PALACE OF THE KING OF ALL

Upon opening his eyes, Shaun was greeted by an incredible sight. The group stood on a large structure that resembled a jellyfish. The sky above them was multicolored though mostly consisted of purple and blue. Thoughts of little white sparkles covered the sky which Shaun just assumed were stars. Next to them was a large palace in the shape of the kanji "全". Around the castle was a circle of twelve floating rocks that each had a Universe above them.

"Holy…" Shaun said, mouth agape.

"Where are we?" Stephen asked.

"Beyond the Multiverse, even I am unsure of where this place sits exactly." The Tribunal admitted.

"Hmph, it's not exactly the most flashy place." Emil groaned.

As if the building heard the insult, a sudden aura hit the group and Emil found himself seemingly paralyzed in shock.

"There's no place in the Multiverse more sacred than Grand Zeno's Palace, Emil." The Tribunal stated.

The Tribunal then walked towards the palace itself. Still appearing to be transfixed, Emil let the other attendees pass him, while Strange groaned.

"Don't open your mouth when we're inside. I don't want you disqualifying us from the tournament."

Seeming to regain his mobility, Emil only huffed before following the small group. The Tribunal opened the enormous double doors which led into the palace itself. The inside of the palace was a dark void (brightened by its glowing floor) with thousands of white pillars scattered around the place.

"Isn't the ceiling normally supposed to be lit?" Shaun asked.

Simply raising his gaze upwards, Wong squinted as he noticed that the ceiling seemed so high that he was unable to see it.

"When we were outside, the roof didn't seem that high to me. How high is it?"

"There's no ceiling." The Tribunal retorted.

Both Shaun and Wong looked at each other, too stunned to speak. The palace truly left much to the imagination. Strange rested one of his hands on the pillars, which were positioned in two rows. Seeming to analyze them, he quickly noticed.

"This material is unlike anything I've ever seen, it's exquisite."

He suddenly had the feeling like he was being watched, quickly turning he noticed another group standing in front of them. Comprised of six beings, a short fairly obese man with a large red bead. A green-skinned, villain-eyed humanoid. A tall white-haired, blue-skinned man and a trio of wolfmen whose coats are composed of deep red, dirty yellow and dark blue.

"And here I thought the Avengers were the strangest group you could come across…" Wong mumbled to no one in particular.

Whilst looking at the group, the obese man ran a hand through his beard.

"So the rumors were true…one of the original Universes did survive."

"It doesn't matter if they exist or not, sooner or later they will perish, just like the other original Universes." The green-skinned man asserted.

Emil growled a little. "The runaway elf is really talking to us about existence? It's like I'm looking at video game characters."

"What did you say!?" The green-skinned man roared.

Behind him, the trio of wolfmen looked surprised to hear Emil insult him so casually whilst a slight smile appeared on the blue man's face.

"Roh, this is no place to start an argument." The obese man stated.

About to say something, Emil heard Stephen threaten him.

"One more word and I'll rip your vocal cords out."

"My apologies, deities of Universe 9." The Tribunal bowed.

"Deities?" Shaun repeated.

The Tribunal then began greeting the members of Universe 9.

"This here is the Hakaishin of Universe 9, Lord Sidra." The Tribunal introduced the obese man.

"My greetings. I wish to know more about your Universe and to know why it has survived up until now. It's truly fascinating."

"For a god who's supposed to destroy worlds, he doesn't act like a bad person." Stephen mumbled.

"This is Roh, the Kaiōshin of Universe 9." The Tribunal introduced the green-skinned man.

"Tch, if the inhabitants of the Pseudo-Universe are as rude as this one then maybe it'd be better for them to disappear."

Emil looked like he was going to say something but Stephen smacked his side which kept him quiet.

"And finally we get to the Angel of Universe 9, Mojito."

"It's a pleasure to see you once again Tribunal." Mojito said as he bowed.

Seeing that the Tribunal had finished the introductions, Wong cast a glance in the direction of the trio of wolfmen, who had remained silent.

"Those three…I'm assuming they are our opponents."

Hearing this, the trio glared at him, before displaying arrogant and wicked smiles, in order to show their sharp teeth, to look more terrifying. Wanting to play their game, Emil went to transform, but was unable to due to the spell restricting him from transforming.

"You really think I'm going to allow you to get us in trouble?" Wong questioned.

"Argh, you're no fun." Emil replied.

Suddenly the entire room around them changed in an instant, Shaun took a step back and took in the sights. They were no longer in the palace however the sky above them looked identical. They were currently standing on a large square platform.

"What in the…" Shaun mumbled.

