Chronoa pressed a hand to her head, feeling like her thoughts were a tangled ss.
"I only rember Ozotto ambushing , and then… then I think I had a really long dream?" She tried hard to recall.
Levos cleared his throat and imdiately started explaining.
"…Anyway, it's complicated. In the end, Aeos and I worked together, fused our Ti Power, and used that unprecedented strength to completely seal Ozotto."
Naturally, he gave the story a generous haircut, skipping the parts where Aeos fused with Chronoa, where Cell Max absorbed Aeonora, and where the mini-Cells were… "born."
If Chronoa found out about that, it would only create unnecessary trouble.
"Is that so…" Chronoa almost believed him, but when she saw the Grand Priest smiling faintly off to the side, her certainty wavered.
She could feel the Ti Power inside her nearly drained dry. Her body was weak to the extre, as if she really had endured a battle beyond imagination.
"It's normal for you to be this weak right now. After Ozotto absorbed you, he spent Ti Power like it was free. By the ti we rescued you, you'd already been squeezed dry…"
Chronoa rubbed her head and forced herself to accept it.
Her eyes swept over the palace, where a bunch of small Cells each radiating a powerful aura were chasing each other and roughhousing.
"They're…"
"Just Cell Max traits." Levos replied smoothly, without even blinking. "After handling so many ti crises, you of all people should know that."
"But…" Chronoa blinked, then lifted a hand. A few mini-Cells imdiately stopped fooling around and scampered over to her, wagging their tails as if they were trying to please her. "They… seem like they have so sort of connection to …"
"They're friendly. They like getting close to people," Levos said, face straight, heart steady.
Chronoa smiled. "Your kids are really cute."
"No!" Levos rejected it on the spot. "They are not my kids. How can you force human logic onto another species?"
"…Alright." Seeing him insist so fiercely, Chronoa didn't push it. "Do they have nas? What should I call them?"
"In birth " Levos coughed. "In creation order, they're Fifteen, Sixteen… up to Twenty-Eight."
"You're really casual about naming things." Chronoa rolled her eyes. "Still… thank you. For stepping forward and saving all tilines."
"No need." Levos shook his head. "And it wasn't just ."
Having successfully muddled through, Levos finally let out a quiet breath, then turned toward the Grand Priest, who was still wearing that carefully controlled smile.
"Grand Priest, I have a question."
"Please."
"Why…" Levos asked the biggest doubt in his heart. "Why didn't you step in, even when things were that desperate? With your power, dealing with Ozotto shouldn't have been difficult."
The mont he asked, Chronoa and Goten both looked over, curiosity obvious.
The Grand Priest's smile didn't change, but a trace of helplessness appeared in his eyes.
He snapped his fingers, and he and Levos appeared outside the palace.
"Mr. Levos. The '' you see, and Lord Zeno as well… are not our true bodies."
"We are projections cast across all tilines. One of many. You could also say… I am a clone."
A projection? A clone?
Levos froze, stunned by the concept.
The Grand Priest looked at him calmly.
"The universe operates by inherent rules. My responsibility is to observe the evolution of the tilines I oversee, and guide them toward greater stability and prosperity."
"But I do not directly participate in battle. That would disrupt balance, and interfere too heavily with the universe's natural developnt."
"Like a gardener, I can prune branches, fertilize, and water. But I cannot replace the seed and force it to bloom."
"We projections handle our tasks within the frawork of rules. We do not overstep authority, nor make decisions on behalf of the true body."
"Lord Zeno is the sa only his authority is higher. When an error within a tiline or universe becos irreparable, and may even contaminate other stable tilines, he activates the privilege of Erasure to remove that error entirely."
"Unfortunately, Ozotto was special. Through the Super Dragon Balls, he exploited a loophole in the rules and gained resistance to Erasure. That pushed him beyond what Lord Zeno's authority could cleanly resolve."
"But fortunately… you appeared. So within my permitted scope, I was able to assist you in opposing Ozotto."
