Boom—!!!
Pedanium Zetton, controlled by Kaburagi, was blasted away by the shockwave of the sonic attack and sent crashing violently into a nearby skyscraper.
"This is bad… we have to get out of here!"
Kaburagi instantly realized the gap in power between the two sides was simply too great.
If this continued, he would definitely die here.
After all, Tartarus had only just rescued Celebro from another parallel timeline. Celebro had no intention of throwing his life away so easily.
But—
"Why is Belial here? Wasn't he already dead?"
What confused Celebro the most was Belial's appearance.
He had already experienced the events on Earth once before—carelessly defeated by Z and nearly killed.
If not for Tartarus appearing in time to save him, he would never have returned to this point in time.
Although Celebro did not know how Tartarus had brought him back, with knowledge of the future in hand, he was confident he would never fall to Z again.
And yet today…
What exactly was Chimeraberos?
"Where did things go wrong?!"
Only now did Celebro suddenly realize that Tartarus's original mission for him had not been to deal with Z or to wipe out Earth's civilization—
It was to stall Tiga.
Tiga?
"Why is Tiga here? Where is Tiga?!"
Celebro was genuinely panicking.
Originally, he had simply followed the established path: extracting Belial's genetic factor from Geed's blood, creating Belial Medals, and testing their effectiveness.
Even if he were defeated during those experiments, his life would not have been in danger.
But now—
He might actually die.
And his opponent was anything but merciful.
"Disengage!"
Fear took over.
Kaburagi immediately cancelled the transformation. His body dissolved into red particles and vanished into the air.
Fukuide Kei was just about to unleash a finishing move when he realized his opponent had already escaped.
"He ran?"
Yuzhou paused slightly, looking toward the spot where Pedanium Zetton had disappeared—but there was no trace left behind.
"Good," Z said while staring at Chimeraberos. "Two monsters fought, and now only one remains!"
"Haruki—are you ready to fight?!"
"Roger!"
Haruki's voice rang out from within Z.
"Wait! Z!!"
Riku shouted in alarm and immediately moved to stop him.
"What is it, Senior Geed?"
Z was already itching for battle.
"That monster… is one of ours."
"…Huh?"
Z froze. Haruki froze as well.
At that moment, Chimeraberos dissolved into particles. A beam of light descended and landed beside them.
Z instinctively raised his guard.
The light dispersed, revealing a man in a black leather coat—
Fukuide Kei.
"Fukuide Kei, you did well."
Riku spoke to him calmly.
In the past, Riku would never have said such words.
But things were different now.
Fukuide Kei was no longer an enemy.
His attitude toward him had completely changed.
"To serve Lord Belial is my honour."
Fukuide Kei lowered his head slightly, keeping his posture humble.
"Fukuide Kei… it's been a long time."
After noticing Yuzhou, Fukuide Kei was visibly surprised.
Back when Belial was purified, Fukuide Kei's contribution had been indispensable.
"Indeed. It has been a long time, Tiga."
He nodded faintly and smiled.
At that moment, the Z-shaped Colour Timer on Z's chest began flashing red.
In this form, Z's energy consumption was enormous—he could usually only maintain it for about one minute.
This was quite different from most Ultra Warriors.
Typically, when fighting at human-sized scale, other Ultras could last much longer.
"Sorry—my energy's running out!"
Z glanced down at his Colour Timer and spoke awkwardly.
Without a word, Belial raised his hand and fired a sphere of light into Z's chest.
Instantly, the Z-shaped Colour Timer returned to blue.
"…!"
Z stared at Belial in shock.
Belial had not transformed, so Z could not immediately identify him.
However, Belial's appearance was extremely similar to Riku's.
Even Z could put two and two together.
"Thank you… Ultraman Belial!"
He bowed respectfully.
Belial's invasion of the Land of Light was common knowledge—even three-year-old Ultras knew the story.
They knew Belial had once been defeated by Tiga, battled Zero for a long time, and was ultimately purified through the joint efforts of Zero and his son, Geed.
Z knew all of this.
But given Belial's dark history and notoriously bad temper, Z had never dared speak to him directly.
"It's nothing," Belial waved dismissively.
"Young one—whose son are you, anyway?"
Z calling Riku "senior" meant he was clearly from the younger generation.
Belial was curious about the current state of the Land of Light.
After all, it had once been the planet he protected.
"Uh… I was adopted by Brother Ace!"
Z scratched his head as he answered.
"Adopted? Then Ace is your foster father? Why do you call him 'brother'?"
Belial looked genuinely confused.
"I don't really understand either! But calling him Brother Ace is just how it works!"
Z continued scratching his head.
Belial shook his own.
This kid… wasn't very bright.
"Well then," Belial turned to Yuzhou, "do you still have any blank Medals? Lend me one."
"Oh—yes."
Yuzhou immediately handed over a blank Medal.
Belial held it in his palm and infused it with his power.
Flash.
Belial's portrait appeared on the Medal.
"Consider this a meeting gift."
He tossed the Medal to Z.
"Thank you, Belial—Senior!!!"
Z stared at the Medal in his hand, then hurriedly bowed in gratitude.
To be honest, he had never imagined that purified Belial would be like this.
"If that's the case," Riku said with a smile, "Z—take my power too."
A Geed Medal appeared in his hand, which he handed directly to Z.