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

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Held gave a concerned glance at Karine as she fell from the prison. A sigh of relief escaped a moment later, as he detected her breathing. She seemed fine, physically at least.

"She's out of it, but she'll be fine." The Nevadian replied as he pulled his long golden spear from the stone, swinging it at the Acrosian that was sent his way. It seems as if he intent on bisecting it.

"In any case, we should get out of here....I don't know what good lingering on this moon fragment will do, at the moment. I don't want to get launched into whatever passes for a sun out here....Or a black hole for that matter."

The Nevadian raised his wrist, before pushing two or three buttons.

The Galloping roared to life as it honed in on his location, the Auto-Pilot engaged to make their daring escape.

"Not to mention, they seem pretty miffed that we rescued Karine....As much as I would like to know what they have planned, I'll settle for foiling it first."

Parsley has landed nearby also, badly injured.

You also can see the Gotengo and the Coldlight heading in your vague direction alongside the Galloping.

[grampagen]

Mid flight towards him from BG’s blow, Cancer suddenly breaks apart into a swarm of bats. The Phantom Phase and Void Tunnel combo nails a few of them, but the majority of the bats persist and Cancer reforms behind him from them, grabbing him by the tail and spinning him around until she throws him toward The Beast God.

As his tail was seized Koorimaru screamed into the empty vacuum of space, helpless to do more than endure this humiliation.

Only for a moment, for when she at last released him, his tail stiffened as he was sent loose, anchoring his orientation. Within his mind despite his condition, the Frost Demon remained lucid in his on lethal designs, and it was rooted in controlling the space between objectives.

He closed a fist, and the Void Tunnels went to work.

You manage to get just enough to survive when the rest of the moon fragment you were by disintegrates under Koorimaru’s AOE attack.

You are alive, but not nearly at perfect health and free floating in space now.

But you are alive.

One of the Void Tunnel endpoints dumped a good portion of the now phased-energy bats into the Majin's vicinity.

Another intercepted his departure path a scant moment before impacting the Beast King, and opened past him...

...unfortunately, execution at the dredges of his strength was left wanting, for Koorimaru ended up slamming gracelessly into the Egg of Creation.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

There is a small amount of air persisting. She manages to get a breath full.

Eva nods and turns toward their stranded friends, the Coldlight following suit.

Sweet air filled Parsley's blazing lungs. She life would be spared.

Meanwhile, closer to the battle raging between Koorimaru and Beast God and Cancer, Avoca floated near motionlessly. She had managed to escape many of the death beams that pierced through her wife, but still was tagged enough times to leave her in bad shape. Still, she was still conscious and desperately clinging to what little air remained within her. The edges of her vision darkened and grew darker by the second.

In the distance, in the midst of the battle, there was a twitch. A single twitch of a single finger that should have, by all rights, been impossible. That was all that happened, a single wiggle of one appendage, but that was all that was needed as proof that life still dwelled within the Saiyan Queen. Call it luck or pure stubbornness, her body had no plans for death that day. Not after some gutless, ball-less coward attacked her from behind, too scared to confront her face-to-face. And as she floated there helplessly, a single thought echoed throughout the halls of her subconscious on repeat:

I Will Not Die!

[bruceleegreyhulk]

“Well, it looks like the Gotengo has also turned to help pick them up. Let’s follow.”

The Coldlight surges forward toward their stranded allies.

" Okay. If any of our allies are injured bring them to me. I can heal them with my Bio-Electromagnokinesis,"
Praxat said.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

A flare of wonderous light. Of hope, of renewal. Somewhere, far away, a clarion song of hope reverberates as an old wound is healed.

Before Efrideet floats the sleeping form of young Ishtar. No more than a babe, perhaps equivalent to a child less than ten years of age (for an Oni), the restored Oni has been given a second chance. A chance to live free of the Destroyer Fate. Free of her would be father’s machinations. Free to be…Ishtar, Sheki’hinah’s daughter.

How much she looks like who I should have been...

For good or ill, she had done what she promised.

