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

[Yun Lao]

Charco ceased to be from existence.

He had drawn from the unreality's well of power once before but knew not what to expect upon pressing the button; the concerned thoughts of what-ifs only became noticeable past the point of return. Sensory deprivation came immediately, the mortal mind and physiology ill-prepared for such a journey. Yet, he would soon become aware of all, or rather the lack of anything, around him. He took in a breath but he would find no oxygen for intake, but rather the concept of oxygen. Confusion filled his fuzz-filled thoughts, unable to fully understand the observations coming to mind. Life did not exist here, but still, he lived because it is what he believed, what he willed into nonexistence. Breath could not be taken, but still, he breathed because it was how he believed he could exist here. Thoughts strayed, bringing mixed signals as his body felt as if it were burning and freezing simultaneously because he had not chosen how he believed the temperature to be. It was as if he were the master of this realm but at the same time, a prisoner to his whimsical perspectives. Like a child pulling back a curtain, he knew nothing but instinctively knew the importance of it all.

"It's always quite the experience."

That voice. While his memories were foggy, the stranger's voice seemed to guide his mind toward recognition. Pushing past mental barriers, forgotten memories bubbled to the surface. He had forgotten his journeys in the broken remains of his mind and soul, and those who had chosen to join him, making him whole once more. No, he hadn't forgotten, he realized, the old bastard had made him forget. A bitterness filled him and he could only reflect on the lens of naivety he had previously seen the man through.

"Lao Long... Old Dragon... can't say you're a man of subtlety."

His memories drifted forth, bringing shape to the voice. A mask of leathery skin for his face, lined with wrinkles, especially the laugh lines around his right eye, its sibling hidden beneath an eyepatch from which a golden dragon medallion was stitched in. A pair of glasses sat upon the bridge of his nose, although he had long since lacked a need for them. Steel gray hair crowned his scalp, the mane held back by a loose braid at his shoulder blades, the color the same as his long, wispy beard. A body clad in a night blue changshan, embroidered with silver thread, its empty left sleeve was left to dangle uselessly. This was the Old Dragon he knew, but now he understood this being was a facade for something else, not of this universe and perhaps further beyond that.

"There was no deception to be had," Lao Long replied, his voice soft and smooth with practiced grace, "I just wasn't important at the time." Whether or not it was the truth or an influence telling him so, Charco believed him, although it made little sense.

"And you are now?"

"In the grand scheme of things, no, but, honestly, very few are. To you? Perhaps a bit more now."

Time hadn't made the cryptic bullshit any more palatable, but he would not get a chance to retort as they both felt unreality rumble. Breaking through the null in slow, circular motions, the first of them appeared, followed by several more. Various colors and hues spilled forth like the petals of blooming flowers as stars, planets, and galaxies came into view and but for just a moment, Charco had forgotten to breathe.

"Quite beautiful; this is a sight not many get to experience. The barriers that once kept your world hidden away from the multiverse have fallen. It is only a matter of time before Zenos attention is caught and this universe is judged once again... but that is not our concern right now."

"Wha... the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Gesturing to the massive figure that coalesced in the unreality only to vanish just as suddenly, he was utterly baffled, "Do you not think that is important enough?!"

Lao Long laughed softly, his remaining hand idly stroking his beard, "Perhaps... but you are far from ready."

"Bullshit!" He spat out, "That fucking bitch, Islay, said I was done!"

"For her part, yes, you were... and then you happened to have consumed a large source of creation energy."

Without warning, the Old Dragon jabbed him in the side. The jab itself lacked little power, but his body screamed in agony as if he had been sporting an injury all this time without his knowledge. He doubled over, a grunt of pain escaping his lips, leaving him unable to ask the questions that would soon be answered.

"For all of your life, your body has been unbalanced, just like the rest of your bloodline; poisoned by the corrupted hakai. To the credit of the Ogatan, you adapted, mastering this imbalance by going to the extreme of this darkness, but by taking in that creation energy, you have offset this. Your soul broken, your body imbalanced, surely you have noticed its effect on your mind? The fatigue and apathy you have felt, broken only by the extreme sensations given to you in battle."

As much as Charco wanted to deny it, the old bastard had a point. The memories of recent events had been a blur, his only excuse being that it wasn't interesting enough for him to care. As bad as a cloud cadet that he was, it had never been this bad.

"So what should I do? This is not exactly the best time to relearn how to... exist."

"Perhaps... but Islay has prepared for this."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Vegeta nods slowly to Sarada.

“I see, and no Kakarot in sight. Won’t he be jealous.”

A smirk crosses his proud face as he points one finger out towards the God.

“God or not, I’m not impressed. Now, witness one who has surpassed a God already!”

With a thunderous roar, his super Saiyan aura grows massive and blue, his hair and eyes changing to blue as sparks of divine power travel through the aura, similar to Sarada and Parsley’s red God form.

“I am Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans, and this is what happens when one achieves Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan!”

