Confrontation with Merno

Superboy slowly got up. "Alright, I hope you've had your fun!" he exclaimed as a fiery red aura erupted around him, mixing with a dark purple hue. Destroyer symbols appeared on his chest.

Gohan stared at him before taking a simple stance. "Let's see what you can do—" Gohan didn't get to finish as Superboy appeared next to him. They just stared at one another before Superboy unleashed a highly condensed beam of heat vision from his eyes. Instead of burning through Gohan, the beams scattered upon contact with his chest.

He grabbed Superboy by the face and covered his eyes. Superboy stopped trying to use his heat vision and blew ice-cold air over Gohan, freezing his body in a block of ice. Immediately backing up, Superboy healed his eyes, looking at the ice only to notice Gohan had been behind him the whole time.

"How did you..." Superboy felt his anger start to boil. He couldn't stand this humiliation. Completely losing himself to his own power, Superboy exploded, driven into a corner. 'That damn bitch! I can hear you laughing!' The flash of light was so bright and powerful that Vermont had to block the pressure from striking the weaker members.

Goku and Vegeta had their arms up, clenching as they withstood the immense force. "That's crazy!" Goku remarked.

When the light cleared, a glowing Superboy floated forward, covered in a red glow. "Die!" he exclaimed as he charged at Gohan. Immediately, the two of them vanished. Every time they clashed, the gods could feel the immense weight behind the blows.

Pantharos watched on with intrigue, his tail moving back and forth slightly. 'Who would have thought Superboy could break through his own limits...but even so, I see the decision of the Grand Priest was the right one. Gohan may have been weaker at the time, but his future is bright...I can see it in those movements....'

"Ultra Instinct..." he muttered. Most of the gods were shocked, but many Angels just nodded, watching on as Gohan effortlessly dodged Superboy's attacks before appearing next to him, landing over a dozen devastating blows to Superboy's face in an instant. The speed was so great that the effects only took place after Gohan had left Superboy and stepped back.

"Give up. If I can do this to you, imagine what Merno can," Gohan revealed, appearing before Superboy. He raised his hand. Superboy raised his arms to block the incoming blow but started to notice an ominous purple hue emanating from Gohan's hand.

"Hakai!" Gohan exclaimed, channeling his destructive power. Superboy's eyes widened as a bright purple light erupted.

When the light died down, they saw Gohan standing over Superboy, his hand striking a pillar next to Superboy's head. Dropping down, Superboy was stunned. 'If he didn't intentionally miss me...I'd be...' His eyes started turning red, but before he could do anything,

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"That's enough!" The Grand Priest intervened. Superboy normally wouldn't care about such things, so he immediately got up and was about to continue his assault on Gohan. But Gohan, noticing him, glared at Superboy with an incredible amount of force, knocking the Kryptonian back with so much force it rendered him unconscious and imprinted him in a pillar. Turning to the Grand Priest, he bowed.

"I apologize for using force after you concluded the battle," Gohan explained as the Grand Priest nodded.

"That was entertaining!" The Omni-King exclaimed happily. "You're strong!"

Gohan bowed. "Thank you for your words, Lord Zeno."

"Mmmm," the Omni-King agreed. "Goodbye now!" He watched as the Grand Priest tapped his staff and they all vanished, although the smile on the King's face turned to the Grand Priest, who was surprised to still be left behind by his own spell.

That could only mean one thing, he turned and looked at the Omni-King who had a piercing gaze.

"Mmmm, why were all the gods gathered?" he asked. The Grand Priest sighed before explaining.

"Mmmm, I already knew," the Omni-King revealed. "I felt all the universes return the moment the wish was made. Zalama came to me and asked me about it," Zeno revealed as the Grand Priest just nodded.

"As expected, I knew it was a futile attempt to hide this from you," the Grand Priest explained with a smile as Zeno chuckled.

"I was happy to see you give the gods and mortals a chance to survive," Zeno explained. "So I didn't interfere. It was so much fun watching it all happen!"

"Well, you could say I was moved by Universe 7 and their ability to overcome the odds. Even if there was a near-impossible chance for them to defeat Merno, the fact that I felt there was a very small chance of success let me give them a chance to overcome it on their own."

"Should I include Lord Gohan?" The Grand Priest asked.

Zeno raised his hand and scratched his head. "Were you planning on including him before?"

The Grand Priest chuckled. "I understand."

Return to the Summit

Soon, all the gods returned to the Summit in the Omni-Palace. Pantharos had Superboy on his shoulder before unceremoniously dropping him to the floor. The doppelganger Diana had a dark grin as she stared at the unconscious Superboy.

'For me to look like that...' Diana thought to herself as Gohan appeared beside her. He had powered down.

"Are you alright?" she asked as he nodded.

"Yeah, like I said, I wasn't really trying," Gohan explained, deeply grateful he had isolated himself for seven years in the chamber. 'That would have been one of the hardest battles of my life and I don't think I would have won either...'

The Grand Priest appeared next. The gods focused on the Angel.

"Superboy," The Grand Priest called, immediately waking up the Kryptonian. "Do you still desire to join the mission?" he asked.

Superboy's jaw clenched, but he shook his head. "I lost the right to participate the moment I lost," he admitted.

The Grand Priest nodded, turning to face the gods again. "Another thing to take note of, my children," the Grand Priest started, now addressing his Angels. "Should Merno come after you all, you are allowed to defend yourselves. This is the most I can manipulate the Angelic law that governs our strength," he explained.

"WHAT!?"

"Oh my..."

"Elder brother Merno must be causing quite the commotion," one Angel pointed out.

"Indeed," the Grand Priest started. "He has killed two destroyer gods so far. As I am sure some of you may have noticed, two gods are absent."

A few gods noticed this; two Angels were also missing.

"Grand Priest, isn't the Angelic law maintained by the Omni-King?" another Destroyer asked. An echo of understanding rippled through the gods.

'Either the Grand Priest found a way to bypass the Omni-King or he knows something we do not...' another Destroyer mused. 'It would be unwise to question him,'