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

[grampagen]

Still kneeling. This new, and at the same time familiar entity, eyed Ochazuke curiously with golden-eyes. When she finally responded, her voice was soft, unsure.

"Hope?"

BGM: Sirius

As the entity that had once been the Oni That Was crawled from the cinders of the despair that once took her, Ochazuke slowed for a moment to draw deeply his breaths as he beheld her. Besides the heat and light, the strange, cosmic tone struck form the impact reverberating across the world had momentarily numbed all his bodily senses. And yet despite it all, somehow, he'd known the result had been worth the risk.

"Ashes rendered from brittle bodies, impure slags molten, cast to vapours. But whatsoever the quantity it takes, that which the flame does not consume, it changes," he said, turning his view to the Elemanti planet above. "This time, it is the Archon Lasair whose lesson you inherit."

Ochazuke gripped the Forger's Hammer with both hands, for he felt an incredible weight pon them. Despite what he'd done with the help of Zaofan and Jack, what they'd managed was dulled by the sensation he'd felt when he'd reached across the Cosmic Leyline.

"Much the same, this is all a game to them," he said. "Sakin's toyed with innumerable lives as though he could cast them off or make them currency in his fell wager. In an instant, on nothing more bit a whim, he's brought the end to hundreds of worlds."

Drawing a breath between his teeth, a low hiss accented it subtly. Drawing upon whatever energy he remained, he put his focus once again behind the hammer.

"Why would a God of Rebirth upon his Forsworn throne sworn to his truth strike down those he'd taken such pains to speak his promise to? Though his might is great and his powers vastly beyond anything since the creation of this universe, therein lies the contradiction."

Expanding his consciousness through the planetary Genius Loci of Reshlan, Ochazuke then reached once more across the Cosmic Leyline, carrying his sense sublime across the familiar paths wrought by the Guardians' Network and the pitted calamity where Sakin had fallen his hand.

"A cruel manner of a godly way, nothing more than an obfuscation of the truth, cheh! If this is divinity without ideals, there can be no faith but what is offered, and rather than be penitent to spare his wrate, they rejected Sakin! Yet if he sought to silence their dissention, it's already too late."

Whatever had transpired, for good or ill, he'd nonetheless behold the entirety of the matter that spanned the stars. For the stubbornness of mortals and guardians had been notorious for along time now. It is nigh impossible to crush people who still have a spirit, and through the losses that echoed throughout the ages, this was a story he and his martial brethren on Earth had rewritten before.

Hundreds of planets had died, their souls departed. And yet the voices of those who believe in something higher - something more - than themselves, their very will, fed into the spark of Heka roaring like an unquenchable fire spreading across all the universe. And so long as there are those that hear them, much like the memories of Cleos held by the Palantine, that would never fade. Not as long as there was somebody to hear them.

Fanning the spark of Kikojutsu once more, in exchange for a portion of the time he'd had remaining in this live, Ochazuke lift the hammer skyward and rallied the Heka Flow of the Universe to their group upon a fixed point.

世界軸: 螺旋

Sekai Jiku: Rasen [Axis Mundi: Spiral]

OOC:
Charge: ???/5
Sekai Jiku: Rasen! Gathering the living wills of the cosmos where they stand in Etrina's temporal maelstrom unbound by Fate, Ochazuke seeks to amplify the voices of Universe 15! The legacy of the Palatine Cleos draws upon the hope of the universe to empower the group with the willpower to act upon it!

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Sarada had meant what she said when she told Inanna she was done fighting. If that meant she lost her nerve when it mattered the most, so be it. She had already done enough irreparable damage to their relationship as it was. Aka Manah hadn’t reactivated when the fusion ended, she noticed. It was gone, forever. It wasn’t the first time they hadn’t felt each other, but to feel nothing but her own guilt and bordering self-hatred when Inanna was standing right in front of her was the last painful nail in the coffin.

It was over.

There was nothing to do but look forward to the future, near and far. The battles to come weren’t likely to be as emotionally taxing, but carried with them a weight that was impossible to carry alone. The hopes of the entire universe rested on their collective shoulders. They had proven themselves more than capable of overcoming any obstacle. A literal mountain stood before them. Never had they faced a cabal like the one Sakin had assembled around himself. The most powerful beings in this or any universe stood by his side in direct opposition to them and creation itself. Not only that, but he had had plenty of time to set his plans into motion and even expand on them. Every single odd was stacked against them.

Despite that, they were going to win. There wasn’t a doubt in Sarada’s mind. In that regard, her nerve hadn’t wilted. It was still as resolute as ever. If there was a will, there was a way; and no one in this universe had a collective will as strong as theirs.

Before she put the horrid events on Reshlan behind her and focused on the task that laid ahead of them, she turned to offer one final forlorn look to her former wife. What she saw was nothing short of startling.

