Levos was genuinely surprised.
He hadn't expected Aeos to be the one to propose fusing with her sworn enemy.
Curious as he was, he forced himself not to ask why. Instead, he lifted a hand, about to cast healing magic on Chronoa.
"Wait! Don't heal her!"
"Why not?"
"No reason! Just… she can't know about this!"
Levos frowned. "Once you fuse, a new individual will be born and you'll never separate again. What's there to be embarrassed about?"
Aeos clenched her teeth. "My ideals have always been right. I refuse to let her think this fusion is me 'compromising.'"
"Chronoa giving birth to a monster like Ozotto, one that threatens every timeline, is proof enough that she's wrong."
"Excess time branches must be eliminated as early as possible."
"After the fusion, the new individual will carry out my ideals."
A chill ran down Levos's spine.
Aeos's mindset was extreme. If nobody corrected it, she'd become the next disaster waiting to happen.
Worse, she was saying all of this right in front of Zeno.
And Zeno, instead of looking displeased, was practically bouncing in place.
"Fuse, fuse! I wanna see, I wanna see!"
Levos stared at Aeos and said seriously, "I think Chronoa's ideals are right. She believes that in the branches of time, good people will always outnumber the bad, that justice will ultimately defeat evil. And besides… destroying time branches was never supposed to be the Supreme Kai of Time's job."
From his time with the Grand Priest and Zeno, Levos had begun to understand how the Dragon Ball universe actually functioned.
The Grand Priest was an observer and guide. He rarely interfered in battles, yet he carried the responsibility of steering the universe toward a better direction.
Zeno, on the other hand, was like a final corrective mechanism. When a universe's development became completely uncontrollable, he erased the danger at its root.
"No," Aeos snapped. "One Ozotto is already one too many. My ideals can strangle every 'accident' in its cradle."
Aeos had her own doctrine, hardened over countless eons. Otherwise, her dispute with Chronoa wouldn't have dragged on for tens of millions of years without resolution.
Seeing he couldn't change her mind anytime soon, Levos had no choice but to drop it for now.
Still, the thought of Chronoa disappearing forever and being merged into a new being left him uneasy.
Please don't let their fusion be stubborn to the point of madness.
The moment Aeos helped Chronoa put on the Potara earrings
The two figures slammed together.
A flash of white light.
A new Supreme Kai of Time was born.
"I am neither Aeos… nor Chronoa…"
Levos stared. "Then what's your name?"
"I am… Aeonora."
A sacred presence surged outward. Golden and sea-blue time rings intertwined behind her.
Even Zeno's palace showed faint signs of cracking under the pressure.
"So amazing! So amazing!" Zeno clapped excitedly, eyes sparkling.
Levos's gaze sharpened. "That fusion really isn't ordinary…"
Aeonora's calm eyes swept toward him.
Levos nodded once. "Start the sealing."
Behind Aeonora, the time halo rotated slowly, radiating brilliant intertwined gold and blue light.
Suddenly, Ozotto began struggling violently, clearly sensing the threat.
But as the seconds passed, his power was heavily suppressed.
"Good. The sealing technique is taking effect." Sweat seeped onto Aeonora's forehead.
Yet before her words fully landed Ozotto erupted again!
Endless energy burst out. Inside Cell Max's tail, three different forces Levos's, Ozotto's, and the angelic power collided in violent conflict!
The seal Aeonora had just established immediately began to loosen.
"No… your internal state is too complicated. I can't hold it much longer."
Aeonora gritted her teeth. The hands of her halo spun like mad she was already pushing her absolute limit.
Levos could feel Aeonora's Time Power draining at a terrifying rate. If this continued, the situation would only worsen.
And it was worse than that.
To give Aeonora the best possible sealing environment, Cell Max had been forced to absorb all the overflowing energy Ozotto leaked.
Levos was hitting his own ceiling.
Cell Max's body began swelling out of control. Fine cracks spiderwebbed across his dark-gold shell.
Even Zeno's little face tightened as he stared anxiously at Levos.
"I can't do it." Aeonora let out a breath. "There's only one last method."
"Then say it." Levos's expression was grim. Even a fusion of two Supreme Kais of Time still couldn't solve this.
"Absorb me."
"You've gotta be kidding!" Levos snapped. "I'm about to blow up as it is. How am I supposed to swallow you too?!"
"Only by gathering all of our Time Power together can we fully suppress Ozotto," Aeonora said, voice steel-hard. "And haven't you survived this kind of crisis again and again?"
"This time is different…"
Levos wanted to explain, but there was no time left to waste.
"You've made it through every other time. You'll find a way again!" Aeonora urged. "I believe in you!"
The seal was already on the brink of collapse. Ozotto's roar thundered from within.
"This level of sealing is supposed to hold me? I have infinite energy and an immortal body! No one can stop me!"
Aeonora's body wavered. She nearly fell from the air.
Her Time Power was almost depleted, and cracks were beginning to form across her own body.
"I've already given everything…"
Levos clenched his jaw. "Then we gamble."
Cell Max split off a new tail and wrapped Aeonora inside it.
