His announcement quickly entrapped the attentions of Ra, Aphrodite, Thor and Isis, all of whom looked at the man with a glimmer of concern on their faces. While the males looked surprised, the females appeared genuinely shaken.
"Surely you're not suggesting-" Isis began to speak, her tone reflecting a sense of fear.
"I am," Whis interjected, shooting a serious look in the winged-goddess's direction.
"No way." Ra narrowed his eyes as a bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face, "I doubt even Set would be stupid enough to allow such a thing to happen."
"She was there when we faced it the first time. Even with all her power, not even the goddess of storms came close to being a match for it," Aphrodite spoke up.
"She was blinded by both anger and ambition the moment she was released from the Nexus. Due to the mixture of emotions clouding her judgment, I have every reason to believe that she'd forgotten all about the monster that we fought and defeated all those years ago," the white haired man stated while his grip around his staff tightened nervously. "Had she succeeded in her endeavor, I have no doubt she would have inadvertently awakened the creature from its slumber."
The events that'd taken place during that battle had been more than enough to shake the man to his very core knowing how close their reality and many others had come so close to extinction.
Feeling that they were being kept out of the loop, Bardock, arms crossed, took a step forward and directed his attention towards the falcon deity. "What exactly are you guys talking about? What monster?"
For something to get even the guardians of this universe riled up, it stands to reason that whatever it was they were referring to should have the rest of them worried too. This became abundantly clear to all those standing in the area as the other two visitors from the neighboring universes focused all of their attention on their hosts and began listening to what they had to say.
Deciding to fill in the blanks, the falcon-faced God turned his attention to the newcomers and addressed them in kind. "The creature that we're referring to goes by many names. The inhabitants of the ancient planet of Gama called it Mictlantecuhtli. The people of Sura called it Erebus. Other races in the common tongue refer to it as Death Bringer. But the race who first encountered this entity in the early days of our universe called it Esdraelon, which translates to 'the one who will end all worlds'." Scowl becoming more serious, the man began recalling everything he knew on this matter, and began relaying it to their guests. "A primordial beast unlike anything you've ever encountered before, Esdraelon was a genetically engineered monster created by a group of aliens called the Charon, who were conducting illegal biological experiments to transform an alien child into the ultimate life form; one that was capable of surpassing even the Titans. The trials that they ran involved an infant child surviving on the harshest worlds imaginable, killing it and reviving it repeatedly, and forcing it to evolve regenerative abilities to adapt to its surroundings. Due to the horrid nature of its inception, the child eventually developed the mindset where its one and only instinct is to kill everything in its path, hence its name."
While Bardock found this information quite shocking, the white and purple alien standing beside him smirked at what the man had just said. "This beast sounds like an interesting pet. With his power, I bet he could do an entire afternoon's work for me and I wouldn't even have to lift a finger to help." He then shared a glance across at his fellow delegate, who threw a glare back at him. "Reminds me of how I did business back in the day."
Hearing Frieza's amused chuckle, Isis's gaze snapped in his direction. "You think this is a joke?" Her statement caused the lizard man to frown, which then prompted the woman to carry on the story in Ra's place. "This beast is a monster of the worst kind; the embodiment of all hatred and malice in the universe. It doesn't eat, it doesn't sleep, it doesn't age, and it feels no sense of compassion or mercy. It just kills, because it knows nothing else… because it has no choice." Ruffling her feathers, the woman stepped towards the center. "After decades of constant torture and torment at the hands of its creators, the beast eventually broke out of its confinement, murdered the scientists that gave it life, and destroyed the planet it was on with its bare hands, traveling to the next one in the debris and repeating the process over and over again."
"This monster was unstoppable," Thor interjected, shivering at when he remembered the strength and capabilities demonstrated by the ancient foe. "The creature's strength fed off of its rage… and its rage burned as hot as the brightest star. Its power grew in proportion to the strength of its opponent, meaning that it could learn and evolve while it was fighting. Decades of being killed and brought back to life also gave this 'Death Bringer' creature the innate ability to resurrect itself on its own accord. It would then adapt to whatever caused its death in the first place, meaning it could not be killed the same way twice. It'd come back stronger than before every time it regenerated."