At once, the light was blotted and flood the area about her as white smoke billowed the sulphurous air of brimstone. The medium of Grave Magic itself might have telegraphed his move entirely, but for the light from Zaofan suddenly magnified in an instant.

Snake Eyes!

The flash may have only been a brief reprieve. Jack had already seen how no successive attacks worked at once, even it they were carried on the airs of a wounded realm she'd only so recently departed. With a second teleport through the smoke, the albion blade of Excalibur struck upwards, its tip grazing between her demon's wings. Though magic in all its forms might be ineffectual the charm placed upon the Sword of the King had carried through the ages a Spark of Creation. Compared to the Destruction cast from time immemorial, it was but a flicker. Once upon Vermillion's fields it had rendered unhealing wounds in many mortal conflicts. As a bane of great enemies it would only pale in comparison; yet as Jack pulled the cut upward with such force it carried him off after his own sword, there he attempted to realize true purpose of Creation Energy.

A rebuttal to the brief manifestation of Hakai made in full but a moment later as Ochazuke stole in from the side. Struck upon Inanna's guard, he brought the enchanted runes of the Forger's Hammer down directly upon those spell-sundering etchings wrought upon her Forge Arm.

Whether the bindings of spells, the intention craft behind ki, it will dash energy apart and absorb it without distinction.

As she moved within the confines of this spell Etrina wrought, no prison would hold her long, no torment stay her movement. Even True Magic would fray in time. Yet this, along with her true intention, had too had been masked for those who could not see it.



The moment Karura no Kaen had been swallowed, however, Ochazuke had pulled from a deeper reserve. The struggle had been brief, but having invoked Kikojutsu to grant him the strength to stand before her, a fragment of his very life energy now carried itself through the passages of her ki channels. And with the insights gleaned from regarding deeply the mysteries of God Ki from both Sarada and She Who Stalks, there he made his target.

The artisan's tool was despite its shape, not a weapon. The spells it crafted in the Darkling's hand actioned upon the deeper nature he'd seen behind Banespell's eyes before he'd become the Lord Forger, and when it struck down upon the monstrous thing that fed into the wounds rend across her maimed spirit, the entirety of the Known Universe was watching and glimpsed what they had known about Creation.

Its power lay in Possibility. The issue of energy that flowed from Ochazuke through Inanna carried itself, spoken upon the frequence of a Mastered Kiai.

"I release you, cosmic slave."

Blinded, and with her back exposed, Jack Knave managed to strike a mortal blow. The divine nature of the blade, Excalibur, coupled with temporal energy it had been laced with allowing it to pierce flesh, and bone, and the soul itself.

... and then she got what she'd asked for.

With a burst of energy, and sound that shook the Leylines themselves, the Forger's Hammer connected with the Forge Arm, and Inanna was brought to her knees; her howls of pain drowned out by the din that fell over the planet Reshlan, as her ruined soul was sundered and she was unmade... And were it not for the energies she had subsumed- energy Ochazuke had offered freely- that would have been the end of things. Yet, as with impure ore, the fires of Karura no Kaen had helped to separate; so when the Hammer had struck its Anvil, it was a lump of white-hot metal, true... But stripped of its impurities.

So it was as Ochazuke said: the cosmic slave, was free... and so much more.

As Ochazuke had not simply separated Inanna from the demonic energy she had consumed for survival, he had plied the power of Possibility. Merging two halves, Creation, and Destruction, to create a greater whole.

... So it was, that the Universe watched in wonder, as a mortal... A human; created something that had only been seen in all Universes, once before.

A new entity, no longer bound or burdened, by the cycle of stagnation, and decay.

Further still, a mortal man created something never before seen. A thing that many Gods, and many Monsters... Had tried, and failed to manage.

Born from the fragments of a twice-dead thing, who had suffered from the designs of both Gods and Monsters. An entity... a deity. The First Unbound.

A God of True Magic.

Still kneeling. This new, and at the same time familiar entity, eyed Ochazuke curiously with golden-eyes. When she finally responded, her voice was soft, unsure.

"Hope?"

Sarada stood stock still, eyes wide as Jack then Ochazuke fell upon Inanna one after the other with decisive blows that hit their mark without wavering. Ochazuke’s hammer, formerly that of Lord Forger, struck the forge arm. Like a blacksmith’s hammer striking his anvil, something new was molded from the imperfect ingot.

Even without Aka Manah, Sarada didn’t have to wonder what kind of pain Inanna had been subjected to. A million billion screams from ever cell in her body crying out in torment as they were unmade coalesced in the back of her throat like an agonized miasma and was unleashed upon the world in a single, collect scream. Even that, though, was drowned out by the deafening, rumbling clangour that crossed the entire planet the moment hammer met forge.

In the end, Sarada could do nothing but watch helplessly wait for the final result of the sudden offensive to reveal itself.

There was an irony in it being Jack who set everything off that didn’t escape her. By literally stabbing her in the back, no less.