"The fate of the entire universe is in your hands, Levos…" Aeonora whispered.
The instant the fused being was absorbed, Levos felt like he might explode at any moment.
His body expanded until even Zeno's palace couldn't contain him. The fractures in his dark-gold armor spread wider and wider.
"No. I'm really going to blow !"
But he forced it down, gritting through the agony, following the sealing method Aeonora had left behind and guiding the Time Power into place.
The divine power raging inside him hovered on the edge of total collapse. Levos could practically see the scene of himself bursting apart.
And at the same time, memories surfaced countless moments fighting alongside his comrades back on Earth.
"They say when you're about to die, you see everything you've ever lived through. Like a movie reel…"
Then, when his mind paused on one particular moment another time he had been on the verge of exploding from excess energy Levos fell into a long silence.
"Mr. Levos has already come so far…" Goten stared blankly, not daring to hope anymore.
And then Levos suddenly roared.
"Damn it I can't take this anymore!"
For some reason, after absorbing Aeonora, Cell Max had regained a certain "function."
Levos's face went pitch black.
Swallowing his shame, Cell Max split off several tails.
Then the base of each tail bulged violently.
"Come on give birth!"
Gurgle, gurgle!
Pfft, pfft, pfft !
One after another, tiny Cells shot out of his tails.
With every newborn mini-Cell, the pressure inside Cell Max eased by a fraction.
"Why is it that every time I have to make some insane sacrifice just to save the universe?!" Levos looked like he was about to cry.
"No. Strictly speaking, mini-Cells can't be considered my children. You can't apply human logic to these little monsters. They don't have a dad… and they absolutely don't have a mom!"
Only by thinking like that could Levos find the tiniest sliver of comfort.
At the same time, he sped up the "production."
And Zeno, watching from the side, clapped even harder.
"So awesome! So awesome! You had so many babies at once!"
Goten was left staring, completely dumbfounded.
Levos's face twitched. He forcibly dragged his focus back to the seal.
When the fourteenth mini-Cell popped out, the overflowing divine power inside him finally stabilized. Cell Max's size shrank back down to normal.
That sudden, unprecedented lightness let Levos pour all of his concentration into the sealing.
The fusion of three Time Powers formed an unprecedentedly brilliant clock-halo behind him.
"Ultimate Seal!"
Countless fragments of time condensed into chains, wrapping around Ozotto again and again inside Levos's tail.
This time, Ozotto's struggle grew weaker and weaker until he was compressed into something like a stone.
"It's finally over."
When no response came from Ozotto for a long time, Levos released a long breath.
He flicked his tail and released the Grand Priest and the others.
For reasons unknown, Aeonora had already separated inside him.
The separated Aeos seemed not to have inherited the fusion's memories. She stood on guard immediately, scanning the palace for Ozotto.
Chronoa, meanwhile, remained unconscious.
Aeos frowned sharply. "After I fused with Chronoa… did we seal Ozotto?"
"Of course." Levos answered instantly. "Your fusion was insane. Ozotto didn't even have a chance to resist."
The Grand Priest smiled pleasantly and didn't expose him. "Your solution truly was… unique."
Aeos glanced at the mini-Cells scampering around the palace, curiosity flickering in her eyes.
"Can you tell me what happened in the end?"
"Enough chatter." Levos pulled out the stone that held Ozotto sealed inside. "What do we do with this?"
Aeos's attention snapped to it. After examining it, her expression gradually grew solemn.
"We did seal Ozotto inside a fragment of time. But the energy in his body will keep accumulating. Every so often, we'll need to purge the excess energy otherwise the seal will still be forced open."
"What do you mean?" Levos's eyes narrowed.
"Other than you, nobody in the universe can withstand power of that level." Aeos said seriously. "So absorbing Ozotto's energy regularly will be your responsibility."
"So this headache is going to stick to me forever?"
"This is already the best outcome." Aeos replied. "Relax. The seal is far sturdier than I expected. But this object absolutely cannot fall into the wrong hands."
"Fine." Levos exhaled. "I'll find a chance to use the Super Dragon Balls and end this for good."
"What a waste." Aeos shot him a look. "This stone has plenty of uses. We can exploit it."
"If you hate the trouble so much, give it to me. I'll calculate the timing and come to you when it's time. In exchange, I can fulfill one request so long as it's within my power."
Keep the stone himself, or take Aeos's promise.
Levos thought for a moment. "I want you to… guarantee absolute safety for the timeline I live in. And anything you know about threats to that timeline you warn me in advance."
Aeos nodded.
Then she put away the time fragment and prepared to leave.
Before going, she looked once at Chronoa, still unconscious.
"Little Chronoa… your ideals do have merit." For once, Aeos's face softened with a gentle smile. "A timeline capable of birthing someone like Levos… truly is worth protecting."
With that, her figure vanished.
Levos casually tossed a healing spell onto Chronoa. "What was that woman mumbling about just now?"
Chronoa blinked awake, confused.
"Ugh… why am I here?"
"Grand Priest… Lord Zeno?"
"What happened while I was out?"
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