Empty Hand

From the inside of the barrier, I had always thought that there would be just more universes. I thought the space-time dimension would greet me on the other side like a constant of this DC multiverse. This was how the reality was shaped, wasn't it? Multiple universes in their own bubble of different laws and limitations were thinly connected with the space-time dimension or at least bordered on their parallel universe.

One needed some power to break through the universe's barrier, but if one did one could enter and leave any universe one desired. After stepping out of the barrier Chronoa had created instead of finding another universe, I found myself in a Dark Place. It reminded me of the time when we entered that dark space between universes after being lost in the wormhole.

There was something lurking inside the darkness, something powerful. With every second I flew out into this darkness, I felt a pair of eyes watching my every move. Darkseid was gone as soon as I had exited the barrier with no sight of him. Perhaps he was the one hiding in the darkness, but I doubted it.

His power wouldn't make my hair stand on end and make me really feel my mortality. This was something else and I wasn't keen on meeting it. At this moment, I just wanted to beat up Darkseid and rip the information out of his brain, but now I was stuck in here. Perhaps this place was why they had warned me.

Even before I had exited the barrier, I was guessing that Darkseid would be joined by his group, but I wasn't afraid of any opposition I faced. Even if I couldn't win, I would be able to leave. At least that was what I had thought. Now I couldn't find an entrance or anything really.

I glanced around, my senses spread, and I tried to listen or feel for anything that could give me a sense of direction. Even my anchor points were unable to point me anywhere. I just knew they existed, that some of my divinity was out there, but that was it. At that moment, I didn't even know whether I moved up or down, left or right. Perhaps I was swimming through time itself and I wouldn't be able to notice it.

I should really have improved that anchoring technique. It was completely useless after learning it as it seemed like anyone did know how to conquer it or the place we were in was too strange to give me any clue.

My legendary godly ki was still supplying me with supreme strength, but it felt like a useless thing without being able to direct it. Of course, the presence and control over my ki gave me a sense of peace, it calmed me and gave me reassurance that I could still rely on my strength.

"You slayed Nekron, Trigon, and Mobius." A low almost demonic voice suddenly rumbled from the surroundings, giving me no opportunity to know where it came from. "If I hadn't brought you here, you might have slain Darkseid." It continued, making me turn around, trying to pinpoint their location.

"What is your goal? What plans does the Great Darkness have for you?" It asked as if I could answer his question. I didn't even know what he meant with the Great Darkness, was it some villain? I didn't answer him and just pushed my ki to the limit, illuminating or rather keeping the darkness at bay. Suddenly something revealed itself with the same symbol that had marked Nekron, Darkseid, and Mobius on its forehead.

Two arrowheads pointing downward, glowing in a blue-purple light. It revealed the visage of the one that dwelt in this darkness. Devil's horns donned his head and his body seemed to be made out of tangible darkness, the glow of his symbol giving it a blue taint overshadowing the red aura that looked like ki around it.

"Perhaps you have been misguided? You that have been personally touched by the Great Darkness. It doesn't matter, I will guide you properly," he voiced out ominously. This being loomed before me, its presence overwhelming and oppressive completely unlike what I had experienced before.

I didn't know what it was, but its voice sent a cold shiver down my spine. Its aura was like a pillar that reached the sky completely dwarfing whatever I had felt before, though I could tell it wasn't pure.

Its posture shifted slightly and I acted before I could think. I raised my hand, channeling the immense power that flowed through me. A beam of energy surged forth, a brilliant display of my instantaneous might. An enormous ray of pure destructive energy extended toward it-

My eyebrows shot up in surprise when I realized that the closer by beam got the larger this being seemed to become. The once-massive beam, capable of enveloping entire mountains, dwindled into a mere dot as it struck this creature's gigantic Empty Hand.

The energy output, which could have crushed entire universes with ease, seemed to be no more effective than a firefly trying to banish the night sky - noticeable but ultimately unimpressive. I continued to fire the beam, but as it were nothing more than a minor inconvenience the mighty attack scattered on the impact.