“...is she...” Avoca started to ask.

“She’s gone,” Parsley said in answer to the unfinished question. “Unmade.”

She was right. Even with their bond no more, Sarada knew that the woman known as Inanna, formerly Ishtar, was gone. In her place was... something else. Someone new. Her head tilted as she beheld the woman kneeling on the ground where Inanna once stood. She looked similar, yet completely different. More demonic than even Inanna looked when compared to her long lost Oni.

Her body took a step toward her before her brain even gave her foot the command. Then another and another until she was walking full stride toward her.

“True Magic,” she heard Parsley say in a hushed whisper.

She knew that to be that ultimate magic or whatever that Alakazah and other dragons used to grant wishes, made from the perfect blend of Creation and Destruction. Hammer met forge and created an entirely new being from the imperfect ingots of a tormented and frazzled woman.

Inanna was no more. At last, she could finally rest.

Sarada stopped in front of the new being and offered a hand to help her to her feet. “Hi. Do you have a name?”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

The list of planets destroyed was short thus far, but harrowing. Half of them were where Sarada and Parsley's allies were from. Her heart felt heavy, even as her head thrummed painfully. The day had extracted an already impossibly heavy toll and it threatened to take a personal turn as Sakin turned his attention to the universe and sought to take full advantage of the untimely distraction on Reshlan. 'Don... Don't strain yourself. I'll help.'

She breathed in shakily. Her lungs felt like they were on fire, but she persisted. Creation energy bubbled up from within her to bolster her efforts. Her senses shot outward, past Planet Sarada and the galaxy that held it, and into the greater universe. Her teeth grit together by the strain of the monumental task. She fought through it and peered across the stars to see what other worlds had been lost.

The burden is lessened to you both.

The tally of allies gone grows.

The Promethean homeworld, Cleos homeworld, the Kitani homeworld, one of the Saiyan colony worlds, the list grows.

Almost everywhere where they had either been, or where they had connections too.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

BGM: Sirius

As the entity that had once been the Oni That Was crawled from the cinders of the despair that once took her, Ochazuke slowed for a moment to draw deeply his breaths as he beheld her. Besides the heat and light, the strange, cosmic tone struck form the impact reverberating across the world had momentarily numbed all his bodily senses. And yet despite it all, somehow, he'd known the result had been worth the risk.

"Ashes rendered from brittle bodies, impure slags molten, cast to vapours. But whatsoever the quantity it takes, that which the flame does not consume, it changes," he said, turning his view to the Elemanti planet above. "This time, it is the Archon Lasair whose lesson you inherit."

Ochazuke gripped the Forger's Hammer with both hands, for he felt an incredible weight pon them. Despite what he'd done with the help of Zaofan and Jack, what they'd managed was dulled by the sensation he'd felt when he'd reached across the Cosmic Leyline.

"Much the same, this is all a game to them," he said. "Sakin's toyed with innumerable lives as though he could cast them off or make them currency in his fell wager. In an instant, on nothing more bit a whim, he's brought the end to hundreds of worlds."

Drawing a breath between his teeth, a low hiss accented it subtly. Drawing upon whatever energy he remained, he put his focus once again behind the hammer.

"Why would a God of Rebirth upon his Forsworn throne sworn to his truth strike down those he'd taken such pains to speak his promise to? Though his might is great and his powers vastly beyond anything since the creation of this universe, therein lies the contradiction."

Expanding his consciousness through the planetary Genius Loci of Reshlan, Ochazuke then reached once more across the Cosmic Leyline, carrying his sense sublime across the familiar paths wrought by the Guardians' Network and the pitted calamity where Sakin had fallen his hand.

"A cruel manner of a godly way, nothing more than an obfuscation of the truth, cheh! If this is divinity without ideals, there can be no faith but what is offered, and rather than be penitent to spare his wrate, they rejected Sakin! Yet if he sought to silence their dissention, it's already too late."

Whatever had transpired, for good or ill, he'd nonetheless behold the entirety of the matter that spanned the stars. For the stubbornness of mortals and guardians had been notorious for along time now. It is nigh impossible to crush people who still have a spirit, and through the losses that echoed throughout the ages, this was a story he and his martial brethren on Earth had rewritten before.

Hundreds of planets had died, their souls departed. And yet the voices of those who believe in something higher - something more - than themselves, their very will, fed into the spark of Heka roaring like an unquenchable fire spreading across all the universe. And so long as there are those that hear them, much like the memories of Cleos held by the Palantine, that would never fade. Not as long as there was somebody to hear them.

Fanning the spark of Kikojutsu once more, in exchange for a portion of the time he'd had remaining in this live, Ochazuke lift the hammer skyward and rallied the Heka Flow of the Universe to their group upon a fixed point.

