Chapter 37: The Ultimate Final Conflict, Part III: The Final Ultimate Genki Dama

Redjic and Gohan poured their all into their combined blast, but try as they might, their blasts failed unutterably in halting the all-powerful sphere of dreadful, negative energy. Completely desperate, Gohan strained himself to the limit and yelled, "I-It's all or nothing! I will not let that blast reach the ground!"

In complete desperation, Gohan activated the Kaio-ken technique, enveloping his body in a sizzling, red-hot aura, one he clearly had not adequately practiced. His Masenko appeared to catch a second wind, only to immediately give way to the far larger and more powerful blast as it inched closer toward the surface of the planet, undeterred. His desperation surpassing his limits, Gohan increased the multiplier of his Kaio-ken burst and attempted to shield the planet from the blast by throwing his own body at the Minus Energy Power Ball, only for the badly disfigured Super #17 to tackle him out of the way, yelling "I-I won't let you die… Nor will Yi Xing Long destroy the balance of life and nature any more than he has!"

Drawing out power from the very depths of his inner well of willpower, Super #17 managed to suck up the entirety of the Minus Energy Power Ball, only to then completely overload himself with energy and bloat like a balloon, before finally short-circuiting. Before meeting his final moments, Super #17 formed a barrier around himself to contain the damage, and his counterpart #17 instinctively sensed to do the same and form an additional layer of energy around his barrier, attempting to contain the release of energy that would come of his forced self-destruction. However, it was scarcely enough and a massive explosion was released nonetheless, blasting a large sector of the planet to bits and throwing all of the warriors who stood miles away, knocked out and disoriented.

In the nexus of the explosion, only Redjic, Gohan, and #17 remained.

"T-That Super #17… he went and sacrificed himself to make sure the planet wouldn't be destroyed…"

"His brain is that of #16, don't think I'd have done something mushy like that…" said #17 as he tried and failed to stand his ground, collapsing onto the floor and saying, "D-dammit… My body's in way too much shock, I can barely move a muscle…"

"Whoever was at the helm, the cyborg gave a valiant effort to protect the balance of all living things… Feh, everyone goes out of their way to try and fulfill my destiny before me," said Redjic as he staggered and stood up on his own feet, before taking a deep breath and flaring up a black and crimson aura and yelling, "but there are bigger things to worry about!"

"Protect… the balance, he said?! Before his miserable death?! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Such delusion! It is I who am destined to uphold the balance, to save you foolish mortals who abuse the Dragon Balls for your simple leisure, and cast heaven's wrath unto you! It is thanks to you filth that I exist, to cure man of his pathetic hubris, and reset all of existence back to zero!"

"B-Back to zero, you say?! I can't let that happen!" yelled Gohan as he tried and failed to reactivate Kaio-ken, instead opting to fill his body with as much Ki as he possibly could, and lunge toward Ultimate Yi Xing Long before releasing a flurry of punches, none of which did even the slightest damage to the almighty creature.

"Fuhuhuhuhuhuhu… Are you aiming to wear yourself out?! I will reset everything back to the primordial darkness from which pesky, miniscule light came to be! In all the worlds in the innumerable galaxies and universes of the multiverse, before light there came darkness! And just as it always has, the dark will consume the light! For it is in the nature of foolish and arrogant life to cast death onto itself!"

"I won't! Y-You are a threat far graver to the peace and order I swore to defend, and that's not just about Satan City! B-Baby, Cell, even Dabura… They at least aimed for their own personal goals, all you wish for is complete unilateral slaughter!"

"Silence."

Ultimate Yi Xing Long placed his index finger before Gohan's bloodied lips, suddenly suspending him in place before tearing most of his innards out with a wave of the same finger before Gohan even noticed. Spilling many a droplet of warm, dark red blood from his mouth and from his wound, Gohan saw himself reflected in the pool of blood as Yi Xing Long threw him aside like garbage before walking bristly toward the lower body that Super #17 discarded before extinguishing his powerful negative energy sphere and crushing it into powder with a mere step of his foot onto the ground.

"Now then… I suppose there isn't much else to do but destroy this planet…" said Ultimate Yi Xing Long as he flared up a dark aura, saying "I'd have liked to have this pathetic farce end in style with a blast of my all-powerful Minus Energy Ball… but a puny planet such as this, a finger beam should suffice! And then I shall destroy this universe in one fell swoop of my mighty negative energy, and go on to obtain even the Super Dragon Balls for myself and revert everything back to zero!"

