Zamasu was completely frank and candid, holding nothing back as he laid out his entire plan to Toppo.
"Are you insane? How could you have such a twisted idea? Abandon it now, or I'll have no choice but to stop you by force," Toppo said.
Toppo was utterly stunned. He never imagined that Zamasu would swing so violently from one extreme to the other.
The captain of the Pride Troopers, a warrior of imposing build, spoke with absolute gravity. Zamasu's plan was too horrifying to be allowed — as a member of the Eleventh Universe, he could not stand by and watch Zamasu slaughter every intelligent life form.
"Hmph. Stop me? Do you really think you can?" Zamasu let out a cold laugh.
Friendship, conviction — none of it mattered as much as the future of the multiverses in this moment. Zamasu remained utterly convinced that what he was doing was justice, that he was saving the world.
"You truly understand nothing. Stay right here and think it over, Apprentice Destroyer of the Eleventh Universe." The little boat of their friendship capsized without a moment's hesitation.
Zamasu raised an open palm. Having long since observed the spatial structure of the surrounding area, he launched a shockwave directly at Toppo. The Apprentice Destroyer met it calmly, raising his arm to block — but he had no idea there was a spatial rift directly behind him. Before he could react, the shockwave shoved him straight through it.
"You still have so much to learn, Toppo." Having dealt with his good friend, Zamasu wore little satisfaction on his face. An Apprentice Destroyer only needed to be capable of fighting, but an Apprentice Supreme Kai required so much more knowledge. He had come prepared while Toppo had not — winning was no surprise.
Returning to his own Tenth Universe, Zamasu still had enough self-awareness to know his limits. He understood that the universe was full of powerful beings, and his title of "strongest Supreme Kai" was not entirely accurate. Even if he was the strongest Supreme Kai — so what? The Destroyers and their Angel Attendants were all still out there. If he hadn't had the advantage of a sneak attack, he would have struggled even against Toppo, let alone facing the Destroyers of all twelve universes head-on. Any one of them could kick him to death with a single blow.
Ino's Time Domain was what truly filled him with dread. The thing was almost impossible to counter. He had studied it for a very long time before finally finding a way to break through it.
The future world would face true destruction — which meant that the real apocalypse lay in the "future."
Through his teacher Gowasu's accounts, he had gained a rough understanding of Ino's jurisdiction as the Supreme Kai of Time. She governed the "present" timeline — fine. He would go to the "future." That way, she couldn't reach him, could she?
In reality, she could still reach him if she wanted to. Gowasu's own understanding was quite limited on that front.
As long as a timeline fell under Ino's administration, it was considered the "present" — and therefore her jurisdiction as Supreme Kai of Time.
Zamasu didn't know the ins and outs of all that, and he had no time to think it through carefully. As far as he was concerned, stopping the ultimate destruction of the multiverses meant every second counted.
He moved with ruthless decisiveness. Three months after learning the truth about the apocalypse, he killed his teacher Gowasu — who had always treated him well — and seized the Time Ring that belonged to the Supreme Kai.
Supreme Kais possessed no ability to travel through time on their own; they required the Time Ring to make the jump between timelines.
Before departing the main timeline, Zamasu relinquished the power and body that belonged to him as a Supreme Kai. He gathered the Super Dragon Balls, summoned Super Shenron, and had himself and Son Goku switch bodies.
Zamasu became Goku Black, then traveled to Future Trunks' timeline, found that timeline's Zamasu, and the two joined forces — unleashing an indiscriminate massacre upon the people of Earth.
——
Goku Black was none other than Zamasu from Ino's main timeline — the Zamasu who had led a great army to flatten the Demon Realm. The other Zamasu was the Apprentice Supreme Kai from Future Trunks' timeline, a world where Son Goku had died of a sudden heart attack and where Vegeta, Krillin, and the others had all been killed by the villainous Androids No. 17 and No. 18.
Future Trunks had originally belonged to the main timeline as well, but his use of the time machine to save Son Goku — who had been fated to die — altered the past and changed the present on Ino's end. This caused his timeline to branch off and become independent from the main timeline.
Viewed through the authority of Ino as Supreme Kai of Time, this timeline was one with little value — a dead-end branch fit only to be discarded. In terms of jurisdictional ownership, it truly did fall under the scope of the "future," and by rights should have been governed by Aeos.
The big loli had actively sought out that position — partly to find herself a stepping stone for a comeback, and partly because she couldn't let go of the apocalyptic conclusion described by the Demon Realm Supreme Kai.
Ino's relationship with Aeos and Kuronoa wasn't exactly a honeymoon period right now, but at least in the short term, there was no need to go directly over and slap them in the face. She chose to hide her tracks.
Ino had used the Spirit Transformation Technique on Mai twice before, and the traces of her possession were quite obvious. Seizing the opportunity, she stirred awake within Mai's body, stood up, and took stock of what she was wearing.
A plain military greatcoat, a canteen hanging at the hip, boots worn through with serious damage, and a shotgun leaning against the wall in the corner not far away.
Standard issue gear for someone scraped from the bottom of the power ladder.
This version of Mai had also branched off from the main timeline along with Future Trunks.
The Mai in the main timeline had had her youth restored by Earth's Shenron and was now practically childlike again, still playing comic relief alongside Pilaf and Shu.
This Mai, on the other hand, was a resistance fighter. Pilaf, Shu — they had all died long ago.
Ino rolled her shoulders and stretched, testing out this body that carried almost no combat power. Then her eyes lit up with a faint glow as she surveyed this branch of the timeline.
One word: bleak.
As a member of the divine hierarchy, Zamasu had a thorough understanding of the connections between the gods. He had slaughtered all the Supreme Kais across the twelve universes — and the moment those Supreme Kais died, the Destroyers linked to them by their shared fate died as well.
With the Destroyers gone, like a row of falling dominoes, the Angels all fell into deep slumber one after another.
When the tally was complete, the entire divine tier had been wiped out by Zamasu.
As for the higher levels above them —
Never mind a discarded branch timeline like this one; even in an ordinary parallel timeline, there was no chance of another Grand Minister or Grand Zeno appearing. Ino was not subject to Grand Zeno's authority, and those two possessed no temporal attributes to begin with — they existed outside of time itself. As for why a second Grand Zeno had appeared in the original timeline…
Ino's best guess was that this "second" Grand Zeno was simply Grand Zeno himself — merely a reflection of him across different timelines. Unlike Ino, Kuronoa, and Aeos, whose authority was divided across the present, past, and future, the concept of a "future Grand Zeno" simply did not exist. From first to last, there was one and only one Grand Zeno.
Her guess was that Grand Zeno was just bored out of his mind and had found a way to entertain himself.
Grand Zeno's affairs had nothing to do with her. Looking forward from this point in time, she saw no sign of a second Grand Zeno ever appearing.
She turned her gaze toward where Zamasu was.
In the next instant, she pushed the potential of Mai's body to its absolute limit, and with a single blur of movement, vanished from where she stood.
When she reappeared, she was already standing before Zamasu — or rather, before Goku Black.
________________________________________
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