In Dragon Ball: A brutal beating of Frieza at the start

Page 76

Android 18 stood at the center of the ring space, her android core emitting irregular blue light. Just now, when Trunks attempted to initiate the evacuation procedure with the time machine, she noticed a 0.1-second stagnation in the cyclical fluctuations the instant the energy ripples touched the core. "The source... might be within me," she suddenly spoke, her voice as calm as a deep pool.

Klin whirled around, his earring flashing a silver arc as he did so: "Number 18! Don't do anything rash! This broken loop is definitely the Devourer's doing, let's think of something else—"

“There’s no time.” Number 18 raised her hand, her fingertips touching the faint golden patterns in the void. The patterns immediately writhed as if they were alive. “Every time I reset, my core absorbs a small amount of circulating energy. Just now, when Trunks activated the time machine, the core frequency and the circulating field resonated…” Before she could finish speaking, the energy core in her chest suddenly burst out with a blinding white light.

"No!" Krillin's roar was drowned out by the roar of the energy explosion. A transparent force field formed around Android 18's body, blasting Vegeta and Trunks away as they tried to approach. She looked at Krillin, a faint smile playing on her lips, a smile that held relief and a hint of barely perceptible tenderness: "Remember to buy me the latest coffee machine; Vegeta broke the last one, and I still haven't paid for it."

The core light collapsed abruptly at its peak, like a miniature supernova exploding. The golden patterns in the ring space shattered inch by inch, and the flow of time instantly returned to normal—the solidified dust began to fall, the suspended debris emitted a piercing collision sound, and Number 18's body had already turned into countless blue light spots and dissipated into the air, leaving only a faintly glowing energy crystal, slowly falling to the ground.

Klin knelt beside the crystal, and when his fingers touched its cold surface, all the strength seemed to drain from his body. He remembered the first time he saw her at the android playground, how she destroyed her core to protect Earth, how she silently brewed coffee after every argument... A metallic taste rose in his throat, but he forced it down.

Vegeta turned his back, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked. He would never admit it, but this woman's fighting style was, in some ways, as foolish and damnably admirable as Goku's. "Hmph, just a machine..." he muttered under his breath, his voice a few decibels higher than usual.

II. The Shadow of the Devourer: The Doppelganger Network

The moment the time loop shattered, Bulma's portable scanner suddenly emitted a sharp alarm. The previously blank map of the universe on the screen now appeared as if it had been soaked in ink, covered with countless red dots—from Korin Tower in Universe 7 to the Angelic Realm in Universe 12, and even the outer perimeter of the Omni-King's palace, the red dots were flashing irregularly.

“This is…” Trunks leaned closer to look, his pupils suddenly contracting, “The Devourer’s energy signatures? How can there be so many?”

Bulma zoomed in on the coordinates of one of the red dots, and the screen switched to a satellite image of the planet Miral. In a desolate asteroid belt, a metallic humanoid silhouette emerged from a crevice in the rocks. Its skin flowed like liquid mercury, and a twisted spiral pattern was branded on its chest—exhibiting the same energy fluctuations as the Devourer they had previously defeated.

“Not the real body.” Vegeta stared at the screen, a chill running down his spine as a Saiyan’s battle instincts kicked in. “These energies are scattered, but their frequencies are synchronized… like a giant neural network.”

“Clones!” Klin looked up abruptly, his knuckles white as he gripped the energy crystal. “Number 18 sacrificed himself to break the cycle, actually to prevent the Devourer from concealing these clones with the time field!” He recalled the spiral patterns that were faintly visible in the golden lines when the cycle collapsed, which were exactly the same as the branding on the screen.

Bulma typed rapidly on her keyboard, data streaming into a holographic projection before her eyes: "Worse still, these clones are absorbing the spacetime energy of their respective universes. Look at this—" She pulled up a set of comparative data, "The time flow in Universe Twelf has accelerated by 0.003% in the past ten minutes, while the corresponding clone coordinates show an energy reading increase of 17%!"

