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

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

If the Martial Chef had the wherewithal to do it, at this moment he probably would have screamed as he was bombarded with Efrideet's offering of True Magic.

Then suddenly in an instant, he felt a transcendant warmth filling him, from the marrows to the guts. In the first instance, he felt his eyelids grow heavy, but when he opened them again, he could see everything in a strange sort of clarity, thawed from the frigid terror to a strange, subdued confidence.

The thousand, panicked thoughts, the crippling emotions, with the notion of this small miracle, he felt it pass over and through him, until he felt only the moment before him, and with it, a direct feeling drawn from the heart that seemed to slow everything down around him.

Leaning his gaze forward, he found himself staring at his hands. Right cupped over left, he reached for Etrina...and for the first time since they passed towards the Forsworn World he let out a chuckle.

Heh, what would you think of me? I wouldn't dare meddle with it. Not yet.



Drawing Sarada in from the airlock, Zaofan and Ochazuke laid her body upon a gurney, and though they affixed a sheet to preserve her modestly, it seemed as soon as gravity had righted itself, so had the bleeding resumed.

Laying his hand upon her, Ochazuke applied a stent with a ki construct, yet with all that had been hewen from the Empress, Ishiki Toei could only suspend her condition for the moment.

"...take care of her." Zaofan said. "Cancer won't let up, so I'll buy you some time to get ready."

Ochazuke nodded once, his hands directing the Ghetti Nanite drones that served this vessel to raise inertial dampeners as they affixed Sarada in a suspension field as he fought to stabilize her.

"You're going to take the fight to her, then? You've been getting reckless today. Even for former pupils...you don't have a plan, do you?"

"I haven't the foggiest," Zaofan replied as he clamped his helmet, its systems sealing him in from the elements. "However, in the thick of it, 'I do not hit..."

Ochazuke sighed as they spoke in unison. "...it hits all by itself.*"

Stepping over the trail of blood left behind in Sarada's wake, Zaofan sealed the breach on the other side of the airlock, his voice echoing through his spacesuit as he gave Ochazuke the thumbs up.

"Besides, I made a promise which I have every intention of keeping."

Then the hatch blew open and immediately, the Martial Chef was thrown backwards into space where he soon righted his flight pattern and flew directly into the fray.

Crimson Dynamite shrouded him in red, kicking up the kinetic energy that sent him hurtling forward.

The stability of his shroud, the oxygen levels displayed in the HUD of his helmet canopy, even the sound of his own breath and heartbeat all seemed to fall away. There was a strange feeling coursing through him, one which hadn't manifest since before his training with the Neo Crane School.

OOC: * Kensho has been accelerated and heightened by Efrideet's Divine Intervention!

With Sarada being tended to, Zaofan departs the ship and rockets off toward Cancer and The Beast God.

BG has done well so far. The godly aura of his races’s pinnacle of power had allowed him some leeway in terms of dealing with the Hakai, and the Kaiju-Jin had dealt several mortal blows at this point to the God of Destruction.

However, with her disciples still alive (eight now instead of twelve) she kept manifesting anew and even The Beast God was starting to grow tired. Cancer was now on the offensive, and the Beast God was purely defending at this point. Arcs of green-blue atomic lightning shot from his mouth and hands, mixed afar with deadly Hakai and the spectacle Zaofan approaches is beautiful and terrifying in equal measure. Yet oddly, he remains calm and determined.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

The great alloyed doors of the Gotengo airlock shut behind Zaofan, and as Ochazuke beheld his martial brother's presence as he made haste to battle through his Meditation field, the effect of the Divine Intervention was pronounces where it expanded the range and greater acuity of his sense-awareness. Where once holding fast to the Cosmic Leylines was like feeling a pulse reverbing through the universe, at this single instant his perceptions grew ever more minute.

There was Sarada before him. Where his ki interlaced across her broken body to reinforce its structure with Ishiki Toei an unbecoming silence stilled her presence, but for the faintest breath, the slightest changes in blood pressure. he could feel the crawl of Evangeline's psycho-somatic direction where the technologies of the Big Ghetti Star integrated themselves within the Zero System that steered the Gotengo; Zaofan took off, a madman pursuant to a battle where his opponent held every conceivable advantage, a strange stillness and confidence in his bearing.

