Chapter 9: First Contact
As Babidi's remaining forces retreated into the depths of his ship, dragging the injured Dabura with them, an eerie calm settled over the battlefield. The seven temporal refugees stood in formation, their coordinated movements suggesting years of fighting together as a unit. Now, with their immediate objective complete, they turned their attention to the assembled group of warriors who had been watching from the ridge.
Lyra stepped forward first, her divine presence causing the very air around her to shimmer with otherworldly energy. Despite her youthful appearance, her ancient eyes held depths that made even the Supreme Kai uncomfortable.
"Time Patrol," she said, her voice carrying harmonics that seemed to resonate across multiple dimensions. "Designation Zero, Scarlett, Jinjer, Eleryc, Aiko. You've been searching for us for forty-three years, seven months, and sixteen days."
Zero's sealed form trembled slightly as he stepped forward. "Lyra Albanar. We... we weren't aware of your divine nature when we began our search."
"Many things were hidden in the final moments before our timeline's collapse," she replied gently. "My true nature was a closely guarded secret, even among my family." She gestured to the six warriors beside her. "But desperate times called for desperate measures."
Odyn moved to stand protectively beside his youngest sister, his fire-colored eyes still burning with residual combat energy. "Sister, are you certain about this? We've managed to stay hidden for decades."
"The time for hiding is over, brother," Lyra replied with quiet authority. "The convergence events are accelerating beyond our ability to handle alone. We need allies."
Thallion and Sarai flanked their siblings, while Seraphina maintained her tactical awareness of their surroundings. The twins, Hailfire and Baron, stood slightly apart, their gold and silver armor gleaming in the afternoon sun.
"Before we proceed with introductions," Seraphina said with the practical tone of an experienced commander, "shouldn't we address the elephant in the room?" She gestured toward Babidi's ship. "That wizard is going to complete the Majin Buu revival process whether we like it or not. Our intervention only delayed the inevitable."
"Actually," Scarlett interjected, consulting her scanner, "your precision strikes have done something remarkable. The temporal convergence is stabilizing instead of cascading out of control. You've bought us time."
"Time for what?" Vegeta demanded, his impatience with mystical explanations evident. "Who are you people, and why should we trust you?"
Odyn's fire-colored eyes fixed on Vegeta with interest. "You must be Prince Vegeta. Your reputation as a warrior precedes you across multiple timelines."
"I'm not interested in flattery," Vegeta replied coldly. "I want answers."
"Fair enough," Thallion said with a slight smile that somehow managed to be both disarming and dangerous. "We are temporal refugees from Timeline Designation Omega-7. Our reality was completely destroyed by a cascade failure that began with an unchecked Majin Buu revival."
"Completely destroyed?" Gohan asked, the implications hitting him like a physical blow. "As in, nothing survived?"
"Nothing except us," Sarai confirmed, her voice carrying the weight of survivor's guilt. "And only because Lyra's divine nature allowed her to create a temporal sanctuary during the final moments."
"A sanctuary that we've been living in for subjective decades," Baron added, his silver armor catching the light as he shifted position. "Training, preparing, waiting for the right moment to prevent our timeline's fate from befalling others."
"And this is that moment?" Goku asked, his natural empathy responding to the pain he could sense in their words.
"One of them," Hailfire confirmed, her gold armor complementing her brother's silver as they moved in unconscious synchronization. "The temporal convergence events are accelerating across the multiverse. What happened to our timeline is beginning to happen to others."
"Which is why," Lyra said, her divine authority adding weight to her words, "we've decided to emerge from hiding and offer our assistance."
"Assistance with what, exactly?" Supreme Kai Shin asked, his divine senses still struggling to fully comprehend Lyra's nature.
"With surviving what's coming," Lyra replied simply. "The Majin Buu that's about to be revived isn't just your timeline's version. Babidi's temporal manipulations have created something worse—a being that incorporates elements from every possible incarnation of the creature."
"Including the one that destroyed our reality," Odyn added grimly.
The weight of this revelation settled over the assembled warriors like a physical burden. Even Vegeta's usual arrogance seemed diminished by the implications.
