"What was that thing?" Belial asked, frowning.
"It should be the Cosmic Needle that exists within Greeza, that cosmic void," Geed replied.
He still vividly remembered it—
That needle from the void had pierced him inside Greeza's body, extracting a trace of his genetic data.
"The Cosmic Needle?" Juggler paused briefly, then spoke with certainty.
"If we want to completely destroy Greeza, the Cosmic Needle is indispensable."
Although Yuzhou, while in his dream-state, could inflict real damage on Greeza, that only depleted its void-based power.
To truly erase Greeza from existence, only a divine artifact like the Cosmic Needle would suffice.
At present, Yuzhou knew of three such needles.
One was in Ultraman X's possession.
One was embedded within Greeza's body.
And the last was being used by the red-dressed girl to mend spacetime fractures.
"Z! Z-san, let's pull the Cosmic Needle out!" Haruki shouted from within Z's body.
"Got it!"
Z nodded and charged forward again, gripping the Z Riser like a weapon.
His speed was astonishing—
Only a flash of golden lightning streaked across the battlefield.
Screeeech—!!!
Sparks erupted as the Z Riser plunged straight into Greeza's chest.
Bit by bit, even Z's entire hand was swallowed into that void-like cavity.
The Z Riser, having fulfilled its purpose as a drilling tool, dispersed into particles of light and returned to Z's body.
But Z's arm, buried deep within Greeza's void, began emitting a powerful suction force, attempting to drag everything inside that nothingness outward.
Through a strange resonance, Z and Haruki felt an immense power drawing closer to their hand within the void.
Suddenly—
A black lightning arc exploded from Greeza's chest.
Z staggered backward, forcibly pulling out his arm.
In his hand was a black sword.
Smoke billowed across the battlefield, obscuring everyone's vision.
For a moment, no one could tell what Z had dragged out.
Yuzhou glanced at Belial with a faintly amused expression, then looked back at Z within the smoke—saying nothing.
Geed was merely curious, but Belial felt something deeply unsettling.
As if an object connected to him had just appeared.
The smoke cleared.
Z, in Delta Rise Claw form, stood revealed.
In his hand—
A sword.
Not just the hilt, but the entire blade was pitch black, etched with dark crimson patterns.
And that "hilt" could not even be called a hilt—
It was a head.
Dark Belial's head.
"Belial…?"
Juggler exclaimed in disbelief.
"Huh? Why are you calling me?"
Belial turned around, genuinely confused.
"Father," Geed said awkwardly, pointing.
"He wasn't calling you… he meant that."
Belial followed Geed's finger—and froze.
"…What kind of nonsense is this?"
"B-Belial-senpai?!?!"
Z nearly jumped out of his skin and immediately hurled the sword to the ground.
Who would dare hold that thing when the real Belial was standing right there?!
"Belial Atrocious Sword… would Z really dare use it?"
Yuzhou chuckled quietly, already anticipating the chaos.
That black sword was the cosmic needle imbued with Belial factor, also known as the Phantasmic Magic Sword, or simply—
the Beliarok.
Thrown aside by Z, it stabbed into the ground as easily as if sinking into sand.
Then—
The eyes on the dark head glowed red.
"What do you want to do, wielding me?"
The mouth opened and closed.
The voice was unmistakable.
It was Belial's voice.
"I—I wanted to protect everyone and defeat Greeza," Haruki stammered nervously.
"But now this looks a bit… uh…"
Z and Haruki dared not move.
This thing clearly had an indescribable relationship with Belial.
"Belial-senpai… maybe you should handle this?"
"Me?"
Belial walked over and crouched in front of the sword, studying it closely.
"Who are you? Another alternate version of me?"
"Alternate version? Don't be ridiculous," the sword snapped back.
"I'm me. Who are you supposed to be?"
"So not a parallel-universe counterpart," Belial muttered, rubbing his chin and nodding.
Frankly, he was relieved.
If one of his variants had turned into a sword, that would've been far too embarrassing.
"Enough nonsense," the sword barked.
"If you wield me, what do you want to cut?"
"…Huh."
At that moment, Geed suddenly realized something.
Inside the void, the Cosmic Needle had extracted a trace of his genetic data.
And within Greeza's body, the only thing that existed was the Cosmic Needle itself.
Which meant—
"Father!" Geed exclaimed.
"It's the incarnation of the Cosmic Needle!"
"What?!"
Aside from Yuzhou, who remained calm as ever, Juggler, Z, and Belial were all visibly shaken.
"Why would the Cosmic Needle turn into this?"
Juggler asked, bewildered.
If this really was the Cosmic Needle, then swinging it in battle would mean carrying Belial's head around.
That was… uncomfortable, to say the least.
"In the void," Geed explained, "the Cosmic Needle absorbed my genes."
Honestly, even he hadn't expected such a result.
If someone fought while holding that thing… it would be unbearably awkward.
"You're all boring," the sword scoffed.
"I'm leaving."
With no one paying attention to it, Belial Gloom prepared to retreat.
"Wait."
Belial suddenly stopped it.
"Speak," the sword snapped irritably.
"What do you want me to cut?"
Belial straightened up, pride blazing in his eyes.
"Cut the Cosmic Void itself," he said coolly.
"…Interesting."
The sword's mouth curved slightly.
It leapt up from the ground and flew straight into Belial's hand.
"Then let's try it."
Belial lifted the Beliarok, swung it a few times, and nodded.
It felt… surprisingly good.
To everyone else, however, the scene was utterly surreal.
White Belial wielding Black Belial's head as a sword—
The image was indescribably cursed.
"Wait—where's Greeza?" someone suddenly shouted.
Only then did everyone realize—
Greeza had vanished.
"In the sky," Yuzhou said calmly, pointing upward.
They looked up.
There it was—
Greeza, twisting violently in the heavens, energy around it rapidly surging and expanding.