Dragonball M, Chapter 5: Clarion’s Call! The Signal! The Fate of the Universes!

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Holding their altitude above the Dark Moon, the Gotengo received the Galloping's message.

"Karine?" On the bridge, it was Zaofan who repeated it. "Oh, you've found her!"

Why would they leave her out in the open like that? Is it because she's something of a vampire herself?

Then suddenly a lighswitch went on in his head.

"...Listen, you've got to get her out of there, man. They might have been after her kids, yeah, and we're on their turf right now...on Earth she bit right through one of their throats, took their blood. If you get a win here, Cancer will have made the biggest mistake of her life."



Meanwhile, Ochazuke remained seated in his meditation, and the moment Remnant emerged with all speed from the Forsworn World, he felt its presence emerge. Godly energies, flecked with Hakai, he'd begin to recognize them, but this signature in particular was unique. None of the harmony of Angels, not the particular balance of Dragons...this one exists in a liminal state.

Divinity, of a fashion, and perhaps there was a trace of the mortality it had been raised from. Whatever this creature's story sordid account was, at this moment, the only thing standing between the revenant God of Destruction and the moon was this ship.

"One victory over a God of Destruction cannot be taken for granted. Taking on two at the same time is a fool's errand. So our task will be to stop it from moving"

The Phoenix Wings of Houyokusen alit the Gotengo, pulling in a host of cosmic energies. Channeling it once more into the bow drill of the Gotengo, the spend energies of Cancer's own defense began to gather.

Taking the components of the spider's net for his own, he'd repurposed it as a snare.

Saifa Kensaku



"Oh! We've got company!"

Zaofan was beside himself, allowing his attention to waver for just a moment as the assembly slowly trickled in. As the Gotengo's maser howled, his eyes might even have watered a bit.

The wave of Heka...does it remain?

The wave of Heka remains.


Remnant charges onward, flames of Hakai lashing out towards all the ships present as the rage full quasi deity rams toward the Gotengo, regardless of what is in its path.

Those ships that came after the Gotengo start attempting to move out of the way of the Hakai, but it travels too fast. However, Last Daughter and The Beast God manage to intercept those who could not get out if the way fast enough.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Well, it's not like Sasheen expected this to be easy...wouldn't have it any other way if he's being honest!" The Majin smirked as he swam through the walls, pulling a pair of goggles from his pocket and snapping them onto his face.. "Pilfered this from an engineer on the Tengo. Doubt he'll miss 'em. As for you. Best be prepared to hang ten!" the Majin cackled, launching a Samehada and leaping upon it as it sped off through, diving further in to spread the venom faster, all the while taunting the golem as he turned around and raised to it, his middle finger.

More than one Golem detaches through the walls and comes after Sasheem. In front, above and below, from behind they come, over a dozen fueled with Hakai converge on him within the walls.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

They were crawling out of the fucking woodwork, literally. They were coming out of the walls and moving in to face Sarada head on. Had she been alone, she would have been somewhat concerned. If only because she could watch those two kids while fighting off the horde at the same time.

Parsley, then wreathed in blood red with magic wisps flitting around her aura like lightning, quickly moved to flank Sarada. She moved a little ahead and prepared to meet the incoming Icer vampires. Three glowing green runes rotated around her wrists.

The Midas Touch. Flesh > Transmute> Stone

She pushed her speed to its limit and reached out to touch the first grouping of Icers on the forehead, maintaining physical contact for only the briefest of seconds; just long enough to initiate the transmutation.

Sarada followed right after this with Crimson Flashes aimed at the transmuted flesh.

Meanwhile, Avoca quickly made her way to the hostages to attempt to free them from their bonds.

OOC: Do those wisps of magic energy in Parsley's aura do anything special?

OT: They do, for a moment they flare and the darkness around seems to diminish. The sparks of magic, transferred by a creator deity to Parsley, seems to give the vampires a bit of a surprise. Not quite Creational energy, but a sort of echo of it that startles those that get close, making them drop their defenses.

IC:

The first six fall to the combo of Parsley and Sarada as Avoca makes her way over.

The two forms jerk and then spring upon her, the set up a strap. Two vampiric children who’s countenance Avoca recognizes.

One is Garnish, eyes bloodshot and berserk. The other, Totoma’s brother.

Both have been transformed.

