---o---
Across the infinite dimensions of the multiverse, seeing Ribut fall into such danger, many viewers couldn't help but have their hearts leap into their throats.
Though this Ultraman hadn't appeared much, judging from his recent words and actions, he was also a respectable, righteous Ultra Warrior. Yet now, he was directly facing a crisis of life and death.
This couldn't help but give the audience outside the light curtain a stomachache. Even if the Land of Light had technology resembling resurrection, it... didn't mean they could recklessly squander their own lives.
Not to mention how much energy resurrection required, this technology itself didn't always work every single time.
For example, if an Ultra Warrior's body was dismembered with parts lost, or if they simply disintegrated entirely into light particles, then even Super Scientist Ah Guang's Life Solidification Technology probably wouldn't have much of an effect.
While Ultramen are light, they are also living beings. Didn't the light curtain video mention that quite a few ordinary Ultra Warriors had already been torn apart by the Swarm until nothing remained, and some had even been completely insectified into bugs?
[Light Curtain Comments]
[Maple Sugar Commander: "Whew... a war where even Ultra Warriors can die—how cruel, how ruthless! Even though Ultramen, just like magical girls, are warriors who fight to protect world peace, now they..."]
The commander who deeply loved magical girls couldn't help but worry upon seeing this scene in the video. Especially after learning that many Ultra Warriors had already lost their lives for this, she felt even worse.
Although the difference between Ultramen and magical girls was quite vast, no one said you couldn't love both Ultramen and magical girls at the same time.
[Detective Conan: "Although the waters of the Ultra Universe are terrifyingly deep... so far, the factions capable of going toe-to-toe with the Ultra race are few and far between, and every single one of them has existed for at least ten thousand years. In contrast, the Swarm King (Tayzzyronth)... from its descent until now, it's been less than two months, right?"]
[Detective Conan: "To be able to batter the Land of Light into this state after only developing for two months, what other alien or faction in the universe could possibly possess such power?"]
[Detective Conan: "In the entire universe, probably only the Swarm King could accomplish this. Even other Aeons or existences of Ultraman King's level would find it impossible to possess such a terrifying rate of expansion."]
[Ruan Mei: "For most people alive today, the Swarm Disaster only exists in historical descriptions. However, its fearsome reputation, and that of the Swarm King, can never be overstated."]
In her laboratory, Ruan Mei put down her embroidery and took a deep breath. The Swarm that filled the entire universe—its approximate numbers would likely require hundreds of supercomputers running simultaneously to calculate, and even Nous would probably find it difficult to provide a precise answer for the exact count.
For the Ultramen to win, there was only one way: to destroy the Swarm King. However... as a conceptual god, without the intervention of another concept, they had no chance of killing the Swarm King!
Not to mention... the current Land of Light was finding it incredibly difficult just to deal with the tens of thousands of offspring of the Swarm King!
---o---
[In the video, as Ribut was trapped, the ultimate Swarm King exposed its own abdomen, using its sharp claws to slash open a gash directly across its belly.]
Likely because it had lost its head and thus had no mouth, the ultimate Swarm King now planned to drop Ribut and the others straight into its belly to replenish its energy!
Although the powerful energy contained within an Ultraman's light-based lifeform was difficult to insectify, it was, to a certain extent, treated by the Swarm as food to replenish their energy!
"Guillotine Cutter!"
In this critical moment, Joneus didn't dare hold back. He immediately unleashed the Guillotine Cutter, which was in no way inferior to Ace's Ultra Guillotine, slicing directly through the blood connection between Ribut and the ultimate Swarm King!
As for the other Ultra Warriors, due to the issues of adhesion surface area and time, Joneus simply couldn't look after them, nor could he save them!
And so, before the eyes of the audience across the infinite dimensional multiverse, those nameless Ultra Warriors were swallowed whole by the Swarm King.
What was even more terrifying was that the moment those Ultramen fell into its abdomen, the gash on the ultimate Swarm King's belly healed instantly. Furthermore, it was immediately covered with heavy plated armor, completely eliminating any possibility of being pierced by the Guillotine Cutter again.
Immediately after, the moment the Ultra Warriors landed in the Swarm King's stomach sac, the energy within their bodies was rapidly devoured. Their eyes and timers lost their luster one after another, turning into nutrients for the Swarm King's recovery!