He rockets off at insane speeds, almost quicker than her Ultra Instinct speed, and actually gets in the God’s face and punches him, staggering him back. He cups his hands at his side then throws them out, a massive beam fired that pushes the God further back.

“Gallic Gun: Fire!”

“How fucking strong is this guy?” True, they had never laid a finger on him in the few short minutes since he appeared, but to stagger the Reality God by simply punching him in the face was impressive. If there was one thing Sarada loved, it was a good punch. Further, he was using her attack! She wasn’t the first person to use the Galick Gun, but how the hell did that guy know it?

“Vegeta... Prince of Saiyans...” If there was ever any confirmation that he was from another universe, that was it. She had only seen the proud Saiyan’s blue form once before: when she was shown a glimpse of him during Tiamat’s vision last year. The power was incredible. An excited grin flashed on her face as she powered up herself. She rocketed through the air, nimbly following Vegeta’s path toward the Reality God.

“Guys, we got a new ally for now. His name’s Vegeta and I think he’s from another universe,” she reported to the others.

She pulled up beside him and held her hand out. Violet energies coalesced in her palm, then erupted forward like a purple meteor to help push the Fusion back. “Galick Destroyer!” As the purple beam hurtled toward the Fusion, a single thin beam broke off and spiraled toward one of the earrings.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

While Held is launched high and above the God of Reality, avoiding the shards so far, the entity turns aside from Sarada and Ochazuke and watches as Efrideet hurls a speak of True Magic at him and then follows.

His scythe arcs up and down, a ribbon of altered reality forming an X shaped attack that launches to intercept the spear she hurled.

“Cross Reality: Reaper’s Send Off.”

A named attack. How quaint. Efrideet continues her surge, Sword of Damocles manifesting in her free hand. "I grow tired of your thrashing about." With Held sailing up and over, and this... 'God' divided in its focus, she slashes through the cross; intent on then slashing through the 'God' itself. Of course, nothing in this life would ever be "easy", and Efrideet would find her attempts stymied by the actions of an unknown interloper.

“I am Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans, and this is what happens when one achieves Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan!”

He rockets off at insane speeds, almost quicker than her Ultra Instinct speed, and actually gets in the God’s face and punches him, staggering him back. He cups his hands at his side then throws them out, a massive beam fired that pushes the God further back.

“Gallic Gun: Fire!”

The arrogance. The idiocy. A Saiyan, to be sure.

More powerful at least, than those childish ones she had once known; if somewhat less concerned about the welfare of others. She watches as an attack is fired off at the displaced 'God' and makes a note that where it had been displaced, and where the attack was cast would undoubtedly connect with Held's trajectory. Unfortunate to say the least, his Spear and the eye that guided it would prove useful, his death a hinderance. So Efrideet reacted accordingly, teleporting in front of the Gallic Gun, only to bisect it with the Sword of Damocles. Not only to keep Held from meeting an untimely end, but to deal with this... unknown Saiyan who felt more than anything that they should be respected and acknowledged.

"I do not care who you are."

Space buckles around her finger, as she levies it at Vegeta. "Hakai."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Goku stares, then grows excited.

“An Angel and Eternal Dragon fused!? That’s amazing!”

His hands clench.

“What an amazingly powerful foe Vegeta gets to face! If onl….”

“Oh my, you wouldn’t want a piece of him, Goku.”

Whis, the Angel, moves forward and bows slightly to Parsley and says his name is Whis.

“Princess Parsley, I do apologize for my uncle’s behavior. Rather the black sheep of the family, I’m afraid. Dear cousin Held mentioned he was causing problems, but I never thought he’d go so far as to fuse with Eldfen. How…..poorly chosen.”

He eyes Goku.

“Sakin is an Angel, like me, in actuality my uncle, brother to my father the Grand Priest. He was a rather rotten seed that was sealed away, alongside a few other co-conspirators, many years ago alongside the other ‘destroyed’ universes. Much weakened, but I infer from the Princess that he’s somehow managed to supplement his missing power, yes? Even before this fusing with the second most powerful Eternal Dragon ever?”

Meanwhile, your Observational Focus slides off the Angel, unable to get a head on him. On Beerus, however, who’s ears have peeled in vague interest, you get the feeling of a fully fledged and peak of their powers God of Destruction more powerful than Cancer or She Who Stalks had ever been.

Kakarot’s almost childlike glee at the very idea of fighting a powerful opponent, even one seemingly all-powerful, far exceeded any Saiyan Parsley had ever seen or met. She frowned, but didn’t speak on it. It may have been that he just wasn’t aware of the caliber of foe she and her friends had been fighting. Regardless, she paid it no further mind and directed her attention elsewhere. “Whis. I’m Parsley. Well met to you and your Destroyer.”

Whis the Angel, and Beerus the... God of Destruction. His power vastly outstripped the likes of Cancer and She Who Stalks. They had barely survived them; she could only hope he was friendly, or as friendly as someone like him could be. That was a hard lesson Inanna had taught her, and them. Staying on a Destroyer’s good side was a good way to stay alive. But why was this one so much powerful? Was it because he trained with an Angel? Assuming that he trained with Whis, that was.

