"Let's start with you, Temat!" Lardte said, glancing at Temat again with a faint smile.
Boom!
Temat did not hesitate for a second. He immediately entered his silver-haired form.
Ken narrowed his eyes and quickly realized that Temat had tapped into the same mindset as Gohan's Beast form.
"Grand Priestess, did you raise all of these incarnations yourself?" Ken asked curiously.
"I secretly guided their training," the Grand Priestess replied with a nod.
"Not bad, not bad." Ken felt it would be a real waste if the Grand Priestess did not go around cultivating new Gods of Destruction and Supreme Kais.
"You… that look in your eyes…" The Grand Priestess's lips twitched slightly. "Don't tell me you're actually thinking about making me train Gods of Destruction? Hmph. Keep dreaming. I'd never do something that boring. Why waste time on that when I could be increasing my own strength?"
"You really are smart. You figured out what I was thinking from a single look," Ken said with a sigh of admiration.
"Hmph." The Grand Priestess snorted and clearly wanted nothing more to do with him.
Ken's patience with her attitude finally ran out. He conjured his whip again and lashed her several times without mercy.
Temat and Lardte, who had just been about to fight, both stared at Ken in confusion when they saw him whipping the Grand Priestess.
Why was he hitting her?
Was he really that bored?
"Your transformed hair color does look a lot like Ken's," Lardte said with a smile as he looked at Temat.
"Hmph. You should be saying his hair looks like mine. You've got it backwards," Temat snapped through clenched teeth.
"Then I'm making my move!" Lardte said lightly as he charged straight at Temat.
Temat immediately dropped into a fighting stance.
After three quick exchanges, Temat was kicked flying into the distance.
In truth, the three of them were all fairly close in strength, each with their own edge.
But Larte and Larde had used fusion. There was no way Temat could beat them like this.
"Well? Still not convinced?" Lardte grinned from ear to ear. "Come on, say it. Admit you lost."
"You… you're cheating!" Temat spat angrily.
"If you're not convinced, get up and keep fighting!" Lardte said, looking even smugger now.
Temat said nothing.
How the hell was he supposed to keep fighting?
Those two had fused.
How was he supposed to beat that?
"Lie there for now. I'll deal with that guy Ken next," Lardte said, then shot toward Ken at full speed.
Ken did not move. He simply stood there calmly with his staff in hand.
And just as Lardte was about to reach him—
Whoosh!
A dark green streak of light came tearing through the sky from the distance.
Bang!
Broly came flying in from space, grabbed Lardte by the head, and smashed him hard into the ground.
"Take it easy," Ken told Broly.
Broly turned to look at Ken, then nodded lightly.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he pressed Lardte's head into the ground and dragged him across it mercilessly.
Lardte felt like his skull was about to be ground flat and let out a series of agonized screams.
Bang!
Broly drove a punch into Lardte's chest.
Lardte let out a strangled cry, his limbs jerking upward.
Broly then grabbed him by the ankle and slammed him around in every direction.
A minute later, Broly tossed him away like a dead pig, sending him flying into the distant forest.
Just before the fused body crashed into the trees, it split in two, turning back into Larte and Larde.
Boom!
The two of them crashed out of the sky and startled some beast in the middle of mating season.
The creature pounced onto Larte and Larde, relieved itself on both of them, and ran off.
Temat was dumbfounded. He just stood there for a long time without reacting.
Then he quickly turned to look at Broly.
Who was this guy?
He even had a similar color scheme to Larte.
His hair was just shorter.
That was because Broly was only using his most basic Legendary Super Saiyan transformation.
Temat was stunned.
This guy was absurdly strong.
He had beaten fused Larte and Larde into total helplessness that easily?
The Grand Priestess, meanwhile, only looked at Broly coldly.
Clearly, she had not spent the last year doing nothing. She had investigated Broly as well.
She knew he was strong, currently the strongest God of Destruction in this timeline.
Of course, that did not mean she took him seriously.
He was still just a nobody under level 60.
At that moment, Ai appeared beside Ken as well, her body still glowing with light.
"You made it back just in time," Ken said to her with a smile.
"Broly knew you needed him, so he brought me back right away," Ai replied.
Ken felt deeply gratified.
