Chapter 381: Battle's End
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Within Asora, where the majority of the people were still viewing the fight between Alex and Darius, everyone from Hajime's earth that had watched Dragon Ball when they were kids began to fan-girl as they watched Alex's form grow.
"I-it's an oozaru transformation?! AN ACTAUL OOZARU TRANSFORMATION?!?!?!" Hajime himself squeed in excitement, while his father, Nagumo Shu, began foaming at the mouth before he eventually passed out.
Not everyone was excited to see the transformation though, as Rias and the others who had witnessed it before had worried expressions on their faces, before Shia curiously asked them,
"Is something wrong?" Rias sighed before explaining,
"We've seen him transform like this a couple times, but each time he does Alex rampages without being able to even discern friend from foe, even worse than you when you use 'Berserk'. And what's worse is that this time the transformation is different..." Shia paled when she heard that, as she also secretly thanked whoever was listening that Alex didn't try to have her help him train his transformed self.
Instead she, along with everyone else, watched in awe as Alex grew a layer of thick golden fur all over his body, and his size grew until he threw off Darius's grip, and quickly dwarfed even his draconic form. As they watched his grow into a giant ape, even Rias muttered incredulously,
"Isn't he even bigger than usual?!" Those who had also witnessed Alex's oozaru form in the past nodded slowly in agreement, while also noting that another difference was his fur's brilliant golden color, compared to its usual dull brown.
Once the transformation was complete, the great golden ape turned its attention to the still transformed Darius, and opened its mouth.
"ROOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!"
Alex roared with enough power to make the world tremble in awe, or perhaps fear, before he proceeded to beat his c.h.e.s.t with his massive fists in an act of intimidation.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
Over and over the sound of him beating his c.h.e.s.t echoed and deafened Darius, filling him with a reluctant awe at the scene. However he knew that beast would be coming for him, and sure enough once he lowered his fists, Alex's glowing red eyes focused on him with murderous intentions.
There was a brief moment of pause as the two great creatures glared at each other, before the oozaru Alex and the dragonfied Darius charged each other only for Alex to bring one of his giant fists down onto Darius's head.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
An explosion unlike any before it rocked the world as Alex slammed Darius's draconic figure into the ground once more, his giant fist creating an even greater impact and crater in the ground that any one of his punches before.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
One after another the great ape delivered powerful punches to drive Darius even further into the ground, before he paused to once again pound his c.h.e.s.t and let loose a mighty roar, except this time it was victoriously. When he was done the transformed Alex turned to find his next opponent, only to suddenly clutch its head and grunt in pain.
"RHAAAAAAAG!" The great ape roared loud enough to shake its surroundings, behaving as if something was giving it an intense headache.
The ape shut its glowing red eyes due to the pain, before opening them a second later to reveal Alex's usual dark brown ones. Everyone in Asora then watched in awe as the great golden ape slowly began to shrink, and it's fur transitioned from the brilliant gold to a bright red.
Slowly the ape's figure shrank until Alex was back down to his usual size, except there were some very noticeable differences that were evident due to him now being n.a.k.e.d. First of which was that Alex's hair, which was usually black while going wild everywhere, or was golden during his super Saiyan transformations.
This time however Alex's hair seemed blacker and wilder than usual, while a couple strands of it came down over his shoulders to dr.a.p.e across the top of Alex's c.h.e.s.t. Along with that though, a thin layer of red fur covered most of Alex's body, with one of the only exceptions being his c.h.e.s.t and head along with other 's.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e' areas that were now exposed. As if that wasn't strange enough, the areas around Alex's eyes had also turned red to match the fur covering him, giving him quite the unique look.
After a second Alex opened his eyes before looking down to examine his new appearance, which made him smile widely. As he was doing that Darius had finished regenerating within the freshly made hole that the giant ape fist had created, and was gaping at Alex in disbelief as he transitioned back to his human form.
If he had to put it into words, Alex would say that rather than 'SSJ4', instead this was the 'perfected' super Saiyan form. Every form before it was based around an increase in energy that also boosted the users physical abilities, similar to performance enhancement drugs, while only a few minor physical differences appeared. Meanwhile this form had the energy boost from the SSJ3, as well as the physical might of the oozaru, making it a genuine physical transformation unlike the others.
This line of thinking gave Alex an idea, an idea regarding something he'd been trying, and failing, to do for a long time.
"BALANCE BREAK!"
He cried out suddenly, summoning his Boosted Gear armor onto his body, with the sole exception of his head. As he did that Alex's already suffocating power intensified drastically, however he didn't feel any of the usual issues that he would whenever he tried combining the super Saiyan and the Boosted Gear in the past. Instead, Alex's body seemed to readily accept the sudden influx of even more energy, even after what he did next.
In an instant Alex radiated with so much power that the space around him struggled to maintain itself, his every physical action threatening to shatter reality around them. He fought the urge to laugh out loud, fearing that he might cause irreparable damage to his surroundings if he did so. Instead, he pointed his finger up towards the sky to create a giant orange magic circle above them, and then an entire group of them around that one, and then an even bigger group to surround those.
The number of magic circles quickly grew as they spread to encompass the entire world, bathing those below them in the eerie demonic orange light. Darius could only gape in awe at the spectacle above them, before Alex pressed two of his fingers together and,
SNAP!
That one snap of the fingers echoed unnaturally through the void around them, before Darius watched in pure disbelief as the landscape started changing around them. Mountains began reforming, knocked over trees righting and re-rooting themselves, streams and rivers realigned while lakes began to refill themselves, as if time itself was rewinding.
