Chapter 136

The Thirtieth Opposing Forces Have Their Own Battleground

“Run!”

It was impossible to tell who had shouted, but Rikka held Ai-chan tightly in her arms as Ai held onto Makoto, and the girls instantly burst forth with speed far surpassing any previous moment, scattering and fleeing.

“Boom—”

The deafening sound echoed like thunder striking out of nowhere. The weight from Daikarā’s several hundred thousand ton body crushed down, causing the ground where the girls had stood to shatter into fragments.

The girls turned back to witness the chaos, seeing the enormous square depression left by Daikarā after lifting his foot. They collectively fell silent.

Being stepped on by him would leave even a Pretty Cure, maybe not even a complete body behind!

Such terrifying thoughts simultaneously ran through their minds. Just the thought of being flattened made them shudder.

“Mister Ash!”

Called out, Ash innocently waved his closed gear gun. “This isn’t directed at you guys, just testing the dark warriors’ gear and getting a closer look at Pretty Cures.”

Of course, there was also the intention to test the power of the Dark Warriors’ gears and observe the possible limits of Pretty Cures.

“Regina!”

Called by name, Regina hovered in the air, flying behind Ai. Facing Ai’s angry gaze, Regina, seemingly amused at successfully tormenting a friend, displayed a mischievous smirk.

“It’s all because of Ai that everyone feels so miserable. If only Ai had listened to me and been friends with just me~”

“That wouldn’t have happened.”

Even Ash shook his head at this point; it seemed to him that to the princess, the word ‘friend’ was similar to a toy or something.

Prospects didn’t look good… though he himself practically didn’t have much to worry about future worries anyway.

“Not Ai’s fault!”

Before Ai could respond, Rikka and Arisu stepped up instead, voicing their sentiments.

“We chose to be friends with Mana ourselves!”

“As we all willingly did, we were already prepared to face troubles ahead.”

“Diamond! Rosetta!”

Ai was moved infinitely by her companions’ cheers, though on the other side, Regina was livid.

“Shut up! None of you asked for your opinion! Ash, get rid of these bothersome things!”

Hearing Regina’s commands, Ash didn’t immediately comply; he was contemplating something more pressing at this moment.

Above him, the formerly shut windows now showed glimpses of light seeping in. It wasn’t an uninhabited area, and the commotion caused by Daikarā could not go unnoticed here. After all, they were in the city center.

If they fought here, Daikarā couldn’t spread his wings freely and would end up as a mere target. As a vehicle for super-warriors, Daikarā naturally wouldn’t create an attack environment by wanton demolition like monsters do.

Of course, if directed, Daikarā could certainly cause havoc ignoring everything, and his gigantic frame would cause unimaginable destruction simply by moving.

“While no one from the guys would cross over scolding me for fighting styles that seem subpar, still.”

What TV couldn’t capture was how the apparent spectacle designed to intensify tension with each collapsing building destroyed countless homes.

Ash considered himself not an entirely good person. He enjoyed seeing heroes confused and struggling, but such things didn’t involve ordinary passersby and innocents.

Though treating taking lives casually could indicate immense moral decay, he hadn’t reached that level yet.

Thus, he opted for another path.

“Ash, what are you waiting for?!”

“Easy now.” In front of four wary girls, Ash pulled out a short black rod from behind.

[Dark Evolver] (damaged)

A timely system prompt revealed the identity of this object. Ash’s Dark Evolver looked roughly half size compared to the original, with worn blue crystals and a molten yellow gem center, part of which was missing.

Notably, this item wasn’t given by the system, nor did he acquire it from elsewhere. Rather, when he saw some ruins in a dream within the world of Ultraman Nexss, unknown hands—referred to as “Fried Chicken”—approached him and bestowed this upon him personally, expecting his performance.

Ash lived up to expectations and cut off someone’s kidney the moment a duplicate appeared before him.

Naturally, revenge from this led to damage to the Dark Evolver as well.

Even though the Dark Evolver Ash held was already a damaged prototype, an aura of darkness still emitted from it. The fairies of the Pretty Cures expressed varying levels of discomfort.

“How uncomfortable, Lance…”

“This is… the stirring of darkness, Churu?!”

“What is this — such a dark aura, feels like the Selfish King… even worse?”

The fairies hesitated to think further as the darker their thoughts, the more fearful they became.

“Chu!?”

Amidst sudden unease in her arms, Rikka was startled, as Ai-chan cried and screamed wildly the moment Ash revealed the object.

“You don’t wish to see a devastated city, right? Then let me take you somewhere more suitable for a rampage.”

Though indeed bad, it still held energy; conserving a bit allowed some usage.

Clutching the fragmented Dark Evolver, Ash pointed its blue crystal end downward and stabbed it into the ground. Instantly, mixed golden deep purple dark waves spread outward, encasing everyone except Ai-chan in eerie green light.

[DarkShiftWave] (Dark Shift Wave)

Once the wave subsided, the dark energy Ai-chan detested finally vanished. However, looking around, she found everyone gone, only able to fly endlessly searching for the others who were no longer in this world.

“Waa!”

Just a blink of an eye, the girls and Daikarā were teleported to a peculiar place, seemingly by Ash’s power.

Their first sight was a land swept by wind and sand. Gazing upwards, they saw a sky that was not night but an abnormally deep and gloomy color, like a post-apocalyptic wasteland with occasional glimpses of mountains and structures but all in a state of utter decay, devoid of life.

“This place… huh!”

“This… what is…压抑的这个地方.”

“讨厌的地方.”

Why would the Pretty Cure trio feel constrained and unable to release their powers normally here, feeling stifled as if a huge rock was pressed against their chests?

The girls offered mostly negative reviews of this place.

“Mana—bad news, Ai-chan is missing!”

“What?”

“Bad news, Churu, this feeling… it seems we aren’t on Earth anymore!”

“What!”

The space-time distortion Ash used was the Dark Phantom’s special move, [Dark Dimension], from Ultraman Nexss’s enemy roster.

A different dimension with both time and space differing from Earth, capable of nullifying the Ultra Area and hindering the use of powers effectively, it also amplifies the abilities of Dark Giants and Zoffy Beasts. Though here, none existed for reinforcement.

He observed something interesting though.

“I knew Dark Dimension impacted Light Giants,没想到会对光之美少女们也产生影响了.”

Quite intriguing, were Pretty Cures and Light Giants similar entities? Or perhaps the common ‘light’ element in their names linked them?

“Mmm, Ash, what is this? So uncomfortable!”

Regina’s complaints snapped Ash thinking back to reality. Seeing the princess suffering similarly disturbed him greatly.

You’re not the daughter of the King of Selfishness, an avatar of darkness, shouldn’t be affected by Dark Dimension, why are you uncomfortable?

Could it be you’re truly not affected by Dark Dimension and are experiencing stomach issues?

“Hold on, what do you mean by that gaze? You must be thinking something inappropriate! Look away, what does your sideways glance mean? Look at me!”

Silently moving aside amidst Regina’s commotion, Ash cleared his throat and refocused on the Pretty Cures.

“Now we can fight without restraint. Let’s begin.”

“Hold on, why is it like this again? This isn’t just a matter of concern!”

“I’ll hold back… probably.”

“No, what absurdity are you talking about?”

Ignoring Rikka’s nearly spent quip, standing beside Daikarā, Ash snapped his fingers crisply once again.

“First gear in!”