"Shinji, be careful!" Zero warned him anxiously.
Having fought Belial many times, he knew all too well how terrifying Belial's power was.
His old enemy just would not stay gone. Even his fragments had drifted into this world, and an Angel had happened to eat them...
"I've killed you so many times, you bastard. Why do you follow me wherever I go...?"
"Even in pieces, you still manage to find me..." Zero cursed inwardly.
The Angel gave him no chance to keep complaining. Its eyes began to glow.
A strange beam shot toward Unit-02, the closest Eva to the Angel.
Unit-02 had no time to dodge.
Fortunately, Shinji had already inserted Ultraman's capsule into the slot when the Angel's eyes began glowing.
Skill selection [Ultra Barrier (Ultraman version)]
A phantom image of Ultraman appeared. An enormous Ultra Barrier formed between his hands, yellow lines gleaming across its surface, before passing into Unit-01's hands.
"Asuka, catch!" Shinji threw the Ultra Barrier over.
Unit-02 caught it just in time to block the Angel's strange beam.
The Angel opened its huge mouth and charged at Unit-02.
Looking at the Ultra Barrier in her hands, Asuka came up with a bold idea.
She grabbed the Ultra Barrier and swung it straight at the Angel.
Caught off guard, the Angel was struck by the barrier and sent flying into the volcano.
"Well, damn! Even I never thought of using an Ultra Barrier like that!" Zero exclaimed.
Asuka said, "Pretty good at thinking on my feet, aren't I?"
Skill selection [Ultra Slash (handheld version)]
A fairly small Ultra Slash appeared in Unit-01's hand.
"Eva melee weapons probably won't work on this thing anymore," Shinji reasoned.
With that, Unit-01 charged forward, raised the Ultra Slash, and hacked it into the Angel.
To Shinji's bewilderment, the Angel did not activate its AT Field to defend itself.
The instant it touched the Angel's shell, the Ultra Slash began spinning, throwing off a shower of sparks.
Ritsuko watched the readings on the screen. An ordinary Angel would have been cut in half by now.
Yet beneath the sparks, the Angel's shell remained completely unscathed.
The Angel raised a thick tentacle and lashed Unit-01 away, sending it crashing into Unit-00 and Unit-02 as they came to help.
It picked up the fallen Ultra Slash and stuffed it into its mouth, eating it.
"Why is this bastard so tough?!" ×3
It looks like Belial's fragment has given this Angel one hell of a boost, Zero thought calmly.
Opening its huge mouth, the Angel waved its tentacles and charged at the three Evas again. This time, it seemed determined to tear them apart, and its eyes began charging with energy.
"It's coming again! Watch out!" Misato cried, frantic as she watched the battle.
This Angel's strength had far exceeded anything they had imagined.
"Try this, you bastard!" Shinji decided to unleash a powerful attack, both to stop it and to protect Asuka and Rei Ayanami behind him.
Skill selection [Specium Ray]
A blue protective film wrapped around Unit-01's arms as it began gathering energy.
Unaware of what was really happening, the technician stared at the screen in disbelief. Seeing Unit-01 conjure an Ultra Barrier and an Ultra Slash had already been shocking enough.
"Unit-01's arms are producing an energy reaction similar to Ultraman's, but the energy wavelength is different!"
Ultraman's phantom image appeared and began assuming the opening stance as well.
Unit-01 raised its right hand, then sharply pressed its left wrist against its right to form a perfect cross, merging with Ultraman's phantom image.
"Take this!"
Boom!
A blue Specium Ray poured from Unit-01's hand toward the charging Angel.
Since Unit-01 was not a perfect vessel, this attack could only bring out half of Ultraman's strength, even without accounting for charging time.
But its power was still nothing to scoff at.
The Angel deployed its AT Field to block the beam, which halted its charge.
Unit-02 raised its right hand and aimed the laser emitter in its palm at the Angel, while Unit-00 pointed its large eye at it.
