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-YARN
Kurai fought not to fidget as Beerus stared at him, clearly waiting for Kurai to say something of value. Kurai mindlessly began raising and lowering the ki inside himself to try to occupy some of his focus as Beerus and Whis looked at him. His tail began twitching around his waist and was the only outward sign of the nervousness that was twisting his stomach into knots.
He swallowed his nerves and took a deep breath, "About who?"
"Someone who seems to have obtained a Time Ring." Beerus replied, eyes that were normally filled with indifference now sharp, "Someone you have been said to know very well."
Kurai's own resolve hardened, this needed to be addressed, "Fuhai. He made a time ring out of distorted time energy and while it's not a real time ring, it has the ability to pluck beings from timelines and pull them through to here, empower them, and he can go somewhere he can fully hide from any detection."
Whis hummed at that considering the idea, "Is that so? I wasn't aware of that being a possible use of distorted time energy though. Quite interesting…"
"Before we continue… I think we better go to a place with a little more privacy and no possibility of being overhead. Hell isn't exactly a place where you want to spread the information of where you are the most vulnerable Lord Beerus." Kurai said calmly, eyeing the surrounding hellscape.
Beerus eyes widened and Whis looked somewhat surprised.
After making sure that Pikkon was left at the Check-in Station of the Other World for proper treatment, Whis took Kurai and Beerus to a random planet that seemed more or less abandoned aside from wild animals and plant-life. Then Whis raised his staff and sucked all of them inside for an extra layer of privacy just to make any wandering interloper even less likely to spy on them.
Kurai had been to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber plenty of times, and even some of his missions happened in Whis' personal training chamber before, so he was well accustomed to how to move in there.
Plus, this was as secure as it usually got.
Both Whis and Beerus looked at him expectantly, and knowing that this was a gamble Kurai decided to lay it all on the table.
If it ended badly for him he would just have to accept his time had come and hope his recent training would give him a chance to impress them enough to reconsider.
He would not be able to stop them.
He told the story of how he was once a time patroller, the history with Mira and Towa, Dabura and Fu, checking a scroll when his partner shot another and stranded him in the timeline with no way back. He explained that Shenron was unable to help him; how four other patrollers along with Xtrunks were trying to use Porunga instead as he was more powerful. He explained how Fuhai boasted about the abilities that his ring had and how he was only making it stronger by causing distortions and harvesting the energy power his ring. He talked about how Fuhai would target the Supreme Kai once all the Time Patrollers he dragged into the timeline were dead. He had gone on to mention how he had been trying to circumvent some of the issues regarding the future that he knew about through use of the Dragon Balls. He gone through the series of events that led to the creation of Goku Black and Zamasu's zero mortals plan, how to deranged kai could not understand that mortals were not inherently evil and how he went about killing all the Kais so no God or Angel could try to stop him from destroying them all.
The only thing he left out was his God forms and his extent of how far along he was with them at his current point in time.
Still irrationally scared of revealing himself, especially since he knew why Beerus would've showed up at all.
Some of the past had been used in prepping himself for Super Saiyan 4, but that didn't mean he didn't work on anything else. Through the small gaps in time over the past years and three weeks in Otherworld, he focused on his divine forms and had been training them; with his tail helping him along he had finally mastered his god ki. He was in full control of Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, able to maintain the forms with no strain or degradation in his power over time even in combat. He had mastered those forms to a level that even surpassed his current usage of Super Saiyan 4 despite how easily the fourth form came. Evolution was still a bit of a strain to use but that form was easier to maintain now than Super Saiyan 3 had been before he got his tail.
Either way, a weight lifted off his shoulders as most of it was out in the open.
Beerus seemed worried and angry and Whis looked rather concerned over the idea that someone would kill the Kai to destroy the gods.
"I know it's… a lot… but even if it is just in Zamasu's case we need to be ready before he does try anything or chooses someone else to trade bodies with. Since I have taken a few steps to prevent that from occurring here, the biggest issue is him wishing for immortality and then being — I'm assuming — null and void to your ability to kill him. That would be a situation which is worse than him just switching bodies with a decently powerful individual or entity. This timeline's already different because the Supreme Kai is still alive, but he is not safe, especially with Fuhai or Zamasu around and willing to kill him. I would've made a wish with the Dragon Balls to maybe create a workaround or something, but the last thing I wanted to do is step on rules and mess things up any more any more than I could have already done." Kurai said, hoping he wasn't about to be erased.