“He’s slaughtered tens of thousands of Guardians and siphoned their Creation energy over tens of thousands of years,” she told Whis after staying silent for some time. “That was only ever temporary. He took on various allies, like the aforementioned Eldfen and destroyers Cancer, She Who Stalks, and whatever was left of Indar’en fused with a third of Asha’rah. We dispatched of those and mortally wounded Sakin, forcing him to fuse with Eldfen.”

She fell silent again, then spoke moments later. “I don’t know who ‘Vegeta’ is or how powerful he is, but he’s just been planted in a highly fatal situation. I really need to find a way back to my universe.” She looked up at the Angel. “Is it possible for you to do so?”

[grampagen]

Ochazuke, your enhanced senses and martial awareness go beyond the norm. Preternaturally, you realize you even have started sensing the patterns within the chaotic shards. What they do, which can do harm and which will do minor changes. Your speed cannot dodge them all (as many come from behind now, having circled away from the Gotengo towards you), but you instinctively know which to dodge and which to accept as you march onward.

The first shard lengthens your hair and turns it red like Zaofan’s crimson aura. The second changes your gender, where once a broad shouldered man stood a tall and equally imposing woman strides toward the new god. Another grazes your hands, and the gauntlets disappear, replaced with similar boots on your feet instead. Your mind and soul remain, despite the changes, though you now recall being a woman and a man in your memories. How passing strange, like two different sets of memories, identical, save for your gender and Kenshiko’s being different.

The God of Reality watches you move, watches you see the patterns, and a frown graces his face as he realizes you have mastered this threat. A hand tightens on his scythe, and he no longer looks quite so……arrogant.

His focus spread through the battlefield, yet worn from the expenditure, Ochazuke did not perceive it as a sudden turn of sharpness, clarity culled from this reveal. How could he, when the task had been to survey the one that made and unmade existence in a whim?

It is set into all things. All of that which surround and bind us. If there will be no avoiding this, then so be it.

The shards moved through the air toward him, whatever happened would be. There was no changing that any more than that, for he had already committed his life to the effort. Even as one after another had struck him, the thought did not extinguish through the forceful changes. Scarlet took his crown; The Master's relics displaced. The distortions took his body, and yet though the phenomenon may have sought to invert the veneer of his being, it did not shake the discipline set into the soul. It was unlike the unity set into Fusion, for this one's memories he knew as if it were his own.

Which in a sense, he had, for he had carried it silently for years.

In another life, were it not me...would she have been alive to be the one who stands here now?

The God of Reality stood aloft, and though circumstance shifted about it such that it would remain master of these demenses, though Ochazuke ceased to exist, his consciousness persisted; Ajarn Kaibyo, the Last Master of the Tiger School would cross the threshold on his behalf.

"Crumble the structure, burrow into the foundation. Affix what change you will, the cause of it all yet remains rooted with you."

Whether the truth of ten thousand years has settled in either of these hands, or settled their bloodletting to the path of another's story, as he reached through her ancestral memories, so had Kaibyo been able to reach into his life and hold all that knowledge in parallel. Emergent as the primary ego-memories to quell the feuding clans, united in purpose there was now the accumilated lineage of two reality's worth of successorship, cording an unbroken line that strengthened its ties back to the beginning. From one life to the next, at the distorted slipstream between one reality to another, Ochazuke felt her reached through to synchronize Heka between these two lives as Kaibyo walked the steps of that forgotten dream they had once held together.

The paired Tiger-Crane Form.

"Change without the burden of limitation...or even a need to will it!" She spoke brightly. "Now that's a bit of a lark now isn't it? Not exactly Godly though, by any estimation. Even this one would have to agree."

The Thousand Crane Stance augmented the elusiveness set into her boots. Ko-ou Retsukyaku, The Tiger King's Cleaving Kick started the motion at the hip, torque generated with ki set within the limb that quickly expanded, creating form to carry the snapping motion set behind blades of ki.

As the combat raged above, autonomously the next salvo of Shards approached. Through Ochazuke's perception guiding her master's intuitions, Kaibyo weaved their training together as she move threw a series of kicks, with Daigo-Tettei parrying and inverting the fundamental unreality from one Shard into the next.

[grampagen]

Evangeline looks at Asha’rah’s body, then holds her hands over the head and closes her eyes.

“Her power level is exhausted, as is her inner Creational spark, it’s why she is comatose. I can transplant by Kami energy to reignite her own spark, but I need a means of supplementing her actual power. Jack, do we have anything onboard like a senzu beam or anything Zao might have left behind?”

"Well you could, but let's not be hasty," Jack replied, "We've already drawn a short straw here since Sasheem emptied the rations. Although..."

The spectral haze clouded the senses, but for him, it seemed to switch on some sort of manic rush in his thoughts.

