The colorful lights of the amusement park cast dancing shadows across Raditz's face as he watched Rukon sprint toward the Ferris wheel, his young voice bright with laughter. Zangya followed at a more measured pace, her hand finding Raditz's as they walked together through the cheerful crowds.
This moment of normalcy felt almost surreal. While the other universes gathered for their grand assemblies and cosmic deliberations, Raditz had made a different choice—to spend precious time with his family, to hold onto something real and tangible before the storm he sensed gathering on the horizon.
A feeling had been gnawing at him for days now, a premonition he couldn't quite name. Something dark and foreboding whispered at the edges of his consciousness, telling him that Grand Zeno and the Grand Priest might be walking into danger far greater than anyone realized. He could sense it—the way a warrior senses an ambush, the way prey knows a predator draws near. The dark forces would eventually engulf the two great divine realms, and when they did, they would cascade down toward the mortal universes like a collapsing tower.
Even with the Super Dragon Balls in his possession, Raditz felt paralyzed by indecision. He had no clear wish, no brilliant solution forming in his mind. Despite his knowledge of Dragon Ball's many storylines and plots, this crisis existed entirely outside his frame of reference. Fallen angels, ancient ruins, the negative world—these were completely beyond the scope of anything he'd prepared for. Even the Demon Realm and Towa's earlier appearance had puzzled him deeply.
Is this all because of me?
The question haunted him. He was the only true variable in this timeline, the unstable factor that had changed history's predetermined course. If all this chaos had begun because of his interference, then surely there must be some way for him to end it. But how? And at what cost?
Raditz didn't know. Perhaps there was an answer. Perhaps there wasn't.
He'd brought Zangya and Rukon here simply to relax, to quiet his restless mind in the hopes that peace might bring clarity. Sometimes the best solutions came not from frantic searching, but from letting the mind settle like sediment in still water.
"Dad! Dad, let's go on the roller coaster next!" Rukon's excited voice cut through his contemplation.
"Be careful, you two!" Zangya called after them, stepping carefully in her high heels as father and son dashed ahead through the crowd.
Raditz glanced back at his wife. She hadn't said anything about his distraction, his obviously troubled mind. She was trying not to worry him with her own concerns, but he could see it in her eyes—she knew something was wrong. The melancholy weighing on his heart was impossible to fully hide, not from someone who knew him so well.
After several rounds of rides and games, Rukon's joy remained undiminished. The boy's laughter was genuine and pure, while Raditz managed hollow smiles, his mind drifting even as he went through the motions. His thoughts were empty of solutions, filled only with mounting dread.
Then, cutting through the ambient noise of the park like a blade through silk, a voice spoke directly into his mind.
"Raditz! It's Chronoa—something catastrophic has happened. You need to come to the Time Nest immediately!"
Chronoa!
The realization hit him like lightning. Of course—there was still one place he hadn't fully explored, one resource he'd overlooked. The Realm of Time! The Time Vault held knowledge spanning all eras, all timelines. If answers existed anywhere, they might exist there.
Raditz felt something click into place, a flash of inspiration piercing through his fog of uncertainty.
"I'll be right there!" he responded instantly through their telepathic link. Then he turned to Zangya and Rukon, genuine regret in his eyes. "I'm sorry. We'll have to cut today short—something urgent has come up."
"Go," Zangya said softly, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to his lips. She understood without needing explanations. Rukon, showing wisdom beyond his years, simply smiled and waved.
"Come back soon, Dad!"
Raditz raised his hand in farewell, and in the next instant, he vanished.
A pulse of temporal energy flickered through dimensional barriers as Raditz materialized in the Time Nest, borrowing Chronoa's command over space-time to traverse the distance instantaneously.
The atmosphere in the Time Vault struck him immediately. Chronoa stood at the center of the chamber, surrounded by Trunks, the Supreme Kais of Time, and numerous elite Time Patrollers. They were all focused on a massive projected display showing real-time images of various universes—and every single face in the room looked ashen, drained of hope.
The moment Chronoa spotted Raditz's arrival, she rushed forward, her usual composure cracking.
"Raditz! Do you know there's a force invading from another world?!"
"I'm aware," Raditz replied grimly. "The Grand Priest and Grand Zeno took all the Angels to confront it. They haven't returned yet."
"Lord Zeno went personally?!" Chronoa's voice rose in shock. "No wonder I haven't been able to establish contact with the Divine Realm!"
Trunks stepped closer, his expression grave. "Then that means... there's no one managing the overall situation right now?"
"Not exactly," Raditz corrected. "Before departing, the Grand Priest entrusted the responsibility to me."
A heavy silence fell over the room. Everyone turned to stare at Raditz, their expressions unreadable. Chronoa's face seemed to shift from disappointment to something approaching despair.
"What's with those looks?" Raditz demanded, his pride stung. "You don't think I'm capable? I'm the strongest warrior in this world right now!"
