A/N: Sorry about the delay. As I stated beforehand in the update in my last chapter (for those who didn't read it, I apologize beforehand. I'll start making updates on my profile. Just an FYI) I couldn't get to my update schedule cause work was REALLY demanding. Maybe when it reaches Mid-January, I can give you a more precise schedule on my profile but until then, here's the chapter. Hope you enjoy it :)
THE OTHER WORLD SAGA
Chapter 12 - The Cold Shoulder
"ALRIGHT LADIES AND GENTS! WITH THE FIRST ROUND FINISHED, WE'RE ALL MORE THAN EAGER TO GET THE SECOND ROUND UNDER WAY! BUT FIRST, WE'll TAKE A SHORT INTERMISSION FOR YA, TO FIX UP THE DAMAGE FROM THE LAST ROUND, AND THEN COME BACK FRESHENED UP AND READY TO GO!" Jeice announced with a jovial tone.
This earned the crowd's enthusiastic roar in return. The sound of the cheering would die down within the next minute, as they would ready themselves for the next Round. For better or for worse.
"That wassss well done, Cap'n Jeice!" Burter complimented Jeice, as the latter touched down near their spot in the North Quadrant contestant seats.
"Recoome couldn't have done it better himself," Recoome further agreed, flashing an assured grin as he crossed his arms over his massive chest.
"I could've done better," Guldo muttered under his breath.
"Easy lads! We all get a turn in the spotlight, right? Wouldn't want everyone to think of me as a bloomin' blowhard, right?" Jeice asked rhetorically with a laugh.
"You? Never!" Burter waved in sincere disbelief.
"Recoome thinks that he would be better served on the ring, rather than on the sidelines," Recoome chuckled honestly.
"I'll gladly take your spot, big guy," Guldo spoke eagerly.
Jeice raised his hands in a friendly, yet commanding gesture, "Easy now lads. We'll all get a chance to participate. Even Recoome."
"Sssssounds good to me, bossss," Burter said happily with a toothy grin.
"Right then," Jeice said with a nod, leaping into the air to gracefully soar towards the North Quadrant contender line, "let's give our respects to the rest of the competition, shall we?"
"Great job out there, Raditz!" Goku said jubilantly, raising a hand up to give him a thumb's up.
Raditz just rolled his eyes, as he stood a good two meters away from the family collective and Bardock's squad. Crossing his arms, he grunted out in response to his younger brother, "Stop acting like a child, Kakarot. I am your opponent, not your brother or best friend in this Tournament. There shouldn't be anything holding you back, if we're going to settle the score on the ring."
Goku pouted his lips, scratching his head as he responded, "You don't have to be so serious. This is just a friendly competition..."
"You can honestly say that," Raditz spoke lowly as his eyes turned to stare at him coolly, "when the stench of blood is still fresh on your body?"
A gasp exhaled from Goku's mouth in shock. It wasn't the fact that Raditz could tell that Goku had killed Bojack without anyone telling him, at least not specifically. It was the hard and painful truth that divided the outlook of this Tournament between the two brothers. In that, the ideology on a majority scale most of the battles are going to have an outcome that ends with death.
It didn't ever bother the younger brother, due to the fact all death in the realm of the afterlife was relative. He knew his parents had killed as much if not more than his brother, a thought that continued to be a passive chagrin. But the fact that his older brother had a much more focused and less reserved opinion on how to look at the competition as a whole, proved that the youngest son of Bardock was still naive.
As Raditz turned his head sharply from Goku, he remained impassive on continuing their talk any further.
That was, other more nefarious characters decided to drop by for a chat...
"Why hello there, Goku," a venomous voice brought Goku and his fellow Saiyans' attention full and center. To their left, the entire Cold Family, Cell, and the first generation Piccolo all stood within a handful of meters from each other. Each of them known or familiar to Goku and his biological family members, as they stood with cold glares pointed in their direction.
More specifically, towards Goku's direction.
Goku's eyes were specifically turned towards Frieza's direction, having been the origin of announcement of the said rogues' gallery. The short lizard alien stood with his chin erected in the air, a sinister pair of eyes narrowed at him, complimented by a falsely polite smile gracing his black lips. His streamlined pasty white and dark violet skin gleamed from the refraction of the stadium's lighting and the overcast of stars that were their eternal ceiling.
And the dark aura, an indication of just how black-hearted an entity he was, was still as entirely evil as the Saiyan hero remembered him as.
"Long time no see, Frieza," Goku spoke back grimly, forcing a smile to his face.
The dethroned emperor of the Planet Trade Empire chuckled back, lowering his face to look up at the taller counterpart, "Yes, it has been quite some time since I've seen you. Several years, give or take."
"Should've been a lot longer if you ask me," Goku quipped back, crossing his arms as he regarded the shorter adversary personally. Had there been the ability to throw lightning bolts from their eyes, the son of Bardock knew there would be sparks flying.
"Yes, quite," Frieza sneered back, placing his arms behind his back as he levitated up to Goku's height, allowing him to glare him right in the eyes, "if it were up to me, I would've rather see your whole family down here and not just the generic blood relatives. But we can't have everything, can we?"
As Goku felt his teeth grind audibly, Bardock coughed in interruption as he quipped, "Frieza, did you get shorter or is your constant cowering depriving you of your stature?"
"A pleasure," Frieza began to respond, as a visible twitch formed under his left eye, "to see that your father's use of intelligence is used so eloquently in belittling me-"
"The only thing eloquent you do is showing how weak you are," Hanassia guffawed as she pointed at him directly.
"IMPUDENT MONKEYS!" Frieza snarled, his forehead now enamored by protruding veins, signifying his rage as he turned towards the parents of Goku, "SHUT UP OR I'LL SH-OW!"
A single hammer fist motion was all that it took to force Frieza onto his knees. As the former ruler of the galaxy rubbed his head in convulsions, the source of the magnanimously large fist would have it unclench before the Saiyans. With a smooth gesture, he allowed it to clap the breastplate over his heart, and bow before them as he apologized eloquently, "Please forgive my son for his rudeness. Such crass talk is unbecoming for someone who is on equal terms with every combatant in this Tournament."
All Saiyans present had their jaws drop. Respect was the last thing Cold was known for, let alone the rest of his family. The fact he showed a courtesy to a race their family had enslaved during their entire lifetime left some more skeptical than shocked. Silence came shortly after, with the only sound to be the low toned grumbles from the physically abused son.
However, Goku's reply would be the first to answer, "Thanks! I take it you're Frieza and Cooler's dad?"
"A crude description, but you are correct," Cold lowered his hand, his smile turning into a disappointed sneer as he eyed each son with distaste, "I am origin from which they spawned. Neither have seemed to live up to my expectations. A pity, but irrelevant given the current destination where we all ended up."
Frieza winced visibly at this insult, while Cooler remained adamantly detached from the conversation.
"Maybe you should have done a better job parenting them," Goku spoke nonchalantly, quickly following up with a scratch to the back of his head as he sheepishly commented, "though I don't think you could take pointers from me, haha!"
"To each his own," Cold responded indifferently, smiling with an appreciative manner, "I can tell that you weren't raised by your hot-blooded brood. Your mannerisms, however odd, are much more...reserved. Certainly more reasonable than the majority of your kin."
"Oh...uh...thanks?" Goku blinked with confusion, smiling nervously back.
"Relax, it is a compliment," Cold chuckled as he raised his right hand for reassurance.
Raising a hand up, Hanassia queried with a pair of knitted brows, "Forgive my disbelief, King Cold, but when have you ever been anything but hospitable? Surely it isn't because this is a sportsman thing for you to do?"
A sigh escaped Cold's lips as he crossed his arms over his massive chest, "Honestly, I grow weary of this strife between our families. Nothing has been gained other than the amusement of mere children and the weariness of parents. I for one have decided to cast away this shell of idleness that I've grown accustomed to in life, and regain the mantle of true self as it were. One could say...that I've returned to my former glory."
