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

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

Another surge of energy courses through everyone save Inanna as Totoma engages his Kizuna, boosting the M-Fighters:

The half-Saiyan had been holding back saying anything, his mother’s hand on his shoulder, his teeth grit. The longer this lasted, the more the chance his wife and kids would be dead.

He would wait no more.

With a yell his aura flares as powerfully as it can, going to his peak in Hitozaru. Tasure curses and does the same in her Ascended Form. Totoma does pause a bit, hearing what Ochazuke said. If the GP and Blizzar were going to go to the Foresworn Planet’s moon…….

He glances at Tasure, who nods. The two will probably IT onboard the ship once it leaves to that location. As much as he wants to fight, Karine and the kids are more important.

Meanwhile, Neva has made sure her mother and the rest of the knights in the vicinity had quietly and quickly been lead into her pocket dimension. She knew what Inanna and the others were capable of, and she would not risk their lives after just defeating She Who Stalks and her army. Charco on the other hand ignites his Audra and simply watches, ghost-Hakai curling ‘round his mouth.


Caliban and his chair are suddenly by Praxat and Jack and Neva, though he doesn’t seem to get off the thing.

“You two need to help me. Stay on the fringes, don’t engage her directly. Try to mitigate any damage thrown towards the planet, ya’ understand?”

Jack nods, as does Neva who nods and agrees to help as well.

OT: This post can be altered if you need, Dai. I saw you on briefly.

OOC: As He-Who-Lurks, I am always lurking.

For now, I'm just soothing that nagging feeling of incompleteness with regards to what happened to Totoma during the timeskip.

Although I must admit that the long-awaited ONIBOWL makes me want to...

...have Totoma be completely confused because he doesn't have any context for why everyone wants to throw hands with Inanna, lol.

However, he would focus on saving Karine, Chazuke, Evangeline, his dad, and Cado, so it's kind of moot.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

"All this from the end result of Asha'rah's war. Indeed, I suppose it would vex me as well to have been handed everything and be forced to resign that it was all for nothing. Whatever it is you seek, it would behoove you to move past that obsession with others' stagnation and confront your own."

Yet the dread which radiated off of Inanna revealed in part the depths of her judgment, and the rising frequency of her accusations in turn demanded more of an answer.

She's made it through Hell, what mortal barbs could possibly reach her?

"Where she, you, and the entire host of forgotten gods have erred is that they assumed it was their battle to fight. Sakin believes this and all universes are theirs to take, but I've told you this before. The fate of the universe will be judged by those who live in it."

"More talk, and only to say this?" Inanna replied amused. "Do you not realize I live here too, Ochazuke; and here I stand to listen, and judge."

The fanged, self satisfied grin on her face twist Ochazuke's brow as he beheld it. She did not speak her name, but by the sound of his teeth grinding, Ochazuke knew exactly who she meant.

Evangeline.

"You who plead for grief and recompense from your wife for the result of your own desperate actions, by what right do you dare to mock her? In her desperation, she could only show us the way." His tone began to rise. "Perhaps our Guardian had erred, she'd plucked your withers from the eyes of another, and for all that, here you are. Not truly dead, returned from the hereafter, and in spite of yourself, not truly alive."

"I struck a nerve, did I? Called out your bullshit in a manner you couldn't quite stomach?" Inanna said, grin still plastered on her face. "Perhaps before you cast aspersions, you focus inward and deal with your own hypocrisies, mm? I'd expected better from you, but here we stand... perhaps this is all humanity has to offer, when the Martial Chef cannot speak to the heart, and fill the stomach. Cheh."

The man emit no aura, but at a fixed distance he stopped and settled into a stance, tall, relaxed, and ready.

"The spirit remains, the wounded flesh before us is animate, yet you as ever have no will to act on your own accord, still an automaton without the ability to make your own choice!"

"Was there ever a choice?" It was true that there was "one", 'fight or die' but what true choice was that? Either be dead, and damned, or damned to fight... and in her case in particular, death had merely been the pretext for the damnation of unending combat.

