In the end, Yamcha was not destined to ascend to godhood.
His most impressive moment had been nothing more than the play-dead counterattack. If the counterattack had succeeded, there might have been something to talk about — but it failed, and he was promptly booted off the stage. That fell well short of the standard of perseverance, courage, and wisdom that Grand Zeno was looking for.
All one could say was: what a shame. The Tea God's performance fell just a little short.
The complete erasure of the Ninth Universe sent the fighting on the stage into high gear.
In the original timeline, Son Goku had spent ages giving Krillin encouragement — reminiscing about their old days as fellow disciples, dragging him off to train with Master Roshi — and after all that fuss, it barely made a difference. Krillin was eliminated in the fifth minute of the tournament, gone early.
On this current timeline, with Yamcha's early elimination setting the example, Krillin's performance was marginally better.
In the battles that followed, Krillin fought extremely conservatively — or rather, he played it safe, repeatedly using the Solar Flare and the Destructo Disc, working in tandem with Tien Shinhan and Master Roshi to target the weaker opponents from other universes.
Son Goku, Vegeta, and Frieza each chose to fight alone. The remaining members, led by Son Gohan and Piccolo, stuck together in a pack, drifting along the edges of the arena — not looking to shine, just trying not to fail.
At the eleventh minute of the tournament — thirty-seven minutes remaining — all ten of the Tenth Universe's competitors had been eliminated. That universe, including Old Kai Gowasu and Apprentice Supreme Kai Zamasu, was erased by Grand Zeno in its entirety.
Most of the Tenth Universe's elite warriors had been lost in the Demon Realm War. The ragtag bunch that remained had no chance of standing up to the other universes' best. In a very real sense, they had already lost before the race began.
Ino made a point of glancing in Zamasu's direction. This Apprentice Supreme Kai wore an expression of sheer relief — dead was as good as released. Whatever happened from here on out had nothing to do with him anymore.
In those brief eleven minutes, the number of eliminated competitors had already surpassed forty — nearly half of all participants had been knocked out.
Not a single candidate had yet appeared on Ino's Divine Registry who was truly worthy of godhood.
Grand Zeno watched with an unchanging face. From the perspective of this "Heavenly Law"-tier administrator, none of the eliminated competitors so far had souls worth preserving to be reborn and granted godhood in the new universe.
"Little Ino." Grand Zeno suddenly spoke up, pointing a finger toward the Divine Registry.
Ino looked over. She found that the character "Grand" had lit up beside Master Roshi's name.
She reviewed Master Roshi's performance in the tournament and, in all fairness, had to admit — it really was impressive.
Though the battle power of this self-styled "God of Martial Arts" had long been left in the dust by the modern era, he had leveraged his vast combat experience and the tournament's no-killing rule to his full advantage. Using his Ten Thousand Nations Shocking Palm and the Evil Containment Wave in succession, he had single-handedly eliminated three competitors far stronger than himself and seriously injured a fourth.
Grand Zeno greatly admired Master Roshi's sharp mind and calm judgment, and deemed that his soul was worth preserving — and that he should serve as Grand Kai in the future new universe.
Ino raised no objection. She pressed her seal to the designation and endorsed the appointment.
An exhausted Master Roshi returned to the spectator seats and sat down beside Yamcha. It was at that moment that he noticed the conspicuous character "Grand" glowing next to his own name.
Yamcha forced a laugh despite his misfortune. "Master Roshi, even if our universe is eventually erased, you'll still get to be Grand Kai. Congratulations."
Master Roshi wasn't the type to feel moved to poetic sacrifice for his patron's sake, but he was a little excited all the same.
He had secured a guaranteed fallback. In terms of peace of mind, he had already surpassed the Supreme Kais and Destroyers of eight entire universes.
The remaining competitors in the arena had also noticed the character "Grand" beside Master Roshi's name. Each fell into thoughtful silence. So that was how it worked!
The "child, young boy, and little girl" trio wasn't looking at combat power — they were looking at the qualities displayed in battle.
Got it!
The intensity of the fighting remained about the same as before, but the competitors' tenacity shot up by a significant margin without question. Scenes of mutual destruction, one against two, one against three — all became increasingly common.
The great waves had sifted away the weak; what remained was the cream of the crop. Look for standout moments, and you'd find them everywhere.
Grand Zeno's side stopped holding back on titles as well. Though the positions granted never exceeded Master Roshi's Grand Kai rank, within just four or five minutes, two Kais and five divine beings had been appointed.
Son Gohan found himself facing Hit — the super warrior from the Sixth Universe, master of the Time-Skip.
This fight made even Ino look twice. Hit had no Time Power; what he used was his own extraordinary speed to briefly skip 0.1 seconds forward along the timeline. A tiny window — but against high-level fighters, that fraction of a second was more than enough to kill.
Hit was the Sixth Universe's ace, a warrior of tremendous ability. Unfortunately, his luck ran short. Son Gohan took hit after hit, and at the very edge of death, he forcibly awakened a beast-like instinct.
Before Hit could even make his move, Gohan had already sensed the direction of the attack through pure instinct. The two clashed in a battle of pure speed — neither able to finish off the other — trading blows in a frenzied tangle in the northeast corner of the arena.
On the other side of the stage, the Eleventh Universe's super warrior silently rose to his feet — Jiren, a man whose personal power had already surpassed the Destroyer of his own universe.
Since the tournament began, this super warrior had been seated cross-legged in meditation in a corner, two members of the "Pride Troopers" flanking him as guards. The air of supremacy he projected was utterly off the charts.
It was only upon seeing Master Roshi eliminated that he finally felt the desire to fight — before that, he had worried that the aura he released might be too overwhelming, and that one careless moment could cause a shockwave that killed Master Roshi outright. Now there was no need for that concern.
Jiren's relationship with his teammates was ordinary at best, but the moment they saw him step forward to fight, their captain Toppo and every member of the Pride Troopers lit up with excitement.
To them, Jiren was the embodiment of the invincible.
From the Third Universe, a cyborg warrior ranked third in his team's internal power standings — Maji Kayo, capable of shifting his body into any shape — happened only to block Jiren's path. He was sent blasting off the arena by the shockwave alone from Jiren's fist, without the man even bothering to step around him.
Jiren had no intention of taking any detours whatsoever. He simply walked forward, and no competitor who stood in his way could withstand a single exchange.
"Son Goku — even in the Eleventh Universe, I have heard your name. You are a remarkable warrior." His pace was unhurried, each step measured as though precisely calculated, as he walked toward Son Goku without a flicker of expression.
How powerful. Even without trading a single blow, Son Goku could tell from Jiren's presence alone — this was the strongest opponent he had faced in this entire tournament.
"Heh, you want to fight me? Then bring it on!" Transforming into Super Saiyan consumed enormous stamina. Son Goku, Vegeta, and Son Gohan had all been maintaining their Super Saiyan Full Power form — burning energy at fifty times the normal rate — throughout the earlier fighting. Now, faced with Jiren's overwhelming pressure, he could no longer afford to worry about stamina costs. With a thunderous roar, he instantly surged beyond Super Saiyan God — all the way into Super Saiyan Blue.
____
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