Jayr POV - Dragon Ball Universe, Null Realm - Age 780
After pulling Goku away and transferring some of his Ki so that he can move again and not be completely helpless, Cell points out, "You know, that Jiren is also quite the monster. It feels like incredibly powerful fighters all suddenly appearing all together. Broly, Jiren, and let's not forget those brought by Jayr. At this point, I'm not even sure if we can win... Which is quite surprising, as I thought that our team was quite powerful. Anyway, I'm done here. It is time for me to take a more active part in this tournament."
Then Cell turns around, but just as he is about to leave, he stops and says, "Oh, I almost forgot. I don't think you heard the Gods chatter when you were sparkling around while fighting Jiren, right? It seems that the strange power you unleashed has a name. Well, among the divine individuals, anyway. They called it Autonomous Ultra Instinct. I just thought you should know."
After saying that, Cell leaves and Goku remains there, wondering if he can beat Jiren if he can access that power again.
Meanwhile, the battles all over the fighting stage resume, but the one that catches my attention the most at the moment is the battle between Hit and Jiren.
Hit is fighting against Jiren, who is easily responding to Hit's speed, even with the use of Time-Skip, making the Zenos happily comment.
"That red-suited fighter is super strong."
"I like him very much."
"His name is Jiren."
"Yes, and the other one he's fighting is named Hit."
Jiren asks if Hit intends to beat him, and Hit again responds that it's his job while Top watches, saying that Hit surprises him and is impressed that he still stands against Jiren.
Hit tries to attack Jiren from behind with the use of his Tides of Time, the technique that Hit uses to create a personal subspace using the skipped time that he stores upon using Time Skip over the entire course of his existence which allows him to even bring others into his dimension while the rest of time stood frozen.
Thanks to Tides of Time, Hit is able to transfer his physical body the Tides of Time Dimension in order to avoid opponents' attacks, but he still appears in the ordinary world, however, he is intangible as his corporeal form is in the Tides of Time and although Hit cannot physically attack an opponent while remaining intangible, he can still attack using his Time Release, basically an invisible energy blast.
Basically, it can be said that Tides of Time is a time-based version of Obito's Kamui, which can be quite annoying to face, but Jiren reads this and counters the attack, much to Champa's surprise.
Hit is overwhelmed as Jiren easily reads through his repeated usage of Time Skip while the spectators of Universe 6 and Universe 7 wonder why Hit continues to use Time Skip when it doesn't work on Jiren.
At the same time, while Goku is watching the fight from the sidelines, Saonel and Pilina, who took advantage of Goku's battle with Jiren to get away from Goza, approach him from behind without the Saiyan noticing.
The two Namekians attack him from behind, but they are intercepted by Goza, who once again resumes his battle against them, pushing them away from his tired father to give him some more time to recover.
But soon I focus on Vegeta, who is fighting against Peppars, and pushes him back with a Ki Blast, then he takes advantage of this opening to close in and attack again; however, Peppars isn't an easy opponent to deal with.
As Vegeta throws his punch, Peppars smirks and with a quick wave of his hand, he creates yet another portal right on the path of Vegeta's fist, however, Vegeta feels that something is off and doesn't heasitate to stop and back away while firing more energy blasts at him causing a massive explosion that raises a thick cloud of smoke.
When the smoke clears, Peppars appears to have escaped because there is nothing in the area if not an empty crater.
As Vegeta tries to look for him, a bigger portal opens up behind Vegeta with a smirking Peppars trying to grab him and pull him inside, however, as soon as Peppars' hands touch Vegeta's shoulders and start to pull him in, Vegeta immediately reacts by transforming into Super Saiyan God to break free before kicking Peppars back into the portal which closes shortly after.
Watching this scene, the Supreme Kai of the 9th Universe, Roh, can't help but click his tongue and express his disappointment, "Tch! Damn it! Peppars almost got him! That was almost a perfect chance! Now he will be a lot more careful!"
In response, Sidra, the God of Destruction of the 9th Universe, quickly says, "Calm down, Roh. There will be a lot more opportunities," which makes Roh exclaim, "Calm down!? How can I remain calm when there is only one warrior separating us from the fate of being erased by Zeno-sama!?"
