Chapter 823: Death
A cataclysm between heaven and earth!
Son Goku could not comprehend what had transpired in that fleeting fraction of a second, but the God Kings of the Void Paradise understood with absolute clarity.
What had manifested just now was an authentic Cosmic Anomaly—an esoteric art that only certain transcendent, sovereign God Kings could unleash.
It stripped away cosmic laws, distorted every physical property, and wielded an authority identical to primordial Chaos!
Yet such an apocalyptic maneuver had been struck by a mere human who had cultivated the path of martial arts?!
Regardless of how terrifying his explosive yield had been, his divine might, divine energy, and Authorities placed him at the level of a divine scion. He had yet to condense the light of a True God, nor had he ignited a divine spark. How could he possibly wield such authority?!
Chaos had cloaked the world, submerging all manifestations of force beneath a boundary-less sea of unformed entropy.
It was as if the world had been punched straight back to its point of origin, returning to the terminus of primordial chaos.
This strike... was terrifying. Horrifying beyond all conception, utterly exceeding the framework of abilities that humans or gods should possess.
A technique transcending the divine realm!
Golden hair cascaded down Goku's back, rippling in the surging currents of Ki. Dense golden Ki enveloped his entire frame as arcs of electrical discharge crackled into the surrounding atmosphere.
It was an ambient phenomenon resulting purely from an excess of Ki. Strictly speaking, it was not lightning, but rapid discharges produced by Ki moving at extreme velocities.
The flickering frequency of his aura was so intense it appeared almost static, yet the sound of it cutting through the atmosphere was deafening.
Son Goku's eyes lowered. His eyebrows had vanished entirely, his brow ridge protruding heavily, settling his countenance into absolute detachment.
From Mercenary Tao's bizarre, monstrous strike, he had sensed a mortal threat. In that instant, he felt that if he did not crush the opponent overwhelmingly, the planet beneath their feet—a massive world teeming with endless gourmet delicacies—would be wiped from existence.
No, the upper limit of that strike reached far beyond even that.
Yet Goku had not anticipated that upon transforming into Super Saiyan 3, before he could retaliate, that terrifying technique would implode right in front of the caster.
The blow had detonated before it could be fully unleashed.
With a mere thought, the Super Saiyan 3 appeared directly before the colossal, sky-piercing titan.
This transformation was far more exaggerated than a Saiyan's Great Ape form under a full moon. Although the exact amplification of its power was difficult to gauge, its sheer mass alone held enough force to conquer and destroy most worlds.
Goku looked at the titan. It remained frozen in a punching stance, but its body was rapidly petrifying and crumbling into ash. Silver-white flames engulfed the gigantic frame.
Yet even before the flames consumed it, the vitality of the physical vessel had already burnt out. The colossal form was reduced to rotten stone, its inner life force drained down to the absolute dregs.
Not only that.
Goku frowned. He noticed the petrified remains vibrating violently at a frequency and amplitude imperceptible to ordinary humans.
It was as though the body was failing to bear an impossible load and was on the verge of total collapse, even though the vessel had already dried into a husk.
Goku was well aware that many alien races across the universe possessed extraordinary regenerative traits. The Majin he had recently defeated, for instance, could reform endlessly so long as a single cell survived.
This martial artist calling himself Mercenary Tao had displayed similar traits; Goku had clearly seen his eyes burst and instantaneously regenerate during their clash.
That was one reason Goku had held nothing back.
He had no desire to slaughter the man, but if the opponent possessed that level of recovery, he could unleash a fraction of his true might without restraint.
Yet now, something had gone catastrophically wrong with the man's body.
Was it because of that last move...
Goku knew certain martial arts demanded severe tolls, like Master Roshi's Evil Containment Wave or Tien Shinhan's Tri-Beam.
Yet both paled in comparison to the horror of the strike just now. The cost demanded of the user was likely just as unprecedented.
Suddenly, Goku sensed something. The low-lidded Super Saiyan tilted his head. Though he had no need for physical motion to perceive his surroundings, old habits remained.
He seemed to hear a voice.
[You have executed the Abyssal Art: Singularity of Terminus. Completion: 13%]
[Your Martial Arts Specialization has slightly increased. Current: Lv12]
[You have made contact with the Concepts: Terminus, Destruction]
[Trait: Key of Miracles has expired]
[You have sustained Existential Damage]
[Warning: Archetype of Terminus and Genesis EX051, you have sustained Primordial Damage. Conducting resistance check...]
