Setsuna waved his hand, and the surrounding scenery rippled like water.
In an instant, he and Chronos were in a pure white absolute space.
This was an independent domain he had temporarily created with the Ninth Sense, isolating all outside prying.
"Now, tell me everything you know." Setsuna got straight to the point, his gaze calmly fixed on Chronos.
Chronos bowed slightly. "All of this begins with my former master… the Dragon God, Zalama."
"In an extremely ancient era, Zalama-sama was already an immortal existence. He created the Super Dragon Balls, whose power was sufficient to influence the multiverse."
"Later, in the boundless chaos, he encountered another inconceivable existence… Grand Zeno!"
Chronos's tone carried a subtle emotion. "Zalama-sama was very surprised at the time. Grand Zeno held absolute authority over twelve vast universes. His power was supreme, but..."
"His mind was like that of a young child… pure, direct, and even, due to his power, capricious to the point of near cruelty."
"Wait," Setsuna interrupted Chronos, "In Zalama's era, shouldn't Grand Zeno have controlled eighteen universes?"
Chronos shook his head. "Master, what you know as the 'eighteen universes' is actually a misunderstanding, or rather, the result of Grand Zeno's domineering perception."
"The six universes that were destroyed were not actually created by Grand Zeno. They originally belonged to Zalama-sama, but Grand Zeno capriciously considered them his own."
Setsuna suddenly understood. "So that's how it is. No wonder the Sixth Universe and the Seventh Universe are symmetrical. If all eighteen universes were created by Grand Zeno, then the Ninth Universe and the Tenth Universe should have been symmetrical instead."
Chronos added, "The six universes that were destroyed, Master, you have actually experienced all of them."
Setsuna was very surprised. "You mean the universes I transmigrated through?"
Chronos said, "According to Master's terminology, those six universes are precisely the Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, Saint Seiya, Toriko, and One Punch Man universes. They are new births reborn after those universes were destroyed."
"As for the 'plots' you know, they were actually the most probable future directions I predicted based on the laws during the recovery process of those universal seeds."
"They are not absolute, just the most probable timeline. Your intervention has already changed countless branches."
Setsuna sighed. "So that's how it is…"
As Setsuna reflected, he suddenly thought of a question. "In the Toriko World, I recall that later on it seemed to involve multiple universes?"
Chronos answered, "The Toriko Universe is quite special. After it initially took shape, a big bang of creation occurred within it, thus differentiating into five relatively independent sub-universes."
Setsuna nodded, then thought of another crucial universe.
"What about the universe where Omega Shenron was? The newborn universe I now control is the one reborn after that universe was destroyed."
"If that universe also fell under Grand Zeno's jurisdiction, wouldn't Grand Zeno have noticed its destruction?"
Chronos's expression became serious. "Master, that universe concerns Zalama-sama's final arrangement, and is also the greatest 'variable'."
He took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "Back then, after Zalama-sama and Grand Zeno met, just as Zalama-sama was very interested in Grand Zeno, Grand Zeno was also very interested in Zalama-sama."
"Grand Zeno warmly invited Zalama-sama to visit his universe, and Zalama-sama gladly went."
"At first, the two of them actually got along very well. Zalama-sama even created the Super Dragon Balls for Grand Zeno. But that Grand Zeno was simply too capricious!"
Chronos suppressed his anger. "He once proposed wanting to play a marble game with Zalama-sama, using universes as the marbles."
"Zalama-sama was shocked by his cruelty, refused sternly, and even criticized him with a few words."
"Zalama-sama's intention was good, wanting to teach that Grand Zeno to grow up. But he overlooked one point: Grand Zeno's power was even greater than his."
"Grand Zeno suddenly erupted, wanting to kill Zalama-sama. His power was inherently stronger than Zalama-sama's, not to mention that Zalama-sama was also within Grand Zeno's universe."
"The result of that battle was, naturally, Zalama-sama being killed and the universe destroyed."
"However, Zalama-sama's realm far surpassed Grand Zeno's!" Chronos puffed out his chest with pride. "Even in death, Zalama-sama caused Grand Zeno great trouble!"
"What kind of trouble?" Setsuna asked curiously.
"Zalama-sama, at the cost of all his power, twisted the uniqueness of Grand Zeno!" Chronos said.
Setsuna frowned slightly. "Uniqueness?"
Chronos nodded. "Just like the Naruto Universe Master experienced, although there are parallel Space-Times, for the universe itself, the overall power remains unchanged."
"It's like a book. Each page is similar, but the overall mass of the book remains constant."