Shock ran through my body as I witnessed the quick but strong attack being harmlessly received. Its glowing eyes bore into me and I attempted to teleport behind this monstrous entity to deliver another surprise attack, but to my dismay, the scene refused to change. My power, capable of tearing space apart with a mere thought powered by a tailored technique for teleportation failed to function. My mind churned.

Was this a special place or was it that guys doing? Regardless of the answer, I needed to defend myself. This thing had already started to move and the space around me seemed to be unwilling to let me move freely. I could feel his attack lock on to me and I instinctively knew that even if I teleported away, he would still be able to swat me like a fly.

An unavoidable and unstoppable force approached me as he slapped at me, and I had no choice but to confront it head-on. How the fuck this guy was this strong??

Its power far eclipsed the likes of Darkseid, Nekron, or Mobius, multiversal threats in their own right. This entity's strength was on an entirely different level, a level that left me bewildered and shaken.

I had already thought I had reached the peak- Cooler and Zamasu, were household names in the Dragon Ball universe and I even defeated the stronger Cumber, yet here I was struggling against this no-name. The gap shouldn't be this massive!

I took a deep breath and pulled harder on the highest strength I could muster, my most potent form, the Primal Sayian Limit Breaker. I unleashed its full might to the point I thought I would explode with all the energy that coursed through my veins. I could feel the strain on my mind to contain the strength from ripping me apart as it was stirred.

The beam grew by several sizes, but his palm approached unimpeded. My power was the basis for my confidence to step out of the barrier. If I had known something like this lurked behind it, I might have thought twice about it and prepared more. His hand almost reached me, when I felt something well up inside me, a sudden surge of power erupted from within me - the Omniscience Crystal.

The Omniscience Crystal suddenly awoken from the mass of energy that surrounded it. I directly used it, not even uttering a specific wish, but it seemed to know what I wanted. A light pierced the darkness, illuminating the space we were in. Suddenly the guy's strength seemed to drop significantly or my power was rekindled to its full glory.

Regardless, I stopped his palm and even pushed it back, but my strength could only hold out for so long. The beam fizzled out and its palm descended upon me like the wrath of an angry god.

"You won't kill me this easily!" I roared, more to bolster my own resolve than to communicate with this demon. I thrust my arms upward against the palm that reached me. Only one word ran through my mind as I touched it. Heavy.

His palm was unreasonably heavy. My aura burst forward as we met and for a moment I felt like I was holding up entire multiverses. The bones in my arms cracked under the crushing pressure as I endured the punishment. My aura flickered like a candle in the wind under the enormous strain.

His palm snapped my arms, the pain indescribable as his attack reached me. I was sent hurtling backward, feeling as though a wrecking ball had struck me. A single hit from this being made me unable to resist, though I wouldn't be me if I gave up and accepted my fate.

I used the momentum to propel myself toward the light created by the Omniscience Crystal. I could feel my anchor points from there and knew this would be my exit ticket. However, the light seemed to shrink and I couldn't concentrate enough to teleport away.

"Don't think about escaping. You will do The Great Darkness' bidding!" It spoke with unwavering certainty, dismissing my efforts as if they were nothing more than the temper tantrum of a child.

I didn't dare to look back as it would slow me down, but I could feel it. Its presence loomed behind me, reaching for me from the darkness, trying to prevent me from reaching the light. My ki burst out of my feet and I propelled myself at maximum speed forward, far surpassing any speed I had ever traveled at. The light grew brighter as I approached.

Just as I was about to reach it, my ascend stopped abruptly. Pain ran through my legs, making me look down at the being that had unknowingly arrived behind me. It was smaller than the planet size he showed before, but he was still a lot bigger than I was.

His hand trapped my legs in a bone-crushing grip. A single grab seemed to have pulverized my legs. He had shrunk to only appear twice as tall as I was. A snarl appeared on my face from the helpless feeling that sat in my stomach.

"Fuck off!" I roared as I threw a ball of destruction at this demon's face. The following explosion was close as it directly went off a meter away, directly burning me. However, I would have done it again. The force created by the ki blast exploding in this being's face pushed me out of its grasp, though I knew besides that the attack wouldn't have done anything to it.

