"The moon's out. And wow, it's really full tonight." Dyspo, the vice-captain, looked up at the sky, then turned to Cocotte with a grin. "Come over to my place tonight. I'll treat you to something good."
"Get lost. I'm not eating carrots," Cocotte said, rolling her eyes.
Dyspo was a rabbit-man, and carrots were his favorite food.
Even after being rejected so decisively, he did not seem bothered. If anything, his smile only widened. "I've got more than just carrots."
"I hear rabbits only last five or six seconds," Cocotte said thoughtfully.
Dyspo went silent.
That one really hit a nerve.
Who exactly are you insulting here?
"Whether it's five seconds or six, why not find out for yourself?" Dyspo snorted.
"I'll pass. If it's that short, it'll be over before I've even warmed up," Cocotte said with a disappointed shake of her head.
The two of them were just chatting, but Daru, who was nearby, caught every word.
So tonight's a full moon!
I'm not letting them drag me off for research.
I'll turn into a Great Ape and make a run for it.
Daru immediately looked up at the full moon overhead.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
His heartbeat suddenly sped up, pounding in his chest like a drum.
The two Pride Troopers guarding him looked at each other.
"Did you hear that?"
"What kind of day is this? Who'd be beating drums at a time like this?"
"Hey, that guy's body looks like it's getting bigger!"
"ROOOOAR!"
The moment they finished speaking, Daru transformed into a black-furred giant ape.
"ROOOOAR! ROOOOAR!"
He pounded his chest with both fists and let out a series of deafening roars.
Then he smashed the Pride Troopers' conference room to pieces with a single punch.
A second later, Daru bounded away in huge leaps and fled the area.
Toppo and the others poked their heads out from the rubble of the conference room, all of them wearing equally baffled expressions.
"Where did that giant ape even come from?" Dyspo asked.
"It was that guy Daru! It's him!" one of the Pride Troopers answered immediately.
"I knew there was something off about him," Dyspo snorted. He shot Cocotte a look, then added, "I'm going after him."
Cocotte said nothing.
Mostly because she really had not expected that human to turn into a Great Ape.
"Be careful," Toppo warned.
"Captain, I think you should be saying that to the ape," Dyspo replied with a confident grin.
Whoosh!
In the next instant, Dyspo turned into a streak of light and shot off after Daru.
Daru had only just left the city and entered the great forest when a rabbit blocked his path.
"Daru, come back quietly, or I won't go easy on you!" Dyspo shouted up at the towering Daru, who loomed over him like a mountain. He did not look afraid in the slightest.
"I already told you, I didn't do it! Stop pushing me!" Daru roared.
"You've transformed into this, and you're still saying it wasn't you? Who would believe that?" Dyspo said with a faint smile.
Daru fell silent. Then, without another moment of hesitation, he brought one enormous foot crashing down at Dyspo.
Whoosh!
Dyspo was unbelievably fast. He dodged the stomp with ease and appeared behind Daru in an instant.
Bang!
He drove a kick into the back of Daru's neck.
Daru's vision spun at once. He staggered several steps and nearly pitched face-first into the ground.
"Even like this, you're still no match for me. Just come back quietly," Dyspo said. Then, without holding back at all, he began flashing around Daru and hammering him with a relentless series of attacks.
Daru could not defend himself at all. More than anything, he simply could not keep up with Dyspo's speed.
For a while, he was beaten miserably, crying out in pain again and again.
Whoosh!
Dyspo flickered away and landed on top of a large tree, folding his arms as he smiled down at Daru.
"Down," he said.
Thud!
Daru crashed to the ground, his face twisted in even greater pain.
"You ready to come back quietly now?" Dyspo asked with a snort.
"You… stop pushing me…" Daru's whole body trembled violently.
"Oh? And what happens if we do?" Dyspo asked with clear interest.
"AAAAAAAH!"
Daru let out another roar.
In the next moment, his gigantic body rapidly shrank and changed shape.
In the blink of an eye, he had returned to normal human size.
"So you finally gave up? Would've saved yourself a lot of pain if you'd done that earlier," Dyspo said with a light laugh.
But the instant the words left his mouth, he felt that something was wrong.
Because Daru no longer looked the same.
His hair had grown longer, and the style had changed completely.
The tail behind him had turned red, and patches of red fur had appeared on parts of his arms and shoulders.