All around Earthland the same exact scene was playing out as all traces of the effects of Alex's battle with Darius began to disappear. Lakes of molten lava receded back into the volcanoes that spewed them out, fissures that had opened in the ground started to close, and buildings that had collapsed or were destroyed reformed almost instantly.
Meanwhile anyone who possessed any injuries, either recent or long term, found themselves suddenly healed as if it was never there. People who had gone blind suddenly regained their sight, and those who had debilitating conditions or wounds found themselves free of pain for the first time in years.
Darius watched with undisguised awe as everything rewound around them, before he eventually asked once it had finished,
"Wh-what did you do?" It was only at that moment that Alex looked at Darius once more, before replying in a casual tone,
"I just rewound time across the entire world, it's nothing much." When he heard that Darius's mind blanked momentarily before he started to grind his teeth in frustration, while his hands dug into the ground beneath him.
How? How was Alex able to accomplish all of this as if it was nothing?
Darius had to work for years to unite all of the dark guilds under his banner, and even then he had to constantly keep them in line. Meanwhile Alex apparently had an entire army that marched at a moments notice, and had unhesitantly attacked any he considered an enemy.
To gain strength, Darius had to challenge and subdue hose who were considered the strongest in this world, making each of their powers his own along with their knowledge. Alex on the other hand had pulled off two major transformations within a matter of hours, while he could also use his Boosted Gear to close the gap between himself and any future opponents.
And most frustratingly of all, how come Darius was unable to find his family once again, while Alex could live a happy carefree life with his?
As all these questions and thoughts swirled around in his head, Alex approached Darius while raising his hand to deal the final blow, only for Darius to put his thoughts into words and ask,
"How?" Alex looked at him curiously, as he wasn't quite sure what Darius was referring to, before Darius continued,
"My magic power is infinite, I'm immortal, I possess knowledge and theories from some of the greatest minds in this world, how is it that me and my armies lost against yours?" Alex narrowed his eyes at Darius question, before answering,
"I have no 'armies', only men and women who wanted to live in peace. Before you and yours ruined it by invading, and stealing my daughter from us." Darius momentarily blanked when he heard Alex's answer, as it was nothing like he was expecting. He had genuinely thought that Alex must've hidden armies within those so-called space-time orbs when Paul visited them before, and therefore he hadn't noticed them.
As this thought crossed his mind though, Darius quickly checked his system to see something. Once he confirmed it, he then turned back to Alex and said,
"You got a couple things wrong though you know, I never invaded Asora, and I wasn't the one who stole your daughter."
***
On a beach a fair ways away from where Alex and Darius were, a certain man laid stretched out on the sand, a relaxed expression on his face despite the current situation.
"I wonder how much longer they'll be?" Paul muttered quietly to himself, as he watched the full moon steadily rise higher over the horizon.
He had just barely managed to escape from the Hanging Gardens when Alex and Hyato's attack collided in the sky, but it cost him several of the emergency 'batteries' that he had stored away, a sore loss since they were difficult to fill without making them explode in his face.
With it taking several 'batteries' just to make sure he was clear of one attack from a SSJ3, Paul was doubly sure he made the right call staying out of the fight until there was a victor. On one hand it was hard to imagine a SSJ3 losing against someone who wasn't even capable of putting anywhere near the same amount of power out at once, but on the other hand Darius was immortal and had access to an infinite amount of magic power.
With the world around him trembling from the intensity of the battle, Paul couldn't determine which outcome it would be until everything went quiet. A quick check on his system's friends list told him that Darius was still alive, surprising Paul a bit more than he'd care to admit, before something happened. The entire sky lit up and was covered by magic circles, bathing the entire world in orange demonic light.
Paul stared up at the sky in awe, part of him longing to get his hands on the sheer power contained in just one of those magic circles. He was so distracted by the brilliance of the magic above him, that Paul almost missed it when Darius's name in his still open system disappeared a few minutes later, meaning that he'd been killed.
"Well that's disappointing..." Paul said as he immediately stood up and turned in no particular direction.
"Let's seeeee...how about the Fate universe?" Paul muttered to himself as he recalled all the interesting things Darius had used in the time they had known each other, such as Enkidu, the Hanging Gardens, and even a certain weapon he had almost never used that was meant to kill immortals.
As Paul thought about that particular world a portal appeared before him that would take him there, curtesy of his 'angel'. Paul smirked as he went to take a step through it, but instead of moving forward he suddenly felt as if he was moving farther and farther back from it.
"What the...?" Paul muttered, before his vision went black.
...
"Ngh..." Paul g.r.o.a.n.e.d as his consciousness slowly started coming back, before he realized that something was seriously wrong.
He was completely bound to a table with metallic manacles, which, even with his Greywalker powers, Paul was unable to slip away from.
"What the hell?" Paul swore as his movements became more frantic, before a voice suddenly spoke up,
"I wouldn't bother. A little birdie told me all about how your powers work, so I came up with a method or two to counter them." At this point his captor strolled into Paul's line of sight, making his eyes widen as he caught sight of a SSJ4.
"Hello Paul." Alex said with obvious malice in his voice as he stared down at his captive.
"H-how did you find me?!" Paul demanded as his mind began racing and he tried to consider the different ways his concealment could have been seen through, before Alex held up what appeared to be compass and said with a nasty grin,
"Once I learned that you even existed, it was easy with my magic compass. Before Darius spilled the beans though, I have to admit that you probably would've gotten away Scott free since I even forgot there were supposed to be five of you."