"But you survived fighting that version," alternate Videl pointed out, her warrior instincts focusing on practical matters. "That means it can be defeated."
"We didn't defeat it," Seraphina corrected with bitter honesty. "We barely managed to escape with our lives, and only because Lyra sacrificed her physical form to create the temporal sanctuary that allowed us to survive."
"Sacrificed your physical form?" Piccolo asked, his understanding of divine nature helping him grasp the implications. "You mean you died?"
"In a sense," Lyra replied with a sad smile. "My divine essence preserved my consciousness, but my original body was destroyed in the process of creating our sanctuary. This form is a reconstruction, made possible by my family's love and my own stubbornness."
"The bonds between us allowed her to return," Thallion explained, his voice thick with emotion. "Family connections that transcend even death itself."
"Touching as this reunion is," came a new voice from the direction of Babidi's ship, "I'm afraid it's about to become irrelevant."
The group turned to see Dabura emerging from the ship, his demonic features marred by the damage from his battle with the refugees. Behind him, the familiar pink form of Fat Buu was beginning to materialize—but something was wrong with the creature's appearance.
"The convergence is complete," Dabura announced with malicious satisfaction. "Behold, the ultimate incarnation of Majin Buu—enhanced with power drawn from every timeline where he has ever existed!"
The emerging Buu was indeed different from the innocent-looking creature they expected. His pink form rippled with energies from across the multiverse, and his eyes held an intelligence that spoke of absorbed knowledge from countless variations of himself.
"This is what destroyed our timeline," Sarai whispered, her voice filled with remembered horror.
"But not what will destroy this one," Lyra declared, her divine presence flaring as she stepped forward. "Brothers, sisters, cousins—formation seven."
The seven refugees moved with practiced precision, their coordinated positioning creating a complex geometric pattern around the emerging threat. But before they could complete their formation, Goku stepped forward.
"Wait," he said, his natural diplomatic instincts overriding his warrior training. "Maybe we should try talking to him first. In our timeline, the original Buu wasn't evil by nature—he was just confused and manipulated."
"This isn't your timeline's Buu," Odyn warned, his fire-colored eyes tracking the creature's movements. "This version has absorbed the malice and intelligence of every possible incarnation."
"But it's still worth trying," good Raditz added, his reformed nature making him sympathetic to the possibility of redemption. "If there's a chance to resolve this without violence..."
"There isn't," the enhanced Buu spoke for the first time, his voice a harmonic blend of every version of himself. "I remember destroying their timeline. I remember the taste of their reality as it collapsed into nothingness. And I remember how much I enjoyed it."
The creature's gaze fell on the assembled warriors with predatory interest. "But this timeline offers so much more. So many powerful fighters to absorb, so many realities to destroy. I will make this convergence point the center of multiversal annihilation."
"Yeah," Saiyan Chi-Chi said dryly, her maternal protectiveness overriding any philosophical concerns, "we're definitely fighting this one."
"Agreed," Vegeta declared, his pride as a warrior eclipsing his usual need to fight alone. "If it threatens the multiverse, it threatens my family. That makes it my enemy."
"Our enemy," Zero corrected, his sealed form beginning to crack as he prepared for battle. "Time Patrol, Z-Fighters, Supreme Kai, refugees, and visitors from alternate timelines—today we fight as one force."
"Formation adjustment," Lyra called out, her divine senses coordinating the expanded group. "Extended protection pattern—include all allies."
As the enhanced Majin Buu completed his manifestation, his power radiating across dimensions and threatening the stability of reality itself, twenty-one warriors prepared to face their greatest challenge yet. The shadow war was over, the tournament phase had ended, and now the true battle for all existence would begin.
"One last thing," Lyra said as her divine power began to manifest in preparation for battle. "In case we don't all survive this—it's been an honor to fight alongside Earth's defenders."
"The honor's ours," Gohan replied, speaking for all of them.
The enhanced Majin Buu laughed, a sound that seemed to echo across multiple dimensions. "How touching. I'll make sure to absorb these feelings along with your power. They'll make excellent seasoning for the destruction of all realities."