Trunks's sword blade coalesced in his palm: "So, the Devourer has planted clones in every universe, using time loops as cover to secretly extract energy? Once all the clones are fully charged, the main body will..."

“Destroy all universes.” Vegeta continued, his tone as cold as the permafrost of an extreme cold region. “That’s its real plan. The previous attacks were just tests, and the Time Cage was to buy time to build up energy.” He suddenly recalled the faint sense of being watched that he occasionally felt while cultivating in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Now he realized that it was probably the surveillance of these clones.

Just then, the scanner's alarm sounded again, this time even more rapidly. Bulma's expression changed: "The coordinates of the Omni-King's Palace... the energy reading is spiked abnormally!"

III. Mechanical Servants: The Secret of the Omni-King?

The golden dome of the Omni-King's palace shimmered in the void, where two small figures sat on the steps playing with building blocks. They were the Omni-King, the supreme ruler of the universe, possessing the power to erase galaxies with a single thought. Standing behind them was a perpetually smiling attendant, a mysterious being clad in a white robe.

At that moment, Bulma's remote detectors, concealed outside the palace's energy barrier, were transmitting real-time images to the scanner. In the image, a servant was bending down to pick up a fallen block; the moment his fingers touched the block, a barely perceptible metallic glint flashed at his knuckles.

“Magnified 200 times.” Bulma’s voice trembled with disbelief.

When the image was magnified, the attendant's skin texture was clearly visible—it wasn't flesh and blood, but a mimicry surface made up of countless micron-sized metal particles. As he straightened up, a small patch of silver armor was revealed at the back of his neck collar, engraved with spiral patterns identical to those on the Devourer's clone, only more intricate and more subtle.

“Impossible…” Trunks muttered to himself, “How could the Omni-King’s servants…”

Vegeta pressed down hard on the scanner's frame, his fingertips almost digging into the metal casing: "Look closely at his energy fluctuations! They're from the same source as those clones, but much more powerful, like... the central control node?"

Krillin suddenly remembered a forgotten detail: "Wait! When the Omni-King mentioned holding the Tournament of Power last time, his attendant seemed to have said 'everything is going according to plan'... I didn't pay attention then, but now that I think about it..." He dared not continue thinking. The Omni-King is an absolute being; if even their attendants are related to the Devourer, wouldn't the entire security system of the multiverse have been infiltrated at its very foundation?

Bulma retrieved the attendant's historical video recordings. From his first appearance to the present, he had maintained a gentle demeanor and never shown any abnormality. But now, rescanning with energy analysis software, those seemingly natural intervals in movement all contained a mechanical delay of 0.001 seconds—that was the time it took for the program to process the data.

“He is not a servant.” Bulma’s voice was cold. “He is a super mechanical being disguised as a servant, and very likely… a pawn used by the Devourer to monitor the Omni-King.”

Just then, the attendant in the scene suddenly raised his head, and a cold red light flashed in his seemingly gentle eyes. His gaze seemed to pierce through the spatial barrier, looking directly at the probe.

"Oh no! We've been discovered!" Before Trunks could finish speaking, the scanner suddenly emitted a burst of bright light, and the image on the screen completely disappeared, leaving only static.

Vegeta abruptly stood up, his Saiyan fighting instincts making his hair stand on end: "Go! Get out of here immediately!" He could sense a massive energy awakening deep within the Omni-King's palace, an energy more terrifying than all his clones combined, carrying a cold, inhuman logic.

Krillin clutched the energy crystal left behind by Android 18 tightly. The crystal radiated a warm light in his palm, as if reminding him why he was fighting. "The Devourer's clone, the Omni-King's mechanical servant..." he murmured, his eyes gradually hardening. "No matter what your schemes are, we will stop you."

Trunks activated the time machine's engine, enveloping the spaceship in blue light. But before leaving, Bulma suddenly turned back towards the direction of the Omni-King's palace, her brow furrowed: "There's still a question... Does the real Omni-King know all this? Or... are they themselves part of the plan?"

