The universe became one.
Raditz stood in Zeno's Palace and watched reality reshape itself through divine intervention. The colorful tapestry of twelve separate universes, the intricate web of countless branching timelines—all of it integrated into the present reality through Zalama's incomprehensible power. Each fragment found its place in the unified whole, like pieces of a cosmic puzzle finally completing the picture.
And just as the Dragon God had predicted, the dark side's advance stopped. The shadow that had consumed divine realms and devoured universes found itself held back by this suddenly enhanced, densely concentrated existence.
But Raditz felt no triumph. Only grim understanding.
This was temporary—a stopgap measure, a finger in the dike. To truly solve the problem, to genuinely save the multiverse, he would need to eliminate Sarga himself and liberate Grand Zeno from whatever prison held him.
"The decisive battle is coming," Raditz murmured, releasing a long, heavy sigh. Endless melancholy washed over him like a cold tide.
Can I win?
He didn't know. Zalama had said he could—had insisted that only Raditz could win. But Raditz didn't share that divine certainty. His heart pounded wildly in his chest, nervousness threatening to overwhelm even his cosmic calm. Despite everything he'd achieved, despite the power he'd accumulated across one hundred thirty billion years, fear gnawed at him.
Then, suddenly, an overwhelming urge seized him—a need to return and see his friends one more time, to look into familiar faces before stepping into the abyss.
Everyone did this before a final battle, didn't they? One last moment of connection, of humanity, before potentially sacrificing everything.
Raditz teleported instantly, crossing dimensional barriers to materialize directly on Earth.
In the courtyard of Capsule Corporation, people still gathered in anxious vigil. Some hadn't slept for two days straight, maintaining their watch, waiting for any sign of Raditz's return. Their faces were drawn with exhaustion and worry, bodies tense with anticipation.
Then a flash of light and shadow appeared.
Every pair of eyes widened simultaneously. An indescribable emotion surged through them all—relief, joy, fear, hope, all tangled together into something too complex for words.
They erupted. Excited shouts filled the air. Several warriors leaped forward without thinking.
Zangya reached him first, throwing herself into Raditz's arms with enough force to stagger a normal man. Her eyes brimmed with moisture as she held him tight, as if afraid he might vanish like smoke if she loosened her grip.
Around them, others expressed their relief in their own ways. Beerus's usual scowl softened into a genuine smile of reassurance. Champa grinned widely, his earlier anxiety melting away. Hit and Vegeta both allowed the corners of their mouths to quirk upward—slight gestures that spoke volumes for warriors who rarely showed emotion. Goku let out a whoop of delight. Tarble, Nappa, Jiren, and countless others displayed broad smiles of profound relief.
"You're back! You're really back!" Zangya buried her face against Raditz's chest, her voice muffled. Small sobs shook her shoulders. "I was so scared... I thought..."
"It worked! As expected from Raditz!" someone called out.
Hope bloomed in hearts that had teetered on the edge of despair. The Elder Supreme Kai, who had been anxiously monitoring events through his crystal ball, suddenly began dancing with joy when he confirmed that the dark side had indeed stopped advancing.
"It's not over yet," Raditz said quietly, his tone flat and factual. He hated to crush their budding hope, but they needed to understand the truth. "I've only bought us time. The real culprit must be defeated before we can completely eliminate this disaster."
Beerus's expression shifted instantly, ears perking up in alarm. "You're planning to enter the darkness as well, aren't you?"
Though Beerus didn't know the enemy's exact identity, the implication was clear enough. Whoever orchestrated this crisis was hiding within the negative world itself. To defeat them, Raditz would have to enter that realm of absolute negation—just as Zeno had done. Just as the Angels had done.
None of them had returned.
Even combining everyone present, their collective power probably wouldn't match a single relic angel. The math was simple and brutal.
"I'm going with you, brother." Goku stepped forward immediately, hands clenching at his waist in that familiar ready stance. "I know I'm not strong enough yet, but I can still help. I won't let you face this alone."
