Z, having transformed into Gamma Future, faced Five King without the slightest hint of fear. The oppressive power brought forth by the medals of the three senior Ultras seemed to suppress his enemy completely, leaving Z utterly composed.
He stepped forward slightly, his legs forming a bow stance. Bending his upper body, he raised both hands above his head as two streams of light rapidly converged.
Zestium Drive!
The twin beams of light lashed outward like radiant whips, striking Five King again and again.
Crack—crack—crack…
Under the relentless barrage, Five King staggered backward continuously, as if it had encountered its natural nemesis.
"Impossible…"
Celebro, hidden within Five King's body, was utterly shaken.
In the original timeline, Z did not possess the Gamma Future form at the beginning. He only awakened this psychic-based form later on.
Celebro had planned to eliminate Z before that transformation occurred.
Now, he was completely dumbfounded.
This was an unwinnable fight.
In another world, Celebro's Five King had once been utterly annihilated by Gamma Future. That memory was still vivid. This time, he had intended to change the outcome—yet Z had transformed immediately upon entering battle.
After being struck twice more, Celebro realized the situation had turned dire and prepared to flee.
If he delayed any longer, what awaited him would be Gamma Illusion's merciless group assault.
With a snap of Z's fingers, Five King was lifted into the air.
At the same time, the phantom images of Tiga, Dyna, and Gaia appeared before everyone.
"So he can even separate illusions like this… interesting," Juggler said with a chuckle.
"You really think they're just illusions?"
Yuzhou turned his head and replied calmly.
"What?"
Juggler froze, momentarily confused.
Before he could react further, the three phantoms moved.
As Five King hovered in midair, Tiga immediately fired a special binding beam, freezing it in place in the sky.
Next, Gaia, bathed in light, shifted directly into SV form, condensing a powerful beam in his hands and firing it at the immobilized Five King.
Dyna, without any charge-up, unleashed the Solgent Ray.
Tiga, meanwhile, gathered energy once more and fired a fully charged Zeperion Beam.
Three beams erupted from different directions, striking three separate parts of Five King's body.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions roared as three major sections were obliterated, thick smoke billowing everywhere.
Five King's two monster-headed arms—those formed from Gan-Q and Reicubas—were blown apart, scorched and smoking. Even the horn atop Five King's head was shattered, shaved clean under the Zeppelin Beam.
"This is…"
Juggler stared in disbelief.
The so-called "illusions" had unleashed finishing moves—and Gaia had even shifted into SV form.
Illusions?
This was no different from summoning the real bodies themselves.
Tiga's phantom had been the first to stop Five King's escape. That particular beam was unique—something only Tiga could release.
Binding Beam.
A technique specifically designed to immobilize fleeing monsters.
After enduring the overwhelming assault in midair, Five King finally broke free of the restraints and crashed heavily back onto the ground.
Fortunately, it wasn't destroyed outright.
But Celebro knew—
that was only a matter of time.
He had felt this before.
The last time he was defeated by Ultraman Z's Gamma Future, the same sense of inevitable doom had crept over him.
As the phantoms merged back into Z's body, a beam of light shot from Z's hand and detonated above Five King's head.
Moments later, frigid mist poured down, engulfing Five King as its entire body rapidly froze.
In mere seconds, the colossal monster was reduced to a massive ice sculpture.
Z then shrank to human size. A glowing magic circle appeared on the ice-bound body.
Stepping through the sigil, Z entered Five King's interior.
Organs were present—yet their structure was utterly incomprehensible.
Landing inside Five King's abdomen, Z crossed his hands diagonally and unleashed the Zestium Beam, annihilating everything within.
He pierced straight through the body via the magic circle, returned to giant size midair, and landed firmly on the ground.
Without even turning his head, Z spread his fingers wide—his posture radiating overwhelming dominance, as if Agul himself had descended.
BOOOOOOM—!!!!!
A thunderous explosion erupted as Five King's frozen body shattered completely, reduced to drifting ash.
Yuzhou and Juggler immediately rushed toward the blast site.
Celebro… was still alive.
At first, Yuzhou hadn't believed it.
But now, he had no choice but to accept the truth.
Five King's very appearance proved that the mastermind lurking in the shadows still existed.
Without monster medals, Five King could never have been created.
But how had Celebro survived?
Resurrection should have been impossible. Celebro lacked such power.
Unless…
Yuzhou's expression shifted.
"Wait—don't tell me…"
"…was this Tartarus's doing?"
Tartarus—the self-proclaimed alien who loved making dramatic appearances before fleeing—had long tested Yuzhou's patience.
More importantly, he had a habit of retrieving dead monsters and aliens from parallel timelines.
If Celebro had died in the future, then Tartarus dragging him back would actually make sense.
After all, Celebro was Z's final boss. He could not be underestimated.
In truth, within Z's world, there were few truly troublesome enemies.
Celebro stood out primarily because of his intelligence—
—and his mastery of medal fusion.
When Yuzhou and Juggler arrived, only five medals remained on the ground.
Juggler picked them up, his expression lighting up with excitement.
"A new dark form… another new dark form."
With an eerie grin, he pocketed the Five King medals, clearly intending to use them for fusion ascension.
Yuzhou hadn't expected Juggler to seriously consider transforming into something like Zeppandon, but oddly enough, becoming a monster didn't seem like such a bad option for him.
"He escaped," Juggler muttered, scanning the surroundings.
No trace of anyone remained.
Soon after, Riku and Zero arrived and began searching for whoever had performed the fusion.
After a long search, they found nothing.
Only then did Juggler receive intelligence from the Earth Defense Force—
a man named Kaburagi Shinya had been behaving strangely recently.
Yuzhou immediately understood.
Celebro was still possessing Kaburagi.
Saving him back then had been completely pointless.
"In that case," Yuzhou said calmly, "let's check Kaburagi Shinya's house. We might find something."
Juggler nodded in agreement.