Momentary glimpses within this narrow instance was to uncover the hidden nature of the environs in totality, and when the surface of the Forsworn World was revealed to him, a hidden piece of Sakin's plot revealed itself. They who had come to fight this Fallen Angel had the Universe behind them, yet through his preparations, he was the one that controlled the Universe - and he had every intention of keeping to his word of breaking it.

The moment was not still. Cancer had re-emerged. The Coldlight broke its flight off after rescuing Avoca and Lantro, gliding past Mecha-Durive. The Galloping sprung to flight to escape the dregs of the Cancer's haven of darkness and shadows, upon where Koorimaru, the Beast King and the Last Daughter quarreled over the hidden prize, Creation shrouded within Destruction...

Much was revealed from this Oneness with the Universe*, yet the more he had sighted, he had become aware as much of the movements of all the wills gathered to fight here today as he had that the mortal instruments were inseparable from the spatial fabric they dwelt upon; in doing so, so he had found despite this boon, his reach was all that much smaller, and the shorter the span of time to act.

It started with a word that reached the United Front, across the GP Allied band they heard him speak directly to the EDF escort vessel, direct to the ears of Jinzi Pantaloon and Kenshiko.

"There is nothing more you can do here." In brief, he laid out the circumstances before them. "Order the withdrawal to all respective homeworld spaces...but do not stop fighting, understand?"

The Ajarn of the Tiger School lowered her gaze, shadows playing over her dark face. "Heh, of course. Who the hell do you think we are?"

Even as grim melancholy spread through him, Ochazuke allowed himself a small smile. "For everything you've done for me...for ill or good...I am grateful."

Kenshiko removed her beret. Resigned, she lift her hand to a salute. "You can tell me about it yourself in person. Until then..."

"Over and out."

To experience a moment in totality was to sense the dread, the myriad fears and uncertainties. Yet, insofar as the Earth's Defense Force, discipline gradually began to prevail, and tempered passions for a time. Where they stood here, there remained a fixed point.**

"Evangeline, this means you as well. Even now, we have one last wish upon Tiamat, and you must remain to make it."

The next task required him to finesse communications beyond the space at the battlefront.

It was some time after he had perceived the nodes set up by the Guardians across the Leylines that set each world in the Universe, but eventually the transmission from the HUD of his helmet caught up where it had been carried across the Stargate signals, carrying the visage to the heart of the Saiyan Empire and the eyes of Maiz.

"Saiyans. This is Ochazuke of Earth. Who is this before me?"

He looked upon her face to spare them the worst of it. Though he could sense Parsley and Avoca, perhaps in a morbid way the visage of their Queen specifically would be what they required, for apocryphally, the craven Emperor Tundra had left her at his mercy until she had heard the voice of her people.

Tall tales had followed your words ever since we first met at Cask. The truth of the matter shall be tested, he thought. Perhaps the heart of the matter is nestled this emergent godhead of yours.

"You bore witness as she fought for you. She still continues to fight even at this moment. Now it is your turn to stand with her now."

The Forger's Hammer was held at his side. Inj a quarrel against the Old Gods...it will be tested as a matter of faith***

OOC:
* Kensho: Ochazuke's Battle Meditation has achieved a range of perception that borders on Cosmic Awareness! Is sighting the path to be ensnared by it?
** Sekai Jiku: Rasen: The Axis Mundi carried behind the Gotengo continues to serve as a rallying point for all allies, animating the collective consciousness of the Universe to serve as the fulcrum by which it turns!
*** Heka: In communicating to the wider universe, Ochazuke seeks to galvanize the hopes and will of the united peoples one last time...and to rally the fighting spirit of the Saiyans in particular.

Jinzi appears briefly like he wants to argue, like he desperately wants to see the finish line on the road he has started so long ago beside them all. But in a moment, Meagan’s voice reaches out and reminds him of their children and that she would stay to see this done.