The smoke that filled the area only revealed the shadow before this entity burst out of it, reaching for me again. "Big Bang Kamehameha!" An echoing voice screamed before a wave of energy rushed out of the light passed me and directly at the being.

The scene stunned me for a moment. There was so much energy in that attack and it was compressed to its limit. It wouldn't even lose out on a Special Beam Canon or Destruction Disk.

"You too will become one with the Great Darkness!" The being hollered as it was drowned in the energy. Before I could even think, a hand squeezed my shoulder and dragged me out of the darkness and into the light.

I hadn't realized it when I was inside, but once I entered the light, I was a fish back in the water. I was still being dragged away, making it only possible for me to look at the rip in reality. To be honest, I wasn't even sure where we were. The surroundings didn't look like anything I had seen before.

"Phew, that could have gone a lot worse," Gogeta said with divine ki surrounding him. He didn't look like he used to in GT. He had a red-pinkish aura as was his hair and in a darker shade his fur. The aura around him was overwhelming.

"So, that's what I look like?" I muttered as I finally recognized it as the Primal Saiyan Limit Breaker. Gogeta's aura was obviously deeper and richer, but that was only to be expected.

"You good kid?" He asked me though kept his eyes on the rip in reality. Unlike his GT depiction, this one seemed rather serious. Then again he was rather serious against in Z against Janemba.

I nodded my head, not wanting to delay anything as I knew he must be running on a counter. "I will be soon enough. My ki is already repairing my body." Only when I said that did he take a quick look at my injuries. Pulverized legs, shattered arms, and a bunch of self-inflicted burn marks. I had certainly seen better days.

"That's some nice transformation you have there. If I didn't know you were Giblet's brother, I would have assumed you were Broly's brother." So, he is the one that fought Super Broly, why wasn't he using Super Saiyan God then?

"We should return to Chronoa's barrier. If we fight here, we might attract too much attention and we aren't ready yet." My view suddenly stretched as he dragged me behind him.

In the next moment, I saw the Rock of Eternity again. We were back in the barrier? I glanced around and found no one who had been previously engaging in the battle. Although I hadn't been outside for long, some time still had passed.

"You were lucky that space didn't have any time otherwise the barrier might have already dispersed," Gogeta said as he held up his arms toward the barrier. "Haaa!" He shouted and his ki flared up. A second later a rainbow barrier appeared and integrated into the crack, blocking any exit or entrance.

"That should hold it for now." He seemed satisfied with his work and turned toward me. "Let's go, the others are already waiting for you."

Instead of answering him, I looked at the now-covered crack. "You need to remove that-"

"You know I can't do that." His layered voice sounded out firmly and without hesitation. "We will buy us some time with this and you certainly need it." I could feel his gaze lingering on my shattered limbs, but I just shook my head.

I was thinking about Kara, Raven, and Felicia, imagining doing their best to escape their kidnappers and on their way back inside being unable to enter before their perpetrators caught up to them. "Even if I can't get out, what if they try to escape and try to return? They would be blocked-"

"We can spend a few months here and not a second will pass outside-"

"And what if they were dragged into that darkness? You said that time doesn't pass-" Gogeta pushed my hand that had subconsciously grabbed his collar before positioning himself between me and the barrier.

It almost felt like the world was going in slow motion as I saw that. I took a deep breath as I saw the steel in his eyes. "If you break it, it will destroy the barrier." He reminded me.

I looked past him at the barrier, everything else began to unfocus as I stared at it before I focused back on Gogeta, who knew that I had already decided. "You fool. Accept your defeat and try another day." He rushed at me. His body looked like he was standing but in a blink of an eye, he appeared in front of me.

I wasn't even able to see him move, but I could feel the hits crash into my body like a violent storm. I raised my arms and I instantly felt the bones in my arms crack again. Although they had already mended to some degree, they weren't able to handle a lot of punishment.

