Part 36, Chapter 180.

PART THIRTY SIX: DECEITFUL MAGICIANS

Chapter 180

Translated by npberryhill, edited by Guilarai

While chaos reigned in the arena, a tiny avatar of Buu was calmly playing cards with Cell’s offspring—both the larger and smaller ones. The progeny of the Universe 17 champion were completely uninterested in the general conflict. On the contrary, the Juniors knew their father would have loved this melee. And in their eyes, Buu was a delightful being. He took the time to have fun with them, and they loved it.

Over among Universe 1, while his companions fought Buu, the Grand Kaioshin sighed in discouragement. The Djinn appeared at his side to talk.

“Why so gloomy?” he asked. “You should try enjoying yourself with us! We’re all having a great time!”

“You know quite well what I think of all this, Buu,” replied the deity. “I’m worn out from all your nonsense. Did you really have to start this all over again?”

“Don’t blame me. I didn’t initiate anything this time. If your fellow gods weren’t so uptight, we’d all be having much more fun.”

“You!!...” the South Kaioshin began from beside him, before receiving a powerful punch to the face.

“Well they’re not wrong,” replied the Grand Kaioshin. “I let you do it because I trust you, but your actions will have consequences for all these people’s lives. And you know I disapprove of that.”

“Correction, my friend,” said Buu, his cheerful tone fading. “You let me do this because you don’t have the power to stop me. You may have managed to stop Vegetto’s kid, but all you can do now is talk. That’s why we agreed, isn’t it? To ensure the smooth running of the tournament, to keep an eye on XXI, Broly, and Vegetto, in exchange for me doing whatever I want? Look at them—people defending themselves body and soul against an implacable threat. Isn’t it beautiful? We’re seeing interesting things. Goku and Vegeta of the 18th have even taught themselves how to hurt me! I’m pushing them past their limits, just as it should be! So don’t lecture me. I promise I’ll spare them, but first they have to submit.”

The Grand Kaioshin froze. The more he thought about it, the more he realized his thinking had been corrupted—perverted. While he now saw things from a similar perspective as Buu and agreed with him on many points, he couldn’t condone such barbarity. His northern counterpart’s words lingered in his mind. Had he lost his way in his own philosophy?

In Universe 3, Piccolo Daimao and Bardock had been crushed by Buu without any difficulty. Similarly, #17 from Universe 14 was taken down by another Djinn avatar. The weakest had already surrendered.

In Universe 13, Nappa was pinned against the wall, suffocating and gasping for air. Kakarotto had just reverted out of his transformation, exhausted by his opponent’s decapitated avatar. As for Vegeta, he was holding his own against the clone facing him, but his face was covered in blood, and he wouldn’t be able to maintain Super Saiyan 3 for much longer.

The warriors of Universe 18 had amplified their collective barrier to the maximum, and Goku and Vegeta were giving it their all, but Buu was simply too strong. He kept reappearing. He would simply wear them down.

Buu sneered as his main avatar fought Vegetto. It was time to put this Saiyan vermin in his place. He had never forgotten the utter defeat he had once suffered at his hands. Today, he had become far more powerful—much too powerful, in fact. His opponent’s Super Saiyan 2 form wasn’t a serious threat. Super Saiyan 3 was a different story—that was beyond even his current capabilities. But, as Vegetto could only maintain it for a mere instant, Buu didn’t care. It wouldn’t be long enough to defeat him.

Buu struck the fused warrior hard across the face, and Vegetto staggered. The Saiyan cursed and blasted him with a massive energy wave. He looked around. Soon, no one would be able to stand against the Djinn. Little by little, the resistance was crumbling, and no matter how hard he fought, Buu continued to toy with him. It was time to end this.

He teleported into the air and immediately transformed into Super Saiyan 3. He unleashed his energy across the entire arena and his booming voice shouted:

“Total Annihilation!!”

An immense amount of disintegrating energy exploded outwards, completely obliterating all the Buus in the area. Before the stunned eyes of the fighters, their opponents vanished without a trace.

“Die,” said the headless avatar strangling Kakarotto, perfectly aware of his prey’s immortality.

“Nope,” replied the Saiyan with a death rattle. Kakarotto then collapsed to the ground while his tormentor evaporated.

Up in the grandstands, in the air, and across the various spaces, the pink clouds were dissipated. On the side of Universe 19, just as the Heloite shields were about to give way, Son Bra appeared above the battlefield and personally obliterated the Buu avatars assaulting the protective dome. After that final attack, she lost her transformation, completely exhausted.