The two take her down and begin overpowering her.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Efrideet had remained on Reshlan, impassive, as the mortals she'd once known departed to wage their war. And she watched for a time, and listened, through the Leylines, as they made their descent into Cancer's nest. When the assault began in earnest however, she turned away. As though she had seen the mad vision of the would-be God of Gods and found it, and him, wanting... It was no longer her war.

So, as the sun crest the horizon on the remade Reshlan, Efrideet stood to watch it rise.

But for all its beauty there was to be found in such a simple wonder, the remnants of who she used to be, tugged at the corners of her consciousness. Ishtar, suffocated and driven to madness, by the weight of responsibility. Inanna, broken by the realization that she would never be free, and constant betrayal... Both connected, by a desire to see what they cared for, preservered; and a need to right the wrongs of her predecessors... Contemporaries.

Remnant. Genesis. The Ruination Goddess.

Efrideet stared toward the horizon, and let slip a sigh.

For as much as she was content to leave the mortals to their petty warring. She understood full well, those three were beyond their ken. The weakest of the three alone, was deemed a peer to Inanna... and in her maddened state, it had been nothing short of a convergence of miracles that saved the 'M-Fighters'. To say nothing of the fusion, who she sensed making its way toward that Forsworn Moon... and Genesis.

So now... It was not a matter of if, but how soon, the group would fail. And immediately after Sakin would, in his fully realized madness, turn his gaze to her. And as much as she might be free in the moment, like the sunrise, would be fleeting.

The Goddess sighed again, and gazed wistfully at the dawn sky.

"So much for peace... So much for quiet."

Turning her back to the dawn. Efrideet disappeared.

Remnant charges onward, flames of Hakai lashing out towards all the ships present as the rage full quasi deity rams toward the Gotengo, regardless of what is in its path.

Those ships that came after the Gotengo start attempting to move out of the way of the Hakai, but it travels too fast. However, Last Daughter and The Beast God manage to intercept those who could not get out if the way fast enough.

As the Last Daughter, and Beast God arrive to protect the ships, so to does Efrideet; placing herself between Remnant and its intended target- the Gotengo- to intercept the former God of Destruction.

OT: Hope you don't mind the late arrival, Cleric.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Efrideet had remained on Reshlan, impassive, as the mortals she'd once known departed to wage their war. And she watched for a time, and listened, through the Leylines, as they made their descent into Cancer's nest. When the assault began in earnest however, she turned away. As though she had seen the mad vision of the would-be God of Gods and found it, and him, wanting... It was no longer her war.

So, as the sun crest the horizon on the remade Reshlan, Efrideet stood to watch it rise.

But for all its beauty there was to be found in such a simple wonder, the remnants of who she used to be, tugged at the corners of her consciousness. Ishtar, suffocated and driven to madness, by the weight of responsibility. Inanna, broken by the realization that she would never be free, and constant betrayal... Both connected, by a desire to see what they cared for, preservered; and a need to right the wrongs of her predecessors... Contemporaries.

Remnant. Genesis. The Ruination Goddess.

Efrideet stared toward the horizon, and let slip a sigh.

For as much as she was content to leave the mortals to their petty warring. She understood full well, those three were beyond their ken. The weakest of the three alone, was deemed a peer to Inanna... and in her maddened state, it had been nothing short of a convergence of miracles that saved the 'M-Fighters'. To say nothing of the fusion, who she sensed making its way toward that Forsworn Moon... and Genesis.

So now... It was not a matter of if, but how soon, the group would fail. And immediately after Sakin would, in his fully realized madness, turn his gaze to her. And as much as she might be free in the moment, like the sunrise, would be fleeting.

The Goddess sighed again, and gazed wistfully at the dawn sky.

"So much for peace... So much for quiet."

Turning her back to the dawn. Efrideet disappeared.



As the Last Daughter, and Beast God arrive to protect the ships, so to does Efrideet; placing herself between Remnant and its intended target- the Gotengo- to intercept the former God of Destruction.

OT: Hope you don't mind the late arrival, Cleric.

OT:

Perfect timing.


IC:

Remnant stops cold, flickering form between Inda’ren and Asha’rah. Their eyes look at Efrideet, confusion and then a slow burning anger fills their maddened eyes.

“What…..are you? What…no….”

Hakai pools from their hands and form into weaponized swords in each hand.

“It doesn’t matter.”

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Whatever it is, the Arcosian abomination closes in, Praxat you can feel it just inches behind you.

Feeling something behind her Praxat reacts and sends out a burst of electromagnetic energy.