"...the Gotengo's drill brought down the barrier. If Sakin fused, it's because he's the one on tilt." Jack looked upward. He could practically taste the gold-pressed latinum chips of Space Vegas.

"There's more than a few Guardians in orbit, and they're holding." A few hundred thousand years of Creation reserves that had just been cast off from Sakin himself, to be exact. "We ought to be able to make the jump from here, but you'd have to work quick when we get there."

There's no way he wouldn't notice it. But there was still one more option...

The mirrored creatures grasping selves fall into the Void Tunnels and reappear in front of the God’s attack. The X shaped blast rips right through them and doesn’t stop, causing the arms and creatures to wither and die instantly. Koorimaru’s, you think this concentrated reality attack he has unleashed is more focused and won’t dissipate if it encounters something. Instead, it shreds it from reality.

After throwing the phased phantoms into the line of fire, the difference was quite pronounced indeed.

"My, my. How troublesome. And not even a bounty remains from the scythe's reaping, it all returns to nothing..."

With the command of a thought, four of the six Capsule Drones broke off, two pairs on either side.

"Uncontrolled, the effect is uncertain. These shards are curios of random chance, perhaps." The Arcosian thought aloud, heedless of wherever his words might reach.

Vegeta nods slowly to Sarada.

“I see, and no Kakarot in sight. Won’t he be jealous.”

A smirk crosses his proud face as he points one finger out towards the God.

“God or not, I’m not impressed. Now, witness one who has surpassed a God already!”

With a thunderous roar, his super Saiyan aura grows massive and blue, his hair and eyes changing to blue as sparks of divine power travel through the aura, similar to Sarada and Parsley’s red God form.

“I am Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans, and this is what happens when one achieves Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan!”

He rockets off at insane speeds, almost quicker than her Ultra Instinct speed, and actually gets in the God’s face and punches him, staggering him back. He cups his hands at his side then throws them out, a massive beam fired that pushes the God further back.

“Gallic Gun: Fire!”

Yet as the Princess had been struck and turned into a Prince with a docked tail, a theory began to steep in his mind.

"I see. Even as the creature stands as he is now, its affect is not as unlimited as it may proclaim. Though strange novelties follow in its wake, if it is truly peerless, it would have made a wish by now. Instead, it thrashes, scraping at the edge of this universe...and it seems, into another."

How rudimentary for the monkeys outside of this conflict to presume their place at the fore of it. The vein that had been swelling in his temple ever since the last rounds with Cancer beat over a twitching brow.

He had borne witness to the very origins of this universe, saw through the shadowed memories of the Gods themselves where they had imprinted upon his soul.

Perhaps there remained, even within his cold heart, a twinge of pride that defied this resolution to be merely one of a quarantined series of enumerations.

Witless fool, this Princeling. You will need guile to match your strength.

Moreover the Shards remained a threat. Silently, he began to charge the Godslayer within him, channeling the fragments of Creation and Destruction that would serve as a catalyst to unfurl True Magic itself.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Praxat, you find that your electric capabilities have been replaced with a type of poison instead that you can manipulate and control, similar to Sasheem’s Venom Mist. Your tail, not tongue, can extend and retract at incredible speeds and lengths. You also seem hardier and physically stronger/faster, though you now lack much of your electromagnetic ability.

————

Sarada, as Vegeta’s blast is bisected by Efrideet to protect Held (whom Vegeta never saw), your own hits the God but doesn’t seem to do much damage. The one thin one does strike the barrier on the earring. It turns into a swirling flight of birds that flit into the air, alerting the God that one is unprotected for the moment.

Suddenly, the God moves and plants the scythe deep in your side. Impaled on it, he swings you around, still on the blade, and flings you toward Koorimaru above.

————

Efrideet, you see not only does the swoed hold up against the reality attack but it also bisects the blue Saiyan’s attack. Oddly enough, when you fire a wave of Hakai at him, the unknown Saiyan’s hand sheathes in royal crystal blue color and punches through the Hakai (OT: much like he did to Toppa in the Tournament), somehow dissipating it.

Which should not be possible.

Vegeta looks at you after he did this and quirks an eyebrow.

“I don’t know who you are, friend or foe, but you aren’t the first to try that. Do it again, and you’ll eat that fancy sword.”

His eyes trace toward where Sarada just got stabbed and tossed, frowning.

————

Parsley, Whis nods and even Goku looks more serious. Beerus yawns then lounges on a chair, smirking a bit.

“So those legendary old GoD’s are dead. Pity, I would have liked to see what the old guard could do.”

Whis meanwhile taps his chin and thinks.

“Perhaps. The barriers between universes can be traveled through, but yours was sealed until very recently. In fact, most of it is still sealed but cracks are forming. This…..fusion shunted you through one but accidentally replaced you with Vegeta when he did so. I can probably reverse the effect, but it will take a bit of time. Five to ten minutes most likely.”