Vegeta moved to stand beside his rival, arms crossing over his chest. "Hmph. If Kakarot's going, then obviously I'm going too. Someone needs to keep that idiot alive."
"If we don't fight back, we're dead anyway," Nappa declared, rising to his full imposing height. "Might as well die on our feet in glorious battle." He'd never forgotten that Raditz had once called him the iron wall of the Saiyans. His strength might seem insufficient now, but his warrior's heart burned as fiercely as ever.
Laughter rippled through the Saiyan warriors—fierce, defiant laughter in the face of impossible odds. They had never feared death in battle. Fear of dying was simply not part of their genetic code. They were the warrior race, and warriors chose how they would fall.
Champa grimaced, looking at them all as if they'd lost their minds. "Are you insane? We're talking about angel-level threats here! Do you understand what that means? Beings with power like Whis and Vados!" His voice rose in pitch. "You'll be obliterated!"
In the God of Destruction's estimation, these fools were volunteering for suicide.
But then Hit from Universe 6 spoke up, making Champa's jaw drop. "Count me in as well."
Jiren's deep voice followed. "I'll offer what assistance I can."
One by one, the strongest warriors across universes volunteered. They understood the gap in strength perfectly well—weren't stupid or delusional. But they also understood they had no alternatives left. After the Omni-King fell, the divine hierarchy would collapse down to the Gods of Destruction, the Supreme Kais, and finally to mortal warriors like themselves. The buck stopped here.
Everyone's emotions ran high. Even Master Roshi felt the fire of determination burning in his ancient chest, wanting desperately to contribute his meager strength to this final stand.
Then the Earth trembled violently beneath their feet.
A colossal force descended from the heavens like a divine judgment. Pitch-black mist erupted across the entire sky, blotting out the sun in seconds. The world plunged into shadow so complete it felt like reality itself had been extinguished.
In the darkness, two figures slowly floated downward, materializing like nightmares given form. Their clothes were tattered and torn, hanging in ragged strips from their bodies. They looked disheveled, far from the pristine magnificence usually associated with divine beings.
But no one dared underestimate them for even a heartbeat.
The glowing divine rings hovering behind their heads blazed with undeniable authority. Everyone recognized those symbols instantly and understood with terrible clarity—these were angels from the negative world. Relic angels from the ancient ruins, servants of the fallen.
They had come voluntarily. The enemy had brought the fight to Earth.
"You've arrived." Raditz worked hard to maintain an outward appearance of calm, but turbulent emotions churned in his heart.
Around him, the gathered warriors were already struggling just to withstand this terrifying pressure. The angels' mere presence pressed down on them like atmospheric weight at the bottom of an ocean. Actually fighting these beings? Ambition and courage couldn't bridge the gap between mortal and divine power—not this time.
The two angels looked down with unconcealed contempt, their expressions as indifferent as gods observing insects. Nothing in their blood-red eyes suggested they viewed these warriors as threats.
Mirto spoke first, his voice cold and absolute. "Raditz. You've unified the universes into a singular existence, but you're merely prolonging the inevitable. Lord Sarga's plan will continue regardless. Your resistance only delays the end."
Mutt echoed his companion's sentiment. "Your precious Grand Zeno has been imprisoned in absolute darkness. We defeated the Grand Priest and all his Angels at the cost of only four of our compatriots and the gods of previous eras." His smile was cruel. "You are alone. One warrior cannot reverse the cosmic tide."
Before Raditz could respond, before anyone could even process the horrifying implications—Jiren moved.
The Pride Trooper's massive form became a bolt of lightning, tearing through space with a trail of crimson light. He already possessed strength surpassing the average God of Destruction. His confidence in his own power was well-earned through countless battles, endless training. If anyone among the mortals could challenge an angel, surely it would be Jiren.
BOOM!
Jiren never got close.