At the same time, the area around his eyes had taken on a red tint, and his gaze had become razor-sharp. All the fear and cowardice he had shown before had vanished without a trace.
Daru slowly rose from the ground and looked closely at his own hands.
At that moment, he suddenly felt as though he had endless power flowing through him.
"What… what kind of transformation is this? How did you turn into that?" Dyspo said, completely unable to make sense of it.
Daru calmly looked over at him, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
A bad feeling instantly rose in Dyspo's chest.
Whoosh!
Daru gave a faint smile and disappeared, instantly appearing right in front of Dyspo.
"N-not good!" Dyspo's face changed dramatically, and he immediately threw a punch at Daru.
Whoosh!
But when the punch went out, it struck nothing.
Dyspo realized at once that Daru had vanished right in front of his eyes.
He hurriedly rubbed his eyes and looked around for him.
In the next moment, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Daru was now more than a hundred meters behind him, just standing there in silence.
Dyspo had never imagined the other man's speed could be this terrifying.
"This… this is impossible! How could you be faster than me? I'm the fastest person in the universe!" Dyspo gritted his teeth, utterly unwilling to accept it, and instantly launched himself at Daru again.
Bang!
Daru lashed out with a kick and struck Dyspo head-on.
"Aaaagh!"
Dyspo let out a scream as he was blasted backward and crashed hard to the ground.
"Hmph." Daru smirked faintly, rushed forward, and slammed Dyspo's head into the ground, grinding it across the dirt for a good while.
Dyspo screamed in pain, feeling like his skull was about to be sanded flat.
Three minutes later, Daru had Dyspo lifted high in the air by the front of his clothes.
"I already warned you not to push me. Why didn't you listen?" Daru said coldly, then took the chance to slap Dyspo twice across the face.
Several teeth flew out of Dyspo's mouth. Blood filled his lips.
"I'm not going to kill you," Daru said with a cold snort. "But tell your people not to come after me again. I'm not someone you can afford to provoke."
Dyspo said nothing, overwhelmed by a powerless sense of defeat.
"Get lost. And go tell the Pride Troopers this had nothing to do with me," Daru said icily.
Dyspo fell silent.
You're still saying it had nothing to do with you?
You turned into this. Who would ever believe you?
Whoosh!
Daru swung his arm and hurled Dyspo far into the distance.
Dyspo's body traced a long arc through the sky, flew several thousand meters, and slammed hard into the ruins of the conference room.
"Pff—"
He spat out a huge mouthful of blood and nearly failed to catch his breath.
Quite a few Pride Troopers were still gathered there, waiting for Dyspo to bring back the fugitive.
Instead, what came falling out of the sky was Dyspo himself.
And from the look of it, he was badly injured, practically on the verge of death.
"Dyspo! What happened to you? Who did this?" Toppo shouted in alarm, rushing over and pulling him up.
"Heal me first," Dyspo said through gritted teeth. After forcing out those few words, his head lolled to one side and he passed out cold.
"You all treat him. I'm going to deal with that guy myself. It has to be that one who turned into the Great Ape!" Toppo's face darkened with fury.
Whoosh!
The instant he finished speaking, Toppo shot off toward the distant forest.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Before long, the sound of violent fighting echoed from far away.
Ten minutes later, a figure streaked across the sky in a long arc.
Boom!
Toppo came crashing down into the ruins of the conference room and spat out a huge mouthful of blood.
"Captain!"
The Pride Troopers present were all stunned.
Crash!
A giant slab of stone toppled from the rubble and landed on Toppo, forcing more blood out of his mouth.
Even so, Toppo's life force was absurdly strong. He raised one arm high into the air and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Quick… go get Jiren!"
The moment he finished speaking, his head tilted to the side and he blacked out.
Everyone there was even more shocked than before.
Cocotte in particular stared in disbelief, her face drained of color.
Was this Daru really that powerful?
Even the captain was no match for him?
And I was actually planning to spend the night with him…
Cocotte shuddered violently, her legs shaking nonstop.
What a terrifying man.
Daru himself had never imagined his power would be this overwhelming.
Especially after those few minutes of fighting Toppo, he had gained an even clearer sense of just how extraordinary this strength really was.
"From today on, I won't be afraid anymore!" Daru drew in a deep breath and clenched both fists tight.
…
Universe 6, Planet Sadala.
In the royal palace, inside the princess's courtyard, Temat and the other two were playing cards.
