Prelude to Destruction

A dragon.

Its golden magnificence took up the space of millions of galaxies. Its wingspan cut through the space between universes. An incomprehensible creature whose eyes held infinite wisdom.

And a man.

A dark-skinned man riddled with scars stood in front of the dragon, floating amid space. Even in his old age, he was still a mountain of a man, standing at a staggering height above 200 centimeters. His left arm was gone, and there was a massive hole in his chest, but his right hand gripped a brown leather book firmly.

As if he wasn't on the brink of death, he stood without even a grimace.

Thousands surrounded the two, but neither paid attention to the masses. Each face was beyond hostile, ready to kill the ones in front of them.

But they were frozen. No, time was frozen. In this moment, only the man and the dragon mattered.

However, he understood the situation clearly. Once time unfroze, he would be unable to escape the formidable warriors who wished for his death.

It was inevitable that he would either succeed in his plans, or he would die here. Yet in the face of death, his expression did not change.

The man spoke.

"Koob siht fo stnetnoc eht hctam ot ytilaer etirwer ylbacoverri."

There was a pause, as the dragon peered into him. Its gaze was all-knowing, indecipherable, and overwhelmingly intimidating. And yet, the man didn't flinch.

Its red eyes began to glow. The dragon responded.

"Detnarg neeb sah hsiw ruoy."

Its voice reverberated throughout the galaxies, and if time wasn't frozen, all would be able to hear its glory. The dragon rose beyond the stars, splitting into seven planet-sized orbs. With a flash of blinding light, the fragments of its existence split off into random directions, waiting to be gathered again.

Time resumed.

"Just because you're weak you chose to doom the universe. Vidar, your heinous sins are completely unforgivable!"

"Vidar, just be smart about this and do not resist any longer. The entirety of the time patrol has combined to stop you. You alone can't win!"

"What are we waiting for? I don't even care about any of this and simply hate looking at his damnable face. Let's just kill the bastard already!"

An innumerable number of voices yelled at once, all looking toward him with unveiled hostility. Somehow, even in the cosmos, they could be heard. They cursed and screamed at him from afar.

Yet not a single one acted. They were afraid. Not of him, as weak as they believed he was, but of the consequences of his wish.

The hole in Vidar's chest closed up rapidly. He stared down at his lack of a left arm. With a grunt, a new arm replaced his old one.

"Heh. Not that it matters anymore," Vidar muttered under his breath. A white pillar of energy shot down from the cosmos, silencing the screaming voices. He looked up, expressionless. "Hmm?"

The pillar dissipated, revealing two imposing figures staring directly at him.

A purple, anthropomorphic hairless cat with golden eyes and large pointed ears stared back at him with disdain. Behind him stood a tall blue humanoid with white hair and a staff.

The cat glared at him, letting out a heavy pressure. "Can your miserable little brain even comprehend what you've just done?"

Vidar silently stared back at the lazy god, still as a statue. Slowly, he let out a mocking smirk.

The cat, with a speed that eclipsed that which any mortal could ever hope to achieve, grasped the man's face with a hand. "You think this is a game? Is that it, you miserable buffoon?"

"A game?" Although muffled by the god's vice-like grip, Vidar lightly chuckled. "It always has been."

As he pondered on the situation, memories of his first life passed through his mind.

Originally, he was a simple teenager who hailed from Earth. The world of Dragon Ball used to be nothing but a story. Back then, almost fifty years ago, he'd credulously thought this was the beginning of his rise as a fantasy protagonist.

Trunks had even gone along with his delusions, calling him a chosen one of the Time Patrol. A warrior summoned by Shenron to fulfill a greater purpose.

This dialogue was even familiar to Vidar, as he'd played the Xenoverse games and knew Trunks said the same thing at the beginning of them. Even if he wasn't so young, this similarity still would have made him feel as though he'd been sucked into the game world.

Unlike the story, however, Trunks didn't stop at one chosen. He summoned more and more warriors, sending them off to deal with the various issues that cropped up on the time stream.

