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. Raiyan, your heinous sins are completely unforgivable!"

"Raiyan, 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 Raiyan'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," Raiyan 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?"

Raiyan 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, Raiyan still 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 Raiyan, 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. Raiyan 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, Raiyan 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, Raiyan couldn't help but laugh.

With a scowl, Beerus the Destroyer raised his other arm, placing it in front of Raiyan'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. 

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

Beerus faltered, releasing Raiyan 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?" Raiyan 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," Raiyan 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 in this world. And to what end? For a rush of power? To appease the so-called deities? Or perhaps, ridiculously, 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 are nothing more than entertainment? Well, the reasoning doesn't matter in the end."

Time crumbled as Raiyan'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 Raiyan'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."