"For an existence at Grand Zeno's level, he is the universe. No matter how many parallel Space-Times there are, the Grand Zenos of those parallel Space-Times are all himself. His power does not change."
A hint of pleasure was in Chronos's voice. "However, Master's final blow created a completely different parallel Space-Time!"
"In that special parallel Space-Time, there exists another true Grand Zeno."
"Two Grand Zenos, each possessing only the power equivalent to controlling six universes."
"In this way, the power of a single Grand Zeno was pulled down to a level close to Zalama-sama in his prime!"
"If a successor can reach Zalama-sama's level, there is hope of defeating Grand Zeno!"
Setsuna was deeply shaken by what he heard. "Dividing authority, parallel Grand Zenos! This is like pulling the rug out from under someone! Didn't Grand Zeno notice?"
A slightly mocking smile appeared on Chronos's face. "Master, don't forget Grand Zeno's nature. His power is boundless, but his mind is indeed like a child's."
"His perception of 'internal' matters like the essence of his own power and the composition of his authority is far less acute and direct than his perception of 'external' things."
"As long as these two Grand Zenos don't meet, it's very difficult for them to realize that they have become two, or that their power has been halved."
Setsuna suddenly understood. No wonder in the future timeline foreseen by Zalama, Grand Zeno completely destroyed the future Space-Time where Future Trunks was.
From this perspective, the special parallel Space-Time Chronos mentioned should be Future Trunks's future Space-Time.
Chronos continued, "Now, returning to the universe Master controls. It was a variable produced by that ultimate Space-Time curse."
"When Zalama-sama tore apart Grand Zeno's uniqueness, he accidentally created an independent Space-Time without Grand Zeno, which was precisely the Space-Time where Omega Shenron was."
Setsuna slowly nodded. No wonder the universe where Omega Shenron was had no Grand Zeno, not even Gods of Destruction.
"Therefore, once you have fully mastered Zalama-sama's legacy, the number of universes you control will surpass Grand Zeno's, giving you hope of defeating him!"
Perhaps fearing that Setsuna would be unwilling to inherit Zalama's grudge, Chronos added, "Master, the time left for you may be short."
"Previously, the six universes you experienced were still just embryonic, with low energy levels. When I used the power of the Super Dragon Ball to send you to Grand Zeno's universe, the passage I opened was tiny and would not alert Grand Zeno."
"But the situation is different now. You have become a universe controller. As your universe continues to grow, it will sooner or later attract Grand Zeno's attention."
"Although I am not sure whether Grand Zeno has the concept of 'enemy' in his cognition, once he discovers your existence, he will inevitably become your greatest threat."
After hearing this, Setsuna was speechless.
His original ultimate boss had been Omega Shenron. For him at that time, Omega Shenron was an almost insurmountable existence.
Fortunately, he had fought his way through and finally overcome Omega Shenron.
But before he could even relax for a moment, why had the situation shifted, and the ultimate boss directly super-evolved into Grand Zeno?
However, Setsuna felt no fear at all.
As Chronos said, powerful as Grand Zeno was, his mind was his greatest weakness.
Moreover, he was no longer the Transmigrator who had needed to be cautious and maneuver step by step.
He was the God of Death, a creation-level existence in control of a universe!
Although his strength was still far inferior to Grand Zeno's, he was at least standing on the same level.
'The advantage is mine!' Setsuna calmed himself down, then thought of the matter of 'stabilizing the internal before confronting the external'.
"By the way, do you know where that Otsutsuki God from the Naruto Universe went?"
Hearing Setsuna bring up the Otsutsuki God, Chronos's expression was quite subtle. He carefully chose his words. "He has already been digested by you."
"Digested?" Setsuna was rarely confused.
Chronos sighed. "In fact, that person's true identity was my previous host. He was only one step away from your current realm, but he was too impatient."
"He actively abandoned his physical body, transcended the universe in soul form, and then... he 'drowned' outside the universe."
Setsuna was very speechless hearing this. Such a powerful existence had died such a sloppy death.
But it wasn't completely incomprehensible. Just like Goku during his Super Saiyan period, although he could destroy a planet, if he actually destroyed a planet and had no spaceship, he would also die in the space environment.
Setsuna asked, "But what does that have to do with me?"
Chronos smiled bitterly. "I collected his soul and reincarnated him as Kairos in this universe..."
Setsuna was somewhat amused and exasperated. He had been wondering how Chronos, a Shenron created by Zalama, could have a younger brother. So it was that unlucky guy.