Sarga finally emerged from the void.
He stood at the center of existence itself—the nexus point where positive and negative reality met and merged. Light and darkness divided his body perfectly down the middle, as if he existed simultaneously in both worlds and neither. With his arrival, negative energy and the unified universe began to blend together, forming chaotic streams of dense light that spread infinitely in all directions, painting reality with brushstrokes of annihilation.
"I confess, I'm impressed." Sarga's voice resonated across multiple dimensions simultaneously. "I never anticipated you would achieve power equal to Zeno's. Uniting all the universes into a singular existence? Truly remarkable. You are indeed a being from a higher dimension." He laughed—a sound that echoed with genuine amusement and grudging respect. "Such a shame about Mirto and the others. They served their purpose, I suppose."
"They were always expendable," Raditz replied coldly.
"Precisely! You understand perfectly." Sarga's smile widened, revealing something predatory. "In the end, only I was meant to transcend. Only I will achieve sublimation beyond this cosmic cycle."
He began to approach, his form shifting as light and shadow played across his flesh.
"So it's finally time for our decisive battle." Raditz watched the streams of light and shadow flowing past them—blurred yet vivid, formed from the intermingling of universes across every timeline, every possibility. They paved the ultimate stage for this confrontation. "You've been waiting for this day for a long time. So have I."
Raditz's long black hair whipped in stellar winds that shouldn't exist, strands catching the light of dying universes at their tips.
Across from him, Sarga dropped into a combat stance. His body was a study in controlled power—every muscle defined and hard as steel, chest and abdomen rising and falling with breaths that swayed entire nebulae. His eyes resembled blood-colored orbs set into a face of brass, ancient and terrible. Like Raditz, he had shed all external trappings. No scepter, no divine ring, no ornamental armor or decorative flames. His body itself was the weapon. He was the strongest force.
Sarga's expression suddenly shifted, becoming deadly serious as desire exploded in his eyes.
"Do you truly understand how you came to this world?" His tone dripped with condescension. "You were merely my node—a connection point between dimensions. Don't let your recent achievements make you arrogant."
"You're right that I'm part of your plan," Raditz acknowledged, his voice steady and strong. "But you didn't find me. You didn't summon me. The Dragon Balls brought me here—Zalama's power, not yours!"
"Even the Dragon God cannot save you now!" Sarga's gentle mask finally shattered completely. He roared with raw fury, "I WILL claim you today! Your essence, your connection—everything you are belongs to ME!"
"You possess vast cosmic energy and negative power," Raditz said, a fierce smile crossing his face. "And I comprehend the will of the universe itself. When you think about it..." His eyes blazed with silver light. "We're evenly matched."
"THEN LET'S SETTLE THIS!"
Sarga's roar carried undertones of worry that he tried to mask with volume—like a frightened animal attempting to intimidate through noise, hoping to relieve psychological burden through sheer aggression.
He suddenly thrust out one hand, palm open. Ripples of light spread outward in concentric circles. Endless elemental forces gathered at his command—fire, water, earth, air, darkness, light, time, space—all condensing into pure cosmic energy concentrated in his palm. He channeled the attack and unleashed it toward Raditz with world-ending force.
Space-Time Annihilation Bomb!
Possessing near-infinite energy reserves, even Sarga's casual techniques carried infinite destructive potential. This single strike contained enough power to obliterate several universes simultaneously across multiple timelines. Anyone touched by this attack would simply cease to exist—no resurrection, no escape, only absolute death.
"Clear."
Raditz waved his hand almost casually. Elements vanished. Space-time dissolved. Energy evaporated. The mighty Space-Time Annihilation order was erased by Universal Law, brushed aside like smoke before wind.
Sarga refused to accept this. He attacked again immediately—channeling negative energy, wielding power stolen from previous Omni-Kings, even attempting to imitate Zeno's cosmic authority itself.
But... nothing worked. Every attack proved useless.
Raditz simply cleared them. Cleared. Cleared. Cleared. Each wave of his hand wiped pure, overwhelmingly powerful energy out of existence as if it had never been launched.
If Sarga weren't somehow positioned outside the rules themselves, Raditz would have erased him along with his attacks.
"I cannot destroy you," Sarga acknowledged coldly, spreading his arms wide in a gesture of grim satisfaction. "And you cannot destroy me. A perfect stalemate." His smile turned cruel. "But consider this—the negative world continues to encroach. Your unified universe can only resist for a limited time. During that period, if you cannot defeat me, then my victory is inevitable. When this cosmic era ends naturally, when entropy claims everything..." He laughed. "I win by default!"
"I don't think you'll live that long!" Raditz roared, and in an instant surpassed the speed of light itself.
He rushed toward Sarga like a meteor of pure determination. If the power of Universal Law couldn't affect his enemy, then he would resort to the most primitive, violent method of combat in existence. Fist to flesh. Blood with every blow. In the world of Dragon Ball, sometimes you had to solve problems the old-fashioned way—through sheer, straightforward violence.
"RAAAAGH!" Sarga's answering roar carried bestial fury that shattered several timelines instantly.
The high-temperature heat flow radiating from both combatants made the battlefield feel like the universe's beginning—that primordial moment when all was plasma and potential. Major elements condensed and dissolved in rapid succession. Countless particles washed past them in endless streams.