Jinzi nods, grim lines around tired eyes, and then smirks once more.

“Give him hell, Ochazuke. Make him regret ever pissing us off and ever threatening our home. I’ll see you back on Earth, my friend. And remember, Wilhelm and Karis won’t forgive you if you don’t make it back.”

The EDF ships fall back, leaving the area. The GP ships also slowly retreat save the Coldlight, which has opted to stay and fight.

Other ships also fall back, but Ochazuke sees several smaller vessels depart the larger and remain behind. From them he can sense dozens, then a few hundred guardians remain behind to see this through. Meagan stands among them.

More ships fall back and leave, and as they do so Evangeline looks upon him and slowly shakes her head.

“No. I have already transferred co-authority over the dragonballs of Earth to Ronin Kai. I cannot, will not leave you all in this place. It has haunted me, Sakin and his parasites, Fife and the dead Guardians. I will not abandon my children here to this fate alone. If we are to face him, we shall do it together, Ochazuke.”

She smiles warmly at him, power beating around her.

“One more fight, dear Ochazuke. One more to show the universe that Sakin and all who are like him cannot beat down our light.”

As he communicates moments later with the Saiyans, his awareness primes him with knowledge that Sakin is almost ready. Moments more and the first of those new apparatuses will be fired.

Beyond that, he can also sense so many more lights in the darkness outside this place. The Saiyans, The few First Race, Threshlings, The Titans, the Prometheans and Kitani. The Humans, Namekian’s, Toadians, and Nevadians and so may more. Hundreds of species, lifting their hands and letting their power be known. Billions, then trillions of lights. Even, he is surprised, the dead join in. Across the realms of life and death, Sihn and Sheki’hinah, her Oni and the fallen Palatine and others all give their recognition and light to be shown.

Truly, the universe outside this place stands with them. And it is the most humbling and awe inspiring thing Ochazuke could know, faced with Sakin’s next move.

And just on the edge of his awareness, he feels one more person slip into the space above the Foresworn World.

Auroc of Taltok had returned. No longer mad, no longer a servant or would be God, he had come to face his former master, inspired by you all.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

As the spectacle unfolds around her, as mortals and gods alike rage against the death of everything they know, Efrideet's back is turned. Her focus on Ishtar, who slept in her embrace. The child in her arms was more than simply the second chance afforded another; but the hope and proof that renewal was possible for anyone who yearned for it... And so more than anything, Efrideet hoped to see her seen safely away.

So she held the girl close, and whispered softly.

"Sleep child, and dream of a better tomorrow... And tell our mother that I will see her soon."

With that, she held her up, and with a suffusion of True Magic would teleport the girl to Shek'hinah.

Then, with her back still turned, she would target the essence she had been aware of since arriving; and teleport right beside it.

"Hello, Genesis."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

As the spectacle unfolds around her, as mortals and gods alike rage against the death of everything they know, Efrideet's back is turned. Her focus on Ishtar, who slept in her embrace. The child in her arms was more than simply the second chance afforded another; but the hope and proof that renewal was possible for anyone who yearned for it... And so more than anything, Efrideet hoped to see her seen safely away.

So she held the girl close, and whispered softly.

"Sleep child, and dream of a better tomorrow... And tell our mother that I will see her soon."

With that, she held her up, and with a suffusion of True Magic would teleport the girl to Shek'hinah.

Then, with her back still turned, she would target the essence she had been aware of since arriving; and teleport right beside it.

"Hello, Genesis."

The sleeping child vanishes, away from the strife that is to happen.


———

Amongst the heavenly host, a small pop is heard and Sheki’hinah gasps as a young Ishtar, as she has not been in millennia, appears sleeping in her arms. The death goddess stares in amazement, then slowly sinks to the ground and holds her daughter close, crying as she whispers into the ether.

“Be safe, my daughter. Please, be safe.”


Sihn crouches down and holds her as they watch from afar the events about to play out.