An ominous chill ran down each proximate Saiyan's spine. The idea that Cold had simply adorned a state of mind that kept him from being a capable threat, even among his family, caused them all to bead sweat visibly. Even Goku felt trepidation, as could feel the maelstrom of darkness to be the very same one that seemed to have disturbed him beforehand.
"So it wasn't Piccolo's dad that did it. He's the source of the evil I felt spiking," Goku thought, as he felt his fists instinctively clench at that revelation as Cold smiled back their nervous visages.
"I am not being hospitable because I believe you to be inferiors or equals to me. I am giving you the courtesy because I know that you are a genuine threat, one that rivals many dangerous entities of my homeworld. Rest assured, however, that you are not the first to have ever instilled a measure of pause in my being as I am now," Cold concluded with certainty, grinning with satisfaction that he instilled fear into the Saiyans standing before him. Turning his back to them, along with the grimacing Frieza, he retreated into the crowd of remaining North Quadrant contenders before finishing with dark promise, "I carved a path through the Universe, allowing it to be ripe for my spawns' taking. I can easily do so again...from scratch."
"Hmmmm," Grand Kai audibly grimaced. His shade-veiled eyes narrowed upon the retreating form of King Cold and his youngest son.
South Kai looked over from his seat, now equipped with a swiveling holder for a tea pot and a small arm rest that doubled for a dining table for his currently steaming tea. He could tell that his superior and senior Kai had a troubled look, one of which he only held at a few varying points throughout the first round of the Tournament. The fact that he stayed calm during one of the most violent openings a Tournament could have, the Kai was surprised anything seemed to disrupt the veteran Kai's nonchalant demeanor.
"Grand Kai?" South Kai finally asked.
"Yes?" The elderly Kai turned his head back to his fellow colleague.
"You look troubled, for reasons that escape me," South answered honestly.
With a drawn out sigh, the Grand Kai stroked his beard as he replied, "King Cold has been acting a bit too characteristic to my liking."
"What do you mean?" South asked.
Due to the lapse of silence Grand Kai had with answering the query, King Kai simply snorted as he leaned towards his South counterpart, "He means that he's acting too much like a sniveling, lazy being. Its not like he's actually worried about him-"
"No," Grand Kai interrupted sharply, causing King and South Kai to look back over at their senior as he responded in a level tone, "what is characteristic for you isn't characteristic for me. What you know of King Cold is a man who relished the shadows and allowed his children to assume near full authority over the majority of the known Universe. The King Cold I knew of is far more cunning and monstrous than you can possibly imagine."
Though South Kai had been vaguely aware to the terrible deeds of Cold and his children, the hearsay about them was grand enough to rival the vivid nightmares that Bojack had dealt the Eastern Galaxy a millenia ago. Looking over at King Kai, he saw him shiver with fear and his teeth clatter upon each other like piano keys. If someone who proclaimed Cell to be equal or worse than Bojack was the trepidation he displayed over the father of the sons his own avowed champion defeated, South Kai could only tremble what Grand Kai could mean.
"Let it be known that Bojack, an object of known terror to you all, was a simple workout for me when facing him on my own," Grand Kai explained, waving his hand as he continued, "be assured that it isn't merely power, but capability that I truly do fear about Cold. Predating Bojack by two thousand years, back in my youth mind you, the only real menace I had to contend with was the Demons of Demon world. Existing within the same spectrum in Other Space as our worlds do, we'd often combat them in mass to keep the stronger ones from affecting the Universe we guard. Yama, myself and the Supreme would often stave off assaults made by these abominable would-be conquerors for generations. None had the strength to contend against our combined might, as they were hardly a unified band of warriors nor collaborating allies."
"W-What changed?" King Kai asked, gulping in afterthought.
"The Demon King of the Frozen North, King Cold," the Grand Kai began, as he told his tale, "he decided that he had enough of the contrived prison of a world his home became. He left his icy kingdom in favor for a bounty greater than he could ever carve out of the world of his brethren: the world mortals!"
Approximately three thousand years ago...
The space was quiet.
However, it wasn't quiet in the normal sense. The vast field of scarlet-violet hued emptiness that held stars that divided Other World and the five Kai worlds wasn't a vacuum like the ordinary Universe was. For anyone, outsider or resident, the space was quite breathable and calm. Many would describe the sensation of floating through the vast reaches of Other Space like a sky filled with warmth and subtle beauty. The clouds as soft as milk, the air scented like honey, and the nirvana of happiness neverending
The place where this event transpired wasn't in the normal horizon of beauty.
Out in the far reaches of the Kais' control, down beneath Other World and the five Kai worlds, was an entire space full of crimson colored space. Debris spanned the horizon, full of machines of war and corpses long since deteriorated into bones. None of them looked remotely human, having various distorted body shapes and structures wearing fragments of armor and clothing that had also long since worn away. These bodies and debris would linger around the enormous field of asteroids and rock that flourished around like a segmented wall.
To some, it was a place equivalent to a graveyard, ironic as it may seem. But to the Kais, it was officially donned, Kakerahei. It was what remained of an ancient wall erected in the beginning of time, when the first Kais and Demons were born. Through the ages it withered from the constant strife on either end, eventually rupturing into an endless field of pieces. Now it only served as a battlefield for constant marauder bands of weak creatures that aim to for vengeance and freedom from their constrained homeworld.
One such Kai stood out among the makeshift barrier between Demon World and the rest of Other Space. A veteran, long-lived warrior who's seen his fair share of battles and honed his skills to protect Other Space and govern the known territories the four generational Kais would watch over. His name cast away when he assumed the mantle of his esteemed position, having been in its employ for years beyond his youthful count. The title esteemed to him was the Grand Kai.
Sitting nonchalantly upon one still asteroid, the Grand Kai kept his watchful eyes trained upon the massive fractured wall that he kept watch from within. His hair less unkempt and more formal, kept within a ponytail to flow out just below the cylinder shaped hat of his. His attire enamored with a black-red-&-white star upon his hat and the Kai insignia upon his formal uniform attire. His height a much more standard five and a half feet, sporting hints of a muscular physique with all the right toning and only hints of scarring upon his fair complexioned skin. Onyx eyes kept perusing every moving piece of large rock, creasing his soft jaw into a determined frown, his ears twitching in emphasis of his idle irritation.
A loud groan escaped his mouth as he flopped onto the top of the asteroid, splaying his limbs in either direction, "Why in the name of all damnation was I given such a boring task?!"
His answer would come within a pleasant surprise. As his eyes opened, he saw a blood red stream of movement head his way, from Other World if he knew his sense of direction. Crashing mightily through many large pieces of ship husks, bodies, and wall fragments, the being in question would eventually crash land upon another asteroid sized rock directly in front of the Grand Kai.
Causing his own seat to tumble backwards in suspended space, the youthful warrior coughed and waved his hand as his rock spun nearly eight rotations before righting itself back to its original spot.
"Care to explain why you decided to make such a magnanimously loud entrance," Grand Kai asked as he blinked away the dust that got in his eyes, now seeing the full massive visage that stood upon the half eviscerated rock, "King Yama?"
The said executive head of Other World's Check-In Station smiled back at his old friend. The muscular and armor clad being stood over twice the Kai's height, and almost triple in mass. His current attire consisted that of something less formal, being more geared for impending war. A black and red cape flourished down his back, attached to a pair of tooth-shaped pauldrons attached to either massive shoulder. This helped compliment the crimson kanji-inscribed breastplate, reading out his own name and esteemed title. With black studded braces on his shins and forearms with matching studded leather boots, the horn-helmeted ally of the Kais rested a large double-faced hammer upon his new pedestal.
With a shrug, Yama responded shamelessly, "I had to get out of that stuffy office the lawful Supreme keeps me in. I swear if I keep doing paperwork nonstop, they'll force me to wear a suit and hat!"