"Well… that caution you've with which you approached the issue you saw was good." Whis stated, "Even the Namekian Dragon Balls lack the power to alter the bond between deities, kais, and their attendants. Perhaps the Super Dragon Balls would be able to do it, but edicts handed down by Zeno are not to be trifled with. The sort of idea you have would have to be decided by a council of all of the Gods and Angels under Zeno, not just by the corresponding universe you wish to effect. Even so, do you have any more information that would allow us to stop the death of Supreme Kai?"
"No…" Kurai admitted, "I wish I did, but the problem is the changes already happening and people who are moving outside the realm. We can't guard the Supreme Kai indefinitely and as… devoted as Kibito is we both know he is far from the strongest out there and if a determined enough individual came around he would not stand a chance. The only thing I thought I might do is literally take a page out of Zamasu's playbook and wish for the Supreme Kai to be immortal. He has the correct compassion and understanding due to the death of his allied kais to Buu and saw the good that mortals can do through Goku, Vegeta, and the rest of the warriors of Earth. With him unable to die, it would allow for Beerus or whoever God of Destruction comes around to be safe and for you to remain active to help in an issue that would be too much."
Beerus frowned, knowing just how important the Supreme Kai truly was to his life and existence, "As ludicrous as this does sound, you were a time patroller and had the unique position to know about future events and separate timelines. I don't find any reason to doubt you, but we cannot do anything to kill Zamasu without proof, as easy as that would make fixing this issue. That being said, perhaps we should meet with the Kai training this timeline's Zamasu, warn him and impress upon him the importance of teaching him right."
"Gowasu tried to teach him, he tried his very best." Kurai said flatly, "Zamasu lied that he understood, killed him, and stole The Main Time Ring to use as he saw fit."
Beerus eyes narrowed in anger and Whis sighed in disappointment, "I suppose your search for The Super Saiyan God will simply have to wait Lord Beerus. This information is simply far to serious for us to wait on or put to the wayside as you no doubt planned. Even if Zamasu never does go on to kill the kais, his genocidal nature must be confirmed as Zeno would no doubt be very displeased if any universe fell into such a state let alone all of them."
Kurai felt the prickle of nervousness of Beerus' initial intent.
Still wasn't strong enough to take on Beerus and he didn't even want to consider Whis.
"Then I have to know…" Kurai stated cautiously, deciding to voice his biggest concern that he had agonized over for years, "What is to happen to me and the other Time Patrollers? Are you going to return us to The Time Nest? Are we going to be killed?"
Whis covered his mouth and laughed lightly, "Oh do not worry. While you weren't supposed to exist in this timeline, due to the fact that you were affected by a damaged Time Scroll has anchored you here as your new reality. Technically, you could go back to The Time Nest, but there is no need to destroy you for your relocation to this timeline which can also be applied to your allies who were brought over against their will. As you and they are member of the Time Patroller Forces, you and your allies are uniquely adapted to temporal displacement and are at even less risk due to you not having a choice in the matter. That being said, the information is quite valuable and deserves some compensation if nothing else was to be done. This Fuhai character does need to be dealt with immediately without delay as his actions are very dangerous. He could be destabilizing multiple timelines and to do so with little regard to the timelines being affected is foolish. As for wishing for The Supreme Kai's immortality, I will discuss it with my father and get his impression. If Zeno agrees than we can allow for it and his connection to Lord Beerus will remain intact and keep Lord Beerus alive."
Kurai let out a breath of relief, "Well… would it be possible to lock onto his distortions with a Time Ring, maybe have you or Beerus or even The Supreme Kai use it to hone in on when he jumps to his hiding spot and take care of him there?"
"If he were jumping to a separate timeline, it might be able to use the rings to open a rip to pursue him, but you must know that God of Destruction are not allowed to travel through time as it is. That said if you or an ally were to follow you could defeat him, but there would be no way for us to retrieve anyone if his ring vanishes with him." Whis informed him cheerfully, "As it stands, mortals — even if time patrollers like yourself — are not permitted to use a time ring.