With subordinates like these, he really could wake up smiling from a dream.
After finishing off Lardte, Broly came obediently to Ken's side and dropped to one knee in salute.
Ken personally helped him back to his feet.
"I am your sword!" Broly scratched his head, but his expression stayed serious. "I exist to deal with anyone who refuses to submit!"
"Hmph." The Grand Priestess gave a cold snort from the side.
As if someone like you could deal with everyone who refused to submit.
Bang!
Broly did not hold back at all. He kicked the Grand Priestess squarely, sending her flying backward.
With a dull thud, she landed hard on her backside and rolled across the ground several times.
Ken glanced at it calmly and, naturally, had no intention of blaming Broly.
Temat was completely stunned.
Who was this guy?
He dared hit even the Grand Priestess?
Was he not afraid she would come after him once her power recovered?
He really had guts.
"I told you already, I deal with anyone who won't behave. And you still dared snort in front of me." Broly snorted, then turned to Ken. "By the way, who is she? I didn't mess up, did I? She's not your new girlfriend or something?"
Ken fell silent.
So he had attacked first and only asked questions after?
"Don't mind her," Ken said with a faint smile. "She's not worth mentioning."
"What did you just say?" The Grand Priestess rose to her feet, teeth clenched as she glared at Ken. "Tell that subordinate of yours who I really am."
Ken said nothing.
Just because she told him to explain did not mean he had to.
"If you won't say it, I will!" the Grand Priestess snapped. "I am the strongest god in the universe! I am the Grand Priestess!"
"Uh…" Broly scratched his head.
And that was it.
He did not care who she was.
Anyone who went after Ken got beaten first.
And if that was not enough, he would just roar them into the ground.
Ken calmly flew over and healed Temat.
Then he healed Larte and Larde as well.
Soon, the four of them were gathered together again.
Larte, Larde, and Temat all looked at Broly with open caution.
This guy was terrifying.
"Let me introduce you. This is Broly, my brother," Ken said to the three of them.
"I am the sword in Ken's hand. If you want to challenge Ken, beat me first," Broly said with a snort.
All three immediately lowered their heads and gave up any remaining idea of fighting Ken.
This Broly was just too strong.
They were no match for him at all.
"We lost," Temat admitted.
"That's right. We'll transfer our energy to you," Larde said, then added, "Honestly, once we saw you controlling the Grand Priestess, we already knew you were strong. We just wanted to know how strong. I never expected even your brother to be this far beyond us."
"Where I come from, strength has already been divided into levels," Ken said with a smile. "The three of you, going all out, are around level 30. After Larte and Larde fused, that rose to level 40."
"Fusion gave him a full ten-level jump. No wonder I couldn't beat him," Temat said, scratching his head.
"Then what about Broly? What level is he?" Larde asked curiously.
"He is level 59," Ken said with a grin.
Temat fell silent.
Larde fell silent.
Larte fell silent too.
The three of them were stunned beyond words.
Level 59?
No wonder they could not beat him.
The gap between them was enormous.
"You wanted to challenge Ken? Do you even know what level he is?" Broly snorted.
The three of them blankly shook their heads.
"Ken's already over level 70," Broly said flatly.
Temat and the others were instantly terrified. They stood there like statues, unable to speak for quite a while.
"You know what level I was at my peak?" the Grand Priestess cut in through gritted teeth, clearly unable to hold it in anymore. "I was level 97."
The three of them froze again.
Even Broly gave her a surprised look.
Then he lowered his voice and asked Ken, "She's not bluffing, is she?"
"No. She's the Grand Priest's wife," Ken answered.
Broly fell silent.
He froze on the spot.
"It's fine. The Grand Priest doesn't know," Ken reassured him.
Broly immediately nodded hard.
"Like we agreed, we'll transfer our energy to you. After that, you'll find a way to send us back to our own timelines," Temat said.
Ken had no objection.
He also wanted to see just how high his level would rise after absorbing their energy.
As for whether he could absorb it at all, Ken figured there would not be much problem.
The reason Temat and the others had become so strong in the first place was that each of them contained a trace of the Grand Priestess's angelic power.
Because they had grown up in different circumstances, each of them had trained that angelic power in a different direction.
Temat was the incarnation of rage. Through his own effort, he had turned that angelic power into his Beast transformation.