The battle for the multiverse was about to begin.
The Weight of All Realities
The enhanced Majin Buu's laughter died as he studied the assembled warriors before him. His multiversal consciousness processed the threat assessment with terrifying efficiency, drawing upon the combat experiences of every incarnation of himself that had ever existed.
"Interesting," he mused, his voice harmonizing with echoes from destroyed timelines. "Twenty-one opponents, including several I don't recognize from my previous encounters. You've brought me new flavors to sample."
"We're not on the menu," Hailfire declared, her golden armor beginning to resonate with divine energy borrowed from her cousin Lyra's presence. The twins had learned to channel small amounts of Kai power through their family bond, a technique that had kept them alive in their destroyed timeline.
"Everyone needs to understand something crucial before we engage," Lyra said, her divine senses analyzing the creature before them. "This version of Majin Buu doesn't just possess the power of multiple incarnations—he retains their memories and experiences. He knows every technique we might use against him because he's seen them all before."
"Then we'll have to improvise," Goku said with his characteristic optimism, though his expression remained serious. "If he's fought versions of us before, then we'll just have to be different versions of ourselves."
"Easier said than done," Seraphina observed, her tactical mind working through the implications. "In our timeline, we threw everything we had at our version of this creature. Every technique, every strategy, every desperate gambit. Nothing worked."
"But you survived," Piccolo pointed out, his strategic thinking focusing on the practical reality. "That means something worked, at least partially."
"What worked was running away," Odyn said bluntly, his fire-colored eyes never leaving the enhanced Buu. "Lyra's sacrifice bought us escape, not victory. There's a significant difference."
The enhanced Buu tilted his head with predatory curiosity. "Oh, you're the refugees from Timeline Omega-7. I remember consuming your reality—it had such a distinctive flavor of despair. Tell me, little survivors, do you still taste the same?"
The casual mention of their timeline's destruction hit the seven refugees like a physical blow. Thallion's temporal distortions flickered with uncontrolled emotion, while Sarai's reality-bending powers created small stress fractures in the air around her.
"Don't let him get in your heads," alternate Videl advised, her experience as a Z-Fighter in her timeline teaching her to recognize psychological warfare. "Monsters like this feed on fear and doubt as much as they do on power."
"She's right," Saiyan Chi-Chi agreed, her maternal instincts extended to protecting the entire group. "He's trying to demoralize us before the fight even begins."
"A sound strategy," Vegeta acknowledged grudgingly. "But it won't work. I've faced planet destroyers, universe conquerers, and beings of pure malice. One more overgrown piece of pink bubble gum doesn't impress me."
The enhanced Buu's expression shifted to one of genuine amusement. "Prince Vegeta, always so defiant. I remember absorbing dozens of versions of you. Your pride tastes particularly sweet when it's finally broken."
"The only thing that's going to be broken here is you," Vegeta snarled, his aura flaring with barely contained rage.
"Emotional control, Vegeta," Zero advised, his sealed form analyzing the creature's power emanations. "He's trying to provoke us into attacking recklessly. We need coordination, not individual heroics."
"Easy for you to say," good Raditz muttered, his reformed nature struggling with protective instincts as he watched his daughter Raunch position herself for battle. "Some of us have family to protect."
"All of us have family to protect," Lyra corrected gently, her divine perception encompassing the broader implications of their situation. "If this creature succeeds in his multiversal destruction, every timeline where our loved ones exist will be consumed. This isn't just about our individual realities anymore."
The enhanced Buu began to move, his form shifting and expanding as he drew upon power from across the dimensional convergence. "Enough talking. I've been patient long enough. Time to begin the feast."
"Formation Seven, modified for expanded group," Lyra commanded, her divine authority coordinating twenty-one warriors with impossible precision. "Supreme Kai Shin, can you maintain dimensional stability while we engage?"
"I'll do my best," Shin replied, though sweat was already beading on his forehead from the effort of keeping reality coherent around the convergence point. "But I can't hold it indefinitely."
"Understood. Time Patrol, establish temporal anchors at cardinal points. Z-Fighters, take offensive positions but maintain formation integrity. Alternates, provide support and coverage for any gaps."