[Resistance check failed. You are about to collapse into Primordial Soup.]
[Miracle trigger failed.]
A cascade of notifications poured down before Kaito Shirogane's eyes. Tumbled from that transcendent state close to the Root, he felt a profound sense of loss.
He plunged into a vast, hollow void.
The sensation of governing all, comprehending all, and claiming all vanished entirely. In its stead came the agonizing agony of bodily dissolution.
His very existence began unraveling from the fundamental double-helix of his genetic code.
Just as the trait [Limit-Break Spiral] had warned: excessive strain on the talent would reduce him to primordial soup.
This was foundational damage, not conventional death.
The safety margin Kaito had rationally calculated—assuming a tournament bout with Goku carried minimal risk of true death—had crumbled because of his own unbridled obsession, casting him into a mortal abyss.
Yet Kaito paid no heed to the destruction.
His mind replayed every microsecond of the battle in agonizing slow motion.
Warped magnetic fields surged through his neurons, keeping his analytical faculties active amidst the excruciating pain.
Goku's movements executing the Dragon Fist, his posture unleashing the Kamehameha, and...
His own execution of the Singularity of Terminus.
That final exchange replayed endlessly within his prism-hued eyes.
He was cold and rational. The collapse of his genes and flesh was unavoidable; therefore, within these dying embers, he would see the ultimate truth of that fist.
That grotesque, unearthly power—a blow that felt as though it could hammer physical reality straight into deep space—seared his soul.
He refused to perish like this.
He had not fully executed the strike; he had not stepped into that absolute realm.
Kaito knew he had caught a glimpse of it. A realm that even the Queen of Halloween had never articulated to him.
A technique transcending the Abyssal Domain...
"It cannot end here..."
"I cannot stop here..."
"I will see that fist clearly. I will master that fist. I will surpass... that fist!"
The air vibrated, the sheer force of will generating acoustic resonance.
At first, it was an imperceptible hum, detectable only to an entity like Goku with supreme sensory faculties at close range.
Yet the frequency and amplitude rapidly escalated. The ocean began to violently heave, the acoustic wave reverberating through the tides.
"I will surpass... that fist!"
For the first time, the Super Saiyan 3's expression shifted beyond cold detachment. The kinetic resonance shaking the seas and atmosphere coalesced into a deafening sonic wave, echoing across the world.
Goku felt a battle lust more frenzied than anything he had ever encountered.
If he was a sincere seeker of the martial path, training and fighting to surpass his limits, and Vegeta was a warrior burdened by Saiyan pride and an obsession with destructive dominance...
Then this man's hunger for raw power surpassed both of them.
Goku could not comprehend such devotion. He loved training and martial arts, while Vegeta loved dominion and destruction; both were rooted in their natures.
Yet this bizarre martial artist calling himself Mercenary Tao seemed obsessed with the abstract concept of power itself.
The voice intensified, shaking the tectonic plates, turning frantic like a cornered beast roaring at the heavens.
Goku clenched his fist, closing the distance to the crumbling colossus in a single stride, driving his knuckles forward.
[Dragon Fist]!
BOOM!
There was no localized disruption or theatrical disturbance, yet the luminance of the sky inverted instantly.
The sea split down to the mantle, and the heavens washed into a pale, ethereal azure.
The titan's burning, ten-thousand-meter form vanished. Ripping through the atmosphere like a fallen meteor, the displaced shockwave manifested as a cataclysmic white dragon, annihilating everything in its wake.
Two aerospace battleships with full shields were caught in the dragon's wake, detonating mid-air into sparks that looked like tiny firecrackers from the sea.
And that was merely the residual aftershock of Son Goku's blow.
The draconic kinetic force instantly pulverized the vibrating lifeform along with its ravenous desire for combat and survival.
Not a single trace of ash remained.
In the end, his flesh lacked the resilience of Majin Buu, and the current Son Goku was vastly stronger than when he had triumphed over Buu.
A full-power blow from him would shatter a planetary core. Far out along the vector of the punch, a lunar satellite was grazed and partially sheared away, while a distant asteroid belt was wiped from the void.
Lowering his arm, Goku turned away, placed two fingers against his brow, and vanished. He had sensed other entities manifesting.
Among them lay a Ki that felt both familiar and alien.
Between the desolate sky and the shattered ocean, only a solitary wisp of silver radiance remained, drifting like an ember through the air.