Larte was the incarnation of sorrow. Through his own effort, he had turned that angelic power into Legendary Super Saiyan.
Larde was the incarnation of desire. Through his own effort, he had turned that angelic power into Super Saiyan Rosé.
"So how do we transfer our energy to you?" Temat asked.
Ken turned and looked at the Grand Priestess.
She said nothing.
She was not telling him.
And what was he going to do about it?
If Ken absorbed the energy of all three, then all her years of effort would have gone to waste.
Why should she make wedding clothes for someone else?
"Hold hands and focus on the word in your heart," Ken said after thinking for a moment. "Then send that word to me."
The Grand Priestess's expression froze instantly. Her face twisted with shock.
"Y-you… how do you know that?" she stammered.
"I guessed," Ken said with a smile.
He had read more stories than she had seen in hundreds of millions of years.
And on top of that, he was a die-hard Dragon Ball fan.
As if he could not guess something this basic.
Compared to him, her little scheme was nothing but background decoration.
"So we each focus on the word in our hearts…" Temat murmured. "I'm the incarnation of rage, so I need to focus on the anger inside me, right?"
"That's the idea." Ken nodded.
The next moment, Temat, Larte, and Larde all joined hands.
Ken stood in the center between them.
Each one focused on the word in his heart, on the incarnation he represented.
"Concentrate. Don't let your thoughts wander," Ken reminded them.
The three nodded together.
About twenty seconds passed.
Suddenly, purple light erupted from Temat's body, wrapped in flashes of red lightning.
At the same time, his hair shot upward and turned silver-white.
Beast transformation.
Larte entered Legendary Super Saiyan Three, dark green flames exploding all around him as electricity crackled and his hair flowed past his waist.
Larde activated Super Saiyan Rosé Three, creating a sharp contrast to Larte's color palette.
About ten seconds later, the light from all three of them began flowing toward Ken at the center.
Then Ken's entire body lit up with a brilliant radiance, bright as the stars themselves.
He looked completely at ease, as if he were soaking in something wonderfully soothing.
The Grand Priestess sighed bitterly when she saw it, her face full of frustration.
She had spent so long nurturing them, only for the incarnation of love to reap the benefit so cheaply.
She had truly underestimated this incarnation.
Had she made some mistake somewhere back then?
Otherwise, all that energy should have belonged to her.
Flash!
Brilliant light burst from Ken's body.
At the same time, the flowing energy around Temat and the others gradually faded, and all three returned to normal.
The transfer was complete.
The light surrounding Ken slowly disappeared as well.
"Well? How is it?" Broly asked excitedly.
"Very nice. As expected of the Grand Priestess," Ken said with a sigh. "Just absorbing the energy of these three raised me by three full levels."
The Grand Priestess's eyes turned red with fury.
That had been her angelic power.
And this bastard had absorbed all of it.
It felt like something she had spent years carefully cultivating had been snatched away by a brute.
Then another thought hit her.
One day, this same brute might take her daughters too…
Pff—
Grief surged in her heart. She spat out a mouthful of blood, her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
"Wait… this is strange. The anger inside me is gone. I actually feel lighter now," Temat said in surprise as he sensed the changes in his body.
"Same here," Larde nodded. "Suddenly becoming a God of Destruction doesn't even sound that appealing anymore. That obsessive desire is gone."
"Me too! I feel so much better now. I'm not constantly weighed down by sadness anymore," Larte said excitedly, then threw himself at Ken, trying to give him a big hug.
Ken casually stepped aside, dodging the embrace, then flicked a finger and sent Larte straight into Larde instead, making the two of them hug each other.
He had no habit of hugging men.
"This is amazing! My mind feels clearer than it ever has," Larte cheered.
"Now try transforming again," Ken said with a smile.
"Transform? We already gave our energy to you. Can we still do that?" Temat asked, startled.
"Try it," Ken said, still smiling.
"All right, I'll give it a shot!" Temat nodded seriously, and purple light immediately surged from his body.
Flash!
Temat entered Beast form again.
"Huh? I can still transform? And I don't even feel like I lost that much energy," Temat said excitedly.
"I'll try too." Larte was suddenly far more talkative than before and immediately attempted to turn into Legendary Super Saiyan Three.
