Dragonball M, Chapter 4: Kidnapping! Invasion! A new Threat Strikes First!

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Spireward just narrows his eyes, waiting on the group to leave. He hasn’t said anything since tossing Banespell’s hand to Ochazuke.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

With the interruption for the moment, annulled, Ochazuke turned his attention back to Inanna.

They've fought enough today...the power of a Super Saiyan with one of this appetite...

"...rrgh..." Little more than a grunt left his lips as he felt his legs give beneath him and he fell braced upon one of his boots. It had been a risk to use this technique; in that instant he'd given of himself without hesitation.

"You're wounded."

That was all he would offer as the Ruination crept up her side. He clamped the makeshift lid over the clay vessel. What was once dead that had sprung to unlife itself fell silent under his hand, where he affixed the seal.

It trembled in his grip, but for Totoma's sake, it was a matter well worth the remaining moments left to him.

"As if it is your life to lose alone, Oni. One hundred thousand years, yet you fail to see beyond your own reach."

Inanna lifted her hand, to show the wound before simply shrugging her shoulder.

"I suppose I am."

She held her 'good' hand up, and aimed it toward Ochazuke in an offering of Divine Intervention; enough not to spare him the full cost of his Mafuba, but to stave off the darkness a time. A thing it seemed she could still do for others, just not herself.

The irony was... amusing.

His continued attempts to drive home her lack of concern for the others, however, was beginning to grate.

"Now... save your bluster. If I was truly so self-absorbed, I would have simply abandoned everyone; and if I thought it was all truly set in stone I'd merely... change sides." It wouldn't be hard. A word here, an oath there; and she'd help usher in the future her opposition wanted.

"Or did you simply not realize this, in your mad scramble for a scapegoat?"

"Two is already far too many matters to keep sequestered. If they yet need to be tended to by a Destroyer...If they remain threaten the universe we live in...!"

More than the feeling of being lied to, a mounting disgust and frustration burned the words within him.

"If you've already decided nobody else can change the path they have set us upon, that it should be hidden from those you know will fight, then wear the habit of suffering if you wish. But if this is your lowly appraisal of us, even after all we have been through, then that, Oni, will be the last insult I will tolerate."

Exhaling, steadily as if it had been held in the whole time, for a moment his eyes glassed over. One new threat after another. When will this procession end? Auroc, the Ulthan, the Remnant, Sakin...and Him... Once the goal had been in common, he'd once thought it had been clear they had to rebuild what had been broken. But now, with these secrets hidden from one another, would these very same allies be but manipulators standing in their midst?

"If the time to act has not already passed us by, at the very least see that you explain this to your Queen if you reserve your honest demeanor for anybody."

This petulance was becoming tiresome, and to mirror the pain creeping through her extremeties, Inanna's annoyance with Ochazuke began to swell.

"Spare me your contempt, boy." Inanna cut back, sharply. "The matters I kept sequestered would do nothing but put unnecessary risk to your lives, my Queen's life. Yet you so eagerly decry my decision to keep silent without bothering to consider why I chose to? What an opinion you must have of me, child. To think me so self-centered to not have what I felt was good reason to keep secrets from the woman I love?" Pain forgotten, the woman took a step towards Ochazuke, only to stop herself and bite her tongue.

As justified as she felt her reasons were, after all; the others did not think her reasons so genuine... and her goal was to simply help them understand her thought process.

Not absolve herself of guilt.

Inanna sighed.

"... You've spoken of my appraisal of you, perhaps it's time you hear it; instead of your continued assumptions." Hand returning to her wounded side, the woman sighed again. "It is, simply: that you are already pushing your limits, Ochazuke. You. The others. Any more weight, and you're liable to snap like a frayed rope; and a broken man is worthless."

Inanna sighed again, only to grimace and bite back a string of curses. It was most certainly getting worse.

"... Am I wrong?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Sarada had heard about enough. She was tired, hungry, mentally exhausted and just wanted to lay down on something soft. Instead, she had to stand there and listen to two smooth-brained shitheads talk back and forth." Emotions were already on high and all that arguing and petty back-biting was only making things worse. We're supposed to be friends, she thought to herself as she stepped forward. Friends argued, but accompanied by a breach of trust was enough to completely erode a relationship beyond repair.