Hearing that, Sidra states in a very confident tone, "Yes, but that warrior is Peppars. There is a very valid reason why he was the most feared being in our 9th Universe. No one is truly safe from Peppars' Mirror Dimensions as long as one is trapped in one of them, the only fate that awaits them is destruction unless one is able to force their way out. On top of that, the Mirror Dimensions created by Peppars aren't only a dangerous trap for his enemies, but also a terrifying boon for Peppars himself. After all, thanks to them, he was even able to fake his own death countless times, and he was even able to survive my Hakai, a feat that no mortal was able to achieve, forcing us all to seal him away, paying a great price. If there is someone who can survive until the end of the Tournament of Power is without any doubt Peppars."
As I listen to the discussion between Sidra and Roh, I use my Cosmic Awareness focusing on Peppars' portals and can't help but smile wryly while thinking, 'Just as I suspected, Peppars' technique is truly very similar to the ability of the Stand of Funny Valentine, D4C aka Dirty Deeds Done Dirty Cheap. Basically, Peppars is able to create what the Deities of the 9th Universe called Mirror Dimensions. However, different from D4C these Mirror Dimension aren't truly true parallel universes, but are, in fact, mere copies of the original one much smaller in both size and numbers as these Mirror Dimension do not contain an infinite space but merely a space a little bit bigger than the whole fighting stage and surely they aren't uncontable as these Mirror Dimensions seem to be connected to each one of Peppars' tentacles which means that there can be at most only seven of them at any given time.'
Realizing that, I focus a bit more on these Mirror Dimensions to understand them better, 'Despite those limitations, the Mirror Dimensions still contain a perfect physical copy of everyone present in the area and each one of them act just like the original with the only defect that they are soulless husks, but this is still quite impressive. Even more so, when I take a look at the two Peppars currently within the Mirror Dimension, the original and the mirror one, they are basically the same. The only difference between them is the presence of a soul. If Peppars' technique works in a similar way to D4C ability, then I can understand how he survived the Hakai of a God of Destruction. It is likely that just before he was Hakai'd, he transferred his soul into one of his mirror copies, making so that the only thing destroyed by the Hakai was an empty husk.'
Coming to that conclusion, I do not hesitate and quickly use Telepathy to inform the members of my team about Peppars' technique and warn about the possible dangers and how to avoid them.
After doing that, I notice that Peppars has just come out from his Mirror Dimension, but on the other side of the fighting stage, which means that he has likely decided to avoid having a direct confrontation with Vegeta for the moment and wait for a better opportunity to act.
Seeing that, I focus back on the ongoing battle between Hit and Jiren, where Hit is gradually getting overwhelmed by Jiren's sheer force and abilities to the point that with one last punch, he sends Hit crashing onto some rubble, making them crumble on him, almost burying him.
Cabba, Caulifla, and Kale are watching from the sidelines, and Caulifla prepares to jump in and help Hit while saying, "I can't believe Jiren is schooling Hit like this. This is looking bad for our team. Come on. It's time for us to get in there, too."
However, Cabba stops her and says, "Please, not just yet. I think Hit is about to launch a counter move." Which makes a bewildered Caulifla ask, "Based on what?"
Cabba then explains, "He's carefully keeping his guard up whenever Jiren moves in. This lets him learn Jiren's style, all while minimizing the attack damage. Let's wait. Hit may just be looking for the right window."
At the same time, Hit slowly gets up and comments, "I think I've finally got his timing down, and how he reacts. I can finally finish the job."
After muttering that, Hit fires his Time Release that passes through the rubble in front of him and reaches its intended target, but it is blocked by Jiren.
Hit then Time Skips behind Jiren, and before Jiren can attack him, Hit fires another point-blank Time Release at the same spot on Jiren's chest as he did for the previous one, attacking him from both sides.
As a result, Jiren is knocked towards the edge of the ring while crashing through many obstacles in his path, but is able to stop himself before falling off and states, "One attack changes nothing. I will prevail."
However, the next moment, a purple aura is released from the area where Hit has hit Jiren, which quickly envelopes his whole body, trapping him in a Time Prison, paralyzing the Pride Trooper, and making those watching this scene comment.
"Nice hit, Hit!"
"He's stopped Jiren from moving! Guess that's the strike he's been planning for a while now."