The coordination required was staggering. Unlike previous battles where a few warriors could operate independently, this threat demanded perfect synchronization among fighters who had never worked together before. Lyra's divine nature allowed her to serve as a telepathic coordinator, but the mental strain was enormous.
"I'm reading massive power fluctuations," Scarlett reported, her scanner struggling to process readings that defied conventional measurement. "His power level is... it's not stable. It's growing."
"He's drawing energy from the dimensional rifts," Eleryc realized with growing alarm. "Every timeline where Majin Buu exists is feeding power into this incarnation."
"Then we need to seal the rifts," Jinjer declared, her reformed villain experience providing crucial insight. "Cut off his power source."
"Impossible while he's actively maintaining them," Baron corrected, his silver armor resonating with shadow energies that allowed him to perceive dimensional structures. "The rifts are tied to his existence now. We'd have to defeat him first."
"Catch-22," Aiko observed grimly. "We can't defeat him while he's drawing power from infinite sources, but we can't cut off the sources while he's actively defending them."
"Unless," Lyra said slowly, her divine consciousness processing possibilities that mortal minds couldn't grasp, "we don't try to defeat him directly."
"What do you mean?" Gohan asked, though his enhanced intellect was already beginning to grasp the implications.
"In our timeline, we failed because we tried to overpower him," Thallion explained, understanding his sister's divine insight. "But what if we try to separate him instead?"
"Separate him how?" Krillin asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.
"Dimensional fission," Lyra replied, her voice carrying the weight of cosmic understanding. "Instead of trying to destroy the enhanced version, we fragment him back into his component parts. Scatter the multiversal aspects back to their original timelines."
"That's theoretically possible," Zero agreed, his Temporal Architect knowledge recognizing the approach. "But it would require precise coordination from all of us, and perfect timing."
"More importantly," Seraphina added with tactical pragmatism, "it would require someone with enough power to actually perform the separation. And that someone would have to get close enough to touch him."
All eyes turned to Lyra, whose divine nature made her the only one present capable of attempting such a feat. But the young Kai shook her head with sad determination.
"I already sacrificed my physical form once to save my family. I won't ask you to watch me do it again."
"Then what do you suggest?" Vegeta demanded, his patience with mystical complexities wearing thin.
Before Lyra could answer, the enhanced Majin Buu struck without warning. His attack wasn't the crude physical assault they expected, but something far more insidious. Pink energy tendrils erupted from the ground beneath each warrior, seeking to establish contact for immediate absorption.
"Scatter!" Zero commanded, but the attack had been perfectly coordinated. The enhanced Buu had used his multiversal knowledge to predict their exact positions and responses.
The battle for all realities had begun, and their first lesson was harsh: fighting an enemy who knew all your moves was like trying to surprise your own reflection.
The pink energy tendrils lashed out with deadly precision, each one guided by the enhanced Buu's multiversal knowledge of his opponents' fighting patterns. Goku barely managed to dodge his tendril by utilizing Instant Transmission, while Vegeta's pride forced him into a direct confrontation that nearly cost him his freedom. The Z-Fighters scattered as planned, but their movements were exactly what the enhanced Buu had anticipated from countless previous encounters.
However, as the tendrils reached toward the five Arkynorean siblings—Odyn, Thallion, Sarai, Lyra, and Seraphina—something unprecedented occurred. The moment the pink energy made contact with their auras, it recoiled as if it had touched molten steel. The enhanced Buu's confident expression shifted to one of confusion, then alarm, as his absorption attempt not only failed but caused him visible pain.
"What?" the creature snarled, his multiversal consciousness frantically searching through absorbed memories for any explanation. "This is impossible. I've absorbed beings from every timeline, every reality. Nothing should be able to resist my—"
He tried again, focusing more power into the tendrils aimed at the Arkynorean siblings. The result was even more dramatic. His pink energy actually began to smoke and sizzle where it contacted their natural auras, as if their very essence was antithetical to his being.
"Fascinating," Lyra murmured, her divine perception analyzing what was happening. "Our Arkynorean heritage is creating a natural barrier against his absorption abilities."