"Petty," he mused. "Perhaps only a trifle as much as glancing into a Crystalline Mirror to see only ashes. But so has it been declared that she that shall giveth, shall taketh away," he said. "But I don't need you to be anything. Least of all for me. Not for the Universe, nor even for Sarada or Kumara."

Whatever madness she'd been holding back had begun to seep out; But unlike that day five years ago, it was no longer a Black Flame weeping through the edges of a crucible.

"So your consumption of the other denizens of Hell was not a bluff. But your fixation on the capacity to wound will be your downfall."

Then suddenly, a small signal that pinged across all communicators of those gathered, and that was enough to incite Ochazuke to act.

Where Inanna stepped within the range of his Meditation Field, in an instant the energy he'd gathered from the daylight filtering through the clearing in She Who Stalks' absence carried through the ground and shot upwards directly beneath her, exploding in a localized Solar Flare.

"There you go again, boy. Lost in your own misconcepti-" before she could finish; she was swallowed up by a glorious conflagration. The sound sucked from her mouth as the cacophony of light washed over here and afforded Ochazuke and his compatriots a moment to formulate a plan.

She turned her attention to the Martial Master. “Will Beast God and Last Daughter rendezvous with us there? If it's Cancer world, then she'll be there.”

From within the ash and smoke left behind, an admonishment rang clear. "Pay attention." And with no further warning, a beam of energy struck the Saiyan in the chest.

[grampagen]

"More talk, and only to say this?" Inanna replied amused. "Do you not realize I live here too, Ochazuke; and here I stand to listen, and judge."

"I struck a nerve, did I? Called out your bullshit in a manner you couldn't quite stomach?" Inanna said, grin still plastered on her face. "Perhaps before you cast aspersions, you focus inward and deal with your own hypocrisies, mm? I'd expected better from you, but here we stand... perhaps this is all humanity has to offer, when the Martial Chef cannot speak to the heart, and fill the stomach. Cheh."

His teeth pressed, Ochazuke's breath fogged the air. By the dint of his waking meditation did he regain his composure, and the accusation that seemed have lobbed at both himself and Zaofan simultaneously without distinction caught his attentions.

"By the foeter spewing past your palate, Hell seems to have acquired for you a taste for lies. When all you choose to perceive is the pandemonium and madness, everything else is but kindling."

Moreover, his eyes narrowed as he analyzed the font of the hideous strength welling within her.

Innumerable wounds stemmed by forceful regeneration, like a foundation filled with magma. The longer the pain builds, the looser her focus. Sight the opening.

"Was there ever a choice?" It was true that there was "one", 'fight or die' but what true choice was that? Either be dead, and damned, or damned to fight... and in her case in particular, death had merely been the pretext for the damnation of unending combat.

Goading the beast could push her towards losing all sense.

Keep her talking.

"There is, for those with the will to make them," he replied. "But you who had stripped away all outside influence, assured this would fixed something of an identity for yourself, you cannot comprehend the catalyst for change. Little more than this dull view of contradiction, these shallow charges of hypocrisy."

Perhaps there might have been a hint of laughter in his voice, but he did not smile.

"Breaking the firmament when even now reaching for that slavish impulse has been the sole thing gifting you purpose, this stagnant, trite, reductionist view. It makes it easier for you reject what you do not understand."

"There you go again, boy. Lost in your own misconcepti-" before she could finish; she was swallowed up by a glorious conflagration. The sound sucked from her mouth as the cacophony of light washed over here and afforded Ochazuke and his compatriots a moment to formulate a plan.

From within the ash and smoke left behind, an admonishment rang clear. "Pay attention." And with no further warning, a beam of energy struck the Saiyan in the chest.

A briliant flash and a cascading salvo of destruction rolled forward.

Then for an instant, cold darkness, before the blowback of the ray resumed...back from whence it came through a Void Tunnel.

"Hmm. My my..."

Wordlessly, Koorimaru floated in the air nearby, tail snaking behind him, and the thinnest smile pressed on his face.

Spreading his hands out behind him as if conducting a chorus they were all but deaf to, six Capsule Drones fanned out at range.

