Previously on Dragon Ball Super Aftermath: The Primal God
"Another Caeleste has been cast down to this dump," Nygyn replies in disbelief. "I'm starting to see a pattern here... Why would Mother send all three of us to the Metempiric Space? Why can't she just kill Arhenahin herself?"
"I've been thinking the same thing," Akuma says. "I feel like there's something more happening behind the scenes. It's almost as if Mother is deliberately trying to gather all of the Caeleste into one place."
He turns toward Gilo. "You, I want you to teach me the powers of the Void."
Gilo sighs. "I suspected you were going to ask that. Very well. Meet me here in five hours and I will begin."
Akuma smirks and nods. "Good. Let's end the meeting for now. We will meet again later, Gilo."
He teleports away, leaving Nygyn and Gilo alone.
Chapter Thirteen
Nygyn walks up to Gilo and stares him in the eyes. "You cannot teach Akuma the powers of the Void, Gilo."
Gilo raises an eyebrow, surprised at Nygyn's words. "Oh? And why is that?"
"I know you hate Mother. But no matter how much resentment you have, you cannot risk teaching Akuma those powers!"
Gilo scoffs. "Nygyn, I think your time here has made you forget just how powerful she has become. Even I know that Akuma can't do anything against her, even with the powers of the Void."
"No, you don't understand," Nygyn replies. "Akuma has very unique powers that allow him to get stronger off of attacks. He can copy their techniques. He has yet to master it, but eventually, he will be able to do anything. He evolves in combat. If he gets strong enough, he could endanger the Void."
"That doesn't concern me," Gilo says. "She is Omnipotent. We will not speak of this any further. I have to go continue the task Arhenahin has given me before he becomes suspicious."
He begins to walk away but Nygyn grabs his shoulder, violently pulling him forward and kicking him. Gilo grunts and skids back, enraged. "What do you think you are doing, traitor?!"
"I warned you not to try anything," Nygyn replies. He walks forward and begins to glow, entering Omni Evolution. "You leave me no choice. If you still plan to teach Akuma those powers, then you must die."
Gilo gets into a stance, glowing a neon blue color. "You're being foolish, Nygyn. No turning back now. I will kill you quickly."
"No. You will be the one who dies." Nygyn closes his eyes and summons powerful energy. His arms get covered in a powerful essence and his body begins to glow. He gets into a stance. "Arhenahin taught me how to utilize God Essence long ago. I better finish this quickly before he senses this battle."
Gilo's eyes widen. "How did you-" Before he can finish his sentence, he is sent flying back far, crashing through many pillars. He coughs up blood and roars, launching toward Nygyn.
He summons a little bit of Void energy into his fists and swings them toward Nygyn. He manages to dodge it and knee Gilo on the chin, sending him spiraling upward.
Nygyn vanishes above him and grabs him by the neck, squeezing it. He smiles and creates an energy blade. "Hail Arhenahin."
He stabs through his stomach and Gilo gasps for air. "You... I thought... you worked for Mother!"
"I did before I met Arhenahin," Nygyn replies. "I've grown close to him. I learned that he is better than Mother. However, I must continue to obey her to protect the Metempiric Space."
Gilo tries to grab him, but before his hand touches him, he drops and falls to the ground, lifeless. He dissolves into thin air and Nygyn sighs, powering down. "I'm sorry. I have to continue being a double agent."
Akuma would have been watching from the sidelines, feeling more rage than he ever has before. Nygyn lied to him. He was more than capable of beating him. As much as he wants to kill him, he cannot. He needs Nygyn otherwise he cannot complete the mission.
He needs Nygyn to stay alive, so he would decide to take the blame. He turns and flies off toward the palace.
The palace doors open, as Arhenahin looks up at Akuma, who would be walking strangely. "Akuma, are you okay?"
"I am okay..." Akuma replies, trying not to show his intense rage. "I had to take care of a... chore..."
"Would you mind bringing Zalama, the Tier Two over?" Arhenahin asks him. "I'd like to promote him to a Tier Three."
"Yes..." Akuma walks past him, as Arhenahin goes back to meditating. Suddenly, Arhenahin's eyes shoot open, as he feels danger behind him. He vanishes, as he sees Akuma having stabbed at him with a blade.
"Akuma?" Arhenahin asks. "What do you think you are doing?"