———

The Forsworn World feels…..alien, to Efrideet. Other, in a way that is not similar, but at the same time is, as the Cairn Yards of old Terra. The world is not welcoming, it is a place of great staggering sorrow and pain.

And it belongs to Sakin.

Standing before her are three apparatuses. One she knows, made of old Guardian bones and saturated with corrupted creation, two she does not. Before one of them is Genesis, who turns slowly and looks at her. Eyes move up and down, and a small nod of recognition and respect follows.

“You appear……modified.”

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Both are battered and bruised (Lantro more so), but alive. You manage to help heal what damage has been done to them, though the effort is not easy.

" Okay, I'm done healing you two using my Bio-Electromagnokinesis viva control electrons to accelerate your two's cell divisions. It wasn't an easy effort to heal both of you. Due to how my healing method works, You two probably aged a little. You two were both battered and bruised before I healed you both," Praxat said.

" However you two probably didn't age by a year, maybe by 3 or 6 months," Praxat said.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The jubilant cheers eventually died down as the somber mood settled back into place. The battles hadn't been won, but hope had been reinforced. Mato glanced at the radar and noticed the invading ships beside them beginning to pull back and retreat to their respective homeworlds. "Looks like the armies are leaving."

"Then we should do the same," Senerg said. "No point in getting pointlessly killed while twiddling our thumbs."

He nodded and activated the comm link once more. "Mato to all Saiyan ships. We're going home." With that said, he gave the nod to the pilot.

Suddenly, Maiz stood from her seat and headed for the hangar. "Go on without me."

Mato flinched as the words and their meaning and implication dawned on him. He whirled around and flash-stepped in front of her. "Are you insane?!"

"No," she responded calmly. "I... have to see this through to the end. Everything went wrong the moment Sakin lured Ceriac to that damned world. I have to stay here, if only to watch him die. If I can help in any way, then that's even better." She smiled and patted him on the cheek. "I'll be fine."

Slight trembles rippled through his body as she stepped around him and continued on her way. "We... we don't have anyone else to help us."

"It will be okay, son," she said, a smile in her voice. "I've done all I could to guide our people back to the right path, the path we walked before Ceriac died. We've done a great deal to atone for our sins, and I intend on seeing that through to the end also."

He could see that her mind wasn't going to be changed, so he sighed and nodded. "Then be careful."

"I'll see you soon." Moments later, those on the bridge could see her ship flying away from them. Another moment passed, then the fleet of Saiyan ships began passing through portals back to Planet Sarada. The flagship that Mato was on the last ship to pass through, leaving Maiz alone with the other Guardians.

She could feel her heart thrumming in her chest. It was unnerving being that close to the world where countless thousands of her contemporaries and predecessors had met their end for his mad designs. Just a little while longer and they would all be avenged.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

" Okay, I'm done healing you two using my Bio-Electromagnokinesis viva control electrons to accelerate your two's cell divisions. It wasn't an easy effort to heal both of you. Due to how my healing method works, You two probably aged a little. You two were both battered and bruised before I healed you both," Praxat said.

" However you two probably didn't age by a year, maybe by 3 or 6 months," Praxat said.

When Avoca's eyes fluttered open, the first thing she saw was a giant frog. That... wasn't great, but at least she was alive. She groaned and rose to a sitting position. "What the hell happened?" She touched where she knew she had gotten hit and felt nothing but whole flesh. For as weird as Praxat was, she was helpful. "Thanks, Praxat." She glanced around and only saw that half-Saiyan who really liked balls. Uh, Lantro, right? "Where's..." She looked around, every second growing more frantic when she didn't see either of them.

Parsley was right by her when the Arcosian's attack hit, but Sarada... she was right there next to Cancer at ground zero. Worse, she couldn't sense her ki ever since she switched over to that God Ki stuff. "Parsley?! Sarada?! Where are they?!"

[bruceleegreyhulk]

When Avoca's eyes fluttered open, the first thing she saw was a giant frog. That... wasn't great, but at least she was alive. She groaned and rose to a sitting position. "What the hell happened?" She touched where she knew she had gotten hit and felt nothing but whole flesh. For as weird as Praxat was, she was helpful. "Thanks, Praxat." She glanced around and only saw that half-Saiyan who really liked balls. Uh, Lantro, right? "Where's..." She looked around, every second growing more frantic when she didn't see either of them.