Instead of a protagonist though, he was worse than even trash. As one of the few 'chosen ones' without any experience in martial arts or utilizing ki, he was barely treated like a person.

I failed to get anywhere, in the end. Vidar sighed internally, yet he held no regrets.

Despite his failures, he'd always known this path would lead to an end like this.

After realizing how far behind he was, Vidar did not give up. Like many of his peers, he simply persevered, remembering the nature of the Dragon Ball world and its themes of hard work and companionship.

Yet they forgot one key detail of Dragon Ball. In the original timeline? Everyone died.

In the face of overwhelming power, it was only through defying the rules of the gods and tampering with time itself that they could reach a happy ending. And even that future was almost snuffed out by circumstance. If it were only hard work and no luck, they were destined to die horribly.

Friends he'd made in battle died one after the other over the years, their souls swept up by the river of time. Not even Shenron could bring them back at that point, building on his immeasurable grief. 

And finally, after years of this, it dawned on him. This world was undeniably cruel. Even with all the advantages stacked onto the Z-Fighters, they always pulled out a win by impossible means or plot armor.

There was never a win that was sufficiently earned, but merely a product of plot convenience. That was why the Time Patrol existed. For if even one element of history changed, everything would be reduced to shit.

It was obvious a group of weaklings simply trying their best would make no progress, only acting as cannon fodder in the war to protect time.

But that was then, and this was now. In pursuit of his goals, he betrayed everyone and mercilessly schemed his way into his current position.

In this harsh and unforgiving reality, he was forged into a ruthless demon who sought to only become stronger.

After all, this entire world is worthless. Ephemeral pursuits like glory, riches, or relationships mean nothing if the world itself is rotten! With this thought, Vidar couldn't help but laugh.

With a scowl, Beerus the Destroyer raised his other arm, placing it in front of Vidar's bloody chest. 

"To have the gall to laugh in a destroyer's face is the height of callous arrogance. In the end, for all your schemes, you were naught but a hapless fool. Or did you think wishing for something like immortality would deter a god?"

Beerus paused, staring into the man's eyes, their amber depths seemingly bottomless as he focused his divine power. His tone was laced with a finality that suggested there was no chance of survival. 

"Hakai."

...

But... nothing happened. 

Vidar's bone-chilling laughter grew, the malice held within himself emanating through waves of his sinister ki.

Beerus faltered, releasing Vidar with a stunned expression. His white-haired attendant finally showed emotion, widening his eyes in shock. Not even an Angel could predict an outcome like this.

"A fool?" Vidar answered calmly, ignoring the look on Beerus' face. "I was, once."

A crack echoed throughout all of reality, its origin mysterious. Beerus furrowed his brows in confusion, whipping his head around and peering at his surroundings.

"Decades ago, we were summoned to this world," Vidar continued, his words dripping with bitter nostalgia. "Some embraced their sudden summoning, while others resisted. Myself? I was overjoyed."

The crack revealed itself, stretching impossibly over space. It extended to a planet, and then further to a star.

"Naive idiots, all of us. We fought like crabs in a bucket, all to protect the time stream of this vile world. And to what end? For a rush of power? To appease the so-called deities? Or perhaps, the most ridiculous, out of a sense of justice?"

Space fractured and planets trembled, the cracks splintering through the fabric of reality.

"We were mere pawns in the games of the gods, expendable tools in your pursuit of... I don't even know, amusement? Our struggles nothing more than an afternoon show? Well, the reasoning doesn't matter in the end."

Time crumbled as Vidar's words cut through the structure of existence. Entire galaxies seemed to falter under the weight of something.

"My motives have nothing to do with the machinations of the gods. Whether these things happened for a moral reason matters not to me. Good? Evil? Those don't mean anything in this wretched place..."

In the final moments before oblivion consumed all, Beerus could only see the emptiness in Vidar's eyes, a vacant look devoid of mercy or remorse. There was nothing left of the man, a shell of his former optimistic and upright self.

