The Space-Time God of Destruction regarded the ruined world below and slowly shook his head.
"There's nothing here worth preserving anymore. Even if I leave this timeline intact, it will remain nothing more than an abandoned branch of history."
Ken had expected that answer.
"What if I can restore it?"
The destruction energy hovering above the god's palm remained steady as his attention shifted toward Ken.
"And how do you intend to accomplish that?"
"Time Reversal."
That earned a more serious look.
"Little Angel, think carefully before you try. Reversing a few minutes is one thing. The farther back you push an entire timeline, the greater the damage to your body." He gestured toward the devastated universe around them. "To return everything to the state it was in before Zamasu arrived, you would have to rewind years. At your current level, you may exhaust almost every trace of Angel power you possess."
The warning did not change Ken's decision.
"I still want to try. If I can't restore it, you can erase the timeline afterward."
The Space-Time God of Destruction considered the proposal and saw no reason to refuse.
"Very well."
Ken drew a deep breath and raised his staff.
The rewind would affect the entire timeline, but Zamasu himself would be excluded. His erasure by the Space-Time God of Destruction would remain absolute; turning back history would not recreate him.
No version of Zamasu would be allowed to return simply because time had been restored.
Angel power had just begun gathering around Ken's staff when the Space-Time God of Destruction spoke again.
"Wait."
Ken lowered the staff before releasing the technique.
"Is there something else?"
"You interrupted me while I was preparing to destroy the timeline." The god spoke with complete seriousness. "Now we're even."
Ken needed a moment to process that.
Apparently, a level-100 god could be petty too.
"May I use Time Reversal now?"
A slight nod gave him permission.
Ken raised his staff for the second time.
"Wait."
His fingers tightened around the staff.
Was this going to happen every time?
"Release the little demoness."
That request caught Ken off guard for a very different reason.
Any surprise quickly faded. Someone at the Space-Time God of Destruction's level failing to notice the woman sealed inside Ken would have been far stranger.
Ken had little interest in keeping her imprisoned forever anyway. If she caused trouble again, capturing her a second time would solve the problem.
He released her from his body.
The little demoness appeared beside him and immediately dropped to her knees before the Space-Time God of Destruction.
"Thank you for freeing me."
"And the Grand Priestess," the god continued. "Release her as well."
That one annoyed Ken.
He hesitated before eventually allowing the Grand Priestess out too. She appeared beside the little demoness, bowed respectfully to the Space-Time God of Destruction, then immediately directed all of her hostility toward her old enemy.
The little demoness answered with a contemptuous lift of her chin.
The Grand Priestess visibly bristled.
"I'm already aware of the dispute between the two of you," the Space-Time God of Destruction said. "From this moment onward, you are both free."
Their mutual hatred disappeared beneath immediate delight.
"Thank you!"
Both women bowed again.
The gratitude lasted only until they looked at each other.
"Find somewhere else and settle this with me," the little demoness challenged.
"The World of Void," the Grand Priestess replied. "No one will interfere there."
"Fine by me."
Before either could leave, Ken cut across their argument.
"Save it. I'm restoring the timeline first."
Both women turned their anger toward him instead.
Ken met their hostility with a pleasant smile.
Whatever they saw in his expression reminded them how poorly their previous confrontations with him had ended, because neither maintained eye contact for long.
Ken finally raised his staff without another interruption.
"Time Reversal."
Angel power poured from the crystal and spread beyond the planet, beyond the galaxy, and throughout the entire timeline.
Space itself began to distort.
History started running backward.
Destroyed planets reformed from debris. Dead stars reignited. Battles reversed, deaths unwound, and every universe retraced the path it had taken over the past several years.
Earth changed most dramatically.
Ruined cities rose out of rubble as shattered streets repaired themselves beneath rebuilt towers. Fires vanished back into intact buildings, scarred landscapes became whole, and the countless people murdered during Zamasu's campaign returned to the lives they had been living before his arrival.
Ken drove the rewind farther.
Months vanished.
Then years.
In less than a minute, he brought the entire timeline back three full years.
When the immense flow of Angel power finally settled, Earth was alive again.
Ken surveyed the restored universe with obvious satisfaction.
"That should do it."
The three people beside him were considerably less composed.
The Space-Time God of Destruction had expected Ken to suffer enormously from a rewind of this scale. The Grand Priestess and little demoness understood the technique well enough to know how absurd the result was.
Ordinary Time Reversal might restore three minutes.
Ken had just restored three years.
The Space-Time God of Destruction quickly identified how he had done it.
"You enlarged the particles of Angel power roughly a hundredfold. That allowed you to extend the rewind far deeper into the past without putting the expected strain on your body."
"Exactly."
"Interesting."
The god continued examining Ken with far more attention than before, enough that Ken started wondering why he was being studied so intensely.
He hoped this was purely professional interest. Cats were not exactly his type.
"It has been a very long time since a true Space-Time Angel appeared," the Space-Time God of Destruction finally said.
That explained the scrutiny.
"Creation is followed by destruction, and destruction is sometimes followed by regret."
Ken considered the wording.
"Those don't really match."
The Space-Time God of Destruction fell silent for a moment before trying again.
"What I mean is that sometimes a timeline must be destroyed, only for circumstances to change afterward. Once that destruction is complete, regret accomplishes nothing." He indicated the restored universe around them. "A Space-Time Angel capable of performing Time Reversal on this scale would provide another option."
Ken finally understood where the conversation was going.
"You want me to become that Space-Time Angel?"
The god nodded, then shook his head.
Ken stared at him.
That was not especially helpful.
"You mean I'm too weak right now."