"The ultimate assassin strikes again! Looks like Jiren can't even twiddle his thumbs!"
"Oh, wow! So that's what Hit was up to?"
"Yeah!"
"Jiren, what is wrong with you? Attack!"
At this point, Vados reveals, "Hit saved all the time from those skips and now uses it to trap his foe. It was a last-ditch effort, but it seems to be working quite well."
Hit, struggling to keep Jiren's movements restricted, turns toward his Saiyan teammates and instructs them, "Urg! Now's your chance! Don't interfere with Jirene. Leave him to me. But while he's contained, there's much more you three can do. So move! We must save the 6th Universe!"
Hearing that, Cabba understands his intention and turns to face his female teammate before he says, "He's right, Caulifla-san, Kale-san, let's go. We need to seize this opportunity and finish our job!"
Confused, Caulifla asks, "Say what now?" Which makes Cabba calmly clarify, "I'm saying that it's time for us to kick some butt and win this thing for the 6th Universe."
After saying that, Cabba doesn't waste any more time and rushes out, making Caulifla exclaim before she follows after him, "Why did you not say that in the first place. Kale, come on!"
Surprised by this development, Vados exclaims, "Hit's actually coordinating with Cabba and the other Saiyan warriors now," which makes Champa comment, "Well, that's unusual, isn't it? Normally, Hit works alone, like he can do everything himself."
At this point, Vados guesses, "Perhaps Hit must rely on his teammates because he intends to devote all of his energy to this technique. He may be planning to keep Jiren imprisoned until the tournament's end. How can one triumph and save one's universe when a foe is too strong to defeat? The legendary master assassin, in his cold calculation, has likely determined this is the only answer. He must act contrary to his every instinct and rely on his comrades to achieve his objective. It is a testament to his unshakeable resolve to succeed, no matter what."
After listening to what Vados said, Champa can't help but exclaim in an impressed tone, "I see. Brilliant, Hit!" before he continues to encourage him, "Yosh! Keep him pinned until time runs out!"
However, Jiren is truly a beast, and with a grunt, he starts to power through Hit's Time Prison, slowly advancing one step at a time, making Hit realize, "At this rate, I won't have enough to keep him trapped until the end. He's simply too powerful."
As Jiren slowly continues his advance, Hit comes to a conclusion, "In that case, I'll have to risk it all in one bet. Assassins hate to gamble, but I have no other choice."
Hit gathers all his time energy, compressing them into an energy ball and jumps toward Jiren while gambling and putting all of his power in one final attack, yelling, "One last play. My job is to save the 6th Universe, and I won't fail!"
However, Jiren takes advantage of his very intense Ki and unleashes a powerful force blast through his glare, able to block Hit's desperate attack before it could hit him, much to the shock of those watching this scene.
"Uh!?"
"Ah! Jiren stopped him with the force of his eyes!"
Powering through the Time Prison, Jiren moves his hand and grasps the compressed time energy that Hit was going to use to attack him while saying, "Do you know what the pride of an assassin is good for? Nothing!"
Jiren then clenches his hand, completely breaking Hit's technique to the point that the purple aura around his body completely disappears, a clear sign that Jiren is completely free from the Time Prison.
Seeing that, Champa can't help but exclaim in shock, "That can't be! Hit put everything in that move! How could it fail!?" which makes Vados casually comment, "He's like no other. I'm shocked. It seems that Jiren possesses the power to transcend time itself, Champa-sama."
Obviously they aren't the only ones reacting with shock, disbelief, and many other emotions to what Jiren just did.
"But how can he do that? No way!"
"Astounding. His strength is so great. Not even time can bind him!"
"Ha, ha! There you go, Jiren! Get 'em!"
"He's in a different league, Belmod-sama."
"Yes. He is the pride of the 11th Universe, there's no doubt."
Meanwhile, Hit tries to attack Jiren with a barrage of punches, but Jiren dodges them all with little to no effort on his part before he counterattacks.
With a glare, Jiren once again unleashes his intense Ki to launch a flurry of blows so fast, it seems like he's not moving at all hitting Hit all over his body and sending him crashing through many boulders and rubbles with such force that some of the warriors fighting in his path were almost blown away.