As Alex said, he hadn't even registered the existence of the one that had been infamously known as the 'Ghost', and would've accidentally let Paul get away if Darius hadn't informed him otherwise. He had also told him about how Paul's only orders at the time were to pick up the captive they'd heard the Black Collar guild had acquired, Lucy, but had instead returned with Edith while also telling them what he had learned of Asora.
Of course Darius hadn't handed Alex the information with the expectation of preserving his own life, but because he didn't want the one responsible for bringing Alex's wrath down onto them to slip away. And so now Paul found himself strapped to a table in some underground location, with a very pissed off Saiyan slowly circling him.
Alex slowly fingered a set of tools that Paul could see as he walked by them, as if he was deliberating which one to use first before continuing,
"But now we can get to know each other quite well, and since I placed a time manipulation spell on the room we have all the time in the world to do so."
For the first time in his second life, Paul felt genuine fear as he watched Alex deliberate between the various implements as he tried to decide which one he would use first. Of course it didn't matter since Alex would make sure to try each and every single one.
***
Back in Asora, the people were gathered around the giant monitor as they watched the destruction that had been wreaked upon the world reverse itself, before the connection cut off suddenly.
"W-what happened?!" Someone asked with confusion, as they had all been absorbed with Alex's sequence of transformations, and newfound strength. No one had an answer though as someone else tried to go figure out what went wrong, before another voice asked,
"What are we all looking at?" Everyone turned to the speaker in surprise, when a little girl's voice squealed,
"DADDY!" Edith happily made her way through the crowd into her father's open arms, where Alex eagerly scooped her and held her close.
"Edith..." Alex said slowly as he held her close, while also ignoring the looks he was receiving from those around them due to the fact that he was still in his SSJ4 form. In fact, as he held her Edith ran her little fingers over his layer of red fur, and said,
"You're so soft daddy!" Alex chuckled at her actions before saying,
"Maybe someday you'll have fur like this as well, if you train and get strong enough." Edith flashed him a cheeky smile before saying,
"I'll be stronger than everybody, except for daddy!" When he heard that Alex flashed Edith a smile that matched her own, before pulling her in closer for a tighter hug.
As the duo were enjoying their father-daughter moment though, Rias hesitantly approached Alex's side before asking as she gently placed her hand on his fur covered arm,
"Alex? A-are you ok?" Alex turned to look at her and immediately replied,
"Of course, why do you ask?" Rias's look of hesitation turned to amazement as she said,
"You used the Boost Gear earlier along with your new transformation, nothing happened?" With everyone else listening intently as they awaited his answer, Alex smirked confidently as he briefly explained,
"This form is quite a bit different from the others, so there's nothing to worry about if I used the Boosted Gear with it, though of course I still shouldn't overdo it." As he said that Alex finally decided to cancel the transformation despite having remained in it for literal days from his perspective, resulting in his red fur disappearing while his hair and eyes went back to normal, and surprisingly he even shrank by a few inches when he reverted back.
With the cancelation of his SSJ4 transformation though, Alex suddenly felt a surge of fatigue since he was still technically tired from using all of his energy during his SSJ3 transformation earlier. So, he did what anyone in his situation would do.
Alex then proceeded to hold Edith in one arm while he hooked his other around Rias, and turned to head to the Misty Manor while saying,
"I could however use a nice bit of R&R with my children and wives, how about you?" This time Rias was the one who smiled as she leaned into Alex's embrace, and said,
"That sounds lovely." Together, they led the way as any other of Alex's wives in the crowd quickly followed them as they went to retrieve the rest of the children, before retiring to the space-time orb for a well deserved rest.
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Within Asora, where the majority of the people were still viewing the fight between Alex and Darius, everyone from Hajime's earth that had watched Dragon Ball when they were kids began to fan-girl as they watched Alex's form grow.
"I-it's an oozaru transformation?! AN ACTAUL OOZARU TRANSFORMATION?!?!?!" Hajime himself squeed in excitement, while his father, Nagumo Shu, began foaming at the mouth before he eventually passed out.
Not everyone was excited to see the transformation though, as Rias and the others who had witnessed it before had worried expressions on their faces, before Shia curiously asked them,
"Is something wrong?" Rias sighed before explaining,
"We've seen him transform like this a couple times, but each time he does Alex rampages without being able to even discern friend from foe, even worse than you when you use 'Berserk'. And what's worse is that this time the transformation is different..." Shia paled when she heard that, as she also secretly thanked whoever was listening that Alex didn't try to have her help him train his transformed self.
Instead she, along with everyone else, watched in awe as Alex grew a layer of thick golden fur all over his body, and his size grew until he threw off Darius's grip, and quickly dwarfed even his draconic form. As they watched his grow into a giant ape, even Rias muttered incredulously,
"Isn't he even bigger than usual?!" Those who had also witnessed Alex's oozaru form in the past nodded slowly in agreement, while also noting that another difference was his fur's brilliant golden color, compared to its usual dull brown.
Once the transformation was complete, the great golden ape turned its attention to the still transformed Darius, and opened its mouth.
"ROOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!"
Alex roared with enough power to make the world tremble in awe, or perhaps fear, before he proceeded to beat his c.h.e.s.t with his massive fists in an act of intimidation.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
Over and over the sound of him beating his c.h.e.s.t echoed and deafened Darius, filling him with a reluctant awe at the scene. However he knew that beast would be coming for him, and sure enough once he lowered his fists, Alex's glowing red eyes focused on him with murderous intentions.
