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"Hahaha, misunderstanding, misunderstanding… it's really just a misunderstanding!" Sidra laughed hurriedly. "Ken, Mosco and I only wanted to help Broly and Buu grow faster—nothing else."
"Misunderstanding?" Ken smiled faintly. He obviously wasn't buying it.
But he wasn't in a rush to deal with Sidra. One problem at a time.
"Yes, a misunderstanding! Truly!" Sidra's laugh turned dry.
Ken ignored him.
"Turn into chocolate!" Majin Buu's head feeler gathered purple current.
In a flash, a purple beam shot from Buu's antenna, ready to blanket Mule.
But at that instant, a band of violet-red light flared into existence behind Buu.
Ken blinked—Mosco had moved.
For a heartbeat he was startled—then shocked and angry.
Wasn't Mosco a mindless robot?
Why did it suddenly act on its own?
Mosco's speed was absurd; in the blink of an eye it was at Buu's back.
"Bang!"
Mosco's iron fist smashed into Buu's spine.
"Pff—"
The beam from Buu's antenna sputtered out.
Then Mosco slashed an open hand through the air; an invisible force swept out before Ken.
"Zzzzt… zzzzt… zzzzt…"
Space itself in front of Ken tore open.
It was like a sheet of black paper being ripped down the middle.
A yawning rift appeared out of nothing, a bottomless chasm in the cosmos.
Black lightning crawled across its edges.
"W–what…?" Sidra was dumbstruck.
Ken stared too; he had never seen anything like it.
And it all happened too fast. However long it takes to describe, the entire sequence took a single blink.
Even for Ken, a human on the cusp of angelhood, it was too sudden to react. A short distance away, Merus' pupils shrank—he also hadn't expected anything like this.
No one had—Mosco acting on its own, and immediately attacking.
While Merus was still stunned, Mosco's hand carved through the air again, clawing toward him.
Merus' Autonomous Ultra Instinct flickered; he slid aside to avoid the pull—but he couldn't.
His body lurched forward as if seized by an unseen hook.
"Bang!"
He slammed into Ken.
The two pitched ahead together—and toppled into the rift.
"Whsssh!"
In an instant the rift swallowed them whole; a heartbeat later they were gone.
The next second, the cosmic chasm slowly sealed, and the void returned to placid, starry silence.
Sidra stood there slack-jawed, rubbing his eyes as his face went slate-white.
"Y-you… you…" He looked from Mule to Mosco in utter confusion.
"Bzz-krr bzz-krr!" Lights pulsed across Mosco's head as it chattered mechanically.
Mule rubbed his battered cheeks and glared at Buu.
Buu, still reeling from Mosco's blow, had spat a mouthful of blood and was seriously hurt.
A breath later, his body melted and reshaped, reverting to Broly's form.
Broly glanced toward where the rift had been—and saw no trace of Ken.
"Ken…" His face hardened.
"You… Mosco… did you just kill them?" Sidra felt a headache splitting his skull.
"Bzz-krr bzz-krr," Mosco replied.
"Hmph. I had no reason to kill two angels," Mule said, wiping the blood from his lip, a smile curling. "I threw them into another universe. They won't be back anytime soon."
Sidra finally exhaled.
As long as the angels weren't dead. Otherwise, this would have spiraled into an unfixable disaster.
"What… what is going on?" Sidra pointed at Mosco, then at Mule, stunned.
"I told you already—I'm the strongest human in Universe 3. Mosco is the God of Destruction." Mule's smile sharpened.
"Bzz-krr!" Mosco hammered its chest and flashed again.
Sidra looked from Mosco to Mule, pupils contracting as realization hit.
"You… Mosco… you're a separate individual, aren't you?"
"Bzz-krr!" Mosco's jaws spread in a mechanical laugh.
"Only now you see?" Mule's amusement deepened.
"You hid it well!" Sidra was floored. "I doubt any other God of Destruction knows this."
"It wasn't a disguise," Mule said darkly. "It's my final trump card."
Sidra arched a brow.
"He's my elder brother. He died young—but I preserved his body and integrated it with Mosco." Mule's voice went cold. "Most of the time he slumbers. If my life is in danger, he auto-activates to assist me."
Sidra held his tongue.
"One catch—every time he wakes, it consumes his strength," Mule went on. "He woke once before. This makes twice. He can wake three times in total. After that… my brother will completely—"
He didn't finish. He didn't have to.
"Mule, you've buried this deep," Sidra murmured, color draining.
Just from those few moves, Sidra sensed the truth: the autonomous Mosco outstripped him.
If Sidra's "level" was 51, the Mosco controlled earlier by Mule was 50.
Now, with independent will, Mosco stood at 52.
A full level above Sidra.
He could feel the pressure radiating off Mosco and swallowed hard. The self-styled genius suddenly felt like a clown in Mule's palm.
"Sidra, what's done is done. No use dodging it. I'll let you kill him with your own hands," Mule said—and with that, he leapt back into Mosco's torso.
"Clack!"
The belly hatch slammed shut.
"Rmmm—"
Violet-red power flooded over Mosco in braided layers.
His destructive aura surged to its peak.
Sensing the climb, Sidra's face tightened further.