"Enough." It was spoken unusually calmly, but in a way that made it very clear that anyone who tried to continue was getting punched. "I'm tired of listening to you two smooth-brained shitheads squawk at each other pointlessly." Her gaze cut to Ochazuke briefly. "If you're so offended by her hiding **** from you, square up and punch her in the face. If not, then shut the **** up."

She sighed tersely and scrubbed her face. "Fucking dumbasses."

It hadn't escaped her notice that Inanna was badly hurt. That she hadn't healed by that point was worrying. That no one bothered to heal her was pissing her off. "Can one of the healers pull their head from their ass and help my wife."

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

Rutaba groaned softly and started to stir.

Vocado turned his attention from her to Totoma. "God ki?"

He powered back up to Super Saiyan with ease. "I have a mastery of the Saiyan forms. All of them." He smiled slightly and gave a small chuckle. "I... haven't had much to do besides train. You mother showed me far better training techniques. If you utilize those instead of the outdated ones I had been using, you should be able to master SSJ3 far more quickly than I managed."

He kneeled down and gently helped the stirring and groggy Rutaba into a sitting position. "Tell me. How is the race faring these days. Your mother told me of a few who were attempting to change the culture. Maiz, I believe her name was?"

Ah, so he wanted to know how his people were faring. Well...

"I'd like to say everything's just great, but it's not. Don't get me wrong, the culture's changing for the better, and the empire's got a really strong and inspirational queen in Sarada, and there are... hm... let's see... me, Parsley, Sarada, mom, Avoca that Lantro guy, and Pinach... yeah, seven super saiyans around to help defend it and give the citizens something to aim for when it comes to power and character, but the past few centuries seem determined to catch up with us."

He paused for a moment to let Vocado digest that bit of information. "I live on Earth, so I'm not entirely in the know, but right now, there's an incredibly powerful Frost Demon named Tundra attacking the empire. He's already destroy Vocado--the planet named after you--and then he set off for the... uh, ancient saiyan homeworld, I think? Sarada and I were gearing up to pursue and fight him when we got sidetracked."

"...to be honest, once she's rested and gotten back up to 100%, she'll probably be able to take on Tundra alone," said Totoma. "That battle with the Ulthan or whatever they called themselves was pretty wild, after all."

"But yeah, Maiz did a lot to help change the culture. She raised a lot of the others that helped in that, like Mato. I don't know all or even most of the details, but she... more or less showed that saiyans raised in comparatively relaxed and loving environments typically fared a lot better than those raised the, uh... usual way at the time, which was... harsh and stressful. Most of the movers and shakers that changed the culture have some sort of connection to her. Mato, Sarada, my mom..."

"...although my mom wasn't raised by her. Maiz is the one that convinced her to be more open-minded when it came to how other species did things, which... ultimately led to those better training techniques you mentioned. Even more refined ones are pretty standard in the Empire these days."

Though the ones his mom used herself were even better than those. And even her training wasn't a substitute for actual battle experience--it just prepared one to actually survive and reap the benefits.

"I think, in the long run, everything will turn out fine, but, hey, I'm an optimist at heart," said Totoma, chuckling. "Anyway!"

Totoma jumped back and burst into Super Saiyan, then Super Saiyan 2. He dropped into a fighting stance--Saiyan-do, for now--and flashed a grin. "I'm not one to sit still, and I wanna see what the legend himself can do, so..."

Obviously, he wanted to start the training as quickly as possible. Getting Rutaba to ascend... him learning Super Saiyan 3... figuring out how to merge it with Hitozaru for the ultimate saiyan form... it all made his tail-fur puff up in excitement!

Or maybe that was the bio-electricity.

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

Nostalgic? To Sarada's recollection, Neva wasn't that old, so there was no way she actually knew him. She doubted she had even heard of him, since Threshlings were pretty much recluses up until a few years ago. Even if she heard of him during her recent travels, that could hardly be considered nostalgic.

Oh, well. She was too tired - physically and mentally - to really bother thinking about it too hard.

When Totoma's body was whisked off to Vaikuntha, she sighed heavily. "Yes, please. I'm so tired of this place."

Spireward just narrows his eyes, waiting on the group to leave. He hasn’t said anything since tossing Banespell’s hand to Ochazuke.

They had far overstayed their welcome. It was time to go.

