"If you're asking whether there are any unusual structures, I've found a few places that my eyes can't penetrate. Normally I can see into any corner of the world and hear sounds from anywhere.
"But there's an underwater realm, a location somewhere in Greece, and a region in Germany where I can't see or hear a thing. However, at the Greek site, I caught a glimpse of something unusual.
"There's a clock tower engulfed in flames, and a group of people are fighting there. I can't make out what's happening inside the barrier itself. All I can see is people charging in. They're moving at extreme speed, supersonic at the very least." Ultraman reported his findings to Axis.
This world was strange. It was unmistakably Earth, familiar in every way, yet the geography was entirely different. In his own world, Greece occupied a position equivalent to the Americas. Still, a simple rearrangement of continents was nothing he couldn't adapt to.
What troubled him was that his super-hearing and super-vision, which should have been capable of observing everything on the planet, had failed him in certain locations.
Axis frowned at the report. The places Ultraman couldn't see into: Greece, the ocean floor, and somewhere near Germany. There was something deeply peculiar about all three.
"Tell me, were they wearing some kind of unusual armor?" Axis asked, a sudden thought striking him.
"That's right, Boss. They're wearing strangely shaped suits of armor. Some cover the entire body, while others only protect about sixty or seventy percent of it. These people are powerful.
"They're nothing compared to me, of course, but in terms of physical ability, they're second only to me and Superwoman." Ultraman replied.
"Use your X-ray vision to examine their bodies more closely. See if there's anything different about their internal structure. Can you detect any kind of energy fluctuation?" This was a nuisance. If Axis could draw upon his own power, his sensory perception of ki would have been nearly as sharp as Ultraman's vision.
"Give me a moment. I can see them from right here." Ultraman nodded and focused his gaze on the advancing figures.
"There's some kind of extraordinary energy inside their bodies. I don't know how to describe it, Boss. It's like... like a miniature universe." Ultraman turned and said.
Axis understood instantly.
The force that had triggered the violent upheaval of divine power within their bodies, that strange resonance, was the core energy of this universe. Cosmo?
No wonder it had felt like an explosion. What else was the birth of a universe if not an explosion?
The explosive agony he had been enduring was not mere rejection. It was the precursor to a Cosmo awakening.
Like a flood without levees to guide it, their foreign divine power, untrained and suddenly exposed to the laws of this universe, was being forcibly ignited and converted, attempting to awaken in the manner this universe demanded. But without the proper method to channel it, there could be only one outcome: total annihilation.
Ordinary Saint training methods would be useless for him, though. He was a god. Only a divine method could awaken his Cosmo.
"So that's what this is." Axis murmured, the realization settling over him even as the weight of it grew heavier.
He needed a method to cultivate a God's Cosmo, and he needed it fast. Otherwise, forget exploring this world or searching for the Emperor. He would soon be reduced to cosmic dust by the uncontrolled power raging inside him.
Not even ashes would remain.
"Ultraman! Take us to that mountain! The one with the twelve golden temples!" Axis turned to Ultraman.
If he wanted to learn the ways of a God's Cosmo, there was a ready-made candidate right here: one of the three great virgin goddesses of Greece, Athena's mortal incarnation, Saori Kido.
He had no way of knowing how far along the timeline had progressed. The battle through the Twelve Zodiac Temples had occurred twice in this world's history.
The first was when Seiya and his companions stormed the Twelve Houses. That had been the most iconic battle in this universe's chronicles, an epic of the highest order, no less legendary than Goku's showdown with Frieza.
The second Battle of the Twelve Houses served as the opening act of the Hades arc, where Specters invaded the Zodiac Temples. That battle, while perhaps not as legendary as the first, had been far more intense.
And the true fighting strength of the Gold Saints remained an open question. Some argued that a Gold Saint dropped into the Dragon Ball universe would be laughably weak, easily crushed by anyone with a power level of ten thousand. Others countered that Gold Saints were at least on par with Super Saiyans, perhaps even capable of killing one.