"It's the most powerful force of nature we ever encountered," Aphrodite explained, crossing her arms over her stomach and shivering when memories of their clash flashed through her head. "That thing's face still haunts my nightmares."
Narrowing his eyes, Cell glanced across at Ra, who shared a similar look of dread on his face. "What happened to it?"
The golden God took a deep breath and looked over at the carapace android. "The creature rampaged for many years and destroyed countless galaxies, threatening the balance of life in the universe. When it started encroaching upon our domains, the Gods of the universe decided to step in and stop it. Over thirty of us went in to fight it… but only fourteen of us made it out alive."
Bardock's eyes widened in shock, "It took thirty of you to kill this thing?"
The question prompted Ra to look across at the stunned visitors with a serious glare. "The God of War Ares and the Goddess of War Freyja sacrificed themselves to defeat it. They killed it and sealed its corpse inside of a crystalline prison, which we set on an infinite orbit around a distant star in a system that we could monitor from a safe distance."
Finding a problem in the warrior's story, Cell turned to him questioningly. "Why didn't you destroy its body or send it packing to another dimension?"
"The creature's body is indestructible. No matter what we tried, even when it was immobile and unresponsive, we could not destroy it," Whis spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to him as he brought his ever-trusted scepter around. "And we couldn't risk sealing it inside another dimension and breaking the prison Freyja gave her life to put it in. If, by chance, it suddenly fell through a subspace wormhole or struck a dimensional barrier, we ran the danger of dispelling the seal or sending the creature to another world, which is something we could not allow. By keeping it locked away in this universe, we have the ability to quarantine it, while at the same time spare the other worlds from its wrath." The blue-skinned warrior then threw a glance towards the other two delegates behind him. "This is the reason I called you here today. In case Set's rampage caused Esdraelon's prison to weaken, it is best that we take extra precautions to ensure that we can stop it, should it somehow manage to break free."
"Since there are so few of us left, we can use all the help we can get," Ra finished in place of the attendant.
Processing the words of their hosts, Bardock looked down at the grass for several moments in thought. With the weight of what'd just been said now pressing down on his shoulders, the battle-scarred Saiyan smiled and looked up. "What the heck? Since I've got nothing better to do, I'd be more than happy to lend your universe a hand. Even if it means I have to work with the scum of creation." He said this while shooting a look towards the lizard alien standing nearby. "The Frieza from my world was a monster and a tyrant. I'm glad our race was able to do away with you back when you tried to destroy our planet."
Tail waving behind him agitatedly, the deity from universe 9 also smirked, "The feelings are mutual, Saiyan. Before I was indoctrinated for the position of God of Destruction in my universe, I wasted no time in seeing your backward home planet was completely and utterly destroyed. I'm just surprised that neither of us has taken the opportunity to try and destroy one another over the matter. However… since I am a benevolent deity, and both of us have killed the other in our respective spaces, I'd say that we are even on the karma scale. Yes?"
A chuckle and a nod answered the smug alien's inquiry, "Of course." Bardock then turned his gaze towards the other visitor to this universe, whom he could see was still standing separate from the rest of the group with an unflinching expression. "And you? What are your feelings on the matter?"
Cell, eyeing the rest of the group suspiciously, took a few seconds to consider his options. "I for one have no grudges or express any ill will towards either of you, even though my creator did design me with the sole purpose of defending my home planet from the likes of you. Since this Esdraelon presents a threat to all the universes and not just this one, I see no reason why I should decline the invitation to join this prestigious alliance." He then gave the deities of this universe a wide smirk. "A battle with this so-called destroyer of worlds presents somewhat of an interesting challenge to me. If worse comes to worse, I'll do my best to uphold my title as a God."