She bowed to Spireward. "I apologize for the intrusion onto your world. May you go in peace."

Clasping her hands together, she 'connected' to Seri's key to Vaikuntha, and concentrated. After a moment, a portal opened... a direct one, using the young girl's 'key' as the conduit. It was much more effective than going through Vaikuntha, though she hadn't been quite sure this would even work.

Soon enough, Seri poked her head through the portal. "Whooaa, since when can you... wait, this isn't Vaikuntha? Nev-nev, what gives!" She stepped through, wearing an expression of confusion and inquisitiveness.

"Just... experimenting, my friend. I do hope I did not startle you?"

"Nope, I totally expected some random portal to open. Saw it coming a mile away," said Seri.

...ah, she'd picked up sarcasm at some point. How... wonderful.

"Apologies. Now... everyone back to Reshlan, post-haste!"

[grampagen]

Inanna lifted her hand, to show the wound before simply shrugging her shoulder.

"I suppose I am."

She held her 'good' hand up, and aimed it toward Ochazuke in an offering of Divine Intervention; enough not to spare him the full cost of his Mafuba, but to stave off the darkness a time. A thing it seemed she could still do for others, just not herself.

The irony was... amusing.

His continued attempts to drive home her lack of concern for the others, however, was beginning to grate.

"Now... save your bluster. If I was truly so self-absorbed, I would have simply abandoned everyone; and if I thought it was all truly set in stone I'd merely... change sides." It wouldn't be hard. A word here, an oath there; and she'd help usher in the future her opposition wanted.

"Or did you simply not realize this, in your mad scramble for a scapegoat?"

The offering of energy flew through the air. The energy was of a headstrong nature, its vital mission set upon a path that would not be opposed.

"Scapegoat? Cheh."

Lifting an his arm to the side, without so much as turning his head, Ochazuke caught the energy and arrested its movement. The subtle interplay of Zxu'ro's Phoenix channeled through the Vajra fist, Kongosho, shook its orderly composition into a chaotic mass that lashed out in an electric crackle.

"For what the Ulthan did at the Forger's command, I blame them. You, however..."

Evidently, bad faith had been brokered both ways. At this moment, however, it seemed Inanna had revealed the degree of how faint her expectations of their lot had been.

"...until today, I'd thought we'd had a common goal. That it fell to us to remedy this fractured universe. To find another way outside of the foundations built on the blood of trammeled ancients and resolve the matters they could not."

How long would they have to keep fighting? Loathsome, empty belligerence. If they had known, could they have prepared? Could they have done anything more?

Did anybody have to to die today at all?

"No, as ever, I wanted the truth, and it seems I've found a measure of it."

This petulance was becoming tiresome, and to mirror the pain creeping through her extremeties, Inanna's annoyance with Ochazuke began to swell.

"Spare me your contempt, boy." Inanna cut back, sharply. "The matters I kept sequestered would do nothing but put unnecessary risk to your lives, my Queen's life. Yet you so eagerly decry my decision to keep silent without bothering to consider why I chose to? What an opinion you must have of me, child. To think me so self-centered to not have what I felt was good reason to keep secrets from the woman I love?" Pain forgotten, the woman took a step towards Ochazuke, only to stop herself and bite her tongue.

As justified as she felt her reasons were, after all; the others did not think her reasons so genuine... and her goal was to simply help them understand her thought process.

Not absolve herself of guilt.

Inanna sighed.

"... You've spoken of my appraisal of you, perhaps it's time you hear it; instead of your continued assumptions." Hand returning to her wounded side, the woman sighed again. "It is, simply: that you are already pushing your limits, Ochazuke. You. The others. Any more weight, and you're liable to snap like a frayed rope; and a broken man is worthless."

Inanna sighed again, only to grimace and bite back a string of curses. It was most certainly getting worse.

"... Am I wrong?"

Slowly he turned around, Divine Intervention arrested before his fingertips. This close to the illuminate glow, Ochazuke's features were shrouded in darkness.

"You call me 'boy'," he chuckled. "There it is. Your contempt for the concerns of mortals below your station."

Slowly he began to advance on Inanna. The trails of energy struck their plasma lashes and raked themselves upon the ground.

He was getting closer now, with Inanna's own energy captured and reissued, carrying within it a flooded the light, the ghastly shroud of a chaotic miracle. The contained issue shunt outward violently, and fell itself into the rock fissure that bled magma from Darkle's crust.