“Son Bra?” Phipsil exclaimed in surprise.

“You… are saved…” the Saiyan managed to say, at the end of her strength.

Everywhere, calm had returned. Vegetto surveyed the arena from above, still in Super Saiyan 3. He was searching for any possible survivors among Buu’s remains. He had given it his all to defeat him.

In Universe 18, Piccolo, Son Gohan, and the Super Saiyans remained on high alert. Behind them, Videl sighed.

“It looks like all of them were wiped out.”

“Oh, all of them, all of them…” the dreaded voice whispered in her ear. Terrified, Videl jumped as the Djinn glared defiantly at the members of Universe 18. Once again, hundreds of pieces of him appeared scattered everywhere. Buu’s main body reformed beside Vegetto, who was panting heavily. As he surrounded everyone present, Buu exclaimed in a powerful voice:

“My poor souls, I have parts of myself invisible to the naked eye. What can you do against…”

As he spoke, an immense head bearing his likeness—as large as the arena itself—loomed over them with a malevolent grin. Before the despairing gazes of the universes, he finished his sentence:

“…an omnipotent god?”

“I didn’t expect you to pull this stunt,” said Buu’s avatar, present in the apartments of Universe 5 with XXI. “I suspected you’d target my weak point, as you did with the others. But knowing the magic formula was unexpected.”

“What do you want?” the entity replied sternly.

“I have nothing against you,” Buu said with a smile. “I don’t care about losing this tournament. Like you, I see all the potential behind this event. I originally saw no point in accessing parallel universes, but now I share your feelings.”

“No, you don’t,” growled XXI. “I know what you are. You don’t consider anyone your equal. I won’t be a toy in your collection.”

“Well I’m not really giving you a choice,” the Djinn sneered. “After all, you preceded me in the history of the universe as the first great terror. I’m sure I have plenty to learn from you. I wonder if I can absorb you, given your particular nature. In any case, you can’t do anything to stop me. I am superior.”

“Then it is fortunate that you’re no longer a threat to me. Such arrogance, clearly that is your downfall, Majin Buu. When I achieve my goal, I’ll come back for you, and at that point, you won’t be able to stop me.”

“What do you mean by—”

PZT

The Djinn vanished suddenly. XXI chuckled with satisfaction. He had spied on the Vargas with his crystal ball, never letting his guard down, and had learned their countermeasure. Buu was out of the picture. Nothing could stand in his way now.

Thirty seconds earlier.

Buu dominated the entire asteroid, the eyes of his giant head fixed on Vegetto, who clenched his fists. He was powerless against such an opponent.

The Grand Kaioshin lowered his head under the dismayed gazes of his comrades. He had warned them: their fates had been in Buu’s hands since his arrival in this tournament. They had let in a god far greater than they could ever be. Now they belonged to him, and he would play with them as he pleased.

In the control tower, Sei frantically pressed the universe-return device, targeting Universe 4 in particular.

“I’ve disabled your machine, you know?” Buu sneered.

“Grrr… Healer, repair our machine!” Sei shouted to a Namek.

“W… What?!” the Namek exclaimed, startled.

“Bahaha, is this your last resort?” the Djinn said, laughing.

As Sei trembled with rage, a green light suddenly flashed in the control room, cutting Buu’s laughter short.

“No… It’s this!” Sei replied, smiling. “Are y—”

Buu barely had time to widen his eyes before disappearing. All his avatars in the arena, as well as his enormous floating head, vanished simultaneously. The spectators and fighters wore shocked expressions. Buu had completely disappeared.

“I… I can’t feel his energy or his presence anymore,” Vegetto observed, looking around.

“Did he teleport somewhere else?” Goku wondered.

“Haha!” Izy exclaimed, raising her feathers. “It’s a victory for science! It worked!”

Buu was no longer present; they had made sure of it. Vegetto and the other Saiyans returned to their base forms. Only Piccolo from Universe 16 noticed Vegetto’s worsening state of breathlessness. He realized this and tried to put on a brave face, regaining his composure.

A group of Nameks from Universe 1 went around treating the wounded. Son Gohan from Universe 18 approached Izy.

“What do you mean, what just happened?” he asked.

“We’ve had a backup plan in place ever since Buu started messing with our devices—we really didn’t appreciate that. We programmed a return machine in another universe, linked to a drone that makes regular trips back and forth, staying quite far out in space. If this drone detects that we’ve requested a return for a universe, it transmits the message to the other machine. Buu could tamper with our technology here, but he couldn’t do anything beyond this universe. That’s his weakness! Guess we’re lucky he didn’t find out about it.”