There was a brief moment of pause as the two great creatures glared at each other, before the oozaru Alex and the dragonfied Darius charged each other only for Alex to bring one of his giant fists down onto Darius's head.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
An explosion unlike any before it rocked the world as Alex slammed Darius's draconic figure into the ground once more, his giant fist creating an even greater impact and crater in the ground that any one of his punches before.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
One after another the great ape delivered powerful punches to drive Darius even further into the ground, before he paused to once again pound his c.h.e.s.t and let loose a mighty roar, except this time it was victoriously. When he was done the transformed Alex turned to find his next opponent, only to suddenly clutch its head and grunt in pain.
"RHAAAAAAAG!" The great ape roared loud enough to shake its surroundings, behaving as if something was giving it an intense headache.
The ape shut its glowing red eyes due to the pain, before opening them a second later to reveal Alex's usual dark brown ones. Everyone in Asora then watched in awe as the great golden ape slowly began to shrink, and it's fur transitioned from the brilliant gold to a bright red.
Slowly the ape's figure shrank until Alex was back down to his usual size, except there were some very noticeable differences that were evident due to him now being n.a.k.e.d. First of which was that Alex's hair, which was usually black while going wild everywhere, or was golden during his super Saiyan transformations.
This time however Alex's hair seemed blacker and wilder than usual, while a couple strands of it came down over his shoulders to dr.a.p.e across the top of Alex's c.h.e.s.t. Along with that though, a thin layer of red fur covered most of Alex's body, with one of the only exceptions being his c.h.e.s.t and head along with other 's.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e' areas that were now exposed. As if that wasn't strange enough, the areas around Alex's eyes had also turned red to match the fur covering him, giving him quite the unique look.
After a second Alex opened his eyes before looking down to examine his new appearance, which made him smile widely. As he was doing that Darius had finished regenerating within the freshly made hole that the giant ape fist had created, and was gaping at Alex in disbelief as he transitioned back to his human form.
If he had to put it into words, Alex would say that rather than 'SSJ4', instead this was the 'perfected' super Saiyan form. Every form before it was based around an increase in energy that also boosted the users physical abilities, similar to performance enhancement drugs, while only a few minor physical differences appeared. Meanwhile this form had the energy boost from the SSJ3, as well as the physical might of the oozaru, making it a genuine physical transformation unlike the others.
This line of thinking gave Alex an idea, an idea regarding something he'd been trying, and failing, to do for a long time.
"BALANCE BREAK!"
He cried out suddenly, summoning his Boosted Gear armor onto his body, with the sole exception of his head. As he did that Alex's already suffocating power intensified drastically, however he didn't feel any of the usual issues that he would whenever he tried combining the super Saiyan and the Boosted Gear in the past. Instead, Alex's body seemed to readily accept the sudden influx of even more energy, even after what he did next.
In an instant Alex radiated with so much power that the space around him struggled to maintain itself, his every physical action threatening to shatter reality around them. He fought the urge to laugh out loud, fearing that he might cause irreparable damage to his surroundings if he did so. Instead, he pointed his finger up towards the sky to create a giant orange magic circle above them, and then an entire group of them around that one, and then an even bigger group to surround those.
The number of magic circles quickly grew as they spread to encompass the entire world, bathing those below them in the eerie demonic orange light. Darius could only gape in awe at the spectacle above them, before Alex pressed two of his fingers together and,
SNAP!
That one snap of the fingers echoed unnaturally through the void around them, before Darius watched in pure disbelief as the landscape started changing around them. Mountains began reforming, knocked over trees righting and re-rooting themselves, streams and rivers realigned while lakes began to refill themselves, as if time itself was rewinding.
All around Earthland the same exact scene was playing out as all traces of the effects of Alex's battle with Darius began to disappear. Lakes of molten lava receded back into the volcanoes that spewed them out, fissures that had opened in the ground started to close, and buildings that had collapsed or were destroyed reformed almost instantly.
Meanwhile anyone who possessed any injuries, either recent or long term, found themselves suddenly healed as if it was never there. People who had gone blind suddenly regained their sight, and those who had debilitating conditions or wounds found themselves free of pain for the first time in years.
Darius watched with undisguised awe as everything rewound around them, before he eventually asked once it had finished,
"Wh-what did you do?" It was only at that moment that Alex looked at Darius once more, before replying in a casual tone,
"I just rewound time across the entire world, it's nothing much." When he heard that Darius's mind blanked momentarily before he started to grind his teeth in frustration, while his hands dug into the ground beneath him.
How? How was Alex able to accomplish all of this as if it was nothing?
Darius had to work for years to unite all of the dark guilds under his banner, and even then he had to constantly keep them in line. Meanwhile Alex apparently had an entire army that marched at a moments notice, and had unhesitantly attacked any he considered an enemy.
To gain strength, Darius had to challenge and subdue hose who were considered the strongest in this world, making each of their powers his own along with their knowledge. Alex on the other hand had pulled off two major transformations within a matter of hours, while he could also use his Boosted Gear to close the gap between himself and any future opponents.
And most frustratingly of all, how come Darius was unable to find his family once again, while Alex could live a happy carefree life with his?