Parsley was right by her when the Arcosian's attack hit, but Sarada... she was right there next to Cancer at ground zero. Worse, she couldn't sense her ki ever since she switched over to that God Ki stuff. "Parsley?! Sarada?! Where are they?!"

"You're welcome. I found you two with my electroreception. As for Parsley and Sarada, My electroreception might be able to help locate them," Praxat said.

Praxat focuses on expanding the active part of her electroreception to attempt to locate Parsley and Sarada.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

The Forsworn World feels…..alien, to Efrideet. Other, in a way that is not similar, but at the same time is, as the Cairn Yards of old Terra. The world is not welcoming, it is a place of great staggering sorrow and pain.

And it belongs to Sakin.

Standing before her are three apparatuses. One she knows, made of old Guardian bones and saturated with corrupted creation, two she does not. Before one of them is Genesis, who turns slowly and looks at her. Eyes move up and down, and a small nod of recognition and respect follows.

“You appear……modified.”

Setting foot on this forsaken world, brought bitter memories. Of the Carin Yard, on old Terra. Of a broken woman, who died so horribly alone; in pursuit of a cause that was never hers by choice.

All this suffering, and for what? In the end, it didn't matter. She'd not come to court the mad, but bring to a close something that had haunted two iterations of a broken woman; and here it stood, tinkering with the Carrion Engine- and two others, of unknown purpose, besides- that had fractured the boundaries that separated living, dead, and everything in between.

"Modified. Realized? Semantics surely." Efrideet responded, tiredly. "You're the far more interesting one, besides. The other two made sense, but what could he offer you. You long ago outstripped the need of him, yet here you play his willing pawn."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Setting foot on this forsaken world, brought bitter memories. Of the Carin Yard, on old Terra. Of a broken woman, who died so horribly alone; in pursuit of a cause that was never hers by choice.

All this suffering, and for what? In the end, it didn't matter. She'd not come to court the mad, but bring to a close something that had haunted two iterations of a broken woman; and here it stood, tinkering with the Carrion Engine- and two others, of unknown purpose, besides- that had fractured the boundaries that separated living, dead, and everything in between.

"Modified. Realized? Semantics surely." Efrideet responded, tiredly. "You're the far more interesting one, besides. The other two made sense, but what could he offer you. You long ago outstripped the need of him, yet here you play his willing pawn."

Genesis pauses, head cocked as if pondering her question.

“Alone. Need…..something. Something….missing. Create. Expand. Grow and understand my purpose. I have no way forward, no way to see what lies beyond. The itch….in the back of my mind is not satisfied. I yearn…..for something just out of my reach.”

She looks at Efrideet.

“You damaged me. Hurt, and I was found here. Angel Sakin restored me, made note of my nature. Has the truth of me, and intends to help me fulfill my purpose.”

Her eyes narrow.

“Or he will die.”

[grampagen]

With Sarada being tended to, Zaofan departs the ship and rockets off toward Cancer and The Beast God.

BG has done well so far. The godly aura of his races’s pinnacle of power had allowed him some leeway in terms of dealing with the Hakai, and the Kaiju-Jin had dealt several mortal blows at this point to the God of Destruction.

However, with her disciples still alive (eight now instead of twelve) she kept manifesting anew and even The Beast God was starting to grow tired. Cancer was now on the offensive, and the Beast God was purely defending at this point. Arcs of green-blue atomic lightning shot from his mouth and hands, mixed afar with deadly Hakai and the spectacle Zaofan approaches is beautiful and terrifying in equal measure. Yet oddly, he remains calm and determined.

Inside the helmet of the spacesuit, Zaofan lazily leaned his head to one side as he studied the arcing energies as they rose, clash, and spread outward in arcs where the Beast God stood his ground against Cancer.