"So that's why you had absorb your power…" Levos finally understood why the Grand Priest had been willing. "By doing that, you could temporarily lend a portion of your authority, letting use angelic law."
"Correct. But such borrowing has limits. And the outco proved it could not solve the problem at its root. In the end, it was your… unique solution that eliminated Ozotto as a threat."
The Grand Priest wore that half-smile again. "The way you resolved the crisis truly was fascinating."
Levos sighed, silently praying the Grand Priest would keep his mouth shut and not spread the details.
Still, after hearing all this, he finally understood the gulf between himself and beings like the Grand Priest and Zeno.
Even a re projection was terrifying.
As for the so-called Divine Realm… it was probably a higher-dinsional space altogether.
Levos fell into thought.
"The distorted tiline Ozotto birthed has already perished. My mission in the lower realm is complete. By the rules, I will return to the Divine Realm and rge with my true body."
The Grand Priest was leaving?
"Then what about Lord Zeno?" Levos asked.
"Well…" The Grand Priest's expression turned a little strange. "He has the freedom to decide whether he returns or not."
"I'm not going back!"
When Levos and the Grand Priest returned to the palace, Zeno suddenly hopped off the throne and flew straight to Levos, grabbing onto him.
"The Divine Realm is no fun at all! I want to watch interesting fights! I'm going to Levos's tiline to play!"
The Grand Priest blinked.
Levos was equally dumbfounded.
What was this?
Had Zeno… latched onto him?
The Grand Priest chuckled softly. "Mr. Levos… then I'll be relying on you to take good care of Lord Zeno."
Levos's cheek twitched.
Grand Priest, what are you doing?!
Aren't you going to talk him out of it at least?!
As if he'd heard Levos's thoughts, the Grand Priest sighed. "I can't do anything about Lord Zeno."
Then, with rare solemnity, he entrusted Zeno to Levos.
"Since Lord Zeno has decided, then please, take care of him, Mr. Levos."
"Wait! This " Levos tried to refuse.
"Mr. Levos, until we et again." The Grand Priest smiled. "I hope that next ti, you'll bring even more surprises."
He clapped his hands once. Two unconscious Zeno guards turned into light and vanished along with him.
In the entire palace, only Levos, Goten, Chronoa, Zeno and a bunch of mini-Cells tinkering and running wild remained.
Seeing Zeno's eager face, Levos felt his headache doubling.
"A lot of toys can't be taken. That's annoying," Zeno said with a troubled pout.
A chance!
Levos's heart jumped. If Zeno cared that much about his toys, was he finally going back to the Divine Realm?
"Levos, Levos bring the palace!"
"…Fine." Levos could only accept his fate.
He stored the damaged Zeno palace into his personal space, desperate to get ho.
"Alright. Let's go."
"No." Chronoa rubbed her temples. "If Lord Zeno visits the Ti Nest openly, it'll cause an uproar. And the Demon Realm scouts are watching the Ti Nest's movents at all tis. Going there is too dangerous. Even visiting your tiline could create endless trouble…"
Levos had already thought of all that those were exactly the problems he'd been staring at.
He waved a hand, using his item-creation ability. Several pieces of clothing appeared out of thin air.
"Lord Zeno. Starting now, we're going to play a ga."
"A ga? Yay yay!"
With permission secured, Levos imdiately started "working" Zeno over.
A mont later, a completely new creature stood before them.
Zeno's small body was sealed tightly inside a custom pink bodysuit, then covered with a green, skintight one-piece over it.
Even his pure, bright eyes were altered by a special film into a dull, vacant stare.
"This outfit is so fun! Levos, what do I do?" Zeno's muffled voice ca from inside the suit.
"You're going to pretend to be soone else," Levos explained. "That way, we can see so funny reactions. Like Beerus, Champa, and the others."
"Ohhh! Is that so? Sounds super fun!"
Zeno bounced in place twice, clearly very satisfied with his new look.
"Then who am I pretending to be?"
Levos looked at his masterpiece, nodded in satisfaction, and swallowed his laughter with great effort.
"Monaka."
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