The Tier Four guards rush toward Akuma, shoving their spears at him. Akuma flips over, as he slams them to the ground with a kick, destroying them. "Ahh... Do not mistake me, Arhenahin..."
Tier Threes rush toward him, but his eyes shoot open, energy swirling around him. Spikes shoot out of him, as they all stab the Tier Threes, killing some of them. "I am... not your servant..."
Arhenahin squints at him. "Then... The Tier Four, Gilo... His disappearing was because of you...?"
Akuma smirks, licking his lips. "Yes... All of you are considered good... However... I will consider myself a new term... Evil... I am the first evil to ever exist... There is no more balance..."
Suddenly, Arhenahin would have him lifted by the neck before he could even react. "GU... GUHCK-"
Arhenahin's face would be dark in the lighting. He would feel guilty that he has to kill Akuma, but it is for the safety of everyone else. "You have broken... the most ancient of laws..." He looks up, his eyes glowing. "You never... stray from the path of good..."
Akuma chuckles, despite being held by the neck. "It is already too late... I have spread evil right under your nose... You could never truly purge it now... It is now permanent... You can kill me, but... I have already won..."
Arhenahin closes his eyes, having a pained expression. "There is only one thing I must do, Akuma..." A glowing spear forms in his hands. It crackles with lightning, as he stabs it through Akuma's chest. "I am sorry, Akuma... It is clear you have been corrupted..."
Akuma dissolves, being cast away. Little did Arhenahin know, Akuma was sent to the infinite void, weakened.
Caelicola would have left out the parts about him killing Gilo and sticking to the story that Akuma killed Gilo. Everybody around them except for Arhenahin and Akuma would be in complete shock.
Music: Our Time Is Now - Epic Score (Aaron Sapp)
"You- you weren't telling the complete truth," Goku says. "Why would you hide it from us, Arhenahin?"
Arhenahin would be held up by the neck, coughing. "I apologize, everybody... I did it to protect the gods from the truth... It looks like that was my last and ultimate mistake..."
He clenches his fists and begins to glow. "It looks like it is time to summon the last... of my hidden powers..."
Akuma's eyes widen. "Step back, Caelicola!"
A burst of energy knocks everyone back and the entire Metempiric Space begins to glow. Electricity slams the area they are standing on as Arhenahin gets up, energy begins drawn toward him.
He yells and a crack in the void forms around him, its powers being drawn toward him. "This is a Caeleste's... sacrificial power..."
"STOP!" Goku yells toward him. "You can't die! You're our creator! Please!"
Arhenahin turns toward him and smiles. "I apologize, my child, but it is time to protect you one last time." He turns toward a nervous Nygyn and Akuma. He roars once again and enters his Voidic form.
"I was planning to save this for Mother's attack, but you give me no choice." He summons the powers of the Void and glows even brighter, all types of energy going into him.
Sweat goes down Akuma's forehead. "Shit... this is the primal powers of Arhenahin that have been talked about for many, many years... This is bad..."
Arhenahin takes a step forward, walking toward the two of them. "This is my primal form... Let us begin..."
In an instant, even faster than Goku in his Voidic form, he grabs Akuma and slams him onto the Void, which was previously not solid. Akuma coughs up a ton of blood, yelling in pain.
He throws him up and yells, kicking Akuma across the Void, injuring him. "AGH! I can't absorb this!"
He turns toward Caelicola and the two lock eyes for a moment, before Arhenahin leaps after Akuma and begins to kick him around, leaving everybody confused.
"Why didn't he attack Caelicola?" Vegeta asks.
"I-I don't know..." Materia admits.
Arhenahin roars and mauls Akuma toward them. Goku leaps up and powers up into his enhanced Omni Evolution form, kicking Akuma back. Akuma yells in pain, hopelessly trying to avoid their attacks.
Akuma lands on the platform, panting heavily. "This is bad! If I die by the powers of the Void... I might be doomed!"
Arhenahin leaps down and brings back his fist, slamming it into Akuma. An explosion sents everybody back. Akuma tries to punch him but it phases through him. "This is the end, Akuma. Your reign ends here. If you see Mother, tell her that I said, 'prepare yourself'."
A glow begins to envelop the two of them and Materia looks away, clenching his fists. "That's the Barrier... There's no turning back now. He's going to die."