Two yellow beams fired from the Evas' eye and palm, converging with the Specium Ray.
The Angel's AT Field was breached, and the combined beams struck its body in a violent explosion.
Its energy was depleted. Unit-01 would be unable to use capsule skills again for twenty-four hours.
Through the smoke, Zero could still sense the Angel's life signs.
Before he could warn them, two tentacles shot out of the smoke and pierced straight through Unit-01's body.
Fortunately, the Palaj Bracelet was controlling Unit-01 now. Apart from a little heat around his wrist, Shinji felt nothing.
Shinji began to panic. This was far beyond anything he knew about Angels.
But he quickly calmed down and contacted Misato.
"Miss Misato, please have Unit-02 and Unit-00 retreat."
"Rei, I'm counting on you to get Asuka out!"
Misato approved the withdrawal. Asuka initially wanted to stay and help Shinji, but Rei Ayanami dragged her away with Unit-00.
"We have no choice, Shinji!" Zero was ready to fight.
Shinji used psychokinesis to turn his glasses back into the Ultra Glasses and pressed their button.
"Let's go, Shinji!"
"Are we really abandoning Unit-01? That's just..." the technician protested, but suddenly, light blazed before everyone.
"Ultraman's here!"
Yui Ikari sighed. "We have to trouble this child again..."
Zero hovered in the air, watching the Angel. He dared not let his guard down.
He reached for his head slugs and flung them sharply. They flew toward the Angel, glowing green.
With a tremendous crash, the head slugs, which should have sliced an Angel to pieces, were deflected by its AT Field.
The head slugs struck the ground, gouging a deep trench.
Zero continued testing it, firing a green beam from his forehead lamp at the Angel.
"Emerium Slash!"
It pierced the AT Field and struck the Angel's shell.
A sizable gash split open in the shell.
But the wound healed almost immediately.
Has its healing ability gotten stronger? Zero continued considering his options.
He was badly injured. If he recklessly used his twin rays or concentrated beam and failed to kill it in one hit, the consequences would be severe.
The Angel gave him no opportunity, firing its strange beam at him.
Zero dodged aside, flames igniting around his foot as he kicked the Angel.
Even that strike only cracked a section of its shell.
With that in mind, Zero drew on the bracelet's power to change forms.
"Ultraman's body has changed color! His entire lower body has turned blue!"
"Let's try Luna Miracle." With the bracelet supplying energy, Zero could use his techniques relatively freely.
Zero recalled his head slugs and hurled them at the Angel again while dodging its attacks. This time, the two slugs split into dozens in flight, striking the Angel from different directions.
"This is unbelievable..." Ritsuko murmured.
Zero did not remain idle while the head slugs bombarded it. Moving at incredible speed, he struck the Angel with Revolium Smasher at intervals, until a tentacle lashed him away.
Yet when his assault ended, he was disappointed to find that although the Angel was covered in wounds, it quickly healed after a brief rest...
"Why are you so tough...?"
The Angel roared at Zero in pain, as though saying, "I'll kill you..."
Zero changed forms again.
"Ultraman's upper body has turned red again!"
Zero assumed Strong Corona Form, drew his bracelet, transformed it into a long spear, and charged at the Angel.
Strong Corona could overpower the Angel physically. The spear plunged into its body, each successive attack sending showers of sparks flying.
Though this caused the Angel immense pain, it still was not enough to defeat it.
Zero kicked the Angel away.
"Garnet Buster!" Zero raised his fist and blasted the Angel with another scorching beam, sending it flying.
An enormous fissure was blasted into the Angel's shell.
Yet the fissure still healed rapidly!
"Why the hell is this thing so tough?!" An enemy this unfair gave both Shinji and Zero a headache.
With his injuries and the bracelet still incompletely repaired, Zero could not make proper use of its power.
More urgently, they were running out of time.
The timer on Zero's chest began flashing, giving off a piercing alarm.
Although Zero could absorb solar energy through his chest armor, Shinji's stamina was running low.