世界軸: 螺旋

Sekai Jiku: Rasen [Axis Mundi: Spiral]

OOC:
Charge: ???/5
Sekai Jiku: Rasen! Gathering the living wills of the cosmos where they stand in Etrina's temporal maelstrom unbound by Fate, Ochazuke seeks to amplify the voices of Universe 15! The legacy of the Palatine Cleos draws upon the hope of the universe to empower the group with the willpower to act upon it!

A force of energy flows through Ochazuke as he does just that. For a moment, Ochazuke is as connected to Universe 15 as Asha’rah must have been when she created it.

He has the will, he has the amplification.

What does he do with it?

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

( What the hell did I just witness. I saw the mental screams of my people. My planet Qaceria is gone, but how?) Praxat thought.

( What about my mother, my father, my grandfather, and my siblings? What about Althena, wait, Althena isn't a part of my people she's technically not a Toadian. I didn't see the screams of Althena, and my great-great uncle's people, so maybe his planet Amperior is okay?) Praxat thought.

( This hurts so much the pain is unbearable, I feel like I just want to die, but I have to pull through. I will find whoever is responsible for what I witness and I will make them pay! However, even in anger, I must not lose control, I must keep myself in a state of tranquility even when I'm angry, ) Praxat thought.

( I must remember Uncle Bulllick's teachings. Wait, they are other Toadians besides me who are part of the Galaxy Police. So some of my people may still be alive, those who weren't on Qaceria. ) Praxat thought.

( Hmm, it is quite odd I was able to push my electroreception enough to break through that massive energy disturbance in the air. I thought for sure I would pass out, and I never thought electroreception would be capable of this, but what do I know I only recently developed it. Well, I always had it but until I had to develop it, it was undeveloped. Earth's sharks, fish, rays, salamanders, caecilians, Guiana dolphins, bees, and monotreme also have this same sense,) Praxat thought.

( Also this wave of energy I'm seeing. What connection does it have to the electromagnetic spectrum? Damn my blindfold is getting stained by all this blood,) Praxat thought

( Wait my home planet Qaceria being gone also means my favorite Qaceria anime is gone, and so are the many Q-Horror games I never got the chance to play. not to mention with my home planet Qaceria gone now, The anime base on my ancestor Disdemona's travelogues, titled Adventures of Disdemona: Legends Never Die. Will never be finished, not unless there's a way to bring my planet back, ) Parxat thought.

( Wait, there might be some of my people on other planets like Earth. My home planet Qaceria did have advanced portal technology. In fact, some may even be on Earth right now,) Praxat thought.

Your senses are being bombarded by what Inanna has become and what Ochazuke is doing. It’s beautiful, like a rainbow after a thunderstorm, and for a moment the horror you felt is drowned out by whatever has just happened.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Caliban stands, a smile on his face as his eyes weep silent tears.

“Amazing. In all my life, I had never hoped to see this. Aye, lass, well done Inanna. You’ve transcended all of us. Well done.”

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Your senses are being bombarded by what Inanna has become and what Ochazuke is doing. It’s beautiful, like a rainbow after a thunderstorm, and for a moment the horror you felt is drowned out by whatever has just happened.

( What is this? It's so beautiful. Makes me feel at peace after what I witnessed. makes me feel like easing up on my electroreception) Praxat said.

Praxat then just eases up on the active part of her electroreception. ( I really wish I could smile at something so beautiful, but I'm incapable of making facial expressions like Humans and Saiyans,) Praxat thought.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Inanna was no more. At last, she could finally rest.

Sarada stopped in front of the new being and offered a hand to help her to her feet. “Hi. Do you have a name?”

Caliban stands, a smile on his face as his eyes weep silent tears.

“Amazing. In all my life, I had never hoped to see this. Aye, lass, well done Inanna. You’ve transcended all of us. Well done.”

She looked from one, to the other, saying nothing.

Instead, she looked down at her hands, eyes wide and curious, as she considered the comment, and question. ... A name?

In the end, she chose not to take the Saiyans hand, standing slowly, under her own power. It felt so foreign, this place. These people, and yet... She had fought beside them, time and again. First as Ishtar, then Inanna; laboring hard to right the wrongs of her antecedents and be more than the prison that their destiny demanded.

... only to suffer, and die.

That said, The Divine Goblin had called her by a name. She spoke aloud, then. More sure than before, but still soft.

"Inanna... Yes. That is who I was." She looked at them then, a frown tugging at the corner of her mouth as remembered. "Poor thing. To have lived, and died so broken, and alone. At least now her dream of a time when she could sleep, is realized." There was a pause, as her wings furled, before she finally addressed the Saiyan's question in full.

"As for my own name, I have not decided. Refer to me as you please."

[grampagen]

A force of energy flows through Ochazuke as he does just that. For a moment, Ochazuke is as connected to Universe 15 as Asha’rah must have been when she created it.

He has the will, he has the amplification.

What does he do with it?