Though he could not finely detect the nature of these energies, and in some respects the depth of the godly combat before him, it would be incorrect to say that he was not aware of them. Where energy pressed near his own, they may as well have entered his field of vision, and for a moment, everything seemed to slow to his perception. There came within his heart then a sense of strange wonderment.

Ultimately, however, they were obstacles between him and his destination. He was starkly aware of his relationship to them and so he'd altered them.

The miasma from the aftershock rolled towards him, and yet Zaofan didn't alter his course forward. A tendril of Hakai snaked out and he neatly bobbed under it; a screen of god ki laced with lightning criss-crossed with it, and he made a small adjustment to pass between them, one thin space after the other as he sped forward.

His own abilities flowed, one action to the next, his thoughts stilled, his senses deaf to everything but the moment. And so when he spotted two of the Children of Cancer a short distance from the central conflict, he banked hard twice in succession.

[grampagen]

The few Hakai wards lingering still upon the egg are taken in by Koorimaru greedily.

Last Daughter gazes at him and tightens her clasp on the egg.

“My mother resides within, Frost Demon. Her last reincarnation.”

Her power flares up, god Ki surrounding her.

“I’ll not let over a century of searching be for naught.”

Lips curled into a snarl, Koorimaru lift the Hakai from the egg, and Agony spread like fire through his fingers.

This...is...nothing...!

"If this is her last one, then she had fallen before. She had come back," he hissed. "But down there..."

Daring just a bit more, Koorimaru then dared to being siphoning Creation to balance the traces of Hakai, his face contorting in pain as the echo of his dubious ascension began to fill his desperate thoughts.

"...down there, Sakin will end everything. By his side is Eldfen the Elder Dragon, a creature of True Magic. Even with your God Ki, such that is is, are you prepared to confront such a foe? Would your mother?!"

His teeth bared. Koorimaru lift one hand from the egg.

"And what good will she do from this cloister?! Lay among family for a moment before perishing with the rest of us?!"

Through great strain, he pointed a single finger upward, away from the Last Daughter, drawing upon the vestiges of Hakai within him in a balance with the Egg's Creation as he hurriedly sought to contrive a small, volatile miracle upon it.

"Don't be a fool, what is a moment more of a century if everything will cease to be without it?!"

[grampagen]

The hope and fighting spirit of an entire empire radiated from one corner to the other, shining like the sun at midday. Hundreds of millions of shining rays of light beating against the dark future that Sakin and his ilk strove for.

Maiz let out a tired sigh and leaned back in her seat. 'Stay strong,' she said telepathically to the M Fighters. 'We're all beside you.'

This is good...

Now to see whether their spirits are truly united as one required him to channel this intention, and where his own aptitude for such a task would be lacking compared to his brother, it was in no small part his own belief in Sarada that might make this possible.

He had only in part emulated the conditions; Zaofan's knighthood made him a rallying point on Reshlan, he had their trust from the start in full sincerity. In this task, Ochazuke served as a conduit for the hopes of the Saiyan Empire to realize their dreams of a better tomorrow.

A thirst for glories, to bear witness to personal battles... Couched within a mental state entirely removed of ego, the emotional tension was palpable beneath the surface. There was trepidation, certainly, and a certain shame for a lack of presence there, yet he remained resolute in finding what he sought among them ...to prove your own power, none of that matters. They believe that you must live.

So often, the lofty airs of faith are rendered fodder to the more cynical edge of reason. Indeed, Ochazuke had witnessed such a thing rendered once before.

There is no explosion of energy, no great burst or flare. Instead, that golden light crawls through the hammer and into Caladash’s head. Like veins, it worms through the body and where it goes, a foul grey smoke emanates from Caladash and disappears, the curse burned away under the light of Love. All present can feel that pure love, Cleos to Caladash, and for a single moment a figure can be seen behind Caladash, their arms holding him gently.

The golden light ends, the figure vanishes, and Caladash looks up. Where once the eyes had held a cold resolve for a singular purpose, they now shone with renewed hope.

“I remember. I remember it all. What I have done, the lines I have crossed. What was taken from me.”