"But how is that possible?" Scarlett asked, her scanner readings showing energy patterns she'd never encountered before. "What makes your species different from every other being he's absorbed?"
Seraphina, ever the tactical analyst, was the first to understand the implications. "It's not just that we're different," she explained while maintaining her defensive position. "It's that we're fundamentally incompatible with his absorption process."
To fully grasp why the Arkynoreans presented such an unexpected obstacle to the enhanced Majin Buu, one must understand the fundamental nature of both species. Majin Buu's absorption ability works by breaking down the target's energy signature and integrating it into his own consciousness and power matrix. This process requires a certain compatibility between his magical essence and the target's life force—a compatibility that exists with virtually every known species in the multiverse.
The Arkynoreans, however, evolved on a world where the very fabric of reality operated under different rules. Their homeworld existed at a convergence point of multiple dimensional layers, which meant their species developed a unique relationship with existence itself. Rather than simply existing within reality, Arkynoreans exist as part of reality's foundational structure. Their life force isn't just energy that can be absorbed—it's energy that helps define the rules by which absorption itself functions.
"Think of it this way," Odyn explained while his fire-colored eyes tracked the enhanced Buu's increasingly frustrated attempts to absorb him. "If his absorption ability is like a key trying to open locks, then we're not locks at all. We're part of the locksmith's tools that determine how keys and locks work in the first place."
Thallion nodded, his temporal distortion abilities creating protective barriers around the non-Arkynorean fighters. "Our energy signatures exist on a foundational level that his absorption process can't access. It's like trying to absorb the concept of mathematics rather than a mathematical equation."
The enhanced Buu's confusion was rapidly transforming into rage. His multiversal consciousness contained the memories of absorbing gods, demons, angels, and beings of pure energy from countless timelines. The idea that five individuals could simply be immune to his primary ability was not just unexpected—it was existentially threatening to his sense of omnipotence.
"This changes everything," Zero realized, his sealed form trembling with the implications. "If the Arkynoreans can't be absorbed, they can get close enough to attempt the dimensional fission Lyra described."
"But there's a complication," Sarai pointed out, her reality-bending powers detecting subtle shifts in the dimensional fabric around them. "Our immunity to absorption doesn't mean we're immune to his other attacks. He still has enough raw power to destroy us conventionally."
Indeed, the enhanced Buu was already adapting his strategy. If he couldn't absorb the Arkynoreans, he would simply annihilate them with overwhelming force. His form began to expand and shift, drawing more power from the dimensional rifts as he prepared to unleash attacks designed not for absorption but for complete obliteration.
"He's going to try to vaporize us," Lyra observed with divine clarity. "Our absorption immunity is both an advantage and a target that makes us his priority threats."
"Then we use that," Vegeta declared, his tactical mind seizing on the strategic opportunity. "If he's focused on destroying them specifically, the rest of us can mount coordinated attacks while he's distracted."
"Agreed," good Raditz confirmed, his reformed nature allowing him to think strategically rather than just protectively. "But we need to be careful. If he eliminates the Arkynoreans, we lose our only chance at dimensional fission."
The enhanced Buu raised his hands, gathering energy that made the air itself scream with dimensional stress. "If I cannot absorb you, then you will simply cease to exist. Your immunity means nothing against complete annihilation."
"Formation modification," Seraphina commanded with battlefield authority. "Arkynoreans advance, everyone else provides covering fire and distraction. We need to get close enough for Lyra to attempt the separation technique."
"Wait," Lyra said, her divine senses detecting something that made her pause. "There's something else. Our immunity to his absorption isn't just defensive—it's causing him actual pain. Look at how he recoils when our auras interact with his energy."
She was right. Each time the enhanced Buu's power came into contact with Arkynorean energy, visible stress fractures appeared in his pink form. His multiversal consciousness was being forced to process something it fundamentally couldn't understand or integrate, creating a form of psychic feedback that was clearly causing him distress.
"It's like forcing a computer to divide by zero," Eleryc realized, his half-Kai heritage helping him understand the cosmic mathematics involved. "Our existence creates a logical paradox in his absorption-based consciousness. He literally cannot process what we are."
