"Mm... the second round concludes here."
"Well, losing like that... one can only blame that Jewel's own carelessness."
"It is a bit surprising that someone actually managed to die, though."
Hovering in the high void, having witnessed every moment of the preceding chaos, the God murmured softly to Himself.
Though He had graciously prepared "Spectator Seats" for those who were eliminated from the stage, He had never made any guarantees regarding their safety before they reached that destination. After all, things in these myriad universes that could truly strike at the "Soul" were rare. He hadn't felt the need to prepare every possible contingency.
Besides, a game without risk would be far too tedious.
"The Dragon Balls are meant to bring hope and beauty to the world..."
"But will some cold, selfish bastard be the one to claim them this time?"
Gazing skyward, peering through the jagged rifts between universal layers, He traced the exact trajectory of the seven Dragon Balls as they entered their new world.
"Oh? So that is how it unfolds?"
"A single second to annihilate every opponent... ending the Dragon Ball War before it truly began."
"No, that simply won't do. The others haven't even had the chance to summon their Servants yet--this can hardly be called a confrontation."
"Time to adjust the intensity."
Observing a certain Servant's absurdly overwhelming battle record in that nascent timeline, the God felt a flicker of mild displeasure.
With a mere thought, He rewound that world's timeline to the moment before the start. He intervened in the paths of three of the Dragon Balls, redirecting them elsewhere, and then finally turned His gaze toward other matters.
Following the search of His divine will, His attention eventually settled on three specific individuals.
Morioh Town.
"We agreed to meet Josuke and the others at Hayato Kawajiri's house tomorrow at 8:30 AM to search for clues... but something about this feels fundamentally off."
Rohan Kishibe sat in his studio, his eyes tracking the darkening sky outside as he murmured to himself.
"!"
Suddenly, a brilliant, crimson mark flared to life on the back of his hand, startling him into a sharp recoil.
"What in the--?!"
"A Stand attack?!"
"Is it Yoshikage Kira?!"
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he stared at the unfamiliar, pulsing symbol. Panic began to claw at his chest.
However, he found he couldn't stop it. Even as his mind raced to scan the vicinity for any hint of a hidden Stand user, he found nothing but the quiet stillness of his own room.
Clatter.
A familiar, crystalline bead struck the floorboards. Rohan Kishibe froze in mid-thought.
He recognized it instantly.
For any professional manga artist, failing to recognize this object would be the ultimate embarrassment to their craft. It was an item from Dragon Ball, the legendary series created by Akira Toriyama-sensei at Shueisha.
"How in the world can something this absurd actually exist..."
Before the shock could fully settle into his bones, a flood of foreign information surged into his consciousness.
[Dragon Ball War].
Masters. [Command Spells]. The Summoning of Servants.
Defeat the other six Master-Servant pairs to obtain the right to make a wish.
The ancient incantation to summon Shenron. The ritual chant to summon a Servant.
And finally, Rohan Kishibe's attention locked onto the most critical detail provided.
[There is one Master in this war. Upon meeting them, it would be best not to let them die.]
"What... exactly is that supposed to mean?"
Even with his vast wealth of experience and creative imagination, Rohan struggled to process the sheer scale of what was being handed to him.
"Seven... so besides me, there are six others?"
"Damn it. Right when we're finally making progress on Yoshikage Kira, I get dragged into something of this magnitude?"
A bead of sweat trickled down his cheek. He reached down to pick up the fallen Dragon Ball, rose to his feet, and began examining it intensely through a magnifying glass.
He couldn't even begin to guess what material it was made of.
But judging by the phenomenon he had just experienced, this was almost certainly the real thing.
He, Rohan Kishibe, had been chosen by this mysterious ritual--made one of seven Masters in a war for ultimate power!
The Dragon Balls and Shenron...
This was monumental.
This wasn't just some local drama in Morioh Town--this could potentially involve the entire nation. The world. The universe itself.
"I need to call Koichi-kun first and check on the others..."
"If I, a Stand user, was selected... then there must be others like me involved..."
Stand users were instinctively drawn to one another; Rohan believed this as an unwavering law of reality. Since he had "hit the lottery," it was highly probable that Koichi, Josuke, Okuyasu, or even Mr. Jotaro were also among the seven.
"Ugh..."
A young girl wandered through the unfamiliar streets, flinching at every flicker of the dim lamplight.
She had been yanked into this world without a moment's warning--and she was utterly terrified.
She stared down at the [Command Spell] burning on the back of her hand, then shifted her gaze to the six-starred bead resting in her palm. She had no idea what to do, where to go, or who to trust.
Miyu Edelfelt was utterly lost.
As a Holy Grail herself, she had apparently been dragged to some terrifying new coordinate and flooded with a rush of alien knowledge.
[Stand Dragon Ball War].
How had she managed to get tangled in something so troublesome?
Her brother had only just wished her to a peaceful world--and then, suddenly, she'd been "snatched" away and deposited here instead.
Why her?
Was there some necessary reason for her presence in this war?
She didn't understand. She couldn't understand.
But one thing was vibrantly clear:
She needed to survive until the very end.
Arriving at the center of a deserted park, she steeled her resolve and strode toward the clearing.
"I just... summon something like a Heroic Spirit with this, right?"
A magical summoning circle had already materialized on the ground before her--no catalyst or physical materials were required.
All she had to do was recite the chant.
"I announce--"
"What kind of joke is this supposed to be?"
He stared down at the Master who had summoned him, his voice dripping with palpable irritation.
Was he supposed to be some kind of babysitter?
Great. He'd been stuck with another person who looked like they needed constant, 24-hour protection.
"Tch... can't you even talk normally?"
"Your wish is to 'cure yourself'?"
"Pathetic."
He glared at the girl lying in the hospital bed, not bother to mask his utter contempt.
'You're using a crutch too, you know.'
The girl's unspoken, mental complaint earned her nothing but a cold, dismissive snort.
"Don't you dare compare me to you."
Having already grasped the nature of her condition, he responded with icy detachment.
His words were harsh--vicious, even--but he was already radiating an absolute confidence of victory.
Summoned into the [Berserker] class, he had retained his full rationality despite the influence of his [Madness Enhancement]. In fact, the raw power boost from the skill had allowed him to bypass the current limitations of his body and return, for a brief time, to his absolute peak condition.
Academy City's strongest Level 5 Esper, returned to his prime--that was no laughing matter.
'Then... I'm counting on you, Berserker!'
'My name is Konno Yuuki.'
'If that's too much, you can just call me Yuuki.'
"Tch. I couldn't care less about your name."
With those callous words, the white-haired Servant turned his back on her and walked out of the ward.
Having completed the ritual incantation, Miyu watched as a figure with long, straight black hair emerged from the fading light of the array.
She froze in place.
"Are you my Master?"
"Y-Yes..."
The question caught her off guard; she answered reflexively, her voice barely a whisper.
"Archer--Akemi Homura. I am pleased to work with you."
"Miyu... um..."
Slightly unnerved by Homura's distant, "stay away" aura, Miyu hesitated to offer her full name.
'So this is the war Sakura participated in?'
'My condition is better than ever before--is it because I have been summoned as a Heroic Spirit?'
Simultaneously, Akemi Homura was assessing her own state.
She felt far more powerful than when she was merely a Magical Girl.
And this "Master" before her seemed to possess an extraordinary, almost bottomless reserve of magical energy...
Drawing on her Master's prana alone, she could freely manipulate her time-stop and reversal abilities through her Servant traits without fear of exhaustion.
This war... she was certain to win!
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]