Kurai sagged, he'd forgotten how… 'ambivalent' Whis usually was about things that Kurai really thought should be more worrisome.
Then again, he was an angel and it was sort of his thing to be like that.
Returning to Earth and at Kami's lookout to see his friends was a heartening moment no matter what in Kurai's experience. He had told them he was going to Otherworld to get some unique training done, he had hoped to have something, but alas Janemba cut his training short. Even so, he had missed his friends, it was good to see them all relatively well and none of them had died or seriously hurt. Still, he did want to go back to Otherworld to continue his training with Master Roshi as Whis and Beerus left to begin their investigation into Fuhai and Zamasu and left Kurai back on Earth.
Maybe he should go to Yardrat and learned some of their tricks? He had met some of their species in Otherworld and was enraptured by the possibilities what they afforded him. Instant Transmission would make himself a lot less limited in terms of movement, he could probably increase the efficiency of his healing and cloning, size manipulation was neat if nothing else, and Forced Spirit Fission would be downright invaluable if he ever had to face people who could drain or take power from people — or just wholly absorb others — or fusion-proficient fighters or even if he just needed to drain the power out of foes.
Cell and Buu came to mind on the former.
Vegito, Gogeta, and Kefla came to mind on the latter.
Either way, he focused on his friends who asked him if everything was okay.
"Yeah." Kurai replied tiredly, "It's settled for now. Beerus and Whis are going to look around about some of the stuff I told them about, so they won't be back for a couple of days at the very least. Hopefully they can head off the worst of the events that could happen on their own. That being said, I am not taking any chances, I need to get back to other world so that I can continue my training. If I take it easy, I am just setting myself up for failure."
"What happened anyway?" Goku inquired, "Why did all of our previous opponents suddenly come back to life? There was some sort of monster in Hell, but that didn't really explain a lot about why things went crazy…"
"Another of Fuhai little games," Kurai grumbled, "He brought over several iterations of a monster you and Vegeta fought in a alternate timeline. It managed to seal away the Check-in Station and without that operating properly, all the souls that normally would have been managed by the soul-cleansing machine and regulated to hell or heaven respectively were set loose into the land of the living. Normally, beating the monster wouldn't have been much of an issue for us as Super Saiyan 4, but Fuhai amped one of them up beyond what I could have expected. If I was at full power I could've handled it one-on-one, but after facing a literal army and being hassled by them for so long the lag was too much. I was healing myself when Whis and Beerus stepped in and took care of it with no issue."
Vegeta scoffed, "I have no doubt. Beerus is a God of Destruction, his power is practically unfathomable."
Goku's eyes glittered with anticipation, "Really?"
"You just had to say that?" The former Time Patroller groaned, "In front of Goku of all people?"
After hitching a ride back to heaven with Goku, weeks passed.
Kurai was sitting in a a meditative position, hands flat against each other as he eyes were closed. He was trying to simply sense everything around him, letting all of his worries, fears, and drive al leak out of him. Part of attaining Ultra Instinct was just letting go of everything aside from the battle at hand, removing one's inhibitions, reflexes, and thoughts from getting in the way. Kurai stood up and kept his eyes closed, hands loose and relaxed in his hands, waiting for the attack to come. He felt a stick tap against his temple and repressed the urge to sigh in frustration, forcing himself to suppress the irritation welling up inside of him. He hadn't believed that he was going to master Ultra Instinct anytime soon, but he wanted to at least tap into it like Goku had.
Ultra Instinct Omen in a base form was his current goal.
He wanted to be able to access that at will and then — when it would fade — not immediately collapse in exhaustion. Goku had gone into that state multiple times over the course of the Tournament of Power, eventually mastering it against Jiren before his body began to break down under the strain. With that in mind, he decided to focus on meditation as well as sparring, knowing the correct mindset was just as if not more important than his body being able to hold onto it. He also pulled on the memories of when he fought Goku in his incomplete and master Ultra Instinct on his various missions with other patrollers. The raw feeling of power and movement that Goku had radiated had given an idea of what Kurai should look for, but he wasn't there yet.