————

Koorimaru, as you gather your power you see a stabbed and wounded Sarada hurled at you at high speeds, the God of Reality not far behind.

Alongside several Shards flying behind him toward you both.

————

Kaibyo/Ochazuke, guided in your strikes, you somehow manage to direct the shards into one another. More and more fly towards you, yet the form and function of your style deflects and redirects.

The consequence of this are numerous. Some of the shards simply vanish when striking each other, fizzing out. Others, when parried, seem to create an odd sound, almost musical in nature, as the shards are formed back into the shattered reality the God has broken. Some few others seem to stop in mid-air and….float, charged with a strange humming energy.

More and more, in the subconscious of of the God, he seems to recognize the threat and more Shards come toward the martial master. The battlefield gets a bit clearer as the shards hone in on one whom can, somehow, dissipate or make the shards reform back into Reality.

————

Jack, Eva nods and slowly picks Asha’rah up.

“Good idea. In fact, if we can get to them…….”

Her eyes take on a faint glow.

“We can really hammer him with something nasty with Asha’rah’s help.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Praxat, you find that your electric capabilities have been replaced with a type of poison instead that you can manipulate and control, similar to Sasheem’s Venom Mist. Your tail, not tongue, can extend and retract at incredible speeds and lengths. You also seem hardier and physically stronger/faster, though you now lack much of your electromagnetic ability.

————

Sarada, as Vegeta’s blast is bisected by Efrideet to protect Held (whom Vegeta never saw), your own hits the God but doesn’t seem to do much damage. The one thin one does strike the barrier on the earring. It turns into a swirling flight of birds that flit into the air, alerting the God that one is unprotected for the moment.

Suddenly, the God moves and plants the scythe deep in your side. Impaled on it, he swings you around, still on the blade, and flings you toward Koorimaru above.

————

Efrideet, you see not only does the swoed hold up against the reality attack but it also bisects the blue Saiyan’s attack. Oddly enough, when you fire a wave of Hakai at him, the unknown Saiyan’s hand sheathes in royal crystal blue color and punches through the Hakai (OT: much like he did to Toppa in the Tournament), somehow dissipating it.

Which should not be possible.

Vegeta looks at you after he did this and quirks an eyebrow.

“I don’t know who you are, friend or foe, but you aren’t the first to try that. Do it again, and you’ll eat that fancy sword.”

His eyes trace toward where Sarada just got stabbed and tossed, frowning.

————

Parsley, Whis nods and even Goku looks more serious. Beerus yawns then lounges on a chair, smirking a bit.

“So those legendary old GoD’s are dead. Pity, I would have liked to see what the old guard could do.”

Whis meanwhile taps his chin and thinks.

“Perhaps. The barriers between universes can be traveled through, but yours was sealed until very recently. In fact, most of it is still sealed but cracks are forming. This…..fusion shunted you through one but accidentally replaced you with Vegeta when he did so. I can probably reverse the effect, but it will take a bit of time. Five to ten minutes most likely.”

————

Koorimaru, as you gather your power you see a stabbed and wounded Sarada hurled at you at high speeds, the God of Reality not far behind.

Alongside several Shards flying behind him toward you both.

————

Kaibyo/Ochazuke, guided in your strikes, you somehow manage to direct the shards into one another. More and more fly towards you, yet the form and function of your style deflects and redirects.

The consequence of this are numerous. Some of the shards simply vanish when striking each other, fizzing out. Others, when parried, seem to create an odd sound, almost musical in nature, as the shards are formed back into the shattered reality the God has broken. Some few others seem to stop in mid-air and….float, charged with a strange humming energy.

More and more, in the subconscious of of the God, he seems to recognize the threat and more Shards come toward the martial master. The battlefield gets a bit clearer as the shards hone in on one whom can, somehow, dissipate or make the shards reform back into Reality.

————

Jack, Eva nods and slowly picks Asha’rah up.

“Good idea. In fact, if we can get to them…….”

Her eyes take on a faint glow.

“We can really hammer him with something nasty with Asha’rah’s help.

(Heh, this body isn't half bad, yeah, I can use this. I guess this is what Earthlings mean by the saying stand in someone's shoes. I'm going to use this new body to fight to the best of my ability until I can get my old body back) Praxat thought.

[grampagen]

Koorimaru, as you gather your power you see a stabbed and wounded Sarada hurled at you at high speeds, the God of Reality not far behind.

Alongside several Shards flying behind him toward you both.

Koorimaru floated steadily, hands at his side, eyes unblinking as Sarada came hurtling towards him impaled upon a scythe.

When he started to move, the Saiyan Queen had aleady been turned intangible. One and a half seconds ought to be adequate enough for you to slide off the blade...

Phantom Phase!



Regardless, Koorimaru flew toward the God of Reality...or more precisely the scythe in flight, and clasped his hands around the handle to take it for his own.

"I appreciate the gift, but the gesture is less than generous, hoh? Allow me to return the favor!"