Just as Ultimate Yi Xing Long said this, a powerful gust of wind appeared behind him and caught his eye, which caused the devastated planet around them to begin to expel pillars upon pillars of energy and lava.

To Ultimate Yi Xing Long's mild surprise, the one releasing the massive burst of aura was none other than Redjic, who was engulfed in a light orange, spherical aura as intense as the sun itself, with his wounds suddenly repairing themselves as new ones opened and vanished, then opened again and healed repeatedly as steam constantly exploded from every corner of his body. Letting out a shout, Redjic enlarged his muscles and veins appeared all over his forehead as he immediately charged at Ultimate Yi Xing Long, managing to actually push a spear into the Dragon's hardened skin.

"Ho… What is this? Undoubtedly futile… But your power seems to have risen to unnatural magnitudes. Are you burning through your very life, thinking you can stop me?! Hahaha!"

"This is a secret maneuver available only to those who have inherited the souls of the River Styx… The true nature of our unlimited potential! Within my vessel there lie torrents of millions upon millions of the souls of my fellow Styxxans, and consuming them and my very life as energy, I am able to tap into unlimited power!"

"Fool! What is unlimited about a power that's burning through your soul and flesh! This is why I have come, and descended upon you mortals, to save you of your pathetic hubris! Nothing you can do can match my limitless strength!"

"GWAAAAARGH!" Redjic yelled as his body fully took on an orange color and glow, and his spear instantly broke from his grip, at which point he kept hurling the handle of the spear at Ultimate Yi Xing Long, managing just barely to cause light injuries onto his opponent. However, Ultimate Yi Xing Long quickly released a powerful chop onto his shoulder that shattered it, at which point Redjic tore off his left limb and hurled it at the Dragon, it exploding with enough power to barely push the Dragon a couple of feet. Redjic's arm instantly regenerated itself as even greater fumes of smoke were released from his body, and he fired an orange energy sphere at the tyrannical foe. Ultimate Yi Xing Long grunted, "HAAAAH!" and repelled it at Redjic, who used Zanzo-ken and appeared behind Ultimate Yi Xing Long and broke a couple of spikes on the back of his body before attempting to release a powerful blast to try and detonate his back, only for Ultimate Yi Xing Long to regrow new spikes and impale Redjic, zapping him with a burst of his Dragon Thunder and causing the energy that Redjic tried to release on his foe to wander off into space.

Undeterred, Redjic restored his wounds and again fired off a flurry of blasts that all had the power to slightly injure Ultimate Yi Xing Long into anatomically vulnerable parts of his body such as his armpits and leg joints, only for Ultimate Yi Xing Long to spin around and repel them all. They bounced off the ground and again wandered off into space, causing a massive spark of light to be seen.

Redjic, seeming to have lost his sanity, lunged toward the Dragon and punched him with all his might on the forehead, which at this point did not move the Dragon – he instead released a full-force punch onto Redjic himself, causing the entirety of his torso to shatter and burst. The wound instantly repaired itself, but as Redjic stood back on his feet and charged another massive energy sphere, his supposedly limitless power up showed signs of expiring, his orange skin beginning to flicker back into its original teal complexion and his vision blurring.

"So that's it, eh?! Millions of souls reside within you, and you are banking your life… And this is all you can manage! Do not worry, I will cast your miserable self and your pathetic attempt from this universe! DIE!"

The extremely powerful energy sphere Redjic released in his last-ditch attempt was repelled by Ultimate Yi Xing Long's powerful, red finger beam, and backfired on him, tearing his clothes to tatters as it also flew harmlessly into outer space. Yi Xing Long then cut him in half with a swipe of his finger, as the strain of maintaining his soul-fueled, life-extinguishing state seemingly exploded his body, obscuring Ultimate Yi Xing Long's sight as the entire surrounding area was surrounded in smoke.

"Bwaah!" yelled Ultimate Yi Xing Long as he released a howl, which dispelled the smoke, only for it to surround him once more,

"Fwa...FWHAAHAHAHAHA! Redjic, you utter fool! Even in death you try and defy me! A smokescreen?! Is this the legacy of the mighty Styxxans' greatest warrior?! FOOL!"

Ultimate Yi Xing Long swung his hand powerfully and caused an eruption of lava to be released, the surrounding explosion completely dispelling the smoke released from the explosion of Redjic's bisected body. Ultimate Yi Xing Long closed his eyes into a pair of slits and laughed maniacally and said, "Now… It's high time to end this planet…" and charged a red energy bullet in his hand, at which point he realized that a massive, unearthly spark of light was casting a powerful glow onto the ground – it was the Genki Dama that Vegetto left, only it had grown several sizes larger, as it was continually absorbing bullets of energy that Redjic sent off before being defeated.