The elite among the Gold Saints were stronger still. After all, in the Dragon Ball universe, a power level of ten thousand was already enough to destroy a planet, and a few thousand could obliterate a continent with ease.
But was raw destructive output really the whole picture? The Gold Saints' destructive capability was actually staggering. The ability to throw punches at the speed of light was a broken advantage in its own right. A single blow could annihilate a planet.
The reason such devastation never manifested on Earth was because the planet was protected by the Titan gods and the seals placed by the Mother Goddess Gaia herself. Even divine-level beings fighting on Earth would not cause catastrophic damage to the planet.
Official records clearly stated that Saga's Galaxian Explosion could shatter stars. In the later Omega storyline, a deity capable of creating a universe had appeared: the Dark God Apsu.
And what had become of this universe-creating god? He had been defeated by Seiya wearing a Gold Cloth. After Seiya's Omega awakening, he had even managed to briefly clash with a being of multiversal-level divine power. Some claimed the power scaling in Omega had collapsed entirely, but then again, Dragon Ball was no different in that regard.
Axis concluded that Gold Saints might not possess exceptional physical durability, but their destructive output, amplified by Cosmo, was terrifying, potentially surpassing even ki-attacks. This was precisely why they needed their Cloths.
Beyond defense, the armor served a more critical purpose: protecting their mortal bodies. When a Gold Saint unleashed a Lightspeed Fist, the flesh could not endure the strain unaided.
Punching at the speed of light was something even a Super Saiyan could not achieve. Yet a Super Saiyan could casually obliterate an entire star system. Cosmo simply pushed offensive power to an entirely different extreme.
His own side, while unable to wield the power of a God of Destruction or divine force, was by no means weak. And then there was Ultraman. How strong was Ultraman? He was the counterpart to Superman from the comic universe.
Granted, this was the New 52 version, but that version could still bench-press the weight of several Earths continuously for days on end, survive the heat of a sun with his bare body, fly at the speed of light, and arguably surpass it.
The Saints' Lightspeed Fists were ultimately constructs of concentrated Cosmo. Ultraman's combat ability should hold up well enough.
Ultraman stepped forward immediately, grabbing Axis and Grail each by one arm. "Hold on tight!"
A sonic boom erupted as Ultraman became a blurred afterimage, rocketing toward Sanctuary at a terrifying velocity. The tremendous wind pressure had virtually no effect on Axis or Grail.
"Let me ask you something, Ultraman. The people you saw in armor, what did their armor look like? Was it pitch black or multicolored? Did you sense any kind of strange deathly aura on them?" Axis called out to Ultraman.
The best way to determine the current point in the timeline was to identify who was attacking the Twelve Houses.
"They were all wearing dark black and purple armor. I can't see them at all now. They must have already entered the barrier." Ultraman reported.
Black and purple, and their numbers ran into the dozens. This was not the first Battle of the Twelve Houses. This was the Specter assault near the story's climax: the Hades Twelve Temples arc.
That complicated things. Athena would die during this event. Only a false death, of course, a deliberate descent into the Underworld to destroy Hades once and for all.
In mere seconds Ultraman had carried Axis and Grail to the edge of the immense barrier. The moment they passed through it, an invisible force suddenly seized Ultraman.
He plummeted from the sky and crashed onto the earth. To his astonishment, he found that he could not fly.
"I don't know why, but some kind of invisible force is acting on me. It seems like I can only walk on two legs in here. Flight is completely disabled." Ultraman said.
The situation struck him as bizarre. At the speed he had been traveling, his impact should have created a massive crater and leveled the entire city. Yet this land, these ancient Greek-style buildings, were perfectly intact. His fall had not so much as dented the ground.
What was going on here?
"I can feel divine power in this place. Olympian divine power." Grail said.
Her Amazonian heritage traced back to the Olympian gods. The Amazons were born from the spirits of women slain in vengeance, and every one of them possessed strength rivaling that of a Kryptonian.
