“So, I’m the origin point of a new multiverse…” Hal shook his head. He assumed he was in a separate timeline, but he never considered the impact on those who monitored time. The Time Patrol and the Supreme Kai of Time were forces far beyond him at this point. “Is that a problem?”
“The damage is done,” Note waved to the rural hospital ward. “This Earth, this universe and its sister universes exist. All we can do now is make sure things stay stable, keep events as close to the plot as possible… you seem to have done an ok job so far, considering the changes we’ve seen here on Earth.”
“If you say so…” Hal rubbed the back of his head at Note's claim. He’d actually done the opposite and endeavoured to make changes that would directly impact the future plot. His Time Points were evidence enough for that. “I guess I’ve only killed Turles, and Lord Slug… plus I’ve pretty much guaranteed that Goku will marry Launch.”
“Exactly, with everything so close to…” Note hesitated, eyes narrowed as she processed Hal’s words. “You did what? How is that even possible… changes that large always lead to massive spatial instabilities, ones that reduce entire universes to ash!”
“I thought this multiverse was stable,” Beat winced as he forced himself to his feet, eyes widened as he glanced around the room. “If this place is about to collapse, we should kill this idiot and get out of here!”
Note toppled the reactive Saiyan back into bed with a wave of her hand, eyes narrowed as she pulled out her temporal scouter. She tapped at its screen, one lip between her teeth as she scanned through the data.
“This multiverse IS stable, almost too stable,” She deactivated her device and sighed. “It’s even more stable than the prime multiverse, something that shouldn't be possible.”
Hal gave the fallen Beat an aggrieved glance, before he returned his attention to Note. If what she said was true, then it could be some element of the system. Kryptonian biology was amazing, but it wasn’t passively stabilising a multiverse.
“So, I can change things then?” Hal ducked, warned by his future sight as Note flicked her finger and fired a thin blast of air. “I was just saying… If the things I’ve already done were ok, then what’s the problem?”
“The problem is, any major change you make imperils uncountable lives!” Note rubbed her temples, eyes raised to the heavens beyond the ceiling. “The risks affect more than just you… but this does need to be investigated.”
She reactivated her temporal scouter and typed a rapid series of words onto the screen. A final press of her thumb and she gave a satisfied nod. She returned the device to her belt and waved at Hal.
“So, what change were you thinking of making next?” Note raised her hand to silence Beat, eyes locked onto Hal’s. “We’ll come along and record the temporal event as it happens, maybe even find a clue as to why this universe is so stable.”
“Well…” Hal hesitated. His true plan was to hunt down and collect the corpses of Frieza and his family. Three bodies were the minimum amount needed for his cauldron to work its magic. “I was going to pay a visit to Freiza, Cooler, and King Cold… they’re bad neighbours and we need to have words.”
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“Your spacecraft is very advanced,” Note frowned as she looked around the reverse engineered Kryptonian vessel. She’d held back her commentary up to now, but their jump through the phantom zone had broken her silence. “That dimension we entered into is something I’ve never seen before, a space as vast as a multiverse in its own right… maybe larger.”
“My people call it the phantom zone, a timeless abyss that connects all places,” Hal waved to the airlock door and the Kryptonian rebreathers stacked neatly at its side. “We should get off, I don’t want my ship destroyed by some Frieza Force lackey.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The trio disembarked into the void and Hal recapsuled his craft. The world below their feet, unimaginatively dubbed ‘Cooler’s Planet,” was filled with higher than average power levels. One stood above the rest, trivial compared to Hal’s current strength, but mighty nonetheless.
“We’ll just be observers, but your strength is more than enough for this version of Cooler,” Note waved Hal toward the surface, her scanner locked onto his body. “If your actions really don’t cause instabilities in time, we can talk about what comes next.”
“And if they do?” Hal’s gaze travelled through the populated areas of the planet. It was filled with armoured troopers, with no civilians in sight. He gave each area a thorough double-check, to be certain Vegeta and the other Saiyan’s were nowhere to be seen.
“Then you either come with us, or you die!” Beat flashed a wolfish grin, bright eyes filled with mirth. “The Time Patrol doesn’t let temporal anomalies roam free.”