Mirto simply raised one arm casually, almost lazily. The fierce attack struck an invisible barrier and rebounded with devastating force, hitting Jiren directly in the chest. The blow nearly tore him apart in a single motion. Boundless destructive energy launched the warrior backward faster than he'd charged forward, his body careening through the air like a ragdoll.
Raditz stepped forward instantly, catching Jiren before he could crash into Bulma's house. The unconscious Pride Trooper was already reverting to his base form, blood trickling from his mouth and nose.
This time, everyone saw clearly—definitively—the true gulf between themselves and angelic power. Jiren, strong as he was, couldn't withstand even a single casual gesture.
Despite their burning fighting spirits, despite their Saiyan pride, Goku and Vegeta both felt cold dread settle into their bones.
"Pathetic!" Mirto's voice dripped with scorn. "With strength like yours, you actually thought you could fight us? Know your place, mortals!"
"What about me?!" Raditz's roar shattered the moment.
He moved—not through speed, not through technique, but through will made manifest. One instant he stood among his friends. The next, his fist materialized in front of Mirto's ugly, sneering face.
Light erupted from Raditz's knuckles as the punch connected with devastating force. Both Mirto and Mutt registered shock—they hadn't expected this at all, hadn't sensed the movement, hadn't prepared any defense.
CRACK!
The sound of impact echoed across multiple dimensions. Mirto flew backward, his body tumbling through the air. Then a special energy attacked him—something that made both fallen angels' expressions transform from shock to absolute horror.
They recognized it immediately. The power of Universal Law—the authority that belonged solely to the Omni-King!
How?! How could Raditz possibly possess the power of Zeno?! Impossible! This is IMPOSSIBLE!
Both angels' faces turned pale simultaneously, twisted features now slick with cold sweat that had nothing to do with exertion and everything to do with existential terror.
They'd estimated Raditz's strength wouldn't exceed angel level—powerful for a mortal, certainly, but manageable. Containable. But now he wielded the abilities of the Omni-King himself?!
"No... no, no, Lord Sarga—!"
The roar cut off abruptly. Under the absolute authority of Universal Law, both angels transformed into nothingness in less than a heartbeat. Not destroyed—unmade. Erased from existence on a fundamental level, as if they had never been born.
The mighty Mirto, who had helped defeat the Grand Priest and all the Angels of creation, who had imprisoned Grand Zeno himself, never imagined his ending would be so utterly pathetic. So anticlimactic. So final.
Everyone released breaths they hadn't realized they'd been holding. They'd escaped catastrophe by the thinnest of margins.
But relief proved desperately short-lived.
An incomparably magnificent force began disintegrating the world itself. The sky split open down the middle like a watermelon cleaved by an invisible blade. The black fog above and the radiant brilliance of normal space started to blur together, boundaries dissolving. Everything was coming apart at the seams.
Below, Earth's crust cracked and fragmented. Continents split. Oceans boiled away. In space beyond the atmosphere, reality collapsed layer by layer, being drawn into streams of pure light as existence itself unraveled.
"Everyone—to the Time Nest! NOW!" Raditz's command carried absolute authority.
"We agreed to fight together!" Goku protested, even as the world dissolved around them.
"Don't be stupid!" Raditz shot back, his tone harsh but his eyes soft with affection. "This is beyond even watching from the sidelines. A battle at this level will annihilate you instantly just from the aftershocks. This isn't about pride—this is about survival!"
He pressed something into Goku's hand—the Badge of Time, glowing with Chronoa's temporal energy. Before anyone could argue further, Raditz activated its power. Golden light enveloped every warrior, every friend, every family member.
Zangya's fingers brushed his face one last time. "Come back to me," she whispered.
Then they vanished, transported through time and space to the safety of the Time Nest.
Raditz stood alone on a disintegrating Earth, beneath a fracturing sky, as reality itself prepared to host the arrival of something that existed beyond all comprehension.
Sarga was coming.
And this time, there would be no running. No backup. No second chances.
Just Raditz, and the being who controlled everything.