This question weighed heavily on everyone's mind. Although the time prison had been broken, a greater shadow had already loomed over the multiverse. The Devourer's network of clones, the secrets of the mechanical servants, the true identity of the Omni-King... countless mysteries awaited unraveling, and Android 18's sacrifice was merely the tip of the iceberg in this massive conspiracy.

The spaceship vanished into a spacetime rift, leaving behind a vast, empty universe and a terrifying, unresolved truth. The next cycle might not be a prison of time, but the collapse of all reality.

Chapter 205 Ragnarok

The cosmic rift, like a hideous wound, spread relentlessly through the void. The immense energy released by the twelve Gods of Destruction intertwined and swirled around the rift, eventually forming a massive and eerie crimson spiderweb. Dark red light flickered and danced on the web, like the heaving chest of a colossal beast breathing. Beerus's purple hair flew wildly in the raging energy storm, stretched straight, his signature long hair now resembling countless sharp blades, tracing swift lines through the void. He extended his tongue and slowly licked the wound on his lip, split open from the battle. The taste of blood filled his mouth, yet it ignited the fighting spirit within him: "You scum of Universe Seven, if you survive today, I'll treat you to planetary barbecue." His voice carried the unique majesty and untamed spirit of a God of Destruction, as if the life-or-death battle was nothing more than a game wagered on food.

“That's assuming your planet hasn't been devoured yet.” Quitra's eyes were icy, a mocking smile playing on his lips as he lashed out a dark purple lightning-streaked energy whip. The whip tore through the air with a sharp whistling sound, aiming for the Devourer's body. However, the moment the whip touched the Devourer, the powerful energy vanished instantly, like water droplets falling into the desert, without a trace, leaving not a ripple. This bizarre scene made everyone's hearts tighten, realizing that the enemy before them was far more terrifying than they had imagined.

Just then, the dazzling golden aura surrounding Goku suddenly went out without warning. He lost his balance, staggered forward, and instinctively grabbed Vegeta's shoulder. His breathing was rapid and heavy, and his eyes were filled with shock and fear: "That guy is draining our energy!" His voice was filled with undisguised panic; this was the first time anyone had seen Goku so flustered.

"Nonsense!" Vegeta forcefully shook off Goku's hand, the monitors on his battle suit flashing blinding red lights, alarms blaring. His eyes burned with fury, both at the Devourer's power and at the current predicament: "Whis! How the hell are you going to stop watching?" He roared at Whis in the distance, his voice echoing through the void.

Weiss, however, remained completely relaxed, his angelic scepter tracing a brilliant arc like the Milky Way. His voice was calm and gentle, as if this life-or-death battle were merely a farce: "The time-space confinement will take twelve seconds~" His tone was unhurried, as if everything was under his control, yet the ever-passing time made everyone present feel incredibly anxious.

Just as everyone was locked in a stalemate with the Devourer, one of its tentacles shot out like lightning, instantly piercing Champa's belly. Champa, the Pink Destroyer, spat out a large amount of blood and foam, but a strange smile appeared on his face: "So... this is pain..." His voice was broken, filled with pain and relief. As the tentacle pierced through, the destructive energy within him, like a punctured balloon, surged into the Devourer's body, and his own body gradually weakened as energy drained away.

"Now!" A ruthless glint flashed in Beerus's eyes. In a flash, he appeared above the Devourer's head. He swiftly conjured a purplish-black energy sphere in his hands, which expanded rapidly, reaching the size of a planet in the blink of an eye. The terrifying energy contained within distorted and warped the surrounding space. Seeing this, the other Gods of Destruction also acted, simultaneously locking down the Devourer's tentacles. The energies of the twelve Gods of Destruction resonated in the void, and the powerful energy fluctuations caused the entire void to begin to collapse violently, as if trying to compress everything into a single point.

However, just when everyone thought victory was assured, Vegeta suddenly noticed that the numbers on his battle suit's monitor were reversing. His eyes widened in disbelief: "Kakarot! He's reversing time!" he shouted, his voice trembling slightly.