On the occasions he wasn't working with Master Roshi, he would go to Earth and train with Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, or Piccolo in his base form. He didn't want to transform and built his base more and more and more, taking advantage of Dende's healing and Energy Zone to build Zenkai after Zenkai despite them becoming less and less effective over time. He knew that as he grew stronger his Zenkais would soon not really make a notable difference but he decided that any little bit could only help him out. He didn't know exactly how durable his body would have to be in order to withstand Ultra Instinct to a limited degree, but he hoped it mattered enough to make a difference. Then if he had a free moment in Heaven, he would track down a Yardrat and badger him into learning Instant Transmission — mainly so he didn't have to bother Goku all the time — which was hard but rewarding work when he finally managed a fully accurate transmission successfully. He would learn all the other Spirit Control techniques once he had a decent understanding over Ultra Instinct.
The patrollers and Xtrunks returned to Earth, even Porunga was unable to help them return to The Time Nest. That being the situation for the foreseeable future, Cauri had wished for her tail back and began working with Goku and Vegeta to get ready to transform into a Super Saiyan 4. Itar and Hollo sparred with each other as they once again worked with Piccolo to get stronger and raise their Kaio-ken higher and improve their base. Frigi instead demanded to work with Kurai when he was on Earth so he could to try to coax his golden form to the surface. Beerus and Whis hadn't returned yet so Kurai agreed as actually fighting someone who could hurt him as extra motivation to access Ultra Instinct.
They also passed along their activities on New Namek, and what wishes they made since after reinforcing his body swap wish and them still not able to return to their Time Nest. Deciding to limit the weaknesses of the heroes of Earth, they asked for the ability to allow The Z-fighters — sans Buu, Hollo, and Frigi as they didn't need it — to breath in the vacuum of space. The Third wish was a bit of a issue as they really had no plans for it, so they let the Namekians have it before they decided to return to Earth.
Seven and a half months passed.
Beerus hadn't returned or even been around during that time and Kurai let his worry over the God's search settle in the back of his mind. He didn't know if he and Whis were investigating Gowasu and Zamasu, looking into Fuhai, talking with the Grand Preist, or maybe Beerus was just taking a small catnap (by Beerus' standards a few months wasn't even a minute to close his eyes).
All of his allies were far stronger than he could've thought, and even without the hope of stopping Beerus, he would be in for a wonderful — since he was a battle-junkie at heart when he fought — surprise if he decided to start something.
Master Roshi's training had been excellent in honing his ability to fight blind and when he really concentrated, he could feel something inside him. He had a decent idea what it was, and he had even sparred with Master Roshi who was using his own principals of Ultra Instinct. Even if it wasn't like Goku's Mastered Ultra Instinct or his True Ultra Instinct, the spars provided valuable insight into how instinctive movement and a calm state of mind was necessary. He had begun to tap into it and Master Roshi had been proud to see how far Kurai had come with his tutelage.
The Turtle Hermit also assigned Kurai several methods of increasing his instincts.
Kurai constantly ran drills with pendulum swinging and ball-catching under Roshi strict guidance. Days turned into weeks which turned into months before Kurai managed to truly taste it.
Ultra Instinct.
After he skimmed the surface of that ability his training only became harsher as tapping into it was not the same as using it. The Grand Kai pulled some strings and had Pikkon come and help Kurai practice with his Ultra Instinct, sparring with the saiyan as much as possible while Kurai helped quell the occasional uprising in Hell whenever it cropped up. To Kurai it was a win-win scenario as he could use the idiots in Hell as extra practice for his Ultra Instinct as well — as he had long since surpassed most of the idiots in there even if he wasn't using Ultra Instinct — and Pikkon got some back-up just in case someone especially troublesome arrived in there.
Broly had been less than pleased seeing Kurai in Hell when he started causing trouble, knowing he was the main reason he had died. He thankfully had still been in a bit of a limbo during the whole Janemba debacle, so he hadn't reappeared on Earth to wreak havoc, but that didn't mean much if he broke Hell.
Naturally, Pikkon — as the current guardian of Hell — was called in and Kurai joined him when he heard who was causing trouble.