As all these questions and thoughts swirled around in his head, Alex approached Darius while raising his hand to deal the final blow, only for Darius to put his thoughts into words and ask,
"How?" Alex looked at him curiously, as he wasn't quite sure what Darius was referring to, before Darius continued,
"My magic power is infinite, I'm immortal, I possess knowledge and theories from some of the greatest minds in this world, how is it that me and my armies lost against yours?" Alex narrowed his eyes at Darius question, before answering,
"I have no 'armies', only men and women who wanted to live in peace. Before you and yours ruined it by invading, and stealing my daughter from us." Darius momentarily blanked when he heard Alex's answer, as it was nothing like he was expecting. He had genuinely thought that Alex must've hidden armies within those so-called space-time orbs when Paul visited them before, and therefore he hadn't noticed them.
As this thought crossed his mind though, Darius quickly checked his system to see something. Once he confirmed it, he then turned back to Alex and said,
"You got a couple things wrong though you know, I never invaded Asora, and I wasn't the one who stole your daughter."
***
On a beach a fair ways away from where Alex and Darius were, a certain man laid stretched out on the sand, a relaxed expression on his face despite the current situation.
"I wonder how much longer they'll be?" Paul muttered quietly to himself, as he watched the full moon steadily rise higher over the horizon.
He had just barely managed to escape from the Hanging Gardens when Alex and Hyato's attack collided in the sky, but it cost him several of the emergency 'batteries' that he had stored away, a sore loss since they were difficult to fill without making them explode in his face.
With it taking several 'batteries' just to make sure he was clear of one attack from a SSJ3, Paul was doubly sure he made the right call staying out of the fight until there was a victor. On one hand it was hard to imagine a SSJ3 losing against someone who wasn't even capable of putting anywhere near the same amount of power out at once, but on the other hand Darius was immortal and had access to an infinite amount of magic power.
With the world around him trembling from the intensity of the battle, Paul couldn't determine which outcome it would be until everything went quiet. A quick check on his system's friends list told him that Darius was still alive, surprising Paul a bit more than he'd care to admit, before something happened. The entire sky lit up and was covered by magic circles, bathing the entire world in orange demonic light.
Paul stared up at the sky in awe, part of him longing to get his hands on the sheer power contained in just one of those magic circles. He was so distracted by the brilliance of the magic above him, that Paul almost missed it when Darius's name in his still open system disappeared a few minutes later, meaning that he'd been killed.
"Well that's disappointing..." Paul said as he immediately stood up and turned in no particular direction.
"Let's seeeee...how about the Fate universe?" Paul muttered to himself as he recalled all the interesting things Darius had used in the time they had known each other, such as Enkidu, the Hanging Gardens, and even a certain weapon he had almost never used that was meant to kill immortals.
As Paul thought about that particular world a portal appeared before him that would take him there, curtesy of his 'angel'. Paul smirked as he went to take a step through it, but instead of moving forward he suddenly felt as if he was moving farther and farther back from it.
"What the...?" Paul muttered, before his vision went black.
...
"Ngh..." Paul g.r.o.a.n.e.d as his consciousness slowly started coming back, before he realized that something was seriously wrong.
He was completely bound to a table with metallic manacles, which, even with his Greywalker powers, Paul was unable to slip away from.
"What the hell?" Paul swore as his movements became more frantic, before a voice suddenly spoke up,
"I wouldn't bother. A little birdie told me all about how your powers work, so I came up with a method or two to counter them." At this point his captor strolled into Paul's line of sight, making his eyes widen as he caught sight of a SSJ4.
"Hello Paul." Alex said with obvious malice in his voice as he stared down at his captive.
"H-how did you find me?!" Paul demanded as his mind began racing and he tried to consider the different ways his concealment could have been seen through, before Alex held up what appeared to be compass and said with a nasty grin,
"Once I learned that you even existed, it was easy with my magic compass. Before Darius spilled the beans though, I have to admit that you probably would've gotten away Scott free since I even forgot there were supposed to be five of you."
As Alex said, he hadn't even registered the existence of the one that had been infamously known as the 'Ghost', and would've accidentally let Paul get away if Darius hadn't informed him otherwise. He had also told him about how Paul's only orders at the time were to pick up the captive they'd heard the Black Collar guild had acquired, Lucy, but had instead returned with Edith while also telling them what he had learned of Asora.
Of course Darius hadn't handed Alex the information with the expectation of preserving his own life, but because he didn't want the one responsible for bringing Alex's wrath down onto them to slip away. And so now Paul found himself strapped to a table in some underground location, with a very pissed off Saiyan slowly circling him.
Alex slowly fingered a set of tools that Paul could see as he walked by them, as if he was deliberating which one to use first before continuing,
"But now we can get to know each other quite well, and since I placed a time manipulation spell on the room we have all the time in the world to do so."
For the first time in his second life, Paul felt genuine fear as he watched Alex deliberate between the various implements as he tried to decide which one he would use first. Of course it didn't matter since Alex would make sure to try each and every single one.
***
Back in Asora, the people were gathered around the giant monitor as they watched the destruction that had been wreaked upon the world reverse itself, before the connection cut off suddenly.
"W-what happened?!" Someone asked with confusion, as they had all been absorbed with Alex's sequence of transformations, and newfound strength. No one had an answer though as someone else tried to go figure out what went wrong, before another voice asked,
"What are we all looking at?" Everyone turned to the speaker in surprise, when a little girl's voice squealed,
"DADDY!" Edith happily made her way through the crowd into her father's open arms, where Alex eagerly scooped her and held her close.