"Then we use that," Odyn declared, his fire-colored eyes blazing with new understanding. "If our presence causes him pain and confusion, we press that advantage."
The five Arkynorean siblings moved forward in perfect coordination, their combined auras creating a field of reality-disruption that made the enhanced Buu stumble backward despite his overwhelming power advantage. For the first time since his manifestation, the creature that had destroyed an entire timeline looked genuinely uncertain.
"This is our chance," Lyra announced, her divine power beginning to manifest in preparation for the dimensional fission attempt. "Brothers, sisters, cousin—hold formation and advance. Everyone else, keep him off balance but don't get between us and him."
As the twenty-one warriors pressed their unexpected advantage, the enhanced Majin Buu faced something no version of himself had ever encountered: opponents who weren't just resistant to his power, but whose very existence challenged the fundamental assumptions upon which his abilities were based.
The battle for the multiverse had taken an unexpected turn, and for the first time, the defenders of reality had found a weakness in their seemingly omnipotent enemy.
As Lyra began to channel her divine power for the dimensional fission technique, her consciousness expanding to encompass the complex multiversal mathematics required for the separation, she needed time and protection. The enhanced Majin Buu was already adapting to the Arkynorean immunity, preparing devastating attacks designed to obliterate rather than absorb.
"Cover me," Lyra commanded, her voice echoing across multiple dimensional frequencies as her divine nature fully manifested. "I need at least ninety seconds to calculate the dimensional matrices."
Odyn stepped forward, his fire-colored eyes blazing with something the Z-Fighters had never seen before. His deep blue hair began to shift and flow as if moved by cosmic winds, and his aura—previously restrained—exploded outward with divine radiance that made even the Supreme Kai take notice.
"Arkynorean Ascension," Odyn announced, his voice carrying harmonics that resonated through the fabric of reality itself. "Divine Warrior State."
The transformation was unlike anything the assembled fighters had witnessed. Where Saiyan transformations drew upon primal rage and pushed physical limits beyond their breaking points, Odyn's ascension was something entirely different. His power didn't simply increase—it elevated to a completely different category of existence. His mortal form became a vessel for divine martial prowess, his Arkynorean heritage allowing him to channel cosmic forces that would destroy lesser beings.
"What is that?" Vegeta whispered, his Saiyan instincts recognizing raw power but unable to categorize what he was seeing. "It's like a Super Saiyan transformation, but..."
"But divine," Shin breathed, his Supreme Kai nature allowing him to perceive the true scope of what was happening. "He's not just powering up—he's temporarily becoming a god of war."
Odyn's transformed state radiated authority that made reality itself take notice. His fire-colored eyes now burned with the intensity of stellar cores, and his movements carried the weight of cosmic inevitability. When he launched himself at the enhanced Majin Buu, the collision sent shockwaves across multiple dimensions.
The enhanced Buu, who had been preparing to unleash obliterating energy attacks on the other Arkynoreans, suddenly found himself in the fight of his multiversal existence. Odyn's divine combat prowess wasn't just superior technique—it was technique elevated to the level of universal law. Every strike carried the authority of cosmic justice, every block redirected chaotic energy back into ordered patterns.
"Impossible," the enhanced Buu snarled as Odyn's divine fist connected with his jaw, sending him staggering backward despite his overwhelming power reserves. "I have absorbed gods from a thousand timelines. No single warrior should be able to—"
His words were cut off as Odyn's next attack came not as a physical strike but as a wave of divine authority that forced the enhanced Buu's chaotic energies into temporary stability. For a brief moment, the creature's multiversal consciousness was organized into coherent patterns, causing him to experience something he had never felt before: clarity about the magnitude of his own monstrosity.
"You absorbed gods," Odyn replied, his voice carrying the weight of cosmic judgment, "but you never absorbed a divine warrior. There's a significant difference."
The distinction was crucial. The gods that Majin Buu had absorbed across various timelines were beings of power and authority, but they were primarily creators, administrators, or embodiments of natural forces. Odyn, in his Arkynorean Ascension state, was something rarer and more dangerous—a being who had achieved divinity specifically through the path of righteous combat.
