Levos' face darkened. He let out a heavy sigh.
"Save the congratulations. I did make it out alive this time, but I didn't expect Dark Gogito to put me through all that."
Relief rippled through the group.
But curiosity outweighed it.
"Levos, were they part of your plan?" Piccolo asked, eyeing the Cell Juniors.
"In a way," Levos said, noncommittal.
By his original plan, absorbing Dark Gogito should have vaulted his power through a qualitative leap.
The outcome was… more ironic than inspiring.
Still, Dark Gogito was gone for good Zamasu's side had lost a major pillar.
Levos himself had only gained a modest bump, which he couldn't quite explain.
What had jumped significantly was the Divine Path though still short of full evolution. No new transformation, no handle on godly ki yet.
Even so, it confirmed a simple rule: keep absorbing beings with divine souls or divine bodies, and the Divine Path progresses.
It gave him real hope he could complete that evolution.
And then there were the Cell Juniors an enormous, unplanned surprise.
Levos was about to test a new route for growth when a chorus of odd little voices cut across the terrace.
"Hee-hee!"
"Heh-heh!"
"What are they doing?"
"Levos! Control them!"
Levos snapped back to find the temple thrown into chaos by a whirlwind of mischievous Juniors.
They were relentless never idle, always pranking zipping around the halls and startle-scaring everyone in sight.
Spotting the androids, they'd swoop in and mime absorption, just to watch people flinch.
Pilaf's crew was seconds from a breakdown.
They were ruthless little gremlins.
Bolder still, some had the gall to yank Frieza's tail.
No one could stop them, which left everyone gritting their teeth in silence.
A muscle twitched at Frieza's eye; it took oceans of self-control not to explode.
Levos' expression turned complicated. Headache incoming.
These kids needed a handler and fast.
His gaze slid to Piccolo.
Piccolo stiffened as if he'd read Levos' mind. His face blanched a shade greener. "My power is nothing compared to theirs. I can't help you."
Levos considered it and nodded. True enough.
But he wasn't about to waste a perfectly good teacher.
"Piccolo, Namekians can assimilate, right? I want one of the kids to merge with you to raise your power."
"That way you'll have the strength to keep them in line."
Piccolo got it immediately.
"But Levos they're your children. Can you really do that?"
Levos nodded, solemn and sure.
"At a time like this, sentiment comes last. I need strong allies now."
Piccolo's expression flickered between a dozen thoughts.
"Don't worry. It won't overwrite who you are. They were just born you will be the dominant mind."
"Levos, I think I'll pass. I don't want to power up this way."
"It's a stopgap," Levos pressed. "We solve the crisis first. Later, if you want out, I have a way to separate you."
Piccolo swallowed. "Really?"
"Absolutely," Levos said, certain.
(He was thinking of Yardrat techniques from the Moro arc Forced Spirit Fission and separation arts that could unfuse beings.)
"Time's tight. Let's move," he urged.
Piccolo gritted his teeth and agreed.
"Thirteenth over here."
Levos called over the Junior who had been pestering the Emperor. With a thread of telepathy, he explained the plan.
The little one's face scrunched into a pout. "Chii…"
The other Juniors fell quiet and drifted close, each one putting on their saddest face at Levos.
There was no time for softness.
Rose Broly still loomed unsolved, and the sky-wide Fused Zamasu gnawing at the planet was a greater catastrophe waiting to spread.
If the Sacred World of the Kais weren't so vast and resilient, the corruption would already have blanketed the universe like Trunks' future timeline.
Fused Zamasu's current form was too strange; Levos had no clean solution yet.
Delay would doom the divine realm and once it spilled into the cosmos, it would be too late.
So Levos had to raise Piccolo's power, his own, and Majin Buu's now.
He knew the kids' real feelings as if they were his own.
Playing pitiful wouldn't help; separation later was possible.
"First, Second you two, Fusion Dance."
He spat out a pair of jade-green earrings the Potara he'd inherited by fully absorbing Dark Gogito. His body couldn't digest them; time to use them.
"Third, Fourth these are fusion earrings. Put them on."
"Thirteenth, Fourteenth you two, assimilate."
Levos set the board briskly.
He wanted hard numbers: how each fusion method multiplied power and then he'd decide which Junior would merge with Piccolo.
"Levos, you really did plan for everything," Piccolo said, a trace of relief on his face.
Levos lifted a brow and let it pass without comment.
Three flashes lit the plaza three newly fused Cell Juniors stood ready.
Levos stroked his chin, thinking.
"As expected, without different life experience and skillsets to synthesize, the multipliers aren't huge."
"Fusion Dance and assimilation each multiply by about ten."
"Potara fusion doubles that about twenty."
"Fusion Dance lasts 30 minutes, Potara about one hour, and assimilation is permanent."
"How do we maximize the multiplier?"
His brows knit.
If one Junior assimilated another, then assimilated again repeat.
Consume eight Juniors and you'd end up with a triple-assimilated Super Junior at roughly 1,000× base.
Then if he assimilated that one, Levos should gain around a thousandfold himself.
Or have two double-assimilated Juniors wear Potara.
Their fusion would spike to around 2,000×.
Time limits didn't matter: he planned to assimilate the final product anyway.
The snag? He had no spare Potara left.
"Elder Kai," Levos asked, "what happens if you remove the Potara from a fused being?"
"Two outcomes," the Elder Kai said gravely. "Remove the earrings from a mortal fusion, and the body splits. Remove them from a divine fusion, and nothing happens gods' Potara cannot be undone."
"Thank you," Levos said. "I know what to do."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, you like the story? Wow, who knew. Go ahead, drop a review and throw some power stones maybe I'll be motivated to keep going.
"Want to stay ahead of the game?Advanced chapters are up on my Patron. If you're enjoying the ride, swing by and check them out."
[email protected]/_theon
Change @ to "a"