Death... this was perhaps the first true, permanent death of an Ultraman shown on the light curtain!
"Everyone... how, how did it turn out like this!"
Ribut's eyes filled with tears. He clenched his fists, his heart filled with both a sense of helplessness toward his own weakness and boiling rage toward the Swarm King!
As for Joneus, just like Ribut, the blazing fury in his eyes had reached an uncontrollable point.
"Ribut, you leave here first! Leave this Swarm King to me!"
Joneus clenched his fists, the muscles in his arms bulging as the green light in his eyes flared with fierce intensity.
To kill in front of him, Joneus—no matter what, this Swarm King would not be leaving this place alive!
On the honor of a U40 warrior, this Swarm King must die!
"But..." Ribut clenched the Spreader Rod in his hand, wanting to say something. But realizing he would only drag Joneus back if he stayed, a look of frustration appeared in his eyes as he said, "I understand, Senior Joneus! You must be careful!!"
As his words fell, Ribut took one last look at the Swarm King, then flew off into the sky behind Joneus. He needed to report the situation here to the Supreme Commander, Father of Ultra.
"Whoosh—"
Taking a deep breath, Joneus had no intention of waiting for the Swarm King to act, preparing to engage in close-quarters combat once more. He absolutely would not give the ultimate Swarm King another chance to teleport instantly!
Joneus's hands formed a fan shape, then extended left and right, gathering a powerful, emerald-green sphere of light in his right hand.
Planium Ray Type-A!
This was Joneus's classic signature move! It was also one of his most powerful skills!
The sphere of light moved irregularly through the air, hurtling toward the Swarm King's body from various angles!
Yet, the headless Swarm King actually wove through the light feathers with extreme agility. Its nimbleness did not look at all like a thousand-meter-class monster!
"As I thought... it's a special individual. Among all the Swarm Kings we've encountered so far, there has never been such a bizarrely powerful existence!"
"Then all the more reason not to let you escape this place!"
BOOM!!!
Joneus's fist punched clean through the armor-like carapace on the Swarm King's body.
The carapace that countless Ultra Warriors couldn't pierce even when focusing their beam attacks was actually breached by Joneus's sheer brute strength.
This scene excited many viewers across the infinite dimensional cosmos! Especially those like Might Guy who specialized in taijutsu; they didn't even blink, terrified of missing a single detail.
However... the headless Swarm King didn't seem to feel pain from this. Instead, it was remarkably excited, which gradually filled the nearby Joneus with confusion!
He watched as the Swarm King, as if receiving some sort of blessing, saw its head begin to heal at a rate visible to the naked eye, its body shedding its skin to emerge entirely renewed!
"That power... could it be...!"
The Swarm Kings were offspring bred personally by the Swarm King (Tayzzyronth). As the strongest among the Swarm Kings, possessing the best traits of all of them, it was naturally the most favored one.
The divine power of the Path of [Propagation] had been bestowed upon it by the Swarm King without the slightest hesitation, not only granting it a complete rebirth but also elevating its strength to an even more astonishing level.
Fission-propagation!
Under Joneus's watchful gaze, the Swarm King initiated the skill the Swarm was most proficient in—and the absolute most disgusting!
And that was... propagation!!!
Unlike the division of ordinary Sting-Wings and immature Sting-Wings, the entity split off by this Swarm King was also a Swarm King—and one completely identical in ability, appearance, and strength!
"These aren't clones... they're original bodies. Both of them are the original body!!"
Gazing at the two completely identical Swarm Kings, Joneus momentarily found himself at a loss as to how to proceed!
What a joke. After receiving the Swarm King's blessing, even dealing with a single one was extremely difficult. Let alone two?
Across the infinite dimensional cosmos, the viewers outside the light curtain watched this scene, unable to wrap their heads around the reason.
"This is unscientific! Why are they two completely identical individuals after splitting, with even the finest physical details being exactly the same? What about the conservation of energy?"
In his "Conan-logic" world, Conan couldn't understand it. Even though he wasn't a scientist, he knew this was highly irrational. While there were plenty of illogical things in the light curtain, still... the Swarm King itself was already a powerful individual on par with an Ultimate Ultra. If it could propagate infinitely without any cost, then forget the Ultra universe—hardly anyone in the entire infinite dimensional cosmos could defeat the Swarm King.