I punched out and only hit the air. I caught sight of his boot above me, but before I could turn around, his arms wrapped around my neck and squeezed. My elbows lashed against his sides, but it was not enough to get him off me. "Think about the others. If the barrier collapses then they won't be able to prepare. They would arrive now."

His words poured cold water on me, making me struggle less. However, I couldn't really say that I would stop as his chokehold made it difficult to speak. Slowly but surely the world went dark as my brain wasn't supplied with blood.

...

Goku gently placed Shallot onto his shoulder after Vegeta and he separated again. He sensed his life force that was now stabilizing. He had given him some of his ki and now Shallot was healing on his own. His healing factor wasn't as impressive as it was when he was awake and wanted to head back into battle, but this regeneration of his seemed to have been so ingrained that he could use it even without his transformation.

"Really an ingenious transformation," Goku commented as he listened to the stabile breathing of the unconscious Saiyan while flying away. That mixture of a legendary transformation and godly ki was quite difficult to balance, not to mention that he obviously created the legendary side of the transformation instead of being a natural freak like Broly and Kale were.

He imitated their nature and did it with an increased regeneration. "It's suicidal." Vegeta snorted as he glanced at the downed Saiyan. "He is on the verge of exploding and he is too occupied with keeping his power in check than to use it."

Goku nodded slightly. "Though using his godly ki to keep his head calm during his Super Saiyan 4 transformation is rather clever."

"It's a shortcut. If he could keep a cool head without it, his godly ki wouldn't need to work to calm the rest of it." Vegeta crossed his arm as he criticized the transformation and he wasn't wrong. As a time patroller, he had seen many things and different powers.

He had been thinking of a new path to grow because of these challenges and so did Vegeta. They could tell the merits and disadvantages of the transformation at a glance. "But if he manages to fuse these types like we did, his power will skyrocket."

"Hmph. And for that, he would need to build up his will and claim his godly heritage like Giblet does. He would need to strengthen his will to an unimaginable degree."

"He is already training his mind." Goku noticed as he sensed the faint energy from his mind, it was obviously strengthened, but not in the same way Giblet did it. Giblet was growing it naturally with high-intensity pressure until only his mind was moving his body through sheer willpower.

At Goku's comment, Vegeta frowned slightly and took a longer look before turning his head away. "Tch. He trained his telekinesis, a waste of time. Parlor tricks at our level."

Goku held his chin. "Maybe. Godly ki is the mastery of the mind, spirit, and will. His previous training might help him in the future. Once he does unlock his godly ki's full potential, his strength would know no bounds."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "There is no point in saying this. Even his brother had taken years to where he is now and his strength hasn't matured yet. If Shallot wants to survive he will have to reach that power before the barrier collapses and he doesn't have years to spend sharpening his spirit and will."

Goku just hmm'd as he did have a point. Although they knew it would greatly increase his power as it did for Giblet, who could match them in strength despite being a regular Super Saiyan god, it wasn't something one could just master in a second. Although they too had something similar - divine ki-, it wasn't the same as the strength derived through their heritage. The godly ki inside the brothers' veins was much more potent, but also a lot harder to obtain and make use of. There was always a trade-off for unimaginable power.

This needed time to cultivate, years of gruesome training and meditation, not something they had time for. They could teach him how to stay in control as a Super Saiyan 4 without his godly ki, which would already boost his strength, but for more, there wasn't really time. Goku could feel it and so did Vegeta.

The final battle will come sooner than they think. The end was near. The battle that would decide whether they could leave this part of reality or die here. Without another word, they continued to fly toward the house with the ki of Shallot's girlfriends. After they landed in front of the door, it flung open to reveal three women who were visibly anxious.

Their eyes snapped toward Shallot full of worry. "He will be alright soon, but he needs some time to rest. Is there a bedroom for him to lie in?" Goku asked as he stepped into the house before being guided to the first floor.

He gently placed the unconscious Saiyan into the bed before stepping out to the others who had gathered just outside of Shallot's bedroom. He closed the door. "He will wake up in a few hours, so we should prepare a big meal for when he wakes up." The three women, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, and Maxima were visibly relieved at the news.