"While I don't always agree with the contrived uniforms, they are ceremonial," Grand Kai grumbled in a reluctant mature tone, though his eyes rolled even as he spoke his scripted chiding tone to his mutually suffering comrade.
"If anything is ceremonial, it is this!" King Yama struck his chest provocatively with his free left hand.
"You do realize you're not a Demon King anymore, right?" The young warrior asked with an upraised brow and a half smile.
"I can still have some of my past dignity?" Yama inquired back with a charismatic grin, thumbing towards a large spread of gleaming white teeth.
"You do realize that your dignity went down when I took you down, right?" Grand Kai pointed at him with his left foot, causing the ex-Demon King to chuckle sheepishly, "I don't recall swearing allegiance to Kais a very noble thing, for your ilk that is."
"None had ever bested me in single combat in my world," King Yama reminded his Kai rival, pointing a massive finger at him with emphasis, "you were the one to show me that a quest of bloodshed and murder wasn't the only way to acquire true strength and purpose. In besting me without taking my life, you showed me that my title means nothing if I have nothing to gain but mindless conquest. It wasn't out of species, duty, or common courtesy, but with great revered respect I'll have you know."
"Just messing with ya, my red brother from another mother, hahahaha!" Grand Kai burst out into gut-breaking laughter, flailing his feet out and holding his chest as he reeled his head back to howl with hilarity.
Yama could only look on with confusion and incredulity, raising his brows at the sight before him, "W-What...in damnation did you say?"
Clearing his throat, Grand Kai wiped away the tears from his eyes as he waved with emphasis towards his friend, "I tried out a new form of speech. I found it quite hilarious and thought to test it out. What do you think?"
"I think if I have to judge a soul that speaks that way to me, I'll send him to Hell out of principle," the Check-In supervisor responded with a blank stare of annoyance.
"That hurts, Yama," Grand Kai pouted his lips with a dry glare sent back at him.
"Don't make a habit of speaking like that," King Yama spoke back in a pleading tone.
"No promises," the young warrior giggled in retort, covering his mouth a second too late.
Rolling his eyes King Yama turned his back to him, crossing his arms over his chest, "I guess I could just leave you back to your duty. Staring at a bunch of space and rocks. Not to mention dead bodies..."
"N-N-N-N-N-N-No!" Grand Kai reached out with his hands, crawling forward on his asteroid top with his knees as his eyes and mouth gaped wide open with apparent alarm, "its been been Kai-less boring out here! After nearly five centuries of never ending conflict, I get stuck with babysitting this husk of a space wall with NOTHING to do for the last five decades!"
"Yeah, strange isn't it?" King Yama murmured over his shoulder, refusing to turn around, his eyes seeing something among the endless horizon emerge.
"The Supreme has been meditating back on his homeworld nearly nonstop, and he leaves ME to babysit a graveyard!" Grand Kai incredulously throws his arms out, shouting loud enough for his voice to echo and travel across the endless expanse.
"Not nearly as monotonous as judging souls every day nonstop," Yama responded with a huff, waving back at him sarcastically, "thanks for giving me your old desk job, by the way. So kind of you to care that much for my well-being..."
"I have to monitor the activities of four fledgling Kais in how they handle each Galaxy under our jurisdiction. Do you think I can remain sane while doing paperwork for the incessantly deceased and passed-on?! No thank you!" The Kai responded with a stern, frustrated tone.
"Then you can have fun with your graveyard of a wall," The Demon responded half-heartedly, narrowing his eyes as he tried to peer better at the ominous field of darkness heading towards them. As it grew more in mass and flourished forward, one could tell it wasn't a coalition of marauding demon rebels or the work of simple miasma of Demon World.
It felt controlled, potent, and...cold...in nature.
"By the spirits," King Yama murmured lowly, as his left hand tightened around the handle of his embedded war hammer, "what in damnation IS that?!"
Having caught glimpse of it as well, Grand Kai righted himself up and leaped over to his friend's side, standing upon the half-destroyed asteroid. It wasn't until that a chilling wind blew forth that hit them like a hurricane's gale, that they could see all the bodies within sight and the spacial husks deteriorate within seconds of exposure. Only the fragmented rocks seem to bristle with static shock from the abnormal energies coiling and colliding from within the force that compelled the cosmic black storm forward.
"No cosmic storms are conjured naturally in Other Space!" Grand Kai shouted aloud over the howling wind, using one hand to hold down his hat and the other to shield his eyes from the high-sped dust flowing through the crimson space, "I sense foul magic at work here..."
"You and me both," King Yama responded lowly, lifting his weapon up to hold it firmly in both of his hands, as he saw the massive planet sized storm halt in its movement.
It crackled with thousands of coiling crimson tendrils of chaotic energy, flashing to and fro across the dark clouded expanse. The mass of dark energy fueled storm clouds rivaled the actual expanse of the fragmented wall, towering over the two lone guardians. In an instant, the wind stopped howling and ceased altogether, allowing a ominous moment of respite to the two righteous warriors.
Then, the lightning ceased its crackling over the dark thundering mass, allowing two enormous red eyes to split through the dark clouds. It stared down at them, glaring and appraising the beings standing before its path. For the faintest of moments, it could see them swallow with apprehension and bead cold sweat at the sheer visage before them.
This moment of tense silence would finally be broken by a rumbling, dark voice, "Most magnanimous greetings, Grandest of Kais and Judge King of Other World."
There was no immediate response. A horizon of dark cosmic thunderclouds, bearing a visage of two enormous red eyes, just eloquently greeted the two of them in a eloquent fashion. From the cold, callous energy they felt dwelling within it, they couldn't be sure if it was entirely sincere.
With that said, King Yama decided to clear his throat and call out loudly through his left cupped hand, "You lost, stranger?!"
"Not at all. Aren't you supposed to be elsewhere, Judge King?" The voice spoke back.
"I go wherever like, and it is none of your business!" King Yama shouted, waving his hammer in emphasis of his response.
"Likewise, I am traversing to a place of my own choosing," the voice countered.
King Yama cringed at the wit of the ominously enshrouded being, having no direct comeback in his mind.
He was rescued from prolonged embarrassment as the Grand Kai finally mustered enough grit to respond in a commanding tone to the entity lying within the shadows, "What lies beyond this place should be none of your concern. Turn back now, Demon, and I assure you'll not be harmed."
"Apologies, Grandest of Kais, but I believe that sounds like a challenge," the voice responded in a humored tone, though from the violent shifts of crimson tendrils across the previously calm horizon, it was clearly geared up for a conflict.
"Well, if you want some form of assurance," Grand Kai answered gleefully. With a turn of his heels, bent knees, and a series of provocative slaps to his butt at the visage of doom, he shouted aloud, "come kiss my buttocks, Cloud Demon!"
In that instant, it was clear there was no room for negotiations.
The ominously large eyes vanished from the surface of the cosmic thunderhead, as crimson flashes enamored the interior and exterior of the black clouds. In a matter of seconds, hundreds of crimson pyres of blood red lightning bolts streaked across the horizon. The electric measured in mass as large as skyscrapers, shredding all of the debris, bodies and wreckage with ease. Everything turned to dust in the wake of the rage-filled response to the Grand Kai's insult.
Thankfully, the Grand Kai was expecting such a response.
Clapping his hand together, he turned around and faced the oncoming conforming storm of blood lightning as he shouted aloud, "Shunkyo Kagami!"
As the storm's tendrils of cosmic incinerative energy struck the space not but three meters away from the asteroid the two stout warriors stood upon, they all seemed to evaporate into thin air. This left ripples within the middle of space, creating distortions within a pocketed space created by the Grand Kai's magic. That space would deconstruct in a matter of seconds, but not before throwing back the offensive force back at the demonic thunderhead.
KRAK-KOOM-KOOM-KOOM-KOOM! Five enormous pillars of red lightning would demolish the cosmic storm's main body, disassimiliating the chaotic currents that filled the black clouds and reducing its mass significantly. The flashes of light were only compared to the ear-splitting shockwaves that tore a good fissure within the belt of debris they fought within, creating a visibly enlarged gap of crimson colored space for the remaining clouds to find sanction in.