[grampagen]

Remnant charges onward, flames of Hakai lashing out towards all the ships present as the rage full quasi deity rams toward the Gotengo, regardless of what is in its path.

Those ships that came after the Gotengo start attempting to move out of the way of the Hakai, but it travels too fast. However, Last Daughter and The Beast God manage to intercept those who could not get out if the way fast enough.

As the Last Daughter, and Beast God arrive to protect the ships, so to does Efrideet; placing herself between Remnant and its intended target- the Gotengo- to intercept the former God of Destruction.

Remnant stops cold, flickering form between Inda’ren and Asha’rah. Their eyes look at Efrideet, confusion and then a slow burning anger fills their maddened eyes.

“What…..are you? What…no….”

Hakai pools from their hands and form into weaponized swords in each hand.

“It doesn’t matter.”

"Efrideet? Ha! You found us! I knew you'd come around!"

"Cheh."

Zaofan was bemused for a moment at the sound of his brother's reply, only to remember that the Oni That Was...did not have a communicator.

"...well, anyway, the point is she's here with us! Things'll start turning around!"

Despite the relief offered by the emergent goddess, Ochazuke

"Let us see if we can put the fight further in her favor. Channel your technique into the ship, Zao, and it will act accordingly..."

"...like one body, yeah!"

Rooting his stance upon the bridge, Zaofan's eyes began to glow, forming an Optic Blast. Straining, the blast shot up and started for a moment like burning pillars that stood from his eyes, until he put the depths of his training to the test.

This technique was his foundation, and just as he'd mastered control of his ki, so he began to wrap the power of the blast, redirecting it through himself and into the Gotengo. In battle, he would charge into the red light to gain a burst of speed, but now, he pooled the Optic Blast into the composite energies in the starship to amplify its response time.

"Crimson Dynamite: Install!"



Immediately the Gotengo was surrounded by a red aura and began to move with a focussed agility that defied its size. The bow drill, in particular, began to train itself on the Remnant, as Ochazuke made his mark.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

OT: They do, for a moment they flare and the darkness around seems to diminish. The sparks of magic, transferred by a creator deity to Parsley, seems to give the vampires a bit of a surprise. Not quite Creational energy, but a sort of echo of it that startles those that get close, making them drop their defenses.

IC:

The first six fall to the combo of Parsley and Sarada as Avoca makes her way over.

The two forms jerk and then spring upon her, the set up a strap. Two vampiric children who’s countenance Avoca recognizes.

One is Garnish, eyes bloodshot and berserk. The other, Totoma’s brother.

Both have been transformed.

The two take her down and begin overpowering her.

OT: Magic, but kinda an echo of Creation energy. Are they something she can harness to an extent?

IC:

The first six fell in short order. The sisters wasted no time and moved on to the next wave. The strategy was the same: Parsley created a target on each of the vampires with a transmutation spell for Sarada to put her fist through.

Further, the sparks that flitted across her aura and had been ever since Caliban helped her ascend finally manifested their purpose. They were magic in nature. They were also something of an echo of the Creation energy Caliban used to transcend her into godhood. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to not only catch the remaining Icers off-guard, but also knock back the darkness. With the room illuminated by Sarada’s crimson mist, Parsley hazarded a glance to see if there were any shadows available.

Meanwhile, Avoca felt a sickening, overwhelming horror wash over every inch of her being when the true nature of the situation she had walked right into revealed itself. Garnish, her baby, had already been turned.

They were too late to save her.

Cancer’s sickening voice crept into her mind.

She leans in close and whispers into Avoca’s ear.

“It is always easier to turn children than adults, their bodies adjust better, their minds more malleable. When I turn the children, I will remember you fondly. I will remember your taste, autumn dirt mixed with sugar. Thank you.”

When she was laying on that floor, secluded and bleeding to death, she had feared that this moment would happen. That fear only magnified to an impossible degree when she found out Garnish had been taken. And now that the frightening and heart-wrenching possibility had come to pass, her stomach dropped.

She stared, slightly listless, as her little daughter and Tasure’s youngest son tackled her to the ground and began to overpower her. The fact that she was being pinned to the ground by two toddlers a fraction of her size glossed right over her. “...Garnish...” She felt like a failure, but that truth couldn’t distract her from the fact that she was alone. Parsley and Sarada were too busy clearing out the Icer thrall, meaning these two were hers to deal with. “We can still save you.”

She had been in base form, so she powered up to Super Saiyan 2 to throw them off of her. The grey mists of her Ki Negation invaded their space in hopes of weakening them enough for her to turn the tables.