"W-What's this!?"

Ultimate Yi Xing Long panicked and crushed his energy bullet, at which point he looked down and noticed that #17 was gone, having fled from the battlefield in the distraction that Redjic had created. The anxious Dragon shot a more powerful mouth blast at the Genki Dama hoping to dispeal it, only for it to suddenly grow another size larger, and grow still.

"W-What's happening?! Even if that pest Redjic went and devoted all his energy into that ball, it can't still be growing…. UNLESS!"

"Anyone ever tell you ain't nothing's impossible in this world, Yi Xing Long?!" yelled #17 as he appeared just below the Genki Dama, having melded his hands into the blast while putting his infinite energy reactor in overdrive to supply unfathomable amounts of energy into the blast. Adjacent to him was his cybernetic sister, willing to risk life and limb in the same endeavor as she spat blood while her heartbeat became erratic and went out of control.

"Y-YOU LITTLE FUCKING PESTS! DIE!" yelled Ultimate Yi Xing Long as he shot two powerful Makankosappo from his eyes aiming to kill the two of them, only for a regenerated Mister Boo to form a barrier around himself and shield them from the blasts just in time. His barrier burst completely from the blast however, and the corrosive effect of being exposed to such raw energy was enough to disintegrate every molecule of him, despite the Genki Dama purifying part of the energy.

"Make… This… Count… You Win, You… Hear?!" muttered the good Boo's mouth as it disintegrated completely.

As Boo disintegrated, #17 and #18 fueled one last burst of energy into the Genki Dama, causing it to expand to the point that it was now as large as the entire planet itself. After this, Goku, who has regained consciousness from the sheer shock of Redjic and Ultimate's fight, raised his hands before yelling telepathically for all of his friends to the same, "NOW! EVERYONE, THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE! GIVE YER POWER TO THE GENKI DAMA!"

Not only did the Dragon Team raise their hands and supply their power, the Genki Dama's power at this point was so great that it completely purified the negative energy that was consuming this planet and its neighbors, and the Namekians all raised their hands as well, and the ogres in the afterlife, Bubbles and Kaio-sama, and the two Kaioshin-sama and Goku's friends in the afterlife all donated their energy as well.

"I won't let Boo-san's sacrifice be in vain! His legacy is mine to uphold!" yelled Oob as he suddenly appeared before the Genki Dama and took control of it, at which point Kuririn also teleported to where he stood and gave his wife CPR before reactivating her heart with a Kiai to the chest, which ripped her jacket and exposed her shirt. He then reactivated #17's heart as well and said, "You two have done enough! Now get out of here!"

"A-Are you sure? Don't get in over your head, Kuririn," said #18, at which point #17 took her hand, leapt off the edge that they stood on and sprinted toward the other spectators to the conflict, telling his sister, "We've already done all we can… we're drained to the last cell and fresh out of power. But if we get those Namekian guys to heal us, we may be able to at least shield the people on this planet from the impending blast… It's all up to them now!"

"Do it, Kuririn! I know the man I married had what it takes!"

"I've had just about enough! Both of you die here!" yelled Ultimate Yi Xing Long as he charged twin Ki bullets in his fingers and flung them at the two holding the Genki Dama, only to realize that the sheer intensity of the Genki Dama's purifying energy dissipated the blasts. Running out of patience, Ultimate Yi Xing Long reshaped the circle of dark energy enveloping the air around his back into a serpentine form and caused a massive torrent of dark energy to erupt from the ground, assured that he'd finally be rid of his petulant threats. Just then, a large Kamehameha blast brought the wave of energy to a halt, as dozens of Kamikaze Ghosts were then released from where it came, and they exploded on the torrent of dark power, dissipating it.

"I-Is that…?!" said Oob.

"It is! Trunks! Goten!"

Gotenks, standing tall over where he had released his signature attacks, tore off his damaged vest and teleported behind Kuririn and Oob without a hand gesture, at which point he wiped off the blood on his forehead with his armband and said, "Sorry for being out of the game so long everyone, Gotenks-sama is back in the house now!"

Everyone that had been spectator to the amazing spectacle, then shouted, "YESS!"

"DO IT!" yelled Pan.

"Onii-chan! YOU'VE GOT THIS!"

"GIVE IT YOUR BEST!" yelled Tenshinhan.

"You'd better not lose, the two of you! I'm betting money on ya!" yelled #18.