What remained was a single, large thundercloud that remained unharmed from the redirected firepower. With coiling black energy dancing within its space, it seemed like the "heart" of the cold energy that the Grand Kai and King Yama had sensed.
"A spacial barrier? Impressive," the rumbling cloud pulsed with light from within, vaguely outlining a physical shape lying from within, "let's see how you handle this then! Gunryo no Kuroyami!"
The single cloud of cosmic nature swirled around like a twister at this utterance. It expanded farther and farther out, until it created a gaping spiraling maw, sending earth-rending winds that howled mercilessly across the horizon.
What came out of the maw itself looked like a swarm of darkness incarnate, draped in black cloaks and blackened limbs sticking out of the sleeves. They all bore a hideous pair of blood red eyes, concealed by the silhouette of darkness masking their visages. They all shrieked at once as they flew headlong maddeningly at the two opposing warriors, aiming to tear them limb from limb.
"Shadow Wraiths?!" King Yama uttered with disbelief at the horde that flew from the horizon.
"It appears our enemy is a lot stronger than he let on," Grand Kai analyzed, lowering his hands down to his sides, impassively gazing at the horde of ether-made creatures, "to be able to call upon that realm, one would need a great affinity to magic. As well as an immense control over a large volume of Ki..."
"Just when I thought we were facing a run-of-the-mill conjurer, you go ahead and make me a little excited," King Yama laughed haughtily, raising his hammer towards the vast horde descending upon them, "let's wipe out his army of cronies then, hm?!"
Clasping his hands, a bright white light escaped his entwined fingers, as he responded with a nod, "Agreed."
In a single instant, the two evaporated in thin air, avoiding the storm of assaulting wraiths that shredded up the asteroid within a instant. They scattered sporadically into dozens of tendril-shaped formations, aiming to attack them at all angles.
"Seiraito Hitoame!" The Grand Kai shouted valiantly, opening his palms out to reveal a blinding ray of righteous-filled light to cover the enlarged mass of shadow wraiths. They all screamed and wailed in agony, as their cloaks began to ignite into flames from being in contact with the wave of purified energy that bathed their gnarled and shadow-embraced forms.
That's where the Judge King of Other World came in.
"RAAAAAAAAAH!" Charging like a bull, King Yama swung his hammer in a large shearing swathe across the black robed minions. The contact of his hammer against their incendiary cloaks and now brittled forms, they turned to dust and bones instantaneously within the bare contact his maul had with their bodies. As such, a cacophony of exploding bodies flowed across the horizon as King Yama swung with fury and great ecstatic joy.
"They pop like meteorites! So glad I came here today! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" King Yama laughed heartily as he continued to swing his battle hammer, felling hundreds upon hundreds of the ghoulish minions, in a domino fashion no less.
"So glad you're enjoying such mindless violence, Yama," The Kai responded with a sheepish chuckle, concentrating on fully dousing the space between him and the horde of shadow wraiths that spewed from the black twister maw.
"Hey, being cooped up in a office nonstop would make anyone go mad. This is a great stress reliever if you ask me!" King Yama argued back, twirling his hammer over his head before following up with a powerful Ki-filled swing of fiery energy at another swathe of minions.
"At least you were doing something. I was stuck babysitting a graveyard of a wall. For decades! With no company, save for the Supreme on rare occasion!" Grand Kai shouted back with comical distress.
"Let's not start that again! Just keep frying these critters as they keep coming," The former Demon King grumbled aloud, spinning his maul around his form like a whirlwind, annihilating all the gnarled and burning bodies of the shadow wraiths.
"Don't need to tell me tw-..." Grand Kai began to retort, when something terribly wrong was before his eyes. The enormous maw of black wind and chaotic energy had vanished into thin air, along with the continuous horde of shadow wraiths with it, "blood and damnation!"
"What?!" King Yama began to ask, swinging his hammer again to finish off the remaining wraiths with ease.
"The Demon has vanished! He's hidden himself in order to-" Grand Kai warned his comrade all but for naught.
A shadow enraptured being appeared behind the Judge King, slamming a well placed kick into his backside. The power was great enough to cause King Yama's eyes to bulge and his mouth to go agape, with a thunderous ballooning shockwave of violet-black light emanating from the strike. With a violent twist, the full momentum sent the former Demon King flying haplessly across the debris-ridden horizon, crashing through many asteroids as he disappeared with a violent blast of force.
"YAMA!" The Kai shouted with great alarm, as his eyes trailed towards the direction his friend had been careened to. His eyes wouldn't be able to register the devastation for long, as the being shimmered with a blurring motion in front of himself.
The Demon in question was largely humanoid. With the exception of the two feet below having three elongated talon-enamored digits, and a large tail protruding just above the posterior region. What was especially eery about the entity was that its features couldn't be distinguished. They were draped in a veil of smog, shadows that contorted and breathed around the flesh of the being itself, obscuring visibility of the being except its shape and stature. Only two eyes could be seen from its visage, with blue flames ebbing out of its eye sockets, giving a very foreboding demeanor to the Kai.
"Allow me to introduce myself," the deep, eloquent voice spoke in a low, intimidating tone, "I am known simply as Cold, Demon King of Demon World's Frozen North. I have come simply to release myself of the bonds of ruling on a prison of a homeworld. The Universe you stand idly watching over is ripe for the taking. I intend to take it for my own, and rule it as I see fit."
For the first time in ages, Grand Kai felt his blood grow cold as his spine shivered with instinctive fear. His body recoiled briefly at the imposing figure's distance between them, being only a spare handful of meters. He could feel his energy, dark and callously freezing, ebbing at his senses mercilessly. His widened eyes stared back at the blue tongues that burned within the dual sockets of his enemy's visage.
Then, he also felt something, having been long since dormant. An inferno that ignited from the pit of his gut and spread through his body like wildfire, forcing veins to protrude across his skin underneath his Kai trappings. An excited smile spread across the young warrior's face, ignoring the beads of sweat that began to dissipate into steam.
"Its been quite awhile since any single entity, be it Kai or Demon, has the aura to get my blood boiling!" Grand Kai rumbled with barely contained excitement. Rearing his fists back, an aura of the purest light gathered around his being and luminously crackled to life. Whatever fear or wavering that had been present in his eyes had been erased by the excitement of a truly magnificent battle.
This caused Cold's sockets to narrow, dimming the fiery light emanating from them. With a low rumble from his throat, similar to a bemusing chuckle, Cold raised his right arm up in preparation, "Very well then, Grandest of Kais. I shall entertain your lust for battle, if only for a little while."
Rearing back his own fist, the young warrior launched his limb with a blurring flash of black linen, meeting the enormous fist of Demon foe. The measure of the two's power, was shown through the collision between their knuckles.
KRAK-KOOOOOM! The friction between the striking limbs caused a bright flash of crimson and white electricity, lashing out violently to split many large pieces of debris in half. A howling wind escaped the shockwave, shattering the graveyard's proximity to an even wider gait of empty crimson colored space. The air was distorted and energy crackled between the two locked fists, showing that neither warrior had budged.
Words and expressions were no longer exchanged. Like a gunshot signaling the start of a competition, their one fist-bump of a punch, the two opponents disappeared out of sight and began their violent melee.
The volley of vibrant flashes thundered wildly across the empty space they had created. From the afar observer, it would appear like two comets clashing against each other in flashes of contrasting hued lightning. The white light clashing against the shadowed figure symbolized the waging war between Kai and Demon, since time immemorial.
A brief clash caused the two speeding warriors to halt, their hands grappling each other in an upright direction, trying to pressure each other with each other's immense strength and Ki pressure. In order to break the lock, the two synchronized a simultaneous thunderous headbutt, causing a blinding flash of kinetic and Ki energy to explode between their foreheads.