[Shinigami Aizen: "Such an ability must have some sort of limitation. If even ordinary insects could propagate and split infinitely, they would fill the universe in no time, let alone a Swarm King..."]
[Bishop of Schicksal: "Calm down. Don't forget, even though it is a special individual—the strongest Swarm King—it was still on the verge of defeat when facing Joneus. What poses a threat to Joneus isn't the Swarm King itself, but the Swarm King's creator, the Aeon Tayzzyronth!"]
---o---
[In the video, faced with two completely identical Swarm Kings, even Joneus, the strongest warrior of U40, felt a moment of confusion.]
He had traveled the cosmos for ten thousand years, but he had never seen such unreasonable monsters. Compared to the famous Space Dinosaur, the Swarm was perhaps a hundred times more terrifying!
While Joneus was thinking, the mouthparts of the two Swarm Kings had already begun to condense the aura of beam cannons powerful enough to destroy planets.
And Joneus had no intention of backing down. Instead, he crossed his hands into an "L" shape, attempting to clash his Planium Ray directly against the Swarm Kings' beam cannons!
The two beams collided, erupting in violent sparks that illuminated the entire starry sky. The sheer power of the clash even caused the surrounding dimensional rifts to shatter.
The mere aftershocks caused several uninhabited planets to collapse, vanishing forever into the cosmos.
However, after the two beams had struggled against each other for a time, the breath released from the Swarm Kings' mouthparts quickly gained the upper hand. After all, it was a two-on-one fight, and against the strongest Swarm Kings at that!
"Ugh—!!"
The azure breath of the Swarm Kings, laced with dark, multicolored hues and carrying a profound aura of destruction, pierced straight through Joneus's body!
As the breath subsided, Joneus's body could no longer hold out. He shrank at a rate visible to the naked eye, returning to his normal size before tumbling into the infinite depths of deep space.
"Is it over?"
"I never expected it would end like this."
Joneus clutched his chest, numerous light particles floating all around him—that was the blood from his body.
Although his chest had been pierced, Joneus's inherently powerful physical conditioning had saved his life. This was also why Joneus had dared to directly take the Swarm King's attack; he possessed supreme confidence in his own physical resilience!
"But... if I can't keep them here...!" Joneus wanted to stand up again, but the searing pain wracking his body still made him furrow his brow.
He still had the capacity to fight, but looking at the Swarm Kings, they didn't seem to have any intention of continuing their attack on him. Instead, they were heading off to other battlefields to continue their path of destruction.
Controlling his descent, Joneus fell onto a nearby asteroid, his body crashing into the ground and kicking up hundreds of meters of dust under the force of gravity.
Afterward, Joneus lay on the ground for a few minutes, standing back up once he had recovered slightly.
The fatal blow that had pierced his chest was actually an injury he could repair through his own self-healing. This powerful body and enviable self-healing ability certainly caught the attention of many viewers across the infinite dimensional cosmos.
Just as Joneus was preparing to take flight once more, a ripple in the surrounding space stopped him.
"Shaa!!"
With the help of the Aegis of Palagye, Zero and Stelle had traversed time and space, meeting up with Father of Ultra first before following instructions to arrive here!
Evidently... due to his formidable mobility and strength, Zero had now been entrusted with a heavy responsibility. He had become akin to a firefighter; wherever there was danger, he was dispatched there.
"Are you Joneus, the strongest warrior of U40?"
Zero stood up from the ground, looking up at the warrior before him who was over twenty meters taller than himself.
And Joneus naturally knew of his existence as well: "I assume you are... Zero!"
"We just finished dealing with the trouble on Earth, and now we're here to deal with the trouble in the cosmos."
Behind Zero, Dyna was rubbing his fists, looking raring to go.
"We've already heard the details from Ribut. To put it simply... this ultimate Swarm King, which has fused the traits of other fallen Swarm Kings, has already become the greatest threat second only to the Swarm King itself, is that right?"
Cosmos held both hands toward Joneus's chest, releasing a healing beam while speaking to Joneus!
In this final decisive battle, the Swarm was using suicidal attacks to block the Ultra Warriors from approaching the Swarm King. Among them... the Swarm Kings were the most aggressive. Up to this point, counting the allies of the Land of Light, the number of Swarm Kings destroyed had already exceeded double digits.
And according to Hikari's calculations, the Swarm King before them should be the very last and the absolute strongest Swarm King.
---o---