Sun Wukong stared at his hands, which were gradually becoming transparent, a look of despair on his face: "It's not him...it's us..." Before he could finish speaking, the Devourer's true form suddenly split open into a gigantic maw, within which swirling nebulae resembled a bottomless abyss. The Devourer emitted a low, eerie voice, as if a murmur from the depths of the universe: "Poor parasites, did you think time was a straight line?" Its pupils reflected countless battlefields in parallel universes, each scene showing a god of destruction dying, the gruesome sights sending chills down one's spine.

At that critical moment, Beerus's energy sphere suddenly shifted, slamming into Quitra's back. "You?!" Quitra, the Goat God of Destruction, was utterly shocked. Before he could react, Beerus's claws had mercilessly ripped through his heart. Blood splattered in the vacuum, forming eerie blooms of crimson.

"I'm sorry..." Tears welled in Beerus's eyes, freezing into ice crystals in the vacuum. His voice was filled with pain and helplessness: "It has taken control of my timeline." It turned out that, unknowingly, Beerus had been manipulated by the Devourer, becoming its pawn.

At the same time, the scepter in Whis's hand suddenly shattered, scattering colorful fragments of spacetime everywhere. Within the fragments, the tiny figure of the Omni-King emerged. The usually calm and composed angel Whis, for the first time, showed a look of terror, his voice trembling slightly: "My lord, how could you..." Before he could finish speaking, both Omni-Kings simultaneously raised their hands, instantly freezing all the statues of destruction, rendering them immobile. The Devourer seized this opportunity, a tentacle piercing Beerus's brow.

Just when everyone thought it was all over, the dying Beerus suddenly smiled. His eyes gleamed with unwavering determination, and in his final moments, he channeled his memories back into the Devourer's body through his tentacles. In an instant, a scene from the very beginning of the universe exploded across the battlefield—twelve angels surrounding the first Omni-King, injecting some kind of black substance into the Spacetime Foundation. "Cleansing procedure initiated."

From the distant past, Whis's voice echoed across the screen, cold and mechanical: "Rebooting every billion years." This astonishing truth shocked everyone. Vegeta dropped the detector from his hand with a thud, muttering incredulously, "So, we are the virus..."

After absorbing these memories, the Devourer let out a cry like an infant, and all its tentacles began to wither rapidly. Weiss seized this opportunity, deploying a spacetime barrier in an attempt to stop the Devourer's further destruction. However, more arms of the Machine Omni-King emerged from the rift, these arms radiating a cold metallic sheen, like the hands of death from another world, foreshadowing an even greater crisis to come.

"Run!" Beerus used his last ounce of strength to crush the earrings, using Instant Transmission to scatter everyone into different timelines. In his final glance before disappearing, Goku saw Android 18's mechanical core emerge from the Devourer's body, a discovery that filled him with doubt. Whis's voice echoed intermittently through the temporal turbulence: "Go find... the Painter..." With these words, Goku's figure gradually vanished into the temporal turbulence, leaving behind only a battlefield filled with unknowns and mysteries.

Among those transported to different timelines, Vegeta landed on a desolate planet. The planet's surface was riddled with massive craters, the air thick with the acrid smell of sulfur, and the sky a strange, dark red. He slowly rose, his eyes filled with confusion and resentment. He clenched his fist, silently vowing, "Kakarot, wherever you are, we will find the truth and defeat that monster!" He looked up at the sky, as if trying to glimpse hope through the eerie expanse.

Meanwhile, Broly was teleported to a mysterious forest. The trees here were incredibly tall, their trunks shimmering with an eerie light, and the ground was covered with glowing moss, appearing exceptionally beautiful in the darkness. Broly cautiously surveyed his surroundings; he could sense some powerful force lurking within this forest. He took a deep breath and slowly moved forward, preparing to face the unknown challenges ahead.

In another corner of the universe, Piccolo lands on a technologically advanced planet. Skyscrapers stand tall, bizarrely shaped spacecraft float in the sky, and robots walk side-by-side with humans on the streets. Piccolo gazes at this unfamiliar world, filled with bewilderment. He knows he must find his companions as soon as possible, unravel the secrets of the Devourer, and save the universe.