"GO!" yelled #17 as the Namekian healers were in the process of restoring him.

"Good goin', the two of ya! Give it to him NOW!" yelled Goku.

"Trunks! Goten! I won't have you lose to anyone!" yelled Vegeta.

"Goten…" said Gohan weakly as he crawled from where he had been defeated by the dark Dragon as he then said, "GIVE IT TO HIM!"

Redjic, piecing himself back together slowly, said in a mighty, telekinetic voice, "NOW! SHOW THEM WHAT I TRAINED YOU FOR!"

"GO!" yelled Future Trunks and hundreds of Namekians behind him.

Oob then positioned himself next to Gotenks and got into a position to throw the Genki Dama as Kuririn did the same, only for them both to stumble and say, "D-Damn… That's one heavy Genki Dama… There's no way we could throw it just between the two of us!"

"Don't worry! That's why I'm here!" yelled Gotenks as he flared up a powerful, white aura around himself and yelled, "GENKI-DAAMAAAAAA! IT'S OVER FOR YOU, ONE-STAR DRAGON!"

Propelled by Gotenks' might in conjunction with Kuririn and Oob's, the Genki Dama finally took off toward its enemy, instantly blowing all those who weren't immediately behind the sphere of energy miles away with the sheer, godly cyclone of air force that it generated. Ultimate Yi Xing Long stared at the blast in terror as it quickly came close to encircling his body, at which point he fired off a three-pronged dark energy blast from his hands and mouth, only for it to be handily dispelled by the overwhelming energy of the planet-sized Genki Dama. In desperation, Ultimate Yi Xing Long tried to redirect the blast away with a flurry of punches faster than godly eyes could perceive, only for his arms to crumble powerlessly before the blast. Finally caught in the blast and then instantaneously taken to its nexus, the Ultimate One-star Dragon's form crumbled into mere dark smoke as his futile resistance was soon no more.

"H-He's been caught in the blast, but I think the bigger problem now is that we can't stop the blast from enveloping the planet as well! O-Oob-kun, Gotenks, what do we do n – "

"Don't worry! I've got this!" yelled Gotenks as he quickly turned Super Saiyan and gained solitary control over the Genki Dama and with an ungodly amount of effort, managed to pull it some hundreds of feet over the ground before grumbling, "S-Shit… This is really heavy! HAAAAAAH!"

Gotenks crossed his arms together as lightning bolts encircled his body and his hair spiked up in sporadic directions, taking on his Super Saiyan 2 form and releasing a massive burst of energy that shot the Genki Dama sky-high, at which point from the yellow and blue maelstrom of Gotenks' power, a vestige of Yi Xing Long's consciousness emerged from the shattering Dragon Balls and took on the shape of a bloodlusted, skyscraper-sized black Dragon which then yelled, "BRAT! I'LL KILL YOUUUUUUU, SON GOTENNNNNN!"

"YI XING LONG! WE'RE MUCH TOO CLOSE TO PEACE…" yelled Gotenks as his Goten half took over the Fusion and spoke in his single voice, "FOR YOU TO SOUR IT NOW! JUST DIE!"

The faces of Goten, Trunks and Future Trunks flashed before Gotenks' face as he grunted and yelled, releasing a powerful, spherical burst of power from which Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks' form could be seen. Gotenks, with his absolute full power, shot a two-handed Heat Dome Attack, propelling Yi Xing Long's apparition into the Genki Dama as it was then completely propelled toward space, with the spectral Dragon putting on a disfigured, contorted expression as the Genki Dama finally exploded hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from New Namek, destroying several planets near it along with all twenty-one of the Dragon Balls that Yi Xing Long tried protecting with all his might. Yi Xing Long faded away into silence.

The shockwaves of this explosion were about to reach New Namek, at which point Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks hoisted himself into the air and enveloped the surface of the planet in a humongous barrier with all his might. Trees, rocks, molten lava, and igneous earthen formations from deep within the deeper layers of the Namekian planet flew into the air in complete disarray as the barrier withstood the last of the shockwaves and dissipated, at which point Gotenks wiped massive amounts of sweat off his brow ridge and reverted back to base form, descending onto the ground where all of the rocks had been nearly pulverized.

Having taken one last glimpse into the sky which was filled with hundreds of shooting stars caused by the catastrophic explosion of a finale, Gotenks let out a sigh and said, "All in a day's work! It's… finally…. Done."

The fused hero fell onto his buttocks and raised his thumb, smiling triumphantly.

The nightmare was finally over…

To be continued…