To their enhanced perceptions, the flowing lights of reality moved backward. Their speed exceeded light itself by orders of magnitude. Each punch created turbulent shockwaves that shattered universes, piercing through space-time like paper.
They existed now in a space where thousands of unified universes overlapped, their bodies constantly shuttling through layer after layer of reality. An inadvertent blow meant the destruction of an entire universal layer, the death of a complete space-time continuum.
Countless civilizations died with each exchange. Trillions of lives ended as collateral damage from glancing strikes.
Raditz would have been more cautious, more nervous, if forced to fight in the pure darkness of the negative world. But Sarga had chosen to emerge into this liminal space instead—a decision that played to Raditz's advantage, letting him fight on more familiar ground.
Scarlet lightning wandered between them like living things. Energy field bombardments and spiritual attacks compounded and collided in cascading explosions. Both Sarga's body and Raditz's became covered with countless wounds—deep cuts, puncture holes, burns that went to the bone.
But neither stopped. Neither slowed. They continued trading blows with savage determination.
No one watching would have imagined the most advanced, highest-level decisive battle in existence could look so brutal, so utterly lacking in grace or technique. This wasn't divine elegance—this was raw survival instinct made flesh.
Raditz's fist connected, dazzling brilliance enveloping Sarga's head with absolute violence. Sarga, refusing to yield, roared and counterattacked with equal ferocity.
BOOM! CRACK! SMASH!
Countless collisions. Energy attacks vanished before reaching Raditz, cleared by Universal Law. Cosmic rules hammered Sarga's body, which somehow endured through his connection to the negative world. Only their physical strikes—each punch, each kick—could truly harm their opponent.
After an exchange that lasted microseconds but encompassed thousands of blows, they finally separated. Both hung suspended in the chaotic void, chests heaving.
Sarga was covered head to toe in wounds, blood—or whatever ichor flowed through his divine veins—dripping from dozens of lacerations.
Raditz looked equally battered, one eye swollen shut, lip split, several ribs clearly broken despite his cosmic resilience.
For Sarga, this battle represented his chance at rebirth, his opportunity to ascend to a higher dimension and transcend the cycle of creation and destruction entirely.
For Raditz, he fought to protect everyone he loved—his wife, his son, his friends, his home. He could not afford to back down. Could not permit failure.
They were both giving everything. Fighting with desperate totality.
Raditz's expression darkened. He'd predicted his opponent would be formidable, but Sarga's actual performance exceeded even those estimates. The fallen being possessed the Grand Priest's techniques and knowledge, backed by negative energy reserves that seemed infinite. He'd seized portions of power from previous Omni-Kings across cosmic eras, integrating that stolen authority with the negative world itself until even Zeno might struggle to destroy him.
And Raditz had only his one hundred thirty billion years of training and communion with universal will—barely enough to match this monstrosity.
If the fight continued on this trajectory, it would be endless. For Raditz, anything less than victory equaled defeat. Time was not his ally.
"HAHAHAHA!" Sarga's laughter rang out as his body began regenerating, wounds closing through sheer force of negative energy. "You cannot defeat me, Raditz! Even if the imprisoned Grand Zeno somehow escaped and joined you, you still couldn't defeat me! The negative energy permeating the multiverse has grown too immense, too all-consuming!"
He was so close now. The moment the entire multiverse annihilated itself through entropic collapse would be the moment of his transcendence. Raditz couldn't prevent it. The only disappointment was having to wait slightly longer than anticipated.
In the Time Nest, everyone huddled together in tense silence.
They watched the lower realm through projection screens that showed only abstract images—streamers of light intertwined with absolute darkness, reality fragmenting and reforming too quickly to process. The actual battle remained hidden behind veils of cosmic violence too intense for the equipment to properly capture.
Everyone was sweating despite the temperature-controlled environment. Some paced back and forth compulsively. Others stood frozen, barely breathing. None could control their wildly beating hearts.
Number Twenty-One worked feverishly at her machine, fingers flying over controls as she made rapid adjustments to systems that shouldn't be functional.
Trunks stood at her shoulder, watching with confusion. "What are you doing? I thought that device was unusable—that you couldn't make the Seed of Civilization detonate."
"I just want to try something," Number Twenty-One muttered, not looking up from her work. Her scientist's mind refused to accept impossibility without exhausting every option. "With so many powerful beings gathered in this location, channeling their energy through the Time Nest's unique properties... maybe, just maybe, I can create the right conditions for ignition?"
"And if it explodes..." Trunks's eyes widened. "It could stop that fallen angel? Stop Sarga?"
"In theory, it can stop anything," Number Twenty-One confirmed, her voice tight with concentration. She flipped the switch on the machine containing the Seed of Civilization, and faint light began to pulse within its core. "Any phenomenon that can be described—and even those beyond description."
Raditz and Sarga collided again, creating infinite destruction and rebirth with each exchange.
They were two equally transcendent existences, balanced on a knife's edge. One had to defeat the other before this battle could end. Before reality could continue.
Until that decisive moment arrived, they would beat and bite each other endlessly, two titans locked in struggle while the multiverse itself hung in the balance.
The stage was set. The pieces were in motion.
And in the Time Nest, a small seed of possibility began to glow with impossible light.