[grampagen]

Sarada couldnÂ’t believe it, but she had seen firsthand how quickly and easily people could be rallied to SakinÂ’s side. A call to action, filled with honeyed words and promises of power and freedom were all it took. They had repelled them with varying degrees of difficulty but standing before them was one final unwitting ally. She may not have been fighting shoulder to shoulder to him like Alakazah, Night, and Cancer, but she was actively hindering their progress. That made her his ally. After, at long last, prying herself from the destiny that had been foisted on her, she once again found herself being strung along by a higher power.

Worse, her head was too far up her own ass to either realize it, if her response to Caliban when he brought up the same concerns were any indication.

She shook her head. “We can remind her, but it’s up to her to decide whether she cares enough to act.”

"Confidence apportioned to recklessness carried her well, until it did not," Ochazuke replied, "but it is not merely spite that colours her judgement. The anguish she carries, it's marked upon her soul."

The Solar Flare struck out, and in the moment's blindness, Ochazuke expanded his Meditation Field to reach within the genius loci of Reshlan with Muhen Sekai Keihatsu, enhancing his perception of the terrain and the Oni Who Was.

"If there is any weakness, it would be reflected ther,e but it is not so easily to see plainly. If your bond had been worth anything, if it is still real, then you should be able to see into the depths of her heart and ascertain what is true."

Parsley and Avoca had been standing in silence for the remainder of the confrontation. Zaofan, ever thoughtful and earnest in his words in a way that Parsley couldnÂ’t achieve, did the most to reach Inanna. Sadly, his efforts were curtailed by her inability to withstand the caustic bluntness of his martial brother. The situation had escalated to a boiling point.

How sad. Things had been degrading between the two sides ever since Darkle and had at last reached the point of no return. A line in the sand had been drawn. Once crossed, there would be no going back to how things were before. Parsley recognized her own hand in the progression in things, how she had followed in her footsteps even after Darkle. She was thankful she had been pulled back to her senses before it was too late for her.

She glanced at Avoca. She was standing rigidly, gaze fiercely set forward. With things no degraded to the point of conflict, she feared for her safety. While she would never question her mettle as a warrior, she knew - and knew that Avoca did, too - that she was out of her element. A GoD was an enemy of a higher caliber than either of them had ever faced before. They struggled with the Demon summoned by SWS, after all. Still, there was a battle to be fought and they both intended on fighting it.

Golden rays of soothing light erupted from SaradaÂ’s aura at the same time Ochazuke weaponized the sun against Inanna. As far as opening moves went, that one was as impressive and practical as she had seen. It proved to give them moments of reprieve to plan, collect themselves, and make their actions count. Parsley felt her energy reserves fill themselves.

Ochazuke spoke quickly after.

They had been found. She had been found. Even with more pressing matters presented before her, Garnish had never left her thoughts. The heat of battle kept her overactive imagination from concocting all kinds of horrific worst-case scenarios that her daughter was being put through. Any chance she could spare her the more horrible aspects of the war to save the universe - more than she and her brother had already been subjected to - she had to take it right then and there. At the same time, a God of Destruction stood across from them, regardless of whether she regarded herself as one or not. Given how they barely managed to beat She Who Stalks earlier, she couldn't just leave the others to fight the battle without her. Whatever little she could give, she needed to be there to give it.

She turned her attention to the Martial Master. “Will Beast God and Last Daughter rendezvous with us there? If it's Cancer world, then she'll be there.”

"There is no telling what will happen, but things have already begun to move," he said, "with, or without us, the fight will continue."

Here, the differences between the race of warriors and the martial artists were pronounced. As death approached, seeing beyond it brought as much a hazy distance as a moment of clarity.

"The Forsworn World and the Destroyer's refuge orbiting it. There, the Cabal will perform the final ritual as he'd fortold."

In other words, nothing had changed, save one thing.

"The universe now turns its eye now towards Sakin. Consider the matter settled, for he has been soundly rejected."

Synchronizing with the planet's Leylines, Ochazuke stood at the ready.

"Besides, we both know you fight better with an unfettered mind. Let nothing else matter but this moment!"

OOC: 2/5

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"Confidence apportioned to recklessness carried her well, until it did not," Ochazuke replied, "but it is not merely spite that colours her judgement. The anguish she carries, it's marked upon her soul."