He holds his hands up and slowly, a faint golden light emanates from them as his hands slowly regrow.

“Cleos gave me her life, her love. That selflessness empowered the hammer and me as well. I hold part of that here. Let me impart it to the hammer once more, and make up for what I have done.”

But through the Saiyan Empire that believed in her, unified in a vision of what she had meant for them, perhaps it could be used to restore what was lost. Ochazuke leaned forward through the suspension field and spoke directly into Sarada's ear.

"I know you can hear me. Though your body may be broken, your limbs lost, your heart remains. If there would be any time to let down the walls of your Saiyan Pride that guard it, it would be now."

He set the Forger's Hammer nearby, channeling the Heka Flow towards Sarada.

"You called yourself a Super Saiyan God. Now listen well, do you hear your people calling for you? Believe in them now as they believe in you."

Drawing back, he raised the Hammer and drew the energies over her.

__

Elsewhere, should Parsley be conscious, perhaps she might witness in part this manifestation of Heka; in part, an illumination gathered to a single purpose, but that in itself would not be sufficient.

For to change the universe would require a power beyond the control of gods; to find it required a selflessness enough to hear the will of others and find the strength beyond one's self to answer their belief.

In some manner, should she receive them, he Saiyan Empire's belief in this moment was hers to grasp as well.**

(OOC: Cleric, please vet the effects of Heka.)

Jinzi appears briefly like he wants to argue, like he desperately wants to see the finish line on the road he has started so long ago beside them all. But in a moment, Meagan’s voice reaches out and reminds him of their children and that she would stay to see this done.

Jinzi nods, grim lines around tired eyes, and then smirks once more.

“Give him hell, Ochazuke. Make him regret ever pissing us off and ever threatening our home. I’ll see you back on Earth, my friend. And remember, Wilhelm and Karis won’t forgive you if you don’t make it back.”

The EDF ships fall back, leaving the area. The GP ships also slowly retreat save the Coldlight, which has opted to stay and fight.

Other ships also fall back, but Ochazuke sees several smaller vessels depart the larger and remain behind. From them he can sense dozens, then a few hundred guardians remain behind to see this through. Meagan stands among them.

The smile, for a change, did not unfurl from the corner of his mouth as Ochazuke heard Jinzi.

So she'd awakened... Long had he thrown himself into these efforts to prepare himself and others for this moment. For nearly two years since before the first voyage to Reshlan began, his quest to find the truth of his martial lineage had turned from a fixation on righting history to a near obsessive vigil once he had discovered the sordid means by whuch the Guardians were brought low. With the proximity that Grinthorn had to these matters, there was little choice but to meet the matter head on.

Hearing Karis' name, for just a moment, allowed Ochazuke to remember the hell that Wilhelm had crawled out of. Through Auroc's Gate through the Way Between Worlds, their resettlement on Earth was, but for their circumstances, he had held with the utmost regard; in some small manner to himself, that there would be something beyond this fight.

"Cheh. Who the hell do you think I am?"

As the United Front dissolved, his Meditation Field brushed against the space where the EDF cruiser had been, where Jinzi and Kenshiko had gone with them as far as they could go. Now the space where she once stood fell empty once more.

Ochazuke grumbled, his thoughts stilled as he lift his right hand to his heart.

More ships fall back and leave, and as they do so Evangeline looks upon him and slowly shakes her head.

“No. I have already transferred co-authority over the dragonballs of Earth to Ronin Kai. I cannot, will not leave you all in this place. It has haunted me, Sakin and his parasites, Fife and the dead Guardians. I will not abandon my children here to this fate alone. If we are to face him, we shall do it together, Ochazuke.”

She smiles warmly at him, power beating around her.

“One more fight, dear Ochazuke. One more to show the universe that Sakin and all who are like him cannot beat down our light.”

As he communicates moments later with the Saiyans, his awareness primes him with knowledge that Sakin is almost ready. Moments more and the first of those new apparatuses will be fired.