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

OOC: Cleric, Tasure's First Son's Brother's name is...

...uhhh...

...

...Cado.

Right, Cado.

Took me a moment.

Now back to contemplation.

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

As the two three dark-grey magics at the spears, the one Totoma rides on lurches faster. He slams into the third figure, the one closest to Karine, and the foe simply……..ceases to exist, the Hurling God Piercer obliterating the entity with little effort.

As the sped-up spear simply... obliterated its target, Totoma was taken by the momentum his little trick had created and tumbled to a stop a short distance away. While he desperately wanted to go right for Karine, there were still two dudes nearby, who'd probably blast him in the back if he didn't go on the offense.

Clenching his fists and drawing deep into his Super Saiyan Power, Totoma's hair lengthened (and eyebrows disappeared, but we don't talk about that) as he transformed into his Super Saiyan 3 form. While it wasn't anywhere near as strong as his Super Hitozaru or... Super Saiyan 4 or whatever the heck he settled on, it was still really strong. And his base level of power had increased due to all the fights, anyway, so... what he had planned should work.



Focusing his energy, he threw out his hands--one per each remaining foe--and sent out a wave of aura, towards them, initiating a multi-Justice Bind that would, despite his weakened state and using it on two foes, hopefully distract and slow them down enough for the other spears--he had seen a few at the edge of his vision, hadn't he?--to hit.

[grampagen]

The wave of Heka remains.

Even as he focused the Optic Blast charge to prepare the ship for maneuvers that went far beyond the ability of the technology inherent in the system to handle, Zaofan could not entirely divest his thoughts from what was happening outside.

It's one thing to call out to them, but they've followed us into battle. They're courageous, they'll fight like hell...

His thoughts were with them, but the desperation of this time had worn on him, for he'd summoned the Genki Dama twice on Reshlan, and though he thought he could acccept the burden, it had fallen from his hand twice; but this, the spiritual pressure of Heka, was something else entirely.

To hold firm and carry the hope of another requires extraordinary will! But believing in something you can't see-

The ships of the GP and the thousands of planets that still stood in coalition broke formation the moment Remnant arrived.

It was then that a ripple across folded space cut open leagues away from the main battle. He would know that technology anywhere; a Stargate.

It had carried him and Ochazuke to the worlds of the Guardians of the Universe over the last year. It had ingratiated the trading partners of the Nevadian Federation, ushering in a new age of galactic commerce. Now, emerging from the portal was freight of a different kind.

A small armored escort of EDF craft streamed about the central cruiser, though to call the vessel a warship would be, after a fashion, inadequate. Its design was far too singular in purpose and it carried no living presence upon it.

"Come in Gotengo. This is the Earth Defense Force."

Zaofan's face paled as he heard her voice, yet despite himself a smile widened on his face. At the same time, the thought-comm carried upon the Zero System carried Ochazuke's thoughts across the vessel in a single word.

"Kenshiko?"

The Commander of the EDF stood upon the bridge of a vessel nearby, cueing remote commands to the mechanical behemoth.

BGM: Buster Machine March

"Red's a good look for you. You catch these fuckers at a bad time?"

"Pantaloon...he completed it?!"

Their earlier correspondance with the President of Earth had borne out.

"While you take the fight to Sakin, nobody else is going to be content to sit on the sidelines. I'll patch you in."

The datastream bloomed near where Evangeline took the command chair, and figments of sound and light conveyed the scene on their home lightyears away.

___

At the New Dragon Temple, Samson Balon stood at the head of the next generation of the Ten Schools, seated in rows gathering their spirits in meditation. The renewed master too had his thoughts in the moment, the now, as he peered upwards to the stars. In the arena of New Anvil City, shining like a pearl in the desert stood Aiko Fukuhara, calling upon the crowds to raise their spirits; they'd been going for hours, the cacophony roaring louder from the battles upon Reshlan. Things were more solemn in the remains of Turtle Island, where Kamesennin Kuki stood his ancient frame unmoving against the ocean tide, finding his centre there in the throes of his expanding meditation field and was aware of the resonance in kind, and melded with the leylines of the planet itself where the Bedlam Brothers stood among them.

The memory-echoes of the planet itself drew unity, even from the sequestered places of the world; the spirit of Young 'Ro in the mountain beneath the lonely isle lay upon his back, and a nostalgic pang took him back to ancient days long ago; the same shook the Gate of Ten deep in the foundations of Charlie Base, where his other half, the Memory of the Battle God continued its silent vigil over the sealed grounds where the Palatine had bound Alakazah to the Earth so long ago.