Strictly speaking, Larte and Larde were not really brothers. They were different incarnations of the same person.
But because of the Grand Priestess, they had been deliberately gathered onto the same planet.
"Double jokers!" Temat slapped down the cards with a smug grin. "I win!"
"You beat me again." Larde scratched his head.
"I don't want to play anymore…" Larte sounded even gloomier than before.
"Aw, come on. Don't quit just because you're sad. I'll let you win a couple," Temat said with a laugh.
"Don't go easy on me. I hate it when people do that," Larte snorted.
"If you can't handle losing, then get out," Temat snapped, clearly annoyed.
"What did you say? Say that again!" Larte shot back in anger.
The two of them were on the verge of coming to blows.
"The Grand Priestess has returned," Larde suddenly said.
Temat and Larte stopped arguing at once and looked up into the sky.
A streak of brilliant light flashed across the horizon like a star.
Thud!
Ken landed in front of the three of them with the Grand Priestess.
When Temat and the others saw Ken, they were all momentarily stunned.
Still, the three of them had clearly heard of him long ago, so that part was not what surprised them most.
What truly caught them off guard was…
Was that really the Grand Priestess?
Why was she dressed as a maid?
That outfit hit them completely out of nowhere.
Hadn't Temat said the Grand Priestess was the most powerful deity in the universe?
Then why was she wearing something like that?
And then the three of them noticed the whip marks on her as well.
Were things really that wild these days?
Ken gave the three of them a measuring look.
"You… you're Ken, right?" Temat quickly recovered and stepped forward to ask.
"That's right. I'm Ken." Ken nodded.
"Grand Priestess… are you really the Grand Priestess?" Larde asked, staring at her in confusion.
The Grand Priestess said nothing. Her face only turned colder.
"He asked you a question. Answer him," Ken snapped.
The Grand Priestess's mouth twitched, and she looked like she felt awful.
What was this, dog training?
"I am the Grand Priestess," she said with a nod.
Larde was stunned.
Larte looked completely blank.
Even Temat's eyes shifted, unable to make sense of the situation.
"Tell them everything you did," Ken said, patting the Grand Priestess lightly on the cheek.
This time, she did not dare bare her teeth at him.
This bastard was unbearable.
All she had done was bare her teeth at him once.
And in return, he had shoved a finger into her mouth and made her throat ache.
This bastard!
Why had she ever left angelic power inside him in the first place?
What a catastrophic mistake.
The Grand Priestess regretted it so badly her guts felt green.
But no matter how unwilling she was, she did not dare disobey Ken's command. So she had no choice but to tell them everything she had done back then, from beginning to end.
By the time she finished, Temat and the others were all frozen in place.
"Y-you've got to be kidding me. We… we're all the same person?" Temat muttered, finding it almost impossible to accept.
"I knew something about this felt wrong," Larte said darkly. "A year ago, I suddenly realized the people on our planet had started acting strange… was that because the timeline changed?"
"If time itself changed, then I guess the people on the planet might've changed with it too," Larde guessed.
"Yes…" The Grand Priestess nodded.
"Then what about me? You're not actually my sister?" Temat asked, his voice dropping as his gaze turned colder and colder.
Before this, Temat had always treated the Grand Priestess well because he had believed she was his younger sister.
Now it turned out they had no direct connection at all.
And on top of that, this woman had planned to absorb their energy and use them as sacrifices.
She was utterly vicious.
"No." The Grand Priestess shook her head.
"You lied to us for all this time, and you even wanted to absorb our energy!" Larde shouted angrily.
"No wonder my heart is always full of sadness… so I'm the incarnation of sorrow…" Larte looked like he wanted to cry.
"I'm the incarnation of rage… no wonder I get so furious after transforming…" Temat's face looked equally grim.
"And I'm the incarnation of desire… how ridiculous. I even wanted to become a God of Destruction," Larde sighed. "Then again, now that I think about it, I still kind of do."
Temat fell silent.
Larte fell silent too.
The two of them looked at him, utterly speechless.
Then all three turned to Ken and asked what incarnation he was.
"Oh, me? I'm the incarnation of love," Ken said with a smile. "According to the Grand Priestess, she gave me special treatment, so I got way more love than the rest of you. That means I'll have several wives in the future. Maybe even all three of her daughters will end up becoming my wives."
Temat said nothing.
Larte said nothing.
Larde said nothing.
