"Old man, you— Oh, I see." Bartender showed a flicker of surprise but quickly realized from which point in time the Dragon God had come. "Hmph, what I do is none of your concern."
The Dragon God snorted. "I'll see for myself what you've done!"
Once again, he traveled upstream through the river of time, arriving hundreds of years in the past.
There, he witnessed Zeno whimsically erasing the original First and Eighteenth Universes…
As a result, their respective angels, Sherie and Leslie, now without their Destroyers, had no choice but to follow the rules and return to the Celestial Realm to slumber…
Along the way, Sherie had—intentionally or not—hinted to her younger brother: 'Why submit to such a pitiful fate?'
Leslie took her words to heart and slipped away during their return.
Sherie went back to the Celestial Realm and volunteered to capture Leslie…
According to the "history" the Dragon God had known when he saved Yamiru, Sherie should have secretly followed Leslie to Earth in the Seventh Universe, subtly stoking his resentment until he "accidentally" tore open a rift to Hell, unleashing a flood of demonic energy upon the planet. Sherie would then appear to reprimand him, Leslie would refuse to comply, and under Bartender's tacit approval, the two angels would spend centuries locked in a leisurely stalemate (essentially slacking off on vacation). Centuries later, when the Earthling Supreme Elderly Lord (Annin) became the planet's first deity, and when the time-traveling martial artist Yamiru helped pacify the chaos, the siblings would finally run out of excuses, reluctantly reconcile, and return to the Celestial Realm to sleep.
But now, things had taken a subtly different turn.
Leslie's escape was no longer due to Sherie's hints—it was Bartender's doing.
Sherie, too, had not acted entirely of her own will. Guided by the deity, she followed Leslie to Earth, only to find the planet already in ruins, saturated with demonic energy. She then crafted the Furnace of Eight Divisions from fragments of spacetime and gifted it to a young Earthling girl before striking a deal with Leslie…
Centuries later, Bartender intervened once more, arranging for two wanderers from the far reaches of the Seventh Universe—a Sadala Saiyan and a Dragon Race member—to arrive on Earth.
And then came Yamiru, who had crossed tens of thousands of years…
Because Bartender existed beyond the constraints of time, her interference did not create parallel universes—instead, the original "history" was directly overwritten by the new reality.
In this new reality:
- The demon kings on Earth were far stronger than in the original timeline.
- Annin had not yet become the Supreme Elderly Lord, nor was she Earth's first deity.
- Thanks to Sherie's aid, Yamiru's consciousness had merged with the Saiyan Yamoshi, synchronizing with power that surpassed even the Super Saiyan level.
- Yamiru himself became Earth's first deity, destroying Leslie's demonic incarnation and sacrificing himself in the process. Using the power he had harmonized with through Yamoshi, he forged a new body—one that far exceeded his original limits, now crowned with a halo of the afterlife.
This new reality was now the true history.
The Dragon God returned to the present timeline, eyeing Bartender as she toyed with the two petals. "Seems you're even more invested in that boy than I am," he remarked dryly. "When did you first notice him crossing into this era?"
The deity ignored the first half of his comment.
To the second, she replied airily, "Just a tad earlier than you."
"Fair. Your Celestial Realm is connected to the Omni-King's Realm, after all—your influence runs deeper than mine." The Dragon God nodded, then frowned as he glanced further along the new timeline. "Look what you've done. His path is even harder to discern now… And it seems he still hasn't found a way back."
"For him, history is a future yet to unfold…" Bartender continued fiddling with the petals.
Suddenly, the Dragon God's brow furrowed. "How did he even get here? I can't see the moment of his time travel at all. Was that your doing?"
He shot her a suspicious look.
The deity shook her head, a faint smile playing on her lips. "Precisely because it's unclear… that it's all the more intriguing."
"Madwoman." The Dragon God sighed, his avatar dissipating into the ether.
After a long silence, Bartender casually tossed the two petals aside. They transformed into the angelic siblings—Sherie and Leslie.
The deity remained with her back to them, gazing into the void.
The siblings waited patiently, standing in respectful silence.
"Sherie," Bartender spoke without turning around, as if talking to herself, "what was it you wanted to say to Yamiru at the end? And what meaning did you intend to convey with that final glance?"
Leslie gave his sister a puzzled look.
Sherie remained silent for a moment before answering truthfully—yet seemingly evasively—"I hope that one day, angels won't need to slumber, even without Destroyers…"
Leslie frowned, completely lost.
"Are you implying…" Bartender turned, narrowing her eyes, "that you hope Yamiru can topple the World Tree?"
Sherie's pupils contracted slightly. She shook her head helplessly. "I didn't think that far. It's just… a hope. I helped him, so perhaps, one day, he might help me in return."
Leslie couldn't hold back. "Sis, you're overthinking this! Topple the World Tree? That's impossible! The gap is way too vast!"
He shook his head repeatedly.
"I just feel… Yamiru is different," Sherie murmured, almost to herself, a trace of uncertainty in her voice. "Especially after seeing Yamoshi—the Saiyan he merged with—reach a divine state. It made me hope a little more…"
"Divine? Yamoshi?" Leslie was utterly baffled. What in the world had his sister been up to while he was drowning his sorrows at Mount Five Elements?
Bartender suddenly laughed—a cold, ambiguous sound that made the siblings hesitate to look up.
"Get out," she said, waving them away. "Go. Sleep."
The two angels drifted downward, toward the colossal canopy of the World Tree, vast as the dome of the cosmos itself. Each settled into the center of an enormous petal woven from pure white feathers. Slowly, they curled into themselves, like human-shaped seeds, sinking into the heart of the feathery blossoms. The petals closed around them, encasing them in cocoons of light.
A breeze of celestial air swept through, carrying nourishment, rustling the countless feathery buds that dotted the World Tree's canopy.
---
The Seventh Universe, Earth.
Beneath blue skies and white clouds, the land remained choked with lingering miasma. Mount Five Elements still spewed dark, demonic smoke…
"I can't leave this place anymore," Annin said, leaning against the Furnace of Eight Divisions with a faint smile. "Go. Do what you must."
Yamiru, still wearing his animal mask, hopped onto Mr. Popo's magic carpet and gave her a slight nod. With a whoosh, the carpet vanished, taking Yamiru with it.
Annin stared at the empty air, idly twisting a lock of her hair between her fingers.
"So quiet…" she murmured.