He looked over and saw the members of Universe 9 bow down, aside from Mojito who remained standing. Seeing the Tribunal do the same, both Stephen and Wong followed his lead whilst Shaun hastened to do the same. Having little desire to bow to anyone, Emil remained standing with his arms crossed; however, one quick glance from Stephen was enough to make him scoff and bow. With everyone now bowing, a short man now stood in front of them with his arms behind his back. Daring to give him a brief look, Stephen noticed that he resembled the Universe 9's Angel.

"Greetings everyone, I'm glad that you all accepted my invitation. For those of you who do not know me. I am the Daishinkan. As you might know, Grand Zeno has decided to organize an entertainment test which will introduce him to the concept of a tournament. This test will oppose Universe 9 against the last remaining Pseudo-Universe. There will be three, one on one fights in which I will explain the rules very briefly."

Stephen was confused when the Daishinkan mentioned an entertainment test, he glanced over and saw Roh and the wolfmen display confident smiles.

"For this special event I have prepared an arena and proper seats for spectators."

The Daishinkan raised one of his hands and in an instant the ground beneath them disappeared. The participants of the Pseudo-Universe started yelling in fear before falling into the bleachers. Finding himself crushed under the bodies of Shaun and Wong, Emil declared.

"I swear, we're just here to be humiliated."

Having managed to use his powers to float above the ground, Stephen landed gracefully, as did the Tribunal, who put his feet down silently. Getting up, the three participants in the event saw their opponents already standing on another set of bleachers, whilst continuing to smile arrogantly. Then, appearing on a small platform above the bleachers, the Daishinkan reappeared.

"Let all the gods gather here!" He shouted.

At that moment, many more bleachers appeared and seconds later, beings were transported into them. Usually they appeared in groups of three, and it only took Stephen a few seconds to differentiate between Angels, Kaiōshins, and Hakaishins.

"So these are the deities of the Multiverse…"

Seeing what all the gods looked like, Emil looked like he was about to chuckle. Nonetheless, he grimaced, feeling Wong stomp on his foot, as he seemed to have predicted what he was planning to do.

"Hey!"

"Don't say anything."

"Angels, Kaiōshins, Hakaishins…wait, who are those guys?" Shaun asked.

Directing his gaze towards the bleachers of Universe 7 and Universe 11, Stephen noticed that those universes had four people instead of three. The man from Universe 7 had black, spiky hair and was wearing an orange and blue knot-style obi whilst the man from Universe 11 couldn't be identified due to him being hidden under a large black cloak. He watched as the spiky haired man waved to the god of Universe 6 which irritated his own god.

"They know each other? So people from other Universes have met before." Strange said.

"Son Goku." The Daishinkan called out. "Your silence would be appreciated, Lord Beerus, please ensure that this doesn't happen again."

Immediately, Beerus bowed to him.

"It won't happen again, I swear."

Seeing that silence had returned, the Daishinkan began to speak.

"Angels, Hakaishins and Kaiōshins of all Universes, thank you for coming. As you have already heard, Grand Zeno wishes to hold a martial arts tournament which he has dubbed 'The Tournament of Power'. However, before that is to happen, Grand Zeno from the future is unaware of the concept of a tournament. So, right now, we will be holding an exhibition match to introduce Grand Zeno to the tournament style."

Many of the gods started whispering among themselves and for the first time, The Tribunal had a look of surprise.

"Grand Zeno from the future?"

"There are two of them?" Wong asked.

Suddenly, two huge fancy chairs appeared behind the Daishinkan, he then turned and bowed in the direction of the quartet that had just appeared. Taller than the Angels, two turquoise-skinned humanoids stood perfectly upright. Instead, sitting on the two floating seats, were two short beings with rather large oval-shaped heads. They wore the same attire, a magenta and yellow lined coat, with yellow pants and magenta shoes.

"Hello everyone!"

"Hello!"

The two Zeno's called out.

"Children...these are the supreme gods of the Multiverse?" Wong wondered.

"Is this some sort of joke?" Emil growled.

Once again, Goku's voice sounded out as he waved at the two children.

"Zen-Chan! It's me!"

Beerus quickly leapt onto him, getting him in a rear naked choke hold.

"Shut up!"

The gods once again had shocked expressions upon hearing a mortal speak to the Grand Zeno's in such a way.

"He called him Zen-Chan?" The Universe 6 god said.

Their shock was amplified even more when Goku escaped Beerus' grasp and took the opportunity to fly up to the two Zeno's. Strangely, seeming to be used to this, the two children's bodyguards did nothing to block it, whilst Goku saluted the two Zeno's.

"It's super cool that you decided to do this tournament! I'm super excited!"

Beerus' hand grasped Goku by his head then proceeded to throw him back into the Universe 7 bleachers. Beerus then quickly returned to his bleachers.

"Do that again, and I promise I'll disintegrate you!"

Beerus then bowed in the Zeno's direction.

"Apologies for the commotion."