The Solar Flare struck out, and in the moment's blindness, Ochazuke expanded his Meditation Field to reach within the genius loci of Reshlan with Muhen Sekai Keihatsu, enhancing his perception of the terrain and the Oni Who Was.

"If there is any weakness, it would be reflected ther,e but it is not so easily to see plainly. If your bond had been worth anything, if it is still real, then you should be able to see into the depths of her heart and ascertain what is true."

The bond of Aka Manah, which began when Sarada first mated with Ishtar a lifetime ago, had never been as strong as with Inanna as it had been with Ishtar. She was stronger with Ishtar, but once Inanna took over, she never shared her strength. Sarada never knew why. Maybe she didn’t know why? Regardless, the feelings that transmitted between them were still as strong as ever. She had trained herself to ignore them for the most part. It was the only way she would have been able to get anything done during Ishtar’s existential crisis that eventually led to her death. And by “get anything done” that was to say to anything at all besides be in a comatose state from all the toxic negativity that had been pouring out of her at that time.

See into her heart and see what the truth...

For all of a person’s bluster and postering, they couldn’t hide what the heart felt. If there was anything more than what Inanna was displaying outwardly, Sarada should have known about it. She had grown accustomed to ignoring what was being transmitted to keep from becoming distracted. That was to her detriment.

Sarada took the temporary reprieve to trace the lines of Aka Manah that tethered them together to peer into Inanna’s heart and find out what was there.

"There is no telling what will happen, but things have already begun to move," he said, "with, or without us, the fight will continue."

Here, the differences between the race of warriors and the martial artists were pronounced. As death approached, seeing beyond it brought as much a hazy distance as a moment of clarity.

"The Forsworn World and the Destroyer's refuge orbiting it. There, the Cabal will perform the final ritual as he'd fortold."

In other words, nothing had changed, save one thing.

"The universe now turns its eye now towards Sakin. Consider the matter settled, for he has been soundly rejected."

Synchronizing with the planet's Leylines, Ochazuke stood at the ready.

"Besides, we both know you fight better with an unfettered mind. Let nothing else matter but this moment!"

OOC: 2/5

“He’s right,” Avoca spoke. “Stop worrying about Garnish. We can’t save her if we don’t survive this fight.”

Parsley knew that Ochazuke and Avoca were right. If her mind was muddled with other things than the battle at hand, if her heart was weighed down with unrelated worries and regrets, she wasn’t going to survive. She was going to make mistakes that were going to cost her her life. What good was a mother to a child dead?

None. If she was going to save her daughter from Sakin, and the other hostages, she needed to shelve that back onto the backburner and...

From within the ash and smoke left behind, an admonishment rang clear. "Pay attention." And with no further warning, a beam of energy struck the Saiyan in the chest.

“LOOK OUT!”

Avoca’s cry of warning came too late. Parsley had erroneously assumed that the weaponized sun flare had bought them more time than it had. By the time she looked up, there was a massive beam of energy hurtling toward her. Out of the corner of her eye, Avoca was moving to push her out of the way. Doing that would have put her directly into the path of the blast itself.

A figure moved to intercept the beam. Sarada interposed herself between Parsley and the oncoming wave of unmitigated devastation.

A briliant flash and a cascading salvo of destruction rolled forward.

Then for an instant, cold darkness, before the blowback of the ray resumed...back from whence it came through a Void Tunnel.

"Hmm. My my..."

Wordlessly, Koorimaru floated in the air nearby, tail snaking behind him, and the thinnest smile pressed on his face.

Spreading his hands out behind him as if conducting a chorus they were all but deaf to, six Capsule Drones fanned out at range.

And yet, it was Koorimaru who saved her life with a timely Void Tunnel. While she detested being put in that low-life’s debt, she had more... pressing matters to see about at the moment. Garnish could wait.

Her eyes flashed blue as a brilliant golden aura sprang to life. The ground shook, kicking up dust and the debris that had been wrested from their places during the battle with SWS. In an instant, the power of Super Saiyan 3 was brought to the fore. It wasn’t as efficient as SSJ2 and certainly not Super Saiyan, but anything less than her full power would mean certain death. “Ready?”