Drawing upon what will yet lingered through the Heka Flow, Ochazuke felt the expansion of his sense-awareness across the very makeup of the Universe itself. Yet strangely with the breadth of view, rising through the Cosmic Leylines that set the foundations of this place, there remained but silence in his heart and the seed of lingering doubt in his mind

It began the moment Sakin's proclamation had been challenged. The Fallen One had trodden upon fear, the weakness inherent in desire to make his word law.

They were only words, then. That was what he'd thought as the Stargates activated, and the satellites over Reshlan captured their fight and broadcast it to innumerable eyes. He'd felt the spark of it the moment Zaofan cast the cape that was now tatters upon an empty frame around his shoulders. What they'd built over the last year carried the cacophonous answer that echoed with every technique cast, and where they stood firm to shed blood with their comrades, he'd only become increasingly aware of the crushing weight of the faith of the universe upon.

Now that same force that surrounded them felt as if a cage, and with it came a profound emptiness within; a sentiment he'd only felt before in echoes of Zaofan's despair at the felled capital in ruins about them, expanded across the entirety of the hundreds of worlds silenced at once. A Satori that carried with it unbridled revelation on the auspices of enlightenment.

Now, at the very edge of their hope, what to do indeed?

If this had been the view as the Creator had envisioned it, fragmented and ruined, he would reject the affect approaching this nascent godhead, and all the vanities that sprang from it in the numbness of detachment.

Rather, for those whose mortal view had been shut forever, Ochazuke could only observe the state of the Universe as it was as a single man to regard it without preconception, and listen for the echoes of those voices that had been silenced...and those that remained.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Drawing upon what will yet lingered through the Heka Flow, Ochazuke felt the expansion of his sense-awareness across the very makeup of the Universe itself. Yet strangely with the breadth of view, rising through the Cosmic Leylines that set the foundations of this place, there remained but silence in his heart and the seed of lingering doubt in his mind

It began the moment Sakin's proclamation had been challenged. The Fallen One had trodden upon fear, the weakness inherent in desire to make his word law.

They were only words, then. That was what he'd thought as the Stargates activated, and the satellites over Reshlan captured their fight and broadcast it to innumerable eyes. He'd felt the spark of it the moment Zaofan cast the cape that was now tatters upon an empty frame around his shoulders. What they'd built over the last year carried the cacophonous answer that echoed with every technique cast, and where they stood firm to shed blood with their comrades, he'd only become increasingly aware of the crushing weight of the faith of the universe upon.

Now that same force that surrounded them felt as if a cage, and with it came a profound emptiness within; a sentiment he'd only felt before in echoes of Zaofan's despair at the felled capital in ruins about them, expanded across the entirety of the hundreds of worlds silenced at once. A Satori that carried with it unbridled revelation on the auspices of enlightenment.

Now, at the very edge of their hope, what to do indeed?

If this had been the view as the Creator had envisioned it, fragmented and ruined, he would reject the affect approaching this nascent godhead, and all the vanities that sprang from it in the numbness of detachment.

Rather, for those whose mortal view had been shut forever, Ochazuke could only observe the state of the Universe as it was as a single man to regard it without preconception, and listen for the echoes of those voices that had been silenced...and those that remained.

He hears them.

Fear. Anger. Despair.

The echoes of those lost, worlds and individuals alike, buffet Ochazuke and he can feel that last remnants of their will.

However, even more than those he can feel the determination of thousands of worlds and billions of people as well.

Hope. Determination. And a stubbornness to never let this ‘Sakin’ reign over them.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The burden is lessened to you both.

The tally of allies gone grows.

The Promethean homeworld, Cleos homeworld, the Kitani homeworld, one of the Saiyan colony worlds, the list grows.

Almost everywhere where they had either been, or where they had connections too.

Eva’s burden was shared with Maiz. With that burden came the pain that Earth’s guardian had been shouldering. Already, her head began throbbing. As her divine senses crossed the universe, she came across voids in space where she knew planets had been previously located. Throughout her travels to introduce and engender a working relationship with her fellow Guardians, Maiz came across many worlds. The Kitani and Promethean homeworlds were just two of many. They were gone, blinked out of existence by some horrible means.

Langal was gone, as well. “No,” she murmured. She felt a great swell of pain rise in her chest and nestle within the already overburdened bubble of anguish she had forced herself to take on.

“What’s wrong?” Mato’s voice came from a short distance away.

“Langal was destroyed.” Even though she knew it to be true, the words still sounded foreign. They had already lost two worlds, Turrip and Vocado. A third was just... “I have to tell Sarada.” Even beyond Langal and losing millions of their own people, countless billions being wiped out was a clear sign of escalation. Any one of them could have been next.

Mato’s response was muted. There was a deep thrumming in her ears. Was it her own heartbeat? The massive migraine that had only intensified since she began sharing Eva’s work made it feel like her head was about to explode or crack apart or something. She took a deep breath and then another, and then reached out across the stars.

...