Seized upon the godly weapon, he would attempt to wrest it from its master along with its focus.

Doomsday Sloth!

Kaibyo/Ochazuke, guided in your strikes, you somehow manage to direct the shards into one another. More and more fly towards you, yet the form and function of your style deflects and redirects.

The consequence of this are numerous. Some of the shards simply vanish when striking each other, fizzing out. Others, when parried, seem to create an odd sound, almost musical in nature, as the shards are formed back into the shattered reality the God has broken. Some few others seem to stop in mid-air and….float, charged with a strange humming energy.

More and more, in the subconscious of of the God, he seems to recognize the threat and more Shards come toward the martial master. The battlefield gets a bit clearer as the shards hone in on one whom can, somehow, dissipate or make the shards reform back into Reality.

Two pairs of eyes peered out from a single body, and though no words were spoken, there was a silent conversation at play. Each shard that flew towards Kaibyo had been deftly parried by the narrowest ki-edge to avoid direct contact, and resonate with the specific energy frequency, they began to coalesce. Much in the way that the training of ten thousand years set had set the legacy into their bones and returned the foundation of the technique, it seemed that what the God of Reality had done in its attempt to leave this universe behind had nonetheless drawn upon it, as if its subconscious self could not transcend to create something truly new.

This is only a taste of things to come, Ochazuke spoke within their shared mind, Reaching it will be all but impossible if we cannot combat it directly.

That so? Prince Blue up there seemed to touch it just fine, Kaibyo replied. Her leg flashed out, striking and overturning more of the shards into dissipation or suspended there ebbing with the strange noise of Creation. You've come a long way from where we left each other.

A flare of energy burst the sleeves off of her gi, resonate ki shrouding Kaibyo's arms as she slashed her elbows out as more seemed to gather. They were gathering with speed and in far greater numbers, yet they could perceive them all.

In better times, you'd be face-down on a cot in the gym, surrounded by empty bottles.

That may be, but I was always paying attention. In fact, I know everything the Old Turtle passed along, my sister told you first. Remember to listen.

Standing in the middle of the approaching shards, the more they struck out at them, the more information they began to parse of their method. Their intention. Their very energy.

Drawing upon the hidden hand of the Phoenix School, Ochazuke began to draw upon the energy set in the static, singing shards as they moved with Houyoukusen.

Jack, Eva nods and slowly picks Asha’rah up.

“Good idea. In fact, if we can get to them…….”

Her eyes take on a faint glow.

“We can really hammer him with something nasty with Asha’rah’s help.

"Well...nothing to it, but to do it...although I can't really sound off in this pit of the hereafter. Maybe you can get into contact with one of the Guardians, preferably one with a ship, and I can 'port us there."

Setting Excalibur back into its scabbard, Jack rest his hand upon the hilt.

"It's a bit late for Asha'rah to make it right, but for old Arthur, this has been a long time coming."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Sarada, as Vegeta’s blast is bisected by Efrideet to protect Held (whom Vegeta never saw), your own hits the God but doesn’t seem to do much damage. The one thin one does strike the barrier on the earring. It turns into a swirling flight of birds that flit into the air, alerting the God that one is unprotected for the moment.

Suddenly, the God moves and plants the scythe deep in your side. Impaled on it, he swings you around, still on the blade, and flings you toward Koorimaru above.

Koorimaru floated steadily, hands at his side, eyes unblinking as Sarada came hurtling towards him impaled upon a scythe.

When he started to move, the Saiyan Queen had aleady been turned intangible. One and a half seconds ought to be adequate enough for you to slide off the blade...

Phantom Phase!



Regardless, Koorimaru flew toward the God of Reality...or more precisely the scythe in flight, and clasped his hands around the handle to take it for his own.

"I appreciate the gift, but the gesture is less than generous, hoh? Allow me to return the favor!"

Seized upon the godly weapon, he would attempt to wrest it from its master along with its focus.

Doomsday Sloth!

A sharp, burning pain radiated through Sarada’s side. It was a familiar sensation, but not one she would ever grow accustomed to. Her teeth gritted together. The Reality God had her impaled on his scythe like a shish kabob and there was nothing she could do to stop him from doing anything. Her Galick Destroyer had done **** all, barely left a singe mark in its wake. The only solace she could take was that the only reason she was impaled in the first place was because her ploy worked. One of the earrings was unprotected. Their chance to gain some ground was open.

When she was flung through the air with a swing of his scythe, she was helpless to stop herself but she was still grinning. Her momentum was too great to stop herself but it didn’t matter. The door was about to be cracked open again. All it took was a little push to open it all the way and bring things to an even keel once more.

Before she could sound the alarm to the others, she felt something shift in her body. The next instant, her passed right through Koorimaru. Or maybe the Arcosian passed through her. Either way, the collision that would have badly injured both of them had been suddenly averted. With more time and room to work with, she was able to orient herself and bring herself to a stop.

She side was badly bleeding. The blade had punched right through her ancient armor. Her eyes squeezed shut and she grimaced while putting a hand to the gaping wound.

