"One minute?" Gohan asked. "Can you finish it that quickly?"
"I should be able to."
Piccolo conjured a sheet of paper and began drawing the sealing talisman from Kami's memories. His hand moved quickly, but the pattern felt wrong no matter how many lines he added.
"We may not have a minute!" Goku warned.
The jar exploded before Piccolo could finish.
Ceramic fragments scattered across the ground as Zamasu crawled out of the wreckage, gasping for breath. His face had gone white, and cold sweat drenched his body.
For the first time since gaining immortality, he looked genuinely terrified.
"The jar broke…" Goku rubbed the back of his head. "That's not good."
Piccolo lowered the unfinished talisman. There was no longer anything to attach it to.
"Kakarot ruined it again!" Vegeta snarled from across the battlefield.
Fighting beside him was bad enough. Depending on him to carry out a plan was apparently even worse.
"What was that technique?" Zamasu staggered upright, still shaken by the memory of the darkness inside the jar. "I was trapped somewhere without light, without space—without anything!"
Fear quickly curdled into rage.
"I'll kill every one of you! None of you will return to your original timeline!"
"I guess sealing techniques really aren't for me." Goku gave the shattered jar one last disappointed look before red flames rose around him.
His hair and eyes changed as he entered Super Saiyan God.
"Why did Goku switch to Super Saiyan God?" Trunks asked.
"The Mafuba drained a lot of my stamina," Goku explained. "Blue wouldn't last very long right now, and this form is more than enough for Zamasu."
"I can take over," Piccolo offered.
"No, thanks. I still prefer fighting one-on-one."
"You arrogant mortal!"
Zamasu thrust out one hand, sending invisible divine power toward Goku to bind him again.
Goku vanished before it could close around him.
"You're relying on that same trick?"
His voice came from behind Zamasu.
By the time Zamasu turned, Goku's boot had already slammed into his side. The kick sent him face-first into the dirt, where he skidded several meters and swallowed a mouthful of mud.
Humiliation burned hotter than the pain.
His body restored itself within seconds, allowing him to rise with an attempt at composure.
"This achieves nothing. I cannot be injured, and any damage you inflict heals immediately."
Goku answered with an uppercut to the stomach.
Zamasu's smug expression collapsed as the blow folded him in half. Goku followed with a barrage that battered him across the ruins, every punch drawing another cry of pain before his immortal body could repair the last injury.
When the assault finally stopped, Zamasu straightened again and forced a smile despite the sweat running down his temple.
"How many times must I tell you? This is pointless."
"Maybe." Goku settled back into his stance. "I can still keep hitting you until you surrender."
Elsewhere, Vegeta was giving Goku Black an even worse beating.
Goku Black could no longer defend himself. Vegeta's fists tore through every attempt at a guard, leaving him stumbling beneath a relentless storm of blows.
"How can I be losing to you?" Goku Black demanded through bloodied teeth.
Vegeta's disappointment was almost insulting.
"You claimed you could defeat Broly, yet you can't even get past me. Were you dropped on your head after stealing Kakarot's body?"
Goku Black seized on one detail.
"Broly is stronger than you?"
"As much as I hate admitting it, yes." Vegeta paused, genuinely curious now. "Why did you choose Kakarot in the first place? Even if you didn't want my body, you should have stolen Broly's. That would've taken you much further."
"You understand nothing! Son Goku possesses the potential to master an Angel's power."
"That was your entire reason?" Vegeta scoffed. "Then why not exchange bodies with Ken?"
Goku Black stared at him for several long seconds.
"Ken does not exist in this timeline."
"So you settled for the wrong Saiyan." Vegeta's smile returned. "Broly would've been the obvious choice."
Goku Black had chosen Goku because of Ultra Instinct. Anyone capable of touching an Angel's technique surely possessed the potential to become one, and reaching that level would have granted him power comparable to Ken's.
Instead, every attempt to follow that path had taken him farther away from it.
After all his effort, he had turned pink.
Not exactly the image of an Angel.
"You idiot," Vegeta said. "Did you truly believe Ultra Instinct would be easy to master? It requires a perfectly empty mind. I can't do it, and someone as bitter and self-righteous as you never will."
The truth struck precisely where Goku Black's pride was weakest.
Vegeta rolled his shoulders.
"I'm still not satisfied. Let's continue."
He seized Goku Black and resumed the beating, leaving him too battered to offer meaningful resistance.
Goku glanced toward their battle while keeping Zamasu in front of him.
"Looks like that fight is almost over. Once your partner loses, you'll be alone."
Zamasu's confidence flickered.
"Can you really continue your plan by yourself?" Goku asked. "You're weaker than the other Zamasu, yet you let him order you around. Doesn't that bother you?"
"Silence!" Zamasu shouted. "A mortal has no right to judge me! We were born as gods. Your kind is beneath us!"
"Honestly, you're weaker than Trunks." Goku sounded less insulting than genuinely puzzled. "How were you planning to wipe out every mortal in the universe on your own?"
Trunks looked at him from the sidelines.
Why had he become the standard for failure?
"Our plan is flawless!" Zamasu insisted. "It cannot fail!"
