The short rod was something Yuzhou had obtained long ago in Geed's universe, during his journey to Planet Kushia.
It was a prototype forged before Red Steel was officially invented. While it could not compare to Red Steel in raw performance, it was still a perfectly serviceable weapon.
Reaching out, Yuzhou picked up the short rod. Just as he was about to store it away—
The snow-covered land beneath his feet suddenly trembled violently.
The accumulated snow atop the distant mountains began to slide downward in response to the quake.
"Damn it—an avalanche?!"
Without hesitation, Yuzhou immediately stored away the suitcase. As his most critical item, it naturally took priority.
However, the avalanche was not the source of the tremor.
The source… came from underground.
A fissure opened across the frozen earth, rapidly spreading outward. The cracking of ice grew louder and louder as the fissure expanded, sounding like tectonic plates tearing apart.
Before Yuzhou's eyes, a bottomless abyss split open.
"What the hell is this?"
Just as he was preparing to leave, curiosity made him glance down into the abyss—
—and at that very moment, a massive creature burst out from below, riding a violent surge of freezing wind that blasted frost straight across Yuzhou's face.
The monster landed upright on two legs, its massive wings flapping wildly. From its mouth protruded two tusks, thick and curved like those of a wild boar.
"This thing again?"
The instant Yuzhou saw its appearance, he recognized it.
The Freezing Monster — Peguila.
To be honest, Peguila looked like a giant seal overall.
The problem was—
it could fly.
Peguila clawed its way up from underground, flapping its wings without managing to lift off. Its gaze soon locked onto Yuzhou.
Perhaps venting its frustration after spending so long buried beneath the earth, Peguila suddenly opened its mouth and unleashed a blast of icy mist straight at him.
"???"
Yuzhou had no idea what he'd done to provoke it. It went straight for his face without warning.
In a split second, he hurled the short rod in his hand toward Peguila—
—and simultaneously infused it with the power of light.
Radiance wrapped around the short rod as its shape rapidly transformed. In the blink of an eye, it elongated into a red-and-blue spear.
At its tip, twin streams of flame ignited, crossing to form a blazing "T".
Carrying scorching heat, the spear tore through Peguila's freezing mist, vaporizing it instantly—
—and struck the monster squarely in the body.
Boom!
Peguila was blasted straight back into the abyss.
"Just came out and chose death," Yuzhou spat toward the chasm.
"Serves you right to spend your whole life underground."
With a casual wave of his hand, the spear expanded in size and settled across the abyss like a massive seal, suppressing Peguila beneath it.
Peguila's roars echoed upward, but they were completely useless.
Against monsters like this, sealing them was far more satisfying than killing them outright.
The avalanche continued.
Standing at the edge of the fissure, Yuzhou took out his suitcase and calmly began making adjustments.
Before the rushing snow could reach him, the seal over the abyss erupted in blazing flames, instantly melting the falling snow into streams of water that poured down into the depths.
Without looking back, Yuzhou stepped directly into a wormhole.
He did not retrieve the weapon.
Weapons like that? He had dozens, if not hundreds.
After Yuzhou departed, a golden wormhole suddenly opened at the scene.
A towering, muscular figure clad entirely in gold stepped out.
Tartarus.
"So Tiga's ability to traverse time and space relies on that machine."
Tartarus stroked his chin, pondering quietly.
"It isn't an innate spacetime ability."
After observing the wormhole Yuzhou had left behind for a while longer, Tartarus confirmed his conclusion.
The reason Tiga could follow him across parallel universes was because Tartarus himself left behind residual spacetime traces, which served as guidance.
In other words—
If Tartarus did not warp near Tiga, then Tiga would be unable to locate the correct destination.
"Hmph… this is getting more and more interesting, Tiga."
Tartarus glanced at the snow-covered mountains, then opened another golden wormhole and departed.
Compared to Tiga's method of spacetime traversal, his own was far simpler.
As for the sealed Peguila?
Tartarus did not spare it even a glance.
A minor monster like that was not worth recruiting.
Land of Light.
Yuzhou had already been here for quite some time, though most of it was spent inside Hikari's Science Bureau.
Why were the New Generation Ultramen getting stronger and stronger?
Because Hikari was outrageously good at handing out upgrades.
Determined not to fall behind, Yuzhou began seriously studying scientific knowledge under Hikari.
In another timeline's Land of Light, he had done some self-study before—but it barely scratched the surface.
"So… Hikari, you're drawing blood again?"
Yuzhou paused. "Wait—this time you're not draining me dry?"
Standing beside Hikari, Yuzhou watched as Tiga's data appeared on the holographic screen.
"Just a little," Hikari said, holding up a single finger.
"Fine," Yuzhou nodded. "But you owe me something actually useful."
"Agreed."
Hikari handed him a blank medal.
Yuzhou placed it before his Colour Timer, drawing out a stream of light and infusing it into the medal.
Moments later, Tiga's emblem appeared on its surface.
"Excellent," Hikari said, inspecting it.
"Compared to Ultra Capsules, Ultra Medals are more convenient—and their sublimated power is even stronger."
"When paired with the new Sublimator," Hikari continued, "the power output will be even greater."
As he spoke, Hikari entered a password into a nearby safe and retrieved a blue Sublimator.
"So this is the new one," Yuzhou said, examining it.
It looked exactly like Z's blue Z Riser—no real difference.
"…Wait."
Yuzhou stared at the safe and pointed at it.
"You're storing something this important in that?"
"Ah, don't worry about the details," Hikari waved him off.
"I've been too busy with research. This safe's been here forever."
"The password is 123456."
Yuzhou stared at him expressionlessly.
"…You're kidding."
"How did you know?!" Hikari exclaimed in shock.
"I guessed."
Yuzhou genuinely had guessed.
He hadn't expected it to actually be 123456.
"You're incredible, Tiga!" Hikari said admiringly.
"To think you'd guess that!"
"No wonder your Sublimators keep getting stolen," Yuzhou sighed.
"At least add some security!"
"Alright, alright," Hikari said. "I'll change the password."
He keyed in a new sequence.
Yuzhou glanced over casually.
654321.