Ever since Ino arrived at the Sixth Universe's Destroyer's divine realm, the quality of the food there had improved by several notches.
Champa, who had previously subsisted on nothing but bird eggs, had been having the time of his life these past few days.
Eat until you're full, sleep it off, wake up and eat again — wasn't that exactly the lifestyle he'd always dreamed of? He'd initially grumbled quite a bit about a Supreme Kai from the Seventh Universe showing up uninvited, but now he'd declared more than once that Ino was his best friend, his sworn brother! She was welcome to stay in the Sixth Universe as long as she liked — forever, if she wanted! And if the Sixth Universe's Supreme Kai dared raise any objections, he'd handle it himself!
Vados had likewise thrown her diet plan straight out the window. Food's here, so I'm eating it!
To keep both bottomless pits happy, Ino cycled through different dishes every day and even personally cooked for several of them. Cooking was cooking — she didn't see anything humiliating about it.
Champa, who used to sleep in for absurd stretches, now got up on the dot to brush his teeth and wash his face, then sat obediently and waited for the meal. Five times a day. The grin on that fat face never once faded.
...
Sluuurp. Sluuurp.
Ino watched Champa — utterly devoid of any Destroyer's dignity — lick his plate clean like a contented pig, the sound of it making it absolutely impossible for her to collect her thoughts. Even Vados's look of utter disdain was becoming difficult to conceal. Eating was fine. But licking the plate? Really?
For the sake of everyone's dignity, Ino had no choice but to deploy her trump card: Ichiraku instant noodles.
"Here, let me show Lord Destroyer how it's done. Watch carefully — this is instant ramen. Open the lid, add hot water, and I'll adjust the water's time just a little bit... There. Ready to eat!"
In under two seconds, a perfectly-ready bowl of noodles was in Champa's hands.
"Oh? This looks genuinely delicious! Mm, mm, mm — it really is! Hehehehe——" The Sixth Universe's Destroyer grinned with the most shameless expression imaginable. Vados waved him off — just go eat somewhere else. Watching him slurp instant noodles right next to her was making even her mouth water...
Once he'd learned how instant noodles worked, Champa walked off with an entire woven bag of them that he'd pried from Ino's supply.
Whether it was just her imagination or whether Champa was simply the type whose body converted even a sip of water into fat, the man was eating instant noodles, cola, and hamburgers every day — clearly enjoying himself — and visibly growing rounder with each passing hour. If he'd been unable to see his feet before, he now appeared to have a second inflatable ring stacked around his midsection.
Vados had her daily duty of training the Destroyer. When Champa finished his fifteen minutes of exercise, collapsed on the ground drenched in sweat, she stood over him and delivered her solemn counsel:
"Lord Champa, you really do need to lose some weight."
Her inner sigh was bone-deep. You must know your own constitution. Don't tell me you finished that entire bag of noodles in one night?
Sigh. Look at the Destroyers my siblings are paired with — every single one of them a distinguished individual. How did I end up this unlucky, stuck with this buffoon?
Champa patted his round belly. "Am I really that fat?"
"You need to exercise more, otherwise..." Vados said, her tone darkening. "Otherwise... you will die."
Champa: "???"
In the interest of burning a few extra calories and working off some of his meals, Champa fixed Ino with his most shameless look.
"Come on. Forget about all that time mumbo-jumbo — those flashy moves of yours aren't much use. Let this great one teach you something worthwhile." He struck an attacking pose.
Ino immediately snapped to attention. A Destroyer — even the weakest of Destroyers — was immeasurably more powerful than any Supreme Kai.
Vados was teaching her how to elevate her realm, not combat techniques. Ino had no objection to picking up something new from Champa.
Champa extended one hand. In his palm, energy gathered like a condensed star. Ino could see clearly what he was doing — compressing and shaping the mass of power. He flicked his fingers, and a sphere materialized at his fingertip: on the inside, an ocean of coiled energy; on the outside, golden lightning crackling around it.
He flicked it toward her.
Ino fully released her state and thrust both hands out, trying to catch the orb — it radiated menace even just to look at it. But to her surprise, it didn't travel in a straight line; instead, it oscillated through the spatial dimensions to her left and right. She reached twice, missed twice, and was finally forced to split off over a dozen time clones, casting them like a net — only barely managing to intercept it.
"It looks a bit like Lord Beerus's Sphere of Destruction, doesn't it?" Vados remarked lightly.
Champa's reaction was immediate — like a fat cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Nonsense! This is my ultimate technique!"
Vados blinked. "Oh? Your ultimate technique? Then may I ask — what is it called?"
Champa's jaw worked soundlessly. "It's called... called what, exactly?"
He scratched his head with visible difficulty. Vados's expression lit up with barely concealed delight.
"Wonderful, Lord Champa! You've been using your brain — you've burned quite a few calories just now. That is tremendously beneficial for your health."
Seeming to decide that some mischief was in order, Champa threw up a peace sign and grinned with maximum sleaziness: "Let's call it the Champa Ultra Instinct!"
Vados went very still. "Are you mocking my father?"
"I — I — no — no I'm not — don't go saying things like that!" Champa broke into a cold sweat. Under Vados's withering glare, he had no choice but to blurt out a completely made-up name on the spot: "It's called... it's called... the 'Absolutely Nothing Technique'!"
Ino: "...?"
The 'Absolutely Nothing Technique'? What in the world is that? Isn't this obviously a Destroyer's ability? Do you think I'm blind?
There was, however, an upside to Champa making up a nonsense name. Under normal circumstances, it would have been rather inappropriate for Ino to study a Destroyer's technique — the Supreme Kai of Time was still a Supreme Kai, and the powers of a Destroyer and a Supreme Kai were supposed to sit on opposite sides of a clear divide.
But if she was learning the "Absolutely Nothing Technique"? Well, that raised no issues about Destroyer or Supreme Kai at all.
Play dumb. You teach, I'll learn.
Meditating alongside Vados, listening to the voice of time, mastering the body's instincts — and training with Champa in his "Absolutely Nothing Technique" — Ino's days were full to bursting.
...
After years of grueling, drawn-out warfare, the conflict between the Demon Realm and the Tenth Universe had finally reached its end.
Under Zamasu's leadership, the Tenth Universe had sacrificed countless elite warriors. Many of its most promising talents never got the chance to realize their full potential, cut down one by one in an endless succession of wars of attrition. What remained of the Tenth Universe's fighting force was now composed almost entirely of muscle-bound brutes and sumo-sized tanks — the kind of fighters defined above all else by their sheer capacity to absorb punishment.
Through the sacrifice of an entire universe's worth of strength, the Tenth Universe had finally suppressed the Demon Realm's rampant aggression.
Demon Realm King Dabura had lost the majority of his forces, and his grip over the Demon Realm had fallen to a historic low. He despised the pig-headedly stubborn Zamasu with every fiber of his being — but the problem was that the Apprentice Supreme Kai was young, and youth meant room to grow. Zamasu's strength had been climbing at a ferocious pace. Where the two had once been evenly matched, Dabura could no longer win against Zamasu outright.
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