After crashing on the ground, Hit tries to get up once again, but this time, Jiren doesn't give him any more chances to do anything as he appears in front of him and finishes him off with his signature technique, the Power Impact.
Jiren pulls his hand back, charging a red energy blast, and then pushes his hand forward, firing the attack toward his target.
Once the blast hits and "grabs" the target, it travels as far as Jiren wills it to be while he announces, "This fight is over."
After that statement, Jiren grunts, turns around, and strikes his iconic pose with his arms crossed while the blast behind him finally releases a massive explosion, knocking Hit out of the Tournament of Power, making the Grand Minister calmly announce, "The contestant Hit-san of the 6th Universe is eliminated."
Champa, seeing the defeated Hit being transported to his side, can't stop himself from exclaiming in shock, "No! It can't be!" before he gasps, regains his bearing, and simply says, "He just got lucky, so don't sweat it."
Hit continues to look down as he states, "My defeat was guaranteed the moment that attack failed. I gambled it all, and I lost." which makes Champa tell him, "Oh well, the loss wasn't all in vain. I think Cabba and the others were inspired by the way you fought! We can still win this!"
However, Vados calmly points out, "Perhaps, Champa-sama. However, Hit-san's loss is significant. Your odds have dropped profoundly."
At the same time, Cabba is determined not to let Hit's sacrifice go in vain as he clenches his fists and mutters, "Hit believed we could win. And I am going to prove that he was right!"
Right at this moment, the central pillar of the fighting stage descends once again, making the Grand Minister point out, "My, my, look at that. Coinciding with the fall of the mighty Hit-san, 50 of the 100 tack have expired as well."
Realizing that, the Grand Minister announces, "Let it be known! The Tournament of Power... is halfway done!"
The Grand Minister then raises his right hand up in the air and creates a green shade in the atmosphere around the tournament ring while the warriors on the fighting stage all react to the announcement.
Among those reacting to the announcement, there is Peppars, who smirks and comments, "Halfway done, already? Time certainly flies fast when you are dooming other universes to complete destruction."
But the one that catches my attention the most is without any doubt the reaction of a member of my own team, the one who until this moment passed the whole tournament sitting on top of the central pillar while playing his lyre, the legendary Silver Saint, Lyre Orphèe who opens his eyes and stops playing his music before he mutters, "So the tournament is already halfway done... I think it is time to do my part, too. After all, Lord Jayr asked for my help in winning this tournament. I just can't let him down."
After saying that, Orphèe calmly stands up and, after taking a brief look at the fighting stage, he casually jumps down from the central pillar; his intention of joining the ongoing battles couldn't be any clearer.
Watching this scene, I can't help but feel a smirk forming on my face while thinking, 'Things just went from bad to worse for many of the warriors taking part in the Tournament of Power. Despite the fact that Orphée never felt all that interested in his fighting abilities, rather, he enjoys devoting his free time to playing lyre for various audiences; however, there is a very good reason why he is regarded as a Legendary Silver Saint. He IS that strong. In fact, he is the strongest member of my team, not Kiki the Gold Saint, and not even my Digimon Partners that can evolve to the Ultimate Level, but him, Lyra Orphèe.'
While I'm thinking that, Zeno-1 asks the Grand Minister, "Hey, did you say that there were 50 tacks left?" which makes the Grand Minister hover in front of them and reply, "Yes, sires. One half remains."
Then Zeno-2 follows up with another question and requests, "And what happens when all of the time goes away? Tell us again, I forgot."
In response to the Zenos' request, the Grand Minister calmly explains, "The universe which has the most remaining warriors shall be the winner, and thus be spared," which makes the Zenos exclaim in perfect sync.
""Oh, that's right.""
Erye, the Supreme Kai of the 3rd Universe, also hears that and mutters, "The 7th Universe, with their nine remaining, is now alone at the top. But with Son Goku tired, this may be our chance to pounce. Heh."
Following that, Mosco, the robot piloted by the God of Destruction of the 3rd Universe, beeps, and Camparri, the Guide Angel of the 3rd Universe, translates, "Mosco-sama is in agreement. He says now is the best time to attack Goku."