In the next instant, dark green light flared around his body.
Boom!
Larde quickly activated Super Saiyan Rosé Three as well.
The three of them looked at one another in disbelief. None of them had expected this outcome.
"Hmph. What a waste," the Grand Priestess muttered, biting her lip. "If you had absorbed all of their energy completely, you could have gained at least five levels."
"There was no need for that. I'm already more than satisfied with where I am now," Ken said with a laugh.
He had not absorbed their energy with full force.
After all, the three of them were not bad people, and they had never deliberately gone after him.
Ken had no intention of harming people like that.
He had left them their transformations on purpose. That way, once they returned to their own timelines, they would at least still have the power to protect themselves.
"You… you didn't absorb everything we had?" Temat asked gratefully.
After all, Temat knew full well that if Ken had wanted to absorb everything, it would have been absurdly easy.
If that had happened, the three of them might have become ordinary people.
Worse still, they might have died.
But Ken had not done that.
"That's more than enough for me," Ken said with a smile. "Gaining three levels at once already exceeded all my expectations."
As for Temat and the others, because they had handed over the most important part of their angelic power to Ken, their own levels had dropped sharply.
They could still use their transformations, but now each of them was only around level 15.
"Once you return to your own timelines, train hard. You still have a chance of reaching level 30 again," Ken told them.
Temat nodded.
"Thank you, Ken," Larte said emotionally. "The fact that you even left us our transformations is already special kindness."
"That's right," Larde said gratefully as well.
"So when are you planning to go back to your own eras? Want to stay here a few more days and have some fun first?" Ken asked with a smile.
All three declined. They wanted to go back immediately.
Ken did not force them to stay. He immediately used his staff to contact Supreme Kai Fuwa.
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, Fuwa used Instant Transmission to arrive.
"You want me to send these three back to their own timelines?" After hearing that, cold sweat began sliding down Fuwa's face.
He had changed three timelines in one go.
Ken really knew how to make trouble.
Wait a second…
Why did all three of them look exactly like him?
Were these three other versions of Ken from different timelines?
Fuwa held his forehead and laughed helplessly.
Then he glanced at the pale-faced Grand Priestess standing nearby and grew even more confused.
Who was this maid?
Was Ken into this kind of thing now?
He was not planning to make this maid serve four versions of himself at once, was he?
That was a disturbingly creative thought.
Thunk!
Ken's face darkened as he smacked Fuwa on the forehead with his staff.
This Supreme Kai really did have a rich inner world.
What exactly was he imagining?
"Ow… that hurts…" Fuwa bared his teeth in pain.
"Stop making things up in your head," Ken scolded him.
"I-I wasn't…" Fuwa had just started to deny it when he noticed Broly standing nearby, looking eager to get involved.
Fuwa shivered and did not dare say another word.
"Once you get back, train well. With your current strength, Gods of Destruction are the one group you still can't deal with," Ken told the three of them. "Even the weakest God of Destruction starts at level 50. Don't provoke them lightly. If you ever run into a crisis you can't solve, contact the Supreme Kai of your universe and have them send you here."
Flash!
Ken raised his right hand slightly, and three communicators appeared in his palm. He handed one to each of them.
All three nodded solemnly and said they understood.
"I'll take them back now," Fuwa said, then turned the Time Ring on his hand.
Whoosh!
In an instant, Fuwa took the three of them and left Ken's timeline.
About five minutes later, he returned.
"Ken, I've already sent them all back," Fuwa said, giving him a gesture.
"Thanks for the trouble, Supreme Kai," Ken said.
"No trouble at all. It was nothing serious for me," Fuwa replied with a laugh.
"Oh, right. There are still three more people who look exactly like me. I'll need your help sending them back to their own timelines later too," Ken added.
Fuwa's smile froze.
There were three more?
"Uh… all right. Just call me when you need me…" Fuwa said, looking like he wanted to cry, then immediately escaped with Instant Transmission.
That left only Ken, Broly, the Grand Priestess, and Ai at the scene.
"Broly, head to Universe 4's Other World for me," Ken said.
"All right." Broly did not even ask why. He simply nodded.
"Quitela is dead. Whether you revive him or erase him for good is up to you," Ken added.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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