Goku Black and Zamasu in the future world had both been dealt with. Peace was restored to that timeline's universe.
How to guide intelligent life in rebuilding civilization — that was Supreme Kai Son Goku's problem now. Ino wanted no part of it. Around the time her clone returned to the main timeline, Grand Zeno issued a decree, summoning all the Supreme Kais and Destroyers from across the twelve universes to his palace.
Supreme Kais could teleport there instantly using their own abilities. Destroyers needed their Angel Attendants' faster-than-light travel. After roughly thirty minutes of waiting, all the gods and Angel Attendants from the twelve universes had assembled in the grand hall.
Among them were Shin, Beerus, and Whis from the Seventh Universe; Fuwa, Champa, and Vados from the Sixth Universe; Supreme Kai Gowasu from the Tenth Universe; and Helles, the Destroyer of the Second Universe — these were the ones Ino knew well enough. The remaining Supreme Kais and Destroyers she had met before, just not closely.
Everyone present was a top-tier deity — the undisputed heads of their respective universes. The likes of Kibito, Old Kai, and Zamasu from the Tenth Universe had no standing to attend.
The Destroyers bowed from the front row. The Angel Attendants stood ramrod straight beside their respective Destroyers, staffs in hand. The Supreme Kais knelt in the second row.
The Grand Minister spoke first. "Honored guests, His Majesty Grand Zeno has reached a decision: across all multiverses, a martial arts tournament shall be held — the Tournament of Power. The rules are as follows..."
When word came that only the one victorious universe would survive, and that all remaining universes would be wiped out of existence by Grand Zeno, the assembled Destroyers and Supreme Kais were struck speechless. Without a universe to rule, there was no surviving for any of them.
Then came the announcement that the First, Twelfth, Fifth, and Eighth Universes — having met Grand Zeno's standards for civilization — would be exempt from participation. From Ino's vantage point, she could see the Destroyers and Supreme Kais of those four universes visibly exhale in unison. Their Angel Attendants faced no threat of death either, but even they preferred not to fall into dormancy.
Then, those four universes turned their gazes toward the remaining eight, eyes carrying a meaning that needed no words.
The multiverses were still in their infancy, still growing — total mass wasn't a fixed quantity. When Grand Zeno erased the other eight universes, the energy released would largely fuel the growth of the entire multiverse, with a smaller portion falling to those four surviving universes.
With higher ambient energy concentrations, the baseline for intelligent life would naturally rise. The erasure of eight universes would be enormously beneficial to those four civilized universes, and at that moment, every single deity from those four — Supreme Kai or Destroyer alike — was raising every hand and foot in wholehearted approval.
The other eight universes were in a far more miserable position. Their Supreme Kais and Destroyers couldn't fight. They could only sit in the stands like spectators and watch warriors from their own universes battle it out, letting those mortals decide their fates — pinning every last hope on clawing out that one-in-eight chance at survival.
Once the Grand Minister finished explaining the tournament format, Ino spoke up. "Everyone here knows who I am. I will be serving as referee for this tournament. The arena will be set in the World of Void. I ask that each of you select your ten participants as quickly as possible and submit your rosters to me within 300 Takk on the main timeline's clock."
"Lady Supreme Kai of Time, you're barely giving us any time at all!"
"That's right, I only just woke up... I haven't the faintest idea who to pick, I don't even know my own warriors..."
"My Lady, could the registration window not be extended? Only then could we possibly select our strongest fighters."
A chorus of Supreme Kais and Destroyers poured complaints at Ino. She didn't get upset in the slightest — just smiled pleasantly and let them grumble. The Grand Minister cleared his throat. The whole lot of them snapped to attention instantly.
Every single one of them dropped their eyes and turned meek, respectfully obedient, not daring to breathe another word of complaint.
The Grand Minister spoke in an even, unhurried tone. "Everyone, please bear one thing in mind: resolving this through a martial arts tournament — granting one victor the chance to be spared — is an act of grace from His Majesty Grand Zeno. It is not an invitation for you to negotiate terms. Do I make myself clear?"
"Perfectly clear, perfectly clear."
"Yes, we fully appreciate His Majesty's boundless benevolence."
"We'll return at once to select our participants."
None of them were new to this job. Grand Zeno was, at heart, a child — he had no patience, and when he said now, he meant now. 100 Takk was forty-eight minutes; 300 Takk was all of two and a half hours. Want to stall for time? Universal erasure is always an option.
The Grand Minister gave a gentle nod, then turned his gaze toward the doors.
The assembled deities scrambled out of Grand Zeno's Palace and hurried back to find their fighters.
With time so desperately short, any notion of holding internal selection trials to field the strongest possible warriors was utterly dashed. They could only go with whomever came to mind first.
The rules the Grand Minister had laid down were cleverly crafted, and one in particular was critical: "Killing an opponent on the Tournament of Power stage is forbidden."
Most Supreme Kais and Destroyers were ancient veterans who had spent countless eons honing their cunning.
In that rule, they could already see room to exploit. One could theoretically send the weakest warrior possible specifically to neutralize the opposing side's strongest fighter.
A fine idea in theory — nearly impossible in practice.
This was not a one-on-one duel. Grand Zeno had no patience for that sort of thing, and he didn't care about the mortals' martial craft. What he wanted to see was these warriors' "perseverance" in the face of adversity.
Deliberately fielding low-class warriors to target high-class ones was enormously difficult — because this was an eight-team, eighty-warrior free-for-all on a single stage.
The gods trudged back one by one, faces creased with worry, to piece together their rosters.
Ino waited in Grand Zeno's Palace. Before long, the full participant lists from all eight universes landed in her hands.
She turned her attention primarily to the Sixth and Seventh Universe rosters.
The Sixth Universe no longer had Frost or Kale. Their replacements this time were a Namekian and a Saiyan.
On the Seventh Universe's side, No. 17 and No. 18 — who would have competed in the original run — now counted as Ino's people. Whether the android siblings had any real connection to the Seventh Universe was a matter of perspective. Right now, neither of them was on Earth, or even in this timeline. For Son Goku and the others to track them down in any reasonable amount of time was simply out of the question.
Master Roshi entered the tournament in the spirit of "if anyone tries to kill me, I'll bleed all over them." Frieza was also pulled out of the Underworld by Son Goku, and as a deceased fighter, he would compete on behalf of the Seventh Universe.
The final roster came to: Son Goku, Vegeta, Son Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Tien Shinhan, Master Roshi, and Frieza — eight fighters.
With two spots still to fill, there was nothing for it — they had to call on Nappa and Yamcha.
Fortunately, Earth had the Room of Spirit and Time. Even under such a brutal time crunch, the team split into pairs and each group entered for a round of training and coordination. Once they had worked out their battle tactics, the ten fighters — led by Whis — made their way to the World of Void to compete in the Tournament of Power, the contest that would decide the final fate of eight universes.
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