Beside her, Avoca powered up to Super Saiyan 2. “Ready.”

“I’m in your debt, Arcosian,” was all she said to Koorimaru before returning her attention to the GoD.

Her options weren’t as diverse as they had been a mere hour ago. She felt the power of her Blood Magic slip away. She wasn’t sure if it was gone for good or just severely weakened to the point of uselessness. Either way, it was lost to her as a viable combat strategy. That didn’t, however, mean she was completely helpless. Magic wouldn’t do any good versus Inanna anyway. At least not directly.

“On your guard,” Sarada said as she moved to stand at her other side. “All of our efforts today are rendered useless if we fall right now! We can’t lose!”

She nodded and steeled herself.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Praxat forms a plasma shield.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

His teeth pressed, Ochazuke's breath fogged the air. By the dint of his waking meditation did he regain his composure, and the accusation that seemed have lobbed at both himself and Zaofan simultaneously without distinction caught his attentions.

"By the foeter spewing past your palate, Hell seems to have acquired for you a taste for lies. When all you choose to perceive is the pandemonium and madness, everything else is but kindling."

Moreover, his eyes narrowed as he analyzed the font of the hideous strength welling within her.

Innumerable wounds stemmed by forceful regeneration, like a foundation filled with magma. The longer the pain builds, the looser her focus. Sight the opening.

"Narrowminded whelp. See beyond the length of your nose, you know nothing of pandemonium."

Goading the beast could push her towards losing all sense.

Keep her talking.

"There is, for those with the will to make them," he replied. "But you who had stripped away all outside influence, assured this would fixed something of an identity for yourself, you cannot comprehend the catalyst for change. Little more than this dull view of contradiction, these shallow charges of hypocrisy."

Perhaps there might have been a hint of laughter in his voice, but he did not smile.

"Breaking the firmament when even now reaching for that slavish impulse has been the sole thing gifting you purpose, this stagnant, trite, reductionist view. It makes it easier for you reject what you do not understand."

"I reject all that came before this moment. Show me something worth accepting.."

A briliant flash and a cascading salvo of destruction rolled forward.

Then for an instant, cold darkness, before the blowback of the ray resumed...back from whence it came through a Void Tunnel.

"Hmm. My my..."

Wordlessly, Koorimaru floated in the air nearby, tail snaking behind him, and the thinnest smile pressed on his face.

Spreading his hands out behind him as if conducting a chorus they were all but deaf to, six Capsule Drones fanned out at range.

When her attack was redirected and caught her broadside, she grunted; and as she was obscured again within the blossoming explosion Ochazuke might detect a surging pressure wave before- from within the burning pyre- several dozen beams burst forth and the skyline of Reshlan began to burn.

If the goal was to enrage her, they were certainly managing.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Sarada took the temporary reprieve to trace the lines of Aka Manah that tethered them together to peer into Inanna’s heart and find out what was there.

Confusion, and overwhelming fatigue, and rage.

The former, perhaps the most overwhelming, seemed to extend to the core of who and what she was; and perhaps might explain why, in part, she'd come to converse. As would the fatigue, not simply due to her stay in Hell... no, this felt far older. Her millennia of imprisonment, and suffering having finally caught up with her; leaving her at a loss for a desire to see this conflict play out.

More worrisome however, was the rage.

It was clear she was keeping it suppressed, had to have been in order to speak so calmly with Zaofan, and the others; but the longer she focused the longer Sarada would feel it build. Inanna had come to be heard, and had been met with nothing but a refusal to acknowledge her, for her. Now, it had come to blows. As powerful as the confusion, and fatigue were in the moment; it wouldn't be long before she let it take over.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Confusion, and overwhelming fatigue, and rage.

The former, perhaps the most overwhelming, seemed to extend to the core of who and what she was; and perhaps might explain why, in part, she'd come to converse. As would the fatigue, not simply due to her stay in Hell... no, this felt far older. Her millennia of imprisonment, and suffering having finally caught up with her; leaving her at a loss for a desire to see this conflict play out.

More worrisome however, was the rage.