The child was sleeping, and Efrideet would not wake her, gently picking up the child to keep her safe, and warm. With no time to spare it seemed, as the flesh of the Carne Luna erupted, and shattered.

It seemed the mortals had met their match, in Cancer.

All the more reason her intervention had been... necessity, if only for her own survival.

Do not worry, Ishtar. You will be reunited with your mother in time.

For now, she would ensure the other children, survived.

Yet the weight and volume of the Heka Flow, the concentrated faith of the universe, illuminated him and drew forth fresh resolve.
__

"...hello? Hello? Hey!" Zaofan's fingers dashed around the onboard communications instruments, seeking to bolster the signal to any of the localized assembly of spacecraft. "Are these communicators broken or something?!"

The Galloping roared to life as it honed in on his location, the Auto-Pilot engaged to make their daring escape.

"Not to mention, they seem pretty miffed that we rescued Karine....As much as I would like to know what they have planned, I'll settle for foiling it first."

Ochazuke. Zaofan. Held.

Thanks to Inanna's gluttony, their souls were imprinted in her mind; knew the pathways of their Ki like an old friend. So it was these three, she would reach first. Wisps of True Magic filtering through them as they saw their energy returned, wounds mended, and strength amplified.

An act of Divine Intervention. With a word.

"I am with you."

[grampagen]

Eva nods and turns toward their stranded friends, the Coldlight following suit.

Ochazuke, on the edge of your senses, emanating from the Foresworn World, you can feel Sakin doingÂ….something.

The subliminal laneways of the cosmos grounded the structure of the Leylines, and though feeling its spiritual pulse had glimpsed in part what lay beyond the veil, this close to the Forsworn World where the first creation had began, it was more akin to grasping the rays of the sun in order to follow it back to the source.

Yet though the Gotengo turned away for the moment, whilst in the throes of Battle Meditation, Ochazuke would not cast aside his vigil. Yet with the Lady Binder's apparent destruction, the Fallen Angel below began to stir.

Sweet air filled Parsley's blazing lungs. She life would be spared.

Meanwhile, closer to the battle raging between Koorimaru and Beast God and Cancer, Avoca floated near motionlessly. She had managed to escape many of the death beams that pierced through her wife, but still was tagged enough times to leave her in bad shape. Still, she was still conscious and desperately clinging to what little air remained within her. The edges of her vision darkened and grew darker by the second.

In the distance, in the midst of the battle, there was a twitch. A single twitch of a single finger that should have, by all rights, been impossible. That was all that happened, a single wiggle of one appendage, but that was all that was needed as proof that life still dwelled within the Saiyan Queen. Call it luck or pure stubbornness, her body had no plans for death that day. Not after some gutless, ball-less coward attacked her from behind, too scared to confront her face-to-face. And as she floated there helplessly, a single thought echoed throughout the halls of her subconscious on repeat:

I Will Not Die!

Behind the battle of gods, around the shattered moon that had formerly been the shadowly domain of Cancer, though the fighting ensued, the greater portion of the energy expended had not come from who they had expected, and the two auras of God Ki carried a savage nature which was quite distinct from the recently ascended Saiyans.

"Proceed with the current course. Though our numbers are greater we remain outmatched." Though the Planetkiller had been subdued by his kru, the vision of the morbid altar build from the bones of fallen guardians was all too fresh in his mind. Perhaps that apparatus carried that presence which wicked against his sense sublime. For what awaits us down there, we will need everyone.

On the bridge, Zaofan peered out to space, moving his gaze back and forth from the planet they turned from to the remains of the Dark Moon drew closer in the viewscreens.

"Hang in there..." As always he wore his heart on his sleeve and spoke his thoughts openly, yet as he stared into the black void around them, perhaps one part foolishness took his better sense - or as he'd like to think, he'd spotted an opportunity amid the crisis.

"I hope the air supply will last. Time to suit up!"

How much she looks like who I should have been...

For good or ill, she had done what she promised.

The child was sleeping, and Efrideet would not wake her, gently picking up the child to keep her safe, and warm. With no time to spare it seemed, as the flesh of the Carne Luna erupted, and shattered.

It seemed the mortals had met their match, in Cancer.