Axis nodded without comment and turned his gaze toward the Twelve Zodiac Temples before them.
According to the records, the Twelve Houses bore a seal placed by the Earth Mother Gaia herself.
Any mortal who set foot here was compelled to travel on foot to the summit, to Athena's temple. Gods, however, were exempt. During the previous Holy War, Hades in the body of Alone had flown directly to Athena's temple, bypassing the Twelve Houses entirely.
The Temple of Aries was already in ruins. A fierce battle had clearly taken place here.
"Follow me. We need to reach the very top. This is Athena's domain. A different Athena." Axis said, and together with Ultraman and Grail, he set foot on the path through the Twelve Houses.
The Temple of Taurus.
The aftershocks of a tremendous clash of power had only just subsided, leaving behind vast destruction and a lingering aura of unyielding will.
A man two meters and thirty centimeters tall, built like an iron tower, stood clad in the golden Taurus Cloth. He maintained a standing posture, but he was already dead.
"Magnificent armor. Shame it's wasted on this big lug." Grail remarked, regarding the standing figure.
He was merely a mortal. His physical capabilities, while above the human baseline, were nothing extraordinary.
"His Cosmo has gone out. But you're right, he was the weakest among them. Let's keep moving." Axis said.
Among the Gold Saints, the so-called "seafood duo" occupied the bottom ranks, but Aldebaran's fighting power sat lower still. Of the five Gold Saints who remained alive, he had been the weakest.
The three pressed on. The third temple, the Temple of Gemini, was also empty. They passed through without incident.
The Temple of Cancer. A pall of death hung thick in the air here. Axis, who had personally created an underworld of his own, could sense the deathly miasma clearly. Unfortunately, this too was an unguarded temple. After all, only a handful of Gold Saints still lived.
From the direction of the Temple of Leo came something different entirely. A pure, blazing Cosmo that burned like the sun itself was erupting in violent intensity. A fierce battle was underway.
Countless golden sparks of light scattered through the air as Specters in black armor were sent flying backward.
A man clad in a lion-shaped suit of golden armor was tearing through the Specters before him with savage efficiency.
"Every last one of you will die! Lightning Plasma!"
"So which side are we helping?" Grail looked to Axis.
"This guy's not bad, but he's no match for me." Ultraman said, watching the man in the golden Leo Cloth.
"Ultraman! Target the ones in the black and purple armor, the Specter grunts! Wipe them out! The golden lion is Aiolia, and he is not our enemy! Don't create unnecessary complications!" Axis commanded.
A flicker of reluctance crossed Ultraman's face. He had been hoping to take on the one in the golden armor. That one at least looked like he could put up a fight.
"...Fine. The black-and-purple cannon fodder. Got it." Before the words had fully left his mouth, the ground beneath Ultraman's feet shattered.
He became a blurred afterimage wreathed in the thunderclap of torn air and barreled into the chaotic battlefield before the Temple of Leo like a battering ram.
Aiolia's golden Leo Cloth gleamed in the fading sunlight. He had just repelled a wave of Specters, and the lingering heat trails of his Lightning Plasma still scorched the air.
Seiya, Shiryu, Hyoga, and Shun, four battered Bronze Saints, were struggling to break past his defense and reach Athena's temple, where Lady Saori awaited.
"Aiolia! Move aside! Lady Saori, she..." Seiya screamed, the light of his Pegasus Meteor Fist igniting once more in his clenched fists.
At that instant, a savage, primal, and overwhelmingly oppressive force descended upon the battlefield from the flank without the slightest warning.
"Out of my way, small fry!" Ultraman's roar cracked the air like thunder.
Ignoring the stunned gaze of Aiolia and the attacks of the Bronze Saints alike, his enormous fist carried a horrifying pressure born of sheer physical force, slamming into the area where Seiya and the others were tangled with the Specters like a siege engine.
His targets were not Aiolia but the Specters locked in combat with the Bronze Saints and anyone unfortunate enough to be standing in his path.