"It's not about strength," Chronoa said quietly, shaking her head. The other Time Patrollers similarly lowered their gazes, clearly privy to knowledge Raditz lacked. "Without Lord Zeno, there is no hope."
As the deity who governed all of time itself, Chronoa had access to every temporal record in existence. She could peer through the vast chronicles stretching from the universe's birth to the present moment. Whatever she knew, it was clearly more than Raditz had ever imagined.
"Tell me why," Raditz said seriously, his voice steady despite the growing dread. "I need to understand what we're facing."
Chronoa took a slow breath before beginning her explanation.
"From the moment the concept of time first existed, the negative world—the shadow universe—came into being alongside our own reality. They are opposites in every sense: light and dark, creation and destruction, positive and negative. They exist in perfect duality, relying on each other for growth and development, like two sides of the same coin. Neither can exist without the other, yet they remain forever separate, forever balanced."
She paused, her ancient eyes heavy with knowledge.
"However, development never follows a perfectly straight path. Sometimes changes occur—sudden, dramatic shifts that destroy the balance. When that happens, matter annihilates itself. Positive and negative energies cancel each other out, and everything returns to zero. Complete obliteration."
"Then what about Lord Zeno?" Raditz pressed.
"Simply put, Lord Zeno is the avatar of the universe's will itself. He exists to maintain the balance between positive and negative, between creation and destruction. This isn't the first cosmic cycle, you understand. Before our current era, entire epochs—countless universes across multiple generations—were completely destroyed. After unimaginable eons of gestation, the eternal will of the cosmos gave birth to a new age. A new temporal framework emerged. New universal space unfolded. And with it... a new Zeno."
The weight of her words settled over Raditz like a physical burden.
Trunks added his own knowledge to the explanation: "Only Lord Zeno possesses the power to alter this cosmic balance. Without him, it's impossible for anyone else to intervene. Such an act requires command over the fundamental laws of the universe itself—our ki, our techniques, our strength... none of it can affect the cosmic will. We're simply operating on a completely different level of existence."
So only Zeno can do this?
The implications crashed down on Raditz like a collapsing building. The enemy had deliberately chosen to act after the Tournament of Power specifically to lure Zeno into their trap. With the Omni-King captured or occupied, there truly was no hope through conventional means.
The universe had entered its period of destruction—the inevitable decline that followed birth and growth, just as dynasties rose and fell throughout mortal history. This was the natural cycle, the choice of the universe's will itself.
These were the rules. The laws of existence.
But when faced with your own destruction, who would simply accept the rules? Who would go quietly into that annihilation?
Raditz refused. Every fiber of his being rebelled against the notion.
"Is there a way," he asked slowly, the words forming even as the thought crystallized, "to obtain the power of Zeno?"
The question hung in the air like a thunderclap.
Chronoa froze. Everyone in the Time Vault went utterly still. Even the small owl perched near the temporal displays blinked rapidly, as if expressing its shock.
To seek Zeno's power... even Angels, beings who stood at the pinnacle of divine might, were infinitely far from the Omni-King's level. They weren't even measured by the same metrics. Zeno existed on a fundamentally different plane from all other life in the multiverse.
But Chronoa, her voice trembling, spoke word by careful word: "Yes. It... it can be done."
Now it was Raditz's turn to stand speechless.
"You cannot become Zeno," she clarified, her tone growing more firm as she explained. "You cannot become the avatar of universal will—that role is unique, irreplaceable. But... you can approach it. You can comprehend the universe's will, grow alongside the cosmos itself, and through that infinite approach, you might—might—obtain power equivalent to the Omni-King's."
"How long would it take?" Raditz asked, though he already sensed the answer would be staggering.
Chronoa blinked, calculating temporal mechanics beyond mortal comprehension.
"For this cosmic era... approximately one hundred and thirty billion years."
Sharp gasps echoed through the chamber. One hundred thirty billion years. Even gods couldn't survive such an impossible timespan. From the universe's birth to the present moment, only a single Zeno had emerged across that vast temporal ocean. The Omni-King's special nature, his overwhelming power—it all made sense now. He was the product of cosmic epochs, not mere millennia.
That's why Zeno stood as the absolute pinnacle of all power, forever beyond reach.
Raditz felt the number hit him like a physical blow. Even training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber at maximum efficiency, one hundred thirty billion days was... incomprehensible. Unfathomable.
But Chronoa had mentioned it for a reason. This was the Time Nest, after all—the court where temporal laws bent and flexed according to divine will.
Raditz locked eyes with the Supreme Kai of Time.
"How long will you give me?"
A small, sad smile crossed Chronoa's face.
"For you? The full one hundred thirty billion years of experience and growth. But for us here, waiting in the Time Nest..." She paused, letting the weight of her words build. "It will be only two days."