Ultraseven pulled off his Eye Slugger and slashed down the two monsters before him. Finally exhausted, he collapsed to his knees.
His Color Timer flashed continuously, then he gripped the Eye Slugger tightly in his hand and hurled it far away with all his might.
"Please..."
With those words, Ultraseven collapsed flat onto the ground, utterly motionless as if devoid of life.
Watching this scene, Rei let out a heart-wrenching, agonizing wail.
Meanwhile, on Planet K76.
"You bastard!" Ultraman Zero absorbed Leo's flying kick head-on, grabbed his leg, and threw him toward a distant rock wall, shattering the stone instantly as boulders tumbled down.
At that moment, Zero suddenly dashed forward and hoisted a massive falling boulder with both hands.
Leo stared at him in astonishment as Zero called out to the Pigmon trembling at his feet, "I told you it was dangerous. Get over there quickly!"
Then Zero hurled the boulder forward with all his might, dusted off his hands, crouched down slightly, and told the Pigmon, "Don't go wandering around."
The Pigmon shook its little hands and obediently scurried away.
Only then did Zero straighten up, stride over to Leo in two or three steps, and assume his fighting stance.
"Alright, round two! Let's see you try to kick me away this time!"
"Wait a minute." Leo reached out to stop Zero.
"What is it? Ready to surrender?" Zero lowered his arms and asked Leo arrogantly.
"You just saved that little creature's life, didn't you?"
"So what? Enough of the pointless chatter, let's settle this!"
Just then, King of Ultraman suddenly descended from the sky to land right between them, swept his cape aside, and said to Zero, "Zero, do you remember? The day you were banished from the Land of Light."
Zero angrily flung his arm out. "I don't care to think about things like that!"
At that moment, Leo spoke up, "Back then, Seven did the exact same thing you just did."
"What did you say?" Zero looked at him in disbelief.
"You weren't mature enough back then."
Zero turned his head away, recalling the time when he had tried to touch the Plasma Spark Tower.
Leo continued, "If Seven hadn't stopped you, you might have been consumed by the immense power of the energy core and plunged into the abyss of evil, just like Belial."
Hearing this, Zero looked up at the three Ultras opposite him, and King of Ultraman nodded affirmatively.
At that exact moment, Ultraseven's Eye Slugger came hurtling down, embedding itself in the ground not far from them.
"This is... the Eye Slugger?" Leo looked at the fallen weapon in bewilderment.
Zero took a few strides forward, pulled the Eye Slugger out of the earth, and turned to face King of Ultraman.
"Why? Why is Seven's..."
King of Ultraman raised his hand, causing the Eye Slugger to flash with light, and said, "Belial has broken out and is wreaking havoc in the Monster Graveyard. Your father, Seven, is calling out to you for help."
"Father?" Zero was struck dumb with astonishment. "Seven is my father?"
"He intended to wait until the time was right to tell you slowly. Seven... entrusted you to us—you, who nearly brought about a terrible disaster—so that you could undergo strict training here in the hope that you would become a true Ultra Warrior." With a double-flick of his cape, he added with a persuasive flourish, "It seems the time has finally come."
He then reached out and unfastened the training armor from Zero's body, turned around, and pointed forward. "Go, Ultraman Zero!"
Both Leo and Astra nodded approvingly at Zero.
Zero looked down at the Eye Slugger in his hand, clenched his fist, and shot straight up into the sky. The training armor shattered into pieces the very second he took flight.
King of Ultraman watched Zero depart and nodded with satisfaction, though...
"Why does this little brat look so familiar? He kind of reminds me of someone..."
King of Ultraman stroked his beard in deep thought, and as he pondered, he suddenly thought of his little niece. Two thousand five hundred years ago, his little niece had been sent to Delasion for closed-door training.
According to Delasion, a scientist who doesn't research new technology isn't a good warrior. Five hundred years after that, Zero had been sent to him for training.
Come to think of it, he hadn't seen his lively, adorable little niece in 2,500 years.
Wait... didn't his little niece also have two head slugs? And weren't they red and blue?
Hiss—no way, right?
Meanwhile, Rei stared at Seven's motionless form and blamed himself, "It's all my fault... Ultraseven wouldn't have..."
Hyuga hugged him tight and said, "Rei, now is not the time for grief!"
Standing not far away, Belial pointed at them arrogantly and sneered, "I'm sick of playing games. It's time to end this!"
Mebius lay flat on the ground, his red timer flashing relentlessly, completely unable to pull himself up.
Dyna managed to stagger to his feet. "Belial, I'm not dead yet!"
At that moment, a beam of light swept across the battlefield, kicking up clouds of dust. The horde of monsters that had been rampaging behind Dyna exploded all at once.
Dyna shielded his face with both hands, then looked around in shock.
Belial turned his head to see a glowing figure descending from the sky. The luminous being scooped up Seven and flew straight toward the high stone platform without looking back.
Dyna helped Ultraman up, and Ultraman stood watching the scene unfold. "He's back."
Over on the platform, Seven gazed at Zero and raised a hand. "You've... finally grown up."
Yet before his hand could touch Zero's cheek, his eye lamps flickered out, and his arm dropped limply to the ground.
Zero placed Seven's Eye Slugger over his chest and stood up in silence.
Belial watched this, reached out, and pointed at him. "Who the hell are you?"
Zero clenched his fist, whipped around, and declared, "Zero! Ultraman Zero! I am Seven's son!"