"Are you the advocate for those who wish to live? It's plain you see nothing but weakness around you. Even among present company, all the flawed potential of victims and nothing more, fit not even to be counselled when these, your burdens, effect us all."

To say nothing of the countless unknowns living in foreign universes bleeding into this one, as the passage of souls through the Afterlife became a two-way street, heedless of the lack of Dragonballs. Now, where strength eclipsed reason, only power mattered, and the affairs of gods, newly minted or otherwise, belonged to the gods.

His hand trembled beneath the divine shroud. Divesting its force was, perhaps in its own way, another sort of cosmic oversight.

"The only reason I'm out here is for the sake of those who are cannot defend themselves. Even if we remain caught in the snare of one ill-intended scheme after another, if there remains belligerence, it falls to us to find a way out."

Standing before the Goddess of Destruction, when he ended his dragging steps, again he found balance.

"To assume to take it upon yourself to protect us from these enemies, a danger that materialized from what you've kept hidden by omission-"

He drew a step backward for a moment. And then His shoulder dropped.

Sarada had heard about enough. She was tired, hungry, mentally exhausted and just wanted to lay down on something soft. Instead, she had to stand there and listen to two smooth-brained shitheads talk back and forth." Emotions were already on high and all that arguing and petty back-biting was only making things worse. We're supposed to be friends, she thought to herself as she stepped forward. Friends argued, but accompanied by a breach of trust was enough to completely erode a relationship beyond repair.

"Enough." It was spoken unusually calmly, but in a way that made it very clear that anyone who tried to continue was getting punched. "I'm tired of listening to you two smooth-brained shitheads squawk at each other pointlessly." Her gaze cut to Ochazuke briefly. "If you're so offended by her hiding **** from you, square up and punch her in the face. If not, then shut the **** up."

She sighed tersely and scrubbed her face. "Fucking dumbasses."

As if her words had incensed the sky itself, the Saiyan Queen's commentary was rather suddenly punctuated by a flash of light. In an instant, it seemed all those who had gathered had stepped inside of a thunderbolt.

Luminous white wrestled with burning orange, and burning streaks cut a jagged line across the sky. As it receded, Darkle slowly regained her shadows, and the faint scent of burning ozone hung in the air where Ochazuke stood across from Inanna.

In an instant he'd struck the Ruination from her bearing, much the same way as he did against her Alter before. The envenomed curse of the Sword of Damocles was driven from Inanna, and awash with the eclectic energies she herself had provided fell inert in total neutralization as it clashed with a facsimile of Creation.

The outline of his heavy fist, however, was ground into her side, and blood dripped from Ochazuke's hand where the strike landed.

Yet there was no catharsis to be had here. He'd lost his composure entirely, but for the training etched into him that saw him fall on guard.

"...you have pondered a great deal what it is that makes the difference between a person and Meat," his voice a hollow growl as he spoke to Sarada "If you've surmised it is the crude matter of frailty, question whether your Consort has come to the same conclusion as she judges our ability to act for ourselves."

It hadn't escaped her notice that Inanna was badly hurt. That she hadn't healed by that point was worrying. That no one bothered to heal her was pissing her off. "Can one of the healers pull their head from their ass and help my wife."

"She'll live. No matter what happens, she will survive." An idle moment more and the wound would heal. As the scar faded, would she remember who she chose to stand among? Once he'd been certain, but now...

It would hardly be the same for him, for it was rare to be absolved from such foolishness. Immortals would linger, undying. A certain blessed few would snatch strength from their failure over and again only to return stronger. A man like him, however, had something far more limiting in opportunity.

That in itself, was impetus enough to act.

So it remained that there remained a great many things to do. Among others, there was now a marked cabal who saw it fit to judge the flaw of the Universe with fatality as if they stood above it.

Clutching Auroc's Tome and the Forger's hammer and ring where he had left them, he knew further dark days of battle loomed. They had to be ready, but despite himself, tight now his thoughts turned to Earth. To end one nightmare, we've lost a home to return to.

"Etrina, if you've the strength, bring us back. There is the matter of our Guardian to attend to," he said. Years of movements to escape the shadow of Grinthorn, all undone by one who was fearful, who could not understand the capability of beings to become more than they are. A man who took for granted the skill to forge a miracle.