In the end, she chose not to take the Saiyans hand, standing slowly, under her own power. It felt so foreign, this place. These people, and yet... She had fought beside them, time and again. First as Ishtar, then Inanna; laboring hard to right the wrongs of her antecedents and be more than the prison that their destiny demanded.

... only to suffer, and die.

That said, The Divine Goblin had called her by a name. She spoke aloud, then. More sure than before, but still soft.

"Inanna... Yes. That is who I was." She looked at them then, a frown tugging at the corner of her mouth as remembered. "Poor thing. To have lived, and died so broken, and alone. At least now her dream of a time when she could sleep, is realized." There was a pause, as her wings furled, before she finally addressed the Saiyan's question in full.

"As for my own name, I have not decided. Refer to me as you please."

Her hand rejected, Sarada let it fall to her side. “Yes. She was misunderstood.” All she had left at that point were what-ifs and should-haves. Neither helped her in any way and they both only served to confirm what she already knew: what had just happened was her fault. There was no other way she could look at it. Parsley shared the blame, but Sarada didn’t have it in her to blame anyone else but herself. It wouldn’t have done any good anyway.

While she was definitely one to dwell on her own short-comings, there wasn’t any time for that. The path forward had been cleared. All they had to do was walk through and face their destiny.

“Well, now you're a True Magic god, huh?" She smiled softly. "That's pretty damn cool. But no name? We'll have to fix that.” She could call her whatever she wanted until New Being decided on a new name for herself. The temptation to call her “Ishtar” for the time being was strong, but she resisted. Instead, she...

‘Sarada!’

Maiz’s voice echoed through her head with a resonance that could only be compared to being the lone person screaming into a microphone in an empty amphitheater. She winced and rubbed her temple. ‘Yes, Maiz?’ Without doubt, she had been watching the... festivities and intended on voicing her disappointment at literally everything.

‘I need you to listen carefully.’ There was a graveness in her ethereal voice that killed any preconception Sarada had about what she was about to say. Her brow began to furrow before she even started speaking again. ‘Sakin had been destroying dozens of worlds in the last few minutes. Eva and I are trying to determine which worlds have fallen. So far: Nevada Prime, Langal, Chroma, the Kitani, Prometheum, and Toadian homeworlds, Cleos’ homeworld, and Namek. They’re gone. Any world could be next. We’ve run out of time.’

Maiz succinctly and almost clinically listed off several worlds that had been destroyed. Sarada could hear the strain, the pain, and the frustration as she spoke. She was helpless. Any world could have been next.

Out of the worlds she listed, Sarada had been to four. Langal was the most obvious. Her reaction was stunted. She let out a choked grunt. A lump had formed in her throat. Langal was the one world out of entire empire that represented the Saiyan race’s turnaround most perfectly. The people there turned away from their tyrannical ways and tried to become productive members of the galactic community. Langal University housed not just bright young Saiyan minds, but minds belonging to countless races. All of it, their recorded history, their efforts to unlock the secrets of their race’s past, lives both innocent and not so much, all of it was gone. With hundreds of worlds wiped out, she wasn’t sure if a single dragon could bring it all back.

‘...Okay.’

It was all she could say in return. What else could she say? What lame platitude, what tired and played out anecdote could she dole out that could properly encapsulate what she was feeling? What could truly describe the feeling that she had failed not only her own people, again, but the people of a hundred worlds and counting? It fell to them to save the universe and give the people within it a future worth living in; one free from divine tyrants and apathetic despots. For billions, that hope came to a sudden and abrupt end.

She wondered if Held knew.

“I’m sorry,” she said to the woman, voice tight from restrained emotion. After that, she couldn’t find the words to explain. ‘Something came up’ didn’t exactly do it justice. “A lot of people just died suddenly.”

With that, she turned and walked toward Held. “Held?”

[bruceleegreyhulk]

(I feel so at peace I'm just going to think about something. One question on my mind is how the Intoadians went from being on Qaceria to Amperior more than two thousand years ago? More than two thousand years ago, Qaceria didn't have any means to travel to other planets,) Praxat thought.

( Only thing I can guess is something or someone transported the Intoadians from Qaceria to Amperior. This is something I could have known already, but I never bother asking any Intoadian when I was on Amperior. Figured I didn't want to open up the can of worms involving the history between Toadians and Intoadians in ancient Qaceria,) Praxat thought.

( Wait, do the people of Amperior even like being call Intoadians? Well, I guess they didn't mind when calling them it. So, maybe it's not demeaning?) Praxat thought.

( It is after all just a name. One that I just use to classify a subspecies in a layman's term, and I don't mean anything hateful by it, ) Praxat thought.