Beyond that, he can also sense so many more lights in the darkness outside this place. The Saiyans, The few First Race, Threshlings, The Titans, the Prometheans and Kitani. The Humans, Namekian’s, Toadians, and Nevadians and so may more. Hundreds of species, lifting their hands and letting their power be known. Billions, then trillions of lights. Even, he is surprised, the dead join in. Across the realms of life and death, Sihn and Sheki’hinah, her Oni and the fallen Palatine and others all give their recognition and light to be shown.

Truly, the universe outside this place stands with them. And it is the most humbling and awe inspiring thing Ochazuke could know, faced with Sakin’s next move.

And just on the edge of his awareness, he feels one more person slip into the space above the Foresworn World.

Auroc of Taltok had returned. No longer mad, no longer a servant or would be God, he had come to face his former master, inspired by you all.

He had attempted to appeal to her reason, plot ahead in an attempt to outmaneuver the plots that had been written since the start of what felt like eternity. In the end, he sighed, for the point was ultimately moot.

"Let let us see it done."

No sooner had this brief respite between Guardian and Denizen passed that something began to stir. Immediately he cast the message across the communication band, where it might reach those in the thick of the fighting with the last of Cancer's fortress.

"Sakin prepares his next move. We will move to intercept."

Through the Heka Flow he felt the sentiment of the Known Universe at his back, a pillar of support that gave him the strength to see the Gotengo climb to the proper position. The data feed, too, was carried to any eye that would bear witness among countless allies that stood with them in spirit as the bow drill turned.

So while time was still left to them, from where they stood watching, even as Ochazuke's voice echoed across the expanse of the Universal Leylines, he dared to request one last thing of these peoples and their distant worlds.

"All of you now, from across the edges of the cosmos, through paths of this reality to the next, from this life to the world beyond...Grant me your energy!"

The hearts of the universe were not backward now, but the moments were fleeting. Through Genki, he would do what he could with the time they had left to gather their Fighting Spirit for the battle to come...

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Genesis pauses, head cocked as if pondering her question.

“Alone. Need…..something. Something….missing. Create. Expand. Grow and understand my purpose. I have no way forward, no way to see what lies beyond. The itch….in the back of my mind is not satisfied. I yearn…..for something just out of my reach.”

She looks at Efrideet.

“You damaged me. Hurt, and I was found here. Angel Sakin restored me, made note of my nature. Has the truth of me, and intends to help me fulfill my purpose.”

Her eyes narrow.

“Or he will die.”

Efrideet chuckled at this response, how could she not? "So this is Inanna's fault then, in part. How very fitting. But your ignorance is perhaps far more to blame."

She gestured at the device Genesis had been focused on.

"Like these Carrion Engines, to Sakin you are nothing more than a tool. Once his vision is realized- if it's even possible for one as mad as him- you will be discarded. Too weak to carry out your threats then, I should think?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Inside the helmet of the spacesuit, Zaofan lazily leaned his head to one side as he studied the arcing energies as they rose, clash, and spread outward in arcs where the Beast God stood his ground against Cancer.

Though he could not finely detect the nature of these energies, and in some respects the depth of the godly combat before him, it would be incorrect to say that he was not aware of them. Where energy pressed near his own, they may as well have entered his field of vision, and for a moment, everything seemed to slow to his perception. There came within his heart then a sense of strange wonderment.

Ultimately, however, they were obstacles between him and his destination. He was starkly aware of his relationship to them and so he'd altered them.

The miasma from the aftershock rolled towards him, and yet Zaofan didn't alter his course forward. A tendril of Hakai snaked out and he neatly bobbed under it; a screen of god ki laced with lightning criss-crossed with it, and he made a small adjustment to pass between them, one thin space after the other as he sped forward.

His own abilities flowed, one action to the next, his thoughts stilled, his senses deaf to everything but the moment. And so when he spotted two of the Children of Cancer a short distance from the central conflict, he banked hard twice in succession.

Enhanced as he is, and unprepared as they are, Zaofan tears through the two with swift precision.

Cancer, now with only six acolytes left, turns as she feels their death and the Beast God hammers a hard blow that sends her flying toward her remaining children.

He floats close to Zaofan and nods.