The fight had been entertaining until he realized Broly rage and power rose and became a sort of Legendary Super Saiyan 2. Pikkon had been entirely caught off guard by the transformation before being quickly overwhelmed before Kurai interfered. Even with his new power, Broly wasn't someone Kurai couldn't handle — given the fact that Kurai never let up on his training — but if it kept up he would eventually become strong enough to destabilize Hell itself, which was basically going to cause the exact same thing Janemba had caused earlier. For all that Janemba had been more powerful than the berserker at the beginning, Broly was still The Legendary Super Saiyan and like every saiyan had no limit to his power. It was entirely possible for Broly to surpass the demon and make things worse than better due to his bloodlust.
Kurai put The Legendary Super Saiyan down hard when he reached that sobering realization, the last thing he needed was for Broly to realized he could go beyond and get stronger beyond a rather large Zenaki boost.
He doubted the fact Broly was 'incarcerated; in a deeper level of Hell would hold the berserker down for long, that version Broly was known for coming more times than he had any right to considering no one wanted him back.
Sometimes he wondered if it was unfair to all the other Z-fighters how much he improved over such a short time. He was pushing the limits and ascending based on the future versions of his friends. He was Would they be jealous? Would they be angry? Was that the real reason he had been holding back? His fear of being hated by people he had grown to love and care for like family rejecting him because of all he represented? Goku and Vegeta had toiled for years to get to gain access to the forms he was acquiring like party favors.
He shook it off, shoving the negative thoughts into the back of his head.
It wasn't about him in the end, it was about this timeline and what he could do to protect it.
That's why it didn't matter what it took.
It didn't matter if he essentially had a cheat sheet to grow stronger.
He decided to protect and he would use all he had to ensure it.
A Golden Frigi threw his fist and Kurai caught the blow on his arm, his arms trembling as he was trying to match Frigi as only a Super Saiyan 4. Even with all the power Kurai had, his forced handicap made the fight incredibly difficult as the golden form of the Frost Demons was comparable to a Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan. A form which definitely surpassed Super Saiyan 4 when it came to power, which in no way justified Kurai's annoyance at the current moment given he was getting his ass handed to him was all being a part of his plan. He had started the fight in his base, and kept on ascending as the fight progressed, all the while using his Ultra Instinct in conjunction with his Super Saiyan forms. He had decided to see if he could better tap into Ultra Instinct when he was dragged to the edge like Goku had been as the saiyan was practically too exhausted to 'think'. He theorized that since he could 'feel' and 'use' it, he could begin to hone it and hopefully be able to tap into it like Goku learned to do even in his base form. He was still restricted like Goku had been whereas the ability was limited to a transformation — from which he was still stuck at the 'Omen' state — which was not the path Kurai wanted to take. He noted that Ultra Instinct was easier to use when he went Super Saiyan and beyond, the higher his transformation, the better his accuracy and precision of his Ultra Instinct. Naturally, his God forms made his Ultra Instinct much more accurate as they were both godly abilities that complemented each other, but that didn't mean his other transformation were useless. He could mix them and wanted to make sure that if he had to fight Beerus, he could use it to catch the God off guard.
After that, he wanted to see if he could evolve the Super Saiyan 4 form to hit the variations that Goku had achieved in the Shadow Dragon Timeline; mainly he had not yet tried to use Super Saiyan 4 Full Power and eventually Limit Breaker Super Saiyan 4. In theory, he need to accumulate enough 'saiyan' power to push Super Saiyan 4 to the limit and then past that and Kurai had a theory on how to 'cheat' the need for saiyans to share their energy with him in order to get there.
His God forms were the key to working around that limitation.
The Super Saiyan God form could be tapped into in his base if he had mastered it, and he had mastered it by the time Beerus came. Since the divine ki was accessible at his base, he just needed to tap into it while he was in Super Saiyan 4, which might just be the catalyst necessary to break down the barrier. The ritual to create a Super Saiyan God — which he had learned about thanks to Whis all the way back on the Time Nest — needed five pure-hearted saiyans all channelling their power into one other saiyan. Then again, Vegeta had managed the divine form without that and Kurai had been given that power from his Whis in the Time Nest. Regardless, if he could count on divine ki as his workaround since it could be a saiyan gathering more 'saiyan' power, he may not need other saiyans to pour their power into him when in Super Saiyan 4. He had the potential to substitute divine ki in place of it.
