Not only Ultraman Cosmos, but Taiga as well, looked at Yuzhou with clear confusion.
He had originally assumed that Yuzhou was nothing more than an ordinary human. Yet in a flash of light, Yuzhou had appeared right in front of him.
The young boy, however, was not surprised. He already knew that Yuzhou was no ordinary big brother—after all, it was this very man who had just saved him.
Cosmos did not dwell on the matter. Instead, he turned to face Gubila and assumed a ready stance.
Seeing an Ultraman appear, Gubila showed no restraint. It burst out of the river, returned to land, and began spinning its drill-like snout as it charged straight toward Cosmos.
Facing the monster's assault, Cosmos raised one arm like a white crane spreading its wings. With a light leap, he slipped behind Gubila.
Unable to stop its momentum, Gubila charged directly between several skyscrapers, its head becoming wedged firmly between them.
True to his reputation as the Warrior of Kindness, Cosmos immediately stepped forward and pulled Gubila free when he saw its head stuck.
However, Gubila showed no gratitude. Instead, it continued its assault, determined to knock down the silver-and-blue giant before it.
Cosmos had no intention of engaging in a violent battle. He continuously deflected Gubila's attacks with fluid, Tai Chi–like movements.
Gradually, Gubila's attacks weakened, slowing and losing their earlier ferocity.
"So this is Cosmos's way of fighting."
It was Yuzhou's first-time witnessing Cosmos in battle. Although he had seen Riku use Cosmos's capsule before, it was nowhere near as gentle as the real thing.
Neutralizing a monster's rage simply by deflecting its attacks—only Cosmos could accomplish something like that.
Of course, when purification failed, Cosmos would still choose to completely incinerate the monster…
After a period of sustained combat, Cosmos began to gather light energy, slowly pushing a wave of radiance toward Gubila.
"Finish it! Finish it!"
On the ground, Taiga watched Cosmos prepare his finishing move with an excited expression.
He clearly wanted to see the monster blasted apart by an Ultraman's beam.
However, after the light wave purified Gubila, the monster did not explode as Taiga had imagined.
Instead, it stood quietly in place, looking at Cosmos.
Cosmos walked over, crouched down, and gently patted Gubila on the head.
Gubila responded by rubbing its head against him, docile and calm.
"Eh? Did it… become tame?"
Taiga pointed at Gubila, completely dumbfounded.
"It really became gentle!!!"
Watching Gubila turn and leave without looking back, Taiga was utterly shocked.
This was the first time he had ever seen an Ultraman resolve a monster incident in such a way.
The young boy beside him nodded as well, equally astonished.
"No need to be surprised. Cosmos is the Warrior of Kindness,"
Yuzhou explained calmly to Taiga.
"Monsters under his care usually end up with fairly good outcomes."
"Warrior of Kindness…"
Taiga nodded thoughtfully after hearing Yuzhou's explanation.
Then he suddenly reacted and turned toward Yuzhou.
"I never got the chance to ask—who exactly are you? And how do you have such… unusual superpowers?"
"If I had to say," Yuzhou replied, "I'm your senior."
Although they were not from the same spacetime, Yuzhou had indeed been a member of the Victory Team in another world.
To prove his identity, Yuzhou took out his Victory Team identification card.
Taiga examined it carefully and was visibly shocked after confirming its authenticity.
"You really are a senior from the old Victory Team!"
As a new member of the Super GUTS team, Taiga had heard of Victory Team, which existed before Super GUTS.
However, those seniors had long since retired and were rarely seen at TPC anymore.
To think that the young man standing before him was one of those legendary seniors!
"But something's not right," Taiga said as he handed the ID back, scrutinizing Yuzhou.
"Logically speaking, the old Victory Team members should all be pretty old by now."
"But you look like you're only in your twenties!"
"Young man," Yuzhou shook his head, "don't focus only on appearances."
"I may look like I'm in my twenties, but my actual age is already very great."
After thinking for a moment, even Yuzhou himself was unsure of his true age anymore.
After traveling through so many timelines, it was certainly far older than what he looked.
"I see!"
After verifying the ID, Taiga was convinced it was genuine.
Given Yuzhou's apparent superpowers, eternal youth did not seem all that strange.
"Senior, meeting you in this dimensional universe really is quite a coincidence!"
Taiga fully accepted Yuzhou's status as a former Victory Team senior, and his attitude toward him immediately changed.
Yuzhou nodded. Indeed, encountering Taiga here was a kind of fate.
Cosmos watched Gubila depart, then deactivated his transformation.
The young boy ran over excitedly, and Taiga followed out of curiosity.
"You're incredible!"
After seeing Cosmos's human form—Musashi Haruno—Taiga spoke familiarly.
"Ultraman Cosmos, right? I've heard a lot about you!"
Even though he had only just learned of Cosmos from Yuzhou, Taiga greeted Musashi enthusiastically.
"Hello. I'm Musashi Haruno," Musashi said as he put away his transformation device and walked over.
"Um—why did the monster suddenly become gentle?"
"And Musashi, why did you let it go? You're an Ultraman!"
Facing Musashi, Taiga fired off a series of questions without pause.
"The monster was simply overly agitated," Cosmos explained calmly.
"There was no need to take its life."
He then looked at the young boy and asked,
"Are you hurt?"
"That's a really unconventional way of thinking," Taiga said, finding Musashi's approach novel.
"But what if it attacks again?"
"Then I'll simply make it gentle again," Cosmos replied as he looked at Taiga.
"I see. Ultraman Cosmos, the Warrior of Kindness—truly deserving of the name."
At that moment, a voice sounded from Taiga's bracelet.
It was Ultraman Zero speaking.
Taiga raised his wrist, and Cosmos looked at it as well.
"Could it be… there's an Ultraman inside you too?"
Cosmos asked curiously.
"Eh? You can hear this guy's voice too?"
Taiga replied in surprise.
"Come to think of it, Senior Yuzhou can hear it as well!"
As he spoke, Taiga turned toward Yuzhou, who was walking over.
Musashi followed his gaze.
"You're the human with superpowers from earlier?"
Musashi asked in surprise.
He had been about to save Yuzhou earlier—only for Yuzhou to teleport away in an instant.
"Hello, Musashi. You can call me Yuzhou," Yuzhou said with a smile as he introduced himself.
With Cosmos, Dyna, and Zero all present in this timeline, if Tartarus caused trouble later on, Yuzhou might be able to recreate Ultraman Saga starting from here.