Parting from the Destroyer, he then turned to Sarada. "And yours remains on Reshlan, with the Nevadians among the Threshlings."

Moreover, it would not do to leave Held unaccounted for.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

The offering of energy flew through the air. The energy was of a headstrong nature, its vital mission set upon a path that would not be opposed.

"Scapegoat? Cheh."

Lifting an his arm to the side, without so much as turning his head, Ochazuke caught the energy and arrested its movement. The subtle interplay of Zxu'ro's Phoenix channeled through the Vajra fist, Kongosho, shook its orderly composition into a chaotic mass that lashed out in an electric crackle.

"For what the Ulthan did at the Forger's command, I blame them. You, however..."

Evidently, bad faith had been brokered both ways. At this moment, however, it seemed Inanna had revealed the degree of how faint her expectations of their lot had been.

"...until today, I'd thought we'd had a common goal. That it fell to us to remedy this fractured universe. To find another way outside of the foundations built on the blood of trammeled ancients and resolve the matters they could not."

How long would they have to keep fighting? Loathsome, empty belligerence. If they had known, could they have prepared? Could they have done anything more?

Did anybody have to to die today at all?

"No, as ever, I wanted the truth, and it seems I've found a measure of it."

Slowly he turned around, Divine Intervention arrested before his fingertips. This close to the illuminate glow, Ochazuke's features were shrouded in darkness.

"You call me 'boy'," he chuckled. "There it is. Your contempt for the concerns of mortals below your station."

For Ochazuke to react thusly, after being rightly called out for acting the petulant child; and for him to levy this accusation... There was nothing she might say to get Ochazuke to see her side, same as Parsley.

Inanna's face betrayed nothing, but her mind was made.

Slowly he began to advance on Inanna. The trails of energy struck their plasma lashes and raked themselves upon the ground.

He was getting closer now, with Inanna's own energy captured and reissued, carrying within it a flooded the light, the ghastly shroud of a chaotic miracle. The contained issue shunt outward violently, and fell itself into the rock fissure that bled magma from Darkle's crust.

"Are you the advocate for those who wish to live? It's plain you see nothing but weakness around you. Even among present company, all the flawed potential of victims and nothing more, fit not even to be counselled when these, your burdens, effect us all."

To say nothing of the countless unknowns living in foreign universes bleeding into this one, as the passage of souls through the Afterlife became a two-way street, heedless of the lack of Dragonballs. Now, where strength eclipsed reason, only power mattered, and the affairs of gods, newly minted or otherwise, belonged to the gods.

His hand trembled beneath the divine shroud. Divesting its force was, perhaps in its own way, another sort of cosmic oversight.

"The only reason I'm out here is for the sake of those who are cannot defend themselves. Even if we remain caught in the snare of one ill-intended scheme after another, if there remains belligerence, it falls to us to find a way out."

Standing before the Goddess of Destruction, when he ended his dragging steps, again he found balance.

"To assume to take it upon yourself to protect us from these enemies, a danger that materialized from what you've kept hidden by omission-"

He drew a step backward for a moment. And then His shoulder dropped.

Even as he shambles forward, her offering rebuffed and turned against her, Inanna simply watched, as he continued to rant, and rage against what he saw to be the Truth of her. That he was right in part, allowed him to gloss over where he had misunderstood.

There was no reasoning to be found here. No understanding to stop the burning of the bridge they once shared.

Then Sarada added her voice.

"Enough." It was spoken unusually calmly, but in a way that made it very clear that anyone who tried to continue was getting punched. "I'm tired of listening to you two smooth-brained shitheads squawk at each other pointlessly." Her gaze cut to Ochazuke briefly. "If you're so offended by her hiding **** from you, square up and punch her in the face. If not, then shut the **** up."

She sighed tersely and scrubbed her face. "Fucking dumbasses."

It hadn't escaped her notice that Inanna was badly hurt. That she hadn't healed by that point was worrying. That no one bothered to heal her was pissing her off. "Can one of the healers pull their head from their ass and help my wife."

Inanna turned away from Ochazuke, "I don't want their h-" only to pay for it in her own way a moment later.