( Well, that's enough of that, and I promise to make whoever destroyed my homeworld Qaceria pay,) Praxat thought.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Parsley had remained silent, and impatient, ever since Inanna refrained from erasing her sister from existence. How quickly things devolved still boggled her mind, but she couldn't avoid laying at least some of the blame at her own feet. Her pragmatic approach to everything, combined with the elevated stress of having the fate of the universe in their hands, led to some questionable decisions on her part. Decisions like deciding to kill Inanna when talking things out would have settled things more peacefully. That was supported by the erroneous - but plausible at the time - assumption that she was going for the kill, as evidenced by her trying to kill Ochazuke right away. Interesting that she chose to use lethal force with him initially and no one else.

What was done was done. It couldn't be changed, nor should it have been. Time wasn't something to be meddled with to correct every petty and costly error. Besides, things turned out better than they would have had "peace" been pursued with gusto. The being standing before her was a never-before-seen marvel, if the tears running down Caliban's eyes were any indication. Powered by True Magic, she may very well have been the most powerful creature in the universe. A far cry from the fractured, tormented soul that had been standing there just moments earlier.

She approached Caliban from the side and stood a short distance from him. "Things have escalated to an extreme degree," she stated in reference to Ochazuke's revelation that multiple worlds had been destroyed very recently. "Sakin has used this distraction to his full advantage. Based on what you know of him and his Cabal and what you've seen just now... can we win?"

It was a simple question that had little to no bearing on the battles ahead, but all the same she found herself dreading his pending answer.

[Miburo]

For a moment, the Nevadian wondered if he was in a fever dream of some sort. Perhaps his attempt to remake his spear had gone awry, and he had failed to solve the challenge that was poised to overtake both himself and Crazy Horn.

Perhaps this was the last dying gasps of his brain, unable--nay, unwilling--to make peace with the reality of the situation. That would make more sense than the notion that what had transpired before him was real.

Inanna and the others at odds, unable to come to terms, a desperate battle being fought for.....Well, Held hadn't the foggiest notion. He had arrived long after the time for talk had ended. It was only a desperate struggle. Held could not discern why the fighting had started, thus he could not discern who to aid.

Some words seemed to be exchanged from time to time, sure. They might as well have been gibberish at best, or mere riddles at worst. It was all meaningless to the Nevadian. He was not away reforging his spear that long, and the animosity that coated the battlefield was palpable.

It was his assumption that whatever transpired now, had its seeds sown during the months following his convalescence in Otherworld.

How could he negotiate an end to hostilities he knew nothing about? There was something 'off' about Inanna since he had seen her last to be sure--Although it might have been a figment of his imagination--now that he had focused his attention upon her, but the entire universe was off at this point.

It took the efforts of Ochazuke, Jack and Zaofan to elucidate the situation, blows of hammer and strikes of sword serving to drive out numerous deep, overwhelming impurities that apparently festered beneath the Oni's surface. However, the various shades and depth of color were different from Inanna's own energies. It was separate from her, both a part of her, and yet not. Perhaps had he not been so completely confounded by the situation, he would have noticed sooner.

.....What the hell?

And he would have still be utterly baffled as to how such a thing had occurred. Even within a being of Inanna's age and abilities, energy does not simply become so impure and fragmented to such an egregious extent.

And yet, Ochazuke and the others seemed to have wrung out more from her than there were fighters on the field of battle.

BGM: Sirius

As the entity that had once been the Oni That Was crawled from the cinders of the despair that once took her, Ochazuke slowed for a moment to draw deeply his breaths as he beheld her. Besides the heat and light, the strange, cosmic tone struck form the impact reverberating across the world had momentarily numbed all his bodily senses. And yet despite it all, somehow, he'd known the result had been worth the risk.

"Ashes rendered from brittle bodies, impure slags molten, cast to vapours. But whatsoever the quantity it takes, that which the flame does not consume, it changes," he said, turning his view to the Elemanti planet above. "This time, it is the Archon Lasair whose lesson you inherit."

Ochazuke gripped the Forger's Hammer with both hands, for he felt an incredible weight pon them. Despite what he'd done with the help of Zaofan and Jack, what they'd managed was dulled by the sensation he'd felt when he'd reached across the Cosmic Leyline.

"Much the same, this is all a game to them," he said. "Sakin's toyed with innumerable lives as though he could cast them off or make them currency in his fell wager. In an instant, on nothing more bit a whim, he's brought the end to hundreds of worlds."

Drawing a breath between his teeth, a low hiss accented it subtly. Drawing upon whatever energy he remained, he put his focus once again behind the hammer.

"Why would a God of Rebirth upon his Forsworn throne sworn to his truth strike down those he'd taken such pains to speak his promise to? Though his might is great and his powers vastly beyond anything since the creation of this universe, therein lies the contradiction."

Expanding his consciousness through the planetary Genius Loci of Reshlan, Ochazuke then reached once more across the Cosmic Leyline, carrying his sense sublime across the familiar paths wrought by the Guardians' Network and the pitted calamity where Sakin had fallen his hand.