"I despise this world. And I'll die happily if it means it will be dismantled by the roots."

=▶✪◀=

Moss clung to the rough bark of the withered trees, their branches twisted and gnarled, resembling skeletal fingers that loomed overhead - almost reaching into the sky. A blanket of fog enveloped the area, amplifying a heavy sense of foreboding.

Faint glimmers of moonlight pierced the dense canopy above and formed ominous shadows, illuminating the form of a young teenage boy garbed in rags. This boy was Vidar, well in his youth.

His face was thin and sickly, lacking any of the power he had in his old age, and exemplifying his previous lifestyle as a kid who hated going outside.

Suddenly, Vidar's eyes flickered, quickly snapping open with unrestrained vigilance. As he surveyed his surroundings, the initial haze in his vision slowly cleared, a glimmer of clarity overtaking his confusion. He sat there a while, contemplating his situation.

Within many legends throughout the multiverse, whispers about the power of the Super Dragon Balls could be found. Myths of their overwhelming and absolute power were at the tip of these whispers, but the knowledge regarding them was always thin.

As someone who spent almost his entire life researching everything about them, not even Vidar knew the truth.

Many would argue that his findings, a few decades' worth of research, were nothing when compared to those who studied their origins for thousands of years. But as a Time Patroller with access to the past and future, he still had no definitive answer.

To reach his goals, he couldn't rely on them. How could he, when he didn't know if their power was greater than the king of all - Zeno? 

If Vidar simply wished for Zeno's death and it failed, he would be dead without a chance. But now, staring at the sky, he was sure of it. The Super Dragon Balls were not all-powerful!

It seems that reversing time used up most of its power, as it couldn't even properly grant my second or third wish. Vidar sighed to himself. He even used a loophole to make it come true, and it didn't work.

He asked the dragon to change reality, reversing time and shifting events around to the whims of his multiple wishes. Each wish was written within a book, and the dragon simply had to follow the instructions to a tee. With this, he could gain multiple wishes and return those summoned to their original worlds.

None of them deserved to be put through this loathsome world again.

Yet, upon waking up here, he could instantly tell that this place was not on the list of places the dragon should've transported him to if applicable.

As someone who spent a lifetime of battles in historic moments, he knew that all of the important planets with a red sky could be counted on one hand. And with the multiple moons that loomed above, he realized that this place was none of the ones he knew about.

Aside from that, he also didn't have any of the multitude of abilities or items he wished for. Even the wish for a healthier body hadn't taken shape.

Perhaps it was the nature of the wish. Or some other, unknown reason, like the Angels somehow interfering with his plans. It wasn't clear.

Vidar shook his head. However, it's not as if the super dragon balls being limited would be a surprising outcome. If they were truly all-powerful, the gods wouldn't allow mortals to gather them. His feelings of anxiety and disappointment faded with this thought. 

To be free of the time patrol and even have his youth back was already a precious enough treasure.

In his years of being a time patroller, it wasn't just his lack of martial experience that caused him to be much weaker than others. It was that the time patrol themselves were stifling his innate gifts.

Each of the warriors summoned by Shenron had an ability unique to them, and so too did he. Why else would Shenron summon him out of the trillions of more qualified individuals?

I wonder if it's still here… Vidar mused, sitting up on the wet grass. Narrowing his eyes, he focused his intent on the seed of energy deep within his core.

Status.

=[Status: Vidar]

-Age: 14

-Race: Human

-Power Level: 3 | Magic Points: 7

-Unique Ability: Harvest

-Perks: [-]

-Skills: [-]

Although he was aware it would happen upon making the wish, he couldn't help but let out a bitter chuckle at his status window. From perks to skills to even his magic points…

Everything had been reset.

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Author's Note; 

A bit nervous if I'm honest, but hopefully this whole writing thing won't go too bad. In any case, if you think I made any mistakes or grammatical errors, feel free to point it out. 

Oh! One more thing- No harem. That's all, bye!!!