All the more reason her intervention had been... necessity, if only for her own survival.

Do not worry, Ishtar. You will be reunited with your mother in time.

For now, she would ensure the other children, survived.





Ochazuke. Zaofan. Held.

Thanks to Inanna's gluttony, their souls were imprinted in her mind; knew the pathways of their Ki like an old friend. So it was these three, she would reach first. Wisps of True Magic filtering through them as they saw their energy returned, wounds mended, and strength amplified.

An act of Divine Intervention. With a word.

"I am with you."

Zaofan stood facing the wall just outside the breach of the nearest airlock. He'd hastily donned a spacesuit over his typical attire and though the compression supported his body within a frame ready to bear the rigors of an airless vacuum bathed with radiation, he was hesitant to don the helmet. He drew breaths deeply to calm his heartbeat, which seemed to carry itself all over his body and did not slow in spite of his efforts; if he closed the suit over his head, he felt as if he might not inhale ever again.

Yet when the fog of rashness cleared, he felt his pulse carry heavily through his chest, and beneath the thick gauntlets laced with circuitry, he felt the ring on his left hand grow cold.

"Cheh. You would have the same notion."

Ochazuke drew near, his eyes hardened beneath the canopy glass of the helmet, voice crackling under the duress of the communicator interface.

"...y-you're leaving the ship?"

"Evangeline will be apt to pilor. The Ghetti Nanite AI remembers her in part. Besides, without them..."

Zaofan stilled, then nodded slowly, gripping his left hand into a fist.

"Yeah, if there's a time for direct support, never been a better time than now-"

Just as the words left his lips, Efrideet's thoughts seemed to flood their minds directly, and a pulse of energy drew near. Reflexively as the True Magic gathered towards them in glowing whisps, they fell on guard; Ochazuke raising the Forger's Hammer, and Zaofan Etrina's Ring to gather and focus these energies...

OOC: Cleric please confirm/inform the effect of Efrideet's Divine Intervention?

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

As his tail was seized Koorimaru screamed into the empty vacuum of space, helpless to do more than endure this humiliation.

Only for a moment, for when she at last released him, his tail stiffened as he was sent loose, anchoring his orientation. Within his mind despite his condition, the Frost Demon remained lucid in his on lethal designs, and it was rooted in controlling the space between objectives.

He closed a fist, and the Void Tunnels went to work.



One of the Void Tunnel endpoints dumped a good portion of the now phased-energy bats into the Majin's vicinity.

Another intercepted his departure path a scant moment before impacting the Beast King, and opened past him...

...unfortunately, execution at the dredges of his strength was left wanting, for Koorimaru ended up slamming gracelessly into the Egg of Creation.

Sasheem, a portion of partially phased Cancer bats are around you. If you react fast enough, you could use them as energy.

Meanwhile, Koorimaru’s slams into the egg and into Last Daughter, who grunts as she grasps the other side of it. She stares at him, eyes narrowed slightly as she holds the egg protectively from her side.

Beast God meanwhile goes on the offensive against Cancer, keeping her major attention for now.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

The Galloping swoops in and picks up Held, Karine, Totoma (if Dai allows), and Charco, who swiftly carries the near unconscious Parsley with them onboard the ship. Charco (and Totoma, pending Dai) have weeded their attackers down from fifty who had survived the moon cracking, to a mere dozen. The last twelve disciples of Cancer had fled shortly before The Galloping had arrived, heading towards their mother for reasons unknown.

The Coldlight follows shortly thereafter, using Praxat’s senses to find Avoca and Lantro, saving the two Saiyans.

The Gotengo also swoops in, picking up the remnants of Sarada floating in space as they race towards her.

Efrideet and Sasheem and Koorimaru remain in space, Sasheem alive on the moon chunk but badly hurt, Koorimaru badly hurt and clinging to Prant’s Egg, and Efrideet holding a sleeping, cleansed, child Ishtar.

Blizzar flies with mecha-Durive and mini-Durive nearby.