"My father is attacking him psychologically now," Gohan observed.
"He's remarkably effective at it," Piccolo said. "Usually without realizing how many people he hits along the way."
Gohan turned toward him, uncertain whether that had been praise.
"Zamasu definitely looks wounded," Trunks agreed.
Unable to endure another word, Zamasu threw one hand upward.
The ground beneath Goku erupted.
A column of fire and divine energy burst from deep underground, but Goku had already moved. He reappeared behind Zamasu and kicked him across the battlefield before the immortal god could locate him.
Zamasu crashed beside Goku Black.
"This can't be happening," he muttered while dragging himself upright. "Something has gone wrong."
Goku Black glared at him.
"Stand up! Why do you think you wished for immortality?"
Zamasu grabbed him by the collar instead.
"You never told me this would happen! We were supposed to rule the universe together and destroy anyone who opposed us!"
Goku Black offered no answer.
"If you aren't the strongest, then the entire plan is meaningless!"
Vegeta remained nearby, perfectly content to watch them turn on each other.
"They're fighting among themselves now," Goku said as he joined him.
"It doesn't matter." Vegeta extended one hand toward both enemies. "Choose. I can erase you now, or you can keep tearing each other apart until I get bored."
Purple-red destruction energy gathered in his palm.
Zamasu's anger gave way to alarm.
Goku Black caught his wrist and softened his voice.
"Calm down, my brother."
Zamasu glared at him.
Calm down? Goku Black had just been beaten senseless by Vegeta, and now he wanted calm?
"Have you forgotten our final weapon?" Goku Black asked.
Understanding lit Zamasu's eyes.
"Enough." Vegeta prepared to release the destruction energy. "I'm erasing both of you."
Goku Black removed the Potara earring from one ear and transferred it to the other.
Goku recognized the move immediately.
"Vegeta, attack now!"
"What?"
Goku fired first, hurling an energy blast toward them.
He was already too late.
The Potara pulled Goku Black and Zamasu together. Goku's attack detonated around them, swallowing both figures beneath smoke and fire.
When the dust cleared, only one warrior remained.
Vegeta studied the green-skinned figure standing before them. White hair rose sharply from his head, Supreme Kai robes covered his body, and a Potara earring hung from each ear.
"What happened to them, Kakarot?"
"They used the Potara." Goku's mouth twisted with frustration. "The same earrings we used against Buu."
"So they fused like Vegito."
The fused Zamasu spread his arms, reveling in his new existence.
"You should consider yourselves blessed. Mortals rarely receive the honor of witnessing perfection."
Divine power rolled across the ruins.
"I am now the supreme god of all creation. No other being can stand above me!"
Neither Goku nor Vegeta appeared impressed.
"Come, foolish mortals!" Fused Zamasu laughed. "Defying a god carries a price, and you will pay it with your lives!"
From farther away, Trunks struggled to understand what he was seeing.
"What happened to them? They became one person."
"They fused through the Potara earrings," Piccolo explained.
"What do those do?"
"They're worn by Supreme Kais. If two people place matching earrings on opposite ears, the Potara combine them into a single warrior whose power far exceeds either individual." Piccolo kept his eyes on Fused Zamasu. "Goku and Vegeta used them against Buu and became Vegito, though their fusion ended much sooner than expected."
"Why? Is there a time limit?"
"Their combined power overwhelmed the earrings. They couldn't maintain the fusion."
Gohan considered the difference.
"Will Zamasu separate quickly too?"
"Probably not. Goku and Vegeta's personalities and energies clash with each other. These two are alternate versions of the same person, so their fusion should be far more stable."
In the main timeline, the Left Guard and Right Guard arrived above the Sacred World of the Kai in Universe 7.
Elder Kai rushed forward and bowed, grabbing Shin by the back of the head and forcing him down as well. Kibito immediately dropped to his knees beside them.
"What brings you here?" Elder Kai asked carefully.
The Left Guard delivered the order without ceremony.
"By command of Zeno-sama, we are taking Universe 7's Supreme Kai, Shin, back to the palace to serve as his mount."
Shin remained bowed, but confusion spread across his face.
A mount?
Elder Kai shoved his head lower.
"Stop gawking, you idiot! Thank Zeno-sama for the honor!"
"R-Right." Shin bowed even deeper. "Please convey my gratitude to Zeno-sama!"
Elder Kai kicked him in the rear.
"Go!"
Shin hurried over to the two guards before his ancestor could kick him again.
"We must visit Universe 10 next," the Right Guard said. "Use Kai Kai to take us there."
"Of course." Shin prepared the technique, then hesitated. "May I ask why we're going to Universe 10?"
"There's no reason to hide it," the Left Guard replied. "Gowasu's apprentice, Zamasu, entered another timeline and murdered every Supreme Kai there. Gowasu has been summoned to Zeno-sama's palace to receive punishment for his failure."
Shin could not hide his surprise.
Someone else was being dragged before Zeno-sama too.
His own situation suddenly felt far less humiliating.
At least he would not be alone—and compared to Gowasu, perhaps he had not done such a terrible job after all.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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