"Huh?" Videl was still in midair, her young face frozen in shock and confusion.
Bang!
Her kick slammed straight into the wall behind the heavy bag.
"Aaah—!"
She let out a shriek and almost dropped out of the air, pain tearing through her leg like it had snapped in half.
"Hey, what happened? Does it hurt?" Zeno-sama asked, sounding genuinely worried.
"It hurts… I think it's broken… w-wah…" Tears spilled from Videl's eyes. She looked back up at where the bag should've been, blinking in disbelief. "Why is the heavy bag gone?"
Zeno-sama: "..."
He suddenly looked a little guilty. He quickly shook his head like he had no idea what she was talking about.
"It hurts so bad…" Videl whimpered, barely able to stand.
"Buu can heal people. I'll call him over!" Zeno-sama suddenly remembered, then raised his voice and shouted for Majin Buu.
"Buu? He's back?" Videl's eyes lit up, startled and delighted at the same time.
Whoosh!
Majin Buu streaked in from the distance and appeared right beside Zeno-sama.
"Hey, she's hurt. Heal her," Zeno-sama said, pointing at Videl.
"Videl? How'd you get hurt?" Buu blinked at her, confused.
"I was kicking the heavy bag… and I don't know what happened, it just vanished… I kicked the wall and—" Videl sniffled, tears still falling.
Buu: "..."
The bag vanished?
Yeah. Wonder who could've done that. Besides Zeno-sama, who else?
Seriously… that's low.
And you're supposed to be the greatest god in the whole multiverse?
Picking on a little girl like this.
Buu didn't say any of it out loud. He simply walked up and used his healing technique.
With Buu's current healing ability, it took almost no time at all. Videl's injury vanished completely.
"Thank you, Buu!" Videl bounced up from the ground and threw her arms around Majin Buu in a tight hug.
But as she hugged him, she suddenly realized something felt… off.
A bunch of question marks practically popped over her head. Then she flipped around and climbed onto Buu's back like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Buu: "..."
Do you have any manners at all?
"Giddyup!" Videl smacked Buu on the butt.
Buu's face darkened.
Videl, that's too far.
You're seriously using me as a horse?
"Giddyup. Move it," Zeno-sama said with his eyes squinted, like he was enjoying this way too much.
"…Yes," Buu answered obediently, then dropped to all fours and started sprinting.
"This is so fun!" Videl clapped excitedly.
Three minutes later—
"Whoa!" Videl yanked like she was pulling reins.
Buu stopped with a scowl and returned to Zeno-sama's side.
"That was awesome! Buu, why do you look like this now?" Videl hopped down and patted his head, staring at him like a fascinating new toy.
"Changing things up sometimes is fun," Buu said with a wide, goofy grin.
"It really is." Videl still looked like she wasn't satisfied. "That was my first time riding a horse."
"Right? It's fun, isn't it?" Zeno-sama chuckled.
Videl nodded rapidly.
"You can play with him for a few days," Zeno-sama said, smiling.
"Thank you, thank you… Um, I still don't know what to call you." Videl scratched her head.
"Just call me Zeno," Zeno-sama said.
"Hello, Zeno-sama. I'm Videl," Videl said politely.
"Mhm." Zeno-sama nodded.
Right then, Mr. Satan finally finished the egg fried rice and personally carried it over.
Besides the fried rice, he also had the cooks prepare a few signature dishes for Zeno-sama and Buu.
Zeno-sama took a bite of the egg fried rice. It really did taste good.
Buu ate with tears streaming down his face.
It had been so long since he'd tasted Mr. Satan's egg fried rice.
Same as always. Exactly the same.
…
World of Void, Universe 18.
A pure-white planet.
A streak of light, bright as a star, flashed across the sky and landed on the white ground.
Ken studied the planet carefully. Three years had passed, but it still looked almost unchanged.
The entire world was still white and flawless, like polished jade, untouched by dust.
As Ken quietly observed, the glittering light beside him suddenly gathered and condensed.