All this, Zaofan and Ochazuke and Held can sense as Creatuon floods into them. To the Ring on Zaofan’ hand, the energy pools. His wounds and tiredness, his anxiety and fears are laid to rest or healed. A peace comes over him, and he can feel his power rising beyond its normal levels. A powerful pool of one time Creational energy is now stored in his ring.

For Ochazuke, into the Forger’s Hammer the power floods in, strengthening what lays there. His wounds and tiredness also fade away, but for him his awareness expands beyond the norm once more. His gaze shifts, and he actually sees Sakin and Geneisis upon the planet nearby. He sees the apparatus made of Guardian bones and power. He sees two other such creations as well, and he knows their purpose intimately.

One will seal this section of space off entirely, keeping their friends and comrades not here yet from being able to come to this galactic coordinate. The other will be a means of shunting the entire invasion fleet of theirs into a parallel world in one feel swoop. Like a larger Banespell prison crafted for Inanna so many days ago.

For Held, the power pools into his Spear and his tiredness, confusion, and wounds fade away. His mind is sharp, his awareness sharper, and his eyes glow as he attains a new level of Shingan. He sees Cancer, he sees that so long as her other dozen children live, she can come back from death another twelve times. It is why the Beast God and Koorimaru failed to kill her yet. She can keep coming back.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

The Galloping swoops in and picks up Held, Karine, Totoma (if Dai allows), and Charco, who swiftly carries the near unconscious Parsley with them onboard the ship. Charco (and Totoma, pending Dai) have weeded their attackers down from fifty who had survived the moon cracking, to a mere dozen. The last twelve disciples of Cancer had fled shortly before The Galloping had arrived, heading towards their mother for reasons unknown.

The Coldlight follows shortly thereafter, using Praxat’s senses to find Avoca and Lantro, saving the two Saiyans.

The Gotengo also swoops in, picking up the remnants of Sarada floating in space as they race towards her.

Efrideet and Sasheem and Koorimaru remain in space, Sasheem alive on the moon chunk but badly hurt, Koorimaru badly hurt and clinging to Prant’s Egg, and Efrideet holding a sleeping, cleansed, child Ishtar.

Blizzar flies with mecha-Durive and mini-Durive nearby.

All this, Zaofan and Ochazuke and Held can sense as Creatuon floods into them. To the Ring on Zaofan’ hand, the energy pools. His wounds and tiredness, his anxiety and fears are laid to rest or healed. A peace comes over him, and he can feel his power rising beyond its normal levels. A powerful pool of one time Creational energy is now stored in his ring.

For Ochazuke, into the Forger’s Hammer the power floods in, strengthening what lays there. His wounds and tiredness also fade away, but for him his awareness expands beyond the norm once more. His gaze shifts, and he actually sees Sakin and Geneisis upon the planet nearby. He sees the apparatus made of Guardian bones and power. He sees two other such creations as well, and he knows their purpose intimately.

One will seal this section of space off entirely, keeping their friends and comrades not here yet from being able to come to this galactic coordinate. The other will be a means of shunting the entire invasion fleet of theirs into a parallel world in one feel swoop. Like a larger Banespell prison crafted for Inanna so many days ago.

For Held, the power pools into his Spear and his tiredness, confusion, and wounds fade away. His mind is sharp, his awareness sharper, and his eyes glow as he attains a new level of Shingan. He sees Cancer, he sees that so long as her other dozen children live, she can come back from death another twelve times. It is why the Beast God and Koorimaru failed to kill her yet. She can keep coming back.

Praxat attends to Avoca and Lantro. Checking them for injuries.

[grampagen]

Sasheem, a portion of partially phased Cancer bats are around you. If you react fast enough, you could use them as energy.

Meanwhile, Koorimaru’s slams into the egg and into Last Daughter, who grunts as she grasps the other side of it. She stares at him, eyes narrowed slightly as she holds the egg protectively from her side.

Beast God meanwhile goes on the offensive against Cancer, keeping her major attention for now.

Koorimaru's eyes tightened, as if shuttering his vision would somehow smother the light burning behind them. Pain crawled through his bones, and his limbs were slack where he lay draped against the side of the cocooned goddess where she slumbered, for agony rippled through his flesh where the layer of Hakai set upon its energy shell touched him.