Saiyan Grit

The bleeding stopped, but the wound remained. That was good enough. “One of his earrings is exposed. Someone destroy it before he can protect it again!”

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Parsley, Whis nods and even Goku looks more serious. Beerus yawns then lounges on a chair, smirking a bit.

“So those legendary old GoD’s are dead. Pity, I would have liked to see what the old guard could do.”

Whis meanwhile taps his chin and thinks.

“Perhaps. The barriers between universes can be traveled through, but yours was sealed until very recently. In fact, most of it is still sealed but cracks are forming. This…..fusion shunted you through one but accidentally replaced you with Vegeta when he did so. I can probably reverse the effect, but it will take a bit of time. Five to ten minutes most likely.”

“The cracks in these seals likely stem from Sakin taking down the barriers in our universe as part of his bid to complete his plan,” Parsley said. It sounded right, but there was honestly no way for her to be sure. And it didn’t matter anyway. “Regardless, I’m fine with waiting.”

Ten minutes at maximum wasn’t very long to do much of anything. Even idle chit-chat would be rushed with that strict a time limit. Still, she had been afforded a rare opportunity. If she understood the implication of Whis’ comments, she was in one of the unsealed universes. That entire portion of the overall multiverse was completely unadulterated by Sakin and his cohorts. How different was that universe compared to her own?

She approached Beerus. “You called the likes of Cancer and She Who Stalks the ‘old guard’. I take that to mean you took your station after Asha’rah’s rebellion?”

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Efrideet, you see not only does the swoed hold up against the reality attack but it also bisects the blue Saiyan’s attack. Oddly enough, when you fire a wave of Hakai at him, the unknown Saiyan’s hand sheathes in royal crystal blue color and punches through the Hakai (OT: much like he did to Toppa in the Tournament), somehow dissipating it.

Which should not be possible.

Vegeta looks at you after he did this and quirks an eyebrow.

“I don’t know who you are, friend or foe, but you aren’t the first to try that. Do it again, and you’ll eat that fancy sword.”

His eyes trace toward where Sarada just got stabbed and tossed, frowning.

"You carelessly attack the mortals under my protection, and dare to bark and threaten?" Efrideet asks, bemused. "You're as dumb, and self-important as the other monkeys."

Were it not for the stench of of divinity that clung to him as desperately as the Saiyan 'Queen' hung onto life, it would have been enough to merely leave him be. Yet, there was something about it and the way he'd so casually dismissed the Hakai, weak as it was as an energy to begin with, that gave her pause

So she cocked her head, and peered past him.

The cracks in reality had become more pronounced, extending beyond merely the small span of sealed universes to tempt something far grander... "So that is why there are more of you. How quaint." More than that however, if she focused her attentions, she could almost make out the sounds of...

“Perhaps. ----- between universes --------------------------------------h, ------------sea--ed until very recently. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------forming. This…-----------------------------------------------can ---ev the -----------ten m-in---s.”

Fragments of exposition.

Undoubtedly some manner of explanation for... something that should be easily overcome. Efrideet sensed Eldkin? Sackthorn? Focus its sights on Ochazuke, and Koorimaru and reasoned that there was time enough to deal with this unwelcome earsore.

"Begone. This is not your fight, boy."

True Magic glyphs manifested in her palms, before disappearing. Only to reappear on the Saiyan. With a dismissive gesture, she triggered them, tapping into Inanna's oft used ability to traverse between dimensional boundaries*, she sought to shunt him back across the Reality Fracture and send him back to the source of the voice.

*It is worth noting that Inanna (turned Efrideet) had feats for this beyond the norm. Able to jump between the living and dead realms, between universes, and ultimately was able to (when reality was weakened as it is now) punch her way out of HIFL. Before becoming suffused with True Magic.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

(Heh, this body isn't half bad, yeah, I can use this. I guess this is what Earthlings mean by the saying stand in someone's shoes. I'm going to use this new body to fight to the best of my ability until I can get my old body back) Praxat thought.

Praxat, as you adjust your get the sensation of something about to happen. A danger like sense, pinging on your awareness that something below you is about to happen. Dash is also moving around nervously, as if in anticipation.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Koorimaru floated steadily, hands at his side, eyes unblinking as Sarada came hurtling towards him impaled upon a scythe.

When he started to move, the Saiyan Queen had aleady been turned intangible. One and a half seconds ought to be adequate enough for you to slide off the blade...

Phantom Phase!



Regardless, Koorimaru flew toward the God of Reality...or more precisely the scythe in flight, and clasped his hands around the handle to take it for his own.

"I appreciate the gift, but the gesture is less than generous, hoh? Allow me to return the favor!"

Seized upon the godly weapon, he would attempt to wrest it from its master along with its focus.

Doomsday Sloth!