"Edith..." Alex said slowly as he held her close, while also ignoring the looks he was receiving from those around them due to the fact that he was still in his SSJ4 form. In fact, as he held her Edith ran her little fingers over his layer of red fur, and said,
"You're so soft daddy!" Alex chuckled at her actions before saying,
"Maybe someday you'll have fur like this as well, if you train and get strong enough." Edith flashed him a cheeky smile before saying,
"I'll be stronger than everybody, except for daddy!" When he heard that Alex flashed Edith a smile that matched her own, before pulling her in closer for a tighter hug.
As the duo were enjoying their father-daughter moment though, Rias hesitantly approached Alex's side before asking as she gently placed her hand on his fur covered arm,
"Alex? A-are you ok?" Alex turned to look at her and immediately replied,
"Of course, why do you ask?" Rias's look of hesitation turned to amazement as she said,
"You used the Boost Gear earlier along with your new transformation, nothing happened?" With everyone else listening intently as they awaited his answer, Alex smirked confidently as he briefly explained,
"This form is quite a bit different from the others, so there's nothing to worry about if I used the Boosted Gear with it, though of course I still shouldn't overdo it." As he said that Alex finally decided to cancel the transformation despite having remained in it for literal days from his perspective, resulting in his red fur disappearing while his hair and eyes went back to normal, and surprisingly he even shrank by a few inches when he reverted back.
With the cancelation of his SSJ4 transformation though, Alex suddenly felt a surge of fatigue since he was still technically tired from using all of his energy during his SSJ3 transformation earlier. So, he did what anyone in his situation would do.
Alex then proceeded to hold Edith in one arm while he hooked his other around Rias, and turned to head to the Misty Manor while saying,
"I could however use a nice bit of R&R with my children and wives, how about you?" This time Rias was the one who smiled as she leaned into Alex's embrace, and said,
"That sounds lovely." Together, they led the way as any other of Alex's wives in the crowd quickly followed them as they went to retrieve the rest of the children, before retiring to the space-time orb for a well deserved rest.
Within Asora, where the majority of the people were still viewing the fight between Alex and Darius, everyone from Hajime's earth that had watched Dragon Ball when they were kids began to fan-girl as they watched Alex's form grow. "I-it's an oozaru transformation?! AN ACTAUL OOZARU TRANSFORMATION?!?!?!" Hajime himself squeed in excitement, while his father, Nagumo Shu, began foaming at the mouth before he eventually passed out. Not everyone was excited to see the transformation though, as Rias and the others who had witnessed it before had worried expressions on their faces, before Shia curiously asked them, "Is something wrong?" Rias sighed before explaining, "We've seen him transform like this a couple times, but each time he does Alex rampages without being able to even discern friend from foe, even worse than you when you use 'Berserk'. And what's worse is that this time the transformation is different..." Shia paled when she heard that, as she also secretly thanked whoever was listening that Alex didn't try to have her help him train his transformed self. Instead she, along with everyone else, watched in awe as Alex grew a layer of thick golden fur all over his body, and his size grew until he threw off Darius's grip, and quickly dwarfed even his draconic form. As they watched his grow into a giant ape, even Rias muttered incredulously, "Isn't he even bigger than usual?!" Those who had also witnessed Alex's oozaru form in the past nodded slowly in agreement, while also noting that another difference was his fur's brilliant golden color, compared to its usual dull brown. Once the transformation was complete, the great golden ape turned its attention to the still transformed Darius, and opened its mouth. "ROOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!" Alex roared with enough power to make the world tremble in awe, or perhaps fear, before he proceeded to beat his c.h.e.s.t with his massive fists in an act of intimidation. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM Over and over the sound of him beating his c.h.e.s.t echoed and deafened Darius, filling him with a reluctant awe at the scene. However he knew that beast would be coming for him, and sure enough once he lowered his fists, Alex's glowing red eyes focused on him with murderous intentions. There was a brief moment of pause as the two great creatures glared at each other, before the oozaru Alex and the dragonfied Darius charged each other only for Alex to bring one of his giant fists down onto Darius's head. KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! An explosion unlike any before it rocked the world as Alex slammed Darius's draconic figure into the ground once more, his giant fist creating an even greater impact and crater in the ground that any one of his punches before. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! One after another the great ape delivered powerful punches to drive Darius even further into the ground, before he paused to once again pound his c.h.e.s.t and let loose a mighty roar, except this time it was victoriously. When he was done the transformed Alex turned to find his next opponent, only to suddenly clutch its head and grunt in pain. "RHAAAAAAAG!" The great ape roared loud enough to shake its surroundings, behaving as if something was giving it an intense headache. The ape shut its glowing red eyes due to the pain, before opening them a second later to reveal Alex's usual dark brown ones. Everyone in Asora then watched in awe as the great golden ape slowly began to shrink, and it's fur transitioned from the brilliant gold to a bright red. Slowly the ape's figure shrank until Alex was back down to his usual size, except there were some very noticeable differences that were evident due to him now being n.a.k.e.d. First of which was that Alex's hair, which was usually black while going wild everywhere, or was golden during his super Saiyan transformations. This time however Alex's hair seemed blacker and wilder than usual, while a couple strands of it came down over his shoulders to dr.a.p.e across the top of Alex's c.h.e.s.t. Along with that though, a thin layer of red fur covered most of Alex's body, with one of the only exceptions being his c.h.e.s.t and head along with other 's.