As if her words had incensed the sky itself, the Saiyan Queen's commentary was rather suddenly punctuated by a flash of light. In an instant, it seemed all those who had gathered had stepped inside of a thunderbolt.

Luminous white wrestled with burning orange, and burning streaks cut a jagged line across the sky. As it receded, Darkle slowly regained her shadows, and the faint scent of burning ozone hung in the air where Ochazuke stood across from Inanna.

In an instant he'd struck the Ruination from her bearing, much the same way as he did against her Alter before. The envenomed curse of the Sword of Damocles was driven from Inanna, and awash with the eclectic energies she herself had provided fell inert in total neutralization as it clashed with a facsimile of Creation.

The outline of his heavy fist, however, was ground into her side, and blood dripped from Ochazuke's hand where the strike landed.

Yet there was no catharsis to be had here. He'd lost his composure entirely, but for the training etched into him that saw him fall on guard.

"...you have pondered a great deal what it is that makes the difference between a person and Meat," his voice a hollow growl as he spoke to Sarada "If you've surmised it is the crude matter of frailty, question whether your Consort has come to the same conclusion as she judges our ability to act for ourselves."

"She'll live. No matter what happens, she will survive." An idle moment more and the wound would heal. As the scar faded, would she remember who she chose to stand among? Once he'd been certain, but now...

Though he'd driven the Other's Ruination from her, a thing not under her control as it had obviously, and painfully shown; the wound refused to close. Instead, the stab wound came alive and her Ichor flowed freely... and it was only after he'd turned away, that she offered Ochazuke anything verbal.

"Like Parsley, you saw what you wanted to; and burned the strawman it made of me to ashes. Bravo." Nothing more to say, Inanna turned, intent to leave this group behind her.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Time seems to stop.

A slow and low clapping is heard, a faint chuckle, and emerging from nearby is a familiar form.




“Forgive me, but I was curious. Such divine power was being thrown down here only moments ago, I was curious. And, well, this is my first trip off planet in thousands of years.”

He grins.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Time seems to stop.

A slow and low clapping is heard, a faint chuckle, and emerging from nearby is a familiar form.




“Forgive me, but I was curious. Such divine power was being thrown down here only moments ago, I was curious. And, well, this is my first trip off planet in thousands of years.”

He grins.

Inanna turned, blinked once, and then shrugged. "Oh, hey. Am I supposed to be surprised, or something?

Powers that be keep bringing critters out of the woodwork, you're not even the most surprising thing to happen in the last five minutes."

[MrSandman]

Time seems to stop.

A slow and low clapping is heard, a faint chuckle, and emerging from nearby is a familiar form.




“Forgive me, but I was curious. Such divine power was being thrown down here only moments ago, I was curious. And, well, this is my first trip off planet in thousands of years.”

He grins.

"Go be curious face down in a ditch somewhere, we're busy." Etrina spat with all grace of a time mage who was sick of the universes ****. "....curious my ass, you're here to gloat."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Inanna turned, blinked once, and then shrugged. "Oh, hey. Am I supposed to be surprised, or something?

Powers that be keep bringing critters out of the woodwork, you're not even the most surprising thing to happen in the last five minutes."

He shrugs.

“Wasn’t trying to surprise anyone. Everyone is so far from their home, Darkle being the dim little place it is, and such divine energy was released here I merely wanted to see for myself those responsible.”

He smiles and puffs on his cigar.

“I should have known it would be you, Inanna once Ishtar. Though I’m
Fairly certain you weren’t the only one.”

He gazes briefly at Ochazuke.

“You have my sympathies, Master Ochazuke. Eva will be missed. Of all the Guardians of Earth, she was the most.......persistent. And perhaps the most deserving.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Go be curious face down in a ditch somewhere, we're busy." Etrina spat with all grace of a time mage who was sick of the universes ****. "....curious my ass, you're here to gloat."

His eyes burn golden and he grins.

“Believe it or not, yes, partially. I will miss Eva, but I can’t say I regret my current.....partial freedom either.”

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

He shrugs.

“Wasn’t trying to surprise anyone. Everyone is so far from their home, Darkle being the dim little place it is, and such divine energy was released here I merely wanted to see for myself those responsible.”

He smiles and puffs on his cigar.

“I should have known it would be you, Inanna once Ishtar. Though I’m
Fairly certain you weren’t the only one.”

He gazes briefly at Ochazuke.

