"I don't want it anymore… I don't want any of it…"
Toppo's face darkened as his body slowly rose from the ground. His aura began to change. The wild surge calmed, then thinned, then vanished entirely, leaving only a crushing pressure behind.
Vincent Fox steadied his breath and watched. The man before him was becoming a god.
A faint purple sheen ran over Toppo's skin. Wounds knitted shut under that glow. What remained of his uniform crumbled to dust, and a sigil on his abdomen flickered into view, a mark of Destruction.
"Abandon your justice… and you must die."
In a heartbeat Toppo was no longer Universe Eleven's number two. He had crossed the line and stepped into godhood.
His ki could no longer be sensed. Gods did not leak ki.
"Damn it, what has that kid provoked now?" Vegeta felt his heart drop as that oppressive force rolled across the arena. The last time his instincts screamed like this was when Beerus first appeared.
Vegeta stopped watching Goku and Jiren. Blue light burst around him and he rocketed toward the source.
"What is that…?" Beerus' lips trembled. He had felt the turn as clean as daylight. That pure, untainted Destruction energy could never be forged by a mortal. Not unless…
A god had entered the ring.
"Hee-hee-hee. That would be Universe Eleven's reserve God of Destruction, Toppo," the clown Destroyer said, finally dropping the pretense.
"Isn't that against the rules?" Champa sprang to his feet and pointed at the Grand Minister, desperate for a penalty. Jiren was already too much. If Eleven fielded a god on top of that, the balance shattered.
Before the Grand Minister could answer, Zeno piped up, bright as a child. "So cool. That Toppo can transform too!"
"Is he Goku's buddy? Why doesn't he have hair?"
Silence fell like a curtain. Even Champa folded down to his knees.
The Grand Minister smiled faintly. "Not against the rules. Understood?"
"Understood, Grand Minister," the gods answered at once.
Vegeta carved a path as he flew, casually blasting a handful of fighters from the stage. He reached the blasted crater where Vincent stood and took in the scene.
Toppo hovered wreathed in violet, eyes filmed purple, the Destroyer's crest ghosting on his abdomen.
"So this is where the road was always going," Vincent murmured, then vaulted out of the pit. The space down there was a death trap. If Toppo lobbed a wide-field sphere, there would be nowhere to slip.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Toppo rose through the floating rubble and stopped before Vincent. A new figure slid in at Vincent's shoulder.
Vegeta, blazing blue.
Whether they would drag each other down or amplify each other remained to be seen.
"No matter how many join you, your end does not change."
Toppo assumed Vegeta had come as Vincent's ally and scoffed. He lifted his right hand. Pure Hakai energy welled in his palm.
"Show me what your teamwork is worth."
The sphere drifted free. It was no larger than a palm and moved slowly, almost lazily, but neither Vincent nor Vegeta dared belittle it. Stones along its path powdered before contact, as if afraid to exist near it.
They answered at once. Vegeta's azure beam braided with Vincent's roaring flame, a twin-lanced strike spearing into the violet orb.
Compared to that small sphere, the combined beam looked like a world-ender. The air shrieked. Every eye snapped to the collision.
"A… a God of Destruction? Is that really a god?"
"How are we supposed to fight that?"
"Don't blame me for not trying. The other side isn't a person. That's a god!"
"Two of them are holding him off. Please win, please win. A Destroyer is too terrifying."
"Idiot. If those two can't beat him, we don't stand a chance. Find a corner and hide. Hiding is king."
Tucked in a crevice, a few fighters from who-knows-which universe whispered and bickered.
A green flash crossed the sky. Android 17 landed nearby. "You coming out, or should I drag you out?"
"Mommy!"
"Don't talk. If we stay quiet, he won't know anyone's in here."
"You're a genius."
Seventeen pinched the bridge of his nose. The gooseflesh actually hurt. What went on in these people's heads?
He curled a sphere of energy in his palm. "Suit yourselves."
The shot thundered into the cave.
Boom.
Three figures stumbled out trailing black smoke.
"Picking on a girl, huh? Some man you are," one coughed.
"Bad guy! Bad guy's here!"
"Don't worry, cousin. I'll protect you."
The boy in the wind goggles spread his arms in front of the soot-smeared girl. Seventeen sighed. Which universe fielded kids? Was their bench that empty?
He had no intention of softening because they were young. Universe Seven's life was on the line.
"Let's all head down together. This place isn't for you." He blurred. A ghost of him remained where he'd stood, and the real Seventeen flashed in front of the goggled boy, right fist driving in to launch him out.
A clean, heavy punch meant to end it in one go.
Just before impact, the boy's body began to change.
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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