Pop!
Amarella re-formed in an instant, wearing angel attire as she appeared near him.
"Amarella, you doing okay?" Ken raised a hand and greeted her.
Amarella puffed out her cheeks, clearly annoyed.
Ken blinked. "What's wrong? You look miserable."
"You left me here by myself and didn't even check on me!" Amarella huffed.
"You chose to stay. I didn't dump you here," Ken said seriously.
"Then you should've come back to see me more often," Amarella snapped.
"I've been busy lately, so I didn't have time." Ken smiled. "But I thought of you just a few hours ago, and I came straight here."
Amarella: "..."
"So, in other words… you only just remembered me after three years?" Amarella stared at him like she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Come on." Ken laughed. "For angels, three years goes by in the blink of an eye."
"I don't care. Give me your body!" Amarella said, slamming a fist into her palm.
Ken: "????"
What?
Give you my body?
"I mean… I'm going inside your body," Amarella corrected, still sulking.
"That wording is unbelievably misleading, and you said it backwards," Ken said, wiping sweat off his forehead.
"Enough. I'm going in!" Amarella didn't wait for his permission. She turned into a streak of light and dove straight into him.
Ken: "..."
You really are way too comfortable with this.
The moment she entered, Amarella immediately sensed the vast angel power inside Ken.
Her eyes widened.
"Y-you… what level are you?" Amarella blurted out.
"Not that high. I'm only level 70," Ken said with a small smile.
Amarella went blank for a second.
"You're… level 70?" The shock in her voice was real.
"Keep it down. It's only level 70," Ken said with a sigh, like he was the one suffering here.
"Only… level 70…" Amarella sounded like she didn't know whether to laugh or yell.
You came here to show off, didn't you?
"My leveling's too slow," Ken muttered, suddenly dejected. "I hit level 70 three years ago. And I'm still level 70 now."
Amarella didn't even want to respond.
You want to go up one level every three years?
You're already level 70!
Who levels like that?
"Are you trying to become the next Grand Priest?" Amarella said with a complicated sigh. "Even the Grand Priest didn't level that fast back then."
"Seriously, though—how have you been these past three years?" Ken asked, sounding honestly concerned. "You feel weaker than before."
"What do you think?" Amarella said irritably. "You promised you'd find a Supreme Kai and a God of Destruction for my Universe 18. Where are they? At least send a Supreme Kai over first so the universe can start developing."
"Don't even get me started," Ken said with a heavy sigh. "Universe 7's Supreme Kai annoyed Zeno-sama. Zeno-sama was getting ready to replace him. So the Supreme Kai I was going to train for you might get snatched away by Zeno-sama."
Amarella: "..."
"Fine. Just stay inside me and behave," Ken said. "I'll nourish you with my essence."
"That sounds sweet, but it also sounds… wrong," Amarella said, brows lifting as she thought about it.
"Anyway—Amarella, what level are Zeno-sama's two guards?" Ken quickly changed the subject.
"When I met the right guard back then, he looked like he'd just hit level 70. The left guard was stronger—level 71," Amarella said thoughtfully. "After all these years, they've probably both improved."
"How do you even tell which is left and which is right?" Ken asked, baffled.
They look identical. The one who glared at me—was that the left one or the right one?
"The one on Zeno-sama's left is the left guard. The one on Zeno-sama's right is the right guard," Amarella answered.
Ken: "..."
That's not helpful at all.
"And when they're not standing next to Zeno-sama, how do you tell?" Ken asked, rubbing his forehead.
"The left guard favors his left hand. The right guard favors his right," Amarella said. "As for anything else… the left guard tends to focus on the left, and the right guard tends to focus on the right."
Ken stared ahead in silence.
Could you be any less reliable?
"You're asking because you want to challenge them, aren't you?" Amarella's eyes suddenly brightened. She blinked quickly as she pieced it together.
"I don't even know which one glared at me," Ken said, annoyed. "But his eyes were full of provocation. It's been a long time since anyone dared to look at me like that."