Even bereft of the direct killing intent that shrouded Cancer's hand, it was very much her handiwork...but set within the confines of this mortal body was still a vestige of what the abomination Remnant set upon his soul. Curling his fingers, he attempted to siphon this portion of the Destroyer's energy into himself, half-mad from both the expenditure of the energy and the concentration he fought to maintain having drawn so close to his goal.

I saw it there...in the spiritual confines of the slain dragon...this is nothing, I will seize it~!

A horrid, low hiss rose from the back of his throat as he slowly tilt his face upward, staring across the way to the Last Daughter of the Kaiju-jin.

"...really...at the end of everything..." he grimaced. "Cancer was wise to hide what remains of this Creator, for Sakin had all but proven the divine are hardly dotards where they seek to feast upon one another to raise their own station."

Between his words, he continued his attempts to draw off the wards of Destruction along the energy pathways where the phantom ape had once drawn it, all to seize upon the catalyst of Creation beneath.

"Fallen Angels...the will of Dragons...no matter how transcendent, this battle will hinge upon the matter of the Divine! What can this god mean to you that you would deny it to our cause!?"

[grampagen]

All this, Zaofan and Ochazuke and Held can sense as Creatuon floods into them. To the Ring on Zaofan’ hand, the energy pools. His wounds and tiredness, his anxiety and fears are laid to rest or healed. A peace comes over him, and he can feel his power rising beyond its normal levels. A powerful pool of one time Creational energy is now stored in his ring.

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.

The Gotengo also swoops in, picking up the remnants of Sarada floating in space as they race towards her.

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!

[grampagen]

For Ochazuke, into the ForgerÂ’s Hammer the power floods in, strengthening what lays there. His wounds and tiredness also fade away, but for him his awareness expands beyond the norm once more. His gaze shifts, and he actually sees Sakin and Geneisis upon the planet nearby. He sees the apparatus made of Guardian bones and power. He sees two other such creations as well, and he knows their purpose intimately.

One will seal this section of space off entirely, keeping their friends and comrades not here yet from being able to come to this galactic coordinate. The other will be a means of shunting the entire invasion fleet of theirs into a parallel world in one feel swoop. Like a larger Banespell prison crafted for Inanna so many days ago.

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.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

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***

Through Ochazuke's HUD, Sarada's battle damage face was broadcast into every home and onto every screen throughout the Saiyan Empire. Every pair of eyes had been glued to the most important battle in the history of creation, soaking in every moment they could. When their Queen's face appeared, the reactions were varied.

Within the warships that had descended upon the battlefield from Planet Sarada, the silence was tense and anxious. It brought into clear focus the horrifying realization of just how outmatched they all were. Many of the soldiers had been training nonstop for months, if not years, to catch up to their Queen and had been anxious to show off their new power against the highest and strongest of enemies. To see the strongest their race had to offer - even if no one knew exactly how strong she was - battered to an unknown extent was a sobering moment. Ochazuke had been gracious enough to spare them to full breadth of her extensive injuries, but just the little he showed was enough to get the point across.

"We have to go out there and help!" Pasley, one of the competitors of the Tournament of Destiny years ago and one of the strongest soldiers in the empire, said resolutely. He started to make his way to the airlock before his father stopped him. "What are you doing?! Her Highness needs our help!"

"I know you're anxious to fight and so am I," Lemongras said. "But our battlefield isn't out there. It's in here. And back home."

"What?!" Pasley's outburst was echoed and parroted by many of the younger Saiyans who were just as hungry to prove themselves as he was.

"Listen to your father." Mato's back was turned to the commotion, but his voice carried just as much as it would have if he were in the midst of them. "And listen to me. We came here to give Queen Sarada and the M Fighters our support. There was never a guarantee that we would actually be out there with them, only a hope." He turned to face the collective after switching on the communication relay between the ships so everyone on the dozens of Saiyan ships could hear him. "Some of you were on Ruco earlier, right? You saw firsthand what this Cancer woman and her army is capable of, just a glimpse really. You all fought her minions and you barely survived. Knowing that, it should be obvious that we would be nothing more than speedbumps right now." There was a tremendous strain and tremble in his voice. Merely saying those words enraged him. To admit weakness to that degree was contrary to logic itself from a Saiyan standpoint. But deeper still, realizing that that was the reality of the situation they all found themselves in scared him.