From all corners of the planet, they saw the M Fighters and their hearts were united as one.

Don't give up. Fight on. At the end of all things they were with them the whole way.

7 billion living wills were unified and fed their hopes upon the Heka Flow.
___

"I've found the apparatus that struck out at the planets. Uploading telemetry now." Ochazuke said.

"Copy that," Kenshiko responded across the band. Flipping a few switches, she powered their own apparatus in kind. "Project Parting Glass ready to deploy."

[grampagen]

Through the remote feeds playing through his vision, by the Capsule Drones he'd set out in this wretched hive, Koorimaru had eyes on all the proceedings.

The room is houses the Arcosian vampires Koorimaru had spotted. However, more merge from the walls, like Sasheem can, and Sarada’s charge is meet head on as far more than they thought were in there go to meet her.

The two innocents, bound and covered in cloth, are not moving upon a black stone alter.

Closer and closer, Koorimaru keeps a careful watch on things. He watches the veins in the fortress pulse and write, Hakai traveling elsewhere.

There!

Behind the throne, behind Cancer, an object so black it is near impossible to see. Veins of Hakai come from the ground and pulse into the object, and faint traces of a familiar energy flow into it as well.

Karine, Totoma’s wife’s energy.

My, my, my...fascinating, this vampiric corpus. And you're feeding upon...

The closer you get, the more you can see the sphere in the middle is a containment sphere. And, briefly, you can see se real people within.

One of them is Karine, Totoma’s wife, suspended in the center of the sphere, black veins throughout her face as if something had been done to her.

Tracing the path of the Hakai-riddled energy, he found a familiar presence. Koorimaru brushed his chin. Focusing the remote drone upon the corpuscle behind Cancer's throne, the heart of this venue, he used Doomsday Sloth to choke the transfer of energy.

Shortly after, he sent another probe upstairs some distance. Throwing a Death Beam through it, he swiveled it around to saw off the head of this morbid temple and observe the after-effects.

[KingofPie]

More than one Golem detaches through the walls and comes after Sasheem. In front, above and below, from behind they come, over a dozen fueled with Hakai converge on him within the walls.

"Aw shit, not gonna make this easy, huh?" Sasheem grinned as the Golems converged on him from every conceivable angle. Without much time to banter further, Sasheem quickly began to split apart into dozens of miniature Majins, each slipping between any gap and opening they could find to escape the Golems. Knowing more could arrive in an instant, Sasheem opted to delay the poisoning of the veins for a different tactic.

Converging into one Sasheem once more, the Majin launched a volley of ki blasts.....at himself. His skin began to glow as he took and absorbed each one, starting to glow a bright redas he activated the Phonenix School Technique Vermillion Heat!

OOC: Hakai aside, would you say these golems are purely magic-based constructs or something else, Cleric?

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Feeling something behind her Praxat reacts and sends out a burst of electromagnetic energy.

The blast stuns her persuader, knocking them back.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Efrideet? Ha! You found us! I knew you'd come around!"

"Cheh."

Zaofan was bemused for a moment at the sound of his brother's reply, only to remember that the Oni That Was...did not have a communicator.

"...well, anyway, the point is she's here with us! Things'll start turning around!"

Despite the relief offered by the emergent goddess, Ochazuke

"Let us see if we can put the fight further in her favor. Channel your technique into the ship, Zao, and it will act accordingly..."

"...like one body, yeah!"

Rooting his stance upon the bridge, Zaofan's eyes began to glow, forming an Optic Blast. Straining, the blast shot up and started for a moment like burning pillars that stood from his eyes, until he put the depths of his training to the test.

This technique was his foundation, and just as he'd mastered control of his ki, so he began to wrap the power of the blast, redirecting it through himself and into the Gotengo. In battle, he would charge into the red light to gain a burst of speed, but now, he pooled the Optic Blast into the composite energies in the starship to amplify its response time.

"Crimson Dynamite: Install!"



Immediately the Gotengo was surrounded by a red aura and began to move with a focussed agility that defied its size. The bow drill, in particular, began to train itself on the Remnant, as Ochazuke made his mark.

Remnant ignores the ship, eyes remaining solely on Erfrideet.

Though, in the wake of his Hakai swords, there is a glimpse of something else near him.