First Battle

Nexus stood facing the Space Beast Pedron and assumed a fighting stance.

This was Richard's first real battle—those little skirmishes before, including instantly killing Abomination, didn't count at all. He had thought that facing a monster that should exist only in fantasy for the first time would leave him at least somewhat nervous or frightened, but it hadn't.

To his own surprise, his emotions were remarkably steady and his mind exceptionally clear. It was as though it were instinct; he seemed to know how to fight, as if experience and techniques had been passed into his mind along with the light.

Pedron let out a strange cry, and its enormous body actually launched itself through the air. It was hard to imagine that something so bulky could burst forth with such astonishing speed.

Nexus rolled aside on the spot to evade its pounce, then spun and drove a heavy kick into its flank. Pedron's massive body swayed violently like a roly-poly toy, but it ultimately did not fall.

The Space Beast turned around, its crimson tentacles lashing sideways like long whips with howling force behind them. Nexus crouched to evade them, then drove his left elbow hard into its soft abdomen. As the Space Beast staggered back, he seized the tentacle atop its head in an instant, dropped his waist, and exerted both arms to hurl the tens-of-thousands-of-tons behemoth over his shoulder and into the ground.

Tens of thousands of tons slammed into the ground, and the entire site seemed to sink abruptly. The agents were all thrown to the ground by the shockwave, while the sweeping blast of air crushed the breath from their lungs.

Coulson's shock was beyond words—what kind of overwhelming power was this?

S.H.I.E.L.D. had gathered intelligence on quite a few people in this world with extraordinary abilities. There was Abomination, who had wreaked havoc in New York and swept through an army not long ago; Hulk, who had appeared even earlier; and playboy Tony Stark's armor, which he had built for himself and which could fly through the skies and travel over land...

But compared to the giant and monster before them, fighting with enough force to shatter mountains and split the earth, all of that seemed utterly insignificant.

Whether it was this giant or this monster, every blow they landed on each other carried the power of an anti-ship missile. Coulson imagined something of this level going up against a fully equipped United States military with every trump card deployed... Honestly, he did not think the military's chances looked promising.

No, at least the giant and monster appeared to rely mainly on close-quarters combat. Their advantage lay more in their size and strength, and they lacked long-range methods like conventional weapons. Perhaps they were not impossible to deal with after all...

Agent Grant Ward watched from the side, his eyes flickering uncertainly as he seemed lost in thought.

If Coulson's current level of shock were rated on a scale of one to ten, he felt that he was probably at twelve. But he would soon learn that he had been amazed too early.

Nexus ducked beneath Pedron's two sweeping tentacles and slammed his right fist into its enormous mouth. His left fist followed in a swing, but before it could come down, a red tentacle snaked out from behind him and wrapped around his wrist.

Richard remembered that Pedron seemed capable of releasing electric currents through its tentacles. Though the electric shocks in the TV series had not appeared to inflict any substantial injuries on Ultraman, they certainly would not feel as harmless as a tickle.

Before Pedron could release the current, the blade on Nexus's right forearm lit up with golden radiance. A flash of gold streaked past, and the sharp blade sliced through the air, severing the red tentacle in two.

Pedron groaned in pain and staggered back half a step, its huge body swaying. The antennae on its head began to heat up, and a fireball rapidly swelled into existence before hurtling toward Nexus from practically point-blank range.

Nexus tilted his head aside in time. The fireball flew past him and exploded thunderously in an open patch of ground nearby. A scorching blast wave erupted outward. The observing agents had already retreated more than a hundred meters, yet they were still blasted so hard that they could barely breathe.

Pedron's first attack missed, and a second fireball began gathering between its antennae. Nexus rushed forward, bringing down a powerful knifehand strike on the Space Beast's head. Pedron was struck dizzy, and the fireball it had been charging vanished at once. Nexus followed up with a front kick to its face, the immense force sending Pedron staggering backward with a long, heavy wail.

The timing was about right.

It wasn't that Richard did not want to open with a big move and cleanly finish it in one shot, but rookie Orb had already shown everyone in the prequel what happened when an Ultraman opened with an ultimate move. So Richard gave up on that tempting idea.

Ultraman's beam techniques were indeed tremendously powerful, but they also consumed enormous amounts of energy. There was no point if they could not hit precisely. And when such devastating skills missed and struck something else in the environment, they often caused widespread collateral damage.

So under normal circumstances, Ultraman only used a finishing move when he was certain he could hit his opponent.

Just like now.

Nexus crossed his palms above and below each other on his left side, releasing dazzling blue electricity between them. He stepped forward and crossed his arms. The energy accumulated to its critical point seemed to receive a violent push from within, and golden radiance became a brilliant stream of light that shot through the air.

Cross Storm!

For Nexus, who was temporarily unable to transform into his Junis form, Cross Storm was the strongest finishing move he currently possessed. Though its power could not compare to the ultimate techniques of his Junis form, it was more than enough to kill a Space Beast like Pedron.

A direct hit! The golden stream of light struck Pedron squarely in the body, and in that instant, it was as though several strategic warheads had detonated at once! The light pierced into the Space Beast's body, and flames burst outward from within as though a huge fireball had expanded inside it, swelling it up like a balloon before blowing it apart. In the blink of an eye, it exploded into countless pieces!

Nexus maintained the Cross Storm firing stance for several seconds before slowly straightening up and taking a deep breath.

He had succeeded.

Though he had not been surprised by the result, Richard still felt greatly relieved. After all, this was the first Space Beast he had killed, the first opponent on the same weight class as himself that he had defeated.

But the question was, would there be a next time?

He did not know.

But neither was he afraid.

Nexus glanced at his right hand and clenched it tightly into a fist.

No matter what he would have to face in the future, at least he now possessed power—he had the chance to fight for his own future. That was enough.

Even if, one day, he had no choice but to face that legendary Dark Ultraman, Dark Zagi.