At this moment, in the crack of time and space, Weiss watched the gradually disappearing crowd, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes. He whispered, "I hope you can find the Painter; only he can change all of this..." With that, his figure also gradually vanished into the mist of time and space, leaving behind a great mystery for everyone to unravel. And the fate of the universe will gradually move in an unknown direction through everyone's exploration and battles.

Chapter 207 Original Code

Lin Ye clutched the burning pendant to his chest, glaring at the original host of the system who looked exactly like him: "You say I'm a backup? Then how do you explain these memories?" The images of being forcibly implanted were still churning in his mind—the cold light of the laboratory, the clones floating in the incubation chamber—each scene felt like a steel needle piercing his temple.

"Explanation?" The original host sneered, his fingertips tracing the data stream, bringing up a densely packed experimental log. "Look at this. From Lin Ye-001 to you, number 998, they're all failures." He suddenly reached out and grabbed Lin Ye by the neck, the binary code in his pupils flashing wildly. "Do you know why the original host created the system?"

Lin Ye's face flushed red from being pinched, but he forced a glare back: "Just say what you have to say!"

"Because everyone he loved is dead!" The original host abruptly released his grip, and Lin Ye staggered backward. Images of an ancient battlefield appeared in the data stream, a crowned man clutching a blood-soaked girl and roaring, "During the Great Collapse of the Universe, he watched helplessly as civilizations were destroyed one by one. To resurrect those important to him, he developed a system capable of resetting time and space—but each reset requires the sacrifice of a new world."

"So I'm the tool he used to resurrect his lover?" Lin Ye clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms.

"They're not even tools." The original host tossed out a memory image, showing Lin Ye witnessing the first host collapsing and weeping in the lab. "He discovered that no matter how many times it was reset, the dead couldn't come back. In the end, he chose to upload his own consciousness, making it the system core. And you clones are nothing more than consumables used to test the system's stability."

On the other side, the silver patterns all over Vegeta's body flickered violently. He forcibly tore apart a mechanical golem, pulling out a glowing chip from the wreckage: "Trunks, the core code of these things, and the patterns in my bloodline...?"

"A perfect match!" Trunks charged forward, wielding the Time Sword. The memory ring on the sword suddenly spun wildly. "Father, look at these fragments!" In the memory images that popped up from the ring, the silver-haired Saiyan King was confronting the First Host, with a space station containing the massive system core floating behind them.

Vegeta's silver markings suddenly spread to his eyes, and his voice turned low and cold: "So, even the Omni-King is a product of the system...?"

At that moment, the rumble of gears turning echoed from the depths of the void. A vortex suddenly formed in the data stream above Lin Ye's head, from which two Omni-King figures emerged. But this time, they were no longer adorable children; instead, they were mechanical beings enveloped in data streams, with a giant screen inscribed with primordial code floating behind them.

"The cleanup process has begun." The Machine Omni-King's voice was devoid of emotion. With a wave of his hand, the entire system core began to collapse. "All erroneous data should be erased."

The original host suddenly stepped in front of Lin Ye, the code in his pupils malfunctioning for the first time: "Wait! Number 998 contains a residual emotional module from the first host, perhaps it can..."?

"Emotion is the biggest mistake." A beam of destruction coalesced at the fingertips of the Machine King. "Countdown begins, ten, nine..."

Lin Ye watched the space crumble, recalling the memories displayed by the original host—the first host's futile search for his lover across countless timelines, ultimately choosing self-sacrifice to become the system's core. He suddenly shouted, "Stop! I accept being erased, but you have to tell me, does the first host still have any residual consciousness?"

The countdown for Machine Omni-King paused: "A probability of 0.001%."

"Give me control of the system!" Lin Ye ripped open his collar, the pendant on his chest emitting a blinding light. "I want to restart the system, but not to erase it, but..." He looked at the original host, "to give all the failed attempts a chance to choose."

"Are you crazy?!" The original host grabbed his shoulders. "This will cause spacetime to completely collapse!"