"He's actually winning," Scarlett reported with amazement, her scanner readings showing something that should have been impossible. "Odyn's power level in that transformed state is... it's approaching the enhanced Buu's base level."
"Not just approaching," Eleryc corrected, his half-Kai heritage allowing him to perceive the deeper cosmic mechanics at work. "Odyn's divine authority is forcing Buu's chaotic power into less efficient configurations. He's not just matching his strength—he's making Buu weaker by imposing order on chaos."
The enhanced Buu's frustration was becoming palpable. His multiversal consciousness contained memories of every battle he had ever fought, every technique he had ever absorbed, every victory he had ever achieved. But none of those experiences had prepared him for an opponent who fought not just with power, but with the fundamental authority to rewrite the rules of engagement.
"This is impossible!" the creature roared, his form beginning to fluctuate as his absorbed powers conflicted with each other under the pressure of Odyn's divine influence. "I am the ultimate synthesis of all Majin Buu incarnations! No single opponent should be able to challenge me!"
"That's your weakness," Odyn replied calmly, his divine warrior state allowing him to perceive the creature's fundamental flaw. "You're a synthesis, not a unity. All that power from different timelines, but no single will to guide it coherently."
To demonstrate his point, Odyn's next attack targeted not the enhanced Buu's body but his consciousness directly. Divine energy flowed from the Arkynorean warrior like liquid light, forcing the creature's multiversal awareness to confront the contradictions inherent in his existence.
The enhanced Buu screamed as memories from dozens of different timelines began conflicting with each other. In one absorbed timeline, he had been redeemed by Mr. Satan's friendship. In another, he had been a force of pure destruction. In yet another, he had been controlled by different masters with opposing goals. Odyn's divine authority was forcing all these contradictory experiences to exist simultaneously in the creature's consciousness.
"Temporal feedback cascade," Zero realized with growing excitement. "Odyn's not just matching his power—he's using his divine authority to force Buu to experience all his absorbed memories simultaneously. The cognitive dissonance is tearing him apart from the inside."
"Brilliant strategy," Seraphina acknowledged with tactical admiration. "Instead of trying to overpower him, Odyn's using the enhanced Buu's multiversal nature against him."
"How much longer does Lyra need?" Aiko asked, her enhanced senses detecting the growing instability in the dimensional fabric around them.
"Forty-three seconds," Lyra replied without breaking concentration, her divine consciousness navigating impossibly complex mathematical structures that existed across multiple realities. "Odyn, can you maintain the distraction?"
"As long as necessary, sister," Odyn replied, though strain was beginning to show even in his divine warrior state. The enhanced Buu's raw power was still overwhelming, and maintaining divine ascension while fighting a multiversal entity was pushing even his Arkynorean heritage to its limits.
The enhanced Buu, realizing that his usual tactics were not only ineffective but actively counterproductive against Odyn's divine authority, began to change his approach. If he couldn't overpower the divine warrior through conventional means, he would have to try something more desperate.
"If I cannot defeat you through combat," the creature declared, his form beginning to expand as he drew even more power from the dimensional rifts, "then I will simply collapse this entire reality around us. Let's see how well your divine authority works in a universe that no longer exists."
The stakes had just escalated beyond mere personal combat. The enhanced Majin Buu was preparing to destroy not just his opponents, but the entire dimensional convergence point—potentially taking multiple realities with him in the process.
"Lyra," Odyn called out, his divine warrior state flickering as he struggled to contain the creature's reality-threatening tantrum, "whatever you're going to do, do it now. He's about to take everything down with him."
"Almost there," Lyra replied, her divine consciousness reaching the critical juncture of the dimensional fission calculations. "Ten more seconds."
Ten seconds to save the multiverse. Ten seconds while fighting an enemy who was literally trying to erase existence itself rather than accept defeat.
For the first time since the battle began, even Odyn's divine confidence showed cracks of genuine concern.
To be continued in Chapter 10: Against Buu, Battle for the Multiverse!