"Was he on the left or the right?" Amarella asked.
"Right," Ken said after thinking back, nodding firmly.
"Then it was the right guard. He's a bit weaker than the left," Amarella said. "But if the two of them fight together—say they're both level 73—then their combined level would be at least level 75."
Ken: "..."
"What kind of nonsense is that?" Ken muttered, wiping sweat again. "They jump two levels just by teaming up?"
That's ridiculous.
Even my Super Angel form only boosts me by two levels.
Why do the two of them get the same boost just by working together?
"That's what makes them terrifying," Amarella said. Then she paused and added, "Have you heard of fusion? Like the Supreme Kai's Potara earrings?"
"I have," Ken said, nodding.
"They have a Super Fusion technique. If they use it, they'll jump six levels," Amarella said.
Ken didn't even know what to say anymore.
"The Metamoran Fusion Dance and the Supreme Kai's fusion are both derived from their Super Fusion," Amarella explained. "A very long time ago, the two guards traveled the universe and passed by the Metamorans. Back then, the Metamorans were being invaded by powerful aliens and couldn't resist at all. The two guards arrived in time and taught them a simplified version of Super Fusion—what we now call the Fusion Dance. The Metamorans fused successfully and defeated the invaders."
"That's actually a thing?" Ken said, genuinely surprised.
"And later, the Grand Priest thought the Supreme Kai were too weak, so he had the Potara earrings made as an emergency lifeline," Amarella continued. "The Potara's effect is also an evolution of the guards' Super Fusion. Once fused, the results are beyond imagination. The power increase is on a whole other level."
Ken fell quiet.
He'd thought he could crush those two guards without much trouble.
Now it sounded like he needed to raise his level a lot more before he even considered challenging them.
"So don't even think about it unless you reach level 80," Amarella said with a light laugh, then shook her head. "I don't know what your limit is. If you've been stuck for three years, maybe level 70 is close to your ceiling. From here, leveling gets slower and slower. It might take tens of millions of years just to gain one level."
"That sounded way too reasonable. Please stop talking," Ken said flatly.
Now it felt like she was declaring him capped out.
If I really hit my ceiling, how am I supposed to pull off my goal of marrying three angels?
Amarella wouldn't be bad either. Bringing her home could work.
That'd make four beautiful angel wives.
And there's Bier, that airheaded angel.
She's a little slow, but I can live with that.
Five angels—one a day, and I can rest on Saturday and Sunday.
No, Saturdays and Sundays can be angel battle royale.
Just imagining it is insane.
I'm a genius.
Of course, that's just "communication" with angels.
Down in the mortal world, there's Bulma and Android 18 too.
Is two too few?
No, no. That's fine.
No need to be greedy.
Especially not as an angel. An angel should keep a peaceful heart.
But if you add Bulma and Android 18, there isn't a single day off in the whole week.
Then again, angels don't need rest.
And Android 18's stamina is unreal.
Unlimited energy.
"Hey. What are you thinking about?" Amarella asked. "Your angel power's rhythm just sped up a lot."
"Nothing important," Ken said solemnly. "I'm just planning for my future."
"As an angel, planning for your future is a good thing. It deserves praise," Amarella said seriously, nodding.
"Mm-hm." Ken nodded hard.
You get me.
"So now that you're inside me… you're coming with me?" Ken asked.
"I suddenly really want to go to Earth and eat good food," Amarella admitted, a little embarrassed.
Ken: "..."
"Then do we even need to keep this planet?" Ken asked, glancing back at the flawless white world.
Amarella didn't answer.
A brief silence passed.
"Of course we keep it!" Amarella said, suddenly indignant. "This is my Universe 18! It took forever to restore it!"
"Fine. If you want it, keep it." Ken lifted his staff and tapped it lightly against the ground.
Whoosh!
In the next instant, Ken became a brilliant streak of light and shot out of Universe 18 into the World of Void.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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