"So, what if I am?!"
Knowing full well that death awaited him, Celebro finally hardened his attitude and snapped back at Yuzhou.
"If I'm not mistaken," Yuzhou continued calmly, ignoring Celebro's retort, "you are not the Celebro of this world. You are a parallel counterpart from another timeline."
"A parallel counterpart?!"
Zero and the others were visibly shaken by the term.
They had not expected that the Celebro standing before them was actually from another spacetime altogether.
"A parallel counterpart… so that's how it is."
Celebro himself seemed unaware of his own situation. Upon hearing Yuzhou's words, realization dawned on him.
This was not the original timeline he came from—it was a different world entirely.
But if he was a parallel counterpart in this timeline…
then what about the Celebro native to this world?
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
Yuzhou curled his lips into a faint, playful smile.
"The Celebro of this timeline never even got the chance to possess Kaburagi. I killed him first."
"What?!"
Celebro was genuinely shocked.
To think that his counterpart in this timeline had died the moment he appeared.
Celebro instinctively began scrutinizing Yuzhou.
Who exactly was this man?
He could fire light blades and stood side by side with these powerful beings—he was clearly no ordinary human.
The most likely answer was obvious.
An Ultraman.
But which one?
Tartarus had instructed him to delay Tiga.
Which meant—
The young man before him, the one who seemed to have everything under control, was very likely Ultraman Tiga himself.
In that instant, all of Celebro's doubts were resolved.
However, realization alone changed nothing.
If he did not escape now, death was inevitable.
Having already been rescued once by Tartarus, Celebro had no intention of dying again.
"So what you're saying, Yuzhou-san," Juggler finally caught up, "is that there was another Celebro in this timeline—and you killed him already?"
"That's right."
Yuzhou nodded casually.
"I dealt with him while I was at it."
"Hearing it this way," Juggler said with a sinister grin, "this Celebro seems to have survived quite a long time in another timeline."
"True," Yuzhou replied indifferently, "but his time is up now."
No matter what, this Celebro was going to die today.
The only problem was how to extract him from Kaburagi Shinya's body.
As a parasitic lifeform, once Celebro possessed a host, forcibly removing him was extremely difficult.
Unless—
Celebro left willingly.
"Leave this body," Yuzhou said after some thought, "and I'll spare your life."
"What?!"
"That's impossible, Yuzhou!"
Zero and Riku immediately objected. Letting Celebro go would be the same as releasing a tiger back into the wild.
Only Juggler remained silent, watching Yuzhou and Celebro closely, as if weighing something in his mind.
"Really?"
Celebro hesitated.
He was tempted.
But having been deceived once in another timeline, Celebro remained wary.
Back then, a Sharp-Horned alien had taken the Belial Medal. Celebro had naïvely believed it would be returned.
It never was.
That incident had left a deep scar.
"I guarantee it," Yuzhou said firmly.
"You have my word."
Celebro trusted him just a little more—though in truth, he was merely lying to himself.
Surrounded and unable to escape, Yuzhou was his only remaining hope.
And if Yuzhou truly was Tiga…
Then perhaps his words could be trusted.
There had never been a precedent of an Ultraman deceiving someone.
In the other timeline, Celebro knew it wasn't Z who betrayed him—
It was that damned Snake Warehouse alien (Juggler).
If it was Tiga, then perhaps he could believe it.
And in truth, he had no other option.
"…Fine. I trust you."
Celebro nodded.
The next moment, Kaburagi's body convulsed violently, twitching as if possessed by madness.
Then—
A grotesque, revolting insect-like creature crawled out from Kaburagi's body.
The instant Celebro emerged, he bolted toward the door, terrified that Yuzhou might change his mind.
At that moment—
A blade flashed.
In a single strike, Celebro's true form was sliced cleanly in half.
Green fluid spilled onto the floor as the remaining consciousness stared at its severed body in disbelief.
Celebro died unwilling and enraged.
"Don't look at me," Yuzhou said calmly.
"I said I would let you go. Juggler never did."
"Interesting," Juggler sneered.
In a flurry of steel and shadows, he reduced Celebro into pieces.
"…That was unexpected," Zero and Riku muttered, stunned. They had truly thought Celebro would be spared.
"That's a wrap."
Borrowing Fukuide Kei's words, Yuzhou waved his hand dismissively.
A few days later, Kaburagi regained consciousness and made a full recovery.
When he learned that he had once again been possessed by an alien, nausea surged through him.
He had seen Celebro before—just recalling its appearance made his stomach churn.
As for the Belial Medal, Belial and Riku jointly decided to hand it over to Haruki.
Neither of them had much use for it, and letting the younger generation make use of it seemed appropriate.
Z almost forgot that he had originally come to Earth to retrieve medals.
Looking at the entire box Haruki had collected, everything felt almost too easy.
Zero bid everyone farewells.
Tartarus was an urgent matter, and tracing his base would require further investigation.
Haruki laid the medals out on the table and began counting them.
The ones Z needed were there.
The ones he wasn't supposed to have were also there.
If everything had been collected…
Did that mean Z would have to leave Earth soon?
Just as Haruki was finishing his count—
A massive mechanical hand descended from the sky, smashing straight into his room.
"What?!"
The violent impact sent Haruki flying. In an instant, the mechanical hand swept up every Ultra Medal on the table—leaving not a single one behind.
"Give those back!"
Shouting in shock, Haruki drew his gun and opened fire.
Bullets struck the mechanical hand, sparks flying and shell casings scattering across the floor—
But the attacks had no effect whatsoever.