It was clear she was keeping it suppressed, had to have been in order to speak so calmly with Zaofan, and the others; but the longer she focused the longer Sarada would feel it build. Inanna had come to be heard, and had been met with nothing but a refusal to acknowledge her, for her. Now, it had come to blows. As powerful as the confusion, and fatigue were in the moment; it wouldn't be long before she let it take over.

It was at that point that Sarada realized that there had been a chance that the entire confrontation could have been avoided if she had just looked into the bond she had shared with that woman for years, and the woman before her for almost as long. Confusion at who she was, what she was was the most damning to her. To Sarada, Inanna needed help. Whether she wanted that help was another question, but there was no doubting she needed it. To be ignorant of one’s own being was a miserable state to be in. The fatigue was natural, given her ordeal in Hell the past year. The rage, though?

The rage was a simmering flame threatening to explode beyond control. Just below the cordiality with which Inanna spoke to Zaofan laid an all-consuming inferno. Once that inferno devoured everything that had been holding it back up until right then, there would be no going back. It wasn’t too late just yet, but there was still a chance.

“She’s confused,” she said to Ochazuke. “About who and what she is.” She frowned and fisted her hair in frustration. “Goddamn, why didn’t I look before?!” Sarada, for as much as she tried to be a good person, had her flaws. Those flaws always cropped up at the worst possible moment, often with those she cared about most being the victim. Life was a journey, but Sarada insisted on tripping herself up at the worst times.

“It won’t be long before she lets her rage consume her. Once that happens, there’s no going back.”

When her attack was redirected and caught her broadside, she grunted; and as she was obscured again within the blossoming explosion Ochazuke might detect a surging pressure wave before- from within the burning pyre- several dozen beams burst forth and the skyline of Reshlan began to burn.

If the goal was to enrage her, they were certainly managing.

Time had very nearly run out. Sarada felt her eyes widen as the skies of Reshlan burst into a vengeful flame. The wrath of a god was close to descending on them. As close as they were the event horizon, the point of no return, there was still a chance to avoid disaster. To do that, she needed the help of the one person who managed to reach Inanna the most.

She turned around to face Zaofan. With the inferno of Inanna’s rage literally being made manifest behind her as a backdrop, her face dropped into one of pleading desperation. “Please, Zaofan, you have to help me reach her. She’ll listen to you.”

Avoca turned and looked at her like she was crazy. “Where the hell was all this when it actually could have made a fucking difference?!” she shouted in a completely exasperated and frustrated tone. She squeezed her eyes closed and shook her head. “It’s too late. After everything that had just been said, you think she’ll listen to you?”

“We have to try!” she retorted sharply. She then returned her attention to the Martial Chef. “Please, Zaofan.”

Avoca sighed and launched herself into the air to intercept the incoming projectiles that were igniting the sky. With Unlimited Eat Works, she swallowed up as many of them as she could manage

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Praxat focuses on using her Telsa Strike Sheild formation to intercept beams from hitting the planet.

[grampagen]

"Narrowminded whelp. See beyond the length of your nose, you know nothing of pandemonium."


"I reject all that came before this moment. Show me something worth accepting.."

There it is again. So assured that things were already set when they were at this very moment in motion

This time, however, it caught Ochazuke's attention that this was nearly the exact charge he'd put to Inanna when it came out she'd decided to take on the universe by herself. The very thing that attracted the eyes of the Ulthan.

The same thing that had been hidden from him as if there were only a certain few that could at all change the outcome from inevitability.

If there were any road to stymie Sakin, we must pass through the gate of this torment first.

Thus, with Inanna speaking her terms aloud, therein lay the challenge.

When her attack was redirected and caught her broadside, she grunted; and as she was obscured again within the blossoming explosion Ochazuke might detect a surging pressure wave before- from within the burning pyre- several dozen beams burst forth and the skyline of Reshlan began to burn.

If the goal was to enrage her, they were certainly managing.

And yet, it was Koorimaru who saved her life with a timely Void Tunnel. While she detested being put in that low-life’s debt, she had more... pressing matters to see about at the moment. Garnish could wait.