As the two stumbled back, Grand Kai's hat flew back from the reverberating shockwave that had created between the two of them. Cold recovered quicker, spinning around like a shadowy twister, whipping out his tail to bludgeon the Kai against an reflexively right forearm. As the crack of force billowed between the two limbs, the prehensile limb wrapped around his arm and pulled him downwards, slamming his chest into an obscured left knee.
While the Kai warrior grunted from the thundering impact, jarring the atmosphere around them, he managed to force a grin onto his face. Swifter than Cold would realize, he swung his hands up to grasp each of Cold's arms after his hands had been released from his own. Tilting his head to one side and then violently to the other, he whipped out his own ponytail around like a whip to crackle with Ki-enhanced intensity against Cold's obscured visage.
Stunned enough to lower his knee from the Kai's gut, the righteous fighter made his move. Flipping himself up and over Cold's vast body, Grand Kai clasped his calves together as both heels swung down with a powerful double axe kick onto the back of the Demon's skull. With a vibrant flash of silver lightning, the affected entity was sent reeling across the space like comet, slamming through a considerable distance of debris and wreckage.
Not wanting to give his enemy any time for a counterattack, Grand Kai righted himself and took off with a pumping motion within his legs, shooting off into the obscured horizon like a flaming rocket.
He only barely entered the field of rock and debris when he felt a spike of Ki penetrate the crimson hued air. A wall of hundreds of piercing beams, ripping through asteroid to planetoid sized chunks of rock to attempt to rip apart its prey.
Swinging his arms to tap each pair of forefingers to tap the top of his elbows, he kept charging towards the horde of energy spears. With a blurring swing of both arms, a brilliant light flashed forth creating hundreds of beautifully enamored spears. The magically endowed weapons easily bisected the beams, deflecting and dispersing their energies as they tore what was left of their collided airborne rubble back at its originator.
"Materialization? Child's play," Cold mused lowly, his extended right-handed forefinger now rubbing against his thumb. As the weapons all neared he snapped the two digits together, discharging a transparent web of energy to collide with all of the magically concocted projectiles. Upon contact they all shattered into light once more, instantaneously dispersing upon coming into contact with the web of dispelling currents.
The shimmering visage of Grand Kai, appearing just beside Cold, told of its feigning gesture. Swinging his left foot around in a roundhouse kick to the Demon's side, it was met by the prehensile limb once more, parrying the kick's magnanimous force. Simultaneously, the Demon King thrusted his left elbow out to collide with Grand Kai's visage, crackling against his right forearm.
Synchronized out of reflex, Cold and the Kai warrior swung out their free hands, discharging contrastingly hued beams of Ki at each other.
The enormity of the explosion rippled out to be the size of a moon, as a gray-hued maelstrom of destructive energy blasted away an even larger space of rock and debris. Its shockwave rocking the very fabric of the crimson colored space cracked and blew back even more debris out of the way of the ground zero of roiling silver hued flames.
Rising out of the top of the explosion would be both the Grand Kai and Cold. While the latter lacked any physical signs of damage from the blast, the youthful warrior only showed to have lost his upper tunic in the overwhelming heat, leaving only a white-aura-endowed muscular visage underneath. With a few sparing scars across his arms and chest, dictating his various prior battles, this exchange has yet to leave one on his powerfully attributed form.
Thrusting out his left hand, the Demon King spewed out an enormous gout of shadows, contorting and writhing in its shape towards the Kai. Any matter that it passed over appeared to be turned into ash or dust, clearly indicating the deadliness of the smog presented to its prey.
Inhaling deeply, the Grand Kai reared his head back. When the shadows were nearly upon him, he formed a funnel with both hands, blowing out an enormous geyser of white-hued flames towards the pillar of life-eating smoke. The first bare moments seemed to indicate a struggle, as the light was competing with the darkness that swallowed all in its path. But as the Grand Kai's body intensified its aura, mirroring that of a bright star, the flames tore through the veil of blackness all the way back to the source.
Within a blur of violet-black electricity, the Demon reappeared behind the Grand Kai's hunched over form, swinging a behemoth fist towards his back. Narrowly, the fist would pass through an afterimage, as a spinning muscular body bounced off a spare amount of rubble before launching himself back upwards. Thrusting a flying kick towards his enemy, he cringed as Cold flexed bent his left leg and parried the limb, stopping him short of his target. Swinging his head in a blurring diagonal arc down his left side, his hair extended and lashed out towards his infernal foe's face once more.
However, the Demon was prepared, as his right arm shot up swiftly to catch the flailing bundle of Ki-strengthened hair. Pulling him upwards by the skull attached bundle of carbon, Cold swung his right fist at an alarming speed towards the Grand Kai's face and upper chest. Swinging his upper arms up in a protective cross, he absorbed the debris-shattering punch, as it shook his body with incredible intensity and force.
Before the Kai could respond, Cold generated a powerful stream of black-violet electricity to snake across his hair and down onto his body. A barely controlled groan of pain escaped the Grand Kai's lips, as his muscles would spasm uncontrollably, locking them up from doing anything else but protecting his form. His eyes clenched shut as he felt another moon-reaping punch against his arms, again and again, starting to blacken his fair complexioned skin with the intense force letting loose.
"Truth be told, Grand Kai, I was holding back up until now," Cold responded to his captive, continuing to bludgeon his arms as he gloated, "you are a force to be reckoned with. Prowess melded with power and magic. Its rare to find a being to push me this far. But now the games end, and I shall be delayed no lon-GRRRRH?!"
Cold's monologue was halted in mid-sentence, as a fiery endowed fist struck against his left jaw, hurtling him away from Grand Kai's person and pinwheeling across another string of rocky debris.
"THAT hurt, you sub-zero bastard!" King Yama snarled out with indignant anger, no longer wielding his prized hammer having lost it to the surprise attack and the large crimson void.
As Grand Kai regained his senses, he clapped his hands together, projecting a ray of healing light over his being to rid his body of its convulsions. With a belated sigh, the Kai warrior rolled his neck around, making audible snaps as he looked up at Yama with a smile, "What took you?"
"You do know I was blindsided, right?!" Yama responded with a growl, his body emanating an orange-hued aura of flames that lapped his armored being, emphasizing his rage, "I'm going to get back at him for this!"
"Let's do it together," Grand Kai suggested, his eyes peering to see his adversary standing upright upon a moon-sized piece of debris far away, "he's equal to my strength and intuitive knowledge of magic. I fear a prolonged battle will devastate what false sense of protection this field provides us from Demon World's lesser denizens."
"Kind of doing that right now, isn't he?" King Yama quipped back, cracking his knuckles as he geared himself to go.
"Yeah," the Kai warrior groaned exasperatedly, rubbing his face with despair, "the Supreme is going to nag at me for a century for this!"
"Focus, your Grand Vain-ness!" The former Demon King barked back at his comrade.
Just as King Yama said this, a smoldering gout of shadows rose up of astronomical size. As his eyes peered warily at it, he could feel an infernal hunger and ravaging heat lying within the veil of smoke produced from its originator.
"I have wasted enough time as it is. Facing the two of you would only further attract his attention, and would waste unnecessary energy. But I won't leave without further sating your hunger for battle. Grandest of Kais and Judge King, I bid you farewell as you greet...Genkai Yaju!" Cold announced magnanimously, as the pillar of smog parted in the shape of a fiery eye.
What emerged gave chills between the two battle hardened beings. Two enormous, skeletal hands grasped either side of the eye-shaped doorway, pulling its bandaged face forth. With only one bloodshot eye open, a jaw filled with protruding gnarled teeth that cleaved part of its jaw apart through some mutation. Large black chains bound the rest of its lower torso and legs from exiting, causing it to bellow out with agony and rage.
The yells released from its grotesque maw sent shockwaves that shattered the earth and sent stinging lashes out at their skin. The sheer pressure of its presence sent tingles of alarm down their spines, as they understood the gravity of the situation.