"Hmph. Should have just come with us quietly instead of resisting." Vegeta snorted as he pushed himself off the wall that he was leaning against. Goku smiled apologetically to Shallot's friends.

"Sometimes he is too hot-headed for his own good," Hawkgirl stated, not being offended at Vegeta's attitude. "He is trying to save them no matter the cost, that's why we told you he wouldn't change his mind easily."

Goku nodded understandingly. "His heart is in the right place. Although he is strong, he wasn't ready for this, so the call to bring him back at all costs was the right one. The Empty Hand is incredibly powerful especially inside a piece of the Great Darkness' domain and after cooperating with Demigura."

"Hmph. At least he was able to take out the trash before being beaten even if I wanted to deal with them myself." Vegeta said before walking away. Goku and Vegeta obviously noticed when Shallot made a move and directly killed Cooler, Nekron, and Mobius. All three of them were able to fight them head-on if they didn't fuse.

Even if Goku and Vegeta knew they could take them all at the same time, they weren't confident to slay them in a few moves, especially since they were wary of a surprise attack by the Empty Hand.

Regardless of the circumstances, it was still a feat to be proud of and that was the advantage of his transformation besides his regeneration. His raw power was something that they could easily tell. It was obvious why Shallot went down that path, the strength gained was massive and the potential was incredible.

Even Goku was tempted to try to replicate the feat. "Did something happen during the time we were away? Did you manage to contain the others?" Goku asked the three as they had exited the barrier and needed a fraction of a second before they were able to break into the darkness' domain.

"It's only been two weeks and other than the house being rather empty, we had no problems. Lagss, Oren, Kamin, and Zamasu are all contained securely inside the Rock of Eternity." Wonder Woman said as they walked downstairs again. "Thank you for getting him back. There is some food we got, you two must be hungry." She smiled lightly before pointing at the table.

"No problem and thank you," Goku said as he sat at the table and began to eat the takeaway. They had been fighting for a long time and were unable to rest for the entire time, so they were rather exhausted. Vegeta also went ahead and ate, knowing that they might need the energy any second.

"Didn't think we would see you this soon already. Where is Chronoa?" Wonder Woman suddenly asked as they all got seated.

Goku frowned slightly at her question but before he could answer Vegeta already did. "Those weren't us." Though he didn't seem to be bothered to explain and the three women didn't seem to be confused about what he meant, Goku guessed that they had met the others and already knew what was going on.

Just to be sure he started to explain. "There is another pair that went with Chronoa and Bulma, trying to head directly for the last dragon ball, while we stayed behind to distract the others and keep them occupied. We weren't able to keep them all Cooler, Zamasu, Cumber, Heart's group, and some native villains followed them before she created that barrier."

"You mean there are more of them?"

"A lot, Cell, Frieza, Buu, Great Evil Beast, Upside Down Man, Darkseid, Bojack, Turles, Broly, and many more, but the most important are the Empty Hand and Demigra. If they are close they are empowering the others to unbelievable heights. We were able to hold them off for a few moments, long enough for Chronoa to create the barrier and leave undetected."

Goku thought about the battle that shook all there was. Multiverses were close to collapsing and everything inside this reality was affected by it. Demigra's powers coupled with the Great Darkness' boost had taken them by surprise and managed to lift the likes of Cell to Gogeta's level at peak. They had been lucky to have had some natives of this reality give them a helping hand.

Suddenly, Goku frowned as he sensed the weak life force below them. He glanced down, trying to focus on it, while Vegeta interrupted his meal and stood up, also frowning at the floor. "Is there something underneath the house?" His question made the girls look at each other before Wonder Woman stepped forward.

"Underneath the house is Shallot's training hall. There is a bunch of equipment to train with as well as the gravity amplifier we got from-"

"Not that!" Vegeta cut her off. "Who is down there? It feels like..."

"Doomsday." Goku finished as his ki flared up and enveloped him, transforming him into Super Saiyan 4 Limit Breaker.