“Wow, that idea may have just saved us all,” marveled Son Gohan.

“It seems as if this time, Buu underestimated you,” commented Piccolo from Universe 18, who had just joined them. “He could have easily read your thoughts, and your plan would have failed. If this actually worked, it’s because he was too arrogant to see you as a threat.”

Izy shuddered at the thought. They hadn’t considered it. They were very lucky that Buu hadn’t thought of a countermeasure from them. This guy was too clever to even consider such an obvious counterattack.

“However, something worries me,” Piccolo continued. “Buu replicated and used Heloite technology without any problem. Isn’t there a risk he’ll do the same with yours, to come back and access all the universes?”

“Ah, no risk of that! He might be able to deactivate it or repair it, but he can’t actually use it. We’re not actually sure why, but only beings from Universe 1 are capable of inter-universal travel—whether by jumping via our ships or activating the deflection system. Which is just as well, because we quickly realized you were all fast enough to snatch that remote right out of our hands.”

“That’s pretty lucky!” Goku reacted with a smile. “So we’re rid of Buu for good!”

“It certainly seems so,” Vegeta grumbled beside him. “At least we know that our universe—and the others—cannot be threatened.”

“Phew, I was fed up with that bubblegum. Good riddance!” said Bra.

Gotenks suddenly defused, splitting into Trunks and Son Goten.

“Good riddance,” said the latter, spitting on the ground. “That megalomaniac got what he deserved.”

While the Vargas busied themselves restoring their devices, attention shifted to the Kaioshin area. The four deities of the cardinal directions faced their leader, who remained silent.

“You are relieved of your duties immediately,” the South Kaioshin said angrily. “You have compromised yourself with the embodiment of chaos and nearly caused the destruction of the multiverse! You are no longer worthy of your title.”

“It is difficult for me to support this decision, but it is justified,” added the West Kaioshin. “Your actions have endangered us on numerous occasions. Your arguments could be heard, but that doesn’t allow this monster to control us. All debate must be conducted on equal footing, respecting the lives and free will of mortals.”

“We promised safety to everyone present here,” the North Kaioshin interjected. “Whatever your reasons, we agreed to hold a sporting event that adheres to the rules and without any interference between the different universes. Buu broke all those rules, and you allowed him to do so. If we want to maintain our credibility, you can no longer lead.”

“Apparently, we gave our lives against Majin Buu,” commented the East Kaioshin. “You sacrificed yourself against him. You are not a bad person, Grand Kaioshin. But this Djinn led you astray, and you lost sight of our purpose. Even if what you say is true and we shouldn’t have intervened so much, that in no way justifies Buu aggregating to himself the right to do whatever he wants under the pretext of his omnipotence.”

The Grand Kaioshin lowered his head, his gaze impassive. He had never once considered Buu’s defeat. Yet the Vargas had managed to expel him from Universe 0. And he would be unable to return. A supernatural law applied to Universe 1, whose inhabitants were the only ones who could travel between universal dimensions. Buu was therefore exiled forever.

Now that he was gone, the Grand Kaioshin’s mind drifted in utter confusion. He remembered why he had chosen to fight the threats to his universe. He had seen evil spread throughout the mortal worlds because of Bibidi’s corruption. He had felt the malevolent aura emanating from his magic. He had felt the suffering of his victims. It was inconceivable to him not to react when a malevolent being preyed upon innocent lives.

He had believed that the beauty of parallel universes stemmed from his inaction in those worlds. Each of them had lived with magnificent free will; their destinies were no longer in the hands of the gods, who had been killed by Majin Buu.

That was what Buu had made him understand. But in the end, wasn’t he himself the divergence of his own universe? Wasn’t it thanks to him that monstrosities like the Frost Demons and the Legendary Super Saiyan had been neutralized beforehand, so that mortals wouldn’t suffer? Hadn’t Broly destroyed his entire universe right in his own home? Had he made the right decision?

While he remained silent, observed by the cold stares of his comrades, Izy approached them.

“We’re getting the equipment back up and running,” she said. “We’ll soon be able to continue the tournament. Is that alright with you?”

“What do you think?” retorted the South Kaioshin, his voice hardening. “You think we’re going to continue after this?”

Just then, Vegetto appeared nearby, making them jump.