Her eyes flashed blue as a brilliant golden aura sprang to life. The ground shook, kicking up dust and the debris that had been wrested from their places during the battle with SWS. In an instant, the power of Super Saiyan 3 was brought to the fore. It wasn’t as efficient as SSJ2 and certainly not Super Saiyan, but anything less than her full power would mean certain death. “Ready?”

Beside her, Avoca powered up to Super Saiyan 2. “Ready.”

“I’m in your debt, Arcosian,” was all she said to Koorimaru before returning her attention to the GoD.

"Is that so? How swiftly the Royal Prodigy changes her tune, Par-sley-san. Oh ho ho ho..."

The six drones sped off to the corners of the battlefield. Though an electric eye was somewhat crude, the Capsule Drones acted as remote cameras that widened his field of view; and everywhere he could see there, with but a thought he could move or reach.

"Perhaps that's why our acquaintance had broken with...Saiyan...diplomacy, hmm? There is need for material behind the words than the threat of violence."

For miles round, burning ki filled the clouds. Koorimaru scanned and surveyed this, yet he merely lift his head up, hands idle at his sides as he did...nothing.

"Rest assured, however you've let the Oni down, my faith in your lot remains completely unblemished."

[grampagen]

It was at that point that Sarada realized that there had been a chance that the entire confrontation could have been avoided if she had just looked into the bond she had shared with that woman for years, and the woman before her for almost as long. Confusion at who she was, what she was was the most damning to her. To Sarada, Inanna needed help. Whether she wanted that help was another question, but there was no doubting she needed it. To be ignorant of oneÂ’s own being was a miserable state to be in. The fatigue was natural, given her ordeal in Hell the past year. The rage, though?

The rage was a simmering flame threatening to explode beyond control. Just below the cordiality with which Inanna spoke to Zaofan laid an all-consuming inferno. Once that inferno devoured everything that had been holding it back up until right then, there would be no going back. It wasnÂ’t too late just yet, but there was still a chance.

“She’s confused,” she said to Ochazuke. “About who and what she is.” She frowned and fisted her hair in frustration. “Goddamn, why didn’t I look before?!” Sarada, for as much as she tried to be a good person, had her flaws. Those flaws always cropped up at the worst possible moment, often with those she cared about most being the victim. Life was a journey, but Sarada insisted on tripping herself up at the worst times.

“It won’t be long before she lets her rage consume her. Once that happens, there’s no going back.”

"In other words, nothing has changed," Ochazuke said. "She'd left a year ago to find her answers and has nothing. No greater insight to the nature of the universe, nor any structure to the nature of her existence."

"One hundred thousand years without any shred of meaning. That would drive any to madness. But though her trust may have been misplaced, still it was our trail she'd found. So we'll have to give her something worth returning to."

Time had very nearly run out. Sarada felt her eyes widen as the skies of Reshlan burst into a vengeful flame. The wrath of a god was close to descending on them. As close as they were the event horizon, the point of no return, there was still a chance to avoid disaster. To do that, she needed the help of the one person who managed to reach Inanna the most.

She turned around to face Zaofan. With the inferno of Inanna’s rage literally being made manifest behind her as a backdrop, her face dropped into one of pleading desperation. “Please, Zaofan, you have to help me reach her. She’ll listen to you.”

Avoca turned and looked at her like she was crazy. “Where the hell was all this when it actually could have made a fucking difference?!” she shouted in a completely exasperated and frustrated tone. She squeezed her eyes closed and shook her head. “It’s too late. After everything that had just been said, you think she’ll listen to you?”

“We have to try!” she retorted sharply. She then returned her attention to the Martial Chef. “Please, Zaofan.”

Avoca sighed and launched herself into the air to intercept the incoming projectiles that were igniting the sky. With Unlimited Eat Works, she swallowed up as many of them as she could manage

"...Avoca, stuff it."

That was all Zaofan said as he turned and began to walk in the opposite direction. A strange, melancholic whine filled the air about him as the pitched ringing of of metal cutting through air sounded out as he threw the katchin staff Bojack about his person. Hands, shoulder, past the head, back to the hands...