“You have my sympathies, Master Ochazuke. Eva will be missed. Of all the Guardians of Earth, she was the most.......persistent. And perhaps the most deserving.”

"It wasn't Ishtar, that's for sure, bitch could barely handle a headbutt. Considering her a peer shows how desperate you are though." Inanna quipped. "

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"It wasn't Ishtar, that's for sure, bitch could barely handle a headbutt. Considering her a peer shows how desperate you are though." Inanna quipped. "

“Don’t be jealous, Inanna. Any port in a storm, after all. I was waiting on you like we talked about, but her demonstration of Hakai and Ruination qualified enough.”

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The offering of energy flew through the air. The energy was of a headstrong nature, its vital mission set upon a path that would not be opposed.

"Scapegoat? Cheh."

Lifting an his arm to the side, without so much as turning his head, Ochazuke caught the energy and arrested its movement. The subtle interplay of Zxu'ro's Phoenix channeled through the Vajra fist, Kongosho, shook its orderly composition into a chaotic mass that lashed out in an electric crackle.

"For what the Ulthan did at the Forger's command, I blame them. You, however..."

Evidently, bad faith had been brokered both ways. At this moment, however, it seemed Inanna had revealed the degree of how faint her expectations of their lot had been.

"...until today, I'd thought we'd had a common goal. That it fell to us to remedy this fractured universe. To find another way outside of the foundations built on the blood of trammeled ancients and resolve the matters they could not."

How long would they have to keep fighting? Loathsome, empty belligerence. If they had known, could they have prepared? Could they have done anything more?

Did anybody have to to die today at all?

"No, as ever, I wanted the truth, and it seems I've found a measure of it."



Slowly he turned around, Divine Intervention arrested before his fingertips. This close to the illuminate glow, Ochazuke's features were shrouded in darkness.

"You call me 'boy'," he chuckled. "There it is. Your contempt for the concerns of mortals below your station."

Slowly he began to advance on Inanna. The trails of energy struck their plasma lashes and raked themselves upon the ground.

He was getting closer now, with Inanna's own energy captured and reissued, carrying within it a flooded the light, the ghastly shroud of a chaotic miracle. The contained issue shunt outward violently, and fell itself into the rock fissure that bled magma from Darkle's crust.

"Are you the advocate for those who wish to live? It's plain you see nothing but weakness around you. Even among present company, all the flawed potential of victims and nothing more, fit not even to be counselled when these, your burdens, effect us all."

To say nothing of the countless unknowns living in foreign universes bleeding into this one, as the passage of souls through the Afterlife became a two-way street, heedless of the lack of Dragonballs. Now, where strength eclipsed reason, only power mattered, and the affairs of gods, newly minted or otherwise, belonged to the gods.

His hand trembled beneath the divine shroud. Divesting its force was, perhaps in its own way, another sort of cosmic oversight.

"The only reason I'm out here is for the sake of those who are cannot defend themselves. Even if we remain caught in the snare of one ill-intended scheme after another, if there remains belligerence, it falls to us to find a way out."

Standing before the Goddess of Destruction, when he ended his dragging steps, again he found balance.

"To assume to take it upon yourself to protect us from these enemies, a danger that materialized from what you've kept hidden by omission-"

He drew a step backward for a moment. And then His shoulder dropped.



As if her words had incensed the sky itself, the Saiyan Queen's commentary was rather suddenly punctuated by a flash of light. In an instant, it seemed all those who had gathered had stepped inside of a thunderbolt.

Luminous white wrestled with burning orange, and burning streaks cut a jagged line across the sky. As it receded, Darkle slowly regained her shadows, and the faint scent of burning ozone hung in the air where Ochazuke stood across from Inanna.

In an instant he'd struck the Ruination from her bearing, much the same way as he did against her Alter before. The envenomed curse of the Sword of Damocles was driven from Inanna, and awash with the eclectic energies she herself had provided fell inert in total neutralization as it clashed with a facsimile of Creation.

The outline of his heavy fist, however, was ground into her side, and blood dripped from Ochazuke's hand where the strike landed.

Yet there was no catharsis to be had here. He'd lost his composure entirely, but for the training etched into him that saw him fall on guard.

