, in the bracelet that Hudra had given him, Keshiva discovered a strange device.
To his eyes, this was the trueLight Particle Converter.
Now standing beneath the faint glow of the Plasma Spark, Keshiva carefully placed the device upon the ground, studying every detail of its construction and function.
The Light Particle Converter had four glowing pillars surrounding it, with a platform in the centre strong enough to hold a person. On that platform stood the machine's core structure—
and at its very top was a groove, carved as though meant to hold something.
"This groove… seems like it's designed to fit something specific," Keshiva murmured, frowning in concentration.
Naturally, his focus was on the core itself, and the groove quickly became the centrepiece of his study.
After some thought, Keshiva took out the black Sparklence—the sacred tool used by Tiga to transform.
No—not a tool. A divine artifact.
"The end of this artifact… it fits perfectly with the groove on the Light Particle Converter," Keshiva realized.
He studied it for a moment, then moved to insert the Dark Sparklence into the groove.
But just before it connected, he hesitated.
There were several known ways to become a Giant of Light, something Keshiva had discussed before with Yuzare.
First, one could use a giant stone statue—by converting human light particles through the Converter and merging with the statue, the Giant would be revived.
Second, through exposure to the true Plasma Spark, an ordinary human could evolve into a Giant of Light.
Now, though Keshiva possessed the Converter, there were no giant statues anywhere to be found.
And while he did have a Plasma Spark, it was a miniature version—far too weak to trigger human evolution.
Of course, if he could somehow use this small Spark to develop a full-sized, true Plasma Spark Tower, one capable of transforming life itself…
That would be ideal.
"For now, I'll focus on studying the Plasma Spark," Keshiva decided at last.
He carefully stored away the Dark Sparklence and turned his attention fully to the research before him.
Days passed.
During that time, Camearra finally awakened, regaining her strength and original form.
The moment she awoke, she was already preparing to go and rescue Yu Zhou—the man who had become Ultraman Tiga.
"Lady Camearra, please, calm down!"
"Miss Camearra, you mustn't go!"
Hudra and Darramb pleaded with her tirelessly, but their words couldn't reach her.
"Don't try to stop me! Tiga needs help right now!" she shouted, her voice trembling.
"If I don't go… Tiga, he'll—!"
Her eyes filled with tears before she could finish.
"Lady Camearra," Hudra said softly, sighing, "it's been a long time. If Tiga were still alive… he would've come back by now."
He paused, looking at her sadly.
"So… it's very likely that Tiga is already gone."
"Impossible!"
Camearra's crimson eyes flared with fury as she screamed the word, the raw emotion stunning Hudra into silence.
She had never raised her voice at him before.
"Lady Camearra…" Darramb's tone was heavy with sorrow. "Hudra is right. Even the Sparklence that Tiga used to transform flew back to us after we escaped…"
"Where is it?"
"What?"
"I said—where is the Sparklence!?" Camearra demanded sharply.
"It should be with your father," Hudra replied after a pause. "He's been conducting research… about transforming into a Giant himself."
"Humph."
Without another word, Camearra turned and stormed toward Keshiva's laboratory, her expression cold as steel.
Inside the laboratory—
Before Keshiva stood a towering structure—an enormous Plasma Spark Tower.
Even so, the energy radiating from it wasn't enough to transform him.
"It's still useless…" he muttered, shaking his head.
The most crucial step in creating a Plasma Spark was still out of reach.
The reason? The necessary material simply did not exist on Earth.
"What I need is a substance capable of permanently containing the power of light," Keshiva sighed. "And it has to cover at least half the planet's surface."
With that impossible requirement, even he began to despair.
The key step was simple in theory—
place the Plasma Spark atop that material, and its internal energy would transform, birthing the power that could make humans evolve into beings of light.
But without that material, he could only stare at failure.
In the entire lab, there was just one small fragment—
a shard of crystal, taken from a meteorite that had fallen from the stars.
After his analysis, Keshiva concluded it originated from the Orion constellation.
"Tiga's homeland… was said to be Orion," he murmured thoughtfully.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, the laboratory door burst open.
Camearra strode in, followed closely by Hudra and Darramb.
"Father! Hand over Tiga's Sparklence!" she demanded, holding out her hand, her tone leaving no room for refusal.
"Not yet," Keshiva replied, shaking his head. "If I give it to you, you'll just run off to your death. I won't stand by and watch my daughter throw her life away."
"Then watch how your daughter dies!"
With tears burning in her eyes, Camearra pulled a broken blade from her storage bracelet and held it to her own throat.
"Wait! Camearra, stop!"
Keshiva froze in panic—he never expected his daughter to threaten him with her life.
"Give me everything else, too!" she shouted. "Those things belonged to Tiga!"
Defeated, Keshiva sighed deeply and handed her the Dark Sparklence and the remaining items.
"Fine… fine. Take them all."
He shook his head, a pained smile crossing his face. "I never thought my own daughter would one day threaten me like this."
Then, after a pause, his tone softened.
"But Camearra, you want to save Tiga, don't you?"
"I do," she answered coldly, wary of his intentions.
"You know as well as I do," Keshiva said gravely, "that even if we all attacked together, we couldn't defeat the Dark King."
"Trying to save Tiga like that would only cost your life."
"Then I'd rather die with him!"
Her words struck Keshiva silent. He hadn't expected such resolve.
"I didn't mean that," he said quickly. "Listen—
I've already created a Plasma Spark. I'm just missing the final step. Once it's complete… I might be able to transform into a Giant like Tiga."
"With that power, we could face the Dark King—and truly save him."
He sighed again, shaking his head as his expression softened with helpless affection.
"My daughter… you've grown up. And your wings have become stronger than I ever imagined."