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e' areas that were now exposed. As if that wasn't strange enough, the areas around Alex's eyes had also turned red to match the fur covering him, giving him quite the unique look. After a second Alex opened his eyes before looking down to examine his new appearance, which made him smile widely. As he was doing that Darius had finished regenerating within the freshly made hole that the giant ape fist had created, and was gaping at Alex in disbelief as he transitioned back to his human form. If he had to put it into words, Alex would say that rather than 'SSJ4', instead this was the 'perfected' super Saiyan form. Every form before it was based around an increase in energy that also boosted the users physical abilities, similar to performance enhancement drugs, while only a few minor physical differences appeared. Meanwhile this form had the energy boost from the SSJ3, as well as the physical might of the oozaru, making it a genuine physical transformation unlike the others. This line of thinking gave Alex an idea, an idea regarding something he'd been trying, and failing, to do for a long time. "BALANCE BREAK!" He cried out suddenly, summoning his Boosted Gear armor onto his body, with the sole exception of his head. As he did that Alex's already suffocating power intensified drastically, however he didn't feel any of the usual issues that he would whenever he tried combining the super Saiyan and the Boosted Gear in the past. Instead, Alex's body seemed to readily accept the sudden influx of even more energy, even after what he did next. In an instant Alex radiated with so much power that the space around him struggled to maintain itself, his every physical action threatening to shatter reality around them. He fought the urge to laugh out loud, fearing that he might cause irreparable damage to his surroundings if he did so. Instead, he pointed his finger up towards the sky to create a giant orange magic circle above them, and then an entire group of them around that one, and then an even bigger group to surround those. The number of magic circles quickly grew as they spread to encompass the entire world, bathing those below them in the eerie demonic orange light. Darius could only gape in awe at the spectacle above them, before Alex pressed two of his fingers together and, SNAP! That one snap of the fingers echoed unnaturally through the void around them, before Darius watched in pure disbelief as the landscape started changing around them. Mountains began reforming, knocked over trees righting and re-rooting themselves, streams and rivers realigned while lakes began to refill themselves, as if time itself was rewinding. All around Earthland the same exact scene was playing out as all traces of the effects of Alex's battle with Darius began to disappear. Lakes of molten lava receded back into the volcanoes that spewed them out, fissures that had opened in the ground started to close, and buildings that had collapsed or were destroyed reformed almost instantly. Meanwhile anyone who possessed any injuries, either recent or long term, found themselves suddenly healed as if it was never there. People who had gone blind suddenly regained their sight, and those who had debilitating conditions or wounds found themselves free of pain for the first time in years. Darius watched with undisguised awe as everything rewound around them, before he eventually asked once it had finished, "Wh-what did you do?" It was only at that moment that Alex looked at Darius once more, before replying in a casual tone, "I just rewound time across the entire world, it's nothing much." When he heard that Darius's mind blanked momentarily before he started to grind his teeth in frustration, while his hands dug into the ground beneath him. How? How was Alex able to accomplish all of this as if it was nothing? Darius had to work for years to unite all of the dark guilds under his banner, and even then he had to constantly keep them in line. Meanwhile Alex apparently had an entire army that marched at a moments notice, and had unhesitantly attacked any he considered an enemy. To gain strength, Darius had to challenge and subdue hose who were considered the strongest in this world, making each of their powers his own along with their knowledge. Alex on the other hand had pulled off two major transformations within a matter of hours, while he could also use his Boosted Gear to close the gap between himself and any future opponents. And most frustratingly of all, how come Darius was unable to find his family once again, while Alex could live a happy carefree life with his? As all these questions and thoughts swirled around in his head, Alex approached Darius while raising his hand to deal the final blow, only for Darius to put his thoughts into words and ask, "How?" Alex looked at him curiously, as he wasn't quite sure what Darius was referring to, before Darius continued, "My magic power is infinite, I'm immortal, I possess knowledge and theories from some of the greatest minds in this world, how is it that me and my armies lost against yours?" Alex narrowed his eyes at Darius question, before answering, "I have no 'armies', only men and women who wanted to live in peace. Before you and yours ruined it by invading, and stealing my daughter from us." Darius momentarily blanked when he heard Alex's answer, as it was nothing like he was expecting. He had genuinely thought that Alex must've hidden armies within those so-called space-time orbs when Paul visited them before, and therefore he hadn't noticed them. As this thought crossed his mind though, Darius quickly checked his system to see something. Once he confirmed it, he then turned back to Alex and said, "You got a couple things wrong though you know, I never invaded Asora, and I wasn't the one who stole your daughter." *** On a beach a fair ways away from where Alex and Darius were, a certain man laid stretched out on the sand, a relaxed expression on his face despite the current situation. "I wonder how much longer they'll be?" Paul muttered quietly to himself, as he watched the full moon steadily rise higher over the horizon. He had just barely managed to escape from the Hanging Gardens when Alex and Hyato's attack collided in the sky, but it cost him several of the emergency 'batteries' that he had stored away, a sore loss since they were difficult to fill without making them explode in his face. With it taking several 'batteries' just to make sure he was clear of one attack from a SSJ3, Paul was doubly sure he made the right call staying out of the fight until there was a victor. On one hand it was hard to imagine a SSJ3 losing against someone who wasn't even capable of putting anywhere near the same amount of power out at once, but on the other hand Darius was immortal and had access to an infinite amount of magic power. With the world around him trembling from the intensity of the battle, Paul couldn't determine which outcome it would be until everything went quiet. A quick check on his system's friends