"...you have pondered a great deal what it is that makes the difference between a person and Meat," his voice a hollow growl as he spoke to Sarada "If you've surmised it is the crude matter of frailty, question whether your Consort has come to the same conclusion as she judges our ability to act for ourselves."



"She'll live. No matter what happens, she will survive." An idle moment more and the wound would heal. As the scar faded, would she remember who she chose to stand among? Once he'd been certain, but now...

It would hardly be the same for him, for it was rare to be absolved from such foolishness. Immortals would linger, undying. A certain blessed few would snatch strength from their failure over and again only to return stronger. A man like him, however, had something far more limiting in opportunity.

That in itself, was impetus enough to act.

So it remained that there remained a great many things to do. Among others, there was now a marked cabal who saw it fit to judge the flaw of the Universe with fatality as if they stood above it.

Clutching Auroc's Tome and the Forger's hammer and ring where he had left them, he knew further dark days of battle loomed. They had to be ready, but despite himself, tight now his thoughts turned to Earth. To end one nightmare, we've lost a home to return to.

"Etrina, if you've the strength, bring us back. There is the matter of our Guardian to attend to," he said. Years of movements to escape the shadow of Grinthorn, all undone by one who was fearful, who could not understand the capability of beings to become more than they are. A man who took for granted the skill to forge a miracle.

Parting from the Destroyer, he then turned to Sarada. "And yours remains on Reshlan, with the Nevadians among the Threshlings."

Moreover, it would not do to leave Held unaccounted for.

For Ochazuke to react thusly, after being rightly called out for acting the petulant child; and for him to levy this accusation... There was nothing she might say to get Ochazuke to see her side, same as Parsley.

Inanna's face betrayed nothing, but her mind was made.



Even as he shambles forward, her offering rebuffed and turned against her, Inanna simply watched, as he continued to rant, and rage against what he saw to be the Truth of her. That he was right in part, allowed him to gloss over where he had misunderstood.

There was no reasoning to be found here. No understanding to stop the burning of the bridge they once shared.

Then Sarada added her voice.



Inanna turned away from Ochazuke, "I don't want their h-" only to pay for it in her own way a moment later.



Though he'd driven the Other's Ruination from her, a thing not under her control as it had obviously, and painfully shown; the wound refused to close. Instead, the stab wound came alive and her Ichor flowed freely... and it was only after he'd turned away, that she offered Ochazuke anything verbal.

"Like Parsley, you saw what you wanted to; and burned the strawman it made of me to ashes. Bravo." Nothing more to say, Inanna turned, intent to leave this group behind her.

Sarada witnessed Inanna being made well, but that did nothing to quell her anger. Because she also witnessed her wife quit their band of saviors. All because Ochazuke and, surprisingly, Parsley jumped on her like a pair of over-aggressive dogs in search of a pound of flesh. They got it, and the consequences were measured out.

Her newly reformed hand balled into a fist, the first time any sensation of any sort had coursed through her organic veins in years. It shook violently, an ominous tremble that moved through the rest of her body. Her caustic gaze moved to her sister, who was standing off at a distance. She had been curiously quite ever since explaining what happened to Totoma, and had failed to chime in on the "discussion". Sarada knew why. She had already said her piece and extracted her pound of flesh before Sarada showed up. Her, a woman who should have been the last person to chastise anyone about anything. Her, who knew Inanna better than most. "You..."

She couldn't formulate words just yet. She breathed in to calm herself. Getting angry was only going to compel her to start smashing faces and that wasn't going to solve or help anything. If she was calm, she could use her words.

Slowly, the anger was subsiding, only to be quickly replaced by an overwhelming feeling of disgust. Disgust that her friend and own blood could do something like this. Questioning someone's actions and motives was one thing; driving them to leave was another.

She turned her gaze from Parsley and toward Ochazuke. In doing so, she saw that Inanna was still bleeding out despite his actions. "You didn't even heal her, you fucking dickhead."

She growled and took another breath. "But congratulations. You've proven yourself to be the moral bastion of our merry band. I can only assume you two took that role for yourselves. Unless I'm wrong, nobody else bothered to speak up except for the three of us. And we all got what we wanted. I got an understanding of why Inanna kept those bits of information from us, and you two got to spout your self-righteous bullshit and prove yourselves morally superior." She spat on the ground in disgust.

"I hope none of the secrets you keep so close to your chest are as bad."