Two pairs of eyes peered out from a single body, and though no words were spoken, there was a silent conversation at play. Each shard that flew towards Kaibyo had been deftly parried by the narrowest ki-edge to avoid direct contact, and resonate with the specific energy frequency, they began to coalesce. Much in the way that the training of ten thousand years set had set the legacy into their bones and returned the foundation of the technique, it seemed that what the God of Reality had done in its attempt to leave this universe behind had nonetheless drawn upon it, as if its subconscious self could not transcend to create something truly new.

This is only a taste of things to come, Ochazuke spoke within their shared mind, Reaching it will be all but impossible if we cannot combat it directly.

That so? Prince Blue up there seemed to touch it just fine, Kaibyo replied. Her leg flashed out, striking and overturning more of the shards into dissipation or suspended there ebbing with the strange noise of Creation. You've come a long way from where we left each other.

A flare of energy burst the sleeves off of her gi, resonate ki shrouding Kaibyo's arms as she slashed her elbows out as more seemed to gather. They were gathering with speed and in far greater numbers, yet they could perceive them all.

In better times, you'd be face-down on a cot in the gym, surrounded by empty bottles.

That may be, but I was always paying attention. In fact, I know everything the Old Turtle passed along, my sister told you first. Remember to listen.

Standing in the middle of the approaching shards, the more they struck out at them, the more information they began to parse of their method. Their intention. Their very energy.

Drawing upon the hidden hand of the Phoenix School, Ochazuke began to draw upon the energy set in the static, singing shards as they moved with Houyoukusen.



"Well...nothing to it, but to do it...although I can't really sound off in this pit of the hereafter. Maybe you can get into contact with one of the Guardians, preferably one with a ship, and I can 'port us there."

Setting Excalibur back into its scabbard, Jack rest his hand upon the hilt.

"It's a bit late for Asha'rah to make it right, but for old Arthur, this has been a long time coming."

As Sarada passes through you, as you grasp the scythe handle mid swing, an odd combination of events occur.

You feel the Doomsday Sloth somehow slide off the God of Reality, the secondary shard surrounding the other earring taking the attack and transmorphing it away (now both are exposed momentarily).

The second thing that happens is when Koorimaru grasps the scythe, his hands start to change. Imbued with reality itself, channeled through his touch, the God of Reality changes Koorimaru. Gone is the Icer body, replaced instead with a warm blooded humanoid with a strange monkey tail instead of his glorious long one.

Koorimaru’s was a Saiyan now.

The God of Reality leans in and smirks on its alien face.

“How ironic.”

A hand punches Koorimaru in the chest and send him flying straight at Sarada, grip loosened from the shaft of the weapon.


—————

More and more the being that was both Kaibyo and Ochazuke saw the intent behind the shards. At first random, chaotic even, the longer the God of Reality remained the more he could divide each shard to have different effects. But to do so, they could feel the God needed to parse his attention somewhat. To direct their change, his attention could not be divided from his fight, so they were more beset by random iccurabces than our right malice (though some did fly at them. Ones that would turn them into lava, or a rotted corpse. Petrify them or send them into the nearest sun, amongst others).

More and more as they pull on that singing stabilized reconstructed shards, they can feel hands reaching out to help them. Ghosts of former masters, former students, past and present, could of been and were, deflecting or redirecting shards into each other. Glimpses of long gone faces that flicker in for a moment and then disappear.

10,000 years of martial mastery, and all its students, aiding at the final battle.

—————

Jack, as Eva is contemplating this, she nods and her eyes flash.

“Meagan.”

Jinzi’s wife’s astral image appears before them both.

“How can I help? I have a small ship I’m currently on. Need a ride?”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

A sharp, burning pain radiated through Sarada’s side. It was a familiar sensation, but not one she would ever grow accustomed to. Her teeth gritted together. The Reality God had her impaled on his scythe like a shish kabob and there was nothing she could do to stop him from doing anything. Her Galick Destroyer had done **** all, barely left a singe mark in its wake. The only solace she could take was that the only reason she was impaled in the first place was because her ploy worked. One of the earrings was unprotected. Their chance to gain some ground was open.

When she was flung through the air with a swing of his scythe, she was helpless to stop herself but she was still grinning. Her momentum was too great to stop herself but it didn’t matter. The door was about to be cracked open again. All it took was a little push to open it all the way and bring things to an even keel once more.

Before she could sound the alarm to the others, she felt something shift in her body. The next instant, her passed right through Koorimaru. Or maybe the Arcosian passed through her. Either way, the collision that would have badly injured both of them had been suddenly averted. With more time and room to work with, she was able to orient herself and bring herself to a stop.

She side was badly bleeding. The blade had punched right through her ancient armor. Her eyes squeezed shut and she grimaced while putting a hand to the gaping wound.

Saiyan Grit

The bleeding stopped, but the wound remained. That was good enough. “One of his earrings is exposed. Someone destroy it before he can protect it again!”

Sarada, where the blade punched through you start to see a crystal like growth spreading across your skin.

It seems all aspects of the weapon have altering properties.