"Why are you protecting us?" Glenfire rested his flame stick behind his back, tilting his head toward Aria and Ultraman Zero standing beside him.
"Because we're comrades going through thick and thin together!" Ultraman Zero and Aria exchanged a glance and spoke in unison.
With the fireworks of explosions bursting behind their backs, they looked equally proud, equally powerful.
Ultraman Zero reached out, his Ultra Barrier blocking tens of thousands of missiles. But right at that moment, the color timer on his chest suddenly began to flash, and he looked down at it in astonishment.
"Hey!" Glenfire looked over at him. "Are you alright? What's that beeping for?"
"Big brother!" Nao looked at Ultraman Zero with anxiety and worry.
"Enemy ships are closing in. If this keeps up, it's going to be dangerous!" Jean-bot's anxious voice reached Aria and the others.
"Get out of here, Seiya, Zero!" Glenfire flew over to Ultraman Zero's side, then looked back and spotted the Vanguard. "Captain! You guys too, prepare to evacuate!"
"Don't worry! You got it!"
Glenfire reached out and swiped his hand across the gem on his chest, instantly setting his entire body ablaze with roaring flames. "Wretched scoundrels! I'll wipe out the whole lot of you!"
"Flame—"
"Hey! What are you doing?" Aria and Zero raised their hands to shield their eyes.
"Hahaha! I'm about to flash!"
This was a sea of nitromethane space, balanced entirely by a special magnetic field. Glenfire intended to use the flames consuming his entire body to detonate the entire ocean.
"The Shield of Baradhi is at the Mirror Star." Glenfire looked at Ultraman Zero and Aria.
"The Mirror Star?"
"Ah, that's right. Go find the people of the Second Dimension." Glenfire seemed to smile at that moment. "My name is Glenfire. Having comrades is truly wonderful, hahaha! It was great meeting you!"
With that, he prepared to fly straight into the space sea.
"Wait!"
Aria stopped Glenfire from using such a suicidal, mutually destructive tactic, reaching out to pat out the flames blazing on his body. She then looked out at the countless floating warships across the space sea and produced a capsule from subspace.
"Everyone fall back!" She threw a protective barrier around all of her side's warships, and tossed one over Ultraman Zero and Glenfire as well. Once that was done, she held up the capsule in her hand, which clearly bore the emblem of Noah. "Noah Inferno!"
The nitromethane space sea was instantly ignited, and a gorgeous, rare flower of flame rapidly blossomed across the starry expanse. The infinitely magnified Noah Inferno obliterated almost every single ship of the Belial Army before them in a split second.
Aria looked down at the somewhat dimmed capsule in her hand and blinked gently. This was the life-saving trump card her Big Daddy had given her before she left. She had been given three uses of Noah Inferno, and she hadn't expected to burn through one right at the start.
Still, the spectacle was magnificent and breathtaking enough; the sparks of countless warships exploding simultaneously formed a blossoming flower of flame in the universe, a sight truly worthy of Noah Inferno.
"Let's go." Aria turned back, looking at Ultraman Zero and Glenfire, who still wore stunned expressions. "How long are you two going to stand there looking foolish?"
Hearing this, Glenfire scratched the back of his head and departed alongside the Vanguard.
"Seiya," Ultraman Zero called out to her, "what was that move you just used? It's amazing!"
"That's not my technique," Aria smiled. "It was given to me by an elder back home who was worried about me, though it can only be used three times."
"Huh?" Ultraman Zero scratched his head. "Then... thank you."
"Don't mention it. Being able to help is good enough." Aria waved her hand casually.
At the exact moment Aria used Noah Inferno, the Baradhi Shard around Nao's neck emitted a light brighter than any time before. It did not fade until Aria and the others returned inside the spaceship.
Aria frowned as she watched the lingering glow finally dissipate. Could the revival of the Shield of Baradhi in the future somehow be connected to Big Daddy?
Well, it made sense; after all, it was his divine artifact. Would Big Daddy come here too?
If he did—Aria smoothed out the frown on her brow and turned to look out the window at the universe—if Big Daddy came, things were going to get really interesting.
Meanwhile, back in the Land of Light in another universe, Seven looked at a beam of light extinguishing on the plasma synchronization device and sighed heavily. "Zero..."
"What is that?" Nao pointed toward a mirror floating in the universe ahead.
"Could it be... the Mirror Star?" Aria said uncertainly.
"Yes," Emerana nodded, explaining to them, "my ancestors once had exchanges with the people of the Second Dimension. The Mirror Knight who protects the royal palace is a great warrior. His father was a Second Dimensional person, and his mother was an Esmeraldian."
"Mirror Knight..."
"Huh? What did you just say, Zero?"
Zero shook his head. "Nothing." He then looked back up to continue listening to Emerana talk about the Mirror Star.
"It's a pity. When the Belial Army attacked, he covered my escape, but after that..." Emerana's expression drooped as she lowered her head.