All three of them were speechless.
They were all incarnations, so why had he gotten special treatment?
And on top of that, he was planning to marry all three of the Grand Priestess's daughters?
Was that really how a man treated his future mother-in-law?
That marriage was starting to sound doomed.
"So what do you plan to do next?" Temat asked.
"Since we're all the same person, then let's pick the strongest one and have the rest transfer all their energy to him," Larde suggested.
"Larde's right. I agree," Larte said with a nod.
"That works," Temat said. "Once the rest of us transfer our energy to one person, she won't be able to absorb it from us anymore, right?"
Ken did not answer.
The Grand Priestess very much wanted to absorb all three of their energies herself, but with Ken standing right here, she knew that would be incredibly difficult.
At this point, all she could do was wait another ten thousand years for her strength to recover slowly.
This bastard had ruined everything.
He had pushed her revenge back by more than ten thousand years.
"Ken, what do you think?" Temat asked.
"You're all going to transfer your energy to me? Well, that's generous of you," Ken said with a small sigh.
"What are you even talking about? Were you not listening?" Larde snapped. "We said the strongest one gets the energy. Do you seriously think that's you?"
Ken turned to the Grand Priestess. "When you split these people off, did you split off their brains too?"
The Grand Priestess fell silent.
Those were all his own incarnations.
And he was calling them brainless?
When this brat went savage, he really did not spare anyone, not even himself.
"Who are you calling brainless?" Larde snapped after finally reacting.
"Hey, why are you dragging me into this too?" Temat's face darkened.
"So you mean you really do think you're the strongest one?" Larte snorted.
"Finally, one of you is at least a little quick on the uptake." Ken nodded. "Isn't it obvious? The Grand Priestess is wearing a maid outfit because of me. Do you really still need to compare who's strongest?"
"You overpowered her with real strength?" Larde shouted. "No way! You must have used some kind of trick to control her!"
"I didn't overpower her. She almost overpowered me," Ken replied with a completely straight face.
The Grand Priestess said nothing.
Larde had no answer to that.
"Enough nonsense. So do you agree or not? We gather all the energy into one person," Temat proposed. "After that, we'll figure out how to return to our own timelines."
"I'm not against it," Larde said at once.
"Fine. Sounds good to me," Larte agreed with a nod.
"If we fight here, the whole palace will be destroyed… follow me," Temat said, turning into a streak of light and flying off into the distance.
Larte and Larde immediately chased after him.
"What a hassle," Ken muttered, dragging the Grand Priestess along as he followed.
All things considered, Ken felt the three of them were not bad people, even if their intelligence was a bit worrying.
Still, if they were willing to hand over their energy to him, then there was no reason for him to be polite about it.
He had not even known what to do with the three of them before.
Now they had made the decision for him.
So he could hardly be blamed.
Before long, the group landed on an empty plain far in the distance.
"All right, shall we begin?" Temat snorted. "I'll say this now. If I go all out, I might lose control. So make sure you stay well back. If you get beaten to death, don't blame me."
"We'll see who beats who to death," Larde shot back.
"We're not losing!" Larte said through clenched teeth.
"We?" Temat blinked, then quickly realized what they meant. "You two are teaming up?"
Larde and Larte exchanged a smile and each calmly took out a Potara earring.
They quickly put them on.
"You're putting those on before a fight?" Temat asked, puzzled, then laughed. "What, you think that'll make you stronger?"
Flash!
Larde and Larte instantly fused into one person.
"Larde and Larte fused together… let's call me Lardte," the fused warrior said with an even brighter smile.
Temat's own smile froze solid.
That was shameless.
They were actually pulling fusion?
"Hey! That's cheating!" Temat shouted.
"We were already together to begin with. Of course we're strongest after fusing," Lardte said smugly.
Rumble!
The moment he finished speaking, Lardte released a tremendous burst of energy without the slightest hesitation.
His hair instantly grew out behind him, quickly extending past his waist.
At the same time, dark green and rose-red flames burst around his body.
"Let's begin," Lardte said with a smile, then lowered his voice. "This fusion of mine won't last very long, so I need to settle this quickly. The two of you should be careful. Come at me together."
As he said that, Lardte first glanced over at Ken.
Ken's expression did not change in the slightest. He looked completely calm, without joy or anger.
This fusion looked pretty solid. His level had to be at least 40.
Temat was definitely in trouble.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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