Clapping his hands together, Whis expressed a sense of joy at the delegates' unanimous responses. "Wonderful. Than we have an accord." He then gestured to the three warriors standing in the field. "Please… feel free to make yourselves at home. Lord Beerus is currently still asleep in his citadel, so you can take any one of his chambers for your stay-"
"I'm fine out here," the green android answered quickly, turning his back on the attendant with his arms firmly folded. Though his response did draw a few stares from the Gods standing nearby, the visitor paid them little to no mind and instead focused his attention on the horizon ahead.
"Very well," Whis chirped, while adjusting the blue hoop around his neck. "If that is your wish, then I see no reason to argue against it."
Tapping his finger against his bicep, a deeply contemplating Ra turned his gaze over to the attendant and gestured towards him inquisitively. "How is the status on our doomsday friend? Is he still stuck inside his little mobile home?"
Twirling his staff around and bringing the gem to the center, a rush of ki then ran down the stick and caused the crystal at the end to glow. A series of multiple energy-based polygons then sprung up and encompassed the area, drawing everyone's eyes to the sky above. It was there they saw a large bubble appear, giving them a clear view of the Solar System and the comet that was in orbit of the cluster. Whis was sure to zoom in on the celestial object in question, which could be seen trailing blue fire around planet earth's path.
"Still in transit, thankfully," the blue-skinned assistant said with a sigh of relief. After allowing the group a chance to inspect Hayley's Comet for themselves, he then deactivated his all-seeing-eye technique and withdrew his scepter. Returning it to his side, the man straightened his back and beamed around at all of the Gods. "If the system remains stable, then we won't have to worry about our apocalyptic problem breaking free and going on a killing spree of the neighboring systems."
"Good," Thor breathed out, tying his trusted hammer to his belt and placing a hand on his hip. "Very good."
After looking around at the relieved expressions on everyone's faces, Aphrodite and Isis shared a glance with one another before then fixing it upon their host.
"Just so we're clear, what was the name of the young warrior that defeated Set?" the winged-goddess asked curiously.
Waving her hair about, her pink-wearing companion cupped her hands together and smiled, "Was he handsome? Please tell me he was."
Chuckling at the enthusiastic inquisitions towards the other matter, Whis tapped the gem of his staff against his palm and analyzed it. "Well, first and foremost, he was not a God; just a mortal man. He was also quite fetching for a denizen of his world too, not surprising considering his lineage," Whis informed while looking around at his fellow deities. "The one who defeated Set was a martial artist gifted with incredible strength and talent… a half-Saiyan from earth named Son Gohan."
Initially the Gods didn't react beyond a surprised blink. However, the one who responded the most noticeably was Cleopatra, who'd previously been standing in the background staring off into the horizon. It was only when the name of the mysterious fighter who'd vanquished the goddess of tempests was mentioned that her interests were fully perked. The raven haired vixen's head snapped towards the center where, as her mind fully processed the speaker's words, her eyes widened and surprise appeared across her once impassive face.
This was quickly followed by a quiet whisper, "Did you say Gohan?"
Isis and the others quickly turned towards the formerly silent party, with the teacher giving her student a curious stare. "Cleo… you know this person?"
Shaking her head of her astonishment, the empress quickly set her sights on her instructor and briskly nodded. "Yes. Yes, I do." She then turned away, her expression once again tightening as she focused her eyes onto space in the direction of earth.
When they saw the goddess-in-training wasn't going to say any more on the matter, the crowd of powerful deities slowly returned their attention to the middle. Conversation quickly started up amongst them once again, with Ra and Thor expressing interest over this mysterious warrior and deciding to approach Whis about it, who was also graced by the presence of Bardock. Isis began chatting with Aphrodite, in which the two beauties proceeded to catch up on old times, and Cell and Frieza isolated themselves from the group.
While all this was going on, the raven haired Cleopatra, who had said and done very little to that point, then directed her astonished gaze towards the grass in thought. Raising her right hand, she flexed her fingers a couple of times, upon which she then clenched it into a fist and turned her gaze to the nebula above.
Eyes shining, the beautiful human goddess smiled.
"I've finally found you… Gohan-kun…"
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