A World Without Ultraman: I, Dark Orb, the Savior

Years later, people say Dark Orb crawled out of a rift.

Only he remembers that he first stood up in the ruins on the eastern outskirts of Anlin City: bare-handed, with no combat experience, unable even to dent his enemy's armor. He lifted the little girl who had been pinned beneath the rubble. She lived for a long time afterward, right up until the day he became a savior.

He traveled through countless universes.

In Tiga's world, he stood shoulder to shoulder with the golden giant on the sea, together blocking a beam of light from the heavens. Before Tiga left, he glanced back and said, "There's light in you too. You just don't know it."

In the world of the Land of Light, a young warrior once dragged him off the battlefield. Zero kicked him and cursed him for fighting like he didn't care if he lived, then handed over half of his own opponent. "Don't die here," Zero said. "There are people waiting for you back home."

In Gaia's world, he helped two giants protect a leyline that was about to collapse. Mud seeped into the seams of his armor and hardened like stone as it cooled. When they left, Gaia said nothing, just patted his shoulder, leaving a muddy handprint behind.

He patched the cracks in his own world, bit by bit, with things he had brought back from other worlds.

Someone asked him if it was worth it.

He thought for a moment and said, "I pressed the wrong button." Then he paused. "But I don't regret any of the roads I chose afterward."