Soon after that, the warriors of the 3rd universe receive their commands, and Koitsukai, Pancéa, and Borareta immediately assault Goku, sending him crashing against a nearby boulder, and making Krillin exclaim, "They're teaming up on Goku!"
The Supreme Kai, Shin, then comments, "Three of them attacking together when he's not yet recovered? Cowardice!" However, Old Kai quickly chides him, "Damn it, Shin! How can you be so naive!? They are fighting for their universe's survival! It's natural that they take advatage of any opportinity that presents itself." following that, Beerus says, "Believe in him. It's all we can do."
Piccolo notices Goku having trouble, and tells Gohan to go help him; however, before they can make their move, a very dangerous obstacle appears right in front of them, barring their advance, Oprhèe, who politely introduces himself, "I'm the Silver Saint, Lyre Orphèe. Nice to meet you."
Seeing the Silver Saint in front of them, Gohan tells Piccolo that he believes his father will be fine, and suggests that the two of them concentrate on their current opponent in front of them before he also politely introduces himself, "My name is Son Gohan from the 7th Universe. Likewise." This is followed by Piccolo, who simply says, "Piccolo."
At this point, Orphèe apologizes, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to eliminate you from this tournament."
After saying that, he burns his Cosmo and plays his lyre before firing several strings of energy from his fingertips while calling out, "Stringer Overture!"
Each one of the strings of energy is travelling at the speed of light, hitting both Gohan and Piccolo in an instant and sending them crashing against nearby boulders that immediately crumble, burying both of them.
The next moment, both Piccolo and Gohan burst out from the rubble, focusing on Orphèe while commenting.
"Damn it! That was quite a fast attack. Be careful, Gohan! This one is strong!"
"You are right, Piccolo-san. He is much stronger than the other Silver Saint I fought before. We can't hold back against him!"
Shortly after saying that, Gohan transforms into his Potential Unleashed state with a burst of Ki, and immediately after, he charges toward Orphèe with Piccolo following after him.
The two immediately team up against Orphèe with their combination tactics. Gohan starts with a rush of kicks and punches; however, Orphèe easily dodges every single one of them before he finds an opening and counterattacks with a precise chop that sends Gohan crashing onto the ground.
Right at the moment that Orphèe attacked Gohan, Piccolo closes in and attacks Orphèe with a point-blank Ki Blast; however, Orphèe easily deflects the Ki blast upward, much to Piccolo's surprise, before he calmly comments, "That wasn't a bad attempt. Unfortunately, I'm used to fighting against much faster opponents."
After saying that, he burns his Cosmo and again plays his lyre before firing another Stringer Overture from his fingertips, once again hitting Piccolo with several strings of energy, making him grunt in pain and crash against yet another boulder.
Gohan gets up and again assaults Oprhèe with another barrage of attacks, but again Orphèe is easily able to repel him despite the fact that he is using only one arm to defend himself as the other is used to hold his lyre; however, Gohan doesn't give up and quickly attacks Orphèe.
In the meantime, Piccolo also slowly gets up and starts to charge his Ki to launch the Special Beam Cannon, taking advantage of the fact that Gohan is keeping Orphèe occupied.
Naturally, Orphèe notices this and understands their plan, and so, while dodging yet another attack of Gohan, he calmly comments, "So this is your plan...? Well, I'm going to disappoint you, but I'm not going to allow you to do as you please. I'm going to end this now!"
After saying that, Orphèe easily kicks away Gohan and backs off to create some distance between them, before his Cosmo explodes and he starts to play his lyre while calling out, "There is no escape. Death Trip Serenade!"
Before Gohan and Piccolo can do anything, Orphèe intones a beautiful melody with his lyre and recites the following words, "The gods ceased to converse... The birds ceased their song... Even the stars stopped their twinkling... All were plunged into sleep by the sweet intoxication... Time itself stopped briefly throughout the universe... Everything in heaven and on earth fell asleep... Fell asleep... Fell asleep... Fell asleep."
In response to this melody, Gohan and Piccolo suddenly start to sway, stopping them from doing anything else, even the Ki gathered by Piccolo until this point quickly disperses.
"What... is going... on...?"
"This... music..."
The next moment, both Piccolo and Gohan suddenly fall asleep under the terrifying effect of Orphèe's Death Trip Serenade, leaving them completely defenseless.