list told him that Darius was still alive, surprising Paul a bit more than he'd care to admit, before something happened. The entire sky lit up and was covered by magic circles, bathing the entire world in orange demonic light. Paul stared up at the sky in awe, part of him longing to get his hands on the sheer power contained in just one of those magic circles. He was so distracted by the brilliance of the magic above him, that Paul almost missed it when Darius's name in his still open system disappeared a few minutes later, meaning that he'd been killed. "Well that's disappointing..." Paul said as he immediately stood up and turned in no particular direction. "Let's seeeee...how about the Fate universe?" Paul muttered to himself as he recalled all the interesting things Darius had used in the time they had known each other, such as Enkidu, the Hanging Gardens, and even a certain weapon he had almost never used that was meant to kill immortals. As Paul thought about that particular world a portal appeared before him that would take him there, curtesy of his 'angel'. Paul smirked as he went to take a step through it, but instead of moving forward he suddenly felt as if he was moving farther and farther back from it. "What the...?" Paul muttered, before his vision went black. ... "Ngh..." Paul g.r.o.a.n.e.d as his consciousness slowly started coming back, before he realized that something was seriously wrong. He was completely bound to a table with metallic manacles, which, even with his Greywalker powers, Paul was unable to slip away from. "What the hell?" Paul swore as his movements became more frantic, before a voice suddenly spoke up, "I wouldn't bother. A little birdie told me all about how your powers work, so I came up with a method or two to counter them." At this point his captor strolled into Paul's line of sight, making his eyes widen as he caught sight of a SSJ4. "Hello Paul." Alex said with obvious malice in his voice as he stared down at his captive. "H-how did you find me?!" Paul demanded as his mind began racing and he tried to consider the different ways his concealment could have been seen through, before Alex held up what appeared to be compass and said with a nasty grin, "Once I learned that you even existed, it was easy with my magic compass. Before Darius spilled the beans though, I have to admit that you probably would've gotten away Scott free since I even forgot there were supposed to be five of you." As Alex said, he hadn't even registered the existence of the one that had been infamously known as the 'Ghost', and would've accidentally let Paul get away if Darius hadn't informed him otherwise. He had also told him about how Paul's only orders at the time were to pick up the captive they'd heard the Black Collar guild had acquired, Lucy, but had instead returned with Edith while also telling them what he had learned of Asora. Of course Darius hadn't handed Alex the information with the expectation of preserving his own life, but because he didn't want the one responsible for bringing Alex's wrath down onto them to slip away. And so now Paul found himself strapped to a table in some underground location, with a very pissed off Saiyan slowly circling him. Alex slowly fingered a set of tools that Paul could see as he walked by them, as if he was deliberating which one to use first before continuing, "But now we can get to know each other quite well, and since I placed a time manipulation spell on the room we have all the time in the world to do so." For the first time in his second life, Paul felt genuine fear as he watched Alex deliberate between the various implements as he tried to decide which one he would use first. Of course it didn't matter since Alex would make sure to try each and every single one. *** Back in Asora, the people were gathered around the giant monitor as they watched the destruction that had been wreaked upon the world reverse itself, before the connection cut off suddenly. "W-what happened?!" Someone asked with confusion, as they had all been absorbed with Alex's sequence of transformations, and newfound strength. No one had an answer though as someone else tried to go figure out what went wrong, before another voice asked, "What are we all looking at?" Everyone turned to the speaker in surprise, when a little girl's voice squealed, "DADDY!" Edith happily made her way through the crowd into her father's open arms, where Alex eagerly scooped her and held her close. "Edith..." Alex said slowly as he held her close, while also ignoring the looks he was receiving from those around them due to the fact that he was still in his SSJ4 form. In fact, as he held her Edith ran her little fingers over his layer of red fur, and said, "You're so soft daddy!" Alex chuckled at her actions before saying, "Maybe someday you'll have fur like this as well, if you train and get strong enough." Edith flashed him a cheeky smile before saying, "I'll be stronger than everybody, except for daddy!" When he heard that Alex flashed Edith a smile that matched her own, before pulling her in closer for a tighter hug. As the duo were enjoying their father-daughter moment though, Rias hesitantly approached Alex's side before asking as she gently placed her hand on his fur covered arm, "Alex? A-are you ok?" Alex turned to look at her and immediately replied, "Of course, why do you ask?" Rias's look of hesitation turned to amazement as she said, "You used the Boost Gear earlier along with your new transformation, nothing happened?" With everyone else listening intently as they awaited his answer, Alex smirked confidently as he briefly explained, "This form is quite a bit different from the others, so there's nothing to worry about if I used the Boosted Gear with it, though of course I still shouldn't overdo it." As he said that Alex finally decided to cancel the transformation despite having remained in it for literal days from his perspective, resulting in his red fur disappearing while his hair and eyes went back to normal, and surprisingly he even shrank by a few inches when he reverted back. With the cancelation of his SSJ4 transformation though, Alex suddenly felt a surge of fatigue since he was still technically tired from using all of his energy during his SSJ3 transformation earlier. So, he did what anyone in his situation would do. Alex then proceeded to hold Edith in one arm while he hooked his other around Rias, and turned to head to the Misty Manor while saying, "I could however use a nice bit of R&R with my children and wives, how about you?" This time Rias was the one who smiled as she leaned into Alex's embrace, and said, "That sounds lovely." Together, they led the way as any other of Alex's wives in the crowd quickly followed them as they went to retrieve the rest of the children, before retiring to the space-time orb for a well deserved rest.