"A cruel manner of a godly way, nothing more than an obfuscation of the truth, cheh! If this is divinity without ideals, there can be no faith but what is offered, and rather than be penitent to spare his wrate, they rejected Sakin! Yet if he sought to silence their dissention, it's already too late."

Whatever had transpired, for good or ill, he'd nonetheless behold the entirety of the matter that spanned the stars. For the stubbornness of mortals and guardians had been notorious for along time now. It is nigh impossible to crush people who still have a spirit, and through the losses that echoed throughout the ages, this was a story he and his martial brethren on Earth had rewritten before.

Hundreds of planets had died, their souls departed. And yet the voices of those who believe in something higher - something more - than themselves, their very will, fed into the spark of Heka roaring like an unquenchable fire spreading across all the universe. And so long as there are those that hear them, much like the memories of Cleos held by the Palantine, that would never fade. Not as long as there was somebody to hear them.

Fanning the spark of Kikojutsu once more, in exchange for a portion of the time he'd had remaining in this live, Ochazuke lift the hammer skyward and rallied the Heka Flow of the Universe to their group upon a fixed point.

世界軸: 螺旋

Sekai Jiku: Rasen [Axis Mundi: Spiral]

OOC:
Charge: ???/5
Sekai Jiku: Rasen! Gathering the living wills of the cosmos where they stand in Etrina's temporal maelstrom unbound by Fate, Ochazuke seeks to amplify the voices of Universe 15! The legacy of the Palatine Cleos draws upon the hope of the universe to empower the group with the willpower to act upon it!

It was at this point, Held felt certain he was still alive, and yet bewildered. He was unlikely to be so creative while sober as to imagine such a luminous visage. Even the most lucid of dreams paled in comparison to the light Ochazuke had managed to spring forth.

It sent shivers down the Nevadians spine. The light, if only for a moment, dispelled the darkness and confusion felt by the Nevadian.

Still, Ochazuke was never one to do anything without reason.....Whatever had motivated him to find such a dazzling display necessary had made the Nevadian feel far more anxious than he had a moment prior.

.....It's like I'm lost in wonderland.

She wondered if Held knew.

“I’m sorry,” she said to the woman, voice tight from restrained emotion. After that, she couldn’t find the words to explain. ‘Something came up’ didn’t exactly do it justice. “A lot of people just died suddenly.”

With that, she turned and walked toward Held. “Held?”

The Nevadian rubbed his temples as he attempted to process aftermath of the absolute pandemonium that had transpired in the span of minutes. He simply decided to push it from his sphere of concern. Whatever tension between the party there was seemed to be 'resolved' more or less. He would content himself with the idea that it was more or less a misunderstanding. A story to share over drinks.

"Hmm?" He turned towards a familiar voice. She sounded....tired, to put it mildly. It was no surprise. It had been a long, confusing day.

"I'm really starting to feel like I can't turn away for five minutes without things going to hell." Held said softly, not willing to push his luck."At this point, I'm afraid to go to sleep, lest I wake up and---"

Oh. She looked more morose than she sounded, derailing the Nevadian train of thought with a glance.

....I guess it's not too surprising. Whatever this thing is with Inanna had to have troubled Sarada most of all....Still, it must have been even worse than I had assumed, judging by the expression on her face.

"You alright?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The Nevadian rubbed his temples as he attempted to process aftermath of the absolute pandemonium that had transpired in the span of minutes. He simply decided to push it from his sphere of concern. Whatever tension between the party there was seemed to be 'resolved' more or less. He would content himself with the idea that it was more or less a misunderstanding. A story to share over drinks.

"Hmm?" He turned towards a familiar voice. She sounded....tired, to put it mildly. It was no surprise. It had been a long, confusing day.

"I'm really starting to feel like I can't turn away for five minutes without things going to hell." Held said softly, not willing to push his luck."At this point, I'm afraid to go to sleep, lest I wake up and---"

Oh. She looked more morose than she sounded, derailing the Nevadian train of thought with a glance.

....I guess it's not too surprising. Whatever this thing is with Inanna had to have troubled Sarada most of all....Still, it must have been even worse than I had assumed, judging by the expression on her face.

"You alright?"

When Held began responding to Sarada's beckon as she approached him, she noticed that he was... taking things remarkably well. Confused, but not overly emotional. At least not nearly as much as she would have assumed someone who had just lost his planet and most of his race. Her footsteps were heavy and thudding until she was a short distance from him, at which point she stopped.

"Far from it," she said in answer. There was more she could say - a lot more - but none of it was as important as what she intended on saying to him. It appeared he didn't know, so it suddenly became of even greater import.

Her features softened considerable, a far cry from the usually hardened but neutral expression Held would have usually seen her carrying. "I'm... I don't know how to tell you this, so I'll just say it," she began. "I just heard from Maiz. Sakin has been destroying planets left and right for the last few minutes. ...Nevada Prime was one of them." She swallowed and offered an empathetic frown. "I'm sorry."