[Archetype of Terminus and Genesis EX051, you have sustained a catastrophic attack]
[Based on the discrepancy in spirit attributes, you have acquired the following data]
[You have been struck by Special Plot Character: Son Goku (Super Saiyan 3)'s ability: Dragon Fist]
[Conducting resistance check...]
[Check failed]
[You have sustained total physical annihilation. Your physical vessel has been utterly destroyed. Trait: Instantaneous Regeneration has been rendered ineffective.]
[Physique of the Primordial Man has been suppressed]
[High-Tier Immortality activating...]
[Failed. High-Tier Immortality cannot initiate resurrection.]
[You have entered a near-death state...]
[Special Unit Archetype of Terminus and Genesis, your demise is imminent.]
Kaito Shirogane's consciousness did not scatter. Instead, he found himself adrift in a pristine, pure white expanse. Infinite streams of data converged here, housing the foundational answers to all existence.
This was... the Root!
Here, Kaito even perceived the residual data signature of the previous King of Miracles, Ryo. The man had indeed been recycled by the Root upon his demise.
That was the underlying nature of the Root: those who drew true Magic from its depths would inevitably be reabsorbed alongside it.
No, Ryo had not truly dissolved into the Root. In this white space, Kaito regained that hyper-cognitive perception, as though his Limit-Break Spiral were spinning at total capacity.
He finally understood Ryo's ultimate choice. It had not been born purely of personal benevolence.
Ryo's decision to bestow Miracles upon him—taking his place to face death at the hands of Izayoi Sakamaki after the fusion with Azi Dahaka—had not been his choice alone.
It had been the choice of the Space.
The Space had used that mechanism to ensure that either he or Ryo survived.
Kaito clearly traced the intervention of the [Observers].
At this level, he had temporarily transcended the perspective of a three-dimensional organism.
Within the Swirl of the Root, concepts of time and space lost meaning, washing his consciousness toward an unknown destination.
Yet back upon the seas of the physical world, a golden miracle began to flare.
Fenrir watched the fractured firmament, reeling from the display that had shattered the world. The titan that had brushed the outer stratosphere had been reduced to dust.
"Lord Mercenary Tao... is dead?!"
Fenrir swallowed hard. Regardless of Mercenary Tao's standing among Reincarnators or his staggering strength...
His opponent had been Son Goku!
That Ki shaking the three realms had unmistakably signaled a Super Saiyan!
Facing an entity of that caliber, let alone Lord Mercenary Tao, how many peak beings across all Spaces could endure?!
The Son Goku of this timeline was near the absolute ceiling of existence—a force defying all reason.
Snow sank to the ground, noting that the Space's emergency extraction mission had yet to settle. She could not tell whether Mercenary Tao clung to a lingering breath, or if the mission parameters simply waited for the world's conclusion to calculate rewards.
Now, their survival rested entirely on Empress Yoko's safe extraction.
Energy Tyrant Aka wore a grim expression. He had known Mercenary Tao only by his terrifying reputation, never assessing his full combat capacity.
To think the man had scaled to such heights, growing from an ordinary human to an entity capable of forcing Son Goku into Super Saiyan within a single cycle...
"If anyone is to blame, it's that lunatic for actually challenging Son Goku," Aka sighed. For a brief moment, he had thought the Infinite Dimensional Space might finally escape its brutal disadvantages in the upcoming Dimensional War.
They possessed Yoko Ekaterina, whose mere presence bolstered armies of Reincarnators with boundless valor, alongside Mercenary Tao, an anomaly who crushed True Gods single-handedly...
"I only hope Yoko avoids that kind of monster."
"State your purpose for deploying that privilege, Reincarnator."
Azure-blue hair fell to his waist. His facial features were noble and refined, yet his eyes barely suppressed a volatile, erratic madness.
Dressed in pristine golden armor, his passive aura exerted a suffocating weight that pinned Yoko to the earth.
Yoko forced her chin up. Recognizing the visitor's face, a flicker of surprise crossed her features.
"To think it would be you. I expected Luffy or Son Gohan."
"Though... it makes no difference who arrived. I activated that device for one purpose: so that you [Black Kings] might meet your end in a world powerful enough to finish you."
Yoko raised her head, emerald eyes burning with unyielding fire.
The Black Kings were never a hidden trump card, nor were they saviors.
The Black Kings were enemies of the Reincarnators, and enemies of the real world!