“Honestly, nice move, Vargas!” he said cheerfully, despite a large bead of sweat on his forehead. “Now that we know you can handle any situation, we can safely resume the tournament, right? And while we’re at it, about that parallel tournament…”

“Out of the qu—” the South Kaioshin protested.

“Wait,” the Grand Kaioshin interrupted. “I’d like to say one last thing, as the organizer of this tournament.” His companions paused, perplexed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the North Kaioshin nod discreetly. He unclenched his fists, still wary of his leader’s words.

“We promised a meeting and a reward. Many universes wished to participate and, against their will, suffered terrible tragedies. The least we can do for these people—who have otherwise broken no rules and behaved decently—is to continue the tournament. Let’s be content with this competition, to the very end.”

“But…” said the South Kaioshin.

“I am aware that I have caused a disturbance, my friend,” said the Grand Kaioshin. “But this decision to hold a tournament was a collective one. Our divine word is only valid if it is kept. Out of respect for the remaining participants, we must not cancel.”

The South Kaioshin remained silent. Indeed, there was a certain truth in the words he had just heard. He cast a watchful glance at Vegetto, who was waiting with his arms crossed. He looked all around—at Universe 18 and Universe 16, Universe 7, Universe 5. Indeed, Gast, XXI, Son Goku, and Vegeta had remained calm and were even helping maintain order. He remained wary of Son Bra. Even though he considered her a victim of Babidi, she was like a ticking time bomb. As for her father, he thought no less of him. Although he had saved them from Broly, he was sympathetic to Buu’s actions and words. He had to be careful.

“What do you think?” asked the West Kaioshin, pulling him from his thoughts.

“I suppose we can try. You’re not wrong,” he grumbled.

“Very well,” said the North Kaioshin, adopting a stern expression and speaking in a loud voice. “The tournament continues, and there will be no more tolerance for those who cross the line!”

Vegetto smiled, satisfied. There was no way they were going to end the most exciting event of his life over some insignificant inconvenience!

“You’re making the right decision, new Grand Kaioshin,” said the leader of the gods to his northern colleague, who raised his eyebrows in surprise.

The Kaioshins turned to him, astonished.

“You’re right. I’ve caused too much harm. I’ll have to do some serious introspection to find myself again. I still think Buu was right about a lot of things, but I’ve probably lost my way. Therefore, I’m stepping down from my position as Grand Kaioshin. I’m entrusting it to you, my friend, if the others agree.”

The North Kaioshin looked at the others, confused. They all smiled in response. There couldn’t have been a better choice, in their opinion.

All this was well and good, but the Saiyan fusion from Universe 16 wasn’t entirely satisfied. He was itching to fight in a proper battle, despite his overwhelming fatigue.

“So, you’re sure that a parallel tournament…”

“Dad,” said Trunks from Universe 16, grabbing him by the shoulder. “Since the tournament is starting up again, your daughter will be fighting, so you should step out of the ring.”

“Against whom?” Vegetto interrogated, sharply pushing his hand away. “Gast is dead! Because you’re all acting like idiots! Don’t tell me what to do!”

Trunks took a step back, shocked. He hadn’t expected such a violent response. His father tended to do as he pleased, but he’d never been this aggressive—at least not toward him. A deep-seated anger gleamed in his eyes. Trunks even felt fear.

Further away, Piccolo from Universe 16, who had been listening to everything, also stared wide-eyed. Vegetto’s tone was bad. Was he so hungry?

“Calm down,” the North Kaioshin called out to him. “We’re going to revive Gast Carcolh. We’ve asked the Vargas to bring a new set of Dragon Balls.”

“Sir, sir!” shouted a Cell offspring from Universe 17. “And our father, can you bring him back too?”

“Of course,” agreed the Kaioshin. “Cell, #18, Raichi, Tapion. All the tournament victims will be brought back.” The Junior jumped for joy and returned to his space. Vegetto glared at his son and the Kaioshin—who didn’t see him—before leaving himself.

“They’re all getting on my nerves,” he thought. “I save them all again, and I’m left out again. I used an enormous amount of energy to get rid of those Buus, and there are no more Senzu Beans. These idiots don’t give me a second thought!”

For Vegetto, who was the divine savior of his universe, the respect of others had become his due. It wasn’t up to him to beg for attention; it was up to others to think of him. To realize he was exhausted and lacking energy. Only Piccolo had mentioned it to him. But he’d rather die than stoop to begging others for help to survive. His pride wouldn’t allow it.

He was protecting them. He was the hero. Not an anomaly. Not a mistake of nature.

He would never allow them to question his right to exist.