“Fine,” Hal snorted, one hand raised toward Planet Cooler. Concentrated ki erupted from his palm, a beam that speared deep into the world below. Even if he was forced to leave this timeline, eventually his power would allow him to return.
The light of the world’s end faded as Hal drifted toward the only survivor. Covered in soot and without a section of tail, Cooler was already in his final form. His face twisted, awash in silent rage as he searched the heavens for the one who destroyed his central base.
“Not very subtle, are you?” Note sighed, eyes fixed on her scans. Her frown deepened, fingers a blur as she adjusted the settings of her device. “Your body is absorbing the temporal backlash of changing the timeline… hurry up and kill Cooler, his death will create a much larger event than his minions!”
Hal’s mood brightened. What she detected was probably his system’s collection of Time Points. If the system turned the potential instabilities in time into fuel for his draws, he was free to change as much as he liked.
A burst of ki carried Hal before a startled Cooler, hand extended to pierce the villain through his skull. Purple-white limbs spasmed, a brief flare of power that overshadowed his current base and launched him backwards through the newborn asteroid field.
“What a waste of ability,” Hal tossed a capsule container into space and scooped up Cooler’s lobotomized corpse. “Any amount of training and his power would have mulched me to dust and ash…”
“Why are you taking the body?” Beat’s face pinched around the eyes as Hal pocketted the macabre capsule. “You completely destroyed his brain, he won’t be coming back.”
“Better safe than sorry,” Hal shrugged, focused on Note as she scrolled through her device. “I don’t want anyone rebuilding him, or worse… now what’s the word? Am I free to go?”
“It’s amazing…” Note shook her head, eyes locked on the display. “You absorbed every instability before it had a measurable impact on the timeline… such an ability is unprecedented!”
“I told you, I’m one of a kind,” Hal grinned at the Saiyan woman, who rolled her eyes. “So, what does this mean? Can I leave, or…”
“For now, you can act as you like,” Note deactivated her scouter and placed it on her hip. She waved for Beat, who drifted close enough for her to put a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll be remaining in the universe to monitor it for some time, and my superiors might want to speak with you about your mysterious power.”
She raised two fingers to her forehead, prepared to transmission away, when Hal waved for her to wait. He needed to judge how strong this woman was, but he died instantly in any visions where he dared to attack unprovoked.
“Before you go, is there any chance the two of us can spar?” Hal waved to the devastated system. “No one can get hurt around here, and I’m interested in how you measure up to Beat.”
His own power could only be guessed at, but he assumed he was edging closer to Cell’s maximum strength if he went all out. Beat was capable of using divine ki, his display of Super Saiyan Blue was enough to estimate his abilities. Note was different, unreadable despite how many times he entered his three-minute-sight.
“You’re too weak,” Note flashed an apologetic smile. “You’d need to be able to overcome Beat before you could ever hope to see my real power.”
“Just a friendly match, you can give me pointers!” Hal gave her his best puppy dog eyes, an act that earned a snort of laughter from the Saiyan woman. “It will take me awhile to catch up to Beat, and I’d like to know how high the mountains go!”
***Power Levels and other notes***
Hal: 9,500,000 (95 million with symbiote armour enhancement, Max kio-ken: 50x)
Note: ???
Beat: ???
Cooler: 145 million
Don’t worry, this won't be the true end of Cooler. Anything is possible in the Dragon Ball universe, and we’ll also see versions of him and his family from parallel timelines as well as in this universe. His easy death was designed to show the MC’s increase in power.
The MC’s power level will begin to stabilise into a slower growth soon. With the death of Cooler and some other villains, the MC will have enough for two Semi-Divine draws. As of writing this note the draws are still undecided, but we’ll also start to encounter enemies that are more powerful than their originals (you’ll see why as the story unfolds) as we finish up the foundation laying arc of the story!
Each week from now on I’ll include the week’s schedule for this novel in these note sections. This coming week there will be one chapter each on Monday, Wednesday and Friday! Thank you again to all the readers, I’ll do my best to make certain we get weekly updates of more than two chapters!