"What does that mean?" the technician asked in confusion.
"It might be some kind of warning. Perhaps Ultraman is running out of energy," Ritsuko guessed.
"No choice. I'll have to borrow my juniors' power! Shinji, take out my Riser!"
Shinji took out the Riser, and a card bearing both his and Zero's faces appeared in his hand out of thin air.
"Insert the Light Card into the slot at the top of the Riser."
A mechanical voice sounded. "Shinji, access granted!"
"Which capsules do I use?" Shinji did not know the correct sequence.
"Use New Generation Capsule Alpha and Beta, the two capsules with two Ultramen printed on them. Insert them into the Riser's capsule slots."
"Are they all your juniors, Zero?"
"You sure have a lot of juniors."
"Never mind that for now. Put my glasses on the back of the Riser."
"Then scan the capsules."
Shinji grasped the Riser's scanning mechanism and swept it across the capsules.
"Ginga, Orb!"
"Victory, X!"
"New Fusion Rise!"
Phantom images of the four Ultramen flashed past.
"Shout, 'I have no limits!'"
Shinji shouted, "I have no limits!"
Nothing happened.
"The trigger... You need to press the trigger at the very bottom..."
Embarrassed, Shinji pressed the trigger.
Those watching Zero were astonished to see phantom images of four unknown Ultramen appear beside him.
"Are they here to support Ultraman?"
"Our scans show they're only energy, with no physical bodies. Wait, they're beginning to merge with Ultraman!"
The four phantoms instantly moved into Zero and fused with him.
Zero's appearance changed again.
His chest armor vanished, and his body took on an entirely different color scheme, mostly silver with several purple stripes.
Two more head slugs grew from his head, his forehead lamp became a purple crystal, and two pieces of shoulder armor emerged.
"I'm Zero! Ultraman Zero, Infinite Form!"
Zero felt energy brimming within him.
Though the Angel did not understand what had happened, instinct still drove it to raise its tentacles and attack the giant.
Four head slugs glowing purple flew from Zero's head.
"Fourfold Head Slugs!" Zero swept his hand, sending them flying.
The head slugs pierced the AT Field and sliced toward the Angel's tentacles.
After four purple flashes, all the Angel's tentacles were severed. Blood gushed out, and the Angel let out a miserable roar.
Of course, Zero did not believe it could feel pain.
"I'm not done yet!" Purple light flashed around Zero's fist as he drove it toward the Angel.
Although the AT Field blocked that punch, Zero did not care.
His purple-glowing fists rained down on the Angel.
"Zero Hundred Fist!"
Unable to withstand the relentless blows, the AT Field shattered, and his fists slammed directly into the Angel.
"Aaaaaah!" Zero punched faster, battering the Angel from in front of him to above his head.
His final punch sent the Angel into the sky.
"One attack to finish this!"
Infinite Zero's body began glowing, and eight purple orbs appeared on either side of him.
Once fully charged, Zero aimed at the Angel in the air, clenched both fists, and spread his arms.
After all, the volcano had originally been behind the Angel, and Zero feared that hitting it with his beam might trigger further disasters.
The Technician, Ritsuko, and Misato stared at the scene, dumbfounded.
"How many more surprises does he have that we don't know about?"
"Eightfold Destruction Beam!"
Eight purple beams shot out of the purple sphere, punching straight through the AT Field and piercing the Angel.
After a violent explosion, fragments of the Angel fell to the ground.
Before the explosion, Zero turned around with effortless flair.
"You're twenty thousand years too early to beat me!"
The timer on Zero's chest flashed faster and faster, and he leaped up and flew into the sky.
Watching Zero fly away, Ritsuko asked a classic question.
"Why didn't he use this form right from the start?"
Dark shadows gathered in front of the fragments, forming a person.
He picked up two fragments glowing red, his eyes shining with a delighted red light.
"I owe you thanks for helping me get these two fragments."
"I'm feeling great right now."
Before you continue