"You understand quickly." The Space-Time God of Destruction allowed himself a faint smile. "Within your own timeline, your power is already extraordinary. Across the countless timelines that exist beyond it, however, you still have a long way to go."
His expectation was simple.
"If you truly want the position, continue training until you can at least surpass me."
Ken accepted the challenge without hesitation.
"I will."
"I told you before that I have already reached the age when I should consider retirement." The Space-Time God of Destruction folded his hands behind his back. "I've also heard that you are raising Broly to become a Great God of Destruction."
Ken listened more carefully.
"When the time is right, train Broly to inherit my position as the next Space-Time God of Destruction. You can become the Space-Time Angel who works alongside him."
That arrangement suited Ken perfectly well.
"I'll keep it in mind."
"In that case, consider these two my gift to you."
The Space-Time God of Destruction casually pointed toward the Grand Priestess and little demoness.
Both women stopped looking pleased about their newfound freedom.
Ken was equally surprised.
So that entire release had been temporary?
"When your strength approaches my level, I'll come find you again," the Space-Time God of Destruction continued.
His body faded before either woman could object.
A moment later, he was gone.
Ken remained where he was, thinking over everything he had just heard.
Space-Time Angel.
Reaching a level comparable to the Space-Time God of Destruction would not happen quickly, and there was no point pretending otherwise. He would simply continue training until he got there.
For now, the important part was that Future Trunks's timeline had survived.
Ken had also been careful when rewinding history.
The Goku from this timeline had originally died from the heart virus. Zamasu later used Super Shenron to revive him before stealing another Goku's body, but simply reversing everything would have undone that resurrection as well.
Ken had separated Goku's personal history from the rest of the rewind.
In effect, he had edited the timeline.
Zamasu's resurrection wish remained part of Goku's history, allowing him to stay alive, while Zamasu himself had been removed from the restored version of events.
Super Shenron's resurrection had already conquered the heart virus once, so Goku would not simply drop dead again.
Ken swept his staff across the restored timeline and examined all twelve universes.
Every murdered Supreme Kai had returned.
Through their life links, the Gods of Destruction had returned with them.
Everything was where it belonged.
Behind him, the Grand Priestess and little demoness exchanged a look.
For once, they reached exactly the same conclusion.
Run.
They shot away in opposite directions, hoping that forcing Ken to choose between them might give at least one of them a chance to escape.
Ken watched the two streaks of light separate across the sky and shook his head.
"Did being trapped inside me make both of you stupid? You're barely level 60. I'm already above level 80. Splitting up doesn't suddenly make you faster than me."
Both women faltered in the distance.
Apparently, imprisonment really had damaged their judgment.
"First one who comes back, smiles, and tells me she was wrong gets more freedom while staying inside me."
The little demoness reversed course instantly.
She shot back toward Ken so quickly that the Grand Priestess barely had time to react before her rival had already disappeared inside his body.
The Grand Priestess arrived a moment later, far too late to win.
Ken rewarded the quicker response by loosening the restrictions around the little demoness.
"Good. You listened for once, so I'll give you more freedom for a while."
The little demoness was delighted with herself until a new thought occurred to her.
"And her?"
"What about her?"
"Why aren't you restricting the Grand Priestess?"
"She's behaved herself lately. Why would I?"
Only then did the little demoness realize the competition had never been equal.
That promise had been aimed entirely at her.
The Grand Priestess laughed so hard at her expression that the little demoness immediately lunged at her.
"I'll kill you!"
Their fight resumed inside Ken as though the Space-Time God of Destruction's intervention had never happened.
Ken ignored both of them.
The crisis was over, Future Trunks finally had a world worth returning to, and there was nothing else keeping him in this timeline.
He was preparing to leave when someone approached through the restored city.
Ken recognized her immediately despite the years visible on her face.
Future Bulma had grown older. Gray had entered her hair, fine lines surrounded her eyes, and life in this timeline had left its marks on her, but none of it hid who she was.
She stopped several steps away and studied Ken without blinking.
"You're… Ken, aren't you? The one Trunks told me about?"
Emotion thickened her voice.
Ken gave her a quiet nod.
"That's me."
He raised his staff and sent Angel power through her body.
Every cell responded.
Age receded in seconds as gray hair regained its color, wrinkles disappeared, and decades of wear vanished from her body. By the time the light faded, Bulma looked eighteen again.
She touched her face, then her hair, completely overwhelmed by the sudden return of strength and youth.
"What did you do to me?"
"Consider it a gift for meeting me here." Ken lowered the staff. "I restored your youth."
Bulma could feel the difference without a mirror. Her body was light again, full of an energy she had forgotten years ago.
"This timeline has been restored too. Take care of the life you've been given back."
Ken lifted his staff toward the sky.
"Goodbye, Bulma."
A long crack opened overhead, revealing a spiraling passage through space-time. Ken had already begun rising toward it when Bulma called after him.
"Wait!"
Something in her voice made him stop.
She bit her lip, gathering enough courage to finish what she had started.
"Could you… kiss me before you go?"
Ken had not expected that.
Bulma's eyes reddened as she looked up at him.
"Trunks told me that in your timeline, you and I ended up together." Her voice trembled despite her effort to keep it steady. "But you never existed in this world. All these years, I was waiting for someone who could never come."
The restored city around her only made the feeling sharper. Three years of tragedy had been erased, but the life she had lived before it still belonged to her.
"And now, suddenly, you're standing right in front of me."
She managed a fragile smile.
"I'm not asking you for anything more."
Bulma raised her face toward him and closed the remaining distance as far as she dared.
Then she waited.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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