"That...thing...is a forbidden Contract Summon!" Grand Kai uttered aloud aghast, his eyes widening with terror, "how the Hell does he know of it?!"
"Forget how! We need to stop it!" King Yama shouted out with equal alarm, pointing his hand towards the moon-sized beast, "look!"
Sure enough, the beast's eye locked onto them. The pupil dilated with maddening anger, believing them to be the source of its painful awakening. With a maddened roar that shook the crimson colored space, shattering debris for kilometers around, a vibrant coalescing of red and black hued energies just over the dilated pupil. The sheer pressure coming from it, seemed to gravitate all mass towards it at a slow pace, even the two warriors standing a great distance from it.
"That energy..." Grand Kai gasped aloud, feeling his own beads of sweat fly off his skin and into the space, along with all the debris around them, "if that thing unleashed it towards any of the Kai worlds, there would be nothing left to salvage!"
"Any ideas how to stop something the size of a moon?!" King Yama asked incredulously, his fists baling up with ready anticipation for the inevitable conflict.
Gritting his teeth, the Kai warrior weighed his options. He knew if he tried to deflect the blast outright, there was a possibility that even a magic barrier would reach its limits before the worst of the energy would pass on. Physically overpowering it, as he sensed, would be nigh impossible from the sheer compressed pressure it was exerting.
That meant only one alternate course of action...
Clapping his hands together, the Grand Kai's body exuded a vibrant aura, making it as bright as a comet. Electric tendrils coiled and crackled around his being, as an equally powerful shockwave of wind billowed from his own being, pushing back the careening debris flowing past him, crushing it into dust from proximate contact of such energy.
"I'll draw its attention away from the both of us!" The veteran young warrior suggested, as the space between his palms began to create a rainbow light, shining through the spaces of his digits, "taking the brunt of the attack with my own should allow me to deflect the rest. When that happens, you take the fight to him and give him everything you got!"
King Yama's eyes narrowed, turning back towards the beast that intended to destroy them and anything in its path. His nervous expression shifted to one of excitement, his aura bursting into a fiery visage in preparation. "Just say the word, Grand Kai!"
In just those few moments, the beast had reared his head back in a physically defying angle. Like a catapult, it hurtled its head forward, thrusting the meteorite-sized bullet across the space at incredible velocity.
"NOW!" Grand Kai shouted aloud, causing his partner to disappear just as his palms opened and thrusted out towards the impending projectile, "Cosmic Cannon!"
The shockwave of the launching energy annihilated everything behind Grand Kai's backside, as a magnanimously proportionate beam of rainbow hued energy discharged across the space between himself and the black-red bullet. It looked comically contrasting in size, as the beam easily could've swallowed up the beast's entire stature while the bullet itself was almost too small to notice in comparison.
But when they collided, it showed just how deadly it was.
BLAAAAAAAAAAAAM! An enormous pillar of silver and red energy emerged from the two colliding forces, swiftly flowing around like a maelstrom of destructive force. It didn't take long for the pillar to expand into a conical shape, flowing outwards in both directions to nearly touch either practitioner, with a vicious shockwave that blew back far more space within the sizeable gap within the belt they already created.
Stretching out his hands, Grand Kai created a barrier between himself and the searing shockwave, narrowly escaping the deconstructing winds that blew past his own being. A grim smile crossed his face as he heard a pained howl, knowing full well that Genkai Yaju didn't plan on defending itself from its own attack's shockwave.
The distraction was all that King Yama needed.
Within a flickering motion of fiery movement, the Judge King of Other World appeared right before its enormous face, swinging his right fist to clock its enormous jaw. A planetary shattering blast elapsed the colossal being's face, rearing its body back with the force of the connected strike. An air shaking howl escaped its maw as its eye twitched from the pain and damage it received.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The former Demon King roared aloud, his being peppering across the abomination's upper torso, neck, and face with explosive force. Each strike issued forth a blaze of flames only compared to the heat of a star's, repeatedly trying to scorch through what flesh and bone that his fists wouldn't reach. From afar, the damage would seem astronomical in scale.
Then, a single right ghastly appendage broke free from the bandaged confines, and swung out towards King Yama. The enormous limb struck the red-skinned warrior, like a fly swatter meeting its infinitesimal target, sending him hurtling across the blood-red space with incredible momentum. Even with the Grand Kai's timely intervention, they still flew a good few kilometers before halting near the end of the empty gap within the debris belt.
"You alright?!" The Grand Kai asked with concern, only to be shrugged off by his wincing colleague.
"Damn thing's body is certainly solid. I don't think I even made a dent in its hide, let alone did any lasting damage," King Yama begrudgingly admitted, snarling at his own incompetence.
"That's not good," The Kai warrior muttered, his eyes looking back at the partially unbound bestial nightmare, "my Cosmic Cannon had enough force to punch a hole through a star, and it only just barely countered that blast. If I'm not careful, I could be significantly weakened by this thing before the battle's duration could elongate much further."
"And if we don't counter each blast, Other Space will be a very much emptier place," King Yama grimaced, catching sight of the beast haul more of its chain-bound body through the eye-shaped portal, "the damnation are we supposed to do?!"
"I don't know," the strongest of all Kais whispered lowly, his hands unclenching with uncertainty, "I just..."
"Perhaps I can assist," a hallowed voice broke the dreaded lapse of despair between the two warriors. As they would turn around, they would see a near inverted counterpart to the enemy they had faced mere minutes ago. Bathed in a holy, white glow that created a visage of deified beauty, a being of shorter and slender stature hovered before them. With arms crossed, eyes brimming with an azure glow, and an obscure sword sheathed upon his back, both could assume exactly who was in their presence.
"L-Lord Supreme!" King Yama uttered aloud with trepidation.
"I swear, this isn't what it looks like!" The Grand Kai flailed his arms comically, completely forgetting about the imminent threat looming within the horizon just beyond their gaze.
"The beast that threatens this realm is Genkai Yaju. I felt its presence like a stone's within my mind's surface," the Supreme answered with a calm, solemn tone as his gaze looked over to the beast beyond, "the practitioner left before I could intercept him. However, I can deal with this beast in a manner that will keep it from ever being summoned again."
"Y-You can?!" King Yama sputtered with near disbelief, followed up with an audible gasp as the Grand Kai elbowed him with a reprimanding glare sent his way.
"Just stand back and see for yourselves," the Supreme responded briefly, just before his being shimmered out of view and sensation.
He would reappear across the crimson void directly in front of the monstrous beast, standing stoically and impassively before it, daring it to take notice of his visage. The beast wouldn't hesitate to snarl, opening its ghastly maw to roar with full force at the close-proximate Supreme. But even with the intense debris-breaking sonic waves, the Supreme's aura never flickered or wavered in the face of such forceful adversity.
"I see you're agitated, beast," the Supreme noted with a soft tone, his hand raising up to grasp the hilt of the sword sheathed along his back, "allow me to ease your suffering. Once and for all."
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGH!" Genkai bellowed loudly, its eye dilated with enraged fervor. Rearing back its fist to thrust into a blindingly swift punch towards the insignificantly sized Kai.
The fist wouldn't reach the Supreme.
Within a blinding flash of light, the Supreme had all but passed by Genkai Yaju, almost as if he were standing still. His being stood a good half kilometer behind the beast's portal and exposed body. Twirling the blade in his right hand, he secured it in a purposely slow sheathing motion back into its scabbard. By the time the sword clicked within its container, the damage inflicted was made clear.
SPLURCH! An enormous geyser of black blood discharged from the perfectly bisected body of the summoned beast, along with his offending arm that jutted out from its partially shredded prison of bandages. Falling completely out of the elliptical portal, the rest of the body came down with it into the blood-red space, showing that the rest of its body had been thoroughly slashed in half along with its chains.
"I-Incredible!" Grand Kai stuttered with amazement, seeing the Supreme dispatch an enemy he and King Yama had equal trouble with.