If Mosco had been 52, Mule climbing in pushed him to 53.
At that tier, only Beerus and Quitela stood above him.
Sidra was still 51.
"Sidra, kill him," Mosco's voice boomed.
"Bzz-krr bzz-krr!"
A second voice—Mule's—overlapped from the same speaker, uncanny and menacing.
"Don't imagine you can stand aside," Mule added, icily. "We've already offended those two angels. But relax—angels aren't allowed to kill. They say an angel who kills disappears. You've nothing to fear."
Sidra was silent.
"Even if you kill those two, they won't do anything to you," Mule sneered.
"Bzz-krr!" Mosco shook a fist in warning.
"Those two got tossed who-knows-where. Even with great luck, it'll be hours before they get back," Mule pressed. "With bad luck? Days."
Sidra's jaw worked. He weighed it all.
If I personally erase Broly and Buu, I'll antagonize both angels.
"Sidra, what is there left to hesitate over?" Mule's voice chilled. "You already blocked Buu and Broly from escaping. If not for you, maybe I wouldn't have caught them."
Sidra's face went ashen.
Damn it. I underestimated him—walked into his trap.
"Kill them, and we're on the same boat," Mule hissed.
"Bzz-krr!" Mosco's fist thrummed.
"Mule, don't push me. I don't take orders from another God of Destruction," Sidra smiled thinly. "Yes, you're strong now. But what if he and I team up?"
"Try it," Mule shot back, utterly unafraid. "You know our gap."
"Swish!"
Mosco vanished—and reappeared behind Sidra before his eyelids lifted.
Sidra's face drained; he turned his head like a rusted gear.
"How about it? The moment I get serious, you can't even react," Mule's voice purred. "Still think a two-on-one saves you?"
Sidra said nothing. Cold sweat trickled down his temple.
"Kill one God of Destruction, kill two—it's all the same," Mule chuckled darkly. "No Destroyer's died in a long time. Want to be the first, Sidra?"
"Mule… how have I treated you? Why drag me down with you?" Sidra grated out.
"Hmph. You've always thought me an idiot. You think I didn't notice?" Mule sneered. "Don't take people for fools. No one is. I simply chose not to call you on it."
Silence.
"I'm done chatting. Either you kill them, or I kill all of you," Mule said, killing intent spilling from Mosco.
"…Fine." Sidra drew a long breath and drifted toward Broly, closing in by the second.
He lifted a hand and leveled it at Broly from afar.
Broly looked barely standing, grievously wounded and out of gas. Even if he could still fight, it wouldn't be for long.
Mosco's ambush had rattled Buu senseless; Broly had taken the body back—only to discover how badly it was damaged.
"Farewell, kids. This is your fate—blame no one," Sidra snorted, condensing purple-red energy in his palm.
"Fwoom!"
The destructive beam poured down toward Broly.
"Rrraaagh!"
Emerald fire erupted off Broly, spiking his power in an instant.
"Smack!"
He swatted Sidra's beam aside like a fly.
"What?" Sidra's eyes narrowed—surprised despite himself.
"AAAAAH!"
Broly's hands gathered a massive emerald sphere, swelling larger by the heartbeat—one kilometer wide in an instant.
He heaved it at Sidra—
—and the moment he let go, he streaked away in a green comet.
While fleeing, he jammed a senzu bean into his mouth and swallowed.
In truth, he'd already slipped one down the moment he retook the body. He'd only baited Sidra into firing, then counterpunched before bolting.
But he knew perfectly well he couldn't beat the two of them. Escape first—live first.
"Hakai."
Sidra thrust a palm; his erasure aura flashed.
It chewed through the emerald sphere in a blink.
"He's recovered again," Sidra muttered grimly.
"Looks like he's got plenty of those strange beans," Mule growled.
"Bzz-krr," Mosco flashed.
"After him," Mule ordered.
"After him," Sidra echoed, aura flaring.
"Swish!"
Sidra then tore off—in the opposite direction.
Mule's face twitched.
"Sidra!" he barked.
"I'm not doing this with you," Sidra shot back, accelerating.
He hadn't planned to erase Broly and Buu at all. He'd intended to watch, then, if Mule moved to kill, swoop in and "rescue" them—call it a harsh lesson to toughen them up. If they didn't appreciate it, he'd apologize and show "sincerity."
He fancied himself in control of the board.
After all, he'd always believed Mosco was weaker than him.
He hadn't counted on Mule's hidden ace.
Now it was a mess.
He had no desire to murder the interns of two angels—one a human who is on his way to become an angel, the other the Grand Priest's own son.
He could risk offending Ken.
He could not risk offending the Grand Priest by hurting Merus' pupils.
So Sidra bolted.
Far away, he glanced back—no pursuit. He let out the breath he'd been holding.
No. Mule will get me killed.
If Broly and Buu really die, I'm complicit.
With that, Sidra contacted Mojito, the angel of Universe 9.
"Lord Sidra, this… may be troublesome," Mojito sighed.
"You've been watching?" Sidra blinked.
"An incident this large in our universe? Of course," Mojito replied. "And things have already gone beyond your expectations, haven't they?"
(End of Chapter)
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