Vermoud, the clown-costumed Destroyer of the Eleventh Universe, spoke in a panic: "Your Majesty Grand Zeno, Lord Grand Minister, Lady Supreme Kai of Time! Toppo only learned a few fighting techniques from me — he was never my disciple. Moreover, he has already renounced his status as Apprentice Destroyer and is competing as an ordinary mortal."
Ino didn't want to push her favoritism too obviously. She made a show of looking things over for another couple of seconds before nodding. "I see. Voluntarily renouncing one's status as Apprentice Destroyer and competing as a mortal is indeed permissible — no violation there. Your Majesty Grand Zeno, what is your wish?"
Grand Zeno let out a small "Oh" and lowered his tiny hand.
Up on the stage, Toppo and Vegeta both stood down simultaneously. Seeing that Grand Zeno had nothing more to say, the two of them felt very differently about the situation.
Toppo had just sprinted back from the very edge of death, and his forehead was beaded with sweat. He turned to stare at Vegeta, his somewhat cloudy eyes blazing with fury. "Your behavior is completely devoid of justice!"
That "your" of his clearly lumped Ino's blatant favoritism in along with the rest.
Vegeta let out a contemptuous snort. Justice? Are you kidding me? Which eye of yours ever saw a Saiyan prince as a defender of justice? I've got a body count, pal.
The number of fighters left on the stage kept dwindling, and the intensity of the battles climbed in direct proportion. Even Frieza, who had been coasting along up until now, found himself forced to get serious.
For his universe's survival — and for the chance to be deified in recognition of his performance — every remaining competitor had gone bloodthirsty. Frieza didn't want to be eliminated, but when people came gunning for him, he had no choice but to fight back.
On the Seventh Universe's side, Krillin finally couldn't hang on any longer. He and Tien Shinhan were knocked out in close succession.
Krillin's tenacious performance and sharp instincts earned him a posthumous title from a King Kai. Tien Shinhan's name on the Divine Registry gained the character for "God" beside it — not a Supreme Kai or a Destroyer, but a planetary deity, the lowest rung of the cosmic civil service as it currently stood.
"Divine Registry" was a grand name, but in practice, Master Roshi as a Grand Kai was still one of a kind. There were maybe four or five King Kais on the list, and everyone else had only managed to earn the title of "deity." Not a single Supreme Kai or Destroyer had been granted yet.
"Vegeta! Give it everything you've got!" Bulma had come to watch as part of the cheering section, and when she saw Nappa take a hit from Dyspo and then the sonic warrior team up with Toppo to gang up on Vegeta, she cried out in alarm and shot to her feet without thinking.
Vegeta, for his part, showed breathtaking ferocity. He instantly transformed into Super Saiyan Blue and took on both opponents at once, forcibly eliminating Dyspo before going toe-to-toe with the former Apprentice Destroyer Toppo — and taking him down with him. The two of them tumbled off the stage together.
"Wow, truly impressive." Grand Zeno pointed one tiny finger, and after casting his vote, the first Destroyer appeared on the Divine Registry: Vegeta!
Grand Zeno had deemed Vegeta worthy of becoming a Destroyer.
Back in the spectators' area, Vegeta glanced with cold disdain at Toppo, who had been eliminated alongside him. Thanks to his performance in the battle, Toppo had managed to reclaim his status as Apprentice Destroyer.
But Toppo was too busy staring tensely at the stage to give Vegeta the time of day. And Vegeta himself wasn't feeling particularly celebratory either. What did it matter if he survived in the end? His wife and son would be gone...
Vegeta seemed to have opened the floodgates.
One elite after another was eliminated in rapid succession.
Piccolo, like Master Roshi before him, earned a posthumous Grand Kai title.
His elimination knocked the Sixth Universe and the Second Universe out of the tournament entirely.
Hit from the Sixth Universe went out feeling a little hard done by. He'd clearly been gaining the upper hand against Son Gohan through his Time-Skip — and then out of nowhere, Piccolo came charging in and planted himself in front of Son Gohan like a living shield.
Hit didn't have it in him to go for the kill, and at the crucial moment he pulled his strike away from the vital points.
He did eliminate Piccolo, but the enraged Son Gohan caught him with a full combo right after, and that was that.
As the Sixth Universe's last remaining fighter, Hit's defeat sealed the entire universe's ultimate fate.
"Bag of bones, you take care of yourself. I've been meaning to say this for a while — that pinched face of yours really is painfully unfashionable. These days it's all about the broad, round face like mine." Champa murmured to himself softly, just before he was erased.
Angel Attendant Vados silently bowed to him in farewell — a final goodbye between master and servant.
Not far away, Beerus uncharacteristically held his tongue. He clenched both fists tight and stared rigidly down at the tops of his own feet, as Champa and the Sixth Universe vanished on the other side.
Ino witnessed all of this and said nothing either. Same as always — the Way of Heaven is impersonal; it does not persist for the sage, nor perish for the tyrant.
The Divine Registry filled with more and more names. The spectators' stands grew emptier and emptier.
Supreme Kais and Destroyers were wiped out alongside their universes, and they accepted it with composure. They hadn't put in the effort before — every last one of them had been slacking off. Now that it had come to this, who was there to blame? Erasure it was.
One by one his companions were eliminated, but on Son Goku's end, it was as if he'd hit some kind of cheat code. Without using a single recovery item, he had recovered his stamina three times in a row. Earlier, fighting Jiren all out had barely managed to leave a scratch — now he could more or less hold his own against him head-on for a few exchanges.
With six minutes left until the end of the match, only four competitors remained on the vast stage.
From the Seventh Universe: Son Goku, Son Gohan, and Frieza. From the Eleventh Universe: Jiren.
Beerus no longer had the energy to trade insults with the other Destroyers. What was the point of shouting? They'd all been erased! Was he supposed to yell at empty air?
Shin, Kibito, and Old Kai all stared fixedly at the stage. If the tournament ended right now with three Seventh Universe fighters still standing, they would certainly win — but honestly, they weren't confident. In six minutes, Jiren could absolutely eliminate all three. This man had defeated the Destroyer of his own universe as a mortal; his battle power was nothing short of extraordinary.
Before even a minute had passed, Jiren — fighting through a fierce combined assault from Son Goku and Frieza — forcibly eliminated Son Gohan.
Grand Zeno, acknowledging Son Gohan's potential and character, posthumously granted him the title of Supreme Kai — the only Supreme Kai title awarded since the Tournament of Power had begun.
By this point, Ino had no attention left to spare for the match. She pressed a hand to her forehead. Both her divine power and her Time Power were showing a steady, inexorable decline.
What was going on?
She looked toward Grand Zeno.
Grand Zeno had entirely lost the manic energy of a rambunctious child. He sat numb and hollow on his great throne, eyes staring blankly straight ahead.
This is bad. Ino's first instinct was that the Grand Minister was staging a coup.
She'd always been on decent terms with the Grand Minister's side — in daily matters she had, if anything, deferred to his lead entirely. But in this moment, would he tolerate her presence as a Supreme Kai of Time who existed outside the "system"?
A wise person doesn't stand beneath a crumbling wall. Ino wanted to run. I can't beat you in a fight, but if I bolt back to the Time Nest, there's nothing you can do to me there.
But then the Grand Minister stepped protectively in front of Grand Zeno and gave her a slight shake of his head, indicating this had nothing to do with him. On the contrary, the Grand Minister pointed at Ino — his meaning was clear: the problem was on her end.
My end? Ino was thoroughly confused. I haven't done anything! It couldn't be that Sakura and Tonton had secretly been cooking up some grand scheme behind the scenes... could it?
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