"I didn't even see him move! Just a flash of light!" King Yama uttered with bemusing disbelief, "was that all magic, or is he just that much stronger?!"
"I don't know," the Grand Kai spoke lowly, tightening his fists as he saw the star-equivalent light of the Supreme's aura from afar, "all I know for certain is this: I need a lot more training, before I can reach his level..."
The Present...
"After that battle, the Supreme returned to his meditations. King Yama was sent back to Other World, and soon never came out of that office for another battle. I spent the next three thousand years training, waiting, and hoping I'd get a chance for a rematch against the Frost Demon. But it was a moot point, seen as the esteemed Grand Kai is explicitly forbidden from interfering within the mortal realm. With his return, be it in the form of death or life, I can't help but wonder if he'll reveal his true nature's strength," the wizened, old Grand Kai spoke in a level tone, expressing his interest in the final moments of his story's end.
"W-Wow!" King Kai gaped with an open mouth, his shades nearly falling off his sweat-beading face. The enormity of what the story implicated was not only ground breaking to what the Northern Kai believed, but it also gave him an incredible sense of trepidation about King Cold. Never had a Frost Demon, not since Frieza or his brother Cooler, had given him the chills that currently ran up and down his spine.
"Do you think he can be beaten, as he is now?" South Kai asked curiously, trying to smile away the obvious beads of sweat enamoring his salmon colored scalp.
Shrugging, the Grand Kai answered with an optimistic tone, "I'm wagerin' that he's not at the peak of his prime. Even I've gotten stronger than any power that he's reattained in Hell. Though I'm sure if push comes to shove, someone in the Tournament will beat him...maybe."
"Maybe?!" King Kai shouted exasperatedly, to the point of nearly falling out of his seat.
"Don't worry about it, my King," the Grand Kai chuckled as his shaded gaze looked thoughtfully across the Tournament's elaborate vista, "there's still plenty of Tournament left to be had. Anyone can come out on top."
A few minutes ago...
Silence.
An abominable thing for the warriors to be plunged into, especially without their own reasons. The mere thought of the words that were implied by the heralding father of two former terrors of the Universe, sent chills down the majority of the present warriors' spines. Composure, eloquence, and sheer confidence in one's own strength taking them the whole way. They all knew he would not be an opponent to be trifled with.
The haughtiest, though, brought all of the gathered rivals back into a mindset of forgoing the trepidating thoughts revolving around the archaic entity, "Ever thought that we'd all be together? Families, rivals, and estranged begrudged entities standing before each other, anticipating a rematch with each other?"
Goku's eyes blinked a few times, looking over back at Cell, being reminded of the nostalgic circumstances that brought him here. A Tournament for Other World's most esteemed and darkest warriors, all vying for victory and supremacy, culminated some of his most fiercest opponents in life as well as people he never thought he'd ever be able to see again in this afterlife.
"Yeah," the Saiyan prodigy said with a grin, "sure takes me back. You could nearly map out my whole childhood with all of the guys I fought at one point."
"Our rematch will have some closure at last," the prided creation of Doctor Gero spoke back with an anticipating smile of his own, "whether I am the one who will dispatch you or the one to pass you by, we will finally see which one of us is the better man. Not that its a challenge, considering I am the Perfect Being."
"Don't be so sure of yourself," Goku raised a hand up, pointing a thumb at his chest, "I've gotten a lot stronger than I was when we fought. Unless you gotten more than twice as strong than I remember you being a year ago, this fight might go differently than what you plan."
"Perhaps," Cell answered vaguely, shrugging as he closed his eyes. As he reopened them, he tapped his forehead with his index finger, "you may have gotten strong, Goku, but you will always lack my intelligence. I am the culmination of every best warrior on Earth. No one will be a match for me, as I am now."
"Maybe," Goku responded with a shrug of his own. However, despite the trade of verbal blows, Goku did something unexpected to his Android counterpart. Reaching out his right hand to the Android who slayed him, he finished speaking, "regardless, we both don't know how this is going to turn out. So, let the best man win!"
Cell's smile dropped and his eyes widened. Something that was inside of him flickered. A warmth and a new feeling he never experienced while alive. Looking down at the hand that offered both friendship and good will, was sincere in its purest form. There was nothing to be gained in offering a hand of good luck to him, nor being courteous after the things he wrought upon his family and planet.
He didn't know why, but his hand returned the gesture, grasping it firmly. This allowed him to smile back a challenging grin, with a strength behind his words that he never felt before, "Likewise, Goku. Likewise."
"ALRIGHT MATES! ARE YOU ALL READY FOR THE SECOND ROUND OF THE TOURNAMENT!" Jeice shouted in the mike, as he took off into the air and flew high up above the newly refurbished arena.
In response, the arena roared with an air-shaking reply, causing Jeice to visibly tremble with excitement. Being the center of attention was not always his thing, but he quickly took a liking to hosting such a magnanimous Tournament. With a fist pump, he shouted back, "ALRIGHT! LET'S SEE WHO'S UP FIRST!"
As he looked up, the rest of the audience dulled their volume to a series of murmurs, collectively holding their breath as the remaining five hundred names blurred upon the hovering screen within the stadium. When the names finally stopped, Jeice personally smiled with barely contained excitement...
Battle 1
BURTER, THE BLUE HURRICANE
VS
SAZUKE TENSAI, THE BLACK MONARCH
"OH ALRIGHT! YOU'RE ALL IN FOR A REAL TREAT!" Jeice shouted in the mike, his form blurring in a downwards spiral before it landed gracefully within the arena's center, "ME OWN BEST MATE AND FELLOW NARRATIN' COLLEAGUE, BURTER, WILL BE PARTICIPATIN' THIS MATCH! LET'S GIVE 'EM A HAND!"
A round of applause was eagerly brought forth from the stands, all remembering the dynamic and impressively swift warrior. His victory over the supposedly fast Tapkar was a sign of just how impressive the Ginyu Force's dauntingly tall, blue-skinned humanoid warrior is. Even as the blue flash of light flew casually over next to Jeice, the crowd had yet to calm down from their cheering for the charismatic member of the four-man squad.
"Let'sssss get thissss over with," Burter spoke with a smug grin. His arms crossed over his chest as he gracefully tapped onto the tiled ground, his red pupil-less eyes gleaming with confidence. The muscular and tallest of the Ginyu Force looked ready to take on an army of Friezas, and with a smile no less.
"Patience, Burter," Jeice whispered off mike, giving him a thumb's up as he winked up at his stalwart partner, "take this bloke down without losing your head, ya hear?"
"Pleasssse, Jeicccce," Burter hissed with amusement, refusing to unfold his arms as he cocked his chin up a notch with pride, "asssss if there'ssss a fighter capable of matching up with the Blue Hurricane. Nothing to fear, dude!"
"Alright then," Jeice nodded back to his companion, turning on his heels to regard his friend's competitor, "LET'S GIVE AN INTRODUCTION TO BURTER'S OPPONENT!"
As Jeice resumed his charismatic shouting, Burter would get to see exactly what he was up against.
Despite the misleading name, the opponent standing not but a dozen meters away was a woman. Human at that, she was dressed in trappings similar to that of a samurai's crossed with westernized influence. A matte white straw hat sat upon her black ponytailed head, matching a white, unbuttoned, long-sleeved coat with the kanji of "Demon Monarch" on her back. What lied underneath and exposed would be a black gi, held in place by a crimson sash which held an intricately designed katana with a dual-heart shaped guard, black scabbard, and crimson hilt. Her tower clogs gave her an extra foot of height, making appear an even six feet in height, still making her inferior in stature to her opponent but significant to most of the average opponents in the Tournament.
Most curiously, behind the shadowy silhouette clouding her visage would be a crimson blindfold wrapped firmly over her eyes. A bored expression crossed impassively over her fair complexioned face, shown further as her white gloved fingers pocketed themselves within the folds of her coat as she cocked her head side to side.