Akuma grunts and feels himself starting to slowly disintegrate. Arhenahin turns toward Materia. "You have to teach them, Materia. I will not be able to do it."
"Yes, my lord," Materia replies. Arhenahin then turns toward Caelicola. "I knew the truth from the beginning, Caelicola."
Caelicola's eyes widen. "No... Then you knew everything...?"
Arhenahin chuckles. "You were sent by Mother. You lied to me when we first met. I decided to give you a chance to redeem yourself. You worked with Akuma as a double agent. You killed Gilo to prevent Akuma from obtaining those powers. You've changed, Caelicola. When you had me up by the neck, you wanted to teleport me out. I could sense it. You worked for Mother to protect us, and I thank you. I forgive you for your sins."
Caelicola falls to his knees and tears drip onto the ground in front of him. "Why... Why did you trust me? I really intended to kill you at first, but you treated me better than Mother ever did. You even played along when I 'betrayed' you two a moment ago..."
"Stay strong, Caelicola," Arhenahin replies calmly. "All I ask is that you help Son Goku, Vegeta, and Son Gohan master the powers of the Void before Mother launches her attack."
"I will, my lord," Caelicola replies. "I promise."
Arhenahin then channels all of his God Essence, Celestial Essence, and Void Essence into one attack, bending the Void around him. "It's time to end this! ALMIGHTY... CLOSURE!"
There would be a pulse of energy, but it would have a calming sound. Akuma looks down at his body and sees it is disintegrating. "Arhenahin... You fool... Why sacrifice yourself?!"
Arhenahin just smiles at him with no response and the two completely disintegrate, leaving everybody alone. Caelicola tries to contain his emotions as he looks at his hands and realizes that he now owns the Metempiric Space.
Goku drops to his knees and punches the ground. "Damn it... Gck... I am going to avenge Arhenahin and take down the Mother of the Void! He... he sacrificed himself for us...
Piccolo would have been watching the entire fight, slowly healing from his wounds. He gets up and pants. "Everybody, we have to prepare for the final battle. We can mourn Arhenahin's death later, but we do not know how much time we have."
Caelicola wipes the tears off his face and gets up, turning toward them. "Arhenahin passed the Metempiric Space to me. This is one of the only realities left. There used to be many but Mother wiped all of them one by one and narrowed them down. For countless years, many have refugeed from Mother. We will end her reign of terror."
He looks up to the Void and takes a deep breath. "I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, RYINA! FROM THIS POINT FORWARD, I NO LONGER SERVE UNDER YOU!"
There would be no response, but the air would get colder around all of them. Caelicola sighs and walks toward them. "Materia and I will train the three of you. We will finally finish this war and restore the Void to its former glory."
They would all enter Piccolo's dimension and Caelicola sits down, opening the scroll. He places a hand on it and unseals it, all of the currently deciphered letters displaying on it. "It's time to stop hiding the truth. Ever since the story we told you, many more letters of the scroll have been deciphered.
He lays it out for everybody to see. "After killing Gilo, I obtained the scroll and hid it from even you all. Let us begin."
There was one object before Ryina the goddess of the Void existed. It gave birth to her. The name of this orb was previously unknown, but it is without a doubt the orb that the Void itself originated from.
Immediately after the Void began to expand to the point that the barrier is no longer in sight, the orb manifested itself into a physical entity. That entity was Ryina. Immediately after she was born, Unmei, the goddess of Fate was created alongside her.
The two beings cannot exist without one another, as they both control the forces of everything that exists and will exist.
"Things have become even worse," Goku says, sweat going down the side of his face. "There are two creators?!"
As shapes began to define themselves, the first Caeleste were born. Their names were Cinir, Palo, and Jalas. They each began to create their own realities and expand the Void. However, Ryina and Unmei got into a fight over who rules the void.
Their battle destroyed the Void, including the three Caeleste. Unmei lost the fight and left to the far corners of the void. Ryina recreated the Void and created the first Caeleste. Her name was Solis.
Caelicola stops reading and everybody would look at him. "That name... It can't be... Wait, that's it! If she's still alive..."
After her, Akuma would have been created as an attendant for Ryina. Arhenahin would be created next and begin the Metempiric Space, having greater potential than almost any other Caeleste.
Shortly after, two other Caeleste would be born. Their names were Materia and Caelicola. A...