Either way, those were thoughts for later and right now was for Ultra Instinct, not time for him to theorize on something else while sparring with Frigi.
As an added bonus to his Ultra Instinct training, this also allowed for Frigi to get a better handle on his golden form so he wouldn't make the same mistake as Freiza and simply run into battle without learning how to manage the energy output. The Frost Demon had already made significant strides in his utilization of the Golden Form and frankly Kurai couldn't have been prouder. Frigi spun and slammed his tail down on the Saiyan, sending him flying down to the ground. Kurai managed to catch himself on his hands and pushed himself using the ground as a springboard a nanosecond before Frigi slammed down where he landed. Kurai skidded to a stop and powered back up as the approaching Frost Demon as Frigi closed in on him. He closed his eyes and readied himself, readying himself for another assault as he felt for the power he had only recently managed.
He shifted out of the way of Frigi's charge and he opened his eyes, focused and glaring at the Frost Demon. Frigi began to attack, his blows flashing off his golden skin like shooting stars as his threw a barrage of blows at Kurai. Kurai shifted out the way and his hands were a blur as he parried and blocked what blows he couldn't avoid, a small grin on his face. He could feel the thrum of Ultra Instinct working with the power of Super Saiyan 4, heightening his power and accuracy while they worked in tandem. He had done it with all of his forms except Super Saiyan 4 until now, and he was relived that even with the different path to power, the abilities could meld into a cohesive form. Frigi scowled as he accumulated more and more damage over the course of their fight as Kurai grew more accustomed to attacking in his Ultra Instinct influenced state. Despite his achievement, the strain of maintaining Super Saiyan 4 influenced by Ultra Instinct became too much a task for him to handle and he dropped out of his form as he could hold on no longer. With a quick power down he let his Ultra Instinct fade away as well, no longer needing to hold it with the test done. He sank to his knees and let himself flop backwards to relish in the feeling of being utterly exhausted, it was refreshing in its own way.
Even as he panted harshly and Frigi helped him get to his feet he couldn't help the smile on his face.
Using Ultra Instinct always felt amazing and pairing it with his Super Saiyan forms always made his body brim with savage euphoria.
He worked hard to keep the lid on it as emotions decreased the accuracy of Ultra Instinct, but he didn't bother to hold back when he was back in his base. He knew that even with Super Saiyan Evolution and Ultra Instinct paired he probably wasn't a match for Beerus, but if nothing else it might impress Beerus enough to not destroy The Earth.
Beerus and Whis travelled to Earth, as sure as they could be in taking Kurai's warnings to heart going about trying to circumvent them. Talking to Gowasu and his newly-minted apprentice Zamasu had laid more credence the Time Patroller's claims. Whis and Beerus both seen Zamasu's growing distaste for mortals and firmly warned Gowasu to not mention the Time Rings or their abilities to Zamasu until the apprentice Supreme Kai truly understood why mortals were necessary and killing all of them would only cause havoc for the universe in question. Gowasu had been informed of their discoveries regarding Zamasu's intentions in the future and while the aged Kai had been understandably shocked and horrified, he gave his word to make sure he would do better this time.
After that, Whis had talked with the Grand Priest about the intentions and possible actions of the Supreme Kai in-training — based on the word of a Time Patroller — and after some deliberation it was decided that The Supreme Kais of Universe would be granted a wish for immortality on the strict rule that they would only have it as a means to protect the universe from someone attempting to to destabilize the multiverse. Should they voluntarily retire and appoint a new Kai, the immortality would be revoked and passed on to the new Kai of the universe. That and if the Kai acted in a way that was not befitting their duties and roles correctly, there would be stripped of their immortality a notification sent to the Grand Priest directly and he would either be dispatched to handle the situation or send someone to handle it if they were of sufficient strength.
As for Fuhai, the demon realm citizen who was destabilizing timelines had been quiet so they had to wait for him to make a move, no matter how annoying it was.
With all these new security measures in place, Beerus was no longer willing to wait, he was going to find the Super Saiyan God, and knew just the planet to look.