"There's no point in hiding it to spare our pride, because dying within seconds would be an even bigger blow. It's in our very nature, our DNA, to dive headfirst into any and every battle. If there's a fight to be fought, aren't we among the first ones to arrive? But with the survival of not only ourselves, but our children and the future of not only our race but the very universe we live in, the most tactically sound move we can make is to remain here on the sideline. Even if that means going contrary to our very nature as warriors!

"Queen Sarada and her friends are out there fighting as we speak because they have the power to win. We can't go out there, but that doesn't mean we won't have a say. Give them your confidence, your hope, just like we did Her Highness when she fought against Tundra. When has she ever let us down? When has she ever failed to deliver?" When no one could find an answer, he nodded knowingly. "Not ever, and not now. Not while we have a say in the matter. Believe she can win. Believe they can win, because they represent the best this universe has to offer, in one way or another. In this war between God and Man, the strong will learn they can't push the weak around like they want. We had to learn that lesson, and so will they!"

Raucous cheers erupted through the fleet of ships. Even if many of them wanted to teach those gods that lesson personally, they came to realize that what Mato said was right.

Little did he know, Maiz had been broadcasting his impromptu speech to the rest of the Empire. After the harrowing glimpse of their Queen, they all heard his rational and encouraging words. Those that weren't on those ships had already come to the conclusion that they were nowhere near strong enough to make any sort of difference in a physical sense. Given the avenue to make some kind of impact, they jumped at the opportunity. Maiz gave them a subtle push in the right direction.

"Stand by our Queen and her allies. She needs your support and your faith now more than ever!"

The call was given and one by one, the Empire responded.

Sarada, Pepa, and Callion, still ravaged from The Great Call hours earlier.

The newly resurrected Langal.

Ruco, still desolate and blood-soaked from Cancer's attack.

Even the latest colonies that agreed to be brought into the Empire some time ago.

Maiz call even extended a little beyond that to include the hundreds of millions of people who at one point been enslaved by Tundra but were liberated by the Saiyans and the GP recently. Many of them had been put into that situation by the Saiyans themselves, true, but Sarada's efforts to rectify those actions by taking on the monumental task of arranging new live for them herself had earned her enough trust and good will that those people were more than willing to help in any way they could.

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.'

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Praxat attends to Avoca and Lantro. Checking them for injuries.

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.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Koorimaru's eyes tightened, as if shuttering his vision would somehow smother the light burning behind them. Pain crawled through his bones, and his limbs were slack where he lay draped against the side of the cocooned goddess where she slumbered, for agony rippled through his flesh where the layer of Hakai set upon its energy shell touched him.

Even bereft of the direct killing intent that shrouded Cancer's hand, it was very much her handiwork...but set within the confines of this mortal body was still a vestige of what the abomination Remnant set upon his soul. Curling his fingers, he attempted to siphon this portion of the Destroyer's energy into himself, half-mad from both the expenditure of the energy and the concentration he fought to maintain having drawn so close to his goal.

I saw it there...in the spiritual confines of the slain dragon...this is nothing, I will seize it~!

A horrid, low hiss rose from the back of his throat as he slowly tilt his face upward, staring across the way to the Last Daughter of the Kaiju-jin.

"...really...at the end of everything..." he grimaced. "Cancer was wise to hide what remains of this Creator, for Sakin had all but proven the divine are hardly dotards where they seek to feast upon one another to raise their own station."

Between his words, he continued his attempts to draw off the wards of Destruction along the energy pathways where the phantom ape had once drawn it, all to seize upon the catalyst of Creation beneath.

"Fallen Angels...the will of Dragons...no matter how transcendent, this battle will hinge upon the matter of the Divine! What can this god mean to you that you would deny it to our cause!?"

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.”