"That's it," Caelicola says sadly. "After that, I couldn't decipher the remaining letters. They got more and more complicated as time went on."
Gohan gets up and states, "I have an idea."
Everybody looks at him as Caelicola's eyes widen. "What is it, Son Gohan?"
"We have two potential allies," Gohan explains. "If we can get Solis and Unmei on our side, we could have a chance against the goddess of the Void."
"That could work," Materia agrees. "However, we don't know if Solis is alive and where Unmei is."
Music: Tom Player - Soul Searcher [Position Music ] [Epic Music - Epic Beautiful Orchestral]
Goku gets up and walks away from them, raising his hands. "We can find Unmei if we all work together to create a portal. Everybody, I need your energy!"
Everybody walks over and powers up, placing a hand on Goku's shoulder. Goku grunts and begins to concentrate, the other side of the portal channeling across the Void.
A white outline surrounds Goku and the portal begins to get more steady. His hair spikes up as he momentarily enters the Void form. The portal then begins to spin rapidly as the other side goes so fast that an infinite mirror effect is displayed.
The area around them begins to shake as the portal speeds up more and more and glows. Suddenly, it stops in front of the corner of a barrier of limitless size. It would be so dense that you cannot see through it to the other side of the void.
There would be a small reality on the other side of the portal. Goku drops to one knee and pants heavily. "Even in my Void form, that took so much out of me... You have no idea how fast I just went there..."
"You went approximately 10^10^10^10^10^42 Metempiric Spaces in distance every Planck second," Materia says. "The size of the Void is incomprehensible even to us Caeleste."
"Yeah, yeah, thanks for that math," Gohan says. "Anyone got an aspirin?"
Goku walks forward, powering down from his Void form. "We have reached the end of existence."
"Everything seems hardly defined here," Caelicola notes. "Logic itself isn't complete in this area of the Void. Be aware. There could be many glitches in the Void. It could have dire consequences on us."
Goku takes a deep breath and takes a step forward. He walks into the portal into the edge of the Void. He'd feel extremely weird. He grunts in pain as he would feel infinite cold, but infinite heat at the same time.
Gohan, Vegeta, Caelicola, Piccolo, and Materia walk in after him, looking around. Caelicola creates a barrier around them to protect them and they all begin to fly toward the reality.
Goku suddenly stops in place, smashing against the back of the barrier. Everybody stops in place and looks back to check up on him.
"What the hell are you doing, Kakarot? What's the hold-up?" Vegeta asks him.
Goku looks at them in confusion. "Where am I? Where's Grandpa Gohan?"
Gohan, Piccolo, and Vegeta look at each other and immediately figure out what's going on with him.
Goku gets into a fighting stance, reaching for his staff. "You must be evil spirits! Where's my staff? Why is everything so tall?!"
Caelicola vanishes behind him and taps him on the head, and Goku stumbles forward. "Why am I suddenly craving fish? What happened?"
"You glitched in the void and it temporarily erased most of your memories," Materia replies. "We cannot stay here for long. I fear that even us Caeleste can be affected as well."
The five of them rush toward the reality and enter the barriers of it. It would mostly be empty, with only a couple of Omniverses in it, and even those would seem almost lifeless.
As they get closer to the worn-down palace, they would see some strange markings carved everywhere on it. At the throne would be a figure that is so still, that they wouldn't even notice it at first.
Goku walks over to the center of the room and notices a giant eye carved into the floor, similar to the one in Arhenahin's palace. "Guys, where do you think this eye leads to?"
In less than a yoctosecond, the figure on the throne would have grabbed Caelicola's head and slammed him onto the floor, cracking the entire palace. Everybody leaps back and gets into their stances.
Caelicola swings a punch at the figure's head, but... it does nothing. This would shock everybody. A Caeleste not being able to harm another?
The figure then stiffly throws him to the wall, causing it to collapse. "Another squad sent by Ryina to finish me off, huh? It's been a long time. I needed some energy to absorb."
Goku slowly walks forward, raising his hands in surrender. "Calm down. We are not here to attack you."
The figure looks up, staring at him for a solid ten seconds. "I don't believe you." The figure begins to slowly crush Caelicola's head, making him grunt in pain.