The Universe 7 god seemed to be the target of the other Hakaishins, who looked at him with a certain anger in their eyes.

"How can Universe 7 be so disrespectful?"

"I hope they didn't anger the Grand Zeno's"

"I have never seen a mortal behave like this."

After waiting a few more seconds, the Daishinkan motioned for them to be quiet.

"The mortal who greeted the Grand Zeno's, his name is Son Goku of the seventh Universe. It's thanks to his request that this great Tournament of Power is to take place."

"What?" Wong wondered. "Is it thanks to him that our Universe has a chance of surviving?"

"It's strange." Stephen replied. "To know if our Universe deserves to survive, today's test would be more than enough. Why create a Tournament of Power involving all the Universes?"

"What do you mean?" Shaun asked.

"I feel like…we aren't the only ones being tested today."

"Who does this mortal think he is?" Someone asked. "Why did he ask for such a tournament?"

Hearing this, Goku replied. "I heard there were a lot of strong guys out there in the different Universes which is why I asked for this tournament!"

The two Zeno's nodded.

"We want to see a tournament!"

"Yes! We want to see great fights."

"I can fight now if you'd like?" Goku asked, a big grin plastered on his face.

"Asshole!" Beerus roared. "This exhibition is none of our business! Don't get us into trouble!"

"Lord Beerus is correct." The Daishinkan said. "This exhibition is to introduce the future Grand Zeno to the concept of a tournament. However, for the moment, the Tournament of Power will concern Universes one through twelve. Nevertheless, Grand Zeno wished to see the last remaining Pseudo-Universe in action. Therefore, this opening match is a way to find out if this universe is capable of participating in the tournament."

"Pseudo-Universe?" Someone wondered.

"One of them survived until now?"

"I thought their existence was just a myth."

"How can a Universe survive without divinity?"

"This event is simple. The exhibition match is a short preliminary event held in order to heighten anticipation for the fights of the Tournament of Power, and to show the future Grand Zeno how tournaments take place. This event will consist of three, one on one fights with no time limit. Battles will end when a fighter is no longer able to compete, decides to give up, or is thrown out of the ring."

"Daishinkan!" Roh called out suddenly, with a greedy gaze. "Just out of curiosity, will there be a reward for the winners of these fights?"

"The Grand Zeno's have very graciously decided to give the winner of this exhibition a 'bonus' which may aid them in the Tournament of Power. However, this is because the Pseudo-Universe and Universe 9 have the lowest average mortal level among the thirteen Universes."

"A bonus? Now we really need to win this. Whatever it is, we need all the help we can get for this upcoming tournament." Stephen admitted.

"To add to this, if the fights are boring, I cannot guarantee the safety of your Universe."

"You mean…our Universe could be destroyed if Grand Zeno gets bored?" Sidra asked, frightened.

"It's entirely possible."

Hearing this, Wong gulped, whilst Shaun spoke.

"A prolonged fight could be our undoing."

Seeing the two Universes begin to panic, the Daishinkan only smiled.

"As the exhibition goes on, I will reveal more about the rules for the Tournament of Power. And now, for our first matchup, could the selected fighters from each Universe please enter the ring."

The red wolfman from Universe 9 jumped from his bleachers and landed gracefully in the ring.

"Perfect! I'm going first to showcase the power of Universe 9!"

"Let's go Basil!" Roh encouraged him. "Make Grand Zeno realize that this Pseudo-Universe has no right to be in the Tournament of Power!"

"I'll let you have your fun little brother, but don't take long in besting your opponent!" The blue wolfman declared.

The Tribunal remained calm, turning to his team.

"So who are we sending first?"

"I'll go first." Shaun said.

However, Emil pushed Shaun out of the way.

"For over ten years I've been locked away in that little cell. I'm not waiting any longer. If these gods want to see a real fight, then I'll show them the extent of my power!"

Emil then leapt from the bleachers, hitting a barrel roll before standing up straight, eyeing down his opponent. He then turned to look up at Wong in the bleachers, raising his arm that has the Chinese Dragon spell on it.

"Get rid of this damn spell Wong!"

Having no other choice, Wong did a few hand movements and slowly but surely the spell on Emil's hand started to disappear.

"Finally…" Emil grinned menacingly.

Basil's smile slowly started to disappear as he watched Emil begin to transform into a gargantuan Hulk-like humanoid. However, unlike Banner, Blonsky is able to retain full control of his senses. His full body standing at 11ft. His rib cage and spine protrude from his body, as do several bones that serve as skeletal spikes. Abomination also has amphibious frills on the sides of his head and thorns in his body.

"I'm going to crush you, chihuahua."

Basil then growled. "Do you really think you scare me? I'll destroy you easily!"

The Daishinkan then raised his hand. "Let the first match of the exhibition begin!"