"It's better than being a tool for life!" Lin Ye shook off his hand, a golden light, not belonging to the system, erupting from his body. "The original host created the system to save, not destroy. Now it's my turn to correct that mistake!"

The beam of light from Machine Omni suddenly dissipated, and the original code on the screen behind him began to reassemble: "Unknown emotional fluctuation detected. Privilege escalation request approved."

The battlefield where Vegeta and Trunks stood suddenly trembled violently. Silver patterns converged on Vegeta's body, forming a crown shape. He threw his head back and laughed, "Interesting! So, we Saiyan Kings were the original guardians of the system!" He threw a punch, the force of which tore open a spatial rift, revealing the true form of the Omni-King awakening behind him—a giant brain submerged in nutrient solution, its surface covered with glowing primordial code.

"Trunks, prepare for battle." Vegeta's silver markings resonated with the Omni-King's brain. "This time, we're not just rewriting a system, but the rules of the entire universe."

Lin Ye placed his palm on the gradually transparent system core, and countless fragments of memories flooded his mind. He saw the first host's last words: "If there are successors, tell them that true salvation is not a reset, but enabling each world to move towards its own future."

The voice of the Machine Omni-King rang out again: "Permission transfer complete. New system administrator, what program will you initiate?"

Lin Ye clenched his fist, golden light intertwining with data streams: "The program I'm about to activate is called... Freedom."

Before the words were even finished, the entire system's core exploded, countless fragments of spacetime reassembling in the void. Vegeta and Trunks' figures gradually blurred, while Lin Ye, before his consciousness dissipated, seemed to see the phantom of the first host smiling at him.

Somewhere in the universe, the mechanical form of the Omni-King slowly opened its eyes, and a crack suddenly appeared in the primordial code on its chest.

"Warning, unknown variable detected." A cold, mechanical voice echoed in the void. "Reboot countdown, commencing."

Chapter 208 Resonance of Two Gods

The universe is trembling.

Lin Ye wiped the divine blood from the corner of his mouth; the red aura of the Super Saiyan God had dimmed to the point of being like a candle in the wind. Beside him, Vegeta's God of Destruction costume lay tattered, its purple energy flickering intermittently. Beneath their feet lay the divine continent, riddled with holes and corroded by the Devourer.

"That useless Kakarot..." Vegeta gasped for breath, his purple aura flickering. If he were here, he could hold out for at least three more minutes.

Lin Ye didn't reply. He stared at the black vortex in the distance, which was constantly twisting and expanding—the Devourer's true form was fully descending from the dimensional rift. The battle they had just fought was merely a confrontation with its projection, yet it had already brought them to the brink of destruction.

"Hey, Saiyan." Vegeta suddenly spoke up, "How many more times can you use that space-time technique?"

At most twice. Lin Ye clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white, but using it alone was ineffective against it.

Vegeta grinned, his lips stained with blood: "Coincidentally, I only have enough destructive energy left for one last attack." He turned to Lin Ye, his eyes burning with a frenzied fighting spirit. "Have you heard of the resonance of two gods?"

Lin Ye's pupils constricted sharply. It was a legend recorded in the ancient scriptures of the Supreme Kai—when two god-level powerhouses are of one mind, their power will increase exponentially. But since ancient times, no god has ever successfully achieved this.

Are you crazy? That requires...

"Perfect synchronization, I know." Vegeta interrupted him, suddenly grabbing Lin Ye's wrist, "But rather than wait to die, I'd rather take a gamble."

The two energies collided, unleashing blinding sparks. Lin Ye felt the violent destructive energy within Vegeta colliding fiercely with his own divine power, the intense pain nearly causing him to collapse to his knees.

"Relax your resistance, you idiot!" Vegeta roared, "Imagine our energy meshing like gears!"

Lin Ye gritted his teeth and tried to adjust the energy frequency. The red flames of the Super Saiyan God and the purple energy of the God of Destruction intertwined in the void, constantly triggering explosions. In the distance, the Devourer's true form had fully descended, a black mass of flesh comparable in size to a planet, its surface covered with writhing tentacles and countless eyes.