"SAZUKE TENSAI! ARE YOU PREPARED TO FACE THE BLUE HURRICANE?!" Jeice shouted into his microphone, the volume of which shook the entire stadium with his jubilance and charismatic excitement.
"So long as I can eat afterwards," Sazuke said bluntly, shrugging in emphasis of her indifference.
"UH...WELL...HEHE..." Jeice nervously chuckled, stepping back between the two a dozen meters himself. Once he felt satisfied at the distance, he raised his left hand as he shouted with renewed vigor, "THEN LET THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE SECOND ROUND, BEGIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!"
Burter chuckled with amusement at his opponent's ignorance. He'd almost feel sorry for the human, seeing as they're commonly conceived as overconfident and weaker in the grand scheme of things. Besides the human warriors he faced against on the King Kai's planet, he never heard of any human achieving anything remotely past that kind of strength.
Shrugging, he unfolding his arms, his body immediately projecting a vibrant azure aura of Ki around his body, "You'd be wissssssse to take that blindfold off, human. Otherwissssssse, you may find yourssssssself wondering where I'm going to ssssssend you flying!"
"Don't need to see you in order to beat you," Sazuke remarked, allowing herself a wry half-smile of confidence, "I haven't met a single being alive who's forced me to remove my blindfold. You're obviously no different, misssssster ssssnake guy."
Veins suddenly protruded along the surface of Burter's skin, his aura igniting into a maelstrom of azure fire, further emphasizing his lightning quick temper, "You dare mock me?! I am not just a big blue ssssssnake guy!"
Jeice raised a hand to shield his face, his hair billowing back violently in the wake of the earth-shattering release of energy from his friend, "IIT LOOKS LIKE BURTER IS REVVED UP TO GO! WILL THIS FIGHT BE OVER BEFORE IT BEGINS?!"
"I am Burter, the Blue Hurricane! The Fasssstesssst in the Universsssse!" Burter shouted with indignant rage, his body crackling with bioelectric, azure hued energy that shook and ripped apart the tiled ground for dozens of meters.
"Then prove it," Sazuke said pointedly in a calm tone. Her left hand unpocketed from her coat, as her right hand reached for the hilt of her sword, producing a beckoning come-on stance towards the enraged Ginyu Force member, "show me what your speed is capable of."
"NO ONE MOCKSSSSS ME," Burter snarled aloud with a thunderous octave, his feet rearing back, just before moving forward at an insane degree of velocity, "AND GETSSSSS AWAY WITH IT!
In Jeice's eyes, even as his body skidded back from the shockwave produced from the enormous burst of speed, it looked as if Burter became a bolt of azure lightning. His being seemed to envelop the blindfolded swordswoman in an instant, overtaking her proximity with a swift right hook and enough power behind it to rip everything behind her in an erratic crackling blast of chaotic energy.
To Burter's eyes, he almost seemed to see his target "ghost" away into an ethereal white mist. The afterimage he struck was so instantaneous, he couldn't tell if she was ever there at all. That was, until the audible sound of her tower clogs tapped upon the arena floor just a mere foot from where he took off, was heard.
The world seemed to stand still, as Sazuke began to push a partially unsheathed sword back into its scabbard. She spoke only a few words as the blade clicked in place with its container, "Nope. Not the fastest..."
SPLUUUUURCH! In a horrifying display of true skill and speed, Burter's entire body exploded into thousands of eviscerated pieces, as blood seemed to be the only dominant thing flying through the air behind Sazuke's person.
The audience gasped, and Jeice was awestruck. His mouth was practically unhinged with horror at the sight of his comrade masterfully and gruesomely dispatched before his very eyes. The only thing that'd remain truly untouched would be a single, dimly lit halo, clattering to the ground. Stained with blood, it'd be the only sign that Burter would ever come back from this morbid execution.
"B-B-BURTER'S BEEN SLICED AND DICED INTO SHISH KABOB BEFORE ME BLEEDIN' EYES!" Jeice announced, much to his own trembling chagrin, as tears welled up within his eyes. Raising a hand over to the indifferent woman, standing still to await the end of the battle, he finished with as much climactic energy as he could muster, "WITH SAZUKE TENSAI STILL STANDING, SHE IS PROCLAIMED AS THE WINNER OF THE FIRST BATTLE!"
"Well I'll be damned-"
"Already done, hon."
"I'm just saying," Bardock finished, after being cut-off briefly by Hanassia, as he observed the handiwork made out of the Ginyu Force member, "I've fought quite a few battles in my lifetime, and since I've died. That blue guy was clearly moving at a speed rivaling Frieza's, if not a little higher. I didn't blink and that chick seemed to just appear right behind him, all with enough time to land an attack that shredded him to pieces!"
"You weren't a Super Saiyan when watching," his mate rationalized, shrugging with indifference, "of course you wouldn't be able to see her move."
"You're wrong," Cell spoke, being now a few meters away from Goku's left, whom now stood a meter away from his parents, "she was moving much faster than a Super Saiyan. I only caught a glimpse, and she seemed to almost to pass through a fabric of space."
"What, you mean like Instant Transmission?" Goku inquired, strangely not bothered by Cell's proximity to his flank.
"No. This seems something else entirely," Cell said plainly, his eyes glaring at the human as she walked towards their sector area, appraising her with a newfound form of curiosity, "don't take her lightly, Goku. She seems to be possessing a strength far different than the majority of these fighters do."
"She seems skilled," Olibu, standing on Cell's left, spoke with a fascinated grin, "she seemed to use a stance that seems so...nostalgic..."
"Oh?" Cell jeered with a grin, leaning towards the golden haired human, "care to elaborate?"
"Well, I might have developed that sword style she used," Olibu admitted, chuckling sheepishly with admittance, "or maybe its root origin..."
"Wait a minute!" Goku nearly fell over, his eyes bulging along with the majority, even the distant Raditz's eyes widened with disbelief, "you followed that attack?!"
"Step for step," Olibu answered with a grin, before it furrowed into a frown of confusion, "couldn't you?"
"Uh...no, hehe!" Goku lamely admitted, scratching his chin with a chuckle, "I guess I should pay closer attention, shouldn't I?"
Everyone collectively sighed. Supposedly one of the strongest warriors, and he was already being passed up by those around him.
"Keep your guard up," Raditz spoke stoically towards Goku, as his eyes looked back at the blood-stained and damaged arena, "this Tournament's just getting started. The real fights begin now!"
A/N: Wow. This took me a lot longer than I wanted it to take. Partially do to acclimating to my job's hours, leaving me exhausted for the most part, and a bunch of things that life wants to distract me with. Honestly, I blame the fact I decided to do a flashback sequence as the main body of this chapter. But alas, what's done is done, and hopefully I can get this second round blazed through so we can get further into the meat of this story ;)
Regards for the Flashback sequence, this is how my version of Cold faced off against the Grand Kai. While Grand Kai is not at the top of his game in this era, this battle does compel him to train harder and become even stronger, so that two thousand years later, he can face someone of Bojack's caliber with relative ease. If anyone IS questioning the level of his strength, I will reveal that sometime in this story.
In regards to King Yama's "battle form", as I like to call it, I hope you guys like the twist. King Yama's not the pushover that Canon is paraded as, but moreover a retired warrior stuck behind a desk. A tragic end to such a proud Demon King, no? Hope you liked how I handled his relationship with the Grand Kai and how he handled himself in the battle that transpired.
Hope you all enjoyed the read. If anyone still has character requests, please PM them to me and I'll see if I can squeeze them in the next few chapters. I already got big plans for a number of OC's (I won't say who, it'll spoil the surprise ;P) to participate in the next chapter, so if you want, just please message and ask me.
If you have any comments/reviews about the Chapter, please leave them down below. Any detailed questions or insight about this Chapter, please PM me to keep any potential spoilers at a minimum.
I'll see you all later at the next, Other World Saga chapter!