"I've already said my piece, she heard it, I'm not about to say it again, that'd be disrespectful." The staff spun about him so swiftly the after-image stilled in its vorpal trail. "What's the point? It's like asking a question without getting an answer, you think that'd get her to calm down?"

The tatters of his white cloak flapped unevenly. He looked to the sky and saw the dozens of burning beams falling. I'd made a promise.

"Plowing head-first is most direct way to confronting a problem. Control the pace and your foe can't get started, sure. But there's a reason why people who can't stop winning are never satisfied."

"Its because they'll never learn to appreciate the moment! There's no satisfaction in changing the way it goes because to them, there is no other way! VALIANTIUM STAFF EXTEND!"

The black staff shone alight with piercing blue as Zaofan put his ki into it, sending a column shooting upwards into the clouds and dragging across the skyline.

"And I for one, am through with nobody ever listening to me! It gets me so FRIGGIN' NETTLED, GRAAAAAARRRGH!!!!"

With all the kinetic energy he'd foist into the weapon, as he reached to strike the first of the series of beams, he'd hoped to curve their trajectory with Kaiten in an attempt to spool them together...like a clump of noodles.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Avoca sighed and launched herself into the air to intercept the incoming projectiles that were igniting the sky. With Unlimited Eat Works, she swallowed up as many of them as she could manage

As soon as she swallows the first projectile, Avoca finds herself struggling to keep it down.

Inanna's very nature* made the manipulation of her Ki no easy task, and Avoca would find herself having to concentrate fully on the single projectile in order to successfully make it her own. Meaning that several of the projectiles she'd planned on consuming shot past her; bearing down on both Sarada, and Parsley.

*Adamantine Soul (Passive)- Unwilling to allow herself to become another's puppet, Inanna's energy is not easily tampered with. Making it impossible, under normal circumstances, to drain, or manipulate her Ki. Given that her body is laced with this same energy, it also means it is quite difficult to change her physical form as well (think transmutation resistance).

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

"In other words, nothing has changed," Ochazuke said. "She'd left a year ago to find her answers and has nothing. No greater insight to the nature of the universe, nor any structure to the nature of her existence."

"One hundred thousand years without any shred of meaning. That would drive any to madness. But though her trust may have been misplaced, still it was our trail she'd found. So we'll have to give her something worth returning to."

From within the burning pyre that had engulfed her, Ochazuke would sense movement; as Inanna moved to confront the man directly, claws seeking to rip his throat out, as his allies attempted to deal with the torrent of burning projectiles.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

"...Avoca, stuff it."

That was all Zaofan said as he turned and began to walk in the opposite direction. A strange, melancholic whine filled the air about him as the pitched ringing of of metal cutting through air sounded out as he threw the katchin staff Bojack about his person. Hands, shoulder, past the head, back to the hands...

"I've already said my piece, she heard it, I'm not about to say it again, that'd be disrespectful." The staff spun about him so swiftly the after-image stilled in its vorpal trail. "What's the point? It's like asking a question without getting an answer, you think that'd get her to calm down?"

The tatters of his white cloak flapped unevenly. He looked to the sky and saw the dozens of burning beams falling. I'd made a promise.

"Plowing head-first is most direct way to confronting a problem. Control the pace and your foe can't get started, sure. But there's a reason why people who can't stop winning are never satisfied."

"Its because they'll never learn to appreciate the moment! There's no satisfaction in changing the way it goes because to them, there is no other way! VALIANTIUM STAFF EXTEND!"

The black staff shone alight with piercing blue as Zaofan put his ki into it, sending a column shooting upwards into the clouds and dragging across the skyline.

"And I for one, am through with nobody ever listening to me! It gets me so FRIGGIN' NETTLED, GRAAAAAARRRGH!!!!"

With all the kinetic energy he'd foist into the weapon, as he reached to strike the first of the series of beams, he'd hoped to curve their trajectory with Kaiten in an attempt to spool them together...like a clump of noodles.

Zaofan would manage, with effort, to bend and clump the beams together, which while beneficial in concentrating the energies into a singular point... also concentrated the energies into a singular point. A massive burning projectile moving swiftly to intercept Parsley.

The Martial Chef would also catch the blurry silhouette of Inanna, as she began her attack on his brother in arms.