"What?!" Aiolia's pupils contracted sharply.
The nature of this power was unlike anything he had ever encountered. There was no fluctuation of Cosmo whatsoever, only raw, crushing physical might. And the speed was staggering. He moved instinctively to intercept the rampaging brute who had just stormed onto the battlefield.
"Stay out of the way, you nuisance." A cold female voice rang out from behind. It was Grail. She hovered in midair, her pale face devoid of expression, her crimson Omega Eyes locking onto Aiolia the instant he moved to intercept Ultraman.
A low hum vibrated through the air.
Two scarlet beams of twisted, annihilating force erupted from her eyes: the Omega Beams, carrying the very essence of erasure and molecular disintegration.
They lanced not at Aiolia's vitals but at his right arm, the arm already drawn back to unleash another Lightning Plasma. Grail's intent was precise: prevent Aiolia from interfering with Ultraman's assault.
Every alarm in Aiolia's warrior instinct screamed at once.
The deathly aura radiating from those crimson beams made his very soul tremble. He had never encountered an attack so alien and so overwhelmingly powerful.
In the space between heartbeats he aborted his punch, and the Leo Cloth erupted with brilliant golden radiance as he pushed his Cosmo to its absolute limit. His body seemed to teleport as he threw himself sideways, pulling the four Bronze Saints with him.
The Omega Beams grazed the surface of Aiolia's Gold Cloth. A large section of the shoulder guard was instantly disintegrated, its edges displaying traces of both fusion and annihilation.
Aiolia grunted, staggering back several paces before steadying himself. The look he directed at Grail was one of sheer, undisguised horror.
"What kind of power is that?" His mind reeled.
His Gold Cloth's defensive capability was immense. How had that eerie red light torn through it so effortlessly? And the energy itself had filled him with a deep, visceral revulsion.
Such evil. Such overwhelmingly evil power.
"Who are you people? How dare you trespass in the Temple of Leo." Aiolia now took in all three of them.
Ultraman paid no attention to the exchange. His fists had already found their marks among the Specters.
The impact was like a meteorite striking the earth. Ultraman's fist, loaded with devastating force, smashed into the zone where Seiya's group and the Specters had been fighting.
"Aaagh!" Several Specters too slow to dodge were shattered like ragdolls, fragments of black and purple Surplices scattering in every direction.
The shockwave plowed a deep furrow into the ground, and chunks of stone ricocheted outward like cannonballs.
A single blow. Only three Specters remained standing on the battlefield.
"Come play with me, why don't you. Let me show you what a Kryptonian can do." A cruel smile curled the corner of Ultraman's mouth.
"Easy now, Gold Saint. We're not your enemies. Quite the opposite, in fact. I've come to help Athena." Axis stepped forward.
The moment Aiolia laid eyes on Axis, his expression changed dramatically.
He could sense the unmistakable aura of a god emanating from the stranger. Beyond Hades' Specters, another deity had appeared at Athena's doorstep.
Ultraman's gaze locked onto the three remaining enemies whose auras were distinctly different from the rabble he had just pulverized. These three were far stronger than the fodder, but they were still nothing to him.
The lead Specter let out a cold laugh. "Galaxian Explosion!"
He raised both hands overhead. A vast, swirling starscape materialized between his palms as countless phantom stars blazed and spiraled, coalescing into a torrent of energy capable of shattering celestial bodies. The full force of it surged toward Ultraman.
"Aurora Execution!" Absolute-zero freezing energy descended in an instant.
"Excalibur!" A razor-sharp blade of condensed golden energy tore through the air, slicing at Ultraman's neck.
The combined assault of three Gold Saints was executed in perfect coordination.
Ultraman had no intention of dodging. He stood his ground and took it all on his bare body, fully intending to shatter the Excalibur, the Galaxian Explosion, and the freezing wave through brute durability alone.
These attacks were beneath his notice.
...
..
.
ps?