"We need your help to put an end to Ryina, the goddess of the Void," Vegeta explains. This time, the figure would seem intrigued, as it drops Caelicola. "You know about my counterpart?"
"That's correct," Piccolo confirms. "After the death of Lord Arhenahin, our reality has now been placed in the hands of Caelicola."
The figure's eyes widen, as it slowly walks forward. "Brother Arhenahin is dead...? I should know this by now... The powers of fate have diminished..."
"He sacrificed himself to take down Akuma to save us."
"I see..." The figure walks back toward its throne. "I've been here for a very, very long time. Even I don't remember the last time I had a visitor who wasn't somebody sent by Ryina to kill me. What do you want?"
"We want you to join us in the war against Ryina," Caelicola explains. "If we win, you could be in charge of the Void."
The figure stops walking. "That's a hopeless cause. Ryina is everything. She has control over every force in the Void. She can erase you without a second thought."
Goku, for the first time in a long time, feels himself starting to get angry. He takes a step forward in front of the rest of them. "There won't be anything left for you after she destroys your reality! It's better to go down fighting than just letting her pick us off one by one!"
The figure turns toward him and walks up to him, staring at him in the face. "If you can take her down, then I'd be more than happy to take over and restore the Void. Until then, I'm staying here."
Caelicola places a hand on Goku's shoulder and gently moves him to the side as he walks up to the figure, holding up a scroll. "Unmei, God of Fate, perhaps this will change your mind."
Unmei looks down at it and her eyes widen. "Impossible... That's... I thought I lost that eons ago!"
She walks up to it and takes it, opening it. "Yes... It's the real thing! How did you find it?"
"A former Caeleste named Gilo showed it to us," Caelicola replies. "I had to put an end to him to stop him from potentially causing the end of the Void."
Unmei nods. "Ah, him... I never trusted him..." She continues to read through the scroll for a moment.
"Wait a minute," Gohan says, walking forward. "Unmei, you created those symbols and ciphered the scroll, right?"
"That is correct," she says. "The entire history of the Void is written within it. I mean it when I say the entire history. If I were to fully unlock it, it would create a massively long sheet that explains the full story of every single life form that has ever lived in all realities. It self-writes itself."
She waves her hand and says some strange ancient incantations before the scroll begins to glow. The pattern would unravel as the entire scroll is unlocked. It begins to roll out in a sheet incomprehensibly long.
"This scroll controls history itself," Unmei explains. "Whoever controls it is called 'The Writer'."
She creates a glowing writing utensil. "I could rewrite your stories. I can make it so that you never existed. This scroll gives you control over fiction itself."
She spins the scroll and opens it again, and it would be self-writing itself. All of the text would be just like you are reading now:
She creates a glowing writing utensil. "I could rewrite your stories. I can make it so that you never existed. This scroll gives you control over fiction itself."
She spins the scroll and opens it again, and it would be self-writing itself. All of the text would be just like you are reading now:
"That is absolutely incredible!" Goku says as he sees the scroll writing that he said that. "It's so dangerous, though. I can see why it was sealed."
Unmei nods. "Ryina would do anything to get her hands on this scroll. If you think she has full control and Omnipotence right now, you are mistaken. Should she gets this scroll, it's game over. She'll do anything she wants with the story."
"Can't we just erase the bit where Ryina is evil?"
"Negative," she replies. "I'm sure you are aware of how time works. If one thing changed in the past, everything could change in the future. We must not do that."
She waves her hand and the scroll shoots to the very beginning. "There is also one major problem: This scroll does not have the key to defeating Ryina."
"What?!" Everybody would say at the same time.
"It only shows all of history thus far," Unmei explains. "We see nothing that can happen in the future. There's also another problem."
She points to the page that explains how the Void orb gave birth to Ryina. "The scroll was created when I was created, not before. We don't know how the orb came to be or how to destroy her. If we destroy the orb, not only would it destroy her, but the entire Void as well."
"So how do you suggest we take her down?" Caelicola asks her.
She smirks. "Simple. We need somebody to get even more powerful than her and overthrow her." She turns toward Goku. "That somebody is the Infinitum Mortale. Son Goku, you are that person."
To Be Continued in Chapter Fourteen
This chapter was slightly longer than usual.
For anybody that is new, read Dragon Ball Aftermath, then the sequel, then War Between Worlds, then this to get caught up.
~ Scruffy