Silence filled the cabin; neither Aria nor Zero knew what to say to comfort the grieving and dejected girl before them.
It just went to show what a heinous sinner Belial truly was...
Aria sighed. It seemed this might be yet another tragedy dictated by fate.
No, not necessarily...
Aria looked ahead toward the Mirror Star, the pupils of her eyes darkening a shade deeper than usual.
The spaceship quickly passed through the barrier and landed on the Mirror Star. The Mirror Star was truly breathtaking, its skies filled with dazzling, magnificent auroras.
Emerana took a deep breath, looking up at the snowflake-shaped mirror suspended in the air. "People of the Second Dimension, please answer me. We have come here in search of the Shield of Baradhi."
"I'm sorry, we have no interest in the affairs of the Third Dimensional world." A voice echoed from the mirror.
"But Belial's forces will eventually come to invade this place too!" Ultraman Zero said with a frown.
"I am aware. Our mirrors can reflect any corner of the universe."
"And you're just going to sit by and do nothing?!"
"Because nothing we do can change anything. What is meant to be destroyed will be destroyed."
"You jerk! How can you say something like—" Nao stepped forward a few paces, but before he could finish, Aria pulled him back.
Aria looked up at the mirror in the sky. "What makes you say nothing can be changed? Have you even tried?"
"No, but isn't that an obvious fact plain to see?"
Aria looked at the mirror suspended in the air with extraordinary calm. "Even Fate itself wouldn't dare claim the future is set in stone. What gives you the right to say the future is destined for destruction? You haven't tried, and you haven't seen it. You've simply surrendered all hope out of sheer cowardice. That is weakness!"
"Who says I haven't seen it?!" The voice rang out with fierce indignation. "Then take a look!"
A surge of energy merged into the mirror below, and an image reflected across its surface.
"That's... the Mirror Knight!" Emerana rushed forward a few steps in panic. "What happened to him?!"
"To protect the Esmeraldian royal palace, the Mirror Knight exhausted all of his power, and his soul was corrupted by Belial's darkness. He had no choice but to seal himself away. He's beyond saving!"
"How can you just give up on him?!" Ultraman Zero stared furiously at the mirror.
"Exactly. Did you actually see his future? You didn't. So what gives you the right to say he's beyond saving?" Aria stared at the Mirror Knight reflected in the mirror, catching the faint yet dazzling light buried beneath the darkness.
"Then you saw it?!"
"I saw it." I saw an elegant and brilliant silhouette of a mirror moving through the darkness of the final battle, and I saw him bathed in the light of the future.
"We're going to rescue him, and he will return to his original self."
"That's right!" Ultraman Zero nodded, then reached into his Ultra Bracelet to retrieve his transformation glasses.
With a flash of light, Zero's true form stood in place. He then leaped forward, passed straight through the mirror, and landed right in front of the Mirror Knight.
Aria also reverted to her true form, passing through the mirror to stand beside Ultraman Zero.
"Mirror Knight, can you see me?" Ultraman Zero looked at the Mirror Knight and spoke.
"Don't look at me like that," the Mirror Knight turned his head away. "I look like this, but I don't need your pity!"
"We're not pitying you at all," Aria curled her lip. "You're selling yourself way too short."
"That's right," Ultraman Zero nodded. "As a warrior, shouldn't you be fighting for justice just like this?"
The Mirror Knight clutched his head in agony.
Aria and Ultraman Zero exchanged a glance.
"I am Ultraman Zero," Zero raised a hand to wipe the side of his face. "We're here to save you."
"I am Ultraman Seiya," Aria looked at him and promised sincerely, "we can save you."
"You said you are... Zero—" The Mirror Knight suddenly sprang to his feet and charged straight at Ultraman Zero, completely ignoring Aria standing right beside him.
Aria let out a small click of her tongue. Was Zero really that good at drawing aggro?
Yet her hands didn't stop moving as she gathered a ball of glowing light. Taking advantage of the fact that the two men were fighting and the Mirror Knight was completely ignoring her, she grabbed him firmly by the back of the neck from behind and slammed the mass of light directly onto his forehead.
"Aah—"
Listening to the miserable shriek, Ultraman Zero and Aria worked with tacit coordination, each pinning down one of his arms to forcefully restrain the struggling Mirror Knight.
Black mist poured out of the Mirror Knight's body, driven away by the increasingly brilliant light. When the light finally faded, a sparkling, radiant Mirror Knight stood in their place.
"Much better-looking than that dusty gray he was wearing before," Aria poked Ultraman Zero beside her. "Right?"
Ultraman Zero looked at the now-gleaming Mirror Knight and nodded affirmatively.
"Mirror Knight!" Emerana looked at him with joy.
"I'm all right," the Mirror Knight said gently. "Thanks to them."
Aria and Ultraman Zero sauntered over arrogantly, their tones carrying an identical, provocative edge. "Well? Ready to admit defeat?"
The Mirror Knight nodded toward them. "Thank you both."